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+Project Gutenberg's The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Susan B. Anthony
+        Ida Husted Harper
+
+Release Date: August 31, 2009 [EBook #29870]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HIST OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE, VOL 4 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Richard J. Shiffer and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Every effort has been made to replicate this
+text as faithfully as possible, including obsolete and variant
+spellings and other inconsistencies. Text that has been changed to
+correct an obvious error is noted at the end of this ebook.
+
+Also, many occurrences of mismatched single and double quotes remain
+as they were in the original.]
+
+
+[Illustration: Susan B. Anthony. (Signed: Affectionately Yours Susan B. Anthony)]
+
+
+  THE HISTORY
+
+  OF
+
+  WOMAN SUFFRAGE
+
+
+  EDITED BY
+
+
+  SUSAN B. ANTHONY &
+      IDA HUSTED HARPER
+
+
+  ILLUSTRATED WITH COPPERPLATE AND PHOTOGRAVURE
+  ENGRAVINGS
+
+
+  _IN FOUR VOLUMES_
+
+
+  VOL. IV.
+
+
+  1883-1900
+
+
+  "PERFECT EQUALITY OF RIGHTS FOR WOMAN, CIVIL, LEGAL
+  AND POLITICAL"
+
+
+  SUSAN B. ANTHONY
+  17 MADISON STREET, ROCHESTER, N. Y.
+
+
+  COPYRIGHT, 1902, BY SUSAN B. ANTHONY
+
+
+  THE HOLLENBECK PRESS
+  INDIANAPOLIS
+
+
+
+
+* * * * Make me respect my material so much that I dare not slight my
+work. Help me to deal very honestly with words and with people,
+because they are both alive. Show me that, as in a river, so in
+writing, clearness is the best quality, and a little that is pure is
+worth more than much that is mixed. Teach me to see the local color
+without being blind to the inner light. Give me an ideal that will
+stand the strain of weaving into human stuff on the loom of the real.
+Keep me from caring more for books than for folks, for art than for
+life. Steady me to do my full stint of work as well as I can, and when
+that is done, stop me, pay me what wages thou wilt, and help me to say
+from a quiet heart a grateful Amen.
+
+                                             HENRY VAN DYKE.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+After the movement for woman suffrage, which commenced about the
+middle of the nineteenth century, had continued for twenty-five years,
+the feeling became strongly impressed upon its active promoters, Miss
+Susan B. Anthony and Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, that the records
+connected with it should be secured to posterity. With Miss Anthony,
+indeed, the idea had been ever present, and from the beginning she had
+carefully preserved as far as possible the letters, speeches and
+newspaper clippings, accounts of conventions and legislative and
+congressional reports. By 1876 they were convinced through various
+circumstances that the time had come for writing the history. So
+little did they foresee the magnitude which this labor would assume
+that they made a mutual agreement to accept no engagements for four
+months, expecting to finish it within that time, as they contemplated
+nothing more than a small volume, probably a pamphlet of a few hundred
+pages. Miss Anthony packed in trunks and boxes the accumulations of
+the years and shipped them to Mrs. Stanton's home in Tenafly, N. J.,
+where the two women went cheerfully to work.
+
+Mrs. Stanton was the matchless writer, Miss Anthony the collector of
+material, the searcher of statistics, the business manager, the keen
+critic, the detector of omissions, chronological flaws and
+discrepancies in statement such as are unavoidable even with the most
+careful historian. On many occasions they called to their aid for
+historical facts Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage, one of the most logical,
+scientific and fearless writers of her day. To Mrs. Gage Vol. I of the
+History of Woman Suffrage is wholly indebted for the first two
+chapters--Preceding Causes and Woman in Newspapers, and for the last
+chapter--Woman, Church and State, which she later amplified in a book;
+and Vol. II for the first chapter--Woman's Patriotism in the Civil
+War.
+
+When the allotted time had expired the work had far exceeded its
+original limits and yet seemed hardly begun. Its authors were amazed
+at the amount of history which already had been made and still more
+deeply impressed with the desirability of preserving the story of the
+early struggle, but both were in the regular employ of lecture bureaus
+and henceforth could give only vacations to the task. They were
+entirely without the assistance of stenographers and typewriters, who
+at the present day relieve brain workers of so large a part of the
+physical strain. A labor which was to consume four months eventually
+extended through ten years and was not completed until the closing
+days of 1885. The pamphlet of a few hundred pages had expanded into
+three great volumes of 1,000 pages each, and enough material remained
+unused to fill another.[1]
+
+It was almost wholly due to Miss Anthony's clear foresight and
+painstaking habits that the materials were gathered and preserved
+during all the years, and it was entirely owing to her unequaled
+determination and persistence that the History was written. The demand
+for Mrs. Stanton on the platform and the cares of a large family made
+this vast amount of writing a most heroic effort, and one which
+doubtless she would have been tempted to evade had it not been for the
+relentless mentor at her side, helping to bear her burdens and
+overcome the obstacles, and continually pointing out the necessity
+that the history of this movement for the emancipation of women should
+be recorded, in justice to those who carried it forward and as an
+inspiration to the workers of the future. And so together, for a long
+decade, these two great souls toiled in the solitude of home just as
+together they fought in the open field, not for personal gain or
+glory, but for the sake of a cause to which they had consecrated their
+lives. Had it not been for their patient and unselfish labor the story
+of the hard conditions under which the pioneers struggled to lift
+woman out of her subjection, the bitterness of the prejudice, the
+cruelty of the persecution, never would have been told. In all the
+years that have passed no one else has attempted to tell it, and
+should any one desire to do so it is doubtful if, even at this early
+date, enough of the records could be found for the most superficial
+account. In not a library can the student who wishes to trace this
+movement to its beginning obtain the necessary data except in these
+three volumes, which will become still more valuable as the years go
+by and it nears success.
+
+Miss Anthony began this work in 1876 without a dollar in hand for its
+publication. She never had the money in advance for any of her
+undertakings, but she went forward and accomplished them, and when the
+people saw that they were good they usually repaid the amount she had
+advanced from her own small store. In this case she resolved to use
+the whole of it and all she could earn in the future rather than not
+publish the History. Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson, of New York, a generous
+patron of good works, gave her the first $1,000 in 1880, but this did
+not cover the expenses that had been actually incurred thus far in its
+preparation. She was in nowise discouraged, however, but kept steadily
+on during every moment which could be spared by Mrs. Stanton and
+herself, absolutely confident that in some way the necessary funds
+would be obtained. Her strong faith was justified, for the first week
+of 1882 came a notice from Wendell Phillips that Mrs. Eliza Jackson
+Eddy, of Boston, had left her a large legacy to be used according to
+her own judgment "for the advancement of woman's cause." Litigation by
+an indirect heir deprived her of this money for over three years, but
+in April, 1885, she received $24,125.
+
+The first volume of the History had been issued in May, 1881, and the
+second in April, 1882. In June, 1885, Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony
+set resolutely to work and labored without ceasing until the next
+November, when the third volume was sent to the publishers. With the
+bequest Miss Anthony paid the debts that had been incurred, replaced
+her own fund, of which every dollar had been used, and brought out
+this last volume. All were published at a time when paper and other
+materials were at a high price. The fine steel engravings alone cost
+$5,000. On account of the engagements of the editors it was necessary
+to employ proofreaders and indexers, and because of the many years
+over which the work had stretched an immense number of changes had to
+be made in composition, so that a large part of the legacy was
+consumed.
+
+The money which Miss Anthony now had enabled her to carry out her
+long-cherished project to put this History free of charge in the
+public libraries. It was thus placed in twelve hundred in the United
+States and Europe. Mrs. Stanton and Mrs. Gage, who had contributed
+their services without price, naturally felt that it should be sold
+instead of given away, and in order to have a perfectly free hand she
+purchased their rights. In addition to the libraries, she has given it
+to hundreds of schools and to countless individuals, writers,
+speakers, etc., whom she thought it would enable to do better work for
+the franchise. For seventeen years she has paid storage on the volumes
+and the stereotype plates. During this time there has been some demand
+for the books from those who were able and willing to pay, but much
+the largest part of the labor and money expended were a direct
+donation to the cause of woman suffrage.
+
+From the time the last volume was finished it was Miss Anthony's
+intention, if she should live twenty years longer, to issue a fourth
+containing the history which would be made during that period, and for
+this purpose she still preserved the records. As the century drew near
+a close, bringing with it the end of her four-score years, the desire
+grew still stronger to put into permanent shape the continued story of
+a contest which already had extended far beyond the extreme limits
+imagined when she dedicated to it the full power of her young
+womanhood with its wealth of dauntless courage and unfailing hope. She
+resigned the presidency of the National Association in February, 1900,
+which marked her eightieth birthday, in order that she might carry out
+this project and one or two others of especial importance. Among her
+birthday gifts she received $1,000 from friends in all parts of the
+country, and this sum she resolved to apply to the contemplated
+volume. One of the other objects which she had in view was the
+collecting of a large fund to be invested and the income used in work
+for the enfranchisement of women. Already about $3,000 had been
+subscribed.
+
+By the time the first half year had passed, nature exacted tribute for
+six decades of unceasing and unparalleled toil, and it became evident
+that the idea of gathering a reserve fund would have to be abandoned.
+The donors of the $3,000 were consulted and all gave cordial assent to
+have their portion applied to the publication of the fourth volume of
+the History. The largest amount, $1,000, had been contributed by Mrs.
+Pauline Agassiz Shaw, of Boston. Dr. Cordelia A. Greene, of Castile,
+N. Y., had given $500 and Mrs. Emma J. Bartol, of Philadelphia, $200.
+The other contributions ranged all the way down to a few dollars,
+which in many cases represented genuine sacrifice on the part of the
+givers. It is not practicable to publish the list of the women in
+full. They will be sufficiently rewarded in the consciousness of
+having helped to realize Miss Anthony's dream of finishing the story,
+to the end of her own part in it, of a great progressive movement in
+which they were her fellow-workers and loyal friends.
+
+Mrs. Gage passed away in 1898. Although Mrs. Stanton is still living
+as this volume goes to the publishers in 1902, and evinces her mental
+vigor at the age of eighty-seven in frequent magazine and newspaper
+articles, she could not be called upon for this heavy and exacting
+task. It seemed to Miss Anthony that the one who had recently
+completed her Biography, in its preparation arranging and classifying
+her papers of the past sixty years, and who necessarily had made a
+thorough study of the suffrage movement from its beginning, should
+share with her this arduous undertaking. The invitation was accepted
+with much reluctance because of a full knowledge of the great labor
+and responsibility involved. It must be confessed that even a strong
+sense of obligation to further the cause of woman's enfranchisement
+would not have been a sufficient incentive, but personal devotion to a
+beloved and honored leader outweighed all selfish considerations. It
+is to Miss Anthony, however, that the world is indebted for this as
+well as the other volumes. It was she who conceived the idea; through
+her came the money for its publication; for several years her own home
+has been given up to the mass of material, the typewriters, the coming
+and going of countless packages, the indescribable annoyances and
+burdens connected with a matter of this kind. In addition she has
+borne from her private means a considerable portion of the expenses,
+and has endured the physical weariness and mental anxiety at a time
+when she has earned the right to complete rest and freedom from care.
+There is not a chapter which has not had the inestimable benefit of
+her acute criticism and matured judgment.
+
+The peculiar difficulties of historical work can be understood only by
+those who have experienced them. General information is the easiest of
+all things to obtain--exact information the hardest, and a history
+that is not accurate has no practical utility. If a reader discover
+one mistake it vitiates the whole book. Every historian knows how
+common it is to find several totally different statements of the same
+occurrence, each apparently as authentic as the others. He also knows
+the eel-like elusiveness of dates and the flat contradictions of
+statistics which seem to disprove absolutely the adage that "figures
+do not lie." He has suffered the nightmare of wrestling with proper
+names; and if he is conscientious he has agonized over the attempt to
+do exact justice to the actors in the drama which he is depicting and
+yet not detract from its value by loading it with trivial details, of
+vital moment to those who were concerned in them but of no importance
+to future readers. All of these embarrassments are intensified in a
+history of a movement for many years unnoticed or greatly
+misrepresented in the public press, and its records usually not
+considered of sufficient value to be officially preserved. None,
+however, has required such supreme courage and faithfulness from its
+adherents and this fact makes all the more obligatory the preserving
+of their names and deeds.
+
+To collect the needful information from fifty States and Territories
+and arrange it for publication has required the careful and constant
+work of over two years. It has been necessary many times to appeal to
+public officials, who have been most obliging, but the main dependence
+has been on the women of various localities who are connected with the
+suffrage associations. These women have spent weeks of time and labor,
+writing letters, visiting libraries, examining records, and often
+leaving their homes and going to the State capital to search the
+archives. All this has been done without financial compensation, and
+it is largely through their assistance that the editors have been able
+to prepare this volume. To give an idea of the exacting work required
+it may be stated that to obtain authentic data on one particular point
+the writer of the Kansas chapter sent 198 letters to 178 city clerks.
+The meager record of Florida necessitated about thirty letters of
+inquiry. Several thousand were sent out by the editors of the History,
+while the number exchanged within the various States is beyond
+computation.
+
+The demand is widespread that the information which this book contains
+should be put into accessible shape. Miss Anthony herself and the
+suffrage headquarters in New York are flooded with inquiries for
+statistics as to the gains which have been made, the laws for women,
+the present status of the question and arguments that can be used in
+the debates which are now of frequent occurrence in Legislatures,
+universities, schools and clubs in all parts of the country.
+Practically everything that can be desired on these points will be
+found herein. The first twenty-two chapters contain the whole argument
+in favor of granting the franchise to women, as every phase of the
+question is touched and every objection considered by the ablest of
+speakers. It has been a special object to present here in compact form
+the reasons on which is based the claim for woman suffrage. In Chapter
+XXIV and those following are included the laws pertaining to women,
+their educational and industrial opportunities, the amount of suffrage
+they possess, the offices they may fill, legislative action on matters
+concerning them, and the part which the suffrage associations have had
+in bringing about present conditions. There are also chapters on the
+progress made in foreign countries and on the organized work of women
+in other lines besides that of the franchise. All the care possible
+has been taken to make each chapter accurate and complete.
+
+Beginning with 1884, where Vol. III closes, the present volume ends
+with the century. This is not a book which must necessarily wait upon
+posterity for its readers, but it is filled with live, up-to-date
+information. Its editors take the greatest pleasure in presenting it
+to the young, active, progressive men and women of the present day,
+who, without doubt, will bring to a successful end the long and
+difficult contest to secure that equality of rights which belongs
+alike to all the citizens of this largest of republics and greatest of
+nations.
+
+                                             I. H. H.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] The reader can not fail to be interested in the personal story of
+the writing of these books as related in the Reminiscences of
+Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony--the
+many journeys made by the big boxes of documents from the home of one
+to that of the other; the complications with those who were gathering
+data in their respective localities; the trials with publishers; the
+delays, disappointments and vexations, all interspersed and brightened
+with many humorous features.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+It has been frequently said that the first three volumes of the
+History of Woman Suffrage, which bring the record to twenty years ago,
+represent the seed-sowing time of the movement. They do far more than
+this, for seeds sown in the early days which they describe would have
+fallen upon ground so stony that if they had sprung up they would soon
+have withered away. The pioneers in the work for the redemption of
+women found an unbroken field, not fallow from lying idle, but arid
+and barren, filled with the unyielding rocks of prejudice and choked
+with the thorns of conservatism. It required many years of labor as
+hard as that endured by the forefathers in wresting their lands from
+undisturbed nature, before the ground was even broken to receive the
+seed. Then followed the long period of persistent tilling and sowing
+which brought no reaping until the last quarter of the century, when
+the scanty harvest began to be gathered. The yield has seemed small
+indeed at the end of each twelvemonth and it is only when viewed in
+the aggregate that its size can be appreciated. The condition of woman
+to-day compared with that of last year seems unchanged, but contrasted
+with that of fifty years ago it presents as great a revolution as the
+world has ever witnessed in this length of time.
+
+If the first organized demand for the rights of woman--made at the
+memorable convention of Seneca Falls, N. Y., in 1848--had omitted the
+one for the franchise, those who made it would have lived to see all
+granted. It asked for woman the right to have personal freedom, to
+acquire an education, to earn a living, to claim her wages, to own
+property, to make contracts, to bring suit, to testify in court, to
+obtain a divorce for just cause, to possess her children, to claim a
+fair share of the accumulations during marriage. An examination of
+Chap. XXIV and the following chapters in this volume will show that in
+many of the States all these privileges are now accorded, and in not
+one are all refused, but when this declaration was framed all were
+denied by every State. For the past half century there has been a
+steady advance in the direction of equal rights for women. In many
+instances these have been granted in response to the direct efforts of
+women themselves; in others without exertion on their part but through
+the example of neighboring States and as a result of the general trend
+toward a long-delayed justice. Enough has been accomplished in all of
+the above lines to make it absolutely certain that within a few years
+women everywhere in the United States will enjoy entire equality of
+legal, civil and social rights.
+
+Behind all of these has been the persistent demand for political
+rights, and the question naturally arises, "Why do these continue
+to be denied? Educated, property-owning, self-reliant and
+public-spirited, why are women still refused a voice in the
+Government? Citizens in the fullest sense of the word, why are they
+deprived of the suffrage in a country whose institutions rest upon
+individual representation?"
+
+There are many reasons, but the first and by far the most important is
+the fact that this right, and this alone of all that have had to be
+gained for woman, can be secured only through Constitutional Law. All
+others have rested upon statute law, or upon the will of a board of
+trustees, or of a few individuals, or have needed no official or
+formal sanction. The suffrage alone must be had through a change of
+the constitution of the State and this can be obtained only by consent
+of the majority of the voters. Therefore this most valuable of all
+rights--the one which if possessed by women at the beginning would
+have brought all the others without a struggle--is placed absolutely
+in the hands of men to be granted or withheld at will from women. It
+is an unjust condition which does not exist even in a monarchy of the
+Old World, and it makes of the United States instead of a true
+republic an oligarchy in which one-half of the citizens have entire
+control of the other half. There is not another country having an
+elected representative body, where this body itself may not extend the
+suffrage. While the writing of this volume has been in progress the
+Parliament of Australia by a single Act has fully enfranchised the
+800,000 women of that commonwealth. The Parliament of Great Britain
+has conferred on women every form of suffrage except that for its own
+members, and there is a favorable prospect of this being granted long
+before the women of the United States have a similar privilege.
+
+Not another nation is hampered by a written Federal Constitution which
+it is almost impossible to change, and by forty-five written State
+constitutions none of which can be altered in the smallest particular
+except by consent of the majority of the voters. Every one of these
+constitutions was framed by a convention which no woman had a voice in
+selecting and of which no woman was a member. With the sole exception
+of Wyoming, not one woman in the forty-five States was permitted a
+vote on the constitution, and every one except Wyoming and Utah
+confined its elective franchise strictly to "male" citizens.
+
+Thus, wherever woman turns in this boasted republic, from ocean to
+ocean, from lakes to gulf, seeking the citizen's right of
+self-representation, she is met by a dead wall of constitutional
+prohibition. It has been held in some of the States that this applies
+only to State and county suffrage and that the Legislature has power
+to grant the Municipal Franchise to women. Kansas is the only one,
+however, which has given such a vote. A bill for this purpose passed
+the Legislature of Michigan, after years of effort on the part of
+women, and was at once declared unconstitutional by its Supreme Court.
+Similar bills have been defeated in many Legislatures on the ground of
+unconstitutionality. It is claimed generally that they may bestow
+School Suffrage and this has been granted in over half the States, but
+frequently it is vetoed by the Governor as unconstitutional, as has
+been done several times in California. In New York, after four Acts of
+the Legislature attempting to give School Suffrage to all women, three
+decisions of the highest courts confined it simply to those of
+villages and country districts where questions are decided at "school
+meetings." Eminent lawyers hold that even this is "unconstitutional."
+(See chapter on New York.) The Legislature and courts of Wisconsin
+have been trying since 1885 to give complete School Suffrage to women
+and yet they are enabled to exercise it this year (1902) for the first
+time. (See chapter on Wisconsin.) Some State constitutions provide, as
+in Rhode Island, that no form even of School Suffrage can be
+conferred on women until it has been submitted as an amendment and
+sanctioned by a majority of the voters.
+
+The constitutions of a number of States declare that it shall not be
+sufficient to carry an amendment for it to receive a majority of the
+votes cast upon it, but it must have a majority of the largest vote
+cast at the election. Not one State where this in the case ever has
+been able to secure an amendment for any purpose whatever. Minnesota
+submitted this question itself to the electors in 1898 in the form of
+an amendment and it was carried, receiving a total of 102,641, yet the
+largest number of votes cast at that election was 251,250, so if its
+own provisions had been required it would have been lost. Nebraska is
+about to make an effort to get rid of such a provision, but, as this
+can be done only by another amendment to the constitution, the dilemma
+is presented of the improbability of securing a vote for it which
+shall be equal to the majority of the highest number cast at the
+general election. Since it is impossible to get such a vote even on
+questions to which there is no special objection, it is clearly
+evident that an amendment enfranchising women, to which there is a
+large and strong opposition, would have no chance whatever in States
+making the above requirement.
+
+It then remains to consider the situation in those States where only a
+majority of the votes cast upon the amendment itself is required. One
+or two instances will show the stubborn objection which exists among
+the masses of men to the very idea of woman suffrage. In 1887 the
+Legislature of New Jersey passed a law granting School Suffrage to
+women in villages and country districts. After they had exercised it
+until 1894 the Supreme Court declared it to be unconstitutional, as
+"the Legislature can not enlarge or diminish the class of voters." The
+women decided it was worth while to preserve even this scrap of
+suffrage, so they made a vigorous effort to secure from the
+Legislature the submission of an amendment which should give it to
+them constitutionally. The resolution for this had to pass two
+successive Legislatures, and it happened in this case that by a
+technicality three were necessary, but with hard work and a petition
+signed by 7,000 the amendment was finally submitted in 1897. The
+unvarying testimony of the school authorities was that the women had
+used their vote wisely and to the great advantage of the schools
+during the seven years; there was no organized opposition from the
+class who might object to the Full Suffrage for women lest their
+business should be injured, or that other class who might fear their
+personal liberty would be curtailed; yet the proposition to restore to
+women in the villages and country districts the right simply to vote
+for school trustees was defeated by 75,170 noes, 65,029 ayes--over
+10,000 majority.
+
+South Dakota as a Territory permitted women to vote for all school
+officers. It entered the Union in 1889 with a clause in its
+constitution authorizing them to vote "at any election held solely for
+school purposes." They soon found that this did not include State and
+county superintendents, who are voted for at general elections, and
+that in order to get back their Territorial rights an amendment would
+have to be submitted to the electors. This was done by the Legislature
+of 1893. There had not been the slightest criticism of the way in
+which they had used their school suffrage during the past fourteen
+years, no class was antagonized, and yet this amendment was voted down
+by 22,682 noes, 17,010 ayes, an opposing majority of 5,672.
+
+With these examples in two widely-separated parts of the country, the
+old and the new, representing not only crystallized prejudice in the
+one but inborn opposition in both to any step toward enfranchising
+women, and with this depending absolutely on the will of the voters,
+is it a matter of wonder that its progress has been so slow? If the
+question were submitted in any State to-day whether, for instance, all
+who did not pay taxes should be disfranchised, and only taxpayers were
+allowed to vote upon it, it would be carried by a large majority. If
+it were submitted whether all owning property above a certain amount
+should be disfranchised, and only those who owned less than this, or
+nothing, were allowed to vote, it would be carried unanimously. No
+class of men could get any electoral right whatever if it depended
+wholly on the consent of another class whose interests supposedly lay
+in withholding it. Political, not moral influence removed the property
+restrictions from the suffrage in order to build up a great party--the
+Democratic--which because of its enfranchisement of wage-earning men
+has received their support for eighty years. After the Civil War,
+although the Republican party was in absolute control, amendments to
+the State constitutions for striking out the word "white," in order
+to enfranchise colored men, were defeated in one after another of the
+Northern States, even in Kansas, the most radical of them all in its
+anti-slavery sentiment. It finally became so evident that this
+concession would not be granted by the voters that Congress was
+obliged to submit first one and then a second amendment to the Federal
+Constitution to secure it. But even then the ratification of the
+necessary three-fourths of the Legislatures could be obtained only
+because it was positively certain that through this action an immense
+addition would be made to the Republican electorate. Now after a lapse
+of thirty years this same party looks on unmoved at the violation of
+these amendments in every Southern State because it is believed that
+thus there can be, through white suffrage, the building up of the
+party in that section which the colored vote has not been able to
+accomplish.
+
+The most superficial examination of the conditions which govern the
+franchise answers the question why, after fifty years of effort, so
+little progress has been made in obtaining it for women. Of late years
+every new or "third" party which is organized declares for woman
+suffrage. This is partly because such parties come into existence to
+carry out reforms in which they believe women can help, and partly
+because in their weak state they are ready to grasp at straws. While
+giving them full credit for such recognition, whatever may be its
+inspiring motive, it is clearly evident that the franchise must come
+to women through the dominant parties. If either of these could have
+had assurance of receiving the majority of the woman's vote it would
+have been obtained for her long ago without effort on her part, just
+as the workingman's and the colored man's were secured for them, but
+this has been impossible. Even in the four States where women now have
+the full suffrage neither party has been able to claim a distinct
+advantage from it. At the last Presidential election two of the four
+went Democratic and two Republican. In Colorado, where women owed
+their enfranchisement very largely to the Populists, that party was
+deposed from power at the first election where they voted and never
+has been reinstated. Although there was no justification for holding
+women responsible, they were so held, and the party consequently did
+not extend the franchise to women in other States where it might have
+done so. Many consider that the principles of the Republican party in
+general would be more apt to commend themselves to women than those of
+the Democratic, but others believe that, so great is their antipathy
+to war and all the evils connected with it and the consequences
+following it, they would have opposed the party responsible for these
+during the past four years. It may be accepted, however, as the most
+probable view that women will divide on the main issues in much the
+same proportion as men. From this standpoint neither party will see
+any especial advantage in their enfranchisement, and both will look
+with disfavor upon adding to the immense number of voters who must now
+be reckoned with in every campaign an equally great number who are
+likely to require an entirely different management. There is a certain
+element in the leadership of all parties which is not especially
+objectionable to men, but would not be tolerated by women. Candidates
+who would be perfectly acceptable to men if they were sound on the
+political issues might be wholly repudiated by the women of their own
+party. If temperance and morality were made requisites many leaders
+and officials who now hold high position would be permanently retired.
+These are all reasons which appeal to politicians for deferring the
+day of woman suffrage as long as possible.
+
+Each of the two dominant parties is largely controlled by what are
+known as the liquor interests. Their influence begins with the
+National Government, which receives from them billions of revenue; it
+extends to the States, to which they pay millions; to the cities,
+whose income they increase by hundreds of thousands; to the farmers,
+who find in breweries and distilleries the best market for their
+grain. There is no hamlet so small as not to be touched by their
+ramifications. No "trust" ever formed can compare with them in the
+power which they exercise. That their business shall not be interfered
+with they must possess a certain authority over Congress and
+Legislatures. They and the various institutions connected with them
+control millions of votes. They are among the largest contributors to
+political campaigns. There are few legislators who do not owe their
+election in a greater or less degree to the influence wielded by these
+liquor interests, which are positively, unanimously and unalterably
+opposed to woman suffrage. This can be gained only by the submission
+of an amendment to the National or State constitutions, and for that
+women must go to the Congress or the Legislatures. What can they offer
+to offset the influences behind these bodies? They have no money to
+contribute for party purposes. They represent no constituency and can
+not pledge a single vote, a situation in which no other class is
+placed. They ask men to divide a power of which they now have a
+monopoly; to give up a sure thing for an uncertainty; to sacrifice
+every selfish interest--and all in the name of abstract justice, a
+word which has no place in politics. Was there ever apparently a more
+hopeless quest?
+
+With the exception of the three amendments made necessary by the Civil
+War, the Federal Constitution has not been amended for ninety-eight
+years, and there is strong opposition to any changes in that
+instrument. If Congress would submit an article to the State
+Legislatures for the enfranchisement of women the situation would be
+vastly simplified and eventually the requisite three-fourths for
+ratification could be secured, but undoubtedly a number of States will
+have to follow the example of those in the far West in granting the
+suffrage before this is done. The question at present, therefore, may
+be considered as resting with the various Legislatures. With all the
+powerful influences above mentioned strongly intrenched and pitted
+against the women who come empty-handed, it is naturally a most
+difficult matter to secure the submission of an amendment where there
+is the slightest chance of its carrying. With the two exceptions of
+Colorado and Idaho, it may be safely asserted that in every case where
+one has been submitted it has been done simply to please the women and
+to get rid of them, and with the full assurance that it would not be
+carried. Two conspicuous examples of the impossibility of obtaining an
+amendment where it would be likely to receive a majority vote are to
+be found in California and Iowa. In the former State one went before
+the electors in 1896, and, although the conditions were most
+unfavorable and the strongest possible fight was made against it, so
+large an affirmative sentiment was developed that it was clearly
+evident it would be carried on a second trial. Up to that time the
+women of this State had very little difficulty in securing suffrage
+bills, but since then the Legislature has persistently refused to
+submit another amendment. (See chapter on California.)
+
+In probably no State is the general sentiment so strongly in favor of
+woman suffrage as in Iowa, and yet for the past thirty years the women
+have tried in vain to secure from the Legislature the submission of an
+amendment--simply an opportunity to carry their case to the electors.
+(See chapter on Iowa.) The politics of that State is practically
+controlled by the great brewing interests and the balance of power
+rests in the German vote. It is believed that woman suffrage would be
+detrimental to their interests and they will not allow it. Here, as in
+many States, a resolution for an amendment must be acted upon by two
+successive Legislatures. If a majority of either party should pass
+this resolution, the enemy would be able to defeat its nominees for
+the next Legislature before the women could get the chance to vote for
+them. In other words, all the forces hostile to woman suffrage are
+already enfranchised and are experienced, active and influential in
+politics, while the women themselves can give no assistance, and the
+men in every community who favor it are very largely those who have
+not an aggressive political influence. This very refusal of certain
+Legislatures to let the voters pass upon the question is the strongest
+possible indication that they fear the result. If women could be
+enfranchised simply by an Act of Congress they would have an
+opportunity to vote for their benefactors at the same time as the
+enemies would vote against them, and thus the former would not, as at
+present, run the risk of personal defeat and the overthrow of their
+party by espousing the cause of woman suffrage.
+
+If, however, Legislatures were willing to submit the question it is
+doubtful whether, under present conditions, it could be carried in any
+large number of States, as the same elements which influence
+legislators act also upon the voters through the party "machines."
+Amendments to strike the word "male" from the suffrage clause of the
+Constitution have been submitted by ten States, and by five of these
+twice--Kansas, 1867-94; Michigan, 1874; Colorado, 1877-93; Nebraska,
+1882; Oregon, 1884-1900; Rhode Island, 1886; Washington, 1889-98;
+South Dakota, 1890-98; California, 1896; Idaho, 1896. Out of the
+fifteen trials the amendment has been adopted but twice--in Colorado
+and Idaho. In these two cases it was indorsed by all the political
+parties and carried with their permission. Wyoming and Utah placed
+equal suffrage in the constitution under which they entered
+Statehood. In both, as Territories, women had had the full
+franchise--in Wyoming twenty-one and in Utah seventeen years--and
+public sentiment was strongly in favor. In the States where the
+question was defeated it had practically no party support.
+
+Aside from all political hostility, however, woman suffrage has to
+face a tremendous opposition from other sources. The attitude of a
+remonstrant is the natural one of the vast majority of people. Their
+first cry on coming into the world, if translated, would be, "I
+object." They are opposed on principle to every innovation, and the
+greatest of these is the enfranchisement of women. To grant woman an
+equality with man in the affairs of life is contrary to every
+tradition, every precedent, every inheritance, every instinct and
+every teaching. The acceptance of this idea is possible only to those
+of especially progressive tendencies and a strong sense of justice,
+and it is yet too soon to expect these from the majority. If it had
+been necessary to have the consent of the majority of the men in every
+State for women to enter the universities, to control their own
+property, to engage in the various professions and occupations, to
+speak from the public platform and to form great organizations, in not
+one would they be enjoying these privileges to-day. It is very
+probable that this would be equally true if they had depended upon the
+permission of a majority of women themselves. They are more
+conservative even than men, because of the narrowness and isolation of
+their lives, the subjection in which they always have been held, the
+severe punishment inflicted by society on those who dare step outside
+the prescribed sphere, and, stronger than all, perhaps, their
+religious tendencies through which it has been impressed upon them
+that their subordinate position was assigned by the Divine will and
+that to rebel against it is to defy the Creator. In all the
+generations, Church, State and society have combined to retard the
+development of women, with the inevitable result that those of every
+class are narrower, more bigoted and less progressive than the men of
+that class.
+
+While the girls are crowding the colleges now until they threaten to
+exceed the number of boys, the demand for the higher education was
+made by the merest handful of women and granted by an equally small
+number of men, who, on the boards of trustees, were able to do so,
+but it would have been deferred for decades if it had depended on a
+popular vote of either men or women. The pioneers in the professions
+found their most trying opposition from other women, instigated by the
+men who did their thinking for them to believe that the whole sex was
+being disgraced. Married women almost universally were opposed to laws
+which would give them control of their property, being assured by
+their masculine advisers that this would deprive them of the love and
+protection of their husbands. Public sentiment was wholly opposed to
+these laws and no such objections ever have been made in Legislatures
+even to woman suffrage as were urged against allowing a wife to own
+property. The contest was won by the smallest fraction of women and a
+few strong, far-seeing men, the latter actuated not alone by a
+sentiment of justice but also by the desire of preventing husbands
+from squandering the property which fathers had accumulated and wished
+to secure to their daughters, and fortunate indeed was it that this
+action did not have to be ratified by the voters.
+
+There are in the United States between three and four million women
+engaged in wage-earning occupations outside of domestic service. Would
+this be possible had they been obliged to have the duly recorded
+permission of a majority of all the men over twenty-one years old? If
+the question were submitted to the votes of these men to-day whether
+women should be allowed to continue in these employments and enter any
+and all others, would it be carried in the affirmative in a single
+State?
+
+And yet this prejudiced, conservative and in a degree ignorant and
+vicious electorate possesses absolutely the power to withhold the
+suffrage from women. A large part of it is composed of foreign-born
+men, bringing from the Old World the most primitive ideas of the
+degraded position which properly belongs to woman. Another part is
+addicted to habits with which it never would give women the chance to
+interfere. Boys of twenty-one form another portion, fully imbued with
+a belief in woman's inferiority which only experience can eradicate.
+Men of the so-called working classes vote against it because they fear
+to add to the power of the so-called aristocracy. The latter oppose it
+because they think the suffrage already has been too widely extended
+and ought to be curtailed instead of expanded. The old fogies cast a
+negative ballot because they believe woman ought to be kept in her
+"sphere," and the strictly orthodox because it is not authorized by
+the Scriptures. A large body who are "almost persuaded," but have some
+lingering doubts as to the "expediency," satisfy their consciences for
+voting "no" by saying that the women of their family and acquaintance
+do not want it. Thus is the most valuable of human rights--the right
+of individual representation--made the football of Legislatures, the
+shuttlecock of voters, kicked and tossed like the veriest plaything in
+utter disregard of the vital fact that it is the one principle above
+all others on which the Government is founded.
+
+Nevertheless there is abundant reason for belief that, in the face of
+all the forces which are arrayed against it, this measure could be
+carried in almost any State where the women themselves were a unit or
+even very largely in the majority in favor of it. In the indifference,
+the inertia, the apathy of women lies the greatest obstacle to their
+enfranchisement. Investigation in States where a suffrage amendment
+has been voted on has shown that practically every election precinct
+where a thorough canvass was made and every voter personally
+interviewed by the women who resided in it, was carried in favor. Some
+men of course can not be moved, but many who never have given the
+subject any thought can be set to thinking; while there is in the
+average man a latent sense of justice which responds to the persuasion
+of a woman who comes in person and says, "I ask you to grant me the
+same rights which you yourself enjoy; I am your neighbor; I pay taxes
+just as you do; our interests are identical; give me the same power to
+protect mine which you possess to protect yours." A man would have to
+be thoroughly hardened to vote "no" after such an appeal, but if he
+were let alone he could do so without any qualms. The same situation
+obtains in the family and in social life. The average man would not
+vote against granting women the franchise if all those of his own
+family and the circle of his intimate friends brought a strong
+pressure to bear upon him in its favor. The measure could be carried
+against all opposition if every clergyman in every community would
+urge the women of his congregation to work for it, assuring them of
+the sanction of the church and the blessing of God, and showing them
+how vastly it would increase their power for good.
+
+Every privilege which has been granted women has tended to develop
+them, until their influence is incomparably stronger at the present
+time than ever before. Their great organizations are a power in every
+town and city. If these throughout a State would unite in a determined
+effort to secure the franchise, bringing to bear upon legislators the
+demands of thousands of women, high and low, rich and poor, of all
+classes and conditions, they would be compelled to yield; and the same
+amount of influence would carry the amendment with the voters. But the
+petitioners for the suffrage are in the minority. There are many
+obvious reasons for this, and one of them, paradoxical as it may seem,
+is because so much already has been gained. Woman in general now finds
+her needs very well supplied. If she wants to work she has all
+occupations to choose from. If she desires an education the schools
+and colleges are freely opened to her. If she wishes to address the
+public by pen or voice the people hear her gladly. The laws have been
+largely modified in her favor, and where they might press they are
+seldom enforced. She may accumulate and control property; she may set
+up her own domestic establishment and go and come at will. If the
+workingwoman finds herself at a disadvantage she has not time and
+often not ability to seek the cause until she traces it to
+disfranchisement, and if she should do so she is too helpless to make
+a contest against it. Those women who "have dwelt, since they were
+born, in well-feathered nests and have never needed do anything but
+open their soft beaks for the choicest little grubs to be dropped into
+them," can not be expected to feel or see any necessity for the
+ballot. Nor will the woman half way between, absorbed in her church,
+her clubs, her charities and her household, make the philosophical
+study necessary to show that she could do larger and more effective
+work for all of these if she possessed the great power which lies in
+the suffrage. Even women of much wealth who are not idle,
+self-centered and indifferent to the needs of humanity, but are giving
+munificently for religious, educational and philanthropic purposes,
+have not been aroused in any large number to the necessity of the
+suffrage, for reasons which are evident.
+
+Reforms of every kind are inaugurated and carried forward by a
+minority, and there is no reason why this one should prove an
+exception. In not an instance has a majority of any class of men
+demanded the franchise, and there is no precedent for expecting the
+majority of women to do so. It will have to be gained for them by the
+foresight, the courage and the toil of the few, just as all other
+privileges have been, and they will enter into possession with the
+same eagerness and unanimity as has marked their acceptance of the
+others.
+
+With this mass of prejudice, selfishness and inertia to overcome is
+there any hope of future success? Yes, there is a hope which amounts
+to a certainty. Nothing could be more logical than a belief that where
+one hundred privileges have been opposed and then ninety-nine of them
+granted, the remaining one will ultimately follow. While women still
+suffer countless minor disadvantages, the fundamental rights have
+largely been secured except the suffrage. This, as has been pointed
+out, is most difficult to obtain because it is intrenched in
+constitutional law and because it represents a more radical revolution
+than all the others combined. The softening of the bitter opposition
+of the early days through the general spirit of progress has been
+somewhat counteracted by a modern skepticism as to the supreme merit
+of a democratic government and a general disgust with the prevalent
+political corruption. This will continue to react strongly against any
+further extension of the suffrage until men can be made to see that a
+real democracy has not as yet existed, but that the dangerous
+experiment has been made of enfranchising the vast proportion of
+crime, intemperance, immorality and dishonesty, and barring absolutely
+from the suffrage the great proportion of temperance, morality,
+religion and conscientiousness; that, in other words, the worst
+elements have been put into the ballot-box and the best elements kept
+out. This fatal mistake is even now beginning to dawn upon the minds
+of those who have cherished an ideal of the grandeur of a republic,
+and they dimly see that in woman lies the highest promise of its
+fulfilment. Those who fear the foreign vote will learn eventually that
+there are more American-born women in the United States than
+foreign-born men and women; and those who dread the ignorant vote will
+study the statistics and see that the percentage of illiteracy is much
+smaller among women than among men.
+
+The consistent tendency since the right to individual representation
+was established by the Revolutionary War has been to extend this
+right, until now every man in the United States is enfranchised. While
+a few, usually those who are too exclusive to vote themselves, insist
+that this is detrimental to the electorate, the vast majority hold
+that in numbers there is the safety of its being more difficult to
+purchase or mislead; that even the ignorant may vote more honestly
+than the educated; that more knowledge and judgment can be added
+through ten million electors than through five; and also that by this
+universal male suffrage it is made impossible for one class of men to
+legislate against another class, and thus all excuse for anarchy or a
+resort to force is removed. Added to these advantages is the
+developing influence of the ballot upon the individual himself, which
+renders him more intelligent and gives him a broader conception of
+justice and liberty. All of these conditions must lead eventually to
+the enfranchising of the only remaining part of the citizenship
+without this means of protection and development.
+
+The gradual movement in this direction in the United States is seen in
+the partial extension of the franchise which has taken place during
+the past thirty-three years, or within one generation. During this
+time over one-half of them have conferred School Suffrage on women;
+one has granted Municipal Suffrage; four a vote on questions of
+taxation; three have recognized them in local matters, and a number of
+cities have given such privileges as were possible by charter. Since
+1890 four States, by a majority vote of the electors, have
+enfranchised 200,000 women by incorporating the complete suffrage in
+their constitutions, from which it never can be removed except by a
+vote of women themselves. During all these years there have been but
+two retrogressive steps--the disfranchising of the women of Washington
+Territory in 1888 by an unconstitutional decision of the Supreme
+Court, dictated by the disreputable elements then in control; and the
+taking away of the School Suffrage from all women of the second-class
+cities in Kentucky by its Legislature of 1902 for the purpose of
+eliminating the vote of colored women. In every other Legislature a
+bill to repeal any limited franchise which has been extended has been
+overwhelmingly voted down.
+
+Another favorable sign is the action taken by Legislatures on bills
+for the full enfranchisement of women. Formerly they were treated with
+contempt and ridicule and either thrown out summarily or discussed in
+language which the descendants of the honorable gentlemen who used it
+will regret to read. Now such bills are treated with comparative
+courtesy; a discussion is avoided wherever possible, members not
+wishing to go on record, but if forced it is conducted in a respectful
+manner; and, while usually rejected, the opposing majority is small,
+in many instances only just large enough to secure defeat, and
+frequently members have to change their votes to the negative as they
+find the measure is about to be carried. Several instances have
+occurred in the last year or two where the bill passed but during the
+night the party whip was applied with such force that the affirmative
+was compelled to reconsider its action the next day. There is little
+doubt that even now if members were free to vote their convictions a
+bill could be carried in many Legislatures.
+
+A most encouraging sign is the attitude of the Press. Although the
+country papers occasionally refer to the suffrage advocates as hyenas,
+cats, crowing hens, bold wantons, unsexed females and dangerous
+home-wreckers--expressions which were common a generation ago--these
+are no longer found in metropolitan and influential newspapers. Scores
+of both city and country papers openly advocate the measure and scores
+of others would do so if they were not under the same control as the
+Legislatures. Ten years ago it was almost impossible to secure space
+in any paper for woman suffrage arguments. To-day several of the
+largest in the country maintain regular departments for this purpose,
+while the report of the press chairman of the National Association for
+1901 stated that during the past eight months 175,000 articles on the
+subject had been sent to the press and a careful investigation showed
+that three-fourths of them had been published. In addition different
+papers had used 150 special articles, while the page of plate matter
+furnished every six weeks was extensively taken. New York reported 400
+papers accepting suffrage matter regularly; Pennsylvania, 368; Iowa,
+253; Illinois, 161; Massachusetts, 107, and other States in varying
+numbers. Since this question is very largely one of educating the
+people, the opening of the Press to its arguments is probably the most
+important advantage which has been gained.
+
+The progress of public sentiment is strikingly illustrated in a
+comparison of the votes in those States which have twice submitted an
+amendment to their constitution that would give the suffrage to women.
+In Kansas such an amendment in 1867 received 9,070 ayes, 19,857 noes;
+in 1894, 95,302 ayes, 130,139 noes. The second time it was indorsed by
+the Populists and not by the Republicans, therefore the latter, who in
+that State are really favorable to the measure, largely voted against
+it in order that the Populists might not strengthen their party by
+appearing to carry it, and yet the percentage of opposition was
+considerably decreased. In Colorado in 1877 the vote stood 6,612 ayes,
+14,055 noes; in 1893 the amendment was carried by 35,698 ayes, 29,461
+noes--a majority of 6,237. Oregon in 1884 gave 11,223 ayes, 28,176
+noes; in 1900, 26,265 ayes, 28,402 noes--an increase of 226 opponents
+and 15,042 advocates. The vote in Washington in 1889 was 16,527 ayes,
+35,917 noes; in 1898, 20,171 ayes, 30,497 noes--the opposing majority
+reduced from 19,396 to 10,326, or almost one-half.
+
+One is logically entitled to believe from these figures that the
+question will be carried in each of those States the next time it is
+voted on. It must be remembered that women go into all these campaigns
+with no political influence and practically no money, not enough to
+employ workers and speakers to make an approach to a thorough
+organization and canvass of the State; totally without the aid of
+party machinery; with no platform on which to present their cause
+except such as is granted by courtesy; and with no advocacy of it by
+the speakers on the platforms of the various parties. The increased
+majorities indicate solely that men are emerging from the bondage of
+tradition, prejudice and creed, and that when they can escape from the
+bondage of politics they will grant justice to women.
+
+The very fact that women themselves are arousing from their inertia to
+the extent of organizing in opposition to what they term "the danger
+of having the ballot thrust upon them" shows life. While their
+enrollment is infinitesimal it has set women to thinking, and a number
+who have signed the declaration that they do not want the franchise,
+have for the first time been compelled to give the matter
+consideration and have decided that they do want it. The facts also
+that within a few years the membership of the National Suffrage
+Association has doubled; that auxiliaries have been formed in every
+State and Territory; that permanent headquarters have been established
+in New York; and that the revenues (almost wholly the contributions of
+women) have risen from the $2,000 or $3,000 per annum, which it was
+barely possible to secure half-a-dozen years ago, to $10,345 in 1899,
+$22,522 in 1900 (including receipts from Bazar), $18,290 in
+1901--these facts are indisputable evidence of the growth of the
+sentiment among women. In this line of progress must be placed also
+the thousands of other organizations containing millions of women,
+which, although not including the suffrage among their objects, are
+engaged in efforts for better laws, civic improvements and a general
+advance in conditions that inevitably will bring them to realize the
+immense disadvantage of belonging to a class without political
+influence.
+
+Nothing could be more illogical than the belief that a republic would
+confer every gift upon woman except the choicest and then forever
+withhold this; or that women would be content to possess all others
+and not eventually demand the one most valuable. The increasing number
+who are attending political conventions and crowding mass meetings
+until they threaten to leave no room for voters, are unmistakable
+proof that eventually women themselves and men also will see the utter
+absurdity of their disfranchised condition. The ancient objections
+which were urged so forcibly a generation or two ago have lost their
+force and must soon be retired from service. The charge of mental
+incapacity is totally refuted by the statistics of 1900 showing the
+percentage of girls in the High Schools to be 58.36 and of boys,
+41.64; the number of girl graduates, 39,162; boys, 22,575; 70 per
+cent. of the public school teachers women; 40,000 women college
+graduates scattered throughout the country and 30,000 now in the
+universities, with the percentage of their increase in women students
+three times as great as that of men, and 431,153 women practicing in
+the various professions.
+
+The charge of business incompetency is disproved by the 503,574 women
+who are engaged in trade and transportation, the 980,025 in
+agriculture and the 1,315,890 in manufacturing and mechanical
+pursuits. Every community also furnishes its special examples of the
+aptitude of women for business, now that they are allowed a chance to
+manifest it. Statistics show further that one-tenth of the
+millionaires are women and that they are large property holders in
+every locality. Whether they earned or inherited their holdings, the
+fact remains that they are compelled to pay taxes on billions of
+dollars without any representation.
+
+The military argument--that women must not vote because they can not
+fight--is seldom used nowadays, as it is so clearly evident that it
+would also disfranchise vast numbers of men; that the value of women
+in the perpetuation of the Government is at least equal to that of the
+men who defend it; and that there is no recognition in the laws by
+which the franchise is exercised of the slightest connection between a
+ballot and a bullet.
+
+The most persistent objection--that if women are allowed to enter
+politics they will neglect their homes and families--is conclusively
+answered in the four States where they have had political rights for a
+number of years and domestic life still moves on just as in other
+places. In two of the four while Territories women had exercised the
+franchise from seventeen to twenty-one years, and yet a large majority
+of the men voted to grant it perpetually. Women do not love their
+families because compelled to do so by statute, or cling to their
+homes because there is no place for them outside. This same direful
+prediction was made at every advanced step, but, although the entire
+status of women has been changed, and they are largely engaged in the
+public work of every community, they are better and happier wives,
+mothers and housekeepers because they are more intelligent and live a
+broader life. But they are learning, and the world is learning, that
+their housekeeping qualities should extend to the municipality and
+their power of motherhood to the children of the whole nation, and
+that these should be expressed through this very politics from which
+they are so rigorously excluded.
+
+The objections of the opponents have been so largely confuted that
+they have for the most part been compelled to make a last defense by
+declaring: "When the majority of women ask for the suffrage they may
+have it." By this very concession they admit that there is no valid
+reason for withholding it, and in thus arbitrarily doing so they are
+denying all representation to the minority, which is wholly at
+variance with republican principles. This is excused on the ground
+that the franchise is not a "right" but a privilege to be granted or
+not as seems best to those in power. This was the Tory argument before
+the American Revolution, and, carried back to its origin, it upholds
+"the divine authority of kings." The law to put in force the one and
+only amendment ever added to our National Constitution to extend the
+franchise was entitled, "An act to enforce the _right_ of citizens of
+the United States to vote;" and the amendment itself reads, "The
+_right_ of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied
+or abridged." (See Chap. I.)
+
+The readers of the present volume will not find such a story of cruel
+and relentless punishment inflicted upon advocates of woman suffrage
+as is related in the earlier volumes of this History, but the passing
+of rack and thumbscrew, of stake and fagot, does not mean the end of
+persecution in the world. Those who stand for this reform to-day do
+not tread a flower-strewn path. It is yet an unpopular subject, under
+the ban of society and receiving scant measure of public sympathy, but
+it must continue to be urged. If the assertion had been accepted as
+conclusive, that a measure which after years of advocacy is still
+opposed by the majority should be dropped, the greatest reforms of
+history would have been abandoned. The personal character of those who
+represent a cause, however, sometimes carries more weight than the
+numbers, and judged by this standard none has had stronger support
+than the enfranchisement of women[2].
+
+The struggle of the Nineteenth Century was the transference of power
+from one man or one class of men to all men, it has been said, and
+while but one country in 1800 had a constitutional government, in 1900
+fifty had some form of constitution and some degree of male
+sovereignty. Must the Twentieth Century be consumed in securing for
+woman that which man spent a hundred years in obtaining for himself?
+The determination of those engaged in this righteous contest was thus
+expressed by the president of the National Suffrage Association in her
+address at the annual convention of 1902:
+
+     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 man and God shall control the destinies of the earth.
+
+But have we not reason to hope, in this era of rapid fulfilment--when
+in all material things electricity is accomplishing in a day what
+required months under the old regime--that moral progress will keep
+pace? And that as much stronger as the electric power has shown itself
+than the coarse and heavy forces of the stone and iron periods, so
+much superior will prove the _noblesse oblige_ of the men and women of
+the present, achieving in a generation what was not possible to the
+narrow selfishness and ignorant prejudice of all the past ages?
+
+A part of the magnificent plan to beautify Washington, the capital of
+the nation, is a colossal statue to American Womanhood. The design
+embodies a great arch of marble standing on a base in the form of an
+oval and broken by sweeps of steps. On either side are large bronze
+panels, bearing groups of figures. One of these will be a symbolic
+design showing the spirit of the people descending to lay offerings on
+woman's altar. Lofty pillars crowned by figures representing Victory,
+are to be placed at the approaches. Surmounting the arch will be the
+chief group of the composition, symbolizing Woman Glorified. She is
+rising from her throne to greet War and Peace, Literature and Art,
+Science and Industry, who approach to lay homage at her feet. Inside
+the arch is a memorial hall for recording the achievements of women.
+
+How soon this symbol shall become reality and woman stand forth in all
+the glory of freedom to reach her highest stature, depends upon the
+use she makes of the opportunities already hers and the fraternal
+assistance she receives from man. Fearless of criticism, courageous in
+faith, let each take for a guide these inspiring words which it has
+been said the Puritan of old would utter if he could speak: "I was a
+radical in my day; be thou the same in thine! I turned my back upon
+the old tyrannies and heresies and struck for the new liberties and
+beliefs; my liberty and my belief are doubtless already tyranny and
+heresy to thine age; strike thou for the new!"
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[2] For partial list, see Appendix--Eminent Advocates of Woman
+Suffrage.
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+  ANTHONY, SUSAN B.                                   _Frontispiece_
+  ANTHONY, MARY S.                                               848
+  AVERY, RACHEL FOSTER                                           270
+  AVERY, SUSAN LOOK                                              678
+  BLACKWELL, ALICE STONE                                         270
+  BLANKENBURG, LUCRETIA L.                                       750
+  CATT, CARRIE CHAPMAN                                           388
+  CHAPMAN, MARIANA W.                                            848
+  CLAY, LAURA                                                    270
+  COGGESHALL, MARY J.                                            948
+  EATON, DR. CORA SMITH                                          518
+  GORDON, KATE M.                                                678
+  GREENLEAF, JEAN BROOKS                                         848
+  GREGG, LAURA A.                                                518
+  HALL, FLORENCE HOWE                                            750
+  HARPER, IDA HUSTED                                            1042
+  HATCH, LAVINA A.                                               750
+  HAYWARD, MARY SMITH                                            948
+  HOWARD, EMMA SHAFTER                                           518
+  HOWLAND, EMILY                                                 848
+  JENKINS, HELEN PHILLEO                                         678
+  JOHNS, LAURA M.                                                948
+  MCCULLOCH, CATHARINE WAUGH                                     270
+  MEREDITH, ELLIS                                                518
+  MILLS, HARRIET MAY                                             750
+  NELSON, JULIA B.                                               948
+  OSBORNE, ELIZABETH WRIGHT                                      848
+  SHAW, REV. ANNA HOWARD                                         128
+  SOUTHWORTH, LOUISA                                             678
+  SPENCER, REV. ANNA GARLIN                                      750
+  STANTON, ELIZABETH CADY                                        188
+  SWIFT, MARY WOOD                                               518
+  THOMAS, MARY BENTLEY                                           678
+  UPTON, HARRIET TAYLOR                                          270
+  WELLS, EMMELINE B.                                             948
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS.
+
+
+List of Illustrations XXXIV
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+REVIEW OF THE SITUATION xiii-xxxiii
+
+     Pioneers break the ground -- All their demands now practically
+     conceded except the Franchise -- Why is this still refused? --
+     All other rights depend on Statute Law, suffrage on change of
+     Constitution -- No other nation thus fettered -- Further almost
+     insurmountable obstacles -- Experience in many States -- Either
+     dominant party would enfranchise women if it were sure of their
+     votes -- Liquor interests and political "machines" allied in
+     opposition -- They control the situation -- Figures of votes on
+     Amendments -- Majority of people born opponents of all
+     innovations -- Character of electorate on which women must depend
+     -- Indifference of women themselves -- Reaction against a
+     democratic government -- Facts showing steady progress of Woman
+     Suffrage -- All signs favorable -- Women in education and
+     business -- Old objections dying out -- Personal character of
+     advocates -- Persecution not obsolete but the enfranchisement of
+     women inevitable.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+WOMAN'S CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO VOTE 1-13
+
+     Early State constitutions provided against Woman Suffrage --
+     First demand for it -- Women after the Civil War -- "Male" first
+     used in National Constitution -- Fourteenth Amendment -- Endeavor
+     to make it include women -- They attempt to vote -- Susan B.
+     Anthony's trial -- Case of Virginia L. Minor -- Supreme Court
+     decisions -- Suffrage as a right -- Arguments for the Federal
+     Franchise -- National Association decides to try only for new
+     Amendment -- Hearings before Congressional Committees -- Reports
+     of these committees -- Debate in Congress.
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE NATIONAL SUFFRAGE CONVENTION OF 1884 14-30
+
+     Forming of National Association in 1869 -- Washington selected
+     for annual conventions -- Call for that of '84 -- Extracts from
+     speeches on Kentucky Laws for Women -- Woman before the Law --
+     Outrage of Disfranchisement -- Ethics of Woman Suffrage --
+     England vs. the United States -- Bishop Matthew Simpson in Favor
+     of Woman's Enfranchisement -- Resolutions and Plan of Work --
+     Memorial to Wendell Phillips -- Miss Anthony on Disfranchisement
+     a Disgrace -- Matilda Joslyn Gage on The Feminine in the
+     Sciences.
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS AND REPORTS OF 1884 31-55
+
+     Debate in the House on a Special Woman Suffrage Committee --
+     Extracts from speeches of John H. Reagan on Awful Effects of
+     Woman Suffrage -- James B. Belford on Woman's Right to a Special
+     Committee -- J. Warren Keifer on Justice of the Enfranchisement
+     of Women -- John D. White on Woman's Right to be Heard -- Hearing
+     before Senate Committee -- Interdependence of Men and Women --
+     Woman Suffrage a Paramount Question -- A Right does not Depend on
+     a Majority's Asking for It -- Woman's Ballot for the Good of the
+     Race -- Preponderance of Foreign Vote -- Miss Anthony on Action
+     by Congress vs. Action by Legislatures -- Elizabeth Cady Stanton
+     on Self-Government the Best Means of Self-Development; moral need
+     of woman's ballot, men as natural protectors, inherent right of
+     self-representation -- Favorable Senate Report -- Adverse House
+     Report by William C. Maybury -- Editorial comment -- Luke P.
+     Poland on Men Should Represent Women -- Strong Report in Favor by
+     Thomas B. Reed, Ezra B. Taylor, Moses A. McCoid, Thomas M.
+     Browne.
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE NATIONAL SUFFRAGE CONVENTION OF 1885 56-69
+
+     Startling descriptions of delegates' attire -- Mrs. Stanton on
+     Separate Spheres an Impossibility -- Discussion on resolution
+     denouncing Religious Dogmas -- Criticism by ministers -- Great
+     speech in favor of Woman Suffrage in the U. S. Senate by Thomas
+     W. Palmer; action by Congress a necessity, Scriptures not opposed
+     to the equality of woman, figures of women's vote, State needs
+     woman's ballot.
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE NATIONAL SUFFRAGE CONVENTION OF 1886 70-84
+
+     Relation of the Woman Suffrage Movement to the Labor Question --
+     Take Down the Barriers -- German and American Independence
+     Contrasted -- Resolution condemning Creeds and Dogmas again
+     discussed -- Woman's Right to Vote under Fourteenth Amendment --
+     Disfranchisement Cuts Women's Wages -- One-half No Right to a
+     Vote on Liberties of Other Half -- Woman Suffrage Necessary for
+     Life of Republic -- America lags behind in granting political
+     rights to women -- Minority House Report in favor of a Sixteenth
+     Amendment by Ezra B. Taylor, W. P. Hepburn, Lucian B. Caswell, A.
+     A. Ranney; men hold franchise by force, women require it for
+     development, history of woman one of wrong and outrage,
+     Government needs woman's vote, no excuse for waiting till
+     majority demand it.
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+FIRST DISCUSSION AND VOTE IN U. S. SENATE, 1887 85-111
+
+     Joint Resolution for Sixteenth Amendment extending Right of
+     Suffrage to Women -- Able speech of Henry W. Blair; Government
+     founded on equality of rights, no connection between the vote and
+     ability to fight, property qualification an invasion of natural
+     right, man's deification of woman a shallow pretense, no such
+     thing as household suffrage here, maternity qualifies woman to
+     vote, fear of family dissension not a valid excuse -- Joseph E.
+     Brown replies; Creator intended spheres of men and women to be
+     different, man qualified by physical strength to vote, caucuses
+     and jury duty too laborious for women, they are queens,
+     princesses and angels, they would neglect their families to go
+     into politics, the delicate and refined would feel compelled to
+     vote, only the vulgar and ignorant would go to the polls, ballot
+     would not help workingwomen, husbands would compel wives to vote
+     as they dictated -- Editorial comment -- Joseph N. Dolph supports
+     the Resolution; if but one woman wants the suffrage it is tyranny
+     to refuse it, neither in nature nor revealed will of God is there
+     anything to forbid, contest for woman suffrage a struggle for
+     human liberty, its benefits where exercised -- James B. Eustis
+     objects -- George G. Vest depicts the terrible dangers, negro
+     women all would vote Republican ticket, husband does not wish to
+     go home to embrace of female ward politician, women too emotional
+     to vote, suffrage not a right, we must not unsex our mothers and
+     wives -- Editorial comment -- George F. Hoar defends woman
+     suffrage; arguments against it are against popular government,
+     Senators Brown and Vest have furnished only gush and emotion --
+     Senator Blair closes debate with an appeal that women may carry
+     their case to the various Legislatures -- Vote on submitting an
+     Amendment, 16 yeas, 34 nays.
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE NATIONAL SUFFRAGE CONVENTION OF 1887 112-123
+
+     Bishop John P. Newman favors Woman Suffrage -- Mrs. Stanton's
+     sarcastic comments on the speeches of Senators Brown and Vest --
+     Lillie Devereux Blake's satire on the Rights of Men -- Isabella
+     Beecher Hooker on the Constitutional Rights of Women -- Woman of
+     the Present and Past -- Delegate Joseph M. Carey on Woman
+     Suffrage in Wyoming -- Authority of Congress to Enfranchise Women
+     -- Zerelda G. Wallace on Woman's Ballot a Necessity for the
+     Permanence of Free Institutions; the lack of morality in
+     Government has caused the downfall of nations -- Resolutions --
+     U. S. Treasurer Spinner first to employ women in a Government
+     department.
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN -- HEARING OF 1888 124-142
+
+     Origin of the Council -- Call issued by National Suffrage
+     Association -- Official statistics of this great meeting --
+     Eloquent sermon of the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw on the Heavenly
+     Vision; release of woman from bondage of centuries, crucifixion
+     of reformers, the visions of all ages -- Miss Anthony opens the
+     Council -- Mrs. Stanton's address; psalms of women's lives in a
+     minor key, sympathy as a civil agent powerless until coined into
+     law, women have been mere echoes of men -- Council demands all
+     employments shall be open to women, equal pay for equal work, a
+     single standard of morality -- Forming of permanent National and
+     International Councils -- Convention of Suffrage Association --
+     Mrs. Stanton expounds National Constitution to Senate Committee
+     and shows the violation of its provisions in their application to
+     women -- Mrs. Ormiston Chant makes address -- Also Julia Ward
+     Howe -- Frances E. Willard pleads for enfranchisement.
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE NATIONAL SUFFRAGE CONVENTION OF 1889 143-157
+
+     Official Call shows non-partisan character of the demand for
+     Woman Suffrage -- Senator Blair makes clear presentation of
+     woman's right to vote for Representatives in Congress under the
+     Federal Constitution -- Mrs. Stanton ridicules women for passing
+     votes of thanks to men for restoring various minor privileges
+     which they had usurped -- Hebrew Scriptures not alone the root of
+     woman's subjection -- Representative William D. Kelley speaks --
+     Foreign and Catholic vote contrasted with American and Protestant
+     -- The Position of Woman in Marriage -- Miss Anthony on Woman's
+     Attempt to Vote under the Fourteenth Amendment -- The Coming Sex
+     -- Woman's Bill of Rights -- Favorable report from Committee,
+     Senators Blair, Charles B. Farwell, Jonathan Chace, Edward O.
+     Wolcott.
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1890 158-174
+
+     Mrs. Stanton addresses Senate Committee; the South has not
+     treated negro men more unjustly than the North has treated all
+     women, women never can fully respect themselves or be respected
+     while degraded legally and politically, Queen Victoria contrasted
+     with American women who do not wish to vote -- Zebulon B. Vance
+     questions Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony -- Committee reports in
+     favor -- Celebration of Miss Anthony's Seventieth Birthday --
+     First convention of the two united associations -- Striking
+     resolutions -- Address of Wm. Dudley Foulke; fundamental right of
+     self-government, equal rights never conceded to women, a just man
+     accords to every other human being the rights he claims for
+     himself, if one woman insists upon the franchise the justice of
+     America can not afford to deny it -- Miss Anthony demands free
+     platform -- Chivalry of Reform -- Mrs. Wallace on A Whole
+     Humanity; woman is teacher, character-builder, soul-life of the
+     race, not a question of woman's rights but of human rights --
+     Washington _Star's_ tribute to Miss Anthony.
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1891 175-184
+
+     Triennial meeting of National Council -- Hail to Wyoming! -- Mrs.
+     Stanton on the Degradation of Disfranchisement; women suffer from
+     the disgrace just as men would, State, Church and Society uphold
+     their subordination, all must be brought into harmony with the
+     idea of equality -- Lucy Stone speaks -- The Rev. Frederick A.
+     Hinckley on Husband and Wife are One; together they must
+     establish justice, temperance and purity -- U. S. Senator Carey
+     tells of the admission of Wyoming, first State with full suffrage
+     for women; tribute to their influence in government -- The Rev.
+     Miss Shaw describes recent campaign in South Dakota, Indians
+     given preference over women.
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION AND HEARINGS OF 1892 185-201
+
+     Discussion on Sunday opening of Columbian Exposition -- Last
+     appearance of Mrs. Stanton at a national convention after an
+     attendance of forty years -- Miss Anthony elected President --
+     Value of Organizations for Women -- First hearing before a
+     Democratic House Committee -- Mrs. Stanton on the Solitude of
+     Self; the right of individual conscience, individual citizenship,
+     individual development, man and woman need the same preparation
+     for time and eternity -- Lucy Stone pleads for the rights of
+     women, for justice and fair play, for the feminine as well as the
+     masculine influence in Government -- Mrs. Hooker speaks -- Senate
+     Committee addressed by Carrie Chapman Catt, and other noted women
+     -- Miss Shaw on an Appeal to Deaf Ears; time will come when ears
+     will be unstopped, voice of the people is voice of God, but voice
+     of the whole people never has been heard -- Miss Anthony
+     compliments Senator Hoar -- Committee report in favor by Senators
+     Hoar, John B. Allen, Francis E. Warren; Vance and George dissent.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1893 202-220
+
+     Washington _Evening News_ pays a compliment to the Association --
+     Memorial service for George William Curtis, John G. Whittier and
+     others -- Frederick Douglass speaks of other days -- Miss Shaw on
+     Mrs. Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Rev. Anna Oliver -- Miss Anthony
+     tells what has been gained in fourscore years -- Woman
+     Independent only when She Can Support and Protect Herself -- The
+     Girl of the Future -- Opinions of Governors of States on Woman
+     Suffrage -- Last Message from Lucy Stone -- U. S. Commissioner of
+     Labor, Carroll D. Wright, on the Industrial Emancipation of Women
+     -- Miss Anthony on publishing a paper -- Discussion on Sunday
+     Observance -- Resolutions -- Miss Anthony opposes national
+     conventions outside of Washington -- Majority votes for alternate
+     meetings elsewhere -- Bishop John F. Hurst in favor of Woman
+     Suffrage.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1894 221-235
+
+     Interesting picture of convention in _Woman's Journal_ -- Miss
+     Anthony describes forty years' wandering in the wilderness --
+     Colorado women present her with flag -- She declares the suffrage
+     association knows no section, no party, no creed -- Memorial
+     service for Lucy Stone and other distinguished members, with
+     addresses by Mrs. Howe, Mr. Foulke, Mr. Blackwell and others --
+     Many interesting speeches -- Miss Shaw's anecdotes -- Her Sunday
+     sermon, "Let no man take thy crown;" this was written to the
+     church and includes woman, responsibility should be placed on
+     women to steady them in the use of power -- Letter commending
+     Woman Suffrage from Gov. Davis H. Waite of Colorado -- Rachel
+     Foster Avery tells of Miss Anthony's part in securing the World's
+     Fair Board of Lady Managers -- Discussion on Federal Suffrage --
+     Kate Field states her position.
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1895 236-251
+
+     The Atlanta convention first one held outside of Washington --
+     Cordial reception by press and people -- Miss Anthony's charm as
+     presiding officer -- Examples of bright informal business
+     meetings -- Addresses of welcome by Mayor and others -- Woman as
+     a Subject -- Out of Her Sphere -- The New Woman of the New South
+     -- Woman Suffrage a Solution of the Negro Problem -- Good
+     suggestions for Organization and Legislative Work -- Three
+     Classes of Opponents.
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1896 252-269
+
+     The Rev. Miss Shaw's account of Miss Anthony's and her trip to
+     the Pacific Coast -- Philosophy of Woman Suffrage -- Universal
+     not Limited Suffrage -- Memorial service for Frederick Douglass,
+     Theodore Lovett Sewall, Ellen Battelle Dietrick and others --
+     Welcome to Utah, a new State with Full Suffrage for Women --
+     Response by Senator Frank J. Cannon and Representative C. E.
+     Allen -- Contest over the resolution against Mrs. Stanton's
+     Woman's Bible -- Miss Anthony's eloquent protest -- Resolution
+     adopted -- Women as Legislators -- Charlotte Perkins Stetson on
+     The Ballot as an Improver of Motherhood -- Congressional Hearings
+     -- Representative John F. Shafroth on the good effects of Woman
+     Suffrage in Colorado -- Paper of Mrs. Stanton picturing dark page
+     which present political position of woman will offer to historian
+     of the future.
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1897 270-287
+
+     Annual meeting in Des Moines welcomed by the Governor, the Mayor,
+     the Rev. H. O. Breeden and others -- Miss Anthony in her
+     president's address describes campaigns the previous year in
+     Idaho, where Woman Suffrage was carried, and in California where
+     it was defeated -- Eulogized by the _Leader_ -- Mrs. Chapman Catt
+     receives an ovation -- Mrs. Colby presents memorial resolutions
+     for nearly forty faithful friends -- President George A. Gates of
+     Iowa College advocates woman suffrage -- Maternal Love High but
+     Narrow -- Domestic Life of Suffragists -- Should the Advocates of
+     Woman Suffrage Be Strictly Non-Partisan? -- Celebration in honor
+     of the Free States, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho -- All
+     God's Works Recognize Co-equality of Male and Female -- Letter
+     from daughter of Speaker Reed -- Press Work -- Presidential
+     Suffrage.
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1898 288-321
+
+     Fiftieth Anniversary of First Woman's Rights Convention -- Chief
+     obstacle to organization is women themselves -- Gains of
+     half-a-century -- Miss Anthony's birthday luncheon -- Mrs.
+     Stanton's paper on Our Defeats and Our Triumphs -- The
+     Distinguished Dead -- Mrs. Hooker and Miss Anthony in pretty
+     scene -- Roll-call of Pioneers -- Letter from Abigail Bush,
+     president of first convention -- Greetings from Lucinda H. Stone,
+     Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell and many individuals and associations --
+     Addresses by Mrs. Cannon, a woman State Senator from Utah, Mrs.
+     Conine, a woman State Representative from Colorado, Miss Reel,
+     State Superintendent of Instruction from Wyoming, U. S. Senators
+     Teller and Cannon, and others -- Senate Hearing -- Wm. Lloyd
+     Garrison on The Nature of a Republican Form of Government -- May
+     Wright Sewall on Fitness of Women to Become Citizens from the
+     Standpoint of Education and Mental Development -- The Rev. Anna
+     Garlin Spencer on Moral Development -- Laura Clay on Physical
+     Development -- Harriot Stanton Blatch on Woman as an Economic
+     Factor -- Florence Kelley, State Factory Inspector of Illinois,
+     on the Workingwoman's Need of the Ballot -- Mariana W. Chapman on
+     Women as Capitalists and Taxpayers -- Elizabeth Burrill Curtis,
+     Are Women Represented in Our Government? -- Henry B. Blackwell,
+     Woman Suffrage and the Home -- Mrs. Stanton, The Significance and
+     History of the Ballot -- House Hearing -- Practical Working of
+     Woman Suffrage -- Alice Stone Blackwell on The Indifference of
+     Women -- Miss Anthony Closes Hearing.
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1899 322-348
+
+     Excellent arrangements at Grand Rapids -- Welcome from women's
+     organizations -- Miss Anthony's response; counting negro men and
+     refusing them representation no worse than counting all women and
+     refusing them representation, not discouraged, help of the press
+     -- The Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer on Our Duty to Our New
+     Possessions; strong protest against giving their men political
+     power and refusing it to their women -- Discussion; commissions
+     sent to investigate commerce, finance, everything but social
+     conditions, demand for commission of women, in all savage tribes
+     women superior to men, they should have ballot in Hawaii and the
+     Philippines -- Letter from Samuel Gompers -- Care to secure
+     soldiers' votes -- Effects of Suffrage Teaching -- Mrs. Sewall on
+     True Civilization -- Miss Shaw speaks -- Mrs. Stanton on Women
+     Alone Left to Fight their own Battles -- Women and War --
+     Epigrams from Southern women--Miss Anthony on Every Woman Can
+     Help -- Resolutions of encouragement -- Memorial services for
+     Parker Pillsbury, Robert Purvis, Matilda Joslyn Gage and many
+     others, with Mrs. Stanton's tribute -- Efforts of the National
+     Association to secure equal rights for Hawaiian women -- Shameful
+     action of Congressional Committee -- Unimpeachable testimony from
+     the Philippines.
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1900 349-384
+
+     Woman suffrage editorial in Washington _Post_ -- Large number of
+     young college women present -- Miss Anthony's last opening
+     address as President -- Miss Shaw tells joke on her and then
+     describes International Council of Women in London -- Miss
+     Anthony reports as delegate to the Council, which was in effect a
+     big suffrage meeting -- The Winning of Educational Freedom for
+     Women -- Woman Suffrage in Colorado -- New Professions for Women
+     Centering in the Home -- Justice of Woman Suffrage -- Federation
+     of Labor for woman's enfranchisement -- Conditions of
+     Wage-earning Women -- Miss Shaw's sermon on the Rights of Women
+     -- Woman Suffrage in the South -- Work done in Congress and Miss
+     Anthony's part in it -- Congressional Hearings -- Woman's
+     Franchise in England -- Mrs. Chapman Catt on Why We Ask for the
+     Submission of an Amendment -- Miss Anthony closes Senate hearing
+     with touching appeal -- Constitutional Argument before House
+     Committee by Mrs. Blake -- Mrs. Stanton's annual State paper --
+     The Economic Basis of Woman Suffrage -- The Protective Power of
+     the Ballot -- Miss Shaw's plea for justice and liberty -- First
+     appearance of Anti-Suffragists -- Their amusing inconsistencies
+     -- Charges made by them officially refuted -- Miss Anthony's
+     reception by President and Mrs. McKinley.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1900 CONTINUED 385-405
+
+     Miss Anthony's determination to resign the presidency -- Her
+     address to the convention -- Affecting scene at the election of
+     Carrie Chapman Catt -- Her acceptance -- Press notices of the new
+     President -- Birthday gifts to Miss Anthony -- Interesting
+     occurrences of the last session -- The retiring president
+     introduces her successor, who makes a strong address -- Miss
+     Anthony's Farewell -- Birthday Celebration in Lafayette Opera
+     House -- Program and _Woman's Tribune_ report -- Women in all
+     professions bring tributes of gratitude -- Organizations of women
+     send greetings -- Colored women express devotion -- Presents from
+     the "four free States" and from the District of Columbia -- Mrs.
+     Coonley-Ward's poem -- Mrs. Stanton's daughter brings her
+     mother's love -- Miss Shaw's inspiring words -- Miss Anthony's
+     beautiful response -- Evening reception at Corcoran Art Gallery
+     attended by thousands -- Great changes wrought in one life-time.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+THE AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION 406-433
+
+     Annual meeting of 1884 in Chicago -- Lucy Stone's account in
+     _Woman's Journal_ -- Work in the South -- Resolutions and plan of
+     work -- Memorial service for Wendell Phillips, Frances Dana Gage
+     and others -- List of officers -- Annual meeting of 1885 --
+     Welcomed by Mayor of Minneapolis -- Julia Ward Howe responds --
+     Letters from Louisa M. Alcott, Mary A. Livermore, Chancellor Wm.
+     G. Eliot, Dr. Mary F. Thomas -- Major J. A. Pickler tells of
+     Woman Suffrage in South Dakota -- Need of converting women --
+     Lucy Stone on Fair Play -- Annual meeting of 1886 -- Cordial
+     greeting of Topeka -- Addresses of welcome review history of
+     Woman Suffrage in Kansas -- President Wm. Dudley Foulke and Mrs.
+     Howe respond with tributes to men of Kansas -- Speech of Prof. W.
+     H. Carruth -- Mr. Foulke on the Value of Dreamers -- Many letters
+     and telegrams -- Annual meeting of 1887 -- State Senator A. D.
+     Harlan gives welcome of Philadelphia -- Col. T. W. Higginson's
+     address -- Report of Lucy Stone, chairman of executive committee
+     -- Resolutions congratulating Kansas women on the granting of
+     Municipal Suffrage -- Great suffrage bazar in Boston -- Annual
+     meeting of 1888 -- Favorable comment of Cincinnati papers --
+     Letter from Clara Barton -- Address of Henry B. Blackwell -- Lucy
+     Stone's description -- Large amount of work done -- Committee to
+     arrange for union with National Suffrage Association -- In 1889
+     delegates from both organizations perfect arrangements -- Appeal
+     of Mrs. Stone, Mrs. Howe and Mrs. Livermore to constitutional
+     conventions of Dakota, Washington, Montana and Idaho -- Visit of
+     Mr. Blackwell to first three to secure Woman Suffrage Amendments
+     -- In 1890 the two associations hold joint convention in national
+     capital.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+SUFFRAGE WORK IN POLITICAL AND OTHER CONVENTIONS 434-449
+
+     Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony make first appeal to political
+     conventions in 1868 -- Faint recognition of National Republican
+     Convention in 1872, 1876, 1888, 1892, 1896 -- No Democratic
+     national platform ever noticed women -- Record of Populists on
+     Woman Suffrage -- Course pursued by Prohibition and other parties
+     -- Women as delegates -- Miss Anthony's work in various
+     conventions -- Unusual efforts made in 1900 -- Letters and
+     Memorial to all parties -- Amazing result in Republican platform
+     -- Ignored by Democrats and Populists -- Sentiment developed
+     among delegates -- Petitions to non-political conventions --
+     Approval of Labor organizations -- Effect in Brewers' Convention
+     -- Strong testimony from Wyoming -- Thousands of letters
+     written--Petitions for Woman Suffrage representing millions of
+     individuals sent to Congress.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN THE STATES 450-464
+
+     Status of woman at close of the century as shown in Organization,
+     Legislative Action, Laws, Suffrage, Office-holding, Occupations
+     and Education -- Part of different associations in securing
+     present conditions -- Every State shows progress -- Legal and
+     civil rights of women now approximate those of men -- Property
+     laws for wives -- Guardianship of children -- Causes for divorce
+     in various States -- "Age of protection" for girls -- The amount
+     of suffrage women now possess -- Women in office in various
+     States -- Occupations open to women -- Educational advantages.
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+ALABAMA 465-469
+
+     Organization for suffrage -- Legislative action and laws --
+     Office-holding -- Occupations -- Education -- Clubs.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+ARIZONA 470-474
+
+     Same as above -- (School Suffrage).
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+ARKANSAS 475-477
+
+     Same as above.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+CALIFORNIA 478-494
+
+     Early efforts for the suffrage -- Woman's Congress -- Amendment
+     submitted to voters -- Great campaign of 1896 -- National
+     officers go to its assistance -- Experience with State political
+     conventions -- Favorable attitude of the Press -- Liquor dealers
+     fight Woman Suffrage -- Treachery of party managers -- Defeat and
+     its causes.
+
+SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 494-508
+
+     First suffrage society -- Woman's Parliament -- Organization and
+     work for the great campaign -- Methods worthy of imitation --
+     Friendly spirit of the press and many associations -- Southern
+     California declares for Woman Suffrage -- Laws for women -- Ellen
+     Clark Sargent's test case in San Francisco for the franchise --
+     Large donations of women for education.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+COLORADO 509-534
+
+     Organization for Woman Suffrage -- Question submitted to voters
+     -- Endorsed by all political parties -- Work of women in the
+     campaign -- Eastern anti-suffragists and Western liquor dealers
+     join hands -- Amendment carries by over 6,000 -- Reasons for
+     success -- After the battle -- Political work of women -- Only
+     three per cent. failed to vote in 1900 -- Laws -- Legislature of
+     1899 urges all States to enfranchise women -- General effects of
+     woman suffrage.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+CONNECTICUT 535-542
+
+     Organization for suffrage -- Legislative action and laws --
+     School Suffrage -- Office-holding of women -- Occupations --
+     Education -- Clubs.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+DAKOTA 543-544
+
+     Suffrage work in the Territory.
+
+NORTH DAKOTA 544-552
+
+     Efforts of women for the franchise in first constitutional
+     convention -- Organization of suffrage clubs to secure amendment
+     of constitution -- Legislative action and laws -- School Suffrage
+     -- Office-holding of women -- Occupations -- Education -- Clubs.
+
+SOUTH DAKOTA 552-562
+
+     Same as above -- Campaign of 1890 to secure Woman Suffrage
+     Amendment -- Assistance of National Association -- Hardships of
+     the canvass -- Treachery of politicians -- Amendment defeated by
+     nearly 24,000 -- Second attempt in 1898 -- Defeated by 3,285.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+DELAWARE 563-566
+
+     Organization for suffrage -- Legislative action and laws --
+     School Suffrage -- Office-holding of women -- Occupations --
+     Education -- Clubs.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 567-576
+
+     Peculiar position of women -- Work of Suffrage Association with
+     Congressional Committees -- Property rights secured -- Women on
+     School Board -- Women in Government Departments -- Woman's
+     College of Law -- Other things accomplished by women of the
+     District.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+FLORIDA 577-580
+
+     Organization for suffrage -- Effort to raise "age of protection"
+     for girls and its failure -- Laws -- Occupations -- Education.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+GEORGIA 581-588
+
+     Same as above -- Annual convention of National Association in
+     1895.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+IDAHO 589-597
+
+     First work for woman suffrage -- Submission of Amendment --
+     Campaign of 1896 -- Favored by all political parties -- Carried
+     by large majority -- Favorable decision of Supreme Court -- Women
+     elected to office -- Percentage of women voting -- Effects of
+     woman's vote -- Endorsement of prominent men -- Laws, etc.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+ILLINOIS 598-613
+
+     Organization -- Obtaining School Suffrage -- Supreme Court gives
+     wide latitude to Legislature -- Women trustees for State
+     University -- Equal guardianship of children for mothers -- Many
+     women in office -- Women's part in Columbian Exposition --
+     Remarkable achievement of two teachers in compelling corporations
+     to pay taxes -- Education.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+INDIANA 614-627
+
+     Early suffrage organization -- Efforts in political conventions
+     -- Work in Legislature -- Laws -- Amazing decisions of Supreme
+     Court on the right of women to practice law, keep a saloon and
+     vote -- Struggle for police matrons -- Women organized in fifty
+     departments of work.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+IOWA 628-637
+
+     Long years of organized work -- Continued refusal of Legislature
+     to submit a Woman Suffrage Amendment to voters -- Convention of
+     the National Association in 1897 -- Liberal laws for women --
+     Many holding office -- Bond Suffrage.
+
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+KANSAS 638-664
+
+     Organization work and large number of conventions -- Granting of
+     Municipal Suffrage -- Alliance with parties -- Efforts for Full
+     Suffrage -- Amendment submitted -- Republicans fail to endorse --
+     Campaign of 1894 -- National Association and officers assist --
+     Amendment defeated by defection of all parties -- Attempt to
+     secure suffrage by statute -- A pioneer in liberal laws for women
+     -- They hold offices not held by those of any other State --
+     Official statistics of woman's vote -- Many restrictions placed
+     on Municipal Suffrage -- Class of women who use the franchise.
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+KENTUCKY 665-677
+
+     Organization -- Efforts to secure Full Suffrage from
+     Constitutional Convention -- State Association succeeds in
+     revolutionizing the property laws for women -- School Suffrage --
+     Educational facilities, etc.
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII.
+
+LOUISIANA 678-688
+
+     Women's work at Cotton Centennial and in Anti-lottery Campaign --
+     Organization for suffrage -- Efforts in Constitutional Convention
+     of 1898 -- Taxpayer's Suffrage granted to women -- Campaign in
+     New Orleans for Sewerage and Drainage -- Measure carried by the
+     women -- Napoleonic code of laws.
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+MAINE 689-694
+
+     Organization for suffrage -- Legislative action and laws --
+     Office-holding of women -- Occupations -- Education -- Clubs.
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+MARYLAND 695-700
+
+     Same as above -- Pioneers in Woman's Rights -- Women vote in
+     Annapolis -- Contest of Miss Maddox to practice law -- Work of
+     women for Medical Department of Johns Hopkins University.
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV.
+
+MASSACHUSETTS 701-750
+
+     Pioneer work for suffrage -- New England and State Associations
+     and May Festivals -- List of Officers -- Death of Lucy Stone --
+     Anti-Suffrage Association formed -- Fifty years of Legislative
+     Work -- Republicans declare for Woman Suffrage -- Submission of
+     Mock Referendum -- Campaign in its behalf -- Activity of the
+     "antis" -- Measure defeated, but woman's vote more than ten to
+     one in favor in every district -- Laws -- Equal guardianship of
+     children -- School Suffrage -- Women in office -- Education --
+     Pay of women teachers.
+
+NATIONAL SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION OF MASSACHUSETTS 750-754
+
+     Organization -- Efforts to secure large school vote --
+     Legislative work -- Assistance in Referendum Campaign -- Press
+     work -- Many meetings held.
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI.
+
+MICHIGAN 755-771
+
+     Organization -- Efforts in political conventions -- Municipal
+     Suffrage granted to women -- Declared unconstitutional by Supreme
+     Court -- Coarse methods of opponents -- Convention of National
+     Association in 1899 -- Laws -- School Suffrage -- Woman can not
+     be prosecuting attorney -- Education, etc.
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVII.
+
+MINNESOTA 772-782
+
+     Organization -- Legislative action and laws -- School and Library
+     Suffrage -- Women in office -- Occupations -- Education -- Clubs.
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII.
+
+MISSISSIPPI 783-789
+
+     Organization -- Legislative action -- Good property laws --
+     Efforts to secure suffrage for women from Constitutional
+     Convention -- Fragmentary franchise -- Education.
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIX.
+
+MISSOURI 790-795
+
+     Organization -- Legislative action and laws -- Office-holding --
+     Education.
+
+
+CHAPTER L.
+
+MONTANA 796-801
+
+     Organization -- Attempt to obtain Woman Suffrage from first
+     Constitutional Convention -- School and Taxpayers' Suffrage
+     granted -- Legislative action and laws -- Office-holding --
+     Women's work for location of capital and at World's Fair.
+
+
+CHAPTER LI.
+
+NEBRASKA 802-809
+
+     Same as above -- (School Suffrage).
+
+
+CHAPTER LII.
+
+NEVADA 810-814
+
+     Same as above.
+
+
+CHAPTER LIII.
+
+NEW HAMPSHIRE 815-819
+
+     Same as above -- School Suffrage.
+
+
+CHAPTER LIV.
+
+NEW JERSEY 820-834
+
+     Organization -- Attempt for amendment for School Suffrage --
+     Defeated by 10,000 majority -- Legislative action and laws --
+     First State in which women voted -- How they were deprived of the
+     ballot -- Franchise now possessed -- Office-holding -- Women in
+     professions.
+
+
+CHAPTER LV.
+
+NEW MEXICO 835-838
+
+     Organization -- Legislative action and laws -- Office-holding --
+     Education -- Equal rights for women among Spanish-Americans.
+
+
+CHAPTER LVI.
+
+NEW YORK 839-873
+
+     Battle-ground for Woman Suffrage -- Conventions for fifty years
+     -- Great campaign in 1894 to secure amendment from Constitutional
+     Convention -- Governors Hill and Flower recommend women delegates
+     -- Parties refuse to nominate them -- Miss Anthony speaks in all
+     the sixty counties -- Vast amount of work by other women -- In
+     New York and Albany women organize in opposition -- 600,000
+     petition for suffrage, 15,000 against -- Convention refuses to
+     submit Amendment to voters -- Long-continued efforts in
+     Legislature -- Liberal laws for women -- School and Taxpayers'
+     Suffrage -- Many women in office -- Superior educational
+     advantages -- Political and other clubs.
+
+
+CHAPTER LVII.
+
+NORTH CAROLINA 874-876
+
+     Agitation of suffrage question -- Legislative action and laws --
+     Education.
+
+
+CHAPTER LVIII.
+
+OHIO 877-885
+
+     Organization -- Mrs. Southworth's excellent scheme of enrollment
+     -- Legislative action and laws -- Successful contest in
+     Legislature and Supreme Court for School Suffrage -- Women on
+     School Boards -- Education -- Clubs -- Rookwood pottery.
+
+
+CHAPTER LIX.
+
+OKLAHOMA 886-890
+
+     Organization -- Legislative action and laws -- Attempt to secure
+     Full Suffrage from Legislature of 1899 -- Eastern "antis" and
+     Oklahoma liquor dealers co-operate -- Treachery of a pretended
+     friend -- Office-holding -- School Suffrage.
+
+
+CHAPTER LX.
+
+OREGON 891-897
+
+     Organization -- Congress of Women -- Legislature submits Suffrage
+     Amendment -- Defeated in 1900 by only 2,000 votes, nearly all in
+     Portland -- Excellent laws for women -- School Suffrage --
+     Occupations.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXI.
+
+PENNSYLVANIA 898-906
+
+     Organization -- Press work -- Philadelphia society -- Women
+     taxpayers -- Legislative action and laws -- Office-holding --
+     Hannah Penn a Governor -- Women in professions -- Oldest Medical
+     College for Women -- Educational advantages -- Clubs.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXII.
+
+RHODE ISLAND 907-921
+
+     Early organization -- State officers -- Legislative action and
+     laws -- Campaign for Woman Suffrage Amendment in 1887 -- Ably
+     advocated but defeated -- Efforts to secure Amendment from
+     Constitutional Convention in 1897 -- Women in office -- Admitted
+     to Brown University -- Clubs and Local Council of Women.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXIII.
+
+SOUTH CAROLINA 922-925
+
+     Organization -- Legislative action and laws -- Office-holding --
+     Education.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXIV.
+
+TENNESSEE 926-930
+
+     Organization -- Protest of women against disfranchisement --
+     Legislative action -- Cruel laws for women -- Occupations --
+     Education.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXV.
+
+TEXAS 931-935
+
+     Organization -- Laws -- Office-holding -- Occupations --
+     Education.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXVI.
+
+UTAH 936-956
+
+     Women enfranchised by Territorial Legislature in 1870 -- _Woman's
+     Exponent_ -- Congress disfranchises women in 1887 -- They
+     organize to secure their rights -- Canvass the State and hold
+     mass meetings -- Appear before Constitutional Convention and ask
+     for Suffrage Amendment, which is granted--Miss Anthony and the
+     Rev. Anna Howard Shaw visit Salt Lake City--Amendment carried by
+     large majority in 1895--Official statistics of woman's
+     vote--Laws--Office-holding--Women legislators--Women
+     delegates--Education--Clubs.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXVII.
+
+VERMONT 957-963
+
+     Organization -- Legislative action and laws -- School Suffrage --
+     Women office-holders -- Education -- Progressive steps.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXVIII.
+
+VIRGINIA 964-966
+
+     Agitation of suffrage question -- Laws for women -- Education --
+     Woman head of family.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXIX.
+
+WASHINGTON 967-979
+
+     Women enfranchised by Territorial Legislature in 1883 -- Figures
+     of vote -- Unconstitutionally disfranchised by Supreme Court --
+     Suffrage Amendment refused in Constitutional Convention for
+     Statehood -- Submitted separately and defeated in 1889 -- Action
+     of political conventions in 1896 -- Experience in Legislature --
+     Amendment again submitted -- Campaign of 1898 -- Defeated by
+     majority less than one-half that of nine years before --
+     Organization -- Legislative action and laws -- School suffrage --
+     Office-holding -- Occupations.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXX.
+
+WEST VIRGINIA 980-984
+
+     Organization -- Legislative action and laws -- Office-holding --
+     Education.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXI.
+
+WISCONSIN 985-993
+
+     Organization -- Canvass of State -- Long but successful struggle
+     to secure School Suffrage -- Decisions of Supreme Court -- Laws
+     -- Women in office -- Education.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXII.
+
+WYOMING 994-1011
+
+     First place in the United States to enfranchise women --
+     Territorial Legislature gave Full Suffrage in 1869 -- People
+     satisfied with it -- Constitutional Convention for Statehood
+     unanimously includes Woman Suffrage -- Strong speeches in favor
+     -- Fight against it in Congress -- Debate for amusement of
+     present and wonder of future generations -- Men of Wyoming stand
+     firm -- Finally admitted to the Union -- Celebration in new State
+     -- Honors paid to women -- Miss Anthony and the Rev. Anna Howard
+     Shaw visit Cheyenne -- Interesting scene -- Highest testimony in
+     favor of Woman Suffrage -- Legislature of 1901 urges every State
+     to enfranchise its women -- Women on juries -- Effects of woman's
+     vote -- Laws -- Office-holding.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXIII.
+
+GREAT BRITAIN.
+
+EFFORTS FOR PARLIAMENTARY FRANCHISE 1012-1037
+
+     Household suffrage for men proves a disadvantage to women --
+     Primrose League and Liberal Federation -- Women in politics --
+     Vote on Suffrage Bill in 1886 -- _Nineteenth Century_ and
+     _Fortnightly Review_ open their columns to a discussion --
+     Parliamentary tactics in 1891 to defeat the Bill -- Vote in 1892
+     shows opposing majority of only 17 out of 367 -- Great efforts of
+     women in 1895-6 -- Petition of 257,796 presented -- In 1897 the
+     Bill passes second reading by majority of 71 -- Kept from a vote
+     since then by shrewd management -- Its friends and its enemies --
+     Franchise given to women in Ireland -- Efforts of wage-earning
+     women -- Death of Queen Victoria.
+
+LAWS SPECIALLY AFFECTING WOMEN 1021
+
+     Guardianship of Children, Property Rights of Wives, etc.
+
+LAWS RELATING TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT 1022
+
+     Municipal Franchise for Women of England, Scotland and Ireland --
+     Women on school boards, county councils, poor-law boards, etc. --
+     Deprived of seats in borough councils.
+
+WOMEN IN PUBLIC WORK 1023
+
+     On Royal Commissions, as factory, school and sanitary inspectors.
+
+STEPS IN EDUCATION 1024
+
+     Admission to Universities and opening of Woman's Colleges.
+
+THE ISLE OF MAN 1025
+
+     Full Suffrage granted to women.
+
+NEW ZEALAND 1025
+
+     Steps for the Parliamentary Franchise -- Granted in 1893 --
+     Statistics of woman's vote.
+
+SOUTH AUSTRALIA 1027
+
+     As above -- Granted in 1894.
+
+WEST AUSTRALIA 1029
+
+     As above -- Granted in 1899.
+
+NEW SOUTH WALES 1029
+
+     As above -- Granted in 1902.
+
+VICTORIA 1031
+
+     Efforts for Parliamentary Franchise.
+
+QUEENSLAND 1032
+
+     As above.
+
+TASMANIA 1033
+
+     As above.
+
+SOUTH AFRICAN AND OTHER COLONIES 1033
+
+DOMINION OF CANADA 1034
+
+     Efforts for Parliamentary Franchise -- Present political
+     conditions -- Municipal and School Suffrage in the various
+     Provinces -- Right of women to hold office.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXIV.
+
+WOMAN SUFFRAGE IN OTHER COUNTRIES 1038-1041
+
+     A limited vote granted in most places -- Situation in Germany --
+     Woman's franchise in Russia -- Advanced action in Finland --
+     Situation in Belgium -- Many rights in Sweden and Norway.
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXV.
+
+NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS OF WOMEN 1042-1073
+
+     First societies on record -- Progress by decades -- Women's club
+     houses -- Changed status of women's conventions -- List of
+     National Associations -- Evolution of their objects -- Women
+     gradually learning the disadvantages of disfranchisement --
+     4,000,000 enrolled in organized work for the good of humanity --
+     Must necessarily become great factor in public life -- Government
+     will be obliged to have their assistance.
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+EMINENT ADVOCATES OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE 1075-1085
+
+     Presidents, Vice-presidents, Supreme Court Judges, U. S. Senators
+     and Representatives, Governors of States, Presidents of
+     Universities, Clergymen and other noted individuals who advocate
+     the enfranchisement of women.
+
+TESTIMONY FROM WOMAN SUFFRAGE STATES 1085-1094
+
+     Signed statements from the highest authorities in Colorado,
+     Idaho, Utah and Wyoming as to the value of woman's vote in public
+     affairs and the absence of predicted evils.
+
+NEW YORK 1094-1096
+
+     Legal opinion on Suffrage and Office-holding for Women.
+
+WASHINGTON 1096-1098
+
+     Detailed statement of women's voting and their unconstitutional
+     disfranchisement by the Territorial Supreme Court.
+
+CONSTITUTION OF NATIONAL-AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION 1098-1104
+
+     Resume of its principal points -- Officers -- Standing and
+     Special Committees -- Life Members -- List of delegates to
+     national conventions.
+
+ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF SUBJECTS 1105-1121
+
+ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF PROPER NAMES 1122-1144
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+WOMAN'S CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO VOTE.
+
+
+In the early days of the movement to enfranchise women, no other
+method was considered than that of altering the constitution of each
+individual State, as it was generally accepted that the right to
+prescribe the qualifications for the suffrage rested entirely with the
+States and that the National Constitution could not be invoked for
+this purpose. While the word "male" was not used in this document, yet
+with the one exception of New Jersey, where women exercised the full
+suffrage from the adoption of its first constitution in 1776 until
+1807, there is no record of any woman's being permitted to vote. At
+the inception of the republic women were almost wholly uneducated;
+they were unknown in the industrial world; there were very few
+property owners among them; the manifold exactions of domestic duties
+absorbed all their time, strength and interest; and for these and many
+other causes they were not public factors in even the smallest sense
+of the word. One could readily believe that the founders of the
+Government never imagined a time when women would ask for a voice were
+it not for the significant fact that every State constitution, except
+the one mentioned above, was careful to put up an absolute barrier
+against such a contingency by confining the elective franchise
+strictly to "male" citizens--and there it has stood impassable down to
+the present day.
+
+It was almost the exact middle of the nineteenth century before the
+first demand was made by women for the right to represent
+themselves--the right for which their forefathers had fought a
+seven-years' war, and the one which had been made the corner-stone of
+the new Government. The complete story of the startling results which
+followed this demand never has been told but once, and that was when
+Vol. I of this History of Woman Suffrage was written. It was related
+then by the two who were the principal personages in a period which
+tried women's souls as they were never tried before--Elizabeth Cady
+Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.[3]
+
+This movement for the freedom of women was scarcely launched when the
+long-threatened Civil War broke forth and precipitated the struggle
+for the liberty of another class whose slavery seemed far more
+terrible than the servitude of white women. The five years' ordeal
+which followed developed women as all the previous centuries had not
+been able to do, and when peace reigned once more, when an entire race
+had been born into freedom and the republic had been consecrated anew,
+the whole status of the American woman had been changed and the lines
+which circumscribed her old sphere had been forever obliterated. Women
+were studying laws, constitutions and public questions as never before
+in all history, and, as they saw millions of colored men endowed with
+the full prerogatives of citizenship, they began to ask, "Am I not
+also a citizen of this great republic and entitled to all its rights
+and privileges?"
+
+Up to this time the word "male" never had appeared in the Federal
+Constitution. In 1865, when the leaders among women were beginning to
+gather up their scattered forces, and the Fourteenth Amendment was
+under discussion, they saw to their amazement and indignation that it
+was proposed to incorporate in that instrument this discriminating
+word. Miss Anthony was the first to sound the alarm, and Mrs. Stanton
+quickly came to her aid in the attempt to prevent this desecration of
+the people's Bill of Rights. The thrilling account of their efforts to
+thwart this highhanded act, their abandonment in consequence by nearly
+all of their co-workers before and during the war, their anger and
+humiliation at seeing the former slaves, whom they had helped to free,
+made their political superiors and endowed with a personal
+representation in Government which women had been pilloried for
+asking--all this is graphically told in Vol. II of the History of
+Woman Suffrage, Chaps. XVII and XXI. The story with many personal
+touches is also related in the Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony,
+Chaps. XV and XVI.
+
+The Fourteenth Amendment was declared adopted July 28, 1868,[4] and
+the women felt that the ground had been swept from beneath their feet,
+as now the barriers opposed to their enfranchisement by all the State
+constitutions had been doubly and trebly strengthened by sanction of
+the National Constitution. The first ray of encouragement came in
+October, 1869, when, at a State woman suffrage convention held in St.
+Louis, Mo., Francis Minor, a leading attorney of that city, declared
+that this very Fourteenth Amendment in enfranchising colored men had
+performed a like service for all women. His argument was embodied
+concisely in the following resolutions, which were adopted by that
+convention with great enthusiasm, and by the National Association at
+its annual convention in Washington, D. C., the next January:
+
+     WHEREAS, All persons born or naturalized in the United States,
+     and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the
+     United States and of the State wherein they reside; therefore be
+     it
+
+     _Resolved_, 1. That the immunities and privileges of American
+     citizenship, however defined, are national in character and
+     paramount to all State authority.
+
+     2. That while the Constitution of the United States leaves the
+     qualification of electors to the several States, it nowhere gives
+     them the right to _deprive_ any citizen of the elective franchise
+     which is possessed by any other citizen--to _regulate_ not
+     including the right to _prohibit_.
+
+     3. That, as the Constitution of the United States expressly
+     declares that no State shall make or enforce any laws that shall
+     abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United
+     States, those provisions of the several State constitutions which
+     exclude women from the franchise on account of sex are violative
+     alike of the spirit and letter of the Federal Constitution.
+
+     4. That, as the subject of _naturalization_ is expressly withheld
+     from the States, and as the States clearly have no right to
+     deprive of the franchise naturalized citizens, among whom women
+     are expressly included, still more clearly have they no right to
+     deprive native-born women citizens of the franchise.
+
+In support of these resolutions various portions of the National
+Constitution were quoted, including Article IV, Section 2: "The
+citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and
+immunities of citizens in the several States;" and Section 4: "The
+United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a
+republican form of government." Many other authorities were cited,
+including numerous court decisions, as to the right of women to the
+suffrage now that their citizenship had been clearly established and
+the protection of its privileges and immunities guaranteed.
+
+This position was sustained by many of the best lawyers in the United
+States, including members of Congress. The previous May the National
+Woman Suffrage Association had been formed in New York City, and
+henceforth this right to vote under the Fourteenth Amendment was made
+the keynote of all its speeches, resolutions, etc., as will be seen in
+the History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, Chap. XXIII.
+
+For the first time the Federal Constitution had defined the term
+"citizen," leaving no doubt that a woman was a citizen in the fullest
+meaning of the word. Until now there had been but one Supreme Court
+decision on this point--that of Chief Justice Taney in 1857, in the
+Dred Scott Case, which declared that citizens were "the political body
+who, according to our republican institutions, form the sovereignty
+and hold the power, and conduct the Government through their
+representatives." This plainly had barred negroes and white women from
+citizenship.
+
+At the next general election, in 1872, women attempted to vote in many
+parts of the country, in some cases their votes being received, in
+others rejected.[5] The vote of Miss Anthony was accepted in
+Rochester, N. Y., and she was then arrested for a criminal offense,
+tried and fined in the U. S. Circuit Court at Canandaigua, by
+Associate Justice Ward Hunt of the U. S. Supreme Court. There is no
+more flagrant judicial outrage on record. The full account of this
+case, in which she was refused the right of trial by jury as
+guaranteed by the Constitution, will be found in Vol. II, History of
+Woman Suffrage, p. 627 and following; also much more in detail in the
+Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, p. 423, with her great
+Constitutional Argument delivered in fifty of the postoffice districts
+of the two counties before the trial, p. 977 and following.
+
+The vote of Mrs. Virginia L. Minor was refused in St. Louis and she
+brought suit against the inspectors of election. The case was decided
+against her in the Circuit Court of the county and the Supreme Court
+of Missouri. She then carried it to the Supreme Court of the United
+States--_Minor vs. Happersett et al._ No. 182, October term, 1874. The
+case was argued by her husband, Francis Minor, and after the lapse of
+a quarter of a century it is still believed that his argument could
+not have been excelled. The decision was delivered by Chief Justice
+Waite, March 29, 1875, and was in brief: "The National Constitution
+does not define the privileges and immunities of citizens. The United
+States has no voters of its own creation. The Constitution does not
+confer the right of suffrage upon any one, but the franchise must be
+regulated by the States. The Fourteenth Amendment does not add to the
+privileges and immunities of a citizen; it simply furnishes an
+additional guarantee to protect those he already has. Before the
+passage of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments the States had the
+power to disfranchise on account of race or color. These Amendments,
+ratified by the States, simply forbade that discrimination but did not
+forbid that against sex."
+
+The full text of argument and decision will be found in the History of
+Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, p. 715 and following. In making this decision
+the Court was compelled to reverse absolutely its own finding of three
+years previous in what was known as the _Slaughter House Cases_ (16
+Wallace) which said: "The negro having by the Fourteenth Amendment
+been declared to be a citizen of the United States, _is thus made a
+voter_ in every State in the Union."
+
+The Fifteenth Amendment says: "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 race, color or previous condition of
+servitude." No right is conferred by this amendment. It simply
+guarantees protection for a right already existing in the citizen, and
+the negro having been declared a citizen by the Fourteenth Amendment
+is thus protected in his right to vote. But whence did he obtain this
+right unless from the National Constitution, which the Supreme Court
+in the Minor decision declares "does not confer the right of suffrage
+upon any one"? Volume II of this History of Woman Suffrage, containing
+nearly 1,000 pages, is devoted mainly to a recital of the efforts on
+the part of women to obtain and exercise the franchise through the
+Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. This decision of the Supreme
+Court destroyed the last hope, although it did not shake the belief of
+the leaders of this movement in the justice and legality of their
+claim.
+
+A number of the women contended that, if the National Constitution did
+not confer Full Suffrage, it did at least guarantee Federal
+Suffrage--the right to vote for Congressional Representatives--and in
+this opinion they were sustained by eminent lawyers. The National
+Association, however, never made an issue of this question,
+considering that it would be useless, but it has a Standing Committee
+on Federal Suffrage empowered to make such efforts in this direction
+as it deems advisable.[6]
+
+The assertion is made that if Congress had no authority over the
+election of its own members, it would be wholly unable to perpetuate
+itself should the States at any time decide that they no longer care
+to be under the authority of a central governing body, and refuse to
+elect Representatives. Many able reports have been made by this
+Standing Committee, and the question was clearly stated in an article
+in _The Arena_, December, 1891, by Francis Minor, who gave the
+question of woman suffrage a more thorough legal examination,
+perhaps, than any other man. He prepared the following bill which was
+presented in the House of Representatives, April 25, 1892, by the Hon.
+Clarence D. Clark, member from Wyoming:
+
+     AN ACT TO PROTECT THE RIGHT OF CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES TO
+     REGISTER AND TO VOTE FOR MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
+
+     WHEREAS, The right to choose Members of the House of
+     Representatives is vested by the Constitution in the people of
+     the several States, without distinction of sex, but for want of
+     proper legislation has hitherto been restricted to one-half of
+     the people; for the purpose, therefore, of correcting this error
+     and of giving effect to the Constitution:
+
+     _Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
+     United States of America in Congress assembled:_ That at all
+     elections hereafter held in the several States of this Union for
+     members of the House of Representatives, the right of citizens of
+     the United States, of either sex, above the age of twenty-one
+     years, to register and to vote for such Representatives shall not
+     be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on
+     account of sex.
+
+The argument for the authority of Congress to pass this law is based
+partly on Article I of the Federal Constitution:
+
+     SECTION 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of
+     members chosen every second year by the people of the several
+     States; and the electors in each State shall have the
+     qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch
+     of the State Legislature.
+
+     SECTION 4. The time, place and manner of holding elections for
+     Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each State by
+     the Legislature thereof, but the Congress may at any time by law
+     make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of
+     choosing Senators.[7]
+
+Congress is here endowed unquestionably with the right to regulate the
+election of Representatives. James Madison, one of the framers of the
+Constitution, when asked the intention of this clause, in the Virginia
+convention of 1788, called to ratify this instrument, answered that
+the power was reserved to Congress because "should the people of any
+State by any means be deprived of the right of suffrage, it was judged
+proper that it should be remedied by the General Government."
+[Elliott's Debates, Vol. II, p. 266.]
+
+Again Madison said in _The Federalist_ (No. 54), in speaking of the
+enumeration for Representatives:
+
+     The Federal Constitution, therefore, decides with great propriety
+     in the case of our slaves when it views them in the mixed
+     character of persons and property. This is in fact their true
+     character. It is the character bestowed on them by the laws under
+     which they live; and it will not be denied that these are the
+     proper criteria; because it is only under the pretext that the
+     laws have transformed the negroes into subjects of property, that
+     _a place is disputed them in the computation of numbers_; and it
+     is admitted that, if the laws were to restore the rights which
+     have been taken away, _the negroes could no longer be refused an
+     equal share of representation_.
+
+Therefore, as women _are_ counted in the enumeration on which the
+Congressional apportionment is based, they are legally entitled to an
+equal share in direct representation.
+
+In 1884 the case of Jasper Yarbrough and others who had been sentenced
+to hard labor in the penitentiary in Georgia for preventing a colored
+man from voting for a member of Congress, was brought to the U. S.
+Supreme Court by a petition for a writ of _habeas corpus_. The
+decision rendered March 2, virtually nullified that given by this
+court in the case of Mrs. Minor in 1875, as quoted above, which held
+that "the National Constitution has no voters," for this one declared:
+
+     But it is not correct to say that the right to vote for a member
+     of Congress does not depend on the Constitution of the United
+     States. The office, if it be properly called an office, is
+     created by the Constitution and by that alone. It also declares
+     how it shall be filled, namely, by election. Its language is:
+     "The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen
+     every second year by the people of the several States; and the
+     electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite
+     for electors of the most numerous branch of the State
+     Legislature."
+
+     The States in prescribing the qualifications of voters for the
+     most numerous branch of their own Legislature, do not do this
+     with reference to the election for members of Congress. Nor can
+     they prescribe the qualifications for those _eo nomine_ [by that
+     name].
+
+     They define who are to vote for the popular branch of their own
+     Legislature, and the Constitution of the United States says the
+     same persons shall vote for members of Congress in that State.
+
+     It adopts the qualification thus furnished as the qualification
+     of its own electors for members of Congress. _It is not true,
+     therefore, that the electors for members of Congress owe their
+     right to vote to the State law in any sense which makes the
+     exercise of the right to depend exclusively on the law of the
+     State._
+
+     Counsel for petitioners seizing upon the expression found in the
+     opinion of the Court in the case of _Minor vs. Happersett_, "that
+     the Constitution of the United States does not confer the right
+     of suffrage upon any one," without reference to the connection in
+     which it is used, insists that the voters in this case do not owe
+     their right to vote in any sense to that instrument. But the
+     Court was combating the argument that this right was conferred on
+     all citizens, and therefore upon women as well as men.(!)
+
+     In opposition to that idea it was said the Constitution adopts,
+     as the qualification for voters for members of Congress, that
+     which prevails in the State where the voting is to be done;
+     therefore, said the opinion, the right is not definitely
+     conferred on any person or class of persons by the Constitution
+     alone, because you have to look to the law of the State for the
+     description of the class. But the Court did not intend to say
+     that, when the class or the person is thus ascertained, his right
+     to vote for a member of Congress was not _fundamentally based
+     upon the Constitution which created the office of member of
+     Congress_, and declared it should be elective, and pointed to the
+     means of ascertaining who should be electors.
+
+     The Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution, by its limitation of
+     the power of the States in the exercise of their right to
+     prescribe the qualifications of voters in their own elections,
+     and by its limitation of the power of the United States over that
+     subject, clearly shows that the right of suffrage was considered
+     to be of supreme importance to the National Government and _was
+     not intended to be left within the exclusive control of the
+     States_.
+
+     In such cases this Fifteenth Article of amendment does _proprio
+     vigore_ [by its own force] substantially _confer on the negro the
+     right to vote_, and Congress has the power to protect and enforce
+     that right. In the case of _United States vs. Happersett_, so
+     much relied on by counsel, this Court said, in regard to the
+     Fifteenth Amendment, that it has invested the citizens of the
+     United States with a new constitutional right which is within the
+     protecting power of Congress. That right is an exemption from
+     discrimination in the exercise of the elective franchise on
+     account of race, color or previous condition of servitude.
+
+     This new constitutional right was mainly designed for [male]
+     citizens of African descent. The principle, however, that the
+     protection of the exercise of this right _is within the power of
+     Congress_, is as necessary to the right of other citizens to vote
+     in general as to the right to be protected against
+     discrimination.
+
+This legal hair-splitting is beyond the comprehension of the average
+lay mind and will be viewed by future generations with as much
+contempt as is felt by the present in regard to the infamous decision
+of the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case in 1857. If it decides
+anything it is that the right to vote for Congressional
+Representatives is a Federal right, vested in all the people by the
+National Constitution, and one which it is beyond the power of the
+States to regulate. Therefore, no State has the power to deprive women
+of the right to vote for Representatives in Congress.
+
+Those who hold that women are already entitled to Federal Suffrage
+under the National Constitution, further support their claim by a
+series of decisions as to the citizenship of women and the inherent
+rights which it carries. They quote especially the case of the _United
+States vs. Kellar_. The defendant was indicted by a Federal grand jury
+in Illinois for illegal voting in a Congressional election, as he
+never had been naturalized. He and his mother were born in Prussia,
+but came to the United States when he was a minor, and she married a
+naturalized citizen. The case was tried in June, 1882, in the Circuit
+Court of the United States for the Southern District of Illinois, by
+Associate Justice Harlan of the U. S. Supreme Court, who discharged
+the defendant. He held that the mother, having become a citizen by
+marriage while the son was a minor, transferred citizenship to him. In
+other words she transmitted a Federal Citizenship including the right
+to vote which she did not herself possess, thus enfranchising a child
+born while she was an alien. The whole matter was settled not by State
+but by Federal authority.[8] If a mother can confer this right on a
+son, why not on a daughter? But why does she not possess it herself?
+The clause of the National Constitution which established suffrage at
+the time that instrument was framed, does not mention the sex of the
+elector.
+
+The argument for Federal Suffrage was presented in a masterly manner
+before the National Convention of 1889 by U. S. Senator Henry W. Blair
+(N. H.); and it was discussed by Miss Anthony and Mrs. Minor. See
+present volume, Chap. IX.
+
+From this bare outline of the claim that women already possess Federal
+Suffrage, or that Congress has authority to confer it without the
+sanction of the States, readers can continue the investigation.
+Notwithstanding its apparent equity, the leaders of the National
+Association, including Miss Anthony herself, felt convinced after the
+decision against Mrs. Minor that it would be useless to expect from
+the Supreme Court any interpretation of the Constitution which would
+permit women to exercise the right of suffrage. They had learned,
+however, through the passage of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth
+Amendments, that it had been possible to amend this document in such a
+way as to enfranchise an entire new class of voters--or in other words
+to protect them in the exercise of a right which it seemed that in
+some mysterious way they already possessed. As the Fourteenth
+Amendment declared the negroes to be citizens, and the Fifteenth
+forbade the United States or any State to deny or abridge "the right
+of citizens of the United States to vote, on account of race, color or
+previous condition of servitude," it was clearly evident that this
+right inhered in citizenship. This being the case women must already
+have it, but as there was no national authority prohibiting the States
+from denying or abridging it, each of them did so by putting the word
+"male" in its constitution as a qualification for suffrage; just as
+many of them had used the word "white" until the adoption of the
+Fifteenth Amendment by a three-fourths majority made this
+unconstitutional. Therefore, since the _Minor vs. Happersett_
+decision, the National Association has directed its principal efforts
+to secure from Congress the submission to the several State
+Legislatures of a Sixteenth Amendment which should prohibit
+disfranchisement on account of "sex," as the Fifteenth had done on
+account of "color."
+
+The association does not discourage attempts in various States to
+secure from their respective Legislatures the submission of an
+amendment to the voters which shall strike out this word "male" from
+their own constitutions. On the contrary, it assists every such
+attempt with money, speakers and influence, but having seen such
+amendments voted on sixteen times and adopted only twice (in Colorado
+and Idaho), it is confirmed in the opinion that the quickest and
+surest way to secure woman suffrage will be by an amendment to the
+Federal Constitution. In other words it holds that women should be
+permitted to carry their case to the selected men of the Legislatures
+rather than to the masses of the voters.
+
+From 1869 until the decision in the Minor case in 1875, the National
+Association went before committees of every Congress with appeals for
+a Declaratory Act which would permit women to vote under the
+Fourteenth Amendment. Since that decision it has asked for a Sixteenth
+Amendment. In both cases it has been supported by petitions of
+hundreds of thousands of names.
+
+The ablest women this nation has produced have presented the arguments
+and pleadings. Many of the older advocates have passed away, but new
+ones have taken their place. It is the unvarying testimony of the
+Senate and House Committees who have granted these hearings, that no
+body of men has appeared before them for any purpose whose dignity,
+logic and acumen have exceeded, if indeed they have equaled, those of
+the members of this association. They have been heard always with
+respect, often with cordiality, but their appeals have fallen, if not
+upon deaf, at least upon indifferent ears. They have asked these
+committees to report to their respective Houses a resolution to submit
+this Sixteenth Amendment. Sometimes the majority of the committee has
+been hostile to woman suffrage and presented an adverse report:
+sometimes it has been friendly and presented one favorable; sometimes
+there have been an opposing majority and a friendly minority report,
+or vice versa; but more often no action whatever has been taken.
+During these thirty years eleven favorable reports have been
+made--five from Senate, six from House Committees.[9]
+
+In the History of Woman Suffrage, Vols. II and III, will be found a
+full record of various debates which occurred in Senate and House on
+different phases of the movement to secure suffrage for women previous
+to 1884, when the present volume begins. In 1885 Thomas W. Palmer gave
+his great speech in the United States Senate in advocacy of their
+enfranchisement; and in 1887 occurred the first and only discussion
+and vote in that body on a Sixteenth Amendment for this purpose, both
+of which are described herein under their respective dates.
+
+In the following chapters will be found an account of the annual
+conventions of the National Suffrage Association since 1883, and of
+the American until the two societies united in 1890, with many of the
+resolutions and speeches for which these meetings have been
+distinguished. They contain also portions of the addresses, covering
+every phase of this subject, made at the hearings before Congressional
+Committees, and the arguments advanced for and against woman suffrage
+in the favorable and adverse reports of these committees, thus
+presenting both sides of the question. Readers who follow the story
+will be obliged to acknowledge that the very considerable progress
+which has been made toward obtaining the franchise is due to the
+unceasing and long-continued efforts of this association far more than
+to all other agencies combined; and that the women who compose this
+body have demonstrated their capacity and their right to a voice in
+the Government infinitely beyond any class to whom it has been granted
+since the republic was founded.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[3] The part of this record with which Miss Anthony herself was
+directly connected, and which comprises by far the greater portion of
+the whole, is given with many personal incidents in her Life and Work.
+[Husted-Harper.]
+
+[4] ARTICLE XIV.
+
+_Section 1._ All persons born or naturalized in the United States and
+subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States
+and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce
+any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens;
+nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property,
+without due process of law, or deny to any person within its
+jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
+
+_Section 2._ Representatives shall be apportioned among the several
+States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole
+number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when
+the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for
+President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in
+Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the
+members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the _male_
+inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens
+of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation
+in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall
+be reduced in the proportion which the number of such _male_ citizens
+shall bear to the whole number of _male_ citizens twenty-one years of
+age in such State.
+
+[5] Women also had attempted to vote in local and State elections in
+1870 and 1871. An account of the trials and decisions which followed
+will be found in the History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, Chap. XXV.
+
+[6] The most earnest advocates of the constitutional right of women to
+Federal Suffrage are Mrs. Sallie Clay Bennett, Ky.; Mrs. Clara B.
+Colby, D. C.; Mrs. Martha E. Root, Mich.; Miss Sara Winthrop Smith,
+Conn. They have done a large amount of persistent but ineffectual work
+in the endeavor to obtain a recognition of this right.
+
+[7] Senator John Sherman did at one time introduce a bill for this
+purpose.
+
+[8] This is precisely what was done in the case of Susan B. Anthony
+above referred to.
+
+[9] The first report, in 1871, was signed by Representatives Benjamin
+F. Butler (Mass.) and William A. Loughridge (Ia.): History of Woman
+Suffrage, Vol. II, p. 464.
+
+The second, in 1879, was signed by Senators George F. Hoar (Mass.),
+John H. Mitchell (Ore.), Angus Cameron (Wis.): Id., Vol. III, p. 131.
+
+The third, in 1882, was signed by Senators Elbridge G. Lapham (N. Y.),
+Thomas W. Ferry (Mich.), Henry W. Blair (N. H.), Henry B. Anthony (R.
+I.): Id., p. 231.
+
+The fourth, in 1883, was signed by Representative John D. White (Ky.):
+Id., p. 263.
+
+For the fifth and sixth, in 1884, see Chap. III of present volume; for
+the seventh and eighth, in 1886, Id., Chap. V. (See also, Chap. VI.);
+for the ninth and tenth, in 1890, Id., Chap. X; for the eleventh, in
+1892, Id., Chap. XII.
+
+It is worthy of notice that from 1879 to 1891, inclusive, Miss Susan
+B. Anthony was enabled to spend the congressional season in Washington
+[see pp. 188, 366], and during this time nine of these eleven
+favorable reports were made.
+
+For adverse reports see History of Woman Suffrage: 1871, Vol. II, p.
+461; 1878, Vol. III, p. 112; 1882, Id., p. 237; 1884, present volume,
+Chap. III (see also, Chap. VI); 1892, Id., Chap. XII; 1894, Id., Chap.
+XIV; 1896, Id., Chap. XVI.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE NATIONAL SUFFRAGE CONVENTION OF 1884.
+
+
+The first Woman's Rights Convention on record was held in Seneca
+Falls, N. Y., in July, 1848; the second in Salem, O., in April, 1850;
+the third in Worcester, Mass., in October, 1850. By this time the
+movement for the civil, educational and political rights of women was
+fully initiated, and every year thenceforth to the beginning of the
+Civil War national conventions were held in various States for the
+purpose of agitating the question and creating a favorable public
+sentiment. These were addressed by the ablest men and women of the
+time, and the discussions included the whole scope of women's wrongs,
+which in those days were many and grievous.
+
+Immediately after the war the political disabilities of the negro man
+were so closely akin to those of all women that the advocates of
+universal suffrage organized under the name of the Equal Rights
+Association. The "reconstruction period," however, engendered so many
+differences of opinion, and a platform so broad permitted such
+latitude of debate, the women soon became convinced that their own
+cause was being sacrificed. Therefore in May, 1869, under the
+leadership of Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Miss Susan B. Anthony,
+the National Woman Suffrage Association was formed in New York City,
+having for its sole object the enfranchisement of women. From this
+time it held a convention in Washington, D. C., every winter.
+
+The above mentioned associations and conventions, as well as the
+American Woman Suffrage Association, formed at Cleveland, O., in
+November, 1869, under the leadership of Mrs. Lucy Stone, are described
+in detail in the preceding volumes of this History. The present volume
+begins with the usual convention of the National Association in
+Washington in 1884. This place was selected for a twofold purpose:
+because here a more cosmopolitan audience could be secured than in any
+other city, including representatives from every State in the Union
+and from all the nations of the world; and because here the
+association could carry directly to the only tribunal which had power
+to act, its demand for a submission to the State Legislatures of an
+amendment to the Federal Constitution which should forbid
+disfranchisement on account of sex. During each of these conventions
+it was the custom for committees of the Senate and House to grant
+hearings to the leading advocates of this proposition.
+
+The Sixteenth of these annual conventions met in Lincoln Hall, in
+response to the usual Call,[10] March 4, 1884, continuing in session
+four days.[11]
+
+On the evening before the convention a handsome reception was given at
+the Riggs House by Charles W. and Mrs. Jane H. Spofford to Miss Susan
+B. Anthony, which was attended by several hundred prominent men and
+women. Delegates were present from twenty-six States and
+Territories.[12] Miss Anthony was in the chair at the opening session
+and read a letter from Mrs. Stanton, who was detained at home, in
+which she paid a glowing tribute to Wendell Phillips, the staunch
+defender of the rights of women, who had died the preceding month.
+
+Mrs. Mary B. Clay, in speaking of the work in her State, said:
+
+     In talking to a Kentuckian on the subject of woman's right to
+     qualify under the law, you have to batter down his self-conceit
+     that he is just and generous and chivalric toward woman, and
+     that she can not possibly need other protection than he gives her
+     with his own right arm--while he forgets that it is from man
+     alone woman needs protection, and often does she need the right
+     to protect herself from the avarice, brutality or neglect of the
+     one nearest to her. The only remedy for her, as for man himself,
+     in this republic, is the ballot in her hand. He thinks he is
+     generous to woman when he supplies her wants, forgetting that he
+     has first robbed her by law of all her property in marriage, and
+     then may or may not give her that which is her own by right of
+     inheritance....
+
+     A mother, legally so, has no right to her child, the husband
+     having the right to will it to whom he pleases, and even to will
+     away from the mother the unborn child at his death. The wife does
+     not own her own property, personal or real, unless given for her
+     sole use and benefit. If a husband may rent the wife's land, or
+     use it during his life and hers, and take the increase or rental
+     of it, and after her death still hold it and deprive her children
+     of its use, which he does by curtesy, and if she can not make a
+     will and bequeath it at her death, then I say she is robbed, and
+     insulted in the bargain, by such so-called ownership of land. "A
+     woman fleeing from her husband and seeking refuge or protection
+     in a neighbor's house, the man protecting her makes himself
+     liable to the husband, who can recover damages by law." "If a
+     husband refuse to sue for a wife who has been slandered or
+     beaten, she can not sue for herself." These are Kentucky laws.
+
+Mrs. Harriette R. Shattuck closed her record for Massachusetts by
+saying: "The dead wall of indifference is at last broken down and the
+women 'remonstrants,' by their active resistance to our advancing
+progress, are not only turning the attention of the public in our
+direction and making the whole community interested, but also are
+paving the way for future political action themselves. By
+remonstrating they have expressed their opinion and entered into
+politics."
+
+Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway gave a full report of the situation in
+Oregon, and a hopeful outlook for the success of the pending suffrage
+amendment.[13] This was followed later by a strong address. A letter
+was read from Mrs. Sallie Clay Bennett (Ky.). Dr. Clemence S. Lozier
+(N. Y.) spoke briefly, saying that for eleven years her parlor had
+been opened each month for suffrage meetings, and that "this question
+is the foundation of Christianity; for Christians can look up and
+truly say 'Our Father' only when they can treat each other as brothers
+and sisters." Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell (N. Y.) gave an eloquent
+address on The Outlook, answering the four stock questions: Why do not
+more women ask for the ballot? Will not voting destroy the womanly
+instincts? Will not women be contaminated by going to the polls? Will
+they not take away employment from men?
+
+At the opening of the evening session Miss Anthony read a letter from
+Mrs. Millicent Garrett Fawcett of England, and an extract from a
+recent speech by her husband, Henry Fawcett, member of Parliament and
+Postmaster General, strongly advocating the removal of all political
+disabilities of women. Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert (Ills.) spoke on
+The Statesmanship of Women, citing illustrious examples in all parts
+of the world. Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake (N. Y.) gave a trenchant and
+humorous speech on The Unknown Quantity in Politics, showing the
+indirect influence of women which unfortunately is not accompanied
+with responsibility. She took up leading candidates and their records,
+criticising or commending; illustrated how in every department women
+are neglected and forgotten, and closed as follows:
+
+     It is better to have the power of self-protection than to depend
+     on any man, whether he be the Governor in his chair of State, or
+     the hunted outlaw wandering through the night, hungry and cold
+     and with murder in his heart. We are tired of the pretense that
+     we have special privileges and the reality that we have none; of
+     the fiction that we are queens, and the fact that we are
+     subjects; of the symbolism which exalts our sex but is only a
+     meaningless mockery. We demand that these shadows shall take
+     substance. The coat of arms of the State of New York represents
+     Liberty and Justice supporting a shield on which is seen the sun
+     rising over the hills that guard the Hudson. How are justice and
+     liberty depicted? As a police judge and an independent voter? Oh,
+     no; as two noble and lovely women! What an absurdity in a State
+     where there is neither liberty nor justice for any woman! We ask
+     that this symbolism shall assume reality, for a redeemed and
+     enfranchised womanhood will be the best safeguard of justice.
+
+Mrs. Blake was followed by Mrs. Martha McClellan Brown, of Cincinnati
+Wesleyan College, who spoke on Disabilities of Woman. Miss Anthony
+read the report from Missouri by Mrs. Virginia L. Minor, who strongly
+supported her belief in the constitutional right of women to the
+franchise. A letter of greeting was read from Miss Fannie M. Bagby,
+managing editor St. Louis _Chronicle_; Miss Phoebe W. Couzins (Mo.)
+gave a brilliant address entitled What Answer?
+
+At the evening session the hall was crowded. The speech of Mrs. Belva
+A. Lockwood (D. C.), the first woman admitted to practice before the
+Supreme Court, was a severe criticism on the disfranchising of the
+women in Utah as proposed by bills now before Congress. It was a clear
+and strong legal argument which would be marred by an attempt at
+quotation.
+
+In an address on Women Before the Law, the report says:
+
+     Mrs. Helen M. Gougar of Indiana traced the development of human
+     liberty as shown in the history of the ballot, which was at first
+     given to a certain class of believers in orthodox religions, then
+     to property holders, then to all white men. She showed how class
+     legislation had been gradually done away with by allowing
+     believer and unbeliever, rich and poor, white and black, to vote
+     unquestioned and unhindered, and as a result of this onward march
+     of justice, the last remaining form of class legislation, now
+     shown by the sex ballot, must pass away. She declared the
+     sex-line to be the lowest standard upon which to base a privilege
+     and unworthy the civilization of the present time. She answered
+     many of the popular objections to woman suffrage by showing that
+     if education were to be made the test of the ballot, women would
+     not be the disfranchised class in America, as three-fifths of all
+     graduates from the public schools in the last ten years have been
+     women. If morality were to be made a test, women would do more
+     voting than men. The ratio of law-abiding women to men is as one
+     to every 103; of drunken women to drunken men, one to every
+     1,000. Reasoning from these facts, if sobriety, virtue and
+     intelligence were necessary qualifications, women enfranchised
+     would largely reflect these elements in the Government.
+
+At noon on March 6 the delegates were courteously received at the
+White House by President Chester A. Arthur.
+
+During the afternoon session the Pennsylvania report was presented by
+Edward M. Davis, son-in-law of Lucretia Mott, and an exhaustive
+account of Woman's Work in Philadelphia by Mrs. Lucretia L.
+Blankenburg. A letter from Mrs. Anna C. Wait (Kas.) was read by Mrs.
+Bertha H. Ellsworth, who closed with a tribute to Mrs. Wait and a poem
+dedicated to Kansas.
+
+The guest of the convention, Mrs. Jessie M. Wellstood of Edinburgh,
+presented a report made by Miss Eliza Wigham, secretary of the
+Scotland Suffrage Association, prefaced with some earnest remarks in
+which she said:
+
+     To those who are sitting at ease, folding their hands and sweetly
+     saying: "I have all the rights I want, why should I trouble about
+     these matters?" let me quote the burning words of the grand old
+     prophet Isaiah, which entered into my soul and stirred it to
+     action: "Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye
+     careless daughters, give ear unto my speech; many days shall ye
+     be troubled, ye careless women, etc." It is just because we fold
+     our hands and sit at ease that so many of our less fortunate
+     fellow creatures are leading lives of misery, want, sin and
+     shame.
+
+In the evening Mrs. May Wright Sewall (Ind.) delivered a beautiful
+address on Forgotten Women, which she closed with these words: "It was
+not a grander thing to lead the forlorn hope in 1776, not a grander
+thing to strike the shackles from the black slaves in 1863, than it
+would be in 1884 to carry a presidential campaign on the basis of
+Political Equality to Women. The career, the fame, to match that of
+Washington, to match that of Lincoln, awaits the man who will espouse
+the cause of forgotten womanhood and introduce that womanhood to
+political influence and political freedom."
+
+Interesting addresses were made by Mrs. Mary E. Haggart (Ind.), Why Do
+Not Women Vote? and by the Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford, pastor of the
+Second Universalist Church, Jersey City, on New Jersey as a
+Leader--the first to grant suffrage to women. They voted from 1776
+until the Legislature took away the right in 1807.
+
+At the afternoon session of the last day Mrs. Lizzie D. Fyler, a
+lawyer of Arkansas, gave an extended resume of the legal and
+educational position of women in that State, which was shown to be in
+advance of many of the eastern and western States. George W. Clark,
+one of the old Abolition singers contemporaneous with the Hutchinsons,
+expressed a strong belief in woman suffrage and offered a tribute of
+song to Wendell Phillips. Brief addresses were made by Mrs. J. Ellen
+Foster (Ia.) and Mrs. Morrison (Mass.). A letter of greeting was read
+from the corresponding secretary, Rachel G. Foster, Julia and Mrs.
+Julia Foster (Penn.), written in Florence, Italy. Mrs. Caroline Gilkey
+Rogers described School Suffrage in Lansingburgh, N. Y.
+
+An eloquent address was made by Mrs. Caroline Hallowell Miller (Md.),
+in which she said:
+
+     There are a great many excellent people in the world who are
+     strongly prejudiced against what they designate "isms," but who
+     are always glad of any opportunity of serving God, as they
+     express it. I ask what can finite beings do to serve Omnipotence
+     unless it be to exert all their powers for the good of humanity,
+     for the uplifting of man, which, if aught of ours could do, must
+     rejoice our Creator. When we see more than one-half of the adult
+     human family--reasonably industrious and intelligent, if we make
+     for them no larger claim, and certainly the _raison d'etre_ of
+     the other half--called to account by the laws of the land and
+     held in strict obedience to them without the slightest voice in
+     their making, with neither form nor shadow of representation
+     before State or country, do we not see that there rests upon the
+     entire race a stigma that materialist and idealist, agnostic and
+     churchman, should each and all hasten to remove?
+
+     "Behold, the fields are white unto harvest, but the laborers are
+     few!" How can it be longer tolerated that the wives and mothers,
+     the sisters and daughters, of a land claiming the highest degree
+     of civilization and boasting of freedom as its watchword, should
+     still rank before the law with criminals, idiots and slaves? I
+     feel as confident as I do of my existence, that the apathy which
+     we are now fighting against, especially among our own sex,
+     springs mainly from want of thought; the women of culture
+     throughout the country placidly accept the comfortable conditions
+     in which they find themselves. They receive without question the
+     formulated theories of woman's sphere as they accept the
+     formulated theories of the orthodox religions into which they may
+     chance to have been born; occasionally an original thinker steps
+     out of the ranks and finds herself after a while with a few
+     followers. They remain but few, however, for it is too much
+     trouble to think.
+
+At the evening session the Rev. Florence Kollock (Ills.) spoke on The
+Ethics of Woman Suffrage, saying in part:
+
+     By what moral right stands a law upon the statute books that
+     infringes upon the rights and duties of womanhood, that prohibits
+     a mother from the full discharge of the duties of her sacred
+     office, as all are prohibited through the law that forbids them
+     the opportunity of throwing their whole moral strength, influence
+     and convictions against the existence and growth of social and
+     political iniquities and in defense of truth and purity? The
+     great evils of our day are of such a nature that all, regardless
+     of moral principles or sex, suffer from their effects, proving
+     clearly that all have a moral obligation in these matters, and
+     the fact that one human being suffers from an evil carries with
+     it the highest authority to remove that evil.
+
+     The silent influence of woman has failed to accomplish the
+     desired good of humanity, has failed to bring about the needed
+     moral reforms, and all observing persons are ready to concede
+     that posing is a weak way of combating giant evils--that
+     attitudism can not take the place of activity. To suppress the
+     full utterance of the moral convictions of those who so largely
+     mold the character of the race is a crime against humanity,
+     against progress, against God.
+
+Mrs. Shattuck, in discussing the question, said:
+
+     It is absolutely necessary for the improvement of the race that
+     the manly and womanly elements shall be side by side in all walks
+     of life, and the fact that our social status, our literature and
+     our educational systems have been greatly improved by woman's
+     co-operation with man, points to the eternal truth that man and
+     woman must work hand in hand in the State also, in order that it
+     shall be uplifted and saved. Woman herself will not be harmed by
+     the ballot, for the acquisition of greater responsibilities
+     improves and not degrades the recipient thereof. If the ballot
+     has made man worse it will make woman worse, and not otherwise.
+     Whoever studies the history of the race from age to age and
+     nation to nation finds the world has advanced and not retrograded
+     by giving responsibility to the individual. The opposition to
+     woman suffrage strikes a blow at the foundation-stone of this
+     republic, which is self-representation by means of the ballot. At
+     the bottom of this opposition is a subtle distrust of American
+     institutions, an idea of "restricted suffrage" which is creeping
+     into our republic through so-called aristocratic channels.
+
+A distinguishing feature of this convention was the large number of
+letters and reports sent from abroad, undoubtedly due to the fact that
+Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony had spent the preceding year in Europe,
+making the acquaintance and arousing the interest of foreign men and
+women in the status of the suffrage question in the United States.
+Among these letters was one from Miss Frances Power Cobbe in which she
+said: "The final and complete emancipation of our sex ere long, I
+think, is absolutely certain. All is going well here and I hope with
+you in America; and with all my heart, dear Miss Anthony, I wish you
+and the woman's convention triumphant success."
+
+Miss Jane Cobden, daughter of Richard Cobden, said in the course of
+her letter: "I feel all the more certain of the righteousness of the
+work in which I am so much engaged, because I know from words spoken
+and written by my father as far back as 1845, that had he been living
+at the present day I should have had his sympathy. He was nothing if
+not consistent, and so he said in a speech delivered in London that
+year on Free Trade: 'There are many ladies present, I am happy to say.
+Now it is a very anomalous and singular fact that they can not vote
+themselves and yet they have the power of conferring votes upon other
+people. I wish they had the franchise, for they would often make a
+much better use of it than their husbands.'"
+
+Miss Caroline Ashurst Biggs, for many years editor of the
+_Englishwoman's Review_, sent a full report of the situation in
+England. There was a letter of greeting also from Miss Lydia Becker,
+editor of the _Women's Suffrage Journal_ and member of the Manchester
+School Board. John P. Thomasson and Peter A. Taylor, members of
+Parliament, favored woman suffrage in the strongest terms, the latter
+saying: "Justice never can be done to the rising generations till the
+influence of the mother is freed from the ignominy of exclusion from
+the great political and social work of the day." Mrs. Thomasson,
+daughter of Margaret Bright Lucas, and Mrs. Taylor, known as the
+organizer of the women's suffrage movement in England, also sent
+cordial good wishes.[14]
+
+The wife of Jacob Bright, who was largely responsible for the Married
+Women's Property Bill, presented a review of present suffrage laws;
+his sister, Mrs. Priscilla Bright McLaren, wife of Duncan McLaren, M.
+P., and the great Abolitionist, Mrs. Elizabeth Pease Nichol of
+Edinburgh, sent long and valuable letters. Mrs. McLaren wrote:
+
+     I was in Exeter Hall, London, on the day our Parliament
+     assembled; a prayer-meeting was held there the whole of that day.
+     Earnest were the intercessions that the hearts of our rulers
+     might be influenced to repeal every vestige of the Contagious
+     Diseases Acts; and the women especially prayed that our men might
+     be led to send representatives to Parliament of much higher
+     morality than such Acts testified to, and that the eyes of the
+     women of their country might be opened to see the iniquity of
+     such legislation. I venture to express that the burden of my
+     prayer had been, whilst sitting in that meeting, that the eyes of
+     the women there assembled, and of the women throughout our
+     country, might be opened to see that we could not expect men who
+     did not consider morality to be a necessary part of their own
+     character, to regard it as needful for the men who were to
+     represent them in Parliament; that we needed a new moral power
+     to be brought into exercise at our elections, and as Parliament
+     was meeting that day and one of its first acts would be to bring
+     in a new reform bill, that we might unite in prayer that the
+     petitions so long put forth by many of the women of this land,
+     that their claim to the suffrage should be included in this new
+     Act for the extended representation of the people, might be
+     righteously answered; and the power given to women not only to
+     pray for what was just and right, but to have by the
+     Parliamentary vote a direct power to promote that higher
+     legislation which they all so much desired. I know nothing which
+     calls for more faith and patience than to hear women pleading for
+     justice, and refusing to help get it in the only legitimate
+     way....
+
+     Whilst we have our anomalies here, you have a glaring
+     inconsistency in your country. It is not a property qualification
+     which gives a vote in America. Is not every human being, who is
+     of age, according to your Constitution, entitled to equal justice
+     and freedom? Are you women not human beings? The lowest and most
+     ignorant man who leaves any shore and lands on yours, ere he has
+     earned a home or made family ties, becomes a citizen of your
+     great country; whilst your own women, who during a life-time may
+     have done much service and given much to the State, are denied
+     the right accorded to that man, however low his condition may be.
+     You are fighting to overcome this great monopoly of citizenship.
+     We watch your proceedings with deep interest. We rejoice in your
+     successes and sympathize with you in your endeavors to gain fresh
+     victories.
+
+Congratulatory letters were received from Ewing Whittle, M. D., of the
+Royal Academy, Liverpool, and Miss Isabella M. S. Tod, the well-known
+reformer of Belfast. M. Leon Richer, the eminent writer of Paris, and
+Mlle. Hubertine Auclert, editor of _La Citoyenne_, sent cordial words
+of co-operation. There were also greetings from Mrs. Ernestine L.
+Rose, a Polish exile, one of the first women lecturers in America;
+from the wife and daughter of A. A. Sargent, U. S. Minister to Berlin;
+from Theodore Stanton; Miss Florence Kelley, daughter of the Hon.
+William D. Kelley; the wife of Moncure D. Conway; Rosamond, daughter
+of Robert Dale Owen; Mrs. Charlotte B. Wilbour and Dr. Frances E.
+Dickinson, all Americans residing abroad.
+
+Among the noted men and women of the United States who sent letters
+endorsing equal suffrage, were George William Curtis, William Lloyd
+Garrison, U. S. Senators Henry B. Anthony and Henry W. Blair, the Hon.
+George W. Julian, the Hon. William I. Bowditch, Robert Purvis, the
+Rev. Anna Oliver, Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace, the "mother" of Ben Hur,
+and Mrs. Abby Hutchinson Patton.[15]
+
+To this assembly Bishop Matthew Simpson, of the Methodist Episcopal
+Church, sent almost his last public utterance:
+
+     For more than thirty years I have been in favor of woman
+     suffrage. I was led to this position not by the consideration of
+     the question of natural rights or of alleged injustice or of
+     inequality before the law, but by what I believed would be the
+     influence of woman on the great moral questions of the day. Were
+     the ballot in the hands of women, I am satisfied that the evils
+     of intemperance would be greatly lessened, and I fear that
+     without that ballot we shall not succeed against the saloons and
+     kindred evils in large cities. You will doubtless have many
+     obstacles placed in your way; there will be many conflicts to
+     sustain; but I have no doubt that the coming years will see the
+     triumph of your cause; and that our higher civilization and
+     morality will rejoice in the work which enlightened woman will
+     accomplish.
+
+The resolutions presented by Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert (Ills.),
+chairman of the committee, were adopted.
+
+     WHEREAS, The fundamental idea of a republic is the right of
+     self-government, the right of every citizen to choose her own
+     representatives to enact the laws by which she is governed; and
+
+     WHEREAS, This right can be secured only by the exercise of the
+     suffrage; therefore
+
+     _Resolved_, That the ballot in the hand of every qualified
+     citizen constitutes the true political status of the people, and
+     to deprive one-half of the people of the use of the ballot is to
+     deny the first principle of a republican government.
+
+     _Resolved_, That it is the duty of Congress to submit a
+     Sixteenth Amendment to the National Constitution, securing to
+     women the right of suffrage; first, because the disfranchisement
+     of one-half of the people deprives that half of the means of
+     self-protection and support, limits their resources for
+     self-development and weakens their influence on popular thought;
+     second, because giving all men the absolute authority to decide
+     the social, civil and political status of women, creates a spirit
+     of caste, unrepublican in tendency; third, because in depriving
+     the State of the united wisdom of man and woman, that important
+     "consensus of the competent," our form of government becomes in
+     fact an oligarchy of males instead of a republic of the people.
+
+     _Resolved_, That since the women citizens of the United States
+     have thus far failed to receive proper recognition from any of
+     the existing political parties, we recommend the appointment by
+     this convention of a committee on future political action.
+
+     _Resolved_, That as there is a general awakening to the rights of
+     women in all European countries, the time has arrived to take the
+     initiative steps for a grand International Woman Suffrage
+     Convention, to be held in either England or America, and that for
+     this purpose a committee of three be appointed at this convention
+     to correspond with leading persons in different countries
+     interested in the elevation of women.
+
+Miss Couzins submitted the following, which was unanimously accepted:
+
+     _Resolved_, That in the death of Wendell Phillips the nation has
+     lost one of its greatest moral heroes, its most eloquent orator
+     and honest advocate of justice and equality for all classes; and
+     woman in her struggle for enfranchisement has lost in him a
+     steadfast friend and wise counselor. His consistency in the
+     application of republican principles of government brought him to
+     the woman suffrage platform at the inauguration of the movement,
+     where he remained faithful to the end. The National Woman
+     Suffrage Association in convention assembled, would express their
+     gratitude for his brave words for woman before the Legislatures
+     of so many States and on so many platforms, both in England and
+     America, and would extend their sincere sympathy to her who was
+     his constant inspiration to the utterance of the highest truth,
+     his noble wife, Ann Green Phillips.
+
+     _Resolved_, That the services of Anna Ella Carroll of Maryland,
+     who directed the armies of the republic up the Tennessee river
+     and then southward to the center of the Confederate power to its
+     base in northern Alabama, cutting the Memphis and Charleston
+     railroad and thus breaking the backbone of the rebellion, entitle
+     her justly to the name of the military genius of the war; that
+     her long struggle for recognition at the hands of our Government
+     commends her to the sympathy of all who believe in truth and
+     justice; and the continued refusal of the Government to
+     acknowledge this woman's service, which saved to us the Union,
+     defeated national bankruptcy and prevented the intervention of
+     foreign powers, merits the condemnation of all lovers of right,
+     and we hereby not only send to her our loving recognition and
+     sympathy, but pledge ourselves to arouse this nation to the fact
+     of her services.[16]
+
+The plan of work submitted by Mrs. Gougar, chairman of the committee,
+was adopted.[17] This was supplemented by suggestions of the national
+board as to methods of organization.[18]
+
+The following officers were elected: president, Elizabeth Cady
+Stanton, N. Y.; vice-presidents-at-large, Susan B. Anthony, Matilda
+Joslyn Gage, N. Y., the Rev. Olympia Brown, Wis., Phoebe W. Couzins,
+Mo., Abigail Scott Duniway, Ore.; recording secretaries, Ellen H.
+Sheldon, D. C., Julia T. Foster, Penn.; Pearl Adams, Ills.;
+corresponding secretary, Rachel G. Foster (Avery), Penn.; foreign
+corresponding secretaries, Caroline Ashurst Biggs, Lydia E. Becker,
+England; Marguerite Berry Stanton, Hubertine Auclert, France;
+treasurer, Jane H. Spofford, D. C.; auditors, Ruth C. Dennison, Julia
+A. Wilbur, D. C.; chairman of executive committee, May Wright Sewall,
+Ind., and vice-presidents in every State.
+
+The financial report showed the receipts for 1884 to be in round
+numbers $2,000, and a balance of $300 still remaining in the treasury.
+
+In her address closing the convention Miss Anthony said:
+
+     The reason men are so slow in conceding political equality to
+     women is because they can not believe that women suffer the
+     humiliation of disfranchisement as they would. A dear and noble
+     friend, one who aided our work most efficiently in the early
+     days, said to me, "Why do you say the 'emancipation of women?'" I
+     replied, "Because women are political slaves!" Is it not strange
+     that men think that what to them would be degradation, slavery,
+     is to women elevation, liberty? Men put the right of suffrage for
+     themselves above all price, and count the denial of it the most
+     severe punishment. If a man serving a term in State's prison has
+     one friend outside who cares for him, that friend will get up a
+     petition begging the Governor to commute his sentence, if for not
+     more than forty-eight hours prior to its expiration, so that,
+     when he comes out of prison he may not be compelled to suffer the
+     disgrace of disfranchisement and may not be doomed to walk among
+     his fellows with the mark of Cain upon his forehead. The only
+     penalty inflicted upon the men, who a few years ago laid the
+     knife at the throat of the Nation, was that of disfranchisement,
+     which all men, loyal and disloyal, felt was too grievous to be
+     borne, and our Government made haste to permit every one, even
+     the leader of them all, to escape from this humiliation, this
+     degradation, and again to be honored with the crowning right of
+     United States citizenship. How can men thus delude themselves
+     with the idea that what to them is ignominy unbearable is to
+     women honor and glory unspeakable.[19]
+
+An able address from Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage (N. Y.) arrived too late
+for the convention. It was a denial of the superiority of man from a
+scientific standpoint, and was so original in thought that it deserves
+to be reproduced almost in full:
+
+     ....We must bear in mind the old theologic belief that the earth
+     was flat, the center of the universe, around which all else
+     revolved--that all created things animate and inanimate, were
+     made for man alone--that woman was not part of the original plan
+     of creation but was an after-thought for man's special use and
+     benefit. So that a science which proves the falsity of any of
+     these theological conceptions aids in the overthrow of all.
+
+     The first great battle fought by science for woman was a
+     Geographical one lasting for twelve centuries. But finally,
+     Columbus, sustained and sent on his way by Isabella in 1492,
+     followed by Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe twenty years
+     later, settled the question of the earth's rotundity and was the
+     first step toward woman's enfranchisement.
+
+     Another great battle was in progress at the same time and the
+     second victory was an Astronomical one. Copernicus was born, the
+     telescope discovered, the earth sank to its subordinate place in
+     the solar system and another battle for woman was won.
+
+     Chemistry, long opposed under the name of Alchemy, at last gained
+     a victory, and by its union of diverse atoms began to teach men
+     that nature is a system of nuptials, and that the feminine is
+     everywhere present as an absolute necessity of life.
+
+     Geology continued this lesson. It not only taught the immense age
+     of creation, but the motherhood of even the rocks.
+
+     Botany was destined for a fierce battle, as when Linnaeus declared
+     the sexual nature of plants, he was shunned as having degraded
+     the works of God by a recognition of the feminine in plant life.
+
+     Philology owes its rank to Catherine II of Russia, who, in
+     assembling her great congress of deputies from the numerous
+     provinces of her empire, gave the first impetus to this science.
+     Max Mueller declares the evidence of language to be irrefragable,
+     and it is the only history we possess prior to historic periods.
+     Through Philology we ascend to the dawn of nations and learn of
+     the domestic, religious and governmental habits of people who
+     left neither monuments nor writing to speak for them. From it we
+     learn the original meaning of our terms, father and mother.
+     Father, says Mueller, who is a recognized philological authority,
+     is derived from the root "Pa," which means to protect, to
+     support, to nourish. Among the earliest Aryans, the word _mater_
+     (mother), from the root "Ma," signified maker; creation being
+     thus distinctively associated with the feminine. Taylor, in his
+     Primitive Culture says the husband acknowledged the offspring of
+     his wife as his own as thus only had he a right to claim the
+     title of father.
+
+     While Philology has opened a new fount of historic knowledge,
+     Biology, the seventh and most important witness, the latest
+     science in opposition to divine authority, is the first to deny
+     the theory of man's original perfection. Science gained many
+     triumphs, conquered many superstitions, before the world caught a
+     glimpse of the result toward which each step was tending--the
+     enfranchisement of woman.
+
+     Through Biology we learn that the first manifestation of life is
+     feminine. The albuminous protoplasm lying in silent darkness on
+     the bottom of the sea, possessing within itself all the phenomena
+     exhibited by the highest forms of life, as sensation, motion,
+     nutrition and reproduction, produces its like, and in all forms
+     of life the capacity for reproduction undeniably stamps the
+     feminine. Not only does science establish the fact that
+     primordial life is feminine, but it also proves that a greater
+     expenditure of vital force is requisite for the production of the
+     feminine than for the masculine.
+
+     The experiments of Meehan, Gentry, Treat, Herrick, Wallace,
+     Combe, Wood and many others, show sex to depend upon environment
+     and nutrition. A meager, contracted environment, together with
+     innutritious or scanty food, results in a weakened vitality and
+     the birth of males; a broad, generous environment together with
+     abundant nutrition, in the birth of females. The most perfect
+     plant produces feminine flowers; the best nurtured insect or
+     animal demonstrates the same law. From every summary of vital
+     statistics we gather further proof that more abundant vitality,
+     fewer infantile deaths and greater comparative longevity belong
+     to woman. It is a recognized fact that quick reaction to a
+     stimulus is proof of superior vitality. In England, where very
+     complete vital statistics have been recorded for many years, it
+     is shown that while the mean duration of man's life within the
+     last thirty years has increased five per cent. that of woman has
+     increased more than eight per cent. Our own last census (tenth)
+     shows New Hampshire to be the State most favorable for longevity.
+     While one in seventy-four of its inhabitants is eighty years old,
+     among native white men the proportion is but one to eighty, while
+     among native white women, the very great preponderance of one to
+     fifty-eight is shown.
+
+     That the vitality of the world is at a depressed standard is
+     proven by the fact that more boys are born than girls, the per
+     cent. varying in different countries. Male infants are more often
+     deformed, suffer from abnormal characteristics, and more speedily
+     succumb to infantile diseases than female infants, so that within
+     a few years, notwithstanding the large proportion of male births,
+     the balance of life is upon the feminine side. Many children are
+     born to a rising people, but this biological truth is curiously
+     supplemented by the fact that the proportion of girls born among
+     such people, is always in excess of boys; while in races dying
+     out, the very large proportion of boys' births over those of
+     girls is equally noticeable.
+
+     From these hastily presented scientific facts it is manifest that
+     woman possesses in a higher degree than man that adaptation to
+     the conditions surrounding her which is everywhere accepted as
+     evidence of superior vitality and higher physical rank in life;
+     and when biology becomes more fully understood it will also be
+     universally acknowledged that the primal creative power, like the
+     first manifestation of life, is feminine.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[10] The Call ended as follows: "The satisfactory results of
+Unrestricted Suffrage for Women in Wyoming Territory, of School
+Suffrage in twelve States, of Municipal and School Suffrage in England
+and Scotland, of Municipal and Parliamentary Suffrage in the Isle of
+Man, with the recent triumph in Washington Territory; also the
+constant agitation of the suffrage question in this country and in
+England, and the demands that women are everywhere making for larger
+liberties, are most encouraging signs of the times. This is the
+supreme hour for all who are interested in the enfranchisement of
+women to dedicate their time and money to the success of this
+movement, and by their generous contributions to strengthen those upon
+whom rests the responsibility of carrying forward this beneficent
+reform.
+
+                              "ELIZABETH CADY STANTON, President.
+                              "SUSAN B. ANTHONY, Vice-Pres't at Large.
+                              "MAY WRIGHT SEWALL, Ch. Ex. Committee.
+                              "JANE H. SPOFFORD, Treasurer."
+
+[11] The report of this convention, edited by Miss Anthony and Mrs.
+Stanton, is the most complete of any ever issued by the association
+and has been placed in most of the public libraries of the United
+States.
+
+[12] A list of delegates and those making State reports from year to
+year will be found in the last chapter of the Appendix.
+
+[13] The history of the work in the various States, as detailed more
+or less fully in these reports from year to year, will be found
+recorded in the State chapters.
+
+[14] Letters were received from S. Alfred Steinthal, treasurer of the
+Manchester society; F. Henrietta Mueller, member of the London School
+Board; Frances Lord, poor-law guardian in London; Eliza Orme,
+England's first woman lawyer; Dr. Agnes McLaren, Hannah Ford, Mary A.
+Estlin, Anna M. and Mary Priestman, Margaret Priestman Tanner, Rebecca
+Moore, Margaret E. Parker, all distinguished English women.
+
+[15] California--Clarina I. H. Nichols, Mrs. S. J. Manning, Sarah Knox
+Goodrich; Colorado--Dr. Alida C. Avery, Henry C. Dillon;
+Connecticut--Frances Ellen Burr; District of Columbia--Cornelia A.
+Sheldon; Illinois--Dr. Alice B. Stockham, Ada H. Kepley, Pearl Adams,
+Lucinda B. Chandler, Annette Porter, M. D.; Iowa--Caroline A. Ingham,
+Jonathan and Mary V. S. Cowgill, M. A. Root; Kansas--Ex-Governor and
+Mrs. J. P. St. John, Mary A. Humphrey, Lorenzo Westover, Susan E.
+Wattles, Mrs. Van Coleman; Kentucky--Ellen B. Dietrick;
+Massachusetts--Lilian Whiting; Michigan--Catharine A. F. Stebbins,
+Mrs. R. M. Young, Cordelia F. Briggs; Maine--Ellen French Foster,
+Lavina M. Snow; Minnesota--Eliza B. Gamble, Laura Howe Carpenter, Mrs.
+T. B. Walker; Missouri--Elizabeth Avery Meriwether, Annie R. Irvine;
+Nebraska--Judge and Mrs. A.D. Yocum, Madame Charlton Edholm, Harriet
+S. Brooks; New Jersey--Theresa Walling Seabrook, Augusta Cooper; New
+Hampshire--Armenia S. White, Eliza Morrill; New York--Madame Clara
+Neymann, Mary F. Seymour, Jean Brooks Greenleaf, Mary F. Gilbert,
+Mathilde F. Wendt, Helen M. Loder, Augusta Lilienthal, Amy Post, Sarah
+H. Hallock, Elizabeth Oakes Smith; Ohio--Frances Dana Gage;
+Pennsylvania--Adeline Thomson, Deborah A. Pennock, Matilda Hindman,
+Hattie M. Du Bois, Mrs. Lovisa C. McCullough; Rhode Island--Catherine
+C. Knowles; Texas--Jennie Bland Beauchamp; Virginia--N. O. Town;
+Washington Ty.--Barbara J. Thompson; Wisconsin--Almeda B. Gray,
+Evaleen L. Mason, Mathilde Anneke; Canada--Dr. Emily H. Stowe.
+
+[16] For a full account of Miss Carroll's services and such
+congressional action as was taken, see History of Woman Suffrage, Vol.
+II, pp. 3 and 863. It is the story of a national disgrace.
+
+[17] _Resolved_, That we hold a convention in every unorganized State
+and Territory during the present year, as far as possible, at the
+capital.
+
+_Resolved_, That we consider the enfranchisement of the women citizens
+of the United States the paramount issue of the hour, therefore
+
+_Resolved_, That we will, by all honorable methods, oppose the
+election of any presidential candidate who is a known opponent to
+woman suffrage, and we recommend similar action on the part of our
+State associations in regard to State and congressional candidates and
+further
+
+_Resolved_, That the officers of this convention shall communicate
+with presidential nominees of the several political parties and
+ascertain their position upon this question.
+
+_Resolved_, That all Legislatures shall be requested to memorialize
+Congress upon the submission of a Sixteenth Amendment to the
+Constitution, this to be the duty of the vice presidents of the States
+and Territories.
+
+WHEREAS, The National Government, through Congress and the Supreme
+Court, has persistently refused to protect the women of the several
+States and Territories in "the right of the citizen to vote,"
+therefore
+
+_Resolved_, That this association most earnestly protests against
+national interference to abolish the right where it has been secured
+by the Legislature--as, for example, the Edmunds Tucker Bill, which
+proposes to disfranchise all the women of Utah, thus inflicting the
+most degrading penalty upon the innocent equally with the guilty, by
+robbing them of their most sacred right of citizenship.
+
+[18] The method of organization must be governed by circumstances. In
+some localities it is best to call a public meeting, in others to
+invite the friends of the movement to a private conference. Both women
+and men should be members and co-operate, and the society should be
+organized on as broad and liberal a basis as possible.
+
+Hold conventions, picnics, teas, and occasionally have a lecture from
+some one who will draw a large crowd. Utilize your own talent,
+encourage your young women and men to speak, read essays and debate on
+the question. Hold public celebrations of the birthdays of eminent
+women, and in that way interest many who would not attend a pronounced
+suffrage meeting.
+
+Persons who can not be induced to attend a public meeting will often
+accept an invitation to a parlor conference or entertainment where
+woman suffrage can be made the subject of conversation. Cultured women
+and men, who "have given the matter no thought," can be interested
+through a paper presenting the life and work of such women as Margaret
+Fuller, Abigail Adams, Lucretia Mott, etc., or showing the rise and
+progress of the woman suffrage movement, giving short biographies of
+the leaders.
+
+Advocate suffrage through your local papers. Send them short, pithy
+communications, and, when possible, secure a column in each, to be
+edited by the society.
+
+Invite pastors of churches to select from the numerous appropriate
+texts in the Bible and preach occasionally upon this subject.
+
+A strong effort should be made to circulate literature. Every society
+should own a copy of the Woman Question in Europe, by Theodore
+Stanton, of the History of Woman Suffrage, by Mrs. Stanton, Miss
+Anthony and Mrs. Gage, of Mrs. Robinson's Massachusetts in the Woman
+Suffrage Movement, of T. W. Higginson's Common Sense for Women, of
+John Stuart Mill's Subjection of Women, and of Frances Power Cobbe's
+Duties of Women. These will furnish ammunition for arguments and
+debates.
+
+Suffrage leaflets should be circulated in parlors and places of
+business, and "pockets" should be filled and hung in railroad
+stations, post-offices and hotels, that "he who runs may read." Over
+these should be printed "Woman Suffrage--Take and Read."
+
+All the above methods aim rather at the education of the popular mind
+than the judiciary and legislative branches of the Government. The
+next step is to educate the representatives in Congress and on the
+bench of the Supreme Court in the principles of constitutional law and
+republican government, that they may understand the justice of the
+demands for a Sixteenth Amendment which shall forbid the several
+States to deny or abridge the rights of women citizens of the United
+States.
+
+[19] Miss Anthony never wrote her addresses and no stenographic
+reports were made. Brief and inadequate newspaper accounts are all
+that remain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS AND REPORTS OF 1884.
+
+
+Both Senate and House of the preceding Congress had appointed Select
+Committees on Woman Suffrage to whom all petitions, etc., were
+referred.[20] The Senate of the Forty-eighth Congress renewed this
+committee, but the House declined to do so. Early in the session, Dec.
+19, 1883, the Committee on Rules refused to report such a committee
+but authorized Speaker Warren Keifer of Ohio to present the question
+to the House. A spirited debate followed which displayed the sentiment
+of members against the question of woman suffrage itself. John H.
+Reagan of Texas was the principal opponent, saying in the course of
+his remarks:
+
+     I hope that it will not be considered ungracious in me that I
+     oppose the wish of any lady. But when she so far misunderstands
+     her duty as to want to go to working on the roads and making
+     rails and serving in the militia and going into the army, I want
+     to protect her against it. I do not think that sort of employment
+     suits her sex or her physical strength. I think also, when we
+     attempt to overturn the social status of the world as it has
+     existed for six thousand years, we ought to begin somewhere where
+     we have a constitutional basis to stand upon....
+
+     But I suppose whoever clamors for action here finds a warrant for
+     it in the clamor outside, and it is not necessary to look to the
+     Constitution for it; it is not necessary to regard the interests
+     of civilization and the experience of ages in determining our
+     social as well as our political policy; but we will arrange it so
+     that there shall be no one to nurse the babies, no one to
+     superintend the household, but all shall go into the political
+     scramble, and we shall go back as rapidly as we can march into
+     barbarism. That is the effect of such doings as this,
+     disregarding the social interests of society for a clamor that
+     never ought to have been made.
+
+Mr. Reagan then rambled into a long discussion of the rights allowed
+under the Constitution, although no action had been proposed except
+the mere appointment of a Select Committee, to whom all questions
+relating to woman suffrage might be referred, such as already existed
+in the Senate.
+
+James B. Belford of Colorado in an able reply said:
+
+     I have no doubt that this House will be gratified with the
+     profound respect which the gentleman from Texas has expressed for
+     the Constitution of the country. The last distinguished act with
+     which he was connected was its attempted overthrow; and a man who
+     was engaged in an enterprise of that kind can fight a class to
+     whom his mother belonged. I desire to know whether a woman is a
+     citizen of the United States or an outcast without any political
+     rights whatever....
+
+     What is the proposition presented by the gentleman from Ohio?
+     That we will constitute a committee to whom shall be referred all
+     petitions presented by women. Is not the right of petition a
+     constitutional right? Has not woman, in this country at least,
+     risen above the horizon of servitude, discredit and disgrace, and
+     has she not a right, representing as she does in many instances
+     great questions of property, to present her appeals to this
+     National Council and have them judiciously considered? I think it
+     is due to our wives, daughters, mothers and sisters to afford
+     them an avenue through which they can legitimately and judicially
+     reach the ear of this great nation.
+
+Moved by Mr. Reagan's attacks, Mr. Keifer made a strong plea for the
+rights of women, which deserves a place in history, saying in part:
+
+     We must remember that we stand here committed in a large sense to
+     the matter of woman suffrage. In the Territories of Wyoming and
+     Utah for fifteen years past women have had the right to vote on
+     all questions which men can vote upon; and the Congress of the
+     United States has stood by without disapproving the legislative
+     acts of those Territories. And we now have before us a law passed
+     at the last session of the Legislature of Washington, giving to
+     its women the right to vote. We have not passed upon the question
+     one way or the other, but we have the right to pass upon it.
+     This, I think, seems to dispose sufficiently of the question of
+     constitutional legislative power without trampling upon the toes
+     of any State-rights man.
+
+     The right of petition belongs to all persons within the limits of
+     our republic, and with the right of petition goes the right on
+     the part of the Congress through constitutional means to grant
+     relief. Do gentlemen claim it is unconstitutional to amend the
+     Constitution? I know that claim was made at one time on the floor
+     of this House and on the floor of the Senate. When it was
+     proposed to abolish slavery in the United States, distinguished
+     gentlemen argued that it was unconstitutional to amend the
+     Constitution so as to abolish slavery. But all that has passed
+     away and we now find ourselves, in the light of the present,
+     seeing clearly that we may amend the Constitution in any way we
+     please, pursuing always the proper constitutional methods of
+     doing so.
+
+     There are considerations due to the women of this country which
+     ought not to be lightly thrust aside. For thirty-five years they
+     have been petitioning and holding conventions and demanding that
+     certain relief should be granted them, to the extent of allowing
+     them to exercise the right of suffrage. In that thirty-five years
+     we have seen great things accomplished. We have seen some of the
+     subtleties of the Common Law, which were spread over this
+     country, swept away. There is hardly anybody anywhere who now
+     adheres to the doctrine that a married woman can not make a
+     contract, and that she has no rights or liabilities except those
+     which are centered in her husband. Even the old Common-Law maxim
+     that "husband and wife are one, and that one the husband," has
+     been largely modified under the influence of these patriotic,
+     earnest ladies who have taken hold of this question and
+     enlightened the world upon it. There are now in the vaults of
+     this Capitol _hundreds of thousands of petitions_ for relief,
+     sent in here by women and by those who believed that women ought
+     to have certain rights and privileges of citizenship granted to
+     them. For sixteen years there has been held in this city,
+     annually, a convention composed of representative women from all
+     parts of the country. These conventions, as well as various State
+     and local conventions, have been appealing for relief; and they
+     ought not to be met by the statement that we will not even give
+     them the poor privilege of a committee to whom their petitions
+     and memorials may be referred.
+
+     We have made some progress. In 1871 there was a very strong
+     minority report made in this House in favor of woman suffrage.
+     Notwithstanding the notion that we must stand by all our old
+     ideas, the Supreme Court of the United States, after deliberately
+     considering the question, admitted a woman to practice at the bar
+     of that Court.[21] A hundred years ago, in the darkness of which
+     some gentlemen desire still to live, I suppose they would not
+     have done this. Favorable reports on this subject were made by
+     the Committee on Privileges and Elections in the Senate of the
+     Forty-fifth Congress, and in the last Congress by a Select
+     Committee of the Senate and of the House. The Legislatures of
+     many of the States have expressed their judgment on the matter.
+     There has been a great deal of progress in that direction. The
+     Senate and the House of Representatives of the last Congress
+     provided Select Committees to whom all matters relating to woman
+     suffrage could be referred. Will this House take a step backward
+     on this question?
+
+     I want especially to notify the gentleman from Texas that we are
+     not standing still on this matter. Eleven States--New Hampshire,
+     Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, Michigan, Kentucky, Minnesota,
+     Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado and Oregon--have authorized women to
+     vote for school trustees and members of school boards. Kentucky
+     extends this right to widows who have children and pay taxes.
+     Women are nominated and voted for not only in the eleven States
+     and three Territories, but in nearly all the Northern and Western
+     States. Pennsylvania, Illinois, Iowa and other States have large
+     numbers of women county superintendents of public schools. And
+     let me say, for the benefit of the Democratic party, that in the
+     great, progressive western State of Kansas the Democracy rose so
+     high as to nominate and vote for a woman for State Superintendent
+     of Public Instruction at the last election. So there has been a
+     little growing away from those old ideas and notions, even among
+     the Democracy. We are permitting women to fill public offices.
+     Why should they not participate in the election of officers who
+     are to govern them? We require them to pay taxes and there are a
+     great many burdens imposed upon them. Kansas, Michigan, Colorado
+     and Nebraska have in recent years submitted the question of woman
+     suffrage to a vote of the people and more than one-third of the
+     electors of each voted in favor. Oregon has now a similar
+     proposition pending.
+
+     By the laws of all the States women are required to pay taxes;
+     but we are practically working on the theory that these women
+     shall be taxed without the right of representation. Taxation
+     without representation led to the separation of the colonies from
+     the mother country. They were not so much opposed to being taxed
+     as they were to being taxed without representation. The patriots
+     of that day conceived the idea that there was a principle
+     somewhere involved in the right of representation. So they
+     evolved and formulated that Revolutionary maxim, "Millions for
+     defense, but not one cent for tribute." The basis of that maxim
+     was that they would not give to the payment of taxes without the
+     right of representation. Revolution and war made representation
+     and taxation correlative. But the States tax all women on their
+     property. For illustration, 8,000 women of Boston and 34,000 in
+     Massachusetts pay $2,000,000 of taxes, one-eleventh of the entire
+     tax of that great and wealthy State. The same ratio will be found
+     to prevail in all the other States.
+
+     Progress has gone on elsewhere than in the United States. England
+     has been moving forward in this matter, and we should not stand
+     behind her in anything....
+
+     I am one of those who do not believe that to give to women common
+     rights and privileges will degrade them, but on the contrary I
+     believe it will ennoble them; and I believe further that to put
+     them on an equality in the matter of rights and privileges with
+     men will enhance their charms and not lessen their beauty.
+
+The vote resulted--yeas, 85; nays, 124; not voting, 112. Of the
+affirmative votes 72 were Republican, 13 Democratic; of the negative,
+4 were Republican, 120 Democratic.
+
+In January, 1884, after the return of the members from their holiday
+recess, Miss Anthony addressed letters to the 112 absentees, asking
+each how he would have voted had he been present. Fifty-two replies
+were received, 26 from Republicans, all of whom would have voted yes;
+26 from Democrats, 10 of whom would have voted yes, 10, no, and 6
+could not tell which way they would have voted.
+
+In the hope that this respectable minority could be increased to a
+majority, the Hon. John D. White (Ky.) made a further attempt, Feb. 7,
+1884, to secure the desired committee, saying in his speech upon this
+question:
+
+     It seems to me to be an anomalous state of affairs that in a
+     great Nation like this one-half of the people should have no
+     committee to which they could address their appeals.
+
+     Women consider they have the same political rights as men. I
+     might read from such distinguished authority as Miss Susan B.
+     Anthony, whose name has been jeered in her native State, and who
+     has been prosecuted there for voting, but who stands before the
+     American people to-day the peer of any woman in the nation, and
+     the superior of half the men occupying a representative capacity.
+     It does seem to me hard that when a woman like this comes to
+     Congress, instructed by thousands and tens of thousands of her
+     sex, in order to be heard she should be compelled to hang around
+     the doors of the Judiciary Committee, or of some other committee,
+     pre-eminently occupied with other matters. But we are told there
+     is no room. Yet we have a room where lobbyists of every sort are
+     provided for. And are we to be told that no room in this wing of
+     the Capitol can be had where respectable women of the nation can
+     present arguments for the calm consideration of their friends in
+     this body? I ask simply for the opportunity to be afforded the
+     representatives of the political rights of women to be heard in
+     making respectful argument to the law-making power of the nation.
+
+Byron M. Cutcheon (Mich.) also spoke in favor of the committee,
+saying:
+
+     Ever since the organization of this House I have received
+     petitions from my constituents in regard to this matter of the
+     political rights of women, but there seems to be no committee to
+     which they could properly be referred. A few years since, when
+     this question of woman suffrage was submitted to the people in my
+     State, more than 40,000 electors were in favor of it. It seems to
+     me, without committing ourselves on the question of the political
+     rights of women, it is but respectful to a very large number of
+     people in all our States that there should be a committee to
+     receive and consider and report upon these petitions which come
+     to us from time to time.
+
+The House refused to allow a vote.
+
+The Senate Committee on Woman Suffrage granted a hearing March 7,
+1884, at 10:30 a. m., in the Senate reception room, to the speakers
+and delegates in attendance at the convention, the entire committee
+being present.[22] In introducing the speakers Miss Anthony said:
+"This is the sixteenth year that we have come before Congress in
+person, and the nineteenth by petitions, asking national protection
+for the citizen's right to vote, when the citizen happens to be a
+woman."
+
+     MRS. HARRIET R. SHATTUCK (Mass.): We canvassed four localities in
+     the city of Boston, two in smaller cities, two in country
+     districts and made one record also of school teachers in nine
+     schools of one town. The teachers were unanimously in favor of
+     woman suffrage, and in the nine localities we found that the
+     proportion of women in favor was very much larger than of those
+     opposed. The total of women canvassed was 814. Those in favor
+     were 405, those opposed, 44; indifferent, 166; refused to sign,
+     160; not seen, 39. These canvasses were made by respectable,
+     responsible women, and they swore before a Justice of the Peace
+     as to the truth of their statements. Thus we have in
+     Massachusetts this reliable canvass of women showing those in
+     favor are to those opposed as nine to one....
+
+     MRS. MAY WRIGHT SEWALL (Ind.): ... My friend has said that men
+     have always kept us just a little below them where they could
+     shower upon us favors and they have done that generously. So they
+     have, but, gentlemen, has your sex been more generous to women
+     than they have been generous toward you in their favors? Neither
+     can dispense with the service of the other, neither can dispense
+     with the reverence of the other or with the aid of the other in
+     social life. The men of this nation are rapidly finding that they
+     can not dispense with the service of woman in business life. I
+     know that they are also feeling the need of the moral support of
+     woman in their political life.
+
+     You, gentlemen, by lifting the women of the nation into political
+     equality would simply place us where we could lift you where you
+     never yet have stood--upon a moral equality with us. I do not
+     speak to you as individuals but as the representatives of your
+     sex, as I stand here the representative of mine, and never until
+     we are your equals politically will the moral standard for men be
+     what it now is for women, and it is none too high. Let woman's
+     standard be still more elevated, and let yours come up to match
+     it.
+
+     We do not appeal to you as Republicans or as Democrats. We were
+     reared with our brothers under the political belief and faith of
+     our fathers, and probably as much influenced by that rearing as
+     they were. We shall go to strengthen both the parties, neither
+     the one nor the other the more, probably. So this is not a
+     partisan measure; it is a just measure, which is our due, because
+     of what we are, men and women both, by virtue of our heritage and
+     our one Father, our one Mother eternal.
+
+     MRS. HELEN M. GOUGAR (Ind.): I maintain there is no political
+     question paramount to that of woman suffrage before the people of
+     America to-day. Political parties would have us believe that
+     tariff is the great question of the hour. It is an insult to the
+     intelligence of the present to say that when one-half of the
+     citizens of this republic are denied a direct voice in making the
+     laws under which they shall live, that the tariff, the civil
+     rights of the negro, or any other question which can be brought
+     up, is equal to the one of giving political freedom to women.
+
+     I ask you to let me have a voice in the laws under which I shall
+     live because the older empires of the earth are sending to the
+     United States a population drawn very largely from their asylums,
+     penitentiaries, jails and poor-houses. They are emptying those
+     men upon our shores, and within a few months they are intrusted
+     with the ballot, the law-making power in this republic, and they
+     and their representatives are seated in official and legislative
+     positions. I, as an American-born woman, enter my protest at
+     being compelled to live under laws made by this class of men
+     while I am denied the protection that can only come from the
+     ballot. While I would not have you take this right from those men
+     whom we invite to our shores, I do ask you, in the face of this
+     immense foreign immigration, to enfranchise the tax-paying,
+     intelligent, moral, native-born women of America.
+
+     ....We have in our State the signatures of over 5,000 of the
+     school teachers asking for woman's ballot. I ask you if the
+     Government does not need the voice of those 5,000 educated
+     teachers as much as it needs the voice of the 240 criminals who
+     are, on an average, sent out of the penitentiary of Indiana each
+     year, to go to the ballot-box upon every question, and make laws
+     under which those teachers must live, and under which the mothers
+     of our State must keep their homes and rear their children?
+
+     On behalf of the mothers of this country I demand that their
+     hands shall be loosened before the ballot-box, and that they
+     shall have the privilege of throwing the mother heart into the
+     laws which shall follow their sons not only to the age of
+     majority, but even after their hair has turned gray and they have
+     seats in the United States Congress; yes, to the very confines of
+     eternity. This can be done in no indirect way; it can not be done
+     by silent influence; it can not be done by prayer. While I do not
+     underestimate the power of prayer, I say give me my ballot with
+     which to send statesmen instead of modern politicians into our
+     legislative halls. I would rather have that ballot on election
+     day than the prayers of all the disfranchised women in the
+     universe!
+
+     ....Our forefathers did not object to taxation, but they did
+     object to taxation without representation, and we object to it.
+     We are willing to contribute our share to the support of this
+     Government, as we always have done; but we demand our little yes
+     and no in the form of the ballot so that we shall have a direct
+     influence in distributing the taxes.
+
+     I am amenable to the gallows and the penitentiary, and it is no
+     more than right that I shall have a voice in framing the laws
+     under which I shall be rewarded or punished. It is written in the
+     law of every State in this Union that a person tried in the
+     courts shall have a jury of his peers; yet so long as the word
+     "male" stands as it does in the Constitution of the United States
+     and the States, no woman can have a jury of her peers. I protest
+     in the name of justice against going into the court-room and
+     being compelled to run the gauntlet of the gutter and
+     saloon--yes, even of the police court and of the jail--as is done
+     in selecting a male jury to try the interests of woman, whether
+     relating to life, property or reputation....
+
+     The political party that presumes to fight the moral battles of
+     the future must have the women in its ranks. We are non-partisan.
+     We come as Democrats, Republicans, Prohibitionists and
+     Green-backers, and if there were half a dozen other political
+     parties some of us would affiliate with them. We ask this
+     beneficent action upon your part, because we believe the
+     intelligence and justice of the hour demand it. We ask you in the
+     name of equity and humanity alone, and not in that of any
+     party....
+
+     You ask us if we are impatient. Yes; we are impatient. Some of us
+     may die, and I want our grand old standard-bearer, Susan B.
+     Anthony, whose name will go down to history beside those of
+     George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Wendell Phillips--I want
+     that woman to go to Heaven a free angel from this republic. The
+     power lies in your hands to make all women free.
+
+     MRS. CAROLINE GILKEY ROGERS (N. Y.): It is often said to us that
+     when _all_ the women ask for the ballot it will be granted. Did
+     _all_ the married women petition the Legislatures of their States
+     to secure to them the right to hold in their own name the
+     property which belonged to them? To secure to the poor forsaken
+     wife the right to her earnings? _All_ the women did not ask for
+     these rights, but _all_ accepted them with joy and gladness when
+     they were obtained, and so it will be with the franchise. Woman's
+     right to self-government does not depend upon the numbers that
+     demand it, but upon precisely the same principles on which man
+     claims it for himself. Where did man get the authority which he
+     now exercises to govern one-half of humanity; from what power the
+     right to place woman, his helpmeet in life, in an inferior
+     position? Came it from nature? Nature made woman his superior
+     when it made her his mother--his equal when it fitted her to hold
+     the sacred position of wife. Did women meet in council and
+     voluntarily give up all their right to be their own law-makers?
+     The power of the strong over the weak makes man the master. Thus,
+     and thus only, does he gain the authority.
+
+     It is all very well to say, "Convert the women." While we most
+     heartily wish they could all feel as we do, yet when it comes to
+     the decision of this great question they are mere ciphers, for if
+     it is settled by the States it will be left to the men, not to
+     the women, to decide. Or if suffrage comes to women through a
+     Sixteenth Amendment to the National Constitution, it will be
+     decided by Legislatures elected by men only. In neither case will
+     women have an opportunity of passing upon the question. So reason
+     tells us we must devote our best efforts to converting those to
+     whom we must look for the removal of the barriers which now
+     prevent our exercising the right of suffrage....
+
+     MRS. MARY SEYMOUR HOWELL (N. Y.): We ask for the ballot for the
+     good of the race. Huxley says: "Admitting, for the sake of
+     argument, that woman is the weaker, mentally and physically, for
+     that very reason she should have the ballot and every help which
+     the world can give her." When you debar from your councils and
+     legislative halls the purity, the spirituality and the love of
+     woman, then those councils are apt to become coarse and brutal.
+     God gave us to you to help you in this little journey to a better
+     land, and by our love and our intellect to help make our country
+     pure and noble, and if you would have statesmen you must have
+     stateswomen to bear them....
+
+     MRS. LILLIE DEVEREUX BLAKE (N. Y.): It is often said that we have
+     too many voters; that the aggregate of vice and ignorance among
+     us should not be increased by giving women the right of suffrage.
+     In the enormous immigration which pours upon our shores every
+     year, numbering nearly half a million, there come twice as many
+     men as women. What does this mean? It means a constant
+     preponderance of the masculine over the feminine; and it means
+     also, of course, a preponderance of the voting power of the
+     foreign men as compared to the native born men. To those who fear
+     that our American institutions are threatened by this gigantic
+     inroad of foreigners, I commend the reflection that the best
+     safeguard against any such preponderance of foreign influence is
+     to put the ballot in the hands of the American born woman, and of
+     all other women also, so that if the foreign born man
+     overbalances us in numbers we shall be always in a majority on
+     the side of the liberty which is secured by our institutions....
+
+     MRS. ELIZABETH BOYNTON HARBERT: From the great State of Illinois
+     I come, representing 200,000 men and women of that State who have
+     recorded their written petitions for woman's ballot, 90,000 of
+     these being citizens under the law, male voters; those 90,000
+     have signed petitions for the right of woman to vote on the
+     temperance question; 90,000 women also signed those petitions;
+     50,000 men and women signed the petitions for the school vote,
+     and 60,000 more have signed petitions that the full right of
+     suffrage might be accorded to woman.
+
+     This growth of public sentiment has been occasioned by the needs
+     of the children and the working women of that great State. I come
+     here to ask you to make a niche in the statesmanship and
+     legislation of the nation for the domestic interests of the
+     people. You recognize that the masculine thought is more often
+     turned to material and political interests. I claim that the
+     mother-thought, the woman-element needed, is to supplement the
+     statesmanship of American men on political and industrial affairs
+     with domestic legislation.
+
+In her closing address Miss Anthony took up the question of obtaining
+suffrage for women through the States instead of Congress and said:
+
+     My answer is that I do not wish to see the women of the
+     thirty-eight States of this Union compelled to leave their homes
+     to canvass each one of these, school district by school district.
+     It is asking too much of a moneyless class. The joint earnings of
+     the marriage co-partnership in all the States belong legally to
+     the husband. It is only that wife who goes outside the home to
+     work whom the law permits to own and control the money she earns.
+     Therefore, to ask of women, the vast majority of whom are without
+     an independent dollar of their own, to make a thorough canvass of
+     their several States, is asking an impossibility.
+
+     We have already made the experiment of canvassing four
+     States--Kansas in 1867, Michigan in 1874, Colorado in 1877,
+     Nebraska in 1882--and in each, with the best campaign possible
+     for us to make, we obtained a vote of only one-third. One man out
+     of every three voted for the enfranchisement of the women of his
+     household, while two out of every three voted against it....
+
+     We beg, therefore, that instead of insisting that a majority of
+     the individual voters must be converted before women shall have
+     the franchise, you will give us the more hopeful task of
+     appealing to the representative men in the Legislatures of the
+     several States. You need not fear that we shall get suffrage too
+     quickly if Congress submits the proposition, for even then we
+     shall have a long siege in going from Legislature to Legislature
+     to secure the vote of three-fourths of the States necessary to
+     ratify the amendment. It may require twenty years after Congress
+     has taken the initiative step, to obtain action by the requisite
+     number, but once submitted by Congress it always will stand until
+     ratified by the States.
+
+Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton's paper on Self-Government the Best Means
+of Self-Development was read to the committee. A few extracts will
+serve to show its broad scope:
+
+     The basic idea of a republic is the right of self-government, the
+     right of every citizen to choose his own representatives and to
+     have a voice in the laws under which he lives. As this right can
+     be secured only by the exercise of the suffrage, the ballot in
+     the hand of every qualified citizen constitutes the true
+     political status of the people in a republic.
+
+     The right of suffrage is simply the right to govern one's self.
+     Every human being is born into the world with this right, and the
+     desire to exercise it comes naturally with the feeling of life's
+     responsibilities. Those only who are capable of appreciating this
+     dignity, can measure the extent to which women are defrauded, and
+     they only can measure the loss to the councils of the nation of
+     the wisdom of representative women. They who say that women do
+     not desire the right of suffrage, that they prefer masculine
+     domination to self-government, falsify every page of history,
+     every fact in human experience.
+
+     It has taken the whole power of the civil and canon law to hold
+     woman in the subordinate position which it is said she willingly
+     accepts. If woman naturally has no will, no self-assertion, no
+     opinions of her own, what means the terrible persecution of the
+     sex under all forms of religious fanaticism, culminating in
+     witchcraft in which scarce one wizard to a thousand witches was
+     sacrificed? So powerful and merciless has been the struggle to
+     dominate the feminine element in humanity, that we may well
+     wonder at the steady, determined resistance maintained by woman
+     through the centuries. To every step of progress which she has
+     made from slavery to the partial freedom she now enjoys, the
+     Church and the State alike have made the most cruel opposition,
+     and yet, under all circumstances she has shown her love of
+     individual freedom, her desire for self-government, while her
+     achievements in practical affairs and her courage in the great
+     emergencies of life have vindicated her capacity to exercise this
+     right....
+
+     The right of suffrage in a republic means self-government, and
+     self-government means education, development, self-reliance,
+     independence, courage in the hour of danger. That women may
+     attain these virtues we demand the exercise of this right. Not
+     that we suppose we should at once be transformed into a higher
+     order of beings with all the elements of sovereignty, wisdom,
+     goodness and power full-fledged, but because the exercise of the
+     suffrage is the primary school in which the citizen learns how to
+     use the ballot as a weapon of defense; it is the open sesame to
+     the land of freedom and equality. The ballot is the scepter of
+     power in the hand of every citizen. Woman can never have an equal
+     chance with man in the struggle of life until she too wields this
+     power. So long as women have no voice in the Government under
+     which they live they will be an ostracised class, and invidious
+     distinctions will be made against them in the world of work.
+     Thrown on their own resources they have all the hardships that
+     men have to encounter in earning their daily bread, with the
+     added disabilities which grow out of disfranchisement. Men of the
+     republic, why make life harder for your daughters by these
+     artificial distinctions? Surely, if governments were made to
+     protect the weak against the strong, they are in greater need
+     than your stalwart sons of every political right which can give
+     them protection, dignity and power....
+
+     The disfranchisement of one-half the people places a dangerous
+     power in the hands of the other half. All history shows that one
+     class never did legislate with justice for another, and all
+     philosophy shows they never can, as the relations of class grow
+     out of either natural or artificial advantages which one has over
+     the other and which it will maintain if possible. It is folly to
+     say that women are not a class, so long as there is any
+     difference in the code of laws for men and women, any
+     discrimination in the customs of society, giving advantages to
+     men over women; so long as in all our State constitutions women
+     are ranked with lunatics, idiots, paupers and criminals. When you
+     say that one-half the people shall be governed by the other half,
+     surely the class distinction is about as broad as it can be....
+
+     The disfranchisement of one-half the people deprives the State of
+     the united wisdom of man and woman--that "consensus of the
+     competent" so necessary in national affairs--making our
+     Government an oligarchy of males, instead of a republic of the
+     people, thus perpetuating with all its evils a dominant masculine
+     civilization. But in answer to this it is said that although
+     women do not vote, yet they have an indirect influence in
+     Government through their husbands and brothers. Yes, an
+     "irresponsible power," of all kinds of influence the most
+     dangerous....
+
+     The dogged, unreasonable persecutions of sex in all ages, the
+     evident determination to eliminate, as far as possible, the
+     feminine element in humanity, has been the most fruitful cause of
+     the moral chaos the race has suffered, under every form of
+     government and religion.... The loss to women themselves of the
+     highest development of which they are capable is sad, but when
+     this involves a lower type of manhood and danger to our free
+     institutions, it is still more sad. The primal work in every
+     country, for its own safety, should be the education and freedom
+     of woman.
+
+The arguments before the Judiciary Committee of the House were given
+the next morning, March 8, twelve of the fifteen members being
+present.[23] Miss Anthony opened the hearing with an earnest address
+in which she referred to the hundreds of thousands of petitions which
+had been sent to Congress for woman suffrage--far more than for any
+other measure--and continued:
+
+     Negro suffrage was again and again overwhelmingly voted down in
+     various States--New York, Connecticut, Ohio, etc.--and you know,
+     gentlemen, that if the negro had never had the right to vote
+     until the majority of the rank and file of white men,
+     particularly foreign-born men, had voted "Yes," he would have
+     gone without it till the crack of doom. It was because of the
+     prejudice of the unthinking majority that Congress submitted the
+     question of the negro's enfranchisement to the Legislatures of
+     the several States, to be adjudicated by the educated, broadened
+     representatives of the people. We now appeal to you to lift the
+     decision of woman suffrage from the vote of the populace to that
+     of the Legislatures, that you may thereby be as considerate, as
+     just, to the women of this nation as you were to the male
+     ex-slaves.
+
+     Every new privilege granted to women has been by the
+     Legislatures. The liberal laws for married women, the right of
+     the wife to own and control her inherited property and separate
+     earnings, the right of women to vote at school elections in a
+     dozen States, the right to vote on all questions in three
+     Territories, have all been gained through the Legislatures. Had
+     any one of these beneficent propositions been submitted to the
+     masses, do you believe a majority would have placed their
+     sanction upon them? I do not.
+
+     It takes all too many of us women, and too much of our hard
+     earnings, from our homes and from the works of charity and
+     education of our respective localities, even to come to
+     Washington, session after session, until Congress shall have
+     submitted the proposition, and then to go from Legislature to
+     Legislature, urging its adoption; but when you insist that we
+     shall beg at the feet of each and every individual voter of each
+     and every one of the thirty-eight States, native and foreign,
+     white and black, educated and ignorant, you doom us to
+     incalculable hardships and sacrifices and to most exasperating
+     insults and humiliations. I pray you, therefore, save us from the
+     fate of working and waiting for our freedom until we shall have
+     educated the masses of men to consent to give their wives and
+     sisters equality of rights with themselves. You surely will not
+     compel us to wait the enlightenment of all the freedmen of this
+     nation and all the newly-made voters from the monarchial
+     governments of the Old World!
+
+     Liberty for one's self is a natural instinct possessed alike by
+     all, but to be willing to accord liberty to another is the result
+     of education, of self-discipline, of the practice of the golden
+     rule--"Do unto others as you would that others should do unto
+     you." Therefore we ask that the question of equality of rights to
+     women shall be arbitrated upon by the picked men of the nation in
+     Congress, and the picked men of the several States in their
+     respective Legislatures.
+
+     THE REV. FLORENCE KILLOCK (Ills.): ... Called as I am into the
+     homes of the people through the requirements of my office, I know
+     whereof I speak when I say that I am as faithfully fulfilling its
+     sacred duties when I come before you urging this claim, as when,
+     on my bended knees, I plead at the throne of God for the
+     salvation of souls.
+
+     I know too well the suffering that might be alleviated, the
+     terrible wrongs that might be righted, the sins that might be
+     punished, could the moral power of the women of our land be
+     utilized--could it be brought to bear on those great questions
+     which affect so vitally the welfare of society. The gigantic evil
+     of intemperance is prostrating the finest powers of our country
+     and threatening the life of social purity; it is in truth the
+     fell destroyer of peace, virtue and domestic and national safety,
+     and upon the unoffending the blow falls with the greatest weight.
+     Why should not they who suffer the most deeply through this evil,
+     be authorized before the law of the land to protect themselves
+     and their loved ones from its fearful ravages? Is it other than
+     simple justice which I ask for them? I have listened to too many
+     sad stories from heart-broken wives and mothers not to know that
+     the demand which the women of the land make in this matter comes
+     not from love of power, is not prompted by false ambition,
+     springs not from unwomanly aspirations, but does come from a
+     direful need of self-protection and an earnest desire to protect
+     those dearer than life itself.
+
+     Gentlemen of the Judiciary Committee, in the same spirit in which
+     I seek the aid of Heaven in my endeavor to promote the spiritual
+     welfare of mankind, I now and here seek your aid in promoting the
+     highest moral welfare of every man, woman and child. This you
+     will do in giving your vote and influence for the equality of
+     women before the law, and as you thus confer this new power upon
+     the women of our land, like the bread cast upon the waters, it
+     shall come to you in a higher, nobler type of womanhood, in
+     sweeter homes, in purer social life, in all that contributes to
+     the welfare of the individual and the state.
+
+     MRS. MARY B. CLAY (Ky.): We do not come here to plead as
+     individual women with individual men, but as a subject class with
+     a ruling class; nor do we come as suffering individuals--though
+     God knows some of us might do that with propriety--but as the
+     suffering millions whom we represent....
+
+     We are born of the same parents as men and raised in the same
+     family. We are possessed of the same loves and animosities as our
+     brothers, and we inherit equally with them the substance of our
+     fathers. So long as we are minors the Government treats us as
+     equals, but when we come of age, when we are capable of feeling
+     and knowing the difference, the boy becomes a free human being,
+     while the girl remains a slave, a subject, and no moral heroism,
+     no self-sacrificing patriotism, ever entitles her to her freedom.
+     Is this just? Is it not, indeed, barbarous?
+
+     If American men intend always to keep women slaves, political and
+     civil, they make a great mistake when they let the girl, with the
+     boy, learn the alphabet, for no educated class will long remain
+     in subjection. We are told that men protect us; that they are
+     generous, even chivalric in their protection. Gentlemen, if your
+     protectors were women, and they took all your property and your
+     children, and paid you half as much for your work, though as well
+     or better done than your own, would you think much of the
+     chivalry which permitted you to sit in street-cars and picked up
+     your pocket-handkerchief?
+
+     Each one of you is responsible for these laws continuing as they
+     are, and you can not avoid responsibility by saying that you did
+     not help to make them. Great injustice is done us in the fact
+     that we are not tried by a jury of our peers. Great injustice is
+     done us everywhere by our not having a vote. Human nature is
+     naturally selfish, and, as woman is deprived of the ballot, and
+     powerless either to punish or reward, man, loving his bread and
+     butter more than justice, will ever thrust her aside for the
+     benefit of those who can help him, those with ballots in their
+     hands.
+
+     ....All that is good in the home, and largely the highest
+     principles taught in your youth, were given by your mothers. How
+     then it is possible for you to return this love and interest, as
+     soon as you are capable of acting, by riveting the chains which
+     hold them still slaves, politically and civilly?
+
+     You need woman's presence and counsel in legislation as much as
+     she needs yours in the home; you need the association and
+     influence of woman; her intuitive knowledge of men's character
+     and the effect of measures upon the household; you need her for
+     the economical details of public work; you need her sense of
+     justice and moral courage to execute the laws; you need her for
+     all that is just, merciful and good in government. But above all,
+     women themselves need the ballot for self-protection, and as we
+     are by common right and the laws of God free human beings, we
+     demand that you no longer hold us your subjects--your political
+     slaves.
+
+     MRS. MARY E. HAGGART (Ind.): When Abraham Lincoln penned the
+     immortal emancipation proclamation he did not stop to inquire
+     whether every man and every woman in Southern slavery did or did
+     not want to be free. Whether women do or do not wish to vote does
+     not affect the question of their right to do so. The right of man
+     to the ballot is a logical deduction from the principles
+     enunciated in the Declaration of Independence. And singular to
+     say, while this inheres in all people alike, the privilege of
+     exercising it is withheld from women by a class who have no right
+     to say whether they are willing or not that women should vote.
+     Their right to the ballot was long ago settled beyond a quibble,
+     by laws and principles of justice which are superior to the codes
+     of men, who have usurped the power to regulate the voting
+     privileges of citizens. If this right be inherent and existing in
+     the great body of society before governments are formed, it
+     follows that all citizens of a republic, be they male or female,
+     are alike entitled to its exercise.
+
+     ....Is there a man among you willing to resign his own right to
+     the ballot and to place his own business interests and general
+     welfare at the mercy of the votes of others? Would you not resent
+     an attempt on the part of any man, or set of men, to fix your
+     mental status, assign your work in life and lay out with
+     mathematical precision your exact sphere in the world? And yet
+     men undertake to adjust the limitations of the Elizabeth Cady
+     Stantons, the Susan B. Anthonys, the Harriet Beecher Stowes, the
+     Frances E. Willards, the Harriet Hosmers of the world, and
+     continue to talk with patronizing condescension of female
+     retirement, female duties and female spheres.
+
+     The question is not whether women want or do not want to vote,
+     but how can republican inconsistencies be wiped out, justice
+     universally recognized and impartially administered, and the
+     civil and political errors of the past effectually repaired.
+     Whoever admits that men have a right to the franchise must
+     include in the admission women also, for there are no reasons
+     capable of demonstrating an abstract right in behalf of one sex
+     which are not equally applicable to the other....
+
+     The assertion that women do not want to vote is absolutely
+     without authority, so long as each individual woman does not
+     speak out for herself. In Ohio 225,000, and in Illinois 185,000,
+     have signified a desire to use the ballot for home protection,
+     and yet it is still asserted in those States that women do not
+     want it. Over 100,000 women have already notified this Congress
+     that they desire equality of political rights, and still it is
+     declared all around us that women do not want to vote. Gentlemen,
+     this is most emphatically an assertion which no individual can be
+     justified in making for another.
+
+     Since the elective franchise is the parent stem from which branch
+     out legal, industrial, social and educational enterprises
+     necessary to the welfare of the citizens, it will be readily seen
+     how women engaged in reforms, public charities, social
+     enterprises, are hampered and trammeled in their progress without
+     the ballot. Women have beheld their plans frustrated, their
+     Herculean labor undone, their lives wasted, for want of
+     legislative power through the citizen's emblem of sovereignty....
+
+     All ranks and occupations are beginning to realize that monstrous
+     evils must ever crowd upon both classes while one side of
+     humanity only is represented, and while one sex has the
+     irresponsible keeping of the rights and privileges of the other.
+     To-day, throughout the length and breadth of our land, woman
+     finds the greatest need of the ballot through an almost
+     overpowering desire to have her wishes and opinions crystallized
+     into law.
+
+     I have no hesitancy in saying that if the conditions which
+     surround the women of this nation to-day were the conditions of
+     the male citizens of the country, they would rise up and
+     pronounce them the exact definition of civil and political
+     slavery, instead of the true interpretation of natural justice
+     and civil equity.
+
+     Many persons claim that men are born with the right to vote, as
+     they are to the right of life, liberty and happiness; that
+     suffrage is the gift of the State, and that the State has a right
+     to regulate it in any way that it may deem best for the common
+     good. If men are born with the right to life, liberty and
+     happiness, they are also born with the right to give expression
+     as to how these are to be maintained; and in this nation, which
+     professes to rest upon the consent of the governed, this
+     expression is given through the ballot. Consequently the
+     expression of a freeman's will is as God-given as his right to be
+     free. Since the year of Magna Charta we have repudiated the idea
+     of representation by proxy.
+
+     We all know that there are thousands of women in this nation who
+     are owners of property, mothers of children, devoted to their
+     homes and families and to all the duties and responsibilities
+     which grow out of social life, and hence are most deeply
+     interested in the public welfare. They have just as much at
+     stake in this Government, which affords them no opportunity of
+     giving or withholding their consent, as men who are consulted.
+     John Quincy Adams said in that grand speech in defense of the
+     petitions of the women of Plymouth: "The women are not only
+     justified, but exhibit the most exalted virtue, when they do
+     depart from the domestic sphere and enter upon the concerns of
+     their country, of humanity and of God."
+
+Miss Phoebe W. Couzins (Mo.) in closing her address said: "At the
+gateway of this nation, the harbor of New York, there soon shall stand
+a statue of the Goddess of Liberty, presented by the republic of
+France--a magnificent figure of a woman, typifying all that is grand
+and glorious and free in self-government. She will hold aloft an
+electric torch of great power which is to beam an effulgent light far
+out to sea, that ships sailing towards this goodly land may ride
+safely into harbor. So should you thus uplift the women of this
+nation, and teach these men, at the very threshold, when first their
+feet shall touch the shore of this republic, that here woman is
+exalted, ennobled and honored; that here she bears aloft the torch of
+intelligence and purity which guides our Ship of State into the safe
+harbor of wise laws, pure morals and secure institutions."
+
+It had been the custom of these committees, when they reported at all,
+to delay doing so until the following year. In 1884, however, those of
+both Senate and House submitted reports soon after the hearings. The
+favorable recommendation was presented March 28, 1884, signed by
+Thomas W. Palmer, Henry W. Blair, Elbridge G. Lapham and Henry B.
+Anthony. Senators Francis Marion Cockrell and Joseph E. Brown
+dissented.[24] The name of Senator James G. Fair does not appear on
+either document, but he had signed an adverse report in 1882.
+
+An adverse majority report from the House Judiciary Committee was
+presented by William C. Maybury (Mich.) and began thus:
+
+     The right of suffrage is not and never has, under our system of
+     government, been one of the essential rights of citizenship....
+
+     What class or portion of the whole people of any State should be
+     admitted to suffrage, and should, by virtue of such admission,
+     exert the active and potential control in the direction of its
+     affairs, was a question reserved exclusively for the
+     determination of the State.
+
+[The report loses sight entirely of the point that this question was
+not and never has been left to "the people" of a State, but that men
+alone usurped the right to decide who should be admitted to the
+suffrage, arbitrarily excluded women and have kept them excluded.]
+
+     Under the influence of a just fear that without suffrage as a
+     protective power to the newly-acquired rights and privileges
+     guaranteed to the former slave he might suffer detriment, and
+     with this dominant motive in view, originated the Fifteenth
+     Amendment. It will be noted that by this later amendment the
+     privilege of suffrage is not sought to be _conferred_ on any
+     class; but an inhibition is placed upon the States from
+     _excluding_ from the privilege of suffrage any class on account
+     of race, color or previous condition of servitude.
+
+[The Fifteenth Amendment does not mention the "privilege" of suffrage.
+It says expressly, "The _right_ of citizens of the United States to
+vote shall not be denied or abridged." But whether it be a "right" or
+a "privilege," where did the negro get that which the States are
+forbidden to deny or abridge, if it does not inhere in citizenship?
+The report is incorrect in saying that the State is prohibited from
+excluding any "class;" it is only the "males" of any class who are
+protected from exclusion. The same right or privilege belongs to
+women, but they are not protected in the exercise of it. Women never
+have asked Congress to grant them any _new_ right or privilege, but
+only to prohibit the States from denying or abridging what is already
+theirs, as it did in the case of negro men.]
+
+     Woman's true sphere is not restricted, but is boundless in
+     resources and consequences. In it she may employ every energy of
+     the mind and every affection of the heart, while within its
+     limitless compass, under Providence, she exercises a power and
+     influence beyond all other agencies for good. She trains and
+     guides the life that is, and forms it for the eternity and
+     immortality that are to be. From the rude contact of life, man is
+     her shield. He is her guardian from its conflicts. He is the
+     defender of her rights in his home, and the avenger of her wrongs
+     everywhere.
+
+[That is, what man considers her true sphere is not restricted, but
+she is not allowed to decide for herself what shall be its
+dimensions. "Her power for good is beyond all other agencies," but it
+is not wanted in affairs of State, where surely it is needed quite as
+badly as in any place in the world. "Man is her shield, guardian,
+defender and avenger." Witness the Common Law of England, made by men,
+under which women lived for centuries and which is still in force in a
+number of the States; witness the records of the courts with the
+wife-beaters and slayers, the rapists, the seducers, the husbands who
+have deserted their families, the schemers who have defrauded widows
+and orphans--witness all these and then say if all men are the natural
+protectors of women. But even if they were, witness the millions of
+women who are not legally entitled to the protection and assistance of
+any man. However, the report does not forget these women.]
+
+     The exceptional cases of unmarried females are too rare to change
+     the general policy, while expectancy and hope, constantly being
+     realized in marriage, are happily extinguishing the exceptions
+     and bringing all within the rule which governs wife and matron.
+
+     To permit the entrance of political contention into the home
+     would be either useless or pernicious--useless if man and wife
+     agree, and pernicious if they differ. In the former event the
+     volume of ballots alone would be increased without changing
+     results. In the latter, the peace and contentment of home would
+     be exchanged for the bedlam of political debate and become the
+     scene of base and demoralizing intrigue.
+
+[What a breadth of statesmanship, what a grasp of the principles of a
+republican form of government, to see in the voting of husband and
+wife only an "increase of ballots"; what a reflection upon men to
+assume that if there were an honest difference of opinion "the home
+would become a scene of base and demoralizing intrigue"; what a
+recognition of justice to decree that, since possibly there might be a
+disagreement, the man should do the voting and the woman should be
+forbidden a voice!]
+
+     In respect to married women, it may well be doubted whether the
+     influences which result from the laws of property between husband
+     and wife, would not make it improbable that the woman should
+     exercise her suffrage with freedom and independence. This, too,
+     in despite of the fact that the dependence of woman under the
+     Common Law has been almost entirely obliterated by statutory
+     enactments.
+
+[Almost, but not quite, and it would still prevail everywhere had its
+obliteration depended upon the committee making this report. Think of
+saying in cold blood that, as the husband holds the purse-strings, the
+wife would not dare vote with freedom and independence!]
+
+     Your committee are of the opinion that while a few intelligent
+     women, such as appeared before the committee in advocacy of the
+     pending measure, would defy all obstacles in the way of their
+     casting the ballot, yet the great mass of the intelligent,
+     refined and judicious, with the becoming modesty of their sex,
+     would shrink from the rude contact of the crowd and, with the
+     exceptions mentioned, leave the ignorant and vile the exclusive
+     right to speak for the gentler sex in public affairs.
+
+[This opinion has been wholly disproved by the experience of States
+where women do vote. The "intelligent and judicious" have learned that
+there is more "rude contact" in going to the market, the theater, the
+train and the ferry-boat, than in a quiet booth where no man is
+permitted to come within a hundred feet. But women are not so "modest
+and refined" as to shrink from "rude contact" even, if it would give
+them the opportunity to control the conditions which surround and
+influence their husbands, their children, their homes and their
+community.]
+
+     Your committee are of the opinion that the general policy of
+     female suffrage should remain in abeyance, in so far as the
+     general Government is concerned, until the States and communities
+     directly chargeable under our system of government with the
+     exercise and regulation of this privilege, shall put the seal of
+     affirmation upon it; and there certainly can be no reason for an
+     amendment of the Constitution to settle a question within the
+     jurisdiction of the States, and which they should first settle
+     for themselves.
+
+[Of course, according to this logic, after the States settle the
+question and put the seal of affirmation on it, then the general
+Government will take a hand!]
+
+This House Report (No. 1330) was not drastic enough to suit the Hon.
+Luke P. Poland (Vt.), so he made his own, in which he said:
+
+     No government founded upon the principle that sovereignty resides
+     in the people has ever allowed all the people to vote, or to
+     directly participate in making or administering the laws.
+     Suffrage has never been regarded as the natural right of all the
+     people or of any particular class or portion of the people.
+     Suffrage is representation, and it has been given in free
+     governments to such class of persons as in their judgment [whose
+     judgment?] would fairly and safely represent the rights and
+     interests of the whole. The right has generally, if not
+     universally, been conferred on men above twenty-one years of age,
+     and often this has been restricted by requiring the ownership of
+     property or the payment of taxes. [Which?]
+
+     The great majority of women are either under the age of
+     twenty-one, or are married and therefore _under such influence
+     and control_ as that relation implies and confers. Is there any
+     necessity for the protection and preservation of the rights of
+     women, that they must be allowed to vote and, of course, to hold
+     office and directly to participate in the administration of the
+     laws?
+
+     Nearly every man who votes has a wife or mother or sisters or
+     daughters; some sustain all these relations or more than one. I
+     think it certain that the great majority of men when voting or
+     when engaged as legislators or in administering the laws in some
+     official character, are fully mindful of the interests of all
+     that class with whom they are so closely connected, and whose
+     interests are so bound up with their own, and that, therefore,
+     they fairly represent all the rights and interests of women as
+     well as their own. Persons who have been accustomed to see legal
+     proceedings in the courts, and occasionally to see a female
+     litigant in court, know very well whether they are apt to suffer
+     wrong because their rights are determined wholly by men.[25]
+     There is just as little reason for suspicion that their rights
+     are not carefully guarded in legislation, and in every way where
+     legislation can operate.
+
+     There is another reason why I think this proposal to enlist the
+     women of the country as a part of its active political force, and
+     to cast upon them an equal duty in the political meetings,
+     campaigns and elections--to make them legislators, jurors, judges
+     and executive officers--is all wrong. I believe it to be utterly
+     inconsistent with the very nature and constitution of woman, and
+     wholly subversive of the sphere and function she was designed to
+     fill in the home and in society. The office and duty which nature
+     has devolved upon woman during _all the active and vigorous
+     portion_ of her life would often render it impossible, and still
+     more often indelicate, for her to appear and act in caucuses,
+     conventions or elections, or to act as a member of the
+     Legislature or as a juror or judge.
+
+     I can not bring myself to believe that any large portion of the
+     intelligent women of this country desire any such thing granted
+     them, or would perform any such duties if the chance were offered
+     them.
+
+[To comment upon this would be "to gild refined gold, to paint the
+lily, to throw a perfume on the violet." It would be positively
+"indelicate."]
+
+William Dorsheimer (N. Y.) agreed with the committee to table the
+resolution, but did not endorse their arguments. He signed the
+following statement: "I think it probable that the interests of
+society will some time require that women should have the right of
+suffrage, and I am not willing to say more than that the present is
+not an opportune time for submission to the States of the proposed
+amendment."
+
+In this, it will be observed, there is no recognition of woman's right
+to represent herself, no disposition to grant her petition for her own
+sake, but simply the opinion that should there ever be a crisis when
+her suffrage was needed it should be allowed as a matter of
+expediency.
+
+In the eyes of posterity the Judiciary Committee of this Forty-eighth
+Congress will be redeemed from the disgrace of these reports by that
+of the minority, signed by Thomas B. Reed, afterwards for many years
+Speaker of the House; Ezra B. Taylor (O.); Moses A. McCoid (Ia.);
+Thomas M. Browne (Ind.). The question of woman suffrage never has been
+and never can be more concisely and logically stated.
+
+     No one who listens to the reasons given by the superior class for
+     the continuance of any system of subjection can fail to be
+     impressed with the noble disinterestedness of mankind. When the
+     subjection of persons of African descent was to be maintained,
+     the good of those persons was always the main object. When it was
+     the fashion to beat children, to regard them as little animals
+     who had no rights, it was always for their good that they were
+     treated with severity, and never on account of the bad temper of
+     their parents. Hence, when it is proposed to give to the women of
+     this country an opportunity to present their case to the various
+     State Legislatures to demand equality of political rights, it is
+     not surprising to find that the reasons on which the continuance
+     of the inferiority of women is urged are drawn almost entirely
+     from a tender consideration of their own good. The anxiety felt
+     lest they should thereby deteriorate would be an honor to human
+     nature were it not an historical fact that the same sweet
+     solicitude has been put up as a barrier against all the progress
+     which women have made since civilization began.
+
+     There is no doubt that if to-day in Turkey or Algiers, countries
+     where woman's sphere is most thoroughly confined to the home
+     circle, it was proposed to admit them to social life, to remove
+     the veil from their faces and permit them to converse in open day
+     with the friends of their husbands and brothers, the conservative
+     and judicious Turk or Algerine of the period, if he could be
+     brought even to consider such a horrible proposition, would point
+     out that the sphere of woman was to make home happy by those
+     gentle insipidities which education would destroy; that by
+     participating in conversation with men they would debase their
+     natures, and men would thereby lose that ameliorating influence
+     which still leaves them unfit to associate with women. He would
+     point out that "nature" had determined that women should be
+     secluded; that their sphere was to raise and educate the
+     man-child, and that any change would be a violation of the divine
+     law which, in the opinion of all conservative men, ordains the
+     present but never the future.
+
+     So in civilized countries when it was proposed that women should
+     own their own property, that they should have the earnings of
+     their own labor, there were not wanting those who were sure that
+     such a proposition could work only evil to women, and that
+     continually. It would destroy the family, discordant interests
+     would provoke dispute, and the only real safety for woman was in
+     the headship of man; not that man wanted superiority for any
+     selfish reason, but to preserve intact the family relation for
+     woman's good. To-day a woman's property belongs to herself; her
+     earnings are her own; she has been emancipated beyond the wildest
+     hopes of any reformer of twenty-five years ago. Almost every
+     vocation is open to her. She is proving her usefulness in spheres
+     which the "nature" worshiped by the conservative of the last
+     generation absolutely forbade her to enter. Notwithstanding all
+     these changes the family circle remains unbroken, the man-child
+     gets as well educated as before, and the ameliorating influence
+     of woman has become only the more marked.
+
+     Thirty years ago hardly any political assemblage of the people
+     was graced by the presence of women. Had it needed a law to
+     enable them to be present, what an argument could have been made
+     against it! How easily it could have been shown that the
+     coarseness, the dubious expressions, the general vulgarity of the
+     scene, could have had no other effect than to break down that
+     purity of thought and word which women have, and which
+     conservative and radical are alike sedulous to preserve. And yet
+     the actual presence of women at political meetings has not
+     debased them but has raised the other sex. Coarseness has not
+     become diffused through both sexes but has fled from both. To put
+     the whole matter in a short phrase: The association of the sexes
+     in the family circle, in society, and in business, having
+     improved both, there is neither history, reason nor sense to
+     justify the assertion that association in politics will lower the
+     one or demoralize the other.
+
+     Hence, we would do well to approach the question without
+     trepidation. We can better leave the "sphere" of woman to the
+     future than confine it in the chains of the past. Words change
+     nothing. Prejudices are none the less prejudices because we
+     vaguely call them "nature," and prate about what nature has
+     forbidden, when we only mean that the thing we are opposing has
+     not been hitherto done. "Nature" forbade a steamship to cross the
+     Atlantic the very moment it was crossing, and yet it arrived just
+     the same. What the majority call "nature" has stood in the way of
+     all progress of the past and present, and will stand in the way
+     of all future progress. It is only another name for conservatism.
+     With conservatism the minority have no quarrel. It is essential
+     to the stability of mankind, of government and of social life.
+     To every new proposal it rightfully calls a halt, demanding
+     countersign, whether it be friend or foe. The enfranchisement of
+     women must pass this ordeal like everything else. It must give
+     good reason for its demand to be, or take its place among the
+     half-forgotten fantasies which have challenged the support of
+     mankind and have not stood the test of argument and discussion.
+
+     The majority of the committee claim that suffrage is not a right
+     but a privilege to be guarded by those who have it, and to be by
+     them doled out to those who shall become worthy. That every
+     extension of suffrage has been granted in some form or other by
+     those already holding it is probably true. In some countries,
+     however, it has been extended upon the simple basis of
+     expediency, and in others in obedience to a claim of right. If
+     suffrage be a right, if it be true that no man has a claim to
+     govern any other man except to the extent that the other man has
+     a right to govern him, then there can be no discussion of the
+     question of Woman Suffrage. No reason on earth can be given by
+     those who claim suffrage as a right of manhood which does not
+     make it a right of womanhood also. If the suffrage is to be given
+     man to protect him in his life, liberty and property, the same
+     reasons urge that it be given to woman, for she has the same
+     life, liberty and property to protect. If it be urged that her
+     interests are so bound up in those of man that they are sure to
+     be protected, the answer is that the same argument was urged as
+     to the merging in the husband of the wife's right of property,
+     and was pronounced by the judgment of mankind fallacious in
+     practice and in principle. If the natures of men and women are so
+     alike that for that reason no harm is done by suppressing women,
+     what harm can be done by elevating them to equality? If the
+     natures be different, what right can there be in refusing
+     representation to those who might take juster views about many
+     social and political questions?
+
+     Our Government is founded, not on the rule of the wisest and
+     best, but upon the rule of all. The learned and the ignorant, the
+     wise and the unwise, the judicious and the injudicious are all
+     invited to assist in governing, and upon the broad principle that
+     the best government for mankind is not the government which the
+     wisest and best would select, but that which the average of
+     mankind would select. Laws are daily enacted, not because they
+     seem the wisest even to those legislators who pass them, but
+     because they represent what the whole people wish. And, in the
+     long run, it may be just as bad to enact laws in advance of
+     public sentiment as to hold on to laws behind it. Upon what
+     principle in a Government like ours can one-half the minds be
+     denied expression at the polls? Is it because they are untrained
+     in public affairs? Are they more so than the slaves were when the
+     right of suffrage was conferred on them? It is objected that to
+     admit women would be temporarily to lower the suffrage on account
+     of their lack of training in public duties. What is now asked of
+     us is not immediate admission to the right, but the privilege of
+     presenting to the Legislatures of the different States the
+     amendment, which can not become effective until adopted by
+     three-fourths of them. It may be said that the agitation and
+     discussion of this question will, long before its adoption, have
+     made women as familiar with public affairs as the average of men,
+     for the agitation is hardly likely to be successful until after a
+     majority, at least, of women are in favor of it.
+
+     We believe in the educating and improving effect of participation
+     in government. We believe that every citizen in the United States
+     is made more intelligent, more learned and better educated by his
+     participation in politics and political campaigns. It must be
+     remembered that education, like all things else, is relative.
+     While the average American voter may not be all that impatient
+     people desire, and is far behind his own future, yet he is
+     incomparably superior to the average citizen of any other land
+     where the subject does not fully participate in the government.
+     Discussions on the stump, and above all the discussions he
+     himself has with his fellows, breed a desire for knowledge which
+     will take no refusal and which leads to great general
+     intelligence. In political discussion, acrimony and hate are not
+     essential, and have of late years quite perceptibly diminished
+     and will more and more diminish when discussions by women, and in
+     the presence of women, become more common. If, then, discussion
+     of public affairs among men has elevated them in knowledge and
+     intelligence, why will it not lead to the same results among
+     women? It is not merely education that makes civilization, but
+     diffusion of education. The standing of a nation and its future
+     depend not upon the education of the few, but of the whole. Every
+     improvement in the status of woman in the matter of education has
+     been an improvement to the whole race. Women have by education
+     thus far become more womanly, not less. The same prophecies of
+     ruin to womanliness were made against her education on general
+     subjects that are now made against her participation in politics.
+
+     It is sometimes asserted that women now have a great influence in
+     politics through their husbands and brothers. This is undoubtedly
+     true. But that is just the kind of influence which is not
+     wholesome for the community, for it is influence unaccompanied by
+     responsibility. People are always ready to recommend to others
+     what they would not do themselves. If it be true that women can
+     not be prevented from exercising political influence, is not that
+     only another reason why they should be steadied in their
+     political action by that proper sense of responsibility which
+     comes from acting themselves?
+
+     We conclude then, that every reason which in this country bestows
+     the ballot upon man is equally applicable to the proposition to
+     bestow the ballot upon woman, and that in our judgment there is
+     no foundation for the fear that woman will thereby become
+     unfitted for all the duties she has hitherto performed.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[20] For an interesting account of the struggle to secure these
+committees see History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. III, p. 198.
+
+[21] But it was after five years of persistent appeal to Congress by
+Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood, and the enactment of a law, by overwhelming
+majorities in both Houses, prohibiting the Supreme Court from denying
+admission to lawyers on account of sex, that this act of justice was
+accomplished.
+
+[22] This committee was composed of Senators Cockrell (Mo.), Fair
+(Nev.), Brown (Ga.), Anthony (R. I.), Blair (N. H.), Palmer (Mich.),
+Lapham (N. Y.).
+
+[23] J. Randolph Tucker, Va.; Nathaniel J. Hammond, Ga.; David B.
+Culberson, Tex.; Samuel W. Moulton, Ills.; James O. Broadhead, Mo.;
+William Dorsheimer, N. Y.; Patrick A. Collins, Mass.; George E. Seney,
+O.; William C. Maybury, Mich.; Thomas B. Reed, Me.; Ezra B. Taylor,
+O.; Moses A. McCoid, Ia.; Thomas M. Browne, Ind.; Luke P. Poland, Vt.;
+Horatio Bisbee, Jr., Fla.
+
+[24] Their report, dated April 23, 1884, was used entire by Senator
+Brown in the debate on woman suffrage which took place in the Senate
+of the United States January 25, 1887, and will be found in Chapter
+VI, which contains also a portion of the majority report included in
+the speech of Senator Blair.
+
+[25] Would the men whose crimes very often have sent these "female
+litigants" into the courts, be willing to have their cases tried
+before a jury of women?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE NATIONAL SUFFRAGE CONVENTION OF 1885.[26]
+
+
+The Seventeenth of the national conventions was held in Lincoln Hall,
+Washington, D. C., Jan. 20-22, 1885, preceded by the usual brilliant
+reception, which was extended by Mr. and Mrs. Spofford each season for
+the twelve years during which the association had its headquarters at
+the Riggs House.
+
+It is rather amusing to note the custom of the newspaper reporters to
+give a detailed description of the dress of each one of the speakers,
+usually to the exclusion of the subject-matter of her speech. On this
+occasion the public was informed that one lady "spoke in dark bangs
+and Bismarck brown;" one "in black and gold with angel sleeves,
+boutonniere and ear-drops;" another "in a basque polonaise and snake
+bracelets;" another "in black silk dress and bonnet, gold eye-glasses
+and black kid gloves." One lady wore "a small bonnet made of
+gaudy-colored birds' wings;" one "spoke with a pretty lisp, was
+attired in a box-pleated satin skirt, velvet newmarket basque
+polonaise, hollyhock corsage bouquet;" another "addressed the meeting
+in low tones and a poke bonnet;" still another "discussed the question
+in a velvet bonnet and plain linen collar." "A large lady wore a green
+cashmere dress with pink ribbons in her hair;" then there was "a slim
+lady with tulle ruffles, velvet sacque and silk skirt." Of one it was
+said: "Her face, though real feminine in shape, was painted all over
+with business till it looked like a man's, and her hair was shingled
+and brushed in little banglets." "Miss Anthony," so the report said,
+"wore a blue barbe trimmed in lace," while Mrs. Stanton "was attired
+in a black silk dress with a white handkerchief around her throat."
+One record declares that "there was not a pair of earrings on the
+platform, but most of the ladies wore gold watch-chains."
+
+These extracts are taken verbatim from the best newspapers of the
+day. The conventions had passed the stage where, according to the
+reporters, all of the participants had short hair and wore bloomers,
+but, according to the same authority, they had reached the wonderful
+attire described above. This was fifteen years ago. The proceedings of
+the national convention of 1900 occupied from four to seven columns
+daily in each of the Washington papers, and one or more columns were
+telegraphed each day to the large newspapers of the United States, and
+yet it may be safely said that there was not one line of reference to
+the costumes of the ladies in attendance. The business meetings,
+speeches, etc., were reported with the same respect and dignity as are
+accorded to national conventions of men. The petty personalities of
+the past were wholly eliminated and women were presented from an
+intellectual standpoint, to be judged upon their merits and not by
+their clothes. This result alone is worth the fifty years of endeavor.
+
+Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton presided over all of the sessions. Mrs.
+Lillie Devereux Blake gave a full report of the legislative work done
+in New York during the past year. In the address of Mrs. Harriette R.
+Shattuck (Mass.) she laid especial stress on the need for women to be
+invested with responsibility. Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage (N. Y.)
+discussed the woman question from a scientific standpoint. She was
+followed by Mrs. Laura de Force Gordon, the second woman admitted to
+practice before the U. S. Supreme Court, who answered the question, Is
+our Civilization Civilized? and described the legal status of women in
+California. Mrs. Caroline Gilkey Rogers (N. Y.) gave a spirited talk
+on the Aristocracy of Sex. The principal address of the evening was by
+Mrs. Stanton, a long and thoughtful paper in which she said:
+
+     Those people who declaim on the inequalities of sex, the
+     disabilities and limitations of one as against the other, show
+     themselves as ignorant of the first principles of life as would
+     that philosopher who should undertake to show the comparative
+     power of the positive as against the negative electricity, of the
+     centrifugal as against the centripetal force, the attraction of
+     the north as against the south end of the magnet. These great
+     natural forces must be perfectly balanced or the whole material
+     world would relapse into chaos. Just so the masculine and
+     feminine elements in humanity must be exactly balanced to redeem
+     the moral and social world from the chaos which surrounds it.
+     One might as well talk of separate spheres for the two ends of
+     the magnet as for man and woman; they may have separate duties in
+     the same sphere, but their true place is together everywhere.
+     Having different duties in the same sphere, neither can succeed
+     without the presence and influence of the other. To restore the
+     equilibrium of sex is the first step in social, religious and
+     political progress. It is by the constant repression of the best
+     elements in humanity, by our false customs, creeds and codes,
+     that we have thus far retarded civilization....
+
+     There would be more sense in insisting on man's limitations
+     because he can not be a mother, than on woman's because she can
+     be. Surely maternity is an added power and development of some of
+     the most tender sentiments of the human heart and not a
+     "limitation." "Yes," says another pertinacious reasoner, "but it
+     unfits woman for much of the world's work." Yes, and it fits her
+     for much of the world's work; a large share of human legislation
+     would be better done by her because of this deep experience....
+
+     If one-half the effort had been expended to exalt the feminine
+     element that has been made to degrade it, we should have reached
+     the natural equilibrium long ago. Either sex, in isolation, is
+     robbed of one-half its power for the accomplishment of any given
+     work. This was the most fatal dogma of the Christian
+     religion--that in proportion as men withdrew from all
+     companionship with women, they could get nearer to God, grow more
+     like the Divine Ideal.
+
+Telegrams of greetings were received from many associations and
+individuals. Miss Frances Ellen Burr, who made a fine stenographic
+report of the entire convention, spoke for Connecticut, closing with
+an ideal picture of civilization as it might be with the wisdom of
+both sexes brought to bear on the problems of society. The following
+resolutions were written by Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby:
+
+     WHEREAS, The dogmas incorporated in the religious creeds derived
+     from Judaism, teaching that woman was an afterthought in
+     creation, her sex a misfortune, marriage a condition of
+     subordination, and maternity a curse, are contrary to the law of
+     God as revealed in nature and the precepts of Christ; and,
+
+     WHEREAS, These dogmas are an insidious poison, sapping the
+     vitality of our civilization, blighting woman and palsying
+     humanity; therefore,
+
+     _Resolved_, That we denounce these dogmas wherever they are
+     enunciated, and we will withdraw our personal support from any
+     organization so holding and teaching; and,
+
+     _Resolved_, That we call upon the Christian ministry, as leaders
+     of thought, to teach and enforce the fundamental idea of creation
+     that man was made in the image of God, male and female, and given
+     equal dominion over the earth, but none over each other. And
+     further we invite their co-operation in securing the recognition
+     of the cardinal point of our creed, that in true religion there
+     is neither male nor female, neither bond nor free, but all are
+     one.
+
+The resolutions were introduced and advocated by Mrs. Stanton, who
+said: "Woman has been licensed to preach in the Methodist church; the
+Unitarian and Universalist and some branches of the Baptist
+denomination have ordained women, but the majority do not recognize
+them officially, although for the first three centuries after the
+proclamation of Christianity women had a place in the church. They
+were deaconesses and elders, and were ordained and administered the
+sacrament. Yet through the Catholic hierarchy these privileges were
+taken away in Christendom and they have never been restored. Now we
+intend to demand equal rights in the church."
+
+This precipitated a vigorous discussion which extended into the next
+day. Miss Anthony was opposed to a consideration of the resolutions
+and in giving her reasons said:
+
+     I was on the old Garrisonian platform and found long ago that
+     this matter of settling any question of human rights by people's
+     interpretation of the Bible is never satisfactory. I hope we
+     shall not go back to that war. No two can ever interpret alike,
+     and discussion upon it is time wasted. We all know what we want,
+     and that is the recognition of woman's perfect equality--in the
+     Home, the Church and the State. We all know that such recognition
+     has never been granted her in the centuries of the past. But for
+     us to begin a discussion here as to who established these dogmas
+     would be anything but profitable. Let those who wish go back into
+     the history of the past, but I beg it shall not be done on our
+     platform.
+
+Mrs. Mary E. McPherson (Ia.) insisted that the Bible did not ignore
+women, although custom might do so. The Rev. Dr. McMurdy (D. C.)
+declared that women were teachers under the old Jewish dispensation;
+that the Catholic church set apart its women, ordained them and gave
+them the title "reverend"; that the Episcopal church ordained
+deaconesses. He hoped the convention would not take action on this
+question. John B. Wolf upheld the resolution. Mrs. Shattuck thought
+the church was coming around to a belief in woman suffrage and it
+would be a mistake to antagonize it.
+
+Mrs. Colby insisted the resolutions did not attack the Bible, but the
+dogmas which grew out of man's interpretation of it, saying:
+
+     This dogma of woman's divinely appointed inferiority has sapped
+     the vitality of our civilization, blighted woman and palsied
+     humanity. As a Christian woman and a member of an orthodox
+     church, I stand on this resolution; on the divine plan of
+     creation as set forth in the first chapter of Genesis, where we
+     are told that man was created male and female and set over the
+     world to have equal dominion; and on the gospel of the new
+     dispensation, in which there is neither male nor female, bond nor
+     free, but all are one. This resolution avows our loyalty to what
+     we believe to be the true teachings of the Bible, and the
+     co-operation of the Christian ministry is invited in striving to
+     secure the application of the golden rule to women.
+
+Edward M. Davis (Penn.) declared that, while individual members might
+favor woman suffrage, not one religious body ever had declared for it,
+and the convention ought to express itself on this subject. Mrs.
+Gordon pointed out the difference between religion and theology. Mrs.
+Stanton, being called on for further remarks, spoke in the most
+earnest manner:
+
+     You may go over the world and you will find that every form of
+     religion which has breathed upon this earth has degraded woman.
+     There is not one which has not made her subject to man. Men may
+     rejoice in them because they make man the head of the woman. I
+     have been traveling over the old world during the last few years
+     and have found new food for thought. What power is it that makes
+     the Hindoo woman burn herself on the funeral pyre of her husband?
+     Her religion. What holds the Turkish woman in the harem? Her
+     religion. By what power do the Mormons perpetuate their system of
+     polygamy? By their religion. Man, of himself, could not do this;
+     but when he declares, "Thus saith the Lord," of course he can do
+     it. So long as ministers stand up and tell us that as Christ is
+     the head of the church, so is man the head of the woman, how are
+     we to break the chains which have held women down through the
+     ages? You Christian women can look at the Hindoo, the Turkish,
+     the Mormon women, and wonder how they can be held in such
+     bondage. Observe to-day the work women are doing for the
+     churches. _The church rests on the shoulders of women._ Have we
+     ever yet heard a man preach a sermon from Genesis i:27-28, which
+     declares the full equality of the feminine and masculine element
+     in the Godhead? They invariably shy at that first chapter. They
+     always get up in their pulpits and read the second chapter.
+
+     Now I ask you if our religion teaches the dignity of woman? It
+     teaches us that abominable idea of the sixth century--Augustine's
+     idea--that motherhood is a curse; that woman is the author of
+     sin, and is most corrupt. Can we ever cultivate any proper sense
+     of self-respect as long as women take such sentiments from the
+     mouths of the priesthood?... The canon laws are infamous--so
+     infamous that a council of the Christian church was swamped by
+     them. In republican America, and in the light of the nineteenth
+     century, we must demand that our religion shall teach a higher
+     idea in regard to woman. People seem to think we have reached the
+     very end of theology; but let me say that the future is to be as
+     much purer than the past as our immediate past has been better
+     than the dark ages. We want to help roll off from the soul of
+     woman the terrible superstitions that have so long repressed and
+     crushed her.
+
+Through the determined efforts of Miss Anthony and some others the
+resolution was permitted to lie on the table.
+
+Miss Matilda Hindman (Penn.) gave an address on As the Rulers, So the
+People, well fortified with statistics. The Rev. Olympia Brown (Wis.)
+made a stirring appeal under the title All Are Created Equal. Among
+the many excellent addresses were those of Mrs. Colby, Mrs. Annie L.
+Diggs (Kas.) and Dr. Alice B. Stockham (Ills.). The usual resolutions
+were adopted, and the memorial called forth a number of eulogies:
+
+     _Resolved_, That in the death of the Hon. Henry Fawcett, of
+     England, Senator Henry B. Anthony, the Rev. William Henry
+     Channing, ex-Secretary of the Treasury Charles J. Folger, Bishop
+     Matthew Simpson, Madame Mathilde Anneke, Kate Newell Doggett,
+     Frances Dana Gage, Laura Giddings Julian, Sarah Pugh and
+     Elizabeth T. Schenck, the year 1884 has been one of irreparable
+     losses to our movement.
+
+Among the many interesting letters written to the convention was one
+from Wm. Lloyd Garrison, inclosing letters received in times past
+expressing sympathy with the efforts of the suffrage advocates, from
+his father, from Ralph Waldo Emerson and from the Rev. William Henry
+Channing, whose body at this very time was being borne across the
+ocean to its resting place in this country. A touching message was
+read from that faithful and efficient pioneer, Clarina I. H. Nichols,
+of California, which ended: "My last words in the good work for
+humanity are, 'God is with us.' There can be no failure and no defeat
+outside ourselves." The writer passed away before it reached the
+convention. Other encouraging letters were received from the Reverends
+Anna Garlin Spencer (R. I.), Ada C. Bowles and Phebe A. Hanaford
+(Mass.); from Mrs. Julia Foster and her daughters, Rachel and Julia,
+in Berlin; from Mrs. Caroline E. Merrick (La.), Mrs. Emma C. Bascom,
+of Wisconsin University, and friends and workers in all parts of the
+country.
+
+The convention adopted a comprehensive plan of work submitted by Mrs.
+Blake, Miss Hindman and Mrs. Colby.[27] At the last session Miss
+Anthony made a strong, practical speech on the Present Status of the
+Woman Suffrage Question, and Mrs. Stanton closed the convention.
+
+A number of ministers on the following Sunday took as a text the
+resolution which had been discussed so vigorously, and used it as an
+argument against the enfranchisement of women, some of them going so
+far as to denounce the suffrage advocates as infidels and the movement
+itself as atheistic and immoral. They wholly ignored the facts--first,
+that the resolution was merely against the dogmas which had been
+incorporated into the creeds, and was simply a demand that Christian
+ministers should teach and enforce only the fundamental declarations
+of the Scriptures; second, that there was an emphatic division of
+opinion among the members on the resolution; third, that by consent it
+was laid on the table; and fourth, that even had it been adopted, it
+was neither atheistic nor immoral.
+
+On February 6, 1885, Thomas W. Palmer (Mich.) brought up in the Senate
+the joint resolution for a Sixteenth Amendment which had been
+favorably reported by the Select Committee on Woman Suffrage the
+previous winter, and in its support made a masterly argument which has
+not been surpassed in the fifteen years that have since elapsed,
+saying in part:
+
+     This resolution involves the consideration of the broadest step
+     in the progress of the struggle for human liberty that has ever
+     been submitted to any ruler or to any legislative body. Its
+     taking is pregnant with wide changes in the pathway of future
+     civilization. Its obstruction will delay and cripple our
+     advancement. The trinity of principles which Lord Chatham called
+     the "Bible of the English Constitution," the Magna Charta, the
+     Petition of Rights, and the Bill of Rights, are towering
+     landmarks in the history of our race, but they immediately
+     concerned but few at the time of their erection.
+
+     The Declaration of Independence by the colonists and its
+     successful assertion, the establishment of the right of petition,
+     the abolition of imprisonment for debt, the property
+     qualification for suffrage in nearly all the States, the
+     recognition of the right of women to earn, hold, enjoy and devise
+     property, are proud and notable gains.
+
+     The emancipation of 4,000,000 slaves and the subsequent extension
+     of suffrage to the male adults among them were measures enlarging
+     the possibilities of freedom, the full benefits of which have yet
+     to be realized; but the political emancipation of 26,000,000 of
+     our citizens, equal to us in most essential respects and superior
+     to us in many, it seems to me would translate our nation, almost
+     at a bound, to the broad plateau of universal equality and
+     co-operation to which all these blood-stained and prayer-worn
+     steps have surely led.
+
+     Like life insurance and the man who carried the first umbrella,
+     the inception of this movement was greeted with derision. Born of
+     an apparently hopeless revolt against unjust discrimination,
+     unequal statutes, and cruel constructions of courts, it has
+     pressed on and over ridicule, malice, indifference and
+     conservatism, until it stands in the gray dawn before the most
+     powerful legislative body on earth and challenges final
+     consideration.
+
+     The laws which degraded our wives have been everywhere repealed
+     or modified, and our children may now be born of free women. Our
+     sisters have been recognized as having brains as well as hearts,
+     and as being capable of transacting their own business affairs.
+     New avenues of self-support have been found and profitably
+     entered upon, and the doors of our colleges have ceased to creak
+     their dismay at the approach of women. Twelve States have
+     extended limited suffrage through their Legislatures, and three
+     Territories admit all citizens of suitable age to the ballot-box,
+     while from no single locality in which it has been tried comes
+     any word but that of satisfaction concerning the experiment.
+
+     The spirit of inquiry attendant upon the agitation and discussion
+     of this question has permeated every neighborhood in the land,
+     and none can be so blind as to miss the universal development in
+     self-respect, self-reliance, general intelligence and increased
+     capacity among our women. They have lost none of the womanly
+     graces, but by fitting themselves for counselors and mental
+     companions have benefited man, more perhaps than themselves.
+
+     In considering the objections to this extension of the suffrage
+     we are fortunate in finding them grouped in the adverse report of
+     the minority of your committee, and also in confidently
+     assuming, from the acknowledged ability and evident earnestness
+     of the distinguished Senators who prepared it, that all is
+     contained therein in the way of argument or protest which is left
+     to the opponents of this reform after thirty-seven years of
+     discussion. I wish that every Senator would examine this report
+     and note how many of its reasonings are self-refuting and how few
+     even seem to warrant further antagonism.
+
+     They cite the physical superiority of man, but offer no amendment
+     to increase the voting power of a Sullivan or to disfranchise the
+     halt, the lame, the blind or the sick. They regard the manly head
+     of the family as its only proper representative, but would not
+     exclude the adult bachelor sons. They urge disability to perform
+     military service as fatal to full citizenship, but would hardly
+     consent to resign their own rights because they have passed the
+     age of conscription; or to question those of Quakers, who will
+     not fight, or of professional men and civic officials, who, like
+     mothers, are regarded as of more use to the State at home.
+
+     They are dismayed by a vision of women in attendance at caucuses
+     at late hours of the night, but doubtless enjoy their presence at
+     balls and entertainments until the early dawn. They deprecate the
+     appearance of women at political meetings, but in my State women
+     have attended such meetings for years upon the earnest
+     solicitation of those in charge, and the influence of their
+     presence has been good. Eloquent women are employed by State
+     committees of all parties to canvass in their interests and are
+     highly valued and respected....
+
+     They object that many women do not desire the suffrage and that
+     some would not exercise it. It is probably true, as often
+     claimed, that many slaves did not desire emancipation in
+     1863--and there are men in most communities who do not vote, but
+     we hear of no freedman to-day who asks re-enslavement, and no
+     proposition is offered to disfranchise all men because some
+     neglect their duty.
+
+     The minority profess a willingness to have this measure
+     considered as a local issue rather than a national one, but those
+     who recall the failures to extend the ballot to black men, in the
+     most liberal Northern States, by a popular vote, may be excused
+     if they question their frankness in suggesting this transfer of
+     responsibility. The education of the people of a whole State on
+     this particular question is a much more laborious and expensive
+     work than an appeal to the several Legislatures. The subject
+     would be much more likely to receive intelligent treatment at the
+     hands of the picked men of a State, where calm discussion may be
+     had, than at the polls where prejudice and tradition oftentimes
+     exert a more potent influence than logic and justice. To refuse
+     this method to those to whom we are bound by the dearest ties
+     betrays an indifference to their requests or an inexplicable
+     adhesion to prejudice, which is only sought to be defended by an
+     asserted regard for women, that to me seems most illogical.
+
+     I share no fears of the degradation of women by the ballot. I
+     believe rather that it will elevate men. I believe the tone of
+     our politics will be higher, that our caucuses will be more
+     jealously guarded and our conventions more orderly and decorous.
+     I believe the polls will be freed from the vulgarity and
+     coarseness which now too often surround them, and that the
+     polling booths, instead of being in the least attractive parts of
+     a ward or town, will be in the most attractive; instead of being
+     in stables, will be in parlors. I believe the character of
+     candidates will be more closely scrutinized and that better
+     officers will be chosen to make and administer the laws. I
+     believe that the casting of the ballot will be invested with a
+     seriousness--I had almost said a sanctity--second only to a
+     religious observance.
+
+     The objections enumerated above appear to be the only profferings
+     against this measure excepting certain fragmentary quotations and
+     deductions from the sacred Scriptures; and here, Mr. President, I
+     desire to enter my most solemn protest. The opinions of Paul and
+     Peter as to what was the best policy for the struggling churches
+     under their supervision, in deferring to the prejudices of the
+     communities which they desired to attract and benefit, were not
+     inspirations for the guidance of our civilization in matters of
+     political co-operation; and every apparent inhibition of the
+     levelment of the caste of sex may be neutralized by selections of
+     other paragraphs and by the general spirit and trend of the Holy
+     Book.... Sir, my reverence for this grandest of all compilations,
+     human or divine, compels a protest against its being cast into
+     the street as a barricade against every moral, political and
+     social reform; lest, when the march of progress shall have swept
+     on and over to its consummation, it may appear to the superficial
+     observer that it is the Bible which has been overthrown and not
+     its erroneous interpretation.
+
+     If with our present experience of the needs and dangers of
+     co-operative government and our present observation of woman's
+     social and economic status, we could divest ourselves of our
+     traditions and prejudices, and the question of suffrage should
+     come up for incorporation into a new organic law, a distinction
+     based upon sex would not be entertained for a moment. It seems to
+     me that we should divest ourselves to the utmost extent possible
+     of these entanglements of tradition, and judicially examine three
+     questions relative to the proposed extension of suffrage: First,
+     Is it right? Second, Is it desirable? Third, Is it expedient? If
+     these be determined affirmatively our duty is plain.
+
+     If the right of the governed and the taxed to a voice in
+     determining by whom they shall be governed and to what extent and
+     for what purposes they may be taxed is not a natural right, it is
+     nevertheless a right to the declaration and establishment of
+     which by the fathers we owe all that we possess of liberty. They
+     declared taxation without representation to be tyranny, and
+     grappled with the most powerful nation of their day in a
+     seven-years' struggle for the overthrow of such tyranny. It
+     appears incredible to me that any one can indorse the principles
+     proclaimed by the patriots of 1776 and deny their application to
+     women.
+
+     Samuel Adams said: "Representation and legislation, as well as
+     taxation, are inseparable, according to the spirit of our
+     Constitution and of all others that are free." Again, he said:
+     "No man can be justly taxed by, or bound in conscience to obey,
+     any law to which he has not given his consent in person or by his
+     representative." And again: "No man can take another's property
+     from him without his consent. This is the law of nature; and a
+     violation of it is the same thing whether it is done by one man,
+     who is called a king, or by five hundred of another
+     denomination."
+
+     James Otis, in speaking of the rights of the colonists as
+     descendants of Englishmen; said they "were not to be cheated out
+     of them by any phantom of virtual representation or any other
+     fiction of law or politics." Again: "No such phrase as virtual
+     representation is known in law or constitution. It is altogether
+     a subtlety and illusion, wholly unfounded and absurd."
+
+     The Declaration of Independence asserts that, to secure the
+     inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,
+     governments are instituted among men, "deriving their just powers
+     from the consent of the governed."
+
+     Benjamin Franklin wrote that "liberty or freedom consists in
+     having an actual share in the appointment of those who frame the
+     laws and who are the guardians of every man's life, property and
+     peace;" that "they who have no voice nor vote in the electing of
+     representatives do not enjoy liberty, but are absolutely enslaved
+     to those who have votes and to their representatives."
+
+     James Madison said: "Under every view of the subject, it seems
+     indispensable that the mass of the citizens should not be without
+     a voice in making the laws which they are to obey, and in
+     choosing the magistrates who are to administer them." ...
+
+     The right of women to personal representation through the ballot
+     seems to me unassailable, wherever the right of man is conceded
+     and exercised. I can conceive of no possible abstract
+     justification for the exclusion of the one and the inclusion of
+     the other.
+
+     Is the recognition of this right desirable? The earliest mention
+     of the Saxon people is found in the Germany of Tacitus, and in
+     his terse description of them he states that "in all grave
+     matters they consult their women." Can we afford to dispute the
+     benefit of this counseling in the advancement of our race?
+
+     The measure of the civilization of any nation may be no more
+     surely ascertained by its consumption of salt than by the social,
+     economic and political status of its women. It is not enough for
+     contentment that we assert the superiority of our women in
+     intelligence, virtue, and self-sustaining qualities, but we must
+     consider the profit to them and to the State in their further
+     advancement.
+
+     Our statistics are lamentably meager in information as to the
+     status of our women outside their mere enumeration, but we learn
+     that in a single State 42,000 are assessed and pay one-eleventh
+     of the total burden of taxation, with no voice in its
+     disbursements. From the imperfect gleaning of the Tenth Census we
+     learn that of the total enumerated bread-winners of the United
+     States more than one-seventh are women.... That these 2,647,157
+     citizens of whom we have official information labor from
+     necessity and are everywhere underpaid is within the knowledge
+     and observation of every Senator upon this floor. Only the
+     Government makes any pretense of paying women in accordance with
+     the labor performed--without submitting them to the competition
+     of their starving sisters, whose natural dignity and self-respect
+     have suffered from being driven by the fierce pressure of want
+     into the few and crowded avenues for the exchange of their labor
+     for bread. Is it not the highest exhibit of the moral superiority
+     of our women that so very few consent to exchange pinching penury
+     for gilded vice?
+
+     Will the possession of the ballot multiply and widen these
+     avenues to self-support and independence? The most thoughtful
+     women who have given the subject thorough examination believe it,
+     and I can not but infer that many men, looking only to their own
+     selfish interests, fear it.
+
+     History teaches that every class which has assumed political
+     responsibility has been materially elevated and improved thereby,
+     and I can not believe that the rule would have an exception in
+     the women of to-day. I do not say that to the idealized women so
+     generally described by obstructionists--the dainty darlings whose
+     prototypes are to be found in the heroines of Walter Scott and
+     Fenimore Cooper--immediate awakening would come; but to the
+     toilers, the wage-workers and the women of affairs, the
+     consequent enlargement of possibilities would give new courage
+     and stimulate to new endeavor, and the State would be the gainer
+     thereby.
+
+     The often-urged fear that the ignorant and vicious would swarm to
+     the polls while the intelligent and virtuous would stand aloof,
+     is fully met by the fact that the former class has never asked
+     for the suffrage or shown interest in its seeking, while the
+     hundreds of thousands of petitioners are from our best and
+     noblest women, including those whose efforts for the amelioration
+     of the wrongs and sufferings of others have won for them
+     imperishable tablets in the temple of humanity. Would fear be
+     entertained that the State would suffer mortal harm if, by some
+     strange revolution, its exclusive control should be turned over
+     to an oligarchy composed of such women as have been and are
+     identified with the agitation for the political emancipation of
+     their sex? Saloons, brothels and gaming-houses might vanish
+     before such an administration; wars avoidable with safety and
+     honor might not be undertaken, and taxes might be diverted to
+     purposes of general sanitation and higher education, but neither
+     in these respects nor in the efforts to lift the bowed and
+     strengthen the weak would the right to life, liberty and the
+     pursuit of happiness be placed in peril. Women have exercised the
+     highest civil powers in all ages of the world--from Zenobia to
+     Victoria--and have exhibited statecraft and military capacity of
+     high degree without detracting from their graces as women or
+     their virtues as mothers....
+
+     The preponderance of women in our churches, our charitable
+     organizations, our educational councils, has been of such use as
+     to suggest the benefit of their incorporation into our voting
+     force to the least observant. A woman who owns railroad or
+     manufacturing or mining stock may vote unquestioned by the side
+     of the brightest business men of our continent, but if she
+     transfers her property into real estate she loses all voice in
+     its control.
+
+     Their abilities, intellectual, physical and political, are as
+     various as ours, and they err who set up any single standard,
+     however lovely, by which to determine the rights, needs and
+     possibilities of the sex. To me the recognition of their capacity
+     for full citizenship is right and desirable, and it only remains
+     to consider whether it is safe, whether it is expedient. To this
+     let experience answer to the extent that the experiment has been
+     made.
+
+     During the first thirty years of the independence of New Jersey,
+     universal suffrage was limited only by a property qualification;
+     but we do not learn that divorces were common, that families were
+     more divided on political than on religious differences, that
+     children were neglected or that patriotism languished, although
+     the first seven years of that experiment were years of decimating
+     war, and the remaining twenty-three of poverty and
+     recuperation--conditions most conducive to discontent and erratic
+     legislation.
+
+     The reports from Wyoming, which I have examined, are uniform in
+     satisfaction with the system, and I do not learn therefrom that
+     women require greater physical strength, fighting qualities or
+     masculinity to deposit a ballot than a letter or visiting card;
+     while in their service as jurors they have exhibited greater
+     courage than their brothers in finding verdicts against
+     desperadoes in accordance with the facts. Governors, judges,
+     officers and citizens unite in praises of the influence of women
+     upon the making and execution of wholesome laws.
+
+     In Washington Territory, last fall, out of a total vote of 40,000
+     there were 12,000 ballots cast by women, and everywhere friends
+     were rejoiced and opponents silenced as apprehended dangers
+     vanished upon approach. Some of the comments of converted
+     newspaper editors which have reached us are worthy of
+     preservation and future reference. The elections were quiet and
+     peaceable for the first time; the brawls of brutal men gave place
+     to the courtesies of social intercourse; saloons were closed, and
+     nowhere were the ladies insulted or in any way annoyed. Women
+     vote intelligently and safely, and it does not appear that their
+     place is solely at home any more than that the farmer should
+     never leave his farm, the mechanic his shop, the teacher his
+     desk, the clergyman his study, or the professional man his
+     office, for the purpose of expressing his wishes and opinions at
+     the tribunal of the ballot-box.
+
+     To-day--and to a greater extent in the near future--we are
+     confronted with political conditions dangerous to the integrity
+     of our nation. In the unforeseen but constant absorption of
+     immigrants and former bondmen into a vast army of untrained
+     voters, without restrictions as to the intelligence, character or
+     patriotism, many political economists see the material for
+     anarchy and public demoralization. It is claimed that the
+     necessities of parties compel subserviency to the lawless and
+     vicious classes in our cities, and that, without the addition of
+     a counterbalancing element, the enactment and enforcement of
+     wholesome statutes will soon be impossible. Fortunately that
+     needed element is not far to seek. It stands at the door of the
+     Congress urging annexation. In its strivings for justice it has
+     cried aloud in petitions from the best of our land, and more than
+     one-third of the present voters of five States have indorsed its
+     cause. Its advocates are no longer the ridiculed few, but the
+     respected many. A list of the leaders of progressive thought of
+     this generation who espouse and urge this reform would be too
+     long and comprehensive for recital.
+
+     Mr. President, I do not ask the submission of this amendment, nor
+     shall I urge its adoption, because it is desired by a portion of
+     the American women, although in intelligence, property and
+     numbers that portion would seem to have every requisite for the
+     enforcement of their demands; neither are we bound to give undue
+     regard to the timidity and hesitation of that possibly larger
+     portion who shrink from additional responsibilities; but I ask
+     and shall urge it because the nation has need of the co-operation
+     of women in all directions.
+
+     The war power of every government compels, upon occasion, all
+     citizens of suitable age and physique to leave their homes,
+     families and avocations to be merged in armies, whether they be
+     willing or unwilling, craven or bold, patriotic or indifferent,
+     and no one gainsays the right, because the necessities of State
+     require their services. We have passed the harsh stages incident
+     to our permanent institution. We have conquered our independence,
+     conquered the respect of European powers, conquered our neighbors
+     on the western borders, and at vast cost of life and waste have
+     conquered our internal differences and emerged a nation
+     unchallenged from without or within. The great questions of the
+     future conduct of our people are to be economic and social ones.
+     No one doubts the superiority of womanly instincts, and
+     consequent thought in the latter, and the repeated failures and
+     absurdities exhibited by male legislators in the treatment of the
+     former, should give pause to any assertion of superiority there.
+
+     The day has come when the counsel and service of women are
+     required by the highest interests of the State, and who shall
+     gainsay their conscription? We place the ballot in the keeping of
+     immigrants who have grown middle-aged or old in the environment
+     of governments dissimilar to the spirit and purpose of ours, and
+     we do well, because the responsibility accompanying the trust
+     tends to examination, comparison and consequent political
+     education; but we decline to avail ourselves of the aid of our
+     daughters, wives and mothers, who were born and are already
+     educated under our system, reading the same newspapers, books and
+     periodicals as ourselves, proud of our common history, tenacious
+     of our theories of human rights and solicitous for our future
+     progress. Whatever may have been wisest as to the extension of
+     suffrage to this tender and humane class when wars of assertion
+     or conquest were likely to be considered, to-day and to-morrow
+     and thereafter no valid reason seems assignable for longer
+     neglect to avail ourselves of their association.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[26] This chapter closes with the speech in favor of woman suffrage by
+Thomas W. Palmer in the U. S. Senate.
+
+[27] The primal object of the National Woman Suffrage Association has
+been from its foundation to secure the submission by the Congress of a
+Sixteenth Amendment which shall prohibit the several States from
+disfranchising United States citizens on account of sex. To this end
+all State societies should see that senators and members of Congress
+are constantly appealed to by their constituents to labor for the
+passage of this amendment by the next Congress.
+
+Woman suffrage associations in the several States are advised to push
+the question to a vote in their respective Legislatures. The time for
+agitation alone has passed, and the time for aggressive action has
+come. It will be found by a close examination of many State
+constitutions that by the liberal provisions of their Bill of
+Rights--often embodied in Article I--the women of the State can be
+enfranchised without waiting for the tedious and hopeless proviso of a
+constitutional amendment....
+
+In States where there has been little or no agitation we recommend the
+passage of laws granting School Suffrage to women. This first step in
+politics is an incentive to larger usefulness and aids greatly in
+familiarizing women with the use of the ballot.
+
+We do not specially recommend Municipal Suffrage, as we think that the
+agitation expended for the fractional measure had better be directed
+towards obtaining the passage of a Full Suffrage Bill, but we leave
+this to the discretion of the States.
+
+The acting Vice-President in every State must hold a yearly convention
+in the capital or some large town. No efficient organization can exist
+without some such annual reunion of the friends.
+
+In each county there should be a county woman suffrage society
+auxiliary to the State; in each town or village a local society
+auxiliary to the county. Friends desirous of forming a society should
+meet, even though few in number, and organize.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE NATIONAL SUFFRAGE CONVENTION OF 1886.
+
+
+The Eighteenth national convention met in the Church of Our Father,
+Washington, D. C., Feb. 17-19, 1886, presided over by Miss Susan B.
+Anthony, vice-president-at-large, with twenty-three States
+represented. In her opening address Miss Anthony paid an eloquent
+tribute to her old friend and co-laborer, their absent president, Mrs.
+Elizabeth Cady Stanton; sketched the history of the movement for the
+past thirty-six years, and described the first suffrage meeting ever
+held in Washington. This had been conducted by Ernestine L. Rose and
+herself in 1854, and the audience consisted of twenty or thirty
+persons gathered in an upper room of a private house. To-night she
+faced a thousand interested listeners.
+
+The first address was given by Mrs. Sarah M. Perkins (O.), Are Women
+Citizens? "While suffrage will not revolutionize the world," she said,
+"the door of the millennium will have a little child's hand on the
+latch when the mothers of the nation have equal power with its
+fathers."
+
+In the evening Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby addressed the audience on The
+Relation of the Woman Suffrage Movement to the Labor Question. She
+began by saying, "All revolutions of thought must be allied to
+practical ends." After sketching those already attained by women, she
+continued:
+
+     The danger threatens that, having accomplished all these so
+     thoroughly and successfully that they no longer need our help and
+     already scarcely own their origin, we will be left without the
+     connecting line between the abstract right on which we stand and
+     the common heart and sympathy which must be enlisted for our
+     cause ere it can succeed. Why is it that, having accomplished so
+     much, the woman suffrage movement does not force itself as a
+     vital issue into the thoughts of the masses? Is it not because
+     the ends which it most prominently seeks do not enlist the
+     self-interest of mankind, and those palpable wrongs which it had
+     in early days to combat have now almost entirely disappeared?...
+
+     We need to vitalize our movement by allying it with great
+     non-partisan questions, and many of these are involved in the
+     interests of the wage-earning classes.... We need to labor to
+     secure a change of the conditions under which workingwomen live.
+     We need to help them to educative and protective measures, to
+     better pay, to better knowledge how to make the most of their
+     resources, to better training, to protection against frauds, to
+     shelter when health and heart fail. We must help them to see the
+     connection between the ballot and better hours, exclusion of
+     children from factories, compulsory education, free
+     kindergartens; between the ballot and laws relating to liability
+     of employers, savings banks, adulteration of food and a thousand
+     things which it may secure when in the hands of enlightened and
+     virtuous people.
+
+Miss Ada C. Sweet, who for a number of years occupied the unique
+position of pension agent in Chicago, supplemented Mrs. Colby's
+remarks by urging all women to work for the ballot in order to come to
+the rescue of their fellow-women in the hospitals, asylums and other
+institutions. She emphasized her remarks by recounting instances of
+personal knowledge.
+
+The Rev. Rush R. Shippen, pastor of All Souls Unitarian Church of
+Washington, a consistent advocate of equal suffrage, spoke on woman's
+advance in every department of the world's work, on the evolution of
+that work itself and the necessity for a continued progress in
+conditions.
+
+Mrs. May Wright Sewall presented a comprehensive report of the year's
+work of the executive committee. The Edmunds Bill had been a special
+point of attack because of its arbitrary disfranchisement of Utah
+women, and Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace (Ind.) had written a personal plea
+against it to every member of the House. At the close of this report a
+vote on woman suffrage was called for. The audience voted unanimously
+in favor, except one man whose "no" called forth much laughter. Miss
+Anthony said she sympathized with him, as she had been laughed at all
+her life.
+
+Mrs. Sallie Clay Bennett (Ky.), whose specialty was the Bible argument
+for woman's equality, said in the course of her remarks: "I am filled
+with shame and sorrow that from listening to men, instead of studying
+the Bible for myself, I did once think that the God who said He came
+into the world to preach glad tidings to the poor, to break every
+yoke and to set the prisoners free, had really come to rivet the
+chains with which sin had bound the women, and to forge a gag for them
+more cruel and silencing than that put into their mouths by heathen
+men; for in many heathen nations women were once selected to preside
+at their most sacred altars."
+
+Miss Mary F. Eastman (Mass), in an impressive address, said:
+
+     I asked a friend what phase of the subject I should talk about
+     to-night. She answered, "The despair of it.".. Can you conceive
+     what it is to native-born American women citizens, accustomed to
+     the advantages of our schools, our churches and the mingling of
+     our social life, to ask over and over again for so simple a thing
+     as that "we, the people," should mean women as well as men; that
+     our Constitution should mean exactly what it says?...
+
+     Men tell us that they speak for us. There is no companionship of
+     women as equals permitted in the State. A man can not represent a
+     woman's opinion. It was in inspiration that magnificent
+     Declaration of Independence was framed. Men builded better than
+     they knew; they were at the highest perception of principles; but
+     after declaring this magnificent principle they went back on
+     it....
+
+     Although I hold the attitude of a petitioner, I come not with the
+     sense that men have any right to give. Our forefathers erected
+     barriers which exclude women. I want to press it into the
+     consciousness of the legislator and of the individual citizen
+     that he is personally responsible for the continuance of this
+     injustice. We ask that men take down the barriers. We do not come
+     to pledge that we will be a unit on temperance or virtue or high
+     living, but we want the right to speak for ourselves, as men
+     speak for themselves.
+
+Mrs. Caroline Hallowell Miller (Md.) spoke strongly on A Case in
+Point. Mrs. Elizabeth Avery Meriwether, of St. Louis, devoted her
+remarks chiefly to a caustic criticism of Senator George G. Vest, who
+had recently declared himself uncompromisingly opposed to woman
+suffrage. He was made the target of a number of spicy remarks, and
+some of the newspaper correspondents insisted that the presence of the
+suffrage convention in the city was responsible for the Senator's
+severe illness, which followed immediately afterwards. Mrs.
+Meriwether's son, Lee, paid a handsome tribute to "strong-minded
+mothers".
+
+Mrs. Harriette R. Shattuck (Mass.) addressed the convention on The
+Basis of Our Claim, the right of every individual to make his
+personality felt in the Government. Madame Clara Neymann (N. Y.) gave
+a scholarly paper on German and American Independence Contrasted, in
+which she said:
+
+     The difference between the German and the American is simply
+     this: Germans believe in monarchism, in the rule of the Emperor
+     and Prince Bismarck, while Americans believe in the government by
+     all the people, high or low, rich or poor. You have conferred the
+     blessings of free citizenship upon the negro; you invite the
+     humblest, the lowest men to cast their vote; you make them feel
+     that they are sovereign human beings; you place those men above
+     the most virtuous, intelligent women; you set them above your own
+     daughters. Yes, your own child, if born a girl on this free soil,
+     is not free, for she stands without the pale of the Constitution.
+     She, and only she, is deprived of her rightful heritage.
+
+     Oh, shame upon the short-sightedness, the delinquency of American
+     statesmen, who will quietly look on and suffer such an injustice
+     to exist! Nowhere in the world is woman so highly respected as in
+     free America, and nowhere does she feel so keenly and deeply her
+     degradation. The vote--you know it full well--is the insignia of
+     power, of influence, of position. And from this position the
+     American woman is debarred.
+
+     Do you wonder at the low estimate of American politics? The
+     exclusion of women means the exclusion of your best men. Not
+     before the husband can take his wife, the brother his sister, the
+     father his daughter to the primary meeting, to the political
+     assembly and to the polls, will he himself become interested and
+     fulfil his duty as a voter and a citizen....
+
+     "Look at the homes of the wealthy, or even of the large
+     middle-class", it is often said; "what shallowness and pretense
+     among the women; how they shrink from the responsibility of
+     motherhood; how they spend their days in idle gossip, in hollow
+     amusements; how they waste their hours in frivolities; see what
+     extravagant, unhallowed lives they lead". Sad and true enough!
+     For there is no aristocracy so pernicious as a moneyed
+     aristocracy--no woman so dangerous as she who has privileges and
+     no corresponding duties. There is nothing so wasteful as wasted
+     energies, nothing so harmful as powers wrongfully directed; and
+     the gifts and powers of our wealthy, well-to-do women are
+     wrongfully directed. They are employed in the interest of vanity,
+     of worldly ambition, of public display, of sense gratification.
+
+     From whence arises this misdirected ambition? The harm is caused
+     by the false standard man holds up to woman. If men would no
+     longer admire the shallowness of such women they would
+     undoubtedly aim higher. On the one side man subordinates himself
+     to woman's whims and caprices, and on the other side she is made
+     conscious all the time of her dependence and subordination in all
+     that pertains to the higher interests of life; and while he makes
+     a slave of her, she revenges herself and makes a slave of him.
+     See how these women hold men down to their own low level; for
+     women who have no higher aspirations than their own immediate
+     pleasure will induce men to do the same. There is an even-handed
+     justice that rules this world. For every wrong society permits to
+     exist, society must suffer. Look what fools men are made by
+     foolish women--women who are brought up with the idea that they
+     must be ornamental, a beautiful toy for man to play with. See how
+     they turn around and make a toy of him, an instrument to play
+     upon at their leisure.
+
+     What we ask in place of all this indulgence is simple justice, a
+     recognition of woman's higher endowment. In giving her larger
+     duties to perform, nobler aims to accomplish--in making her a
+     responsible human being--you not only will benefit her, but will
+     regenerate the manhood of America....
+
+     To make the advocates of suffrage responsible for the sins of
+     American women is simply atrocious, since it is from these very
+     advocates that every reform for and among women has started; it
+     is they who preach simplicity, purity, devotion, and who would
+     gird all womanhood with the armor of self-respect and true
+     womanliness. That such women are compelled to come before the
+     public, before the Congress and the Legislatures, and pray for
+     such rights as are freely given to every unenlightened foreigner
+     is a burning shame and reflects badly upon the intelligence, the
+     righteousness of Legislatures and people.
+
+Much indignation was expressed during the convention over the recent
+action of Gov. Gilbert A. Pierce, of the Territory of Dakota. The
+Legislature, composed of residents, the previous year passed a bill
+conferring Full Suffrage on women, which was vetoed by the Governor,
+an outsider appointed a short time before by President Chester A.
+Arthur. With a stroke of the pen he prevented the enfranchisement of
+50,000 women.
+
+Hundreds were turned away at the last evening session and there was
+scarcely standing room within the church. A witty and vivacious speech
+by Mrs. Helen M. Gougar (Ind.) was the first number on the program.
+Mrs. Julia B. Nelson (Minn.) followed in an original dialect poem,
+Hans Dunderkopf's Views of Equality. Mrs. Sewall showed the Absurdity
+of the American Woman's Disfranchisement:
+
+     The inconsistency of the present position of the American woman
+     is forcibly shown in that she is now making such an advance in
+     education, studying political science under the best teachers of
+     constitutional law, and enjoying such advantages at the expense
+     of the Government, yet is not allowed to make use of this
+     knowledge in the Government....
+
+     Much has been said about the need of the ballot to protect the
+     industrial interests of men, but is it not as ungallant as it is
+     illogical that they should have the ballot for their protection
+     while women, pressed by the same necessities, should be denied
+     it?...
+
+     I may perhaps put it that man is composed of brain and heart and
+     woman of heart and brain. We must have the brain of man and the
+     heart of woman employed in the higher developments to come. There
+     can be no great scheme that does not require to be conceived by
+     our brains, quickened by our hearts and carried into execution by
+     our skilled hands. The activities which are considered the
+     especial sphere of woman need more brain; the realm of State
+     developed by the brain of man needs more heart. Home and State
+     have been too long divided. Man must not neglect the interests of
+     home, woman must care for the State. Our public interests and
+     private hopes need all the subtle forces of brain and heart.
+
+An interesting feature of these national conventions was the State
+reports, which contained not only valuable specific information, but
+often felicitous little arguments quite equal to those of the more
+formal addresses. Such reports were received in 1886 from thirty
+different States. A large number of interesting letters also were
+read, among them one from George W. Childs, inclosing check; John W.
+Hutchinson, Belva A. Lockwood, the Hon. J. A. Pickler, Madame
+Demorest, Dr. Mary F. Thomas, Lucinda B. Chandler, the Rev. Olympia
+Brown, Mary E. Haggart, Armenia S. White, Emma C. Bascom, Almeda B.
+Gray and many others.
+
+A letter from Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton urged that the question of
+woman suffrage should now be carried into the churches and church
+conventions for their approval, and that more enlightened teaching
+from the pulpit in regard to women should be insisted upon. The letter
+was accompanied by a resolution to this effect, both expressed in very
+strong language. They were read first in executive session. The
+following extracts are taken from the stenographic report of the
+meeting:
+
+     Mrs. Helen M. Gougar (Ind.) moved that the resolution be laid
+     upon the table, saying: "A resolution something like this came
+     into the last convention, and it has done more to cripple my work
+     and that of other suffragists than anything which has happened in
+     the whole history of the woman suffrage movement. When you look
+     this country over you find the slums are opposed to us, while
+     some of the best leaders and advocates of woman suffrage are
+     among the Christian people. A bishop of the Roman Catholic Church
+     stood through my meeting in Peoria not long since. We can not
+     afford to antagonize the churches. Some of us are orthodox, and
+     some of us are unorthodox, but this association is for suffrage
+     and not for the discussion of religious dogmas. I can not stay
+     within these borders if that resolution is adopted, from the fact
+     that my hands would be tied. I hope it will not go into open
+     convention for debate.
+
+     MRS. PERKINS (O.): I think we ought to pay due consideration and
+     respect to our beloved president. I have no objection to sending
+     missionaries to the churches asking them to pay attention to
+     woman suffrage; but I do not think the churches are our greatest
+     enemies. They might have been so in Mrs. Stanton's early days,
+     but to-day they are our best helpers. If it were not for their
+     co-operation I could not get a hearing before the public. And now
+     that they are coming to meet us half way, do not throw stones at
+     them. I hope that resolution, as worded, will not go into the
+     convention.
+
+     MRS. MERIWETHER (Mo.): I think the resolution could be amended so
+     as to offend no one. The ministers falsely construe the
+     Scriptures. We can overwhelm them with arguments for woman
+     suffrage--with Biblical arguments. We can hurl them like shot and
+     shell. Herbert Spencer once wrote an article on the different
+     biases which distort the human mind, and among the first he
+     reckoned the theological bias. In Christ's time and in the early
+     Christian days there was no liberty, every one was under the
+     despotism of the Roman Caesars, but women were on an equality with
+     men, and the religion that Christ taught included women equally
+     with men. He made none of the invidious distinctions which the
+     churches make to-day.
+
+     MRS. SHATTUCK (Mass.): We did not pass the resolution of last
+     year, so it could not have harmed anybody. But I protest against
+     this fling at masculine interpretation of the Scriptures.
+
+     MRS. MINOR (Mo.): I object to the whole thing--resolution and
+     letter both. I believe in confining ourselves to woman suffrage.
+
+     MRS. COLBY (Neb.): I was on that committee of resolutions last
+     year and wrote the modified one which was presented, and I am
+     willing to stand by it. I have not found that it hurts the work,
+     save with a few who do not know what the resolution was, or what
+     was said about it. The discussion was reported word for word in
+     the _Woman's Tribune_ and I think no one who read it would say
+     that it was irreligious or lacked respect for the teachings of
+     Christ. I believe we must say something in the line of Mrs.
+     Stanton's idea. She makes no fling at the church. She wants us to
+     treat the Church as we have the State--viz., negotiate for more
+     favorable action. We have this fact to deal with--that in no high
+     orthodox body have women been accorded any privileges.
+
+     EDWARD M. DAVIS (Penn.): I think we have never had a resolution
+     offered here so important as this. We have never had a measure
+     brought forward which would produce better results. I agree
+     entirely with Mrs. Stanton on this thing, that the church is the
+     greatest barrier to woman's progress. We do not want to proclaim
+     ourselves an irreligious or a religious people. This question of
+     religion does not touch us either way. We are neutral.
+
+     MADAME NEYMANN (N. Y.): Because the clergy has been one-sided, we
+     do not want to be one-sided. I know of no one for whom I have a
+     greater admiration than for Mrs. Stanton. Her resolution
+     antagonizes no one.
+
+     MRS. BROOKS (Neb.): Let us do this work in such a way that it
+     will not arouse the opposition of the most bigoted clergyman. All
+     this discussion only shows that the old superstitions have got to
+     be banished.
+
+     MRS. SNOW (Me.): Mrs. Stanton wishes to convert the clergy.
+
+     MRS. DUNBAR (Md.): I don't want the resolution referred back to
+     the committee, out of respect to Mrs. Stanton and the manner in
+     which she has been treated by the clergy. I do not want to lose
+     the wording of the original resolution, and therefore move that
+     it be taken up here.
+
+     MRS. GOUGAR: I think it is quite enough to undertake to change
+     the National Constitution without undertaking to change the
+     Bible. I heartily agree with Mrs. Stanton in her idea of sending
+     delegates to church councils and convocations, but I do not
+     sanction this resolution which starts out--"The greatest barrier
+     to woman's emancipation is found in the superstitions of the
+     church." That is enough in itself to turn the entire church,
+     Catholic and Protestant, against us.
+
+     MRS. NELSON (Minn.): The resolution is directed against the
+     superstitions of the church and not against the church, but I
+     think it would be taken as against the church.
+
+     MISS ANTHONY (N. Y.): As the resolution contains the essence of
+     the letter, I move that the whole subject go to the Plan of Work
+     Committee.
+
+     The meeting adjourned without action, and on Friday morning the
+     same subject was resumed. A motion to table Mrs. Stanton's
+     resolution was lost. Miss Anthony then moved that both letter and
+     resolution be placed in her hands, as the representative of the
+     president of the association, to be read in open convention
+     without indorsement. "I do not want any one to say that we young
+     folks strangle Mrs. Stanton's thought."
+
+     THE REV. DR. MCMURDY (D. C.): I do not intend to oppose or favor
+     the motion, but as a clergyman and a High Church Episcopalian, I
+     can not see any particular objections to Mrs. Stanton's letter.
+     The Scriptures must be interpreted naturally. Whenever Paul's
+     remarks are brought up I explain them in the light of this
+     nineteenth century as contrasted with the first.
+
+     It was finally voted that the letter be read without the
+     resolution.
+
+The resolution was brought up later in open convention and the final
+vote resulted in 32 ayes and 24 noes. This was not at that time a
+delegate body, but usually only those voted who were especially
+connected with the work of the association. Before the present
+convention adjourned a basis of delegate representation was adopted,
+and provision made that hereafter only regularly accredited delegates
+should be entitled to vote.
+
+The resolution calling upon Congress to take the necessary measures to
+secure the ballot for women through an amendment to the Federal
+Constitution, was vigorously opposed by the Southern delegates as
+contrary to States' Rights, but was finally adopted. There was some
+discussion also on the resolution which condemned the disfranchising
+of Gentile as well as Mormon women, but which approved the action of
+Congress in making disfranchisement a punishment for the crime of
+polygamy. A difference of opinion was shown in regard to the latter
+clause. This closed the convention.
+
+As a favorable Senate report was pending, no hearing was held before
+that committee.
+
+The House Judiciary Committee[28] granted a hearing on the morning of
+February 20. The speakers, as usual, were introduced to the chairman
+of the committee by Miss Anthony. The first of these, Mrs. Virginia L.
+Minor, had attempted to vote in St. Louis, been refused permission,
+carried her case to the Supreme Court and received an adverse
+decision.[29] Miss Anthony said in reference to this decision: "Chief
+Justice Waite declared the United States had no voters. The Dred Scott
+Decision was that the negro, not being a voter, was not a citizen. The
+Supreme Court decided that women, although citizens, were not
+protected in the rights of citizenship by the Fourteenth Amendment."
+Mrs. Minor said in part:
+
+     I do not stand here to represent rich women but poor women.
+     Should you give me the right to vote and deny it to my sister I
+     should spurn the gift. Without the ballot no class is so helpless
+     as the working women. If the ballot is necessary for man, it is
+     necessary for woman. We must have one law for all American
+     citizens.
+
+     The Supreme Court has half done the work. When my case came up,
+     and I asked them that the same law should protect me as protected
+     the negro, the court said, "When the State gives you the right to
+     vote, we will perpetuate it; the United States has no voters." I
+     want to ask you one question. If there are no United States
+     voters, what right has the U. S. Court to go into the State of
+     New York, arrest Susan B. Anthony and condemn her under Federal
+     Law?[30]
+
+     Another decision of the Supreme Court said in relation to the
+     Fourteenth Amendment, that the negro, because of citizenship, was
+     made a voter in every State of the Union. The court went on to
+     say that it had a broader significance, that it included the
+     Chinese or any nationality that should become citizens. That
+     court has said we are citizens. If the Chinese would have the
+     right to vote if they were citizens, have not we the right to
+     vote because of citizenship?
+
+     A third decision was in the case of the United States vs. Kellar
+     in the State of Illinois. A man arrested for illegal voting was
+     brought before the court; he was born abroad and was the son of
+     an American woman. Justice Harlan held that because his mother
+     was a citizen, she had transmitted citizenship to her son,
+     therefore he had a right to vote. This right must have been
+     inherent in the mother, else she could not have transmitted it to
+     her son.
+
+Mrs. Julia B. Nelson (Minn.), who had been for many years teaching the
+freed negroes of the South, said:
+
+     What are the obligations of the Government to me, a widow,
+     because my husband gave his life for it? I have been forced to
+     think. As a law-abiding citizen and taxpayer and one who has
+     given all she could give to the support of this Government, I
+     have a right to be heard. I am teaching for it, teaching
+     citizens. I began teaching freedmen when it was so unpopular that
+     men could not have done it. The voting question met me in the
+     office of the mission, which sends out more women than men
+     because better work is done by them. A woman gets for this work
+     $15 per month; if capable of being a principal she has $20. A man
+     in this position receives $75 a month. There must be something
+     wrong, but I do not need to explain to you that an unrepresented
+     class must work at a disadvantage.
+
+     If it were granted to women to fill all positions for which they
+     are qualified, they would not be so largely compelled to rush
+     into those occupations where they are unfairly remunerated. As so
+     many people have faith that whatever is is right, the law as it
+     stands has great influence. If it puts woman down as an inferior,
+     she will surely be regarded as such by the people. If I am
+     capable of preparing citizens, I am capable of possessing the
+     rights of a citizen myself. I ask you to remove the barriers
+     which restrain women from equal opportunities and privileges with
+     men.
+
+Mrs. Meriwether pointed out the helplessness of mothers to obtain
+legal protection for themselves and their children, or to influence
+the action of municipal bodies, without the suffrage. Miss Eastman
+said in the course of her address:
+
+     The first business of government is foreshadowed in the
+     Constitution, that it is to secure justice between man and man
+     by allowing no intrusion of any on the rights of others. This
+     principle is large in application although simple in statement.
+     The first words, "We, the people," contain the foundation of our
+     claim. If we limit the application of the word "people," all the
+     rest falls to the ground. Whatever work of government is referred
+     to, it all rests on its being managed by "We, the people." If we
+     strike that out, we have lost the fundamental principle. Who are
+     the people? I feel that it is not my business to ask men to vote
+     on my right to be admitted to the franchise. I have been debarred
+     from my right. You hold the position to do me justice. Why should
+     I go to one-half of the people and ask whether so clear and
+     explicit a declaration as this includes me? The suffrage is not
+     theirs to give, and I would not get it from them easily if it
+     were. Neither would you get even education if you had to ask them
+     for it. This question is not for the people at large to settle.
+     Justice demands that we should be referred to the most
+     intelligent tribunals in the land, and not remanded to the
+     popular vote.
+
+Mrs. Clay Bennett based her argument largely on the authority of the
+Scriptures. Mrs. Gougar said:
+
+     We do not come as Democrats or Republicans, not as Northern or as
+     Southern, but as women representing a great principle. This is in
+     line with the Magna Charta, with the Petition of Rights, with the
+     Articles of Confederation, with the National Constitution. This
+     is in direct line of the growth of human liberty. The Declaration
+     of Independence says, "Governments derive their just powers from
+     the consent of the governed." Are you making a single law which
+     does not touch me as much as it does you?
+
+     Questions are upon you which you can not solve without the moral
+     sentiment of womanhood. You need us more than we need suffrage.
+     In our large cities the vicious element rules. The reserve force
+     is in the womanhood of the nation. Woman suffrage is necessary
+     for the preservation of the life of the republic. To give women
+     the ballot is to increase the intelligent and law-abiding vote.
+     The tramp vote is entirely masculine. By enfranchising the women
+     of this country, you enfranchise humanity.
+
+Mrs. Colby thus described to the committee the recent vote in Nebraska
+on a woman suffrage amendment:
+
+     The subject was well discussed; the leading men and the majority
+     of the press and pulpit favored it. Everything indicated that
+     here at last the measure might be safely submitted to popular
+     vote. On election day the women went to the polling places in
+     nearly every precinct in the State, with their flowers, their
+     banners, their refreshments and their earnest pleadings. But
+     every saloon keeper worked against the amendment, backed by the
+     money and the power of the liquor league. The large foreign vote
+     went almost solidly against woman suffrage. Nebraska defies the
+     laws of the United States by allowing foreigners to vote when
+     they have been only six months on the soil of America. Many of
+     these, as yet wholly unfamiliar with the institutions of our
+     country, voted the ballot which was placed in their hands. The
+     woman suffrage amendment received but a little over one-third of
+     the votes cast.
+
+     Men were still so afraid women did not want to vote that only one
+     thing remained to convince them we were in earnest, and that was
+     for us to vote that way. So the next session we had another
+     amendment introduced, to be voted on by the men as before, but
+     not to take effect until ratified by a majority of the women. We
+     were willing to be counted if the Legislature would make it legal
+     to count us. It refused because the question, it said, had
+     already been settled by the people. Although we had worked and
+     pleaded and done all that women could do to obtain our rights of
+     citizenship, yet the Legislature looking at "the people" did not
+     see us, and refused to submit the question again. Having failed
+     to obtain our rights by popular vote, we now appeal to you.
+
+Miss Anthony related the unsuccessful efforts of Mrs. Caroline E.
+Merrick and other ladies of Louisiana to have women placed on the
+school boards of that State, due wholly to their disfranchisement. In
+a forcible speech Mrs. Sewall declared:
+
+     In coming here my sense of justice is satisfied, for we belong to
+     this nation as well as you. This room, this building, this
+     committee, the whole machinery of government is supported in part
+     by the money of women and is for their protection as well as for
+     that of men....
+
+     Our question should never be partisan. We do not wish to go
+     before our State Legislatures crippled with the fact that an
+     amendment has been submitted by one party rather than the other.
+     The Republican party gave the ballot to the negro and claimed its
+     vote in return. We do not wish any party to feel it has a right
+     to our vote. The Senate now has a majority of Republicans and the
+     House of Democrats, consequently any measure which is passed by
+     this Congress will be unpartisan. This question should receive
+     support of both parties by the higher laws of the universe.
+     Another name for life is helpfulness. Separation of parts
+     belonging to one whole is death. Separation of parties on
+     questions not of partisan interest is death to many issues. It is
+     in your power to bring the parties together by that higher law of
+     the universe on this proposition to submit a Sixteenth Amendment
+     to our Legislatures, that without entanglement of partisan
+     interests this question can be decided.
+
+The committee were so interested in the address of Madame Neymann that
+the time of the hearing was extended in order that she might finish
+it. She said in part:
+
+     Why Americans, so keen in their sense of what is right and just,
+     should be so dull on this question of giving woman her due share
+     of independence, I can not comprehend. Is not this the land where
+     foreigners flock because they have heard the bugle call of
+     freedom? Why then is it that your own children, the patriotic
+     daughters of America, who have been reared and nurtured in free
+     homes, brought up under the guidance and amidst the blessings of
+     freedom--why is it that you hold them unworthy of the honor of
+     being enrolled as citizens and voters? England, Canada and even
+     Ireland have gone ahead of us, and was not America destined by
+     its tradition to be first and foremost in this important movement
+     of making women the equal, the true partner of man?
+
+     In a free country the national life stands in direct relation to
+     the home life, the public life reacts upon the family, and the
+     family furnishes the material for the State. The lives and the
+     characters of our children are influenced by the manners and
+     methods of our Government, and to say that mothers have no right
+     to be concerned in the politics of the country is simply saying
+     that the life and character of our children are of no concern to
+     us.
+
+     The citizen's liberty instead of being sacrificed by society has
+     to be defended by society. Who defends woman's individuality in
+     our modern State? Universal suffrage is the only guarantee
+     against despotism. Every man who believes in the subjection of
+     woman will play the despot whenever you give him an opportunity.
+
+     We have no right to ask if it is expedient to grant suffrage to
+     women. We recognize that the principle is just and justice must
+     be done though the heavens fall. It is small minds that bring
+     forth small objections. The man who believes in a just principle
+     trusts and confides in it, and thus we ask you to confide in
+     suffrage for women.
+
+On May 6, 1886, the committee report, made by the Hon. John W. Stewart
+(Vt.), stated that the resolution was laid on the table. The following
+minority report was submitted:
+
+     In a Government by the people the ballot is at once a badge of
+     sovereignty and the means of exercising power. We need not for
+     our present purpose define the right to vote, nor inquire whence
+     it comes. Whether it is a natural or a political right, one
+     arising from social relations and duties, or a necessity
+     incidental to individual protection and communal welfare, is
+     immaterial to the discussion. Let the advocates of man's right to
+     participate in governmental affairs choose their own ground and
+     we will be content. The voting franchise exists, and it exists
+     because it has been seized by force or because of some right
+     antedating its sanction by law. Nativity does not confer it,
+     because aliens exercise it; it does not arise from taxation, for
+     many are taxed who can not vote and many vote who are not taxed.
+     Ability to bear arms is not the test of the voting franchise, as
+     many legally vote who were never able to bear arms, and others
+     who have become unable to do so by reason of sickness, accident
+     or age; nor does education mark the line, for the learned and the
+     illiterate meet at the ballot box.
+
+     With us a portion of the adult population have assumed to
+     exercise the right, admitted to exist somewhere, of governing,
+     and have forced another portion into the position of the
+     governed. That this assumption is just and wise is averred by
+     some and denied by others. If we call upon these rulers for a
+     copy of their commission they present one written by themselves.
+
+     Children, idiots and convicted felons properly belong to the
+     governed and not to the governing class, as they are
+     intellectually or morally unfit to govern. Necessity only places
+     them there; necessity is an absolute monarch and will be
+     everywhere obeyed. To this governed class has been added woman,
+     and we beg the House and the country to inquire why. They are
+     also "people" and we submit that they are neither moral nor
+     intellectual incapables, and no necessity for their
+     disfranchisement can be suggested; on the contrary, we believe
+     that they are now entitled to immediate and absolute
+     enfranchisement.
+
+     First: Because their own good demands it. Give woman the ballot
+     and she will have additional means and inducements to a broader
+     and better education, including a knowledge of affairs, of which
+     she will not fail to avail herself to the uttermost; give her the
+     ballot and you add to her means of protection of her person and
+     estate. The ballot is a powerful weapon of defense sorely needed
+     by those too weak to wield any other, and to take it from such
+     and give to those already clothed in strength and fully armed,
+     would appear to be unjust, unfair and unwise to one unaccustomed
+     to the sight. Long usage "sanctions and sanctifies" wrongs and
+     abuses, and causes cruelty to be mistaken for kindness.
+
+     The history of woman is for the most part a history of wrong and
+     outrage. Created the equal companion of man, she early became his
+     slave, and still is so in most parts of the world. In many
+     so-called Christian nations of Europe she is to-day yoked with
+     beasts and is doing the labor of beasts, while her son and
+     husband are serving in the army, protecting the divine right of
+     kings and men to slay and destroy. In the farther East she is
+     still more degraded, being substantially excluded from the world.
+     Man has not been consciously unjust to woman in the past, nor is
+     he now, but he believes that she is in her true sphere, not
+     realizing that he has fixed her sphere, and not God. This is as
+     true of the barbarian as of the Christian, and no more so. If the
+     "unspeakable Turk" should be solicited to open the doors of his
+     harem and let the inmates become free, he would be indignant,
+     doubtless, and would swear by the beard of the Prophet that he
+     never would so degrade lovely woman, who, in her sphere, was
+     intended to be the solace of glorious, superior man.
+
+     Yet, as man advances, woman is elevated, and her elevation in
+     turn advances him. No liberty ever given her has been lost or
+     abused or regretted. Where most has been given she has become
+     best. Liberty never degrades her; slavery always does. For her
+     good, therefore, she needs the ballot.
+
+     Second: Woman's vote is needed for the good of others. Our
+     horizon is misty with apparent dangers. Woman may aid in
+     dispelling them. She is an enemy of foreign war and domestic
+     turmoil; she is a friend of peace and home. Her influence for
+     good in many directions would be multiplied if she possessed the
+     ballot. She desires the homes of the land to be pure and sober;
+     with her help they may become so. Without her what is the
+     prospect in this regard?
+
+     We do not invite woman into the "dirty pool of politics," nor
+     does she intend to enter that pool. Politics is not necessarily
+     unclean; if it is unclean she is not chargeable with the great
+     crime, for crime it is. Politics must be purified or we are lost.
+     To govern this great nation wisely and well is not degrading
+     service; to do it, all the wisdom, ability and patriotism of all
+     the people is required. No great moral force should be
+     unemployed.
+
+     But it is sometimes said that women do not desire the ballot.
+     Some may not; very many do not, perhaps a majority. Such
+     indifference can not affect the right of those who are not
+     indifferent. Some men, for one or other insufficient reason,
+     decline to vote; but no statesman has yet urged general
+     disfranchisement on that account. It may be true, and in our
+     judgment it is, that those individuals who so fail to appreciate
+     the rights and obligations of freemen as to deliberately refuse
+     to vote should be disfranchised and made aliens, but their
+     offense should not be visited on vigilant and patriotic citizens.
+     Neither male nor female suffragists can be forced to use the
+     ballot, and while the individuals of each class may fail to
+     appreciate the privilege or recognize the duty the franchise
+     confers, in the main it will result otherwise.
+
+     The conservative woman who feels that her present duties are as
+     burdensome as she can bear, when she realizes what she can
+     accomplish for her country and for mankind by the ballot, will as
+     reverently thank God for the opportunity and will as zealously
+     discharge her new obligations, as will her more radical sister
+     who has long and wearily labored and fervently prayed for the
+     coming of the day of equality of rights, duties and hopes.
+
+                                             E. B. TAYLOR.
+                                             W. P. HEPBURN.
+                                             L. B. CASWELL.
+
+     I concur in the opinion of the minority that the resolution ought
+     to be adopted.
+
+                                             A. A. RANNEY.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[28] John Randolph Tucker, Va.; Nathaniel J. Hammond, Ga.; David B.
+Culberson, Tex.; Patrick A. Collins, Mass.; George E. Seney, O.;
+William C. Oates, Ala.; John H. Rogers, Ark.; John R. Eden, Ill.;
+Risden T. Bennett, N. C.; Ezra B. Taylor, O.; Abraham X. Parker, N.
+Y.; Ambrose A. Ranney, Mass.; William P. Hepburn, Ia.; John W.
+Stewart, Vt.; Lucien B. Caswell, Wis.
+
+[29] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, p. 715.
+
+[30] This had been done when Miss Anthony voted in Rochester, N. Y.,
+in 1872.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+FIRST DISCUSSION AND VOTE IN THE U. S. SENATE--1887.
+
+
+Although the Senate Select Committee on Woman Suffrage had reported
+several times in favor of a Sixteenth Amendment to the Federal
+Constitution which should prohibit disfranchisement on account of sex,
+and although Thomas W. Palmer, in 1885, had delivered a speech on the
+question in the Senate, it never had been brought to a discussion and
+vote.[31] Urged by the members of the National Association, and by his
+own strong convictions as to the justice of the cause, Senator Henry
+W. Blair (N. H.), on Dec. 8, 1886, called up the following, which he
+had reported for the majority of the committee on February 2 of that
+year:
+
+     JOINT RESOLUTION PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF
+     THE UNITED STATES EXTENDING THE RIGHT OF SUFFRAGE TO WOMEN.
+
+     _Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
+     United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of
+     each House concurring therein)_, That the following article be
+     proposed to the Legislatures of the several States as an
+     amendment to the Constitution of the United States; which, when
+     ratified by three-fourths of the said Legislatures, shall be
+     valid as part of said Constitution, namely:
+
+     SECTION 1. 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.
+
+     SECTION 2. The Congress shall have power, by appropriate
+     legislation, to enforce the provisions of this article.
+
+Senator Blair supported this resolution in a long and comprehensive
+speech, that will be recorded in history as one of the ablest ever
+made on this subject, in the course of which he said:[32]
+
+     Upon solemn occasions concerning grave public affairs, and when
+     large numbers of the citizens of the country desire to test the
+     sentiments of the people upon an amendment of the organic law in
+     the manner provided by the provisions of that law, it may well
+     become the duty of Congress to submit the proposition to the
+     amending power, which is the same as that which created the
+     original instrument itself--the electors of the several States.
+     It can hardly be claimed that two-thirds of each branch of
+     Congress must necessarily be convinced that the Constitution
+     should be amended, before it submits the same to the judgment of
+     the States.
+
+     If there be any principle upon which our form of government is
+     founded, and wherein it is different from aristocracies,
+     monarchies and despotisms, that principle is this: Every human
+     being of mature powers, not disqualified by ignorance, vice or
+     crime, is the equal of and is entitled to all the rights and
+     privileges which belong to any other human being under the law.
+
+     The independence, equality and dignity of all human souls is the
+     fundamental assertion of those who believe in what we call human
+     freedom. But we are informed that women are represented by men.
+     This can not reasonably be claimed unless it first be shown that
+     their consent has been given to such representation, or that they
+     lack the capacity to consent. But the exclusion of this class
+     from the suffrage deprives them of the power of assent to
+     representation even when they possess the requisite ability....
+     The Czar represents his whole people, just as much as voting men
+     represent women who do not vote at all.
+
+     True it is that the voting men, in excluding women and other
+     classes from the suffrage, by that act charge themselves with the
+     trust of administering justice to all, even as the monarch whose
+     power is based upon force is bound to rule uprightly. But if it
+     be true that "all just government is founded upon the consent of
+     the governed," then the government of woman by man, without her
+     consent given in a sovereign capacity, even if that government be
+     wise and just in itself, is a violation of natural right and an
+     enforcement of servitude against her on the part of man. If
+     woman, like the infant or the defective classes, be incapable of
+     self-government, then republican society may exclude her from all
+     participation in the enactment and enforcement of the laws under
+     which she lives. But in that case, like the infant and the idiot
+     and the unconsenting subject of tyrannical forms of government,
+     she is ruled and not represented by man. This much I desire to
+     say in the beginning in reply to the broad assumption of those
+     who deny women the suffrage by saying that they are already
+     represented by their fathers, their husbands, their brothers and
+     their sons.
+
+     The common ground upon which all agree may be stated thus: All
+     males having certain qualifications are in reason and in law
+     entitled to vote. These qualifications affect either the body or
+     the mind or both. The first is the attainment of a certain age.
+     The age in itself is not material, but maturity of mental
+     development is material, although soundness of body in itself is
+     not essential, and want of it never works forfeiture of the
+     right. Age as a qualification for suffrage is by no means to be
+     confounded with age as a qualification for service in war.
+     Society has well established the distinction, and also that one
+     has no relation whatever to the other--the one having reference
+     to physical prowess, while the other relates only to the mental
+     state. This is shown by the ages fixed by law, that of eighteen
+     years as the commencement of the term of presumed fitness for
+     military service and forty-five as the period of its termination;
+     while the age of presumed fitness for the suffrage, which
+     requires no physical superiority certainly, is set at twenty-one
+     years when still greater strength of body has been attained than
+     at the period when liability to the dangers and hardships of war
+     begins. There are at least three million more male voters in our
+     country than of the population liable by law to the performance
+     of military duty. It is still further to be observed that the
+     right of suffrage continues as long as the mind lasts, while
+     ordinary liability to military service ceases at a period when
+     the physical powers, though still strong, are beginning to wane.
+     The truth is that there is no legal or natural connection between
+     the liability to fight and the right to vote.
+
+     The right to fight may be exercised voluntarily, or the liability
+     to fight may be enforced by the community, whenever there is need
+     for it, and the extent to which the physical forces of society
+     may be called upon in self-defense or in justifiable revolution
+     is measured not by age or sex, but by necessity, which may go so
+     far as to call into the field old men and women and the last
+     vestige of physical force. It can not be claimed that woman has
+     no right to vote because she is not liable to fight, for she is
+     so liable, and the freest government on the face of the earth has
+     the reserved power under the call of necessity to place her in
+     the forefront of the battle itself; and more than this, woman has
+     the right, and often has exercised it, to go there. If any one
+     could question the existence of this reserved power to call woman
+     to the common defense, either in the hospital or the field, it
+     would be woman herself, who has been deprived of participation in
+     the Government and in shaping public policies which have resulted
+     in dire emergency to the State. But in all times, and under all
+     forms of government and of social existence, woman has given her
+     body and her soul to the common defense.
+
+     The qualification of age, then, is imposed for the purpose of
+     securing mental and moral fitness for the suffrage on the part of
+     those who exercise it. It has no relation to the possession of
+     physical powers at all.
+
+     The property qualification for suffrage is, to my mind, an
+     invasion of natural right, which elevates mere property to an
+     equality with life and personal liberty, and it ought never to be
+     imposed. But, however that may be, its application has no
+     relation to sex, and its only object is to secure the exercise of
+     the suffrage under a stronger sense of obligation and
+     responsibility. The same is true of the qualifications of sanity,
+     education and obedience to the laws, which exclude dementia,
+     ignorance and crime from participation in the sovereignty. Every
+     condition or qualification imposed upon the exercise of the
+     suffrage, save sex alone, has for its only object or possible
+     justification the possession of mental and moral fitness, and has
+     no relation to physical power.
+
+     The question then arises why is the qualification of masculinity
+     required? The distinction between human beings by reason of sex
+     is a physical distinction. The soul is of no sex. If there be a
+     distinction of soul by reason of the physical difference, woman
+     is the superior of man. In proof of this see the minority report
+     of this committee with all the eulogiums of woman pronounced by
+     those who, like the serpent of old, would flatter her vanity that
+     they may continue to wield her power. I repeat that the soul is
+     of no sex, and that so far as the possession and exercise of
+     human rights and powers are concerned, sex is but a physical
+     property, whose possession renders the female just as important
+     as the male, and in just as great need of power in the government
+     of society. If there be a difference, however, her average
+     physical inferiority is really compensated for by a superior
+     mental and moral fitness to give direction to the course of
+     society and to the policy of the State. If, then, there be a
+     distinction between the souls of human beings resulting from sex,
+     woman is better fitted for the exercise of the suffrage than man.
+
+     It is asserted by some that the suffrage is an inherent natural
+     right, and by others that it is merely a privilege extended to
+     the individual by society at its discretion. However this may be,
+     its extension to any class must come through the exercise of the
+     suffrage by those who already possess it. Therefore, the appeal
+     by those who have it not must be made to those who are asked to
+     part with a portion of their own power. It is only human nature
+     that the male sex should hesitate to yield one-half of its power
+     to those whose cause, however strong in reason and justice, lacks
+     that physical force by which so largely the masses of men
+     themselves have wrung their own rights from rulers and kings.
+
+     It is not strange that when overwhelmed with argument and half
+     won by appeals to his better nature, and ashamed to refuse
+     blankly that which he finds no reason for longer withholding, man
+     avoids the dilemma by a pretended elevation of woman to a higher
+     sphere, where, as an angel, she has certain gauzy, ethereal
+     resources and superior attributes and functions which render the
+     possession of mere earthly, every-day powers and privileges
+     non-essential to her, however mere mortal men may find them
+     indispensable to their own freedom and happiness. But to the
+     denial of her right to vote, whether that denial be the blunt
+     refusal of the ignorant or the polished evasion of the refined
+     courtier and politician, woman can oppose only her most solemn
+     and perpetual appeal to the reason of man and to the justice of
+     Almighty God. She must continually point out the nature and
+     object of the suffrage and the necessity that she possess it for
+     her own and the public good.
+
+     What, then, is the suffrage, and why is it necessary that woman
+     should possess and exercise this function of freemen? I quote
+     briefly from the majority report of the Senate Committee:[33]
+
+     "The rights for the maintenance of which human governments are
+     constituted are life, liberty and property. These rights are
+     common to men and women alike and both are entitled to the
+     sovereign power to protect these rights. This right to the
+     protection of rights appertains to the individual, not to the
+     family, or to any form of association, whether social or
+     corporate. Probably not more than five-eighths of the men of
+     legal age, qualified to vote, are heads of families, and not more
+     than that proportion of adult women are united with men in the
+     legal merger of married life. It is, therefore, quite incorrect
+     to speak of the State as an aggregate of families duly
+     represented at the ballot-box by their male head. The relation
+     between the government and the individual is direct; all rights
+     are individual rights, all duties are individual duties.
+
+     "Government in its two highest functions is legislative and
+     judicial. By these powers the sovereignty prescribes the law and
+     directs its application to the vindication of rights and the
+     redress of wrongs. Conscience and intelligence are the only
+     forces which enter into the exercise of these primary and highest
+     functions of government. The remaining department is the
+     executive or administrative, and in all forms of government the
+     primary element of administration is force, but even in this
+     department conscience and intelligence are indispensable to its
+     direction.
+
+     "If, now, we are to decide who of our sixty millions of human
+     beings are, by virtue of their qualifications, to be the
+     law-making power, by what tests shall the selection be
+     determined? The suffrage is this great primary law-making power.
+     It is not the executive power. It is not founded upon force.
+     Never in the history of this or any other genuine republic has
+     the law-making power, whether in general elections or in the
+     framing of laws in legislative assemblies, been vested in
+     individuals by reason of their physical powers....
+
+     "The executive power of itself is a mere physical
+     instrumentality--an animal quality--and it is confided from
+     necessity to those who possess that quality, but always with
+     danger, except so far as wisdom and virtue control its exercise.
+     Therefore it is obvious that the greater the spiritual forces,
+     whether found in those who execute the law, or in the large body
+     by whom the suffrage is exercised, and who direct its execution,
+     the greater will be the safety and the surer will be the
+     happiness of the State.
+
+     "It is too late to question the intellectual and moral capacity
+     of woman to understand political issues and intelligently decide
+     them at the polls. Indeed the pretense is no longer advanced that
+     woman should not vote because of her mental or moral unfitness to
+     perform this legislative function; but the suffrage is denied to
+     her because she can neither hang criminals, suppress mobs nor
+     handle the enginery of war. We have already seen the untenable
+     nature of this assumption, because those who make it bestow the
+     suffrage upon very large classes of men who, however well
+     qualified they may be to vote, are physically unable to perform
+     any of the duties which appertain to the execution of the law and
+     the defense of the State. Scarcely a Senator on this floor is
+     liable by law to perform military or other administrative duty,
+     yet this rule set up against the right of women to vote would
+     disfranchise nearly this whole body.
+
+     "But it is unnecessary to grant that woman can not fight. History
+     is full of examples of her heroism in danger, of her endurance
+     and fortitude in trial, of her indispensable and supreme service
+     in hospital and field.... It is hardly worth while to consider
+     this trivial objection--that she is incompetent for purposes of
+     national murder or of bloody self-defense--as the basis for
+     denying a fundamental right, when we consider that if this right
+     were given to her she would by its very exercise almost certainly
+     abolish this great crime of the nations, which has always
+     inflicted upon woman the chief burden of woe."
+
+Mr. Blair then demonstrated the intellectual ability of the woman of
+the present day, proving in this respect her capacity and fitness to
+vote. He quoted from the minority report of the Senate Committee,
+which had been submitted by Senators Brown and Cockrell, saying:
+
+     It proceeds to show that both man and woman are designed for a
+     higher final estate--to-wit, that of matrimony. It seems to be
+     conceded that man is just as well fitted for matrimony as woman
+     herself, and the whole subject is illuminated with certain
+     botanical lore about stamens and pistils, which, however relevant
+     to matrimony, does not prove that woman should not vote unless at
+     the same time it proves that man should not vote. And certainly
+     it can not apply to those women, any more than to those men,
+     whose highest and final estate never is merged in the family
+     relation at all....
+
+     The right to vote is the great primitive right in which all
+     freedom originates and culminates. It is the right from which all
+     others spring, in which they merge, and without which they fall
+     whenever assailed. This right makes all the difference between
+     government by and with the consent of the governed, and
+     government without and against the consent of the governed; and
+     that is the difference between freedom and slavery. If the right
+     to vote be not that difference, what is? If either sex as a class
+     can dispense with the right to vote, then take it from the
+     strong and do not longer rob the weak of their defense for the
+     benefit of the strong. But it is impossible to conceive of the
+     suffrage as a right dependent at all upon such an irrelevant
+     condition as sex. It is an individual, a personal right, and if
+     withheld by reason of sex it is a moral robbery.
+
+     It is said that the duties of maternity disqualify for the
+     performance of the act of voting. It can not be, and I think is
+     not claimed by any one, that the mother who otherwise would be
+     fit to vote is rendered mentally or morally less fit to exercise
+     this high function in the State because of motherhood. On the
+     contrary, if any woman has a motive more than another person, man
+     or woman, to secure the enactment and enforcement of good laws,
+     it is the mother, who, besides her own life, person and
+     property--to the protection of which the ballot is as essential
+     as to those of man--has her little contingent of immortal beings
+     to conduct safely to the portals of active life through all the
+     snares and pitfalls woven around them by bad men and bad laws,
+     and to prepare rightly for the discharge of all the duties of
+     their day and generation, including, if boys, the exercise of the
+     very right denied to their mother.
+
+     Certainly if but for motherhood woman should vote, then ten
+     thousand times more necessary is it that the mother should be
+     armed with this great social and political power for the sake of
+     all men and women who are yet to be. It is said that she has not
+     the time. Let us see. By the best deductions I can make from the
+     census and from other sources, of the women of voting age in this
+     country not more than one-half are married and still liable to
+     the duties of maternity; for it will be remembered that a
+     considerable proportion of the mothers at any given time are
+     below the voting age, while another large proportion have passed
+     beyond the point of this objection. Then why disfranchise the
+     half to whom your objection, even if valid as to any, does not
+     apply at all; and most of these, too, the most mature and
+     therefore the best qualified to vote of any of their sex?
+
+     But how much is there of this objection of want of time or
+     physical strength to vote in its application to those women who
+     are bearing and training the coming millions?... The average
+     mother will attend church at least forty times yearly from her
+     cradle to her grave; and there is, besides, an infinity of other
+     social, religious and industrial obligations which she performs
+     because she is a married woman and a mother rather than for any
+     other reason whatever. Yet it is proposed to deprive all women
+     alike of an inestimable privilege for the reason that on any
+     given day of election perhaps one woman in twenty of voting age
+     may not be able to reach the polls....
+
+     When one thinks of the innumerable and trifling causes which keep
+     many of the best of men and the strongest opponents of woman
+     suffrage from the polls upon important occasions, it is difficult
+     to be tolerant of the objection that woman by reason of
+     motherhood has no time to vote....
+
+     It is urged that woman does not desire the privilege. If the
+     right exist at all it is an individual right, and not one which
+     belongs to a class or to the sex as such. Yet men tell us that
+     they will vote to give the suffrage to women whenever the
+     majority of women desire it. What would we say if it were
+     seriously proposed to recall the suffrage from all colored or
+     from all white men because a majority of either class should
+     decline or for any cause fail to vote? If one or many choose not
+     to claim their right it is no argument for depriving me of mine
+     or one woman of hers. There are many reasons why some women
+     declare themselves opposed to the extension of suffrage to their
+     sex. Some well-fed and pampered, without serious experiences in
+     life, are incapable of comprehending the subject at all. Vast
+     numbers, who secretly and earnestly desire it, from the long
+     habit of deference to the wishes of the other sex upon whom they
+     are so entirely dependent, and knowing the hostility of their
+     "protectors" to it, conceal their real sentiments. The "lord" of
+     the family referring this question to his wife, who has heard him
+     sneer or worse than sneer at suffragists for half a lifetime,
+     ought not expect an answer which she knows will subject her to
+     his censure and ridicule. It is like the old appeal of the master
+     to his slave to know if he would like to be free. Full well did
+     the wise and wary slave know that happiness depended upon
+     declaring contentment with his lot....
+
+     We are told that husband and wife will disagree and thus the
+     suffrage will destroy the family and ruin society. If a married
+     couple will quarrel at all, they will find the occasion, and it
+     would be fortunate indeed if their contention might concern
+     important affairs. There is no peace in the family save where
+     love is, and the same spirit which enables husband and wife to
+     enforce the toleration act between themselves in religious
+     matters will keep the peace between them in political
+     discussions. At all events this argument is unworthy of notice
+     unless we are to push it to its logical conclusion, and, for the
+     sake of peace in the family, to prohibit woman absolutely the
+     exercise of free speech and action. Men live with their
+     countrymen and yet disagree with them in politics, religion and
+     ten thousand of the affairs of life, as often the trifling as the
+     important. What harm, then, if woman be allowed her thought and
+     vote upon the tariff, education, temperance, peace, war, and
+     whatsoever else the suffrage decides.
+
+     We are told that no government of which we have authentic history
+     ever gave to women a share in the sovereignty. This is not true,
+     for the annals of monarchies and despotisms have been rendered
+     illustrious by queens of surpassing brilliance and power. But
+     even if it be true that no nation ever enfranchised woman--even
+     so until within one hundred years universal or even general
+     suffrage was unknown among men.
+
+     Has the millennium yet dawned? Is all progress at an end? If that
+     which is should therefore remain, why abolish the slavery of men?
+
+     We are informed that woman does not vote when she has the
+     opportunity. Wherever she has the unrestricted right she
+     exercises it. The records of Wyoming and Washington demonstrate
+     this fact.
+
+Mr. Blair then quoted the statistics embodied in the report of the
+committee, showing the slow but sure progress of the enfranchisement
+of women, and concluded:
+
+     It is sometimes urged against this movement for the submission of
+     a resolution for a National Constitutional Amendment that women
+     should go to the States and fight it out there. But we did not
+     send the colored man to the States. No other amendment touching
+     the general national interest has been left to be fought out by
+     individual action in the separate States....
+
+     We only ask for woman an opportunity to bring her suit in the
+     great court for the amendment of fundamental law. It is
+     impossible for any right mind to escape the impression of solemn
+     responsibility which attaches to our decision. Ridicule and wit
+     of whatever quality are here as much out of place as in the
+     debates upon the Declaration of Independence. We are affirming or
+     denying the right of petition which by all law belongs as much to
+     women as to men....
+
+     Let us by our action to-day indorse, if we do not initiate, a
+     movement which, in the development of our race, shall guarantee
+     liberty to all without distinction of sex, even as our glorious
+     Constitution already grants the suffrage to every male citizen
+     without distinction of color or race.
+
+As Senator Brown was absent, Senator Cockrell objected to a
+consideration of the resolution and it was postponed. The minority
+report of the Select Committee on Woman Suffrage signed by these two
+Senators consisted wholly of extracts from a series of anonymous
+articles which had appeared in the Chicago _Tribune_, entitled
+"Letters from a Chimney-Corner."
+
+On January 25, 1887, Senator Blair again called up his resolution and
+a spirited debate followed. Senators Joseph E. Brown (Ga.) and George
+G. Vest (Mo.) represented the negative; Henry W. Blair (N. H.) and
+Joseph N. Dolph (Ore.) the affirmative. Senator Brown opened the
+discussion by presenting, word for word, the report signed by Senator
+Francis M. Cockrell (Mo.) and himself in 1884. It embodied the stock
+objections to woman suffrage, practically all in fact which are ever
+made, and was in part as follows:[34]
+
+     Mr. President, the joint resolution introduced by my friend, the
+     Senator from New Hampshire, proposing an amendment to the
+     Constitution of the United States, conferring the right to vote
+     upon the women of the United States, is one of paramount
+     importance, as it involves great questions far-reaching in their
+     tendency, which seriously affect the very pillars of our social
+     fabric, which involve the peace and harmony of society, the unity
+     of the family, and much of the future success of our
+     Government....
+
+     I believe that the Creator intended that the sphere of the males
+     and females of our race should be different, and that their
+     duties and obligations, while they differ materially, are equally
+     important and equally honorable, and that each sex is equally
+     well qualified by natural endowments for the discharge of the
+     important duties which pertain to each, and that each sex is
+     equally competent to discharge those duties.
+
+     We find an abundance of evidence, both _in the works of nature_
+     and in the Divine revelation, to establish the fact that the
+     family properly regulated is the foundation and pillar of
+     society, and is the most important of any other human
+     institution. In the Divine economy it is provided that the man
+     shall be the head of the family, and shall take upon himself the
+     solemn obligation of providing for and protecting the family.
+
+     Man, by reason of his physical strength, and his other endowments
+     and faculties, is qualified for the discharge of those duties
+     that require strength and ability to combat with the sterner
+     realities and difficulties of life. It is not only his duty to
+     provide for and protect the family, but as a member of the
+     community it is also his duty to discharge the laborious and
+     responsible obligations which the family owe to the State, and
+     which obligations must be discharged by the head of the family,
+     until the male members have grown up to manhood and are able to
+     aid in the discharge of those obligations, when it becomes their
+     duty each in turn to take charge of and rear a family, for which
+     he is responsible.
+
+     Among other duties which the head of the family owes to the State
+     is military duty in time of war, which he, _when able-bodied_, is
+     able to discharge and which the female members of the family are
+     unable to discharge.[35]
+
+     He is also under obligation to discharge jury duty,[36] and by
+     himself _or his representatives_ to perform his part of the labor
+     necessary to construct and keep in order roads, bridges, streets
+     and all grades of public highways.[37] And in this progressive
+     age upon the male sex is devolved the duty of constructing and
+     operating our railroads, and the engines and other rolling stock
+     with which they are operated; of building, equipping and
+     launching shipping and other water craft of every character
+     necessary for the transportation of passengers and freight upon
+     our rivers, our lakes, and upon the high seas.
+
+     The labor in our fields, sowing, cultivating and reaping crops
+     must be discharged _mainly_ by the male sex, as the female sex,
+     for want of physical strength, are generally unable to discharge
+     these duties. As it is the duty of the male sex to perform the
+     obligations to the State, to society and to the family, already
+     mentioned, with numerous others that might be enumerated, it is
+     also their duty to aid in the government of the State, which is
+     simply a great aggregation of families.[38] Society can not be
+     preserved nor can the people be prosperous without good
+     government. The government of our country is a government _of the
+     people_, and it becomes necessary that the _class_ of people upon
+     whom the responsibility rests should assemble together and
+     consider and discuss the great questions of governmental policy
+     which from time to time are presented for their decision.
+
+     This often requires the assembling of caucuses in the night time,
+     as well as public assemblages in the daytime. It is a _laborious
+     task_, for which the male sex is infinitely better fitted than
+     the female sex; and after proper consideration and discussion of
+     the measures that may divide the country from time to time, the
+     duty devolves upon those who are responsible for the government,
+     at times and places to be fixed by law, to meet and by ballot to
+     decide the great questions of government upon which the
+     prosperity of the country depends.
+
+     These are some of the _active and sterner duties_ of life to
+     which the male sex is by nature better fitted than the female
+     sex. If in carrying out the policy of the State on great measures
+     adjudged vital such policy should lead to war, either foreign or
+     domestic, it would seem to follow very naturally that those who
+     have been responsible for the management of the State should be
+     the parties to take the hazards and hardships of the
+     struggle.[39] Here again man is better fitted by nature for the
+     discharge of the duty--woman is unfit for it.
+
+     On the other hand, the Creator has assigned to woman very
+     laborious and responsible duties, _by no means less important_
+     than those imposed upon the male sex, though entirely different
+     in their character.[40] In the family she is a _queen_. She alone
+     is fitted for the discharge of the sacred trust of wife and the
+     endearing relation of mother. While the man is contending with
+     the sterner duties of life, _the whole time_ of the noble,
+     affectionate and true woman is required in the discharge of the
+     delicate and difficult duties assigned her in the family circle,
+     in her church relations and in the society where her lot is cast.
+     When the husband returns home weary and worn in the discharge of
+     the difficult and laborious tasks assigned him, he finds in the
+     good wife solace and consolation which is nowhere else afforded.
+
+     But a still more important duty devolves upon the mother. After
+     having brought into existence the offspring of the nuptial union,
+     the children are dependent upon the mother _as they are not upon
+     any other human being_. The trust is a most sacred, most
+     responsible and most important one. She molds the character. She
+     educates the heart as well as the intellect, and she prepares the
+     future man, now the boy, for honor or dishonor. Upon the manner
+     in which she discharges her duty depends the fact whether he
+     shall in future be a useful citizen or a burden to society. She
+     inculcates lessons of patriotism, manliness, religion and virtue,
+     _fitting the man by reason of his training_ to be an ornament to
+     society, or dooming him by her neglect to a life of dishonor and
+     shame. Society acts unwisely, when it imposes upon her the duties
+     that by common consent have always been assigned to the stronger
+     and sterner sex, and the discharge of which causes her to neglect
+     those sacred and all-important duties to her children and to the
+     society of which they are members.[41]
+
+     In the church, by her piety, her charity and her Christian
+     purity, she not only aids society by a proper training of her own
+     children, but the children of others, whom she encourages to come
+     to the sacred altar. In the Sunday-school room the good woman is
+     a _princess_ and she exerts an influence which purifies and
+     ennobles society. In the sick room and among the humble, the poor
+     and the suffering the good woman is an _angel_ of light....
+
+     If the wife and the mother is required to leave the sacred
+     precincts of home and to attempt to do military duty when the
+     State is in peril; or if she is to be required to leave her home
+     from day to day in attendance upon the court as a juror, and to
+     be shut up in the jury room from night to night with men who are
+     strangers, while a question of life or property is being
+     discussed; if she is to attend political meetings, take part in
+     political discussions and mingle with the male sex at political
+     gatherings; if she is to become an active politician; if she is
+     to attend political caucuses at late hours of the night; if she
+     is to take part in all the unsavory work that may be deemed
+     necessary for the triumph of her party; and if on election day
+     she is to leave her home and go upon the streets electioneering
+     for votes for the candidates who receive her support, and
+     mingling among the crowds of men who gather round the polls, she
+     is to press her way through them to the precinct and deposit her
+     ballot; if she is to take part in the corporate struggles of the
+     city or town in which she resides, attend to the duties of his
+     honor, the mayor, the councilman, or of policeman, to say nothing
+     of the many other like obligations which are disagreeable (!)
+     even to the male sex, how is she, with all these heavy duties of
+     citizen, politician and officeholder resting upon her shoulders,
+     to attend to the more sacred, delicate, refining trust to which
+     we have already referred, and for which she is peculiarly fitted
+     by nature? Who is to care for and train the children while she
+     is absent in the discharge of these masculine duties?[42]
+
+     But it has been said that the present law is unjust to woman;
+     that she is _often_ required to pay tax on the property she holds
+     without being permitted to take part in framing or administering
+     the laws by which her property is governed, and that she is taxed
+     without representation. _That is a great mistake._ It may be very
+     doubtful whether the male or female sex in the present state of
+     things has more influence in the administration of the affairs of
+     the government and the enactment of the laws by which we are
+     governed.[43]
+
+     While the woman does not discharge military duty, nor does she
+     attend courts and serve on juries, nor does she labor on the
+     public streets, bridges or highways, nor does she engage actively
+     and publicly in the discussion of political affairs, nor does she
+     enter the _crowded precincts of the ballot-box_ to deposit her
+     suffrage, still the intelligent, cultivated, noble woman is a
+     power behind the throne. All her influence is in favor of
+     morality, justice and fair dealing, all her efforts and her
+     counsel are in favor of good government, wise and wholesome
+     regulations and a faithful administration of the laws.[44] ...
+
+     It would be a gratification, and we are always glad to see the
+     ladies gratified, to many who have espoused the cause of woman
+     suffrage if they could take active part in political affairs and
+     go to the polls and cast their votes alongside the male sex; but
+     while this would be a gratification to a large number of very
+     worthy and excellent ladies who take a different view of the
+     question from that which we entertain, we feel that it would be a
+     great cruelty to a much larger number of the cultivated, refined,
+     delicate and lovely women of this country who seek no such
+     distinction, who would enjoy no such privilege, who would with
+     womanlike delicacy shrink from the discharge of any such
+     obligation, and who would sincerely regret that what they
+     consider the folly of the State had imposed upon them any such
+     unpleasant duties. But should female suffrage be once established
+     it would become an imperative necessity that the very large
+     class, indeed much the largest class, of the women of this
+     country of the character last described should yield, contrary to
+     their inclinations and wishes, to the necessity which would
+     compel them to engage in political strife.
+
+     We apprehend no one who has properly considered this question
+     will doubt, if female suffrage should be established, that the
+     more ignorant and less refined portions of the female population,
+     to say nothing of the baser class of females, laying aside
+     feminine delicacy and disregarding the sacred duties devolving
+     upon them, to which we have already referred, would rush to the
+     polls and take pleasure in the crowded association which the
+     situation would compel, of the two sexes in political meetings
+     and at the ballot-box....
+
+     It is now a problem which perplexes the brain of the ablest
+     statesmen to determine how we will best preserve our republican
+     system as against the demoralizing influence of the large class
+     of our present citizens and voters who by reason of their
+     illiteracy are unable to read or write the ballot they cast. If
+     our colored population, who were so recently slaves that even the
+     males who are voters have had but little opportunity to educate
+     themselves or to be educated, whose ignorance is now exciting the
+     liveliest interest of our statesmen, are causes of serious
+     apprehension, what is to be said in favor of adding to the voting
+     population all the females of that race, who, on account of the
+     situation in which they have been placed, have had much less
+     opportunity to be educated than even the males of their own
+     race?[45]
+
+     It may be said that their votes could be offset by the ballots of
+     the educated and refined ladies of the white race in the same
+     section; but who does not know that the ignorant female voters
+     would be at the polls _en masse_, while the refined and educated,
+     shrinking from public contact on such occasions, would remain at
+     home and attend to their domestic and other important duties?[46]
+     Are we ready to expose the country to the demoralization, and our
+     institutions to the strain, which would be placed upon them, for
+     the gratification of a minority of the virtuous and good of our
+     female population at the expense of the mortification of a very
+     large majority of the same sex?
+
+     It has been frequently urged that the ballot is necessary to
+     women to enable them to protect themselves in securing
+     occupations, and to enable them to realize the same compensation
+     for the like labor which is received by men. This argument is
+     plausible, but upon a closer examination it will be found to
+     possess but little real force. The price of labor is and must
+     continue to be governed by the law of supply and demand, and the
+     person who has the most physical strength to labor, and the most
+     pursuits requiring such strength open for employment, will always
+     command the higher prices.
+
+     Ladies make excellent teachers in public schools; many of them
+     are every way the equals of their male competitors, and still
+     they secure less wages than males. The reason is obvious. The
+     number of ladies who offer themselves as teachers is much larger
+     than the number of males who are willing to teach. The larger
+     number of females offer to teach _because other occupations are
+     not open to them_. The smaller number of males offer to teach
+     _because other more profitable occupations are open_ to most
+     males who are competent to teach....
+
+     The ballot can not impart to the female physical strength which
+     she does not possess, nor can it open to her pursuits which she
+     does not have physical ability to engage in; and as long as she
+     lacks the physical strength to compete with men in the different
+     departments of labor, there will be more competition in her
+     department, and she must necessarily receive less wages.[47]
+
+     But it is claimed again that females should have the ballot as a
+     protection against the tyranny of bad husbands. This is also
+     delusive. If the husband is brutal, arbitrary or tyrannical, and
+     tyrannizes over her at home, the ballot in her hands would be no
+     protection against such injustice, but the husband who compelled
+     her to conform to his wishes in other respects would also compel
+     her to use the ballot, if she possessed it, as he might please to
+     dictate. The ballot would, therefore, be of no assistance to the
+     wife in such case, nor could it heal family strifes or
+     dissensions. On the contrary, one of the gravest objections to
+     placing the ballot in the hands of the female sex is that it
+     would promote unhappiness and dissensions in the family circle.
+     There should be unity and harmony in the family.[48] ...
+
+     When woman becomes a voter she will be more or less of a
+     politician, and will form political alliances or unite with
+     political parties which will frequently be antagonistic to those
+     to which her husband belongs. This will introduce into the family
+     circle new elements of disagreement and discord which will
+     frequently end in unhappy divisions, if not in separation and
+     divorce. This must frequently occur when she becomes an active
+     politician, identified with a party which is distasteful to her
+     husband. On the other hand, if she unites with her husband in
+     party associations and votes with him on all occasions so as not
+     to disturb the harmony and happiness of the family, then the
+     ballot is of no service, as it simply _duplicates the vote of the
+     male_ on each side of the question and leaves the result the
+     same.[49] ...
+
+     It may be said, however, that there is a class of young ladies
+     who do not choose to marry, and who select professions or
+     avocations and follow them for a livelihood. This is true, but
+     this class, compared with the number who unite in matrimony with
+     the husbands of their choice, is comparatively very small, and it
+     is the duty of society to encourage the increase of marriages
+     rather than of celibacy. If the larger number of females select
+     pursuits or professions which require them to decline marriage,
+     society to that extent is deprived of the advantage resulting
+     from the increase of population by marriage.
+
+     It is said by those who have examined the question closely that
+     the largest number of divorces is now found in the communities
+     where the advocates of female suffrage are most numerous, and
+     where the _individuality_ of woman as related to her husband,
+     which such a doctrine inculcates, is increased to the greatest
+     extent.[50] ...
+
+Senator Brown then introduced a long quotation from the
+"Chimney-Corner," covering so exactly the ground of his speech and in
+so nearly the same language as to suggest, if not collusion, at least
+"two souls with but a single thought," which he thus emphasized in
+closing:
+
+     The woman with the infant at the breast is in no condition to
+     plow on the farm, labor hard in the workshop, discharge the
+     duties of a juryman, conduct cases as an advocate in court,
+     preside in important cases as a judge, command armies as a
+     general, or bear arms as a private. These duties, and others of
+     like character, belong to the male sex; while the more important
+     duties of home, to which I have already referred, devolve upon
+     the female sex. We can neither reverse the physical nor the moral
+     laws of our nature, and as this movement is an attempt to reverse
+     these laws, and to devolve upon the female sex important and
+     laborious duties for which they are not by nature physically
+     competent, I am not prepared to support this bill.
+
+He was followed by Senator Dolph, who said:
+
+     Mr. President, I shall not detain the Senate long. I do not feel
+     satisfied, when a measure so important to the people of this
+     country and to humanity is about to be submitted to a vote of the
+     Senate, to remain wholly silent.
+
+     Fortunately for the perpetuity of our institutions and the
+     prosperity of the people, the Federal Constitution contains a
+     provision for its own amendment. The framers of that instrument
+     foresaw that time and experience, the growth of the country and
+     the consequent expansion of the Government, would develop the
+     necessity for changes in it. Under this provision, at the first
+     session of the First Congress, ten amendments were submitted to
+     the Legislatures of the several States, in due time ratified by
+     the constitutional number, and thus became a part of the
+     Constitution. Since then there have been added to the
+     Constitution by the same process five different articles. To
+     secure an amendment requires the concurrent action of two-thirds
+     of both branches of Congress and the affirmative action of
+     three-fourths of the States. The question as to whether this
+     resolution shall be submitted to the Legislatures for
+     ratification does not involve the right or policy of the proposed
+     amendment....
+
+     No question in this country has been more ably discussed than
+     this has been by the women themselves. I do not think a single
+     objection which is made to woman suffrage is tenable. No one will
+     contend but that women have sufficient capacity to vote
+     intelligently. Sacred and profane history is full of the records
+     of great deeds by women. They have ruled kingdoms, and, my friend
+     from Georgia to the contrary notwithstanding, they have commanded
+     armies. They have excelled in statecraft, they have shone in
+     literature, and, rising superior to their environments and
+     breaking the shackles with which custom and tyranny have bound
+     them, they have stood side by side with men in the fields of the
+     arts and the sciences.
+
+     If it were a fact that woman is intellectually inferior to man,
+     which I do not admit, still that would be no reason why she
+     should not be permitted to participate in the formation and
+     control of the government to which she owes allegiance. If we are
+     to have as a test for the exercise of the right of suffrage a
+     qualification based upon intelligence, let it be applied to women
+     and to men alike. If it be admitted that suffrage is a right,
+     that is the end of controversy; there can no longer be any
+     argument made against woman suffrage; because, if it is her
+     right, then, if there were but one poor woman in all the United
+     States demanding the right it would be tyranny to refuse the
+     demand.
+
+     But our opponents say that suffrage is not a right; that it is a
+     matter of grace only; that it is a privilege which is conferred
+     upon or withheld from individual members of society by society at
+     pleasure. Society as here used means man's government, and the
+     proposition assumes that men have a right to institute and
+     control governments for themselves and for women. I admit that in
+     the governments of the world, past and present, men as a rule
+     have assumed to be the ruling class; that they have instituted
+     governments from participation in which they have excluded women;
+     that they have made laws for themselves and for women, and have
+     themselves administered them. But, that the provisions conferring
+     or regulating suffrage, in the constitutions and laws of
+     governments so constituted, have determined the question of the
+     _right_ of suffrage, can not be maintained.
+
+     Let us suppose, if we can, a community separated from all
+     others--having no organized government, owing no allegiance to
+     any existing governments, without any knowledge of the character
+     of those present or past, so that when they come to form one for
+     themselves they can do so free from the bias or prejudice of
+     custom or education--a community composed of an equal number of
+     men and women, having equal property rights to be defined and to
+     be protected by law. When such community came to institute a
+     government--and it would have an undoubted right to institute one
+     for itself, and the instinct of self-preservation would soon lead
+     it to do so--will my friend from Georgia tell me by what right,
+     human or divine, the male portion could exclude the female
+     portion, equal in number and having equal property rights, from
+     participation in the formation of such government and in the
+     enactment of its laws? I understand that the Senator, if he
+     would answer, would say that he believes the author of our
+     existence, the ruler of the universe, has given different spheres
+     to man and woman. Admit that; and still neither in nature nor in
+     the revealed will of God do I find anything to lead me to believe
+     that the Creator did not intend that a woman should exercise the
+     right of self-government.
+
+     During the consideration by this body, at the last session, of
+     the bill to admit Washington Territory into the Union, referring
+     to the fact that in that Territory woman already had been
+     enfranchised, I briefly submitted my views on this subject, which
+     I now ask the Secretary to read.
+
+     The Secretary read as follows: " ... I do not believe the
+     proposition so often asserted that suffrage is a political
+     privilege only, and not a natural right. It is regulated by the
+     constitution and laws of a State, I grant, but it needs no
+     argument to show that a constitution and laws adopted and enacted
+     by a fragment only of the whole body of the people, but binding
+     alike on all, are a usurpation of the powers of government.
+
+     "Government is but organized society. Whatever its form, it has
+     its origin in the necessities of mankind and is indispensable for
+     the maintenance of civilized society. It is essential to every
+     government that it should represent the supreme power of the
+     State, and be capable of subjecting the will of its individual
+     citizens to its authority. Such a government can derive its just
+     powers only from the consent of the governed, and can be
+     established only under a fundamental law which is self-imposed.
+     Every person of suitable age and discretion who is to be subject
+     to such a government has, in my judgment, a natural right to
+     participate in its formation. It is a significant fact that,
+     should Congress pass this bill and authorize the people of
+     Washington Territory to frame a State constitution and organize a
+     State government, the fundamental law of the State would be made
+     by all the citizens who were to be subject to it, and not by
+     one-half of them. And we shall witness the spectacle of a State
+     government founded in accordance with the principles of equality,
+     and have a State at last with a truly republican form of
+     government.[51]
+
+     "The fathers of the republic enunciated the doctrine 'that all
+     men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator
+     with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life,
+     liberty and the pursuit of happiness.' It is strange that any one
+     in this enlightened age should be found to contend that this
+     declaration is true only of men, and that a man is endowed by his
+     Creator with inalienable rights not possessed by a woman. The
+     lamented Lincoln immortalized the expression that ours is a
+     government 'of the people, by the people and for the people,' and
+     yet it is far from that. There can be no government by the people
+     where one-half of them are allowed no voice in its organization
+     and control. I regard the struggle going on in this country and
+     elsewhere for the enfranchisement of women as but a continuation
+     of the great struggle for human liberty which, from the earliest
+     dawn of authentic history, has convulsed nations, rent kingdoms
+     and drenched battlefields with human blood. I look upon the
+     victories which have been achieved in the cause of woman's
+     enfranchisement in Washington Territory and elsewhere, as the
+     crowning victories of all which have been won in the
+     long-continued, still-continuing contest between liberty and
+     oppression, and as destined to exert a greater influence upon the
+     human race than any achieved upon the battlefield in ancient or
+     modern times."
+
+     Mr. President, the movement for woman suffrage has passed the
+     stage of ridicule. The pending joint resolution may not pass
+     during this Congress, but the time is not far distant when in
+     every State of the Union and in every Territory women will be
+     admitted to an equal voice in the government, and that will be
+     done whether the Federal Constitution is amended or not....
+
+     No measure involving such radical changes in our institutions and
+     fraught with so great consequences to this country and to
+     humanity has made such progress as the movement for woman
+     suffrage. Denunciation will not much longer answer for arguments
+     by the opponents of this measure. The portrayal of the evils to
+     flow from woman suffrage such as we have heard pictured to-day by
+     the Senator from Georgia, the loss of harmony between husband and
+     wife and the consequent instability of the marriage relation, the
+     neglect of husbands and children by wives and mothers for the
+     performance of their political duties, in short the
+     incapacitating of women for wives and mothers and companions,
+     will not much longer serve to frighten the timid. Proof is better
+     than theory. The experiment has been made and the predicted evils
+     to flow from it have not followed. On the contrary, if we can
+     believe the almost universal testimony, wherever it has been
+     tried it has been followed by the most beneficial results.
+
+     In Washington Territory, since woman was enfranchised, there have
+     been two elections. At the first there were 8,368 votes cast by
+     women out of a total vote of about 34,000. At the second
+     election, which was held in November last, out of 48,000 votes,
+     12,000 were cast by women.
+
+     I desire also to inform my friend from Georgia that since women
+     were enfranchised in Washington Territory nature has continued in
+     her wonted course. The sun rises and sets; there are seed-time
+     and harvest; seasons come and go. The population has increased
+     with the usual regularity and rapidity. Marriages have been quite
+     as frequent and divorces have been no more so. Women have not
+     lost their influence for good upon society, but men have been
+     elevated and refined. If we are to believe the testimony which
+     comes from lawyers, physicians, ministers of the gospel,
+     merchants, mechanics, farmers and laboring men--the united
+     testimony of the entire people of the Territory--the results of
+     woman suffrage there have been all that could be desired by its
+     friends. Some of the results have been seen in its making the
+     polls quiet and orderly, awakening a new interest in educational
+     questions and those of moral reform, securing the passage of
+     beneficial laws and the proper enforcement of them, elevating
+     men, and doing so without injury to women.
+
+Senator James B. Eustis (La.) inquired whether, if the right of
+suffrage were conferred, women ought to be required to serve on
+juries. To this Senator Dolph replied: "I can answer that very
+readily. It does not necessarily follow that because a woman is
+permitted to vote and thus have a voice in making the laws by which
+she is to be governed and by which her property rights are to be
+determined, she must perform such duty as service upon a jury. But I
+will inform the Senator that in Washington Territory she does serve
+upon juries, and with great satisfaction to the judges of the courts
+and to all parties who desire to see an honest and efficient
+administration of law." The following colloquy then ensued:
+
+     MR. EUSTIS: I was aware of the fact that women are required to
+     serve on juries in Washington Territory because they are allowed
+     to vote. I understand that under all State laws those duties are
+     considered correlative. Now, I ask the Senator whether he thinks
+     it is a decent spectacle to take a mother away from her nursing
+     infant and lock her up all night to sit on a jury?
+
+     MR. DOLPH: I intended to say before I reached this point of being
+     interrogated that I not only do not believe that there is a
+     single argument against woman suffrage which is tenable, but also
+     that there is not a single one which is really worthy of any
+     serious consideration. The Senator from Louisiana is a lawyer,
+     and he knows very well that a mother with a nursing infant, that
+     fact being made known to the court, would be excused. He knows
+     himself, and he has seen it done a hundred times, that for
+     trivial excuses compared to that, men have been excused from
+     service on a jury.
+
+     MR. EUSTIS: I will ask the Senator whether he knows that under
+     the laws of Washington Territory this is a legal excuse from
+     serving on a jury?
+
+     MR. DOLPH: I am not prepared to state that it is; but there is no
+     question in the world but that any Judge, this fact being made
+     known, would excuse a woman from attendance upon a jury. No
+     special authority would be required. I will state further that I
+     have not learned that there has been any serious objection on the
+     part of any woman summoned for jury service in that Territory to
+     performing that duty. I have not learned that it has worked to
+     the disadvantage of any family, but I do know that the judges of
+     the courts have taken especial pains to commend the women who
+     have been called to serve upon juries for the manner in which
+     they have discharged their duty.
+
+     I wish to say further that there is no connection whatever
+     between jury service and the right of suffrage. The question as
+     to who shall perform jury service, who shall perform military
+     service, who shall perform civil official duty, is certainly a
+     matter to be regulated by the community itself; but the question
+     of the right to participate in the formation of a government
+     which controls the life, the property and the destinies of its
+     citizens, I contend is one which goes back of these mere
+     regulations for the protection of property and the punishment of
+     offenses under the laws. It is a matter of right which it is a
+     tyranny to refuse to any citizen demanding it.
+
+     Now, Mr. President, I shall close by saying, God speed the day
+     when not only in all the States of the Union and in all the
+     Territories, but everywhere, woman shall stand before the law
+     freed from the last shackle which has been riveted upon her by
+     tyranny and the last disability which has been imposed upon her
+     by ignorance--not only in respect to the right of suffrage but in
+     every other respect the peer and equal of her brother, man.
+
+Senator Vest then entered into a long and elaborate discussion of the
+resolution, in which he said:
+
+     Mr. President, any measure of legislation which affects popular
+     government based on _the will of the people as expressed through
+     their suffrage_ is not only important but vitally so. If this
+     government which is based on _the intelligence of the people_,
+     shall ever be destroyed it will be by injudicious, immature or
+     corrupt suffrage. If the Ship of State launched by our fathers
+     shall ever be destroyed, it will be by striking the rock of
+     universal, unprepared suffrage. Suffrage once given can never be
+     taken away. Legislatures and conventions may do everything else;
+     they never can do that. When any particular class or portion of
+     the community is once invested with this privilege _it is fixed,
+     accomplished and eternal_.[52]
+
+     The Senator who spoke last on this question refers to the
+     successful experiment in regard to woman suffrage in the
+     Territories of Wyoming and Washington. It is not upon the plains
+     of the sparsely-settled Territories of the West that woman
+     suffrage can be tested. Suffrage in the rural districts and
+     sparsely-settled regions of this country must from the very
+     nature of things remain pure when corrupt everywhere else. The
+     danger of corrupt suffrage is in the cities, and those masses of
+     population to which civilization tends everywhere in all history.
+     Wyoming Territory! Washington Territory! Where are their large
+     cities? Where are the localities in which the strain upon popular
+     government must come?
+
+     The Senator from New Hampshire, who is so conspicuous in this
+     movement, appalled the country some months since by his ghastly
+     array of illiteracy in the Southern States.... He proposes to
+     give the negro women of the South this right of suffrage, utterly
+     unprepared as they are for it. In a convention some
+     two-years-and-a-half ago in the city of Louisville an
+     intelligent negro from the South said the negro men could not
+     vote the Democratic ticket because the women would not live with
+     them if they did. The negro men go out in the hotels and upon the
+     railroad cars; they go to the cities and by attrition they wear
+     away the prejudice of race; but the women remain at home, and
+     their emotional natures aggregate and compound the
+     race-prejudice, and when suffrage is given them what must be the
+     result?
+
+     Mr. President, it is not my purpose to speak of the
+     inconveniences, for they are nothing more, of woman suffrage.[53]
+     I trust that as a gentleman I respect the feelings of the ladies
+     and their advocates. I am not here to ridicule. My purpose only
+     is to use legitimate argument as to a movement which commands
+     respectful consideration if for no other reason than because it
+     comes from women. But it is impossible to divest ourselves of a
+     certain degree of sentiment when considering this question. I
+     pity the man who can consider any question affecting the
+     influence of woman with the cold, dry logic of business. What man
+     can, without aversion, turn from the blessed memory of that dear
+     old grandmother, or the gentle words and caressing hand of that
+     blessed mother gone to the unknown world, to face in its stead
+     the idea of a female justice of the peace or township constable?
+     For my part I want when I go to my home--when I turn from the
+     arena where man contends with man for what we call the prizes of
+     this paltry world--I want to go back, not to be received in the
+     masculine embrace of some female ward politician, but to the
+     earnest, loving look and touch of a true woman. I want to go back
+     to the jurisdiction of the wife, the mother; and instead of a
+     lecture upon finance or the tariff or the construction of the
+     Constitution, I want those blessed, loving details of domestic
+     life and domestic love.
+
+     I have said I would not speak of the inconveniences to arise from
+     woman suffrage--when the mother is called upon to decide as a
+     juryman or jurywoman rights of property or rights of life, whilst
+     her baby is "mewling and puking" in solitary confinement at home.
+     There are other considerations more important, and one of them to
+     my mind is insuperable. I speak now respecting women as a sex. I
+     believe that they are better than men, but I do not believe they
+     are adapted to the political work of this world. I do not believe
+     that the Great Intelligence ever intended them to invade the
+     sphere of work given to men, tearing down and destroying all the
+     best influences for which God has intended them.
+
+     The great evil in this country to-day is in emotional suffrage.
+     The great danger to-day is in excitable suffrage. If the voters
+     of this country could think always coolly, and if they could
+     deliberate, if they could go by judgment and not by passion, our
+     institutions would survive forever, eternal as the foundations of
+     the continent itself; but massed together, subject to the
+     excitement of mobs and of these terrible political contests that
+     come upon us from year to year under the autonomy of our
+     government, what would be the result if suffrage were given to
+     the women of the United States?
+
+     Women are essentially emotional. It is no disparagement to them
+     they are so. It is no more insulting to say that women are
+     emotional than to say that they are delicately constructed
+     physically and unfitted to become soldiers or workmen under the
+     sterner, harder pursuits of life. What we want in this country is
+     to avoid emotional suffrage, and what we need is to put more
+     logic into public affairs and less feeling.[54]
+
+     There are spheres in which feeling should be paramount. There are
+     kingdoms in which the heart should reign supreme. That kingdom
+     belongs to woman, the realm of sentiment, the realm of love, the
+     realm of the gentler and holier and kindlier attributes that make
+     the name of wife, mother and sister next to that of God himself.
+
+     I would not, and I say it deliberately, degrade woman by giving
+     her the right of suffrage. I mean the word in its full
+     signification, because I believe that woman as she is today, the
+     queen of home and of hearts, is above the political collisions of
+     this world, and should always be kept above them....
+
+     Sir, if it be said to us that this is a natural right belonging
+     to women, I deny it. The right of suffrage is one to be
+     determined by expediency and by policy, and given by the State to
+     whom it pleases. It is not a natural right; it is a right that
+     comes from the State.[55]
+
+     It is claimed that if the suffrage be given to women it is to
+     protect them. Protect them from whom? The brute that would invade
+     their rights would coerce the suffrage of his wife or sister or
+     mother as he would wring from her the hard earnings of her toil
+     to gratify his own beastly appetites and passions.[56]
+
+     It is said that the suffrage is to be given to enlarge the sphere
+     of woman's influence. Mr. President, it would destroy her
+     influence. It would take her down from that pedestal where she is
+     today, influencing as a mother the minds of her offspring,
+     influencing by her gentle and kindly caress the action of her
+     husband toward the good and pure.[57]
+
+Senator Vest then presented a list of two hundred men from
+Massachusetts, among them forty-five clergymen, remonstrating against
+any further extension of suffrage to women. He next presented the
+old-time letter of Mrs. Clara T. Leonard of that State protesting
+against the enfranchisement of women. Senator Hoar called attention to
+the fact that the writer herself was an office-holder, a member of the
+State Board of Lunacy and Charity, to which Senator Vest answered:
+
+     Ah! but what sort of an office-holder? She held the office
+     delegated to her by God himself, a ministering angel to the sick,
+     the afflicted and the insane. What man in his senses would take
+     from woman this sphere? What man would close to her the
+     charitable institutions and eleemosynary establishments of the
+     country? That is part of her kingdom; that is part of her
+     undisputed sway and realm. Is that the office to which woman
+     suffragists of this country ask us now to admit them? Is it to be
+     the director of a hospital? Is it to the presidency of a board of
+     visitors of an eleemosynary institution? Oh, no; they want to be
+     President, to be Senators and Members of the House of
+     Representatives and, God save the mark, ministerial and executive
+     officers, sheriffs, constables and marshals. Of course, this lady
+     is found on this board of directors. Where else should a true
+     woman be found? Where else has she always been found but by the
+     fevered brow, the palsied hand, the erring intellect, aye, God
+     bless them, from the cradle to the grave the guide and support of
+     the faltering steps of childhood and the weakening steps of old
+     age.[58]
+
+     Oh, no, Mr. President, this will not do. If we are to tear down
+     all the blessed traditions, if we are to desolate our homes and
+     firesides, if we are to unsex our mothers and wives and sisters
+     and turn our blessed temples of domestic peace into ward
+     political-assembly rooms, pass this joint resolution. But for one
+     I thank God that I am so old-fashioned that I would not give one
+     memory of my grandmother or of my mother for all the arguments
+     that could be piled, Pelion upon Ossa, in favor of this political
+     monstrosity.
+
+     I now present a pamphlet sent to me by a lady. I do not know
+     whether she be wife or mother. She signs this pamphlet as Adeline
+     D. T. Whitney. I have read it twice, and read it to pure and
+     gentle and intellectual women. I shall not read it today for my
+     strength does not suffice.[59] ... There is not one impure,
+     unintellectual aspiration or thought throughout the whole of it.
+     Would to God that I knew her, that I could thank her on behalf of
+     the society and politics of the United States for this
+     production. She says to her own sex: "After all, men work for
+     women; or, if they think they do not, it would leave them but
+     sorry satisfaction to abandon them to such existence as they
+     could arrange without us."
+
+     Oh, how true that is, how true!
+
+This pamphlet of over five thousand words which began, "What is the
+law of woman-life? What was she made woman for, and not man?"--might
+be described as the apotheosis of the sentimental effusions of
+Senators Brown and Vest.
+
+During the discussion Senator George F. Hoar (Mass.) said:
+
+     Mr. President, I do not propose to make a speech at this late
+     hour of the day, it would be cruel to the Senate, and I had not
+     expected that this measure would be here this afternoon. I was
+     absent on a public duty and came in just at the close of the
+     speech of my honorable friend from Missouri. I wish, however, to
+     say one word in regard to what seemed to be the burden of his
+     speech.
+
+     He says that the women who ask this change in our political
+     organization are not simply seeking to be put upon school boards
+     and upon boards of health and charity and to fulfil all the large
+     number of duties of a political nature for which he must confess
+     they are fit, but he says they will want to be President of the
+     United States, and Senators and marshals and sheriffs, and that
+     seems to him supremely ridiculous. Now I do not understand that
+     this is the proposition. What they want is simply to be eligible
+     to such public duty as a majority of their fellow-citizens may
+     think they are fitted for. The most of the public duties in this
+     country do not require robust, physical health, or exposure to
+     what is base or unhealthy; and when those duties are imposed upon
+     anybody it will be only upon such persons as are fit for them.
+
+     My honorable friend spoke of the French revolution and the
+     horrors in which the women of Paris took part, and from that he
+     would argue that American wives and mothers and sisters are not
+     fit for the calm and temperate management of our American
+     republican life. His argument would require him by the same logic
+     to agree that republicanism itself is not fit for human society.
+     The argument is against popular government, whether by men or
+     women, and the Senator only applies to this new phase of the
+     claim of equal rights what his predecessors would have argued
+     against the rights which men now enjoy.
+
+     But the Senator thought it was unspeakably absurd that woman with
+     her sentiment and emotional nature and liability to be moved by
+     passion and feeling should hold the office of Senator. Why, Mr.
+     President, the Senator's own speech is a refutation of its own
+     argument. Everybody knows that my honorable friend from Missouri
+     is one of the most brilliant men in this country. He is a
+     logician, he is an orator, he is a man of wide experience, he is
+     a lawyer entrusted with large interests; yet when he was called
+     upon to put forth this great effort of his, this afternoon, and
+     to argue this question which he thinks so clear, what did he do?
+     _He furnished the gush and the emotion and the eloquence, but
+     when he wanted an argument he had to call upon two women to
+     supply it._ If Mrs. Leonard and Mrs. Whitney have to make the
+     argument in the Senate of the United States for the
+     distinguished Senator from Missouri, it does not seem to me so
+     absolutely ridiculous that they should have, or that women like
+     them should have, seats in this body to make arguments of their
+     own.
+
+Senator Blair closed the debate by saying in part:
+
+     I appeal to Senators not to decide this question upon the
+     arguments which have been offered here today for or against the
+     merits of the proposition. I appeal to them to decide it upon
+     that other principle to which I have adverted, whether one-half
+     of the American people shall be permitted to go into the arena of
+     public discussion in the various States, and before their
+     Legislatures be heard upon the issue, "Shall the Federal
+     Constitution be so amended as to extend this right of suffrage?"
+     If, with this opportunity, those who believe in woman suffrage
+     shall fail, then they must be content; for I agree with the
+     Senators upon the opposite side of the chamber and with all who
+     hold that if the suffrage is to be extended at all, it must be by
+     the operation of existing law. I believe it to be an innate
+     right; yet even an innate right must be exercised only by the
+     consent of the controlling forces of the State. That is all woman
+     asks--that an amendment be submitted.
+
+The opposition had presented three documents, each representing the
+views of one woman, and one of these anonymous. Senator Blair
+presented a petition for the suffrage from the Woman's Christian
+Temperance Union of 200,000 members, signed by Miss Frances E.
+Willard, president, and the entire official board. This was
+accompanied by a strong personal appeal from a number of distinguished
+women, and hundreds of thousands of petitions had been previously
+sent. The Senator also received permission to have printed in the
+_Congressional Record_ the arguments made by the representatives of
+the suffrage movement before the Senate committee in 1880 and
+1884.[60]
+
+A vote was then taken on the resolution to submit to the State
+Legislatures an amendment to the Federal Constitution forbidding the
+disfranchisement of United States citizens on account of sex, which
+resulted in 16 yeas, 34 nays, 26 absent.[61] Of the absentees
+Senators Chace, Dawes, Plumb and Stanford announced that they would
+have voted "yea;" Jones of Arkansas and Butler that they would have
+voted "nay."
+
+Thus on January 25, 1887, occurred the first and only discussion and
+vote in the United States Senate on the submission of an amendment to
+the Federal Constitution which should forbid disfranchisement on
+account of sex, that took place up to the end of the nineteenth
+century.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[31] The only time the direct question of woman suffrage ever had been
+discussed and voted on in the U. S. Senate was in December, 1866,
+on the Bill to Regulate the Franchise for the District of
+Columbia--History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, p. 102; and in May,
+1874, on the Bill to Establish the Territory of Pembina--the same, p.
+545; but these were entirely distinct from the submission of a
+constitutional amendment.
+
+[32] Extended space is accorded this discussion, as it might
+reasonably be expected that on the floor of the United States Senate
+would be made the most exhaustive arguments possible on both sides of
+this important question.
+
+[33] This report had been presented Mar. 28, 1884, by Senators T. W.
+Palmer, H. W. Blair, E. G. Lapham and H. B. Anthony.
+
+[34] The italics are made by the editors of the History.
+
+[35] Senator Brown did not enter the army during the Civil War.
+
+[36] As a lawyer Senator Brown was always exempt from jury service.
+
+[37] Senator Brown had this done by his representatives, as any woman
+could do.
+
+[38] As every private family urgently needs the man and the woman, why
+are both not needed in this "great aggregation?"
+
+[39] Do women have no hardships or hazards in time of war?
+
+[40] If her duties are just as laborious, responsible and important as
+man's, do they not entitle her to a voice in the Government?
+
+[41] Since this tremendous responsibility is placed upon woman, why
+should she not have a voice in the conditions which surround these
+children outside the home? Why should man alone determine these
+conditions which often counteract all the mother's training?
+
+[42] Senator Brown assumes that all women are wives and the mothers of
+young children, and that the mother's sense of duty would not hold her
+to the care of her children if she had a chance to go into politics.
+
+[43] Would any man be willing to exchange his influence for that of a
+woman in the affairs of government?
+
+[44] This would seem to be the very influence which ought to be
+enforced by a vote.
+
+[45] In readjusting the qualifications for the suffrage the Southern
+States have been very careful to secure the right to all the
+illiterate _white_ men.
+
+[46] Senator Brown says in the preceding paragraph that the "delicate
+and lovely women" would not remain at home but would consider it an
+imperative duty to go to the polls.
+
+[47] Is it because women lack physical strength that they are not
+allowed to practice law in Georgia or to act as notaries public or to
+fill any office, even that of school trustee, and that no woman is
+permitted to enter the State University? The men should at least give
+their "queens" and "princesses" and "angels" an education.
+
+[48] Yes, if the husband has to enforce it with a club. This paragraph
+does not tally with the one in the early part of the Senator's speech
+where all women were placed on a throne, and all men were declared to
+be their natural protectors.
+
+[49] The picture of family life in Georgia is not alluring, but the
+Senator takes small account of the woman who does not happen to
+possess a "male," or rather to be possessed by one.
+
+[50] Therefore the wife should not be allowed any individuality.
+Statistics, however, from the States where women do vote prove exactly
+the opposite of this assertion in regard to divorce.
+
+[51] For account of the unconstitutional disfranchisement of the women
+of Washington Territory by its Supreme Court, see chapter on that
+State.
+
+[52] This does not seem to apply to negro suffrage in the Southern
+States.
+
+[53] One hearing Senator Brown's blood-curdling descriptions would
+think they were more than "inconveniences."
+
+[54] Observe that Senator Vest's entire argument against woman
+suffrage is based wholly on sentiment and emotion and is entirely
+devoid of logic.
+
+[55] The Senator meant that it is a right which comes from the men of
+the State, from one-half of its people.
+
+[56] Because of a few such brutes millions of women must be deprived
+of the suffrage. If women had some control over the conditions which
+tend to make men brutes, might the number not be lessened? The Senator
+ignores entirely the secret ballot which would prevent the aforesaid
+brutes from knowing how the women voted.
+
+[57] In the preceding paragraph she did not seem to be on a pedestal.
+
+[58] The advocates of woman suffrage have repeatedly had bills in the
+various Legislatures asking that women might be appointed on the
+boards of all State institutions, and as physicians in all where women
+and children are placed, but up to the present day not one woman is
+allowed this privilege in Senator Vest's own State of Missouri.
+
+[59] This does not accord with the argument of Senator Brown that man
+must do the voting for the family on account of his superior physical
+strength.
+
+[60] These were Susan B. Anthony, Nancy R. Allen, Lillie Devereux
+Blake, Lucinda B. Chandler, Abigail Scott Duniway, Helen M. Gougar,
+Mary Seymour Howell, Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, Dr. Clemence S.
+Lozier, Julia Smith Parker, Caroline Gilkey Rogers, Elizabeth Lyle
+Saxon, May Wright Sewall, Mary A. Stuart, Sara Andrews Spencer,
+Harriette R. Shattuck, Zerelda G. Wallace, Sarah E. Wall--nearly all
+of national reputation.
+
+[61] YEAS: Blair, N. H.; Bowen, Col.; Cheney, N. H.; Conger, Mich.;
+Cullom, Ills.; Dolph, Ore.; Farwell, Ill.; Hoar, Mass.; Manderson,
+Neb.; Mitchell, Ore.; Mitchell, Penn.; Palmer, Mich.; Platt, Conn.;
+Sherman, O.; Teller, Col.; Wilson, Iowa--16. NAYS: Beck, Ky., Berry,
+Ark, Blackburn, Ky., Brown, Ga., Call, Fla., Cockrell, Mo., Coke,
+Tex., Colquitt, Ga., Eustis, La., Evarts, N. Y., George, Miss., Gray,
+Del., Hampton, S. C., Harris, Tenn., Hawley, Conn., Ingalls, Kan.,
+Jones, Nev., McMillan, Mich., McPherson, N. J., Mahone, Va., Morgan,
+Ala., Morrill, Vt., Payne, O., Pugh, Ala., Saulsbury, Del., Sawyer,
+Wis., Sewell, N. J., Spooner, Wis., Vance, N. C.; Vest, Mo., Walthall,
+Miss., Whitthorne, Tenn., Williams, Cal., Wilson, Md.--34.
+
+ABSENT: Aldrich, R. I., Allison, Ia., Butler, S. C., Camden, W. Va.,
+Cameron, Penn., Chace, R. I., Dawes, Mass., Edmunds, Vt., Fair, Nev.,
+Frye, Me., Gibson, La., Gorman, Md., Hale, Me., Harrison, Ind., Jones,
+Ark., Jones, Fla., Kenna, W. Va., Maxey, Tex., Miller, N. Y., Plumb,
+Kan., Ransom, N. C., Riddleberger, Va.; Sabin, Minn., Stanford, Cal.;
+Van Wyck, Neb., Voorhees, Ind.--26.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE NATIONAL SUFFRAGE CONVENTION OF 1887.
+
+
+The Nineteenth national convention assembled in the M. E. Metropolitan
+Church of Washington, Jan. 25, 1887, continuing in session three days.
+On no evening was the building large enough to accommodate the
+audience. The Rev. John P. Newman, pastor of the church, prayed
+earnestly for the blessing of God "on these women, who, through good
+and evil report, have been striving for the right."[62] Miss Susan B.
+Anthony came directly from the Capitol and opened the convention by
+reading a letter from Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was in England.
+She then referred to the fact that while this convention was in
+session the United States Senate was discussing the question of woman
+suffrage. There would be taken the first direct vote in that body on a
+Sixteenth Amendment to enfranchise women. The attention of the
+advocates of woman suffrage was directed to Congress for the first
+time when the Fourteenth Amendment was under discussion in 1865. That
+article in the beginning was broad enough to include women but
+political expediency inserted the word "male," so that if any State
+should disfranchise any of its _male_ citizens they should be counted
+out of the basis of representation. She continued:
+
+     This taught us that we might look to Congress. We presented our
+     first petition in 1865. In December, 1866, came the discussion in
+     the Senate on the proposition to strike the word "male" from the
+     District of Columbia Suffrage Bill and nine voted in favor. From
+     that day we have gone forward pressing our claims on Congress.
+     Denied in the construction of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth
+     Amendments we have been trying for a Sixteenth Amendment. We have
+     gained so much as a special committee, who hear our arguments and
+     have four times reported in our favor; Senator Hoar, chairman in
+     1879, Senator Lapham in 1882, Senator Palmer in 1884, and Senator
+     Blair in 1886. This is the bill which is pending now. We are not
+     asking Congress to enfranchise us, because it does not possess
+     that power. We are asking it to submit a proposition to be voted
+     on by the Legislatures.
+
+Mrs. Stanton's letter said in part:
+
+     For half a century we have tried appeals, petitions, arguments,
+     with thrilling quotations from our greatest jurists and
+     statesmen, and lo! in the year of our Lord, 1887, the best answer
+     we can wring from Senators Brown and Cockrell, in the shape of a
+     minority report, is a "chimney corner letter" written by a woman
+     ignorant of the first principles of republican government, which,
+     they say, gives a better statement of the whole question than
+     they are capable of producing. Verily this is a new departure in
+     congressional proceedings! Though a woman has not sufficient
+     capacity to vote, yet she has superior capacity to her
+     representatives in drawing up a minority report....
+
+     But if Senators Cockrell and Brown hope to dispose of the
+     question by remanding us to "the chimney corner" we trust their
+     constituents will send them to keep us company, that they may
+     enliven our retirement and make us satisfied 'in the sphere where
+     the Creator intended we should be' by daily intoning for us their
+     inspired minority report.
+
+     The one pleasant feature in this original document is the harmony
+     between the views of these gentlemen and their Creator. The only
+     drawback to our faith in their knowledge of what exists in the
+     Divine mind, is in the fact that they can not tell us when, where
+     and how they interviewed Jehovah. I have always found that when
+     men have exhausted their own resources, they fall back on "the
+     intentions of the Creator." But their platitudes have ceased to
+     have any influence with those women who believe they have the
+     same facilities for communication with the Divine mind as men
+     have.
+
+     The right and liability to be called on to fight, if we vote, as
+     continually emphasized by our opponents, is one of the greatest
+     barriers in our way. If all the heroic deeds of women recorded in
+     history and our daily journals, and the active virtues so
+     forcibly illustrated in domestic life, have not yet convinced our
+     opponents that women are possessed of superior fighting
+     qualities, the sex may feel called upon in the near future to
+     give some further illustrations of their prowess. Of one thing
+     they may be assured, that the next generation will not argue the
+     question of woman's rights with the infinite patience we have had
+     for half a century, and to so little purpose. To emancipate
+     woman from the fourfold bondage she has so long suffered in the
+     State, the church, the home and the world of work, harder battles
+     than we have yet fought are still before us.
+
+Mrs. Caroline Hallowell Miller (Md.) paid a beautiful tribute to Miss
+Anthony, "the Sir Galahad in search of the Holy Grail," and closed
+with an eloquent prophecy of future success. Mrs. Lillie Devereux
+Blake (N. Y.) gave a clever satire on The Rights of Men, which was
+very imperfectly reported.
+
+     ....Surely it is time that some one on this platform should say
+     something for this half of humanity, which we really must confess
+     after all is an important half. Ought we not admit that men have
+     wrongs to complain of? Are they not constantly declaring
+     themselves our slaves? Is it not a well known fact, conceded even
+     here, that women shine in all the tints of the rainbow while men
+     must wear only costumes of dull brown and somber black? Nor is
+     this because men do not like bright colors, for never a belle in
+     all the sheen of satin and glimmer of pearls looks half so
+     happily proud as does a man when he has on a uniform, or struts
+     in a political procession with a white hat on his head, a red
+     ribbon in his buttonhole and a little cane in his hand.
+
+     Then, too, have not men, poor fellows, had to do all the talking
+     since the world began? Have we not heretofore been the silent
+     sex? Even to-day a thousand men speak from pulpit and platform
+     where one woman uplifts her voice.
+
+     But let us pass to other and more important rights which have
+     been denied to man in the past. The first right that any man
+     ought to be allowed--a right paramount to all others--is the
+     right to a wife. But look how even in this matter he has been
+     hardly dealt with. Has he had just standards set before him as to
+     what a wife should be? No, but he has been led to believe that
+     the weak woman, the dependent woman, is the one to be desired....
+
+     Look again at the unhappy mess into which man all by himself has
+     brought politics and public affairs. Is it not too bad to leave
+     him longer alone in his misery? Like the naughty boy who has
+     broken and destroyed his toys, who needs mamma to help him mend
+     them, and perhaps also to administer to him such wholesome
+     discipline as Solomon himself has advised--so does man need woman
+     to come to his rescue. Look what politics is now. Who to-day can
+     tell the difference between a Democrat and a Republican? Even a
+     Mugwump is becoming a doubtful being....
+
+     Do not these wrongs which men suffer appeal to our tenderest
+     sympathies? Is it not evident that the poor fellows can't go on
+     alone much longer, that it is high time we should take the boys
+     in hand and show them what a correct government really is?
+
+     There is another question which deserves our gravest
+     consideration. Man sinks or rises with woman; if she is degraded
+     he is tempted to vice; if she is oppressed he is brutalized. What
+     is the industrial condition of women to-day?...
+
+     In behalf of the sons, the brothers and the husbands of these
+     wage-earning women we ask for that political power which alone
+     will insure equality of pay without regard to sex. For the sake
+     of man's redemption and morality we demand that this injustice
+     shall cease, for it is not possible for woman to be half-starved
+     and man not dwarfed; for many women to be degraded and all men's
+     lives pure; for women to be fallen and no man lost.
+
+     We all know that man himself has been most willing to grant to
+     women every right, every opportunity. If he has hesitated it has
+     been rather from love and admiration of woman than from any
+     tyrannical desire of oppression. He has said that women must not
+     vote because they can not perform military duty. Can they not
+     serve the nation as well as those men, who during the last war
+     sent substitutes and to-day hold the highest places in the
+     Government? But we ask one question: Which every year does most
+     for the State, the soldier or the mother who risks her life not
+     to destroy other life but to create it? Of the two it would be
+     better to disfranchise the soldiers and enfranchise the mothers.
+     For much as the nation owes to the soldiers, she owes far more to
+     the mothers who in endless martyrdom make the nation a
+     possibility....
+
+     Man deserves that we should consider his present unhappy
+     condition. In all ages he has proved his reverence for woman by
+     embodying every virtue in female form, and has left none for
+     himself. Truth and chastity, mercy and peace, charity and
+     justice, all are represented as feminine, and lately, as a proof
+     of his devotion, he has erected at the entrance to the harbor of
+     our greatest metropolis a statue of liberty and this too is
+     represented as a woman.... And so we hail the men, liberty
+     enlightening a world where woman and man shall alike be free.
+
+One interesting address followed another throughout the convention,
+presenting the question of suffrage for women with appeal, humor,
+logic, statistics and every variety of argument.
+
+Mrs. Harriette Robinson Shattuck (Mass.) presented in striking
+contrast The Women Who Ask and the Women Who Object. Mrs. Elizabeth
+Boynton Harbert in a fine address told of Our Motherless Government.
+Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker (Conn.) gave for the first time her
+masterly speech, The Constitutional Rights of the Women of the United
+States, which has been so widely circulated in pamphlet form, and
+which closed with this peroration:
+
+     There are those who say we have too many voters already. No, we
+     have not too many. On the contrary, to take away the ballot even
+     from the ignorant and perverse is to invite discontent, social
+     disturbance, and crime. The restraints and benedictions of this
+     little white symbol are so silent and so gentle, so atmospheric,
+     so like the snow-flakes that come down to guard the slumbering
+     forces of the earth and prepare them for springing into bud,
+     blossom, and fruit in due season, that few recognize the divine
+     alchemy, and many impatient souls are saying we are on the wrong
+     path--the Old World was right--the government of the few is safe;
+     the wise, the rich, should rule; the ignorant, the poor, should
+     serve. But God, sitting between the eternities, has said
+     otherwise, and we of this land are foreordained to prove His word
+     just and true. And we will prove it by inviting every newcomer to
+     our shore to share our liberties so dearly bought and our
+     responsibilities now grown so heavy that the shoulders which bear
+     them are staggering under their weight; that by the joys of
+     freedom and the burdens of responsibility they, with us, may grow
+     into the stature of perfect men, and our country realize at last
+     the dreams of the great souls who, "appealing to the Supreme
+     Judge of the world for the rectitude of their intentions," did
+     "ordain and establish the Constitution for the United States of
+     America"--the grandest charter of human rights that the world has
+     yet conceived.
+
+In an impassioned address Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell (N. Y.) contrasted
+The Present and the Past, saying:
+
+     The destiny of the world to-day lies in the hearts and brains of
+     her women. The world can not travel upward faster than the feet
+     of her women are climbing the paths of progress. Put us back if
+     you can; veil us in harems; make us beasts of burden; take from
+     us all knowledge; teach us we are only material; and humanity
+     will go back to the dark ages. The nineteenth century is closing
+     over a world arising from bondage. It is the grandest, sublimest
+     spectacle ever beheld. The world has seen and is still looking at
+     the luminous writing in the heavens--"The truth shall make you
+     free"--and for the first time is gathering to itself the true
+     significance of liberty. All the progress of these years has not
+     come easily or from conservatism, but from the persistent efforts
+     of enthusiastic radicals, men and women with ideas in their heads
+     and courage in their hearts to make them practical.
+
+     Ever since woman took her life in her own hands, ever since she
+     began to think for herself, the dawning of a great light has
+     flooded the world. We are the mothers of men. Show me the mothers
+     of a country and I will tell you of the sons. If men would ever
+     rise above their sensuality and materialism, they must have
+     mothers whose pure souls, brave hearts and clear intellects have
+     touched them deeply before their birth and equipped them for the
+     journey of life....
+
+     It is the evening of the nineteenth century, but the starlight is
+     clearer than the morning of its existence. I look back and see in
+     each year improvement and advancement. I see woman gathering up
+     her soul and personality and claiming them as her own against all
+     odds and the world. I see her asking that this personality may
+     be impressed upon her nation. I see her speaking her soul from
+     platforms, preaching in pulpits of a life of which this is the
+     shadow. I see her pleading before courts, using her brains to
+     solve the knotty questions of the law. Woman's sphere is the wide
+     world, her sceptre the mind that God has given her, her kingdom
+     the largest place that she has the brains to fill and the will to
+     hold. So is woman influencing the world, and as her sphere widens
+     the world grows better. With the freedom she now has, see how she
+     is arousing the public conscience on all questions of right....
+
+     What is conservatism? It is the dying faith of a closing century.
+     What is fanaticism? It is the dawning light of a new era. Yes, a
+     new era will dawn with the twentieth century. I look to that time
+     and see woman the redeeming power of the world.
+
+Mrs. Pearson of Nottingham gave a glowing account of the progress of
+suffrage in England and the work of the Primrose League; Madame Clara
+Neymann (N. Y.) made a scholarly address entitled Skeptics and
+Skepticism; Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby (Neb.), the Rev. Rush R. Shippen
+of Washington City and Miss Phoebe W. Couzins (Mo.) were among the
+speakers. Delegate Joseph M. Carey (Wy.) said in the course of his
+address:
+
+     Eighteen years ago the right of suffrage was given to the women
+     of Wyoming. Women have voted as universally and as
+     conscientiously as men. I have had the honor of voting for women
+     and of being voted for by them. There are not three per cent. of
+     women old enough who do not vote in every part of the Territory.
+     In intelligence, beauty, grace, in perfection of home and social
+     duties, the women of Wyoming will compare favorably with those of
+     any other State. I have been asked if they neglect home affairs
+     on account of politics. I have never known an instance of this. I
+     have never known a controversy to arise from the wives voting
+     differently from their husbands, which they often do. If women
+     could vote in the States to-day they would vote as wisely as
+     men....
+
+     I will say to woman's credit she has not sought office, she is
+     not a natural office-seeker, but she desires to vote, has
+     preferences and exercises her rights. The superintendents in
+     nearly all the counties are women. They have taken a deep
+     interest in school matters and as a rule they control school
+     meetings. Three-fourths of the voters present at these are women.
+     In Cheyenne they alone seem to have the time to attend. Give
+     woman this right to vote and she will make out of the boys men
+     more capable of exercising it. I have seen the results and am
+     satisfied that every woman should have the suffrage.
+
+Mrs. Carey sat on the platform with Miss Anthony, Mrs. Hooker and
+other prominent members of the convention. The eloquent address of
+Mrs. May Wright Sewall (Ind.) on The Conditions of Liberty attracted
+special attention. Mrs. Caroline Gilkey Rogers (N. Y.) proved in an
+original manner that There is Nothing New under the Sun. In a
+statesmanlike paper Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage (N. Y.) set forth the
+authority of Congress to secure to woman her right to the ballot:
+
+     To protect all citizens in the use of the ballot by national
+     authority is not to deprive the States of the right of local
+     self-government. When Andrew Jackson, who had been elected as a
+     State's Rights man, asserted the supremacy of the National
+     Government, that assertion, carried out as it was, did not
+     deprive States of their power of self-government. Neither did the
+     Reconstruction Acts nor the adoption of the Fourteenth and
+     Fifteenth Amendments. Yet in many ways it is proved that States
+     are not sovereign. Besides their inability to coin money, to
+     declare peace and war, they are proved by their own acts not even
+     to be self-protective. If women as individuals, as one-half of
+     the people, call upon the nation for protection, they are doing
+     no more nor less than so-called sovereign States themselves do.
+     National aid has been frequently asked to preserve peace, or to
+     insure that protection found impossible under mere local or State
+     authority....
+
+     In ratifying an amendment States become factors in the nation,
+     the same as by the acts of their representatives and senators in
+     Congress. A law created by themselves in this way can be no
+     interference with their local rights of self-government; because
+     in helping enact these laws, either through congressional action,
+     or by legislative ratification of amendments, each State has
+     arisen above and beyond itself into a higher national realm.
+
+     The one right above all others which is not local is the right of
+     self-government. That right being the corner stone on which the
+     nation was founded, is a strictly national right. It is not
+     local, it is not State....
+
+     It does not matter by what instrumentality--whether by State
+     constitution or by statute law--woman has been deprived of her
+     national right of self-government, it is none the less the duty
+     of Congress to protect her in regaining it. Surely her right to
+     govern herself is of as much value as the protection of property,
+     the quelling of riots, the destruction or establishment of banks,
+     the guarding of the polls, the securing of a free ballot for the
+     colored race or the taking of it from a Mormon voter.
+
+In her address on The Work of Women, Miss Mary F. Eastman (Mass.)
+said: "Men say the work of the State is theirs. The State is the
+people. The origin of government is simply that two men call in a
+third for umpire. The ideal of the State is gradually rising. No State
+can be finer in its type of government than the individuals who make
+it. We enunciate a grand principle, then we are timid and begin
+restricting its application. We are a nation of infidels to
+principle."
+
+The leading feature of the last evening was the address of Mrs.
+Zerelda G. Wallace (Ind.) on Woman's Ballot a Necessity for the
+Permanence of Free Institutions. A Washington paper said: "As she
+stood upon the platform, holding her hearers as in her hand, she
+looked a veritable queen in Israel and the personification of womanly
+dignity and lofty bearing. The line of her argument was irresistible,
+and her eloquence and pathos perfectly bewildering. Round after round
+of applause greeted her as she poured out her words with telling
+effect upon the great congregation before her, who were evidently in
+perfect accord with her earnest and womanly utterances."
+
+An imperfect extract from a newspaper report will suggest the trend of
+her argument:
+
+     In this Nineteenth annual convention, reviewing what these
+     nineteen years have brought, we find that we have won every
+     position in the field of argument for our cause. By its dignity
+     and justice we have overcome ridicule, although our progress has
+     been impeded by the tyranny of custom and prejudice.
+
+     I will ask the American question "will it pay" to enfranchise the
+     women of this nation--I will not say republic? The world has
+     never been blessed with a republic. Those who think this is a
+     narrow struggle for woman's rights have never conceived the
+     height, length and breadth of this momentous question.
+
+     The purpose of divinity is enunciated in that it is said He would
+     create humanity in His image. The purpose of the Creator is that
+     the two are to have dominion; woman is included in the original
+     grant. Free she must be before you yourselves will be free. The
+     highest form of development is to govern one's self. No man
+     governs himself who practices injustice to another....
+
+     We have passed through one Gethsemane because of our refusal to
+     co-operate with the Deity in His purpose to establish justice and
+     liberty on this continent. It took a hundred years and a Civil
+     War to evolve the principle in our nation that all men were
+     created free and equal. Will it require another century and
+     another Civil War before there is secured to humanity the
+     God-given inalienable right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of
+     happiness?" The most superficial observer can see elements at
+     work, a confusion of forces, that can only be wiped out in blood,
+     unless some new, unifying power is brought into Government. No
+     class was ever known to extend a right or share the application
+     of a just principle as long as it could safely retain these
+     exclusively for itself.
+
+     We have no quarrel with men. They are grand and just and noble in
+     exact proportion as their spiritual nature is exalted. As sure
+     as you live down low to the animal that is in you, will the
+     animal dominate your nature. Woman is the first to recognize the
+     Divine. When God was incarnated in humanity, when the Word was
+     made flesh and born of a woman, the arsenal of Heaven was
+     exhausted to redeem the race....
+
+     Woman is your last resource, and she will not fail you. I have
+     faith that humanity is to be perfected. Examine the record for
+     yourselves. I do not agree with the view of some of our divines.
+     We find the Creator taking a survey, and man is the only creation
+     he finds imperfect. Therefore a helpmeet is created for him.
+     According to accepted theology the first thing that helpmeet does
+     is to precipitate him into sin. I have unbounded faith in the
+     plans of God and in His ability to carry them out, and when He
+     said He would make a helpmeet I believe He did it, and that Eve
+     helped Adam, gave him an impetus toward perfection, instead of
+     causing him to fall. Man was a noble animal and endowed with
+     intellectual ability, but Eve found him a moral infant and tried
+     to teach him to discriminate between good and evil. That is the
+     first and greatest good which comes to anybody, and Adam, instead
+     of falling down when he ate the apple, rose up. There is no moral
+     or spiritual growth possible without being able to discern good
+     from evil. Adam was an animal superior to all others that
+     preceded him, but it needed a woman to quicken his spiritual
+     perceptions.
+
+     Eve having taken it upon herself to teach man to know the
+     difference between good and evil, the responsibility rests upon
+     woman to teach man to choose the good and refuse the evil. She
+     will do this if she has freedom of opportunity.
+
+     Man has been given schools to develop brain power, and I do not
+     underrate their value. He has nearly entered into his domain as
+     far as the material forces are concerned, but there is a moral
+     and spiritual element in humanity which eludes his grasp in
+     practically everything he undertakes. This lack of the moral
+     element is to-day our greatest danger. We do not ask for the
+     ballot because men are tyrants, but because God has made us the
+     conservators of the race. To-day we are queens without a scepter;
+     the penalty to the nation is that men are largely indifferent to
+     its best interests and many do not vote. Men are under the
+     influence of women during the formative period of their lives,
+     first of their mothers, then of women teachers; how can they do
+     otherwise than underestimate the value of citizenship? How can
+     the young men of this nation be inspired with a love of justice?
+     It is a dangerous thing that the education of citizens is given
+     over to women, unless these teachers have themselves the rights
+     of citizens. How can you expect such women as have addressed you
+     here in this convention to teach the youth to honor a Government
+     which thus dishonors women?
+
+     The world has never known but one Susan B. Anthony. God and the
+     world needed her and God gave her to the world and to humanity.
+     The next Statue of Liberty will have her features. Of all the
+     newspaper criticisms and remarks which have been made about her I
+     read one the other day which exactly suited me; it called her
+     "that grand old champion of progress."
+
+     The women are coming and the men will be better for their coming.
+     Men say women are not fit to govern because they can not fight.
+     When men live upon a very low plane so there is only one way to
+     manage them and that is to knock them on the head, that is true.
+     It probably was true of government in the beginning, but we are
+     to grow up out of this low state.
+
+     When we reach the highest development, moral and spiritual forces
+     will govern. That women can and do govern even in our present
+     undeveloped condition is shown by the fact that three-fourths of
+     our educators are women. I remember when it used to be said, "You
+     can not put the boys and girls into the hands of women, because
+     they can not thrash them." To-day brute force is almost entirely
+     eliminated from our schools. That women should not take part in
+     government because they can not fight was probably true in ages
+     gone by when governments were maintained by brute force, but it
+     does not obtain in a government ruled by public opinion expressed
+     on a little piece of paper. Women as a class do not fight, and
+     that is the reason they are needed to introduce into government a
+     power of another kind, the power with which women govern their
+     children and their husbands, that beautiful law of love which is
+     to be the only thing that remains forever....
+
+     Our statesmen are doubting the success of self-government. They
+     say universal suffrage is a failure, forgetting that we have
+     never had universal suffrage. The majority of the race has never
+     expressed its sense in government. We are a living falsehood when
+     we compare the basic principles of our Government with things as
+     they are now. It is becoming a common expression, "The voice of
+     the people is not the voice of God." If you do not find God in
+     the voice of the people you can not find him anywhere. It is
+     said, "Power inheres in the people," and the nation is shorn of
+     half its power for progress as long as the ballot is not in the
+     hands of women.
+
+     What has caused heretofore the downfall of nations? The lack of
+     morality in government. It will eat out the life of a nation as
+     it does the heart of an individual. This question of woman's
+     equal rights, equal duties, equal responsibilities, is the
+     greatest which has come before us. The destiny of the whole race
+     is comprised in four things: Religion, education, morals,
+     politics. Woman is a religious being; she is becoming educated;
+     she has a high code of morals; she will yet purify politics.
+
+     I want to impress upon the audience this thought, that every man
+     is a direct factor in the legislation of this land. Every woman
+     is not a direct factor, but yet is more or less responsible for
+     every evil existing in the community. I have nothing but pity for
+     that woman who can fold her hands and say she has all the rights
+     she wants. How can she think of the great problem God has given
+     us to solve--to redeem the race from superstition and crime--and
+     not want to put her hand to the wheel of progress and help move
+     the world?
+
+Mrs. Hannah Whitall Smith (Penn.) pronounced the benediction at the
+closing session.
+
+Sixteen States were represented at this Nineteenth convention, and
+reports were sent from many more. Mrs. Sewall, chairman of the
+executive committee, presented a comprehensive report of the past
+year's work, which included appeals to many gatherings of religious
+bodies. Conventions had been held in each congressional district of
+Kansas and Wisconsin. She referred particularly to the completion of
+the last of the three volumes of the History of Woman Suffrage by Miss
+Anthony, Mrs. Stanton and Mrs. Gage. An elaborate plan of work was
+adopted for the coming year, which included the placing of this
+History in public libraries, a continuation of the appeals to
+religious assemblies, the appointment of delegates to all of the
+approaching national political conventions, and the holding by each
+vice-president of a series of conventions in the congressional
+districts of her State. It was especially desired that arrangements
+should be made for the enrollment in every State of the women who want
+to vote, and Mrs. Colby was appointed to mature a suitable plan.
+
+Among the extended resolutions adopted were the following:
+
+     WHEREAS, For the first time a vote has been taken in the Senate
+     of the United States on an amendment to the National Constitution
+     enfranchising women; and
+
+     WHEREAS, Nearly one-third of the Senators voted for the
+     amendment; therefore,
+
+     _Resolved_, That we rejoice in this evidence that our demand is
+     forcing itself upon the attention and action of Congress, and
+     that when a new Congress shall have assembled, with new men and
+     new ideas, we may hope to change this minority into a majority.
+
+     WHEREAS, The Anti-Polygamy bill passed by both Houses of Congress
+     provides for the disfranchisement of the non-polygamous women of
+     Utah; and
+
+     WHEREAS, The women thus sought to be disfranchised have been for
+     years in the peaceable exercise of the ballot, and no charge is
+     made against them of any crime by reason of which they should
+     lose their vested rights; therefore,
+
+     _Resolved_, That this association recognizes in these measures a
+     disregard of individual rights which is dangerous to the
+     liberties of all; since to establish the precedent that the
+     ballot may be taken away is to threaten the permanency of our
+     republican form of government.
+
+     _Resolved_, That we call the attention of the working women of
+     the country to the fact that a disfranchised class is always an
+     oppressed class and that only through the protection of the
+     ballot can they secure equal pay for equal work.
+
+     _Resolved_, That we recognize as hopeful signs of the times the
+     indorsement of woman suffrage by the Knights of Labor in national
+     assembly, and by the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union,
+     and that we congratulate these organizations upon their
+     recognition of the fact that the ballot in the hands of woman is
+     necessary for their success.
+
+     _Resolved_, That we extend our sympathy to our beloved president,
+     in the recent death of her husband, Henry B. Stanton; and we
+     recall with gratitude the fact that he was one of the earliest
+     and most consistent advocates of human liberty.
+
+Thanks were extended to the United States Senators who voted for a
+Sixteenth Amendment. A committee was appointed, Mrs. Blake, chairman,
+to wait upon President Grover Cleveland and protest against the
+threatened disfranchising of the women of Washington Territory; also
+to secure a hearing before the proper congressional committee in
+reference to the Edmunds-Tucker Bill, which proposed to disfranchise
+both the Gentile and Mormon women of Utah. The usual large number of
+letters were received.[63]
+
+The following letter was read from ex-United States Treasurer F. E.
+Spinner, the first official to employ women:
+
+     I am eighty-five years old, and I can no longer look forward for
+     future earthly happiness. All my joys are now retrospective, and
+     in the long vista of years that I constantly look back upon,
+     there is no time that affords me more pleasure than that when I
+     was in the Treasury of the United States. The fact that I was
+     instrumental in introducing women to employment in the offices of
+     the Government, gives me more real satisfaction than all the
+     other deeds of my life.
+
+A committee consisting of the national board and chairman of the
+executive committee was appointed to arrange for a great international
+meeting the next year.
+
+On the opening day of this convention a vote on woman suffrage was
+taken in the United States Senate as described in the preceding
+chapter; at its close a telegram was received that a Municipal
+Suffrage Bill had been passed by the Kansas Legislature; and its
+members separated with the consciousness that two distinctly
+progressive steps had been taken.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[62] Dr. Newman was an advocate of suffrage for women. After he became
+Bishop he wrote for publication, July 12, 1894: "The exalted mission
+of Christianity is to reverse the verdict of the world on the rights
+of woman. Until Christ came she had been regarded by State and Church,
+in the most highly civilized lands, as the servant of man, created for
+his pleasure and subordinated to his authority. Her rights of life,
+property and vocation were in his hands for control and final
+disposition.
+
+"Against this tyranny we wage a war of extermination. Henceforth in
+State and Church, in business and pleasure, whether married or single,
+woman is to be esteemed an individual, one of the two equal units of
+humanity, to count one the whole world over, and to possess and
+exercise the rights of 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.'"
+
+[63] Among the writers were Harriot Stanton Blatch of England, the
+Rev. Frederick A. Hinckley, Philadelphia; Prudence Crandall Philleo
+(Kan.); Mary V. Cowgill, Mary J. Coggeshall, editor _Woman's
+Standard_, (Ia.); Belva A. Lockwood (D. C.); General and Mrs. Rufus
+Saxton, Sallie Clay Bennett (Ky.); Alice M. Pickler (Dak.); Sarah R.
+Langdon Williams, Sarah M. Perkins (O.); Mr. and Mrs. McClung (Tenn.);
+telegram signed by Emmeline B. Wells and a long list of names from
+Utah.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN--HEARING OF 1888.
+
+
+The year 1888 is distinguished for the largest and most representative
+woman's convention held up to that time--the International Council of
+Women, which met in Washington, D. C., March 25, continuing until
+April 1. The origin of this great body is briefly stated in the
+official report as follows: "Visiting England and France in 1882, Mrs.
+Stanton conceived the idea of an International Council of Women
+interested in the movement for suffrage, and pressed its consideration
+on the leading reformers in those countries. A few accepted the idea,
+and when Miss Anthony arrived in England early the following year,
+they discussed the question fully with each other, and seeing that
+such a convention was both advisable and practicable, they resolved to
+call it in the near future. On the eve of their departure, at a
+reception given them in Liverpool, the subject was presented and
+favorably received. Among the guests were Priscilla Bright McLaren,
+Margaret Bright Lucas, Alice Scatcherd and Margaret E. Parker. The
+initiative steps for an International Council were then taken and a
+committee of correspondence appointed.[64]
+
+"When Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony returned to America it was
+decided, in consultation with friends, to celebrate the fourth decade
+of the woman suffrage movement by calling an International Council.
+At its nineteenth annual convention, January, 1887, the National
+Suffrage Association had resolved to assume the entire responsibility
+and to extend the invitation to all associations of women in the
+trades, professions and reforms, as well as those advocating political
+rights. The herculean task of making all the necessary arrangements
+fell chiefly on Miss Anthony, Miss Rachel G. Foster (Avery) and Mrs.
+May Wright Sewall, as Mrs. Stanton and Mrs. Spofford were in Europe.
+To say nothing of the thought, anxiety, time and force expended, we
+can appreciate in some measure the magnitude of the undertaking by its
+financial cost of nearly $12,000.
+
+"This was the first attempt to convene an international body of women
+and its conception would have been possible only with those to whom
+the whole cause of woman is indebted for its most daring and important
+innovations. The call for this meeting was issued in June, 1887:
+
+     The first public demand for equal educational, industrial,
+     professional and political rights for women was made in a
+     convention held at Seneca Falls, New York, in the year 1848.
+
+     To celebrate the Fortieth Anniversary of this event, an
+     International Council of Women will be convened under the
+     auspices of the National Woman Suffrage Association, in Albaugh's
+     opera house, Washington, D. C., on March 25, 1888.
+
+     It is impossible to overestimate the far-reaching influence of
+     such a Council. An interchange of opinions on the great questions
+     now agitating the world will rouse women to new thought, will
+     intensify their love of liberty and will give them a realizing
+     sense of the power of combination.
+
+     However the governments, religions, laws and customs of nations
+     may differ, all are agreed on one point, namely: man's
+     sovereignty in the State, in the Church and in the Home. In an
+     International Council women may hope to devise new and more
+     effective methods for securing in these three institutions the
+     equality and justice which they have so long and so earnestly
+     sought. Such a Council will impress the important lesson that the
+     position of women anywhere affects their position everywhere.
+     Much is said of universal brotherhood, but for weal or woe, more
+     subtle and more binding is universal sisterhood.
+
+     Women recognizing the disparity between their achievements and
+     their labors, will no doubt agree that they have been trammeled
+     by their political subordination. Those active in great
+     philanthropic enterprises sooner or later realize that, so long
+     as women are not acknowledged to be the political equals of men,
+     their judgment on political questions will have but little
+     weight.
+
+     It is, however, neither intended nor desired that discussions in
+     the International Council shall be limited to questions touching
+     the political rights of women. Formal invitations requesting the
+     appointment of delegates will be issued to representative
+     organizations in every department of woman's work. Literary
+     Clubs, Art Unions, Temperance Unions, Labor Leagues, Missionary,
+     Peace and Moral Purity Societies, Charitable, Professional,
+     Educational and Industrial Associations will thus be offered
+     equal opportunity with Suffrage Societies to be represented in
+     what should be the ablest and most imposing body of women ever
+     assembled.
+
+     The Council will continue eight days, and its sixteen public
+     sessions will afford ample opportunity for reporting the various
+     phases of woman's work and progress in all parts of the world,
+     during the past forty years. It is hoped that all friends of the
+     advancement of women will lend their support to this undertaking.
+
+     On behalf of the National Woman Suffrage Association:
+
+                              ELIZABETH CADY STANTON, President.
+                              SUSAN B. ANTHONY, First Vice-Pres.
+                              MATILDA JOSLYN GAGE, Second Vice-Pres.
+                              RACHEL G. FOSTER, Corresponding Sec'y.
+                              ELLEN H. SHELDON, Recording Sec'y.
+                              JANE H. SPOFFORD, Treasurer.
+                              MAY WRIGHT SEWALL, Chairman Ex. Com.
+
+"All of the intervening months from June until the next March were
+spent in the extensive preparations necessary to the success of a
+convention which proposed to assemble delegates and speakers from many
+parts of the world. As the funds had to be raised wholly by private
+subscription, no bureau with an expensive pay-roll was established but
+the entire burden was carried by a few individuals, who contributed
+their services."[65]
+
+Fifty-three organizations of women, national in character, of a
+religious, patriotic, charitable, reform, literary and political
+nature, were represented on the platform by eighty speakers and
+forty-nine delegates, from England, Ireland, France, Norway, Denmark,
+Finland, India, Canada and the United States. Among the subjects
+discussed were Education, Philanthropies, Temperance, Industries,
+Professions, Organizations, Social Purity, Legal, Political and
+Religious Conditions. While no restriction was placed upon the fullest
+expression of the most widely divergent views upon these vital
+questions of the age, the sessions, both executive and public, were
+absolutely without friction.
+
+A complete stenographic report of these fifty-three meetings was
+transcribed and furnished to the press by a thoroughly organized corps
+of women under the direction of Miss Mary F. Seymour of New York City,
+an unexcelled if not an unparalleled feat.[66] The management of the
+Council by the different committees was perfect in every detail, and
+the eight days' proceedings passed without a break, a jar or an
+unpleasant circumstance.
+
+Saturday evening, March 23, Mr. and Mrs. Spofford, of the Riggs House,
+gave a reception to enable the people of Washington to meet the
+distinguished speakers and delegates. The large parlors were thrown
+open and finally the big dining-room, but the throng was so dense that
+it was almost impossible to move from one room to another.
+
+President and Mrs. Grover Cleveland received the Council Friday
+afternoon. Monday evening a reception was given by Senator and Mrs.
+Thomas W. Palmer of Michigan, for which eight hundred invitations were
+sent to foreign legations, prominent officials and the members of the
+Council. Senator and Mrs. Leland Stanford opened their elegant home on
+Tuesday afternoon in honor of the pioneers in the woman suffrage
+movement. In addition to these many special entertainments were given
+for the women lawyers, physicians, ministers, collegiate alumnae,
+etc., and those of a semi-private nature were far too numerous for
+mention.
+
+Albaugh's Opera House was crowded to its capacity at all of the
+sixteen sessions. Religious services were held on both Sundays,
+conducted entirely by women representing many different creeds. Some
+of the old-time hymns were sung, but many were from modern
+writers--Whittier, Samuel Longfellow, John W. Chadwick, Elizabeth
+Boynton Harbert, Julia Mills Dunn, etc. The assisting ministers for
+the first Sunday were the Reverends Phebe A. Hanaford, Ada C. Bowles,
+Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Amanda Deyo. The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw
+gave the sermon, a matchless discourse on The Heavenly Vision.
+
+     "Whereupon, O, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the
+     heavenly vision." Acts, xxvi:19.
+
+     In the beauty of his Oriental home the Psalmist caught the vision
+     of the events in the midst of which you and I are living to-day.
+     And though he wrought the vision into the wonderful prophecy of
+     the 68th Psalm, yet so new and strange were the thoughts to men,
+     that for thousands of years they failed to catch its spirit and
+     understand its power.
+
+     The vision which appeared to David was a world lost in sin. He
+     heard its cry for deliverance, he saw its uplifted hands.
+     Everywhere the eyes of good men were turned toward the skies for
+     help. For ages had they striven against the forces of evil; they
+     had sought by every device to turn back the flood-tide of base
+     passion and avarice, but to no purpose. It seemed as if all men
+     were engulfed in one common ruin. Patient, sphinx-like, sat
+     woman, limited by sin, limited by social custom, limited by false
+     theories, limited by bigotry and by creeds, listening to the
+     tramp of the weary millions as they passed on through the
+     centuries, patiently toiling and waiting, humbly bearing the pain
+     and weariness which fell to her lot.
+
+     Century after century came forth from the divine life only to
+     pass into the great eternity--and still she toiled and still she
+     waited. At last, in the mute agony of despair, she lifted her
+     eyes above the earth to heaven and away from the jarring strifes
+     which surrounded her, and that which dawned upon her gaze was so
+     full of wonder that her soul burst its prison-house of bondage as
+     she beheld the vision of true womanhood. She knew then it was not
+     the purpose of the Divine that she should crouch beneath the
+     bonds of custom and ignorance. She learned that she was created
+     not from the side of man, but rather by the side of man. The
+     world had suffered because she had not kept her
+     divinely-appointed place. Then she remembered the words of
+     prophecy, that salvation was to come to the race not through the
+     man, but through the descendant of the woman. Recognizing her
+     mission at last, she cried out: "Speak now, Lord, for thy servant
+     heareth thee." And the answer came: "The Lord giveth the Word,
+     and the women that publish the tidings are a great host."
+
+     [Illustration: THE REV. ANNA HOWARD SHAW.
+
+     Vice-President-at-Large of National-American Woman Suffrage
+     Association.]
+
+     To-day the vision is a reality. From every land the voice of
+     woman is heard proclaiming the word which is given her, and the
+     wondering world, which for a moment stopped its busy wheel of
+     life that it might smite and jeer her, has learned at last that
+     wherever the intuitions of the human mind are called into special
+     exercise, wherever the art of persuasive eloquence is demanded,
+     wherever heroic conduct is based upon duty rather than impulse,
+     wherever her efforts in opening the sacred doors for the benefit
+     of truth can avail--in one and all these respects woman greatly
+     excels man. Now the wisest and best people everywhere feel that
+     if woman enters upon her tasks wielding her own effective armor,
+     if her inspirations are pure and holy, the Spirit Omnipotent,
+     whose influence has held sway in all movements and reforms, whose
+     voice has called into its service the great workmen of every age,
+     shall, in these last days, fall especially upon woman. If she
+     venture to obey, what is man that he should attempt to abrogate
+     her sacred and divine mission? In the presence of what woman has
+     already accomplished, who shall say that a true woman--noble in
+     her humility, strong in her gentleness, rising above all
+     selfishness, gathering up her varied gifts and accomplishments to
+     consecrate them to God and humanity--who shall say that such an
+     one is not in a position to do that for which the world will no
+     longer rank her other than among the first in the work of human
+     redemption? Then, influenced by lofty motives, stimulated by the
+     wail of humanity and the glory of God, woman may go forth and
+     enter into any field of usefulness which opens up before her....
+
+     In the Scripture from which the text is taken we recognize a
+     universal law which has been the experience of every one of us.
+     Paul is telling the story of a vision he saw, which became the
+     inspiration of his life, the turning point where his whole
+     existence was changed, when, in obedience to that vision, he put
+     himself in relation with the power to which he belonged, and
+     recognizing in that One which appeared to him on his way from
+     Jerusalem to Damascus his Divine Master, he also recognized that
+     the purpose of his life could be fulfilled only when, in
+     obedience to that Master, he caught and assimilated to himself
+     the nature of Him, whose servant he was....
+
+     Every reformer the world has ever seen has had a similar
+     experience. Every truth which has been taught to humanity has
+     passed through a like channel. No one of God's children has ever
+     gone forth to the world who has not first had revealed to him his
+     mission, in a vision.
+
+     To this Jew, bound by the prejudices of past generations, weighed
+     down by the bigotry of human creeds, educated in the schools of
+     an effete philosophy, struggling through the darkness and gloom
+     which surrounded him, when as a persecutor he sought to
+     annihilate the disciples of a new faith, there came this vision
+     into his life; there dawned the electric light of a great truth,
+     which found beneath the hatred and pride and passion which filled
+     his life and heart, the divine germ that is implanted in the soul
+     of each one of God's children....
+
+     Then came crowding through his mind new queries: "Can it be that
+     my fathers were wrong, and that their philosophy and religion do
+     not contain all there is of truth? Can it be that outside of all
+     we have known, there lies a great unexplored universe to which
+     the mind of man can yet attain?" And filled with the divine
+     purpose, he opened his heart to receive the new truth that came
+     to him from the vision which God revealed to his soul.
+
+     All down through the centuries God has been revealing in visions
+     the great truths which have lifted the race, step by step, until
+     to-day womanhood, in this sunset hour of the nineteenth century,
+     is gathered here from the East and the West, the North and the
+     South, women of every land, of every race, of all religious
+     beliefs. But diverse and varied as are our races, our theories,
+     our religions, yet we come together here with one harmonious
+     purpose--that of lifting humanity into a higher, purer, truer
+     life.
+
+     To one has come the vision of political freedom. She saw how the
+     avarice and ambition of one class with power made them forget the
+     rights of another. She saw how the unjust laws embittered
+     both--those who made them and those upon whom the injustice
+     rested. She recognized the great principles of universal
+     equality, seeing that all alike must be free; that humanity
+     everywhere must be lifted out of subjection into the free and
+     full air of divine liberty.
+
+     To another was revealed the vision of social freedom. She saw
+     that sin which crushed the lives of one class, rested lightly on
+     the lives of the other. She saw its blighting effect on both, and
+     she lifted up her voice and demanded that there be recognized no
+     sex in sin.
+
+     Another has come hither, who, gazing about her, saw men
+     brutalized by the rum fiend, the very life of a nation
+     threatened, and the power of the liquor traffic, with its hand on
+     the helm of the Ship of State, guiding it with sails full spread
+     straight upon the rocks to destruction. Then, looking away from
+     earth, she beheld a vision of what the race and our nation might
+     become, with all its possibility of wealth and power, if freed
+     from this burden, and forth upon her mission of deliverance she
+     sped her way.
+
+     Another beheld a vision of what it is to be learned, to explore
+     the great fields of knowledge which the Infinite has spread
+     before the world. And this vision has driven her out from the
+     seclusion of her own quiet life that she might give this great
+     truth to womanhood everywhere....
+
+     And so we come, each bearing her torch of living truth, casting
+     over the world the light of the vision that has dawned upon her
+     soul.
+
+     But there is still another vision which reaches above earth,
+     beyond time--a vision which has dawned upon many, that they are
+     here not to do their own work, but the will of Him who sent them.
+     And the woman who sees the still higher truth, recognizes the
+     great power to which she belongs and what her life may become
+     when, in submission to that Master, she takes upon herself the
+     nature of Him whom she serves.
+
+     We will notice in the second place the purpose of all these
+     visions which have come to us. Paul was not permitted to dwell on
+     the vision of truth which came to him. God had a purpose in its
+     manifestation, and that purpose was revealed when He said to the
+     wonder-stricken servant, "Arise; for I have appeared unto thee
+     for this purpose, not that thou behold the truth for thyself, but
+     to make thee a minister and a witness both of that which thou
+     hast already seen and of other truths which I shall reveal unto
+     thee. Go unto the Gentiles. Give them the truth which thou shalt
+     receive that their eyes may be opened, and that they may be
+     turned from darkness to light; that they, too, may receive a like
+     inheritance with thyself...."
+
+     This, then, is God's lesson to you and to me. He opens before our
+     eyes the vision of a great truth and for a moment He permits our
+     wondering gaze to rest upon it; then He bids us go forth. Jacob
+     of old saw the vision of God's messengers ascending and
+     descending, but none of them standing still.
+
+     Herein, then, lies the secret of the success of the reformer.
+     First the vision, then the purpose of the vision. "I was not
+     disobedient unto the heavenly vision." This is the manly and
+     noble confession of one of the world's greatest reformers, and in
+     it we catch a glimpse of the secrets of the success of his
+     divinely-appointed mission. The difference between the Saul of
+     Tarsus and Paul the Prisoner of the Lord was measured by his
+     obedience. This, too, is a universal law, true of the life of
+     every reformer, who, having had revealed to him a vision of the
+     great truth, has in obedience to that vision carried it to
+     humanity. Though at first he holds the truth to himself, and
+     longs to be lifted up by its power, he soon learns that there is
+     a giving forth of that which one possesses which enriches the
+     giver, and that the more he gives of his vision to men the richer
+     it becomes, the brighter it grows, until it illuminates all his
+     pathway....
+
+     Yet Paul's life was not an idle dream; it was a constant struggle
+     against the very people whom he tried to save; his greatest foes
+     were those to whom he was sent. He had learned the lesson all
+     reformers must sooner or later learn, that the world never
+     welcomes its deliverers save with the dungeon, the fagot or the
+     cross. No man or woman has ever sought to lead his fellows to a
+     higher and better mode of life without learning the power of the
+     world's ingratitude; and though at times popularity may follow in
+     the wake of a reformer, yet the reformer knows popularity is not
+     love. The world will support you when you have compelled it to do
+     so by manifestations of power, but it will shrink from you as
+     soon as power and greatness are no longer on your side. This is
+     the penalty paid by good people who sacrifice themselves for
+     others. They must live without sympathy; their feelings will be
+     misunderstood; their efforts will be uncomprehended. Like Paul,
+     they will be betrayed by friends; like Christ in the agony of
+     Gethsemane, they must bear their struggle alone.
+
+     Our reverence for the reformers of the past is posterity's
+     judgment of them. But to them, what is that now? They have passed
+     into the shadows where neither our voice of praise or of blame
+     disturbs their repose.
+
+     This is the hardest lesson the reformer has to learn. When, with
+     soul aglow with the light of a great truth, she, in obedience to
+     the vision, turns to take it to the needy one, instead of finding
+     a world ready to rise up and receive her, she finds it wrapped in
+     the swaddling clothes of error, eagerly seeking to win others to
+     its conditions of slavery. She longs to make humanity free; she
+     listens to their conflicting creeds, and yearns to save them from
+     the misery they endure. She knows that there is no form of
+     slavery more bitter or arrogant than error, that truth alone can
+     make man free, and she longs to bring the heart of the world and
+     the heart of truth together, that the truth may exercise its
+     transforming power over the life of the world. The greatest test
+     of the reformer's courage comes when, with a warm, earnest
+     longing for humanity, she breaks for it the bread of truth and
+     the world turns from this life-giving power and asks instead of
+     bread a stone.
+
+     It is just here that so many of God's workmen fail, and
+     themselves need to turn back to the vision as it appeared to
+     them, and to gather fresh courage and new inspiration for the
+     future. This, my sisters, we all must do if we would succeed. The
+     reformer may be inconsistent, she may be stern or even impatient,
+     but if the world feels that she is in earnest she can not fail.
+     Let the truth which she desires to teach first take possession of
+     herself. Every woman who to-day goes out into the world with a
+     truth, who has not herself become possessed of that truth, had
+     far better stay at home.
+
+     Who would have dreamed, when at that great anti-slavery meeting
+     in London, some years ago, the arrogance and pride of men
+     excluded the women whom God had moved to lift up their voices in
+     behalf of the baby that was sold by the pound--who would have
+     dreamed that that very exclusion would be the keynote of woman's
+     freedom? That out of the prejudice of that hour God should be
+     able to flash upon the crushed hearts of those excluded the grand
+     vision which we see manifested here to-day? That out of a longing
+     for the liberty of a portion of the race, God should be able to
+     show to women the still larger vision of the freedom of all human
+     kind?
+
+     Grand as is this vision which meets us here, it is but the
+     dawning of a new day; and as the first beams of morning light
+     give promise of the radiance which shall envelop the earth when
+     the sun shall have arisen in all its splendor, so there comes to
+     us a prophecy of that glorious day when the vision which we are
+     now beholding, which is beaming in the soul of one, shall enter
+     the hearts and transfigure the lives of all.
+
+The formal opening of the Council, Monday morning, March 25, was thus
+described: "The vast auditorium, perfect in its proportions and
+arrangements, was richly decorated with the flags of all nations and
+of every State in the Union. The platform was fragrant with evergreens
+and flowers, brilliant with rich furniture, crowded with distinguished
+women, while soft music with its universal language attuned all hearts
+to harmony. The beautiful portrait of the sainted Lucretia Mott,
+surrounded with smilax and lilies of the valley, seemed to sanctify
+the whole scene and to give a touch of pathos to all the proceedings."
+
+This great meeting, like so many before and since that time, was
+opened by Miss Anthony. After the invocation and the hymn, she said in
+part:
+
+     Forty years ago women had no place anywhere except in their
+     homes; no pecuniary independence, no purpose in life save that
+     which came through marriage. From a condition, as many of you can
+     remember, in which no woman thought of earning her bread by any
+     other means than sewing, teaching, cooking or factory work, in
+     these later years the way has been opened to every avenue of
+     industry, to every profession, whereby woman to-day stands almost
+     the peer of man in her opportunities for financial independence.
+     What is true in the world of work is true in education, is true
+     everywhere.
+
+     Men have granted us, in the civil rights which we have been
+     demanding, everything almost but the pivotal right, the one that
+     underlies all other rights, the one with which citizens of this
+     republic may protect themselves--the right to vote.
+
+     I have the pleasure of introducing to you this morning the woman
+     who not only joined with Lucretia Mott in calling the first
+     convention, but who for the greater part of twenty years has been
+     president of the National Suffrage Association--Mrs. Elizabeth
+     Cady Stanton.
+
+The entire audience arose with clapping of hands and waving of
+handkerchiefs to greet this leader, who had come from England to
+attend the Council. In the course of a long and dignified address of
+welcome, she said:
+
+     Whether our feet are compressed in iron shoes, our faces hidden
+     with veils and masks; whether yoked with cows to draw the plow
+     through its furrows, or classed with idiots, lunatics and
+     criminals in the laws and constitutions of the State, the
+     principle is the same; for the humiliations of spirit are as real
+     as the visible badges of servitude. A difference in government,
+     religion, laws and social customs makes but little change in the
+     relative status of woman to the self-constituted governing
+     classes, so long as subordination in all countries is the rule of
+     her being. Through suffering we have learned the open sesame to
+     the hearts of each other. With the spirit forever in bondage, it
+     is the same whether housed in golden cages with every want
+     supplied, or wandering in the dreary deserts of life, friendless
+     and forsaken. Long ago we of America heard the deep yearnings of
+     the souls of women in foreign lands for freedom responsive to our
+     own. Mary Wollstonecraft, Madame de Stael, Madam Roland, George
+     Sand, Frederica Bremer, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Frances
+     Wright and George Eliot alike have pictured the wrongs of woman
+     in poetry and prose. Though divided by vast mountain ranges,
+     oceans and plains, yet the psalms of our lives have been in the
+     same strain--too long, alas, in the minor key--for hopes deferred
+     have made the bravest hearts sometimes despairing. But the same
+     great over-soul has been our faith and inspiration. The steps of
+     progress already achieved in many countries should encourage us
+     to tune our harps anew to songs of victory....
+
+     I think most of us have come to feel that a voice in the laws is
+     indispensable to achieve success; that these great moral
+     struggles for higher education, temperance, peace, the rights of
+     labor, international arbitration, religious freedom, are all
+     questions to be finally adjusted by the action of government and
+     thus, without a direct voice in legislation, woman's influence
+     will be entirely lost.
+
+     Experience has fully proved that sympathy as a civil agent is
+     vague and powerless until caught and chained in logical
+     propositions and coined into law. When every prayer and tear
+     represents a ballot, the mothers of the race will no longer weep
+     in vain over the miseries of their children. The active interest
+     women are taking in all the great questions of the day is in
+     strong contrast with the apathy and indifference in which we
+     found them half a century ago, and the contrast in their
+     condition between now and then is equally marked. Those who
+     inaugurated the movement for woman's enfranchisement, who for
+     long years endured the merciless storm of ridicule and
+     persecution, mourned over by friends, ostracized in social life,
+     scandalized by enemies, denounced by the pulpit, scarified and
+     caricatured by the press, may well congratulate themselves on the
+     marked change in public sentiment which this magnificent
+     gathering of educated women from both hemispheres so triumphantly
+     illustrates....
+
+     We, who like the children of Israel, have been wandering in the
+     wilderness of prejudice and ridicule for forty years feel a
+     peculiar tenderness for the young women on whose shoulders we are
+     about to leave our burdens. Although we have opened a pathway to
+     the promised land and cleared up much of the underbrush of false
+     sentiment, logic and rhetoric intertwisted with law and custom,
+     which blocked all avenues in starting, yet there are still many
+     obstacles to be encountered before the rough journey is ended.
+     The younger women are starting with great advantages over us.
+     They have the results of our experience; they have superior
+     opportunities for education; they will find a more enlightened
+     public sentiment for discussion; they will have more courage to
+     take the rights which belong to them. Hence we may look to them
+     for speedy conquests. When we think of the vantage-ground woman
+     holds to-day, in spite of all the artificial obstacles placed in
+     her way, we are filled with wonder as to what the future mothers
+     of the race will be when free to have complete development.
+
+     Thus far women have been the mere echoes of men. Our laws and
+     constitutions, our creeds and codes, and the customs of social
+     life are all of masculine origin. The true woman is as yet a
+     dream of the future. A just government, a humane religion, a pure
+     social life await her coming....
+
+At the close of this address Miss Anthony presented greetings from the
+Woman's Liberal Association of Bristol, England, signed by many
+distinguished names; from the Woman Suffrage Association of Norway,
+and from a number of prominent women in Dublin.[67] There were also
+individual letters from Mrs. Priscilla Bright McLaren and many other
+foreigners.[68]
+
+Dr. Elizabeth C. Sargent and eight other women physicians of San
+Francisco sent cordial good wishes. Congratulations were received from
+many Americans,[69] and a cablegram from Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch,
+of England.
+
+Miss Anthony then presented the foreign delegates: England, Mrs. Laura
+Ormiston Chant, Mrs. Alice Scatcherd, Mrs. Ashton Dilke, Madame Zadel
+B. Gustafson; Ireland, Mrs. Margaret Moore; France, Madame Isabella
+Bogelot; Finland, Baroness Alexandra Gripenberg; Denmark, Madame Ada
+M. Frederiksen; Norway, Madame Sophie Magelsson Groth; Italy, Madame
+Fanny Zampini Salazar; India, Pundita Ramabai Sarasvati; Canada, Mrs.
+Bessie Starr Keefer.
+
+After all had acknowledged the introduction with brief remarks, Miss
+Anthony presented, amid much applause, Lucy Stone, Frances E. Willard,
+Julia Ward Howe, Isabella Beecher Hooker, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Clara
+Barton--the most eminent galaxy of women ever assembled upon one
+platform. Frederick Douglass and Robert Purvis were introduced as
+pioneers in the movement for woman suffrage.
+
+It would be impossible within the limits of one chapter to give even
+the briefest synopsis of the addresses which swept through the week
+like a grand procession. The program only could convey an idea of the
+value of this intellectual entertainment which called together, day
+after day and night after night, audiences that taxed the capacity of
+the largest opera house in Washington.[70]
+
+On the second Sunday afternoon, Easter Day, the services consisted of
+a symposium conducted by sixteen women, of all religious faiths and of
+none. In the evening, when as in the morning a vast and interested
+audience was present, brief farewells were spoken by a number of the
+foreign delegates. The leading address was by Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace
+on the Moral Power of the Ballot. Mrs. Stanton closed the meeting with
+a great speech, and the following resolution was adopted:
+
+     It is the unanimous voice of this International Council that all
+     institutions of learning and of professional instruction,
+     including schools of theology, law and medicine, should, in the
+     interests of humanity, be as freely opened to women as to men,
+     and that opportunities for industrial training should be as
+     generally and as liberally provided for one sex as for the other.
+     The representatives of organized womanhood in this Council will
+     steadily demand that in all avocations in which both men and
+     women engage, equal wages shall be paid for equal work; and they
+     declare that an enlightened society should demand, as the only
+     adequate expression of the high civilization which it is its
+     office to establish and maintain, an identical standard of
+     personal purity and morality for men and women.
+
+During the month of preparation for this International Council, the
+idea came many times to Mrs. Sewall that it should result in a
+permanent organization. The other members gave a cordial assent to
+this proposition, and the necessary committees were appointed. Before
+the delegates left Washington both a National and International
+Council of Women were formed.[71]
+
+Immediately following the Council the National Woman Suffrage
+Association held its Twentieth annual convention in the Church of Our
+Father, April 3, 4, 1888. As there had been eight days of continuous
+speech-making this meeting was devoted principally to the presenting
+of State reports and transacting of necessary business. There were,
+however, a number of addresses from the distinguished women who
+remained after the Council to attend this convention.
+
+The Committee on National Enrollment, Mrs. Louisa Southworth of Ohio,
+chairman, reported 40,000 names of adult citizens who favored equal
+suffrage; 9,000 of these were from Ohio and 9,000 from Nebraska. Women
+were urged to send petitions to members of Congress from their
+respective States. Mrs. Stanton was requested to prepare a memorial to
+be presented to each of the national political conventions to be held
+during the year, and committees were appointed to visit each for the
+purpose of securing in their platforms a recognition of woman
+suffrage.
+
+The most interesting feature was the hearing before the Senate
+Committee on Woman Suffrage, which took place April 2.[72] Mrs.
+Stanton made the opening address, in which she took up the provisions
+of the Federal Constitution, one by one, and showed how they had been
+violated in their application to women, saying:
+
+     Even the preamble of the Constitution is an argument for
+     self-government--"We, the people." You recognize women as people,
+     for you count them in the basis of representation. Half our
+     Congressmen hold their seats to-day as representatives of women.
+     We help to swell the figures by which you are here, and too many
+     of you, alas, are only figurative representatives, paying little
+     heed to our rights as citizens.
+
+     "No bill of attainder shall be passed." "No title of nobility
+     granted." So says the Constitution; and yet you have passed bills
+     of attainder in every State of the Union making sex a
+     disqualification for the franchise. You have granted titles of
+     nobility to every male voter, making all men rulers, governors,
+     sovereigns over all women.
+
+     "The United States shall guarantee to every State in the Union a
+     republican form of government." And yet you have not a republican
+     form of government in a single State. One-half the people have
+     never consented to one law under which they live. They have
+     rulers placed over them in whom they have no choice. They are
+     taxed without representation, tried in our courts by men for the
+     violation of laws made by men, with no appeal except to men, and
+     for some crimes over which men should have no jurisdiction....
+
+     Landing in New York one week ago, I saw 400 steerage passengers
+     leave the vessel. Dull-eyed, heavy-visaged, stooping with huge
+     burdens and the oppressions endured in the Old World, they stood
+     in painful contrast with the group of brilliant women on their
+     way to the International Council here in Washington. I thought,
+     as this long line passed by, of the speedy transformation the
+     genial influences of equality would effect in the appearance of
+     these men, of the new dignity they would acquire with a voice in
+     the laws under which they live, and I rejoiced for them; but
+     bitter reflections filled my mind when I thought that these men
+     are the future rulers of our daughters; these will interpret the
+     civil and criminal codes by which they will be governed; these
+     will be our future judges and jurors to try young girls in our
+     courts, for trial by a jury of her peers has never yet been
+     vouchsafed to woman. Here is a right so ancient that it is
+     difficult to trace its origin in history, a right so sacred that
+     the humblest criminal may choose his juror. But alas for the
+     daughters of the people, their judges, advocates, jurors, must be
+     men, and for them there is no appeal. But this is only one wrong
+     among many inevitable for a disfranchised class. It is
+     impossible for you, gentlemen, to appreciate the humiliations
+     women suffer at every turn....
+
+     You have now the power to settle this question by wise
+     legislation. But if you can not be aroused to its serious
+     consideration, like every other step in progress, it will
+     eventually be settled by violence. The wild enthusiasm of woman
+     can be used for evil as well as good. To-day you have the power
+     to guide and direct it into channels of true patriotism, but in
+     the future, with all the elements of discontent now gathering
+     from foreign countries, you will have the scenes of the French
+     Commune repeated in our land. What women, exasperated with a
+     sense of injustice, have done in dire extremities in the nations
+     of the Old World, they will do here....
+
+     I will leave it to your imagination to picture to yourselves how
+     you would feel if you had had a case in court, a bill before some
+     legislative body or a political aspiration for nearly half a
+     century, with a continual succession of adverse decisions, while
+     law and common justice were wholly on your side. Such, honorable
+     gentlemen, is our case....
+
+     In the history of the race there has been no struggle for liberty
+     like this. Whenever the interest of the ruling classes has
+     induced them to confer new rights on a subject class it has been
+     done with no effort on the part of the latter. Neither the
+     American slave nor the English laborer demanded the right of
+     suffrage. It was given in both cases to strengthen the Liberal
+     party. The philanthropy of the few may have entered into those
+     reforms, but political expediency carried both measures. Women,
+     on the contrary, have fought their own battles and in their
+     rebellion against existing conditions have inaugurated the most
+     fundamental revolution the world has ever witnessed. The
+     magnitude and multiplicity of the changes involved make the
+     obstacles in the way of success seem almost insurmountable....
+
+     Society is based on this fourfold bondage of woman--Church,
+     State, Capital and Society--making liberty and equality for her
+     antagonistic to every organized institution. Where, then, can we
+     rest the lever with which to lift one-half of humanity from these
+     depths of degradation, but on "that columbiad of our political
+     life--the ballot--which makes every citizen who holds it a full
+     armed monitor?"
+
+Miss Anthony then introduced a number of the foreign delegates who had
+been in attendance at the National Council. Mrs. Laura Ormiston Chant
+of England, in an eloquent address, said:
+
+     I stand here as the grandniece of one of the greatest orators and
+     clearest and wisest statesmen that Europe has known, Edmund
+     Burke. It seems to me an almost overwhelming humility that I
+     should be compelled to echo the magnificent impeachment that he
+     made against Warren Hastings, in our House of Commons, on behalf
+     of the oppressed women of Hindostan, in this my passionate appeal
+     on behalf of oppressed women all over the world....
+
+     By all you have held most sacred and beautiful in the women who
+     have loved you and made life possible for you--for their sake and
+     in their name--I do intreat that you will not allow your grandest
+     women to plead for another half century. Say rather "the past has
+     been a long night of wrong, but the day has come and the hour in
+     which justice shall conquer."
+
+Mrs. Alice Scatcherd, delegate from the Liberal and the Suffrage
+Associations of Leeds and neighboring cities, gave an interesting
+account of the manner in which Englishwomen exercise the franchise and
+the influence they wield in politics.
+
+Miss Anthony then said, "I have the pleasure of introducing to you the
+woman who, twenty-five years ago, wrote the Battle Hymn of the
+Republic, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe." Mrs. Howe spoke briefly, saying: "My
+heart has been full with the words of others which have been here
+uttered; but a single word will enable me to cast in my voice with
+theirs with all the emphasis that my life and such power as I have
+will enable me to add. Gentlemen, what a voice you have here to-day
+for universal suffrage. Think that not only we American women, your
+own kindred, appear here--and you know what we represent--but these
+foremost women from other countries, representing not alone the native
+intelligence and character of those countries, but deep and careful
+study and precious experience, and think that between them and us who
+ask for suffrage, there is entire unanimity. We all say the same
+words; we are all for the same thing...."
+
+Mrs. Caroline E. Merrick, wife of the former Chief Justice of
+Louisiana, addressed the committee with that deep and touching
+earnestness so characteristic of Southern women.
+
+After saying that women were present from every State and Territory
+who would add their pleadings if there were time, Miss Anthony
+introduced Mrs. Bessie Starr Keefer of Canada, who told of the good
+effects of woman suffrage in that country. Miss Anthony then said:
+"Gentlemen of the committee, here stands before you one who is
+commander-in-chief of an army of 250,000 women. It is said women do
+not want to vote, but this woman has led this vast army to the
+ballot-box, or to a wish to get there. I present to you Miss Frances
+E. Willard."
+
+This was the only time Miss Willard ever appeared before a Suffrage
+Committee in the Capitol, and she was heard with much interest.
+Beginning with the playful manner which rendered her speeches so
+attractive, she closed with great seriousness:
+
+     I suppose these honorable gentlemen think that we women want the
+     earth, when we only want half of it. We call their attention to
+     the fact that our brethren have encroached upon the sphere of
+     woman. They have definitely marked out that sphere, and then they
+     have proceeded with their incursion by the power of invention.
+     They have taken away the loom and the spinning-jenny, and they
+     have obliged Jenny to seek her occupation somewhere else. They
+     have set even the tune of the old knitting-needle to humming by
+     steam. So that we women, full of vigor and desire to be active
+     and useful and to react upon the world around us, finding our
+     industrial occupations largely gone, have been obliged to seek
+     out a new territory and to pre-empt from the sphere of our
+     brothers some of that which they have hitherto considered their
+     own.
+
+     I know it is a sentiment of chivalry in some good men which
+     hinders them from giving us the ballot. They think we might not
+     be what they admire so much; they think we should be lacking in
+     womanliness of character. I ask you to notice if the women who
+     have been in this International Council, if the women who are
+     school teachers all over this nation, if these hundreds of
+     thousands are not a womanly set of women, and yet they have gone
+     outside of the old sphere. We believe that in the time of peace
+     women can come forward and with peaceful plans can use weapons
+     which are grand and womanly, and that their thoughts, winged with
+     hope and the force of the heart given to them, will have an
+     effect far mightier than physical power. For that reason we ask
+     you that they shall be allowed to stand at the ballot-box,
+     because we believe that there every person expresses his
+     individuality. The majesty or the meanness of a person comes out
+     at the ballot-box more than anywhere else. The ballot is the
+     compendium of all there is in civilization, and of all that
+     civilization has done for us. We believe that the mothers who had
+     the good sense to train noble men, like you who have achieved
+     high positions, had the good sense to train your sisters in the
+     same way, and that it is a pity the State has lost that other
+     half of the conservative power which comes from a Christian
+     rearing and a Christian character.
+
+     I have spoken thus on the principles which have made me, a
+     conservative woman, devoted to the idea of the ballot, and one in
+     heart with all these good and true suffrage women, though not one
+     in organic community. I represent before you the Woman's
+     Christian Temperance Union and not a suffrage society, but I
+     bring these principles to your sight, and I ask you, my brothers,
+     to be grand and chivalrous towards us in this new departure which
+     we now wish to make.
+
+     I ask you to remember that it is women who have given the
+     costliest hostages to fortune, and out into the battle of life
+     they have sent their best beloved into snares that have been
+     legalized on every hand. From the arms which held him long, the
+     boy has gone forever, for he will not come back again to the
+     home. Then let the world in the person of its womanhood go forth
+     and make a home in the State and in society. By all the pains and
+     dangers the mother has shared, by the hours of patient watching
+     over beds where little children tossed in fever and pain, by the
+     incense of ten thousand prayers wafted to God from earnest lips,
+     I charge you, gentlemen, give woman power to go forth, so that
+     when her son undertakes life's treacherous battle, his mother
+     will still walk beside him clad in the garments of power.
+
+Miss Anthony, who knew better than anyone else when not another word
+was needed, said at the close of Miss Willard's touching address:
+"Now, gentlemen, we are greatly obliged to you. I feel very proud of
+all my 'girls' who have come before you this morning, and you may
+consider the meeting adjourned."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[64] The following report was prepared by Mrs. Parker: At a large and
+influential gathering of the friends of woman suffrage, at Parliament
+Terrace, Liverpool, November 16, 1883, convened by E. Whittle, M. D.,
+to meet Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony prior to their return to
+America, a resolution was proposed by Mrs. Parker of Penketh, seconded
+by Mrs. McLaren of Edinburgh, and unanimously passed: "Recognizing
+that union is strength and that the time has come when women all over
+the world should unite in the just demand for their political
+enfranchisement; therefore
+
+"_Resolved_, That we do here appoint a committee of correspondence,
+preparatory to forming an International Woman Suffrage Association.
+
+"_Resolved_, That the committee consist of the following friends, with
+power to add to their number.
+
+"For the American Center--Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Miss Susan B.
+Anthony, Miss Rachel G. Foster. For Foreign Centers--(An extended
+committee was named of prominent persons in Great Britain, Ireland and
+France)."
+
+[65] There were printed and distributed by mail 10,000 Calls (four
+pages each); 10,000 Appeals (two pages each); sketches were prepared
+of the lives and work of a number of the delegates and circulated by
+means of a Press Committee of over ninety persons in various cities of
+many States. On March 10, the first edition (5,000) of the
+sixteen-page program was issued; this was followed by five other
+editions of 5,000 each and a final seventh edition of 7,000 copies.
+Each edition required revision and the introduction of alterations
+made necessary by changing conditions. There were written in
+connection with the preparations about 4,000 letters. Including those
+concerning railroad rates, there were not less than 10,000 more
+circulars of various kinds printed and distributed. A low estimate of
+the number of pages thus issued (circulars, calls, programs, etc.)
+gives 672,000. During the week of the Council and the following
+convention of the N. W. S. A., the _Woman's Tribune_ was published by
+Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby eight times (four days sixteen pages, four
+days twelve pages), the daily edition averaging 12,500 copies.
+
+The receipts from contributions and memberships were in round numbers
+$5,000; from sale of seats and boxes at opera-house $5,000, and from
+sale of daily _Woman's Tribune_, photographs and badges, collections,
+advertisements, etc., $1,500, making a total of nearly $12,000. The
+largest sums were from Julia T. Foster, $400; Elizabeth Thompson,
+$250; Mrs. Leland Stanford, $200; Rachel G. Foster, $200; and $100
+each from Adeline Thomson, Ellen Clark Sargent, Emma J. Bartol,
+Margaret Caine, Sarah Knox Goodrich, Mary Hamilton Williams, Lucy
+Winslow Curtis, Mary Gray Dow, Jane S. Richards, George W. Childs and
+Henry C. Parsons. The cost of the _Tribune_ (printing, stenographic
+report, mailing, etc.) was over $3,600; hall rent, $1,800. When one
+considers the entertainment of so many officers, speakers and
+delegates, printing, postage, the salary of one clerk for a year
+(whose board was a contribution from Miss Adeline Thomson and Miss
+Julia Foster of Philadelphia), and the thousand et ceteras of such a
+meeting, the total cost of about $12,000 is not surprising. An
+international convention of men, held in Washington within the year,
+cost in round numbers $50,000.
+
+[66] After the Council Mrs. Stanton, Miss Anthony and Miss Foster
+remained in Washington for six weeks preparing a complete report of
+the addresses and proceedings which filled nearly 500 pages. Five
+thousand copies of these were printed, a large number of which were
+placed in the public libraries of the United States and foreign
+countries.
+
+[67] Anna Maria Haslam, Honorable Secretary Woman's Suffrage
+Association; Mary Edmundson, Honorable Secretary Dublin Prison Gate
+Mission; Hannah Maria Wigham, President Women's Temperance
+Association, Dublin, and Member of Peace Committee; Wilhelmina Webb,
+Member of Ladies' Sanitary Committee, Women's Suffrage, etc., Rose
+McDowell, Honorable Secretary Women's Suffrage Committee, Isabella
+Mulvany, Head Mistress Alexandra School, Dublin, Harriet W. Russell,
+Member of Women's Temperance Association; Deborah Webb, late Honorable
+Secretary Ladies' Dublin Contagious Diseases Act Repeal Association;
+Lucy Smithson, Member of the Sanitary Committee and Women's Suffrage
+Association; Emily Webb, Member of Women's Suffrage Association; Agnes
+Mason, Medical Student and Member of the Women's Suffrage Committee;
+Ellen Allen, Member of Women's Temperance and Peace Associations.
+
+[68] Among these were Elizabeth Pease Nichol, Eliza Wigham, Edinburgh;
+Mrs. Jacob Bright, Catherine Lucas Thomasson, Margaret E. Parker, Jane
+Cobden, Margaret Bright Lucas, Caroline Ashurst Biggs, Frances Lord,
+F. Henrietta Muller, England; Isabella M. S. Tod, Belfast, Caroline de
+Barrau, Theodore Stanton, Hubertine Auclert, editor of _La Citoyenne_,
+Maria Deraismes, Eugenie Potonie, M. Dupuis Vincent, France; Johanna
+Frederika Wecket, Germany, Prince Kropotkin, Russia.
+
+[69] John G. Whittier, T. W. Higginson, Oliver Johnson, George W.
+Julian, Samuel E. Sewall, Amelia Bloomer, Dr. James C. Jackson,
+Theodore D. Weld, Elizabeth Buffam Chace, Rev. T. De Witt Talmage,
+Abigail Scott Dumway, Mrs. Frank Leslie, Dr. Laura Ross Wolcott,
+Charlotte B. Wilbour, Dr. Agnes Kemp, Augusta Cooper Bristol, Dr. Seth
+and Mrs. Hannah Rogers, Dr. Alida C. Avery, Harriet S. Brooks, Sarah
+Burger Stearns, Helen M. Gougar, Caroline B. Buell, Lucy N. Colman.
+
+[70] Among those not mentioned above who gave addresses were E.
+Florence Barker, Susan H. Barney, Leonora M. Barry, Isabel C. Barrows,
+Cora A. Benneson, Ada M. Bittenbender, Henry B. Blackwell, Lillie
+Devereux Blake, Martha McClellan Brown, Dr. Mary Weeks Burnett, Helen
+Campbell, Matilda B. Carse, Ednah D. Cheney, Sarah B. Cooper, "Jennie
+June" Croly, Caroline H. Dall, Abby Morton Diaz, Mary F. Eastman,
+Martha A. Everett, Martha R. Field, Alice Fletcher, J. Ellen Foster,
+Caroline M. S. Frazer, Helen H. Gardiner, Anna Gordon, Elizabeth
+Boynton Harbert, Frances E. W. Harper, Marilla M. Hills, Clara C.
+Hoffman, Laura C. Holloway, John W. Hutchinson, Mary H. Hunt, Laura M.
+Johns, Mary A. Livermore, Huldah B. Loud, Ella M. S. Marble, Marion
+McBride, Laura McNeir, Prof. Rena A. Michaels, Harriet N. Morris,
+Amelia Hadley Mohl, Mrs. John P. Newman, Clara Neymann, ex-U. S.
+Senator S. C. Pomeroy, Anna Rice Powell, Amelia S. Quinton, Emily S.
+Richards, Victoria Richardson, Harriet H. Robinson, Elizabeth Lisle
+Saxon, Lita Barney Sayles, Harriette R. Shattuck, Hannah Whitall
+Smith, Elizabeth G. Stuart, Prof. Louisa Reed Stowell, Dr. Sarah
+Hackett Stevenson, M. Louise Thomas, Esther M. Warner, Dr. Caroline B.
+Winslow, Jennie Fowler Willing, Dr. Ruth M. Wood, Anna M. Worden.
+
+On Pioneers' Evening about forty of the most prominent of the old
+workers were on the platform.
+
+[71] The officers of the National Council were: President, Frances E.
+Willard, Ill.; vice-president-at-large, Susan B. Anthony, N. Y.; cor.
+sec., May Wright Sewall, Ind.; rec. sec., Mary F. Eastman, Mass.;
+treas., M. Louise Thomas, N. Y. Officers of the International
+Council: President, Millicent Garrett Fawcett, England;
+vice-president-at-large, Clara Barton, United States; cor. sec. Rachel
+G. Foster, United States; rec. sec., Kirstine Frederiksen, Denmark.
+
+[72] This committee consisted of Senator Francis M. Cockrell, Mo.;
+Joseph E. Brown, Ga.; Samuel Pasco, Fla.; Henry W. Blair, N. H.;
+Thomas W. Palmer, Mich.; Jonathan Chace, R. I.; Thomas M. Bowen, Colo.
+No hearing was held before the Judiciary Committee of the House, but
+on April 24 Mrs. Sallie Clay Bennett of Kentucky obtained an audience
+and made an extended and unanswerable argument from two points of
+view, the Scriptural and the Constitutional. Her address is printed in
+full in the _Woman's Tribune_ of April 28, 1888.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE NATIONAL SUFFRAGE CONVENTION OF 1889.
+
+
+The Twenty-first annual convention of the National Association met in
+the Congregational Church at Washington, Jan. 21-23, 1889, in answer
+to the official Call:
+
+     Neither among politicians, nor among women themselves, is this in
+     any sense a party movement. While the Prohibition party in Kansas
+     incorporated woman suffrage in its platform, the Republicans made
+     it a fact by extending municipal suffrage to the women of that
+     State. The Democrats of Connecticut on several occasions voted
+     for woman suffrage while Republicans voted against it. In the New
+     York Legislature Republicans and Democrats alike have advocated
+     and voted for the measure. In Congress the last vote in the House
+     stood eighty Republicans for woman suffrage and nearly every
+     Democrat against it, while not a single Democrat voted in favor
+     of it on the floor of the Senate. Both the Labor and Greenback
+     parties have uniformly recognized woman suffrage in their
+     platforms.... Our strength for future action lies in the fact
+     that woman suffrage has some advocates in all parties and that
+     we, as an association, are pledged to none.
+
+     The denial of the ballot to woman is the great political crime of
+     the century, before which tariff, finance, land monopoly,
+     temperance, labor and all economic questions sink into
+     insignificance; for the right of suffrage involves all questions
+     of person and of property.
+
+     While each party in power has refused to enfranchise woman, being
+     skeptical as to her moral influence in government, yet with
+     strange inconsistency they alike seek the aid of her voice and
+     pen in all important political struggles. While not morally bound
+     to obey the laws made without their consent, yet we find women
+     the most law-abiding class of citizens in the community. While
+     not recognized as a component part of the Government, they are
+     most active in all great movements for education, religion,
+     philanthropy and reform.
+
+     The magnificent convocation of women from the world over--held in
+     Washington last March--a Council more important than any since
+     the Diet of Worms--was proof of woman's marvelous power of
+     organization and her clear comprehension of the underlying
+     principles of all questions of government. With such evidence of
+     her keen insight and executive ability, we invite all interested
+     in good government to give us the inspiration of their presence
+     in the coming convention.
+
+In the absence of Mrs. Stanton Miss Anthony presided, opening her
+address with the sentence, "Here we have stood for the last twenty-one
+years, demanding of Congress to take the necessary step to secure to
+the women of this nation protection in the exercise of their
+constitutional right to a voice in the government." She introduced the
+Hon. Albert G. Riddle (D. C.), who in 1871 had made an argument before
+the Joint Judiciary Committee in favor of woman's right to vote under
+the Fourteenth Amendment; and later had argued before the Supreme
+Court her right to vote in the District. In the course of his remarks
+he said: "All the changes in favor of woman--everything indeed that
+has been achieved--has been in consequence of this contest for woman
+suffrage. Its advocates began it; they traveled along with it; and all
+that has been gained in the statutes of the various States and of the
+United States has been by their efforts; whatever has taken a
+crystallized form of irrepealable law is because of this discussion,
+because of this agitation."
+
+Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker (Conn.) read the resolution demanding a
+representation of women in the Centennial Celebration of the Adoption
+of the United States Constitution soon to be held in New York City.
+Miss Anthony then introduced Senator Henry W. Blair (N. H.), who was
+received with much applause, as the unswerving champion of woman
+suffrage. In an address considering the constitutional phase of the
+question, he said:
+
+     There has been such progress in the formulation of the State and
+     the national law that it has become necessary for the Supreme
+     Court of the United States to decide that we are not a sovereign
+     people, that we have no nation at all, in order to prevent woman
+     from exercising the right of suffrage throughout this country. In
+     that decision which deprived Mrs. Virginia L. Minor of her right,
+     the Supreme Court was driven to the necessity of deciding in
+     express terms, "The United States has no voters of its own
+     creation." If the United States has no voters, then the old
+     doctrine of State sovereignty is the true one and there is no
+     nation. We are subservient and subordinate to the power of the
+     States to-day by virtue of this decision just exactly as it was
+     claimed we were prior to the recent war. We thought the war
+     established the fact that we were a nation; that the controversy
+     which led up to the war had been decided in favor of the
+     sovereignty of the nation. Under our republican form of
+     government the sovereignty is lodged in the masses of the people.
+     If, therefore, it is not in the man who votes by virtue of his
+     membership in the association of the people known as the United
+     States, then there is no sovereignty there....
+
+     As the law now is, in the Federal Constitution there must always
+     have been such a voter of the United States, for in the second
+     clause of the first article it is provided that there shall be a
+     House of Representatives "elected by the people in the States."
+     Where that provision is made it says that the electors shall have
+     the qualifications of the electors in the States. But it does not
+     say that they shall be the same individuals; it does not say that
+     they are to act in the same capacity. They might vary in
+     different portions of the country, in different States; but
+     nevertheless, in giving to the people of the States the right to
+     specify the qualifications which should belong to the electors of
+     the United States, the Constitution did not give up the power to
+     create electors itself....
+
+     Take the Fifteenth Amendment. There is the first instance in the
+     entire Constitution where we find the franchise declared to be a
+     "right," and in specific terms alluded to as such. And there it
+     is provided that a right already recognized as existing shall not
+     be abridged by the United States or by the States--a right
+     already _existing_, not _established_. And by virtue of that
+     amendment and the provision that this existing right shall not be
+     denied or abridged on account of "race, color or previous
+     condition of servitude," either by the United States or by the
+     States, the _national existence_ of the voter is established....
+
+     I think our great difficulty about this is that women perhaps do
+     not, to the extent that they should, place their cause upon the
+     platform that it is a right; that to uphold that it is not a
+     right is a wrong greater than any which has been perpetrated in
+     the past; that freedom to half the human race is a glorious
+     achievement which it still remains for mankind to accomplish....
+
+     There is no way in which you can do so much for this world as by
+     giving liberty to those who are the mothers of the generations
+     past and to come; so that freedom to think, freedom to formulate
+     opinions, freedom to decide by the majority of the whole of
+     mature human nature, shall be the universal boon as far as the
+     human race extends....
+
+Miss Anthony then read a letter from Mrs. Stanton which embodied that
+spirit of independence possessed by her almost beyond all other women:
+
+     I notice that in some of our conventions resolutions of thanks
+     are passed to senators, congressmen and legislators for
+     advocating some minor privileges which have been conceded to
+     women, such as admission to colleges and professions, limited
+     forms of suffrage, etc. Now I do not see any occasion for
+     gratitude to these honorable gentlemen who, after robbing us of
+     all our fundamental rights as citizens, propose to restore a few
+     minor privileges. There is not one impulse of gratitude in my
+     soul for any of the fragmentary privileges which by slow degrees
+     we have wrung out of our oppressors during the last half century,
+     nor will there be so long as woman is robbed of all the essential
+     rights of citizenship.
+
+     If strong appeals could induce the highway robber to return a
+     modicum of what he had stolen, it might mitigate the miseries of
+     his victim, but surely there would be no reason for gratitude,
+     and an expression of thanks to him would be quite as much out of
+     place as are complimentary resolutions passed in our conventions
+     to legislators for their concessions to women. They deserve
+     nothing at our hands until they make full restitution of all we
+     possessed in the original compact under the colonial
+     constitutions--rights over which in the nature of things men
+     could have no lawful jurisdiction whatever.... Woman has the same
+     right to a voice in this government that man has, and it is based
+     on the same natural desire and capacity for self-government and
+     self-protection....
+
+     Until woman is recognized as an equal factor in civilization, and
+     is possessed of her personal property, civil and political
+     rights, all minor privileges and concessions are but so many
+     added aggravations, and are insulting mockeries of that justice,
+     liberty and equality which are the birthright of every citizen of
+     a republic. "Universal suffrage," said Charles Sumner, "is the
+     first proof and only basis of a genuine republic."
+
+Mrs. Stanton referred to the bravery of recent women writers in
+attacking social problems, citing Mrs. Humphrey Ward, Margaret Deland,
+Olive Schreiner, Mona Caird and Helen Gardiner. She closed with a
+tribute to the co-laborers who had died during the past year, among
+them the Rev. James Freeman Clarke, Judge Samuel E. Sewall, Dr.
+Clemence S. Lozier, Dr. Mary F. Thomas, Miss Abby W. May and numerous
+others.
+
+During the second day's proceedings the Rev. Alexander Kent, of the
+Church of Our Father (Universalist), addressed the convention, saying
+in part:
+
+     It is not uncommon among writers on woman suffrage to find the
+     root of the trouble in those notions of the creation and fall set
+     forth in the ancient Jewish Scriptures--notions which have very
+     generally prevailed throughout Christendom until recently, and
+     which even yet have a large hold upon many people professing to
+     be Christians. In the account of the origin of evil given by the
+     ancient Hebrew writer, woman is the chief offender, and upon her
+     falls the burden of the penalty. In sorrow she is to bring forth
+     her children; her desire is to be to her husband and he is to
+     rule over her. Unquestionably this has tended to prolong the
+     reign of brute force in Christendom by perpetuating a belief in
+     the rightful headship of man in the family and State. But it is a
+     great mistake to see in this Scripture the root of the evil. It
+     is only the record of a theory offered to explain a fact--which
+     antedated both the theory and the record. We find the fact to-day
+     even where we do not find the record--the woman ruled by the man
+     in places where there is no knowledge whatever of the Hebrew
+     Scriptures. I doubt not that among the founders of our
+     Government--meaning the people generally--this doctrine of the
+     rightful headship of man and the subordination of woman was
+     sacredly held as a part of the revealed word of God, and that as
+     such it operated to keep the women as well as the men of that day
+     from perceiving the full significance, the comprehensive scope of
+     the principles affirmed by their leaders, in the Constitution and
+     the Declaration of Independence....
+
+     If the ballot in the hands of woman is to do a great work for
+     society, it will be first and foremost because of its wholesome
+     influence on herself--because it rouses in her more of hope, more
+     of laudable ambition, more of earnest purpose, more of
+     self-reliance, more independence of the fashions, frivolities and
+     conventionalities of society and the dictates of the church....
+
+     Praying for the speedy coming of this day, and hoping it may work
+     gradually toward a purer and happier social life, and a further
+     companionship in thought and feeling, in purpose and effort,
+     between men and women, and especially between husbands and wives
+     in the life of the home, I express my sympathy with the purpose
+     of this convention.
+
+Mrs. Caroline Hallowell Miller (Md.) took the ground that, after fifty
+years of argument, women now should unite in a continuous demand for
+the rights of citizenship.
+
+In introducing the Hon. William D. Kelley (Penn.) Miss Anthony said
+that not only in Congress, where he was known as the Father of the
+House, but years ago in his own State Legislature, he advocated the
+political equality of women. After paying a tribute to his mother, to
+Mary Wollstonecraft and to Frances Wright, he said: "I am here,
+because I feel that I should again declare publicly the justice of the
+enfranchisement of women, which, having cherished through youth and
+early manhood, I asserted in a public address in Independence Hall, at
+high noon on the Fourth of July, 1841, before there was any
+organization for promoting woman's rights politically." He then
+sketched results already achieved and urged women to keep the flame
+burning for the benefits which would come to posterity.
+
+The Rev. Olympia Brown (Wis.) spoke on Foreign Rule, and after
+pointing out the glory of a country which offered a home to all, and
+expressing a belief in universal suffrage, she continued:
+
+     In Wisconsin we have by the census of 1880 a population of
+     910,072 native-born, 405,425 foreign-born. Our last vote cast was
+     149,463 American, 189,469 foreign; thus you see nearly 1,000,000
+     native-born people are out-voted and out-governed by less than
+     half their number of foreigners. Is that fair to Americans? Is it
+     just to American men? Will they not, under this influence, in a
+     little while be driven to the wall and obliged to step down and
+     out? When the members of our Legislatures are the greater part
+     foreigners, when they sit in the office of mayor and in all the
+     offices of our city, and rule us with a rod of iron, it is time
+     that American men should inquire if we have any rights that
+     foreigners are bound to respect....
+
+     The last census shows, I think, that there are in the United
+     States three times as many American-born women as the whole
+     foreign population, men and women together, so that the votes of
+     women will eventually be the only means of overcoming this
+     foreign influence and maintaining our free institutions. There is
+     no possible safety for our free school, our free church or our
+     republican government, unless women are given the suffrage and
+     that right speedily.... The question in every political caucus,
+     in every political convention, is not what great principles shall
+     we announce, but what kind of a document can we draw up that will
+     please the foreigners?...
+
+     When we remember that the first foot to touch Plymouth Rock was a
+     woman's--that in the first settlement of this country women
+     endured trials and privations and stood bravely at the post of
+     duty, even fighting in the ranks that we might have a
+     republic--and that in our great Western world women came at an
+     early day to make the wilderness blossom as the rose, and rocked
+     their babies' cradles in the log cabins when the Indians'
+     war-whoop was heard on the prairies and the wolves howled around
+     their doors--when we remember that in the last war thousands of
+     women in the Northwest bravely took upon themselves the work of
+     the households and the fields that their husbands and sons might
+     fight the battles of liberty--when we recollect all this, and
+     then are told that loyal women, pioneer women, the descendants of
+     the Pilgrim Fathers, are not even to ask for the right of
+     suffrage lest the Scandinavians should be offended, it is time to
+     rise in indignation and ask, Whose country is this? Who made it?
+     Who have periled their lives for it?
+
+     Our American women are property holders and pay large taxes; but
+     the foreigner who has lived only one year in the State, and ten
+     days in the precinct, who does not own a foot of land, may vote
+     away their property in the form of taxes in the most reckless
+     manner, regardless of their interests and their rights. Women are
+     well-educated; they are graduating from our colleges; they are
+     reading and thinking and writing; and yet they are the political
+     inferiors of all the riff-raff of Europe that is poured upon our
+     shores. It is unbearable. There is no language that can express
+     the enormous injustice done to women....
+
+     We can not separate subjects and say we will vote on temperance
+     or on school matters, for all these questions are part of
+     government.... When women as well as men are voters, the church
+     will get some recognition. I marvel that all ministers are not in
+     favor of woman suffrage, when I consider that their audiences are
+     almost entirely composed of women and that the church to-day is
+     brought into disrepute because it is made up of disfranchised
+     members. The minister would stand a hundred-fold higher than he
+     does now if women had the suffrage. Everybody would want to know
+     what the minister was saying to those women voters.
+
+     We are in danger in this country of Catholic domination, not
+     because the Catholics are more numerous than we are, but because
+     the Catholic church is represented at the polls and the
+     Protestant church is not. The foreigners are Catholic--the
+     greater portion of them; the foreigners are men--the greater part
+     of them, and members of the Catholic church, and they work for it
+     and vote for it. The Protestant church is composed of women. Men
+     for the most part do not belong to it; they do not care much for
+     it except as something to interest the women of their household.
+     The consequence is the Protestant church is comparatively
+     unrepresented at the ballot-box....
+
+     I urge upon you, women, that you put suffrage first and foremost,
+     before every other consideration upon earth. Make it a religious
+     duty and work for the enfranchisement of your sex, which means
+     the growth and development of noble characters in your children;
+     for you can not educate your children well surrounded by men and
+     women who hold false doctrines of society, of politics, of
+     morals. Leave minor issues, leave your differences of opinion
+     about the Trinity, or the Holy Ghost, or endless misery; about
+     high license and low license; or Dorcas Societies and Chautauqua
+     Circles. Let them all go; they are of no consequence compared
+     with the enfranchisement of women.
+
+Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell gave a humorous series of Suffrage Pictures
+in New York, which was greatly relished by the audience. Mrs. Laura M.
+Johns described Municipal Suffrage in Kansas in an enthusiastic and
+interesting manner. The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw then delivered her
+lecture, which has since become so famous, The Fate of Republics,
+tracing the rise and fall of the republics of history, which grew
+because of material prosperity and failed because of moral weakness.
+All were in the hands of men, and women were excluded from any
+share.[73]
+
+Mrs. Harriette R. Shattuck gave an account of the recent school
+election in Boston where 19,490 women voted, a much higher percentage
+of those registered than of the men, and thus defeated the dangerous
+attempt which had been made by the Church to interfere with the State.
+Richard W. Blue, State Senator of Kansas, was called to the platform
+by Mrs. Gougar as one who had greatly aided its Municipal Suffrage
+Bill.
+
+Mrs. May Wright Sewall (Ind.) spoke on Women in the Recent Campaign.
+In the National Prohibition Convention they sat as delegates and
+served on committees. In all parts of the country Republican and
+Democratic women organized clubs and marched in processions; but she
+called attention to the fact that these methods are not advocated by
+the suffrage societies so long as women remain disfranchised. Over two
+hundred clubs were formed for political study. All of the parties
+placed women on their platforms to speak in behalf of the candidates.
+A Central Republican Headquarters was opened in New York and put in
+charge of a national committee of women who sent out hundreds of
+thousands of campaign documents. When election day came not one of all
+these women could put her opinion in the ballot-box.
+
+At the evening session Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake (N. Y.) in her
+trenchant way discussed Political Methods and pointed out the
+inconsistent and illogical declarations of platforms and speakers when
+applied to women, also the delight afforded to men by the tin horns
+and fireworks. She suggested for President Harrison's Cabinet,
+Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Secretary of State; Susan B. Anthony,
+Secretary of War; May Wright Sewall, Secretary of the Treasury;
+Zerelda G. Wallace, Secretary of the Navy; Clara Barton, Secretary of
+the Interior; Laura de Force Gordon, Attorney-General.
+
+Mrs. Sarah M. Perkins (O.) spoke on The Concentration of Forces,
+showing how prone women are to organize for every object except
+suffrage, and yet the majority of these workers would rejoice to have
+the power which lies in the ballot and would be infinitely better
+equipped for their work.
+
+Mrs. Mary B. Clay (Ky.) opened the last day's session with a forcible
+address entitled, Are American Women Civil and Political Slaves? She
+proved the affirmative of her question by quoting the spoken and
+written declarations of the greatest statesmen on the right of
+individual representation and the exceptions made against women,
+citing Walker, the legal writer: "This language applied to males would
+be the exact definition of political slavery; applied to females,
+custom does not so regard it."
+
+Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway (Ore.) described the recent arbitrary and
+unwarranted disfranchisement of the women of Washington Territory.
+Frederick Douglass was loudly called for and in responding expressed
+his gratitude to women, "who were chiefly instrumental in liberating
+my people from actual chains of bondage," and declared his full belief
+in their right to the franchise.
+
+Mrs. Helen M. Gougar (Ind.) made a strong speech upon Partisan or
+Patriot? In her address on Woman in Marriage Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby,
+editor of the _Woman's Tribune_, said:
+
+     It is customary to regard marriage as of even more importance to
+     woman than to man, since the maternal, social and household
+     duties involved in it consume the greater portion of the time and
+     thought of a large majority. Love, it is commonly said, is an
+     incident in a man's life, but makes or mars a woman's whole
+     existence. This, however, is one of the many popular delusions
+     crystallized into opinion by apt phraseology. To one who believes
+     in the divinely intended equality of the sexes it is impossible
+     to consider that any mutual relation is an incident for the one
+     and the total of existence for the other. We may lay it down as a
+     premise upon which to base our whole reasoning that all mutual
+     relations of the sexes are not only divinely intended to, but
+     actually do bring equal joys, pains, pleasures and sacrifices to
+     both. Whatever mistake one has made has acted upon the other, and
+     reacted equally upon the first.
+
+     The one great mistake of the ages--since woman lost her primal
+     independence and supremacy--to which is due all the sins and
+     sorrows growing out of the association of the sexes, has been in
+     making woman a passive agent instead of an equal factor in
+     arranging the laws, customs and conditions of this mutual state.
+     Whether marriage be a purely business partnership for the care
+     and maintenance of children, or whether it be a sacrament to
+     which the benediction of the church gives peculiar sanctity and
+     perpetuity and makes the parties "no more twain but one flesh,"
+     in either case it is an absurdity, which we only tolerate because
+     of custom, for men alone to make all the regulations and
+     stipulations concerning it.
+
+     This unnatural and strained assumption by one sex of the control
+     of everything relating to marriage, and the equally unnatural and
+     mischievous passivity on the part of the other, have given birth
+     to the meek maiden waiting for her fate, to the typical
+     disconsolate and forlorn "superfluous woman," to the two
+     standards of morality for the sexes, to the mercenary marriage
+     with all its attendant miseries, to the selfish, exacting,
+     querulous wife, to the disappointed or tyrannical husband; and of
+     late, with the wider possibilities of individual pleasure and
+     satisfaction, to the growing aversion of young people to
+     matrimony, and the rush of women to the divorce courts for
+     freedom from the galling bonds; all these and a thousand
+     variations of each, until the nature of both sexes is so
+     perverted that it is impossible to decide what is nature.
+
+A letter was read from Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage (N. Y.) urging women
+individually to petition Senators and Representatives for the removal
+of their political disabilities, because by this means these men were
+compelled to think on the question.
+
+Mrs. Virginia L. Minor (Mo.) addressed the convention on The Law of
+Federal Suffrage, a legal argument on the right to vote conferred by
+the Constitution. Miss Anthony supplemented Mrs. Minor's argument with
+a history of the Fourteenth Amendment, in which she said:
+
+     When that Fourteenth Amendment was under discussion--when it was
+     proposed to put the word "male" into the second section--it read:
+     "If any State shall disfranchise any of its citizens on account
+     of color, all of that class shall be counted out of the basis of
+     representation." But there were timid souls on the floor of
+     Congress at the close of the war, as well as at other periods of
+     our history, and to prevent the enfranchisement of women by this
+     amendment they moved to make it read: "If any State shall
+     disfranchise any of its _male_ citizens, all of that class shall
+     be counted out of the basis of representation." Male citizens!
+     For the first time in the history of our Government that
+     discriminating adjective was placed in the Constitution, and yet
+     the men on the floor of Congress, from Charles Sumner down, all
+     declared that this amendment would not in any wise change the
+     status of women!
+
+     We at once asserted our right to vote under this amendment: "All
+     persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to
+     the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and
+     of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce
+     any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of
+     citizens of the United States." Our first trial was on civil
+     rights, when Mrs. Myra Bradwell of Chicago, who had been for some
+     time publishing a law journal which every lawyer in the State
+     said he could not afford to do without, applied for admission to
+     the bar, and these same lawyers denied it. She appealed to the
+     Illinois Supreme Court and it confirmed the denial, because she
+     was not only a woman but a married woman. Then she appealed her
+     case to the Supreme Court of the United States, and a majority of
+     this court decided that the right to be a lawyer was not
+     especially a citizen's right and that therefore the State of
+     Illinois could legally abridge the privileges and immunities of
+     its women by denying them admission to the bar.
+
+     I shall never forget how our hearts sank when in 1871 that
+     decision came, declaring the powerlessness of the Federal
+     Constitution to protect women in their civil right of being
+     eligible to the legal profession. When we said if these rights
+     which it is meant to protect are not civil they must be political
+     rights, we thought we had the Supreme Court in a corner. But when
+     my trial for voting came on, Justice Hunt said that the right to
+     vote was a special right belonging to men alone. We didn't
+     believe that this decision could be confirmed, but it was, when
+     Mrs. Minor, who attempted to vote at the same election in her
+     State of Missouri, appealed her case to the Supreme Court of the
+     United States. It was argued by her husband, the ablest of
+     lawyers, and when the Judges brought in their decision it was to
+     the effect that the Constitution of the United States has no
+     voters. Thus it is that we have two Supreme Court decisions
+     relative to the powers of the Fourteenth Amendment to protect
+     women, and in both cases they have been excluded absolutely from
+     its provisions.
+
+     I remember, Mrs. Minor (turning to that lady), how we discussed
+     these questions in those early years. We weren't sleepy in our
+     talk as we were being cut off inch by inch from the protection of
+     the Constitution. I remember how Mrs. Stanton said in a public
+     address: "If you continue to deny to women the protection of this
+     amendment, you will finally come to the point when it will cease
+     to protect even black men," and we have lived to see that day.
+
+The address on The Coming Sex by Mrs. Eliza Archard Connor, a
+well-known journalist of New York, was declared by the press to be in
+its delivery "the gem of the convention." She said in part:
+
+     It is my conviction that women are the natural orators of the
+     race. They have keener sympathies and quicker intuitions than
+     men. They have a gift of language that not even their worst
+     enemies will deny, and these are just the qualities which go to
+     make the orator.... The time is coming when we shall need all our
+     eloquence, all our intellectual power and all our love. The day
+     is approaching when men will come with ballots in their hands,
+     begging women to use them....
+
+     Wherever you go, wake women up, tell them to learn everything.
+     Tell them to study with all their might history, civil
+     government, political economy, social and industrial science--for
+     the time is coming when they will need them all....
+
+     This is the work before us. This is the meaning of the desperate
+     unrest and unhappiness of women. It is this that has drawn us
+     here to enter our protest against the wicked, old, one-legged
+     order of things. Our honored Miss Anthony has gone through fire
+     and hail while she worked for her convictions. All of us have
+     wrought as best we might for the higher education of women, for
+     their pecuniary independence, for their civil and political
+     rights, fighting the world, the flesh and the devil.
+
+     My own work has been in the field of journalism. For nearly
+     twenty years I have faced here every form of disability because I
+     am a woman, have met defeat after defeat, till the iron has
+     entered my soul. Yet every day I have thanked God that I have
+     been permitted to bear my share in the tremendous struggle for
+     the development of women in the nineteenth century. Struggle
+     means development; it can come in no other way, and this will be
+     the grandest since creation began--the crowned, perfected woman.
+     For this the cry of womanhood has risen out of the depths through
+     the centuries. Up through agony and despair it has come, through
+     sin and shame, through poverty and martyrdom, through torture
+     which has wrung drops of blood from woman's lips, still up, up,
+     till it has reached the great white throne itself.
+
+The enrollment committee reported a list of about one hundred thousand
+names of persons asking for woman suffrage. The treasurer announced
+the receipts for 1888 to be $12,510. All of the expenses of the great
+International Council had been paid and a balance of nearly $300
+remained.
+
+The resolutions might be described as an epitomized recital of wrongs
+and a Bill of Rights.
+
+     WHEREAS, Women possessed and exercised the right of suffrage in
+     the inauguration of this Government; and,
+
+     WHEREAS, They were deprived of this right by the arbitrary Acts
+     of successive State Legislatures in violation of the original
+     compact as seen in the early constitutions; therefore,
+
+     _Resolved_, That it is the duty of the several States to make
+     prompt restitution of these ancient rights, recognized by
+     innumerable precedents in English history, and to-day by the
+     gradual extension of the suffrage over vast territories.
+
+     WHEREAS, Woman's title deed to an equal share in the inheritance
+     left her by the fathers of the Republic has been examined and
+     proved by able lawyers; and,
+
+     WHEREAS, This right is already exercised in some form in one
+     hundred localities in different parts of the world; therefore,
+
+     _Resolved_, That sex is no longer considered a bar to the
+     exercise of suffrage by civilized nations.
+
+     _Resolved_, That it is the duty of Congress to pass a declaratory
+     act, compelling the several States to establish a "republican
+     form of government" within their borders by securing to women
+     their right to vote, thus nullifying the fraudulent Acts of
+     Legislatures and making our Government homogeneous from Maine to
+     Oregon.
+
+     _Resolved_, That the question of enfranchising one-half the
+     people is superior to that of Indian treaties, admission of new
+     States, tariff, international copyright or any other subject
+     before the country, and that it is the foremost duty of the
+     Fiftieth Congress at this, its last session, to submit an
+     amendment to the Constitution forbidding States to disfranchise
+     citizens on account of sex.
+
+     _Resolved_, That as a question of ethics the difference between
+     putting a fraudulent ballot in the box and keeping a rightful
+     ballot out is nothing, and that we condemn the action which
+     prevents women from casting a ballot at any election as a
+     shameful evidence of the corruption of dominant political parties
+     in this country.
+
+     WHEREAS, The Legislature of Washington Territory has twice voted
+     for woman suffrage--women for the most part having gladly
+     accepted and exercised the right, Governor Squire in his report
+     to the Secretary of the Interior in 1884 having declared that it
+     met the approval of a large majority of the people; and,
+
+     WHEREAS, In 1887, after the women had voted for three and a half
+     years, the Territorial Supreme Court pronounced the law invalid
+     on the ground that the nature of the bill must be described in
+     the title of the act; and,
+
+     WHEREAS, In January, 1888, another bill passed by the Legislature
+     gave to this law an explicit title; and the bill, again granting
+     suffrage to women, was signed by Governor Semple, thus
+     triumphantly showing the approval of the people, the Legislature
+     and the Governor; and,
+
+     WHEREAS, The Territorial Supreme Court, in August, 1888, again
+     rendered a decision against the right of the women of the
+     Territory to vote, basing their decision upon the false
+     assumption that Congress had never delegated to the Territories
+     the right to define the status of their own voters; and,
+
+     WHEREAS, This decision strikes a blow at the fundamental powers
+     of the United States Congress, confounding laws delegated to the
+     Territories by the Organic Act of 1852, which vests in their
+     Legislatures the power to prescribe their qualifications for
+     voting and holding office--with State governments which limit
+     legislative enactments by constitutions of their own making--thus
+     setting at naught the will of the people; therefore,
+
+     _Resolved_, That we earnestly and respectfully petition Congress
+     that in passing an enabling act or acts for the admission of the
+     other Territories there be incorporated a clause allowing women
+     to vote for delegates to their constitutional conventions, and at
+     the election for the adoption of the constitution, in every one
+     where the Legislature has granted woman suffrage and such law has
+     not been repealed by a subsequent Legislature.
+
+     WHEREAS, In the year 1873 our leader, Susan B. Anthony, was
+     deprived of the right of trial by jury, by a Judge of the Supreme
+     Court of the United States, simply because she was a woman, it is
+     the duty of all women to resent the insult thus offered to
+     womanhood and demand of the men of this closing century of
+     constitutional government such condemnation of this infamous
+     decision of Judge Ward Hunt[74] as shall teach the coming
+     generation of voters that the welfare of the republic demands
+     that women be protected equally with men in the exercise of
+     citizenship; and,
+
+     WHEREAS, In the great Centennial Celebration of 1876 women were
+     denied all participation in the public proceedings commemorating
+     the birth of the Declaration of Independence, though they sought
+     earnestly and respectfully to declare their sentiments of loyalty
+     to the great principles of liberty and responsibility there
+     enunciated, they should now demand official recognition by
+     Congress and the State Legislature on all the Boards of
+     Commissioners which, at the public expense, are to initiate and
+     carry out the august ceremonials of the coming Constitutional
+     Celebration in New York in April, 1889, to the end that taxation
+     without representation shall no longer be acknowledged a just and
+     constitutional policy in this government nominally of the
+     _people_, therefore,
+
+     _Resolved_, That a committee be appointed by the National W. S.
+     A. to memorialize Congress on this subject, and to take such
+     other action as shall bring before the enlightened manhood of our
+     country their duty of chivalry no less than justice in this
+     important matter.[75]
+
+     WHEREAS, The question of woman's enfranchisement is fundamental
+     and of paramount importance; therefore,
+
+     _Resolved_, That, while the National Woman Suffrage Association
+     welcomes and claims the support of persons of all parties and
+     beliefs, it desires to strongly reassert the position which it
+     has held of being nonpartisan.
+
+A hearing was granted by the Senate Committee on Woman Suffrage the
+morning of January 24. Mrs. Hooker, Mrs. Minor, Mrs. Duniway, Mrs.
+Johns, the Rev. Olympia Brown, the Rev. Miss Shaw and Miss Alice Stone
+Blackwell were introduced to the committee by Miss Anthony, and each
+from a different standpoint presented the arguments for the submission
+of a Sixteenth Amendment enfranchising women.
+
+On February 7, Senator Blair reported for the committee--Senators
+Charles B. Farwell (Ill.), Jonathan Chace (R. I.), Edward O. Wolcott
+(Col.), in favor of the amendment. After an able and exhaustive
+argument the report closed as follows:
+
+     Unless this Government shall be made and preserved truly
+     republican in form by the enfranchisement of woman, the great
+     reforms which her ballot would accomplish may never be; the
+     demoralization and disintegration now proceeding in the body
+     politic are not likely soon to be arrested. Corruption of the
+     male suffrage is already a well-nigh fatal disease; intemperance
+     has no sufficient foe in the law-making power; a republican form
+     of government can not survive half-slave and half-free.
+
+     The ballot is withheld from women because men are not willing to
+     part with one-half the sovereign power. There is no other real
+     cause for the continued perpetration of this unnatural tyranny.
+
+     Enfranchise women or this republic will steadily advance to the
+     same destruction, the same ignoble and tragic catastrophe, which
+     has engulfed the male republics of history. Let us establish a
+     government in which both men and women shall be free indeed. Then
+     shall the republic be perpetual.
+
+The women of the nation are deeply indebted to Senator Blair for his
+able and persistent efforts in their behalf. Year after year, in the
+midst of the great pressure of duties connected with his office, he
+carefully prepared these constitutional and legal reports knowing that
+they could have only the indirect results of educating public
+sentiment and contributing to the history of this great movement for
+the political rights of half the race.
+
+The other members of the committee, Senators Zebulon B. Vance (N. C.),
+Joseph E. Brown (Ga.), J. B. Beck (Ky.), announced that they should
+present a minority report in opposition, but as "Letters from a
+Chimney Corner," by Mrs. Caroline F. Corbin, and "The Law of Woman
+Life," by Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney, apparently had been exhausted, and as
+no other woman had provided them with the necessary ideas, the report
+never materialized. Senator Vance, however, as chairman of this Select
+Suffrage Committee asked for a clerk at this time, to be paid out of
+the contingent fund.
+
+The House Judiciary Committee granted a hearing January 28, which was
+addressed by Miss Anthony, Mrs. Hooker, Mrs. Duniway, Mrs. Minor, the
+Rev. Olympia Brown, Mrs. Colby, Miss Lavina A. Hatch (Mass.) and Mrs.
+Ella M. Marble (Minn.). The committee took no action.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[73] It is a loss to posterity that Miss Shaw never writes her
+addresses. She is beyond question the leading woman orator of this
+generation, and is not surpassed in power by any of the men.
+
+[74] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, p. 647.
+
+[75] This was done, but no representation was allowed women in the
+celebration.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1890.
+
+
+The winter of 1890 brought the usual crowd of eminent women to
+Washington to attend the Twenty-second national convention of the
+suffrage association, February 18-21. As the president, Mrs. Elizabeth
+Cady Stanton, was to start for Europe on the 19th, the congressional
+hearings took place previous to the convention and consisted only of
+her address. The Senate hearing on February 8 was held for the first
+time in the new room set apart for the Select Committee on Woman
+Suffrage, but much objection was made because on account of its size
+only a small audience could be admitted. Senators Vance, Farwell,
+Blair and John B. Allen of the new State of Washington were present.
+Mrs. Stanton said in part:
+
+     For almost a quarter of a century a body of intelligent and
+     law-abiding women have held annual conventions in Washington and
+     made their appeals before committees of the House and the Senate,
+     asking to be recognized as citizens of this Republic. A whole
+     generation of distinguished members, who have each in turn given
+     us aid and encouragement, have passed away--Seward, Sumner,
+     Wilson, Giddings, Wade, Garfield, Morton and Sargent--with
+     Hamlin, Butler and Julian still living, have all declared our
+     demands just, our arguments unanswerable.
+
+     In consulting at an early day as to the form in which our claims
+     should be presented, some said by an amendment to the
+     Constitution, others said the Constitution as it is, in spirit
+     and letter, is broad enough to protect the rights of every
+     citizen under our flag. But when the war came and we saw that it
+     took three amendments to make the slaves of the South
+     full-fledged citizens, we thought it would take at least one to
+     make woman's calling and election sure. So we asked for a
+     Sixteenth Amendment. But learned lawyers, Judges and Congressmen
+     took the ground that women were already enfranchised by the
+     Fourteenth Amendment. The House minority report in 1871, signed
+     by Benjamin F. Butler and William Loughridge, held that view. It
+     is an able, unanswerable argument on the whole question, based on
+     the oft-repeated principles of the Republican party at that
+     time. It stands to-day a living monument of the grossest
+     inconsistencies of which the Republican party ever was
+     guilty.[76] ...
+
+     We can not play fast and loose with the eternal principle of
+     justice without being caught sooner or later in the net of our
+     own weaving. The legitimate results of the war have been all
+     frittered away by political maneuvering. While Northern statesmen
+     have made a football of the rights of 12,000,000 women as voters,
+     and by Supreme Court decisions driven them from the polls, why
+     arraign the men in the South for treating 1,000,000 freedmen in
+     the same way? Are the rights of that class of citizens more
+     sacred than ours? Are the violations of the fundamental
+     principles of our Government in their case more dangerous than in
+     ours?...
+
+     In addressing those who already enjoy the right of suffrage, one
+     naturally would suppose that it would not be necessary to enlarge
+     on the advantages of having a voice in deciding the laws and the
+     rulers under which one lives. And neither would it if each member
+     of this committee understood that woman's wants and needs are
+     similar to his own; that the cardinal virtues belong to her as
+     well as to him; that personal dignity, the power of
+     self-protection, are as important for her as for him; that woman
+     loves justice, equality, liberty, and wishes the right to give
+     her consent to the Government under which she lives, as much as
+     man does. Matthew Arnold says: "The first desire of every
+     cultured mind is to take part in the great work of government."
+     ...
+
+     If we would rouse new respect for womanhood in the hearts of the
+     masses, we must place woman in a position to respect herself,
+     which she can never do as long as her political status is beneath
+     that of the most degraded, ignorant classes of men. To make women
+     the political equals of their sons, or even of their gardeners
+     and coachmen, would add new dignity to their position; and to
+     change our laws and constitutions in harmony with the new status
+     would have its influence on the large class of young men now
+     devoting themselves to the study of the law. Lord Brougham said
+     long ago that the Common Law of England for women, and all the
+     statutes based on such principles, were a disgrace to the
+     Christianity and civilization of the nineteenth century. Do you
+     think our sons can rise from such studies with a high ideal of
+     womanhood? And with what feelings do you suppose women themselves
+     read these laws, and the articles in the State constitutions,
+     rating them with the disreputable and feeble-minded classes? Can
+     you not understand the dignity, the pride, the new-born
+     self-respect which would thrill the hearts of the women of this
+     nation in their enfranchisement? It would elevate their sphere of
+     action and every department of labor in which they are occupied;
+     it would give new force to their words as teachers, reformers and
+     missionaries, new strength to their work as guardians of the
+     young, the wayward and the unfortunate. It would transform them
+     from slaves to sovereigns, crowned with the rights of
+     citizenship, with the ballot, that scepter of power, in their own
+     right hands....
+
+     If there are any who do not wish to vote, that is the strongest
+     reason for their enfranchisement. If all love of liberty has been
+     quenched in their souls by their degraded condition, the duties
+     of citizenship and the responsibility of self-government should
+     be laid upon them at once, for their pitiful indifference is
+     merely the result of their disfranchisement. Would that I could
+     awake in the minds of my countrywomen the full significance of
+     this demand for the right of suffrage; what it is to be queens in
+     their own right, intrusted with the power of self-government,
+     possessed of all the privileges and immunities of American
+     citizens....
+
+     Whoever heard of an heir apparent to a throne in the Old World
+     abdicating her rights because some conservative politician or
+     austere bishop doubted woman's capacity to govern? History
+     affords no such example. Those who have had the right to a throne
+     have invariably taken possession of it and, against intriguing
+     cardinals, ambitious nobles and jealous kinsmen, fought even to
+     the death to maintain the royal prerogatives which by inheritance
+     were theirs. When I hear American women, descendants of
+     Jefferson, Hancock and Adams, say they do not want to vote, I
+     feel that the blood of the revolutionary heroes must long since
+     have ceased to flow in their veins.
+
+     Suppose when the day dawned for Victoria to be crowned Queen of
+     England she had gone before the House of Commons and begged that
+     such terrible responsibilities might not be laid upon her,
+     declaring that she had not the moral stamina nor intellectual
+     ability for the position; that her natural delicacy and
+     refinement shrank from the encounter; that she was looking
+     forward to the all-absorbing duties of domestic life, to a
+     husband, children, home, to her influence in the social circle
+     where the Christian graces are best employed. Suppose with a
+     tremulous voice and a few stray tears in her blue eyes, her head
+     drooping on one side, she had said she knew nothing of the
+     science of government; that a crown did not befit a woman's brow;
+     that she had not the physical strength even to wave her nation's
+     flag, much less to hold the scepter of power over so vast an
+     empire; that in case of war she could not fight and hence could
+     not reign, as there must be force behind the throne, and this
+     force must be centered in the hand which governed. What would her
+     Parliament have thought? What would other nations have
+     thought?...
+
+     None of you would admit, honorable gentlemen, that all the great
+     principles of government which center round our theories of
+     justice, liberty and equality in favor of individual sovereignty
+     have not as yet produced as high a type of womanhood as has a
+     monarchy in the Old World. We have a large number of women as
+     well fitted as Victoria for the most responsible positions in the
+     Government, who could fill the highest places with equal dignity
+     and wisdom.
+
+     There is no subject more intensely interesting to men than the
+     science of government, and when their wives are intelligent on
+     all the questions it comprises they will be far more valuable
+     companions than they are to-day. Marriage means companionship, a
+     similarity of tastes and opinions, and where one of the parties
+     has no interest in or knowledge of those subjects most absorbing
+     to the other, the bonds of union necessarily are weakened. So
+     long as woman's thought is centered in personal and family
+     aggrandizement, her strongest influence will be used to keep
+     man's interest there also. The virtue of patriotism would be far
+     greater among men, their devotion to the public good far more
+     earnest, if the influences of home life were not continually
+     drawing them into a narrow selfishness.
+
+     Women naturally take no interest in questions where their
+     opinions have no weight, in a sphere of action from which they
+     are excluded. They are not supposed to know what is necessary for
+     the public good, hence how could they influence their husbands to
+     make that their first duty when in public life? But when women
+     are enfranchised their interest in the State will deepen. They
+     will see that the welfare of their own children depends as much
+     on the conditions of the outside world as on the environments of
+     their own homes. This settled discontent of women is exerting an
+     insidious influence which is undermining the very foundations of
+     the home as well as the State. We must rouse them to new hopes,
+     new ambitions, new aspirations, through the enjoyment of the
+     blessings of freedom and self-government.
+
+     Moreover, an active participation in the practical duties of
+     government by educated women would bring a new and needed element
+     to the State. We can not overestimate the influence women exert,
+     whether for good or ill, hence the immense importance of their
+     having right views on all questions of public interest and some
+     knowledge of the requirements of practical politics. But their
+     power to-day is wholly irresponsible and hence dangerous. Lay on
+     them the responsibility of legislating, with all the criticism
+     and odium of a constituency and a party, in case they make some
+     blunder, and you render them wiser in judgment and more
+     deliberate in action. To secure this large disfranchised class as
+     allies to one of the leading parties would be a wise measure for
+     that party and bring a new element of morality and intelligence
+     into the body politic. Women are now taking a more active part in
+     public affairs than ever before and, with political freedom,
+     always will be the reserved moral power to sustain great men in
+     their best endeavors.
+
+An interesting conversation followed. Chairman Zebulon B. Vance (N.
+C.) asked Mrs. Stanton if women would be willing to go to war if they
+had the ballot. She answered that they would decide whether there
+should be war. He inquired whether women would not lose their refining
+influence and moral qualities if they engaged in men's work. She
+replied that there would have to be a definition of "men's work" and
+that she found the latter in many avocations, such as washing,
+cooking, and selling needles and tape, which might be considered the
+work of women. "The moral qualities," she said, "are more apt to grow
+when a human being is useful, and they increase in the woman who helps
+to support the family rather than in the one who gives herself to
+idleness and fashionable frivolities. The consideration of questions
+of legislation, finance, free trade, etc., certainly would not degrade
+woman, nor is her refinement so evanescent a virtue that it could be
+swept away by some work which she might do with her hands. Queen
+Victoria looked as dignified and refined in opening Parliament as any
+lady one ever had seen."
+
+Miss Susan B. Anthony, who was never so happy as when her beloved
+friend was scoring a victory, said there would always be a division of
+labor, in time of war as in time of peace. Women would do their share
+in the hospitals and elsewhere, and if they were enfranchised, the
+only difference would be that they would be paid for their services
+and pensioned at the close of the war. Mrs. Colby reminded the
+committee that the report of the U. S. Commissioner of Labor showed
+that the largest proportion of immoral women came from home life and
+the more feminine occupations.
+
+Mrs. Stanton drew from the chairman the admission that his wife wanted
+the franchise, and he laughingly admitted that he had had the worst of
+the discussion. Senator Allen expressed himself in favor of woman
+suffrage, and Senator Charles B. Farwell said, "The suffragists have
+logic, argument, everything on their side."
+
+Another heaping was granted by the Senate Committee, February 24, when
+they were addressed by the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, Mrs. Sallie Clay
+Bennett, Mrs. Virginia L. Minor and Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby.
+
+Later in the session Senator Henry W. Blair (N. H.) presented the
+majority report of the Committee (No. 1576), the usual strong,
+dignified statement. It closed as follows: "To deny the submission of
+this joint resolution to the action of the Legislatures of the States
+is analogous to the denial of the right of justice in the courts. It
+is to say that no plaintiff shall bring his suit; no claimant of
+justice shall be heard; and whatever may be the result to the friends
+of woman suffrage when they reach the Legislatures of the States, it
+is, in our belief, the duty of Congress to submit the joint resolution
+and give them the opportunity to try their case."
+
+Mrs. Stanton presented the same address before the House Judiciary
+Committee, February 11, with the result that for the first time in
+history a majority House report in favor of a Sixteenth Amendment was
+submitted. It was presented by Lucien B. Caswell (Wis.) and said in
+conclusion: "The disfranchisement of twelve millions of people, who
+are citizens of the United States, should command from us an immediate
+action. Since the women of this country are unjustly deprived of a
+right so essential to complete citizenship in a republic as the
+elective franchise, common justice requires that we should submit the
+proposition for a change in the fundamental law to the State
+Legislatures, where the correction can be made."[77]
+
+The fiftieth birthday of Susan B. Anthony had been celebrated in New
+York City in 1870 by a large number of prominent men and women, the
+first instance of the kind on record. It had been decided by her
+friends that her seventieth birthday should receive a similar
+recognition, but that it should be more national in character. The
+arrangements were made by Mrs. May Wright Sewall and Mrs. Rachel
+Foster Avery, and on the evening of February 15 a distinguished
+company of two hundred sat around the banquet tables in the great
+dining-room of the Riggs House. Miss Anthony occupied the place of
+honor, on her right Senator Blair and Mrs. Stanton, on her left Robert
+Purvis, Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker and Mrs. Sewall, who presided. In
+addition to the after-dinner speeches of these distinguished guests
+there were clever and sparkling responses to toasts by the Rev. Anna
+Howard Shaw, Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage, Miss Phoebe W. Couzins, the
+Rev. Frederick A. Hinckley, Representative J. A. Pickler (S. D.), Mrs.
+Colby, Mrs. Stanton's two daughters--Mrs. Harriot Blatch and Mrs.
+Margaret Lawrence--Mrs. Laura Ormiston Chant of England, and others.
+Mrs. Stanton began her address by saying: "If there is one part of my
+life which gives me more intense satisfaction than another, it is my
+friendship of more than forty years' standing with Susan B. Anthony."
+The key-note to Miss Anthony's touching response was struck in the
+opening sentence: "The thing I most hope for is that, should I stay on
+this planet twenty years longer, I still may be worthy of the
+wonderful respect you have manifested for me to-night."
+
+Among the more than two hundred letters, poems and telegrams received
+were those of George William Curtis, William Lloyd Garrison, John G.
+Whittier, George F. Hoar, Lucy Stone, Frances E. Willard, Speaker
+Thomas B. Reed, Mrs. John A. Logan, Thomas W. Palmer, the Rev. Olympia
+Brown, Harriet Hosmer, Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, Alice Williams
+Brotherton, Charles Nordhoff, Frank G. Carpenter, U. S. Senator Henry
+L. Dawes, Neal Dow, Laura M. Johns, T. V. Powderly and Leonora M.
+Barry. Most of the prominent newspapers in the country contained
+editorial congratulations, and the _Woman's Tribune_ issued a special
+birthday edition.
+
+The convention opened in Metzerott's Music Hall, February 18, 1890,
+continuing four days. The feature of this occasion which will
+distinguish it in history was the formal union of the National and the
+American Associations under the joint name. For the past twenty-one
+years two distinctive societies had been in existence, both national
+as to scope but differing as to methods. Negotiations had been in
+progress for several years toward a uniting of the forces and, the
+preliminaries having been satisfactorily arranged by committees from
+the two bodies,[78] the officers and members of both participated in
+this national convention of 1890.
+
+Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the newly-elected president of the united
+societies, faced a brilliant assemblage of men and women as she arose
+to make the opening address. Having declared that in going to England
+as president of the National-American Association she felt more
+honored than if sent as minister plenipotentiary of the United States,
+she spoke to a set of resolutions which she presented to the
+convention.[79] After reviewing the history of the movement for the
+rights of woman and naming some of its brilliant leaders she said:
+
+     For fifty years we have been plaintiffs in the courts of justice,
+     but as the bench, the bar and the jury are all men, we are
+     nonsuited every time. Some men tell us we must be patient and
+     persuasive; that we must be womanly. My friends, what is man's
+     idea of womanliness? It is to have a manner which pleases
+     him--quiet, deferential, submissive, approaching him as a subject
+     does a master. He wants no self-assertion on our part, no
+     defiance, no vehement arraignment of him as a robber and a
+     criminal. While the grand motto, "Resistance to tyrants is
+     obedience to God," has echoed and re-echoed around the globe,
+     electrifying the lovers of liberty in every latitude and making
+     crowned heads tremble on their thrones; while every right
+     achieved by the oppressed has been wrung from tyrants by force;
+     while the darkest page on human history is the outrages on
+     women--shall men still tell us to be patient, persuasive,
+     womanly?
+
+     What do we know as yet of the womanly? The women we have seen
+     thus far have been, with rare exceptions, the mere echoes of men.
+     Man has spoken in the State, the Church and the Home, and made
+     the codes, creeds and customs which govern every relation in
+     life, and women have simply echoed all his thoughts and walked in
+     the paths he prescribed. And this they call womanly! When Joan of
+     Arc led the French army to victory I dare say the carpet knights
+     of England thought her unwomanly. When Florence Nightingale, in
+     search of blankets for the soldiers in the Crimean War, cut her
+     way through all orders and red tape, commanded with vehemence and
+     determination those who guarded the supplies to "unlock the doors
+     and not talk to her of proper authorities when brave men were
+     shivering in their beds," no doubt she was called unwomanly. To
+     me, "unlock the doors" sounds better than any words of
+     circumlocution, however sweet and persuasive, and I consider that
+     she took the most womanly way of accomplishing her object.
+     Patience and persuasiveness are beautiful virtues in dealing with
+     children and feeble-minded adults, but those who have the gift of
+     reason and understand the principles of justice, it is our duty
+     to compel to act up to the highest light that is in them, and as
+     promptly as possible.
+
+Mrs. Stanton urged that women should have more power in church
+management, saying:
+
+     As women are taking an active part in pressing on the
+     consideration of Congress many narrow sectarian measures, such as
+     more rigid Sunday laws, the stopping of travel, the distribution
+     of the mail on that day, and the introduction of the name of God
+     into the Constitution; and as this action on the part of some
+     women is used as an argument for the disfranchisement of all, I
+     hope this convention will declare that the Woman Suffrage
+     Association is opposed to all union of Church and State, and
+     pledges itself as far as possible to maintain the secular nature
+     of our Government. As Sunday is the only day that the laboring
+     man can escape from the cities, to stop the street-cars,
+     omnibuses and railroad trains would indeed be a lamentable
+     exercise of arbitrary authority. No, no, the duty of the State is
+     to protect those who do the work of the world, in the largest
+     liberty, and instead of shutting them up in their gloomy tenement
+     houses on Sunday, to open wide the parks, horticultural gardens,
+     museums, libraries, galleries of art and the music halls where
+     they can listen to the divine melodies of the great masters.
+
+She demanded that women declare boldly and decisively on all the vital
+issues of the day, and said:
+
+     In this way we make ourselves mediums through which the great
+     souls of the past may speak again. The moment we begin to fear
+     the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in
+     us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak,
+     the divine floods of light and life flow no longer into our
+     souls. Every truth we see is ours to give the world, not to keep
+     for ourselves alone, for in so doing we cheat humanity out of
+     their rights and check our own development.
+
+As Mrs. Stanton finished she introduced her daughter, Mrs. Blatch, a
+resident of England, who in a few impressive remarks showed that on
+the great socialistic questions of the day--capital and labor, woman
+suffrage, race prejudice--England was liberal and the United States
+conservative; that the latter had beautiful ideas but did not apply
+them, and tended too much to the worship of legislation.
+
+The Hon. Wm. Dudley Foulke, retiring president of the American
+Association, an uncompromising advocate of woman's enfranchisement,
+then made a strong and scholarly address in the course of which he
+said:
+
+     The fundamental rights of self-government, the right of each man
+     to cast his single vote and have it counted as it is cast, is of
+     greater and more lasting importance than any of the temporary
+     consequences which flow from the result of any election. Beyond
+     all matters of expediency and good administration lies the great
+     question of human liberty and equality, which can only be
+     maintained by the uncorrupted equal suffrage of every citizen;
+     and so sacred is this in the eyes of the law that years of
+     penitentiary service are prescribed for the interference with the
+     right of a single human being of the male sex to cast the vote
+     which the law allows him.
+
+     But there may be a moral guilt outside the law, of a character
+     quite similar to that which is so punished when it comes within
+     the terms of the statute, and it may be the crime, not of a
+     single lawbreaker, but of the entire community that establishes
+     the constitutions and enacts the statutes, which denies these
+     equal rights to citizens who are subject to equal burdens.
+     Wherever the rule of power is substituted for the just and
+     equitable principle that all who are subject to government should
+     have a voice in controlling it, we are guilty under the form of
+     law of the same violation of the just rights of others for which
+     the corruptor of elections and the forger of tally-sheets is
+     tried, convicted and incarcerated. Yet from the remotest times
+     the world has done this thing, for equal rights have never been
+     conceded to women, and so warped are our convictions by custom
+     and prejudice that a denial of their political equality seems as
+     natural as the breath we draw....
+
+     Paternalism in government, which seeks to do good to the people
+     against their will, is wrong in the Czar of Russia and in old
+     King George, but is quite right and just when it affects only our
+     wives, sisters and daughters! They have everything they need, why
+     ask the ballot? Ah, my friends, so long as they have not the
+     right to determine the thing they need, so long as the ultimate
+     sovereignty remains with men to say what is good and what is bad
+     for them, they are deprived of that which we, as men, esteem the
+     most precious of all rights. I suppose there never was a time
+     when men did not believe that women had everything they ought to
+     want; that they had as much as was good for them. The woman must
+     obey in consideration of the kind protection which her lord
+     vouchsafes to her. The wife's property ought to belong to the
+     husband, because upon him the law casts the burden of sustaining
+     the family. There must be a ruler, and the husband ought to be
+     that one. But this is the same principle which, during thousands
+     of years, maintained the divine right of kings. When we apply it
+     to our system of suffrage the number of sovereigns is increased,
+     that is all. It is a recognition of the divine right of man to
+     legislate for himself and woman too. It is only a difference in
+     the number of autocrats and the manner in which their decrees are
+     promulgated....
+
+     By what argument can a man defend his own suffrage as a right and
+     not concede an equal right to woman? A just man ought to accord
+     to every other human being, even his own wife, the rights which
+     he demands himself.
+
+     "But she has her sphere and she ought not go beyond it." My
+     friend, who gave you the right to determine what that sphere
+     should be? If nature prescribes it, nature will carry out her own
+     ordinances without your prohibitory legislation. I have the
+     greatest contempt for the sort of legislation which seeks to
+     enable nature to carry out her own immutable laws. I would have
+     very little respect for any decree, enacted with whatever
+     solemnity, which should prescribe that an object shall fall
+     towards the earth and not from it; and I have just as little
+     respect for any statute of man which enacts that women shall
+     continue to love and care for their children by shutting them out
+     from political action and preferment lest they should neglect the
+     duties of the household....
+
+     "But," say you, "woman is already adequately represented. She
+     does not form a separate class. She has no interests different
+     from those of her husband, brother or father." These arguments
+     have been used even by so eminent an authority as John Bright. Is
+     it indeed a fact? Wherever woman owns property which she would
+     relieve from unjust taxation; wherever she has a son whom she
+     would preserve from the temptations of intemperance, or a
+     daughter from the enticements of a libertine, or a husband from
+     the conscriptions of war, she has a separate interest which she
+     is entitled to protect.
+
+     "But she can control legislation by her influence." If it were
+     proposed to take away our right to vote, we would think it a
+     satisfactory answer that our influence would still remain? If she
+     has influence she is entitled to that and her vote too. You have
+     no right to burn down a man's house because you leave him his
+     lot.
+
+     "But woman does not want the suffrage." How do you know? have you
+     given her an opportunity of saying so? Wherever the right has
+     been accorded it has been generally exercised, and the best proof
+     of her wishes is the actual use which she makes of the ballot
+     when she has it. But it makes no difference whether all women
+     want to vote or whether most women want to vote, so long as there
+     is one woman who insists upon this simple right, the justice of
+     America can not afford to deny it....
+
+At the close of Mr. Foulke's address Mrs. Stanton was obliged to leave
+in order to reach New York City in time for her steamer. The entire
+audience arose, the women waving handkerchiefs and the men joining in
+three farewell cheers.
+
+One splendid address followed another, morning and evening, while the
+afternoons were occupied with business meetings, and even here there
+were many little speeches which were worthy of preservation. Among
+them was one of Miss Anthony's, in which she said: "If it is
+necessary, I will fight forty years more to make our platform free for
+the Christian to stand upon, whether she be a Catholic and counts her
+beads, or a Protestant of the straightest orthodox sect, just as I
+have fought for the rights of the 'infidels' the last forty years.
+These are the principles I want to maintain--that our platform may be
+kept as broad as the universe, that upon it may stand the
+representatives of all creeds and of no creeds--Jew and Christian,
+Protestant and Catholic, Gentile and Mormon, believer and atheist."
+
+Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker (Conn.) discussed The Centennial of 1892,
+demanding the recognition of women. Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell (N. Y.)
+spoke on the Present, the Destiny of To-day. Mrs. Ormiston Chant
+(Eng.) depicted the glory of The Coming Woman. Mrs. Carrie Chapman
+Catt made her first appearance on the national platform with an
+address on The Symbol of Liberty, describing political conditions with
+a keen knowledge of the facts and showing their need of the
+intelligence, morality and independence of women. The subject selected
+by Miss Phoebe W. Couzins, herself an office-holder, was Woman's
+Influence in Official Government.
+
+Henry B. Blackwell made a strong speech on Woman Suffrage a Growth of
+Civilization. He read a letter from Lucy Stone, his wife, who was to
+have spoken on The Progress of Women but was prevented by illness, in
+which she said: "The time is full of encouragement for us. We look
+back to our small beginnings and over the many years of constant
+endeavor to secure for women the application of the principles which
+are the foundation of a representative government. Now we are a host.
+Both Houses of Congress and the legislative bodies in nearly all the
+States, have our questions before them. So has the civilized world.
+Surely at no distant day the sense of justice which exists in
+everybody will secure our claim, and we shall have at last a truly
+representative government, of the people, by the people and for the
+people. We may, therefore, rejoicing in what is already gained, look
+forward with hope to the future."
+
+A large audience listened to the address of Mrs. Julia Ward Howe on
+The Chivalry of Reform, during which she said:
+
+     The political enfranchisement of woman has long been sought upon
+     the ground of abstract right and justice. This ground is surely
+     the soundest and safest basis for any claim to rest upon. But
+     mankind, after yielding a general obedience to the moral law,
+     will reserve for themselves a certain freedom in its application
+     to particular things. Even in so imperative a matter as the
+     salvation of their own souls they will not be content with
+     weights and measures. The touch of sentiment must come in,
+     uplifting what law knocks down, freeing what it trammels,
+     satisfying man's love for freedom by ministering to his sense of
+     beauty. When this subtle power joins itself to the demonstrations
+     of reason, the victory is sure and lasting.
+
+     It is in the grand order of these ideas that I stand here to
+     advocate the enfranchisement of my sex. Morally, socially,
+     intellectually equal with men, it is right that we should be
+     politically equal with them in a society which claims to
+     recognize and uphold one equal humanity. I do not say it is _our_
+     right. I say it is right--God's right and the world's.
+
+     In the name of high sentiment then, in the name of all that good
+     men profess, I ask that the gracious act may be consummated which
+     will admit us to the place that henceforth befits us, that of
+     equal participants with you in the sovereignty of the people. Do
+     this in the spirit of that mercy whose quality is not strained.
+     Remember that the neglect of justice brings with it the direst
+     retribution. Make your debt to us a debt of honor, and pay it in
+     that spirit; if you do not pay it, dread the proportions which
+     its arrears will assume. Remember that he who has the power to do
+     justice and refrains from doing it, will presently find it doing
+     itself, to his no small discomfiture....
+
+     Women, trained for the moral warfare of the time, armed with the
+     fine instincts which are their birthright, are not doomed to sit
+     forever as mere spectators in these great encounters of society.
+     They are to deserve the crown as well as to bestow it; to meet
+     the powers of darkness with the powers of light; to bring their
+     potent aid to the eternal conquest of right. And let me say here
+     to those women who not only hang back from this encounter but who
+     throw obstacles in the way of true reform and progress, that the
+     shallow ground upon which they stand is within the belt of the
+     moral earthquake, and that what they build upon it will be
+     overthrown....
+
+The Rev. Miss Shaw, in an address filled with humor as well as logic,
+treated of Our Unconscious Allies, among whom she included clergymen
+who oppose equal suffrage, the women remonstrants with their weak
+documents, the colleges which try to keep out girls, and the many
+cases of outrage and wrong committed by "our motherless Government."
+The Rev. Olympia Brown replied to the question, Where is the Mistake?
+With great power and earnestness she pointed out the mistakes made by
+our Government during the century of its existence and demanded the
+correction of the greatest one of all--the exclusion of women.
+
+The address of Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace (Ind.), A Whole Humanity,
+aroused the universal sympathy and appreciation of the audience,
+permeated as it was with the spirit of love, charity and justice:
+
+     ....The animus of this movement for woman's freedom has been
+     mistaken in the idea that it meant competition between women and
+     men; to my thought it simply means co-operation in the work of
+     the world. The man is to bring the physical forces, and he has
+     done that work magnificently. I never go over this continent and
+     see what men have done, that I do not feel like bowing my head in
+     reverence to their wisdom, their strength, their power, and I
+     think the nearest thing we see to divinity is the incarnation of
+     the God-head in a grand good man.
+
+     But there are other forces which must be brought into subjection
+     to humanity before we reach the highest development, and those
+     are the moral and spiritual forces. That is woman's share
+     largely, not that I exempt man, but pre-eminently woman is the
+     teacher of the race; in virtue of her motherhood she is the
+     character builder; she forms the soul life; she rears the
+     generations. It is not part of woman's work to contend with man
+     for supremacy over the material forces. It was never told to
+     woman that she should earn her bread by the sweat of her brow.
+     That was man's curse. He was to earn his bread and woman's too,
+     if he faithfully performed his duty, and we are not "dependents"
+     even if he does that. I never allow a man to say in my presence
+     that he "supports" his wife, and I want every woman to take the
+     same position. I would correct any man and tell him he was
+     mistaken in his phraseology if he should say anything of that
+     kind. You have something different to do, my sisters. You shall
+     hate evil, was said to woman, and evil shall hate you. There
+     shall go forth from you an influence which shall ultimately
+     exterminate evil.... The men of this nation would never have made
+     the success they have in the material world, if some stronger
+     force had limited them on all sides.
+
+     I said a moment ago that I do not like the idea of dependence of
+     women on men, or the dependence of men on women. I do not like
+     the word independence, but I do like the word interdependence. It
+     is said of this beautiful country, "United we stand, divided we
+     fall." It is the same with men and women. Men without women would
+     go back to barbarism, and women without men would be most
+     frivolous and vain. If we work not in competition but in
+     co-operation and harmony we shall bring the race to its ultimate
+     inheritance, which is rulership over the universe.
+
+     Now to deprive woman of the right to express her thought with
+     authority at the ballot-box in regard to the laws under which she
+     is governed, puts a mark of imbecility upon her at once. So far
+     as the Government is concerned we are held in perpetual tutelage,
+     we are minors always, and while good men will act justly towards
+     women, it is an excuse for every bad and foolish man to oppress
+     them, and every unfledged boy to make them the subject of
+     ridicule....
+
+     I believe the great majority of American men love our free
+     institutions; I believe they have hope and pride in the future of
+     this nation; but as sure as you live, every argument you use
+     against the enfranchisement of women deals a death-blow against
+     the fundamental principle which lies at the base of our
+     government, and it is treason to bring an argument against it.
+
+     Another thing which you permit is reacting now to the detriment
+     of our free institutions; if from prejudice or expediency you
+     think you have a right to withhold the ballot from the women of
+     this nation, you have but to go one step further and deprive any
+     other class of a right they already have, should you think it
+     expedient to do so. It is beginning to bear its fruit now in your
+     elections. You are becoming demoralized; ballots are bought and
+     sold; you have your blocks of five; and in some entire
+     communities the men are deprived of the right of suffrage. It is
+     simply a question of time how long you will be able to maintain
+     the freedom you cherish for yourselves.
+
+     If we women are citizens, if we are governed, if we are a part of
+     the people, according to the plain declarations of the
+     fundamental principles which underlie this nation, we are as much
+     entitled to vote as you, and you can not make an argument against
+     us that would not disfranchise yourselves.
+
+     I feel this phase of the question more acutely than any other
+     because I think from a fundamental standpoint the progress of the
+     race is bound up in republican institutions. It is not a question
+     of woman's rights, it is a question of human rights, of the
+     success or failure of these institutions, and the more highly
+     cultured a woman is the more deeply she feels this
+     humiliation....
+
+     I do not think it weakness to say that women love, and that love
+     predominates in their nature, because, my friends, love is the
+     only immortal principle in the universe. Love is to endure
+     forever. Faith will be swallowed up in knowledge after a while,
+     and hope in fruition, but love abides forever. It is peculiarly
+     an attribute of our feminine nature to love our offspring over
+     everything else; for them we would peril our lives; and for the
+     men of this nation, under our form of government, to say to us
+     that we shall not have the power which will enable us through
+     laws and legislation to decide the conditions which shall
+     surround them, and throw the mother love around these children
+     from the cradle to the grave, is an inhuman use of their
+     authority....
+
+The Washington _Star_ said: "If the first day of the convention was
+Mrs. Stanton's, the rest have belonged to Miss Anthony, 'Saint Susan,'
+as her followers love to call her. As vice-president-at-large she
+presided over every session, and never was in better voice or more
+enthusiastic spirits. As she sat by the table clad in a handsome dress
+of black satin, she was the life and soul of the meetings.... She does
+not make much noise with her gavel,[80] nor does she have to use it
+often, but she manages to keep the organization over which she
+presides in a state of order that puts to shame many a convention of
+the other sex. Business is transacted in proper shape, and every
+important measure receives its due share of attention. There is no
+filibustering. The speakers who have been invited to address the
+convention are listened to with attention and interest. When speeches
+are on the program they are made. When resolutions are desired they
+are presented, discussed, rejected or adopted as the case may be....
+There are no attempts to push through unsuitable measures in haste and
+without the necessary attention. If any of those who have not attended
+the meetings of the association are of the opinion that serious
+breaches of parliamentary usage are committed through ignorance or
+with intent, they are laboring under a decided delusion."
+
+The business meeting devoted to a discussion of Our Attitude toward
+Political Parties proved to be the most exciting of the series. Among
+the speakers were Mr. Foulke, Mrs. Sewall, Mrs. Howe, Miss Blackwell,
+Mrs. Blake, the Rev. Mr. Hinckley, Mrs. Alice M. A. Pickler, Mrs.
+Ellen Sully Fray, Mr. Blackwell, Miss Shaw, Mrs. Martha McClellan
+Brown, the Rev. Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Martha E. Root and Miss Mary Desha.
+Without exception the sentiment was in favor of keeping strictly aloof
+from all political alliances. It was pointed out that repeatedly the
+promises made by politicians were violated and the planks in the
+platforms ignored; it was shown that the suffrage can be gained only
+through the assistance of men in all parties; and it was proved
+beyond doubt that in the past, where members had allied themselves
+with a political party it had injured the cause of woman suffrage.
+
+In addition to the speakers already mentioned Wm. Lloyd Garrison, Col.
+D. R. Anthony, Ellen Battelle Dietrick, Laura Clay, the Hon. J. A.
+Pickler, Sallie Clay Bennett, Margaret W. Campbell, Laura M. Johns,
+Frances Ellen Burr, Frances Stuart Parker, Dr. Frances Dickinson and
+others participated in the various discussions of the convention.
+
+A deep interest was felt in the pending woman suffrage amendment in
+South Dakota. The subject was presented by Representative and Mrs.
+Pickler, national speakers were appointed to canvass the State and a
+fund of over $5,000 was eventually raised.
+
+Tributes of respect were paid to Caroline Ashurst Biggs and Margaret
+Bright Lucas of England, U. S. Senator Elbridge G. Lapham, Maria
+Mitchell, the great astronomer, Prudence Crandall Philleo, Harriet
+Winslow Sewall, Amy Post, Wm. D. Kelley, M. C., Dinah Mendenhall,
+Emerine J. Hamilton, Amanda McConnell and other friends and supporters
+of woman suffrage who had passed away during the year.
+
+The vote for officers of the united association, which was limited
+strictly to delegates, stood as follows: For president, Elizabeth
+Cady Stanton, 131; Susan B. Anthony, 90; scattering, 2: for
+vice-president-at-large, Susan B. Anthony, 213; scattering, 9.[81]
+Rachel Foster Avery was elected recording secretary; Alice Stone
+Blackwell, corresponding secretary; Jane H. Spofford, treasurer; Lucy
+Stone, chairman of the executive committee by unanimous vote; Eliza T.
+Ward and the Rev. Frederick A. Hinckley, auditors. The Rev. Anna
+Howard Shaw was appointed national lecturer.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[76] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, p. 464.
+
+[77] The other members in favor of this report were Ezra B. Taylor,
+O., _Chairman_; George E. Adams, Ill.; James Buchanan, N. J.; Albert
+C. Thompson, O.; H. C. McCormick, Penn., and Joseph R. Reed, Ia. The
+six members from the Southern States were opposed.
+
+[78] National:--May Wright Sewall, _Chairman_; Isabella Beecher
+Hooker, Harriette R. Shattuck, Olympia Brown, Helen M. Gougar, Laura
+M. Johns, Clara Bewick Colby, Virginia L. Minor, Abigail Scott
+Duniway, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Mary B. Clay, Mary F. Eastman, Clara
+Neymann, Sarah M. Perkins, Jane H. Spofford, Lillie Devereux Blake,
+Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, Rachel Foster Avery, _Secretary_.
+American:--Julia Ward Howe, _Chairman_; Wm. Dudley Foulke, Margaret W.
+Campbell, Anna Howard Shaw, Mary F. Thomas, Hannah M. Tracy Cutler,
+Henry B. Blackwell, _Secretary_.
+
+[79] The resolutions declared the constitutional right of women to
+vote, and continued:
+
+_Resolved_, That as the fathers violated the principles of justice in
+consenting to a three-fifths representation, and in recognizing
+slavery in the Constitution, thereby making a civil war inevitable, so
+our statesmen and Supreme Court Judges by their misinterpretation of
+the Fourteenth Amendment, declaring that the United States has no
+voters and that citizenship does not carry with it the right of
+suffrage, not only have prolonged woman's disfranchisement but have
+undermined the status of the freedman and opened the way for another
+war of races.
+
+WHEREAS, It is proposed to have a national law, restricting the right
+of divorce to a narrower basis, and
+
+WHEREAS, Congress has already made an appropriation for a report on
+the question, which shows that there are 10,000 divorces annually in
+the United States and the majority demanded by women, and
+
+WHEREAS, Liberal divorce laws for wives are what Canada was for the
+slaves--a door of escape from bondage, therefore,
+
+_Resolved_, That there should be no farther legislation on this
+question until woman has a voice in the State and National
+Governments.
+
+_Resolved_, That the time has come for woman to demand of the Church
+the same equal recognition she demands of the State, to assume her
+right and duty to take part in the revision of Bibles, prayer books
+and creeds, to vote on all questions of business, to fill the offices
+of elder, deacon, Sunday school superintendent, pastor and bishop, to
+sit in ecclesiastical synods, assemblies and conventions as delegates,
+that thus our religion may no longer reflect only the masculine
+element of humanity, and that woman, the mother of the race, may be
+honored as she must be before we can have a happy home, a rational
+religion and an enduring government.
+
+They concluded with a demand that the platform of the suffrage
+association should recognize the equal rights of all parties, sects
+and races.
+
+[80] There is no woman in the world who has wielded the gavel at as
+many conventions as has Miss Anthony.
+
+[81] For account of Miss Anthony's determination not to accept the
+presidency see her Life and Work, p. 631.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1891.
+
+
+Immediately preceding the Twenty-third annual suffrage convention in
+1891, the first triennial meeting took place of the National Council
+of Women, which had been formed in 1888. It was held in Albaugh's
+Opera House, Washington, beginning Sunday, February 22, and continuing
+four days, an assemblage of the most distinguished women of the nation
+in many lines of work. Miss Frances E. Willard presided and the other
+officers contributed to the success of the Council--Miss Susan B.
+Anthony, vice-president; Mrs. May Wright Sewall, corresponding
+secretary; Miss Mary F. Eastman, recording secretary; Mrs. M. Louise
+Thomas, treasurer. Ten national organizations were represented by
+official delegates and forty sent fraternal delegates.
+
+The Sunday services were conducted entirely by women, the Rev. Ida C.
+Hultin giving the sermon from the text, "For the earth bringeth forth
+fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full
+corn in the ear." "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth". The
+program of the week included Charities, Education, Temperance,
+Religion, Organized Work, Political Status of Women, etc.[82] On
+Saturday evening Mrs. Jane H. Spofford gave a large reception at the
+Riggs House to the Council and the Suffrage Association. The latter
+held its sessions February 26-March 1, occupying the same beautifully
+decorated opera house which had been filled for four days by audiences
+in attendance at the Council, who kept on coming, scarcely knowing the
+difference.
+
+The Call for this convention expressed the great joy over the action
+of Congress during the past year in admitting Wyoming as a State with
+woman suffrage in its constitution:
+
+     The admission of Wyoming into the Union as a State with equal
+     rights for women guaranteed in its organic law, not only sets a
+     seal of approval upon woman suffrage after a practical experience
+     of twenty-one years, but it makes woman a recognized factor in
+     national politics. Hereafter the Chief Executive and both Houses
+     of Congress will owe their election partly to the votes of women.
+     The injustice and absurdity of allowing women in one State to be
+     sovereign rulers, and across the line in every direction obliging
+     them to occupy the position of a subject class, taxed without
+     representation and governed without consent--and this in a nation
+     which by its Constitution guarantees equal rights to all the
+     States and equal protection to all their citizens--must soon be
+     manifest even to the most conservative and prejudiced. We
+     therefore congratulate the friends of woman suffrage everywhere
+     that at last there is one spot under the American flag where
+     equal justice is done to women. Wyoming, all hail; the first true
+     republic the world has ever seen!
+
+The program attracted considerable attention from a design on the
+cover showing a woman yoked with an ox to the plow, and, looking down
+upon them a girl in a college cap and gown with the inscription,
+"Above the Senior Wrangler," referring to the recent victory at
+Cambridge University, England, by Philippa Fawcett, in outranking the
+male student who stood highest in mathematics. The first session was
+opened by the singing of Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert's inspiring
+hymn, The New America. After a welcome by Mrs. Ella M. S. Marble,
+president of the District W. S. A., Miss Anthony read the address of
+Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was in England, entitled, The
+Degradation of Disfranchisement, which said in part:
+
+     Disfranchisement is the last lingering shadow of the old spirit
+     of caste which always has divided humanity into classes of
+     greater or less inferiority, some even below certain animals that
+     were considered special favorites with Heaven. One can not
+     contemplate these revolting distinctions among mankind without
+     amazement and disgust. This spirit of caste which has darkened
+     the lives of millions through the centuries still lives. The
+     discriminations against color and sex in the United States are
+     but other forms of this same hateful spirit, still sustained by
+     our religion as in the past. It is the outgrowth of the false
+     ideas of favoritism ascribed to Deity in regard to races and
+     individuals, but which have their origin in the mind of man.
+     Banish the idea of divine authority for these machinations of the
+     human mind, and the power of the throne and the church, of a
+     royal family and an apostolic order of succession, of kings and
+     queens, of popes and bishops, and man's headship in the State,
+     the Church, and the Home will be heard of no more forever....
+
+     All men of intelligence appreciate the power of holding the
+     ballot in their own hands; of having a voice in the laws under
+     which they live; of enjoying the liberty of self-government.
+     Those who have known the satisfaction of wielding political
+     influence would not willingly accept the degradation of
+     disfranchisement. Yet men can not understand why women should
+     feel aggrieved at being deprived of this same protection, dignity
+     and power. This is the Gibraltar of our difficulties to-day. We
+     can not make men see that women feel the humiliation of their
+     petty distinctions of sex precisely as the black man feels those
+     of color. It is no palliation of our wrongs to say that we are
+     not socially ostracized as he is, so long as we are politically
+     ostracized as he is not. That all orders of foreigners also rank
+     politically above the most intelligent, highly-educated
+     women--native-born Americans--is indeed the most bitter drop in
+     the cup of our grief which we are compelled to swallow....
+
+     Again, the degradation of woman in the world of work is another
+     result of her disfranchisement. Some deny that, and say the
+     laboring classes of men have the ballot yet they are still
+     helpless victims of capitalists. They have the power and hold the
+     weapon of defense but have not yet learned how to use it. The
+     bayonet, the sword, the gun, are of no value to the soldier until
+     he knows how to wield them. Yet without the weapons of defense
+     what could individuals and nations do in time of war for their
+     own protection? The first step in learning to use a gun or a
+     ballot is to possess one....
+
+     Man has the prestige of centuries in his favor, with the force to
+     maintain it, and he has possession of the throne, which is
+     nine-tenths of the law. He has statutes and Scriptures and the
+     universal usages of society all on his side. What have women? The
+     settled dissatisfaction of half the race, the unorganized
+     protests of the few, and the open resistance of still fewer. But
+     we have truth and justice on our side and the natural love of
+     freedom and, step by step, we shall undermine the present form of
+     civilization and inaugurate the mightiest revolution the world
+     has ever witnessed. But its far-reaching consequences themselves
+     increase the obstacles in the way of success, for the selfish
+     interests of all classes are against us. The rulers in the State
+     are not willing to share their power with a class over whom as
+     equals they could never obtain absolute control, whose votes they
+     could not manipulate to maintain the present conditions of
+     injustice and oppression....
+
+     Again, the rulers in the church are hostile to liberty for a sex
+     supposed for wise purposes to have been subordinated to man by
+     divine decree. The equality of woman as a factor in religious
+     organizations would compel an entire change in church canons,
+     discipline, authority, and many doctrines of the Christian faith.
+     As a matter of self-preservation, the church has no interest in
+     the emancipation of woman, as its very existence depends on her
+     blind faith....
+
+     Society at large, based on the principle that might makes right,
+     has in a measure excluded women from the profitable industries of
+     the world, and where she has gained a foothold her labor is at a
+     discount. Man occupies the ground and holds the key to the
+     situation. As employer, he plays the cheap labor of a
+     disfranchised class against the employe, thus in a measure
+     undermining his independence, making wife and daughter in the
+     world of work the rivals of husband and father.
+
+     The family, too, is based on the idea of woman's subordination,
+     and man has no interest, as far as he sees, in emancipating her
+     from that despotism by which his narrow, selfish interests are
+     maintained under the law and religion of the country.
+
+     Here, then, is a fourfold bondage, so many cords tightly twisted
+     together, strong for one purpose. To attempt to undo one is to
+     loosen all.... To my mind, if we had at first bravely untwisted
+     all the strands of this fourfold cord which bound us, and
+     demanded equality in the whole round of the circle, while
+     perhaps, we should have had a harder battle to fight, it would
+     have been more effective and far shorter. Let us henceforth meet
+     conservatives on their own ground and admit that suffrage for
+     woman does mean political, religious, industrial and social
+     freedom--a new and a higher civilization....
+
+     Woman's happiness and development are of more importance than all
+     man's institutions. If constitutions and statute laws stand in
+     the way of woman's emancipation, they must be amended to meet her
+     wants and needs, of which she is a better judge than man possibly
+     can be. If church canons and scriptures do not admit of woman's
+     equal recognition in all the sacred offices, then they must be
+     revised in harmony with that idea. If the present family life is
+     necessarily based on man's headship, then we must build a new
+     domestic altar, at which the mother shall have equal dignity,
+     honor and power; and we do not propose to wait another century to
+     secure all this; the time has come....
+
+Miss Anthony, with an allusion to pioneer days, then introduced Lucy
+Stone, who, amid much applause, said that, while this was the first
+time she had stood beside Susan B. Anthony in a Washington suffrage
+convention, she had stood beside her on more than one hard-fought
+battle-field before many of those present were born. After sketching
+briefly the progress of the last forty years and giving some trying
+personal experiences, she said in conclusion: "The vote will not make
+a man of a woman, but it will enable her to demand and receive many
+things which are hers by right; to do the things which ought to be
+done, to prevent what ought not to be done. Women and men can help
+each other in making the world better. This is not an anti-man
+movement, but an effort toward the highest good of the race. We can
+congratulate ourselves upon what we have gained, but the root of the
+evil still remains--the root of disfranchisement. All organizations of
+women should join with us in pulling steadily at this deeply-planted
+and obstinate root."
+
+Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker (Conn.) read an able paper on Woman in
+Politics and Jurisprudence, in which she showed the necessity in
+politics and in law of a combination of the man's and the woman's
+nature, point of view and distinguishing characteristics.
+
+The second evening Mrs. Julia Ward Howe gave an address on The
+Possibilities of the American Salon, and the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer
+considered The Democratic Principle. Mrs. Spencer pointed out that the
+reason why the advance in the specific line of woman suffrage had not
+been so great as in some other directions was because its advocates
+had to contend with a reaction of disbelief in the democratic
+principle. In expressing her own faith in this principle she said:
+"There are wisdom enough and virtue enough in this country to take
+care of all its ignorance and wickedness. The difficulty is that the
+average American citizen does not know that he wears a crown. And oh,
+the pity of it, and the shame of it, when some of us women, who do
+feel the importance of the duty of suffrage and who need no man to
+teach us patriotism, wish to help in this work that any man should say
+us nay!"
+
+Miss Florence Balgarnie, who brought the greetings of a number of
+great English associations,[83] gave a comprehensive sketch of The
+Status of Women in England. The Rev. Ida C. Hultin (Ills.) followed in
+an eloquent appeal that there should be no headship of either man or
+woman alone, but that both should represent humanity; government is a
+development of humanity and if woman is human she has an equal right
+in that development. Mrs. Ellen Battelle Dietrick (Mass.) showed that
+the present supremacy of men was a reaction from the former undue
+supremacy of women, and brought out many historical points of deep
+interest. Mrs. Josephine K. Henry spoke on The Kentucky Constitutional
+Convention, illustrating the terrible injustice of the laws of that
+State in regard to women and the vain efforts of the latter to have
+them changed. The Rev. Frederick A. Hinckley (R. I.) lifted the
+audience to the delectable heights, taking as a text, "Husband and
+Wife are One." After illustrating the tendency of all nature and all
+science toward unity and harmony, he said:
+
+     Humanity is the whole. Men alone are half a sphere; women alone
+     half a sphere; men and women together the whole of truth, the
+     whole of love, the whole of aspiration. We have come to recognize
+     this thought in nearly all the walks of life. We want to
+     acknowledge it in the unity of mankind. The central thought we
+     need in our creeds and in our lives is that of the solidarity and
+     brotherhood of the race. This movement derives its greatest
+     significance not because it opens a place here and there for
+     women; not because it enables women to help men; but because in
+     all the concerns of life it places man and woman side by side,
+     hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, putting their best thought,
+     their finest feeling, their highest aspiration, into the work of
+     the world. This reflection gives us a lasting and sublime
+     satisfaction amid defeat and derision. Whatever of fortune or
+     misfortune befalls the Suffrage Association in the carrying on of
+     its work, this belief is the root which is calculated to sustain
+     and inspire us--that this movement is the next step in the
+     progress of the race towards the unification of humanity....
+
+     I look forward to the time when men and women, labor and capital,
+     all classes and all sections, shall work side by side with one
+     great co-operative spirit, the denizens of the world and the
+     keepers of human progress. When that time comes we may not have
+     reached the millennium but we shall be nearer to it. We shall
+     then together establish justice, temperance, purity of life, as
+     never has been done before. Earth's aspirations then shall grow
+     to events. The indescribable--that shall then be done.
+
+U. S. Senator Joseph M. Carey was introduced by Miss Anthony as "the
+man who on the floor of Congress fought Wyoming's battle for
+Statehood." His address on Wyoming, the True Republic, was a leading
+feature of the convention. He said in part:
+
+     On the tenth day of July last, the State of Wyoming was born and
+     the forty-fourth star took its place on the old flag. Never was
+     first-born more warmly welcomed, for not only had a commonwealth
+     been created, but the principle of equality of citizenship
+     without regard to sex had been fully recognized and incorporated
+     as a part of the constitution of the new State.
+
+The adoption of a woman suffrage bill by the first Territorial
+Legislature was graphically described, and after relating the
+subsequent efforts for its repeal, and its incorporation finally into
+the State constitution, he told of the struggle in Congress and said:
+
+     While I would not make invidious distinctions by giving the names
+     of those in both branches of Congress who favored Wyoming's
+     admission, I wish to say that I was agreeably surprised to have
+     many of the ablest members, both in public and private, disclose
+     the fact that they firmly believed the time would come when women
+     would be permitted to exercise full political rights throughout
+     the United States. They rejoiced that an opportunity had
+     presented itself by which they could show they had no prejudice
+     or opposition in their hearts to women's exercising the rights of
+     citizenship.
+
+He closed with the following strong argument for the enfranchisement
+of women:
+
+     Suffrage should be granted to women for two reasons: first,
+     because it will help women; and second, because it will promote
+     the interests of the State. Whatever doubt I may have entertained
+     in the past concerning either the first or second proposition,
+     has entirely disappeared. From the experiment made under my own
+     eyes I can state in all candor that suffrage has been a real
+     benefit to women. It gives them a character and standing which
+     they would not otherwise possess. It does not lower a woman to be
+     consulted about public affairs, but is calculated to make her
+     more intelligent and thoughtful in matters that concern her own
+     household, especially in bringing up her sons and daughters. It
+     increases her interest in those things which concern the great
+     body of the people. Men in office and out of office, particularly
+     those who expect to serve the public, are compelled to be more
+     considerate of her wishes, and more desirous of doing those
+     things which will secure her approval. The greater the number of
+     persons living under a government who are interested in the
+     administration of its affairs, its well-being and the perpetuity
+     of its institutions, the stronger the government and the more
+     difficult it will be to compass its overthrow....
+
+     We frequently hear it said that women will not vote if they have
+     the opportunity; or, if permitted to vote, such an inconsiderable
+     number will exercise the privilege that it will not be worth
+     while to encumber the electoral system by granting it. In all
+     matters in which women have an interest, as large a percentage
+     vote as of the other sex. They have the same interest in all
+     which pertains to good government. They have exercised the
+     privilege of voting not in a careless and indifferent manner but
+     in a way reflecting credit on their good sense and judgment.
+
+     I know women who have exercised the fullest political rights for
+     a period of more than twenty years. They have taken the deepest
+     interest in the political affairs of the Territory and young
+     State. Neither in their homes nor in public places have they lost
+     one womanly quality; but their minds have broadened and they
+     have become more influential in the community in which they live.
+     During these years I have never heard of any unhappiness brought
+     into the home on account of women's exercising their political
+     rights. A fair and unbiased test of this question has been made
+     by the people of Wyoming, and no unprejudiced man or woman who
+     has seen its workings, can now raise a single honest objection.
+     Where women have voted, the family relation has not been
+     destroyed, men have loved them none the less, the mountains have
+     not been shaken from their foundations, nor have social
+     earthquakes or political convulsions taken place....
+
+     In order that women shall be more influential citizens of the
+     State and better qualified to raise noble men and women to fight
+     the battles of life, and to carry out the true purpose of this
+     republic, they must possess the full rights of citizenship.
+
+At the close of his speech the Senator was presented with a large
+basket of roses from the delegates.
+
+Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake (N. Y.) spoke on The Right of a Citizen to
+a Trial by a Jury of His Peers, showing that women never have
+possessed this right; that in many criminal cases, such as seduction
+and infanticide, women could better understand the temptations than
+could men; that the feminine heart, the maternal influence, are needed
+in the court-room as well as in the home. Mrs. Lida A. Meriwether
+(Tenn.) spoke in a keen, sarcastic but humorous manner of The Silent
+Seven, "the legally mute"--minors, aliens, paupers, criminals,
+lunatics, idiots and women.
+
+The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw took for her subject Women vs. Indians, and
+reviewed the suffrage amendment campaign in South Dakota the previous
+year. In an address brimming and bubbling over with wit, satire and
+pathos, she showed how much greater consideration the Indians received
+from the men of that State than did women. She told how 45 per cent.
+of the votes cast the preceding year were for male Indian suffrage and
+only 37 per cent. for woman suffrage; how Indians in blankets and
+moccasins were received in the State convention with the greatest
+courtesy, and Susan B. Anthony and other eminent women were barely
+tolerated; how, while these Indians were engaged in their ghost
+dances, the white women were going up and down the State pleading for
+the rights of citizens; how the law in that State gives not only the
+property but the children to the husband, in the face of all the
+hardships endured by those pioneer wives and mothers. She suggested
+that the solution of the Indian question should be left to a
+commission of women with Alice Fletcher at its head, and said in
+closing: "Let all of us who love liberty solve these problems in
+justice; and let us mete out to the Indian, to the negro, to the
+foreigner, and to the woman, the justice which we demand for
+ourselves, the liberty which we love for ourselves. Let us recognize
+in each of them that One above, the Father of us all, and that all are
+brothers, all are one."
+
+The Moral and Political Emergency was presented by Mrs. Emma Smith
+DeVoe (S. D.). Henry B. Blackwell and Mrs. Alice M. A. Pickler
+described the South Dakota Campaign. Representative J. A. Pickler was
+introduced by Miss Anthony as the candidate who, when told that if he
+expressed his views on woman suffrage he would lose votes, expressed
+them more freely than ever and ran ahead of his ticket; and his wife
+as the woman who bade her husband to speak even if it lost him the
+office, and who was herself the only Congressman's wife that ever took
+the platform for the enfranchisement of women.
+
+Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby took for her subject Ibsen's drama, A Doll's
+House, and discussed its ethical problems, closing with the sentence:
+"As long as the fighting qualities of woman remain, there is a chance
+for the nation to make a robust, steady progress; but if these die out
+and woman willingly surrenders herself for the sake of selfish ease to
+the dominance of man, civilization is arrested and true manhood
+becomes impossible." The convention ended with a scholarly address by
+Wm. Lloyd Garrison (Mass.) on The Social Aspect of the Woman Question.
+
+The present officers were re-elected. Mrs. Lucia E. Blount (D. C.),
+chairman of the committee appointed to push the claim of Anna Ella
+Carroll, reported that a great deal of work had been done by Mr. and
+Mrs. Melvin A. Root of Michigan, Mrs. Colby and herself. Every
+possible effort had been made but the prospect was that Congress would
+do nothing for Miss Carroll. Miss Frances E. Willard brought an
+invitation from Mrs. Harrison to the National Council of Women and the
+members of all its auxiliary societies to attend a reception at the
+White House, which was accepted by the convention. Mrs. Ellen M.
+Henrotin presented in the name of Mrs. Bertha Honore Palmer an
+official invitation to the association to meet in Chicago during the
+Columbian Exposition, promising a hall which would seat five thousand.
+
+Miss Anthony announced that she had engaged permanent headquarters for
+the association in the Wimodaughsis club building, which action was
+ratified. It was decided to give especial attention to suffrage work
+in the Southern States during the year. The wives of the two senators
+from Wyoming, Mrs. Warren and Mrs. Carey, occupied seats on the
+platform.
+
+Mrs. Blake reported the work done by the Platform Committee in having
+suffrage resolutions endorsed by a large number of Labor Unions. Miss
+Sara Winthrop Smith had been equally successful in Granges and
+branches of the Knights of Labor. Dr. Frances Dickinson, Dr. Lucy
+Waite, Mrs. Corinne S. Brown and Mrs. Colby had visited the National
+Convention of Locomotive Engineers and secured the endorsement of a
+suffrage petition. They obtained also the cordial approval of T. V.
+Powderly and the Knights of Labor, and of Samuel Gompers and the
+Federation of Labor. The Illinois Trade and Labor Assembly endorsed
+their petition. All of these bodies circulated suffrage petitions
+among their members, as also did the Illinois Farmers' Mutual Benefit
+Association and the Grand Army Posts, a number of which were reported
+as heartily recommending the enfranchisement of women. Signatures
+representing millions of voters were thus obtained.[84]
+
+In addition to the resolutions adopted by the convention bearing
+directly on suffrage, there was a demand for women on school boards
+and as physicians, matrons and managers in all public institutions
+containing women and children; and for a revision of the laws on
+marriage and property.
+
+On Sunday afternoon a great audience assembled for the closing
+exercises. The sermon was given by the Rev. Caroline J. Bartlett from
+the text, "The night is far spent, the day is at hand." It had been
+said on the preceding Sunday that the sermon of Miss Hultin could not
+be equalled. The verdict now was that the honors must be evenly
+divided.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[82] A complete report of the able addresses made by specialists in
+these subjects was prepared by the new corresponding secretary, Mrs.
+Rachel Foster Avery, and placed by Miss Anthony in the large libraries
+of the country.
+
+[83] The Central National Society for Women's Suffrage; the Women's
+Franchise Leagues of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Bedford, Bridgeport,
+Leicester, Nottingham and York; the Bristol Woman's Temperance
+Association; the International Arbitration and Peace Society; the
+Woman Councillors' Society; the Women's Federal Association of Great
+Britain.
+
+[84] The funds necessary for this work were furnished by J. W.
+Hedenberg of Chicago, who also made a personal appeal to many of these
+bodies; but he claimed possession of the petitions, and for some
+reason never permitted them to be presented to Congress.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION AND HEARINGS OF 1892.
+
+
+The Twenty-fourth annual woman suffrage convention, held in the Church
+of Our Father, Washington, D. C., Jan. 17-21, 1892, was preceded by
+the usual services at three o'clock on Sunday afternoon. The text of
+the sermon, by the Rev. Mila Tupper, was "Think on these things" and
+it was devoted to a lofty consideration of "success through the moral
+power of ideals." Unexpectedly the congressional hearings were set for
+Monday morning, which called to the Capitol both Mrs. Elizabeth Cady
+Stanton and Miss Susan B. Anthony, president and vice-president of the
+association. The convention was called to order by the Rev. Anna
+Howard Shaw, and Mrs. Caroline McCullough Everhard (O.) was made
+chairman _pro tem_. Twenty-six States were represented by seventy-six
+delegates, the reports showed a year of unprecedented activity and
+there were requests from every State for speakers and organizers. The
+treasurer reported receipts for the past year, $3,830.
+
+The executive sessions throughout the convention were spirited and
+interesting. After some discussion it was decided to carry the work
+into the Southern States, and also to appropriate money and workers
+for Kansas, where it was likely that an amendment for full suffrage
+soon would be submitted. It was voted to accept the space offered at
+the Columbian Exposition, to furnish and decorate a booth, circulate
+literature, etc. The motion to have the next meeting in Chicago during
+the Fair renewed the question of holding alternate conventions in some
+other city besides Washington, but the measure was defeated.
+
+Mrs. Stanton introduced a resolution in favor of keeping the World's
+Fair open on Sunday, which was advocated and opposed with great
+earnestness. The majority of opinion evidently was in favor of opening
+the gates on Sunday but many felt that the subject was not germane to
+the purposes of the association, while others were conscientiously
+opposed to Sunday opening. Finally, in the midst of the controversy
+Mrs. Stanton withdrew her resolution, saying that she had offered it
+largely for the sake of discussion. Miss Shaw presented a resolution
+opposing the sale of intoxicating liquor on the Fair Grounds, saying
+that she did so as a matter of conscience and in order that it might
+go on record. It was voted to call an international suffrage meeting
+at Chicago during the Columbian Exposition. Miss Anthony urged more
+systematic organization, special efforts with the Legislatures, the
+securing of a Woman's Day at all Chautauqua Assemblies, county fairs,
+camp meetings, etc.
+
+At the earnest request of Mrs. Stanton, who had now reached the age of
+seventy-six, she was permitted to retire from the presidency, and Miss
+Anthony, aged seventy-two, was elected in her place. The Rev. Anna
+Howard Shaw was made vice-president-at-large. Lucy Stone, who was now
+seventy-four, begged to be released as chairman of the executive
+committee, which was then abolished, the duties being transferred to
+the business committee consisting of all the officers of the
+association. Mrs. Stanton and Mrs. Stone were made honorary
+presidents.
+
+This was Mrs. Stanton's last appearance at a national convention after
+an attendance of forty years, but she never failed to take an active
+interest in the proceedings and to send her speech to be read by Miss
+Anthony. This also was the last time Lucy Stone appeared upon the
+national platform, as she died the next year, and Miss Anthony alone,
+of this remarkable trio of women, was left to carry forward the great
+work.
+
+The addresses of this convention were up to the high standard of those
+which had preceded them during the past years, and no organization in
+existence, of either men or women, can show a more brilliant record of
+oratory. As Mrs. Stanton, Lucy Stone and Miss Anthony came on the
+platform the first evening they were enthusiastically applauded. The
+mental and physical vigor of Mrs. Stanton was much commented upon as
+in a rich and resonant voice she read the speech which she had that
+morning delivered before the Judiciary Committee of the House. It was
+entitled The Solitude of Self, and is considered by many to be her
+masterpiece.
+
+Lucy Stone discussed The Outlook with clear vision. She contrasted the
+woman of the past, her narrow life, her limited education, her
+inferior position, with the educated, ambitious, independent woman of
+to-day, and urged that the latter should be equal to her
+opportunities, lay aside all frivolous things and labor unceasingly to
+secure for her sex an absolute equality of civil and political rights.
+
+In the half-humorous address of Mrs. Caroline Hallowell Miller (Md.)
+on The Golden Rule, she said:
+
+     I am firmly convinced that our present powerless--I may almost
+     say ignominious--position arises not so much, as many aver, from
+     the lukewarmness of our own sex as from the supreme and absolute
+     indifference of men. With a few honorable exceptions, men do not
+     care one iota whether we vote or not....
+
+     Now if only men would take to betting on this question of woman
+     suffrage, if we could open it up as a field of speculation, if we
+     could manipulate it by some sort of patent process into stocks or
+     bonds and have it introduced into Wall Street, we should very
+     soon find ourselves emancipated. I keep on hoping that, by some
+     fortuitous chance, fate may eventually execute for us as
+     brilliant a _coup d'etat_ as did General Butler for the colored
+     slaves when he made them contraband of war, so that we shall just
+     tumble into freedom as they did very soon thereafter. Until then
+     let us trust in God, keep our powder very dry and our armies well
+     drilled and disciplined.
+
+In an inspiring address on The True Daughters of the Republic, Mme.
+Clara Neymann (N. Y.) pointed out the splendid material progress of
+our country under the guidance of men, and urged that women should be
+the power to lift it up to an equally exalted spiritual plane. The
+paper of Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby (D. C.) on Wyoming, in which as a
+Territory women had voted for twenty years and as a State for two
+years, presented a most convincing array of statistics proving the
+benefits of equal suffrage. Ex-Governor John W. Hoyt of Wyoming came
+to the platform and corroborated these statements, paying a fine
+tribute to the political influence of women. He was followed by Mrs.
+Lida A. Meriwether (Tenn.), whose reputation as a humorist was fully
+sustained in her clever portrayal of Dreams that Go by Contraries.
+Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt (N. Y.) gave a brilliant address on The
+Mission of a Republic.
+
+In discussing The Value of Organizations for Women, Mrs. Elizabeth
+Lyle Saxon (La.) said:
+
+     Among the various organizations of women the suffrage society
+     must rank first, for its demands have reached out and embraced
+     every reform which comes under the head of right, justice or
+     charity; and I am firmly persuaded that if the demand for the
+     ballot, the full right of citizenship, had not been made the
+     foundation of all other advantages, our organization would have
+     fallen apart and drifted into the more conservative and popular
+     lines along which less courageous women have successfully
+     worked....
+
+     Financial independence has been gained by many women, who, proud
+     of their own success, never try to benefit others, and fail to
+     comprehend the debt they owe to the brave, unselfish ones who
+     first made demands for them and who never ceased their efforts
+     until one after another the barriers were removed and
+     opportunities secured for thousands which they never could have
+     found themselves. It was this stanch band of pioneers, defying
+     criticism, scorn and hate, who forced open college doors, invaded
+     the law courts and stubbornly contested every inch of ground so
+     persistently held by fraud or force from the daughters of the
+     great republic....
+
+     Organized as women now are, they could pour such an overwhelming
+     moral influence into the political life of the country as to
+     become its saving grace; for when women vote they will show good
+     men, who have weakly shrunk from political duty, that they have a
+     moral and clean constituency to stand with them.
+
+The platform proceedings of the convention closed with Miss Shaw's
+splendid delineation of The Injustice of Chivalry.
+
+Every suffrage convention for the last twelve years had been preceded
+by a handsome reception at the Riggs House. This well-known and
+commodious hotel had been the convention headquarters, and it also had
+been the winter home of Miss Anthony, where she remained as a guest of
+the proprietor, C. W. Spofford, and his wife, being thus enabled to do
+a vast amount of congressional and political work, such as never has
+been done since. The hotel now had passed into other hands and the
+Washington _Post_, in speaking of this matter, said: "The delegates
+feel like lost sheep without Mrs. Spofford's hospitality at the Riggs
+House, which has always been headquarters for suffragist and all
+women's conventions. Probably no one but those in the inner circle
+will ever know just how much Mrs. Spofford has done for the
+advancement of women in every direction. Whatever was hers was at the
+disposal of the leaders, and in the absence of so much assistance it
+is appreciated more nearly at its real worth."
+
+[Illustration: MRS. ELIZABETH CADY STANTON.
+
+Honorary President of National-American Woman Suffrage Association.]
+
+The new club house of Wimodaughsis was opened for a reception to the
+delegates by the District W. S. A., with Miss Anthony, Lucy Stone,
+Mrs. Stanton, Henry B. Blackwell, and Miss Shaw, president of
+Wimodaughsis, as guests of honor. All made clever little speeches
+toward the close of the evening, which were supplemented with remarks
+by Senator Joseph M. Carey (Wy.), Representatives J. A. Pickler (S.
+D.), Martin N. Johnson (N. D.) and the Rev. Dr. Corey of the
+Metropolitan church.
+
+The hearing on January 17 was held for the first time before a
+Judiciary Committee of the House, the majority of which was
+Democratic.[85] The Washington _Star_ said: "The new members of the
+committee were apparently surprised at receiving such a talk from a
+woman and there was the most marked attention on the part of every one
+present. Their surprise was still greater when they found that Mrs.
+Stanton was not a phenomenal exception, but that every woman there
+could make an argument which would do credit to the best of public
+men."
+
+The hearing before the Senate Committee on Woman Suffrage was held the
+morning of February 20. Four of the greatest women this nation ever
+produced addressed this committee, asking for themselves and their sex
+a privilege which is freely granted without the asking to every man,
+no matter how humble, how ignorant, how unworthy, who is not included
+within the category of the insane, the idiotic, the convicted
+criminal--Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone,
+Isabella Beecher Hooker. Mrs. Stanton (N. Y.) gave her address, The
+Solitude of Self, in place of the old arguments so many times
+repeated, saying in part:
+
+     The point I wish plainly to bring before you on this occasion is
+     the individuality of each human soul--our Protestant idea, the
+     right of individual conscience and judgment--our republican idea,
+     individual citizenship. In discussing the rights of woman, we are
+     to consider, first, what belongs to her as an individual, in a
+     world of her own, the arbiter of her own destiny, an imaginary
+     Robinson Crusoe with her woman Friday on a solitary island. Her
+     rights under such circumstances are to use all her faculties for
+     her own safety and happiness.
+
+     Secondly, if we consider her as a citizen, as a member of a
+     great nation, she must have the same rights as all other
+     members, according to the fundamental principles of our
+     Government.
+
+     Thirdly, viewed as a woman, an equal factor in civilization, her
+     rights and duties are still the same--individual happiness and
+     development.
+
+     Fourthly, it is only the incidental relations of life, such as
+     mother, wife, sister, daughter, which may involve some special
+     duties and training. In the usual discussion in regard to woman's
+     sphere, such men as Herbert Spencer, Frederick Harrison and Grant
+     Allen uniformly subordinate her rights and duties as an
+     individual, as a citizen, as a woman, to the necessities of these
+     incidental relations, some of which a large class of women never
+     assume. In discussing the sphere of man we do not decide his
+     rights as an individual, as a citizen, as a man, by his duties as
+     a father, a husband, a brother or a son, some of which he may
+     never undertake. Moreover he would be better fitted for these
+     very relations, and whatever special work he might choose to do
+     to earn his bread, by the complete development of all his
+     faculties as an individual. Just so with woman. The education
+     which will fit her to discharge the duties in the largest sphere
+     of human usefulness, will best fit her for whatever special work
+     she may be compelled to do.
+
+     The isolation of every human soul and the necessity of
+     self-dependence must give each individual the right to choose his
+     own surroundings. The strongest reason for giving woman all the
+     opportunities for higher education, for the full development of
+     her faculties, her forces of mind and body; for giving her the
+     most enlarged freedom of thought and action; a complete
+     emancipation from all forms of bondage, of custom, dependence,
+     superstition; from all the crippling influences of fear--is the
+     solitude and personal responsibility of her own individual life.
+     The strongest reason why we ask for woman a voice in the
+     government under which she lives; in the religion she is asked to
+     believe; equality in social life, where she is the chief factor;
+     a place in the trades and professions, where she may earn her
+     bread, is because of her birthright to self-sovereignty; because,
+     as an individual, she must rely on herself....
+
+     To throw obstacles in the way of a complete education is like
+     putting out the eyes; to deny the rights of property is like
+     cutting off the hands. To refuse political equality is to rob the
+     ostracized of all self-respect, of credit in the market place, of
+     recompense in the world of work, of a voice in choosing those who
+     make and administer the law, a choice in the jury before whom
+     they are tried, and in the judge who decides their punishment.
+     Shakespeare's play of Titus and Andronicus contains a terrible
+     satire on woman's position in the nineteenth century--"Rude men
+     seized the king's daughter, cut out her tongue, cut off her
+     hands, and then bade her go call for water and wash her hands."
+     What a picture of woman's position! Robbed of her natural rights,
+     handicapped by law and custom at every turn, yet compelled to
+     fight her own battles, and in the emergencies of life to fall
+     back on herself for protection....
+
+     How the little courtesies of life on the surface of society,
+     deemed so important from man towards woman, fade into utter
+     insignificance in view of the deeper tragedies in which she must
+     play her part alone, where no human aid is possible!
+
+     Nothing strengthens the judgment and quickens the conscience like
+     individual responsibility. Nothing adds such dignity to character
+     as the recognition of one's self-sovereignty; the right to an
+     equal place, everywhere conceded--a place earned by personal
+     merit, not an artificial attainment by inheritance, wealth,
+     family and position. Conceding then that the responsibilities of
+     life rest equally on man and woman, that their destiny is the
+     same, they need the same preparation for time and eternity. The
+     talk of sheltering woman from the fierce storms of life is the
+     sheerest mockery, for they beat on her from every point of the
+     compass, just as they do on man, and with more fatal results, for
+     he has been trained to protect himself, to resist, to conquer....
+
+     In music women speak again the language of Mendelssohn,
+     Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, and are worthy interpreters of their
+     great thoughts. The poetry and novels of the century are theirs,
+     and they have touched the keynote of reform in religion, politics
+     and social life. They fill the editor's and professor's chair,
+     plead at the bar of justice, walk the wards of the hospital,
+     speak from the pulpit and the platform. Such is the type of
+     womanhood that an enlightened public sentiment welcomes to-day,
+     and such the triumph of the facts of life over the false theories
+     of the past.
+
+     Is it, then, consistent to hold the developed woman of this day
+     within the same narrow political limits as the dame with the
+     spinning wheel and knitting needle occupied in the past? No, no!
+     Machinery has taken the labors of woman as well as man on its
+     tireless shoulders; the loom and the spinning wheel are but
+     dreams of the past; the pen, the brush, the easel, the chisel,
+     have taken their places, while the hopes and ambitions of women
+     are essentially changed.
+
+     We see reason sufficient in the outer conditions of human beings
+     for individual liberty and development, but when we consider the
+     self-dependence of every human soul, we see the need of courage,
+     judgment and the exercise of every faculty of mind and body,
+     strengthened and developed by use, in woman as well as man....
+
+With the earnest persuasiveness for which she had been noted nearly
+half a century, Lucy Stone (Mass.) said:
+
+     I come before this committee with the sense which I always feel,
+     that we are handicapped as women in what we try to do for
+     ourselves by the single fact that we have no vote. This cheapens
+     us. You do not care so much for us as if we had votes, so that we
+     come always with that infinite disadvantage.
+
+     But the thing I want to say particularly is that we have our
+     immortal Declaration of Independence and the various bills of
+     rights of the different States (George Washington advised us to
+     recur often to first principles), and in these nothing is clearer
+     than the basis of the claim that women should have equal rights
+     with men. A complete government is a perfectly just
+     government....
+
+     What I desire particularly to impress upon this committee is the
+     gross and grave injustice of holding thirty millions of women
+     absolutely helpless under the Government. The laws touch us at
+     every point. From the time the girl baby is born until the time
+     the aged woman makes her last will and testament, there is not
+     one of her affairs which the law does not control. It says who
+     shall own the property, and what rights the woman shall have; it
+     settles all her affairs, whether she shall buy or sell or will or
+     deed....
+
+     Persons are elected by men to represent them in Congress and the
+     State Legislatures, and here are these millions of women, with
+     just the same stake in the Government that men have, with a class
+     interest of their own, and with not one solitary word to say or
+     power to help settle any of the things which concern them.
+
+     Men know the value of votes and the possession of power, and I
+     look at them and wonder how it is possible for them to be willing
+     that their own mothers, sisters, wives and daughters should be
+     debarred from the possession of like power. We have been going to
+     the Legislature in Massachusetts longer than Mrs. Stanton has
+     been coming here. We asked that when a husband and wife make a
+     contract with each other, as for instance, if the wife loan the
+     husband her money, the contract should be considered valid just
+     as it would be between any other parties--for now in case the
+     husband fails in business, she can not get her money--and the
+     Legislature very kindly gave us leave to withdraw. Then we asked
+     that when a man dies and the wife is left alone, with the whole
+     burden of life on her shoulders, the law might give her more than
+     forty days in which to stay in her home without paying rent. But
+     we could not defeat one of our legislators, and they cared not a
+     cent for our petition and less than a cent for our opinion; and
+     so when we asked for this important measure they gave us leave to
+     withdraw.
+
+     They respect the wants of the voter, but they care nothing about
+     the wants of those who do not have votes. So, when we asked for
+     protection for wives beaten by their husbands, and that the
+     husband should be made to give a portion of his earnings to
+     support the minor children, again we had leave to withdraw....
+
+     I can think of nothing so helpless and humiliating as the
+     position of a disfranchised person. I do not know whether I am
+     treading on dangerous toes when I say that, after the late war
+     the Government in power wished to punish Jefferson Davis, and it
+     considered that the worst punishment it could inflict upon him
+     was to take away his right to vote. Now, the odium which attached
+     to him from his disfranchisement is just the same as attaches to
+     women from their disfranchisement. The only persons who are not
+     allowed to vote in Massachusetts are the lunatics, idiots, felons
+     and people who can not read and write. In what a category is this
+     to place women, after one hundred years and at the close of this
+     nineteenth century? And yet that is history. In Massachusetts we
+     are trying to get a small concession--the right to vote in the
+     cities and towns in which we live in regard to the taxes we have
+     to pay. In 1792, in Newburyport, Mass., it was not thought
+     necessary to give women education. At that time there were no
+     schools for girls; the public money was not so used, and when one
+     man said he had five daughters, and paid his taxes like other
+     men, and his girls were not allowed to attend school, and that
+     they ought to give the girls a chance, another man said, "Take
+     the public money and educate shes? Never!"
+
+     Remember this was one hundred years ago. Some of the fathers
+     urged that the girls should be educated in the public schools,
+     and so the men--God forgive them!--said, "We will let the girls
+     go in the morning between 6 and 8 o'clock, before the boys want
+     the schoolhouse." Just think of the time those girls would have
+     to rise in order to have a little instruction before the boys got
+     there! This plan did not work well, and the teacher was directed
+     not to teach females any longer. Every descendant of those men
+     now feels ashamed of them; and I think that in one hundred years
+     the children of the men who are now letting us come here, year
+     after year, pleading for suffrage, will feel ashamed. Men would
+     rather lose anything than their votes; they would fight for their
+     right of suffrage, and if anybody attempted to deprive them of it
+     there would be war to the knife and the knife to the hilt. We
+     come here to carry on our bloodless warfare, praying that the
+     privilege granted in the foundation of the Government should be
+     applied to women....
+
+     What we look forward to is part of the eternal order. It is not
+     possible that thirty millions of women should be held forever as
+     lunatics, fools and criminals. It is not possible, as the years
+     go on, that each person should not at least have the right to
+     look after his or her own interests. As the home is at its best
+     when the father and mother consult together in regard to the
+     family interests, so it is with the Government. I do not think a
+     man can see from a man's point of view all the things that a
+     woman needs, or a woman from her single point of view all the
+     things that a man needs. Now men have brought their best, and
+     also brought their worst, into the Government, and it is all
+     here, but the thing you have not at all is the qualities which
+     women possess, the feminine qualities. It has been said that
+     women are more economical, peaceful and law-abiding than men, and
+     all these qualities are lacking in the Government today.... But
+     whether this be so or not, it is right that every class should be
+     heard in behalf of its own interest....
+
+     Now, gentlemen, I hope you will try to make this case your own.
+     It is simple justice and fair play, and it is also a fundamental
+     principle of the Government. Here we are trying to have a
+     complete republic, and yet there are twelve millions of
+     disfranchised adults. I believe that among the great people--and
+     by the people I do not mean men, but men and women, the whole
+     people--nothing creates such disrespect for a fundamental
+     principle as not to apply it. The Government was founded upon the
+     principle that those who obey the laws should make them, and yet
+     it shuts out a full half. As long as this continues to be done,
+     it certainly tends to create disrespect for the principle itself.
+     Do you not see it? Why not reach out a hand to woman and say,
+     "Come and help us make the laws and secure fair play"?
+
+At the close of this argument Miss Anthony said: "We have with us one
+not so old in our cause as Mrs. Stone--I never call myself old because
+I shall be young until the crack of doom--and that is Mrs. Hooker, a
+sister of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Henry Ward Beecher. The world has
+always made special place for the family of Beechers."
+
+Mrs. Hooker (Conn.) spoke very briefly, saying: "You all know those
+old Jewish words in the Decalogue, 'Honor thy father and thy mother
+that thy days may be long in the land that the Lord thy God giveth
+thee.' If we want to help the republic, if we want to perpetuate the
+institutions our fathers brought across the water, we must honor the
+mothers equally with the fathers in the Government. To-day the laws
+compel our sons the moment they are twenty-one to come to us and say:
+'My mother, I owe you much; sometimes I think all that is good in me
+has come from you, but to-day you will retire and I will rule. I will
+no longer listen to your counsel; but I will make the laws for you and
+my sisters, and you must obey them. Henceforth I am your ruler.' Now,
+friends, a Government can not last long which teaches its sons
+disrespect to its mothers. It is in line with our principles that we
+recognize the mother element in the Government as well as in the
+family."
+
+Miss Anthony closed the hearing with a strong appeal for a report from
+the committee which should recommend Congress to submit a Sixteenth
+Amendment and allow the women of the country to carry their case to
+the State Legislatures. The committee seemed much impressed by the
+arguments, but evidently there was no change of opinion.[86]
+
+A hearing was granted February 17 by the House Judiciary Committee,
+with delegates present from twenty-six States. Addresses were made in
+part as follows:
+
+     MRS. CHAPMAN CATT: ... You know that in these modern years there
+     has been a great deal of talk about natural rights, and we have
+     had an innumerable host of philosophers writing books to tell us
+     what natural rights are. I believe that to-day both scientists
+     and philosophers are agreed that they are the right to life, the
+     right to liberty, the right to free speech, the right to go where
+     you will and when you please, the right to earn your own living
+     and the right to do the best you can for yourself. One of the
+     greatest of those philosophers and writers, Herbert Spencer, has
+     accorded to woman the same natural rights as to man. I believe
+     every thoughtful man in the United States to-day concedes that
+     point.
+
+     The ballot has been for man a means of defending these natural
+     rights. Even now in some localities of the world those rights are
+     still defended by the revolver, as in former days, but in
+     peaceable communities the ballot is the weapon by means of which
+     they are protected. We find, as women citizens, that when we are
+     wronged, when our rights are infringed upon, inasmuch as we have
+     not this weapon with which to defend them, they are not
+     considered, and we are very many times imposed upon. We find that
+     the true liberty or the American people demands that all citizens
+     to whom these rights have been accorded should have that
+     weapon....
+
+     MRS. LIDA A. MERIWETHER (Tenn.): "Oh, Caesar, we who are about to
+     die salute you!" was the gladiators' cry in the arena, standing
+     face to face with death and with the Roman populace. All over
+     this fair city, youth and beauty, freshness and joy, stand with
+     welcoming hands, calling you to all pleasures of ear and eye, of
+     soul and sense. But here, into the inner sanctuary of your
+     deepest, gravest thought, come, year after year, a little band of
+     women over whose heads the snows of many winters and of many
+     sorrows have sifted. Here "we who are about to die salute you."
+     We do not come asking for gifts of profit or preferment for
+     ourselves; for us the day for ban or benison has almost passed.
+     But we ask for greater freedom, for better conditions for the
+     children of our love, whom we shall so soon leave behind. In the
+     short space allowed each petitioner we have not time to ask for
+     much. But in my State the grandmothers of seventy are growing
+     weary of being classed with the grandsons of seven. They fail to
+     find a valid reason why they should be relegated to perpetual
+     legal and political childhood.
+
+     Years ago, when the bugle call rang out over this unhappy land,
+     as the men rallied to the standard of their State, we, the wives
+     and mothers, who had no voice in bringing about those cruel
+     conditions, were called to give up our brightest and best for
+     cannons' food. We furnished the provisions, ministered on the
+     battlefield, nursed in the hospital; we, equally with our
+     brothers, regarded "our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor"
+     only as gifts held in trust to spend and be spent for home and
+     State. And to-day when we see the wayfaring man, who probably
+     hails from a penal institution of the Old World, who honors no
+     home, no country and no political faith, freely enjoying the
+     right to say who shall make and who shall enforce the laws by
+     which we women are governed, we grow weary of being classed as
+     perpetual aliens upon our nation's soil.
+
+     The honest, industrious, bread-winning women of Tennessee do not
+     enjoy the knowledge that the pauper of their State is their
+     political superior. Four years ago we saw it practically
+     demonstrated that when a great moral issue was at stake the male
+     pauper could cast his ballot without hindrance from the penal
+     code, but if the widow or the single woman, who earned and owned
+     property and paid her quota of the tax for his support, should
+     attempt to cast a counteracting ballot, her penalty would be fine
+     or imprisonment.
+
+     Year after year we have journeyed to the Mecca of the
+     petitioner--the legislative halls. There we have asked protection
+     for our boys from the temptation of the open saloon; we have
+     asked that around our baby girls the wall of protection might be
+     raised at least a little higher than ten years; we have asked for
+     reform schools for boys, where they should not be thrown in daily
+     contact with old and hardened criminals. Year after year we have
+     pleaded for better conditions for the children to whom we have
+     given the might of our love, the strength and labor of our lives;
+     but in not one instance has that prayer been granted. And at last
+     we have found the reason why. A senator in a sister State said to
+     a body of petitioners: "Ladies, you won't get your bill, but your
+     defeat will be a paying investment if it only teaches you that
+     the politician, little or big, is now, always was, and always
+     will be, the drawn image, pocket edition, safety valve and
+     speaking-trumpet of the fellow that voted him in."
+
+     Gentlemen, we ask your help to the end that not we, perhaps, but
+     the daughters and granddaughters whom we leave behind, may be
+     counted with "those that voted him in."
+
+     MRS. JEAN BROOKS GREENLEAF (N. Y.): Soon after I came to
+     Washington to make it my home for two years, one clear, bright
+     morning I drove up to this Capitol with a friend. As we ascended
+     the hill on the left we warmly expressed our admiration for the
+     beautiful structure within whose walls we are now standing, and
+     were enthusiastic in our admiration for those who so nobly
+     planned that, with the growth of the nation, there could be a
+     commensurate outstretching of its legislative halls without loss
+     to the dignity of the whole. We drove slowly around the front and
+     commenced the descent on the opposite side, when I called to the
+     driver to stop in order that we might feast our eyes on the
+     inspiring view which lay before us. There rose Washington
+     Monument so simple yet so grand, and I recalled the fact that in
+     its composition it fitly represented the Union of the States. My
+     heart swelled and my eyes overflowed as I thought of the grand
+     idea embodied in this Government, the possibilities of this
+     country's future. The lines of "My country, 'tis of thee," rose
+     to my lips, but they died there.
+
+     Whence came my right to speak those words? True I was born here;
+     true I was taught from my earliest youth to repeat the glorious
+     words of Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman and other patriots; but
+     when I grew to womanhood I had to learn the bitter lesson that
+     these words applied only to men; that I simply counted as one in
+     the population; that I must submit to be governed by the laws in
+     the selection of whose makers I had no choice; that my consent to
+     be governed would never be asked; that for my taxation there
+     would be no representation; that, so far as my right to "life,
+     liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" was concerned, others must
+     judge for me; that I had no voice for myself; that I was a woman
+     without a country, and only on the plane of political equality
+     with the insane, the idiot, the pauper, Indians not taxed, the
+     criminal, and the unnaturalized foreigner.
+
+     Honorable gentlemen, women come here annually to ask that these
+     wrongs be righted. To-day we have come again to entreat that, as
+     you have extended this building to meet the needs of the people,
+     you will extend your thought of the people and make it possible
+     that the principle underlying the Government of this country may
+     be embodied in a law which will make the daughters of the land
+     joint heirs with the sons to all the rights and privileges of an
+     enfranchised people. In the name of the women of the State of New
+     York, I ask it.
+
+     MISS ALICE STONE BLACKWELL (Mass.): Except where there is some
+     very strong reason to the contrary, it is generally admitted that
+     every man has a right to be consulted in regard to his own
+     concerns. The laws which he has to obey and the taxes he has to
+     pay are things that do most intimately concern him, and the only
+     way of being directly consulted in regard to them, under our form
+     of government, is through the ballot. Is there any very good
+     reason why women should not be free to be consulted in this
+     direct manner? Let us consider a few of the reasons which are
+     generally given against this freedom of women, and see whether
+     they are good.
+
+     It is said that women do not need to vote, because they are
+     virtually represented by their husbands, fathers and brothers.
+     The first trouble with this doctrine of virtual representation is
+     that it is not according to numbers. I know a man who had a wife,
+     a widowed mother, four unmarried daughters and five unmarried
+     sisters. According to this theory his vote represented himself
+     and all those eleven women. Yet it counted but one, just the same
+     as the vote of his next-door bachelor neighbor without a female
+     relative in the world.
+
+     Then, again, suppose that all the women in one family do not
+     think alike. A member of our Massachusetts Legislature had two
+     daughters. One was a suffragist, the other was so much opposed
+     that she used to burn the _Woman's Journal_ as soon as it came in
+     the house. How was that man to represent both his daughters by
+     his single vote on the suffrage question? Instead of two
+     daughters he might have had three, one a Republican, one a
+     Democrat and the other a Prohibitionist. How could he have
+     represented all of them by his one vote unless he had voted
+     "early and often?"
+
+     Again, in order to represent the women of his family a man may
+     have to go without representation himself. There was a case of an
+     old gentleman in Chicago, a Greenbacker, who had three daughters,
+     all of whom were Republicans. When election day approached his
+     three daughters said to him that he was the natural
+     representative of their family--he had always told them so, and
+     they fully agreed with him--and they pointed out to him how very
+     wrong it would be, when that family consisted of three
+     Republicans and only one Greenbacker, with but one ballot to
+     represent the family, that it should be cast for the Greenback
+     candidate. The old gentleman was conscientious and consistent
+     and, although he was a man of strong Greenback convictions, he
+     actually voted the Republican ticket in order to represent his
+     daughters. It was the nearest he could come to representing them
+     under this theory. But did it give that family any accurate or
+     adequate representation? Evidently not. The Greenback candidate
+     was entitled to one vote from that family, and he did not get it;
+     and the Republican candidate was entitled to three ballots, and
+     he got only one. And then, in order to represent his daughters,
+     that chivalrous father had to go without any representation
+     himself. It is evident that the only fair way to get at public
+     sentiment in such a case is for each member of the family to have
+     one vote, and thus represent himself or herself.
+
+     Another proof that women are not virtually represented is to be
+     found in the laws as they actually exist. These one-sided laws
+     were not made because men meant to be unjust or unkind to women,
+     but simply because they naturally looked at things mainly from
+     their own point of view. It does not indicate any special
+     depravity on the part of men. I have no doubt that if women alone
+     had made the laws, those laws would be just as one-sided as they
+     are to-day, only in the opposite direction.
+
+     It is said that if women are enfranchised, husbands and wives
+     will vote just alike, and you will simply double the vote and
+     have no change in the result. Then, in the next breath, it is
+     said that husbands and wives would vote for opposing candidates,
+     and then there would be matrimonial quarrels. If they vote just
+     alike there will be no harm done, and this good may be done--the
+     women will be broadened by a knowledge of public affairs, and
+     husband and wife will have a subject of mutual interest in which
+     they can sympathize with each other. In cases where husband and
+     wife do not think alike as to who will make the best selectmen,
+     for instance, you will admit that is hardly sufficient to cause
+     them to quarrel; but if they should think differently on very
+     many other points, they would quarrel anyway, so that politics
+     would not make much difference with them.
+
+     Then it is said that women do not want to vote, and in proof it
+     is said they do not vote generally for school committeemen where
+     allowed to do so. We all know that the size of the vote cast at
+     any election is just in proportion to the amount of interest that
+     election calls forth. At a Presidential election nearly all the
+     voters turn out; in an ordinary State election only about half;
+     at a municipal election only a small fraction of the men take the
+     trouble to vote. The Troy _Press_ states that at a recent
+     election in Syracuse for a board of education, out of about 3,000
+     qualified voters only 40 voted.
+
+     Then, it is said that this movement is making no progress; that
+     while the movements along other lines are largely succeeding,
+     there has been no advance along this line. Twenty-five years ago,
+     with insignificant exceptions, women could not vote anywhere.
+     To-day they have school suffrage in twenty-three States, full
+     suffrage in Wyoming, municipal suffrage in Kansas, and municipal
+     suffrage for single women and widows in England, Scotland and
+     most of the British provinces. The common sense of the world is
+     slowly but surely working toward the enfranchisement of women.
+
+     MRS. ANNIE L. DIGGS (Kan.): You remember the time when the
+     theoretical objection was often urged that if the suffrage was
+     given to women, men would cease to show them the proper respect.
+     For instance, the weighty argument was made that they would not
+     raise their hats when they met women on the street, and that they
+     would not give up their seats in the cars. But, gentlemen, you
+     should just see how they take off their hats to us in Kansas, and
+     how every man of them gets up and offers us his seat when we come
+     into a street car!
+
+     It was also urged that if the ballot were put into the hands of
+     women it would be detrimental to the interests of the home. There
+     is not a man in the State to-day who would venture to go before a
+     Kansas audience and urge that objection. There is not a man there
+     who would be willing to jeopardize his political, social or
+     business interests by casting any kind of obloquy upon the women
+     who have exercised the right of the elective franchise for the
+     last five years. This is the result of success. We have Municipal
+     Suffrage. One little ounce of fact outweighs whole tons of
+     theory....
+
+     THE REV. ANNA HOWARD SHAW (Penn.): Yesterday I noticed in a
+     report of our hearing before the Judiciary Committee of the House
+     the headline, "Appeals to Deaf Ears". And I said, "Has it come to
+     this, that when earnest and sincere women of this great country
+     make an appeal to the heads of the Government it is dubbed an
+     'Appeal to Deaf Ears'?" Time was when the British Government
+     thought our ancestors had not sufficient merit in their cause to
+     be heard, and when they made an "appeal to deaf ears". But the
+     time came when those ears were unstopped and they heard, and what
+     they heard was the cry of victory by a free people. We may be
+     appealing to deaf ears to-day, but the time is coming when it
+     will not be so. Men will hear and, hearing, they will answer,
+     because ultimately men desire the right. If I were asked what I
+     conscientiously believe the real condition of the hearts of most
+     men to be, I should say they are positively ignorant in regard to
+     the justice of this matter, and if it could be brought properly
+     before them, they would stand on the side of justice and right
+     for women.
+
+     Therefore I desire only to say that I know from my travels all
+     over the country, conferring with the intelligent women to bring
+     before them this great principle, that the good work is going on.
+     It may be deafness yesterday and partial hearing to-day, but it
+     will be full hearing to-morrow. To-day we may be blind to the
+     truth; to-morrow we shall see the whole truth. We may not have
+     another centennial before we shall see justice for all human
+     kind.
+
+     You know, gentlemen, that this Government exists for only three
+     things, and in those every woman is as much interested as every
+     man. It exists for the administration of justice, for the
+     protection of person and property, and for the development of
+     society. Just as you and all men have persons and property to
+     protect, so we women have. We are because of our nature and
+     because it seems as if the Almighty had intended it should be so,
+     more interested than men in the development of society. Wherever
+     there is any movement for the uplifting of society you will find
+     women in the forefront. There never has been any great movement
+     in this nation when women have not stood side by side with the
+     noblest and truest men.
+
+     We do to-day nine-tenths of the philanthropic work, nine-tenths
+     of the church work, and form three-fourths of the church
+     membership. We are the teachers of the young; we are the mothers
+     of the race. If you want the noblest men you must have the
+     noblest mothers. "Eye hath not seen, nor hath ear heard, nor hath
+     it entered into the heart of man to conceive" the kind of men and
+     women God had in view when He created man in His own likeness and
+     gave to male and female dominion over the world, to subdue it and
+     to bring out of it the best things.
+
+     You who talk of a great Government in which the voice of God is
+     heard must remember that, if "the voice of the people is the
+     voice of God," you never will know what that is until you get the
+     voice of the people, and you will find it has a soprano as well
+     as a bass. You must join the soprano voice of God to the bass
+     voice in order to get the harmony of the Divine voice. Then you
+     will have a law which will enable you to say, "We are a people
+     justly ruled, because in this nation the voice of the people is
+     the voice of God, and the voice of the people has been heard."
+
+Mrs. Ellen M. Bolles (R. I.) said in the course of her remarks: "The
+conditions surrounding women to-day are quite different from what they
+were in the days of our grandmothers. Women are becoming property
+earners and owners, as they were not in those former times before they
+began asking for the ballot. Twenty-five per cent. or more of the
+women of this country are property owners. Nearly nine-tenths of the
+laws are made for the protection of property and of those who own it
+and who earn wages. Now it seems to me that this twenty-five per cent.
+of the women should have a voice in the making of laws for the
+protection of their property and of their right to earn a living...."
+
+Mrs. Colby thus closed her address on Wyoming: "Having thus shown that
+the twenty-two years' experience of woman suffrage has been
+satisfactory to the citizens of Wyoming; that it has conduced to good
+order in the elections and to the purity of politics; that the
+educational system is improved and that teachers are paid without
+regard to sex; that Wyoming stands alone in a decreased proportion of
+crime and divorce; and that it has elevated the personal character of
+both sexes--what possible good is there left to speak of as coming to
+that State from woman suffrage save its position as the vanguard of
+progress and human freedom. Not the Bartholdi statue in New York
+harbor, but Wyoming on the crest of the continent, the first true
+republic, represents Liberty enlightening the world."
+
+Short addresses were made also by Mrs. Caroline McCullough Everhard,
+Mrs. Mary Jewett Telford, the Rev. Mila F. Tupper, Mrs. Marble, Dr.
+Frances Dickinson, Miss H. Augusta Howard, Mrs. Saxon, Mrs. Hannah J.
+Bailey, Mrs. Evaleen L. Mason and Mrs. Olive Pond Amies.[87]
+
+The _Post_, in an account of the Senate hearing, said: "Miss Anthony
+called attention to Senator Hoar as the gentleman who had presented
+the first favorable suffrage report to the Senate in 1879. Everybody
+shouted "Stand up," and as he retired deeper into his leather chair
+they continued to cry, "Up, up!" It was a tableau when the Senator
+found his feet, and at the same time was confronted with a round of
+applause and a volley of white handkerchiefs waved at him in
+Chautauqua style. He capped the climax by moving at once a favorable
+report. Laurel wreaths and bouquets would have been Senator Hoar's
+portion if they had been available, but the women all assured him
+afterward of their sincere appreciation. The hearing was held in the
+ladies' reception room, which was completely filled."
+
+These matchless arguments had no effect upon the Democratic members of
+the committee, but Senator Warren of Wyoming made a favorable report
+for himself, Senators Hoar of Massachusetts, Quay of Pennsylvania and
+Allen of Washington, which concluded by saying: "The majority of the
+members of this committee, believing that equal suffrage, regardless
+of sex, should be the legitimate outgrowth of the principles of a
+republican form of government, and that the right of suffrage should
+be conferred upon the women of the United States, earnestly recommend
+the passage of the amendment submitted herewith."
+
+Senators Vance of North Carolina and George of Mississippi filed the
+same minority report which already had done duty several times,
+although the former was said to have declared that the speeches of the
+women surpassed anything he ever had heard, and that their logic, if
+used in favor of any other measure, could not fail to carry it.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[85] David B. Culberson, Tex.; William C. Oates, Ala.; Thomas R.
+Stockdale, Miss.; Charles J. Boatner, La.; Isaac H. Goodnight, Ky.;
+John A. Buchanan, Va.; William D. Bynum, Ind.; Alfred C. Chapin, N.
+Y.; Fernando C. Layton, O.; Simon P. Wolverton, Penn.; Case Broderick;
+Kan.; James Buchanan, N. J.; George W. Ray, N. Y.; H. Henry Powers,
+Vt.
+
+[86] Zebulon B. Vance, N. C.; John G. Carlisle, Ky.; J. Z. George,
+Miss.; George F. Hoar, Mass.; John B. Allen, Wash.; Matthew S. Quay,
+Penn.; Francis E. Warren, Wyo.
+
+[87] After the convention had adjourned Miss Sara Winthrop Smith
+(Conn.) made an argument on Federal Suffrage before the Judiciary
+Committee of the House. See Chap. I for general statement of position
+taken by its advocates.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+THE NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1893.
+
+
+At the close of the Twenty-fifth annual meeting the Washington
+_Evening News_ said: "There will be an exodus from Washington during
+the next three days--an exodus of some of the intellectually powerful
+and brilliant women who participated in what was agreed to be the
+brightest and most successful convention ever held by the National
+Suffrage Association. Whatever may be the opinion of the world at
+large upon the feasibility or desirability of granting the franchise
+to women, none who attended their annual reunion of delegates or
+listened to the addresses of their orators and leaders, can deny that
+the convention was composed of clever, sensible and attractive women,
+splendidly representative of their sex and of the present time."
+
+After complimentary notices of the leading members, it continued:
+"'One very pleasant thing connected with our business committee is the
+beautiful relations existing among its members,' said one of the
+officers the other evening. 'We all have our opinions and they often
+differ, but we are absolutely true to each other and to the cause. We
+are most of us married, and all of us have the co-operation of our
+husbands and fathers. Of the business committee of nine, six are
+married. For the past two years we have had one man on our board, the
+Hon. Wm. Dudley Foulke, but as a rule men have not the time and
+thought to give this subject, as they are engaged in more remunerative
+employment.' The self-control and good-nature prevailing even in the
+heated debate on the religious liberty interference resolution have
+already been alluded to in our columns."
+
+Miss Susan B. Anthony presided over the convention, Jan. 16-19, 1893,
+held in Metzerott's Music Hall and preceded by the usual religious
+services Sunday afternoon. The sermon was given by the Rev. Annis F.
+Eastman (N. Y.), an ordained Congregational minister, from the text in
+Isaiah, "Take away the yoke."
+
+The memorial service, which was of unusual impressiveness, opened with
+the reading by Miss Anthony of Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton's tribute
+to the distinguished dead of the past year who advocated equality of
+rights for women--George William Curtis, John Greenleaf Whittier,
+Ernestine L. Rose, Abby Hutchinson Patton and others.[88] Of Mr.
+Curtis she said:
+
+     If the success of our cause could be assured by the high
+     character of the men who from the beginning have identified
+     themselves with it, woman would have been emancipated long ago. A
+     reform advocated by Garrison, Phillips, Emerson, Alcott, Theodore
+     Parker, Gerrit Smith, Samuel J. May and George William Curtis
+     must be worthy the consideration of statesmen and bishops.
+
+     For more than one generation Mr. Curtis maintained a brave
+     attitude on this question. As editor of _Harper's Magazine_, and
+     as a popular lecturer on the lyceum platform, he was ever true to
+     his convictions. Before the war his lecture on Fair Play for
+     Women aroused much thought among the literary and fashionable
+     classes. In the New York Constitutional Convention in 1867, a
+     most conservative body, Mr. Curtis, though a young man and aware
+     that he had but little sympathy among his compeers, bravely
+     demanded that the word "male" should be stricken from the
+     suffrage article of the proposed constitution. His speech on that
+     occasion, in fact, philosophy, rhetoric and argument never has
+     been surpassed in the English language. From the beginning of his
+     public life to its close Mr. Curtis was steadfast on this
+     question. _Harper's Magazine_ for June, 1892, contains his last
+     plea for woman and for a higher standard for political
+     parties....
+
+Mrs. Ernestine L. Rose, exiled from Poland on account of her religious
+faith, married an Englishman and came to America, where she was one of
+the first and most eloquent of the women who spoke on the public
+platform. In 1836 she circulated petitions for the property rights of
+married women, in company with Mrs. Paulina Wright (Davis), and
+presented them to the New York Legislature. For forty years she was
+among the ablest advocates of the rights of women, lecturing also on
+religion, government and other subjects. Mrs. Abby Hutchinson Patton
+was lovingly referred to, the last but one of that family who had sung
+so many years for freedom, not only for the negro but for woman.
+Whittier, the uncompromising advocate of liberty for woman as well as
+for man, was eulogized in fitting terms.
+
+The Hon. A. G. Riddle (D. C.) offered a fine testimonial to Francis
+Minor and Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, saying: "Mr. Minor was the first to
+urge the true and sublime construction of that noble amendment born of
+the war. It declares that all persons--not simply males--born or
+naturalized in the United States are citizens of the United States and
+of the State wherein they reside. Those who are denied or are refused
+the right to exercise the privileges and franchises of citizenship are
+less than citizens. Those who still declare that women may not vote,
+simply write 'falsehood' across that glorious declaration." General
+Butler, as a leading member of the House Judiciary Committee, in a
+matchless argument had asserted the right of women to vote under the
+Fourteenth Amendment,[89] and used all his influence to secure
+suffrage for women. Miss Anthony said in part:
+
+     The good of this hour is that it brings to the knowledge of the
+     young the work of the pioneers who have passed away. It seems
+     remarkable to those standing, as I do, one of a generation almost
+     ended, that so many of these young people know nothing of the
+     past; they are apt to think they have sprung up like somebody's
+     gourd, and that nothing ever was done until they came. So I am
+     always gratified to hear these reminiscences, that they may know
+     how others have sown what they are reaping to-day.
+
+     One of the earliest advocates of this cause was Sally Holly, the
+     daughter of Myron Holly, founder of the Liberty Party in the
+     State of New York, and also founder of Unitarianism in the city
+     of Rochester. Frederick Douglass will say a few words in regard
+     to Sally Holly, and of such of the others as he may feel moved to
+     speak; and I want to say that when, at the very first convention
+     called and managed by women, Elizabeth Cady Stanton read her
+     resolution that the elective franchise is the underlying right,
+     there was but one man to stand with her, and that man was
+     Frederick Douglass.
+
+Mr. Douglass (D. C.) told of attempting to speak in Buffalo against
+slavery in 1843, when every hall was closed to him and he went into an
+abandoned storeroom:
+
+     I continued from day to day speaking in that old store to
+     laborers from the wharves, cartmen, draymen and longshoremen,
+     until after awhile the room was crowded. No woman made her
+     appearance at the meetings, but day after day for six days in
+     succession I spoke--morning, afternoon and evening. On the third
+     day there came into the room a lady leading a little girl. No
+     greater contrast could possibly have been presented than this
+     elegantly dressed, refined and lovely woman attempting to wend
+     her way through that throng. I don't know that she showed the
+     least shrinking from the crowd, but I noticed that they rather
+     shrank from her, as if fearful that the dust of their garments
+     would soil hers. Her presence to me at that moment was as if an
+     angel had been sent from Heaven to encourage me in my
+     anti-slavery endeavors. She came day after day thereafter, and at
+     last I had the temerity to ask her name. She gave it--Sally
+     Holly. "A daughter of Myron Holly?" said I. "Yes," she answered.
+     I understood it all then, for he was amongst the foremost of the
+     men in western New York in the anti-slavery movement. His home
+     was in Rochester and his dust now lies in Mt. Hope, the beautiful
+     cemetery of that city. Over him is a monument, placed there by
+     that other true friend of women, Gerrit Smith of Peterboro....
+
+     I have seen the Hutchinson family in a mob in New York. When
+     neither Mr. Garrison, Mr. Phillips nor Mr. Burleigh, nor any one
+     could speak, when there was a perfect tempest and whirlwind of
+     rowdyism in the old Tabernacle on Broadway, then this family
+     would sing, and almost upon the instant that they would raise
+     their voices, so perfect was the music, so sweet the concord, so
+     enchanting the melody, that it came down upon the audience like a
+     summer shower on a dusty road, subduing, settling everything.
+
+     I can not add to the paper which Mrs. Stanton has sent. After
+     her--silence. Your cause has raised up no voice so potent as that
+     of Elizabeth Cady Stanton--no living voice except yours, Madame
+     President.
+
+     How delighted I am to see that you have the image of Lucretia
+     Mott here [referring to her marble bust on the stage]. I am glad
+     to be here, glad to be counted on your side, and glad to be able
+     to remember that those who have gone before were my friends. I
+     was more indebted to Whittier perhaps than to any other of the
+     anti-slavery people. He did more to fire my soul and enable me to
+     fire the souls of others than any other man. It was Whittier and
+     Pierpont who feathered our arrows, shot in the direction of the
+     slave power, and they did it well. No better reading can now be
+     had in favor of the rights of woman or the liberties of man than
+     is to be found in their utterances....
+
+Miss Clara Barton (D. C.) spoke in a touching manner of the great
+service rendered to humanity by Dr. Harriet N. Austin, who assisted
+Dr. James C. Jackson to establish the "Home on the Hillside," the
+Dansville (N. Y.) Sanitorium. Henry B. Blackwell told of John L.
+Whiting, "a power and a strength to the Massachusetts Suffrage
+Association for many years, one of those rare men not made smaller by
+wealth, and always willing to give himself, his mind, his heart, his
+money, to help the cause of woman." The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw said in
+part:
+
+     I have been asked to speak a word of Mrs. Ralph Waldo Emerson. It
+     has been said by some people that we have wrongfully quoted Mr.
+     Emerson as being on our side. His biographers appear to have put
+     in his early statements and forgotten to include his later
+     declarations, which were all in favor of the enfranchisement of
+     women.
+
+     I was once sent to Concord by the Massachusetts society to hold a
+     meeting. The churches were closed against suffrage speakers and
+     there was not money enough to pay for a hall. Mrs. Ralph Waldo
+     Emerson heard the meeting was to be given up, and she sent a
+     message to the lady having the work in charge, saying: "Shall it
+     be said that here in Concord, where the Revolutionary war began,
+     there is no place to speak for the freedom of women? Get the best
+     hall in town and I will pay for it." So on that occasion and on
+     another Mrs. Emerson paid for the hall and sent a kind word to
+     the meeting, declaring herself in favor of the suffrage for
+     women, and stating that her husband's views and her own were
+     identical on this question. She had the New England trait of
+     being a good wife, a good mother and a good housekeeper, and Mr.
+     Emerson's home was a restful and blessed place. We sometimes
+     forget the wives of great men in thinking of the greatness of
+     their husbands, but Mrs. Emerson was as great in her way as Mr.
+     Emerson in his, and no more faithful friend to woman and to
+     woman's advancement ever has lived among us.[90]
+
+     A word as to the Rev. Anna Oliver, the first woman to enter the
+     theological department of Boston University. She was much beloved
+     by her class. She was a devoted Christian, eminently orthodox,
+     and a very good worker in all lines of religious effort. After
+     Miss Oliver graduated she was ambitious to become ordained, as
+     all women ought to be who desire to preach the gospel; and so
+     after I had graduated from the theological school, the year
+     following, we both applied to the conference of the Methodist
+     Episcopal Church for admission. Miss Oliver's name beginning with
+     O and mine with S, her case was presented first. She was denied
+     ordination by Bishop Andrews. Our claims were carried to the
+     general conference in Cincinnati, and the Methodist Episcopal
+     Church denied ordination to the women whom it had graduated in
+     its schools and upon whom it had conferred the degree of bachelor
+     of divinity. It not only did this, but it made a step backwards;
+     it took from us the licenses to preach which had been granted to
+     Miss Oliver for four years and to myself for eight years.
+
+     But Miss Oliver was earnest in her efforts, and so she began to
+     preach in the city of Brooklyn, and with great courage bought a
+     church in which a man had failed as a minister, leaving a debt of
+     $14,000. She was like a great many other women--and here is a
+     warning for all women. God made a woman equal to a man, but He
+     did not make a woman equal to a woman _and_ a man. We usually try
+     to do the work of a man and of a woman too; then we break down,
+     and they say that women ought not to be ministers because they
+     are not strong enough. They do not get churches that can afford
+     to send them to Europe on a three months' vacation once a year.
+     Miss Oliver was not only the minister and the minister's wife,
+     but she started at least a dozen reforms and undertook to carry
+     them all out. She was attacked by that influential Methodist
+     paper, the _Christian Advocate_, edited by the Rev. Dr. James M.
+     Buckley, who declared that he would destroy her influence in the
+     church, and so with that great organ behind him he attacked her.
+     She had that to fight, the world to fight and the devil to fight,
+     and she broke down in health. She went abroad to recover, but
+     came home only to die.[91]
+
+The death of those less widely known was touchingly referred to by
+women of the different States. Miss Anthony closed the services by
+saying: "I am just informed that we must add to this list the revered
+name of Abby Hopper Gibbons, of four-score-and-ten, who with her
+father, Isaac T. Hopper, formed the Women's Prison Association, and
+who has stood for more than the allotted years of man the sentinel on
+the watch-tower to guard unfortunate women and help them back into
+womanly living."
+
+At the first evening session Miss Anthony, in her president's address,
+answered the question, "What has been gained by the forty years'
+work?" She called attention to the woman who had preached the day
+before, ordained by an orthodox denomination; to the women alternate
+delegates to the late National Republican Convention; to the
+recommendation of Gov. Roswell P. Flower that women should be
+delegates to the approaching New York Constitutional Convention. She
+pointed out rapidly many other straws showing the direction of the
+wind, saying: "Wendell Phillips said what he wanted to do on the
+abolition question was to turn Congress into an anti-slavery debating
+society. That is what we have done with every educational, industrial,
+religious and political body--we have turned them all into debating
+societies on the woman question."
+
+U. S. Senator Joseph M. Carey (Wy.) sent a letter reaffirming his
+conviction that the granting of full political rights to women would
+be for the best interests of the country. Mr. Blackwell sketched the
+successive extensions of suffrage to women, and set forth the special
+importance of their trying to secure the Municipal and the
+Presidential franchises, both of which could be granted by the
+Legislature. Mrs. Ellen Battelle Dietrick (Mass.) read an able paper
+on The Best Methods of Interesting Women in Suffrage, in which she
+said:
+
+     The truth is, the American woman has been so pleasantly soothed
+     by the sweet opiate of that high-sounding theory of her
+     "sovereignty," that until very recently she could not be aroused
+     to examine the facts. Forty years ago the voices of a few crying
+     in the wilderness began to prepare the way for the present
+     awakening....
+
+     The deliverance of woman must have as its corner-stone
+     self-support. The first step in this direction must be to explode
+     the fallacy that marriage is a state of being supported. As men
+     are most largely the gatherers of money, it is mistakenly assumed
+     that they are most largely the creators of wealth. The man goes
+     abroad and gives his daily labor toward earning his board and
+     clothes; but what he actually receives for his work can neither
+     be eaten nor worn. It does nothing whatever until he puts it into
+     his wife's hands, and upon her intelligence, energy and ability
+     depend how much can be done through the using of it. Not until
+     her labor in transforming raw material, in cooking, sewing, and
+     rendering a house habitable, is joined to his, can a man be said
+     to have really received anything worth having. He begins, she
+     completes, the making of their joint wealth. Their dependence is
+     mutual; the position of the one who turns the money into usable
+     material by her labor being equally important, equally valuable,
+     with that of him who turned his labor into money; and this must
+     be fully recognized if woman is ever to come into her true
+     relation to man. She supports him exactly as he supports her, and
+     this is equally the case with the wife who herself produces
+     directly, or the one who gives her time and intelligence to
+     direct the production of others....
+
+     Closely allied to the fallacy that man supports woman is the
+     fallacy that man protects woman, and has a right to control her
+     by virtue of this protection. There was a period in the world's
+     transition from savagery to civilization when mankind had so
+     little conception of the mutuality of human interests that war
+     was a perpetual condition of society. Originally women also were
+     fighters; just as the lioness or tigress is as capable as her
+     mate of self-defense and protection of her young, so the savage
+     woman, when necessity required, was equally capable of conducting
+     warfare in the same cause. But long before men had given up
+     killing each other for the better business of trading with and
+     helping each other woman had ceased to be a fighter. She was the
+     first to see the advantages of peace, both because she was the
+     earliest manufacturer and trader and because it cost her more in
+     the production of every soldier than it cost man. Instinct
+     directed her toward peace long before reason made it possible for
+     her to explain why she hated war, and she hated it as an
+     occupation for herself long before it occurred to her to despise
+     it as an occupation for man. To-day the love of peace and hatred
+     for war which she is rapidly spreading through the world is the
+     real protector of woman; she is a self-protector by virtue of
+     this proclivity, and, as war is equally the enemy of man, here
+     again woman gives to man as much as she receives. Whatever force
+     the argument based on the right of soldiers to rule may once have
+     had is rapidly passing away. The era of the destroyer is dying,
+     the epoch of the Creator is coming in....
+
+     The subjugation of woman doubtless arose from an honest desire of
+     man to protect her. His mistake lay in assuming that his mind and
+     will could do private and public duty for both. Woman's mistake
+     lay in assuming that she might with safety permit man's mind and
+     will to discharge the duties nature meant to be fulfilled by her
+     own. Unhappily nature has a way of allowing the human race to
+     learn by its own experience, even though the lesson consume ages
+     of time; and she has also a rule that unused faculties and
+     functions fall into a state of atrophy. It was by such a
+     substitution of masculine for feminine will that woman fell so
+     far behind him whom she originally led in the race, industrial
+     and intellectual. If they are ever to march side by side as true
+     comrades and free partners, it must be by a voluntary resumption
+     of independence in feminine mind and will. In this man can assist
+     by stimulating her spirit of independence, or he can discourage
+     it by a contrary course, but the final result lies with woman
+     herself. She alone can free herself from the habits of thought
+     and action engendered by thousands of years of slavery.
+
+     The steps toward the emancipation of women are first
+     intellectual, then industrial, lastly legal and political. Great
+     strides in the first two of these stages already have been made
+     by millions of women who do not yet perceive that it is surely
+     carrying them towards the last.
+
+In the address of Mrs. Ruth C. D. Havens (D. C.) on The Girl of the
+Future, which was greatly enjoyed, she said:
+
+     The training and education of the girl of the present have seldom
+     been discussed except from one standpoint--her suitable
+     preparation for becoming an economical housekeeper, an
+     inexpensive wife, a willing and self-forgetful mother, a cheap,
+     unexacting, patient, unquestioning, unexpectant, ministering
+     machine. The girl's usefulness to herself, to her sex and race,
+     her preferences, tastes, happiness, social, intellectual or
+     financial prosperity, hardly have entered into the thought upon
+     this question....
+
+     If woman would be a student, a scientist, a lecturer, a
+     physician; if she would be a pioneer in a wilderness of scoffers
+     to make fair roads up which her sex might easily travel to equal
+     educational and legal rights, equal privileges and pay in fields
+     of labor, equal suffrage--she must divide her eager energies and
+     give the larger half to superior homekeeping, wifehood and
+     motherhood, in order that her new gospel shall be received with
+     any respect or acceptance. And probably no class of women have
+     been such sticklers for the cultivation of all woman's modest,
+     unassuming home duties as have been the great, ambitious teachers
+     on this suffrage platform....
+
+     But this will not be the training of the girl of the future. It
+     is not the sort of preparation to which the boy of the present is
+     urged. "Jack of all trades, good at none" is the old epithet
+     bestowed upon a man who thus diffuses his energies. You do not
+     expect a distinguished lawyer to clean his own clothes, a doctor
+     to groom his horse, a teacher to take care of the schoolhouse
+     furnace, a preacher to half-sole his shoes. This would be
+     illogical, and men are nothing if not logical. Yet a woman who
+     enters upon any line of achievement is invariably hampered, for
+     at least the early years, with the inbred desire to add to the
+     labor of her profession all the so-called feminine duties, which,
+     fulfilled to-day, are yet to be done to-morrow, which bring to
+     her neither comfort, gain nor reputation, and which by their
+     perpetual demand diminish her powers for a higher quality of
+     work....
+
+     Everywhere there is too much housekeeping. It is not economy of
+     time or money for every little family of moderate means to
+     undertake alone the expensive and wearing routine. The married
+     woman of the future will be set free by co-operative methods,
+     half the families on a square, perhaps, enjoying one luxurious,
+     well-appointed dining-room with expenses divided _pro rata_. In
+     many other ways housekeeping will be simplified. Homes have no
+     longer room for people--they are consecrated to things. Parlors
+     and bedrooms are full of the cheap and incongruous or expensive
+     and harmonious belongings of a junk shop. Plush gods hold the
+     fort. All the average house needs to make it a museum is the
+     sign, "Hands off." ...
+
+     The girl of the future will select her own avocation and take her
+     own training for it. If she be a houseworker, and many will
+     prefer to be, she will be so valuable in that line as to command
+     much respect and good wages. If she be an architect, a jeweler,
+     an electrical engineer, she will not rob a cook by mutilating a
+     dinner, or a dressmaker by amateur cutting and sewing, or a
+     milliner by creating her own bonnet. The house helper will not be
+     incompetent, because the development and training of woman for
+     her best and truest work will have extended to her also, and she
+     will do housework because she loves it and is better adapted to
+     it than to any other employment. She will preside in the kitchen
+     with skill and science.
+
+     The service girl of the future will be paid perhaps double or
+     treble her present wages, with wholesome food, a cheerful room,
+     an opportunity to see an occasional cousin and some leisure for
+     recreation. At present this would be ruinous, and why? Because
+     too frequently the family has but one producer. The wife, herself
+     a consumer, produces more consumers. Daughters grow up around a
+     man like lilies of the field, which toil not, neither do they
+     spin. Every member of every family in the future will be a
+     producer of some kind and in some degree. The only one who will
+     have the right of exemption will be the mother, for a child can
+     hardly be born with cheerful views of living whose mother's life
+     has been, for its sake, a double burden. From this root spring
+     melancholy, insanity, suicide. The production of human souls is
+     the highest production of all, the one which requires most
+     preparation, truest worth, gravest care and holiest consecration.
+     If the girl of the future recognizes this truth, she will have
+     made an advance indeed. But apart from the mother every member of
+     the family should be a material producer; and then there will be
+     means sufficient for the producer in the kitchen to get such
+     remuneration for her skill as will eliminate the incompetent,
+     shirking, migratory creature of today....
+
+     I hardly need say to this audience that the girl of the future
+     will vote. She will not plead for the privilege--she will be
+     urged to exercise the right, and no one will admit that he ever
+     opposed it, or remember that there was a time when woman's ballot
+     was despised and rejected of men. She will not be told that she
+     needs the suffrage for her own protection, but she will be urged
+     to exercise it for the good of her country and of humanity. It
+     will not be known that the Declaration of Independence was once a
+     dead letter. No one will believe that it ever was declared that
+     the Constitution did not protect this right. It will be
+     incredible that women were once neither people nor citizens, _and
+     yet were the mothers, and in so much the creators, of the men who
+     governed them_.
+
+Mrs. Mary S. Lockwood (D. C.), member-at-large of the World's Fair
+Board of Lady Managers, read a carefully prepared statement of the
+methods and aims of that body, which began: "The Board of Lady
+Managers owe their existence to Susan B. Anthony and her co-workers.
+It was these women who went before Congress and not only asked but
+demanded that women should have a place in the management of this
+Columbian Exposition--and they got it"![92] She closed as follows:
+
+     I have been greatly impressed as I have come into this hall from
+     day to day, and have looked upon the sweet representative face in
+     marble of Lucretia Mott and the benign, glorified face of Mrs.
+     Stanton, with Susan B. Anthony as the central figure of the trio,
+     and have thought of the years they have lifted up their voices
+     praying they might see the glory of the coming of the Lord; and I
+     have felt if only I could bring before them the sheaves which we
+     are gathering from the women of the earth for this great
+     exposition; if only I could show them how their work has put the
+     women of this nation in touch with the women of every other
+     country, awakening them to new aspirations, new hopes, new
+     efforts, to whom the dawn of a brighter day is visible--these
+     pioneers would say, "Our eyes are indeed opened; a handful of
+     corn planted on the top of the mountain has been made to shake
+     all Lebanon."
+
+Miss Mary H. Williams (Neb.) reported that, as chairman of a committee
+for this purpose, she had sent letters to forty-nine Governors of
+States and Territories; twenty-one replies had been received--nine in
+favor of full suffrage for women, two of school suffrage only, three
+were totally opposed and the others made evasive replies. The nine in
+favor were Governors Barber of Wyoming, Routt of Colorado, Mellette of
+South Dakota, Winans of Michigan, Thomas of Utah, Burke of North
+Dakota, Humphrey of Kansas, Colcord of Nevada, Knapp of Alaska. All of
+these were Western men and all Republicans but Winans. Tillman of
+South Carolina and Willey of Idaho favored school suffrage alone.
+Stone of Mississippi and Fleming of West Virginia answered "no". Gov.
+James E. Boyd of Nebraska was opposed, although he would allow women
+to vote on school questions. Governor Boyd's election had been
+contested on the ground that his father had not been properly
+naturalized.
+
+Gov. Thomas M. Holt of North Carolina replied: "I am utterly opposed
+to woman suffrage in any shape or form. I have a wife and three
+daughters, all married, who are as much opposed to women going into
+politics as I am, and they _reflex_ the sentiment of our Southern
+women generally."
+
+Gov. Francis P. Fleming of Florida gave nine reasons why he was
+opposed, but concluded: "The above objections would not as a rule
+apply to church or school elections, and as women are usually much
+more pious than men and take more interest in church matters, I am
+inclined to think it would be well for them to vote at church
+elections, and am not aware of any particular objection to their
+voting at school elections."
+
+The address of Mrs. Orra Langhorne (Va.) was read by her niece, Miss
+Henderson Dangerfield. It gave a charming picture of the oldtime
+Southern woman, her responsible social position, her care for her
+great household in her own small world; described how she was
+handicapped by tradition and lack of intellectual training; depicted
+the changed conditions since the war and her gradual awakening to the
+demands of modern life and the need of larger rights.
+
+Lucy Stone was not able to be present and a letter from her was read
+by her husband, Mr. Blackwell:
+
+     DEAR FRIENDS:--Wherever woman suffragists are gathered together
+     in the name of equal rights, there am I always in spirit with
+     them. Although unable to be present in person, my glad greeting
+     goes to you, every one, to those who have borne the heat and
+     burden of the day, and to the strong, brave, younger workers who
+     have come to lighten the load and help bring the victory. The
+     work still calls for patient perseverance and ceaseless endeavor;
+     but we have every reason to rejoice when there are so many gains
+     and when favorable conditions abound on every hand. The end is
+     not yet in sight, but it can not be far away. The road before us
+     is shorter than the road behind.
+
+This was her last message to the association. She passed away in
+October of this year, having labored nearly half a century for the
+enfranchisement of women.
+
+Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, in an address entitled Comparisons Are
+Odious, showed the contrast between the Government's treatment of the
+Sioux Indians, exempted from taxation and allowed to vote, and of
+law-abiding, intelligent women in the same section of the country,
+compelled to pay taxes and not allowed to vote.[93] Miss Elizabeth
+Upham Yates closed the evening with a brilliant address.
+
+Before adjourning Miss Anthony read Gov. Roswell P. Flower's
+certificate appointing her a member of the Board of Managers of the
+State Industrial School at Rochester, N. Y. She took considerable
+satisfaction in pointing out that it referred to her as "him," because
+she had always contended that, if the masculine pronoun in an official
+document is sufficient to send a woman to the jail or the gallows, it
+is sufficient to enable her to vote and hold office.
+
+On the last evening, the Hon. Carroll D. Wright, U. S. Commissioner of
+Labor, delivered a valuable address on The Industrial Emancipation of
+Women, in which he said:
+
+     Until within a comparatively recent period, woman's subjection to
+     man has been well-nigh complete in all respects, whether such
+     subjection is considered from a social, political, intellectual
+     or even a physical point of view. At first the property of man,
+     she emerged under civilization from the sphere of a drudge to
+     that of a social factor and, consequently, into the liberty of
+     cultivating her mental faculties....
+
+     Industrial emancipation, using the term broadly, means the
+     highest type of woman as the result, the word "industrial"
+     comprehending in this sense all remunerative employment. The
+     entrance of woman into the industrial field was assured when the
+     factory system of labor displaced the domestic or hand labor
+     system. The age of invention, with the wonderful ramifications
+     which invention always has produced, must be held accountable for
+     bringing woman into a field entirely unknown to her prior to that
+     age. As an economic factor, either in art, literature or
+     industry, she was before that time hardly recognizable. With the
+     establishment of the factory system, the desire of woman to have
+     something more than she could earn as a domestic or in
+     agricultural labor, or to earn something where before she had
+     earned nothing, resulted in her becoming an economic factor, and
+     she was obliged to submit to all the conditions of this new
+     position. It hardly can be said that in the lower forms of
+     industrial pursuits she superseded man, but it is true that she
+     supplemented his labors....
+
+     Each step in industrial progress has raised her in the scale of
+     civilization rather than degraded her. As a result she has
+     constantly gone up higher and gained intellectual advantages,
+     such as the opening to her of the higher institutions of
+     learning, which have in turn equipped her for the best
+     professional employment. The moral plane of the so-called
+     workingwoman certainly is higher than that of the woman engaged
+     in domestic service, and is equal to that of any class of women
+     in the community....
+
+     As women have occupied the positions of bookkeepers, telegraphers
+     and many of what might be called semi-professional callings, men
+     have entered engineering, electrical, mechanical and other
+     spheres of work which were not known when women first stepped
+     into the industrial field. As the latter have progressed from
+     entire want of employment to that which pays a few dollars per
+     week, men, too, have progressed in their employments, and
+     occupied larger fields not existing before....
+
+     Woman is now stepping out of industrial subjection and coming
+     into the industrial system of the present as an entirely new
+     economic factor. If there were no other reasons, this alone would
+     be sufficient to make her wages low and prevent their very rapid
+     increase.... The growing importance of woman's labor, her general
+     equipment through technical education, her more positive
+     dedication to the life-work she chooses, the growing sentiment
+     that an educated and skilful woman is a better and truer
+     companion in marriage than an ignorant and unskilful one, her
+     appreciation of the value of organization, the general uplifting
+     of the principle of integrity in business circles, woman's
+     gradual approach to man's powers in mental achievement also, her
+     possible and probable political influence--all these combined,
+     working along general avenues of progress and evolution, will
+     bring her industrial emancipation, by which she will stand on an
+     equality with man in those callings in life for which she may be
+     fitted. As she approaches this equality her remuneration will be
+     increased and her economic importance acknowledged....
+
+     If woman's industrial emancipation leads to what many are pleased
+     to call "political rights," we must not quarrel with it. It is
+     not just that all other advantages which may come through this
+     emancipation shall be withheld simply because one great privilege
+     on which there is a division of sentiment may also come.
+
+     One of the greatest boons which will result from the industrial
+     emancipation of woman will be the frank admission on the part of
+     the true and chivalric man that she is the sole and rightful
+     owner of her own being in every respect, and that whatever
+     companionship may exist between her and man shall be as
+     thoroughly honorable to her as to him.
+
+Miss Harriet May Mills (N. Y.) gave a paper on The Present Political
+Status of Woman, which showed the trained mind and logical method of
+thought one would expect from a graduate of Cornell University. The
+last address of the convention was given by the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw,
+entitled The America Undiscovered by Columbus. This, like so many of
+Miss Shaw's unsurpassed lectures, will be lost to posterity because
+unwritten and not stenographically reported.
+
+In her report as vice-president-at-large Miss Shaw announced that she
+had given during the year 215 lectures for which she had received pay,
+twenty-five of these for suffrage associations and the rest for
+temperance and literary organizations, but on every occasion it had
+been a suffrage lecture. In addition she had given gratuitously to the
+service of this cause lectures which at her regular price would have
+amounted to $1,265. She also related the following incident: "I was
+present at the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union in Denver,
+and Miss Willard introduced me as a fraternal delegate from the
+National Suffrage Association. I made my little speech and the whole
+convention arose and waved their handkerchiefs at the message sent by
+this body. One woman jumped to her feet and moved that a telegram be
+returned from that convention, giving its sisterly sympathy. Miss
+Willard got up and said, 'Shoo, ladies; this is different from what it
+was in Washington in 1881, when you refused to let me have Miss
+Anthony on my platform. Things are coming around, girls.'"
+
+The corresponding secretary, Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery, announced that
+thirty-three State associations were auxiliary to the national. Miss
+Adelaide Johnson was introduced as the sculptor who had modeled the
+fine busts of Lucretia Mott, Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony, which were
+on the platform. Miss Laura Clay reported on the work that had just
+been commenced in the Southern States, which she considered a most
+hopeful field. In the discussion on Press Work, when it was proposed
+that the association start an official paper, Miss Anthony said with
+much feeling: "I had an experience in publishing a paper about
+twenty-five years ago and I came to grief. I never hear of a woman
+starting a suffrage paper that my blood does not tingle with agony for
+what that poor soul will have to endure--the same agony I went
+through. I feel, however, that we shall never become an immense power
+in the world until we concentrate all our money and editorial forces
+upon one great national daily newspaper, so we can sauce back our
+opponents every day in the year; once a month or once a week is not
+enough.
+
+The resolutions presented by the chairman, Mrs. Dietrick, were adopted
+without dissent,[94] except the last:
+
+     WHEREAS, The Constitution of the United States promises
+     noninterference with the religious liberty of the people; and
+
+     WHEREAS, Congress is now threatening to abridge the liberties of
+     all in response to ecclesiastical dictation from a portion of the
+     people; therefore,
+
+     _Resolved_, That this association enters a protest against any
+     national attempt to control the innocent inclinations of the
+     people either on the Jewish Sabbath or the Christian Sunday, and
+     this we do quite irrespective of our individual opinions as to
+     the sanctity of Sunday.
+
+     _Resolved_, That we especially protest against this present
+     attempt to force all the people to follow the religious dictates
+     of a part of the people, as establishing a precedent for the
+     entrance of a most dangerous complicity between Church and State,
+     thereby subtly undermining the foundation of liberty, so
+     carefully laid by the wisdom of our fathers.
+
+This precipitated the discussion as to the opening of the World's Fair
+on Sunday which had been vigorously waged during two preceding
+conventions without resulting in definite action. It was now continued
+during three sessions and then, by majority vote, indefinitely
+postponed. Mrs. Avery, chairman of the Columbian Exposition
+Committee,[95] closed her report as follows: "As we are to be
+represented in so many ways during the World's Fair--i. e., at the
+World's Congress of Representative Women, in the Suffrage Congresses,
+in the meetings to be held in the auditorium of the Woman's Building,
+in the program to be presented by us for the approval of the Committee
+on General Meetings of the Board of Lady Managers--I would strongly
+urge against attempting to hold a separate Suffrage Congress, either
+national or international, during the Exposition." This was agreed to.
+
+The Congressional Committee, through Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton,
+reported that 375 letters had been sent to members of Congress asking
+for an expression on the question of woman suffrage. Of those who
+responded fifty-nine were in favor of full suffrage; twenty-five of
+qualified suffrage; sixty-five wholly opposed. The remainder did not
+reply, although stamps were enclosed. This committee also arranged for
+the printing, purchasing and distributing of 23,000 copies of the
+Senate and House hearings. The report concluded: "The time has come
+when women wanting legislation must proceed exactly as men do who want
+it. No man procures an office for himself or a friend, nor does any
+man or association get an Act passed, unless the claim is persistently
+pressed, not only upon the members of the committee in charge of it
+but upon his friends and acquaintances in Congress. There is no use in
+supposing the justice or right of a question, without persistent work,
+is going to bring about a reform."[96]
+
+Mrs. Colby, chairman of the Committee on Federal Suffrage, appointed
+to urge the legal right of women to vote for Representatives under the
+U. S. Constitution, reported that she had sent a copy of Francis
+Minor's argument to every member of the Judiciary Committee of the
+House of Representatives, with a personal letter asking for an
+opinion, and that not one replied. Petitions were sent from twenty
+States, including suffrage associations, temperance societies,
+granges, etc. Letters asking an opinion were written to nineteen
+Senators who were considered friendly to the enfranchisement of women,
+and only one answered, Joseph N. Dolph of Oregon. Miss Sara Winthrop
+Smith (Conn.) opened the discussion.[97]
+
+The motion of Miss Alice Stone Blackwell to amend the constitution so
+that it would not be obligatory to hold every annual convention in
+Washington, was amended by Mrs. Avery to the effect that "the annual
+delegate convention shall be held in Washington during the first
+session of each Congress, in order to influence national legislation;
+the meeting of the alternate conventions to be left an open question."
+Miss Anthony was greatly opposed to holding any of the national
+meetings outside of Washington, and in a forcible speech she said:
+
+     The sole object, it seems to me, of this organization is to bring
+     the combined influence of all the States upon Congress to secure
+     national legislation. The very moment you change the purpose of
+     this great body from National to State work you have defeated its
+     object. It is the business of the States to do the district work;
+     to create public sentiment; to make a national organization
+     possible; and then to bring their united power to the capital
+     and focus it on Congress. Our younger women naturally can not
+     appreciate the vast amount of work done here in Washington by the
+     National Association in the last twenty-five years. The delegates
+     do not come here as individuals but as representatives of their
+     entire States.
+
+     We have had these conventions here for a quarter of a century,
+     and every Congress has given hearings to the ablest women we
+     could bring from every section. In the olden times the States
+     were not fully organized--they had not money enough to pay their
+     delegates' expenses. We begged and worked and saved the money and
+     the National Association paid the expenses of delegates from
+     Oregon and California in order that they might come and bring the
+     influence of their States to bear upon Congress.
+
+     Last winter we had twenty-three States represented by delegates.
+     Think of those twenty-three women going before the Senate
+     committee, each making her speech, and showing these Senators the
+     interest in all these States. We have educated at least a part of
+     three or four hundred men and their wives and daughters every two
+     years to return as missionaries to their respective localities. I
+     shall feel it a grave mistake if you vote in favor of a movable
+     convention. It will lessen our influence and our power; but come
+     what may, I shall abide by the decision of the majority.
+
+Miss Anthony was strongly supported by Miss Shaw, Mrs. Colby, Mrs.
+Louisa Southworth, Mrs. Rosa L. Segur, Mrs. Olivia B. Hall, Mrs. Jean
+Brooks Greenleaf and others.
+
+Mrs. Claudia Quigley Murphy (O.) expressed the sentiment of the other
+side in saying:
+
+     It seems better to sow the seed of suffrage throughout the
+     country by means of our national conventions. We may give the
+     people mass meetings and district and State conventions and
+     various other things, but we can never give them anything as good
+     as the national convention. We must get down to the unit of our
+     civilization, which is the individual voter or person. We have
+     worked for twenty-five years here among the legislators at
+     Washington; we have gone to the halls of Congress and to the
+     Legislatures, and we have found the average legislator to be but
+     a reflex of the sentiment of his constituents. If we wish
+     representation at Washington we can send our delegation to the
+     halls of Congress this year and next year, the same as we have
+     done in the past. This great convention does not go to Congress;
+     it sends a committee.... Let us get down to the people and sow
+     the seed among them. It is the people we want to reach if we
+     expect good results.
+
+The amendment was warmly advocated by Mr. and Miss Blackwell, Miss
+Clay, Mrs. Dietrick, Mrs. Esther F. Boland and others. It was finally
+adopted by a vote of 37 yeas, 28 nays.
+
+Among the many excellent State reports that of Kansas, prepared by
+Mrs. Laura M. Johns and read by Miss Jennie, daughter of
+Representative Case Broderick, was of special interest, as a suffrage
+campaign was imminent in that State and the National Association had
+resolved to contribute speakers and money. It spoke of the great
+canvass of thirty conventions the previous year, with Mrs. Johns as
+chairman and a large corps of speakers from outside and inside the
+State; of their cordial reception by the Republican State Convention;
+of the benefits of Municipal Suffrage; and ended with an earnest
+appeal for the friends to rally to the support of Kansas.
+
+Brief remarks were made by the wives of Representatives John G. Otis
+of Kansas and Halbert S. Greenleaf of New York. Letters of greeting
+were received from Mrs. Annie Besant of England, and many others.
+Bishop John F. Hurst, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in regretting
+that it was impossible to accept the invitation to address the
+convention, said: "I have the fullest sympathy with your work and have
+had for many years. I believe that every year brings nearer the great
+achievement when women will have the right of the ballot if they
+please to use it."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[88] Bishop Phillips Brooks, who declared himself unequivocally for
+woman suffrage, died the week following the convention.
+
+[89] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, p. 482.
+
+[90] For other instances see Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, pp.
+132, 251.
+
+[91] The Rev. Anna Oliver left $1,000 to the National Suffrage
+Association.
+
+[92] For the part of Miss Anthony and others in securing this board,
+see Chap. XIV.
+
+[93] As Mrs. Chapman Catt spoke always without MS., it is impossible
+to give extracts from her speeches, which were among the ablest made
+at the national conventions.
+
+[94] _Resolved_, That without expressing any opinion on the proper
+qualifications for voting, we call attention to the significant facts
+that in every State there are more women who can read and write than
+the whole number of illiterate male voters; more white women who can
+read and write than all negro voters; more American women who can read
+and write than all foreign voters; so that the enfranchisement of such
+women would settle the vexed question of rule by illiteracy, whether
+of home-grown or foreign-born production.
+
+_Resolved_, That as all experience proves that the rights of the
+laboring man are best preserved in governments where he has possession
+of the ballot, we therefore demand on behalf of the laboring woman the
+same powerful instrument, that she may herself protect her own
+interests; and we urge all organized bodies of working women, whether
+in the field of philanthropy, education, trade, manufacture or general
+industry, to join our association in the endeavor to make woman
+legally and politically a free agent, as the best means for furthering
+any and every line of woman's work.
+
+_Resolved_, That in all States possessing School Suffrage for women,
+suffragists are advised to organize in each representative district
+thereof, for the purpose of training and stimulating women voters to
+exercise regularly this right, using it as a preparatory school for
+the coming work of full-grown citizenship with an unlimited ballot. We
+also advise that women everywhere work for the election of an equal
+number of women and men upon school boards, that the State in taking
+upon itself the education of children may provide them with as many
+official mothers as fathers.
+
+WHEREAS, Many forms of woman suffrage may be granted by State
+Legislatures without change in existing constitutions; therefore,
+
+_Resolved_, That the suffragists in every State should petition for
+Municipal, School and Presidential Suffrage by statute, and take every
+practicable step toward securing such legislation.
+
+_Resolved_, That we urge all women to enter protest, at the time of
+paying taxes, at being compelled to submit to taxation without
+representation.
+
+[95] Rachel Foster Avery, Susan B. Anthony, Alice Stone Blackwell,
+Ellen Battelle Dietrick, Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, the Rev. Florence
+Kollock, Lida A. Meriwether, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, May Wright
+Sewall, Mrs. Leland Stanford, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, Jane
+H. Spofford, Harriet Taylor Upton.
+
+[96] During the years when Mrs. Upton's father, the Hon. Ezra B.
+Taylor of Ohio, was in Congress, she made it her especial business to
+press this matter upon the members. At least two favorable reports
+were due to her efforts, and the association greatly missed her
+congressional work when she left Washington.
+
+[97] The arguments for Federal Suffrage are contained in Chapter I.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1894.
+
+
+The Call for the Twenty-sixth annual convention contained this
+paragraph of hope and joy: "The Government's recognition of women on
+the Board of Managers for the World's Columbian Exposition; the
+World's Congress of Representative Women--the greatest convocation of
+women ever assembled; their participation in the entire series of
+Congresses; the gaining of Full Suffrage in Colorado--all give to our
+demand for equality for women unprecedented prestige in the world of
+thought."
+
+The meetings were held in Metzerott's Music Hall, Washington, D. C.,
+Feb. 15-20, 1894. An excellent summary of the week was given by the
+secretary, Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, in the _Woman's Journal_, of
+which she was editor:
+
+     Over the platform was draped a large suffrage flag, bearing two
+     full stars for Wyoming and Colorado, and two more merely outlined
+     in gold for Kansas and New York, which have equal suffrage
+     amendments now pending and hope to add their stars to the galaxy
+     next November. Instead of "Old Glory," the equal rights banner
+     might be called "New Glory." Beside it hung the American flag,
+     the great golden flag of Spain with its two red bars, the crimson
+     flag of Turkey with its crescent and star, and the British
+     flag--these last three in honor respectively of Senorita Catalina
+     de Alcala of Spain, Madame Hanna Korany of Syria and Miss
+     Catherine Spence of Australia, who were on the program. At one
+     side the serene face of Lucy Stone looked down upon the audience.
+     On the afternoon of the memorial service the frame of the
+     portrait was draped with smilax, entwining bunches of violets
+     from South Carolina, and beneath stood a jar of great white
+     lilies....
+
+     Kansas and New York divided the interest of the convention, and
+     the importance of the two campaigns was ably presented by the
+     respective State presidents, stately Mrs. Greenleaf and graceful
+     Mrs. Johns. The appeals of the former were warmly supported by
+     Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake, and of the latter by Mrs. Annie L.
+     Diggs. Mrs. Johns is a strong Republican, and Mrs. Diggs an
+     equally ardent Populist, but they were perfectly agreed in their
+     devotion to the woman suffrage amendment and in their desire
+     that help should be given to the Kansas campaign. Both are small
+     women of gentle and feminine aspect, though known as mighty
+     workers; and when Mrs. Diggs, a soft-voiced, bright-eyed morsel
+     of humanity, said in presenting the needs of the Kansas Equal
+     Suffrage Association, "Mrs. Johns is our president, and I am
+     vice-president; she is the gentle officer, I am the savage one;
+     my business is to frighten people"--the audience roared with
+     laughter. The New York women generously declared that they would
+     carry the financial burden of their own campaign and would ask no
+     outside help except in speakers and sympathy. This left the field
+     clear for Kansas and more than $2,200 were raised at one session
+     towards the expenses of the campaign....
+
+     The two delegates from Colorado, Mrs. Ellis Meredith and Mrs.
+     Hattie E. Fox, were the objects of much interest and of hearty
+     congratulations. They seemed very happy over their recent
+     enfranchisement, as they well might be. Mrs. Meredith, who is
+     very small, looked up brightly at a tall Maryland lady, who was
+     congratulating her, and said, "I feel as tall as you." These two
+     ladies looked just like other women and had developed no horns or
+     hoofs or other unamiable and unfeminine characteristics in
+     consequence of their having obtained the right to vote.... The
+     Southern women have distinguished themselves in the national
+     suffrage conventions during the last few years. This year, on
+     "presidents' evening," among a number of brilliant addresses that
+     of Mrs. Virginia D. Young of South Carolina fairly brought down
+     the house....
+
+     A beautiful silk flag, bearing the two suffrage stars, was
+     presented to Miss Anthony in honor of her seventy-fourth
+     birthday, on the first evening of the convention, a gift from the
+     enfranchised women of Wyoming and Colorado. One of these women
+     had been called upon to act as a judge of elections and had
+     received three dollars for her services. She spent two dollars on
+     shoes for her little boy and sent the third dollar as her
+     contribution toward the suffrage flag.
+
+     It was a pleasure to see the gathering of the clans--so many good
+     and able and interesting women assembled together to report their
+     work for equal rights and to plan more for the future. One with a
+     pleasant, honest face and wistful brown eyes, had been lecturing
+     in the interest of the amendment in the country districts of New
+     York, riding from village to village in an open sleigh, with the
+     thermometer many degrees below zero, and speaking sometimes in
+     unwarmed halls. She did not expect to take a day's rest until the
+     6th of next November, and then if the amendment carried, she said
+     quietly, she should be willing to lie down and die....
+
+     It is pleasant also to note the increasing number of bright,
+     sensible, earnest young women coming from all parts of the
+     country to aid the older workers and to close up their thinning
+     ranks. The sight would be a revelation to that Massachusetts
+     legislator who was lately reported as saying that the petitioners
+     who had been asking for suffrage for so many years were fast
+     dying off, and soon there would be none left. He would have seen
+     how greatly he was reckoning without his host--or his hostesses.
+     A sound and righteous reform does not die with any leader,
+     however beloved.
+
+The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw pronounced the invocation at the opening
+session. In the course of her president's address Miss Susan B.
+Anthony said:
+
+     For the twenty-sixth time we have come together under the shadow
+     of the Capitol, asking that Congress shall take the necessary
+     steps to secure to the women of the nation their right to a voice
+     in the national government as well as that of their respective
+     States. For twelve successive Congresses we have appeared before
+     committees of the two Houses making this plea, that the
+     underlying principle of our Government, the right of consent,
+     shall have practical application to the other half of the people.
+     Such a little simple thing we have been asking for a quarter of a
+     century. For over forty years, longer than the children of Israel
+     wandered through the wilderness, we have been begging and praying
+     and pleading for this act of justice. We shall some day be
+     heeded, and when we shall have our amendment to the Constitution
+     of the United States, everybody will think it was always so, just
+     exactly as many young people believe that all the privileges, all
+     the freedom, all the enjoyments which woman now possesses always
+     were hers. They have no idea of how every single inch of ground
+     that she stands upon to-day has been gained by the hard work of
+     some little handful of women of the past.
+
+This was Miss Anthony's birthday and Mrs. Chapman Catt concluded her
+little speech in presenting a silk flag by saying: "And now, our
+beloved leader, the enfranchised women of Wyoming and Colorado, upon
+this the seventy-fourth anniversary of your life--a life every year of
+which has been devoted to the advancement of womankind--have sent this
+emblem and with it the message that they hope you will bear it at the
+head of our armies until there shall be on this blue field not two
+stars but forty-four. They have sent it with the especial wish that
+its silent lesson shall teach such justice to the men of the State of
+New York that in November they will rise as one man to crown you, as
+well as their own wives and daughters, with the sovereignty of
+American citizenship."
+
+For a few moments Miss Anthony was unable to reply and then she said:
+"I have heard of standard bearers in the army who carried the banner
+to the topmost ramparts of the enemy, and there I am going to try to
+carry this one. You know without my telling how proud I am of this
+flag and how my heart is touched by this manifestation." Large boxes
+of flowers were sent her from Georgia and South Carolina, a telegram
+of greeting was received from ex-Governor and Mrs. Routt of Colorado,
+and there were many other pleasant remembrances.
+
+The convention was welcomed by the Hon. John Ross, commissioner of the
+District of Columbia. Miss Catherine H. Spence of South Australia said
+in speaking of the suffrage there: "This country was not only the
+birthplace of the Australian ballot, by which you now vote in the
+United States, but it was the birthplace of woman suffrage, because
+six years before the Municipal Franchise was granted to women in
+England it was in effect in the towns and cities in South Australia."
+At a later session Miss Spence gave a practical illustration of what
+is known as proportional representation. Miss Windeyer also
+represented the women electors of Australia.
+
+In response to Mrs. Young, bearing the greetings of South Carolina,
+Miss Anthony said with much feeling:
+
+     I think the most beautiful part of our coming together in
+     Washington for the last twenty-five years has been that more
+     friendships, more knowledge of each other, have come through the
+     hand-shakes here than would have been possible through any other
+     instrumentality. I shall never cease to be grateful for all the
+     splendid women who have come up to this great center for these
+     twenty-six conventions, and have learned that the North was not
+     such a cold place as they had believed; I have been equally glad
+     when we came down here and met the women from the sunny South and
+     found they were just like ourselves, if not a little better. In
+     this great association we know no North, no South, no East, no
+     West. This has been our pride for all these years. We have no
+     political party. We never have inquired what anybody's religion
+     is. All we ever have asked is simply, "Do you believe in perfect
+     equality for women?" This is the one article in our creed.
+
+Senator Joseph M. Carey of Wyoming and Representative Lafayette Pence
+of Colorado referred with great pride to the enfranchisement of the
+women of their respective States. Mrs. Johns was introduced by Miss
+Anthony as "the general of the Kansas army;" Mrs. Greenleaf as the
+Democratic nominee for member of the N. Y. Constitutional Convention;
+Mrs. Henry as the woman who received 4,500 votes for Clerk of the
+Supreme Court of Kentucky. Miss Anthony's spicy introductions of the
+various speakers were always greatly relished by the audiences.
+
+No more impressive or beautiful memorial service ever was held than
+that in remembrance of Lucy Stone. The principal address was made by
+Mrs. Julia Ward Howe (Mass.), in the course of which she said:
+
+     In all action taken under her supervision, Mrs. Stone was most
+     careful that the main issue should be constantly presented and
+     kept in view. While welcoming every reform which gave evidence of
+     the ethical progress of the community, she yet held to woman
+     suffrage, pure and simple, as the first condition upon which the
+     new womanhood should base itself. Efforts were often made to
+     entangle suffrage with the promise of endless reforms in various
+     directions, but firm as Cato, who always repeated his words that
+     Carthage should be destroyed, Lucy Stone always asked for
+     suffrage because it is right and just that women should have it,
+     and not on the ground of a swiftly-coming millennium which should
+     follow it....
+
+     When Lucy Stone first resolved to devote her life to the
+     rehabilitation of her sex, to what a task did she pledge herself!
+     The high road to reform which she held so dear was not even
+     measured before her. The ground was covered with a growth of
+     centuries. Could this small hand that held a sickle hope to cut
+     down those forests of time-honored prejudice and superstition?
+     What had she to work with? A silver voice, a winning smile, the
+     great gift of a persuasive utterance. What had she to work from?
+     A deep and abiding faith in divine justice and in man's ability
+     to follow its laws and to execute its decrees.
+
+     The prophetic sense of good to come, vouchsafed to her in the
+     morning of life, did not forsake her at its close. Her mind was
+     of a very practical cast and in her many days of labor her eyes
+     were always fixed upon her work. But when her work was taken from
+     her, she saw at once the heavens open before her and the eternal
+     life and light beckoning to her to go up higher. With a smile she
+     passed from the struggle of earthly existence to the peace of the
+     saints made perfect. Here she was still debarred the right to
+     cast her ballot at the polls, but lo, in the blue urn of heaven
+     her life was received, one glowing and perfect vote for the
+     rights of women, for the good of humanity, for the Kingdom of God
+     on earth.
+
+A few sentences may be given as the key-note of the eulogy of the Hon.
+Wm. Dudley Foulke (Ind.): "Her career, while different from that of
+most women, was characterized throughout by entire and consistent
+womanliness. Among the many admirable qualities that she possessed, it
+is difficult to single out the one for which she will hereafter be
+best remembered, but as dauntless moral courage is a rarer quality
+perhaps than any other, it seems to me that this will remain her
+brightest jewel."
+
+In the address of Mrs. Josephine K. Henry (Ky.) she referred to the
+marriage of Lucy Stone and Henry B. Blackwell as follows:
+
+     Their matrimonial contract is the grandest chart of the absolute
+     equality of man and woman that has ever been made, and it throws
+     a new halo of consecration and sanctity around the institution of
+     marriage. It has not yet been written in our ecclesiastical and
+     civil codes that every woman shall retain and dignify her own
+     name through life, but civilization is preparing now to issue
+     this edict. The coming woman will not resign her name at the
+     marriage altar, and it will be told in future years of these two
+     great souls who were the first to recognize the dignity of human
+     individuality. The domestic life of this couple who set up the
+     standard of absolute equality of husband and wife was an
+     exquisite idyl, fragrant with love and tenderness, a poem whose
+     rhythm was not marred, a divine melody that rose above the
+     discords and dissensions of domestic life upon the lowlands where
+     man is the ruler and woman the subject.
+
+In the touching tribute of Miss Laura Clay (Ky.) she said: "Lucy Stone
+is one of those who paid what must be paid for liberty or for any high
+good of humanity. She made sacrifices and did things that none of us
+to-day would be called upon to do, did them bravely, did them without
+shrinking, did them almost without knowing that she was doing anything
+which would call forth the blessing, the gratitude of the human race."
+
+Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake (N. Y.) referred more especially to the
+domestic qualities, saying:
+
+     When the gift of a little child came it was more to her than all
+     else beside. For a while the world centered in that tiny cradle,
+     and the hand which rocked that cradle had rather perform this
+     gentle office than rule the world. It will ever be thus. With the
+     true woman, dearer than wealth or fame is the touch of baby
+     hands, sweeter than the applause of multitudes is the ripple of a
+     baby's laughter. As the years passed by, the mother gave more of
+     her life to the public, but always with the thought of the young
+     girl who was growing up beside her and making of her home the
+     dearest and most sacred spot.
+
+This part of the memorial services appropriately closed with the
+tender reminiscences of forty-five years of married life, by the
+husband, Mr. Blackwell.
+
+Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton (N. Y.) sent an eloquent tribute to the
+memory of Lucy Stone, Leland Stanford, George W. Childs, Elizabeth
+Oakes Smith and Elizabeth Peabody. After reciting the contributions of
+each in the cause of woman, she closed with these words from The
+Prince of India in reference to the last great record: "There is thy
+history and mine, and all of little and great and good and bad that
+shall befall us in this life. Death does not blot out the records.
+Everlastingly writ, they shall be everlastingly read; for the shame of
+some, for the glory of others."
+
+Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg of Philadelphia told of the loyalty to
+women of Mr. Child's paper, the _Public Ledger_, and of his many
+benefactions. Frederick Douglass gave the offering of his eloquence
+and ended as follows:
+
+     It is not alone because of the goodness of any cause that men can
+     safely predicate success. Much depends on the character and
+     quality of the men and women who are its advocates. The Redeemer
+     must ever come from above. Only the best of mankind can afford to
+     support unpopular opinions. The common sort will drift with the
+     tide. No good cause can fail when supported by such women as were
+     Lucretia Mott, Abby Kelly, Angelina Grimke, Lydia Maria Child,
+     Maria W. Chapman, Thankful Southwick, Sally Holly, Ernestine L.
+     Rose, E. Oakes Smith, Elizabeth Peabody and the noble and gifted
+     Lucy Stone. Not only have we a glorious constellation of women on
+     the silent continent to assure us that our cause is good and that
+     it must finally prevail, but we have such men as William Lloyd
+     Garrison, Wendell Phillips, William Henry Channing, Francis
+     Jackson, Gerrit Smith, Samuel J. May, Samuel E. Sewall--now no
+     longer with us in body, but in spirit and memory to cheer us on
+     in the good work of lifting women in the fullest sense to the
+     dignity of American liberty and American citizenship.
+
+Miss Anthony closed the services with heartfelt testimonials to Mrs.
+Myra Bradwell, one of the first woman lawyers and founder and editor
+of _The Legal News_; Miss Mary F. Seymour, founder of _The Business
+Woman's Journal_; and Col. John Thompson, a founder of the Patrons of
+Husbandry, the first national organization of men to indorse woman
+suffrage.
+
+At one of the evening sessions Miss Anthony presented Dr. John
+Trimble, secretary of the National Grange, and Leonard Rhone,
+chairman of its executive committee. The latter said in course of a
+few brief remarks: "When the farmers of this country organized they
+took with them their wives and daughters, and for twenty-seven years
+we have tried woman suffrage in the Grange and it has worked well.
+What we have demonstrated by experience in our organization we are
+ready to indorse, and by almost a unanimous vote at our last national
+convention we passed a resolution in favor of woman suffrage."
+
+Mrs. Orra Langhorne read a clever paper on House Cleaning in Old
+Virginia, describing present social and political conditions and
+showing the need of woman's participation. Mrs. Mary Lowe Dickinson
+(N. Y.), secretary of the King's Daughters, gave a talk which sparkled
+with anecdotes and illustrations, every one scoring a point for woman
+suffrage. Madame Hanna Korany, from Syria, told in her soft, broken
+English how the women of the old world looked to those of America to
+free them from the slavery of customs and laws.
+
+Mrs. Miriam Howard DuBose took for her subject Some Georgia
+Curiosities, which she showed to be "men who love women too dearly to
+accord them justice; women who are deceived by such affection; the
+self-supporting woman, who crowds all places where there is any money
+to be made without encountering the masculine frown and declares she
+has all the rights she wants. Georgia's motto should read: Unwisdom,
+Injustice, Immoderation."
+
+Miss Harriet A. Shinn (Ills.), president of the National Association
+of Women Stenographers, gave unanswerable testimony from employers in
+many different kinds of business expressing a preference for women
+stenographers. Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates (Me.) illustrated how class
+distinctions, public schools, religious liberty and social life have
+been affected by the thought of the times, by fashionable thought. The
+official report said: "So bristling with humor was this address that
+there were several times when the speaker had to stop and wait for the
+laughter to subside. At the conclusion, her effort was acknowledged by
+long applause."
+
+Miss Shaw closed an evening which had been full of mirth, saying in
+the course of her vivacious remarks:
+
+     I spoke at a woman's club in Philadelphia yesterday and a young
+     lady said to me afterwards: "Well, that sounds very nice, but
+     don't you think it is better to be the power behind the throne?"
+     I answered that I had not had much experience with thrones, but a
+     woman who has been on a throne, and who is now behind it, seems
+     to prefer to be on the throne.[98] Mr. Edward Bok, editor of the
+     _Ladies' Home Journal_, says that by careful watching for many
+     years, he has come to the conclusion that no woman has had any
+     business relations with men who has not been contaminated by
+     them; and this same individual who does not want us to have
+     business relations with men, lest we be contaminated by the
+     association, wants us to marry these same men and live with them
+     three hundred and sixty-five and one-fourth days a year!
+
+On Sunday Mrs. Chapman Catt gave a sermon in the People's Church, Mrs.
+Ellen Battelle Dietrick in All Soul's Church (Unitarian), and the Rev.
+Anna Howard Shaw in Metzerott's Music Hall. At the last named meeting
+Mrs. Howe offered the prayer and, at the close, recited her Battle
+Hymn of the Republic. Miss Shaw preached from the text, "Let no man
+take thy crown."
+
+     ....Since the beginning of the Christian era those who have
+     expounded the Scriptures have been principally men, and the
+     Gospel has been presented to us from the standpoint of men. In
+     all these interpretations Heaven has been peopled with men, God
+     has been pictured as a man, and even the earth has been
+     represented as masculine.
+
+     In the beginning this was wise, because people have always been
+     more impressed by law, order, system and government than by the
+     spirit of faith. But we have passed the stage of force in nature,
+     of force in physical life, and have arrived at the age of
+     spiritual thought and earthly needs when the mother comes to the
+     front. In the Old World I have seen venerable men, strong men,
+     and women kneeling together at the shrine of Mary pouring out
+     their sufferings into the mother heart of the Virgin and rising
+     refreshed and solaced. What Catholicism has done for its church,
+     Protestantism must do for Christianity everywhere, by revealing
+     the mother-life and the mother-spirit of divine nature. In the
+     lesson of life there is not only a father but a mother-love.
+
+     Jesus Christ, we are told, was a man and so were His disciples,
+     and this is given as the reason why men only should preach the
+     Gospel, yet the Scriptures tell us that the first
+     divinely-ordained preacher was a woman. All the way down in the
+     history of Christianity are found women side by side with men,
+     always ready and willing to bear the burdens and sorrows of life
+     in order to better their fellows. In this country every
+     reformation has been urged by women as well as men. The names of
+     William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips will go down to
+     posterity linked with those of Lucretia Mott, Harriet Beecher
+     Stowe and Susan B. Anthony. In the great temperance movement the
+     name of Gough will at once bring to mind Frances E. Willard.
+     There is no name more prominently identified in the effort to
+     uplift the Indian than that of Helen Hunt Jackson. Wherever there
+     has been a wrong committed there have always been women to defend
+     the wronged. Julia Ward Howe gave us the "Battle Hymn of the
+     Republic," while Lucy Stone's last words should be the motto of
+     every young girl's life, "Make the world better."
+
+     With respect to my text, "Let no man take thy crown," these words
+     were written to the church, and not to the men alone, and the
+     command should be obeyed by every woman. If the churches then
+     were anything like the churches of to-day, they were composed of
+     three-fourths women. Hence this injunction was intended
+     especially for women. This crown, I take it, means the crown of
+     righteousness, of regeneration, of redemption, of purity, and
+     applies to the whole body of the church. I believe the crown of
+     womanhood in its highest sense means womanly character and
+     nature. We never can wear a higher or nobler crown than pure and
+     womanly womanhood....
+
+     The world has always been more particular how we did things than
+     what things we did.... All human beings are under obligations
+     first to themselves. If self-sacrifice seems best, then we should
+     practice that; while if self-assertion seems best, then we should
+     assert ourselves. The abominable doctrine taught in the pulpit,
+     the press, in books and elsewhere, is that the whole duty of
+     women is self-abasement and self-sacrifice. I do not believe
+     subjection is woman's duty any more than it is the duty of a man
+     to be under subjection to another man or to many men. Women have
+     the right of independence, of conscience, of will and of
+     responsibility.
+
+     Women are robbed of themselves by the laws of the country and by
+     fashion. The time has not passed when women are bought and sold.
+     Social custom makes the world a market-place in which women are
+     bought and sold, and sometimes they are given away. In the
+     marriage ceremony woman loses her name, and under the old Common
+     Law a married woman had no legal rights. She occupied the same
+     position to her husband as the slave to his master. These things
+     degraded marriage, but the home would be the holiest of spots if
+     the wife asserted her individuality and worked hand-in-hand with
+     her husband, each uplifting the other. Women are robbed of the
+     right of conscience. Their silence and subjection in the church
+     have been the curse not only of womanhood but of manhood. No
+     other human being should decide for us in questions pertaining to
+     our own moral and spiritual welfare. Women are beginning to
+     believe that God will listen to a woman as quickly as to a man.
+     The time has come when councils of women will gather and do their
+     work in their quiet way without regard to men.
+
+     No person is human who may not "will" to be anything he can be.
+     When the woman says "I will," there is not anything this side of
+     the throne of God to stop her, and the girls of the present day
+     should learn this lesson. Now there is placed upon women the
+     obligation of service without the responsibility of their
+     actions. The man who leads feels the responsibility of his acts,
+     and this urges him to make them noble. Women should have this
+     same responsibility and be made to feel it. The most dangerous
+     thing in the world is power without responsibility....
+
+Monday night's session was designated "president's evening" and many
+short, clever talks were given.[99] James L. Hughes, Superintendent of
+Schools in Toronto and president of the Equal Suffrage Association of
+that city, told how the women of Canada voted, sat on the public and
+High School boards and even served as president of the Toronto board.
+
+At the Tuesday evening meeting Miss Anthony introduced Senator W. A.
+Peffer and Representatives Jerry Simpson, John C. Davis, Case
+Broderick and Charles Curtis of Kansas, and Henry A. Coffeen of
+Wyoming. Ex-Senator Blanche K. Bruce of Mississippi was invited to the
+platform and responded by saying he hoped to see the day when every
+qualified woman could exercise the suffrage. The Hon. Simon Wolf,
+commissioner of the District, urged equality of rights for women.
+
+Grace Greenwood was presented as one of the pioneer woman suffragists.
+Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell (N. Y.), the heroine of many campaigns, in a
+stirring speech related her varied experiences and said: "Ours is one
+of the greatest wars of the centuries. Indeed, it is a continuation of
+the same battle which has been waged almost since the world began but
+carried on with different tactics. It stands unique. No cannon is
+heard. No smoke tells of defeat or victory. No bloody battlefields
+lift their blushing faces to the heavens. It is a battle of ideas, a
+battle of prejudices, the right and the wrong, the new and the old,
+meeting in close contact. It is the 'war of the roses,' if you so
+please to call it. It is the motherhood of the republic asking for
+full political recognition."
+
+The last address of the convention was made by the Rev. Ida C. Hultin,
+on the Crowning Race, whose men and women should be equally free. Gov.
+Davis H. Waite of Colorado sent a letter in relation to the
+enfranchising of women the previous year, in which he said:
+
+     The Populists more than any other political party in Colorado
+     favored equal suffrage, but many Republicans and Democrats also
+     voted for it, and in my opinion the result may be considered as
+     due to the enlightened public sentiment of the common people of
+     the State. The more I consider the matter the more it grows upon
+     me in importance, and the more I realize the fact that all the
+     patriotism, all the intelligence and all the virtue of the
+     commonwealth are necessary to preserve it from the corrupt and
+     mercenary attacks made upon it from all points by corporate
+     trusts and monopolies. Equal suffrage can not fail to encourage
+     purity in both private and public life, and to elevate the
+     official standard of fitness.
+
+A letter from Mrs. May Wright Sewall, regretting her enforced absence,
+closed by saying:
+
+     Many of you know that the last few months I have spent in editing
+     the papers presented at the World's Congress of Representative
+     Women, held in Chicago last May. It is a remarkable and to me
+     quite an unexpected fact that the papers upon the subject of
+     Civil and Political Reform are hardly more earnest appeals for
+     political equality than are the addresses to be found in every
+     other chapter. Hereafter if one asserts that the interest in the
+     woman suffrage movement is not growing, let him be cited to this
+     galaxy of witnesses, whose testimony is all the more valuable
+     because in the large majority of instances it proceeds from women
+     who never have identified themselves with it, and are not at all
+     known as advocates of political equality. The meaning of the
+     entire report is equality, co-operation, organization; that is,
+     the demand made by the National Suffrage Association is the
+     demand borne to us by the echoes of that great congress.
+
+Among the committee reports that of Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery, Chairman
+of Columbian Exposition Work, attracted especial attention and was in
+part as follows:
+
+     There is a most valuable and interesting bit of unpublished
+     history which seems to me to form an integral part of your
+     committee's report. It concerns the origin of the Board of Lady
+     Managers, and this association should be proud to be able to feel
+     that to our president is largely due the recognition of women in
+     official capacity at the World's Fair. The fact that women were
+     not officially recognized during the Centennial Exposition in
+     1876 was a great disappointment to all interested in the
+     advancement of womankind, and while it was suggested on every
+     side that women must have a voice in the management of the
+     World's Fair in 1893, it remained for Susan B. Anthony to take
+     the initiatory step which led to the creation of the Board of
+     Lady Managers. She had invitations sent to women of official and
+     social position to meet in the Riggs House parlors to consider
+     this matter, in December, 1889. At this meeting Mrs. Conger, wife
+     of Senator Omar D. Conger of Michigan, was made chairman, and
+     Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, secretary. Miss Anthony was not
+     present, fearing lest her well-known radical views might hinder
+     the progress of affairs in the direction she wished them to take,
+     but she restlessly walked about her room in the hotel anxiously
+     awaiting the result.
+
+     Several meetings followed this and a committee was appointed to
+     wait upon Congress, asking that the commission should consist of
+     both men and women. Meanwhile the World's Fair Bill had been
+     brought before the House and Miss Anthony soon saw that there
+     would not be time for this committee to act. She therefore
+     prepared petitions, sent them to women in official life and asked
+     them to obtain signatures of official people.[100] On the
+     strength of these petitions there was added to the bill, in
+     March, 1890, an amendment providing for the appointment of women
+     on the Board.
+
+     Miss Anthony's self-effacement was perhaps the wisest thing under
+     the circumstances, for the Board, as appointed, being unconnected
+     with woman suffrage, proved an immense source of education to the
+     conservative women of the whole world--an education not needed by
+     the radical women of our own ranks. I think the time has surely
+     come when the truth of this history should be known to all.
+
+The election of officers resulted in Miss Anthony's receiving
+for president 139 out of 140 possible votes; Miss Shaw for
+vice-president-at-large, 130; Rachel Foster Avery for corresponding
+secretary, unanimous; Alice Stone Blackwell for recording secretary,
+136; Harriet Taylor Upton for treasurer, unanimous.
+
+During the convention the death of Miss Anna Ella Carroll was
+announced. A resolution of sympathy with her sister was adopted and a
+collection was taken up, as had been done for Miss Carroll a number
+of times during the past twenty-five years, which resulted in over
+forty dollars.
+
+Mrs. Sallie Clay Bennett (Ky.), the faithful champion of Federal
+Suffrage, insisted that, instead of asking for an amendment to confer
+suffrage, we should demand protection in the right already guaranteed
+by the U. S. Constitution: "Even when asking for Municipal Suffrage,
+we never should fail to assert that it is already ours under the
+Constitution, and that there is strength enough in our national
+government to protect every woman in the Union provided the men had
+interpreted the laws right." Miss Sara Winthrop Smith (Conn.)
+supported Mrs. Bennett, saying: "It is useless labor to petition for a
+Sixteenth Amendment--we do not need it. Our fundamental institutions
+most adequately protect the rights of all citizens of the United
+States, irrespective of sex. In the twenty-four years since the
+passage of the Fifteenth Amendment, 300 amendments to the Constitution
+have been introduced into Congress which never met with any approval
+from either House. I think it is wasted time for us to continue in
+this work, and therefore I feel that it concerns our dignity as a part
+of the people of this great United States that we declare and ask only
+for that which recognizes the dignity of such citizens." Mrs. Diggs,
+Mrs. Dietrick, Mrs. Colby and others supported this view.
+
+In expressing his dissent Mr. Blackwell said: "I do not believe in
+Federal Suffrage. I agree with the State's Rights party in their
+views." Miss Blackwell and others took the same position, and Miss
+Anthony closed the debate by saying: "There is no doubt that the
+spirit of the Constitution guarantees full equality of rights and the
+protection of citizens of the United States in the exercise of these
+rights, but the powers that be have decided against us, and until we
+can get a broader Supreme Court--which will not be until after the
+women of every State in the Union are enfranchised--we never will get
+the needed liberal interpretation of that document." The majority
+concurred in this view.
+
+The most spirited discussion of the convention was in regard to the
+place of holding the next annual meeting. Urgent invitations were
+received from Detroit and Cincinnati, but the persuasive Southern
+advocates, Claudia Howard Maxwell, Miriam Howard DuBose and H. Augusta
+Howard, three Georgia delegates, carried off the prize for Atlanta.
+
+This was the first and last appearance on the suffrage platform of
+Miss Kate Field, who was introduced by Miss Anthony with her
+characteristic abruptness: "Now, friends, here is Kate Field, who has
+been talking all these years against woman suffrage. She wants to tell
+you of the faith that is in her." Miss Field responded quickly:
+
+     I take exception to what Miss Anthony has said, because I think
+     she has misconstrued my position entirely. I never have been
+     against woman suffrage. I have been against universal suffrage of
+     any kind, regardless of sex. I think that morally woman has
+     exactly as much right to the suffrage as man. It is a disgrace
+     that such women as you and I have not the suffrage, but I do
+     think that all suffrage should be regarded as a privilege and
+     should not be demanded as a right. It should be the privilege of
+     education and, if you please--I will not quarrel about that--of a
+     certain property qualification. I have not changed my opinion,
+     but I did say that I was tired of waiting for men to have common
+     sense, that there evidently never would be any restriction in
+     suffrage and that I should come in for the whole thing, woman
+     included. Now, that is my position.... I withdraw my former
+     attitude and take my stand on this platform.
+
+The usual able "hearings" were held. Before the Senate
+committee--Senators Hoar, Teller, Wolcott, Blackburn and Hill--the
+speakers were the Rev. Ida C. Hultin, Miss Blackwell, Mrs. Lucretia
+Mitchell, Mrs. Diggs, Mrs. Phoebe C. Wright, Miss Alice Smith, Mrs.
+Bennett, Mrs. Colby, Representative John C. Davis of Kansas. Although
+the majority of the committee were in favor of woman suffrage no
+report was made.
+
+The Hon. Isaac H. Goodnight (Ky.) was in the chair of the House
+Judiciary Committee, which was addressed by the Reverends Miss Shaw
+and Miss Hultin, Mrs. Young, Mrs. Emily G. Ketcham, Miss Lavina A.
+Hatch, Prof. Jennie Gifford, Mrs. Alice Waugh, Mrs. Pickler, Miss
+Howard, Mrs. Meredith, Mrs. Greenleaf, Mr. Blackwell. Miss Anthony
+presented the speakers and closed the discussion. Later Mr. Goodnight
+submitted an adverse report for a majority of the committee.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[98] The Hawaiian ex-queen, then in the United States endeavoring to
+have her throne restored to her.
+
+[99] Among the speakers were Mrs. Mary L. Bennett, Mrs. Lucretia L.
+Blankenburg, Miss Laura Clay, Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby, Mrs. Etta
+Grymes Farrah, Mrs. Jean Brooks Greenleaf, Mrs. Florence Howe Hall,
+Mrs. Rebecca Henry Hayes, Mrs. Laura M. Johns, Mrs. Emily B. Ketcham,
+Mrs. Claudia Howard Maxwell, Mrs. Ellis Meredith, Mrs. Mary Bentley
+Thomas, Mrs. Emmeline B. Wells, Mrs. Virginia D. Young.
+
+[100] Miss Anthony herself also went among prominent persons of her
+own acquaintance obtaining signatures. In a few days 111 names were
+secured of the wives and daughters of Judges of the Supreme Court, the
+Cabinet, Senators, Representatives, Army and Navy officers--as
+influential a list as the national capital could offer. These names
+may be found in the published minutes of this convention of 1894, p.
+135.
+
+At the time Miss Anthony secured this petition no organization of
+women had considered the question and, if she had not been on the
+ground and taken immediate action, there is every reason to believe
+that the bill would have passed Congress without any provision for a
+board of women. For a further account of this matter, and for a
+description of this great Congress of Women, see Life and Work of
+Susan B. Anthony, Chap. XLI; also chapter on Illinois in this volume
+of the History.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+THE NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1895.
+
+
+The Twenty-seventh annual convention--Jan. 31-Feb. 5, 1895--possessed
+an unusual interest because of its being held outside of Washington.
+The American society had been accustomed to migratory conventions, but
+the National had gone to the capital for twenty-six winters. The
+_Woman's Journal_, whose editors were strongly in favor of the former
+plan, said of the Atlanta meeting:
+
+     There had been some fears that holding the convention so far
+     south might result in a smaller attendance of delegates than
+     usual; but there were ninety-three delegates, representing
+     twenty-eight States, and also a large number of visitors. Some,
+     like Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway of Oregon, had come nearly 4,000
+     miles to be present. De Give's Opera House was crowded. Even at
+     the morning meetings the seats were full and men stood for hours,
+     several rows deep all around the sides and back of the house--a
+     novel and gratifying sight at a business meeting. The proportion
+     of men among the delegates and in the audiences, both day and
+     evening, was larger than usual....
+
+     Over the platform hung two large flags, that of the association,
+     with the two stars of Wyoming and Colorado, and another flag, the
+     work of Georgia ladies, on which was ingeniously depicted the
+     relative standing of the different States on this question. The
+     States where women have no form of suffrage were represented by
+     black stars. Those where they can vote for school committee or on
+     certain local questions had a golden rim. Kansas and Iowa had a
+     wider golden rim, to indicate municipal and bond suffrage.
+     Wyoming and Colorado shone with full and undimmed luster.
+     Portraits of Lucy Stone and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, draped in
+     yellow, adorned opposite sides of the platform.
+
+     Many of the delegates were from the Southern States, and some of
+     them strikingly illustrated Miss Anthony's assertion, "These
+     Southern women are born orators." In sweetness of voice, grace of
+     manner and personal charm they have all the qualities to make
+     most effective speakers, while in the fervor of their equal
+     rights sentiments they go even beyond their sisters from the
+     North and West. One handsome young lady, who sat on the platform
+     a good deal of the time, was supposed to be from New England,
+     because she wore her hair short. It turned out, however, that she
+     was from New Orleans and was a cousin of Jefferson Davis. The
+     announcement of this fact caused her to be received by the
+     audience with roars of enthusiasm.
+
+     The Atlanta papers devoted columns every day to friendly reports
+     and innumerable portraits. Ministers of different denominations
+     opened the convention with prayer and their pulpits afterwards
+     for addresses by the ladies. Some of the best people of the city
+     took visitors into their homes, entertaining them hospitably and
+     delightfully, and showing them what a Southern home is like. The
+     national officers and speakers were entertained by the Georgia W.
+     S. A. at the Aragon, and the State officers generously insisted
+     upon taking almost the entire expenses of the great convention
+     upon their own young shoulders. These "Georgia girls" devoted
+     unlimited time, thought and work to getting up the convention,
+     and then effaced themselves as far as possible....[101]
+
+     Perhaps no one person did more, unintentionally, to promote the
+     enthusiasm of the convention than the Rev. Dr. Hawthorne, a
+     Baptist preacher. He had felt called upon to denounce all woman
+     suffragists from his pulpit, not only with severity but with
+     discourtesy, and had been so misguided as to declare that the
+     husbands of suffragists were all feeble-minded men. As the
+     average equal-rights woman is firmly convinced that her husband
+     is the very best man in the world, this remark stirred the women
+     up to a degree of wrath which no amount of abuse leveled against
+     themselves would have aroused. On the other hand, the Atlanta
+     people, even those who were not in favor of suffrage, felt
+     mortified by this unprovoked insult to their guests, and many of
+     them took occasion in private to express their regret. Several
+     speakers at the convention criticised Dr. Hawthorne's utterances,
+     and every such allusion was received with warm applause by the
+     audience....
+
+At the beginning of the convention four announcements were made which
+added much to the general good cheer--that South Australia had
+followed the example of New Zealand in extending Full Suffrage to
+women; that the Supreme Court of Ohio had pronounced the School
+Suffrage Law constitutional; that the Governor of Illinois had filled
+a vacancy on the Board of Trustees of the State University by
+appointing a woman; that the Idaho Legislature had submitted a woman
+suffrage amendment.
+
+The most perfect arrangements had been made for the meetings, and the
+novelty of the occasion attracted large crowds, but there was also
+much genuine interest. The success was partly due to the excellent
+work of the press of Atlanta. There was, however, no editorial
+endorsement except by _The Sunny South_, Col. Henry Clay Fairman,
+editor.
+
+The national president, Miss Susan B. Anthony, said in opening the
+convention: "With this gavel was called to order in 1869 that
+Legislature of Wyoming which established the first true republic under
+the Stars and Stripes and gave the franchise to what men call the
+better-half of the people. We women do not say that, but we do claim
+to be half."
+
+Miss Anthony seldom made a stated address either in opening or
+closing, but throughout the entire convention kept up a running fire
+of quaint, piquant, original and characteristic observations which
+delighted the audience and gave a distinctive attraction to the
+meetings. It was impossible to keep a record of these and they would
+lose their zest and appropriateness if separated from the
+circumstances which called them forth. They can not be transmitted to
+future generations, but the thousands who heard them during the fifty
+years of her itineracy will preserve them among their delightful
+memories. Perfectly at home on the platform, she would indulge in the
+same informality of remarks which others use in private conversation,
+but always with a quick wit, a fine satire and a keen discrimination.
+Words of praise or criticism were given with equal impartiality, and
+accepted with a grace which would have been impossible had the giver
+been any other than the recognized Mentor of them all. Her wonderful
+power of reminiscence never failed, and she had always some personal
+recollection of every speaker or of her parents or other relatives.
+She kept the audience in continuous good-humor and furnished a variety
+to the program of which the newspaper reporters joyfully availed
+themselves. At the morning business meetings which were always
+informal there would often be a running dialogue something like the
+following, when Mrs. Alberta C. Taylor was called to the platform:
+
+     MISS ANTHONY: This is an Alabama girl, transplanted to the
+     Rockies--a daughter of Governor Chapman of Alabama. She is as
+     good a Southerner as any one, and also as good a Northerner and
+     Westerner.
+
+     MRS. TAYLOR: A Southern paper lately said no Southern woman
+     could read the report of the late election in Colorado without
+     blushing. I went through the election itself without blushing,
+     except with gratification.
+
+     MISS ANTHONY: Instead of degrading a woman it makes her feel
+     nobler not to be counted with idiots, lunatics and criminals. It
+     even changes the expression of her face.
+
+     VOICE IN THE AUDIENCE: How many women are there in the Colorado
+     Legislature?
+
+     MRS. TAYLOR: Three.
+
+     MISS ANTHONY: It has always been thought perfectly womanly to be
+     a scrub-woman in the Legislature and to take care of the
+     spittoons; that is entirely within the charmed circle of woman's
+     sphere; but for women to occupy any of those official seats would
+     be degrading.
+
+     MISS LUCY E. ANTHONY: What salaries do the women legislators
+     receive?
+
+     MRS. TAYLOR: The same as the men, $4 a day. The pay of our
+     legislators is small. A prosperous business man has to make a
+     great sacrifice to go to the Legislature, and we can not always
+     get the best men to serve. This is an additional reason for
+     making women eligible. There are more first-class women than
+     first-class men who have the leisure.
+
+     MISS SHAW: We are accused of wishing to belittle men, but in
+     Colorado they think a man's time is worth only as much as a
+     woman's.
+
+     MRS. CLARA B. COLBY: The Hon. Mrs. Holley has just introduced in
+     the Colorado House, and carried through it against strong
+     opposition, a bill raising the age of protection for girls to
+     eighteen years.
+
+     MRS. DUNIWAY: I was in the Colorado House and saw it done. The
+     women members are highly respected. I have never seen women so
+     honored since those of Washington were disfranchised. The leading
+     men are as proud of the enfranchisement of their women as Georgia
+     men will be when the time comes. The Colorado women have
+     organized a Good Government League to promote education,
+     sanitation and general prosperity.
+
+     MRS. TAYLOR: A bookseller in Denver told me that since women were
+     given the suffrage he had sold more books on political economy
+     than he had sold since Colorado was admitted into the Union.
+
+     MISS ANTHONY: The bill raising the age of protection for girls
+     shows that suffrage does not make a woman forget her children,
+     and the bookseller's remark shows that she will study the science
+     of government.
+
+     MRS. MARY BENTLEY THOMAS: One of our most conservative Maryland
+     women, who married in Colorado ten years ago, writes to me: "I
+     enjoyed every moment of the campaign, especially the primary
+     meetings." A Virginia woman who also married a Colorado man
+     writes back: "Come West, where women are appreciated, and where
+     they are proud and happy citizens." She adds: "If you will come
+     I will show you the sweetest girl baby you ever saw."
+
+     MRS. HENRY: Let it be recorded that the first bill introduced by
+     a woman member in any State Legislature was a bill for the
+     protection of girls.
+
+     On motion of Mrs. Colby, it was voted to send a telegram of
+     congratulation to the Hon. Mrs. Holley.
+
+Again:
+
+     Before introducing the president of the Florida W. S. A. Miss
+     Anthony said: "For several years a big box of oranges has come to
+     me from Florida. Not long ago, I got home on one of the coldest
+     nights of the year, and found a box standing in my woodshed, full
+     of magnificent oranges. Next morning the papers reported that all
+     the oranges in Florida were frozen; but the president of the
+     suffrage association saved that boxful for me."
+
+     MRS. ELLA C. CHAMBERLAIN: Those were all we saved.... A man in
+     Florida who hires himself and his wife out to hoe corn, charges
+     $1.25 for his own services and 75 cents for hers, although she
+     does just as much work as he, so the men who employ them tell me.
+     It costs his wife 50 cents a day to be a woman.
+
+     VOICE IN THE AUDIENCE: And the 75 cents paid for her work belongs
+     to her husband.
+
+     MISS ANTHONY: I suppose those are colored men.
+
+     MRS. CHAMBERLAIN: No, they are white.
+
+     MISS ANTHONY: White men have always controlled their wives'
+     wages. Colored men were not able to do so until they themselves
+     became free. Then they owned both their wives and their wages.
+
+The delegate from the District of Columbia answered in a very faint
+tone of voice, and Miss Anthony remarked that "this was through
+mortification because even the men there had no more rights than
+women." When another delegate could not be heard she said: "Women have
+always been taught that it is immodest to speak in a loud voice, and
+it is hard for them to get out of the old rut." At another time:
+
+     MISS LAVINA A. HATCH: In Massachusetts there are between 103,000
+     and 105,000 families which have no male head. Some of these pay
+     large taxes and none of them has any representation.
+
+     MRS. MARIANA W. CHAPMAN: In about two-thirds of the State of New
+     York, and not including New York City, women are assessed on
+     $348,177,107.
+
+     MRS. LOUISA SOUTHWORTH: This year, with the new income tax, I
+     shall pay in taxes, national, State and municipal, $5,300.
+
+     MISS ANTHONY: Yet why should she have a right to vote?
+     Inconsistency is the jewel of the American people.
+
+     MRS. MERIWETHER: Tennessee caps the climax in taxation without
+     representation. In Shelby County there are two young women,
+     sisters, who own farms. Both are married, and both were sensible
+     enough to have their farms secured to themselves and their
+     children. In one case, at least, it proved a wise precaution. One
+     of these young women asked the other, when she went to town, to
+     pay a few bills for her and settle her taxes. Accordingly she
+     went to the tax office, and as she handed in the papers she
+     noticed written at the foot of her sister's tax bill, "Poll tax,
+     $1.00." She exclaimed, "Oh, when did Mrs. A. become a voter? I am
+     so glad Tennessee has granted suffrage to women!" "Oh, she
+     hasn't; it doesn't," said the young clerk with a smile. "That is
+     her husband's poll tax." "And why is she required to pay her
+     husband's poll tax?" "It is the custom," he said. She replied,
+     "Then Tennessee will change its custom this time. I will see the
+     tax collector dead and very cold before I will pay Mr. A.'s poll
+     tax out of my sister's property in order that he may vote, while
+     she is not allowed to do so!"
+
+     MISS ANTHONY: It seems to me that these Southern women are in a
+     state of chronic rebellion.
+
+     MRS. MERIWETHER: We are.
+
+In closing this meeting Miss Anthony said: "Now, don't all of you come
+to me to tell me how glad you are that I have worked for fifty years,
+but say rather that you are going to begin work yourselves."
+
+The delegates were eloquently welcomed in behalf of the South by
+Bennett J. Conyers of Atlanta, who declared that "suffrage for women
+is demanded by the divine law of human development." He said in part:
+
+     The work of Miss Anthony needs no apology. She has blazed a way
+     for advanced thought in her lonely course over the red-hot
+     plowshares of resistance. Now almost at the summit she looks back
+     to see following her an army with banners. May she long worship
+     where she stands at Truth's mountain altar, as, with the royal
+     sunset flush upon her brow, she catches the beckoning of the
+     lights twinkling on the heavenly shore.... The South is a maiden
+     well worthy of the allegiance of this cause, and when her aid is
+     given it will be as devoted as it has been reserved. The South is
+     the land where has lingered latest on earth the chivalry which
+     idealized its objects of worship. What though it may have meant
+     repression? Is it any wonder that the tender grace of a day that
+     is dead even now lingers and makes men loath to welcome change?
+     Perhaps it can not be told how much it has cost men to surrender
+     the ideal, even though it be to change it for the perfected
+     womanhood....
+
+The address of welcome for the State was made by Mrs. Mary L.
+McLendon, who spoke earnestly in favor of equal suffrage, saying:
+
+     If Georgia women could vote, this National Convention could hold
+     its session in our million dollar capitol, which rears its grand
+     proportions on yonder hill. Crowning its loftiest pinnacle is the
+     statue of a woman representing Liberty, and on its front the
+     motto, "Justice, Wisdom and Moderation." It was built with money
+     paid into our State's treasury by women as well as men, both
+     white and black; but men alone, white and black, have the
+     privilege of meeting in legislative session to make laws to
+     govern women. Men are also allowed to hold their Democratic,
+     Republican, Prohibition and Populist Conventions in its halls. It
+     is with difficulty that women can secure a hearing before a
+     legislative committee to petition for laws to ameliorate their
+     own condition, or to secure compulsory training in the public
+     schools, that their children may be brought up in the way they
+     should go, and become sober, virtuous citizens.
+
+Major Charles W. Hubner extended the welcome of the city, saying in
+conclusion: "Reason and right are with you, and these, in the name of
+God, will at last prevail." Afterwards he contributed the poem, "Thank
+God that Thought is Free." Miss Anthony was presented by Miss H.
+Augusta Howard and, after a speech complimentary to Southern women,
+introduced Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake (N. Y.), who eulogized Southern
+Chivalry, and Mrs. Lida A. Meriwether (Tenn.), who spoke in behalf of
+Motherhood. Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates (Me.) made the closing address,
+in which she said: "As surely as I want to vote--and nothing is more
+certain--the man for whom I have most wished to vote was your own
+beloved Henry W. Grady. There is something else for women to do than
+to sit at home and fan themselves, 'cherishing their femininity.'
+Womanliness will never be sacrificed in following the path of duty and
+service."
+
+One of the principal addresses of the convention was that of Gen.
+Robert R. Hemphill of South Carolina, who began by saying that in 1892
+he introduced a woman suffrage resolution in his State Senate, which
+received fourteen out of thirty-five votes. He closed as follows: "The
+cause is making headway, though slowly it is true, for it has the
+prejudices of hundreds of years to contend against. The peaceful
+revolution is upon us. It will not turn backward but will go on
+conquering until its final triumph. Woman will be exalted, she will
+enjoy equal rights; pure politics and good government will be
+insured, the cause of morality advanced, and the happiness of the
+people established."
+
+Miss Alice Stone Blackwell (Mass.) discussed The Strongholds of
+Opposition, showing what they are and how they must be attacked. Woman
+as a Subject was presented by Mrs. Caroline E. Merrick (La.), who said
+in part:
+
+     Women are, and ever will be, loyal, tender, true and devoted to
+     their well beloved men; for they naturally love them better than
+     they do themselves. It is the brave soldier submissive to
+     authority who deserves promotion to rank and honor; so woman,
+     having proved herself a good subject, is now ready for her
+     promotion and advancement. She is urgently asking, not to rule
+     over men, but to take command of herself and all her rightful
+     belongings....
+
+     As a self-respecting, reasonable being, she has grave
+     responsibilities, and from her is required an accountability
+     strict and severe. If she owns stock in one of your banks, she
+     has an influence in the management of the institution which takes
+     care of her money. The possession of children makes her a large
+     stockholder in public morality, but her self-constituted agents
+     act as her proxy without her authorization, as though she were of
+     unsound mind, or not in existence.
+
+     The great truths of liberty and equality are dear to her heart.
+     She would die before she would imperil the well-being of her
+     home. She has no design to subvert church government, nor is she
+     organized to tear up the social fabric of polite society. But she
+     has now come squarely up to a crisis, a new epoch in her history
+     here in the South, and asks for a womanly right to participate by
+     vote in this representative government.
+
+     Gentlemen, you value the power and privilege which the right of
+     suffrage has conferred upon you, and in your honest, manly souls
+     you can not but disdain the meanness and injustice which might
+     prompt you to deny it to women. Language utterly fails me when I
+     try to describe the painful humiliation and mortification which
+     attend this abject condition of total disfranchisement, and how
+     anxiously and earnestly women desire to be taken out of the list
+     of idiots, criminals and imbeciles, where they do not belong, and
+     placed in the respectable company of men who choose their
+     lawmakers, and give an intelligent consent to the legal power
+     which controls them.
+
+     Do women deserve nothing? Are they not worthy? They have a noble
+     cause, and they beg you to treat it magnanimously.
+
+Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon (La.) described in an interesting manner
+Club Life among the Women of the South. Mrs. Blake gave a powerful
+address on Wife, Mother and Citizen. Miss Shaw closed the meeting with
+an impromptu speech in which, according to the reporter, she said: "It
+is declared that women are too emotional to vote; but the morning
+paper described a pugilistic encounter between two members of Congress
+which looked as if excitability were not limited to women. It is said
+that 'the legal male mind' is the only mind fit for suffrage." Miss
+Shaw then made her wit play around the legal male mind like chain
+lightning. "It is said that women are illogical, and jump to their
+conclusions, flea-like. I shall not try to prove that women are
+logical, for I know they are not, but it is beyond me how men ever got
+it into their heads that _they_ are. When we read the arguments
+against woman suffrage, we see that flea-like jumping is by no means
+confined to women."
+
+On one evening the Hon. Henry C. Hammond of Georgia made the opening
+address, which was thus reported:
+
+     After declaring that the atmosphere of the nineteenth century is
+     surcharged with the sentiment of woman's emancipation, he traced
+     the gradual evolution of this sentiment, showing that one by one
+     the shackles had been stricken from the limbs of woman until now
+     she was making her final protest against tyranny and her last
+     appeal for liberty. "What is meant," said he, "by this mysterious
+     dictum, 'Out of her sphere?' It is merely a sentimental phrase
+     without either sense or reason." He then proceeded to say that if
+     woman had a sphere the privilege of voting was clearly within its
+     limitations. There was no doubt in his mind as to woman's moral
+     superiority, and the politics of the country was in need of her
+     purifying touch. In its present distracted and unhappy condition,
+     the adoption of the woman suffrage platform and the incorporation
+     of equal rights into the supreme law of the land was the only
+     hope of its ultimate salvation....
+
+J. Colton Lynes of Georgia, taking for his subject Women to the Front,
+gave a valuable historical review of their progress during the last
+half century. Mrs. Josephine K. Henry was introduced as "the daughter
+of Kentucky," and the _Constitution_ said the next day: "If the spirit
+of old Patrick Henry could have heard the eloquent plea of his
+namesake, he would have had no reason to blush for a decadence of the
+oratory which gave the name to the world." In considering Woman
+Suffrage in the South, Mrs. Henry said:
+
+     It is asserted on all sides that the women of the South do not
+     want the ballot. The real truth is the women of the South never
+     have been asked what they want. When Pundita Ramabai was in this
+     country she saw a hen carried to market with its head downward.
+     This Christian method of treating a poor, dumb creature caused
+     the heathen woman to cry out, "Oh, how cruel to carry a hen with
+     its head down!" and she quickly received the reply, "Why, the hen
+     does not mind it"; and in her heathen innocence she inquired,
+     "Did you ask the hen?" Past civilization has not troubled either
+     dumb creatures or women by consulting them in regard to their own
+     affairs. For woman everything in sociology, law or politics has
+     been arranged without consulting her in any way, and when her
+     rights are trampled on and money extorted from her by the votes
+     of the vicious and ignorant, the glib tongue of tyranny says,
+     "Tax her again, she has no wish or right to tell what she wants."
+     ...
+
+     Where the laws rob her in marriage of her property, she does want
+     possession and control of her inheritance and earnings. Where she
+     is a mother, she wants co-guardianship of her own children. Where
+     she is a breadwinner she wants equal pay for equal work. She
+     wants to wipe out the law that in its savagery protects brutality
+     when it preys upon innocent, defenseless girlhood. She wants the
+     streets and highways of the land made safe for the child whose
+     life cost her a hand to hand conflict with death. She wants a
+     single standard of morals established, where a woman may have an
+     equal chance with a man in this hard, old world, and it may not
+     be possible to crowd a fallen woman out of society and close
+     against her every avenue whereby she can make an honest living,
+     while the fallen man runs for Congress and is heaped with honors.
+     More than all, she needs and wants the ballot, the only weapon
+     for the protection of individual rights recognized in this
+     government.
+
+     In short, this New Woman of the New South wants to be a citizen
+     queen as well as a queen of hearts and a queen of home, whose
+     throne under the present regime rests on the sandy foundation of
+     human generosity and human caprice. It should be remembered that
+     the women of the South are the daughters of their fathers, and
+     have as invincible a spirit in their convictions in the cause of
+     liberty and justice as had those fathers.
+
+     We come asking the men of our section for the right of suffrage,
+     not that it be bestowed on us as a gift on a suppliant, but that
+     our birthright, bequeathed to us by the immortal Jefferson, be
+     restored to us....
+
+     The most pathetic picture in all history is this great conflict
+     which women are waging for their liberty. Men armed with all the
+     death-dealing weapons devised by human ingenuity, and with the
+     wealth of nations at their backs, have waged wars of
+     extermination to gain freedom; but women with no weapon save
+     argument, and no wealth save the justice of their cause, are
+     carrying on a war of education for their liberty, and no earthly
+     power can keep them from winning the victory.
+
+The Next Phase of the Woman Question was considered by Miss Mary C.
+Francis (O.) from the standpoint of a practical newspaper woman. Mrs.
+Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, made
+the last address, taking for a subject Eternal Justice. The
+_Constitution_ said: "As a rapid, logical and fluent speaker it is
+doubtful if America ever has produced one more gifted, and the
+suffrage movement is fortunate in having so brilliant a woman for its
+champion."
+
+Henry B. Blackwell urged the South to adopt woman suffrage as one
+solution of the negro problem:
+
+     Apply it to your own State of Georgia, where there are 149,895
+     white women who can read and write, and 143,471 negro voters, of
+     whom 116,516 are illiterates.
+
+     The time has come when this question should be considered. An
+     educational qualification for suffrage may or may not be wise,
+     but it is not necessarily unjust. If each voter governed only
+     himself, his intelligence would concern himself alone, but his
+     vote helps to govern everybody else. Society in conceding his
+     right has itself a right to require from him a suitable
+     preparation. Ability to read and write is absolutely necessary as
+     a means of obtaining accurate political information. Without it
+     the voter is almost sure to become the tool of political
+     demagogues. With free schools provided by the States, every
+     citizen can qualify himself without money and without price.
+     Under such circumstances there is no infringement of rights in
+     requiring an educational qualification as a pre-requisite of
+     voting. Indeed, without this, suffrage is often little more than
+     a name. "Suffrage is the authoritative exercise of rational
+     choice in regard to principles, measures and men." The comparison
+     of an unintelligent voter to a "trained monkey," who goes through
+     the motion of dropping a paper ballot into a box, has in it an
+     element of truth. Society, therefore, has a right to prescribe,
+     in the admission of any new class of voters, such a qualification
+     as every one can attain and as will enable the voter to cast an
+     intelligent and responsible vote.
+
+     In the development of our complex political society we have
+     to-day two great bodies of illiterate citizens: In the North,
+     people of foreign birth; in the South, people of the African race
+     and a considerable portion of the native white population.
+     Against foreigners and negroes, as such, we would not
+     discriminate. But in every State, save one, there are more
+     educated women than all the illiterate voters, white and black,
+     native and foreign.
+
+The convention proper closed on Saturday night, but the exercises
+Sunday afternoon may be said to have been a continuation of it. The
+official report said:
+
+     The services began at 3 o'clock and more than half an hour before
+     this time the theatre was filled almost to its fullest capacity.
+     When the opening hour arrived there was not an empty chair in the
+     house, every aisle was crowded, and people anxious to hear the
+     sermon of the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw had invaded the stage. So
+     dense became the crowd that the doors were ordered closed and
+     people were refused admission even before the services began.
+     After the doors were closed the disappointed ones stood on the
+     stairs and many of them remained in the streets. The vast
+     congregation was made up of all classes of citizens. Every chair
+     that could be found in the theatre had been either placed in the
+     aisles or on the stage, and then boxes and benches were pressed
+     into service. Many of the most prominent professional and
+     business men were standing on the stage and in different parts of
+     the house.
+
+Miss Shaw gave her great sermon The Heavenly Vision. She told of the
+visions of the man which it depended upon himself to make reality; of
+the visions of the woman which were forever placed beyond her reach by
+the church, by society and by the laws, and closed with these words:
+"We ask for nothing which God can not give us. God created nature, and
+if our demands are contrary to nature, trust nature to take care of
+itself without the aid of man. It is better to be true to what you
+believe, though that be wrong, than to be false to what you believe,
+even if that belief is correct."
+
+Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby (D. C.) preached to more than a thousand
+people at the Bethel (colored) Church; Mrs. Meriwether at the
+Unitarian Church; Miss Yates and Miss Emily Howland (N. Y.) also
+occupied pulpits.
+
+The evening programs with their formal addresses naturally attracted
+the largest audiences and occupied the most space in the newspapers,
+but the morning and afternoon sessions, devoted to State and committee
+reports and the business of the association, were really the life and
+soul of this as of all the conventions. Among the most interesting of
+the excellent State reports presented to the Atlanta meeting were
+those of New York and Kansas, because during the previous year
+suffrage campaigns had been carried on in those States. The former,
+presented by Mrs. Jean Brooks Greenleaf, State president, said in
+part:
+
+     The New York Constitutional Convention before whom we hopefully
+     carried our cause--"so old, so new, so ever true"--is a thing of
+     the past. We presented our petition, asking that the word "male"
+     be eliminated from the organic law, with the endorsement of _over
+     half a million_ citizens of the State. We laid before the
+     convention statistics showing that outside the city of New York
+     the property on which women pay taxes is assessed at
+     $348,177,107; the number of women taxed, 146,806 in 571 cities
+     and towns; not reported, 389.
+
+     We had the satisfaction of knowing that the delegates assembled
+     were kept upon a strong equal suffrage diet for days and nights
+     together. At the public hearings, graciously granted us, we saw
+     the great jury listen not only with patience but with evident
+     pleasure and enthusiasm, while women representing twenty-six
+     districts gave reasons for wanting to be enfranchised; and we
+     also saw the creative body itself turned into a woman suffrage
+     meeting for three evenings. At the close of the last we learned
+     that there were in this convention ninety-eight men who dared to
+     say that the freemen of the State should not be allowed to decide
+     whether their wives, mothers and daughters should be enfranchised
+     or not. We learned also, that there were fifty-eight men,
+     constituting a noble minority, who loved justice better than
+     party power, and were willing to risk the latter to sustain the
+     former.[102]
+
+The report of the Press Committee Chairman, Mrs. Ellen Battelle
+Dietrick (Mass.), called especial attention to the flood of matter
+relating to the woman question which was now appearing in the
+newspapers and magazines of the country, to the activity of the enemy
+and to the necessity for suffragists to "publish an antidote wherever
+the poison appears." The Legislative Committee, Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Henry
+and Mrs. Diggs, closed their report as follows:
+
+     In a State where there is hope of support from the political
+     parties, where there has been long agitation and everything
+     points to a favorable result, it is wise to urge a constitutional
+     amendment striking out the word "male" as a qualification for
+     voters. This must pass both Houses in the form of concurrent
+     resolution; in some States it must pass two successive
+     Legislatures; and it must be ratified at the polls by a majority
+     of the voters.
+
+     When the conditions are not yet ripe for a constitutional
+     amendment, there are many measures which are valuable in arousing
+     public interest and preparing the way for final triumph, as well
+     as important in ameliorating the condition of women. Among these
+     are laws to secure school suffrage for women; women on boards of
+     education and as school trustees; equality of property rights for
+     husbands and wives; equal guardianship of children for mother and
+     father; women factory inspectors; women physicians in hospitals
+     and insane asylums; women trustees in all State institutions;
+     police matrons; seats for saleswomen; the raising of "the age of
+     consent."
+
+The report of the Plan of Work Committee, Mrs. Chapman Catt, chairman,
+began by saying:
+
+     The great need of the hour is organization. There can be no
+     doubt that the advocates of woman suffrage in the United States
+     are to be numbered by millions, but it is a lamentable fact that
+     our organization can count its numbers only by thousands. There
+     are illustrious men and women in every State, and there are men
+     and women innumerable, who are not known to the public, who are
+     openly and avowedly woman suffragists, yet we do not possess the
+     benefit of their names on our membership lists or the financial
+     help of their dues. In other words, the size of our membership is
+     not at all commensurate with the sentiment for woman suffrage.
+     The reason for this condition is plain; the chief work of
+     suffragists for the past forty years has been education and
+     agitation, and not organization. The time has come when the
+     educational work has borne its fruit, and there are States in
+     which there is sentiment enough to carry a woman suffrage
+     amendment, but it is individual and not organized sentiment, and
+     is, therefore, ineffective.
+
+The audience was greatly amused when Miss Anthony commented on this:
+"There never yet was a young woman who did not feel that if she had
+had the management of the work from the beginning the cause would have
+been carried long ago. I felt just so when I was young." There was
+much laughter also over one of Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway's short
+speeches in which she said:
+
+     There are in Oregon three classes of women opposed to suffrage.
+     1. Women who are so overworked that they have no time to think of
+     it. They are joined to their wash-tubs; let them alone. But the
+     children of these overworked women are coming on. 2. Women who
+     have usurped all the rights in the matrimonial category, their
+     husbands' as well as their own. The husbands of such women are
+     always loudly opposed to suffrage. The "sassiest" man in any
+     community is the hen-pecked husband away from home. 3. Young
+     girls matrimonially inclined, who fear the avowal of a belief in
+     suffrage would injure their chances. I can assure such girls that
+     a woman who wishes to vote gets more offers than one who does
+     not. Their motto should be "Liberty first, and union afterwards."
+     The man whose wife is a clinging vine is apt to be like the oaks
+     in the forest that are found wrapped in vines--dead at the top.
+
+When Miss Anthony said, "One reason why politicians hesitate to grant
+suffrage to woman is because she is an unknown quantity," Mrs. Henry
+responded quickly, "There are two great unknown forces to-day,
+electricity and woman, but men can reckon much better on electricity
+than they can on woman." A resolution was adopted for a public
+celebration in New York City of Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton's
+eightieth birthday, November 12, by the association.[103]
+
+The treasurer, Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, reported the receipts of the
+past year to be $5,820, of which $2,571 went to the Kansas campaign.
+The contributions and pledges of this convention for the coming year
+were about $2,000. In addition, Mrs. Louisa Southworth of Cleveland
+gave $1,000 to Miss Anthony to use as she thought best, and she
+announced that it would be applied to opening national headquarters. A
+National Organization Committee was for the first time formally
+organized and Mrs. Chapman Catt was made its chairman by unanimous
+vote.
+
+Mrs. Colby presented the memorial resolutions, saying in part:
+
+     During the past year our association has lost by death a number
+     of members whose devotion to the cause of woman's liberty has
+     contributed largely to the position she holds to-day, and whose
+     labors are a part of the history of this great struggle for the
+     amelioration of her condition. Among these beloved friends and
+     co-workers three stood, each as the foremost representative in a
+     distinct line of action: Myra Bradwell of Chicago, Virginia L.
+     Minor of St. Louis, Amelia Bloomer of Council Bluffs, Ia.
+
+     Mrs. Bradwell was the first to make a test case with regard to
+     the civil rights of women, and to prove that the disfranchised
+     citizen is unprotected. [Her struggle to secure from the U.S.
+     Supreme Court a decision enabling women to practice law was
+     related.] The special importance of Mrs. Minor's connection with
+     the suffrage work lies in the fact that she first formulated and
+     enunciated the idea that women have the right to vote under the
+     United States Constitution. [The story was then told of Mrs.
+     Minor's case in the U.S. Supreme Court to test the right of women
+     to vote under the Fourteenth Amendment.][104] Mrs. Amelia Bloomer
+     was the first woman to own and edit a paper devoted to woman
+     suffrage and temperance, the _Lily_, published in Seneca Falls,
+     N. Y. She was also an eloquent lecturer for both these reforms
+     and one of the first women to hold an office under the
+     Government, as deputy postmaster. The costume which bears her
+     name she did not originate, but wore and advocated for a number
+     of years.
+
+     Of the noble band that started in 1848, few now remain, but a
+     host of young women are already on the stage of action, even
+     better equipped than were our pioneers to plead their own cases
+     in the courts, the halls of legislation, the pulpit and the
+     press.
+
+Two large receptions were given to the delegates and visitors, one at
+the Hotel Aragon, and one by Mrs. W. A. Hemphill, chairman of the
+Committee on the Professional Work of Women at the approaching Cotton
+States Exposition soon to be held in Atlanta. She was assisted by Mrs.
+W. Y. Atkinson, wife of the newly-elected Governor of Georgia.
+
+During several weeks before the convention Miss Anthony and Mrs.
+Chapman Catt had made a tour of the Southern States, speaking in the
+principal cities to arouse suffrage sentiment, as this section was
+practically an unvisited field. Immediately after the convention
+closed a mass meeting was held in the court-house of Atlanta.
+Afterwards Mrs. Blake was requested to address the Legislature of
+North Carolina, Miss Anthony lectured in a number of cities on the way
+northward, and others were invited to hold meetings in the neighboring
+States. Most of the speakers and delegates met in Washington on
+February 15 to celebrate Miss Anthony's seventy-fifth birthday and
+participate in the triennial convention of the National Council of
+Women.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[101] The three sisters, Claudia Howard Maxwell, Miriam Howard Du Bose
+and H. Augusta Howard, who as delegates at Washington the previous
+winter had invited the association to Atlanta, bore the principal part
+of these expenses and were largely responsible for the success of the
+convention.
+
+[102] The facts and figures presented in the report from Kansas by the
+president, Mrs. Laura M. Johns, will be found in the chapter on that
+State.
+
+[103] For an account of this beautiful celebration in the Metropolitan
+Opera House with an audience of 3,000, see Life and Work of Susan B.
+Anthony, p. 848; also Reminiscences of Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
+
+[104] For account of Mrs. Bradwell's case see History of Woman
+Suffrage, Vol. II, p. 601; of Mrs. Minor's, same, p. 715.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+THE NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1896.
+
+
+The suffrage association held its Twenty-eighth annual convention in
+the Church of Our Father, Washington, D. C., Jan. 23-28, 1896. In her
+opening remarks the president, Miss Susan B. Anthony, said:
+
+     The thought that brought us here twenty-eight years ago was that,
+     if the Federal Constitution could be invoked to protect black men
+     in the right to vote, the same great authority could be invoked
+     to protect women. The question has been urged upon every Congress
+     since 1869. We asked at first for a Sixteenth Amendment
+     enfranchising women; then for suffrage under the Fourteenth
+     Amendment; then, when the Supreme Court had decided that against
+     us, we returned to the Sixteenth Amendment and have pressed it
+     ever since. The same thing has been done in this Fifty-fourth
+     Congress which has been done in every Congress for a decade,
+     namely, the introducing of a bill providing for the new
+     amendment....
+
+     You will notice that the seats of the delegation from Utah are
+     marked by a large United States flag bearing three stars, a big
+     one and two smaller ones. The big star is for Wyoming, because it
+     stood alone for a quarter of a century as the only place where
+     _women had full suffrage_. Colorado comes next, because it is the
+     first State where a majority of the men voted to grant women
+     equal rights. Then comes Utah, because its men in convention
+     assembled--in spite of the bad example of Congress, which took
+     the right away from its women nine years ago--those men, having
+     seen the good effects of woman suffrage for years, voted by an
+     overwhelming majority to leave out the little word "male" from
+     the suffrage clause of their new State Constitution, and their
+     action was ratified by the electors. Next year, if I am here, I
+     hope to rejoice with you over woman suffrage in California and
+     Idaho.
+
+Some one whispered to Miss Anthony that the convention had not been
+opened with prayer, and she answered without the slightest confusion:
+"Now, friends, you all know I am a Quaker. We give thanks in silence.
+I do not think the heart of any one here has been fuller of silent
+thankfulness than mine, but I should not have remembered to have the
+meeting formally opened with prayer if somebody had not reminded me.
+The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw will offer prayer."
+
+Miss Shaw's report as vice-president-at-large was full of the little
+touches of humor for which she was noted:
+
+     The report of my specific work would not take long; but the work
+     that really did count for our association began last May, when
+     your president and I were invited to California. On the way we
+     stopped first at St. Louis, where Miss Anthony spoke before the
+     Women's Federation, the Woman's Council, and the State W. S. A.
+     From there we went to Denver, where we had a remarkable meeting,
+     and a warm greeting was given to Miss Anthony by the newly
+     enfranchised women of Colorado. It was pleasant to find them so
+     grateful to the pioneers. The large opera house was packed, and a
+     reception, in which the newspapers estimated that 1,500 persons
+     took part, was afterwards given at the Palace Hotel.
+
+     From Denver we went to Cheyenne, where we addressed the citizens,
+     men and women. For once there were present at our meeting quite
+     as many men as women, and not only ordinary but extraordinary
+     men. After introducing us to the audience, Mrs. Theresa A.
+     Jenkins introduced the audience to us. It included the Governor,
+     Senators, Representatives, Judges of the Supreme Court, city
+     officials, and never so many majors and colonels, and it showed
+     that where women have a vote, men think their meetings are worth
+     going to. We were the guests of the Governor during our stay in
+     Colorado, and guests of a U. S. Senator in Wyoming. At Salt Lake
+     all the city turned out, and I spoke in the Tabernacle to the
+     largest audience I ever had. It was sympathetic too, for Utah
+     people are accustomed to go to church and listen. At Ogden they
+     had to take two buildings for the meeting. At Reno, Nevada, there
+     was a large audience.
+
+     The Woman's Congress at San Francisco was the most marvelous
+     gathering I ever saw. The newspapers said the men were all
+     hypnotized, or they would not stand on the sidewalk two hours to
+     get into a church. Every subject considered during the whole
+     week, whether it was the care of children or the decoration of
+     the home, turned on the ballot for women, and Susan B. Anthony
+     was the belle of the ball. The superintendent of San Francisco
+     closed the schools that Miss Anthony might address the 900
+     teachers. The Ministers' Association passed resolutions favoring
+     the amendment. We went the whole length of the State and the
+     meetings were just as enthusiastic.
+
+     The Citizens' Committee asked women to take part in the Fourth of
+     July celebration. The women accepted more than the men meant they
+     should, for they insisted that a woman should be on the program.
+     The Program Committee refused, and the Executive Committee said
+     if they did not put a woman on they should be discharged. Instead
+     of this they proposed that Mrs. Sarah B. Cooper should provide
+     sandwiches for over 5,000 kindergarten children. That was the
+     kind of work they invited such women to do.
+
+     The Program Committee discussed the matter, and their discussion
+     could be heard four blocks away, but they finally yielded and
+     invited me to speak. So Miss Anthony and I rode for three miles
+     in a highly-decorated carriage, just behind the mayor and
+     followed by a brass band and the fire brigade, and I wore a big
+     badge that almost covered me, just like the badge worn by the
+     masculine orator. The dispute between the Executive and the
+     Program Committees had excited so much interest that there were
+     more cheers for your president and vice-president as we passed
+     along than there were for the mayor....
+
+     They wanted us both to come back in the fall. I went and spoke
+     thirty-four times in thirty-seven evenings.
+
+As the vice-president finished, Miss Anthony observed in her
+characteristic manner: "Miss Shaw said she only went to California to
+hold Miss Anthony's bonnet, but, when we left, everybody thought that
+I had come to hold her bonnet. It is my delight to see these girls
+develop and outdo their elders. There is another little woman that I
+want to come up here to the platform, Mrs. Chapman Catt. While she is
+blushing and getting ready, there is a delegation here from the
+Woman's National Press Association." Mesdames Lockwood, Gates,
+Cromwell and Emerson were introduced, and Miss Anthony remarked: "Our
+movement depends greatly on the press. The worst mistake any woman can
+make is to get crosswise with the newspapers."[105]
+
+By this time Mrs. Chapman Catt had reached the platform, and Miss
+Anthony continued: "Mrs. Catt went down South with me last year to
+hold my bonnet; and wherever we were, at Memphis or New Orleans or
+elsewhere, when she had spoken, Miss Anthony was nowhere. It is she
+who has done the splendid organization work which has brought into the
+association nearly every State in the Union, and every Territory
+except the Indian and Alaska and we shall have them next year."
+
+An able address was given by Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby (D. C.) on The
+Philosophy of Woman Suffrage, in which she said:
+
+     Woman suffrage is in harmony with the evolution of the race. The
+     progress of civilization has developed the finer forces of
+     mankind and made ready for the entrance of woman into government.
+     As long as man was merely a slayer of men and animals he did not
+     feel the need of the co-partnership of woman, but as his
+     fatherhood was developed he felt his inadequacy and the necessity
+     of the maternal element by his side. Woman suffrage is in harmony
+     with the growth of the idea of the worth of the individual, which
+     has its best expression in our republic. Our nation is heir of
+     all the struggles for freedom which have been made....
+
+     The Magna Charta belongs to us as much as does the Declaration of
+     Independence. In all these achievements for liberty women have
+     borne their share. Not only have they inspired men but the record
+     of the past is illumined with the story of their own brave deeds.
+     Women love liberty as well as men do. The love of liberty is the
+     corollary of the right of consent to government. All the progress
+     of our nation has been along the line of extending the
+     application of this basic idea....
+
+     Woman suffrage is in harmony with the evolution in the status of
+     women. They always have done their share in the development of
+     the race. There always has been a "new woman," some one stepping
+     out in advance of the rest and gaining a place for others to
+     stand upon.... We have no cause to blush for our ancestors. We
+     may save our blushes for the women of to-day who do not live up
+     to their privileges.
+
+     Now that woman has made such advance in personal and property
+     rights, educational and industrial opportunities, to deny her the
+     ballot is to force her to occupy a much more degrading position
+     than did the women of the past. We think the savage woman
+     degraded because she walks behind her husband bearing the burden
+     to leave his hands free for the weapon which is his sign of
+     sovereignty; what shall we say of the woman of to-day who may not
+     follow her husband and brother as he goes forth to wield the
+     weapon of civilization, the ballot? If the evolution in the
+     status of woman does not point to the franchise it is
+     meaningless.
+
+Mrs. Colby was followed by Miss Julie R. Jenney, a member of the bar
+in Syracuse, N. Y., with a thoughtful address on Law and the Ballot.
+She showed that woman's present legal rights are in the nature of a
+license, and therefore revocable at the will of the bodies granting
+them, and that until women elect the lawmakers they can not be
+entirely sure of any rights whatever. Between Daybreak and Sunrise was
+the title of the address of Mrs. May Stocking Knaggs (Mich.), who
+pleaded for the opportunity of complete co-operation between men and
+women, declaring that "each human being is a whole, single and
+responsible; each human unit is concerned in the social compact which
+is formed to protect individual and mutual rights."
+
+This was the first appearance of Mrs. Stetson on this national
+platform. She came as representative of the Pacific Coast Woman's
+Congress and California Suffrage Association. The _Woman's Journal_
+said: "Those of us who have for years admired Mrs. Stetson's
+remarkably bright poems were delighted to meet her, and to find her
+even more interesting than her writings. She is still a young woman,
+tall, lithe and graceful, with fine dark eyes, and spirit and
+originality flashing from her at every turn like light from a diamond.
+She read several poems to the convention, made an address one evening
+and preached twice on Sunday; and the delegates followed her around,
+as iron filings follow a magnet."
+
+Mrs. Catharine E. Hirst, president of the Ladies of the G. A. R.; Mrs.
+Lillian M. Hollister, representing the Supreme Hive Ladies of the
+Maccabees; Miss Harriette A. Keyser, from the Political Study Club of
+New York; Mrs. Rose E. Lumpkin, president Virginia King's Daughters,
+were presented as fraternal delegates. Grace Greenwood and Mrs.
+Caroline B. Buell were introduced to the convention.
+
+Mrs. Chapman Catt spoke for the Course of Study in Political Science,
+which had been in operation only five months, had sold five hundred
+full sets of books and reported over one hundred clubs formed. The
+committee on credentials reported 138 delegates present, and all the
+States and Territories represented except thirteen. A very
+satisfactory report of the first year's work of the organization
+committee was presented by its chairman, Mrs. Chapman Catt, which
+closed as follows:
+
+     Our committee are more than ever convinced that it is possible to
+     build a great organization based upon the one platform of the
+     enfranchisement of women. With harmony, co-operation and
+     determination we shall yet build this organization, of such
+     numbers and political strength that through the power of
+     constituency it can dictate at least one plank in the platform of
+     every political party, and secure an amendment from any
+     Legislature it petitions. We believe it will yet have its
+     auxiliaries in every village and hamlet, township and school
+     district, to influence majorities when the amendment is
+     submitted. More--we believe ere many years its powers will be so
+     subtle and widespread that it can besiege the conservatism of
+     Congress itself, and come away with the laurel wreath of victory.
+
+Nearly $3,300 were at once pledged for the committee, Miss Anthony
+herself agreeing to raise $600 of this amount.
+
+Mrs. Chapman Catt presented also a detailed Plan of Work, which
+included Organization, Club Work, Letter Writing, Raising of Money
+and Political Work. Of the last she said: "The time has fully come
+when we should carry the rub-a-dub of our agitation into 'the
+political Africa,' that is into every town meeting of every township
+of every county, and every caucus or primary meeting of every ward of
+every city of every State.... For a whole half century we have held
+special suffrage meetings, with audiences largely of women; that is,
+women have talked to women. We must now carry our discussion of the
+question into all of the different political party gatherings, for it
+is only there that the rank and file of the voters ever go. They won't
+come to our meetings, so we must carry our gospel into theirs. It will
+be of no more avail in the future than it has been in the past to send
+appeals to State and national conventions, so long as they are not
+backed by petitions from a vast majority of the voting constituents of
+their members."
+
+With the thousand dollars which had been put into Miss Anthony's hands
+by Mrs. Louisa Southworth of Cleveland the preceding year, national
+headquarters had been opened in Philadelphia with Mrs. Rachel Foster
+Avery, corresponding secretary, in charge. Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton,
+treasurer, reported total receipts for 1895 to be $9,835, with a
+balance of several hundred dollars in the treasury.
+
+The principal feature of the Saturday evening meeting was the address
+of Miss Elizabeth Burrill Curtis, daughter of George William Curtis,
+on Universal Suffrage. She said in part:
+
+     I find many people in my native State of New York who are leaning
+     toward a limited suffrage, and therefore I am beginning to ask,
+     "What does it mean? Is democratic government impossible after
+     all?" For a government in order to be democratic must be founded
+     on the suffrages of all the people, not a part. A republic may
+     exist by virtue of a limited suffrage, but a democracy can not,
+     and a democratic government has been our theoretical ideal from
+     the first. Are we prepared, after a hundred and twenty years, to
+     own ourselves defeated?... Universal suffrage, to me, means the
+     right of every man and woman who is mentally able to do so, and
+     who has not forfeited the right by an ill use of it, to say who
+     shall rule them, and what action shall be taken by those rulers
+     upon questions of moment....
+
+     This brings me to what I wish to say about those who desire a
+     limited suffrage. Who are they, and to what class do they belong?
+     For the most part, as I know them, they are men of property, who
+     belong to the educated classes, who are refined and cultivated,
+     and who see the government about them falling into the hands of
+     the unintelligent and often illiterate classes who are voted at
+     the polls like sheep. Therefore these gentlemen weep aloud and
+     wail and say: "If we had a limited suffrage, if we and our
+     friends had the management of affairs, how much better things
+     would be!"
+
+     Do not misunderstand me here. I am far from decrying the benefits
+     of education. Nobody believes in its necessity more sincerely
+     than I do. In fact I hold that, other things being equal, the
+     educated man is immeasurably in advance of the uneducated one;
+     but the trouble is that other things are often very far from
+     being equal and it is utterly impossible for the average man,
+     educated or not, to be trusted to decide with entire justice
+     between himself and another person when their interests are
+     equally involved....
+
+     The intelligent voter in a democratic community can not abdicate
+     his responsibility without being punished. He is the natural
+     leader, and if he refuses to fulfil his duties the leadership
+     will inevitably fall into the hands of those who are unfitted for
+     the high and holy task--and who is to blame? It is the educated
+     men, the professional men, the men of wealth and culture, who are
+     themselves responsible when things go wrong; and the refusal to
+     acknowledge their responsibility will not release them from
+     it....
+
+     The principle of universal suffrage, like every other high ideal,
+     will not stand alone. It carries duties with it, duties which are
+     imperative and which to shirk is filching benefits without
+     rendering an equivalent. How dare a man plead his private ease or
+     comfort as an excuse for neglecting his public duties? How dare
+     the remonstrating women of Massachusetts declare that they fear
+     the loss of privileges, one of which is the immunity from
+     punishment for a misdemeanor committed in the husband's presence?
+     "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I thought as a child, I
+     understood as a child; but when I became a man, I put away
+     childish things."
+
+     Throughout history all women and many men have been forced, so
+     far as government has been concerned, to speak, think and
+     understand as children. Now, for the first time, we are asking
+     that the people, as a whole body, shall rise to their full
+     stature and put away childish things.
+
+The sermon on Sunday afternoon was given by Mrs. Stetson from the
+topic which was to have been considered by the Rev. Anna Garlin
+Spencer, The Spiritual Significance of Democracy and Woman's Relation
+to It. She spoke without notes and illustrated the central thought
+that love grows where people are brought together, and that they are
+brought together more in a democracy than in any other mode of living.
+"Women have advanced less rapidly than men because they have always
+been more isolated. They have been brought into relation with their
+own families only. It is men who have held the inter-human
+relation.... Everything came out of the home; but because you began
+in a cradle is no reason why you should always stay there. Because
+charity begins at home is no reason why it should stop there, and
+because woman's first place is at home is no reason why her last and
+only place should be there. Civilization has been held back because so
+many men have inherited the limitations of the female sex. You can not
+raise public-spirited men from private-spirited mothers, but only from
+mothers who have been citizens in spite of their disfranchisement. In
+holding back the mothers of the race, you are keeping back the race."
+
+At the memorial services loving tributes were paid to the friends of
+woman suffrage who had passed away during the year. Among these were
+ex-Secretary of the Treasury Hugh McCulloch, ex-Governor Oliver Ames
+(Mass.), Dr. James C. Jackson of Dansville (N. Y.), Dr. Abram W.
+Lozier of New York City, Thomas Davis, Sarah Wilbur of Rhode Island,
+Marian Skidmore of Lily Dale, N. Y., and Amelia E. H. Doyon of
+Madison, Wis., who left $1,000 to the National Association.
+
+Henry B. Blackwell spoke of Theodore D. Weld, the great abolitionist,
+leader of the movement to found Oberlin, the first co-educational
+college, and one of the earliest advocates of equal rights for women.
+He told also of Frederick Douglass, whose last act was to bear his
+testimony in favor of suffrage for women at the Woman's Council in
+Washington on the very day of his death. Mrs. Avery gave a tender
+eulogy of Theodore Lovett Sewall of Indianapolis, his brilliancy as a
+conversationalist, his charm as a host, his loyalty as a friend, his
+beautiful devotion to his wife, Mrs. May Wright Sewall, and his
+lifelong adherence to the cause of woman.
+
+The loss of Mrs. Ellen Battelle Dietrick came with crushing force, as
+her services to the association were invaluable. To her most intimate
+friend, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, was assigned the duty of speaking a
+word in her memory, and in broken sentences she said: "I never knew
+such earnest purpose and consecration or such a fund of knowledge in
+any one as Mrs. Dietrick possessed. She never stopped thinking because
+she had reached the furthest point to which some one else had thought.
+She was the best antagonist I ever saw; I never knew any one who could
+differ so intensely, and yet be so perfectly calm and good-tempered.
+What she was as a friend no one can tell. Her death is a great loss to
+our press work. Perhaps no one ever wrote so many articles in the same
+length of time. This was especially the case last summer. It seemed as
+if she had a premonition that her life would soon end, for she sat at
+her desk writing hour after hour. I believe it shortened her life. She
+had just finished a book--Women in the Early Christian Ministry--and
+she left many other manuscripts. It would be a pity if the rich, ripe
+thought of this woman should not be preserved. Her funeral was like
+her life, without show or display. No one outside the family was
+present except myself. No eulogy was uttered there; she would not have
+wanted it. Tennyson's last poem, Crossing the Bar, was recited by her
+brother-in-law, the Rev. J. W. Hamilton.[106]" Miss Shaw ended her
+remarks by reciting this poem.
+
+Miss Anthony, who was to close the exercises, was too much affected to
+speak and motioned that the audience was dismissed, but no one
+stirred. At length she said: "There are very few human beings who have
+the courage to utter to the fullest their honest convictions--Mrs.
+Dietrick was one of these few. She would follow truth wherever it led,
+and she would follow no other leader. Like Lucretia Mott, she took
+'truth for authority, not authority for truth.' Miss Anthony spoke
+also of the "less-known women": "Adeline Thomson, a most remarkable
+character, was a sister to J. Edgar Thomson, first president of the
+Pennsylvania railroad. She lived to be eighty, and for years she stood
+there in Philadelphia, a monument of the past. Her house was my home
+when in that city for thirty years. We have also lost in Julia Wilbur
+of the District a most useful woman, and one who was faithful to the
+end. This is the first convention for twenty-eight years at which she
+has not been present with us. We should all try to live so as to make
+people feel that there is a vacancy when we go; but, dear friends, do
+not let there be a vacancy long. Our battle has just reached the place
+where it can win, and if we do our work in the spirit of those who
+have gone before, it will soon be over."
+
+There was special rejoicing at this convention over the admission of
+Utah as a State with full suffrage for women. Senator and Mrs. Frank
+J. Cannon and Representative and Mrs. C. E. Allen of Utah were on the
+platform. In her address of welcome Miss Shaw said:
+
+     Every star added to that blue field makes for the advantage of
+     every human being. We are just beginning to learn that we are all
+     children of one Father and members of one family; and when one
+     member suffers or is benefited, all the members suffer or
+     rejoice. So when Utah comes into the Union with every one free,
+     it is not only that State which is benefited, but we and all the
+     world. As the stars at night come out one by one, so will they
+     come out one by one on our flag, till the whole blue field is a
+     blaze of glory.
+
+     We expected it of the men of Utah. No man there could have stood
+     by the side of his mother and heard her tell of all that the
+     pioneers endured, and then have refused to grant her the same
+     right of liberty he wanted for himself, without being unworthy of
+     such a mother. They are the crown of our Union, those three
+     States on the crest of the Rockies, above all the others. In the
+     name of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, we
+     extend our welcome, our thanks and our congratulations to Utah,
+     as one of the three so dear to the heart of every woman who loves
+     liberty in these United States.
+
+Senator Cannon said in response: " ... Only one serious question came
+before our constitutional convention, and that was whether the
+adoption of woman suffrage would hinder the admission of our Territory
+as a State.... But our women had furnished courage, patience and
+heroism to our men, and so we said: 'Utah shall take another
+forty-nine years of wandering in the wilderness as a Territory before
+coming in as a State without her women.' My mother wandered there for
+twelve years. Women trailed bleeding feet and lived on roots that
+those of to-day might reap bounteous harvests. Utah gave women the
+suffrage while still a Territory. Congress, in its not quite infinite
+wisdom, took it away after they had exercised it intelligently for
+seventeen years; but the first chance that the men of Utah had they
+gave it back."
+
+Representative Allen was called on by Miss Anthony to "tell us how
+nice it seems to feel that your wife is as good as you are," and said
+in part: "Perhaps you have read what the real estate agents say about
+Utah--how they praise her sun and soil, her mountains and streams, and
+her precious metals. They tell you that she is filled with the basis
+of all material prosperity, with gold, silver, lead and iron: but
+greatness can not come from material resources alone--it must come
+from the people who till and delve. Utah is great because her people
+are great. When she has centuries behind her she will make a splendid
+showing because she has started right. She has given to that part of
+the people who instinctively know what is right, the power to
+influence the body politic.... This movement is destined to go on
+until it reaches every State in the Union."
+
+Mrs. Allen and Mrs. Sarah A. Boyer told of the heroic efforts the
+women had made for themselves; and Mrs. Emily S. Richards,
+vice-president of the Territorial suffrage association, described in a
+graphic manner the systematic and persistent work of this
+organization. The tribute to its president, Mrs. Emmeline B. Wells,
+whose influence had been paramount in securing the franchise for the
+women of Utah, was heartily applauded and a telegram of congratulation
+was sent to her.[107]
+
+The address of Mrs. Ella Knowles Haskell, Assistant Attorney-General
+of Montana, on The Environments of Woman as Related to her Progress,
+attracted much attention. She had been the Populist candidate for
+Attorney-General and made a strong canvass but went down to defeat
+with the rest of her party. Soon afterward she married her competitor,
+who appointed her his assistant. She reviewed the laws of past ages,
+showing how impossible it was then for women to rise above the
+conditions imposed upon them, and pointed out the wonderful progress
+they had made as soon as even partial freedom had been granted.
+
+Mrs. Virginia D. Young (S. C.), taking as a subject The Sunflower
+Bloom of Woman's Equality, gave an address which in its quaint speech,
+dialect stories and attractive provincialisms captivated the audience.
+
+The convention received an invitation from Mrs. John R. McLean for
+Monday afternoon to meet Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant on her seventieth
+birthday. The ladies were welcomed by their hostess and Mrs. Nellie
+Grant Sartoris, while Miss Anthony, who had attended the luncheon
+which preceded the reception, presented the ladies to Mrs. Grant.
+
+Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery, corresponding secretary, devoted a portion
+of her report to an account of the visit made by the delegates of the
+association in response to an invitation from the Woman's Board of
+Congresses of the Atlanta Exposition, Oct. 17, 1895. The principal
+address on that occasion was made by Mrs. Helen Gardiner.
+
+This convention was long remembered on account of the vigorous contest
+over what was known as the Bible Resolution. Mrs. Elizabeth Cady
+Stanton recently had issued a commentary on the passages of Scripture
+referring to women, which she called "The Woman's Bible." Although
+this was done in her individual capacity, yet some of the members
+claimed that, as she was honorary president of the National
+Association, this body was held by the public as partly responsible
+for it and it injured their work for suffrage. A resolution was
+brought in by the committee declaring: "This association is
+non-sectarian, being composed of persons of all shades of religious
+opinion, and has no official connection with the so-called 'Woman's
+Bible' or any theological publication."
+
+The debate was long and animated, but although there was intense
+feeling it was conducted in perfectly temperate and respectful
+language. Those participating were Rachel Foster Avery, Katie R.
+Addison, Henry B. Blackwell, Alice Stone Blackwell, Carrie Chapman
+Catt, Annie L. Diggs, Laura M. Johns, Helen Morris Lewis, Anna Howard
+Shaw, Frances A. Williamson and Elizabeth U. Yates speaking for the
+resolution; Lillie Devereux Blake, Clara B. Colby, Cornelia H. Cary,
+Lavina A. Hatch, Harriette A. Keyser, J. B. Merwin, Caroline Hallowell
+Miller, Althea B. Stryker, Charlotte Perkins Stetson, Mary Bentley
+Thomas and Victoria C. Whitney speaking against it.
+
+Miss Anthony was thoroughly aroused and, leaving the chair, spoke
+against the resolution as follows:
+
+     The one distinct feature of our association has been the right of
+     individual opinion for every member. We have been beset at each
+     step with the cry that somebody was injuring the cause by the
+     expression of sentiments which differed from those held by the
+     majority. The religious persecution of the ages has been carried
+     on under what was claimed to be the command of God. I distrust
+     those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because
+     I notice it always coincides with their own desires. All the way
+     along the history of our movement there has been this same
+     contest on account of religious theories. Forty years ago one of
+     our noblest men said to me: "You would better never hold another
+     convention than allow Ernestine L. Rose on your platform;"
+     because that eloquent woman, who ever stood for justice and
+     freedom, did not believe in the plenary inspiration of the Bible.
+     Did we banish Mrs. Rose? No, indeed!
+
+     Every new generation of converts threshes over the same old
+     straw. The point is whether you will sit in judgment on one who
+     questions the divine inspiration of certain passages in the Bible
+     derogatory to women. If Mrs. Stanton had written approvingly of
+     these passages you would not have brought in this resolution for
+     fear the cause might be injured among the _liberals_ in religion.
+     In other words, if she had written _your_ views, you would not
+     have considered a resolution necessary. To pass this one is to
+     set back the hands on the dial of reform.
+
+     What you should say to outsiders is that a Christian has neither
+     more nor less rights in our association than an atheist. When our
+     platform becomes too narrow for people of all creeds and of no
+     creeds, I myself can not stand upon it. Many things have been
+     said and done by our _orthodox_ friends which I have felt to be
+     extremely harmful to our cause; but I should no more consent to a
+     resolution denouncing them than I shall consent to this. Who is
+     to draw the line? Who can tell now whether these commentaries may
+     not prove a great help to woman's emancipation from old
+     superstitions which have barred its way?
+
+     Lucretia Mott at first thought Mrs. Stanton had injured the cause
+     of all woman's other rights by insisting upon the demand for
+     suffrage, but she had sense enough not to bring in a resolution
+     against it. In 1860 when Mrs. Stanton made a speech before the
+     New York Legislature in favor of a bill making drunkenness a
+     ground for divorce, there was a general cry among the friends
+     that she had killed the woman's cause. I shall be pained beyond
+     expression if the delegates here are so narrow and illiberal as
+     to adopt this resolution. You would better not begin resolving
+     against individual action or you will find no limit. This year it
+     is Mrs. Stanton; next year it may be I or one of yourselves who
+     will be the victim.
+
+     If we do not inspire in women a broad and catholic spirit, they
+     will fail, when enfranchised, to constitute that power for better
+     government which we have always claimed for them. Ten women
+     educated into the practice of liberal principles would be a
+     stronger force than 10,000 organized on a platform of intolerance
+     and bigotry. I pray you vote for religious liberty, without
+     censorship or inquisition. This resolution adopted will be a vote
+     of censure upon a woman who is without a peer in intellectual and
+     statesmanlike ability; one who has stood for half a century the
+     acknowledged leader of progressive thought and demand in regard
+     to all matters pertaining to the absolute freedom of women.
+
+Notwithstanding this eloquent appeal the original resolution was
+adopted by 53 yeas, 41 nays.[108]
+
+At the request of about thirty of the delegates, mostly from the far
+Western States, Miss Anthony sent a message to Mrs. Cleveland asking
+that they might be permitted to call upon her, and she received them
+with much courtesy.
+
+The association decided to help California and Idaho in whatever
+manner was desired in their approaching campaigns for a woman suffrage
+amendment. Invitations for holding the national convention were
+received from Springfield, Ill.; Denver, Col.; Cincinnati, O.; St.
+Louis, Mo.; Portland, Ore.; Charleston, S. C. It was voted to leave
+the matter to the business committee, who later accepted an invitation
+from Des Moines, Ia., as the suffrage societies of that State were
+organizing to secure an amendment from the Legislature.
+
+At the last meeting, on Tuesday evening, every inch of space was
+occupied and people were clinging to the window sills. Miss Anthony
+stated that since Frederick Douglass was no longer among them as he
+had been for so many years, his grandson, Joseph Douglass, who was an
+accomplished violinist, would give two selections in his memory.
+
+Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake (N. Y.), spoke on Presidential Candidates
+and the Interests of Women, outlining the attitude of the various
+nominees and parties. Miss Harriet May Mills (N. Y.) discussed Our
+Unconscious Allies, the Remonstrants, illustrating from her experience
+as organizer how their efforts really help the cause they try to
+hinder. Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe (Ills.), in demonstrating that The
+Liberty of the Mother means the Liberty of the Race, showed the need
+of truer companionship between man and woman and that the political
+disabilities of women affect all humanity. This was further
+illustrated by Mrs. Annie L. Diggs (Kas.) under the topic Women as
+Legislators. She said in part:
+
+     You have before you a great problem as to whether republican
+     government itself is to be successful at this time, and statesmen
+     to save their souls can not tell what will be the outcome. We
+     believe that women have in their possession what is needed to
+     make it a success--those things upon which are built the home
+     life and the ethical life of the nation. We can supply what is
+     lacking, not because women are better than men, but because they
+     are other than men; because they have a supplementary part, and
+     it is their mission to guard most sacredly and closely those
+     things which protect the home life. Because of their womanhood,
+     because of their divine function of motherhood, women must always
+     be most closely concerned with the matters that pertain to the
+     home. It belongs to man, with his strong right arm, to pioneer
+     the way, and then woman comes along to help him build the
+     enduring foundation upon which everything rests.
+
+Miss Shaw, in a short, good-naturedly sarcastic speech on The Bulwarks
+of the Constitution, showed the illogical position of President Eliot
+of Harvard in declaiming grand sentiments in favor of universal
+suffrage and then protesting against having them applied to women. The
+last number on the program was The Ballot as an Improver of
+Motherhood, by Mrs. Stetson. It was an address of wonderful power
+which thrilled the audience. Among other original statements were
+these:
+
+     We have heard much of the superior moral sense of woman. It is
+     superior in spots but not as a whole.... Here is an imaginary
+     case which will show how undeveloped in some respects woman's
+     moral sense still is: Suppose a train was coming with a
+     children's picnic on board--three hundred merry, laughing
+     children. Suppose you saw this train was about to go through an
+     open switch and over an embankment, and your own child was
+     playing on the track in front of it. You could turn the switch
+     and save the train, or save your own child by pulling it off the
+     track, but there was not time to do both. Which would you do? I
+     have put that question to hundreds of women. I never have found
+     one but said she would save her own child, and not one in a
+     hundred but claimed this would be absolutely right. The maternal
+     instinct is stronger in the hearts of most women than any moral
+     sense....
+
+     What is the suffrage going to do for motherhood? Women enter
+     upon this greatest function of life without any preparation, and
+     their mothers permit them to do it because they do not recognize
+     motherhood as a business. We do not let a man practice as a
+     doctor or a druggist, or do anything else which involves issues
+     of life and death, without training and certificates; but the
+     life and death of the whole human race are placed in the hands of
+     utterly untrained young girls. The suffrage draws the woman out
+     of her purely personal relations and puts her in relations with
+     her kind, and it broadens her intelligence. I am not disparaging
+     the noble devotion of our present mothers--I know how they
+     struggle and toil--but when that tremendous force of mother love
+     is made intelligent, fifty per cent of our children will not die
+     before they are five years old, and those that grow up will be
+     better men and women. A woman will no longer be attached solely
+     to one little group, but will be also a member of the community.
+     She will not neglect her own on that account, but will be better
+     to them and of more worth as a mother.
+
+Mrs. Stetson closed with her own fine poem, Mother to Child.
+
+The usual congressional hearings were held on Tuesday morning, January
+28.[109] The speakers were presented by Miss Shaw, who made a very
+strong closing argument. At its conclusion Senator Peffer announced
+his thorough belief in woman suffrage, and Senator Hoar planted
+himself still more firmly in the favorable position he always had
+maintained.[110]
+
+Miss Anthony led the host before the Judiciary Committee of the House,
+and opened with the statement that the women had been coming here
+asking for justice for nearly thirty years. She gave a brief account
+of the status of the question before Congress and then presented her
+speakers, each occupying the exact limit of time allotted and each
+taking up a different phase of the question.[111] Miss Anthony called
+on Representative John F. Shafroth of Colorado, who was among the
+listeners, to say something in regard to the experiment in his State.
+He spoke in unqualified approval, saying: "In the election of 1894 a
+greater per cent. of women voted than men, and instead of their being
+contaminated by any influence of a bad nature at the polls, the effect
+has been that there are no loafers, there are no drunkards, there are
+no persons of questionable character standing around the polls. One of
+the practical effects of woman suffrage will be to inject into
+politics an element that is independent and does not have to keep a
+consistent record with the party. We find that the ladies of Colorado
+do not care whether they vote for one ticket or the other, but they
+vote for the men they think the most deserving. Consequently if a man
+is nominated who has a questionable record invariably they will strike
+the party that does it. That tendency, I care not where it may exist,
+must be for good."
+
+Miss Anthony closed with an earnest appeal that the committee would
+report in favor of a Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution, thus
+enabling the women to carry their case to the Legislatures of the
+different States instead of to the masses of voters. She then
+submitted for publication and distribution the address of Mrs.
+Stanton, which said in part:
+
+     There is not a principle of our Government, not an article or
+     section of our Constitution, from the preamble to the last
+     amendment, which we have not elucidated and applied to woman
+     suffrage before the various committees in able arguments that
+     have never been answered. Our failure to secure justice thus far
+     has not been due to any lack of character or ability in our
+     advocates or of strength in their propositions, but to the
+     popular prejudices against woman's emancipation. Eloquent,
+     logical arguments on any question, though based on justice,
+     science, morals and religion, are all as light as air in the
+     balance with old theories, creeds, codes and customs.
+
+     Could we resurrect from the archives of this Capitol all the
+     petitions and speeches presented here by women for human freedom
+     during this century, they would reach above this dome and make a
+     more fitting pedestal for the Goddess of Liberty than the
+     crowning point of an edifice beneath which the mother of the race
+     has so long pleaded in vain for her natural right of
+     self-government--a right her sons should have secured to her long
+     ago of their own free will by statutes carved indelibly on the
+     corner-stones of the Republic.
+
+     As arguments have thus far proved unavailing, may not appeals to
+     your feelings, to your moral sense, find the response so long
+     withheld by your reason? Allow me, honorable gentlemen, to paint
+     you a picture and bring within the compass of your vision at once
+     the comparative position of two classes of citizens: The central
+     object is a ballot box guarded by three inspectors of foreign
+     birth. On the right is a multitude of coarse, ignorant beings,
+     designated in our constitutions as male citizens--many of them
+     fresh from the steerage of incoming steamers. There, too, are
+     natives of the same type from the slums of our cities. Policemen
+     are respectfully guiding them all to the ballot box. Those who
+     can not stand, because of their frequent potations, are carefully
+     supported on either side, each in turn depositing his vote, for
+     what purpose he neither knows nor cares, except to get the
+     promised bribe.
+
+     On the left stand a group of intelligent, moral,
+     highly-cultivated women, whose ancestors for generations have
+     fought the battles of liberty and have made this country all it
+     is to-day. These come from the schools and colleges as teachers
+     and professors; from the press and pulpit as writers and
+     preachers; from the courts and hospitals as lawyers and
+     physicians; and from happy and respectable homes as honored
+     mothers, wives and sisters. Knowing the needs of humanity
+     subjectively in all the higher walks of life, and objectively in
+     the world of work, in the charities, in the asylums and prisons,
+     in the sanitary condition of our streets and public buildings,
+     they are peculiarly fitted to write, speak and vote intelligently
+     on all these questions of such vital, far-reaching consequence to
+     the welfare of society. But the inspectors refuse their votes
+     because they are not designated in the Constitution as "male"
+     citizens, and the policemen drive them away.
+
+     Sad and humiliated they retire to their respective abodes,
+     followed by the jeers of those in authority. Imagine the feelings
+     of these dignified women, returning to their daily round of
+     duties, compelled to leave their interests, public and private,
+     in the State and the home, to these ignorant masses. The most
+     grievous result of war to the conquered is wearing a foreign
+     yoke, yet this is the position of the daughters of the
+     Puritans....
+
+     What a dark page the present political position of women will be
+     for the future historian! In reading of the republics of Greece
+     and Rome and the grand utterances of their philosophers in paeans
+     to liberty, we wonder that under such governments there should
+     have been a class of citizens held in slavery. Our descendants
+     will be still more surprised to know that our disfranchised
+     citizens, our pariahs, our slaves, belonged to the most highly
+     educated, moral, virtuous class in the nation, women of wealth
+     and position who paid millions of taxes every year into the State
+     and national treasuries; women who had given thousands to build
+     colleges and churches and to encourage the sciences and arts.
+     From the dawn of creation to this hour history affords no other
+     instance of so large a class of such a character subordinated
+     politically to the ignorant masses.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[105] Letters and telegrams of greeting were received from the Hon.
+Mrs. C. C. Holly, member Colorado Legislature, Mrs. Henry M. Teller,
+Mrs. Francis E. Warren, Mrs. Foster, from the National Woman's
+Christian Temperance Union, State and local associations of various
+kinds.
+
+[106] Now Bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
+
+[107] George W. Catt presented a significant paper showing that the
+victory of Utah was almost wholly due to the excellent organization of
+the suffrage forces, as with a population of 206,000 it had over 1,000
+active workers for the franchise. If the same proportion existed in
+other States nothing could prevent the success of the movement to
+enfranchise women. This report was printed by the association as a
+leaflet.
+
+[108] _Yeas_: Rachel Foster Avery, Katie R. Addison, Lucy E. Anthony,
+Mary O. Arnold, Lucretia L. Blankenburg, Caroline Brown Buell, Sallie
+Clay Bennett, Henry B. Blackwell, Alice Stone Blackwell, Emma E.
+Bower, Jennie Broderick, Jessie J. Cassidy, Carrie Chapman Catt,
+Mariana W. Chapman, Mary N. Chase, Laura Clay, Elizabeth B. Dodge,
+Annie L. Diggs, Matilda E. Gerrigus, Caroline Gibbons, John T. Hughes,
+Mary Louise Haworth, Mrs. Frank L. Hubbard, Mary N. Hubbard, Mary G.
+Hay, Mary D. Hussey, Hetty Y. Hallowell, Laura M. Johns, Mary Stocking
+Knaggs, Helen Morris Lewis, Mary Elizabeth Milligan, Rebecca T.
+Miller, Jessie G. Manley, Alice M. A. Pickler, Florence M. Post,
+Florence Post, the Rev G. Simmons, Anna R. Simmons, Alice Clinton
+Smith, Sarah H. Sawyer, Amanthus Shipp, Mrs. M. R. Stockwell, Mary
+Clarke Smith, D. Viola Smith, Anna H. Shaw, Sarah Vail Thompson,
+Harriet Taylor Upton, Laura H. Van Cise, Frances A. Williamson, Mary
+J. Williamson, Eliza R. Whiting, Elizabeth A. Willard, Elizabeth Upham
+Yates--53
+
+_Nays:_ Susan B. Anthony, Mary S. Anthony, S. Augusta Armstrong,
+Elizabeth D. Bacon, Lillie Devereux Blake, Elisan Brown, Annie
+Caldwell Boyd, Cornelia H. Cary, Clara Bewick Colby, Dr. Cora Smith
+Eaton, Caroline McCullough Everhard, Dr. M. Virginia Glauner, Mary E.
+Gilmer, Mrs. L. C. Hughes, Lavina A. Hatch, Emily Howland, Isabel
+Howland, Julie R. Jenney, Harriette A. Keyser, Jean Lockwood, Orra
+Langhorne, Mary E. Moore, J. B. Merwin, Harriet May Mills, Mrs. M. J.
+McMillan, Julia B. Nelson, Adda G. Quigley, Charlotte Perkins Stetson,
+Althea B. Stryker, Mary B. Sackett, Harriet Brown Stanton, Mrs. R. W.
+Southard, Ellen Powell Thompson, Helen Rand Tindall, Mary Bentley
+Thomas, Martha S. Townsend, Mary Wood, Victoria Conkling Whitney, Mary
+B. Wickersham, Mrs. George K. Wheat, Virginia D. Young--41.
+
+[109] The Senate Committee on Woman Suffrage--Senators Wilkinson Call,
+James Z. George, George F. Hoar, Matthew S. Quay and William A.
+Peffer--were addressed by Elizabeth D. Bacon (Conn.), Sallie Clay
+Bennett (Ky.), Lillie Devereux Blake (N. Y.), Lucretia L. Blankenburg
+(Penn.), Mariana W. Chapman (N. Y.), Mary N. Chase (Vt.), Dr. Mary D.
+Hussey (N. J.), Mrs. Frank Hubbard (Ills.), Lavina A. Hatch (Mass.),
+May Stocking Knaggs (Mich.), Helen Morris Lewis (N. C.), Orra
+Langhorne (Va.), Mary Elizabeth Milligan (Del.), Caroline Hallowell
+Miller (Md.), Julia B. Nelson (Minn.), Mrs. R. W. Southard (Ok.),
+Ellen Powell Thompson (D. C.), Victoria Conkling Whitney (Mo.),
+Virginia D. Young (S. C.).
+
+[110] On April 23 Senator Call submitted the Bill for a Sixteenth
+Amendment without recommendation, and for himself and Senator George
+the same old adverse report which had begun to do duty in 1882, and
+which, he said, expressed their views. It will be found in the History
+of Woman Suffrage, Vol. III, p. 237. Senator Quay evidently allowed
+himself to be counted in the opposition.
+
+[111] The members of the committee present were Representatives David
+B. Henderson (chairman), Broderick, Updegraff, Gillett (Mass.) Baker
+(N. H.), Burton (Mo.), Brown, Culberson, Boatner, Washington, Terry
+and De Armond. Absent: Ray, Connolly, Bailey, Strong and Lewis. The
+speakers were Mrs. L. C. Hughes (Ariz.), Charlotte Perkins Stetson
+(Cal.), Annie L. Diggs, Katie R. Addison (Kan.), Elizabeth Upham Yates
+(Me.), Henry B. Blackwell (Mass.), Harriet P. Sanders (Mont.), Clara
+B. Colby (Neb.), Frances A. Williamson (Nev.), Dr. Cora Smith Eaton
+(N. D.), Caroline McCullough Everhard (O.), Anna R. Simmons (S. D.),
+Emily S. Richards (Utah), Jessie G. Manley (W. Va.).
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+THE NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1897.
+
+
+This year the suffrage association took its convention west of the
+Mississippi River, the Twenty-ninth annual meeting being held in Des
+Moines, Ia., Jan. 26-29, 1897. Circumstances were unfavorable, the
+thermometer registering twenty-four degrees below zero and a heavy
+blizzard prevailing throughout the West. Nevertheless sixty-three
+delegates, representing twenty States, were present. All the visitors
+were entertained in the hospitable homes of this city, and the entire
+executive board were the guests of James and Martha C. Callanan at
+their handsome home in the suburbs. Receptions were given by the Des
+Moines Woman's Club, by the Young Women's Christian Association and by
+Mr. and Mrs. F. M. Hubbell at their palatial residence, Terrace Hill.
+The convention was welcomed in behalf of the State by Gov. Francis M.
+Drake, who paid the highest possible tribute to the social and
+intellectual qualities of women, pointed out the liberality of Iowa in
+respect to manhood suffrage and congratulated the association
+generally, but was extremely careful not to commit himself on the
+question of woman suffrage. Mayor John McVicar extended the welcome of
+the city in eloquent language. He also skirted all around the suffrage
+question, came much nearer an expression of approval than did the
+Governor, but cleverly avoided a direct assertion in favor. He was
+followed by the Rev. H. O. Breeden, pastor of the Christian Church in
+which the convention was assembled. Not being in politics he dared
+express an honest opinion and said in the course of his remarks:
+
+[Illustration: (MISS ANTHONY'S CABINET IN 1900.)
+
+  CATHARINE WAUGH McCULLOCH.
+  Second Auditor.
+
+          ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
+          Recording Secretary.
+
+      RACHEL FOSTER AVERY.
+      Corresponding Secretary 21 Years.
+
+  LAURA CLAY.
+  First Auditor.
+
+          HARRIET TAYLOR UPTON.
+          Treasurer.
+
+]
+
+     It is my privilege to address you in behalf of the churches, and
+     I do so with great pleasure, because I have a robust faith that
+     you are right, and also that the churches are with you in
+     sympathy and heart. I belong to one which welcomes women to its
+     pulpit and to all its offices. I should distrust the Christianity
+     of any that would deny to my mother and wife the rights it
+     accords to my father and myself. We welcome you to this city of
+     churches and to the churches of the city, and to its homes.
+
+     Woman shows her capacity for the highest functions in proportion
+     as she is admitted to them. I hold it true, with Dr. Storrs, that
+     as Dante measured his progress in Paradise not by outer objects
+     but by the increased beauty upon the face of Beatrice, so the
+     progress of the race is measured by the increasing beauty of
+     character shown in its women. The fanaticism of yesterday is the
+     reform of to-day, and the victory of to-morrow. Truth always goes
+     onward and never back. The day of equal rights for women is
+     surely coming. You are fighting a good warfare, with God, with
+     conscience and with right to inspire you, and the triumph is near
+     at hand.
+
+Mrs. Mattie Locke Macomber extended the greetings of the Women's Clubs
+of the State; Mrs. Adelaide Ballard, president of the Iowa Suffrage
+Association, presented its welcome, and greetings were read from
+various Women's Christian Temperance Unions. Miss Anthony responded
+briefly, contrasting the welcome by Governor, mayor and different
+societies with the olden times when perhaps not one person would
+extend a friendly hand to those who attempted to hold a suffrage
+meeting. "I hardly know what to say now," she continued. "It is so
+much easier to speak when brickbats are flying. But I do rejoice with
+you over the immense revolution and evolution of the past twenty-five
+years, and I thank you for this cordial greeting."
+
+The meetings were held in the large and well-arranged Christian
+Church, with an auditorium seating 1,500. The four daily papers gave
+full and fair reports and, although there was no editorial
+endorsement, there was no adverse comment. The _Leader_ thus described
+the opening session, Tuesday afternoon:
+
+     It is doubtful if the church ever before held so many people.
+     They poured in at all the doors, and the great audience room,
+     with the balconies and the windows, the choir and the aisles, the
+     platform and every foot of available space, was early occupied.
+     There were many gentlemen in the audience, but probably four of
+     every five were women. The men had come, apparently, to see and
+     hear Miss Anthony; and when she was done many of them left. It
+     was such an audience as is not often seen. The ladies were
+     generally elderly, the great majority beyond middle-age; they had
+     braved the cold and wind to hear the leader whom they had known
+     and loved for many years, but whom most of them had never seen.
+     Their bright faces framed in silvery hair, with brighter eyes
+     upturned to the speakers, must have been an inspiration to those
+     on the platform; in the case of Miss Anthony it was plain that
+     she was indeed inspired by her audience.
+
+There was much rejoicing over the enfranchisement of the women of
+Idaho by an amendment to the State constitution during the past year;
+and much sorrow over the defeat of a similar amendment in California.
+In her president's address Miss Anthony said in part:
+
+     The year 1896 witnessed greater successes than any since the
+     first pronunciamento was made at Seneca Falls, N. Y., July 19,
+     1848. On January 6 President Cleveland proclaimed Utah to be a
+     State, with a constitution which does not discriminate against
+     women. With Utah and Wyoming we have two States coming into the
+     Union with the principle of equal rights to women guaranteed by
+     their constitutions.
+
+     On November 3 the men of Idaho declared in favor of woman
+     suffrage, and for the first time in the history of judicial
+     decisions upon the enlargement of women's rights, civil and
+     political, a Supreme Court gave a broad interpretation of the
+     constitution. The Supreme Court of Idaho--Isaac N. Sullivan,
+     Joseph W. Huston, John T. Morgan--unanimously decided that the
+     amendment was carried constitutionally. This decision is the more
+     remarkable because the Court might as easily have declared that
+     the constitution requires amendments to receive a majority of the
+     total vote cast at the election, instead of a majority of the
+     votes cast on the amendment itself. By the former construction it
+     would have been lost, notwithstanding two to one of all who
+     expressed an opinion were in favor.
+
+     If anyone will study the history of our woman suffrage movement
+     since the days of reconstruction and the adoption of the
+     Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Federal
+     Constitution--taking the decisions of the Supreme Court of the
+     United States in the cases of Mrs. Myra Bradwell for the
+     protection of her civil rights; of Mrs. Virginia L. Minor for the
+     protection of her political rights; of the law granting Municipal
+     Suffrage to women in Michigan; on giving women the right to vote
+     for County School Commissioners in New York, and various other
+     decisions--he will find that in every case the courts have put
+     the narrowest possible construction upon the spirit and the
+     letter of the constitution. The Judges of Idaho did themselves
+     the honor to make a decision in direct opposition to judicial
+     precedent and prejudice. The Idaho victory is a great credit not
+     only to the majority of men who voted for the amendment, but to
+     the three Judges who made this broad and just decision.
+
+After sketching the situation in California, and relating the part
+taken by the National Association in these two campaigns, she
+concluded:
+
+     In every county which was properly organized, with a committee in
+     every precinct, who visited every voter and distributed leaflets
+     in every family, the amendment received a majority vote. This
+     ought to be sufficient to teach the women of all the States that
+     what we need is house-to-house educational work throughout every
+     voting precinct. We may possibly carry amendments with education
+     short of this, but we are not likely to. I believe if the slums
+     of San Francisco and Oakland had been thus organized, even the
+     men there could have been made to see that it was for their
+     interest and that of their wives and daughters to vote for the
+     amendment. But, while the suffragists had no committees whatever
+     in those districts, the "liquor men" had an active committee in
+     every saloon, "dive" and gambling house. I am, therefore, more
+     and more convinced that it is educational work which needs to be
+     done. It is of little use for us to make our appeals to political
+     party conventions, State Legislatures or Congress for resolutions
+     in favor of woman's enfranchisement, while no appeal comes up to
+     them from the rank and file of the voters.
+
+     Until we do this kind of house-to-house work we can never expect
+     to carry any of the States in which there are large cities. If
+     Idaho had had San Francisco, with all its liquor interests and
+     foreigners banded together, she would probably have been defeated
+     as was California.
+
+     So, friends, I am not in any sense disheartened, and while I
+     rejoice exceedingly over Idaho, I also rejoice exceedingly over
+     the grand work done in California, and over the 110,000 votes
+     given for woman suffrage in that State. It was vastly more than
+     was ever done in any other amendment campaign. Study then the
+     methods of California and Idaho and improve on them as much as
+     you possibly can.
+
+The Des Moines _Leader_ thus finished its report:
+
+     It was not difficult for one who saw Miss Anthony for the first
+     time to understand why she is so well beloved by her associates.
+     Seventy-seven years old, she is the most earnest worker of them
+     all; she is not only their leader but their counsellor and
+     friend. While she occupied the platform the utmost solicitude was
+     manifested for her on the part of everybody. Once a glass of
+     water was sent for but did not come as soon as it should, and
+     everyone on the stage was visibly concerned except Miss Anthony
+     herself, who calmly observed, by way of apology for a trifling
+     difficulty with her voice, that she was not accustomed to speak
+     in public, at which a laugh went round.... Her silvery hair was
+     parted in the middle and brushed down over her ears. Her eyes
+     have the deep-set appearance which is characteristic of elderly
+     people who have been hard mental laborers, but on the whole she
+     did not look all her years, though older than most of her hearers
+     had expected to see her. But those beaming, earnest eyes, taking
+     in her whole audience as she talked, told of a nature tenacious
+     of purpose and not to be daunted by any obstacle--the qualities
+     which in her many years' work in the cause Miss Anthony has so
+     many times manifested.
+
+The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw devoted the most of her report as
+vice-president-at-large to the California campaign, as she had spent
+the greater part of the past year in that State. She closed by saying:
+"Our reception by the Californians was such as to make them forever
+dear to us. I wish you could have seen Miss Anthony for once walking
+ankle-deep in roses. It showed that the sentiment for suffrage had
+reached the point where its advocates not only were tolerated but
+honored. I used to like to see her sitting in a chair all adorned with
+flowers and with a laurel crown suspended over her head, and to feel
+that it was woman suffrage that was crowned. The work was hard, but we
+all came back from California better in health and stronger in hope."
+
+On Wednesday evening the crowd was so great it became necessary to
+hold an overflow meeting, which was attended by five hundred persons.
+Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, who was introduced as "one of Iowa's own
+daughters," was received with great applause. She said in part:
+
+     I have a deep and tender love for Iowa. When I cross her
+     boundary, I always feel that I am coming home. In my travels
+     through the West I meet many men and women who give me a warmer
+     hand-shake because they too are from Iowa. But this State no
+     longer occupies the first place in my heart. There are four that
+     I love better, and every woman here feels the same. The first is
+     Wyoming. Many pass through that State and see only a barren plain
+     covered with sage brush, but when I cross her border, I feel a
+     thrill as sacred as ever the crusaders felt in visiting the Holy
+     Land. The second State is Colorado, the third Utah, and the
+     fourth Idaho. All of us Iowa women will love these States better
+     than our own until it shall arouse and place its laws and
+     institutions on an equality for women and men....
+
+     We ask suffrage in order to make womanhood broader and motherhood
+     nobler. Men and women are inextricably bound together. If we are
+     to have a great race, we must have a great motherhood. Do you ask
+     why people can not see this? In all history no class has been
+     enfranchised without some selfish motive underlying. If to-day we
+     could prove to Republicans or Democrats that every woman would
+     vote for their party, we should be enfranchised.
+
+     Do you say that whenever all women wish the ballot they will have
+     it? That time will never come. Not all of any class of men ever
+     wanted to vote till the ballot was put into their hands. When the
+     first woman desired to study medicine, not one school would admit
+     her. Since that time, only half a century ago, 25,000 women have
+     been admitted to the practice of medicine. If a popular vote had
+     been necessary, not one of them would yet have her diploma. We
+     have gained these advantages because we did not have to ask
+     society for them. If woman suffrage were granted in Iowa, women
+     would soon wish to vote, and every home would become a forum of
+     education....
+
+There never had been so many deaths in the ranks as during the past
+year. The following were among the names presented by Mrs. Clara
+Bewick Colby as those whom the association would ever hold in reverent
+memory:
+
+     Hannah Tracy Cutler of Illinois, former president of the American
+     Association and one of the earliest and most self-sacrificing of
+     woman suffrage lecturers; Sarah B. Cooper of California, auditor
+     of this association, whose labors for the enfranchisement of the
+     women of the Pacific coast will be remembered and honored equally
+     with her beneficent work in founding and sustaining free
+     kindergartens, and in whatever promoted justice, truth and mercy,
+     so that on the day of her funeral all the flags in San Francisco
+     were placed at half-mast; Mary Grew, who began her work for
+     freedom as corresponding secretary of the Philadelphia Female
+     Anti-Slavery Society in 1834, one of the founders of the New
+     Century Club of Philadelphia, and of the Pennsylvania Woman
+     Suffrage Association, of which she was president for twenty-three
+     years; Elizabeth McClintock Phillips, who in 1848 signed the call
+     for the first convention which demanded the ballot for women; J.
+     Elizabeth Jones of New York, a pioneer in anti-slavery and woman
+     suffrage; Judge E. T. Merrick of New Orleans, whose home was ever
+     open to the woman suffrage lecturers in that section, and who by
+     his eminent position as Chief Justice of Louisiana for many
+     years, sustained his wife in work which in earlier days but for
+     him would have been impossible; Eliza Murphy of New Jersey, who
+     bequeathed five hundred dollars to this association; Harriet
+     Beecher Stowe of Connecticut, who, although the apostle of
+     freedom in another field, yet held as firmly and expressed as
+     steadfastly her allegiance to the cause of woman suffrage; Dr.
+     Caroline B. Winslow, the earliest woman physician in the District
+     of Columbia, intrepid as a journalist, successful in practice, a
+     leader in many lines of reform; Maria G. Porter of Rochester, N.
+     Y.; Sarah Hussey Southwick of Massachusetts, a worker in the
+     cause of liberty for more than sixty years; Kate Field of
+     Washington, D. C.; Gov. Frederick T. Greenhalge of Massachusetts;
+     Dr. Hiram Corson of Pennsylvania, who stood for the full
+     opportunities of women in medicine, and secured the opening to
+     them of the conservative medical societies of Philadelphia.
+
+The names of over thirty other tried and true friends who had passed
+away during the months since the last meeting were given. Mrs. Colby
+closed the memorial service by saying:
+
+     The best that comes to this world comes through the love of
+     liberty. These were souls of noble aspiration and undaunted
+     courage. We enter into their labors; we will enshrine them in the
+     history of the suffrage movement and bear them gratefully in our
+     hearts forever. May our lives be as fruitful as theirs, and when
+     we too pass away may we
+
+    "Join the choir invisible
+    Of these immortal dead who live again,
+    In minds made better by their presence."
+
+Among letters received was one from Parker Pillsbury (N. H.), now 88
+years old, who had spoken so eloquently in early days for the
+emancipation of the slaves and the freedom of women. One of the many
+excellent addresses was on the general topic Equal Rights, by Miss
+Alice Stone Blackwell (Mass.), illustrated by a number of the piquant
+and appropriate stories for which she is noted and which perhaps leave
+a more lasting impression than a labored argument. Mrs. Catharine
+Waugh McCulloch, a practicing lawyer of Chicago, considered the
+hackneyed phrase All the Rights We Want, showing up in a humorous way
+the legal disabilities of women in her own State. The wife's earnings
+may be seized to pay for her husband's clothes; she can not testify
+against her husband; she can not enter into a business partnership
+without his consent; a married mother has no right to her children;
+the age of protection for girls is only fourteen, etc.
+
+President George A. Gates of Iowa College said in part: "I never heard
+or read a single sound argument against the suffrage of women in a
+democracy. There are a hundred arguments for it. The question now is
+one of organization, of agitation, of perseverance. In my judgment he
+who sneers at suffrage not only proclaims himself a boor and casts
+discredit on at least four women--his mother, his wife, his sister and
+his daughter--but he reveals a depth of ignorance that is pitiable.
+Let the appeal be to experience. Not one of the direful consequences
+predicted has come to pass where suffrage is enjoyed. Homes have not
+been deserted, bad women have not flocked to the polls, conjugal
+strife has not been aroused, bad effects have not come but good
+effects have. Bad men seek office in vain where women have the ballot.
+New States are coming into line and the triumph of the cause can not
+much longer be delayed."
+
+Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Stetson spoke with her usual ability on Duty
+and Honor:
+
+     Underlying the objections to woman suffrage is a reason of which,
+     as an American, I am deeply ashamed. I do not think either men or
+     women have the same honest pride in our democracy that they had
+     fifty years ago. We are becoming a little afraid of what Europe
+     has always told us was an experiment, but one reason it has not
+     yet been all we could wish is that it is not a democracy at all,
+     but a semi-democracy, one-half of the race ruling over the other
+     half.
+
+     Another deep-seated feeling is that, while development is the
+     general rule, yet the production of the best men and women
+     requires "the maternal sacrifice," _i. e._ that the mother shall
+     be sacrificed to her children, and incidentally to her husband.
+     If the sacrifice is necessary, well and good; but how if it is
+     not?... It has been regarded as dangerous to improve the
+     condition of women for fear they would not be as good mothers. If
+     gain to the mother means robbery to the child, let the mother
+     remain as she is. But the standard is the amount of good done to
+     the children, not the amount of evil done to herself....
+
+     Grant that it is a woman's business to take care of her
+     children--not merely of her own children. If children anywhere
+     are not under right conditions, women ought to see to it. The
+     trouble is we are too wrapped up in _my_ children to think of
+     _our_ children. We can not keep out disease by shutting our own
+     front door. We have to know and care about the world outside our
+     gates. In order to do our duty to our children we must make this
+     world a better place to live in.
+
+     Our children are not born with that degree of brain power that we
+     could wish. They will not be, until our minds are widened by
+     study of the whole duty of a human being.... What is needed for
+     women is an enlargement of their moral sense so as to include
+     social as well as private virtues. We have been taught that there
+     is only one virtue for us. Our morality is high but narrow. It is
+     not wholesome to limit oneself to one virtue, or to six or to
+     ten. Sons resemble their mothers. While mothers limit their
+     interests to their own narrow domestic affairs, regardless of the
+     world outside, their sons will betray the interests of the
+     country for their own private business interests.... Women and
+     men are so connected that we can not improve one without
+     improving the other. Under equal rights we shall raise the moral
+     sense of the community by the natural laws of transmission
+     through the mothers. We shall learn to blame a man as much if he
+     betrays a public trust as we do if he deserts his wife.
+
+     Have we done our full duty when we have loved and served and
+     taken care of those that every beast on earth loves and serves
+     and takes care of--our own young? That is the beginning of human
+     duty but not the whole of it. The duty of woman is not confined
+     to the reproduction of the species; it extends to the working of
+     the will of God on earth. The family is a leaf on the tree of the
+     State. It can grow in strength and purity while the State is
+     healthy, but when the State is degraded the family becomes
+     degraded with it. We have not done our full duty to the family
+     till we have done our best to serve the State.
+
+Miss Shaw took up this subject, saying:
+
+     The millennium will not come as soon as women vote, but it will
+     not come until they do vote. If a woman has only a little brain,
+     she has a right to the fullest development of all she has.... If
+     we are to keep our children healthy, as Mrs. Stetson says is our
+     duty, pure water is essential. I know a city (Philadelphia) where
+     you can fast for forty days, drinking only water, and grow
+     fat--because you have chowder every time. Is there any reason why
+     women should not have a vote in regard to water-works? A woman
+     knows as much about water as a man. Generally, she drinks more of
+     it. See how the street cleaners sweep the dirt into heaps on
+     Monday and leave it to blow about until Saturday, before it is
+     taken up. Any housekeeper would know better. Sewers and man-traps
+     spread disease literally and also metaphorically. You may teach
+     your boy every precept in the Bible from beginning to end, and he
+     will go out into the street and be taught to violate every one of
+     them, under the protection of law, and you can't help yourself or
+     him.
+
+At one of the morning meetings Miss Anthony said in response to a
+message from the W. C. T. U. accompanied by a great bunch of daisies:
+"We always are glad to receive greetings from this society, because
+one of its forty departments is for the franchise. The suffrage
+association has only one, but that one aims to make every State a true
+republic." She continued: "A newspaper of this city has criticized the
+suffrage banner with its four stars and has accused us of desecrating
+our country's flag. But no one ever heard anything about desecration
+of the flag during the political campaign, when the names and
+portraits of all the candidates were tacked to it. Our critics compare
+us to Texas and its lone star. We have not gone out of the Union, but
+four States have come in. Keep your flag flying, and do not let any
+one persuade you that you are desecrating it by putting on stars for
+the States where government is based on the consent of the governed,
+and leaving them off for those which are not."
+
+State Senators Rowen, Kilburn and Byers brought an official message
+inviting the convention to visit the Senate and select certain of
+their members to address that body. Each of these gentlemen spoke
+briefly but unequivocally in favor of the enfranchisement of women.
+
+The ladies found the Senate Chamber crowded from top to bottom on the
+occasion of their visit Friday morning, and they were welcomed by
+Lieutenant-Governor Parrott. In her response Miss Anthony called
+attention to the fact that the women of Iowa had been pleading their
+cause in vain before the Legislature for nearly thirty years. Mrs.
+Mary C. C. Bradford, Mrs. Emmeline B. Wells and Mrs. Mell C. Woods
+spoke for the States of Colorado, Utah and Idaho, which had
+enfranchised women; Mrs. Colby represented Wyoming. Clever two-minute
+speeches were made by Mrs. Ballard, Miss Shaw and Mrs. Chapman Catt,
+which were highly appreciated by the legislators and the rest of the
+audience.
+
+During the convention an informal speech of Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton
+(O.), As the World Sees Us, was much enjoyed. In the course of her
+remarks she said:
+
+     The world thinks our husbands are inferior men, and I do not like
+     it. For fifty years they have said all sorts of things about the
+     overbearing suffragists--that they were crazy, tyrannical, etc.,
+     but they never have said we were fools. Why should they think
+     that we would pick out fools for our husbands?...
+
+     The world also thinks the suffrage advocates are poor
+     housekeepers. I know, for I was in the world a long time and I
+     thought so. When I was brought into the movement and visited the
+     leaders, I was surprised to find the order and executive ability
+     with which their homes were conducted.
+
+     The world thinks we are office-seekers. Most of us have not the
+     slightest wish for office, but we do want to see women serving on
+     all boards that deal with matters where woman's help is needed.
+
+     The world thinks we are irreligious; but our individual churches
+     do not think so--for most of us are members of churches in good
+     and regular standing, and we are not denied communion. We can not
+     be vestrymen, but if the church wants a steam heater it is voted
+     to have one, without a cent in the treasury, because the women
+     are relied upon to raise the money. We are religious enough to
+     have oyster suppers in aid of the church and to make choir-boys'
+     vestments and to raise the minister's salary and to make up the
+     congregation. Religion is love to God and man. If it is not
+     religion to promote a cause that will make men better and women
+     wiser and happier, what is it? The world thinks we are
+     irreligious because in the early days some of our leaders were
+     held to be unorthodox. But most of those who years ago were
+     looked upon as such are regarded as orthodox to-day. The
+     eye-sight of the world is much better than it used to be....
+
+The discussion--_Resolved_, That the propaganda of the woman suffrage
+idea demands a non-partisan attitude on the part of individual
+workers--was led by Miss Laura Clay in the affirmative and Henry B.
+Blackwell in the negative. Miss Clay said in part:
+
+     It is a well established rule that the greater should never be
+     subordinated to the less. Therefore, suffrage should never be
+     made a tail to the kite of any political party. There are
+     momentous issues now before the people, but none so momentous as
+     woman suffrage. This principle appeals to the conscience of the
+     people, and will ultimately convince all those who cherish the
+     political principles of our fathers. Already we believe we have
+     convinced a sufficient number to make this a practical question.
+     We have now to deal with the politicians. They may be divided
+     into two classes, men of high ideals and those who cling to
+     party, right or wrong. It is necessary to gain both classes.
+
+     Partisan methods are not suited to the discussion of this
+     question. We must show that when enfranchised we shall hold a
+     self-preservative attitude; that we know our rights, and, knowing
+     them, dare maintain. Wisdom is less tangible than force but more
+     powerful in the end. Women are different from men and their
+     political methods will differ from those of men. Women will never
+     win so long as they consent to barter their services for vague
+     promises of what will be done for them in the future, or to
+     subordinate woman suffrage to the interests of any party.
+
+     MR. BLACKWELL: We are all agreed that Woman Suffrage
+     Associations, local, State and national, are and must be
+     non-partisan. But a clear distinction should be made between the
+     attitude of a society and that of the individual women and men
+     who compose its membership. Suffrage societies, being composed of
+     men and women of all shades of political belief, can not take
+     sides on any other question without violating each member's right
+     and duty to have and express personal political opinions. But, as
+     individuals, it is our duty to be partisans. Woman suffrage is
+     not the only issue. In almost every political contest one party
+     is right and the other wrong. Everybody is bound to do what he or
+     she can to promote the success of the right side. If no moral
+     questions were involved, political contests would be ignoble and
+     insignificant. We value suffrage mainly because questions of
+     right and wrong are settled by votes....
+
+     Every woman, equally with every man, should be affiliated with
+     some political party.... Every manifestation by women of
+     intelligent interest in political questions helps woman suffrage.
+     Political questions necessarily become party questions, for we
+     live under a government of parties.
+
+     A non-partisan attitude is a phrase which needs definition. If
+     "partisan" means "our party, right or wrong," then no woman and
+     no man should be a partisan. An attitude of moderation and
+     conciliation befits every candid person. I am for holding equal
+     suffrage paramount to ordinary political questions, but I am not
+     for repudiating party ties altogether. Woman suffrage, though the
+     most important question, is not always the one to be first
+     settled. It is not the only question. Voting, though the most
+     direct form of political power, is not the only political power.
+     Women's interests and those of their children are involved,
+     equally with those of men, in every question of finance,
+     currency, tariff, domestic and foreign relations. They have no
+     right to be neutral or apathetic. So long as they remain silent
+     and inert they command no attention or respect. I maintain,
+     therefore, that affirmative political activity, working by and
+     through party machinery, is the duty of every individual
+     citizen--whether man or woman.
+
+     In States where a suffrage amendment is pending, in meetings
+     where suffrage is advocated, party politics should be laid aside
+     for the time being. In religious meetings no distinction should
+     be made between Republicans, Democrats or Populists. In political
+     meetings no distinction should be made between Methodists,
+     Baptists or Presbyterians. In suffrage meetings there should be
+     no distinction of sect or party. But we hold our individual
+     opinions all the same.
+
+     MISS ANTHONY: I want to say that you can not possibly divide
+     yourself up as Mr. Blackwell suggests. You can not be a
+     Republican in one convention to-day and non-partisan in another
+     to-morrow. The men who believe in suffrage are voters, and must
+     have their parties, of course. But any woman who champions either
+     political party makes more votes against than for suffrage. I
+     could give numerous examples. Do not be deluded with this idea
+     that one party is right and the other wrong. Which is it? One
+     party seems right to one-half of the people, and the other party
+     to the other half. As long as women have no votes, any one of
+     them who will make a speech either for gold or silver or for any
+     party issue is lacking in self-respect.
+
+     MISS BLACKWELL: Miss Clay seems to have understood the question
+     presented for discussion in a different sense from what I did. I
+     do not believe in making suffrage a tail to any party kite, of
+     course; but women as well as men are bound to do what they can to
+     promote good government, and hence to promote by all legitimate
+     means the party which they believe to be in the right. They will
+     inevitably do this more and more as they become more interested
+     in public questions. See how many women took part in the late
+     campaign, making speeches for gold or silver, not with any eye
+     to woman suffrage--for neither party was committed to it--but
+     purely for the sake of the welfare of the country, as they
+     understood it. I can not agree that they were lacking in
+     self-respect....
+
+     MISS SHAW: I have made only one party speech in my life. That was
+     ten years ago, for the Prohibition Party; and if the Lord will
+     forgive me, I will never do it again till women vote.
+
+In spite of the lively difference of opinion, the meeting adjourned in
+great good humor and amid considerable laughter.
+
+The last session of the convention was a celebration of the suffrage
+victory in Idaho, conducted by representatives of what the association
+liked to call "the free States." Mrs. Colby said in behalf of Wyoming:
+
+     ....No matter if we fill the field of blue with stars, one will
+     always shine with peculiar lustre, the star of Wyoming, who
+     opened the door of hope for women.
+
+     There is a beautiful custom in Switzerland among the Alpine
+     shepherds. He who, tending his flock among the heights, first
+     sees the rays of the rising sun gild the top of the loftiest
+     peak, lifts his horn and sounds forth the morning greeting,
+     "Praise the Lord." Soon another shepherd catches the radiant
+     gleam, and then another and another takes up the reverent
+     refrain, until mountain, hill and valley are vocal with praise
+     and bathed in the glory of a new day.
+
+     So the dawn of the day that shall mean freedom for woman and the
+     ennobling of the race was first seen by Wyoming, on the crest of
+     our continent, and the clarion note was sounded forth, "Equality
+     before the law." For a quarter of a century she was the lone
+     watcher on the heights to sound the tocsin of freedom. At last
+     Colorado, from her splendid snow-covered peaks, answered back in
+     grand accord, "Equality before the law." Then on Utah's brow
+     shone the sun, and she, too, exultantly joined in the trio,
+     "Equality before the law." And now Idaho completes the quartette
+     of mountain States which sing the anthem of woman's freedom. Its
+     echoes rouse the sleepers everywhere, until from the rock-bound
+     coast of the Atlantic to the golden sands of the Pacific resounds
+     one resolute and jubilant demand, "Equality before the law," and
+     lo, the whole world wakes to the sunlight of liberty!
+
+Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford, in speaking for Colorado, said:
+
+     Civilization means self-realization. The level is being slowly
+     but surely raised and the atmosphere improved. Freedom for the
+     individual, properly guarded, is the ideal to-day. When woman is
+     free, the eternal feminine shows itself to be also the truly
+     human. Witness Wyoming, with its magnificent school system, its
+     equal pay for equal work. Witness Colorado, where women cast 52
+     per cent. of the total vote though the State contains a large
+     majority of men. What does this show if not that women wish to
+     vote? We women believe that election day administers to each of
+     us the sacrament of citizenship, and we go, most of us,
+     prayerfully and thankfully to partake in this outward and visible
+     sign of an inward and spiritual grace....
+
+     The first time I went to vote I was out of the house just nine
+     minutes. The second time I took my little girl along to school,
+     stopped in to vote, and then went down town and did my marketing;
+     and I was gone twenty minutes. While I was casting my vote the
+     men gave my little one a flower. They always decorate the
+     polling-places with flowers now, for they know women love beauty.
+
+     The tone of political conventions has improved since suffrage was
+     granted to women. So has the character of the candidates....
+     There is no character-builder like responsibility. Every woman's
+     club in the State has been turned into a study club, and the
+     women are examining public questions for themselves. This is one
+     of the best results of equal suffrage.
+
+     When women obtained the ballot they wanted to know about public
+     affairs, and so they asked their husbands at home (every woman
+     wants to believe that her husband knows everything), and the
+     husbands had to inform themselves in order to answer their wives'
+     questions. Equal suffrage has not only educated women and
+     elevated the primaries, but it has given back to the State the
+     services of her best men, large numbers of whom had got into the
+     habit of neglecting their political duties....
+
+Mrs. Emmeline B. Wells said in describing the conditions in Utah:
+
+     After the ballot was given to women the men soon came to us and
+     asked us to help them. We divided on party lines but not rigidly
+     so. We helped not only the good men and women of our own party,
+     but those of the other. If they put up a Republican or a Democrat
+     who is not fit for the position, the women vote against him. In
+     all the work I do for the Republicans, I never denounce the
+     Democrats....
+
+     This year the men were more willing to have us go to the
+     primaries than we were to go. Even the women who had not wished
+     for suffrage voted. I do not mind going to the primaries. I am
+     not afraid of men--not the least in the world. I have often been
+     on committees with men. I don't think it has hurt me at all, and
+     I have learned a great deal. They have always been very good to
+     me. We must stand up for the men. We could not do without them.
+     Certainly we could not have settled Utah without them. They built
+     the bridges and killed the bears; but I think the women worked
+     just as hard, in their way....
+
+When Mrs. Mell C. Woods came forward to speak for Idaho the audience
+arose and received her with cheers and the waving of handkerchiefs.
+She brought letters of greeting from most of the women's clubs of
+that State, and in a long and beautiful address she said:
+
+     With her head pillowed in the lap of the North, her feet resting
+     in the orchards of the South, her snowy bosom rising to the
+     clouds, Idaho lies serene in her beauty of glacier, lake and
+     primeval forest, guarding in her verdure-clad mountains vast
+     treasures of precious minerals, with the hem of her robe
+     embroidered in sapphires and opals.... As representing Idaho,
+     first I wish to express the heartfelt gratitude of every equal
+     suffragist in our proud and happy State to the National
+     Association for the most generous help afforded us in our two
+     years' campaign. Without the aid of the devoted women, Mrs.
+     DeVoe, Mrs. Chapman Catt, Mrs. Bradford and Mrs. Johns, who made
+     the arduous journey to organize our clubs, plead our cause and
+     teach us how to work and win, we should not be celebrating
+     Idaho's victory to-night....
+
+After describing the great output of the mines and the fruit-producing
+value of the State, she continued:
+
+     I fancy few of you know much of the conditions existing in the
+     mining country, dotted with camps in every gulch; the
+     preponderance of the adult males over the women of maturity; the
+     power of the saloon element, and the cosmopolitan character of
+     the people--men from all parts of the world, ignorant and
+     cultured, depraved and respectable, seeking fame and fortune in
+     the far West--no reading-rooms, no lectures, no lyceums, no
+     spelling-bees or corn-huskings, the relaxation of the farm hand;
+     single men away from home and its influences, forced from the
+     draughty lobby of the hotel or tavern to the warmth and comfort
+     of the well-appointed saloon.
+
+     The missionary suffrage work in such places was obliged to be
+     quietly done, without any apparent advocacy on the part of men
+     who were in reality ardent supporters of our cause, lest the
+     saloon element should organize and, by concerted action, crush
+     the movement as they did in the State of Washington in 1889; and
+     California, too, owes her defeat of the amendment at least
+     partially to this cause. Yet you may go far to find nobler men
+     than we have in Idaho, and we did not lack able champions. Our
+     amendment was carried by more than a two-thirds majority of the
+     votes cast upon it.
+
+The last address, by the Rev. Ida C. Hultin (Ills.), The Point of
+View, was a masterly effort. She said in part:
+
+     Before any woman is a wife, a sister or a mother she is a human
+     being. We ask nothing as women but everything as human beings.
+     The sphere of woman is any path that she can tread, any work that
+     she can do. Let no one imagine that we wish to be men. In the
+     beginning God created them male and female. The principle of
+     co-equality is recognized in all of God's kingdom. We are
+     beginning to find in the human race, as in the vegetable and the
+     animal, that the male and the female are designed to be the
+     equals of each other.
+
+     It is because woman loves her home that she wants her country to
+     be pure and holy, so that she may not lose her children when they
+     go out from her protection. We want to be women, womanly women,
+     stamping the womanliness of our nature upon the country, even as
+     the men have stamped the manliness of their nature upon it. The
+     home is the sphere of woman and of man also. The home does not
+     mean simply bread-making and dish-washing, but also the place
+     into which shall enter that which makes pure manhood possible.
+     Give woman a chance to do her whole duty. What is education for,
+     what is religion for, but as a means to the end of the
+     development of humanity? If national life is what it ought to be
+     also, a means to the same end, it needs then everything that
+     humanity has to make it sweet and hopeful. Women have moral
+     sentiments and they want to record them. That is the only
+     difference between voting and not voting. The national life is
+     the reflected life of the people. It is strong with their
+     strength and weak with their weakness.
+
+A letter was read to the convention by Miss Anthony from Miss Kitty
+Reed, daughter of Speaker Thomas B. Reed, who had been with her father
+in California during the recent suffrage campaign. In referring to
+this she said:
+
+     There and elsewhere the thinking women who opposed it used this
+     argument: There are too many people voting already; the practical
+     effect of woman suffrage would be an increase in the illiterate
+     vote, without a proportionate increase in the intelligent vote.
+     They were not in favor of it unless there could be an educational
+     qualification. In other words, they were opposed to woman
+     suffrage because they were opposed to universal suffrage. I have
+     always regarded universal suffrage as the foundation principle of
+     our government. If "governments deriving their just powers from
+     the consent of the governed" does not mean that, what can it
+     mean? So I tried to persuade these women of the truth of that
+     which I supposed had been settled about one hundred and
+     twenty-one years ago. It is necessary to make women believe that
+     suffrage is a natural right rather than a privilege; that, while
+     abstractly it seems well for an intelligent citizen to govern an
+     ignorant one, human nature is such that the intelligent will
+     govern selfishly and leave the ignorant no opportunity to
+     improve.
+
+     It seems to me that the worst obstacle we have to encounter now
+     is not the prejudice of men against women's voting, but a
+     misunderstanding on the part of women of the real meaning of
+     government by the people. This may be ancient history to you, but
+     it impressed me deeply while I was in California and that is why
+     I write it. Of course there are many women who do not think. When
+     they hear woman suffrage spoken of, they go to their husbands and
+     ask them what they think about it, and their husbands tell them
+     that they are too good to vote, and those women are content. It
+     does not occur to them to ask why, if they are too pure and good
+     to vote, they are not excused from obeying the laws and paying
+     taxes.
+
+The report of the first year's work done at national headquarters was
+very satisfactory. In regard to the Press it contained the following:
+
+     The year 1896 has seen the beginning of an effort by our National
+     Association to use systematically the mighty lever of the public
+     press in behalf of our work. We have sent out in regular weekly
+     issues since March hundreds of copies of good equal suffrage
+     articles. These go into the hands of Press Committees in
+     forty-one States, and now between six and seven hundred papers
+     publish them each week. Of forty-one different articles by about
+     thirty different writers, nearly 25,000 copies have been
+     distributed to newspapers. These articles reach, in local papers,
+     not less than one million readers weekly.
+
+     We have taken charge of the National Suffrage Bulletin which is
+     edited by the chairman of the organization committee, have had it
+     printed in Philadelphia and mailed from the headquarters. In the
+     past twelve months there have been wrapped and sent out
+     separately 17,700 copies of the Bulletin. A portion of the
+     expenses has been defrayed by special contributions of $900 of
+     the $1,000 given to Miss Anthony by Mrs. Southworth, and $400
+     through the New York State Association, from the bequest of Mrs.
+     Eliza J. Clapp of Rochester to Miss Anthony.
+
+Mr. Blackwell, as usual, reported for the Committee on Presidential
+Suffrage, suggesting a form of petition as follows:
+
+     WHEREAS, The Constitution of the United States, the supreme law
+     of the land, expressly confers upon the Legislature of every
+     State the sole and exclusive right to appoint or to delegate the
+     appointment of presidential electors, in article II, section 1,
+     paragraph 2, as follows: "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;" and
+
+     WHEREAS, In some of the States said appointment has been
+     repeatedly made by the Legislature; and
+
+     WHEREAS, Women equally with men are citizens of this State and of
+     the United States; therefore,
+
+     _The undersigned_, citizens of the State of ----, 21 years of age
+     and upwards, respectfully petition your honorable bodies so to
+     amend the election laws as to enable women to vote in the
+     appointment of presidential electors.
+
+The report of the treasurer, Mrs. Upton, showed that the receipts had
+risen to $11,825 during the year just passed. It ended thus: "In
+closing this report the treasurer would like to say that no one person
+has ever been to the treasury what Miss Anthony has been and is. Every
+dollar given to her for any purpose whatever, she feels belongs to the
+work and is most happy when she turns it in. On the other hand the
+association does very little for her. She pays her own traveling
+expenses and her own clerk hire. It is to be hoped that this is the
+last year we may be so neglectful in this direction."
+
+The Congressional Committee, Mrs. Ellen Powell Thompson, acting
+chairman, reported as a part of the work done: "To still further
+advance the matter we determined to address a letter to each member of
+the House and Senate, asking his opinion on the proposed amendment to
+enfranchise women. At least three-fourths of these letters were
+promptly answered in most gracious terms, and in many of them hearty
+sympathy with the purpose of the amendment was expressed. Not a small
+number declared they were ready to vote for the amendment when
+opportunity should be given."
+
+Among the State reports those of California, by Mrs. Ellen Clark
+Sargent, and of Idaho, by Mrs. Eunice Pond Athey, were of special
+interest, as they contained an epitomized history of the recent
+campaigns in these States. It was decided that there should be a
+special effort to make the next annual meeting a noteworthy affair, as
+it would celebrate the Fiftieth Anniversary of the First Woman's
+Rights Convention.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+THE NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1898.
+
+
+The Thirtieth annual convention of the suffrage association took place
+in the Columbia Theatre, Washington, D. C., Feb. 13-19, 1898, and
+celebrated the Fiftieth Anniversary of the First Woman's Rights
+Convention.[112] In the center of the stage was an old-fashioned,
+round mahogany table, draped with the Stars and Stripes and the famous
+silk suffrage flag with its four golden stars. In her opening address
+the president, Miss Susan B. Anthony, said: "On this table the
+original Declaration of Rights for Women was written at the home of
+the well-known McClintock family in Waterloo, N. Y., just half a
+century ago. Around it gathered those immortal four, Elizabeth Cady
+Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Martha C. Wright and Mary Ann McClintock, to
+formulate the grievances of women. They did not dare to sign their
+names but published the Call for their convention anonymously.[113] We
+have had that remarkable document printed for distribution here, and
+you will notice that those demands which were ridiculed and denounced
+from one end of the country to the other, all have now been conceded
+but the suffrage, and that in four States."
+
+This convention was the largest in number of delegates and States
+represented of any in the history of the association, 154 being in
+attendance and all but four of the States and Territories represented.
+
+The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw devoted the most of her vice-president's
+report to an account of the work to secure a suffrage amendment from
+the Legislature which was being done in Iowa, where she had been
+spending considerable time. The report on Press Work by the chairman,
+Miss Jessie J. Cassidy, stated that 30,000 suffrage articles had been
+sent from headquarters to the various newspapers of the country and
+the number willing to accept these was constantly increasing. The
+headquarters had been removed from Philadelphia to New York City
+during the year and united with the organization office. The Committee
+on Course of Study, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman, reported that
+during the past three years they had published 25,000 books and
+pamphlets, purchased from publishers 3,100 and had 9,000 contributed.
+The treasurer, Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, announced the receipts of
+the past year to be $14,055. Bequests had been received of $500 by the
+will of Mrs. Eliza Murphy of New Jersey, and $500 from Mrs. A. Viola
+Neblett of South Carolina.
+
+The report of the Organization Committee, Mrs. Chapman Catt, chairman,
+showed a large amount of work done in Iowa, Illinois, South Dakota and
+the Southern States, the writing of 10,000 letters, the holding of
+1,000 public meetings under the auspices of this committee. It closed
+by saying:
+
+     The chief obstacle to organization is not found in societies
+     opposed to the extension of suffrage to woman, nor in ignorance,
+     nor in conservatism; it is to be found in that large body of
+     suffragists who believe that the franchise will come, but that it
+     will come in some unaccountable way without effort or concern on
+     their part. It is to be found in the hopeless, faithless,
+     lifeless members of our own organization. They are at times the
+     officers of local clubs, and the clubs die on their hands; in
+     State executive committees, and there, appalled by the magnitude
+     of the undertaking, they decide that organization is impossible
+     because there is no money, and they make no effort to secure
+     funds. They are in our national body, ready to find fault with
+     plans and results and to criticise the conscientious efforts of
+     those who are struggling to accomplish good--yet they are never
+     ready to propose more helpful methods. In short, we find them
+     everywhere, doing practically nothing themselves, but "throwing
+     cold water" upon every effort inaugurated by others. "It can not
+     be done" is their motto, and by it they constantly discourage the
+     hopeful and extract all enthusiasm from new workers. Judging from
+     the intimate knowledge of the condition of our association gained
+     in the last three years, I am free to say that these are our most
+     effective opponents to-day, and, without question, the best
+     result of the three years' work is the gradual strengthening of
+     belief in the possibility of organization.
+
+Mrs. Sallie Clay Bennett, chairman, presented the report on Federal
+Suffrage;[114] Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake, chairman, on Legislation;
+and Miss Laura Clay on the Suffrage Convocation at the Tennessee
+Exposition the preceding year. The Plan of Work, offered by the
+chairman, Mrs. Mariana W. Chapman, and adopted, represented the best
+result of many years' experience and exemplified the aims and methods
+of the association. The old board of officers was almost unanimously
+re-elected.
+
+The afternoon Work Conferences, to exchange ideas as to methods for
+organizing, raising funds, etc., which met in a small hall, aroused so
+much interest and attracted so many people that it was necessary to
+transfer them to the large auditorium. The Resolutions Committee
+presented by its chairman, Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, a brief summary of
+the results already accomplished and the rights yet to be secured, in
+part as follows:
+
+     The National-American Woman Suffrage Association, at this its
+     thirtieth annual meeting, celebrates the semi-centennial
+     anniversary of the first Woman's Rights Convention, held in 1848
+     in Seneca Falls, N. Y., and reaffirms every principle then and
+     there enunciated. We count the gains of fifty years. Woman's
+     position revolutionized in the home, in society, in the church
+     and in the State; public sentiment changed, customs modified,
+     industries opened, co-education established, laws amended,
+     economic independence partially secured, and equal suffrage a
+     recognized subject of legislation. Fifty years ago women voted
+     nowhere in the world; to-day Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho
+     have established equal suffrage for women, and have already in
+     the Congress of the United States eight Senators and seven
+     Representatives with women constituents. Kansas has granted women
+     Municipal Suffrage, and twenty-three other States have made women
+     voters in school elections. This movement is not confined to the
+     United States; in Great Britain and her colonies women now have
+     Municipal and County Suffrage, while New Zealand and South
+     Australia have abolished all political distinctions of sex.
+     Therefore,
+
+     _Resolved_, That we hereby express our profound appreciation of
+     the prophetic vision, advanced thought and moral courage of the
+     pioneers in this movement for equality of rights, and our sincere
+     gratitude for their half century of toil and endurance to secure
+     for women the privileges they now enjoy, and to make the way
+     easier for those who are to complete the work. We, their
+     successors, a thousandfold multiplied, stand pledged to unceasing
+     effort until women have all the rights and privileges which
+     belong equally to every citizen of a republic.
+
+     That in every State we demand for women citizens equality with
+     male citizens in the exercise of the elective franchise, upon
+     such terms and conditions as the men impose upon themselves.
+
+     That we appeal to Congress to submit a Sixteenth Amendment to the
+     United States Constitution, thereby enabling the citizens of each
+     State to carry this question of woman suffrage before its
+     Legislature for settlement.
+
+     That we will aid, so far as practicable, every State campaign for
+     woman suffrage; but we urgently recommend our auxiliary State
+     societies to effect thorough county organizations before
+     petitioning their Legislatures for a State constitutional
+     amendment.
+
+     WHEREAS, The good results of woman suffrage in Wyoming since 1869
+     have caused its adoption successively by the three adjoining
+     States; therefore,
+
+     _Resolved_, That we earnestly request the citizens of these four
+     free States to make a special effort to secure the franchise for
+     women in the States contiguous to their own.
+
+     That we demand for mothers equal custody and control of their
+     minor children, and for wives and widows an equal use and
+     inheritance of property.
+
+     That we ask for an equal representation of women on all boards of
+     education and health, of public schools and colleges, and in the
+     management of all public institutions; and for their employment
+     as physicians for women and children in all hospitals and
+     asylums, and as police matrons and guards in all prisons and
+     reformatories.
+
+     That this Association limits its efforts exclusively to securing
+     equal rights for women, and it appeals for co-operation to the
+     whole American people.
+
+Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, Mrs. Ida Porter Boyer and Mrs. Harper were
+appointed fraternal delegates to the Woman's Press Association, in
+session at this time in Washington.
+
+A beautiful feature of this occasion was the luncheon given by Mrs.
+John R. McLean to Miss Anthony on her seventy-eighth birthday,
+February 15, attended by thirty-six of the most distinguished ladies
+in the national capital, and followed by a reception to the members of
+the convention. Mrs. McLean was assisted in receiving by Miss Anthony
+and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant. Seventy-eight wax tapers burned upon the
+birthday cake, which was three feet in diameter and decorated with
+flowers. It was presented to Miss Anthony, who carried it in triumph
+to the convention in Columbia Theatre, where it was cut into slices
+that were sold as souvenirs and realized about $120, which she donated
+to the cause.
+
+Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, at the age of eighty-two, sent two papers
+for this fiftieth anniversary, one for the congressional hearing, on
+The Significance of the Ballot; the other, Our Defeats and our
+Triumphs, was read to the convention by Mrs. Colby. Both displayed
+all the old-time vigor of thought and beauty of expression. The
+latter, filled with interesting reminiscence, closed with these words:
+
+     Another generation has now enlisted for a long or short campaign.
+     What, say they, shall we do to hasten the work? I answer, the
+     pioneers have brought you through the wilderness in sight of the
+     promised land; now, with active, aggressive warfare, take
+     possession. Instead of rehearsing the old arguments which have
+     done duty fifty years, make a brave attack on every obstacle
+     which stands in your way.... Lord Brougham said: "The laws for
+     women [in England and America] are a disgrace to the civilization
+     of the nineteenth century." The women in every State should watch
+     their law-makers, and any bill invidious to their interests
+     should be promptly denounced, and with such vehemence and
+     indignation as to agitate the whole community....
+
+     There is no merit in simply occupying the ground which others
+     have conquered. There are new fields for conquest and more
+     enemies to meet. Whatever affects woman's freedom, growth and
+     development affords legitimate subject for discussion here....
+     Some of our opponents think woman would be a dangerous element in
+     politics and destroy the secular nature of our Government. I
+     would have a resolution on that point discussed freely, and show
+     liberal thinkers that we have a large number in our association
+     as desirous to preserve the secular nature of our Government as
+     they themselves can possibly be.... When educated women, teachers
+     in all our schools, professors in our colleges, are governed by
+     rulers, foreign and native, who can neither read nor write, I
+     would have this association discuss and pass a resolution in
+     favor of "educated suffrage." ...
+
+     The object of our organization is to secure equality and freedom
+     for woman: First, in the State, which is denied when she is not
+     permitted to exercise the right of suffrage; second, in the
+     Church, which is denied when she has no voice in its councils,
+     creeds and discipline, or in the choice of its ministers, elders
+     and deacons; third, in the Home, where the State makes the
+     husband's authority absolute, the wife a subject, where the
+     mother is robbed of the guardianship of her own child, and where
+     the joint earnings belong solely to the husband.
+
+     ....Let this generation pay its debt to the past by continuing
+     this great work until the last vestige of woman's subjection
+     shall be erased from our creeds and codes and constitutions. Then
+     the united thought of man and woman will inaugurate a pure
+     religion, a just government, a happy home and a civilization in
+     which ignorance, poverty and crime will exist no more. They who
+     watch behold already the dawn of a new day.
+
+The Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell (N. Y.), the first woman to
+graduate in theology and be ordained, delineated The Changing Phases
+of Opposition, pointing out that when the first Woman's Rights
+Convention was held the general tone of the press was shown in that
+newspaper which said: "This bolt is the most shocking and unnatural
+incident ever recorded in the history of humanity; if these demands
+were effected, it would set the world by the ears, make confusion
+worse confounded, demoralize and degrade from their high sphere and
+noble destiny women of all respectable and useful classes, and prove a
+monstrous injury to all mankind." Yet this present convention was
+celebrating the granting of all those demands except the suffrage and
+not one of the predicted evils had come to pass. The direful
+prophecies of the early days were taken up, one by one, and their
+utter absurdity pointed out in the light of experience. Now all of
+those ancient, stereotyped objections were concentrated against
+granting the suffrage.
+
+Mrs. Virginia D. Young (S. C.) delighted the audience with one of her
+characteristic addresses. Prof. Frances Stewart Mosher, of Hillsdale
+College (Mich.), gave an exhaustive review of the great increase and
+value of Woman's Work in Church Philanthropies. Mrs. May Wright Sewall
+(Ind.) demonstrated the wonderful Progress of Women in Education. The
+New Education possessed the charm of novelty in being presented by
+Miss Grace Espy Patton, State Superintendent of Public Instruction in
+Colorado, a lady so delicate and dainty that, when Miss Anthony led
+her forward and said, "It has always been charged that voting and
+officeholding will make women coarse and unwomanly; now look at her!"
+the audience responded with an ovation.
+
+Miss Belle Kearney (Miss.) discussed Social Changes in the South,
+depicting in a rapid, magnetic manner, interspersed with flashes of
+wit, the evolution of the Southern woman and the revolution in customs
+and privileges which must inevitably lead up to political rights. Mrs.
+Mary Seymour Howell (N. Y.) gave an eloquent review of the splendid
+services of Women in Philanthropy.
+
+At the memorial services Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby (D. C.) offered the
+following resolutions:
+
+     It is fitting in this commemorative celebration to pause a moment
+     to place a laurel in memory's chaplet for those to whom it was
+     given to be the earliest to voice the demand that woman should be
+     allowed to enter into the sacred heritage of liberty, as one
+     made equally with man in the image of the Creator and divinely
+     appointed to co-sovereignty over the earth. To name them here is
+     to recognize their presence with us in spirit and to invoke their
+     benediction upon this generation which, entering into the results
+     of their labors, must carry them forward to full fruition.
+
+     Lucretia Mott always will be revered as one of those who
+     conceived the idea of a convention to make an organized demand
+     for justice to women. She became a Quaker preacher in 1818 at the
+     age of twenty-five, and the last suffrage convention she attended
+     was in her eighty-sixth year. Her motto, "Truth for authority and
+     not authority for truth," is still the tocsin of reform. Sarah
+     Pugh, the lovely Quaker, was ever her close friend and helper.
+
+     Frances Wright, a noble Scotchwoman, a friend of General
+     Lafayette, early imbibed a love for freedom and a knowledge of
+     the principles on which it is based. In this the land of her
+     adoption she was the first woman to lecture on political
+     subjects, in 1826.
+
+     Ernestine L. Rose, the beautiful Polish patriot, sent the first
+     petition to the New York Legislature to give a married woman the
+     right to hold real estate in her own name. This was in 1836, and
+     she continued the work of securing signatures until 1848, when
+     the bill was passed. She was a matchless orator and lectured on
+     woman suffrage for nearly fifty years.
+
+     Lucy Stone's voice pleaded the wide continent over for justice
+     for her sex. Her life-long devotion to the woman suffrage cause
+     was idealized by the companionship and assistance of her husband,
+     Henry B. Blackwell, the one man in this nation who under any and
+     all circumstances has made woman's cause his chief consideration.
+     Her first lecture on woman's rights was given in 1847, the year
+     of her graduation at Oberlin College, and her life work was
+     epitomized in her dying words, "Make the world better."
+
+     Martha C. Wright, Jane Hunt and Mary Ann McClintock were three of
+     those noble women who issued the call for the Seneca Falls
+     Convention, and were ever ready for service.
+
+     Paulina Wright Davis, who called the first National Convention in
+     1850 and presided over its twentieth celebration in 1870, was one
+     of the moving spirits of the work for more than twenty-five
+     years. Assisted by Caroline H. Dall, she edited the _Una_,
+     founded in 1853, the first distinctively woman suffrage paper.
+
+     Frances Dana Gage, better known by her pen-name, "Aunt Fanny,"
+     was farmer, editor, lecturer and worker in the Sanitary
+     Commission. Of her eight children six were stalwart sons, and she
+     used to boast that she was the mother of thirty-six feet of boys.
+     She was a pillar of strength to the movement in early days.
+
+     Clarina Howard Nichols is associated with the seed-sowing in
+     Vermont, in Wisconsin and especially in Kansas, where her labors
+     with the first constitutional convention, in 1859, engrafted in
+     organic law many rights for women which were obtained elsewhere,
+     if at all, only by slow and difficult legislative changes. Susan
+     E. Wattles led the Kansas campaign of 1859 with Mrs. Nichols.
+
+     Emily Robinson of Salem, Ohio, was one of the chief movers in
+     the second Woman's Rights Convention, and this was held in her
+     own town in 1850. From that time until the present year she has
+     been unfaltering in her devotion.
+
+     Dr. Susan A. Edson, who was graduated in medicine in 1854, was a
+     fellow-pioneer in the District of Columbia with Dr. Caroline B.
+     Winslow, whose death preceded hers by about one year. She was one
+     of the most distinguished army nurses and the friend and faithful
+     attendant of President Garfield. For many years she was the
+     president of the District Woman Suffrage Association. Among the
+     earlier woman physicians who espoused the cause were Dr. Harriot
+     K. Hunt, Dr. Mary B. Jackson, Dr. Ann Preston, one of the
+     founders and physicians of the Woman's Hospital of Philadelphia,
+     and Dr. Clemence S. Lozier, a founder and physician of the New
+     York Medical College for Women.
+
+     Sarah Helen Whitman was the first literary woman of reputation
+     who gave her name to the movement, which later counted among its
+     warmest friends Lydia Maria Child, Alice and Phoebe Cary and Mary
+     Clemmer.
+
+     Amalia B. Post of Cheyenne, to whom the enfranchisement of the
+     women of Wyoming was largely due, was ready, as she often said,
+     at the first tap of the drum at Seneca Falls. She occupied the
+     place of honor by the side of the Governor on that proud day when
+     the admission of Wyoming as a State was celebrated.
+
+     Josephine S. Griffing, organizer of the Freedman's Bureau; Amelia
+     Bloomer, editor of the _Lily_, the first temperance and woman's
+     rights paper; Mary Grew, for twenty-three years president of the
+     Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage Association; Myra Bradwell, the first
+     woman to enter the ranks of legal journalism; Virginia L. Minor,
+     the dove with the eagle's heart, who took to the U. S. Supreme
+     Court her suit against the Missouri officials for refusing her
+     vote--all these, and many more who might be added, form the noble
+     galaxy who brought to the cause of woman's liberty rare personal
+     beauty, social gifts, intellectual culture, and the
+     all-compelling eloquence of earnestness and sincerity.
+
+     Albert O. Willcox of New York, whose eighty-seven years were
+     filled with valuable work for reforms, was drawn to the
+     conviction that women should have a share in the Government by a
+     sermon preached by Lucretia Mott in 1831, and from that time
+     declared himself publicly for the movement and was its life-long
+     supporter.
+
+     James G. Clark, the sweet-souled troubadour of reform, sang for
+     woman's freedom in suffrage conventions all over the land.
+
+     Joseph N. Dolph was always to be counted on to further the
+     political emancipation of women, both in his own State of Oregon
+     and in the U. S. Senate, of which he was long an honored member.
+
+     To name the men who have been counselors and friends of the woman
+     suffrage movement is to name the greatest poets, preachers and
+     statesmen of the last half century. Wherever there has been a
+     woman strong enough to demand her rights there has been a man
+     generous and just enough to second her. Surely we may say that
+     "the spirits of just men made perfect" are our strength and our
+     inspiration.
+
+     No less entitled to remembrance and gratitude are the unnamed
+     multitude who have helped the onward march of freedom by standing
+     for the truth that was revealed to them. Whether they pass away
+     in the beauty of youth, the strength of maturity or the glory of
+     old age, they who have given to the world one impulse on the
+     upward path to freedom and to light are not dead. They live here
+     in the life of all good things, and, because of strength gained
+     in earthly activity, have strength to perfect in other spheres
+     what here they but dreamed of.
+
+The _Woman's Tribune_ thus described one scene of the convention:
+
+     The opening address of Wednesday evening was by Mrs. Isabella
+     Beecher Hooker (Conn.) on United States Citizenship. She was not
+     heard distinctly and the audience was very fidgety. Miss Anthony
+     came forward and told them they ought to be perfectly satisfied
+     just to sit still and look at Mrs. Hooker. She is always a
+     commanding presence on the stage, and on this evening, impressed
+     with the deep significance of the event, and clad in silver gray,
+     which harmonized beautifully with her whitening curls, she was a
+     picture which would delight an artist. But notwithstanding Miss
+     Anthony's admonition, the audience really wanted to hear as well
+     as to see. Mrs. Hooker realizing this at last said impatiently,
+     "I never could give a written speech, but Susan insisted that I
+     must this time," and, discarding her manuscript, she spoke
+     clearly and forcibly with her old-time power. A portion of her
+     address was a graphic recital of Miss Anthony's trial for illegal
+     voting in 1872.
+
+     When Mrs. Hooker's time had expired Miss Anthony rose and put her
+     arm around her, and thus these striking figures, representing the
+     opposite poles of the woman suffrage force, made a tableau which
+     will never pass from the mental vision of those who witnessed it.
+     At the close of her remarks Mrs. Hooker threw her arms around
+     Miss Anthony and kissed her. The latter, more moved than was her
+     wont, gave vent to that strong feeling of the injustice of
+     woman's disfranchisement which is ever present with her, and
+     exclaimed: "To think that such a woman, belonging by birth and
+     marriage to the most distinguished families in our country's
+     history, should be held as a subject and have set over her all
+     classes of men, with the prospect of there being added to her
+     rulers the Cubans and the Sandwich Island Kanakas. Shame on a
+     government that permits such an outrage!"
+
+Mrs. Caroline Hallowell Miller (Md.), one of the first suffrage
+advocates south of Mason and Dixon's line, gave A Glimpse of the Past
+and Present. Dr. Clara Marshall, Dean of the Woman's Medical College
+of Pennsylvania, presented the history of Fifty Years in Medicine. She
+related in a graphic manner the struggle of women to gain admission
+to the colleges, the embarrassments they suffered, the obstacles they
+were obliged to overcome, reading from published reports the hostile
+demonstrations of the male students. In closing she bore testimony to
+the encouragement and assistance rendered by those men who were
+broad-minded and generous enough to recognize the rights of women in
+this profession and help secure them. The Ministry of Religion as a
+Calling for Women was the subject of an able and interesting address
+by the Rev. Florence Buck of Unity Church, Cleveland, Ohio. Mrs. Ella
+Knowles Haskell, assistant attorney-general of Montana, spoke on Women
+in the Legal Profession, giving many incidents of the practice of law
+in the far West.
+
+Samuel J. Barrows, member of Congress from Massachusetts, was called
+from the audience by Miss Anthony, and closed his brief remarks by
+saying: "I believe in woman suffrage; it has in it the elements of
+justice which entitle it to every man's support, and we all ought to
+help secure it." A leading feature of the program was the speech of
+August W. Machen, head of the free delivery division of the national
+post office, on Women in the Departmental Service of the United
+States. He gave the history of their employment by the government,
+declared they had raised the standard of work and testified to their
+efficiency and faithfulness.
+
+The Civil Rights of Women were ably discussed by the Rev. Frederick A.
+Hinckley of the Second Unitarian Church, Philadelphia, who reviewed
+the existing laws and pointed out the changes in favor of women. In
+regard to the prevalence of divorce he said: "There is a large class
+of our fellow-citizens who greatly misinterpret, in my opinion, the
+significance of the increase in the number of divorces. No one would
+counsel more earnestly than I, patience and consideration and every
+reasonable effort on the part of people once married to live together.
+But I can not dispute the proposition, nor do I believe any one can
+dispute it, that in the great process of evolution divorce is an
+indication of growing independence and self-respect in women, a
+proclamation that marriage must be the union of self-respecting and
+mutually respected equals, and that in the ideal home of the future
+that hideous thing, the subjugation of woman, is to be unknown."
+
+Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch (Ills.) discussed The Economic Status
+of Women. Madame Clara Neymann (N. Y.) read a philosophical paper on
+Marriage in the Light of Woman's Freedom. The Progress of Colored
+Women was pictured in an impassioned address by Mrs. Mary Church
+Terrell, president of the National Association of Colored Women. She
+received numerous floral tributes at its close. Mrs. Emmy C. Evald of
+Chicago, with an attractive foreign enthusiasm, told of the work of
+Swedish women in their own country and in the United States. Mrs.
+Lillie Devereux Blake (N. Y.) with clever satire and amidst laughter
+and applause, considered Women in Municipalities.
+
+The Pioneers' Evening was one of great interest, when Miss Anthony
+marshalled her hosts and made "the roll-call of the years." As each
+decade was called, beginning with 1848, those who began the suffrage
+work at that time rose on the stage and in all parts of the house and
+remained standing. Not one was there who was present at the original
+Seneca Falls Convention, but it had held an adjourned meeting at
+Rochester, three weeks later, and Miss Anthony's sister, Mary S.,
+responded as having attended then and signed the Declaration of
+Rights. The daughters of Mrs. Martha C. Wright, who called this
+convention--Mrs. Eliza Wright Osborne and Mrs. Wm. Lloyd Garrison--and
+also Mrs. Millie Burtis Logan, whose mother, Miss Anthony's cousin,
+served as its secretary, were introduced to the audience. The children
+of Frederick Douglass, who had spoken at both meetings, were present
+and should have come forward with this group. The Rev. Antoinette
+Brown Blackwell stated that she had spoken in favor of woman's rights
+in 1846. Among the earliest of the pioneers present were John W.
+Hutchinson, the last of that famous family of singers; Henry B.
+Blackwell, Mrs. Helen Philleo Jenkins (Mich.), Miss Sarah Wall (Mass.)
+and Mrs. Hooker. Many of those who arose made brief remarks and the
+occasion was one which will not be forgotten by those who witnessed
+it.
+
+Among the letters received from the many pioneers still living was one
+from Mrs. Abigail Bush, now eighty-eight years old and residing in
+California, who presided over the Rochester meeting, Aug. 2, 1848. It
+is especially interesting as showing that even so advanced women as
+Lucretia Mott and Mrs. Stanton, although they dared call such a
+meeting, were yet so conservative as to object to a woman's presiding
+over it:
+
+     TO SUSAN B. ANTHONY, GREETING: You will bear me witness that the
+     state of society is very different from what it was fifty years
+     ago, when I presided at the first Woman's Rights Convention. I
+     had not been able to meet in council at all with the friends
+     until I met them in the hall as the congregation was gathering,
+     and then fell into the hands of those who urged me to take part
+     with the opposers of a woman serving, as the party had with them
+     a fine-looking man to preside at all of their meetings, James
+     Mott, who had presided at Seneca Falls. Afterward I fell in with
+     the old friends, Amy Post, Rhoda de Garmo and Sarah Fish, who at
+     once commenced labors with me to prove that the hour had come
+     when a woman should preside, and led me into the church. Amy
+     proposed my name as president; I was accepted at once, and from
+     that hour I seemed endowed as from on high to serve.
+
+     It was a two days' meeting with three sessions per day. On my
+     taking the chair, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton left
+     the platform and took their seats in the audience, but it did not
+     move me from performing all my duties, and at the close of the
+     meeting Lucretia Mott came forward, folded me tenderly in her
+     arms and thanked me for presiding. That settled the question of
+     men's presiding at a woman's convention. From that day to this,
+     in all the walks of life, I have been faithful in asserting that
+     there should be "no taxation without representation." It has
+     seemed long in coming, but I think the time draws near when woman
+     will be acknowledged as equal with man. Heaven grant the day to
+     dawn soon!
+
+Mrs. Catharine A. F. Stebbins (Mich.), who had attended the Seneca
+Falls Convention and signed the Declaration of Rights, sent an
+interesting descriptive letter. Mrs. Lucinda H. Stone (Mich.), the
+mother of women's clubs and a pioneer on educational lines, wrote:
+
+     You wanted I should write you any anecdotes of early interest in
+     woman suffrage. The remembrance of Dr. Stone's waking up to that
+     subject has come to me, and I have thought I would tell you about
+     it.
+
+     It was some time in the forties that he was requested to deliver
+     a Fourth of July oration in Kalamazoo. I can not tell the exact
+     year, but it was before I had ever heard of the Rochester
+     Convention, or of you or Mrs. Stanton, and he was looking up all
+     that he could find in the early history of our Declaration of
+     Independence, and the principles of Jefferson and the early
+     revolutionists. I remember his coming in one day (it must have
+     been before 1848), seeming very much absorbed in something that
+     he was thinking about. He threw down the book he had been
+     reading, and said to me: "The time will come when women will
+     vote. Mark my words! We may not live to see it, we probably shall
+     not, but it will come. It is not a woman's right or a man's
+     right; it is a human right, and their voting is but a natural
+     process of evolution." ...
+
+Mrs. Esther Wattles, who helped secure School Suffrage and equal
+property laws for women in the State constitution of Kansas in 1859,
+sent this message: "My attention was first called to the injustice
+done to women by a lecture given near Wilmington, Ohio, by John O.
+Wattles in 1841. He devoted most of his time to lecturing on Woman's
+Rights, The Sin of Slavery, The Temperance Reform and Peace. I heard
+him on all these subjects, off and on, till 1844, when we were
+married.... Seventy-nine summers with their clouds and sunshine, make
+it fitting I should greet you by letter rather than personal presence.
+May the cause never falter till the victory is won."
+
+Most of the letters were sent to Miss Anthony personally. Among these
+were the following:
+
+     We, the members of the National Association of Woman
+     Stenographers, take great pleasure in extending congratulations
+     to you on the occasion of your seventy-eighth birthday, and hope
+     that the days of your years may still be many and happy. We also
+     desire to express our appreciation of and gratitude for the work
+     you have done in securing freedom and justice for women. As
+     business women we are better able to comprehend what you have
+     accomplished, especially for those who are bread-winners, and we
+     trust the time may soon come when we shall not be limited to
+     understanding what freedom is, but be able to act in accordance
+     with its principles.
+
+     THE NEVADA EQUAL SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION: Although we are young in
+     the ranks and few in number compared with the older States, yet
+     we are none the less loyal to the principles advocated and
+     established by the National Association. We are brave because we
+     draw inspiration from the thoughts and acts of that Spartan band
+     of suffragists of fifty years ago, who devoted the sunshine of
+     their lives and the energies of their philosophic minds to the
+     effort to obtain for womankind their inherent right to have a
+     voice in the Government which derives its just powers from the
+     consent of the governed.
+
+     ALFRED H. LOVE, president of the Universal Peace Union: From our
+     rooms in the east wing of Independence Hall, I send greetings to
+     you and your cause. Your cause is ours, and has been one of our
+     essential principles since our organization. Your success is a
+     triumph for peace.
+
+     MARY LOWE DICKINSON, secretary of the International Order of the
+     King's Daughters and Sons: I hope you will live to see the full
+     day for the cause whose dawn owed so much to your labors, and I
+     can ask nothing better for you than that you have "the desire of
+     your heart," which I am sure will be the ballot for us all.
+
+     DR. ELIZABETH BLACKWELL, the first woman physician: Although I
+     can not respond in person to your very friendly invitation to be
+     a representative of "the pioneers," yet I gladly send my hearty
+     greeting to you and to the other brave workers for the progress
+     of the race--a progress slow but inevitable. Amongst all its
+     steps I consider the admission of women to the medical profession
+     as the most important. Whilst thankfully recognizing the
+     wonderful accumulations of knowledge which generations of our
+     brethren have gathered together, our future women physicians will
+     rejoice to help in the construction of that noble temple of
+     medicine, whose foundation stone must be sympathetic justice.
+     Pray allow me to send my warm greeting to the Congress through
+     you.
+
+There were messages and grateful recognition from so many societies
+and individuals in the United States that it would be impossible even
+to call them by name; also from the Dominion of Canada Suffrage Club,
+through Dr. Augusta Stowe Gullen; the National Union of Women's
+Suffrage Societies in Great Britain, with individual letters from Lady
+Aberdeen, Mrs. Millicent Garrett Fawcett, Mrs. Priscilla Bright
+McLaren and others; on behalf of the Swedish Frederika Bremer
+Foerbundet, by Carl Lindhagen; on behalf of Finnish women by Baroness
+Alexandra Gripenberg; on behalf of German women by Frau Hanna
+Bieber-Bohm, president of the National Council of Women; on behalf of
+the Woman Suffrage Society of Holland by its secretary, Margarethe
+Galle; from the Norwegian Woman Suffrage Club; from the Verein
+Jugendschutz of Berlin, and from the Union to Promote Woman's Rights
+in Finland.
+
+The remarkable scenes of the closing evening made a deep impression
+upon the large audience. After fifty years of effort to overcome the
+most stubborn and deeply-rooted prejudices of the ages, the results
+were beginning to appear. Among the speakers were a woman State
+senator from Utah, Mrs. Martha Hughes Cannon; a woman member of the
+Colorado Legislature, Mrs. Martha A. B. Conine; a woman State
+Superintendent of Public Instruction, Miss Estelle Reel of Wyoming; U.
+S. Senators Henry M. Teller of Colorado, and Frank J. Cannon of Utah,
+States where women have full suffrage; Representative John F. Shafroth
+of Colorado--and in the center of this distinguished group, Susan B.
+Anthony, receiving the fruits of her half century of toil and
+hardship.
+
+     MISS REEL: I want to tell you a little about our work in
+     Wyoming, where women have been voting and holding office for
+     nearly thirty years, and where our people are convinced that it
+     has been of great benefit. Our home life there is as sacred and
+     sweet as anywhere else on the globe. Equal suffrage has been
+     tried and not found wanting. You may ask, What reforms has
+     Wyoming to show? We were the first State to adopt the Australian
+     ballot, and to accept a majority verdict of juries in civil
+     cases. We are noted for our humane treatment of criminals, our
+     care of the deserving poor and the education of our young. Child
+     labor is prohibited. The Supreme Court has just decided that
+     every voter must be able to read the Constitution in English. We
+     have night schools all over the State for those who can not
+     attend school by day. Equal suffrage was given to help protect
+     the home element, and the home vote is a great conservative
+     force. Woman suffrage means stable government, anchored in the
+     steadfast rock of American homes.
+
+Mrs. Conine was commissioned as a delegate to the convention by Gov.
+Alva Adams of Colorado. She read the statement recently put forth,
+testifying to the good results of equal suffrage and signed by the
+Governor, three ex-Governors, all the State Senators and the
+Representatives in Congress, the Chief Justice and the Associate
+Justices of the Supreme Court, the Judges of the Court of Appeals, the
+Judges of the District Court, the Secretary of State, the State
+treasurer, auditor, attorney-general, the mayor of Denver, the
+presidents of the State University and of Colorado College, the
+president of the General Federation of Women's Clubs and the
+presidents of thirteen women's clubs, and said:
+
+     During the session of the Legislature last winter, there were
+     three women in the House. We met the other members upon terms of
+     absolute equality. No thought of incongruity or unfitness seems
+     to have arisen, and at the same time those little courtesies
+     which gentlemen instinctively pay to ladies were never omitted.
+     Each of the ladies was given a chairmanship, one of them that of
+     the Printing Committee, and the printing bill was lower by
+     thousands of dollars than for any previous session. The women
+     were as frequently called to the chair in Committee of the Whole
+     as were the men. One of them was placed upon the Judiciary
+     Committee at the request of its chairman. Every honorary
+     committee appointed during the session included one or more of
+     the ladies.
+
+     Our State Federation of Women's Clubs now numbers about 100,
+     representing a united membership of 4,000. They are largely
+     occupied in studying social and economic questions, earnestly
+     seeking for the best methods of educating their children,
+     reforming criminals, alleviating poverty and purifying the
+     ballot; in short, striving to make their city and their State a
+     cleaner, better home for their families. Their work receives
+     added encouragement from the knowledge that by their ballots
+     they may determine who shall make and administer the laws under
+     which their children must be reared. The home has always been
+     conceded to be the woman's kingdom. In the free States she has
+     but expanded the walls of that home, that she may afford to the
+     inmates, and also to those who unfortunately have no other home,
+     the same protection and loving care which was formerly limited to
+     the few short years of childhood passed beneath the parental
+     roof.
+
+     SENATOR TELLER: I want to indorse what has been said by the two
+     members from Colorado and Wyoming. The former is rather young as
+     a suffrage State, but we are living side by side with the latter,
+     where they have had equal suffrage for nearly thirty years. The
+     results of woman suffrage have proved entirely satisfactory--not
+     to every individual, but to the great mass of the people: I hear
+     it said in this city every day that if women are allowed to vote
+     the best women will not take part. I want to say to you that this
+     is a mistake. To my certain knowledge, the best women do take
+     part. When I went back to Colorado, after the granting of equal
+     suffrage, a prominent society woman, whom I had known for years,
+     telephoned me to come up and speak to the ladies at her house. I
+     found her big parlors full of representative women--the wives of
+     bankers, lawyers, preachers--society women. If you put any duty
+     upon women they are not going to shirk it. Those who feared the
+     responsibility are now as enthusiastic as those who had been
+     "clamoring" for it. In the past, women have had no object in
+     studying political questions; now they have, and they are taking
+     them up in their clubs. We find that women are less partisan than
+     men. Why? Because they generally have more conscience than men.
+     They will not vote for a dissolute and disreputable man who may
+     happen to force himself on a party ticket....
+
+     We are an intelligent community; we have long had a challenge to
+     our fellow-citizens to show any other city that has as large a
+     proportion of college graduates as Denver. Colorado people are
+     proud of equal suffrage. The area where it prevails spread last
+     year and took in Utah and Idaho. It will take in more neighboring
+     States. I predict that in ten years, instead of four suffrage
+     States, we shall have twice as many--perhaps three or four times
+     that number.
+
+     REPRESENTATIVE SHAFROTH: I want to say this, as coming from
+     Colorado: The experience we have had ought to demonstrate to
+     every one that woman suffrage is not only right but practical. It
+     tends to elevate. There is not a caucus now but is better
+     attended and by better people, and held in a better place. I have
+     seen the time when a political convention without a disturbance
+     and the drawing of weapons was rare. That time is past in
+     Colorado, and it is due to the presence of women. Every man now
+     shows that civility which makes him take off his hat and not
+     swear, and deport himself decently when ladies are present.
+     Instead of women's going to the polls corrupting them it has
+     purified the polls. Husband and wife go there together. No one
+     insults them. There are no drunken men there, nothing but what
+     is pleasant and decorous.
+
+     Woman is an independent element in politics. She has no
+     allegiance to any party. When a ticket is presented to her, she
+     asks, "Are these good men?" A man is apt to say, "Well, this is a
+     bad ticket, but I must stand by my party." He wants to keep his
+     party record straight. She votes for the best man on the ticket.
+     That element is bound to result in good in any State.
+
+     People say they don't know how it will work; they are afraid of
+     it. Can it be that we distrust our mothers and sisters? We shall
+     never have the best possible government till women participate in
+     it.
+
+     SENATOR CANNON: No nation can exist half slave and half free. Ten
+     years before I was old enough to vote, my mother was a voter. I
+     learned at her knee to vote according to my conscience, and not
+     according to the dictation of the bosses. The strongest argument
+     for the suffrage of any class exists in behalf of womankind,
+     because women will not be bound by mere partisanship. If the
+     world is to be redeemed, it must be by the conscience of the
+     individual voter. The woman goes to the truth by instinct. Men
+     have to confer together and go down street and look through
+     glasses darkly. The woman stays at home and rocks the cradle, and
+     God tells her what to do. The suffrage never was abused by women
+     in Utah. During the seventeen years that they voted in the
+     Territory there was not a defalcation in any public office.
+
+     I believe in the republic. I believe that its destiny is to shed
+     light not only here, but all over the world. If we can trust
+     woman in the house to keep all pure and holy there, so that the
+     little ones may grow up right, surely we can trust her at the
+     ballot-box. When children learn political wisdom and truth from
+     their mother's lips, they will remember it and live up to it; for
+     those lessons are the longest remembered. When Senator Teller
+     withdrew from a political convention for conscience's sake, a man
+     said, commenting on his action: "It is generally safe to stay
+     with your party." His wife said: "And it is always safe to stay
+     with your principles."
+
+In the midst of the convention came the sad news on February 17 of the
+death of Miss Frances E. Willard, president of the National Woman's
+Christian Temperance Union. Affectionate tributes were offered by Miss
+Anthony, Miss Shaw and other members; a telegram of sympathy was sent
+to her secretary and close companion, Miss Anna Gordon, by a rising
+vote, and the audience remained standing for a few moments in silent
+prayer. A large wreath of violets and Southern ivy, adorned with
+miniatures of Mrs. Stanton, Miss Anthony and other pioneer suffrage
+workers was sent by the delegates to be laid on her coffin.
+
+The congressional hearings on the morning of February 15, Miss
+Anthony's birthday, attracted crowds of people to the Capitol. The
+hearing before the Senate Committee was conducted by the Rev. Anna
+Howard Shaw, and considered The Philosophy of the Movement for Woman
+Suffrage. Only two members of the committee were present--James H.
+Berry of Arkansas, and George P. Wetmore of Rhode Island--but a number
+of other senators were interested listeners, and the large Marble Room
+was crowded with delegates and spectators. The first paper, by Wm.
+Lloyd Garrison (Mass.) considered The Nature of a Republican Form of
+Government:
+
+     The advocates of complete enfranchisement of women base their
+     demand upon the principles underlying all suffrage, rather than
+     upon the question of sex. If manhood suffrage is a mistake; if
+     voting is a privilege and not a right; if government does not
+     derive its just powers from the consent of the governed; if
+     Lincoln's aphorism that ours is a "government of the people, for
+     the people and by the people" is only a rhetorical generality,
+     then women have no case. If not, they see no reason why, as they
+     are governed, they should not have a voice in choosing their
+     rulers; why, as people, they are not covered by Lincoln's
+     definition. They feel naturally that their exclusion is unjust.
+
+     Woman suffragists are not unconscious of the glaring contrast
+     between declared principles and actual practice, and they venture
+     to believe that a professed self-government which deliberately
+     ignores its own axioms is tending to decadence. They are not
+     unmindful of the slow evolution of human government from earliest
+     history, beginning in force and greed, reaching through struggles
+     of blood, in the course of time, to the legislative stage where
+     differences are adjudicated by reason, and the sword reserved as
+     the last resort. This vantage ground has been gained only by a
+     recognition of the primal right of the people to be consulted in
+     regard to public affairs; and in proportion as this right has
+     been respected and the franchise extended has government grown
+     more stable and society more safe. It has come through a
+     succession of steps, invariably opposed by the dominant classes,
+     and only permitted after long contest and a changed public
+     opinion.
+
+     In England, where the progress of constitutional government can
+     be most accurately traced, there was a time when the landowning
+     aristocracy controlled the franchise and elected the members of
+     Parliament. The dawn of a sense of injustice in the minds of the
+     mercantile classes brought with it a demand for the extension of
+     the suffrage, which was of course vigorously combated. It was an
+     illogical resistance, which ended in the admission of the
+     tradesmen. Later the workingmen awakened to their political
+     disability and asserted their rights, only to be promptly
+     antagonized by both classes in power. Eventually logic and
+     justice won in this issue. In the light of history none of the
+     objections urged against the extension of the right of voting
+     have been sustained by subsequent facts. On the contrary, the
+     broadening of the suffrage base has been found to add stability
+     to the superstructure of British government and to have been in
+     the interest of true conservatism.
+
+     In the course of time the woman's hour has struck. Her cause is
+     now going through the same ordeal suffered by the classes
+     referred to. Her triumph is as sure as theirs. The social and
+     industrial changes of constitutional government in all countries
+     have revolutionized her condition. Fifty years ago the avenues of
+     employment open to women were few and restricted. To-day, in
+     every branch of manufacture and trade, and in the professions
+     formerly monopolized by men, they are actively and successfully
+     engaged. Every law put upon the statute books affects their
+     interests directly and indirectly--undreamed of in a social order
+     where household drudgery and motherhood limited a woman's
+     horizon.
+
+     It is inevitable, therefore, that, feeling the pressure of
+     legislation under which they suffer, a new intelligence should
+     stir the minds of women such as stirred the once disfranchised
+     classes of men in Great Britain. It leads to an examination of
+     the principles of self-government and to their application on
+     lines of equality and not of sex. In them is found no
+     justification for the present enforced political disability.
+     Therefore all legislative bodies vested with the power to change
+     the laws are petitioned to consider the justice and expediency of
+     allowing women to register their opinions, on the same terms with
+     men, at the ballot-box.
+
+     The principles at stake are rarely alluded to by the opponents of
+     woman suffrage. The battle rages chiefly upon the ground of
+     expediency. Every argument formerly used by the English Tories is
+     to-day heard in the mouths of men who profess a belief in a
+     democratic form of government....
+
+     In the discussion of the rights of labor, the inadequacy of
+     wages, the abuses of the factory system, the management of
+     schools, of reformatory and penal institutions, the sanitary
+     arrangements of a city, the betterment of public highways, the
+     encroachment of privileged corporations, the supervision of the
+     poor, the improvement of hospitals, and the many branches of
+     collective housekeeping included in a municipality--women are by
+     nature and education adapted to participate. In many States,
+     certainly in Massachusetts, it is a common practice to appoint
+     women to responsible positions demanding large organizing and
+     directing power. If thus fitted to rule, are women unfitted to
+     have a voice in choosing rulers?
+
+     The true advancement of common interest waits for the active and
+     responsible participation of women in political matters. Indirect
+     and irresponsible influence they have now, but indirection and
+     irresponsibility are dangerous elements in governments which
+     assume to be representative, and are a constant menace. If this
+     whole question of equal political rights of women is considered
+     in the light of common sense and common justice, the sooner will
+     the present intolerable wrong be wiped out and self-government be
+     put upon a broader and safer basis.
+
+Mrs. May Wright Sewall (Ind.) discussed the Fitness of Women to Become
+Citizens from the Standpoint of Education and Mental Development.
+
+     From the close of the Revolution, we find all the distinguished
+     American patriots expressing the conviction that a self-governing
+     people must be an educated people. Hancock, Jay, Franklin,
+     Morris, Paine, Quincy Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton, Washington, all
+     urge the same argument in support of education. It is no longer
+     to produce an educated ministry, but to insure educated citizens,
+     that schools are maintained and colleges multiplied....
+
+     In this year of 1897-98 not less than 20,000,000 pupils and
+     students of all ages, from the toddlers in the kindergartens to
+     the full-grown candidates for post-graduate honors, are
+     registered in the schools, academies, colleges and universities
+     of the United States. The average length of time which girls
+     spend in school exceeds by nearly three years the average length
+     of time which boys stay there; while the number of girls
+     graduating from high-school courses, those which include United
+     States history and civil government, is almost double the number
+     of boys. Thus, at the present time, largely more than one-half of
+     the moneys spent by the governments, local and national, in
+     support of free schools, is used in the education of girls. By
+     what authority does the Government tax its citizens to support
+     schools for the education of millions of women to whom, after
+     they have received the education declared necessary to
+     citizenship, this is denied?
+
+     Is it urged that the Government gets its return upon its
+     investment in the education of women through the increased
+     intelligence with which women rear their children, manage their
+     homes and conduct the larger social affairs outside the boundary
+     of their home life? I have no disposition to diminish the
+     Government's recognition of such return, but I wish to remind you
+     that no one has ever justified the maintenance of public schools,
+     and an enforced attendance upon them, on the theory that the
+     Government has a right to compel _men_ to be agreeable husbands
+     and wise fathers, or that it is responsible for teaching _men_
+     how to conduct their own business with discretion and judgment.
+     Quite in another tone is it urged that the schools are the
+     fountains of the nation's liberties and that a government whose
+     policy is decided by a majority of the votes cast by its men is
+     not safe in the hands of uneducated voters. ....It is the
+     political life of our nation which stands in the sorest need; yet
+     this is the only department of our national life which rejects
+     the aid of women.
+
+     If intelligence is vital to good citizenship in a republic, it
+     would seem that, to justify the exclusion of the present
+     generation of American women, whose intelligence is bought at so
+     high a price and at the expense of the whole people, there must
+     be some proof that they have qualities which so vitiate it as to
+     render it unserviceable. Such proof has never yet been presented.
+
+     At the present moment the education and the intellectual culture
+     of American women has reached a plane where its further
+     development is a menace, unless it is to be accompanied by the
+     direct responsibility of its possessors--a responsibility which
+     in a republic can be felt only by those who participate directly
+     in the election of public officers and in the shaping of public
+     policies.
+
+The Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer (R. I.) considered the Fitness of Women
+to Become Citizens from the Standpoint of Moral Development.
+
+     Government is not now merely the coarse and clumsy instrument by
+     which military and police forces are directed; it is the
+     flexible, changing and delicately adjusted instrument of many and
+     varied educative, charitable and supervisory functions, and the
+     tendency to increase the functions of government is a growing
+     one. Prof. Lester F. Ward says: "Government is becoming more and
+     more the organ of the social consciousness and more and more the
+     servant of the social will." The truth of this is shown in the
+     modern public school system; in the humane and educative care of
+     dependent, defective and wayward children; in the increasingly
+     discriminating and wise treatment of the insane, the pauper, the
+     tramp and the poverty-bound; in the provisions for public parks,
+     baths and amusement places; in the bureaus of investigation and
+     control and the appointment of officers of inspection to secure
+     better sanitary and moral conditions; in the board of arbitration
+     for the settlement of political and labor difficulties; and in
+     the almost innumerable committees and bills, national, State and
+     local, to secure higher social welfare for all classes,
+     especially for the weaker and more ignorant. Government can never
+     again shrink and harden into a mere mechanism of military and
+     penal control.
+
+     It is, moreover, increasingly apparent that for these wider and
+     more delicate functions a higher order of electorate, ethically
+     as well as intellectually advanced, is necessary. Democracy can
+     succeed only by securing for its public service, through the rule
+     of the majority, the best leadership and administration the State
+     affords. Only a wise electorate will know how to select such
+     leadership, and only a highly moral one will authoritatively
+     choose such....
+
+     When the State took the place of family bonds and tribal
+     relationships, and the social consciousness was born and began
+     its long travel toward the doctrine of "equality of human rights"
+     in government and the principle of human brotherhood in social
+     organization, man, as the family and tribal organizer and ruler,
+     of course took command of the march. It was inevitable, natural
+     and beneficent so long as the State concerned itself with only
+     the most external and mechanical of social interests. The
+     instant, however, the State took upon itself any form of
+     educative, charitable or personally helpful work, it entered the
+     area of distinctive feminine training and power, and therefore
+     became in need of the service of woman. Wherever the State
+     touches the personal life of the infant, the child, the youth, or
+     the aged, helpless, defective in mind, body or moral nature,
+     there the State enters "woman's peculiar sphere," her sphere of
+     motherly succor and training, her sphere of sympathetic and
+     self-sacrificing ministration to individual lives. If the service
+     of women is not won to such governmental action (not only through
+     "influence or the shaping of public opinion," but through
+     definite and authoritative exercise), the mother-office of the
+     State, now so widely adopted, will be too often planned and
+     administered as though it were an external, mechanical and
+     abstract function, instead of the personal, organic and practical
+     service which all right helping of individuals must be.
+
+     In so far as motherhood has given to women a distinctive ethical
+     development, it is that of sympathetic personal insight
+     respecting the needs of the weak and helpless, and of
+     quick-witted, flexible adjustment of means to ends in the
+     physical, mental and moral training of the undeveloped. And thus
+     far has motherhood fitted women to give a service to the modern
+     State which men can not altogether duplicate....
+
+     Whatever problems might have been involved in the question of
+     woman's place in the State when government was purely military,
+     legal and punitive have long since been antedated. Whatever
+     problems might have inhered in that question when women were
+     personally subject to their families or their husbands are
+     well-nigh outgrown in all civilized countries, and entirely so in
+     the most advanced. Woman's nonentity in the political department
+     of the State is now an anachronism and inconsistent with the
+     prevailing tendencies of social growth....
+
+     The earth is ready, the time is ripe, for the authoritative
+     expression of the feminine as well as the masculine
+     interpretation of that common social consciousness which is
+     slowly writing justice in the State and fraternity in the social
+     order.
+
+Miss Laura Clay (Ky.) illustrated the Fitness of Women to Become
+Citizens from the Standpoint of Physical Development.
+
+     Among the objections brought against the extension of suffrage to
+     women, that of their physical unfitness to perform military
+     duties is the most plausible, because in the popular mind there
+     is an idea that the right of casting a ballot is in its final
+     analysis dependent upon the ability to defend it with a
+     bullet....
+
+     It is by no means self-evident that women are naturally unfitted
+     for fighting or are unwarlike in disposition. The traditions of
+     Amazons and the conduct of savage women give room to believe that
+     the instinct for war was primitively very much the same in both
+     sexes. Though the earliest division of labor among savages known
+     to us is that of assigning war and the chase to men, yet we have
+     no reason to believe that this was done by way of privilege to
+     women; but in the struggle for tribal supremacy that tribe must
+     have ultimately survived and succeeded best which exposed its
+     women the least. Polygamy, universal among primitive races, could
+     in a degree sustain population against the ravages among men of
+     continual warfare, but any large destruction of women must
+     extinguish a tribe that suffered it. So those tribes which
+     earliest engrafted among their customs the exclusion of women
+     from war were the ones that finally survived....
+
+     Military genius among women has appeared in all ages and people,
+     as in Deborah, Zenobia, Joan of Arc and our own Anna Ella
+     Carroll. The prowess of women has often been conspicuous in
+     besieged cities. Our early history of Indian warfare recounts
+     many of their valiant deeds. It is well known that in the late
+     war many women on both sides eluded the vigilance of recruiting
+     officers, enlisted and fought bravely. Who knows how many of such
+     women there might have been if their enlistment had been desired
+     and stimulated by beat of drum and blare of trumpet and "all the
+     pomp and circumstance of glorious war?" But no State can afford
+     to accept military service from its women, for while a nation may
+     live for ages without soldiers, it could exist but for a span
+     without mothers. Since woman's exemption from war is not an
+     un-bought privilege, it is evident that in justice men have no
+     superior rights as citizens on that account.
+
+     It is an equally fallacious idea that sound expediency demands
+     that every ballot shall be defended by a bullet. The theory of
+     representative government does not admit of any connection
+     between military service and the right and duty of suffrage, even
+     among men. It is trite to point out that the age required for
+     military service begins at eighteen years, when a man is too
+     young to vote, and ends at forty-five years, when he is usually
+     in the prime of his usefulness as a citizen. Some very slight
+     physical defects will incapacitate a man under the usual
+     recruiting rules. Many lawyers, judges, physicians, ministers,
+     merchants, editors, authors, legislators and Congressmen are
+     exempt on the ground of physical incapacity. A citizen's ability
+     to help govern by voting is in no manner proportioned to ability
+     to bear arms....
+
+     In the finest conception of government not only is there room for
+     women to take part, but it can not be realized without help from
+     them. Men alone possess only a half of human wisdom; women
+     possess the other half of it, and a half that must always be
+     somewhat different from men's, because women must always see from
+     a somewhat different point of view. The wisdom of men must be
+     supplemented by that of women to discover the whole of
+     governmental truth. Women's help is equally indispensable in
+     persuading society to love and obey law. This help is very
+     largely given now, or civilization as we know it would be
+     impossible. But the best interests of society demand that women's
+     present indirect and half-conscious influence shall be
+     strengthened by the right of suffrage, so that their sense of
+     duty to government may be stimulated by a clear perception of the
+     connection which exists between power and responsibility.
+
+Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch (Eng.) treated of Woman as an Economic
+Factor.
+
+     It is often urged that women stand greatly in need of training in
+     citizenship before being finally received into the body
+     politic.... As a matter of fact women are the first class who
+     have asked the right of citizenship after their ability for
+     political life has been proved. I have seen in my time two
+     enormous extensions of the suffrage to men--one in America and
+     one in England. But neither the negroes in the South nor the
+     agricultural laborers in Great Britain had shown before they got
+     the ballot any capacity for government; for they had never had
+     the opportunity to take the first steps in political action. Very
+     different has been the history of the march of women toward a
+     recognized position in the State. We have had to prove our
+     ability at each stage of progress, and have gained nothing
+     without having satisfied a test of capacity....
+
+     The public demand for "proved worth" suggests what appears to me
+     the chief and most convincing argument upon which our future
+     claims must rest--the growing recognition of the economic value
+     of the work of women.... There has been a marked change in the
+     estimate of our position as wealth producers. We have never been
+     "supported" by men; for if all men labored hard every hour of the
+     twenty-four, they could not do all the work of the world. A few
+     worthless women there are, but even they are not so much
+     supported by the men of their family as by the overwork of the
+     "sweated" women at the other end of the social ladder. From
+     creation's dawn our sex has done its full share of the world's
+     work; sometimes we have been paid for it, but oftener not.
+
+     Unpaid work never commands respect; it is the paid worker who has
+     brought to the public mind conviction of woman's worth. The
+     spinning and weaving done by our great-grandmothers in their own
+     homes was not reckoned as national wealth until the work was
+     carried to the factory and organized there; and the women who
+     followed their work were paid according to its commercial value.
+     It is the women of the industrial class, the wage-earners,
+     reckoned by the hundreds of thousands, and not by units, the
+     women whose work has been submitted to a money test, who have
+     been the means of bringing about the altered attitude of public
+     opinion toward woman's work in every sphere of life.
+
+     If we would recognize the democratic side of our cause, and make
+     an organized appeal to industrial women on the ground of their
+     need of citizenship, and to the nation on the ground of its need
+     that all wealth producers should form part of its body politic,
+     the close of the century might witness the building up of a true
+     republic in the United States.
+
+Mrs. Florence Kelley, State Factory Inspector of Illinois, showed the
+Working Woman's Need of the Ballot.
+
+     No one needs all the powers of the fullest citizenship more
+     urgently than the wage-earning woman, and from two different
+     points of view--that of actual money wages and that of her wider
+     needs as a human being and a member of the community.
+
+     The wages paid any body of working people are determined by many
+     influences, chief among which is the position of the particular
+     body of workers in question. Thus the printers, by their
+     intelligence, their powerful organization, their solidarity and
+     united action, keep up their wages in spite of the invasion of
+     their domain by new and improved machinery. On the other hand,
+     the garment-workers, the sweaters' victims, poor, unorganized,
+     unintelligent, despised, remain forever on the verge of
+     pauperism, irrespective of their endless toil. If, now, by some
+     untoward fate the printers should suddenly find themselves
+     disfranchised, placed in a position in which their members were
+     politically inferior to the members of other trades, no effort of
+     their own short of complete enfranchisement could restore to them
+     that prestige, that good standing in the esteem of their
+     fellow-craftsmen and the public at large which they now enjoy,
+     and which contributes materially in support of their demand for
+     high wages.
+
+     In the garment trades, on the other hand, the presence of a body
+     of the disfranchised, of the weak and young, undoubtedly
+     contributes to the economic weakness of these trades. Custom,
+     habit, tradition, the regard of the public, both employing and
+     employed, for the people who do certain kinds of labor,
+     contribute to determine the price of that labor, and no
+     disfranchised class of workers can permanently hold its own in
+     competition with enfranchised rivals. But this works both ways.
+     It is fatal for any body of workers to have forever hanging from
+     the fringes of its skirts other bodies on a level just below its
+     own; for that means continual pressure downward, additional
+     difficulty to be overcome in the struggle to maintain reasonable
+     rates of wages. Hence, within the space of two generations there
+     has been a complete revolution in the attitude of the
+     trades-unions toward the women working in their trades. Whereas
+     forty years ago women might have knocked in vain at the doors of
+     the most enlightened trade-union, to-day the Federation of Labor
+     keeps in the field paid organizers whose duty it is to enlist in
+     the unions as many women as possible. The workingmen have
+     perceived that women are in the field of industry to stay; and
+     they see, too, that there can not be two standards of work and
+     wages for any trade without constant menace to the higher
+     standard. Hence their effort to place the women upon the same
+     industrial level with themselves in order that all may pull
+     together in the effort to maintain reasonable conditions of life.
+
+     But this same menace holds with regard to the vote. The lack of
+     the ballot places the wage-earning woman upon a level of
+     irresponsibility compared with her enfranchised fellow
+     workingman. By impairing her standing in the community the
+     general rating of her value as a human being, and consequently as
+     a worker, is lowered. In order to be rated as good as a good man
+     in the field of her earnings, she must show herself better than
+     he. She must be more steady, or more trustworthy, or more
+     skilled, or more cheap in order to have the same chance of
+     employment. Thus, while women are accused of lowering wages,
+     might they not justly reply that it is only by conceding
+     something from the pay which they would gladly claim, that they
+     can hold their own in the market, so long as they labor under the
+     disadvantage of disfranchisement?...
+
+     Finally, the very fact that women now form about one-fifth of the
+     employes in manufacture and commerce in this country has opened a
+     vast field of industrial legislation directly affecting women as
+     wage-earners. The courts in some of the States, notably in
+     Illinois, are taking the position that women can not be treated
+     as a class apart and legislated for by themselves, as has been
+     done in the factory laws of England and on the continent of
+     Europe, but must abide by that universal freedom of contract
+     which characterizes labor in the United States. This renders the
+     situation of the working woman absolutely anomalous. On the one
+     hand, she is cut off from the protection awarded to her sisters
+     abroad; on the other, she has no such power to defend her
+     interests at the polls, as is the heritage of her brothers at
+     home. This position is untenable, and there can be no pause in
+     the agitation for full political power and responsibility until
+     these are granted to all the women of the nation.
+
+Mrs. Mariana W. Chapman (N. Y.) spoke from the standpoint of Women as
+Capitalists and Taxpayers.
+
+     The first impulse toward the organization of women to protect
+     their own rights came from the injustice of laws toward married
+     women, and in 1848 it manifested itself in the first Woman's
+     Rights Convention in Seneca Falls. Slowly the leaven spread.
+     There was agitation in one State after the other about the
+     property rights of women.... Now in many States married as well
+     as single women are proprietors of business enterprises upon the
+     same basis as men, and are interested as capitalists and
+     tax-payers in every law which affects the country industrially or
+     financially.
+
+     In 1894 a careful copy was made of the women taxpayers of
+     Brooklyn. Names with initials were not placed on the list, so
+     that the total was probably under rather than over estimated.
+     This showed 22.03 or nearly one-fourth of all the assessable
+     realty in the names of women, amounting to $110,000,000, besides
+     many large estates in which they were interested. In 1896 the
+     assessed value of real estate in the State of New York was
+     $4,506,985,694, which, if estimated in the same ratio, would give
+     taxable property owned by women to the extent of $1,124,221,423.
+
+     They are agriculturally interested, inasmuch as they are
+     frequently owners of large tracts of land in the West as well as
+     of smaller farms in our Eastern States. What shall we say to a
+     Government that gives land in severalty to the Indian, supplies
+     him with tools and rations, puts a ballot in his hand, and then
+     says to the American woman who purchases the same right to land,
+     "You shall not have the political privileges of American
+     citizenship?" Under the laws of our country every stock company
+     is obliged to give men and women shareholders a vote upon the
+     same basis, and one fails to see why a government, which
+     professedly exists to maintain the rights of the people, should
+     practice in its own dealing such flaunting injustice....
+
+     Women help to support every public institution in the State and
+     should have representation upon every board, and in the laws
+     which control them. They help to pay the army pensions and should
+     be allowed to help in deciding how much shall be paid. They help
+     to pay for standing armies and for navies and they have the
+     larger part in the nurture and training of every man who is in
+     army or navy, and this is not the smaller part of the tax, since
+     it is at times the matter of a life for a life. Women pay their
+     part of the taxes to support our public schools and have intense
+     interests in their well-doing. Twenty-six States have recognized
+     this fact and have given to women some kind of School Suffrage,
+     one has granted Municipal Suffrage and four Full Political
+     Equality; but this is only a fraction of the justice which
+     belongs to a government founded by statesmen whose watchword was,
+     "No taxation without representation."
+
+Miss Elizabeth Burrill Curtis (N. Y.) answered the question, Are Women
+Represented in our Government?
+
+     "Taxation without representation is tyranny" was one of the
+     slogans of liberty in this country one hundred and twenty years
+     ago. Have we outlived this principle? If not, why is it supposed
+     to have no application to women?
+
+     That a century ago the latter were not thought of as having any
+     rights under this motto is not surprising. So few women then held
+     property in their own name that the injustice done them was not
+     so apparent. But the situation is changed now, and the right of
+     women to be considered as individuals is everywhere acknowledged
+     save in this one particular. Even those who feel that the
+     granting of universal male suffrage was a mistake, and that the
+     right to self-government should be proved by some test,
+     educational or otherwise--even those do not assert that it would
+     be anything but gross injustice to tax men without allowing them
+     a voice in the disposal of their money....
+
+     But there is still another side to the question. It is not only
+     that the disfranchised women are unfairly treated, but the public
+     good inevitably suffers from the political nonexistence of half
+     the citizens of the republic. Either women are interested in
+     politics or they are not. If the former, the country is
+     distinctly injured, for nothing is more fatal to good government
+     than the intermeddling of a large body of people who have never
+     studied the questions at issue and whose only interest is a
+     personal one. If, on the other hand, women are not interested in
+     politics, what is the condition of that country, half of whose
+     citizens do not care whether it be well or ill governed? That
+     women influence men is never denied, even by the most strenuous
+     opponents of woman suffrage. It is, on the contrary, most
+     violently asserted by those very people; but of what value is
+     that interest if woman is utterly ignorant of one of the most
+     important duties of a man's life?...
+
+     On one hand the public good demands that no class of citizens be
+     arbitrarily prevented from serving the commonweal; and on the
+     other hand thinking and patriotic women are crying against the
+     injustice which forbids them to prove their fitness for
+     self-government. What shall be the result of this double demand?
+
+Woman Suffrage and the Home was the topic of Henry B. Blackwell
+(Mass.).
+
+     One of the objections to extending suffrage to women is a fear
+     that its exercise will divert their attention from domestic
+     pursuits, and diminish their devotion to husband, children and
+     home. We believe, on the contrary, that it will increase domestic
+     happiness by giving women greater self-respect and greater
+     respect and consideration from men.
+
+     People who make this objection seem to regard the conjugal and
+     maternal instincts as artificial, as the result of education and
+     circumstances, losing sight of the fact that these qualities are
+     innate in the feminine soul. Mental cultivation and larger views
+     of life do not tend to make women less womanly any more than they
+     tend to make men less manly. No one imagines that business or
+     politics diminishes or destroys the conjugal and paternal
+     instinct in men. We do not look for dull or idle or indolent men
+     as husbands for our daughters. Ignorant, narrow-minded men do not
+     make the best husbands and fathers. Ignorant, narrow-minded women
+     do not make the best wives and mothers. Mental discipline and
+     intelligent responsibility add strength to the conjugal and
+     parental sentiment alike in men and women....
+
+     But fortunately this is no longer a question of theory. We appeal
+     to the experience of the four States which have extended equal
+     suffrage to women. Wyoming has had complete woman suffrage since
+     1869. For twenty-nine years, as a Territory and a State, women
+     have voted there in larger ratio than men. Supreme Judge J. W.
+     Kingman many years ago testified that the actual proportion of
+     men voting had increased to 80 per cent., but that 90 per cent.
+     of the women went to the polls. And now, after a generation of
+     continuous voting, the percentage of divorces in Wyoming is
+     smaller than in the surrounding States where women do not vote,
+     and while the percentage in the latter is rapidly increasing, in
+     Wyoming it is steadily diminishing. Where women have once voted
+     the right has never been taken away by the people. In Utah women
+     voted for seventeen years while it was a Territory, until
+     Congress abolished it for political reasons. But when Utah was
+     about to be admitted to statehood the men in framing their
+     constitution restored the suffrage to women. Would they have done
+     so if it had proved injurious to their homes? Impossible! You
+     have eight Senators and seven Representatives in Congress from
+     the four States where women have the full franchise. Ask them if
+     it has demoralized their homes or the homes of their
+     fellow-citizens, and your fears, if you have any, will be forever
+     set at rest....
+
+     Believe me, gentlemen, it is not patriotism, it is not a passion
+     for justice, it is not loyalty to sister women, it is not a
+     desire to better her country, which will make a woman neglect her
+     husband. Society women, superficial, selfish, silly women, the
+     butterflies of the ballroom, the seekers for every new sensation,
+     the worldly-minded aspirants for social position, these are the
+     women who neglect their homes; and not the brave, earnest,
+     serious-minded, generous, unselfish women who ask for the ballot
+     in order by its use to make the world better. In the twentieth
+     century, already dawning, we shall have a republican family in a
+     republican nation, a true democracy, a government of the people,
+     by the people and for the people, men and women co-operating
+     harmoniously on terms of absolute equality in the home and in the
+     State.
+
+The Senate Hearing closed with the paper of Mrs. Elizabeth Cady
+Stanton on the Significance and History of the Ballot, which was in
+part as follows:
+
+     The recent bills on Immigration, by Senators Lodge of
+     Massachusetts and Kyle of South Dakota, indirectly affect the
+     interests of woman. Their proposition to demand a reading and
+     writing qualification on landing strikes me as arbitrary and
+     equally detrimental to our mutual interests. The danger is not in
+     their landing and living in this country, but in their speedy
+     appearance at the ballot-box and there becoming an impoverished
+     and ignorant balance of power in the hands of wily politicians.
+     While we should not allow our country to be a dumping ground for
+     the refuse population of the Old World, still we should welcome
+     all hardy, common-sense laborers here, as we have plenty of room
+     and work for them. Here they can improve their own condition and
+     our surroundings, developing our immense resources and the
+     commerce of the country. The one demand I would make in regard to
+     this class is that they should not become a part of our ruling
+     power until they can read and write the English language
+     intelligently and understand the principles of republican
+     government. This is the only restrictive legislation we need to
+     protect ourselves against foreign domination. To this end the
+     Congress should enact a law for "educated suffrage" for our
+     native-born as well as foreign rulers.
+
+     With free schools and compulsory education, no one has an excuse
+     for not understanding the language of the country. As women are
+     governed by a "male aristocracy," they are doubly interested in
+     having their rulers able at least to read and write. See with
+     what care in the Old World the prospective heirs to the throne
+     are educated. There was a time when the members of the British
+     Parliament could neither read nor write, but these
+     accomplishments are now required of the Lords and Commons, and
+     even of the King and Queen, while we have rulers, native and
+     foreign, who do not understand the letters of the alphabet; and
+     this in a republic supposed to be based on intelligence of the
+     people!
+
+     Much as we need this measure for the stability of our Government,
+     we need it still more for the best interests of women. This
+     ignorant vote is solid against woman's emancipation. In States
+     where amendments to their constitutions are proposed for the
+     enfranchisement of women, this vote has been in every case
+     against them. We should ask for national protection against this
+     hostile force playing football with the most sacred rights of
+     one-half of the people.... In all national conflicts it is ever
+     deemed the most grievous accident of war for the conquered people
+     to find themselves under a foreign yoke, yet this is the position
+     of the women of this republic to-day. Foreigners are our judges
+     and jurors, our legislators and municipal officials, and decide
+     all questions of interest to us, even to the discipline in our
+     schools, charitable institutions and prisons. Woman has no voice
+     as to the education of her children or the environments of the
+     unhappy wards of the State. The love and sympathy of the
+     mother-soul have but an evanescent influence in all departments
+     of human interest until coined into law by the hand that holds
+     the ballot. Then only do they become a direct and effective power
+     in the Government....
+
+     The popular objection to woman suffrage is that it would "double
+     the ignorant vote." The patent answer to this is, "Abolish the
+     ignorant vote." Our legislators have this power in their own
+     hands. There have been serious restrictions in the past for men.
+     We are willing to abide by the same for women, provided the
+     insurmountable qualification of sex be forever removed. Some of
+     the opponents talk as if educated suffrage would be invidious to
+     the best interests of the laboring masses, whereas it would be
+     most beneficial in its ultimate influence.... Surely when we
+     compel all classes to learn to read and write and thus open to
+     themselves the door to knowledge, not by force, but by the
+     promise of a privilege which all intelligent citizens enjoy, we
+     are benefactors and not tyrants. To stimulate them to climb the
+     first rounds of the ladder that they may reach the divine heights
+     where they shall be as gods, knowing good and evil, by
+     withholding the citizen's right to vote for a few years is a
+     blessing to them as well as to the State.
+
+     We must inspire our people with a new sense of their sacred
+     duties as citizens of a republic, and place new guards around our
+     ballot-box. Walking in Paris one day I was greatly impressed with
+     an emblematic statue in the square Chateau d'Eau, placed there in
+     1883 in honor of the republic. On one side is a magnificent
+     bronze lion with his fore paw on the electoral urn, which answers
+     to our ballot-box, as if to guard it from all unholy uses.... As
+     I turned away I thought of the American republic and our
+     ballot-box with no guardian or sacred reverence for its contents.
+     Ignorance, poverty and vice have full access; thousands from
+     every incoming steamer go practically from the steerage to the
+     polls, while educated women, representing the virtue and
+     intelligence of the nation, are driven away. I would like to see
+     a monument to "educated suffrage" in front of our national
+     Capitol, guarded by the goddess Minerva, her right hand resting
+     on the ballot-box, her left hand on the spelling book, the
+     Declaration of Rights and the Federal Constitution. It would be
+     well for us to ponder the Frenchman's idea, but instead of the
+     royal lion, representing force to guard the sacred urn, let us
+     substitute wisdom and virtue in the form of Woman.
+
+The Washington _Star_ said of the hearing before the House Judiciary
+Committee:
+
+     The members paid a tribute to the devotion of the woman
+     suffragists, and at the same time showed appreciation of it by
+     nearly all being in attendance at the hearing this morning. It is
+     seldom that more than a quorum of any committee can be induced to
+     attend a hearing of any sort. To-day fifteen out of seventeen
+     members were present and manifested a deep interest in the
+     remarks submitted by the women. The character of the assemblage
+     was one to inspire respect, and the force and intelligence of
+     what was said warranted the attention and interest shown. The
+     people who not many years ago thought that every woman suffragist
+     was a masculine creature who "wanted to wear the pants" would
+     have been greatly embarrassed in their theories had they been
+     present at the hearing to-day. There was not a mannish-appearing
+     woman among the number. It was such an assemblage as may be seen
+     at a popular church on Sunday, or at a fashionable afternoon
+     reception. In fact there was not anywhere such an affectation of
+     masculinity as is common among the society women of the period.
+     Each year there have appeared more young women at these hearings,
+     and the average of youth seemed greater to-day than ever before.
+     Fashionably attired and in good taste, representative of the
+     highest grade of American womanhood, the fifty or sixty women
+     present inspired respect for their opinions without destroying
+     the sentiment of gallantry which men generally feel that they
+     must extend towards women.
+
+The speakers before this committee[115] presented The Practical
+Working of Woman Suffrage. Miss Anthony introduced them. Limited
+Suffrage in the United States was discussed by Prof. Ellen H. E. Price
+of Swarthmore College, Penn., whose address was rendered especially
+valuable by a carefully compiled table of statistics showing the
+amount of suffrage possessed by women in every State and Territory.
+Municipal Suffrage in Kansas was described by J. W. Gleed; Woman
+Suffrage in Wyoming by ex-U. S. Senator Joseph M. Carey; Woman
+Suffrage in Colorado by the Hon. Martha A. B. Conine, member of its
+State Legislature; Woman Suffrage in Idaho by Wm. Balderston, editor
+of the Boise _Statesman_; Woman Suffrage in Foreign Countries by Miss
+Helen Blackburn, editor _The Englishwomen's Review_.[116] Woman
+Suffrage in Utah was depicted by State Senator Martha Hughes Cannon:
+
+     ....The history of the struggle in Utah for equal rights is full
+     of interest and could be recounted with advantage. But, after
+     all, the results which have been attained speak with such
+     unerring logic, and vindicate so thoroughly the argument that
+     woman should take part in the affairs of government which so
+     vitally affect her, that I point to the actual conditions now
+     existing as a complete vindication of the efforts of equal
+     suffragists, and as the most cogent of all reasons why woman
+     should have the right to aid in nominating and electing our
+     public officers.
+
+     I can say, in all sincerity, that there is a strong and
+     cumulative evidence that even those who opposed equal suffrage
+     with the greatest ability and vehemence would not now vote for
+     the repeal of the measure. The practical working of the law
+     demonstrates its wisdom and verifies the claims which were
+     advanced by its ardent advocates. It has proved to the world that
+     woman is not only a helpmeet by the fireside, but when allowed to
+     do so she can become a most powerful factor in the affairs of the
+     Government.
+
+     None of the unpleasant results which were predicted have
+     occurred. The contentions in families, the tarnishment of woman's
+     charm, the destruction of ideals, have all been proved to be but
+     the ghosts of unfounded prejudices. "The divinity which doth
+     hedge woman about like subtle perfume" has not been displaced.
+     Women have quietly assumed the added power which always was
+     theirs by right, and with the grace and ready adaptation to
+     circumstances peculiar to the women of America, they have so
+     conducted themselves that they have gained admiration and respect
+     while losing none of their old-time prestige.
+
+     Before suffrage was granted to women they had ideas upon public
+     questions. Suffrage has given them opportunity for practical
+     expression of these views. They pay more attention to political
+     affairs. They studied political economy more earnestly. They
+     familiarize themselves with public questions, and their mistakes,
+     if they have made any, have not thus far been brought to light.
+
+     Women have acted as delegates to county and State conventions,
+     and represented Utah in the national convention of one of the
+     great political parties, held in Chicago in 1896. They have acted
+     upon political committees and have taken part in political
+     management, and, instead of being dragged down, as was most
+     feared, their enfranchisement has tended to elevate them. Under
+     our system of the Australian ballot, they have found that the
+     contaminating influence of which they had been told was but a
+     bugbear, born of fright, produced by shadows. They learned that
+     to deposit their vote did not subject them to anything like the
+     annoyance which they often experienced from crowds on "bargain
+     days," while their presence drove from the polls the ward workers
+     who had been so obnoxious in the past.
+
+     Through the courtesy of the Governor and the approval of the
+     Senate they have been given places upon various State boards, and
+     in the last Legislature, in both the Senate and the House, they
+     represented the two most populous and wealthy counties of Utah.
+     The bills introduced by women received due consideration, and a
+     majority were enacted into laws. Whatever they have been required
+     to do they have done to the full satisfaction of their
+     constituents, and they have proved most careful and painstaking
+     public officers.
+
+     No one in Utah will dispute the statements I have made. To the
+     people of that young commonwealth, destined by its manifold
+     resources and the intelligence of its men and women to become the
+     Empire State of the Rocky Mountains, I refer you, in the fullest
+     confidence that, with scarcely a dissenting voice, they will say
+     that woman suffrage is no longer an experiment, but is a
+     practical reality, tending to the well-being of the State.
+
+Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, national recording secretary, took for a
+subject The Indifference of Women:
+
+     It is often said that the chief obstacle to equal suffrage is the
+     indifference and opposition of women, and that whenever the
+     majority ask for the ballot they will get it. But it is a simple
+     historical fact that every improvement thus far made in their
+     condition has been secured, not by a general demand from the
+     majority, but by the arguments, entreaties and "continual coming"
+     of a persistent few. In each case the advocates of progress have
+     had to contend not merely with the conservatism of men, but with
+     the indifference of women, and often with active opposition from
+     some of them.
+
+     When a man in Saco, Me., first employed a saleswoman the men
+     boycotted his store, and the women remonstrated with him on the
+     sin of which he was guilty in placing a young woman in a position
+     of such publicity. When Lucy Stone tried to secure for married
+     women the right to their own property, they asked with scorn, "Do
+     you think I would give myself where I would not give my
+     property?" When Elizabeth Blackwell began to study medicine, the
+     women at her boarding house refused to speak to her, and those
+     passing her on the streets would hold their skirts aside so as
+     not to touch her. It is a matter of history with what ridicule
+     and opposition Mary Lyon's first efforts for the education of
+     women were received, not only by the mass of men, but by the mass
+     of women as well. In England when the Oxford examinations were
+     thrown open to women, the Dean of Chichester preached a sermon
+     against it, in which he said: "By the sex at large, certainly,
+     the new curriculum is not asked for. I have ascertained, by
+     extended inquiry among gentlewomen, that, with true feminine
+     instinct, they either entirely distrust or else look with
+     downright disfavor on so wild an innovation and interference with
+     the best traditions of their sex." Pundita Ramabai tells us that
+     the idea of education for girls is so unpopular with the majority
+     of Hindoo women that when a progressive Hindoo proposes to
+     educate his little daughter it is not uncommon for the women of
+     his family to threaten to drown themselves.
+
+     All this merely shows that human nature is conservative, and that
+     it is fully as conservative in women as in men. The persons who
+     take a strong interest in any reform are always comparatively
+     few, whether among men or women, and they are habitually regarded
+     with disfavor, even by those whom the proposed reform is to
+     benefit. Thomas Hughes says, in School Days at Rugby: "So it is,
+     and must be always, my dear boys. If the Angel Gabriel were to
+     come down from heaven and head a successful rise against the most
+     abominable and unrighteous vested interest which this poor old
+     world groans under, he would most certainly lose his character
+     for many years, probably for centuries, not only with the
+     upholders of the said vested interest, but with the respectable
+     mass of the people whom he had delivered."
+
+     Many changes for the better have been made during the last half
+     century in the laws, written and unwritten, relating to women.
+     Everybody approves of these changes now, because they have become
+     accomplished facts. But not one of them would have been made to
+     this day if it had been necessary to wait until the majority of
+     women asked for it. The change now under discussion is to be
+     judged on its merits. In the light of history the indifference of
+     most women and the opposition of a few must be taken as a matter
+     of course. It has no more rational significance than it has had
+     in regard to each previous step of woman's progress.
+
+Miss Anthony closed with an impassioned argument which profoundly
+moved both the committee and the audience. The chairman said that in
+all the years there had never been so dignified, logical and perfectly
+managed a hearing before the Judiciary, and several of its members
+corroborated this statement and assured the ladies present of a full
+belief in the justice of their cause. Yet neither the Senate nor the
+House Committee made any report or paid the slightest heed to these
+earnest and eloquent appeals.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[112] The Sunday afternoon preceding the convention religious services
+were held in the theatre, which was crowded. The sermon was given by
+the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, from the text, "One shall chase a thousand
+and two put ten thousand to flight."
+
+[113] A most interesting account of that historic occasion may be
+found in the History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. I, p. 67.
+
+[114] Federal Suffrage is considered in Chapter I.
+
+[115] David B. Henderson, Ia.; George W. Ray, N. Y.; Case Broderick,
+Kan.; Thomas Updegraff, Ia.; James A. Connolly, Ill.; Samuel W.
+McCall, Mass.; John J. Jenkins, Wis.; Riehard Wayne Parker, N. J.;
+Jesse R. Overstreet, Ind.; DeAlva S. Alexander, N. Y.; Warren Miller,
+W. Va.; William L. Terry, Ark.; David A. DeArmond, Mo.; Samuel W. T.
+Lanham, Tex.; William Elliott, S. C.; Oscar W. Underwood, Ala.; David
+H. Smith, Ky.
+
+[116] The main facts brought out in all these addresses are fully
+included in the various State chapters in this volume.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+THE NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1899.
+
+
+A departure was made by the suffrage association in 1899 in having its
+convention in the late spring instead of the winter, the Thirty-first
+annual meeting being held in Grand Rapids, Mich., April 27-May 3. It
+was thought by many that this was an unfavorable season, as the
+audiences were not so large as usual, but in all other respects it was
+one of the most delightful of these many gatherings. The meetings were
+held in the handsome St. Cecilia Club House, whose auditorium seats
+1,200, and the official report, usually confined to bare details,
+contains the following account:
+
+     The music arranged by Mrs. Rathbone Carpenter and her efficient
+     committee was throughout of the finest character and fully
+     justified the reputation of Grand Rapids as a musical community.
+     Mrs. W. D. Giddings, chairman of decorations, worked daily with
+     different members of her committee in arranging the cut flowers
+     and decorative plants generously furnished by different florists,
+     so that the platform was beautiful and fragrant from beginning to
+     end of the meetings. At the evening sessions the audience was
+     seated by the help of young lady ushers under the management of
+     Mrs. Marie Wilson Beasley.
+
+     The Bureau of Information, under the charge of Mrs. H. Margaret
+     Downs; the Courtesies, chairman, Mrs. Delos A. Blodgett, and the
+     opening reception on the first evening of the convention,
+     chairman, Mrs. William Alden Smith, were ably managed. But, with
+     the exception of the work devolving upon Mrs. Ketcham, the most
+     constant and trying labor fell to the chairman of entertainment,
+     Mrs. Allen C. Adsit, who cared for the housing of all the
+     delegates and also of the Michigan friends in attendance.
+
+     Of the efforts bf Mrs. Emily B. Ketcham the entire convention
+     bore witness; it went to Grand Rapids upon her invitation, and
+     upon her work for many months before its opening depended its
+     success, which was unquestioned. At one of the evening sessions
+     she was surprised by the presentation of a handsome souvenir of
+     the occasion containing the signatures of the officers of the
+     association, the speakers and many of the local workers. At the
+     close of the first evening the National officers, assisted by
+     Mrs. Ketcham, Mrs. William Alden Smith, Mrs. Julius Burrows and
+     several of the speakers, received in the beautiful parlor of the
+     St. Cecilia, thus giving delegates and visitors an opportunity to
+     meet the people of the city and to exchange social greetings with
+     each other.
+
+     The Ladies' Literary Club, which also owns its home, kept open
+     house several afternoons from four to six, the officers receiving
+     the guests and serving light refreshments. This club also
+     tendered the freedom of its house for any and all hours of the
+     day to the delegates. Saturday afternoon the Federation of the
+     Woman's Christian Temperance Unions of Grand Rapids received the
+     convention at the Young Woman's Building, where a substantial
+     supper was served. The Bissell carpet-sweeper factory, president,
+     Mrs. M. R. Bissell, presented to the delegates one hundred and
+     fifty specially made small carpet-sweepers, each marked in gilt,
+     National American Woman Suffrage Association.
+
+     But to the Board of Trade belongs the honor of having outrivaled
+     all the other kind hosts in the extent of their hospitality. They
+     presented to the convention its programs, beautifully printed on
+     extra fine paper and bearing a picture of the St. Cecilia Club
+     House. The Board also sent carriages to take the entire working
+     convention for a drive through the city, a visit to one of the
+     largest furniture warehouses and to the carpet-sweeper factory,
+     where Mrs. Bissell received the delegates and all were shown
+     through the works. A handsome souvenir containing many views of
+     the city was given by the Board to every delegate.
+
+     The ladies of the St. Cecilia were kindness itself, and it was
+     delightful to hold the meetings in so friendly an atmosphere, as
+     well as in so well appointed a building. The president, Mrs.
+     Kelsey, presented to the badge committee St. Cecilia pins having
+     a reproduction of Carlo Dolci's head of the musical saint after
+     whom this club is named, the only musical society of women in the
+     United States which owns a club-house.
+
+     Cordial addresses of welcome were made by Emily B. Ketcham,
+     president of Susan B. Anthony Club; Mary Atwater Kelsey,
+     president of St. Cecilia; Josephine Ahnafeldt Goss, president of
+     Ladies' Literary Club; May Stocking Knaggs, president of State
+     Equal Suffrage Association; Martha A. Keating, president of State
+     Federation of Women's Clubs; Mrs. A. S. Benjamin, president of
+     State Women's Christian Temperance Union; Mary A. McConnelly,
+     department president of State Woman's Relief Corps; Lucy A.
+     Leggett, president of State Woman's Press Association, and
+     Frances E. Burns, Great Commander Ladies of the Maccabees.
+
+Mrs. Ketcham expressed their pleasure in having Grand Rapids selected
+in preference to several larger cities which had extended invitations;
+referred to the long distances many of the delegates had come and
+assured the convention of a royal welcome, not only from the city but
+from the State. Brief extracts must give an idea of the scope and
+cordiality of these addresses:
+
+     MRS. GOSS: This has been called the woman's century. The past
+     centuries might have been called man's, because of the great
+     progress he has made in them; and it is now conceded that God
+     made women to match the men. The next will be the children's
+     century, when they will make real their parents' ideals. After
+     humanity has been sufficiently educated, people will understand
+     that no class has a right to special privileges, or can
+     appropriate them without injury to the body politic. Then a woman
+     will not demand any special privilege because she is a woman, nor
+     be denied it because she is not a man. As a result of this
+     movement, old lessons have been better learned and old burdens
+     more easily carried. We advocate equal suffrage not alone because
+     it is just to the mothers, but because it will be good for the
+     children, good for man, good for all humanity. We are glad to be
+     a part of this movement for a higher civilization. Grand Rapids
+     is noted for its furniture factories, and after equal suffrage is
+     granted it will supply plenty of material for the President's
+     cabinet.
+
+     MRS. KNAGGS: I welcome you in behalf of the Michigan E. S. A.,
+     representing the women of this State who are especially
+     interested in woman's enfranchisement. We have looked forward to
+     the day when you would bring us the inspiration of one of these
+     great meetings; we needed it. We are told that women are
+     indifferent. Many are so; and nothing can better arouse us than
+     to meet those engaged in this work from so many different places.
+
+     An alderman this spring boasted that he had been elected by the
+     votes of eight nationalities. He enumerated seven of them but for
+     some time was unable to think of the eighth. At last he
+     remembered; it was the American. The ballot in the hands of our
+     present voters might be improved by the intelligence that the
+     great body of Michigan women would bring to it. We are beginning
+     to appreciate the solidarity of women. When one State wins
+     suffrage, all the others are gainers by it. The good of this
+     meeting will go abroad over the country.
+
+     MRS. KEATING: ....In the happy tone of welcome that you may hear
+     rising from all parts of our State the club women join, with
+     voices 9,000 strong. We have never been happier than now, even
+     during the annual club elections, amid the joy and intelligence
+     of the club ballot. Your fame has preceded you.
+
+     MRS. BENJAMIN: The W. C. T. U. of Michigan numbers about 9,000
+     active members, and I bring you the greeting of your white-ribbon
+     sisters. We welcome not only you but your principles, and your
+     avowed determination to conquer before you die. A good mother
+     works in the home, but she would not wish to be forbidden to
+     cross the threshold. For the good of her child, she needs
+     sometimes to cross it. A mother should guard her child outside
+     the home as well as in it. Every mother worthy of the name wishes
+     to protect her own child from vice, and her duty extends to her
+     neighbor's child also. Equal suffrage is coming, friends, and
+     coming soon.
+
+     MRS. BURNS: I bring you the welcome of the 45,000 Ladies of the
+     Maccabees. Times have greatly changed in Michigan since seventy
+     years ago, when the Indian squaws did all the manual labor, and
+     the braves limited themselves to the noble task of hunting. There
+     has been a corresponding change in the condition of women all
+     along the line.
+
+In the response of Miss Susan B. Anthony, the national president, she
+said:
+
+     Since our last convention the area of disfranchisement in the
+     possessions of the United States has been greatly enlarged. Our
+     nation has undertaken to furnish provisional governments for
+     Hawaii and the Philippine Islands, Cuba and Porto Rico. Hitherto
+     the settlers of new Territories have been permitted to frame
+     their own provisional governments, which were ratified by
+     Congress, but to-day Congress itself assumes the prerogative of
+     making the laws for the newly-acquired Territories. When the
+     governments for those in the West were organized there had been
+     no practical example of universal suffrage in any one of the
+     older States, hence it might be pardonable for their settlers to
+     ignore the right of the women associated with them to a voice in
+     their governments.
+
+     But to-day, after fifty years' continuous agitation of the right
+     of women to vote, and after the demand has been conceded in
+     one-half the States in the management of the public schools;
+     after one State has added to that of the schools the management
+     of its cities; and after four States have granted women the full
+     vote--the universal reports show that the exercise of the
+     suffrage by women has added to their influence, increased the
+     respect of men, and elevated the moral, social and political
+     conditions of their respective commonwealths. With those
+     object-lessons before Congress, it would seem that no member
+     could be so blind as not to see it the duty of that body to have
+     the provisional governments of our new possessions founded on the
+     principle of equal rights, privileges and immunities for all the
+     people, women included. I hope this convention will devise some
+     plan for securing a strong expression of public sentiment on this
+     question, to be presented to the Fifty-sixth Congress, which is
+     to convene on the first Monday of December next....
+
+     During the reconstruction period and the discussion of the
+     negro's right to vote Senator Blaine and others opposed the
+     counting of all the negroes in the basis of representation,
+     instead of the old-time three-fifths, because they saw that to do
+     so would greatly increase the power of the white men of the South
+     on the floor of Congress. Therefore the Republican leaders
+     insisted upon the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to secure
+     the ballot to the negro men. Only one generation has passed and
+     yet nearly all of the Southern States have by one device or
+     another succeeded in excluding from the ballot-box very nearly
+     the entire negro vote, openly and defiantly declaring their
+     intention to secure the absolute supremacy of the white race, but
+     there is not a suggestion on their part of allowing the citizens
+     to whom they deny the right of suffrage to be counted out from
+     the basis of representation. Some of the Northern newspapers
+     have been growing indignant upon the subject, declaring that a
+     vote in South Carolina counts more than two votes in New York, in
+     the election of the President and the House of Representatives.
+     It seems to me that a still greater violation of the principle of
+     "the consent of the governed" is practiced in all the States of
+     the Union where women, though disfranchised, are yet counted in
+     the basis of representation, and I think the time has come when
+     this association should make a most strenuous demand for an
+     amendment to the Constitution of the United States forbidding any
+     State thus to count disfranchised citizens....
+
+     The increased discussion of the enfranchisement of women in the
+     newspapers throughout the country evidences the larger demand of
+     the public for information on this line, and a vast amount of
+     educational work is being done in this way.... The presentation
+     of the woman question in the New York _Sunday Sun_ each week by
+     Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, with the articles it has elicited from
+     the opposition, is of incalculable value; and when we add to the
+     number of people who read the _Sun_ the vast numbers who read the
+     copies of these articles made by the many newspapers between the
+     two oceans, we see what an immense reading audience is gained by
+     getting our question into that one of the best New York dailies.
+     We must remember that these papers never would have copied Mrs.
+     Harper's or any other literary woman's productions had they been
+     first published in one of our special organs; therefore one very
+     important branch of press work is to gain access to the
+     metropolitan dailies. Then there is the immense work done by Mrs.
+     Elnora M. Babcock for the State of New York, and by the chairmen
+     of the different State press committees, as well as that done by
+     our national organizer from the headquarters. Never has the press
+     of the entire nation been kept so alive with discussions upon the
+     woman suffrage question as during the past year, and my hope is
+     that we may yet have upon every one of the great city papers a
+     strong, educated suffrage woman, as editor of a woman's page or,
+     better still, as writer of suffrage articles to be inserted
+     without a special heading which would advertise to the general
+     reader that they were about women.
+
+     Though we have not obtained the suffrage in any of the States
+     where we had hoped to do so during the past year, the failures
+     have been by very small majorities. In South Dakota, where eight
+     years ago a woman suffrage amendment was lost by a majority of
+     over 23,000, at the election of 1898 the opposing majority was
+     reduced to 3,000; while in Washington, where the question was
+     submitted for the second time, it was lost by a majority less
+     than one-half as large as that of nine years ago. In California
+     both Houses of the Legislature passed the School Suffrage Bill,
+     which the Governor refused to sign, repeating the action of 1894.
+     The suffrage bills in the Territorial Legislatures of Oklahoma
+     and Arizona were carried by very fine majorities through both
+     lower Houses, but were lost in both upper Houses (as will be
+     stated by our national organizer, who led our suffrage hosts in
+     each case) through a shameful surrender to the temptation of
+     bribery from the open and avowed enemies of woman's
+     enfranchisement, the liquor organizations.
+
+     None of these so-called defeats ought to discourage us in the
+     slightest degree. Our enemies, the women remonstrants, may
+     comfort themselves with the thought that the liquor interest has
+     joined in their efforts, but we surely can solace ourselves with
+     the fact that the very best men voted in favor of allowing women
+     to exercise their right to a voice in the conditions of home and
+     State. So we have nothing to fear but everything to gain by going
+     forward with renewed faith to agitate and educate the public,
+     until the vast majority of men and women are thoroughly grounded
+     in the great principle of political equality....
+
+     I thank you, friends, for your cordial words of welcome. We are
+     glad to come here. I always feel a certain kinship to Michigan
+     since the constitutional amendment campaign of 1874, in which I
+     assisted. I remember that I went across one city on a dray, the
+     only vehicle I could secure, in order to catch a train. A
+     newspaper said next day: "That ancient daughter of Methuselah,
+     Susan B. Anthony, passed through our city last night, with a
+     bonnet looking as if she had just descended from Noah's Ark." Now
+     if Susan B. Anthony had represented votes, that young political
+     editor would not have cared if she were the oldest or youngest
+     daughter of Methuselah, or whether her bonnet came from the Ark
+     or from the most fashionable man milliner's.
+
+     There are women's clubs all over the country; did you ever hear
+     of one organized for other than an uplifting purpose? (Several
+     voices: "Yes, the Anti-Suffrage Associations!") Well, even the
+     "antis" wish to keep the world just as it is; they do not aim to
+     make it worse. Some persons have tried to belittle the resolution
+     passed by the Colorado Legislature recently, testifying to the
+     good results of equal suffrage, by declaring that the members
+     were afraid of the women. I never heard before of a Legislature
+     that voted solidly in a certain way for fear of women. We have
+     with us to-day Mrs. Welch, the president of the Colorado Equal
+     Suffrage Association, of whom it is said that the Legislature was
+     so afraid. [Miss Anthony led forward Mrs. Welch, a pretty little
+     woman in a very feminine bonnet, who shrank away slightly from
+     the compelling hand, and showed shyness in every line of her
+     figure, as she felt the eyes of the audience' concentrated upon
+     her.] At the time of the first recognition of women in the early
+     Granger days, when the farmers used to harness up their horses to
+     their big wagons and take all their women folks to the meetings,
+     I used to say that I could tell a Grange woman as far off as I
+     could see her, because of her air of feeling herself as good as a
+     man. Now look at this woman from Colorado!
+
+     MRS. WELCH: When I came before the Executive Committee this
+     morning, and they said they were proud of me as a free woman, I
+     felt almost ashamed to be a free woman. I thought of all the
+     tears and sorrows and struggles of Miss Anthony and wondered if
+     she ever would possess the ballot for which she had done so much,
+     and I so little.
+
+     MISS ANTHONY: I am glad you have it. We are not working for
+     ourselves alone; that is one reason why our society does not grow
+     as fast as some others.
+
+The paper of the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer (R. I.) was a strong,
+philosophical presentation of our Duty to the Women of Our New
+Possessions:
+
+     ....Prof. Otis T. Mason, author of that important book, "Woman's
+     Share in Primitive Culture," tells us that "the longer one
+     studies the subject the more he will be convinced that savage
+     tribes can now be elevated chiefly through their women." Why is
+     this true? For the reason that the savage is in the stage of
+     social order through which all civilized nations have passed at
+     some period--the stage of the mother-rule more or less modified
+     by partial masculine domination. It is a well-known fact of human
+     history and prehistoric record that the Matriarchate, or the
+     mother-rule, preceded the Patriarchate, or the father-rule. "All
+     the social fabrics of the world are built around women. The first
+     stable society was a mother and her child." The reason why the
+     primitive descent of name and property, and the first fixed stake
+     of home life, was the expression of this maternal relationship is
+     obvious. Motherhood was demonstrated by nature before fatherhood
+     was definitely known. Inheritance of name by the female line was
+     alone possible; and that, as well as the female holding and
+     transmitting of property, was a family or tribal or clan
+     relationship, women always retaining rule and wealth not so much
+     as individuals as custodians of communal life and possessions.
+     Not only was the mother with the child the first founder of human
+     society, but the woman in savage life was the first inventor and
+     originator of all life-sustaining industries....
+
+     When man also began to "settle down"--whether from personal
+     choice or from social pressure--when he, too, began to learn and
+     practice the industrial arts heretofore solely in the hands of
+     women, he began to press his more personal and individualistic
+     claims of recognition and of property-owning against the family
+     wealth of which the woman was the custodian.
+
+     As man more and more assumed the burden of the world's industries
+     outside the home (which before had been woman's care alone), and
+     as woman became more and more absorbed in purely domestic
+     concerns, man's individualism assumed greater and greater power
+     within the family life, and he gradually acquired the despotic
+     family headship which marked the ancient patriarchal order of
+     Rome. This was not a social descent, but an immense social
+     uplift, in the age in which it was natural. Professor Mason says,
+     and with profound truth, "Matrimony in all ages is an effort to
+     secure to the child the authenticity of the father." It was
+     necessary for social growth that offspring should have two
+     parents instead of one; that the division of labor should be more
+     equal, and man be fastened to domestic needs by bonds he could
+     not break, and through labors which were peaceful as well as
+     arduous. For that process his individualism, developed through
+     ages of free wandering and purely militant life, must be not only
+     tamed somewhat, but harnessed to the home life.
+
+     To accomplish that mighty social uplift by which offspring
+     secured two parents instead of one, woman's subjection to man was
+     paid as the price of the higher form of family unity. Nor was her
+     subjection to man in the ruder ages of the world wholly an evil
+     to herself. It has been said that "woman was first the wife of
+     any, second the wife of many, and third one of many wives." Each
+     of these steps was an advance in her sexual relationship. All
+     were stepping-stones to the monogamic union which is the standard
+     of our civilization, and the realized ideal of all our best and
+     wisest men and women....
+
+     Bebel says, "Woman was the first human being to taste of
+     bondage." True, and her bondage has been long and bitter; but the
+     subjection of woman to man in the family bond was a vast step
+     upward from the preceding condition. It gave woman release from
+     the terrible labor-burdens of savage life; it gave her time and
+     strength to develop beauty of person and refinement of taste and
+     manners. It gave her the teaching capacity, for it put all the
+     younger child-life into her exclusive care, with some leisure at
+     command to devote to its mental and moral, as well as physical,
+     well-being. It led to a closer relationship between man and woman
+     than the world had known before, and thus gave each the advantage
+     of the other's qualities. And always and everywhere the
+     subjection of woman to man has had a mitigation and softening of
+     hardships unknown to other forms of slavery, by reason of the
+     power of human affection as it has worked through sex-attraction.
+     As soon, however, as the slavery of woman to man was outgrown and
+     obsolete it became (as was African slavery in a professedly
+     democratic country like our own) "the sum of all villainies." And
+     to-day there is no inconsistency so great, and therefore no
+     condition so hurtful and outrageous, as the subjection of women
+     to men in a civilization which like ours assumes to rest upon
+     foundations of justice and equality of human rights....
+
+     To-day these considerations (especially the failure fully to
+     apply the doctrine of equality of human rights to women, even in
+     the most advanced centers of modern civilization) have an
+     especial and most fateful significance in relation to the women
+     of the more backward races as they are brought into contact with
+     our modern civilization. I said the peoples with whom we are now
+     being brought as a nation into vital relationship may be still in
+     the matriarchate. If they are not, most of them are certainly in
+     some transition stage from that to the father-rule. Not all
+     peoples have had to pass through the entire subjection of women
+     to men which marked our ancestral advance. The more persistent
+     tribal relationship and collective family life have sometimes
+     softened the process of social growth which was so harsh for
+     women under the old Roman law and the later English common law.
+     It may be that the dusky races of Africa and of the islands of
+     the sea, as well as our Aryan cousins of India, may pass more
+     easily through the stages of attachment of man's responsibility
+     to the family life than we, with our tough fiber of character,
+     were able to do. If so, in the name of justice they should have
+     the chance!
+
+     But if we, who have not yet "writ large" in law and political
+     rights that respect for woman which all our education, industry,
+     religion, art, home life and social culture express; if we, who
+     are still inconsistent and not yet out of the transition stage
+     from the father-rule to the equal reign of both sexes; if we lay
+     violent hands upon these backward peoples and give them only our
+     law and our political rights as they relate to women, we shall do
+     horrible injustice to the savage women, and through them to the
+     whole process of social growth for their people. When we tried to
+     divide "in severalty" the lands of the American Indian, we did
+     violence to all his own sense of justice and co-operative feeling
+     when we failed to recognize the women of the tribes in the
+     distribution. We then and there gave the Indian the worst of the
+     white man's relationship to his wife, and failed utterly, as in
+     the nature of the case we must have done, to give him the best of
+     the white man's relation to his wife.
+
+     When in India, as Mrs. Garrett Fawcett has so finely shown, we
+     introduce the technicalities of the English law of marriage to
+     bind an unwilling wife to her husband, we give the Hindoo the
+     slavery of the Anglo-Saxon wife, but we do not give him that
+     spirit of Anglo-Saxon marriage and home-life which has made that
+     slavery often scarcely felt, and never an unmixed evil. If,
+     to-day, in the Hawaiian Islands or in Cuba we fail to recognize
+     the native women, who still hold something of the primitive
+     prestige of womanhood, fail to recognize them as entitled to a
+     translation, under new laws and conditions, of the old dignity of
+     position, we shall not only do them an injustice, but we shall
+     forcibly give the Hawaiian and Cuban men lessons in the wrong
+     side and not the right side of our domestic relations. Above all,
+     if in the Philippines we abruptly and with force of arms
+     establish the authority of the husband over the wife, by
+     recognizing men only as property-owners, as signers of treaties,
+     as industrial rulers and as domestic law-givers, we shall
+     introduce every outrage and injustice of women's subjection to
+     men, without giving these people one iota of the sense of family
+     responsibility, of protection of and respect for woman, and of
+     deep and self-sacrificing devotion to childhood's needs, which
+     mark the Anglo-Saxon man.
+
+     In a word, if we introduce one particle of our belated and
+     illogical political and legal subjection of women to men into any
+     savage or half-civilized community, we shall spoil the domestic
+     virtues that community already possesses, and we shall not
+     (because we can not so abruptly and violently) inoculate them
+     with the virtues of civilized domestic life. Nature will not be
+     cheated. We can not escape, nor can we roughly and swiftly help
+     others to escape, the discipline of ages of natural growth.
+
+     This all means that we need another Commission to go to all the
+     lands in which our flag now claims a new power of oversight and
+     control--a Commission other than that so recently sent to the
+     Philippines--to see what may be done to bring order to that
+     distracted group of islands. We need a Commission which shall
+     study domestic rather than political conditions, and which shall
+     look for the undercurrents of social growth rather than the more
+     showy political movements. We should have on that Commission two
+     archaeologists, a man and a woman, and I can name them--Otis T.
+     Mason and Alice C. Fletcher....
+
+An earnest discussion followed this paper, in which Mrs. Clara Bewick
+Colby (D. C.), Mrs. Helen Philleo Jenkins (Mich.), Henry B. Blackwell
+(Mass.), Miss Octavia W. Bates (Mich.), Miss Martha Scott Anderson
+(Minn.), and Miss Anthony took part:
+
+     MRS. JENKINS: ....Whatever power in government may be given to
+     the men of our new possessions in selecting their rulers, let the
+     same privilege be accorded the women. It may be said that the
+     women are ignorant, and need yet to be held in subjection--that
+     they are unfit to have a voice in the new order of things. Let us
+     not be deceived. Probably the women are no more ignorant and
+     stupid than the masses of men in these newly acquired
+     regions--excepting always the few men whom circumstances have
+     developed. The ignorant mother can guide her child quite as
+     safely as its ignorant father. Men and women in all nations and
+     tribes are pretty nearly on a level as to common sense and
+     forethought for the future good of the family. Indeed, the
+     interests of the home, protection of the children, and the morals
+     and behavior of the community make the standard of even
+     unlettered women one notch higher than that of their ignorant
+     husbands. Let us of this nation hesitate before we establish a
+     sex supremacy that it may take long centuries to overcome....
+
+     Thousands of dollars are expended on a military commission; it is
+     sent to investigate the commercial possibilities, the financial
+     opportunities, in remote lands; but the army, the commerce, the
+     finance are not all there is of a nation. There are more vital
+     interests--there is something which lies at the very base of the
+     nation, without which it could not exist--the homes, the women
+     and the children. It is the social conditions that need special
+     consideration in our country's dealings with these new lands.
+
+     MISS BATES: ....In the presence of the events which have
+     transpired during the past year, and in all the discussions
+     pertaining to the new peoples who have suddenly become our
+     proteges, seldom if ever does one hear a word about the women,
+     who, all will admit, are a most important factor in the
+     civilization--or the lack of it--which we have taken under our
+     control.
+
+     We women are here at this time to do our best to awaken the
+     public conscience to a realizing sense of the state of affairs.
+     We are the result of what the religion, the education of the
+     nineteenth century and the liberty which it has granted to women
+     have made us. We are ready and willing and competent to befriend
+     our less favored sisters beyond the seas, and to extend to them
+     the benefits we enjoy, so far as they are able to receive them;
+     but--the tragedy of it--in a certain sense we are utterly
+     helpless to reach them and to give them what they, unconsciously
+     to themselves, so grievously need. There is no place for the
+     thought of the women of this land in the plans of the nation for
+     the study of these questions.
+
+     No matter how much our speaker may think and write and publish on
+     this subject--aye, and women like her--no matter how wise the
+     conclusions they reach, is it at all likely that their voices
+     will be listened to in the din and blare and clash of warring
+     political parties, or respected in legislative halls? Or is it
+     probable that the advocates of territorial expansion will pause a
+     moment to ponder on the woman side of that question? We, to-day,
+     are discussing this subject without even the shadow of a hope of
+     putting our convictions into practice. Is it any wonder that
+     women at large are dead to the importance of this matter?...
+
+     I am in favor of pushing the question to the utmost--not that I
+     have any hope that such a Commission will be appointed, but
+     because it furnishes a most valuable argument for extending the
+     suffrage to women: first, in order that, by its possession, they
+     may have an uncontested, legally-defined right of serving on such
+     commissions; and, second, because of the opportunity it offers
+     for proving to the world the necessity of commissions like this
+     for settling questions and conditions of which women form a
+     central and integral part. Of course if we possessed the
+     suffrage, we should have no necessity for a discussion like the
+     present. Everything we are saying would seem like truisms then,
+     instead of being contested point by point, as it is to-day....
+
+     MR. BLACKWELL: ....In those islands are peoples ranging from
+     absolute savagery to mediaeval civilization, from fighters with
+     blow-guns and bows and arrows to fighters with Mauser rifles and
+     modern artillery. Laws and institutions suited to the needs of
+     one tribe are unsuited to those of another. Side by side are
+     Catholicism, Mohammedanism and heathenism. Their amusements vary
+     from cannibalism to cock-fighting. Their social status ranges
+     from barbarous promiscuity to Moslem polygamy and thence to
+     Hindoo monogamy. But everywhere exist masculine domination and
+     feminine subjection, under varied forms of political despotism,
+     tempered with Protestant liberalism in the case of Hawaii. To
+     establish over all these diverse social conditions the rigid
+     principles of the English common law, which prevail largely in
+     our jurisprudence, will perpetuate and intensify the tyranny of
+     husband over wife, of father over offspring.
+
+     We see the consequences already in the British West Indies, where
+     negro women generally prefer to live outside of legal marriage
+     because as wives they find themselves subjected to practical
+     serfdom. In Jamaica 75 per cent. of the births are illegitimate
+     for this reason. When I visited Haiti, I was told to my great
+     surprise that the homes and small farms were usually owned by the
+     women. Expressing my admiration of this chivalrous recognition of
+     women's right to the homestead, I was informed that there was no
+     such sentiment. It was solely because the men were so lazy and
+     unreliable that the perpetuity of the race was endangered. The
+     fathers of the children were here to-day and away to-morrow. They
+     spent their time in loafing, drinking, gambling and plotting
+     "revolutions." The women, anchored by the love for their
+     children, lived in the little huts on their small plantations,
+     raising yams and bananas, and if the men became too drunken and
+     abusive the women ordered them to leave. Among those people, in a
+     tropical climate, with land to squat upon, most of the work is
+     done by the women. Let no one imagine that the so-called
+     "matriarchate" of early ages was an ideal condition of society.
+     It was based primarily upon the industrial and moral
+     irresponsibility of men.
+
+     In our new possessions, side by side with these primitive
+     conditions, we have great bodies of Chinese and Hindoo coolies,
+     who represent ancient and fossilized types of civilized society,
+     patient, economical, industrious, monogamous and exclusive in
+     their family relations. The trouble is that where Western
+     civilization interferes with Oriental abuses it does not go far
+     enough. When in India the British government prohibited the
+     custom of burning widows on the funeral pyre of their deceased
+     husbands, widows became the slaves of their husband's relatives,
+     and were actually believed to be responsible for his death and
+     were ill treated accordingly. When infanticide was forbidden and
+     peace maintained, population multiplied until famine became
+     chronic. The only salvation for the women of our new possessions
+     lies in a legal recognition of their personal, industrial, social
+     and political equality. If, as seems too probable, their rights
+     shall be simply ignored in the reconstruction, women will suffer
+     all the disabilities of the law, without the practical
+     alleviations afforded by an enlightened public opinion. Such
+     women, even more than those of our own States, will need the
+     ballot as a means of self-protection....
+
+     MISS ANTHONY: I have been overflowing with wrath ever since the
+     proposal was made to engraft our half-barbaric form of government
+     on Hawaii and our other new possessions. I have been studying how
+     to save, not them, but ourselves from the disgrace. This is the
+     first time the United States has ever tried to foist upon a new
+     people the exclusively masculine form of government. Our business
+     should be to give this people the highest form which has been
+     attained by us. When our State governments were originally
+     formed, there was no example of woman suffrage anywhere, but now
+     we have a great deal of it, and everywhere it has done good. The
+     principle is constantly spreading....
+
+     We are told it will be of no use for us to ask this measure of
+     justice--that the ballot be given to the women of our new
+     possessions upon the same terms as to the men--because we shall
+     not get it. It is not our business whether we are going to get
+     it; our business is to make the demand. Suppose during these
+     fifty years we had asked only for what we thought we could
+     secure, where should we be now? Ask for the whole loaf and take
+     what you can get.
+
+Mrs. Mary L. Doe (Mich.), brought greetings from the American
+Federation of Labor. "Woman suffrage would find its most hopeful and
+fertile field among the labor organizations," she said; "the
+workingmen stood for weak and defenseless women even before they did
+for their own rights." From Samuel Gompers, president of the
+Federation, she read the following letter:
+
+     The American Federation of Labor, at every convention where the
+     subject has been brought up and discussed, has unfalteringly
+     declared for equal legal, political and economic rights for
+     women. At the convention held in Detroit, some thirteen years
+     ago, a resolution to that effect was unanimously adopted. A
+     petition to Congress for the submission of a constitutional
+     amendment enfranchising women was circulated among our various
+     unions, and within two months it received nearly 300,000
+     signatures and indorsements.
+
+     At the Kansas City convention last December, the question of
+     woman's work was discussed, and the following declaration was
+     unanimously adopted: "In view of the awful conditions under which
+     woman is compelled to toil, this, the eighteenth annual
+     convention of the American Federation of Labor, strongly urges
+     the more general formation of trade unions of wage-working women,
+     to the end that they may scientifically and permanently abolish
+     the terrible evils accompanying their weakened, because
+     unorganized state; and we emphatically reiterate the trade-union
+     demand that women receive equal compensation for equal service
+     performed."
+
+     You will see that there ought to be no question as to the
+     attitude of the organized labor movement on this subject,
+     notwithstanding the designing misrepresentations of enemies of
+     our cause, who seek to place our movement in a false light. Let
+     me say, too, that the declaration just quoted is not for
+     compliment merely, for members of many of our organizations have
+     been involved in long and sacrificing contests in order to secure
+     to women equal pay for equal work. Please convey fraternal
+     greetings to our friends who will meet at Grand Rapids.
+
+When Mrs. Loraine Immen came forward with a greeting from the Michigan
+Elocutionists' Association, Miss Anthony spoke of the great change
+which had taken place in women's voices in the last twenty-five years.
+At an early Woman's Rights Convention, when she insisted that they
+should speak louder, one of them answered, "We are not here to
+screech; we are here to be ladies."
+
+Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake (N. Y.) spoke entertainingly on The Hope of
+the Future:
+
+     The lessons of the past year have brought home to many of us more
+     forcibly than any other recent events the injustice and cruelty
+     of denying to women their proper share in deciding questions for
+     the public good. We have seen the republic plunged into war in
+     which women have borne a heavy share of the burdens. It should be
+     the rule of all nations that no contest of arms should be entered
+     into without the consent of the women....
+
+     Another significant object lesson grew out of the war. When the
+     time of election approached, the governmental authorities became
+     much exercised over the means of providing for the voting of the
+     soldiers. It is astonishing how much men think of their own right
+     to vote. Extra sessions of the Legislatures were called to
+     provide means of meeting this emergency. In this dilemma I
+     ventured to write to the Governor of my State and suggest that he
+     recommend the passing of a law empowering each soldier and sailor
+     to send to some woman at home a proxy permitting her to vote for
+     him. You can see how simple a plan this would be. Every man would
+     have a beloved mother, a dear sister or some adored damsel whom
+     he would be proud to have represent him at the polls, and the
+     amount of money which this scheme would have saved to the State
+     is enormous. The counting of the soldiers' votes when at last
+     they were sent to New York cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
+     In one instance, in a certain county where the board of
+     supervisors had to be called together in two special sessions and
+     the county officials summoned as if at a regular election, to
+     count six votes, the amount reached $100 per vote!
+
+Miss Frances A. Griffin (Ala.), a new speaker on the national
+platform, captured the audience with her rich voice and southern
+intonation as she discussed The Effects of Our Teaching:
+
+     The thanksgiving of the old Jew, "Lord, I thank Thee that Thou
+     didst not make me a woman," doubtless came from a careful review
+     of the situation. Like all of us, he had fortitude enough to bear
+     his neighbors' afflictions....
+
+     Miss Anthony deals recklessly with years, apportioning them to
+     her friends as liberally as Napoleon dealt out kingdoms and
+     duchies to his brothers and other relations. Her example has
+     strengthened me; you never would have had this next remark but
+     for Miss Anthony: Thirty-five years ago I read a graduating
+     essay. I knew I was doing an unwomanly thing, and in order to
+     preserve what little womanliness I might have left, when I got up
+     to read it I whispered the whole essay. I've quit that. Since I
+     made up my mind to be heard, I have been heard.... A great
+     progress of women has gone on and is going on. Men for the most
+     part are manageable; women are the converts needed. When women
+     have their minds made up to vote, it will be with them as it was
+     with me about being heard....
+
+     This is a new era for woman. If the larger sphere now open to her
+     is not a new discovery, it is at least a new testament. The day
+     will come that people will look back with shame on the time when
+     brains and virtue were shut away from the ballot-box, if they
+     belonged to a woman....
+
+Miss Anna Caulfield (Mich.) pointed out The Achievements of Woman in
+Art. Mrs. May Wright Sewall (Ind.) spoke eloquently on The True
+Civilization of the World, saying in part:
+
+     In the new civilization the sense of personal responsibility is
+     strong; it respects the child's individuality and also recognizes
+     the unity of all educational agencies--kindergarten, school,
+     college and university.
+
+     There is also a new theology, in which individual conscience is
+     substituted for the dictates of authority, and which
+     distinguishes between metaphysical doctrine and practical
+     principle. It seeks the higher unity, all embracing.
+
+     The new political economy recognizes the right of the individual,
+     and the body politic as composed of units, each one of which must
+     be respected. Its whole effort is to preserve the rights of
+     employers and to give equal recognition to the employed; to unify
+     all those classes that have heretofore been kept divided.
+
+     The new civilization results from all these. The difficulties in
+     realizing this perfect unit arise from selfishness. We have long
+     recognized that individual selfishness is a defect, but national
+     selfishness has been for a long time extolled under the name of
+     patriotism, and has gone on cleaving great chasms between
+     different peoples. In the new civilization the individual will
+     recognize himself at his best in his relation to the whole. The
+     different professions will recognize that what each contributes
+     bears but a small ratio to what each receives from the rest. The
+     different nationalities will recognize their respective dignities
+     in just the proportion in which the whole must transcend any
+     part. Then humanity will exceed national feeling and the unity of
+     the race will exalt the dignity of the individual.
+
+The resolution presented by Mrs. Sewall, member for the United States
+of the International Peace Union, rejoicing over the approaching Peace
+Conference at The Hague and assuring the commissioners from the United
+States of the sympathy of the women of this country, was unanimously
+adopted.
+
+The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, national vice-president, whose childhood
+and early girlhood had been spent in Michigan, closed the Saturday
+evening meeting with a tender address on Working Partners, a graphic
+description of the pioneer days of this State and the hardships of
+its women, during which she said: "Women have been faithful partners
+and have done their full share of the work. A gentleman opposed to
+their enfranchisement once said to me, 'Women have never produced
+anything of any value to the world.' I told him the chief product of
+the women had been the men, and left it to him to decide whether the
+product was of any value. Is it said that women must not vote because
+they can not bear arms? Why, women's arms have borne all the
+arm-bearers of the world. We have no antique art in America, but we
+have antique laws. We do not look back to the antiquity of the world,
+but to the babyhood of the world. Who would think of calling a
+new-born infant antique? Yet laws made in the babyhood of the world
+are in this day of its manhood quoted for our guidance. Much has been
+said lately about 'the white man's burden', but the white man will
+never have a heavier burden to take up than himself."
+
+Twelve churches offered their pulpits, which were filled by the women
+speakers Sunday morning.[117] The regular convention services were
+held Sunday afternoon in the St. Cecilia building, a large audience
+being present. The Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell led the devotional
+exercises, and the Rev. Florence Kollock Crooker gave the sermon from
+the text: "Whether one member suffers, all the members suffer with it;
+or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it." Afterwards
+Mrs. Sewall spoke on the coming Peace Congress at The Hague and, on
+motion of Melvin A. Root, a resolution was adopted that on May 15, the
+opening day of the congress, the women of our country assemble in
+public and send to it the voice of women in favor of peace.
+
+A touching letter from Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was read by Miss
+Anthony during the convention, in which she said: "We seem to be
+pariahs alike in the visible and the invisible world, with no foothold
+anywhere, though by every principle of government and religion we
+should have an equal place on this planet. We do not hold the ignorant
+class of men responsible for these outrages against women, but rather
+the published opinions of men in high positions, judges, bishops,
+presidents of colleges, editors, novelists and poets--all taught by
+the common and civil law. It is a sad reflection that the chains of
+woman's bondage have been forged by her own sires and sons. Every man
+who is not for us in this prolonged struggle for liberty is
+responsible for the present degradation of the mothers of the race. It
+is pitiful to see how few men ever have made our cause their own, but
+while leaving us to fight our battle alone, they have been unsparing
+in their criticism of every failure. Of all the battles for liberty in
+the long past, woman only has been left to fight her own, without help
+and with all the powers of earth and heaven, human and divine, arrayed
+against her."
+
+Monday evening Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, national treasurer, told of
+An Ohio Woman's Experience as Member of a School Board. She gave a
+lively account of her own nomination and election in Warren, and said
+in concluding: "It was not a war of women against men, but of
+liberalism against conservatism, of principle against prejudice, of
+the new against the old. It does not take any more time to clean up a
+schoolhouse and keep out scarlet fever than it does to nurse the
+children through the scarlet fever."
+
+Mrs. Flora Beadle Renkes, School Commissioner of Barry County, Mich.,
+described Some Phases of Public School Work. She advocated industrial
+and moral as well as intellectual training and all of this equally for
+both sexes.
+
+Mrs. Minerva Welch, in considering Woman's Possibilities, said: "To my
+mind it is given to woman to develop the greatest possibilities in all
+the world. She can direct the character of generations. If woman ever
+gains the place God intended her to have it must be through the mother
+element. In Denver we have organized women's clubs for the study of
+art, literature and political science. We have learned to fraternize.
+Men have found that women bring their moral influence into politics,
+and the men also know that they must look to their own morals if they
+want office. Many questions have been sent to our State asking about
+the new conditions. Woman suffrage has proved a success, and the women
+can stand with heads erect, shoulder to shoulder with any one, knowing
+that they are full, free citizens of the State of Colorado and of the
+United States."
+
+Miss Anthony then, by special request, gave a recital of all the facts
+connected with her arrest, trial and conviction for voting in 1872.
+Miss Shaw introduced her as a criminal, and Miss Anthony retorted,
+"Yes, a criminal out of jail, just like a good many of the brethren."
+With marvelous power she recalled all the details of that dramatic
+episode.
+
+Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway (Ore.) gave an address on How to Win the
+Ballot, containing much sound sense. It was published in full by the
+Grand Rapids _Democrat_. Mrs. Evelyn H. Belden, president of the Iowa
+Equal Suffrage Association, spoke on Women and War, saying:
+
+     Did you ever have to live with heroes--with men who have survived
+     the hardships and dangers of war? One of the reasons for my
+     mildness in public is that I have to be mild at home. I live with
+     the heroes of two wars. The elder put down the rebellion--so he
+     tells me. The younger, for whom I am responsible, has
+     accomplished an even more perilous feat; he met in mortal combat
+     every day for six months the product of the commissary department
+     of our late war. He is still alive, but "kicking"--and so is his
+     mother!
+
+     Note that there were no women on the War Investigating
+     Commission. Brutal officers, incompetent quartermasters and
+     ignorant doctors were tried before a jury of their peers. Every
+     department which was conducted without the help of women has been
+     for months writhing under the probe of an official investigation,
+     and is still writhing under the lash of public opinion.
+
+     When the war broke out, the women of Iowa, with the suffragists
+     at their head, cheerfully consecrated themselves to the service
+     of a State which does not recognize them as the equals of their
+     own boys. I have one old trunk that made six trips to Chickamauga
+     Park, filled with delicacies for the soldiers. About August I
+     made up my mind to go and see things for myself. My husband was
+     told it was no place for a woman there among 60,000 men and 1,500
+     animals; but he had business at home which he did not think I
+     could attend to, and he thought I could go to Chickamauga just as
+     well as he....
+
+     If there had been women on the commission, would they have
+     pitched the camp five miles from water? Or provided only one
+     horse and one mule to bring the water for two companies? Or
+     ordered the soldiers to filter and boil their drinking water,
+     without furnishing any filters or any vessels to boil it in? It
+     is said that suffragists do not know how to keep house. If so,
+     the men who managed the war must all be suffragists.
+
+     But Clara Barton and the women nurses have won golden opinions
+     from every one. If any man had given a tithe of what Helen Gould
+     did, he could have had any office in the gift of the
+     administration. So could she, if she had been a voter. She might
+     even have been Secretary of War.
+
+     We raise our sons to die not for their country--no woman grudges
+     her sons to her country--but to die unnecessarily of disease and
+     neglect, because of red tape....
+
+     History furnishes no parallel to the women of America during the
+     last year's war. They were fully alive to its issues,
+     intelligently conversant with its causes, its purposes and
+     possibilities; they studied camp locations, conditions and
+     military rules; and through the hand the heart found constant
+     expression, as many a company of grateful boys can testify. The
+     experience of this war ought to have effectually destroyed the
+     last trace of mediaeval sentiment concerning the propriety of
+     women mixing in the affairs of government, and also the last
+     shadow of doubt as to the expediency of recognizing them as
+     voters.
+
+Mrs. Josephine K. Henry (Ky.) made an address sparkling with the
+epigrams for which she was noted, entitled A Plea for the Ballot:
+
+     ....The light and the eager interest in the faces of American
+     women show that they are going somewhere; and when women have
+     started for somewhere, they are harder to head off than a
+     comet.... All roads for women lead to suffrage, even if they do
+     not know it. We are Daughters of Evolution, and who can stop old
+     Dame Evolution?... We must live up to our principles, or, as a
+     nation, we are not going to live at all. Then it will be time for
+     Liberty to throw down her torch, and go out of the enlightening
+     business.... "Woman's sphere"--these are the two hardest-worked
+     words in the dictionary.... They call in the mental and moral
+     wreckage of foreign nations to help rule us. A man was asked,
+     "How are you going to vote on the constitution?" He answered: "My
+     constitution's mighty poorly; my mother was feeble before me."
+     There is deep tragedy in giving such men control of the lives and
+     property of American women.... There is not so much the matter
+     with the U. S. Constitution as with the constitutions of some of
+     our statesmen.... It is not an expansion of territory that we
+     need so much as an expansion of justice to our own women....
+     American men have had a hard struggle for their own liberty, and
+     some of them are afraid there will not be liberty enough to go
+     around.... What relation is woman to the State? She is a very
+     poor relation, yet her tax-money is demanded promptly.
+
+Dr. Mary H. Barker Bates, of the Denver School Board, discussed Our
+Gains and Our Losses, and said in closing: "We have learned that in
+politics we must have a machine, only it should be used for good
+government, not for corruption. Make your machine as perfect as you
+can, without a flaw in it anywhere, and then use it for good ends."
+Mrs. Mary B. Clay (Ky.) gave a careful survey of conditions resulting
+from The Removal of Industries from the Home, which had forced woman
+to follow them and made her an industrial factor in the outside world.
+Miss Griffin being again called on told these anecdotes:
+
+     In my home in Alabama there are four educated women. My father
+     has passed away. My sisters are widows and I am an old maid. We
+     have as our gardener a negro boy twenty-three years old. When he
+     came to us he said that he had been in the Second Reader for ten
+     years, but on election day he goes over and votes to represent
+     our family. If we complain of having no vote on the expenditure
+     of our tax-money, we are told we must "influence" men; in other
+     words, we must influence that gardener. But when we start to do
+     so, and ask him how he means to vote, he says he doesn't know
+     yet, because he hasn't seen "Uncle Peter," the colored minister.
+
+     In my section men are chivalric and say, "Don't you know that you
+     shall have everything you ask as ladies? Don't you know that we
+     are your natural protectors?" But what is a woman afraid of on a
+     lonely road after dark? The bears and wolves are all gone; there
+     is nothing to be afraid of now but our natural protectors.
+
+     On the islands off our coast there was a large population that
+     could not read or write. A missionary-spirited woman went there
+     to help educate them. After awhile she was made a member of the
+     school board, which consisted of a few white men and more
+     negroes. The president of the board, a colored man, was disgusted
+     at the elevation of a woman to that dignity, and when she was
+     sworn in he resigned, saying, "Now you've swore her in, you've
+     got to swear me out; I'm not going to sit on no board with no
+     woman."
+
+During the convention Miss Anthony made an earnest appeal for
+co-operation in the equal suffrage work, saying: "Why is it the duty
+of the little handful on this platform to be talking and working for
+the enfranchisement of women any more than that of all of you who sit
+here to-night? Every woman can do something for the cause. She who is
+true to it at her own fireside, who speaks the right word to her
+guests, to her children and her neighbors' children, does an
+educational work as valuable as that of the woman who speaks from the
+platform." She also urged a wider reading of the equal rights papers,
+the _Woman's Journal_, _Tribune_, _Standard_, _Wisconsin Citizen_,
+etc., and suffrage pamphlets and leaflets. She defended herself
+against the accusation of abusing the men, saying, "We have not been
+fighting the 'male' citizen anywhere but in the statute books."
+
+Eighty-seven delegates representing twenty-two States were present at
+this convention. The treasurer reported the receipts of the past year
+to be $14,020. Mrs. Chapman Catt, chairman of the Organization
+Committee, related the work done by the suffrage organizations in
+behalf of the Spanish-American War. She described also the efforts
+made to obtain suffrage for women in the new constitution of Louisiana
+the preceding year, which resulted in securing the franchise for
+taxpaying women on all matters submitted to taxpayers. The work in
+different States and Territories, especially in Arizona and Oklahoma,
+was sketched in detail, and will be found in their respective
+chapters.
+
+In concluding her report as chairman of the Legislative Committee,
+Mrs. Blake called attention to the more hopeful character of this
+record as compared to that of last year, and urged upon all State
+presidents the importance of having some one to represent the
+interests of women constantly at their capitals during the legislative
+sessions, not only to secure favorable legislation but to prevent that
+inimical to their interests, citing the case of New Mexico, where a
+law which infringes on the right of dower was recently passed without
+the knowledge of women.
+
+Mrs. Elnora M. Babcock (N. Y.) was made chairman of National Press
+Work, with power to appoint a chairman in each State. The customary
+telegram of congratulation and appreciation was sent to the honorary
+president, Mrs. Stanton. Mrs. Eliza Wright Osborne (N. Y.) was
+appointed fraternal delegate to the International Council of Women to
+meet in London in June. Greetings were received through fraternal
+delegates, Mrs. Jessie R. Denney, from the Ancient Order of United
+Workingmen, and Mrs. Emma A. Wheeler from the Canadian W. C. T. U. The
+letter to Miss Anthony from its president, Mrs. Annie O. Rutherford,
+said: "A vigorous campaign is being carried on in every Province in
+favor of equal suffrage, with fair hope of success in most of them. We
+wish for your convention a most successful issue, and that your life,
+whose grand pioneer work has made it easy for those who follow after,
+may be spared many years yet to help broaden the path and uplift the
+cause of humanity." Many letters and telegrams were received from
+State suffrage associations and from individuals. Mrs. Belva A.
+Lockwood (D. C.) wrote: "As a delegate to the ninth annual convention
+of the International League of Press Clubs just held in Baltimore, I
+succeeded in gaining recognition on equal terms for women journalists
+in the space to be allotted to men journalists in the Exposition at
+Paris in 1900."
+
+A lively discussion was caused by a resolution offered by Mrs. Lottie
+Wilson Jackson, a delegate from Michigan, so light-complexioned as
+hardly to suggest a tincture of African blood, that "colored women
+ought not be compelled to ride in smoking cars, and that suitable
+accommodations should be provided for them." It was finally tabled as
+being outside the province of the convention.[118]
+
+The memorial resolutions were presented by the Rev. Antoinette Brown
+Blackwell, who said: "These tributes are largely to older men and
+women with whom I was associated long ago and it is a pleasure to
+recall their noble services to humanity in times when they and their
+work were far more unpopular than to-day. There are twenty-five on my
+list, yet I think there was only one of the entire number who was not
+more than fifty years old, and most of them reached on toward the
+eighties and nineties. All were earnest advocates of equal suffrage,
+but there were kindred causes to which most of them were also
+devoted.... Laura P. Haviland spent seventy years of her life in
+Michigan, the last five here in Grand Rapids. At one time she assumed
+the care of nine orphan children; at another, during the Civil War she
+was the active agent who freed from prison a large number of Union
+soldiers held upon false charges. She labored for every good cause and
+was a simple Quaker in religion and life....
+
+"Parker Pillsbury of New Hampshire, who died last year, aged 88, known
+as a life-long worker for the oppressed before the Civil War, gave
+much of his energy to the cause of anti-slavery. When that noble
+philanthropy was split in two throughout its whole length because
+one-half would not let women serve on committees with men or raise
+their voices publicly for those who were dumb and helpless, Parker
+Pillsbury stood by the side of Abby Kelly and the Grimke sisters. His
+terse, characteristic, uncompromising language, his cheerful braving
+of prejudice, his sympathetic claim for justice to womanhood, made him
+one of the noblest of men....
+
+"In the long and many-sided history of the woman's cause, Mrs. Matilda
+Joslyn Gage made a deep and lasting mark. I recall her as she came
+first upon our platform at the Syracuse Woman's Rights Convention in
+1852, a young mother of two children, yet with a heart also for a
+wider cause. Wendell Phillips said of her then, 'She came to us an
+unknown woman. She leaves us a co-worker whose reputation is
+established.' ...
+
+"The Hon. Nelson W. Dingley was able officially to help our movement
+with efficient good-will. His vote was recorded for the admission of
+States with a woman suffrage constitution."
+
+Mrs. Blackwell paid personal tribute to most of those who had passed
+away, and Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby continued the memorial, speaking at
+length of the splendid work of Mrs. Gage; of Mrs. Flora M. Kimball and
+Mrs. Abigail Bush, of California--but early Eastern pioneers; Mrs.
+Sarah M. Kimball of Utah; Mrs. Frances Bagley and Dr. Charlotte
+Levanway of Michigan; and a long list of men and women in various
+States who had done their part in aiding the cause of equal suffrage.
+She concluded with eloquent words of appreciation of the services of
+Robert Purvis of Philadelphia, and presented the following resolutions
+sent by Mrs. Stanton:
+
+     During the period of reconstruction, the popular cry was, "This
+     is the negro's hour," and Republicans and Abolitionists alike
+     insisted that woman's claim to the suffrage must be held in
+     abeyance until the negro was safe beyond peradventure.
+     Distinguished politicians, lawyers and congressmen declared that
+     woman as well as the negro was enfranchised by the Fourteenth
+     Amendment, yet reformers and politicians denounced those women
+     who would not keep silent, while the Republican and anti-slavery
+     press ignored their demands altogether. In this dark hour of
+     woman's struggle, forsaken by all those who once recognized her
+     civil and political rights, two noble men steadfastly maintained
+     that it was not only woman's right but her duty to push her
+     claims while the constitutional door was open and the rights of
+     citizens in a republic were under discussion; therefore,
+
+     _Resolved_, That women owe a debt of gratitude to Robert Purvis
+     and Parker Pillsbury for their fearless advocacy of our cause,
+     when to do so was considered to be treason to a great party
+     measure, involving life and liberty for the colored race.
+
+     _Resolved_, That in the death of men of such exalted virtue, true
+     to principle under the most trying circumstances, sacrificing the
+     ties of friendship and the respect of their compeers, they are
+     conspicuous as the moral heroes of the nineteenth century.
+
+The memorial service was closed with prayer by the Rev. Anna Howard
+Shaw, who voiced the gratitude for the inspiration of such lives as
+these and the hope that this generation might carry the work on to its
+full fruition.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The keynote to the speeches and action of this convention was the
+status of women in our new possessions. At a preliminary meeting of
+the Business Committee, held in the home of Mrs. Chapman Catt at
+Bensonhurst-by-the-Sea, N. Y., Jan. 2, 1899, the following "open
+letter" had been prepared and sent to every member of Congress:
+
+     TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: We respectfully
+     request that in the qualifications for voters in the proposed
+     Constitution for the new Territory of Hawaii the word "male" be
+     omitted.
+
+     The declared intention of the United States in annexing the
+     Hawaiian Islands is to give them the benefits of the most
+     advanced civilization, and it is a truism that the progress of
+     civilization in every country is measured by the approach of
+     women toward the ideal of equal rights with men.
+
+     Under barbarism the struggle for existence is entirely on the
+     physical plane. The woman freely enters the arena and her failure
+     or success depends wholly upon her own strength. When life rises
+     to the intellectual plane public opinion is expressed in law.
+     Justice demands that we shall not offer to women emerging from
+     barbarism the ball and chain of a sex disqualification while we
+     hold out to men the crown of self-government.
+
+     The trend of civilization is closely in the direction of equal
+     rights for women. [Then followed a list of the gains for woman
+     suffrage.]
+
+     The Hon. John D. Long, Secretary of the Navy, calls the
+     opposition to woman suffrage a "slowly melting glacier of
+     bourbonism and prejudice". The melting is going on steadily all
+     over our country, and it would be most inopportune to impose upon
+     our new possessions abroad the antiquated restrictions which we
+     are fast discarding at home.
+
+     We, therefore, petition your Honorable Body that, upon whatever
+     conditions and qualifications the right of suffrage is granted to
+     Hawaiian men, it shall be granted to Hawaiian women.[119]
+
+Notwithstanding this appeal, and special petitions also from the
+Suffrage Associations of the forty-five States, our Congress provided
+a constitution in which the word "male" was introduced more frequently
+than in the Constitution of the United States or of any State, in the
+determination to bar out Hawaiian women from voting and holding
+office. It was declared that only "male" citizens should fill any
+office or vote for any officer, a sweeping restriction which is not
+made in a single State of our Union. Not satisfied with this infamous
+abuse of power, our Congress refused to this new Territory a privilege
+enjoyed by every other Territory in the United States--that of having
+the power vested in its Legislature to grant woman suffrage--and
+provided that this Territorial Legislature must submit the question to
+the voters. It took care, however, to enfranchise every male being in
+the Islands--Kanaka, Japanese and Portuguese--and it will be only by
+their permission that even the American and English women residing
+there ever can possess the suffrage.
+
+The members of the commission who drafted this constitution were
+President Sanford B. Dole and Associate Justice W. F. Frear of Hawaii;
+Senators John T. Morgan, Ala.; Shelby M. Cullom, Ills.; Representative
+Robert R. Hitt, Ills. Justice Frear said over his own signature, Feb.
+11, 1899: "I proposed at a meeting of the Hawaiian Commission that the
+Legislature be permitted to authorize woman suffrage, and President
+Dole supported me, but the other members of the commission took a
+different view." In other words, the Hawaiian members favored the
+enfranchisement of their women but were overruled by the American
+members. If but one of the latter had stood by those from Hawaii its
+women would not have been placed, as they now are, under greater
+subjection even than those of the United States, and far greater than
+they were before the annexation of the Islands. Yet after the
+consummation of this shameful act the world was asked to rejoice over
+the creation of a new republic!
+
+There is not the slightest reason to hope that the appeals for justice
+to the women of the Philippines will meet with any greater success, as
+it is the policy of our Government to give to men every incentive to
+study its institutions and fit themselves for an intelligent voice in
+their control, but to discourage all interest on the part of women and
+to prevent them absolutely from any participation. Having held
+American women in subjection for a century and a quarter, it now shows
+a determination to place the same handicap upon the women of our
+newly-acquired possessions.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+During the spring of 1902, just before this volume goes to the
+publishers, the U. S. Senate Philippine Commission has been summoning
+before it a number of persons competent to give expert testimony as to
+existing conditions in those Islands. Among these were Judge W. H.
+Taft, who for the past year has been Governor of the Philippines and
+speaks with high authority; and Archbishop Nozaleda, who has been
+connected with the Catholic church in the Islands for twenty-six
+years, and Archbishop since 1889, and who has the fullest
+understanding of the natives. Governor Taft said in answer to the
+committee:
+
+     The fact is that, not only among the Tagalogs but also among the
+     Christian Filipinos, the woman is the active manager of the
+     family, so if you expect to confer political power on the
+     Filipinos it ought to be given to the women.
+
+Archbishop Nozaleda testified as follows: (Senate Document 190, p.
+109.)
+
+     The woman is better than the man in every way--in intelligence,
+     in virtue and in labor--and a great deal more economical. She is
+     very much given to trade and trafficking. If any rights and
+     privileges are to be granted to the natives, do not give them to
+     the men but to the women.
+
+     Q. Then you think it would be much better to give the women the
+     right to vote than the men?
+
+     A. O, much better. Why, even in the fields it is the women who do
+     the work; the men who go to the cock fights and gamble. The woman
+     is the one who supports the man there; so every law of justice
+     demands that even in political life they should have the
+     privilege over the men.
+
+The action which our Government will eventually take in conferring the
+suffrage on the Filipinos can not be recorded in this volume, but the
+prophecy is here made that, in spite of the above testimony, and much
+more of the same nature which has been given by correspondents in the
+Philippines and by many who have returned from there, the Government
+of the United States will enfranchise the inferior male inhabitants
+and hold as political subjects the superior women of these Islands.
+And again the world will be called upon to greet another republic!
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[117] Miss Anthony spoke to a crowded house in the Fountain Street
+Baptist Church on The Moral Influence of Women, and the Rev. Anna
+Howard Shaw to another great audience in the Park Congregational
+Church from the text, "Only be thou strong and very courageous."
+Calvary Baptist Church was filled to overflowing to hear Miss Laura
+Clay on The Bible for Equal Rights. Interested congregations listened
+to the Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, who preached at the Division
+Street Methodist Church from the text, "Knowledge shall increase";
+Miss Laura Gregg, who spoke at the Second Baptist Church on My
+Country, 'Tis of Thee; Mrs. Colby, at the Plainfield Avenue Methodist
+Church, on The Legend of Lilith; Miss Lena Morrow at Memorial Church,
+Miss Lucy E. Textor at All Souls, and Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton and
+various members of the convention in other pulpits.
+
+[118] The following resolutions were adopted:
+
+That we reaffirm our devotion to the immortal principle that
+governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed,
+and we call for its application in the case of women citizens.
+
+We protest against the introduction of the word "male" in the suffrage
+clause of the proposed Constitution of Hawaii, and declare that upon
+whatever terms the franchise may be granted to men, it should be
+granted also to women.
+
+In all the great questions of war and peace, currency, tariff and
+taxation, annexation of foreign territory and alien races, women are
+vitally interested and should have an equal expression at the ballot
+box, and we recommend to the President of the United States the
+appointment of a committee of women to investigate the condition of
+women in our new island territories.
+
+We congratulate the women of Ireland who have just voted for the first
+time for municipal and county officers, and we call attention to the
+fact that 75 per cent. of the qualified women voted, and that the
+dispatches say they discharged their duty in a serious and
+businesslike spirit, with a keen eye to the personal merits of
+candidates.
+
+We congratulate the women of Colorado, whose Legislature lately passed
+a resolution testifying to the good effects of equal suffrage by a
+vote of 45 to 3 in the House, and 30 to 1 in the Senate.
+
+We congratulate the women of New Orleans, who are about to vote for
+the first time, on a tax levy for sewerage and drainage, and we
+commend their patriotic activity in collecting the signatures of 2,000
+taxpaying women of that city in behalf of clean streets and a pure
+water supply.
+
+We congratulate the women of France, who have just voted for the first
+time for judges of tribunals of commerce, and we call attention to the
+fact that in Paris, of the qualified voters, men and women taken
+together, only 14 per cent. voted, but of the women 30 per cent.
+voted.
+
+We congratulate the women of Kansas on the increased municipal vote of
+April, 1899, over the entire State, Kansas City alone registering
+4,800 women and casting over 3,000 women's votes at the municipal
+election.
+
+We thank the House of Representatives of Oklahoma for its vote of 14
+to 9, and of Arizona for its vote of 19 to 5, for woman suffrage, and
+regret that the question did not reach the Councils of these
+Territories.
+
+We thank the Legislature of California for its enactment, with only
+one dissenting vote in the House and six in the Senate, of a school
+suffrage law (which failed to receive the approval of the Governor),
+also we thank the Legislatures of Connecticut and Ohio, which have
+defeated bills to repeal the existing school suffrage laws of those
+States.
+
+We thank the legislators of Oregon who have just submitted an
+amendment granting suffrage to women by a vote of 48 to 6 in the House
+and 25 to 1 in the Senate, and we hope that Oregon will add a fifth
+star to our equal suffrage flag.
+
+This association is non sectarian and non partisan, and asks for the
+ballot not for the sake of advancing any specific measure, but as a
+matter of justice to the whole human family. In all the States where
+equal suffrage campaigns are pending we advise women and men to base
+their plea on the ground of clear and obvious justice, and not to
+indulge in predictions as to what women will do with the ballot before
+it is secured.
+
+We protest against women being counted in the basis of representation
+of State and nation so long as they are not permitted to vote for
+their representatives.
+
+We appreciate the friendly attitude of the American Federation of
+Labor, the National Grange and other public bodies of voters, as shown
+by their resolutions indorsing the legal, political and economic
+equality of women.
+
+We rejoice in the Peace Congress about to meet at The Hague, and hope
+it may be preliminary to the establishment of international
+arbitration.
+
+[119] See also Chap. XXIII for further efforts to protect the women of
+Hawaii.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+THE NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1900.
+
+
+The Thirty-second annual convention of the suffrage association, held
+in Washington, D. C., Feb. 8-14, 1900, possessed two features of
+unusual interest--it closed the century and it marked the end of Miss
+Susan B. Anthony's presidency of the organization. The latter event
+attracted wide attention. Sketches of her career and of the movement
+whose history was almost synonymous with her own, appeared in most of
+the leading newspapers and magazines of the country; special reporters
+were sent to Washington, and the celebration of her eightieth birthday
+at the close of the convention was in the nature of a national event.
+On the opening morning the _Post_ said in a leading editorial:
+
+     Washington entertains the National Woman Suffrage Association
+     from year to year with entire complacency, apart from any
+     political prejudice, without any sense of partisanship and in a
+     spirit of keen interest in the great propaganda which is being
+     thus conducted. There was a time, not so very long ago, when the
+     plea for suffrage was ridiculed far and wide; but the women have
+     worked ahead undaunted by the scoffings of the world, until they
+     have actually won the battle in such a marked degree as to give
+     them unbounded assurance for the future....
+
+     The world is beginning to take a new view of this suffrage
+     question. The advent of women into the professions and even the
+     trades, their appearance as wage-earners in virtually every
+     branch of modern activity, and their success in these various
+     enterprises which they have entered, have worked a reform even
+     more significant than the absolute and universal grant of the
+     suffrage would have been. It can not be denied by men to-day that
+     the women have become economic factors of marked importance, and
+     this appreciation has had a great influence in softening the
+     sentiments of the male population toward the suffragists.
+
+     One of the foremost arguments formerly urged against the
+     extension of the suffrage to women was that it would be harmful
+     to woman's moral nature to thrust her into contact with the rough
+     conditions of campaigning. The women answered that their entrance
+     would perhaps redeem the immoral character of the politics of
+     many communities. In the minds of impartial observers the
+     argument was a stand-off. But this economic, professional
+     tendency of the women has done much to destroy the force of the
+     men's plea to preserve the women from contaminating contact with
+     harsh conditions. The security of the average woman worker in the
+     various lines of honest activity which the sex has fearlessly
+     entered has worked a revelation. The close of the century is
+     witnessing a great change in public sentiment in this regard. The
+     demand of the suffragists can not but be strengthened by the
+     demonstrated fact that women can become workers in competition
+     with men without becoming demoralized.
+
+     Just where this new tendency will lead in an economic direction
+     is a serious question, to be answered by facts rather than by
+     theories. Some students of the science believe that it is working
+     a revolution and is affecting the whole business fabric. There
+     may be a reaction against it, affecting in turn the now moderate
+     attitude of most men toward the suffrage question; but in any
+     event it is clear that this great agitation, carried on by the
+     association now in session, has been of serious importance and
+     not without palpable fruits.
+
+The advocates of woman's enfranchisement never were brighter, happier
+or more hopeful and courageous. All of the States but four were
+represented by the 173 delegates in attendance. Some of them were
+white-haired and wrinkled and had been coming to Washington for the
+whole thirty-two years. Others were in the prime and vigor of life and
+had entered the movement after the heaviest blows had been struck and
+the hardest battles had been won, but now they had enlisted until the
+end of the war. And now there were a large number of beautiful and
+highly-educated young women, graduates of the best colleges, filled
+with the zeal of new converts, bringing to the work well-trained and
+thoroughly-equipped minds and giving to the old members the comforting
+assurance that the vital cause would still be carried forward when
+their own labors were ended.
+
+The _Woman's Journal_ in recounting the gains for suffrage concluded:
+"In this year, 1900, the woman suffragists, after a half-century of
+unbroken national organization, can go before Congress and claim the
+support of members from four States who were elected in part by the
+votes of women. They can enforce their pleas before presidential
+nominating conventions with the concrete fact that thirteen members of
+the electoral college have a constituency of women voters."
+
+Miss Anthony presided at three public sessions daily and at all the
+executive and business meetings, went to Baltimore and held a
+one-day's conference and made a big speech, addressed a parlor
+meeting, attended several dinners and receptions, participated in her
+own great birthday festivities, afternoon and evening, and remained
+for nearly a week of Executive Committee meetings after the convention
+had closed.
+
+As she rose to open the convention, clad as usual in soft black satin,
+with duchesse lace in the neck and sleeves and the lovely red crepe
+shawl falling gracefully from her shoulders, there were many a moist
+eye and tightened throat at the thought that this was the last time.
+Her fine voice with its rich alto vibrations was as strong and
+resonant as fifty years ago, and her practical, matter-of-fact speech,
+followed by the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw's lively stories, soon dispelled
+the sadness and put the audience in a cheerful mood. Miss Anthony
+commenced by saying:
+
+     I have been attending conventions in Washington for over thirty
+     years. It is good for us to come to this Mecca, the heart of our
+     nation. Here the members of Congress from all parts of the
+     country meet together to deliberate for the best interests of the
+     whole government and of their respective States. So our delegates
+     assemble here to plan for the best interests of our cause in the
+     nation and in their respective States. We come here to study how
+     we may do more and more for the spread of the doctrine of
+     equality, but chiefly to study how to get the States to
+     concentrate their efforts on Congress. Our final aim is an
+     amendment to the Federal Constitution providing that no citizen
+     over whom the Stars and Stripes wave shall be debarred from
+     suffrage except for cause. I am always glad when we come to
+     Washington, and in our little peregrinations over the country I
+     have been more and more impressed with the conviction that, while
+     we should do all the good work we can in our own States, we ought
+     to hold our annual meeting in the national capital.
+
+In beginning her vice-president's address, which as usual defied
+reporting, Miss Shaw said:
+
+     Before giving my report I want to tell a story against Miss
+     Anthony. We suffragists have been called everything under the
+     sun, and when there was nothing else quite bad enough for us we
+     have been called infidels, which includes everything. Once we
+     went to hold a convention in a particularly orthodox city in New
+     York, and Miss Anthony, wishing to impress upon the audience that
+     we were not atheists, introduced me as "a regularly-ordained
+     orthodox minister, the Rev. Anna H. Shaw, _my right bower_!" That
+     orthodox audience all seemed to know what a "right bower" is, for
+     they laughed even louder than you do. After the meeting Miss
+     Anthony said to me, "Anna, what did I say to make the people
+     laugh so?" I answered, "You called me your right bower." She
+     said, "Well, you are my right-hand man. That is what right bower
+     means, isn't it?" And this orthodox minister had to explain to
+     her Quaker friend what a right bower is.
+
+     The chief event of last summer was the quinquennial meeting of
+     the International Council of Women in London. The Woman's
+     National Council of the United States is made up of about twenty
+     societies with an aggregate membership of over a million women.
+     It was only allowed two delegates besides its president, and it
+     is not a suffrage association, yet it honored two women who have
+     been known for some years as suffragists, Miss Anthony and
+     myself, by making us its delegates to London. They said they did
+     this because they wanted women who did not represent anything too
+     radical!
+
+     That Congress was the greatest assemblage of women from all parts
+     of the world that ever had taken place, and therefore the biggest
+     suffrage convention ever held. Suffrage seemed to take possession
+     of the whole meeting, as it does at every great gathering of
+     women. From this point of view it was a decided and emphatic
+     success. The largest meeting of all was the one held by the
+     Suffrage Association and every suffrage heart would have swollen
+     so large it could hardly have been kept within the bounds of the
+     body if it had heard the applause with which Miss Anthony was
+     greeted. She could not speak for ten minutes....
+
+     In England I entered upon a role I had never filled before, or
+     had any ambition for--I "entered society," and for ten days I was
+     in it from before breakfast till after midnight; and I prayed the
+     prayer of the Pharisee--I thanked the Lord that I was not as
+     other women are who have to go into society all the time. I had
+     thought that traveling up and down the country with gripsack in
+     hand was hard enough; but it is child's play to hand-shaking and
+     hob-nobbing with duchesses and countesses. However, the
+     experience was good for us, and it was especially good for those
+     American women who had thought that they knew more than other
+     women till they met them and found that they didn't.
+
+     I came home, spent three days there, and then took my grip in
+     hand and started out again lecturing--mostly for the Redpath
+     bureau, and for people who did not want to hear about suffrage;
+     so I spoke on "The Fate of Republics," "The American Home," "The
+     New Man," etc. Under these titles I gave them stronger doses of
+     suffrage than I ever do to you here, and they received it with
+     great enthusiasm, because it was not called suffrage. I spoke the
+     other day in Cincinnati to about 3,000 people and they were
+     delighted, and did not suspect that I was talking suffrage. They
+     don't know what woman suffrage is. They think it only means to
+     berate the men. In this way I have perhaps done the best suffrage
+     work I possibly could.
+
+Later in the session Miss Anthony made her report as delegate from
+the National Council of Women of the United States to this
+International Congress in London, in which she said:
+
+     During the last seventeen years there has been a perfect
+     revolution in England. When Mrs. Stanton and I went there for the
+     first time, in 1883, just a few families were not afraid of
+     us--the Brights, Peter Taylor's household, and some of the old
+     abolitionists who knew all about us. When it was proposed to get
+     up a testimonial meeting for us, even the officers of the
+     suffrage societies did not dare to sign the invitation. They
+     thought we Americans were too radical....
+
+     This time when we reached London we were the recipients of
+     testimonials not only from the real, radical suffrage people, but
+     also from the conservatives. At that magnificent Queen's Hall
+     meeting of the Suffrage Association, with Mrs. Fawcett presiding,
+     three or four thousand people packed the hall. It was a
+     representative gathering. Australia and New Zealand were there to
+     speak for themselves, and they had me to speak for the United
+     States. I tried to have them call on Miss Shaw instead, but they
+     would not do it....
+
+     Every young woman who is to-day enjoying the advantages of free
+     schools and opportunities to earn a living and the other enlarged
+     rights for women, is a child of the woman suffrage movement. This
+     larger freedom has broadened and strengthened women wonderfully.
+     At the end of the Council, Lady Aberdeen, who had been its
+     president for six years, in a published interview summing up the
+     work of the women who had been present, said there was no denying
+     that the English-speaking women stood head and shoulders above
+     all the others in their knowledge of Parliamentary law, and that
+     at the very top were those of the United States and Canada--the
+     two freest parts of the world. I said: "If the women of the
+     United States, with their free schools and all their enlarged
+     liberties, are not superior to women brought up under monarchical
+     forms of government, then there is no good in liberty." It is
+     because of this freedom that Europeans are always struck with the
+     greater self-poise, self-control and independence of American
+     women. These characteristics will be still more marked when we
+     have mingled more with men in their various meetings. It is only
+     by the friction of intellect with intellect that these desirable
+     qualities can be gained.
+
+     The public sessions of the Council were all that heart could
+     wish. I was present at only a few of them because the business
+     meetings came at the same hour, and were held miles away. But
+     every day people would say to me, "Miss Anthony, you yourself
+     could not have made a stronger suffrage speech than So-and-So
+     made to-day in such-and-such a section"--industrial,
+     professional, etc. In the educational section, one of the best
+     speeches was made by Miss Brownell, dean of Sage College, Cornell
+     University, on co-education.
+
+     It was a great occasion. Here were the advocates of this movement
+     for absolutely equal rights received and entertained by the
+     nobility of England--American women at the head. Among many
+     others a reception was given by the Lord Bishop of London at his
+     home, Fulham Palace. In talking with Lady Battersea, daughter of
+     a Rothschild, I caught myself repeatedly addressing her as "Mrs.
+     Battersea," and I said, "I suppose I shock you very much by
+     forgetting your title." She answered emphatically: "Not at all. I
+     like an American to be an American. It is much pleasanter than
+     when they come cringing and crawling and trying to conform to our
+     customs." When all sorts of notables were giving us receptions, I
+     said to Lady Aberdeen: "If this great Council of Women of ten
+     nations were meeting in Washington, we would be invited to the
+     White House. Can't you contrive an interview with the Queen?"
+
+Miss Anthony then described the reception of the Congress by the Queen
+at Windsor Castle, the serving of tea in the great Hall of St. George,
+and all the incidents of that interesting occasion, and concluded:
+"What I want most to impress upon you is this: If we had represented
+nothing but ourselves we should have been nowhere. Wendell Phillips
+said: 'When I speak as an individual, I represent only myself, but
+when I speak for the American Anti-Slavery Society, I represent every
+one in the country who believes in liberty.' It was because Miss Shaw
+and I represented you and all which makes for liberty that we were so
+well received; and I want you to feel that all the honors paid to us
+were paid to you."
+
+A paper to be remembered was that of Mrs. Isabel C. Barrows (Mass.) on
+Woman's Work in Philanthropy. After tracing the various lines of
+philanthropic effort in which women had been distinguished, she said
+in conclusion that no woman who ever had lived had done more in the
+line of philanthropy than Susan B. Anthony.
+
+Miss Harriet May Mills (N. Y.) gave a fine address on The Winning of
+Educational Freedom, saying in part:
+
+     Abigail Adams said of the conditions in the early part of the
+     nineteenth century: "Female education in the best families went
+     no farther than reading, writing and arithmetic and, in some rare
+     instances, music and dancing." A lady living in the first quarter
+     of the century relates that she returned from a school in
+     Charleston, where she had been sent to be "finished off," with
+     little besides a knowledge of sixty different lace stitches....
+
+     The majority of women were content, they asked no change; they
+     took no part in the movement for higher education except to
+     ridicule it. This, like every other battle for freedom which the
+     world has seen, was led by the few brave, strong souls who saw
+     the truth and dared proclaim it. In 1820 the world looked aghast
+     upon "bluestockings." Because a young woman was publicly examined
+     in geometry at one of Mrs. Emma Willard's school exhibitions, a
+     storm of ridicule broke forth at so scandalous a proceeding. It
+     was ten years after Holyoke was founded before Mary Lyon dared to
+     have Latin appear in the regular course, because the views of the
+     community would not allow it. Boston had a high school for girls
+     in 1825, which was maintained but eighteen months, Mayor Quincy
+     declaring that "no funds of any city could stand the expense."
+     The difficulty was that "too many girls attended." ...
+
+     In 1877 President Charles W. Eliot of Harvard protested against
+     the opening of the Boston Latin School to girls, saying: "I
+     resist the proposition for the sake of the boys, the girls, the
+     schools and the general interest of education." Nearly twenty
+     years later, he said to the Radcliffe graduates: "It is a quarter
+     of a century since the college doors were open to women. From
+     that time, where boys and girls have been educated together, it
+     has become a historical fact that women have taken a greater
+     number of honors, in proportion to their numbers, than men." It
+     is to be hoped that the next twenty years may work further
+     conversion in the mind of this learned president, and lead him to
+     see that equality in citizenship is as desirable as equality in
+     education.
+
+     One learned man prophesied that all educated women would become
+     somnambulists. Another declared that the perilous track to higher
+     education would be strewn with wrecks. There are now over thirty
+     thousand of these college-educated wrecks, the majority of them
+     engaged in the active work of the world. It was found in 1874,
+     when Dr. E. H. Clarke's evil prophecies as to higher education
+     were attracting attention, that at Antioch, opened to women in
+     1853, thirteen and one-half per cent. of the men graduates had
+     died, nine and three-fourths per cent. of the women. This did not
+     include war mortality or accidental death. Three of the men then
+     living were confirmed invalids; not one of the women was in such
+     a condition. The Association of Collegiate Alumnae has compiled
+     later and fuller statistics. The results show an increase during
+     the college course of from three to six per cent. in good health,
+     and the health after graduation to be twenty-two per cent. higher
+     among graduates than among women who have not been in college....
+
+     Elizabeth Blackwell applied to twelve colleges before she gained
+     admittance to the Geneva (N. Y.) Medical School in 1846, and
+     secured the first M. D. ever given to a woman in this country.
+     To-day 1,583 women are studying medicine. Not so full a measure
+     of freedom has been won in law or theology. In 1897, 131 women
+     were in the law schools, 193 in the theological schools, but
+     women are still handicapped in these professions....
+
+     Unfortunately, educational freedom has not been followed by
+     industrial freedom. Of the leading colleges for women but four
+     have women presidents; but one offers a free field to women on
+     its professional staff. In the majority of co-educational
+     colleges which give women any place as teachers, they appear in
+     small numbers as assistant professors and, more often, as
+     instructors....
+
+     With educational freedom partially won has come general interest
+     among collegiate and non-collegiate women in furthering the
+     movement. Large gifts have been bestowed for scholarships and for
+     colleges, both co-educational and separate. Within the last year
+     thirty-four women have given $4,446,400 to the cause of
+     education. Mrs. Stanford's munificent benefactions, and other
+     lesser ones, swell the amount to more than fifty millions from
+     women alone. As a result of the struggle for educational freedom,
+     we have 35,782 women in the colleges of the country.[120]
+
+     Educational freedom without political freedom is but partial.
+     Minerva sprang fully armed from the head of Jove; not only had
+     she wisdom, but she had the spear and the helmet in her
+     hands--every weapon of offense and defense to equip her for the
+     world's conquest. Standing on the threshold of the new century,
+     we behold the woman of the future thus armed; we see the fully
+     educated woman possessed of a truer knowledge of the fundamental
+     principles of government; we see her conscious of her
+     responsibilities as a citizen, and doing her part in the making
+     of laws and in the fulfilment of the ideal of democracy.
+     Educational freedom must lead to political freedom.
+
+Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford, a leader among Colorado women, spoke
+eloquently on The Social Transformation, following the stages in
+evolution expressed in the words, "I dare, I will, I am." Describing
+the effects of woman suffrage, she said:
+
+     I wish I could make you all understand that the home is not
+     touched. Equal suffrage does not mean destruction or
+     disintegration but the radiation of the home--carrying it out
+     into the wider life of the community. The ideal of the family
+     must pervade society; and that is what equal suffrage is
+     gradually bringing about. I know you hear all sorts of things
+     about woman suffrage in Colorado. Not very long ago certain
+     Eastern papers gave great prominence to an interview with a
+     "distinguished citizen of Colorado," who gave a highly
+     unfavorable account of the workings of woman suffrage there. The
+     "distinguished citizen" in question was a prize-fighter who had
+     killed three men--a gambler driven out by woman suffrage; and he
+     naturally said that woman suffrage was a failure.... The great
+     Woman's Club of Denver is a power for good in the city; it is
+     carrying on schools in "the bottoms," night schools, kitchen
+     gardens, traveling libraries; it secured the establishment of the
+     State Home for Dependent Children, the removal of the emblems
+     from the Australian ballot, and other good things....
+
+     I would that you could all go out to Colorado and see how
+     subtly, yes, and how swiftly, the social transformation is going
+     on. It is the home transforming the State, not the State
+     destroying the home. A Denver paper lately said the men had found
+     out that in determining all questions of morality, sanitation,
+     etc., if the women were consulted, better results were obtained.
+     We have more intelligent homes because of equal suffrage. Where
+     children see their father and mother go to the polls together,
+     and hear them talk over public questions, and occasionally
+     express different views, they learn tolerance. A party slave will
+     not come out from such a home. The children will grow up seeing
+     that it is un-American to say that everybody in the opposite
+     party is either a fool or a knave. The two best features of equal
+     suffrage are the improvement of the individual woman and the
+     prospective abolition of the political "boss."
+
+Introducing Henry B. Blackwell (Mass.) to report on Presidential
+Suffrage, Miss Anthony said: "Here is a man who has the virtue of
+having stood by the woman's cause for nearly fifty years. I can
+remember him when his hair was not white, and when he was following up
+our conventions assiduously because a bright, little, red-cheeked
+woman attracted him. She attracted him so strongly that he still works
+for woman suffrage, and will do so as long as he lives, not only
+because of her who was always so true and faithful to the cause--Lucy
+Stone--but also because he has a daughter, a worthy representative of
+the twain who were made one."
+
+On Friday evening Mrs. Ida Husted Harper gave a portion of her paper,
+The Training of the Woman Journalist, which she had presented at the
+International Congress in London. Miss Anna Barrows (Mass.), literary
+editor of _The American Kitchen Magazine_, spoke on New Professions
+for Women Centering in the Home:
+
+     The main objection made by conservative people to definite
+     occupations or professions for women has been that such callings
+     would inevitably tend to destroy the home. Once let women prove
+     that they can follow a trade or profession and yet make a home
+     for themselves and others, and such objectors have no ground
+     left.... The fear is sometimes expressed that the club movement
+     is drawing women away from home interests; but the general
+     attention now given to household economics by all the women's
+     clubs proves that women are realizing that knowledge of history,
+     art and science is needed to give the broad culture necessary for
+     the proper conduct of the home life. Although as yet few women's
+     colleges offer adequate courses in home economics, nevertheless
+     after marriage the college women begin to study household
+     problems with all the energy brought out by the college
+     training.
+
+     A very general comment on woman's desire for a share in municipal
+     and national government is that the servant question is yet
+     unsolved; that, since she has not succeeded in governing her own
+     domain, she has no rights outside of it. By going outside of her
+     home as an employee herself she is learning to deal with this
+     problem. It has been necessary for women to have thorough
+     business training in other directions before they could discover
+     how unbusinesslike were the methods pursued in the average
+     household. The more women have gone out of their homes into new
+     occupations, the more they have realized that the home is
+     dependent upon the same principles as the business world. The
+     business woman understands human nature, and therefore can deal
+     successfully with the butcher, the baker and other tradespeople.
+     She has a power of adapting herself to new conditions which is
+     impossible to her sister accustomed only to the narrow treadmill
+     of housework.
+
+     Specialization is the tendency of the age, and by wise attention
+     to this in the household, as elsewhere, enough time should be
+     saved to each community for the world's work to be done in fewer
+     hours, and for men and women to have time besides to be
+     homemakers and good citizens. Little by little one art and craft
+     after another has been evolved into the dignity of a profession,
+     while housework as a whole has been left to untrained workers.
+     Needle work, cookery and cleaning are dependent on the
+     fundamental principles of all the natural sciences.... There is
+     need also of trained women to lead public sentiment to recognize
+     the dignity of manual labor.
+
+The statesmanlike paper of Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker (Conn.) on the
+Duty of Woman Citizens of the United States in the Present Political
+Crisis, was read by Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell (N. Y.), who enforced its
+sentiments by earnest and stirring remarks of her own. Mrs. Mary
+Church Terrell, A. M. of Oberlin College, president of the National
+Association of Colored Women and a member of the Washington School
+Board, considered the Justice of Woman Suffrage:
+
+     ....To assign reasons in this day and time why it is unjust to
+     deprive one-half of the human race of rights and privileges
+     freely accorded to the other, which is neither more deserving nor
+     more capable of exercising them, seems like a reflection upon the
+     intelligence of the audience. As a nation we professed long ago
+     to have abandoned the principle that might makes right. Before
+     the world we pose to-day as a government whose citizens have the
+     right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And yet, in
+     spite of these lofty professions and noble sentiments, the
+     present policy of this government is to hold one-half of its
+     citizens in legal subjection to the other, without being able to
+     assign good and sufficient reasons for such a flagrant violation
+     of the very principles upon which it was founded.
+
+     When one observes how all the most honorable and lucrative
+     positions in Church and State have been reserved for men,
+     according to laws which they themselves have made so as to debar
+     women; how, until recently, a married woman's property was under
+     the exclusive control of her husband; how, in all transactions
+     where husband and wife are considered one, the law makes the
+     husband that one--man's boasted chivalry to the disfranchised sex
+     is punctured beyond repair.
+
+     These unjust discriminations will ever remain, until the source
+     from which they spring--the political disfranchisement of
+     woman--shall be removed. The injustice involved in denying woman
+     the suffrage is not confined to the disfranchised sex alone, but
+     extends to the nation as well, in that it is deprived of the
+     excellent service which woman might render....
+
+     The argument that it is unnatural for woman to vote is as old as
+     the rock-ribbed and ancient hills. Whatever is unusual is called
+     unnatural, the world over. Whenever humanity takes a step forward
+     in progress, some old custom falls dead at our feet. Nothing
+     could be more unnatural than that a good woman should shirk her
+     duty to the State.
+
+     If you marvel that so few women work vigorously for political
+     enfranchisement, let me remind you that woman's success in almost
+     everything depends upon what men think of her. Why the majority
+     of men oppose woman suffrage is clear even to the dullest
+     understanding. In all great reforms it is only the few brave
+     souls who have the courage of their convictions and who are
+     willing to fight until victory is wrested from the very jaws of
+     fate.
+
+In treating of Women in the Ministry, the Rev. Ida C. Hultin (Mass.)
+considered what is known as "the woman movement" from a broad and
+philosophical standpoint, which carried conviction and disarmed
+opposition.
+
+At the opening of the Saturday evening meeting a telegram was read
+from the Executive Committee of the National Anti-Trust Conference, in
+session at Chicago: "Hearty congratulations to the distinguished
+president of the Woman Suffrage Association, and hopes that Miss
+Anthony may enjoy many years of added happiness and honor. This
+cordial salutation includes Elizabeth Cady Stanton and all of the
+noble souls who have wrought so great a work in the liberation and
+advancement of the women of this country." A letter was read also from
+Frank Morrison, secretary of the American Federation of Labor, with
+the following resolution, which was passed by the convention held in
+Detroit, Mich., the previous December:
+
+     WHEREAS, Disfranchised labor, like that of the enslaved, degrades
+     all free and enfranchised labor; therefore,
+
+     _Resolved_, That the American Federation of Labor earnestly
+     appeals to Congress to pass a resolution submitting to the
+     Legislatures of the several States a proposition for a Sixteenth
+     Amendment to the Federal Constitution that shall prohibit the
+     States from disfranchising United States citizens on account of
+     sex.
+
+Miss Anthony expressed her satisfaction that equal suffrage was
+endorsed by "the hard-working, wage-earning men of the country, each
+of them with a good solid ballot in his hand."
+
+Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby (D. C.) gave a historical sketch of Our Great
+Leaders, replete with beauty and pathos. Miss Kate M. Gordon spoke
+entertainingly on the possibilities of A Scrap of Suffrage.[121] In
+presenting her Miss Anthony said: "The right of taxpaying women in
+Louisiana to vote upon questions of taxation is practically the first
+shred of suffrage which those of any Southern State have secured, and
+they have used it well. They deserve another scrap, and I think they
+will get it before some of us do who have been asking for half a
+century."
+
+Miss Gail Laughlin, a graduate of Wellesley and of the Law Department
+of Cornell University, discussed Conditions of the Wage-Earning Women
+of Our Country, saying in part:
+
+     "Wage-earner" among women is used in a broad sense. All women
+     receiving money payment for work are proud to be called
+     wage-earners, because wage-earning means economic independence.
+     The census of 1890 reports nearly 400 occupations open to women,
+     and nearly 4,000,000 women engaged in them. But government
+     reports show the average wages of women in large cities to be
+     from $3.83 to $6.91 per week, and the general average to be from
+     $5.00 to $6.68. In all lines women are paid less than men for the
+     same grade of work, and they are often compelled to toil under
+     needlessly dangerous and unsanitary conditions. If the people of
+     this country want to advance civilization, they have no need to
+     go to the islands of the Pacific to do it.
+
+     How are these evils to be remedied? By organization, suffrage,
+     co-operation among women, and above all, the inculcation of the
+     principle that a woman is an individual, with a right to choose
+     her work, and with other rights equal with man. Our law-makers
+     control the sanitary conditions and pay of teachers. Here is work
+     for the women who have "all the rights they want." When one of
+     these comfortably situated women was told of the need of the
+     ballot for working women, she held up her finger, showing the
+     wedding ring on it, and said, "I have all the rights I want." The
+     next time that I read the parable of the man who fell among
+     thieves and was succored by the good Samaritan, methought I could
+     see that woman with the wedding ring on her finger, passing by on
+     the other side.
+
+     It is said that every woman who earns her living crowds a man
+     out. That argument is as old as the trade guilds of the
+     thirteenth century, which tried to exclude women. The Rev. Samuel
+     G. Smith of St. Paul, who has recently declared against women in
+     wage-earning occupations, stands to-day just where they did seven
+     hundred years ago....[122]
+
+Mrs. Helen Adelaide Shaw (Mass.), in A Review of the Remonstrants, was
+enthusiastically received. Young, handsome and a fine elocutionist,
+her imitation of the "remonstrants" and their objections to woman
+suffrage convulsed the audience and was quite as effective as the most
+impassioned argument.
+
+The speakers of the convention were invited to fill a number of
+pulpits in Washington Sunday morning and evening. In the Unitarian
+Church, where the Rev. Ida C. Hultin preached, there was not standing
+room. The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw gave the sermon at the Universalist
+Church, of which the _Post_ said:
+
+     Never in the history of the church had such a crowd been in
+     attendance. The lecture rooms on either side of the auditorium
+     had been thrown open, and these, as well as the galleries, were
+     crowded almost to suffocation. Women stood about the edges of the
+     room, and seats on window sills were at a premium. Outside in the
+     vestibules of the church women elbowed one another for points of
+     vantage on the gallery stairs, where an occasional glimpse might
+     be caught of the handsome, dark-eyed, gray-haired woman who
+     looked singularly appropriate at the pulpit desk. The
+     congregation hung upon every word, and her remarks, sometimes
+     bitter and caustic, were met with a hum of approval from the
+     crowded auditorium.
+
+     Perhaps eight-tenths of the congregation were women. Miss Shaw's
+     pulpit manner is easy, but her words are emphasized by gestures
+     which impress her hearers with a sense of the speaker's
+     earnestness. Her voice, while sweet and musical, is strong, and
+     carries a tone of conviction. Her subject last night was
+     "Strength of Character." The text was chosen from Joshua, 1:9:
+     "Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage; be not
+     afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for the Lord thy God is with
+     thee whithersoever thou goest."
+
+     In the opening remarks the speaker said it was now time that
+     women asserted their rights. "Men have no right to define for us
+     our limitations. Who shall interpret to a woman the divine
+     element in her being? It is for me to say that I shall be free.
+     No human soul shall determine my life for me unless that soul
+     will stand before the bar of God and take my sentence. Men who
+     denounce us do so because they are ignorant of what they do.
+     Woman has broken the silence of the century. Her question to God
+     is, 'Who shall interpret Thee to me?' The churches of this day
+     have not begun to conceive of what Christianity means.
+
+     "It is not true that all women should be married and the managers
+     of homes. There is not more than one woman in five capable of
+     motherhood in its highest possible state, and I may say that not
+     one man in ten is fitted for fatherhood. We strongly advocate
+     that no woman and man should marry until they are instructed in
+     the science of home duties. Instead of woman suffrage breaking up
+     families, it has just the opposite effect. In the State of
+     Wyoming where it has existed thirty years, there is a larger per
+     cent. of marriages and a less of divorces than in any other State
+     in the Union. Because a woman is a suffragist is no reason that
+     she may not be a good housekeeper. The two most perfect
+     housekeepers I ever knew in my life were members of my
+     congregation in New England--one was a suffragist and the other
+     had no thought of the rights of women." ...
+
+     After the services almost every woman in the congregation crowded
+     forward to shake the hand of the speaker.
+
+On Monday evening the national character of the convention was
+conspicuously demonstrated, as the speakers represented the East, the
+South, the Middle West and the Pacific Slope. Mrs. Florence Howe Hall
+(N. J.), the highly educated daughter of Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, read a
+charming farce entitled The Judgment of Minerva, the suffragists and
+the antis, as goddesses, bringing their cause before Jupiter, with a
+decision, of course, in favor of the former. Miss Diana Hirschler, a
+young lawyer of Boston, presented Woman's Position in the Law in a
+paper which was in itself an illustration of the benefit of a legal
+training. Mrs. Virginia D. Young (S. C.) told the Story of Woman
+Suffrage in the South, and sketched the history of the progressive
+Southern woman, beginning as follows:
+
+     The woman suffragists of the South have suffered in the pillory
+     of public derision. It has been as deadly a setting up in the
+     stocks as ever New England practiced on her martyrs to freedom.
+     The women who have led in this revolt against old ideals have had
+     to be as heroic as the men who stormed San Juan heights in the
+     contest for Santiago de Cuba....
+
+     It is out of date to be carried in a sedan chair when one can fly
+     around on a bicycle, and though in our conservative South, we
+     have still some preachers with Florida moss on their chins, who
+     storm at the woman on her wheel as riding straight to hell, we
+     believe, with Julian Ralph, that the women bicyclists "out-pace
+     their staider sisters in their progress to woman's emancipation."
+
+     Clark Howell, the brilliant Georgian, in his recent address
+     before the Independent Club, set people to talking about him,
+     from Niagara Falls in the East to the Garden of the Gods in the
+     West, by his elucidations of "The Man with his Hat in his Hand;"
+     but I propose to show you to-night a greater--the Woman With Her
+     Bonnet Off, who speaks from the platform in a Southern city. You
+     know how the women of the stagnant Orient stick to their veils,
+     coverings for head and face, outward signs of real slavery. The
+     bonnet is the civilized substitute for the Oriental veil, and to
+     take it off is the first manifestation of a woman's resolve to
+     have equal rights, even if all the world laugh and oppose.
+
+     In South Carolina the first newspaper article in favor of woman
+     suffrage written by a woman over her own name, was met by the
+     taunt that she had imbibed her views from the women of the North.
+     But this was merely ignorance of history, for the story of woman
+     suffrage in the South really antedates that in New England. The
+     new woman of the new South, who asks for equal rights with her
+     brother man, is in the direct line of succession to that
+     magnificent "colonial dame," Mistress Margaret Brent of Maryland,
+     who asked for a vote in the Colonial Assembly after the death of
+     her kinsman, Lord Baltimore, who had endowed her with powers of
+     attorney. Margaret Brent antedated Abigail Adams by over a
+     century.
+
+Mrs. Annie L. Diggs, State librarian, depicted Municipal Suffrage in
+Kansas, with the knowledge of one who had been a keen observer and an
+active participant.[123] Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway described the work
+which had been and would be done in the interest of the approaching
+suffrage amendment campaign in Oregon.
+
+On Tuesday evening Mrs. Mabel Loomis Todd (Mass.), under the head of
+The Village Beautiful, told what might be accomplished toward the
+beautifying of towns and cities if the authority and the means were
+allowed to women. This was followed by a strong, clear business talk
+from Mrs. A. Emmagene Paul, superintendent of the Street-Cleaning
+Department of the First Ward, Chicago, who told how "crooked
+contractors and wily politicians" at first began to cultivate her.
+They found, however, that they could not shake her determination to
+make them live up to their contracts; they had agreed to clean the
+streets, they were receiving pay for that purpose, and she, as an
+inspector, was there to see that the contracts were lived up to. Mrs.
+Paul was appointed when the municipal government adopted a civil
+service system, and holds her position by virtue of its examination.
+She has checkmated the contractor and politician, and has accomplished
+a long-needed reform in the street-cleaning department of
+Chicago.[124]
+
+An interesting description of The Russian Woman was given by Madame
+Sofja Levovna Friedland, who said that there is little suffrage for
+either men or women in Russia, but such as there is both alike
+possess. Mrs. Amy K. Cornwall, president of the Colorado Equal
+Suffrage Association, related the work accomplished by the women of
+her State since they had been enfranchised; "only six years," she
+said, "and yet we are expected to have cleaned up all Colorado,
+including Denver." Grace Greenwood (Mrs. Sara J. Lippincott) was
+introduced by Miss Anthony as a suffragist of thirty years' standing.
+The audience was greatly amused by her recital of the answers which
+she had made to the "remonstrants" more than a quarter of a century
+ago, showing that they were using then exactly the same objections
+which are doing service to-day. Several of the speakers having failed
+to appear, a very unusual occurrence, Mrs. May Wright Sewall,
+president of the International Council of Women, was pressed into
+service by Miss Anthony. She introduced her address gracefully by
+saying: "We women think we believe in freedom, but we are often told
+that we love best the tyrant who can make us obey, and I can testify
+to the truth of it," motioning toward Miss Anthony. She then made an
+eloquent and convincing plea for the enfranchisement of women.
+
+The mornings were devoted to committee reports and to ten-minute
+reports from each of the States, often the most interesting features
+of the convention. The afternoons were given to Work Conferences, when
+all the various details of the work were discussed under the
+leadership of those who had proved most competent--methods of
+organization, of holding conventions, etc. The treasurer, Mrs. Upton,
+stated that the receipts for the past year were $10,345; that the
+association had an indebtedness of about $1,400, and Miss Anthony,
+desiring to leave it entirely free from debt, had raised almost all of
+this amount herself; that the books now showed every bill to be paid.
+Before the close of the convention almost $10,000 were subscribed
+toward the work of the coming year. It was decided to hold a National
+Suffrage Bazar in New York City before the holidays in order to add to
+this fund.[125]
+
+Mrs. Chapman Catt, chairman of the Organization Committee, reported
+that with the secretary of the committee, Miss Mary G. Hay, she had
+visited twenty States, lecturing and attending State conventions,
+giving fifty-one lectures and traveling 13,000 miles. Ten thousand
+letters had been sent out from the office.
+
+The comprehensive report of Mrs. Elnora M. Babcock (N. Y.), chairman
+of the Press Committee, showing the remarkable success achieved in
+securing the publication of articles on suffrage, seemed to offer the
+best possible proof of an increasing favorable public sentiment.
+Articles had been furnished regularly to 1,360 newspapers; 3,675 had
+been prepared on the present convention and birthday celebration;
+altogether 31,800 weekly articles had been sent out and, so far as
+could be ascertained, all had been published. The number of papers
+which would use plate matter on suffrage was limited only by the money
+which could be commanded to supply it.
+
+Miss Anthony, in reporting for the Congressional Committee, made a
+good point when she said:
+
+     One reason why so little has been done by Congress is because
+     none of us has remained here to watch our employes up at the
+     Capitol. Nobody ever gets anything done by Congress or by a State
+     Legislature except by having some one on hand to look out for it.
+     We need a Watching Committee. The women can not expect to get as
+     much done as the railroads, the trusts, the corporations and all
+     the great moneyed concerns. They keep hundreds of agents at the
+     national Capital to further their interests. We have no one here,
+     and yet we expect to get something done, although we labor under
+     the additional disadvantage of having no ballots to use as a
+     reward or punishment. Whatever takes place in Washington is felt
+     to the circumference of the country. I have had nearly all the
+     States send petitions to Congress asking that upon whatever terms
+     suffrage is extended to the men of Hawaii and our other new
+     possessions, it may be extended to the women, and it is this
+     which has stirred up the anti-suffragists in Massachusetts, New
+     York and Illinois to their recent demonstrations.... Mrs. Harper
+     has culled extracts from all the favorable congressional reports
+     we have had during the past thirty years, and we have made a
+     pamphlet of them, which will be laid on the desk of every member
+     of Congress.[126]
+
+Mary F. Gist, Anna S. Hamilton and Emma Southwick Brinton were
+introduced as fraternal delegates from the Woman's National Press
+Association; Mrs. William Scott, from the Universal Peace Union; Dr.
+Agnes Kemp, from the Peace Society of Philadelphia; Elizabeth B.
+Passmore from the Baltimore Yearly Meeting of Friends. Letters of
+greeting were received from Mrs. Priscilla Bright McLaren of Scotland,
+Mrs. Mary Foote Henderson, of Washington, D. C., and many others.
+
+Among the memorial resolutions were the following:
+
+     In reviewing the gains and losses of the past year, we recall
+     with profound regret the loss of those tried and true workers for
+     woman's enfranchisement, George W. and Mrs. Henrietta M. Banker
+     of New York, who died within a few days of each other. "Lovely in
+     life, in death they were not divided." Although we shall sorely
+     miss their genial and inspiring presence, they will continue by
+     the munificent provisions of their wills to aid the cause.
+
+     We are also saddened by the news just received of the decease of
+     Dr. Elizabeth C. Sargent of San Francisco, our valued co-worker
+     in the recent California Suffrage Campaign, and daughter of our
+     lifelong friends, U. S. Senator Aaron A. and Mrs. Ellen Clark
+     Sargent. All advocates of equal suffrage unite in offering to the
+     bereaved mother their heartfelt sympathy in her loss.
+
+A vote of thanks was passed to Bishop Spaulding of Peoria, Ills.,
+Bishop McQuaid of Rochester, N. Y. (Catholics), and the Rev. Frank M.
+Bristol of the M. E. Metropolitan Church, Washington (the one attended
+by President McKinley), for their recent sermons referring favorably
+to woman suffrage. These were the more noticeable as during this
+convention Cardinal Gibbons of Baltimore devoted his Sunday discourse
+to a terrific arraignment of society women and those asking for the
+suffrage, denouncing them alike as destroyers of the home, etc.
+
+The National Association requested the appointment by President
+McKinley of Mrs. Bertha Honore Palmer as National Commissioner from
+the United States to the Paris Exposition, and of Mrs. May Wright
+Sewall as delegate to represent the organized work of women in the
+United States. Both of these appointments were afterwards made.
+
+The corresponding secretary read invitations for the next annual
+convention from the Citizens' Business League of Milwaukee; the
+Business Men's League and the Mayor of Cincinnati; the Chamber of
+Commerce of Detroit; the Business Men's League of San Antonio; the
+Cleveland Business Men's Convention League; the Suffrage Society of
+Buffalo and the following: "The Minnesota Woman Suffrage Association
+takes great pride in being able to invite you most cordially to hold
+your annual meeting for 1901 in the city of Minneapolis. We guarantee
+$600 towards expenses and more if necessary. Enclosed are invitations
+from the Board of Trade, the Mayor and our three daily newspapers, all
+assuring us of financial backing." This was signed by Mrs. Martha J.
+Thompson, president, and Dr. Ethel E. Hurd, corresponding secretary.
+The invitation was accepted.
+
+The usual hearings were held Tuesday morning, February 13, in the
+Marble Room of the Senate and the committee room of the House
+Judiciary, both of which were crowded to the doors, the seats being
+filled with women while members of Congress stood about the sides of
+the room. That before the Senate Committee--John W. Daniel (Va.),
+chairman; James H. Berry (Tenn.); George P. Wetmore (R. I.); Addison
+G. Foster (Wash.)--was confined to a historical resume of the movement
+for woman suffrage, the speakers being presented by Miss Anthony. The
+Work with Congress was carefully delineated by Mrs. Colby, who
+concluded: "Everything that a disfranchised class could do has been
+done by women, and never in the long ages in which the love of freedom
+has been evolving in the human heart has there been such an effort by
+any other class of people. Surely it ought to win the respect and
+support of every man in this republic who has a brain to understand
+the blessings of liberty and a heart to beat in sympathy with a
+struggle to obtain it."[127]
+
+Municipal Suffrage in Kansas was described by Mrs. Laura M. Johns.
+Woman Suffrage in Colorado was presented by Mrs. Bradford. Mrs.
+Harriot Stanton Blatch told of Woman Suffrage in England, closing as
+follows:
+
+     We have heard about the suffrage in the Western States of
+     America, and the reply always is: "Oh, that is all very well for
+     thinly populated countries." Now I am going to tell you a little
+     of the suffrage question in England, not a thinly populated
+     country, with its 20,000,000 of people crowded in that small
+     space.
+
+     Gentlemen of the committee, I would like to draw your attention
+     to one thing, which is true in America as well as in
+     England--that nothing has been given to women gratuitously. They
+     have had at each step to prove their ability before you gave them
+     anything else. In 1870 England passed the Education Act, which
+     gave women the right to sit on the school boards and to vote for
+     them. It was the first time they had had elective school boards
+     in England; before that all the education had been controlled by
+     church organizations, who had appointed boards of managers. Women
+     had been appointed to those boards and so admirable had been
+     their work that when the law was passed in 1870 many women stood
+     for election and were elected, and in three cases they came in at
+     the head of the polls. Five years after that a verdict was passed
+     upon the work of those women as school officials, for in 1875,
+     women were allowed to go on the poor-law boards. In 1894 the law
+     was further modified so that it contemplated the possibility of a
+     larger circle of poor-law guardians. Before that there had been a
+     high qualification--occupation of a house of a certain rental,
+     etc., but now that was all pushed aside. What was the result?
+     Nearly 1,000 women are now sitting on the poor-law boards of
+     England; 94 on the great board of London itself.
+
+     These local boards deal with the great asylums, with the great
+     pauper schools, with the immense poorhouses and, more than that,
+     they deal with one of the largest funds in England, the outdoor
+     and indoor relief. What has been the verdict upon the work of
+     those women on the poor-law board? In 1896 there was the
+     question, when this law was extended to Ireland, whether women
+     should be put on those boards. The vote in Parliament was 272 in
+     favor of the women and only 8 against. Eight men only, so unwise,
+     so foolish, left in the great English Parliament, who said it was
+     not for women to deal with those immense bodies of pauper
+     children, not for women to deal with this outdoor relief fund,
+     not for women to deal with the unfortunate mothers of
+     illegitimate children....
+
+     Women in England, qualified women, have every local vote,
+     everything which would correspond with your State and municipal
+     vote here, they have all except the Parliamentary vote.
+
+     In England we have opponents, just as you have here. I do not
+     know whether they are more illogical or less so, but they
+     certainly do one extraordinary thing--they are in favor of
+     everything that has been won and take advantage of it. A large
+     number of the 2,000 women who are sitting on the various local
+     bodies in England are opposed to the Parliamentary vote for their
+     sex, and yet they are really in political life. Now, gentlemen,
+     if you want to have the women stop coming here, give us the vote
+     and then we won't come; give the "antis" the vote, and then they
+     will have the political life that they are really longing for.
+
+     Almost always, if you analyze the anti-suffrage idea in either a
+     man or a woman you find it is anti-democratic. I have begun to
+     think that I am the only good democrat left in America. I believe
+     in the very widest possible suffrage. Why do I believe it?
+     Because I have lived and seen the other thing in England, and I
+     have seen that as democracy broadened politics was purified. That
+     has been the history from the beginning. No politics in the world
+     was more corrupt than the English at the beginning of this
+     century, but as democracy has come farther and farther into the
+     field, England has become politically one of the purest nations
+     in the world.
+
+The paper on Woman Suffrage in the British Isles and Colonies was
+prepared by Miss Helen Blackburn, editor of the _Englishwoman's
+Review_; and Woman Suffrage in Foreign Countries was described by Mrs.
+Jessie Cassidy Saunders. The last address was given by Mrs. Carrie
+Chapman Catt (N. Y.), Why We Ask for the Submission of an Amendment:
+
+     A survey of the changes which have been wrought within the past
+     hundred years in the status of women--educational, social,
+     financial and political--fills the observing man or woman with a
+     feeling akin to awe. No great war has been fought in behalf of
+     their emancipation; no great political party has espoused their
+     cause; no heroes have bled and died for their liberty; yet words
+     fail utterly to measure the distance between the "sphere" of the
+     woman of 1800 and that of the woman of 1900. How has the
+     transformation come? What mysterious power has brought it?
+
+     On the whole, men and women of the present rejoice at every right
+     gained and every privilege conceded. Not one jot or tittle would
+     they abate the advantage won; yet when the plea is made that the
+     free, self-respecting, self-reliant, independent, thinking women
+     of this generation be given the suffrage, the answer almost
+     invariably comes back, "When women as a whole demand it, men will
+     consider it." This answer carries with it the apparent
+     supposition that all the changes have come because the majority
+     of women wanted them, and that further enlargement of liberty
+     must cease because the majority do not want it. Alas, it is a
+     sad comment upon the conservatism of the average human being that
+     not one change of consequence has been desired by women as a
+     whole, or even by a considerable part. It would be nearer the
+     truth to say women as a whole have opposed every advance.
+
+     The progress has come because women of a larger mold, loftier
+     ambitions and nobler self-respect than the average have been
+     willing to face the opposition of the world for the sake of
+     liberty. More than one such as these deserve the rank of martyr.
+     The sacrifice of suffering, of doubt, of obloquy, which has been
+     endured by the pioneers in the woman movement will never be fully
+     known or understood....
+
+     With the bold demand for perfect equality of rights in every walk
+     of life the public have compromised. Not willing to grant all,
+     they have conceded something; and by repeated compromises and
+     concessions to the main demand the progress of woman's rights has
+     been accomplished.
+
+     There are two kinds of restrictions upon human liberty--the
+     restraint of law and that of custom. No written law has ever been
+     more binding than unwritten custom supported by popular opinion.
+     At the beginning of our century both law and custom restricted
+     the liberty of women.
+
+     It was the edict of custom which prohibited women from receiving
+     an education, engaging in occupations, speaking in public,
+     organizing societies, or in other ways conducting themselves like
+     free, rational human beings. It was law which forbade married
+     women to control their own property or to collect their own
+     wages, and which forbade all women to vote. The changes have not
+     come because women wished for them or men welcomed them. A
+     liberal board of trustees, a faculty willing to grant a trial, an
+     employer willing to experiment, a broad-minded church willing to
+     hear a woman preach, a few liberal souls in a community willing
+     to hear a woman speak--these have been the influences which have
+     brought the changes.
+
+     There is no more elaborate argument or determined opposition to
+     woman suffrage than there has been to each step of progress....
+     Had a vote been taken, co-education itself would have been
+     overwhelmingly defeated. In 1840, before women had studied or
+     practiced medicine, had it been necessary to obtain permission to
+     do so by a vote of men or women, 8,000 graduated women physicians
+     would not now be engaged in the healing art in our country. In
+     1850, when vindictive epithets were hurled from press, pulpit and
+     public in united condemnation of the few women who were
+     attempting to be heard on the platform as speakers, had it been
+     necessary to secure the right of free public speech through
+     Legislatures or popular approval, the voices of women would still
+     be silent.... The rights of women have come in direct opposition
+     to the popular consensus of opinion. Yet when they have once
+     become established, they have been wanted by women and welcomed
+     by men.
+
+     There are a few fanatics who, if they could, would force the
+     women of this generation back into the spheres of their
+     grandmothers. There are some pessimists who imagine they see all
+     natural order coming to a speedy end because of the enlarged
+     liberties and opportunities of women. There are sentimentalists
+     who believe that the American home, that most sacred unit of
+     society, is seriously imperiled by the tendencies of women to
+     adopt new duties and interests. But this is not the thought of
+     the average American. There are few intelligent men who would be
+     willing to provide their daughters no more education than was
+     deemed proper for their grandmothers, or who would care to
+     restrict them to the old-time limited sphere of action. Thinking
+     men and women realize that the American home was never more
+     firmly established than at the present time, and that it has
+     grown nobler and happier as women have grown more self-reliant.
+     The average man and woman recognize that the changes which have
+     come have been in the interest of better womanhood and better
+     manhood, bringing greater happiness to women and greater
+     blessings to men. They recognize that each step gained has
+     rendered women fitter companions for men, wiser mothers and far
+     abler units of society.
+
+     The public acknowledges the wisdom, the common sense, the
+     practical judgment of the woman movement until it asks for the
+     suffrage. In other words, it approves every right gained because
+     it is here, and condemns the one right not yet gained because it
+     is not here.
+
+     Had it been either custom or statutory law which forbade women to
+     vote, the suffrage would have been won by the same processes
+     which have gained every other privilege. A few women would have
+     voted, a few men and women would have upheld them, and, little by
+     little, year after year, the number of women electors would have
+     increased until it became as general for women to vote as it is
+     for men. Had this been possible the women would be voting to-day
+     in every State in the Union; and undoubtedly their appearance at
+     the polls would now be as generally accepted as a matter of fact
+     as the college education. But, alas, when this step of
+     advancement was proposed, women found themselves face to face
+     with the stone wall of Constitutional Law, and they could not
+     vote until a majority of men should first give their consent.
+     Indeed the experiment was made to gain this sacred privilege by
+     easier means. The history of the voting of Susan B. Anthony and
+     others is familiar to all, but the Supreme Court decided that the
+     National Constitution must first be amended. It therefore becomes
+     a necessity to convert to this reform a majority of the men of
+     the whole United States.
+
+     When we recall the vast amount of illiteracy, ignorance,
+     selfishness and degradation which exists among certain classes of
+     our people the task imposed upon us is appalling. There are whole
+     precincts of voters in this country whose united intelligence
+     does not equal that of one representative American woman. Yet to
+     such classes as these we are asked to take our cause as the court
+     of final resort. We are compelled to petition men who have never
+     heard of the Declaration of Independence, and who have never
+     read the Constitution, for the sacred right of self-government;
+     we are forced to appeal for justice to men who do not know the
+     meaning of the word; we are driven to argue our claim with men
+     who never had two thoughts in logical sequence. We ask men to
+     consider the rights of a citizen in a republic and we get the
+     answer in reply, given in all seriousness, "Women have more
+     rights now than they ought to have;" and that, too, without the
+     faintest notion of the inanity of the remark or the emptiness of
+     the brain behind it.
+
+     When we present our cause to men of higher standing and more
+     liberal opinion, we find that the interest of party and the
+     personal ambition for place are obstacles which prevent them from
+     approving a question concerning whose popularity there is the
+     slightest doubt.
+
+     The way before us is difficult at best, not because our demand is
+     not based upon unquestioned justice, not because it is not
+     destined to win in the end, but because of the nature of the
+     processes through which it must be won. In fact the position of
+     this question might well be used to demonstrate that observation
+     of Aristotle that "a democracy has many striking points of
+     resemblance with tyranny...."
+
+     It is for these reasons, gentlemen, that we appeal to your
+     committee to aid in the submission of a Sixteenth Amendment. Such
+     an amendment would go before the Legislatures of our country
+     where the grade of intelligence is at least higher than we should
+     find in the popular vote.
+
+     Though you yourselves may doubt the expediency of woman suffrage,
+     though you may question the soundness of our claim, yet, in the
+     name of democracy, which permits the people to make and amend
+     their constitutions, and in the name of American womanhood,
+     prepared by a century of unmeasured advance for political duties,
+     we beg your aid in the speedy submission of this question. We ask
+     this boon in the direct interest of the thousands of women who do
+     want to vote, who suffer pangs of humiliation and degradation
+     because of their political servitude. We ask it equally in the
+     indirect interest of the thousands of women who do not want to
+     vote, as we believe their indifference or opposition is the same
+     natural conservatism which led other women to oppose the college
+     education, the control of property, the freedom of public speech
+     and the right of organization.
+
+     Years ago George William Curtis pleaded for fair play for women.
+     It is the same plea we are repeating. We only petition for fair
+     play, and this means the submission of our question to the most
+     intelligent constituency which has power to act upon it. If we
+     shall fail, we will abide by the decision. That is, we will wait
+     till courage has grown stronger, reason more logical, justice
+     purer, in the positive knowledge that our cause will eventually
+     triumph. As the daughters of Zelophehad appealed to Moses and his
+     great court for justice, so do the daughters of America appeal to
+     you.
+
+Miss Anthony closed the hearing in a speech whose vigor, logic and
+eloquence were accentuated in the minds of the hearers by the thought
+that for more than thirty years she had made these pleas before
+congressional committees, only to be received with stolid indifference
+or open hostility. She began by saying: "In closing I would like to
+give a little object lesson of the two methods of gaining the
+suffrage. By one it is insisted that we shall carry our question to
+what is termed a popular vote of each State--that is, that its
+Legislature shall submit to the electors the proposition to strike the
+little adjective "male" from the suffrage clause. We have already made
+that experiment in fifteen different elections in ten different
+States. Five States have voted on it twice." She then summarized
+briefly the causes of the defeats in the various States, and
+continued:
+
+     Now here is all we ask of you, gentlemen, to save us women from
+     any more tramps over the States, such as we have made now fifteen
+     times. In nine of those campaigns I myself, made a canvass from
+     county to county. In my own State of New York at the time of the
+     constitutional convention in 1894, I visited every county of the
+     sixty--I was not then 80 years of age, but 74....
+
+     There is an enemy of the homes of this nation and that enemy is
+     drunkenness. Every one connected with the gambling house, the
+     brothel and the saloon works and votes solidly against the
+     enfranchisement of women, and, I say, if you believe in chastity,
+     if you believe in honesty and integrity, then do what the enemy
+     wants you not to do, which is to take the necessary steps to put
+     the ballot in the hands of women....
+
+     I pray you to think of this question as you would if the one-half
+     of the people who are disfranchised were men, if we women had
+     absolute power to control every condition in this country and you
+     were obliged to obey the laws and submit to whatever arrangements
+     we made. I want you to report on this question exactly as if the
+     masculine half of the people were the ones who were deprived of
+     this right to a vote in governmental affairs. You would not be
+     long in bringing in a favorable report if you were the ones who
+     were disfranchised and denied a voice in your Government. If it
+     were not women--if it were the farmers of this country, the
+     manufacturers, or any class of men who were robbed of their
+     inalienable rights, then we would see that class rising in
+     rebellion, and the Government shaken to its very foundation; but
+     being women, being only the mothers, daughters, wives and sisters
+     of men who constitute the aristocracy, we have to submit.
+
+The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw (Penn.) presided over the hearing before the
+House Judiciary Committee.[128] The Constitutional Argument was made
+by Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake (N. Y.), who said in the course of a
+long and logical address:
+
+     We find that it is declared in Article IV, Section 4, that "the
+     United States shall guarantee to every State in the Union a
+     republican form of Government." What is a republican form of
+     Government? In a monarchy, the theory is that all power flows
+     directly from the monarch; even in constitutional monarchies each
+     concession has been obtained "by consent of our gracious
+     sovereign." When the laws are based on the idea that the caprices
+     of the ruler regulate the privileges granted to the people, it is
+     at least logical, even if it is cruel, to refuse the right of
+     suffrage to any class of the community. You will agree that this
+     is not a monarchy, where power flows from the sovereign to the
+     people, but a republic, where the sovereign people give to the
+     Executive they have chosen the power to carry out their will. Can
+     you really claim that we live under a republican form of
+     government when one-half the adult inhabitants are denied all
+     voice in the affairs of the nation? It may be better described as
+     an oligarchy, where certain privileged men choose the rulers who
+     make laws for their own benefit, too often to the detriment of
+     the unrepresented portion of our people, who are denied
+     recognition as completely as was ever an oppressed class in the
+     most odious form of oligarchy which usurped a government.
+
+     Article XIV, Section 2, provides that "Representation shall be
+     apportioned among the several States according to their
+     respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each
+     State, excluding Indians, not taxed." What sort of justice is
+     there in excluding from the basis of representation Indians who
+     are not taxed and including in this basis women who are taxed?
+     The framers of this amendment were evidently impressed with the
+     tenet that taxation and representation should be associated, and
+     that as the Indian paid no taxes, and was not, therefore, forced
+     to carry the burdens of citizenship, he might, with justice, be
+     denied the privileges of citizenship. But by what specious
+     reasoning can any one maintain that it is honest to tax the great
+     body of women citizens, to count them in the basis of
+     representation, and yet deny to them the right of personal
+     representation at the ballot box? What excuse can be made for
+     this monstrous perversion of liberty? Each one of you, gentlemen,
+     sits here as the representative of thousands of women who, by
+     their money, have helped to build this Capitol in which you
+     assemble and to pay for the seats in which you sit; nay, more,
+     they pay a part of the salary of every man here, and yet what
+     real representation have they? How often do you think of the
+     women of your States and of their interests in the laws you pass?
+     How much do you reflect on the injustice which is daily and
+     hourly done them by denying to them all voice in this body,
+     wherein you claim to "represent the people" of your respective
+     States....
+
+     Some years ago, when the bill regulating affairs in Utah was
+     under discussion Senator Edmunds said, "Disfranchisement is a
+     cruel and degrading penalty, that ought not to be inflicted
+     except for crime." Yet this cruel and degrading penalty is
+     inflicted upon practically all the women of the United States. Of
+     what crime have we been guilty? Or is our mere sex a fault for
+     which we must be punished? Would not any body of men look upon
+     disfranchisement as "a cruel and degrading penalty?" Suppose the
+     news were to be flashed across our country to-morrow that the
+     farmers of the nation were to be disfranchised, what indignation
+     there would be! How they would leave their homes to assemble and
+     protest against this wrong! They would declare that
+     disfranchisement was a burden too heavy to be borne; that if they
+     were unrepresented laws would be passed inimical to their best
+     interests; that only personal representation at the ballot box
+     could give them proper protection; and they would hasten here,
+     even as we are doing, to entreat you to remove from them the
+     burden of "the cruel and degrading penalty of disfranchisement."
+
+     And now, I desire to call your attention to a series of
+     declarations in the Constitution which prove beyond all
+     possibility of contravention that the Government has solemnly
+     pledged itself to secure to the women of the nation the right of
+     suffrage.
+
+     Article XIV, Section 1, declares that "All persons born or
+     naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction
+     thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State
+     wherein they reside." The women of this country are, then,
+     citizens thereof and entitled to all the rights of citizens.
+
+     Article XV speaks of "the right of a citizen to vote," as if that
+     were one of the most precious privileges of citizenship, so
+     precious that its protection is embodied in a separate amendment.
+
+     If we now turn to Article IV, Section 2, we find it declares that
+     "the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the
+     privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States."
+
+     What do these assertions mean? Is there one of you who can
+     explain away these noble guarantees of the right of individual
+     representation at the ballot box as mere one-sided phrases,
+     having no significance for one-half the people? No. These grand
+     pledges are abiding guarantees of human freedom, honest promises
+     of protection to all the people of the republic.
+
+     You, gentlemen, have sworn to carry out all the provisions of the
+     Constitution. Does not this oath lay upon you the duty of seeing
+     that this great pledge is kept and that the Fifty-sixth Congress
+     sets its mark in history by fulfilling these guarantees and
+     securing the ballot to the millions of women citizens, possessing
+     every qualification for the intelligent use of this mighty weapon
+     of liberty?
+
+     The Dome of this Capitol is surmounted by a magnificent statue
+     representing the genius of American freedom. How is this mighty
+     power embodied? As a majestic woman, full-armed and panoplied to
+     protect the liberty of the republic. Is not this symbol a mockery
+     while the women of the country are held in political slavery? We
+     ask you to insist that the pledges of the republic shall be
+     redeemed, that its promises shall be fulfilled, and that American
+     womanhood shall be enfranchised.
+
+Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton (N. Y.), as had been her custom during all
+the years since she had ceased to appear in person before these
+committees, sent a strong appeal for justice, beginning as follows:
+
+     In adjusting the rights of citizens in our newly-acquired
+     possessions, the whole question of suffrage is again fairly open
+     for discussion in the House of Representatives; and as some of
+     the States are depriving the colored men of the exercise of this
+     right and all of the States, except four, deny it to all women, I
+     ask Congress to submit an amendment to the National Constitution
+     declaring that citizens not allowed a voice in the Government
+     shall not be taxed or counted in the basis of representation.
+
+     To every fair mind, such an amendment would appear pre-eminently
+     just, since to count disfranchised classes in the basis of
+     representation compels citizens to aid in swelling the number of
+     Congressmen who may legislate against their most sacred
+     interests. If the Southern States that deny suffrage to negro men
+     should find that it limited their power in Congress by counting
+     in the basis of representation only those citizens who vote, they
+     would see that the interests of the races lay in the same
+     direction. A constitutional amendment to this effect would also
+     rouse the Northern States to their danger, for the same rule
+     applied there in excluding all women from the basis of
+     representation would reduce the number of their members of
+     Congress one-half. And if the South should continue her suicidal
+     policy toward women as well as colored men, her States would be
+     at a still greater disadvantage....
+
+     By every principle of our republic, logically considered, woman's
+     emancipation is a foregone conclusion. The great "declarations,"
+     by the fathers, regarding individual rights and the true
+     foundations of government, should not be glittering generalities
+     for demagogues to quote and ridicule, but eternal laws of
+     justice, as fixed in the world of morals as are the laws of
+     attraction and gravitation in the material universe.
+
+     In regard to the injustice of taxing unrepresented classes, Lord
+     Coke says: "The supreme power can not take from any man his
+     property without his consent in person or by representation. The
+     very act of taxing those who are not represented appears to me to
+     deprive them of one of their most sacred rights as free men, and
+     if continued, seems to be in effect an entire disfranchisement of
+     every civil right; for what one civil right is worth a rush when
+     a man's property is subject to be taken from him without his
+     consent?
+
+     Woman's right to life, liberty and happiness, to education,
+     property and representation, can not be denied, for if we go
+     back to first principles, where did the few get the right,
+     through all time, to rule the many? They never had it, any more
+     than pirates had the right to scour the high seas, and take
+     whatever they could lay hands upon.
+
+Miss Elizabeth Sheldon Tillinghast (Conn.) considered The Economic
+Basis of Woman Suffrage:
+
+     ....However we may explain it, and whether we like it or not,
+     woman has become an economic factor in our country and one that
+     is constantly assuming larger proportions. The question is now
+     what treatment will make her an element of economic strength
+     instead of weakness as at present. The presence of women in
+     business now demoralizes the rate of wages even more than the
+     increase in the supply of labor. Why? Principally because she can
+     be bullied with greater impunity than voters--because she has no
+     adequate means of self-defense. This seems a hard accusation, but
+     I believe it to be true.
+
+     Trade is a fight--an antagonism of interests which are
+     compromised in contracts in which the economically stronger
+     always wins the advantage. There are many things that contribute
+     to economic strength besides ability, and among them the most
+     potent is coming more and more to be the power which arises from
+     organization expressing itself in political action. Without
+     political expression woman's economic value is at the bottom of
+     the scale. She is the last to be considered, and the
+     consideration is usually about exhausted before she is reached.
+
+     She must do better work than men for equal pay or equal work for
+     less pay. In spite of this she may be supplanted at any time by a
+     political adherent, or her place may be used as a bribe to an
+     opposing faction. Women are weak in the business world because
+     they are new in it; because they are only just beginning to learn
+     their economic value; because their inherent tendencies are
+     passive instead of aggressive, which makes them as a class less
+     efficient fighters than men.
+
+     For these reasons women are and must be for years, if not for
+     generations, economically weaker than men. Does it appeal to any
+     one's sense of fairness to give the stronger party in a struggle
+     additional advantages and deny them to the weaker one? Would that
+     be considered honorable--would it be considered tolerable--even
+     among prize-fighters? What would be thought of a contest between
+     a heavy-weight and a feather-weight in which the heavy-weight was
+     allowed to hit below the belt and the feather-weight was confined
+     to the Marquis of Queensberry's rules? And yet these are
+     practically the conditions under which women do business in
+     forty-one of our States.
+
+     While the State does not owe any able-bodied, sound-minded man or
+     woman a living, it does owe them all a fair--yes, even a generous
+     opportunity to earn their own living, and one that shall not be
+     prolonged dying. I do not claim that woman suffrage would be a
+     panacea for all our economic woes. But I do claim that it would
+     remove one handicap which women workers have to bear in addition
+     to all those they share in common with men. I do claim that the
+     men of the future will be healthier, wiser and more efficient
+     wealth-producers if their mothers are stimulated by a practical
+     interest in public affairs. I do claim that that nation will be
+     the strongest in which the economic conditions are the most
+     nearly just to all, and in which co-operation and altruism are
+     the most completely incorporated in the lives of the people.
+
+Mrs. Hala Hammond Butt (Miss.) discussed The Changed Intellectual
+Qualifications of the Women of this Century, with the intense
+eloquence of Southern women, and closed as follows:
+
+     There are mighty forces striving within our souls--a latent
+     strength is astir that is lifting us out of our passive sleep.
+     Defenseless, still are we subject to restrictions, bonds as
+     illogical in theory as unjust in practice. Helpless, we may
+     formulate as we will; but demonstrate we may not. The query
+     persists in thrusting itself upon my mind, why should I be
+     amenable to a law that does not accord me recognition? Why,
+     indeed, should I owe loyalty and allegiance to a Government that
+     stamps my brow with the badge of servility and inferiority?
+
+     Our human interests are identical--yours and mine; our paths not
+     far apart; we have the same loves, the same hates, the same
+     hopes, the same desires; a common origin, a common need, a common
+     destiny. Our moral responsibilities are equal, our civil
+     liabilities not less than yours, our social and industrial
+     exactions equally as stringent as yours, and yet--O, crowning
+     shame of the nineteenth century!--we are denied the garb of
+     citizenship. Gentlemen, is this justice?
+
+Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch, auditor of the National Suffrage
+Association and a member of the Chicago bar, demonstrated The
+Protective Power of the Ballot:
+
+     The spirit of struggle against oppression and dependence is in
+     the air, and all have breathed it in--women as well as men. They,
+     too, feel the desire for freedom, opportunity, progress; the wish
+     for liberty, a share in the government, emancipation. The
+     practical method by which these aspirations can be realized is
+     through the ballot. It is the insignia of power. The Outlander
+     wants it; so does the Filipino, the Slav, the Cuban; so do women.
+     Women need the ballot not only for the honor of being esteemed
+     peers among freemen, but they want it for the practical value it
+     will be in protecting them in the exercise of a citizen's
+     prerogatives....
+
+     But, it is asked, "Have not women had some sort of protection
+     without the ballot?" Yes, but it has been only such protection
+     as the caprice or affection of the voting class has given,
+     gratuities revocable at will. The man of wealth or power defends
+     his wife, daughter or sweetheart because she is his, just as he
+     would defend his property. His own opinions, not her views,
+     decide him concerning the things from which she should be
+     protected. Should she ever need protection against "her
+     protector," there is no one to give it....
+
+     Entrance into remunerative employments in many instances has been
+     denied women. In many of the States the professions of law,
+     medicine, dentistry and all the elective offices are closed by
+     statute. Appointive positions, also, which women might legally
+     hold are practically withheld from them because of their lack of
+     the ballot. The appointing power--president, governor, mayor,
+     judge or commissioner--all owe their own positions to voters who
+     expect some minor appointment in acknowledgment of service.
+
+     Even large private corporations not supposed to be influenced by
+     politics have occasionally desired and received governmental help
+     and protection. In return, the employes of these enterprises have
+     been advised to vote for the party which has protected their
+     employers' business. At a caucus, a street parade and on election
+     day, the 500 or 10,000 or 100,000 persons employed in a certain
+     industry make a considerable political showing if they are all
+     voters. On such occasions women employes are of no value. Women
+     refused employment in various enterprises not alone are injured
+     in their feelings, but they are not protected in their right to
+     earn food, shelter and clothes.
+
+     There are many different kinds of employment which do not debar
+     women, but even in these they need protection in securing a fair
+     return for their labor. In an investigation conducted by the U.
+     S. Department of Labor concerning the wages received by men and
+     women it appeared that in 75 per cent. of the 782 instances
+     investigated, men received 50 per cent. higher wages than did
+     women laboring with the same degree of efficiency on the same
+     kind of work.
+
+     Women also need protection of their property. A man who knows the
+     inside truth says, "Widows and minors are always assessed higher
+     than men." If the assessor desires re-election, one of the
+     easiest methods of securing it is to lower the assessments of the
+     politicians who control most voters....
+
+     Women also want protection for the one sphere which even the most
+     conservative loudly proclaim should be theirs--the home. That the
+     water supply is good and abundant, that the sewage is carried
+     away properly and speedily, that contagious cases are isolated,
+     that food is pure in quality and reasonable in price, that
+     inspection of food is honest and scientific, that weights and
+     measures are true, that gas and electricity are inexpensive, that
+     buildings are strongly constructed--these are all matters under
+     the control of certain officials elected by voters....
+
+     Women, too, want protection for the children, proper regulations
+     in regard to the schools, the trains at crossings, seducers,
+     tramps and child abductors. They want strict laws against obscene
+     literature and the unhealthy cigarette; and what is equally
+     important, honest enforcement of such laws and ordinances....
+
+     One class can not, will not, legislate better for all classes
+     than they can do for themselves. So men alone can not legislate
+     better for women and men than can the two for both. Women need
+     the ballot to protect themselves and all that they hold dear.
+
+The hearing was closed by Miss Shaw, who said in ending her remarks:
+
+     Dire results have been predicted at every step of radical
+     progress. When women first enjoyed higher education the cry went
+     out that the home would be destroyed. It was said that if all the
+     women were educated, all would become bluestockings, and if all
+     women became bluestockings all would write books, and if all
+     women wrote books what would become of the homes, who would rear
+     the children? But the schools were opened and women entered them,
+     and it has been discovered that the intelligent woman makes a
+     wiser mother, a better homemaker and a much more desirable
+     companion, friend and wife than a woman who is illiterate, whose
+     intellectual horizon is narrowed.
+
+     In many of the States where the statutes were based on the old
+     English common law, the husband absorbed the wife's property as
+     he absorbed her personal rights. Then came the demand for
+     property rights for wives, but the cry went up they will desert
+     their homes. Then it was found there were thousands of women who
+     could have no home if they were not permitted to pursue
+     avocations in the outside world. And then it was said that the
+     moral life of women would be degraded by public contact. Yet the
+     statistics show that in those occupations in which women are able
+     to earn a livelihood in an honorable and respectable manner they
+     have raised the standard of morality rather than lowered it.
+
+     The results have not been those which were predicted. The homes
+     have not been broken up; for human hearts are and always will be
+     the same, and so long as God has established in this world a
+     greater force than all other forces combined--which we call the
+     divine gravity of love--just so long human hearts will continue
+     to be drawn together, homes will be founded, families will be
+     reared; and never so good a home, never so good a family, as
+     those founded in justice and educated upon right principles.
+     Consequently the industrial emancipation of women has been of
+     benefit to the home, to women and to men.
+
+     The claim is made that we are building a barrier between men and
+     women; that we are antagonistic because men are men and we are
+     women. This is not true. We believe there never was a time when
+     men and women were such good friends as now, when they esteemed
+     each other as they do now. We have coeducation in our schools;
+     boys and girls work side by side and study and recite together.
+     When coeducation was first tried men thought they would easily
+     carry off the honors; but soon they learned their mistake. That
+     experience gave to men a better opinion of woman's intellectual
+     ability.
+
+     There is nothing in liberty which can harm either man or woman.
+     There is nothing in justice which can work against the highest
+     good of humanity; and when on the ground of expediency this
+     measure is opposed, in the words of Wendell Phillips, "Whatever
+     is just, God will see that it is expedient." There is no greater
+     inexpediency than injustice....
+
+     We do not ask the ballot because we do not believe in men or
+     because we think men unjust or unfair. We do not ask to speak for
+     ourselves because we believe men unwilling to speak for us; but
+     because men by their very nature never can speak for women. It
+     would be as impossible for all men to understand the needs of
+     women and care for their interests as it would be for all women
+     to understand the needs and care for the interests of men. So
+     long as laws affect both men and women, both should make the
+     laws.
+
+     Gentlemen, we leave our case with you. I wish those who oppose
+     this measure could know the great need of the power of the ballot
+     in the hands of those who struggle in the world's affairs. I
+     thank you in the name of our association for your kindness in
+     listening to us. There will never be laid before you a claim more
+     just--one more in accord with the fundamental principles of our
+     national life.
+
+No one can read the arguments for the enfranchisement of women as
+presented before these two committees without a profound conviction of
+the justice of their cause and the imperative duty of those before
+whom they pleaded it to report in favor of submitting the desired
+amendment. This report would simply have placed the matter before the
+respective Houses of Congress. But neither committee took any action
+whatever and as far as practical results were concerned these eloquent
+pleas fell upon deaf ears and hardened hearts.
+
+A unique feature was added to the hearings this year because, for the
+first time, the advocates of woman suffrage were opposed before the
+committees by a class of women calling themselves "remonstrants." The
+_Woman's Journal_ said:
+
+     About a dozen women from New York and Massachusetts, with one
+     from Delaware, came to Washington and made public speeches before
+     Congressional Committees to prove that a woman's place is at
+     home. They said they were led to take this action by their alarm
+     at the activity of the National-American W. S. A.
+
+     The party of "antis" who came to the Senate hearing in the Marble
+     Room would not have been able to get in but for Miss Anthony. As
+     this room accommodates only about sixty persons, admission was by
+     tickets, and these had been issued to delegates only. The
+     "antis," having no tickets, were turned away; but Miss Anthony,
+     learning who they were, persuaded the doorkeeper to admit them,
+     introduced them herself to the chairman of the committee, and
+     placed them in good seats near the front, where they certainly
+     heard more about the facts of equal suffrage than they ever did
+     before.[129]
+
+     Mrs. Arthur M. Dodge and Miss Bissell addressed the Senate
+     Committee on Woman Suffrage, and Mr. Thomas Russell, Mrs. A. J.
+     George, Miss Emily Bissell and Mrs. Rossiter Johnson addressed
+     the House Judiciary Committee. In each case they secured the last
+     word, to which they were not entitled either by equity or custom,
+     by asking to speak at the conclusion of the suffrage hearing. It
+     was trying to have to listen to egregious misstatements of fact,
+     and to hear the _Woman's Journal_ audaciously cited as authority
+     for them, without a chance to reply.
+
+The time for these hearings belonged exclusively to the suffrage
+delegates, the chairmen of the two congressional committees stating
+that they would appoint some other day for the "remonstrants." The
+delegates, however, declaring that they had no objections, the "antis"
+were permitted to read their papers at the close of the suffrage
+hearing, thus having the benefit of the large audiences, but
+furnishing a vast amount of amusement to the suffragists.[130]
+
+The _Woman's Journal_ said in its perfectly fair description:
+
+     The chairman of the House Committee asked Mrs. A. J. George of
+     Massachusetts, who conducted the hearing for the "antis," a
+     number of questions that she could not answer, and Thomas Russell
+     of that State had to prompt her repeatedly. The chairman would
+     ask a question; Mrs. George would look nonplussed; Mr. Russell
+     would lean over and whisper, "Say yes," and she would answer
+     aloud "Yes." The chairman would ask another question; Mr. Russell
+     would whisper, "Say no," and Mrs. George would answer "No." This
+     happened so often that both the audience and the committee were
+     visibly amused, and several persons said it was Mr. Russell who
+     was really conducting the hearing. He is a Boston lawyer who has
+     conducted the legislative hearings for the "antis" in
+     Massachusetts for some years.
+
+Mrs. Dodge, in her speech, begged the committee not to allow the
+"purely sentimental reasons of the petitioners" to have any weight,
+and said: "The mere fact that this amendment is asked as a compliment
+to the leading advocate of woman suffrage on the attainment of her
+eightieth birthday, is evidence of the emotional frame of mind which
+influences the advocates of the measure, and which is scarcely
+favorable to the calm consideration that should be given to
+fundamental political principles." Miss Anthony's birthday had not
+been mentioned by any speaker before either committee, and the
+suffragists under her leadership had been making their pleas and
+arguments for a Sixteenth Amendment for over thirty years.
+
+As the suffrage speakers were not permitted to answer the
+misstatements and prevarications of the "remonstrants" at the time of
+the hearings and these were widely circulated through the press, the
+convention passed the following resolutions on motion of Miss Alice
+Stone Blackwell:
+
+     WHEREAS, At this morning's Congressional hearing letters were
+     read by the anti-suffragists from two men and one woman in
+     Colorado, asserting equal suffrage in that State to be a failure;
+     therefore,
+
+     _Resolved_, That we call attention to a published statement
+     declaring that the results are wholesome and that none of the
+     predicted evils have followed. This statement is signed by the
+     Governor and three ex-Governors of Colorado, the Chief Justice,
+     all the Judges of the State Supreme Court, the Denver District
+     Court and the Court of Appeals; all the Colorado Senators and
+     Representatives in Congress; President Slocum of Colorado
+     College, the president of the State University, the State
+     Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Attorney-General, the
+     mayor of Denver, prominent clergymen of different denominations,
+     and the presidents of thirteen of the principal women's
+     associations of Denver. The social science department of the
+     Denver Woman's Club has just voted unanimously to the same
+     effect, and the Colorado Legislature lately passed a similar
+     resolution by a vote of 45 to 3 in the House and 30 to 1 in the
+     Senate. On the other hand, during the six years that equal
+     suffrage has prevailed in Colorado the opponents have not yet
+     found six respectable men who assert over their own names and
+     addresses that it has had any bad results.
+
+     WHEREAS, At the Congressional hearing it was asserted that equal
+     suffrage had led to no improvements in the laws of Colorado;
+     therefore,
+
+     _Resolved_, That we call attention to the fact that Colorado owes
+     to equal suffrage the laws raising the age of protection for
+     girls to eighteen years; establishing a State Home for Dependent
+     Children and a State Industrial School for Girls; making fathers
+     and mothers joint guardians of their children; removing the
+     emblems from the Australian ballot; prohibiting child labor; also
+     city ordinances in Denver providing drinking fountains in the
+     streets; forbidding expectoration in public places, and requiring
+     the use of smoke-consuming chimneys on all public and business
+     buildings.
+
+This anecdote was related the next day: "Miss Anthony's love of the
+beautiful leads her always to clothe herself in good style and fine
+materials, and she has an eye for the fitness of things as well as for
+the funny side. 'Girls,' she said yesterday, after returning from the
+Capitol, 'those statesmen eyed us very closely, but I will wager that
+it was impossible after we got mixed together to tell an anti from a
+suffragist by her clothes. There might have been a difference, though,
+in the expression of the faces and the shape of the heads,' she added
+drily."
+
+On Tuesday afternoon about two hundred members of the convention were
+received by President McKinley in the East Room of the White House.
+Miss Anthony stood at his right hand and, after the President had
+greeted the last guest, he invited her to accompany him upstairs to
+meet Mrs. McKinley, who was not well enough to receive all of the
+ladies. Giving her his arm he led her up the old historic staircase,
+"as tenderly as if he had been my own son," she said afterward. When
+she was leaving, after a pleasant call, Mrs. McKinley expressed a wish
+to send some message to the convention and she and the President
+together filled Miss Anthony's arms with white lilies, which graced
+the platform during the remainder of the meetings.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[120] The statistics used in this paper were taken from the report of
+the U. S. Commissioner of Education for 1899.
+
+[121] See chapter on Louisiana.
+
+[122] The address of Miss Laughlin created a sensation. A member of
+the United States Labor Commission was in the audience, and was so
+much impressed with the power of this young woman that shortly
+afterwards she was made a member of this commission to investigate the
+condition of the working women of the United States. Her valuable
+report was published in pamphlet form.
+
+[123] See chapter on Kansas.
+
+[124] Immediately after the convention, the New York _Times_ published
+an alleged interview with Mrs. Paul, in which she was made to say that
+she was not a believer in suffrage for women. She at once denied this
+emphatically over her own signature, saying that the interview was a
+fabrication and that she was an advocate of the enfranchisement of
+women especially because of the need of their ballot in city
+government.
+
+[125] This was held the first week in December, 1901, and netted about
+$8,000 for the association.
+
+[126] It will be noticed in this pamphlet that all but one of the
+favorable reports from congressional committees were made during the
+years when Miss Anthony had a winter home at the Riggs House, through
+the courtesy of its proprietors, Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Spofford, and was
+able to secure them through personal attention and influence. There
+were always some members of these committees who were favorable to
+woman suffrage, but with the great pressure on every side from other
+matters, this one was apt to be neglected unless somebody made a
+business of seeing that it did not go by default. This Miss Anthony
+did for many years, and during this time secured the excellent reports
+of 1879, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886 and 1890. The great speech of Senator
+T. W. Palmer, made February 6, 1885, was in response to her insistence
+that he should keep his promise to speak in favor of the question. In
+1888-90 Mrs. Upton, who was residing in Washington with her father,
+Ezra B. Taylor, M. C., did not permit the Judiciary Committee to
+forget the report for that year, which was the first and only
+favorable House Report.
+
+[127] For account of the work of the association before Congress see
+Chap. I.
+
+[128] George W. Ray, N. Y., chairman; John J. Jenkins, Wis.; Richard
+Wayne Parker, N. J.; Jesse Overstreet, Ind.; De Alva S. Alexander, N.
+Y.; Vespasian Warner, Ill.; Winfield S. Kerr, O.; Charles E.
+Littlefield, Me.; Romeo H. Freer, W. Va.; Julius Kahn, Calif.; William
+L. Terry, Ark.; David A. De Armond, Mo.; Samuel W. T. Lanham, Tex.;
+William Elliott, S. C.; Oscar W. Underwood, Ala.; David H. Smith, Ky.;
+William H. Fleming, Ga.
+
+[129] That this was a mistaken courtesy was proved by subsequent
+events, as afterwards Mrs. Dodge came out with a card in the New York
+_Sun_ denying that they were admitted through the intervention of Miss
+Anthony.
+
+[130] In the official Senate report of the hearing the arguments of
+the suffragists filled forty pages; those of the "antis" five pages.
+They consisted of brief papers by Mrs. Dodge and Miss Bissell. The
+former took the ground that the Congress should leave this matter to
+be decided by the States; that women are not physically qualified to
+use the ballot; and that its use by them would render "domestic
+tranquillity" a byword among the people. Miss Bissell began by saying,
+"It is not the tyranny but the chivalry of men that we have to fear,"
+and opposed the suffrage principally because the majority of women do
+not want it, saying, "I have never yet been so situated that I could
+see where a vote could help me. If I felt that it would, I might
+become a suffragist perhaps."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+THE NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1900 CONTINUED.
+
+
+It had been known for some time before the suffrage convention of Feb.
+8-14, 1900, that Miss Anthony intended to resign the presidency of the
+national association at that time, when she would be eighty years old,
+but her devoted adherents could not resist urging that she would
+reconsider her decision. When they assembled, however, they found it
+impossible to persuade her to continue longer in the office. The
+Washington _Post_ of February 8 said:
+
+     Miss Susan B. Anthony has resigned. The woman who for the greater
+     part of her life has been the star that guided the National Woman
+     Suffrage Association through all of its vicissitudes until it
+     stands to-day a living monument to her wonderful mental and
+     physical ability has turned over the leadership to younger minds
+     and hands, not because this great woman feels that she is no
+     longer capable of exercising it, but because she has a still
+     larger work to accomplish before her life's labors are at an end.
+     In a speech which was characteristic of one who has done so much
+     toward the uplifting of her sex, Miss Anthony tendered her
+     resignation during the preliminary meeting of the executive
+     committee, held last night at the headquarters in the parlors of
+     the Riggs House.
+
+     Although Miss Anthony had positively stated that she would resign
+     in 1900, there were many of those present who were visibly
+     shocked when she announced that she was about to relinquish her
+     position as president of the association. In the instant hush
+     which followed this statement a sorrow settled over the
+     countenances of the fifty women seated about the room, who love
+     and venerate Miss Anthony so much, and probably some of them
+     would have broken down had it not been that they knew well her
+     antipathy to public emotion. In a happy vein, which soon drove
+     the clouds of disappointment from the faces of those present, she
+     explained why she no longer desired to continue as an officer of
+     the association after having done so since its beginning.
+
+     "I have fully determined," she began, "to retire from the active
+     presidency of the association. I was elected assistant secretary
+     of a woman suffrage society in 1852, and from that day to this
+     have always held an office. I am not retiring now because I feel
+     unable, mentally or physically, to do the necessary work, but
+     because I wish to see the organization in the hands of those who
+     are to have its management in the future." Then jestingly she
+     continued: "I want to see you all at work, while I am alive, so I
+     can scold if you do not do it well. Give the matter of selecting
+     your officers serious thought. Consider who will do the best work
+     for the political enfranchisement of women, and let no personal
+     feelings enter into the question."
+
+While Miss Anthony seemed at the height of her physical and mental
+vigor, those who loved her best felt it to be right that she should be
+relieved of the burdens of the office which were growing heavier each
+year as the demands upon the association became more numerous, and
+should be free to devote her time to certain lines of work which could
+be done only by herself. They tried to imitate her own cheerfulness
+and philosophy in this matter, but found it more difficult than it
+ever before had been to follow where she led.
+
+The last of the resolutions, presented to the convention a few days
+later by the chairman of the committee, Henry B. Blackwell, read as
+follows: "In view of the announced determination of Miss Susan B.
+Anthony to withdraw from the presidency of this association, we tender
+her our heartfelt expression of appreciation and regard. We
+congratulate her upon her eightieth birthday, and trust that she will
+add to her past illustrious services her aid and support to the
+younger workers for woman's enfranchisement. We shall continue to look
+to her for advice and counsel in the years to come. May the new
+century witness the fruition of our labors."
+
+This was unanimously adopted by a rising vote. Observing that many of
+the delegates were on the point of yielding to their feelings, Miss
+Anthony arose and in clear, even tones, with a touch of quaint humor,
+said:
+
+     I wish you could realize with what joy and relief I retire from
+     the presidency. I want to say this to you while I am still
+     alive--and I am good yet for another decade--don't be afraid. As
+     long as my name stands at the head, I am Yankee enough to feel
+     that I must watch every potato which goes into the dinner-pot and
+     supervise every detail of the work. For the four years since I
+     fixed my date to retire, I have constantly been saying to myself,
+     "Let go, let go, let go!" I am now going to let go of the
+     machinery but not of the spiritual part. I expect to do more work
+     for woman suffrage in the next decade than ever before. I have
+     not been for nearly fifty years in this movement without gaining
+     a certain "notoriety," at least, and this enables me to get a
+     hearing before the annual conventions of many great national
+     bodies, and to urge on them the passage of resolutions asking
+     Congress to submit to the State Legislatures a Sixteenth
+     Amendment to the Federal Constitution forbidding disfranchisement
+     on account of sex. This is a part of the work to which I mean to
+     devote myself henceforward. Then you all know about the big fund
+     which I am going to raise so that you young workers may have an
+     assured income and not have to spend the most of your time
+     begging money, as I have had to do.
+
+The convention proceeded to the election of officers. Mrs. Lillie
+Devereux Blake (N. Y.), who was a candidate for president, asked
+permission to make a personal explanation and said: "I have received
+from many parts of the United States expressions of regard and esteem
+that have deeply touched me. But in the interests of harmony I desire
+to withdraw my name from any consideration you may have wished to give
+me." Of the 278 votes cast for president Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt (N.
+Y.) received 254; eleven of the remaining twenty-four were cast for
+Miss Anthony and ten for Mrs. Blake. The other members of the old
+board were re-elected almost unanimously.[131]
+
+The Washington _Post_ said: "There was a touching scene when the vote
+for Mrs. Chapman Catt was announced. First there was an outburst of
+applause, and then as though all at once every one realized that she
+was witnessing the passing of Susan B. Anthony, their beloved
+president, the deepest silence prevailed for several seconds. Lifelong
+members of the association, who had toiled and struggled by the side
+of Miss Anthony, could not restrain their emotions and wept in spite
+of their efforts at control." The Washington _Star_ thus described the
+occasion:
+
+     Mrs. Blake not being in the hall, Miss Anthony was made a
+     committee of one to present Mrs. Catt to the convention. The
+     women went wild as, erect and alert, she walked to the front of
+     the platform, holding the hand of her young co-worker, of whom
+     she is extremely fond and of whom she expects great things. Miss
+     Anthony's eyes were tear-dimmed, and her tones were uneven, as
+     she presented to the convention its choice of a leader in words
+     freighted with love and tender solicitude, rich with
+     reminiscences of the past, and full of hope for the future of the
+     new president and her work.
+
+     "Suffrage is no longer a theory, but an actual condition," she
+     said, "and new occasions bring new duties. These new duties,
+     these changed conditions, demand stronger hands, younger heads
+     and fresher hearts. In Mrs. Catt you have my ideal leader. I
+     present to you my successor."
+
+     By this time half the women were using their handkerchiefs on
+     their eyes and the other half were waving them in the air.
+
+The object of all this praise stood with downcast eyes and evidently
+was deeply moved. At length she said in response:
+
+     Good friends, I should hardly be human if I did not feel
+     gratitude and appreciation for the confidence you have shown me;
+     but I feel the honor of the position much less than its
+     responsibility. I never was an aspirant for it. I consented only
+     six weeks ago to stand. I was not willing to be the next
+     president after Miss Anthony. I have known that there was a
+     general loyalty to her which could not be given to any younger
+     worker. Since Miss Anthony announced her intention to retire,
+     there have been editorials in many leading papers expressing
+     approval of her--but not of the cause. She has been much larger
+     than our association. The papers have spoken of the new president
+     as Miss Anthony's successor. Miss Anthony never will have a
+     successor.
+
+     A president chosen from the younger generation is on a level with
+     the association, and it might suffer in consequence of Miss
+     Anthony's retirement if we did not still have her to counsel and
+     advise us. I pledge you whatever ability God has given me, but I
+     can not do this work alone. The cause has got beyond where one
+     woman can do the whole. I shall not be its leader as Miss Anthony
+     has been; I shall be only an officer of this association. I will
+     do all I can, but I can not do it without the co-operation of
+     each of you. The responsibility much overbalances the honor, and
+     I hope you will all help me bear the burden.
+
+[Illustration: MRS. CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT.
+
+Successor of Miss Susan B. Anthony as President of National-American
+Woman Suffrage Association.]
+
+It was voted on motion of Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery to make Miss
+Anthony honorary president, which was done with applause and she
+observed informally: "You have moved me up higher. I always did stand
+by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and my name always was after hers, and I am
+glad to be there again."
+
+The press notices said of the new officer:
+
+     Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, the newly-elected president of the
+     National Suffrage Association, is a young and handsome woman with
+     a charming personality, and is one of the most eloquent and
+     logical speakers upon the public platform. For the past five
+     years she has been lecturer and organizer for the association,
+     where she has shown rare executive ability and earnestness of
+     purpose.
+
+     She has traveled from east to west and from north to south many
+     times, lectured in nearly every city in the Union and has been
+     associated with every important victory that equal suffrage has
+     won of late years. She was in Colorado during the amendment
+     campaign, and the women attribute their success to her more than
+     to any other person from outside the State. She was in Idaho,
+     where all four political parties put suffrage planks into their
+     platforms and the amendment carried. She went before the
+     Louisiana constitutional convention, by the earnest invitation of
+     New Orleans women, and it gave tax-paying women the right to vote
+     upon all questions submitted to the tax-payers.
+
+It had been known for several years that Mrs. Chapman Catt was Miss
+Anthony's choice as her successor; she was considered the
+best-equipped woman in the association for the position, and the vote
+of the delegates showed how nearly unanimous was her election. The
+Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, who for a number of years had been
+vice-president-at-large, could have had Miss Anthony's sanction and
+the unanimous vote of the convention if she would have consented to
+accept the office.
+
+Mrs. Chapman Catt opened the next day's meeting by saying:
+
+     A surprise was promised as part of this afternoon's program and a
+     pleasant duty now falls to me. It is to present Miss Anthony with
+     the spirit of a gift, for the gift itself is not here. Suffrage
+     people from all over the world go to see Miss Anthony at her home
+     in Rochester, N. Y., and consequently the carpets of the parlor
+     and sitting-room are getting a little worn. When she goes home
+     she will find two beautiful Smyrna rugs fitting the floors of
+     those two rooms--the gift of her suffrage friends. I am also
+     commissioned to present her with an album. Some of our naughty
+     officers have been making fun of it and saying that albums are
+     all out of date; but this one contains the photographs of all the
+     presidents of the State Suffrage Associations, and the chairmen
+     of standing committees. No collection of "antis" could be found
+     that would present in their faces as much intelligence and
+     strength of character.
+
+Miss Anthony expressed her thanks, and said: "These girls have
+disproved the old saying that a secret can not be kept by a woman, for
+I have not heard a word of a rug or a picture."
+
+From the Utah Silk Commission composed of women came a handsome black
+brocaded dress pattern, the work of women, from the tending of the
+cocoons to the weaving of the silk. A beautiful solid silver vase was
+presented from "the free women of Idaho." There was also from this
+State an album of two hundred pages of pen drawings, water colors and
+pressed flowers, with a sentiment on each page, the contributions of
+as many individuals. California sent more than one hundred dollars.
+From every State came gifts of money, silver-plate, fine china, sofa
+cushions, books, pictures, exquisite jewelry, lace, chatelaine bags
+and every token which loving hearts could devise. To each Miss Anthony
+responded with a terse sentence or two, half tender, half humorous;
+the audience entered fully into the spirit of it all, and the
+convention was like a big family enjoying the birthday of one of its
+members.
+
+Of the last session on February 14, the Washington _Post_ said:
+
+     A vast audience consisting of both men and women witnessed at the
+     Church of Our Father, last evening, the passing of Susan B.
+     Anthony as president of the National Suffrage Association. It was
+     the final evening session of the Thirty-second annual convention,
+     which, Miss Anthony announced at its close, had been the most
+     successful from every point of view of any ever held.
+
+     Long before the opening hour arrived the church was completely
+     filled, and people stood eight and ten deep in the aisles, sat
+     around the edge of the speakers' platform and filled the
+     approaches to the church. Miss Anthony and many of the other
+     speakers, who arrived at eight o'clock, had great difficulty in
+     reaching the platform.
+
+John C. Bell, member of Congress from Colorado, made the opening
+address in which he said: "The greatest obstruction to human progress
+is human prejudice. As long as men are controlled more by their
+prejudices than by their reason, they will be slaves to habit. If
+women had voted from the foundation of the Government it would now be
+as difficult to deprive them of this privilege as it would be to
+repeal the Bill of Rights, but as the men have done the voting from
+the beginning, the force of habit is successfully battling with both
+reason and justice." He refuted the charge that woman suffrage made
+dissension in families, saying: "You must bear in mind that the
+extending of the elective franchise to women not only elevates and
+broadens them but the men as well."
+
+The address of Mrs. Blatch on Woman and War was among the most notable
+of the convention. She declared that one of the good effects of war
+was that "it made women work." The _Post_ said: "Mrs. Harriot Stanton
+Blatch, a daughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, whose present home is in
+England, laid the blame of all the British reverses in the Transvaal
+at the door of what she termed 'the evils of an idle aristocracy.' In
+a most dramatic manner she denounced the course of the British Empire.
+After summing up the war situation she said: 'The English armies now
+on the battle-fields in the Transvaal have at their heads as officers
+sons of this idle aristocracy, who through their incompetency are not
+fit to be leaders. They are beneath contempt, but to the English
+soldier all honor is due. He is all right.'"
+
+The speech of the pioneer Quaker suffragist, Mrs. Caroline Hallowell
+Miller (Md.), delighted the audience, and her comparison of Abraham
+Lincoln and Susan B. Anthony, "both having devoted their lives to
+freedom," was enthusiastically received. Then occurred one of the
+pleasant diversions so characteristic of these suffrage conventions.
+During the interval while the collection was being taken, Mrs. Helen
+Mosher James, niece of Miss Anthony, stepping to the front of the
+platform, said: "This is the Rev. Anna Shaw's birthday. Her friends
+wish to present her with an easy chair to await her when she comes
+back wearied from going up and down the land, satchel in hand, on her
+many lecture tours. Here are fifty-three gold dollars, one for each
+year of her life, and we wish her to buy such a chair as suits her
+best."
+
+In response the little minister said in part: "I am not like Miss
+Anthony, so used to having gifts poured in upon me that I know just
+what to say. I shall buy the chair when I have been told what is the
+correct thing to buy by another niece of Miss Anthony's, who for
+twelve years has made a home for me. If you want to see a pretty
+little spot, come to our home, and every one of you shall sit in _our_
+chair."[132]
+
+Then Miss Anthony, clasping the hand of Mrs. Chapman Catt, led her
+forward and introduced her to the audience as "president of the
+National-American Woman Suffrage Association." The _Woman's Journal_
+thus described the occasion:
+
+     She was received with immense applause, the great audience rising
+     and waving handkerchiefs. She spoke on The Three I's, showing how
+     every effort of women for improvement was called, first,
+     indelicate, then immodest, and finally impracticable, but how all
+     the old objections had been proved to be, in legal phrase,
+     "incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial."
+
+     The woman's rights agitation began in the early days of the
+     republic, and a moral warfare along that line has been waged for
+     more than a hundred years. Each step has been fiercely contested.
+     The advocates of every claim have been lovers of justice and the
+     opponents have been adherents of conservatism. The warfare has
+     been waged in three distinct battles, the weapon of the opponents
+     always being ridicule, that of the defenders, appeals to reason.
+
+     In the early days, when colleges and public schools were closed
+     to women and the education of girls was confined to the three
+     R's, an agitation was begun to permit them to take more advanced
+     studies. Society received it with the cry "indelicate." At that
+     time delicacy was the choicest charm of woman and indelicacy was
+     a crushing criticism. But the battle was won.
+
+     The second great battle occurred between 1850 and 1860. Upon
+     every hand incorrigible woman, with a big W, arose to irritate
+     and torment the conservatives of the world. She appeared in the
+     pulpit, on the platform, in conventions, in new occupations and
+     in innumerable untried fields. Everywhere the finger of scorn was
+     pointed at her, and the world with merciless derision pronounced
+     her immodest. But that battle was won.
+
+     We are now in the heat of the greatest of all battles. Woman asks
+     for the suffrage. The world answers, "impractical." We are told
+     that this movement is quite different from all others because
+     there is an organized opposition of women themselves against it,
+     but the "remonstrant" is not new. This century has witnessed ten
+     generations of remonstrants. In 1800 the remonstrant was
+     horrified at the study of geography. In 1810 she accepted
+     geography but protested against physiology. In 1820 she accepted
+     physiology but protested against geometry. In 1830 she accepted
+     geometry but protested against the college education. In 1840 she
+     accepted the college but remonstrated against the property laws
+     for married women. In 1850 she accepted the property laws but
+     remonstrated against public speaking. In 1860 she protested
+     against the freedom of organization. In 1870 she remonstrated
+     against the professions for women. In 1880 she protested against
+     school suffrage. In 1890 she protested against women in office.
+     In 1900 she accepts everything that every former generation of
+     remonstrants has protested against and, availing herself of the
+     privilege of free public speech secured by this women's rights
+     movement, pleads publicly that she may be saved from the burden
+     of voting.
+
+     The remonstrant of 1800 said "indelicate," of 1850 "immodest," of
+     1900 "impractical." That the forces of conservatism will
+     surrender as unconditionally to the forces of justice in the
+     great battle of the impractical as they did in the battle of the
+     indelicate and of the immodest is as inevitable as that the sun
+     will rise tomorrow.
+
+At the close of her fine address, of which this is the barest
+synopsis, Miss Anthony came forward and asked triumphantly, "Do you
+think the three hundred delegates made a mistake in choosing that
+woman for president?"--a question which brought out renewed applause.
+She then introduced to the audience the other officers, all of whom
+except Mrs. McCulloch had served in their present capacity from eight
+to ten years, Mrs. Avery having been corresponding secretary twenty
+years. They were enthusiastically greeted. Afterwards she presented
+Miss Clara Barton, the president of the Red Cross Association, an
+earnest advocate of suffrage, and as the cheers for her rang out, Miss
+Anthony observed, "Politically her opinion is worth no more than an
+idiot's."
+
+Miss Anthony came forward at the close of the program and, the
+audience realizing that she was about to say good-bye, there was the
+most profound stillness, with every eye and ear strained to the utmost
+tension. A woman who loved the theatrical and posed for effect would
+have taken advantage of this opportunity to create a dramatic scene
+and make her exit in the midst of tears and lamentations, but nothing
+could be further from Miss Anthony's nature. Her voice rang out as
+strong and true as if making an old-time speech on the rights of
+women, with only one little break in it, and she covered this up by
+saying quickly, "Not one of our national officers ever has had a
+dollar of salary. I retire on full pay!"
+
+The Washington _Post_ said of this occasion:
+
+     The convention closed its labors with the farewell address of
+     Miss Anthony. The retiring president paid a magnificent tribute
+     to the faithful women whose aid and loyal companionship she had
+     enjoyed for so many years. Emphatically she declared that she
+     was not going to give up her efforts in behalf of that for which
+     she had struggled so long, and concluded: "I am grateful to this
+     association; I am grateful to you all, and to the world, for the
+     great kindness which has been mine. To-morrow I will have
+     finished fourscore years. I have lived to rise from the most
+     despised and hated woman in all the world of fifty years ago,
+     until now it seems as if I am loved by you all. If this is true,
+     then I am indeed satisfied."
+
+     Miss Anthony lost control of her voice for a moment. She soon
+     regained her composure, however, and, calling the officers of the
+     association to her side, she told of what each individual had
+     done for the organization. It was a pretty picture. The audience
+     caught the spirit of determination from Miss Anthony and a
+     thunderous applause and waving of handkerchiefs followed.
+
+The great crowd sang the doxology and even then seemed unwilling to
+disperse, hundreds of people staying for a hand-shake and a few
+personal words with the officers and delegates.
+
+The day following the close of the convention was the eightieth
+anniversary of Miss Anthony's birth, and many suffrage advocates from
+different parts of the country had come to the national capital to
+assist in celebrating it. The following program was handsomely
+prepared for distribution and was carried out, except that Mrs. Birney
+and Dr. Smith were unavoidably absent.
+
+  CELEBRATION OF THE EIGHTIETH BIRTHDAY
+  OF
+  SUSAN B. ANTHONY,
+  AT THE
+  LAFAYETTE OPERA HOUSE, WASHINGTON, D. C., FEB'Y 15, 1900.
+
+  _Song_    John W. Hutchinson
+
+  Greetings from
+       National Congress of Mothers,
+  Mrs. Theodore Weld Birney, President
+       National Council of Women,
+  Fannie Humphreys Gaffney, President
+       International Council of Women,
+  May Wright Sewall, President
+
+  Greetings from the Professions:
+       Ministry     Rev. Ida C. Hultin
+       Law     Diana Hirschler
+       Medicine     Dr. Julia Holmes Smith
+
+  _Violin Solo--Hungarian Rhapsodie (Hansen)_, Joseph H. Douglass
+  Greetings from
+       Business Women    Lillian M. Hollister
+       Colored Women    Coralie Franklin Cook
+       District Equal Suffrage Association    Ellen Powell Thompson
+
+  Greetings from the Enfranchised States:
+       Wyoming    Helen M. Warren
+       Colorado    Virginia Morrison Shafroth
+       Utah    Emily S. Richards
+       Idaho    Mell C. Woods
+
+  "_Love's Rosary_" (poem)    Lydia Avery Coonley-Ward
+
+  Greeting from Elizabeth Cady Stanton    Harriot Stanton Blatch
+
+  Greeting from the National American Suffrage Association
+                                                  Rev. Anna Howard Shaw
+
+  Response    Susan B. Anthony
+
+    TO SUSAN B. ANTHONY.
+
+    The gibe and ridicule and social frown,
+       That through long years her faithful life assailed,
+       Are dead and vanished; as a queen now hailed,
+    Upon her reverend brow rests Honor's crown,
+    A faith that faced all adverse fortune down,
+       A courage that in trial never failed,
+       A scorn of self that grievous weight entailed,
+    Have blossomed into laurels of renown.
+    As, after days of bitter storm and blast,
+       The chilling wind becomes a breeze of balm,
+    Billows subside, and sea-tossed vessels cast
+       Their anchors in the restful harbor calm,
+    So this brave life has gained its haven blest,
+    Bathed in the sunset glories of the west.
+                    WM. LLOYD GARRISON.
+
+Birthday Celebration Committee:
+
+    CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT, Chairman, New York.
+      REV. ANNA HOWARD SHAW, Pennsylvania.
+       HARRIET TAYLOR UPTON, Ohio.
+        EMILY M. GROSS, Illinois.
+         FRANCES P. BURROWS, Michigan.
+          HELEN M. WARREN, Wyoming.
+           LUCY E. ANTHONY, Pennsylvania.
+            HARRIOT STANTON BLATCH, England.
+             MAY WRIGHT SEWALL, Indiana.
+              MARY B. CLAY, Kentucky.
+               RACHEL FOSTER AVERY, Pennsylvania.
+
+Every large newspaper in the country had a description of what might
+be properly considered an event of national interest. The Washington
+_Post_ said: "The program, though a long one, was replete throughout
+with stirring tributes to Miss Anthony's great career. Eloquent women
+who ascribed the opportunities which they had been allowed to enjoy to
+the tremendous effort to which their beloved leader had devoted her
+whole life, stood before the audience and voiced their sentiments.
+Tears and applause mingled swiftly as the voices of the speakers rang
+through the theater, recounting the hardships, the struggles, and at
+last the crowning achievements of the woman whose eightieth birthday
+was being celebrated."
+
+The _Woman's Tribune_ thus began its report:
+
+     There never has been before and, in the nature of things, there
+     can never be again, a personal celebration having the significant
+     relation to the woman suffrage movement which marked that of Miss
+     Anthony's eightieth birthday. When Mrs. Stanton's eightieth
+     birthday was celebrated five years ago she had already retired
+     from the active leadership of the organization; the program was
+     in charge of the National Council of Women and was largely in the
+     nature of a jubilee for the whole woman movement, although
+     rallying around Mrs. Stanton as a center. Lucretia Mott's
+     eightieth birthday came before the movement had gained the
+     impetus necessary for such a celebration. Lucy Stone passed on in
+     1893 before reaching this ripe age, and now there is no one left
+     in the lead who represents the earliest stage of the work but
+     Miss Anthony.
+
+     It was the fairest and sunniest day of all the good convention
+     weather, and Lafayette Opera House was full to the remotest part
+     of its fourth gallery with invited guests when Mrs. Chapman Catt
+     opened the program at 3 o'clock. On the stage were the Birthday
+     Committee, a large number of persons who had been thirty years or
+     more in the work, relatives of Miss Anthony and the national
+     officers. Miss Anthony's entrance while the Ladies' Mandolin Club
+     were playing was greeted with long-continued applause.
+
+     John W. Hutchinson was first introduced. After stating that he
+     had known Miss Anthony for fifty-five years, had attended in Ohio
+     in 1850 the second suffrage convention ever held, and had always
+     sympathized with the cause, he sang with a clear, far-reaching
+     voice a song composed by himself.
+
+     The presiding officer stated that the gains of the last
+     half-century in all lines relating to women were largely due to
+     the guest of the occasion and her fellow-workers, and said: "When
+     Miss Anthony began her labors there were practically no
+     organizations of women; now they are numbered by thousands. The
+     crown of the whole is the union of all organizations, the
+     National Council of Women. Its president will now address us."
+
+Mrs. Gaffney said in her tribute:
+
+     ....The Christian world reckoned by centuries is just coming of
+     age. Therefore women are beginning to put away childish things
+     and to realize the greatness of womanhood. They have had to let
+     ideals wait. They submitted to conditions because they were
+     afraid that if they did not man would take to the woods and
+     become again a wild barbarian. They were flattered by the fact
+     that men liked them as they were, and they failed to realize that
+     their power to civilize was God-given.
+
+     They needed a leader to rally them, to give them the courage of
+     their convictions; and such a leader Miss Anthony has been. She
+     spoke to the world in tones which rang out so clear and true that
+     they will echo down the centuries. Some who had been protected
+     and petted were slow to rally; others who had broader views
+     accepted sooner the doctrine of rights--not privileges--of rights
+     for all women. Miss Anthony taught us the sisterhood of woman,
+     and that the privileges of one class could not offset the wrongs
+     of another....
+
+Mrs. Sewall, president of the International Council of Women, composed
+of the Councils of thirteen nations, and the largest organization of
+women in the world, said in part:
+
+     It is proper that the International Council should remember today
+     "to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's," and to pay
+     tribute to the organization which it may not regard as other than
+     its direct progenitor. There are certain incidents, simple in
+     themselves, in which probably the actors are always at the time
+     quite unconscious of their perennial significance, and yet which
+     become landmarks in the evolution of the human spirit. Such are
+     Thermopylae and Marathon and Bunker Hill. Such was that first
+     convention at Seneca Falls.... The light from that meeting,
+     springing from a vital source, has vitalized every point it has
+     touched. Other torches lit by that have become beacon lights, and
+     every one has stood for the illumination of women....
+
+     In the name and in the blended tongues of the women of the
+     different nationalities who belong to the International Council,
+     I salute and congratulate you.... I beg the proud honor of
+     placing your name, Miss Anthony, among the list of Patrons of the
+     Council as a birthday gift, where it shall one day be pronounced
+     in every language....
+
+The Rev. Ida C. Hultin brought the gratitude of the ministers, saying:
+
+     ....Women have failed to see that the work of every woman has
+     touched that of every other. The woman who works with the hand
+     helps her who works with the brain. To-day we know there could be
+     no choice of work until there was freedom of choice to work. O,
+     beloved leader, we of the ministry, as they of all ministries of
+     service, bring our greetings and benediction. I hear the voices
+     which shall tell of the new gospel and among them are the glad
+     tones of women and the intonations of this one who spake in
+     tears, who dared to speak before other tongues were loosed. Years
+     will never silence that voice. Woman in her highest moods will
+     catch the cadence of its melody and in the future there shall be
+     that which will work back and forth to the enlightenment of the
+     world because you have lived and ever shall live....
+
+Miss Hirschler thus closed the tribute of her profession: "In the
+generations to come when courts of law shall have become courts of
+justice, women lawyers will think of Susan B. Anthony as one who paved
+the way and made this possible."
+
+Mrs. Hollister said in part: "Miss Anthony has opened the portals of
+activities; has dignified labor; has made it possible for women to
+manage their own affairs--four millions to-day earning independent
+incomes. Women have given their lives for philanthropies and reforms,
+but the one we honor to-day gave hers for woman. Olive Schreiner tells
+of an artist who painted a wonderful picture and none could learn what
+pigments he used. When he died a wound was found over his heart; he
+had painted his masterpiece with his own blood. Such women as Miss
+Anthony are painting their masterpieces with their life's blood."
+
+Mrs. Cook, with a dignity and simplicity which won the audience, said:
+
+     ....It is fitting on this occasion, when the hearts of women the
+     world over are turned to this day and hour, that the colored
+     women of the United States should join in the expressions of love
+     and praise offered to Miss Anthony upon her eightieth birthday.
+     ....She is to us not only the high priestess of woman's cause,
+     but the courageous defender of rights wherever assailed.
+
+     We hold in high esteem her strong and noble womanhood, for in her
+     untiring zeal, her uncompromising stand for justice to women, her
+     unfailing friendship for all good work, she herself is a stronger
+     and better argument in favor of woman's rights than the most
+     gifted orator could put into words. When she first championed
+     woman's cause, humiliation followed her footsteps and injustice
+     barred the door of her progress among even the most favored
+     classes of society; while among less enlightened and enslaved
+     classes the wrongs which woman suffered were too terrible to
+     mention. Carlyle has said, "Beware when the great God lets loose
+     a thinker upon this earth." When Susan B. Anthony was born, a
+     thinker was "let loose." Her voice and her pen have lighted a
+     torch whose sacred fire, like that of some old Roman temples,
+     dies not, but whose penetrating ray shall brighten the path of
+     women down the long line of ages yet to come. Our children and
+     our children's children will be taught to honor her memory, for
+     they shall be told that she has been always in the vanguard of
+     the immortal few who have stood for the great principles of human
+     rights. Grander than any achievement that has crowned the work of
+     woman in this woman's century has been that which has led her
+     away from the narrow valley of custom and prejudice up to the
+     lofty height where she can accept the Divine teaching that "God
+     hath made of one blood all nations of men."
+
+     Not until the suffrage movement had awakened woman to her
+     responsibility and power, did she come to appreciate the true
+     significance of Christ's pity for Magdalene as well as of His
+     love for Mary; not till then was the work of Pundita Ramabai in
+     far away India as sacred as that of Frances Willard at home in
+     America; not till she had suffered under the burden of her own
+     wrongs and abuses did she realize the all-important truth that no
+     woman and no class of women can be degraded and all womankind not
+     suffer thereby.
+
+     And so, Miss Anthony, in behalf of the hundreds of colored women
+     who wait and hope with you for the day when the ballot shall be
+     in the hands of every intelligent woman; and also in behalf of
+     the thousands who sit in darkness and whose condition we shall
+     expect those ballots to better, whether they be in the hands of
+     white women or black, I offer you my warmest gratitude and
+     congratulations.
+
+Mrs. Thompson presented $200 from the District of Columbia, with the
+following affectionate tribute:
+
+     ....In behalf of the Suffragists of the District of Columbia,
+     both men and women, I am happy to say I am deputized to present
+     to you a gift which expresses their regard and love for you as
+     well as their appreciation of the almost superhuman efforts you
+     have made for the past fifty years to secure justice and civil
+     and political equality for women.
+
+     The gift is in the form of what is often called "the sinews of
+     war"--money. Not coarse, dead cash, such as passes from hand to
+     hand in everyday transactions, but money every penny of which is
+     alive with sincere thanks and earnest, loving wishes for
+     happiness and continued success in all your endeavors....
+
+     We do not hail you, love you, as one who has made woman's life
+     easier, strewn it with more rose leaves of idleness, shielded it
+     from more stress and storm, but as one who has taken the grander,
+     truer view, that by equally sharing stress and storm, by equal
+     effort and work, by equality in rights, privileges, powers and
+     opportunities with her other self--man--woman will evolve and
+     will reach her loftiest, loveliest development. Not as an apostle
+     of ease, parasitism and shrinking fear do we regard you, but as
+     the apostle, the incarnation, of work, of high courage and
+     deathless endeavor.
+
+     We wish our gift were myriad-fold greater, but it would never
+     express more appreciation of what you stand for and what you
+     are--a _Liberator of Woman_.
+
+Mrs. Helen M. Warren, wife of the Senator from Wyoming, speaking in a
+fine, resonant voice which would do credit to any legislative hall,
+read the poem written by Miss Phoebe Cary for the celebration of Miss
+Anthony's fiftieth birthday, presented her with a brooch, a little
+American flag, made of gold and jewels, and said: "I feel honored on
+this, your eightieth birthday, to represent the State of Wyoming which
+has espoused your cause for more than thirty years. I have in my hand
+a flag, which bears on its field forty-one _common_ stars and four
+diamonds, representing the four progressive or suffrage
+States--Wyoming, the banner State; Colorado, Utah and Idaho. The back
+of the flag bears this inscription: 'Miss Anthony. From the ladies of
+Wyoming, who love and revere you. Many happy returns of the day.
+1820-1900.' We hope you may live to see all the common stars turn into
+diamonds. With kindly greetings from Wyoming I present you this
+expression of her esteem."
+
+Mrs. Shafroth, wife of the Representative from Colorado, presented a
+gift designed and made by the women of her State, saying: "It is with
+great pleasure that I bring you the greeting from the sun-kissed land
+of the West, where the flag which we all love, and of which we all
+sing, really waves over the land of the free and the home of the
+brave. Our men are brave and generous and our women are free. You and
+your noble co-workers stormed the heights of ridicule and prejudice to
+win this freedom for woman. In behalf of our Non-Partisan Equal
+Suffrage Association, I beg you to accept this 'loving cup' of
+Colorado silver."
+
+Mrs. Emily S. Richards brought the affectionate greetings of the women
+of Utah, and Mrs. Chapman Catt referred to the loving testimonials
+which had been sent by the Idaho women.[133] Then after an exquisite
+violin solo by Mr. Douglass, she said: "The liberties of the citizens
+of the future will be still more an outgrowth of this movement than
+those of the present," and to the delighted surprise of the audience
+the following scene occurred, as described by the _Post_:
+
+     The most beautiful and touching part of the program was when
+     eighty little children, boys and girls, passed in single file
+     across the stage, each bearing a rose. Slowly they marched,
+     keeping time to music, and, as they reached the spot where Miss
+     Anthony sat, each child deposited a blossom in her lap, a rose
+     for every year. It was a surprise so complete, so wonderfully
+     beautiful, that for a few moments she could do nothing more than
+     grasp the hand of each child. Then she began kissing the little
+     people, and the applause which greeted this act was deafening.
+     The roses were distributed among the pioneers at the close of the
+     exercises by her request.
+
+Mrs. Coonley-Ward of Chicago gave an eloquent poem, entitled Love's
+Rosary, which closed as follows:
+
+    Behold our Queen! Surely with heart elate
+      At homage given to her love and power,
+    World-famed associate of the wise and great,
+      She is herself the woman of the hour.
+
+    How kindly have the years all dealt with her!
+      She proves that Bible promises are true;
+    She waited on the Lord without demur,
+      And He failed not her courage to renew.
+
+    Oft on the wings of eagles she uprose;
+      On mercy's errands have her glad feet run;
+    And yet no sign of weariness she shows;
+      She does not faint, but works from sun to sun.
+
+    Deep in her eyes burn fires of purpose strong;
+      Her hand upholds the sceptre of God's truth;
+    Her lips send forth brave words against the wrong;
+      Glows in her heart the joy of deathless youth.
+
+    Kindly and gentle, learned too, and wise;
+      Lover of home and all the ties of kin;
+    Gay comrade of the laughing lips and eyes;
+      Give us new words to sing your praises in.
+
+    Yet let us rather now forget to praise,
+      Remembering only this true friend to greet,
+    As drawing near by straight and devious ways,
+      We lay our hearts--love's guerdon--at her feet.
+
+    Blow, O ye winds across the oceans, blow!
+      Go to the hills and prairies of the West!
+    Haste to the tropics, search the fields of snow,
+      Let the world's gift to her become your quest.
+
+    Shine, sun, through prism of the waterfall,
+      And build us here a rainbow arch to span
+    The years, and hold the citadel
+      Of her abiding work for God and man.
+
+    What is the gift, O winds, that ye have brought?
+      O, sun, what legend shines your arch above?
+    Ah, they are one, and all things else are naught,
+     Take them, beloved--they are love, love, love!
+
+Mrs. Blatch spoke eloquently for her mother, saying in part:
+
+     I bring to you, Susan B. Anthony, the greetings of your friend
+     and co-worker, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, greetings full of gracious
+     memories. When the cause for which you have worked shall be
+     victorious, then as is the way of the world, will it be forgotten
+     that it ever meant effort or struggle for pioneers; but the
+     friendship of you two women will remain a precious memory in the
+     world's history, unforgotten and unforgettable. Your lives have
+     proved not only that women can work strenuously together without
+     jealousy, but that they can be friends in times of sunshine and
+     peace, of stress and storm. No mere fair-weather friends have you
+     been to each other.
+
+     Does not Emerson say that friendship is the slowest fruit in the
+     garden of God? The fruit of friendship between you two has grown
+     through half a hundred years, each year making it more beautiful,
+     more mellow, more sweet. But you have not been weak echoes of
+     each other; nay, often for the good of each you were thorns in
+     the side. Yet disagreement only quickened loyalty. Supplementing
+     each other, companionship drew out the best in each. You have
+     both been urged to untiring efforts through the sympathy, the
+     help of each other. You have attained the highest achievement in
+     demonstrating a lofty, an ideal friendship. This friendship of
+     you two women is the benediction for our century.
+
+The last and tenderest tribute was offered by the Rev. Anna Howard
+Shaw who said, in rich, musical accents and with a manner which seemed
+almost to be inspired, what can only be most inadequately reported:
+
+     A little over a hundred years ago there came men who told us what
+     freedom is and what freemen may become. Later women with the same
+     love of it in their hearts said, "There is no sex in freedom.
+     Whatever it makes possible for men it will make possible for
+     women." A few of these daring souls went forth to blaze the path.
+     Gradually the sunlight of freedom shone in their faces and they
+     encouraged others to follow. They went slowly for the way was
+     hard. They must make the path and it was a weary task. Sometimes
+     darkness settled over them and they must grope their way. Mott,
+     Stanton, Stone, Anthony--not one retraced her footsteps. The two
+     who are left still stand on the summit, great, glorious figures.
+     We ask, "Is the way difficult?" They answer, "Yes, but the sun
+     shines on us and in the valley they know nothing of its glory.
+     Their cry we hear and are calling back to those who are still in
+     the valley."
+
+     Leader, comrade, friend, no name can express what you are to us.
+     You might have led us as commander, and we might have followed
+     and obeyed, but there still might have been wanting the divine
+     force of unchanging love. We look up to the sunlight where you
+     stand and say, "We are coming." When we shall be fourscore we
+     shall still be calling to you, "We are coming," for you will
+     still be beckoning us on as you climb still loftier heights.
+     Souls like yours can never rest in all the eternities of God.
+
+Then a hush fell on the people and all waited for Miss Anthony. During
+the afternoon she had been sitting in a large armchair that was almost
+covered by her cloak of royal purple velvet which she had thrown over
+it, the white satin lining forming a lovely background for her
+finely-shaped head with its halo of silver hair. No one ever had seen
+her so moved as on this occasion when her memory must have carried her
+back to the days of bare halls, hostile audiences, ridicule, abuse,
+loneliness and ostracism by all but a very few staunch friends. "Would
+she be able to speak?" many in the audience asked themselves, but the
+nearest friends waited calmly and without anxiety. They never had
+known her to fail. The result was thus described:
+
+     For a moment after gaining her feet, Miss Anthony stood battling
+     with her emotions, but her indomitable courage conquered, and she
+     smiled at the audience as it rose to greet her. She wore a gown
+     of black duchesse satin with vest and revers of fine white lace
+     in which were a few modest pinks, while she carried a large
+     bouquet of violets. The moment she began talking the shadow
+     passed from her face and she stood erect, with head uplifted,
+     full of her old-time vigor.
+
+     "How can you expect me to say a word?" she said. "And yet I must.
+     I have reason to feel grateful, for I have received letters and
+     telegrams from all over the world.[134] But the one that has
+     touched me the most is a simple note which came from an old home
+     of slavery, from a woman off of whose hands and feet the shackles
+     fell nearly forty years ago. That letter, my friends, contained
+     eighty cents--one penny for every year. It was all that this aged
+     person had....
+
+     I am grateful for the many expressions which I have listened to
+     this afternoon. I have heard the grandson of the great Frederick
+     Douglass speak to me through his violin. I mention this because I
+     remember so well Frederick Douglass when he rose at the
+     convention where the first resolution ever presented for woman
+     suffrage had his eloquence to help it....
+
+     Among the addresses from my younger co-workers, none has touched
+     me so deeply as that from the one of darker hue.... Nothing
+     speaks so strongly of freedom as the fact that the descendants of
+     those who went through that great agony--which, thank Heaven, has
+     passed away--have now full opportunities and can help to
+     celebrate my fifty years' work for liberty. I am glad of the
+     gains the half-century has brought to the women of Anglo-Saxon
+     birth. And I am glad above all else that the time is coming when
+     all women alike shall have the fullest rights of citizenship.
+
+     I thank you all. If I have had one regret this afternoon, it is
+     that some whom I have longed to have with me can not be here,
+     especially Mrs. Stanton. I want to impress the fact that my work
+     could have accomplished nothing if I had not been surrounded with
+     earnest and capable co-workers. Then, good friends, I have had a
+     home in which my father and mother, brothers and sisters, one and
+     all, stood at my back and helped me to success. I always have had
+     this co-operation and I have yet one sister left, who makes a
+     home for me and aids my work in every possible way....
+
+     I have shed no tears on arriving at a birthday ten years beyond
+     the age set for humanity. I have shed none over resigning the
+     presidency of the association. I am glad to give it up. I do it
+     cheerfully. And even so, when my time comes, I shall pass on
+     further, and accept my new place and vocation just as cheerfully
+     as I have touched this landmark.
+
+     I have passed as the leader of the association of which I have
+     been a member for so long, but I am not through working, for I
+     shall work to the end of my time, and when I am called home, if
+     there exist an immortal spirit, mine will still be with you,
+     watching and inspiring you.
+
+Miss Anthony's words and manner thrilled every heart and left the
+audience in a state of exaltation.
+
+In the evening, the Corcoran Art Gallery, one of the world's beautiful
+buildings, was thrown open for the birthday reception. A colored
+orchestra, under the leadership of Mr. Douglass, rendered a musical
+program. President Kauffman, of the Board of Trustees, presented the
+visitors to the guest of honor, and the birthday committee assisted in
+receiving. Although Miss Anthony had attended a business meeting in
+the morning, and been the central figure in the celebration of the
+afternoon lasting until 6 o'clock, she was so alert, happy and
+vivacious during the entire evening as to challenge the admiration of
+all. There was no picture in all that famous collection more
+attractive than this white-haired woman, robed in garnet velvet,
+relieved by antique fichu, collar and cuffs of old point lace. The
+city press said:
+
+     For two hours, without a moment's intermission, Miss Anthony
+     clasped hands with those who were presented to her and listened
+     to congratulatory expressions. A number of local organizations of
+     women, and also the entire membership of the Washington College
+     of Law, for women, attended the reception in a body.
+
+     On the second floor hung her fine portrait which was presented to
+     the Corcoran Gallery of Art last night by Mrs. John B. Henderson,
+     wife of the former Senator from Missouri. The portrait is in oil
+     and represents Miss Anthony in full profile, attired in black
+     with lace at the throat, and about her shoulders the red shawl
+     which has come to be regarded as the emblem of her office as
+     president of the National Association.
+
+     During the two hours it seemed as if every one who greeted Miss
+     Anthony had met her at some time or at some place long ago.
+     Everybody wanted to stop and converse with her, and in the brief
+     minute they stood before her they plied her with countless
+     questions. In speaking of the event after she had returned to the
+     Riggs House, she said: "Wasn't it wonderful? It seemed as if
+     every other person in that vast throng had met me before, or that
+     I had during my long life been a visitor at the home of some of
+     their relatives. It was grand. It was beautiful. It is good to be
+     loved by so many people. It is worth all the toil and the
+     heartaches."
+
+From a little band apparently leading a forlorn hope, almost
+universally ridiculed and condemned, Miss Anthony had increased her
+forces to a mighty host marching forward to an assured victory. From a
+condition of social ostracism she had brought them to a position where
+they commanded respect and admiration for their courageous advocacy of
+a just cause. The small, curious, unsympathetic audiences of early
+days had been transformed into this great gathering, which represented
+the highest official life of the nation's capital and the intellectual
+aristocracy of all the States in the Union. It was a wonderful change
+to have been effected in the lifetime of one woman, and all posterity
+will rejoice that the leader of this greatest of progressive movements
+received the full measure of recognition from the people of her own
+time and generation.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[131] From the founding of the National Association in 1869 the
+presidency was usually held by Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, while Miss
+Susan B Anthony was either vice president, corresponding secretary or
+chairman of the executive committee, although she sometimes filled the
+presidential chair. Mrs. Stanton continued as president until 1892,
+when she resigned at the age of seventy six. Miss Anthony was elected
+that year and held the office until 1900, when she resigned at the age
+of eighty.
+
+Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery served as corresponding secretary for twenty
+one years, from 1880 to 1901. Her resignation was reluctantly accepted
+and a gift of $1,000 was presented to her, the contribution of friends
+in all parts of the country.
+
+The other officers since 1884 have been as follows: Vice presidents at
+large, Miss Anthony, Matilda Joslyn Gage, the Rev. Olympia Brown,
+Phoebe W. Couzins, Abigail Scott Duniway and, from 1892, the Rev. Anna
+Howard Shaw, treasurers, Jane H. Spofford from 1880 to 1892, and since
+then Harriet Taylor Upton, recording secretaries, Ellen H. Sheldon,
+Julia T. Foster, Pearl Adams, Julia A. Wilbur, Caroline A. Sherman,
+Sara Winthrop Smith, Hannah B. Sperry and, since 1890, Alice Stone
+Blackwell, auditors, Ruth C. Denison, Julia A. Wilbur, Eliza T. Ward,
+Ellen M. O'Connor, the Rev. Frederick A. Hinckley, Harriet Taylor
+Upton, the Hon. Wm. Dudley Foulke, May Wright Sewall, Ellen Battelle
+Dietrick, Josephine K. Henry, H. Augusta Howard, Annie L. Diggs, Sarah
+B. Cooper, Laura Clay, Catharine Waugh McCulloch. Mrs. Sewall was
+chairman of the executive committee from 1882 until she resigned in
+1890 and Lucy Stone was elected; in 1892 she begged to be relieved as
+she was seventy four years old. The committee was then abolished, its
+duties being transferred to the business committee.
+
+[132] Miss Shaw referred to Miss Lucy E. Anthony, who for twelve years
+had been her secretary and companion.
+
+[133] The most of the numerous gifts were presented during the
+convention, as related earlier in the chapter.
+
+[134] Miss Anthony received on this occasion 1,100 letters and
+telegrams, every one of which she acknowledged later with a personal
+message.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+THE AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.[135]
+
+
+_1884._--The American Woman Suffrage Association which was organized
+in Cleveland, Ohio, in November, 1869, held its sixteenth annual
+meeting, November 19, 20, at Hershey Hall, Chicago. Lucy Stone in the
+_Woman's Journal_ said:
+
+     Beginning with a good-sized audience, it went on increasing in
+     numbers until the gallery, the stairs and the side aisles were
+     literally packed with people.
+
+     Reports of the work done by auxiliary and other societies came in
+     from Maine to Oregon and all the way between, showing in some
+     cases very little and in others a great deal of good work. But
+     each one was helpful in its measure to the final success, just as
+     streams of all sizes flow to make great rivers and the seas.
+     There were present some of the oldest workers--Dr. Mary F. Thomas
+     of Indiana and Mrs. Hannah M. Tracy Cutler of Illinois--who,
+     having put their hands to the plow in the beginning of the
+     movement, have never looked back. To supplement and continue the
+     work there were noble and earnest younger women, who came down
+     from Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan and up from Ohio,
+     Missouri, Kansas, Indiana and Illinois, women who can speak well
+     for the cause and whose reports show that they know how to work
+     well for it, too. It was a joy and a comfort to meet them....
+
+     Not the least pleasant feature was the cordial friendliness that
+     seemed all-pervasive. Troops of women we had never seen came to
+     shake hands.... A bevy of bright girls stood below the platform
+     on the last evening and, looking up, they said: "We are
+     school-girls now, but we are bound to help." The collections more
+     than paid the expenses, and two hundred memberships were taken.
+
+All the local arrangements had been admirably made by a committee of
+influential Chicago women.[136] The city papers gave friendly reports,
+those of the _Inter-Ocean_ being especially full.
+
+The convention was not expected to open till Wednesday evening, but
+so large a number of delegates and friends met in the hall in the
+afternoon that an informal meeting was held in advance. Mrs. Cutler
+called the assembly to order, and the Rev. Florence Kollock offered
+prayer. A telegram was read from Chief-Justice Roger S. Greene, of
+Washington Territory, saying: "Be assured that woman suffrage has
+worked well, done good, and been generally exercised by women at our
+State election."
+
+Brief addresses were made by Mrs. Lucy Stone, Mrs. Mary A. Livermore
+and Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert. Dr. Mary F. Thomas, in the name of
+the Indiana W. S. A., the oldest State association in the country,
+organized in 1851, presented the association with a bouquet of never
+fading chrysanthemums.
+
+On Wednesday evening Mrs. Helen Ekin Starrett gave the address of
+welcome. In referring to the influence of the woman suffrage movement
+upon the legal status of women, she said that Kansas entered the Union
+as a State with women's personal and property rights legally
+recognized as never before. This was largely because a delegate to the
+Kansas constitutional convention which met in Leavenworth, (Mr. Sam
+Wood), wrote to Lucy Stone at her home in Orange, N. J., asking her to
+draft a legal form, which she did, with her baby on her knee, and its
+suggestions were afterwards incorporated in the organic law of that
+State.[137] As one result of School Suffrage in the hands of women,
+Kansas had the best schools in the United States while the people
+still lived in cabins.
+
+Mrs. Mary B. Clay, of Kentucky, president of the association, made a
+special plea for work in the South, saying in part:
+
+     Alabama has given married women equal property rights with their
+     husbands. This monied equality I regard as one of the most
+     essential steps to our freedom, for as long as women are
+     dependent upon men for bread their whole moral nature is
+     necessarily warped. There never was a truer thought than that of
+     Alexander Hamilton, when he said, "He who controls my means of
+     daily subsistence controls my whole moral being." I therefore
+     recommend to the Southern women particularly the petitioning for
+     property rights, because pecuniary independence is one of the
+     most potent weapons for freedom, and because that claim has less
+     prejudice to overcome....
+
+     Mississippi also has made equal property laws for women; and
+     Arkansas allows married women to hold their own property, and all
+     women to vote on the licensing of saloons within three miles of a
+     church or school-house. A lady writing from there says: "The
+     welcome accorded the law by the women of the State refutes all
+     adverse theories, and establishes the fact that woman's nature
+     possesses an inherent strength and courage which no surroundings
+     can extinguish, and which only need the light of hope and the
+     voice of duty to call them into action." I would recommend that
+     whenever it is possible, we hold our conventions and send our
+     speakers through the South....
+
+Henry B. Blackwell said: "This is not an anti-man society. Suffrage is
+demanded as much for the sake of men as for the sake of women. What is
+good for one is good for both;" and Mrs. Livermore said, "Women should
+have a share in the government because the whole is better than the
+half."
+
+In the annual report of Mrs. Lucy Stone, chairman of the executive
+committee, she said in part: "During the past year, the chief effort
+of the society has been directed to aid the work in Oregon, where a
+constitutional amendment had been submitted to the voters. One
+thousand dollars were raised for this purpose by our auxiliary
+societies, and forwarded to the Oregon Woman Suffrage Association.[138]
+The society has also printed and circulated at cost more than 100,000
+tracts and leaflets."
+
+Officers for the next year were elected, as follows: President,
+the Hon. Wm. Dudley Foulke, State Senator of Indiana;
+vice-presidents-at-large, Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, the Hon. George
+William Curtis, N. Y.; the Hon. George F. Hoar, Mass.; Mrs. Mary B.
+Willard, Mrs. H. M. T. Cutler, Ill.; Mrs. D. G. King, Neb.; Mrs. R. A.
+S. Janney, O.; Mrs. J. P. Fuller, Mrs. Rebecca N. Hazard, Mo.; Mrs.
+Martha A. Dorsett, Minn.; Mrs. Mary J. Coggeshall, Ia.; Mrs. Mary B.
+Clay, Ky.; foreign corresponding secretary, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe;
+corresponding secretary, Henry B. Blackwell; recording secretary, Mrs.
+Margaret W. Campbell; treasurer, Mrs. Abbie T. Codman; chairman
+executive committee, Mrs. Lucy Stone.[139]
+
+Mr. Blackwell, chairman of the committee, reported resolutions which
+were adopted with a few changes as follows:
+
+     _Resolved_, In the words of Abraham Lincoln, That "we go for all
+     sharing the privileges of the government who assist in bearing
+     its burdens, by no means excluding women;" that a government of
+     the people, by the people, for the people, must be a government
+     of men and women, by men and women, for men and women; and that
+     any other form of government is unreasonable, unjust and
+     inconsistent with American principles.
+
+     _Resolved_, That we rejoice in the triumph of woman suffrage in
+     Washington Territory; in the continued success of woman suffrage
+     in Wyoming; in the exercise of School Suffrage by the women of
+     twelve States; in the establishment of Municipal Woman Suffrage
+     by Nova Scotia and Ontario, and in the steady growth of woman
+     suffrage during the past year as shown by more than 21,000
+     petitioners for it in Massachusetts, by increased activity in
+     Connecticut, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin,
+     Kansas, Nebraska, Kentucky, Minnesota and Oregon, by the recent
+     formation of an active State association in Vermont, and by the
+     presence with us to-day of sixty-six delegates from organized
+     societies in fifteen States.
+
+     _Resolved_, That the American Association is non-partisan; that
+     success will be promoted by refusing to connect woman suffrage
+     with any political party, or to take sides as suffragists in any
+     party conflict; but that we will question candidates of all
+     parties for State Legislatures, and use every honorable effort to
+     secure the election of suffragists as legislators irrespective of
+     party lines, provided they be men of integrity.
+
+     _Resolved_, That this association expresses its appreciation of
+     the services rendered by the co-workers who since our last
+     meeting have been gathered with the honored dead: Mrs. Frances D.
+     Gage, who from the beginning of our movement until the last week
+     of her life never ceased to do what she could for its success;
+     Wendell Phillips, who as early as 1850 attended a woman's rights
+     convention at Worcester, Mass., and made an argument which
+     covered the whole ground of statement and defense, and with
+     serene faith advised: "Take your part with the perfect and
+     abstract right and trust God to see that it shall prove the
+     expedient." Besides these we record the names of Kate Newell
+     Doggett, Laura Giddings Julian, Bishop Matthew Simpson, Mrs. L.
+     B. Barrett, Emily J. Leonard and Jane Gray Swisshelm.
+
+Speaking to the memorial resolution Mrs. Cutler said: "Some years ago
+I paid a visit to an old and valued friend who had long been an
+invalid, though never so absorbed in her own suffering as to forget
+the great needs of her human brothers and sisters. Said she, 'If you
+outlive me, I hope you will say for me that I tried honestly and
+earnestly to do my duty.' The promise then given I now attempt to
+fulfil in behalf of Mrs. Frances Dana Gage, our beloved 'Aunt Fanny,'
+who entered upon her rest Nov. 10, 1884." Mrs. Cutler gave a full and
+appreciative review of Mrs. Gage's life. Dr. Mary F. Thomas spoke
+feelingly of her, of Mrs. Julian and Mr. Phillips; and Mrs. Livermore
+paid a warm tribute to Mr. Phillips and Mrs. Doggett.
+
+The plan of work adopted was in part as follows:
+
+     1. That the officers of this association memorialize Congress in
+     behalf of a sixteenth constitutional amendment prohibiting all
+     political distinctions on account of sex.
+
+     2. That while we do not undervalue any form of agitation, State
+     or national, we hold that practical woman suffrage can at present
+     be best promoted by urging legislative as well as constitutional
+     changes, and by appealing to State as well as national authority;
+     therefore we urge the establishment of active State societies,
+     with their working centers in the State capitals and their
+     corresponding committees in every representative district.
+
+     3. That in every State, at each session of its Legislature,
+     petitions should be presented by its own citizens asking for
+     woman suffrage by statute in all elections and for all officers
+     not expressly limited by the word "male" in the State
+     constitution.
+
+     4. That School Suffrage having been secured for women by statute
+     in twelve States, our next demand should be for Municipal
+     Suffrage by statute; also for Presidential Suffrage by statute,
+     under Article 2, Section 1, par. 2, of the United States
+     Constitution.
+
+     5. And, whereas, in three Territories, viz., Wyoming, Utah and
+     Washington, our cause is already won by statutes, therefore a
+     special effort should be made to secure similar statutory action
+     in the remaining Territories, viz.: Dakota, Montana, Idaho,
+     Arizona and New Mexico.
+
+Addresses were made by the Rev. S. S. Hunting, Mrs. Margaret W.
+Campbell of Iowa and Dr. Thomas. Mr. Foulke, Mrs. Mary E. Haggart of
+Indiana, Mrs. Livermore and Lucy Stone addressed the evening meeting,
+and the singing of the Doxology closed a memorable convention.
+
+_1885._--The Seventeenth annual meeting was held in Minneapolis,
+October 13-15, in the Church of the Redeemer (Universalist), the
+finest in the city, which was given without charge. Here, as the daily
+papers said, "the most brilliant audiences that ever assembled in
+Minneapolis" gathered evening after evening until the last when crowds
+of people went away unable to find even standing room. The pulpit
+steps were occupied, extra seats were brought in, the aisles were
+crowded, and as far as one could see over the throng that filled the
+doorway, was another assembly eager to hear what it could. The
+earnest, interested, assenting faces of the vast audience and their
+hearty applause attested their sympathy with the ideas and principles
+expressed.
+
+Every evening several of the speakers addressed large audiences in St.
+Paul, thus carrying on two series of meetings contemporaneously. The
+Hon. Wm. Dudley Foulke occupied the chair. Mayor George A. Pillsbury,
+of Minneapolis, gave the address of welcome, which he closed by
+saying: "Our citizens may not all agree with you, yet we recognize the
+fact that some of the greatest and best minds in the country are
+engaged in this work. I have never identified myself with your
+organization but wish you Godspeed, and hope to see the time when the
+women shall stand with the men at the polls."
+
+Mrs. Julia Ward Howe in responding said: "We are glad to be welcomed
+for ourselves; we are still more gratified by the welcome extended to
+our cause. We do not live altogether in our magnificent cities and
+houses; we all live in houses not made with hands. We have with us
+some who have devoted their lives to this noble work. They have been
+building up, stone by stone, a mighty structure, and it is to lay a
+few more stones that we have gathered here."
+
+It had been persistently asserted that Mrs. Howe and Louisa M. Alcott
+had renounced their belief in equal suffrage. Mrs. Howe was present to
+speak for herself. Miss Alcott wrote from Concord, Mass.:
+
+     I should think it was hardly necessary for me to say that it is
+     impossible for me ever to "go back" on woman suffrage. I
+     earnestly desire to go forward on that line as far and as fast as
+     the prejudices, selfishness and blindness of the world will let
+     us, and it is a great cross to me that ill-health and home duties
+     prevent my devoting heart, pen and time to this most vital
+     question of the age. After a fifty years' acquaintance with the
+     noble men and women of the anti-slavery cause and the sight of
+     the glorious end to their faithful work, I should be a traitor to
+     all I most love, honor and desire to imitate if I did not covet a
+     place among those who are giving their lives to the emancipation
+     of the white slaves of America.
+
+     If I can do no more, let my name stand among those who are
+     willing to bear ridicule and reproach for the truth's sake, and
+     so earn some right to rejoice when the victory is won.
+
+     Most heartily yours for woman suffrage and all other reforms.
+
+Elizabeth Stuart Phelps wrote: "With all my head and with all my heart
+I believe in womanhood suffrage; can I say more for your convention?"
+and from the Rev. James Freeman Clarke, of Boston, "Every word spoken
+for or against our cause helps it forward. I feel that there is a
+current of conviction sweeping us on toward the day when there shall
+be neither male nor female, in Church or State, but equal rights for
+all, and the tools to those who can use them."
+
+Chief-Justice Greene, of Washington Territory, sent a careful
+statistical computation in regard to the women's votes, and said: "My
+sober judgment, from the best light I have succeeded in getting, is
+that at our last general election the women cast as full or a fuller
+vote than the men in proportion to their numbers." Mrs. Livermore
+wrote:
+
+     Whatever may be the apparent direction of the ripples on the
+     surface, facts which accumulate daily show us that the cause of
+     woman's enfranchisement progresses with a deep and steady
+     undercurrent. The long, weary, faithful work of the past,
+     covering almost half a century, has resulted in a radical change
+     of public opinion. It has opened to woman the doors of colleges,
+     universities and professional schools; it has increased her
+     opportunities for self-support till the United States census
+     enumerates nearly 300 employments in which women are working and
+     earning livelihoods; it has repealed many of the unjust laws
+     which discriminate against woman; it has given her partial
+     suffrage in twelve States and full suffrage in three Territories.
+
+     Courage, then, for the end draws near! A few more years of
+     persistent, faithful work and the women of the United States will
+     be recognized as the legal equals of men; for the goal towards
+     which we toil is the enfranchisement of women, since the ballot
+     is the only symbol of legal equality that is known in a republic.
+
+Chancellor Wm. G. Eliot, of Washington University, St. Louis, wrote:
+
+     Considered as a _right_, suffrage belongs equally to man and
+     woman. They are equally citizens and taxpayers. They share
+     equally in the advantages of good government and suffer equally
+     from bad legislation. They equally need the right of
+     self-protection which the ballot alone can give. In average good,
+     practical sense, wherever fair opportunity is permitted women are
+     equal to men. In moral perception and practice women are at least
+     equal--generally the superiors, if such comparison must be made.
+     There is, therefore, no justification in saying that the right of
+     suffrage, on whatever founded, belongs to man rather than to
+     woman.
+
+     Considered as a _privilege_, little needs to be said on either
+     side.... Every citizen is under moral obligation to take part in
+     the social interests and welfare of the community, whether
+     national or municipal. Woman equally with man is under that moral
+     law. In a republic she can not rightly be deprived of the
+     opportunity to do her full share as a citizen in all that
+     concerns good government.
+
+     This seems to be the whole story. I have read with astonishment
+     the arguments (so called) of Francis Parkman, the Rev. Brooke
+     Herford and Mrs. Kate Gannett Wells. They scarcely touch the real
+     merits of the case.
+
+Dr. Mary F. Thomas, of Indiana, wrote:
+
+     As I see pictured before me all of you gathered from different
+     parts of this great sisterhood of States to discuss the grand
+     principle of human freedom, I can but compare this assembly with
+     one convened in Philadelphia over a hundred years ago with this
+     difference--they declared for the civil and political freedom of
+     all men; you ask to-day that all human beings of sound mind shall
+     enjoy the civil and political rights which they are entitled to
+     by virtue of their humanity. As the judicious management of the
+     family circle requires the combined wisdom and judgment of father
+     and mother, so this great political family, whose interests are
+     identical, can only be consistently managed by the complete
+     representation and concurrence of each individual governed by its
+     laws.
+
+     It is not necessary for me to show argument for this statement,
+     as your meeting to-day, composed of men and women thoroughly
+     imbued with the spirit of the great truth contained in the
+     Declaration of Independence, will supply words glowing with
+     fervor that can not be written, that comes with a full conviction
+     of the magnitude of this great question, involving even the
+     perpetuity of our government.... But without other reasons than
+     that it is right, let the united voice of your meeting demand
+     full recognition of the political rights of the women of the
+     nation, so that it may stand before the world exemplifying the
+     meaning of a true republic. After near half a century of earnest,
+     continued pleading we see light breaking in different parts of
+     the political horizon. If it takes half a century more, nay, even
+     longer than that, to establish this truth let us never falter.
+     For we know our cause is just and, as God is just, the eternal
+     principles of right must succeed.
+
+Among the speakers were Mr. Foulke, Mr. Blackwell, Mrs. Alice Pickler
+of Dakota, Mrs. Cutler, Miss Bessie Isaacs of Washington Territory,
+the Rev. Ada C. Bowles of Massachusetts, Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway,
+editor of the _New Northwest_, Oregon, and from Minneapolis Mrs. Sarah
+Burger Stearns, C. H. Du Bois, editor of the _Spectator_, Dr. Martha
+G. Ripley, the Rev. Dr. J. H. Tuttle, pastor of the Church of the
+Redeemer, the Rev. Kristofer Jansen, of the Swedish Unitarian Church,
+the Rev. Mr. Williams of the City Mission, the Rev. Mr. Tabor of the
+Friends' Church, the Rev. Mr. Harrington, a visiting Universalist
+minister, and Mrs. Charlotte O. Van Cleve, of the Bethany Home, who
+spoke of herself and her associates as "the ambulance corps, to pick
+up and care for the fallen and wounded of their sex."
+
+Judge Norton H. Hemiup of Minneapolis, read a humorous play in several
+acts, dramatically representing the venerable widows of ex-presidents
+and wives of living ones going to the polls in their respective
+precincts and offering their votes in vain, while those of the late
+slaves and of men half-drunk and wholly ignorant were received without
+a question.
+
+Major J. A. Pickler, the chivalrous legislator of Dakota, who
+championed the suffrage bill which passed both Houses and was defeated
+by the veto of Gov. Gilbert F. Pierce, was invited to tell the history
+of the bill and did so in a vigorous speech. He said its passage was
+materially aided by the efforts of Eastern remonstrants to defeat it,
+and added: "There are peculiar reasons why our women should have their
+rights, as they own fully one-fourth of the land and are veritable
+heroines." During the convention the men and women present from Dakota
+organized an association to carry on the battle for equal rights in
+that Territory.
+
+Mrs. Howe said in her address:
+
+     While a great deal needs to be said to both men and women on the
+     subject of woman suffrage, I am one who thinks that most needs
+     to be said to women. This is quite natural both because of their
+     timidity in putting themselves forward and because of their
+     frequent ignorance of the principles upon which reform is based.
+     No one could be more opposed to woman suffrage than I was twenty
+     years ago. Everything I had read and heard seemed to point in
+     exactly the opposite direction. But at the first meeting I
+     attended I heard Lucy Stone, Henry B. Blackwell, Elizabeth Cady
+     Stanton and other pioneers of the cause, found nothing but
+     reasonableness in their speech and their arguments and so was
+     speedily converted.
+
+The Battle Hymn of the Republic was then sung by Prof. James G. Clark,
+the well-known singer of anti-slavery days, the audience rising and
+joining in the chorus.
+
+Mrs. Margaret W. Campbell of Iowa, who was introduced by Lucy Stone
+with a history of her many years of devoted work for the cause, said
+in part: "Good men who mean well often say that women are as fit to
+vote as the ignorant foreigners just landed at Castle Garden or the
+freedmen who can not read or write. Don't say that any more; you don't
+know how it hurts. Say instead, 'You are as fit to vote as we are.'
+The names of those who emancipated the slave will be written in
+letters of gold, but the names of those who have helped to emancipate
+the women of this nation will be written in letters of living light."
+
+The closing address was made by Mrs. Stone. "Her feeling and womanly
+appeals," said the Minneapolis papers, "were such as to move any
+masculine heart not thoroughly indurated." She said in part:
+
+     If the question of the right of women to a voice in making the
+     laws they are to obey could be treated in the same common-sense
+     way that other practical questions are treated it would have been
+     settled long ago. If the question were to be asked in any
+     community about to establish a government, "Shall the whole
+     people who are of mature age and sound mind have a right to help
+     make the laws they are required to obey?" the natural answer
+     would be that they should have that right. But the fact is that
+     only the men exercise it. If the question were asked, "Shall the
+     whole people who are of mature age and sound mind and not
+     convicted of crime have a right to elect the men who will have
+     the spending of the money they pay for taxes?" the common-sense
+     answer would be that they should have that right. But the fact is
+     that only men are allowed to exercise it. So of the special
+     interests of women, their right to settle the laws which regulate
+     their relation to their children, their right to earn and own, to
+     buy and sell, to will and deed, the application of the simple
+     principles of fair play, would have given women equal voice with
+     men in these questions of personal and common interest. But as
+     it is men control it all, whether it is the child we bear, the
+     dollar we earn or the will we wish to make.
+
+     One would suppose that under a government whose fundamental
+     principle affirms that "the consent of the governed" is the just
+     basis, the consent of the governed women would have been asked
+     for. The only form of consent is a vote and that is denied to
+     women. As a result they are at a disadvantage everywhere. The
+     stigma of disfranchisement cheapens the respect due to their
+     opinions, diminishes their earnings and makes them subjects in
+     the home as they are in the State. The woman suffrage movement
+     means equal rights for women. It proposes to secure fair play and
+     justice.
+
+At this convention valuable reports were presented from twenty-six
+States. Of especial interest was that from Texas, where Mrs. Mariana
+T. Folsom had done seven months' work under the auspices of the
+American W. S. A., giving nearly 200 public addresses in advocacy of
+equal rights. Texas was virgin soil on this subject, and Mrs. Folsom's
+description of the conditions she found there was both entertaining
+and instructive.
+
+The old officers were re-elected with but few changes. Among the
+resolutions adopted were the following:
+
+     The American Woman Suffrage Association, at its seventeenth
+     annual meeting, in this beautiful city of the new Northwest,
+     reaffirms the American principle of free representative
+     government, and demands its application to women. "Governments
+     derive their just powers from the consent of the governed," and
+     women are governed; "taxation without representation is tyranny,"
+     and women are taxed; "all political power inheres in the people,"
+     and one-half of the people are women.
+
+     _Resolved_, That women, as sisters, wives and mothers of men,
+     have special rights to protect and special wrongs to remedy; that
+     their votes will represent in a special sense the interests of
+     the home; that equal co-operation of the sexes is essential alike
+     to a happy home, a refined society, a Christian church and a
+     republican State.
+
+     WHEREAS, Under the Federal Constitution, "All persons born or
+     naturalized in the United States are citizens thereof, and of the
+     States in which they reside;" and, by the decision of the United
+     States courts, "Women are citizens, and may be made voters by
+     appropriate State legislation;" therefore,
+
+     _Resolved_, That this association regards with satisfaction the
+     acceptance of the claim of Anna Ella Carroll by the United States
+     Court of Claims, by which the remarkable services of Miss Carroll
+     in urging the campaign of Tennessee, which broke the force of the
+     rebellion and gave success to our armies, will have at last,
+     after more than a score of years, their late reward.[140]
+
+     _Resolved_, That the association send a deputation to Washington
+     in behalf of its memorial to Congress to frame a statute
+     prohibiting the disfranchisement of women in the Territories, and
+     to co-operate with the National Woman Suffrage Association (at
+     its January meeting) for a Sixteenth Amendment forbidding
+     political distinctions on account of sex.
+
+The great success of this convention was due in large measure to the
+excellent arrangements made by the friends in Minneapolis, especially
+Dr. Ripley and Mrs. Martha A. Dorsett.
+
+The association sent two delegates, Henry B. Blackwell and the Rev.
+Anna H. Shaw, to Washington, to urge upon the House Committee the duty
+of Congress to establish equal suffrage in the Territories. They were
+given a respectful hearing.
+
+_1886._--The Eighteenth annual meeting was held in Topeka, Kan.,
+October 26-28. The morning and afternoon sessions were held in Music
+Hall. Above the platform hung the beautiful banner of the Minnesota W.
+S. A., sent by Dr. Martha G. Ripley, and at its side was a package of
+7,000 leaflets for distribution contributed by Mrs. Cornelia C. Hussey
+of New Jersey, which were gladly taken for use in different States.
+The evening meetings assembled in the Hall of the House of
+Representatives, seating 1,200 persons; the floor and both galleries
+were crowded with the best citizens of Topeka; all the desks were
+taken out, making room for more chairs, and even then hundreds of
+people were turned away. Both halls were given free.
+
+All the preparations had been admirably made by Mrs. Juliet N. Martin,
+Miss Olive P. Bray, Mrs. S. A. Thurston and other Topeka women, who
+had a collation spread in Music Hall for the delegates on their
+arrival. The press gave full and cordial reports. Lucy Stone wrote in
+the _Woman's Journal_:
+
+     We found the editors of the four daily papers all suffragists.
+     Among these was Major J. K. Hudson, who took his first lessons in
+     equal rights on the _Anti-Slavery Bugle_ in Ohio and, reared
+     among "Friends," was ready to continue the good service he has
+     all along rendered. Here, too, we found our old co-worker,
+     William P. Tomlinson, who at one time published the _Anti-Slavery
+     Standard_ for Wendell Phillips and the American Anti-Slavery
+     Society, and who a little later, in his young prime, devoted his
+     time, his money and his strength to the publication of the
+     _Woman's Advocate_ in New York, of which he was proprietor and
+     editor. He is now editor of the Topeka _Daily Democrat_. Mr. B.
+     P. Baker, now editor and proprietor of the _Commonwealth_, did
+     good service to the woman suffrage cause in 1867 in the Topeka
+     _Record_. Mr. McLennan, of the _Journal_, is also with us.
+
+The whole convention was interspersed with ringing reminiscences of
+the heroic early history of Kansas. Mrs. S. N. Wood, who in the Border
+Ruffian days went through the enemy's lines and at great personal
+peril brought into beleaguered Lawrence the ammunition which enabled
+it to defend itself, came to the platform to add her good word for
+equal suffrage. It was a great pleasure to the officers of the
+association to meet her and the other early Kansas workers, many of
+whom, like Mrs. J. H. Slocum, of Emporia, were old personal friends.
+
+Mrs. Anna C. Wait, president of the Kansas W. S. A. and editor of the
+Lincoln _Beacon_, gave the address of welcome in behalf of the
+suffragists. Referring to the first campaign for a woman suffrage
+amendment in 1867, when Lucy Stone and Henry B. Blackwell spoke in
+forty-two counties of Kansas, Mrs. Wait said: "Nineteen years ago when
+you came to Kansas you found no suffrage societies and even seven
+years ago you would have found none. To-day, in behalf of the State W.
+S. A. and its many flourishing auxiliaries, I welcome these dear
+friends who come to us from the rock-ribbed shores of the Atlantic,
+from the coast of the Pacific, from the lakes of the North and from
+the sunny South, a veritable gathering of the clans of freedom."
+
+Major Hudson, in his address of welcome in behalf of the city,
+reviewed the history of woman suffrage in Kansas, paid a tribute to
+the work of the pioneer suffragists, and said:
+
+     We welcome you to Kansas, because it has been good battle-ground
+     for the right.... We place the ballot in the hands of the
+     foreigner who can not read or speak our language, and who knows
+     nothing of our government; we enfranchised a slave race, most of
+     whom can not read; and yet we deny to the women of America the
+     ballot, which in their hands would be the strongest protection of
+     this republic against the ignorance and vice of the great centers
+     of our population. Give to woman the ballot, and you give her
+     equal pay with men for the same work; you break down prejudice
+     and open to her every vocation in which she is competent to
+     engage; you do more--you give her an individuality, and equal
+     right in life.
+
+The president, the Hon. William Dudley Foulke, in his response to the
+welcome of the suffrage association said: "It gives us great pleasure
+to visit your beautiful city and fertile State. It gives us pleasure
+not because your State is fertile and your city beautiful but because
+it is in these Western States that there is most hope of the growth of
+the woman suffrage movement. The older States are what old age is in
+the human frame, something that is difficult to change; but where
+there is young blood there is hope and the progress of a new idea is
+more rapid."
+
+Mrs. Howe, responding to the welcome of the citizens, said some one
+had spoken of woman suffrage as a hobby; she questioned whether the
+opposition to suffrage was not the hobby and suffrage the horse. The
+discussion of these great questions was doing much to make the women
+of the country one in feeling, and to do away with sectional
+prejudices. A most cordial hearing was given to the Woman's Congress
+lately held at Louisville, Ky., and especially to the woman suffrage
+symposium which occupied one evening. Mrs. Howe spoke of the
+wonderful, providential history of Kansas, and the way in which a new
+and unexpected chapter of the country's history opened out from the
+experience of the young Territory. She remembered when the name of
+Kansas was the word which set men's blood at the East tingling. She
+continued:
+
+     You men of Kansas, you who have been bought with a price, noble
+     men have worked and suffered and died that you might be free. For
+     you Charles Sumner fell in the Senate of the United States. He
+     fell to rise again, but others fell for whom there was no rising.
+     Having received this great gift of freedom, pray you go on to
+     make it perfect. You may think that you have a free State, well
+     founded and stable, and that it will stand; but remember that the
+     State, like the Church, is not a structure to be built and set up
+     but a living organism to grow and move. Its life is progress and
+     freedom. Do not think that you can stay this great tide of
+     progress by saying, "Thus far shalt thou go and no farther." No
+     such limitation is possible. That tide will oversweep every
+     obstacle set in its way.
+
+     Why, men of Kansas, having been so nobly endowed at the
+     beginning, have you let the younger children in the nursery of
+     our dear mother country learn lessons that you have not learned?
+     Are the women of Wyoming and Washington better than your women,
+     and do the men of those Territories love their women better than
+     you love yours? You will say "no," with indignation; but remember
+     that love is shown in deeds far more than in words. Until you
+     make your women free I must hold that you do not love them as
+     well as those do who have given their mothers and sisters the
+     gift of political enfranchisement. This place is the temple of
+     your liberties; here, if anywhere, should be spoken the words of
+     wisdom and be enacted just and equal laws. However grand the
+     words may be which have been spoken here, may they become grander
+     and better and deeper, until to all your other glories shall be
+     added that of having set the crown of freedom upon the heads of
+     the women of your State!
+
+Only a few gleanings from the many speeches can be given. Professor W.
+H. Carruth, of the Kansas State University, said in part:
+
+     We are likely to meet some good-natured person who will say:
+     "Why, yes, I am in favor of woman suffrage, but I don't see that
+     there is any need of it here in Kansas. If I were in Rhode Island
+     or Connecticut, where there are so many laws unjust to women, I
+     would petition and work for it; but I don't see that it is worth
+     while to make a fuss about it here." Now, what can be said to
+     such a person? Weapons are both defensive and aggressive. The
+     ballot has both uses. What would a herdsman say if you told him
+     his sheepfold was all that was needed, and refused to give him a
+     gun? What would the farmer say if you gave him a cultivator but
+     no plough? What would Christianity be if it had only the Ten
+     Commandments and not the Golden Rule?
+
+     He who thinks the ballot is given simply as a means of
+     protection--protection in a limited sense, against fraud and
+     violence--has but a limited conception of the duties of American
+     citizenship. The old let-alone theory of government has been
+     found a failure, and instead of it people are coming to think
+     that government is good to do anything that it can do best--just
+     as they have already learned that it is proper for woman to do
+     anything that she can do well. In a word, as Mrs. Howe said the
+     other evening, the ballot is a means of getting things done which
+     we want done.
+
+     When your good friend with a kind and prosperous husband, a
+     pleasant home and nothing lacking which better laws could secure
+     for her, says she thinks women are already pretty well treated
+     and she doesn't know that she would care for the ballot, ask her
+     how she would feel if she were a teacher and were expected to
+     work beside a man, equal work and equal time, he to get $60 and
+     she $40 a month? Ask her whether she would not want to have a
+     vote then? Isn't this a case, kind mistress of a home, where you
+     should remember those in bonds as bound with them? I very much
+     fear there never will be a time when all the good people in this
+     world can dispense with any effective weapon against wrong.
+
+     And, beyond this, there are all the offensive, aggressive uses of
+     the ballot. We want a sewer here, a bridge there, a lamp-post or
+     a hydrant yonder. A woman's nose will scent a defective drain
+     where ten men pass it by, but votes get these things looked
+     after. We want a new schoolhouse, or more brains or more fresh
+     air in an old one. Don't you know that women will attend to such
+     needs sooner than men?
+
+Mr. Foulke said in part:
+
+     It is said that woman suffragists are dreamers. There was a time
+     within our memory when human flesh in this our free America was
+     sold at auction. In those days a few earnest men dreamed of a
+     time when our flag should no longer unfurl itself over a slave.
+     Inspired by this great vision they bore the persecution and
+     contumely of their fellows. In season and out of season they
+     preached their glorious gospel of immediate and unconditional
+     emancipation. Wild visionaries they, incendiaries whose very
+     writings, like the heresies of old, must be consigned to the
+     flames; impracticable enthusiasts, seditious citizens. But lo!
+     the flame of war passed over us and their dream is true; and in
+     the clearer light which shines upon us to-day, we can hardly
+     realize that this great blot upon our civilization could have
+     existed, the time seems so far away.
+
+     And we of America, we who have reached the summit of the
+     prophecies of centuries past, we dream of new and loftier
+     mountains in the distance. We who have realized in our political
+     institutions a universal equality of men before the law, find
+     that we have only reached the foothills of the greater range
+     beyond. There are men in our midst who are dreaming to-day of a
+     time when mere political equality shall be based upon that
+     broader social and economic equality which is so necessary to
+     maintain it. They dream of a time when each man's reward shall be
+     proportioned to his own exertions and his own desert, and nothing
+     at all shall be due to the accident of birth; dream of a time
+     when bitter, grinding poverty, save as a punishment for idleness,
+     shall no longer exist in a world so full of the bounty of heaven.
+     Is it wilder than the dream of him who, under the despotism of
+     the Bourbons, could dream of a great people whose birth should be
+     heralded by the cry that all men are created equal? Is it wilder
+     than the dream of him who, oppressed by the tyranny of Alva,
+     could dream of a day of perfect religious toleration? Men talk
+     with contemptuous pity of the dreamer. But he rather is the
+     object of pity who bars the windows and draws the curtains of his
+     soul to shut out the light of heaven that would smile in upon
+     him. Let us rather pity the man who fears to utter the divine
+     thought which fills him. Let us pity rather that man or that
+     nation which lives in the complacent consciousness of its own
+     virtue and blessedness, and dreams of no higher good than it
+     possesses. He that has a dream of something better than he sees
+     around him, let him tell it though the world smile. He that has a
+     prophecy to utter, let him speak, though men account it his folly
+     as much as they will. God bless the dreamers of all just and
+     perfect dreams! The great wheel of the ages with ever-increasing
+     motion is sure to roll out their accomplishment.
+
+The Rev. Louis A. Banks, lately of Washington Territory, spoke of
+woman suffrage there. He said:
+
+     The first fact proved by experience is that women do vote. Before
+     the law was enacted, the old objection used to meet us on every
+     hand, "The women do not want to vote"--as though that, if true,
+     were a valid reason. They ought to want to. It is my business to
+     urge men to repent, and I have never supposed it a reason to
+     cease preaching to them because they did not want to repent; they
+     ought to want to. But our experience has proved that women do
+     want to vote. It was universally conceded that in our first
+     general Territorial election fully as many women voted in
+     proportion to their numbers as men....
+
+     Woman's influence as a citizen has been of equal value in the
+     jury-box. Experience shows that she is peculiarly fitted for that
+     duty. Woe to the gambler who enriches himself by the folly or
+     innocence of the ignorant, and the rum-seller who lures boys into
+     his backroom! Woe to the human vultures who prey upon young
+     lives, when they fall into the hands of a jury of mothers!...
+
+     You who have not hitherto been woman suffragists, why not espouse
+     this cause now, when it is in the full flush of its heroic
+     struggle? When John Adams went courting Abigail Smith, her proud
+     father said to her: "Who is this young Adams? Where did he come
+     from?" Abigail answered: "I do not know where he came from and I
+     do not care, but I know where he is going and I am going with
+     him." Ladies and gentlemen, you know where we are going; we
+     invite your company for the journey.
+
+State Senator R. W. Blue said: "One of the greatest questions of the
+day is how to counteract the influence of the vicious vote cast every
+year in the large cities. I believe the only way to do that is to
+enfranchise the women." He added that he had worked for the Municipal
+Suffrage Bill in the preceding Legislature, and should do so in the
+next. President Foulke complimented him on his bold and outspoken
+remarks, and said he thought a man in politics never lost anything by
+telling the people exactly where he stood on vital issues.[141]
+
+James G. Clark, associate editor of the Minneapolis _Spectator_, was a
+delegate, and delighted the audience with his equal rights songs. A
+letter was received from Dr. Mary F. Thomas and, by a rising vote of
+the convention, it was decided to send her a telegram of greeting and
+congratulations on her seventieth birthday.
+
+Letters were read from Chief-Justice Greene of Washington Territory,
+and from Mrs. Margaret Bright Lucas of England, sister of John and
+Jacob Bright; also telegrams from the Minnesota W. S. A., from Major
+and Mrs. Pickler of South Dakota, and from others, and reports from
+the different State societies.
+
+Chancellor J. A. Lippincott, of the State University, invited the
+association to visit that institution, and Mrs. Howe and Mrs. Stone to
+address the students. Mrs. Stone wrote in the _Woman's Journal_: "It
+was worth the journey to receive the warm welcome which greeted us on
+every hand, and still more to see the progress the cause has made in
+the nineteen years that have passed since the first suffrage campaign
+in Kansas. It would not be surprising if Municipal Suffrage should be
+secured in this State at the next session of the Legislature.[142] The
+very air was full of suffrage, even in the midst of the political
+contest."
+
+_1887._--The Nineteenth annual meeting was held in Association Hall,
+Philadelphia, October 31, November 1, 2. The platform had been
+beautifully decorated with tropical plants and foliage by Miss
+Elizabeth B. Justice and other Pennsylvania friends. The weather was
+fine, the audience sympathetic and the speaking excellent.
+
+State Senator A. D. Harlan gave the address of welcome in behalf of
+the Pennsylvania W. S. A. President Wm. Dudley Foulke in responding
+paid a tribute to the Senator's good service in the Legislature in
+behalf of a constitutional amendment for equal suffrage. A letter of
+welcome was read from the venerable and beloved president of the
+association, Miss Mary Grew, who was kept away by illness. Col. T. W.
+Higginson said:
+
+     I have the sensations of a Revolutionary veteran, almost, in
+     coming back to Philadelphia and remembering our early suffrage
+     meetings here in that time of storm, in contrasting the audiences
+     of to-day with the audiences of that day, and in thinking what
+     are the difficulties that come before us now as compared with
+     those of our youth. The audiences have changed, the atmosphere of
+     the community has changed; nothing but the cause remains the
+     same, and that remains because it is a part of the necessary
+     evolution of democratic society and is an immortal thing.
+
+     I recall those early audiences; the rows of quiet faces in Quaker
+     bonnets in the foreground; the rows of exceedingly unquiet
+     figures of Southern medical students, with their hats on, in the
+     background. I recall the visible purpose of those energetic young
+     gentlemen to hear nobody but the women, and the calm
+     determination with which their bootheels contributed to put the
+     male speakers down. I recall also their too-assiduous attentions
+     in the streets outside when the meeting broke up....
+
+     Woman suffrage should be urged, in my opinion, not from any
+     predictions of what women will do with their votes after they get
+     them, but on the ground that by all the traditions of our
+     government, by all the precepts of its early founders, by all the
+     axioms which lie at the foundation of our political principles,
+     woman needs the ballot for self-respect and self-protection.
+
+     The woman of old times who did not read books of political
+     economy or attend public meetings, could retain her self-respect;
+     but the woman of modern times, with every step she takes in the
+     higher education, finds it harder to retain that self-respect
+     while she is in a republican government and yet not a member of
+     it. She can study all the books that I saw collected this morning
+     in the political economy alcove of the Bryn Mawr College; she can
+     master them all; she can know more about them perhaps than any
+     man of her acquaintance; and yet to put one thing she has learned
+     there in practice by the simple process of dropping a piece of
+     paper into a ballot-box--she can no more do that than she could
+     put out her slender finger and stop the planet in its course.
+     That is what I mean by woman's needing the suffrage for
+     self-respect.
+
+     Then as to self-protection. We know there have been great
+     improvements in the laws in regard to women. What brought about
+     those improvements? The steady labor of women like these on this
+     platform, going before Legislatures year by year and asking for
+     something they were not willing to give, the ballot; but, as a
+     result of it, to keep the poor creatures quiet, some law was
+     passed removing a restriction. The old English writer Pepys,
+     according to his diary, after spending a good deal of money for
+     himself finds a little left and buys his wife a new gown,
+     because, he says, "It is fit that the poor wretch should have
+     something to content her." I have seen many laws passed for the
+     advantage of women and they were generally passed on that
+     principle.
+
+     I remember going before the Rhode Island Legislature once with
+     Lucy Stone and she unrolled with her peculiar persuasive power
+     the wrong laws which existed in that commonwealth in regard to
+     women. After the hearing was over the chairman of that committee,
+     a judge who had served on it for years, said to her: "Mrs. Stone,
+     all that you have stated this morning is true, and I am ashamed
+     to think that I, who have been chairman for years of this
+     judiciary committee, should have known in my secret heart that it
+     was all true and should have done nothing to set these wrongs
+     right until I was reminded of them by a woman." Again and again I
+     have seen that experience. Women with bleeding feet, women with
+     exhausted voices, women with wornout lives, have lavished their
+     strength to secure ordinary justice in the form of laws which a
+     single woman inside the State House, armed with the position of
+     member of the Legislature and representing a sex who had votes,
+     could have had righted within two years. Every man knows the
+     weakness of a disfranchised class of men. The whole race of women
+     is disfranchised, and they suffer in the same way.
+
+Among the other speakers were the Rev. Charles G. Ames, Henry B.
+Blackwell, the Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Dr. Thomas, Mrs.
+Campbell, Mrs. Mary E. Haggart, Mrs. Frances E. W. Harper, the Rev. S.
+S. Hunting, Miss Cora Scott Pond, the Rev. Ada C. Bowles and Mrs.
+Adelaide A. Claflin.
+
+The chairman of the executive committee, Mrs. Lucy Stone, in her
+annual report, reviewed the year's activities and continued:
+
+     But the chief work of the American Woman Suffrage Association
+     during the past year has been to obtain wide access to the public
+     through the newspapers. Early in the year correspondence was
+     opened with most of the papers in the United States. The editors
+     were asked whether they would publish suffrage literature if it
+     were sent them every week without charge. More than a thousand
+     answered that they would use what we sent, in whole or in part.
+     Accepting this the association has, for the last eight months,
+     furnished 1,000 weekly papers with a suffrage column. The cost of
+     it consumes nearly the whole interest of the Eddy Fund, besides
+     much time and strength gratuitously given. But as these papers
+     come to us week by week containing the suffrage items and
+     articles which through their columns reach millions of readers,
+     we feel that no better use could be made of money or time.
+
+The Revs. Anna H. Shaw and Ada C. Bowles were chosen national
+lecturers. Among the resolutions were the following:
+
+     We congratulate the Legislature of Kansas upon its honorable
+     record in extending Municipal Suffrage last February to the women
+     of that State, and the 26,000 women of Kansas by whose aid, last
+     April, reformed city governments were elected in every
+     municipality; we hail the National W. C. T. U. as an efficient
+     ally of the woman suffrage movement; we recognize the woman
+     suffrage resolutions of the Knights of Labor, the Land and Labor
+     organizations, the Third Party Prohibitionists and other
+     political parties, as evidence of a growing public sentiment in
+     favor of the equal rights of women; we rejoice that two-thirds of
+     the Northern Senators in the Congress of the United States voted
+     last winter for a Sixteenth Constitutional Amendment prohibiting
+     political distinctions on account of sex; we observe an
+     increasing friendliness in the attitude of press and pulpit and
+     the fact that 1,000 newspapers now publish a weekly column in the
+     interests of woman suffrage; we are encouraged by more general
+     discussions and more favorable votes of State Legislatures than
+     ever before--all indicating a sure and steady progress toward the
+     complete enfranchisement of women.
+
+     WHEREAS, The woman suffragists of the United States were all
+     united until 1868 in the American Equal Rights Association; and
+
+     WHEREAS, The causes of the subsequent separation into the
+     National and the American Woman Suffrage Societies have since
+     been largely removed by the adoption of common principles and
+     methods, therefore,
+
+     _Resolved_, That Mrs. Lucy Stone be appointed a committee of one
+     from the American W. S. A. to confer with Miss Susan B. Anthony,
+     of the National W. S. A., and if on conference it seems
+     desirable, that she be authorized and empowered to appoint a
+     committee of this association to meet a similar committee
+     appointed by the National W. S. A., to consider a satisfactory
+     basis of union, and refer it back to the executive committees of
+     both associations for final action.
+
+A pleasant incident of the convention was the presentation to the
+audience of Mrs. E. R. Hunter, of Wichita, Kan., a real voter. Letters
+of greeting were read from Miss Matilda Hindman of Pennsylvania,
+Senator M. B. Castle of Illinois, Mrs. Mary B. Clay of Kentucky, and
+Judge Stanton J. Peelle of Indiana. Mrs. Stone, the Rev. Antoinette
+Brown Blackwell and Mrs. Mary A. Livermore were elected delegates to
+the International Council of Women to be held in Washington, D. C., in
+1888, with Dr. Mary F. Thomas, Miss Mary Grew and Mrs. Hannah M. Tracy
+Cutler as alternates.
+
+After Mrs. Howe's address on the last evening, The Battle Hymn of the
+Republic was sung standing, the great assembly joining in the chorus.
+The officers had the pleasure of visiting Bryn Mawr College, by
+invitation of Dean M. Carey Thomas, during the convention.
+
+In December of this year, a Suffrage Bazar was held in Boston for the
+joint benefit of the American W. S. A. and of the State suffrage
+associations that participated,[143] which was a success both socially
+and financially. The _Woman's Journal_ of December 17 said:
+
+     Music Hall is a wonderful sight; the green and gold banner of
+     Kansas occupies the place of honor in the middle of the platform,
+     flanked on the left by the great crimson banner of Michigan with
+     its motto "Neither delay nor rest," and on the right by the blue
+     flag of Maine, decorated with a pine branch and cones. The bronze
+     statue of Beethoven which has looked calmly down upon so many
+     different assemblages in Music Hall, gazes meditatively at the
+     Kansas table, with a large yellow sunflower which surmounts the
+     Kansas banner blazing like a great star at his very feet. Next
+     comes the banner of Vermont, rich and beautiful, though smaller
+     than the rest, in two shades of blue, with the seal of the State
+     in the center surrounded by wild roses and bearing the motto
+     "Freedom and Unity." At the extreme right of the platform hangs
+     the banner of Pennsylvania, yellow, with heavy crimson fringe and
+     the motto "Taxation _with_ Representation." On the other side of
+     Michigan is a large portrait of Wendell Phillips, sent by friends
+     in Minnesota. At the left are the _Woman's Journal_ exhibit,
+     press headquarters and a display of exquisite blankets made at
+     the Lamoille mills and contributed to the Vermont exhibit by the
+     manufacturer, Mrs. M. G. Minot.
+
+     All down the hall on both sides and across the middle hang the
+     many banners of the Massachusetts local leagues, of all sizes and
+     colors and with every variety of motto and device. At the extreme
+     end hangs the white banner of the State Association.
+
+This handsome banner, bearing the motto, "Male and female created He
+them, and gave _them_ dominion," was presented to the association by
+Miss Cora Scott Pond and the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, to whose energetic
+work the success of the bazar was largely due.
+
+Mrs. Livermore, the president of the bazar, made the opening address
+on the first evening. Floor and gallery were filled and scores of
+yellow-ribboned delegates threaded their way through the smiling
+crowd. Mrs. Howe followed, saying in part:
+
+     Addresses this evening are something like grace before meat; they
+     are expected to be short and sweet. The grace is a good thing
+     because it reminds us that we do not live by bread alone but by
+     all the divine words with which the Creator has filled the
+     universe. The most divine word of all is justice, and in that
+     sacred name we are met to-night. In her name we set up our tents
+     and spread our banners....
+
+     In the suspense in which we have so long waited for suffrage, I
+     sometimes feel as if we were in a dim twilight through which at
+     last a single star sheds its way to show us there is light yet,
+     and then another and another star follow. Wyoming was the first,
+     the evening star--we may call her our Venus; then came Washington
+     Territory, and then Kansas. What sort of a star shall we call
+     Boston? She might aptly be compared to sleepy old Saturn,
+     surrounded by a triple ring of prejudice. Dr. Channing was asked
+     once if he did not despair of Harvard College. He replied: "No, I
+     never _quite_ despair of anything." Therefore, following his good
+     example, I never quite despair of Boston. We want our flag to be
+     full of such stars as those I have mentioned.
+
+Mrs. Lucy Stone closed a brief address by saying: "To-morrow will be
+election day and the papers urge all citizens to go and vote; but
+there are 60,000 women in Boston who have the same interest in the
+city government that men have, and yet can have no voice in the
+matter. Make this bazar a success and so enable us to take
+Massachusetts by its four corners and shake it till it gives suffrage
+to women."
+
+_1888._--The twentieth annual meeting was held in Cincinnati, Ohio,
+November 20-22, with large crowds in attendance and much interest
+shown. The _Enquirer_ said: "The audiences may be said to have
+chestnutized the time-honored assertion that advocates of the ballot
+for the fair sex are unable to win even womankind to their way of
+thinking. New faces of ladies of the highest standing in society are
+seen at every succeeding session. The Scottish Rite Cathedral has
+rarely or never held as large a number of ladies, and equally rarely
+has there been present at a meeting of woman suffragists so large a
+proportion of men." And the _Commercial Gazette_: "The Scottish Rite
+Cathedral never held a finer-looking company, composed as it was of a
+large number of the oldest and best citizens."
+
+The Hon. Wm. Dudley Foulke presided.[144] Addresses of welcome were
+made by the Hon. Alphonso Taft and Mrs. McClellan Brown, president of
+the Wesleyan Woman's College. Mrs. Julia Ward Howe responded.
+
+In a letter the Hon. George William Curtis said: "Every change in the
+restrictive laws regarding women is an acknowledgment of the justice
+of the demand for equal suffrage. The case was conceded when women
+became property holders and taxpayers in their own right. In every way
+their interest in society is the same as that of men, and the reason
+for their voting in school meetings is conclusive for their voting
+upon the appropriation of other taxes which they pay."
+
+U. S. Senator George F. Hoar wrote: "My belief in the wisdom and
+justice of the demand that women shall be admitted to the ballot
+grows stronger every year." In a letter to Lucy Stone, Clara Barton
+wrote:
+
+     It gives me pain to be compelled to decline your generous
+     invitation to attend your annual meeting, but there is a deep
+     pleasure in the thought that you remembered and desired me to be
+     with you. Nowhere would I so gladly speak my little word for
+     woman, her rights, her needs, her privileges delayed and
+     debarred--yet blessed with the grand advance of the last thirty
+     years, the budding and blossoming of the seed sown in darkness,
+     doubt and humiliation, scattered by the winds of conscious
+     superiority and power and the whirlwinds of opposing wrath--as on
+     the green, native soil, the home of the early labors of its
+     sainted citizen, Frances D. Gage. Dear, noble, precious Aunt
+     Fanny, with the soul so pure and white, the heart so warm, the
+     sympathies so quick and ready, the sensitive, shrinking modesty
+     of self, the courage that scoffed at fear when the needs of
+     others were plead; the friend of the bondman and oppressed, who
+     knew no sect, sex, race or color, but toiled on for freedom and
+     humanity till the glorious summons came! If only five minutes of
+     her clarion voice could ring out in that meeting--McGregor on his
+     native heath--"'twere worth a thousand men." I pray you, dear
+     friend, whose voice will reach and be heard, try to point out to
+     the younger and later workers of the grand, old State the broad
+     stubble swath of the scythe and the deep blazing of the sturdy
+     axe of this glorious pioneer of theirs--the grandest of them
+     all--whose sleeping dust is an honor to Ohio.
+
+     It is nothing that I am not there; it is much that you will be,
+     who carry back the memories of your girlhood, your school-life,
+     your earliest labors, to lay them on this freely-proffered altar,
+     in a spot where then there was no room for the tired foot, nor
+     scarce safety for the head. The occasion points with unerring
+     finger to the hands on the dial of thirty years in the future. We
+     need not to see it then, for it is given us to foresee it now.
+     God's blessing on this work and on the meeting, and on all who
+     may compose it![145]
+
+Henry B. Blackwell said in his address:
+
+     In equal suffrage lies our only hope of a representative
+     government. Women are one-half of our citizens with rights to
+     protect and wrongs to remedy. They are a distinct class in
+     society, differing from men in character, position and interest.
+     Every class that votes makes itself felt in the government. Women
+     will change the quality of government when they vote. They are
+     more peaceable, temperate, chaste, economical and law-abiding
+     than men; less controlled by physical appetite and passion; more
+     influenced by humane and religious considerations. They will
+     superadd to the more harsh and aggressive masculine qualities
+     those feminine qualities in which they are superior to men. And
+     these qualities are precisely what our government lacks. Women
+     will always be wives and mothers. They will represent the home as
+     men represent the business interests, and both are needed. This
+     is a reform higher, broader, deeper than any and all others. Let
+     good men and women of all sects, parties and opinions unite in
+     establishing a government of and by and for the people--men and
+     women.
+
+Lucy Stone, describing the convention in the _Woman's Journal_ of
+December 1, wrote:
+
+     The local arrangements had been carefully made by Dr. Juliet M.
+     Thorpe, Mrs. Ellen B. Dietrick and Miss Annie McLean Marsh. The
+     spirit and temper of the meeting were of the best. Telegrams of
+     greeting were received from various States, and from far and near
+     came letters from those who were already friends of the cause,
+     and others who wished to learn. One old lady with snow-white
+     locks had come alone forty miles. She was not a delegate and she
+     had no speech to make, but her heart was in the work and she
+     found opportunity to speak words of cheer to those who were in
+     the thick of the fight. One young woman, a busy teacher, came
+     from Knoxville, Tenn. She wanted to know how to work for suffrage
+     in that State, and said she thought it "the best way to come
+     where the suffrage was." A large supply of leaflets, copies of
+     the _Woman's Journal_ and of the _Woman's Column_, were given
+     her, with such advice and instruction as the time permitted. Two
+     ladies were there from Virginia. This was their first suffrage
+     meeting, but they listened eagerly, subscribed for our
+     periodicals and gladly accepted leaflets. It was a comfort to see
+     by these new recruits how widely the idea of equal rights for
+     women is taking root. At these annual meetings the workers who
+     come from far distant States and Territories strengthen each
+     other. The sight of their faces and the warm grasp of their hands
+     serve to renew the strength of those who never have flinched, and
+     who never will flinch till women are secure in possession of
+     equal rights.
+
+     A number of ladies who came over from Kentucky took the
+     opportunity to organize a Kentucky Equal Suffrage Association.
+
+     It is always a matter of regret that the excellent speeches made
+     at these meetings can not be phonographically reported, but it
+     must suffice to say that they covered all the ground, from the
+     principles on which representative government rests, to the
+     teaching of the Bible, which Miss Laura Clay, in an able speech,
+     warmly claimed was on the side of equal rights for women. Mrs.
+     Zerelda G. Wallace, that noble mother in Israel, agreed with her,
+     though from a different point of view, while Frederick Douglass
+     claimed that the "Eternal Right exists independent of all books."
+
+     The Cincinnati press gave noticeably friendly and fair reports.
+     Hospitality to delegates was abundant. The sunny side of many of
+     the best people of the Queen City was evidently turned toward
+     this meeting. A distinguished member of the Hamilton County bar,
+     who had not been thoroughly converted before, said: "When you
+     come again, let me make the address of welcome!"
+
+The annual report of the chairman of the executive committee stated
+that the association had continued to supply with suffrage matter all
+editors who would use it; and that to save postage this weekly
+bulletin had been put into the form of a small newspaper, the _Woman's
+Column_:
+
+     Its woman suffrage arguments come back to us in papers scattered
+     from Maine to California, and reach hundreds of thousands of
+     readers who would not take a paper devoted specifically to this
+     reform.... Twenty thousand suffrage leaflets were given to the
+     Rev. Anna H. Shaw, national lecturer for the American W. S. A.,
+     whose position as national superintendent of franchise for the W.
+     C. T. U. enables her to use them with great effect; 7,700 were
+     made a gift to the Ohio Centennial Exposition at Cincinnati with
+     hundreds of copies of the _Woman's Journal_ and _Woman's Column_;
+     also many to the exposition at Columbus; 1,000 leaflets were sent
+     to the meeting of the Wisconsin W. S. A. at Milwaukee, and 500 to
+     its recent meeting at Stevens Point; many were sent to the fair
+     at Ottumwa, Ia.; a large number were distributed at the annual
+     meeting of the National W. C. T. U. in New York, and smaller
+     quantities have been supplied for local use in almost all the
+     States and Territories. Several friends have made donations of
+     money for this purpose, and there is no way in which money goes
+     further or does more good. In August, the association began the
+     publication of a series of tracts under the title of the _Woman
+     Suffrage Leaflet_. The association has given $50 for work in
+     Montana, $50 in Vermont, $25 in Wisconsin and $15 in New York.
+
+Memorial resolutions were adopted for Louisa M. Alcott, Dr. Mary F.
+Thomas and James Freeman Clarke, D. D.
+
+The following committee was chosen to continue the negotiations for
+union with the National Woman Suffrage Association, which had been
+entered upon in pursuance of the resolution adopted at Philadelphia:
+the Hon. William Dudley Foulke, Indiana; the Rev. Anna H. Shaw,
+Michigan; Miss Laura Clay, Kentucky; Mrs. Margaret W. Campbell, Iowa;
+Prof. W. H. Carruth, Kansas; Miss Mary Grew, Pennsylvania; the Rev.
+Antoinette Brown Blackwell, New Jersey; Mrs. Sarah C. Schrader, Ohio;
+Mrs. Catherine V. Waite, Illinois; Mrs. May S. Knaggs, Michigan; Miss
+Alice Stone Blackwell, Massachusetts.
+
+_1889._--In January these delegates met with those from the National
+Association at the convention of the latter in Washington, D. C., and
+arrangements for the union of the two societies for the following year
+were practically completed.[146]
+
+In the summer an appeal was addressed by Lucy Stone, Julia Ward Howe
+and Mary A. Livermore to the constitutional conventions which were
+preparing for Statehood in Dakota, Washington, Montana and Idaho. It
+said in part:
+
+     The undersigned, officers of the American Woman Suffrage
+     Association, though not properly entitled to address your
+     convention, nevertheless ask its courtesy on account of the great
+     interest they feel in the question of the status you will give to
+     women.
+
+     You, gentlemen, felt keenly the disadvantage you were under when
+     you had only Territorial rights. If you will consider how much
+     greater are the disadvantages of a class that is wholly without
+     political rights, you will, we feel sure, pardon our entreaty
+     that in building your new constitution you will secure for women
+     equal political rights with men.
+
+     The men of the older States inherited their constitutions, with
+     the odious features which the common law imposes upon women. But
+     you are making constitutions. You have the golden opportunity to
+     save your women from all these evils by securing their right to
+     vote in the organic law of the new State. By doing this, over and
+     above the satisfaction which comes from having done a just deed,
+     you will win the gratitude of women for all time, as our fathers
+     won the gratitude of the race when they announced the principle
+     which we ask you to apply. You will also secure the historic
+     credit of being the first men to take the next great step in
+     civilization--a step sure to be taken at no distant day....
+
+     Edward Everett once said, illustrating the effect of small things
+     on character: "The Mississippi and the St. Lawrence Rivers have
+     their rise near each other. A very small difference in the
+     elevation of the land sends one to the ocean amid tropical heat,
+     while the other empties into the frozen waters of the north." So,
+     it may seem a small matter whether you admit or shut out women
+     from an equal share in the government. But if you exclude them
+     you shut out a class of citizens pre-eminently orderly,
+     law-abiding and peaceful, and especially interested in the
+     welfare of the home and the safety of society. If, at the same
+     time, you admit all classes of men, however worthless, provided
+     they are out of prison, and if you make them free to stamp their
+     impress upon the government, in the long run you will find the
+     moral tone of the community lowered and cheapened, and your most
+     sacred institutions imperiled by the dangerous classes to whom
+     you entrusted the power which you denied to orderly and good
+     women.
+
+Henry B. Blackwell, secretary of the association, visited North
+Dakota, Montana and Washington, and personally labored with the
+members of the three constitutional conventions. He carried with him
+letters written expressly for these conventions by Governor Francis E.
+Warren and U. S. Delegate Joseph M. Carey of Wyoming; Governor Lyman
+U. Humphrey, Attorney-General L. B. Kellogg, Chief Justice Albert H.
+Horton and all the Judges of the Supreme Court of Kansas; U. S.
+Senator Henry M. Teller of Colorado, U. S. Senator Cushman K. Davis of
+Minnesota, Governor Oliver Ames, U. S. Senator George F. Hoar, William
+Lloyd Garrison and others of Massachusetts, commending his mission and
+expressing the hope that the new States would incorporate equal
+suffrage in their constitutions. Copies of these letters were placed
+in the hands of every delegate. Mr. Blackwell devoted over a month to
+the journey and the work in these Territories, paying his own expenses
+and giving them and his services to the American Suffrage Association.
+[Detailed accounts of these efforts will be found in chapters on these
+three States.]
+
+_1890._--In February the American and the National Societies held a
+convention in Washington under the name of the National-American
+Association and this body has continued its annual meetings as one
+organization.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[135] The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Alice Stone
+Blackwell, editor of _The Woman's Journal_, Boston, Mass. For early
+accounts of this organization see History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II,
+Chap. XXVI. [Editors of History.
+
+[136] Mrs. Helen Ekin Starrett, principal of Highland Park Academy;
+Miss Ada C. Sweet, head of the Pension Office in Illinois; Mrs. Mary
+B. Willard, of the _Union Signal_; Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, of
+the _Inter-Ocean_; Dr. Julia Holmes Smith, Helen K. Pierce, Mrs. W. O.
+Carpenter, Mrs. H. W. Fuller, Mrs. George Harding, Mrs. Catherine V.
+Waite, Mrs. Elizabeth Loomis and the Rev. Florence Kollock composed
+the entertainment committee.
+
+[137] Mr. Wood, in many public addresses made during the first Kansas
+amendment campaign in 1867, attributed this action of the Kansas
+Constitutional Convention to Mrs. Stone; but it is certain that other
+influences contributed to it. [For a further account of these, see
+History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. 1, p. 185. Eds.]
+
+[138] Massachusetts gave to this fund $472; Pennsylvania, $201.50;
+Indiana, $146; New Jersey, $80; Connecticut, $50; New Hampshire, $25;
+Ohio, $10; Delaware, $5; New Brunswick, Canada, $10.
+
+[139] Vice-presidents, ex-officio: Mrs. E. N. Bacon, Me.; Mrs. Armenia
+S. White, N. H.; Mrs. M. L. T. Hidden, Vt.; William I. Bowditch,
+Mass.; Mrs. Elizabeth B. Chace, R. I.; Mrs. Emily P. Collins, Conn.;
+Mrs. Mariana W. Chapman, N. Y.; Kate A. Browning, N. J.; Miss Mary
+Grew, Penn.; Mrs. Mary A. Heald, Del.; Mrs. Frances M. Casement, O.;
+Mary F. Thomas, M. D., Ind.; Miss Ada C. Sweet, Ill.; Lucy C.
+Stansell, Mich.; Sylvia Goddard, Ky.; Mrs. A. E. Dickinson, Mo.;
+Lizzie D. Fyler, Ark.; Jennie Beauchamp, Tex.; Emma C. Bascom, Wis.;
+Narcissa T. Bennis, Ia.; Gertrude M. McDowell, Neb.; the Hon. Charles
+Robinson, Kan.; Gen. Theodore F. Brown, Col.; Jennie Carr, Cal.;
+Abigail Scott Duniway, Ore.; Martha G. Ripley, M. D., Minn.; the Hon.
+J. W. Hoyt, Wy. Ty.; Elizabeth Lyle Saxon, Tenn.; Mrs. Cadwallader
+White, Ga.; the Hon. Roger S. Greene, Wash. Ty.; Mary J. Ireland, Md.;
+Caroline E. Merrick, La.
+
+Executive Committee: Lucy Stone, chairman; Mrs. C. A. Quinby, Me.; Dr.
+J. H. Gallinger, N. H.; Laura Moore, Vt.; Mrs. Judith W. Smith, Mass.;
+Mrs. S. E. H. Doyle, R. I.; the Hon. John Sheldon, Conn.; Anna C.
+Field, N. Y.; Cornelia C. Hussey, N. J.; John K. Wildman, Penn.; Dr.
+John Cameron, Del.; Jennie F. Holmes, Neb.; Prof. W. H. Carruth, Kan.;
+Mary F. Shields, Col.; Sarah Knox Goodrich, Cal.; Mrs. N. Coe Stewart,
+O.; Mary E. Haggart, Ind.; Helen E. Starrett, Ill.; Mrs. Geary, Va.;
+Jennie A. Crane, W. Va.; Mrs. L. S. Ellis, Mich.; Laura Clay, Ky.;
+Charlotte A. Cleveland, Mo.; Rhoda Munger, Ark.; Mrs. H. Buckner,
+Tex.; Helen R. Olin, Wis.; Mary A. Work, Ia.; Laura Howe Carpenter,
+Minn.; Mrs. A. S. Duniway, Ore.; the Hon. J. W. Kingman, Wy. Ty.; Mrs.
+Smith of Seattle, Wash. Ty.
+
+[140] Congress never could be persuaded to take any action and Miss
+Carroll died in poverty and need. [Eds.
+
+[141] Among the other speakers were Lucy Stone and Henry B. Blackwell,
+of Massachusetts; Mrs. Margaret W. Campbell and the Rev. S. S.
+Hunting, of Iowa; Mrs. Mary E. Haggart, of Indiana; the Rev. Anna
+Howard Shaw, of Michigan; Mrs. Laura M. Johns, Mrs. Hammer, Mrs.
+Barnes, Mrs. Annie L. Diggs, Miss Sarah A. Brown, Mrs. Brown of
+Abilene, William P. Tomlinson, of the Topeka _Democrat_; the Revs. C.
+H. Lovejoy, H. W. George and Dr. McCabe, Dr. Fisher, Judge W. A.
+Peffer, Mrs. M. E. De Geer Call, Mrs. Martia L. Berry, Col. A. B.
+Jetmore, J. C. Hebbard and Hon. C. S. Gleed.
+
+[142] This was done.
+
+[143] The American W. S. A. afterwards voted to give to each State the
+entire amount of its gross sales.
+
+[144] Mr. Foulke served as president from 1884 to 1890. During this
+time but few changes were made in the official board. In 1885 Mrs.
+Mary E. Haggart (Ind.) was added to the vice-presidents-at-large; in
+1886 Dr. Mary F. Thomas (Ind.), J. K. Hudson (Kas.), the Rev. Anna
+Howard Shaw (Mass.); 1887, Mrs. May Stocking Knaggs (Mich.); 1888,
+Miss Clara Barton (D. C.), Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace (Ind.), Mrs. Phebe
+C. McKell (Ohio). In 1887 Mrs. Martha C. Callanan (Iowa) was elected
+recording secretary. The various State auxiliaries made numerous
+changes in vice-presidents ex-officio and members of the executive
+committee.
+
+[145] Among speakers not elsewhere mentioned were the Rev. Antoinette
+Brown Blackwell, Mrs. Lucy Stone, Mrs. Sarah C. Schrader, Mrs.
+Margaret W. Campbell, Mrs. Martha C. Callahan, Dr. Caroline M. Dodson,
+Madame Calliope Kachiya (a Greek friend of Mrs. Howe's), and Miss
+Alice Stone Blackwell. Mrs. Wessendorf read a poem, and there were
+songs by the Blaine Glee Club and by Miss Annie McLean Marsh and her
+little niece, and violin music by Miss Lucille du Pre.
+
+[146] The American Woman Suffrage Association was indebted for State
+reports during the past years to the following: Arkansas, Lizzie
+Dorman Fyler; California, Sarah Knox Goodrich, Elizabeth A. Kingsbury,
+Sarah M. Severance, Fannie Wood; Connecticut, Emily P. Collins, Abby
+B. Sheldon; Dakota, Major J. A. Pickler, Alice M. Pickler; Delaware,
+Dr. John Cameron; Illinois, Mary E. Holmes, Catherine G. Waugh
+(McCulloch); Indiana, Florence M. Adkinson, Mary S. Armstrong, Sarah
+E. Franklin, Adelia R. Hornbrook, Mary D. Naylor; Iowa, Mary J.
+Coggeshall, Eliza H. Hunter, Mary A. Work, Narcissa T. Bemis; Kansas,
+Prof. W. H. Carruth, Mrs. M. E. De Geer, Bertha H. Ellsworth;
+Kentucky, Mary B. Clay, Laura Clay; Maine, the Rev. Henry Blanchard,
+Mrs. C. S. Quinby; Massachusetts, Henry B. Blackwell, Lucy Stone;
+Missouri, Rebecca N. Hazard, Amanda E. Dickenson; Minnesota, Martha
+Angle Dorsett, Ella M. S. Marble, Dr. Martha G. Ripley; Michigan, Mrs.
+E. L. Briggs, Mary L. Doe, Emily B. Ketcham, Mrs. H. L. Udell, Mrs.
+Ellis; New Hampshire, Armenia S. White, Mrs. M. H. Ela; New Jersey,
+Cornelia C. Hussey, Therese M. Seabrook; New York, Lillie Devereaux
+Blake, Mariana W. Chapman, Mrs. E. O. Putnam Heaton, Anna Holyoke
+Howard, Hamilton Willcox; Nebraska, Erasmus M. Correll, Deborah G.
+King, Lucinda Russell, Clara Albertson Young; Ohio, Lou J. Bates,
+Frances M. Casement, Orpha D. Baldwin, S. S. Bissell, Mary J. Cravens,
+Mrs. (Dr.) Henderson, Mrs. M. B. Haven, Martha M. Paine, Mary P.
+Spargo, Rosa L. Segur, Cornelia C. Swezey; Oregon, Abigail Scott
+Duniway, W. S. Duniway; Pennsylvania, Florence A. Burleigh, Mary Grew,
+Matilda Hindman; Rhode Island, Elizabeth B. Chace, Marilla M.
+Brewster, Sarah W. Ladd, Mary C. Peckham, Louise M. Tyler; Tennessee,
+Lida A. Meriwether, Elizabeth Lyle Saxon; Texas, Mariana T. Folsom;
+Vermont, Laura Moore; Virginia, Orra Langhorne; Washington Territory,
+Bessie J. Isaacs; Wisconsin, Mary W. Bentley, Alura Collins; Wyoming,
+Dr. Kate Kelsey.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+SUFFRAGE WORK IN POLITICAL AND OTHER CONVENTIONS.
+
+
+The chapters thus far have given some idea of the endeavor to secure
+the ballot for women through national suffrage conventions, which
+bring together delegates from all parts of the country and send them
+back to their respective localities strengthened and fortified for the
+work; and which, through strong and logical arguments covering all
+phases of the question, given before large audiences, gradually have
+created a wide-spread sentiment in favor of the enfranchisement of
+women. There have been described also the hearings before committees
+of Congress, at which the advocates of this measure have made pleas
+for the submission to the State Legislatures of a Sixteenth Amendment
+to the Federal Constitution which should prohibit disfranchisement on
+account of sex, as the Fifteenth Amendment does on account of
+color--pleas which a distinguished Senator, who reported against
+granting them, said "surpassed anything he ever had heard, and whose
+logic if used in favor of any other measure could not fail to carry
+it" (p. 201); and of which another, who had the courage to report in
+favor, declared, "The suffragists have logic, argument, everything on
+their side" (p. 162).
+
+In addition to this national work the following chapters will show
+that the State work has been continued on similar lines--State and
+local conventions and appeals to Legislatures to submit an amendment
+to the electors to strike the word "male" from the suffrage clause of
+their own State constitution. These appeals, in many instances, have
+been supported by larger petitions than ever presented for any other
+object.
+
+Further efforts have been made on a still different line, viz.:
+through attempts to secure from outside conventions an indorsement of
+woman suffrage, not only from those of a political but also from those
+of a religious, educational, professional or industrial nature. This
+has been desired in order that the bills may go before Congress and
+Legislatures with the all-important sanction of voters, and also
+because of its favorable effect on those composing these conventions
+and on public sentiment.
+
+The idea of asking for recognition from a national political
+convention was first suggested to Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Miss
+Susan B. Anthony in 1868. By their protests against the use of the
+word "male" in the Fourteenth Amendment, as described in Chap. I of
+this volume, they had angered the Republican leaders, some of whom,
+even those who favored woman suffrage, sarcastically advised them to
+ask the Democrats for indorsement in their national convention of this
+year and see what would be the response. These two women, therefore,
+did appear before that body, which dedicated the new Tammany Hall in
+New York City, on July 4. An account of their insulting reception may
+be found in the History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, p. 340, and in the
+Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, p. 304. They, with Abby Hopper
+Gibbons, daughter of Isaac T. Hopper, and Elizabeth Smith Miller,
+daughter of Gerrit Smith, previously had sent an earnest letter to the
+National Republican Convention which had met in Chicago in June,
+asking in the name of the women who had rendered the party such
+faithful service during the Civil War, that it would recognize in its
+platform their right to the suffrage, but the letter received no
+notice whatever.
+
+From that year until the present a committee of women has attended
+every national convention of all the parties, asking for an
+indorsement or at least a commendation of their appeal for the
+franchise. Sometimes they have been received with respect, sometimes
+with discourtesy, and occasionally they have been granted a few
+minutes to make their plea before the Committee on Resolutions. In but
+a single instance has any one of these women, the most eminent in the
+nation, been permitted to address a Republican convention--at
+Cincinnati in 1876. Twice this privilege has been extended by a
+Democratic--at St. Louis in 1876 and at Cincinnati in 1880. A far-off
+approach to a recognition of woman's claim was made by the National
+Republican Convention at Philadelphia in 1872, in this resolution:
+
+     The Republican party, mindful of its obligations to the loyal
+     women of America, expresses gratification that wider avenues of
+     employment have been opened to woman, and it further declares
+     that her demands for additional rights should be treated with
+     respectful consideration.
+
+Again in 1876 the national convention, held in Cincinnati, adopted the
+following:
+
+     The Republican party recognizes with approval the substantial
+     advance recently made toward the establishment of equal rights
+     for women by the many important amendments effected by the
+     Republican (!) Legislatures, in the laws which concern the
+     personal and property relations of wives, mothers and widows, and
+     by the election and appointment of women to the superintendence
+     of education, charities and other public trusts. The honest
+     demands of this class of citizens for additional rights,
+     privileges and immunities should be treated with respectful
+     consideration.
+
+In 1880, '84, '88 and '92 the women were wholly disregarded. The
+national platform of 1888, however, contained this plank:
+
+     We recognize the supreme and sovereign right of every lawful
+     citizen to cast one free ballot in all public elections and to
+     have that ballot duly counted.
+
+The leaders of the woman suffrage movement at once telegraphed to
+Chicago to the chairman of the convention, the Hon. Morris M. Estee,
+asking if this statement was intended to include "lawful women
+citizens," and he answered, "I do not think the platform is so
+construed here." A letter was addressed to the presidential candidate,
+Gen. Benjamin Harrison, begging that in his acceptance of the
+nomination, he would interpret this declaration as including women,
+but it was politely ignored.
+
+In 1892 Miss Anthony appeared before the Resolutions Committee of the
+national convention in Minneapolis and in an address of thirty minutes
+pleaded that women might have recognition in its platform. At the
+close many of the members assured her of their thorough belief in the
+justice of woman suffrage, but said frankly that "the party could not
+carry the load."[147] The following was the suffrage plank in its
+platform that year:
+
+     We demand that every citizen of the United States shall be
+     allowed to cast one free and unrestricted ballot in all public
+     elections, and that such ballot shall be counted as cast; that
+     such laws shall be enacted and enforced as will secure to every
+     citizen, be he rich or poor, native or foreign, white or black,
+     this sovereign right guaranteed by the constitution. The free and
+     honest popular ballot, the just and equal representation of all
+     the people, as well as their just and equal protection under the
+     laws, are the foundation of our republican institutions, and the
+     party will never relax its efforts until the integrity of the
+     ballot and the purity of elections shall be guaranteed and
+     protected in every State.
+
+But not once during the campaign did the party speakers or newspapers
+apply this declaration to the women citizens of the United States.
+
+In 1896, when the prospects of success seemed certain enough to
+justify the party in assuming some additional "load," the women made
+the most impassioned appeal to the committee at the St. Louis
+convention, with the following remarkable result:
+
+     The Republican party is mindful of the rights and interests of
+     women. Protection of American industries includes equal
+     opportunities, equal pay for equal work, and protection to the
+     home. We favor the admission of women to wider spheres of
+     usefulness, and welcome their co-operation in rescuing the
+     country from Democratic mismanagement and Populist misrule.
+
+A whole plank to exploit Republicanism and a small splinter to cajole
+the women, who had not asked for the suffrage to "rescue" or to defeat
+any political party!
+
+No Democratic national platform ever has recognized so much as the
+existence of women, in all its grandiloquent declarations of the
+"rights of the masses," the "equality of the people," the "sovereignty
+of the individual" and the "powers inherent in a democracy."
+
+The Populists at the beginning of their career sounded the slogan,
+"Equal rights to all, special privileges to none," and many believed
+that at length the great party had arisen which was to secure to women
+the equal right in the suffrage which thus far had been the special
+privilege of men. Full of joy and hope there went to the first
+national convention of this party, held in Omaha, July 4, 1892, Susan
+B. Anthony and the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, president and
+vice-president-at-large of the National Suffrage Association. To their
+amazement they were refused permission even to appear before the
+Committee on Resolutions, a courtesy which by this time was usually
+extended at all political conventions. The platform contained no woman
+suffrage plank and no reference to the question except that in the
+long preamble occurred this sentence:
+
+     We believe that the forces of reform this day organized will
+     never cease to move forward until every wrong is righted, and
+     equal rights and equal privileges securely established for all
+     the men and women of this country.
+
+In 1896 the Populist National Convention in St. Louis effected its
+great fusion with the Democrats, and the political rights of women
+were hopelessly lost in the shuffle. By 1900 the organization was
+thoroughly under Democratic control, and the expectations of women to
+secure their enfranchisement through this "party of the people,"
+created to reform all abuses and abolish all unjust discriminations,
+vanished forever. It must be said to its credit, however, that during
+its brief existence women received more recognition in general than
+they ever had had from the old parties. They sat as delegates in its
+national and State conventions and served on National and State
+Committees; they were employed as political speakers and organizers;
+and they were elected and appointed to official positions. Various
+State and county conventions declared in favor of enfranchising women,
+the majority of the legislators advocated it, and there is reason to
+believe that in those States where an amendment to secure it was
+submitted, individual Populists very largely voted for it.
+
+The Prohibition National Conventions many times have put a woman
+suffrage plank in their platforms, and women have served as delegates
+and on committees. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union forms the
+bulwark of this party, and, like its distinguished president, Miss
+Frances E. Willard, her successor, Mrs. Lillian M. N. Stevens, is an
+earnest advocate of the enfranchisement of women, which is also true
+of the vast majority of its members, so it has not been necessary for
+the Woman Suffrage Association to send delegates to the national
+conventions, although it has occasionally done so. These have
+frequently failed, however, to adopt a plank declaring for woman
+suffrage, the refusal to do so at Pittsburg in 1896 being a principal
+cause of the division in the ranks which took place at that time.
+
+The Greenback party, the Labor party, the various Socialist parties,
+and other reform organizations of a political character have made
+unequivocal declarations for woman suffrage and welcomed women as
+delegates. Whether they would do so if strong enough to have any hope
+of electing their candidates must remain an open question until
+practically demonstrated.[148]
+
+Women have served a number of times as delegates in the national
+conventions of most of the so-called Third parties. In 1892 they
+appeared for the first time at a Republican National Convention,
+serving as alternates from Wyoming. In 1896 women alternates were sent
+from Utah to the Democratic National Convention. In 1900 Mrs. W. H.
+Jones went as delegate from that State to the Republican, and Mrs.
+Elizabeth Cohen to the Democratic National Convention, and both
+discharged the duties of the position in a satisfactory manner. Mrs.
+Cohen seconded the nomination of William J. Bryan. A newspaper
+correspondent published a sensational story in regard to her bold and
+noisy behavior, but afterwards he was compelled to retract publicly
+every word of it and admit that it had no foundation.
+
+Doubtless Miss Anthony has attended more political conventions to
+secure recognition of the cause which she represents than any other
+woman, and also has presented the subject to more national conventions
+of various associations. In early days this was because she was one of
+the few who had the courage to take this new and radical step, and
+also because she was the only one who made the suffrage the sole
+object of her life and was ready and willing to work for it at all
+times and under all circumstances. In later days her name has carried
+so much weight and she is so universally respected that she has been
+able to obtain a hearing and often a resolution where this would be
+difficult if not impossible for other women. However, in national and
+State work of this kind she has had the valuable co-operation of the
+ablest women of two generations. In no way can the scope and extent of
+these efforts be better understood than by reviewing Miss Anthony's
+report to the National Suffrage Convention of 1901, as chairman of
+the Committee on Convention Resolutions. It is especially interesting
+as a fair illustration of the vast amount of work which women have
+been doing in this direction for the past thirty years.
+
+After stating that the names and home addresses of most of the
+delegates to all the national political conventions of 1900 were
+obtained, Miss Anthony submitted copies of four letters of which 4,000
+were sent in June from the national suffrage headquarters in New York,
+signed by herself and the other members of the committee--Carrie
+Chapman Catt, Anna Howard Shaw, Ida Husted Harper and Rachel Foster
+Avery.
+
+     (To the Republican delegates.)
+
+     The undersigned Committee, appointed by the National-American
+     Woman Suffrage Association, beg leave to submit to you, as
+     delegate to the approaching Republican Convention, the enclosed
+     Memorial.
+
+     The Republican party was organized in response to the demand for
+     human freedom. Its platform for the last forty years has been an
+     unswerving declaration for liberty and equality. Animated by the
+     spirit of progress, it has continued to enlarge the voting
+     constituency from time to time, thus acknowledging the right of
+     the individual to self-representation. This principle was
+     embodied in the plank adopted at the Chicago convention of 1888,
+     and has been often reaffirmed: "We recognize the supreme and
+     sovereign right of every lawful citizen to cast one free ballot
+     in all public elections and have that ballot duly counted." We
+     appeal to the Republican party to sustain its record by applying
+     this declaration to the lawful women citizens of the United
+     States.
+
+     You will observe that this petition does not ask you to endorse
+     the enfranchisement of women, but simply to recommend that
+     Congress submit this question to the decision of the various
+     State Legislatures. In the name of American womanhood we ask you
+     to use every means within your power to bring this matter to a
+     discussion and affirmative vote in your convention.
+
+            *       *       *       *       *
+
+     (To the Democratic delegates.)
+
+     Since its inception the Democratic party has had for its rallying
+     cry the immortal words of Thomas Jefferson, "No taxation without
+     representation," "Governments derive their just powers from the
+     consent of the governed." Under this banner wage-earning men,
+     native and foreign, were endowed with the franchise, by which
+     means alone an individual can represent himself or consent to his
+     government, and by this act the party was kept in power for
+     nearly sixty years.
+
+     At the close of the eighteenth century this was a broad view for
+     even so great a leader to take. In this closing year of the
+     nineteenth century it would show an equally progressive spirit
+     if his loyal followers would carry these splendid declarations to
+     their logical conclusion and enfranchise women.
+
+            *       *       *       *       *
+
+     (To the Populist delegates.)
+
+     At the very first National Convention of the People's Party, held
+     at Omaha in 1892, the preamble of their platform declared that
+     "equal rights and privileges must be securely established for all
+     the men and women of the country." In the majority of State
+     conventions held since that time there has been specific
+     recognition of equal political rights for women. By admitting
+     women as delegates in their representative assemblies and by
+     appointing them to State and local offices, the Populists have
+     put into practice this fundamental principle of their
+     organization. Therefore, in asking you to give your influence and
+     vote in favor of this petition, we are proposing only that you
+     shall reaffirm your previous declarations.
+
+            *       *       *       *       *
+
+     (To the Prohibition delegates.)
+
+     Judging from the honorable record made by your party upon this
+     subject, we have every reason to hope that you will give your
+     influence and your vote in favor of the petition contained
+     herein.
+
+In the Democratic letter was enclosed an Open Letter from Gov. Charles
+S. Thomas (Dem.) of Colorado, setting forth in the strongest manner
+the advantages of woman suffrage, and in all was placed favorable
+testimony from prominent men of the respective States, accompanied by
+the following Memorial. The latter was mailed also to every member of
+the Resolutions Committees, and 10,000 copies were sent to editors and
+otherwise circulated throughout the country.
+
+     MEMORIAL
+
+     TO THE NATIONAL PRESIDENTIAL CONVENTION OF 1900.
+
+     GENTLEMEN: You are respectfully requested by the
+     National-American Woman Suffrage Association to place the
+     following plank in your platform:
+
+     _Resolved_, That we favor the submission by Congress, to the
+     various State Legislatures, of an Amendment to the Federal
+     Constitution forbidding disfranchisement of United States
+     citizens on account of sex.
+
+     The chief contribution to human liberty made by the United States
+     is the establishment of the right of personal representation in
+     government. In other countries suffrage often has been called
+     "the vested right of property," and as such has been extended to
+     women the same as to men. Our country at length has come to
+     recognize the principle that the elective franchise is inherent
+     in the individual and not in his property, and this principle has
+     become the corner-stone of our republic. Up to the beginning of
+     the twentieth century, however, the application of this great
+     truth has been made to but one-half the citizens.
+
+     The women of the United States are now the only disfranchised
+     class, and sex is the one remaining disqualification. A man may
+     be idle, corrupt, vicious, utterly without a single quality
+     necessary for purity and stability of government, but through the
+     exercise of the suffrage he is a vital factor. A woman may be
+     educated, industrious, moral and law-abiding, possessed of every
+     quality needed in a pure and stable government, but, deprived of
+     that influence which is exerted through the ballot, she is not a
+     factor in affairs of State. Who will claim that our government is
+     purer, wiser, stronger and more lasting by the rigid exclusion of
+     what men themselves term "the better half" of the people?
+
+     Every argument which enfranchises a man, enfranchises a woman.
+     There is no escape from this logic except to declare sex the just
+     basis of suffrage. But this position can not be maintained in
+     view of the fact that women already have full suffrage in
+     Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho, municipal suffrage in Kansas,
+     school suffrage in twenty-five States, a vote on tax levies in
+     Louisiana, on bond issues in Iowa, and on minor questions in
+     various other States. They have every franchise except the
+     Parliamentary in England, Scotland and Ireland, the full ballot
+     in New Zealand and South and West Australia, and some form of
+     suffrage in every English colony. In a large number of the
+     monarchical countries certain classes of women vote. On this
+     fundamental question of individual sovereignty surely the United
+     States should be a leader and not a follower. The trend of the
+     times is clearly toward equal suffrage. It will add to the credit
+     and future strength of any party to put itself in line with the
+     best modern and progressive thought on this question.
+
+     In the division of the world's labor an equal share falls to
+     woman. As property holder and wage-earner her material stake in
+     the government is equal to that of man. As wife, as mother, as
+     individual, her moral stake is certainly as great as his. The
+     perpetuity of the republic depends upon the careful performance
+     of the duties of both. One is just as necessary as the other to
+     the growth and prosperity of the country. All of these
+     propositions are self-evident, but they are wholly foreign to the
+     question at issue. The right of the individual to a vote is not
+     founded upon the value of his stake in government, upon his moral
+     character, his business ability or his physical strength, but
+     simply and solely upon that guarantee of personal representation
+     which is the essence of a true republic, a true democracy.
+
+     The literal definition of these two terms is, "a State in which
+     the sovereign power resides in the whole body of the people and
+     is exercised by representatives elected by them." By the
+     Declaration of Independence, by the rules of equity, by the laws
+     of justice, women equally with men are entitled to exercise this
+     sovereign power, through the franchise, the only legal means
+     provided. But whatever may be regarded as the correct basis of
+     suffrage--character, education, property, or the inherent right
+     of the person who is subject to law and taxation--women possess
+     all the qualifications required of men.
+
+     At this dawn of a new century are not the sons of the
+     Revolutionary Fathers sufficiently progressive to remove the
+     barriers which for more than a hundred years have prevented women
+     from exercising this citizen's right? We appeal to this great
+     national delegate body, representing the men of every State,
+     gathered to outline the policy and select the head of the
+     Government for the next four years, to adopt in your platform a
+     declaration approving the submission by Congress of an amendment
+     enfranchising women. We urge this action in order that the
+     question shall be carried to the various Legislatures, where
+     women may present their arguments before the representative men,
+     instead of being compelled to plead their cause before each
+     individual voter of the forty-one States where they are still
+     disfranchised.
+
+     We make this earnest appeal on behalf of the hundreds of
+     thousands of women who, from year to year, have petitioned
+     Congress to take the action necessary for their enfranchisement;
+     and of those millions who are so engrossed in the struggle for
+     daily bread, or in the manifold duties of the home, that they are
+     compelled to leave this task to others. We make it also on behalf
+     of the generations yet to come, for there will be no cessation of
+     this demand until this highest privilege of citizenship has been
+     accorded to women.
+
+     ELIZABETH CADY STANTON,      } Honorary Presidents.
+     SUSAN B. ANTHONY,            }
+
+                CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT, President.
+
+     HARRIET TAYLOR UPTON,        ANNA HOWARD SHAW,
+                   Treasurer.                  Vice-President-at-Large.
+
+     LAURA CLAY,                  RACHEL FOSTER AVERY,
+                   First Auditor.              Corresponding Secretary.
+
+     CATHARINE WAUGH MCCULLOCH,   ALICE STONE BLACKWELL,
+                   Second Auditor.                 Recording Secretary.
+
+     Headquarters, National-American Woman Suffrage Association,
+              2008 American Tract Society Building,
+                         New York City.
+
+Four women were permitted to appear before a sub-committee of the
+Committee on Platform at the Republican National Convention at
+Philadelphia, in 1900. They met with a polite but chilly reception
+and were informed that they could have ten minutes to present
+their case. This time was occupied by the president and the
+vice-president-at-large in concise but forcible arguments on the duty
+of the party to recognize their claim for enfranchisement. The
+platform eventually contained the following plank:
+
+     We congratulate the women of America upon their splendid record
+     of public service in the Volunteer Aid Association, and as nurses
+     in camp and hospital during the recent campaigns of our armies in
+     the Eastern and Western Indies, and we appreciate their faithful
+     co-operation in all works of education and industry.
+
+In other words, being asked to recognize women as political factors,
+the committee responded by commending them as nurses!
+
+This plank was written by Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, who as president of
+the Woman's National Republican League and a campaign speaker, has
+done far more for the party than any other woman, and originally it
+ended with this clause: "We regard with satisfaction their unselfish
+interest in public affairs in the four States where they have already
+been enfranchised, and their growing interest in good government and
+Republican principles." But even so small a recognition as this of
+women in political life was ruthlessly struck out by the committee.
+
+Mrs. Chapman Catt and Miss Mary G. Hay attended the Democratic
+National Convention at Kansas City and were not allowed to address any
+committee, but the platform contained the Declaration of Independence
+as its preamble!
+
+The Populist national platform adopted at Sioux City did not contain
+even a reference to women or their rights and privileges.
+
+The Prohibition convention followed its action of 1896 and put no
+woman suffrage plank in its platform. A separate resolution was passed
+expressing a favorable regard but carrying no official weight.
+
+The only national political convention in 1900 which adopted a plank
+declaring for the enfranchisement of women was that of the
+Social-Democratic party at Indianapolis.
+
+In not one of the four largest parties were the delegates in
+convention given so much as an opportunity to discuss and vote on a
+resolution to enfranchise women. All these heroic efforts, all these
+noble appeals, had not the slightest effect because made by a class
+utterly without influence by reason of this very disfranchisement
+which it was struggling to have removed. At every political convention
+all matters of right, of justice, of the eternal verities themselves,
+are swallowed up in the one all-important question, "Will it bring
+party success?" And to this a voteless constituency can not contribute
+in the smallest degree, even though it represent the Ten Commandments,
+the Sermon on the Mount, the Golden Rule, the Magna Charta and the
+Declaration of Independence.
+
+Paradoxical as it may seem, notwithstanding the refusal of the
+Resolutions Committees of all these national bodies to grant even an
+indirect recognition of woman suffrage in their platforms, its
+advocates never before found such a general sentiment in its favor
+among the individual delegates. In a number of instances they were
+told that a poll of delegations had shown a majority of the members to
+be ready to vote for it. It was demonstrated beyond doubt that the
+rank and file of the delegates, if freed from hostile influences among
+their constituents and granted the sanction of the political leaders,
+could be won to a support of the measure, but that at present it must
+wait on party expediency. As every campaign brings with it national
+issues on which each party makes a fight for its life, and which it
+fears to hamper by any extraneous questions; as the elements most
+strongly opposed to the enfranchisement of women not only are fully
+armed with ballots themselves but are in complete control of an
+immense force similarly equipped; and as the vote of women is so
+problematical that none of the parties can claim it in advance, it is
+impossible to foresee when and how they are to obtain political
+freedom. The one self-evident fact is, however, that in order to win
+it they must be supported by a stronger public sentiment than exists
+at present, and that this can be secured only through a constant
+agitation of the subject.
+
+A return to Miss Anthony's report will illustrate other methods
+adopted to bring this question to the attention of the public. "During
+the year I have also sent petitions and letters to more than one
+hundred national conventions of different sorts--industrial,
+educational, charitable, philanthropic, religious and political.[149]
+Below are the forms of petition:"
+
+     _To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Fifty-sixth
+     Congress of the United States:_
+
+     The undersigned on behalf of (naming the association) in annual
+     convention assembled at ......, ......, 1900, and representing
+     fully ...... members, respectfully ask for the prompt passage by
+     your Honorable Body of a _Sixteenth Amendment_ to the Federal
+     Constitution, to be submitted to the Legislatures of the several
+     States for ratification, prohibiting the disfranchisement of
+     United States citizens on account of sex.
+
+                                   ................, President.
+                                   ................, Secretary.
+
+     _To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Fifty-sixth
+     Congress of the United States:_
+
+     WHEREAS, The trend of civilization is plainly in the direction of
+     equal rights for women, and
+
+     WHEREAS, Woman suffrage is no longer an experiment, but has been
+     clearly demonstrated to be beneficial to society; therefore,
+
+     _Resolved_, That we, on behalf of [as above], do respectfully
+     petition your Honorable Body not to insert the word "male" in the
+     suffrage clause of whatever form of government you shall
+     recommend to Hawaii, Cuba, Porto Rico or any other newly-acquired
+     possessions. We ask this in the name of justice and equality for
+     all citizens of a republic founded on the consent of the
+     governed.[150]
+
+"A number of large associations adopted these and returned them to me
+duly engrossed on their official paper, signed by the president and
+secretary and with their seal affixed; and I forwarded all to the
+Senators and Representatives whom I thought most likely to present
+them to Congress in a way to make an impression.
+
+"The General Federation of Labor at Detroit was the first to respond.
+I was invited to address its annual convention and, after I had
+spoken, the four hundred delegates passed a resolution of thanks to
+me, adopted the above petition for the Sixteenth Amendment by a rising
+vote, and ordered their officers to sign it in the name of their one
+million constituents.
+
+"The National Building Trades Council at Milwaukee had an able
+discussion in its annual meeting, based on my letter, and adopted both
+petitions. This body has half a million members.
+
+"The Bricklayers' and Masons' International Union of America was held
+in Rochester, and invited me to address the delegates. They received
+me with enthusiasm, passed strong woman suffrage resolutions and
+signed both petitions. Afterwards a stenographic report of my speech,
+covering two full pages of their official organ, _The Bricklayer and
+Mason_, was published with an excellent portrait of myself, thus
+sending me and my argument to each one of their more than sixty
+thousand members, all of whom subscribe to this paper as part of their
+dues to the union.
+
+"The National Grange, which has indorsed woman suffrage for so many
+years, adopted the resolutions and petitions.
+
+"At the Federation of Commercial Schools of the United States and
+Canada, which met in Chicago, my letter was read, the question was
+thoroughly discussed and the suffrage petitions were adopted almost
+unanimously.
+
+"The Columbia Catholic Summer School, held at Detroit, gave a hearing
+to our national president, Mrs. Chapman Catt, at which she is said to
+have made many converts. A strong suffrage speech was made by the Rev.
+Father W. J. Dalton, and other prominent members expressed themselves
+in favor.
+
+"The contents of my letters to religious and educational bodies can
+readily be imagined, and one which was sent to the United States
+Brewers' Association, in convention at Atlantic City, N. J., may be
+cited as an example of the subject-matter of those to other
+organizations:
+
+     GENTLEMEN: As chairman of the committee appointed by our National
+     Suffrage Association to address letters to the large conventions
+     held this year, allow me to bring before you the great need of
+     the recognition of women in all of the rights, privileges and
+     immunities of United States citizenship.
+
+     Though your association has for its principal object the
+     management of the great brewing interests of this country, yet I
+     have noted that you have adopted resolutions declaring against
+     woman suffrage. I therefore appeal to you, since the question
+     seems to come within the scope of your deliberations, to reverse
+     your action this closing year of the century, and declare
+     yourselves in favor of the practical application of the
+     fundamental principles of our Government to all the people--women
+     as well as men. Whatever your nationality, whatever your
+     religious creed, whatever your political party, you are either
+     born or naturalized citizens of the United States, and because of
+     that are voters of the State in which you reside. Will you not,
+     gentlemen, accord to the women of this nation, having the same
+     citizenship as yourselves, precisely the same privileges and
+     powers which you possess because of that one fact?
+
+     The only true principle--the only safe policy--of a
+     democratic-republican government is that every class of people
+     shall be protected in the exercise of the right of individual
+     representation. I pray you, therefore, to pass a resolution in
+     favor of woman suffrage, and order your officers, on behalf of
+     the association, to sign a petition to Congress for this
+     purpose, and thereby put the weight of your influence on the side
+     of making this Government a genuine republic.
+
+     Should you desire to have one of our best woman suffrage speakers
+     address your convention, if you will let me know as soon as
+     possible, I will take pleasure in arranging for one to do so.
+
+"This was read to the convention, and the secretary, Gallus Thomann,
+thus reported its action to me:
+
+     Mr. Obermann [ex-president of the association and one of the
+     trustees] voicing the sentiments of the delegates, spoke as
+     follows: "Miss Susan B. Anthony is entitled to the respect of
+     every man and woman in this country, whether agreeing with her
+     theories or not. I think it but fair and courteous to her that
+     the secretary be instructed to answer that letter, and to inform
+     Miss Anthony that this is a body of business men; that we meet
+     for business purposes and not for politics. Furthermore, that she
+     is mistaken and misinformed so far as her statement is concerned
+     that we have passed resolutions opposing woman suffrage. _We have
+     never taken such action at any of our conventions or on any other
+     occasion._ I submit this as a motion."
+
+     The motion was unanimously adopted, and that part of Mr.
+     Obermann's remarks which related to the respect due Miss Anthony
+     was loudly and enthusiastically applauded.
+
+     To the sentiment thus expressed, permit me, dear Miss Anthony, to
+     add personally the assurance of my highest esteem.
+
+"Among the results of the work with State conventions it may be
+mentioned that the Georgia Federation of Labor, the Minnesota
+Federation of Labor, the State Teachers' Association of Washington and
+the New York State Grange signed the petitions and passed the
+resolutions.
+
+"As another branch of the work, copies of these two petitions were
+sent to each of the forty-five States and three Territories, with
+letters asking the suffrage presidents, where associations existed,
+and prominent individuals in the few States where they did not, to
+make two copies of each petition on their own official paper, sign
+them on behalf of the suffragists of the State, and return them to me
+to be sent to the members of Congress from the respective districts.
+This was done almost without exception and these petitions were
+presented by various members, one copy in the Senate and one in the
+House. Of all the State petitions, the most interesting was that of
+Wyoming, which, in default of a suffrage association (none being
+needed) was signed by every State officer, from the Governor down, by
+several United States officials, and by many of the most influential
+men and women. With it came a letter from the wife of ex-U. S. Senator
+Joseph M. Carey, who collected these names, saying the number was
+limited only by the brief space of time allowed.
+
+"In all, more than two hundred petitions for woman suffrage from
+various associations were thus sent to Congress in 1900, representing
+millions of individuals. Many cordial responses were received from
+members, and promises of assistance should the question come before
+Congress, but there is no record of the slightest attempt by any
+member to bring it before that body.
+
+"In doing this work I wrote fully a thousand letters to associations
+and individuals, in all of which I placed some of our best printed
+literature. There was a thorough stirring up of public sentiment which
+must have definite results in time, for it should not be forgotten
+that in addressing conventions we appeal to the chosen leaders of
+thought and work from many cities and States, and so set in motion an
+ever-widening circle of agitation in countless localities."
+
+A most valuable means of educating public sentiment is the securing of
+a Woman's Day at Chautauqua Assemblies and State and county fairs,
+when good speakers present the "woman question" in its various phases,
+including always the need for enfranchisement. The Rev. Anna Howard
+Shaw and Mrs. Chapman Catt, the leading orators of the country, have
+addressed Chautauquas in all parts of the United States, as well as
+countless other large gatherings which have no connection with
+suffrage, being thus enabled to propagate the principle over a vast
+area. It can be seen from the above resume that the ground of effort
+is widely extended and that the harvest is ripening, but alas, there
+is a constant repetition of the old, old cry, "The laborers are few."
+One can only repeat what has often been said, that never before were
+such results as can be seen on every hand in the improved conditions
+for women and the advanced public sentiment in favor of a full
+equality of rights, accomplished by so small a number of workers and
+under such adverse conditions. Perhaps this will continue to be said
+even unto the end, but their labors will know neither faltering nor
+cessation until the original object, as announced over fifty years
+ago, has been attained, viz.: the full enfranchisement of women.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[147] See Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, p. 723.
+
+[148] For the names of the women who have addressed the National
+Conventions and Resolutions Committees of the various parties in the
+effort to obtain an indorsement of woman suffrage, and for a full
+account of their reception, of the memorials presented and the results
+which followed, the reader is referred to the History of Woman
+Suffrage, Vol. II, pp. 340 and 517; Vol. III, pp. 22 and 177; and for
+many personal incidents, to the Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony in
+the chapters devoted to the years of the various presidential
+nominating conventions, beginning with 1868.
+
+Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake, from the National Suffrage Association,
+and Henry B. Blackwell and Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, as Republicans,
+presented the question to the Resolutions Committee of the National
+Republican Convention of 1896 in St. Louis, above referred to; Dr.
+Julia Holmes Smith, accompanied by a committee of ladies, to that of
+the National Democratic Convention in Chicago that year.
+
+[149] Miss Anthony sent a special letter to each of these bodies
+worded to appeal particularly to the interests it represented.
+
+[150] For the answer to this petition see Chap. XIX.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN THE STATES.
+
+
+The preceding chapters have been devoted principally to efforts made
+in behalf of women by the National-American Suffrage Association
+through its conventions, committees, officers, speakers, organizers
+and members. Contemporaneous with this line of action there has been
+for a number of years a similar movement in the respective States
+carried forward through their associations auxiliary to the National,
+their committees, officers, speakers, organizers and individual
+membership. Each of the two divisions has been largely dependent upon
+the other, the States forming the strength of the national body, the
+latter extending assistance to the States whenever a special campaign
+has been at hand or help has been needed in organizing, convention or
+legislative work. The following chapters are confined wholly to the
+situation in the various States and are subdivided into Organization,
+Legislative Action, Laws, Suffrage, Office-Holding, Occupations and
+Education. Their object is to give a general idea of the status of
+woman at the close of the nineteenth century and the manifold changes
+of which it is the result. It is desired also to put on record the
+part which women themselves have had in the steady advance which will
+be observed.
+
+The account of only the past seventeen years is given, as the three
+preceding volumes of this History relate in detail the pioneer work
+and the gains made previous to 1884. Unfortunately it is inevitable in
+a recital of this kind that many names should be omitted which are
+quite as worthy of mention as those that find place, for in some
+instances the records are imperfectly kept and in others the list is
+so long as to forbid reproduction.[151] It has been necessary to bar
+compliments in order to avoid unjust discrimination and to meet the
+demands of limited space. To posterity the work is of more importance
+than the workers, and those who have engaged in the efforts to improve
+the condition of women necessarily have had to possess a spirit of
+self-abnegation and self-sacrifice which neither expected nor desired
+personal rewards.
+
+The subject of Organization in most of the States is treated in the
+briefest possible manner, the intention being merely to show that in
+every State and Territory there has been some attempt to gather into a
+working force the scattered individuals who believe in the justice of
+woman suffrage and wish to obtain it. More extended mention of course
+is due to the older States, where there has been continuous organized
+work for many years, and where the societies have remained intact and
+held their regular meetings in spite of such defeats and
+discouragements as never have had to be faced by any other cause. It
+is most difficult to form and maintain an association which has not a
+concrete object to labor for, and when a campaign for an amendment is
+not actually in progress, the suffrage in the distant future appears
+largely as an abstraction. The early days of the movement necessarily
+had to be given to creating the sentiment which would later be
+organized, and it is only within the past decade that the time has
+seemed ripe for systematic effort in this direction. The lack of
+effective organization has been a serious but unavoidable weakness
+which henceforth will be remedied as speedily and thoroughly as
+possible.
+
+It is a favorite argument of the opponents of woman suffrage that the
+many gains of various kinds have not been due to the efforts of women
+themselves. Under the head of Legislative Action will be found the
+dates and figures to prove that, year after year, in almost every
+State, women have gone to the Legislatures with appeals for every
+concession which has been granted and many more which have been
+refused. The bills presented by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union
+have not been specifically included because they are fully recorded in
+the publications of that body, and because this volume is confined
+almost exclusively to the one subject of enfranchisement. While the
+Suffrage Associations have directed their legislative efforts
+principally to secure action for this purpose, individual members have
+joined the W. C. T. U. innumerable times in its attempts to obtain
+other bills of advantage to women and children, and in some instances
+this has been done officially by the associations.
+
+Among various measures in which the two organizations have united may
+be mentioned the raising of the "age of protection" for girls; the
+securing of women physicians in all institutions where women and
+children are confined, and women on the boards of all such; women city
+physicians; matrons at jails and station houses; better conditions for
+working women; the abolition of child-labor; industrial schools for
+girls. Measures which have been especially championed by the W. S. A.,
+but which the W. C. T. U. has aided officially or individually, have
+been those asking for every form of suffrage; equal property laws for
+wives; the opening of all educational institutions to women; their
+admission to all professions and occupations; the repeal of laws
+barring them from office; the enactment of laws giving father and
+mother equal guardianship of children.[152]
+
+The W. C. T. U. alone has secured temperance measures of many kinds,
+including a law in every State requiring scientific temperance
+instruction in the public schools; in many States curfew laws, and
+statutes prohibiting the sale of cigarettes and of liquor on or near
+fair grounds, Soldiers' Homes and school-houses, and preventing
+gambling devices, immoral exhibits, etc. The Federation of Women's
+Clubs has obtained laws for free traveling libraries and has united
+with other organizations in various States in efforts for equal
+guardianship of children, school suffrage, women on school and library
+boards and the abolishing of child labor. Other associations have
+joined in one or more of the above lines of work and have had
+independent measures of their own, such as prison reform, social
+purity, the assistance of different races--as the negro and the
+Indian--village improvement, kindergartens, public playgrounds, etc.
+
+It would not be possible to draw a distinct line dividing the
+legislative work of one association from the others, except that it
+may be said the suffrage societies have made the franchise their chief
+point, believing it to be the power with which the rest could be
+gained, and the temperance unions have made their principal attack
+upon the liquor traffic, considering it the greatest evil. The objects
+of the various bodies are indicated in the last chapter of this volume
+on Organizations of Women, but whatever these may be, if they include
+any direct, practical work their promoters usually find themselves at
+the door of the Legislature asking for help. Here they get their first
+lesson in the imperative necessity of possessing a vote, and seeing
+their measures fail because asked for by a disfranchised class, to
+whom the legislators are in no way indebted, they frequently become
+ardent advocates of suffrage for women.
+
+As it would be wholly impossible in the small space which can be
+allowed to include an account of all the legislative work done by
+women, mention is made principally of that for the franchise. While
+the successes have been few compared to the number of bills presented,
+the record is valuable as indicating that determined and persistent
+effort will not be relaxed until it is granted in every State.
+
+Under the head of Legislation is related also the attempts to get from
+Constitutional Conventions an amendment striking out the word "male"
+as a qualification for suffrage. It includes, besides, graphic
+accounts of the campaigns made in behalf of such amendments when
+submitted to the voters by the Legislatures. Those who have not
+closely followed these events doubtless will be surprised to learn the
+amount of effort which has been expended by women to obtain the
+franchise. It is infinitely greater than has been put forth for this
+purpose by all other classes combined, since the Revolutionary War was
+fought to secure to every citizen the right of individual
+representation.
+
+The Laws regarding women as here given are in no sense of the word a
+"brief," but merely present the facts in the language of a layman and
+in the simplest and most concise form. Those relating to property are
+in the nature of a curiosity. An attorney in San Francisco who was
+asked for information as to the laws in general for women in
+California, answered that to give in full those of property alone
+would require as much space as could be granted in the History for the
+entire chapter. It is not possible to make in these introductory
+paragraphs an adequate digest of these laws in various States. They
+are not precisely the same in any two of the forty-nine States and
+Territories, and they offer a striking illustration of the attempts of
+law-makers, during the last few decades, to rectify in a measure the
+legal outrages of the past, and of their inability in the present
+state of their development to grant absolute justice. That must await
+the lawmakers of the future, and probably the time when women shall
+have a part in selecting them.
+
+All that can be claimed for the statutes quoted herein is that they
+are as nearly correct as it has been possible to make them. With but
+one or two exceptions, the Attorney-Generals in every State have been
+most courteous and obliging when appealed to for assistance. The laws
+for women, however, have been so taken from and added to, so torn to
+pieces and patched up, that the best lawyers in many States say
+frankly that they do not know just what they are at the present time.
+Legislatures and code revision committees are continually tinkering at
+them and every year witnesses some changes in most of the States.[153]
+A very thorough abstract of the laws, made in 1886 by Miss Lelia J.
+Robinson, LL. B., a member of the bar in Massachusetts, was of almost
+no use in the compilation for this volume because of the endless
+alterations since that time. The Legal Status of Women, a condensed
+resume issued in 1897 by the National Suffrage Association, has been
+covered thickly with pencil marks during the preparation of this
+summary, as the reports received from different States have shown the
+changes effected in the few years which have since elapsed. A new
+book, Woman and the Law, prepared by a lecturer on political science
+in one of our largest universities and published in 1901, was hailed
+with joy, but was found to include a number of laws which had been
+repealed within the past four or five years and to omit some very
+important ones which had been enacted during this time, as well as to
+contain frequent mistakes in regard to others.
+
+These instances show the impossibility of an absolutely authentic
+presentation of the laws for women in their constantly changing
+condition. Although it was the intention to close this History with
+1900, in several States, notably Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York,
+Illinois and Wisconsin, laws have been passed since that date of
+sufficient importance to demand a place. During the two years of its
+preparation the entire codes of property laws for women in
+Massachusetts and Virginia have been revolutionized.
+
+An amusing part of a difficult task has been the reluctance of men to
+admit the existence of laws which are conspicuously unjust to women,
+the admission being frequently accompanied by the statement that it is
+the intention to change them at an early date, or that it would only
+be necessary to call the attention of the Legislature to them in order
+to secure their repeal. Even women themselves in States where the
+statutes especially discriminate against them, have written that these
+must not be published unless those from all the others are given.
+Whether this is due to State pride or personal humiliation is not
+clearly evident.
+
+The one encouraging feature is that in almost every State decided
+progress is shown since 1848, when in New York and Pennsylvania the
+first change was made in the English Common Law which then everywhere
+prevailed, and which did not permit a married woman to hold property,
+to buy or sell, to sue or be sued, to make a contract or a will, to
+carry on business in her own name, to possess the wages she earned, or
+to have her children in case of divorce. An examination of the laws in
+the following chapters will show that the wife now may own and control
+her separate property in three-fourths of the States, and in the other
+fourth only one Northern State is included. In every State a married
+woman may make a will, but can dispose only of her separate property.
+In about two-thirds of the States she possesses her earnings. In the
+great majority she may make contracts and bring suit. The property
+rights of unmarried women always have been nearly the same as those of
+unmarried men, but the Common Law declared that "by marriage husband
+and wife are one person in law and the legal existence of the wife is
+merged in that of the husband. He is her baron or lord, bound to
+supply her with shelter, food, clothing and medicine, and is entitled
+to her earnings and the use and custody of her person, which he may
+seize wherever he may find it." (Blackstone, I, 442.)[154]
+
+In his Commentaries, after enumerating some of the disabilities of
+woman under these laws, Blackstone calmly argues that the most of them
+were really intended for her benefit, "so great a favorite is the
+female sex with the law of England." He strikes here the keynote of
+even the special statutes which have superseded the Common Law in the
+various States, all have been "intended for her benefit," man alone
+being the judge of what she needed and careful while providing it to
+retain within himself the exclusive power of law-making. It has been
+gradually dawning upon him, however, that, as a human being like
+himself, her needs are very similar to his own, and where he has
+failed to see it she has reminded him of it as she has slowly learned
+this fact herself. The laws show an awakening conscience on the part
+of men and a tardy but continuous advance toward justice to women,
+although there is yet very much to be desired. For instance, in
+reading the laws regarding the inheritance of separate property, which
+in a number of States is now made the same for widow and widower, the
+first thought will be, "These are absolutely just." But a little
+investigation will show that the separate property of either is what
+he or she possesses at marriage or receives afterwards by gift or
+inheritance, while all that is acquired during marriage by the joint
+earnings of the two belongs to the husband. In many States the law now
+provides that if the wife engages in business as a sole trader or goes
+outside the home to work, her earnings belong to her, but all the
+proceeds of her labor within the household are still the sole and
+separate property of the husband. The Common Law on this point, which
+never has been changed in a single State,[155] makes the services of
+the wife belong to the husband, and in return she is legally entitled
+only to food, shelter and clothes, and these of such quality and
+quantity as the husband dictates. She can not dispose by will of any
+of the property acquired during marriage, nor has she any control of
+it during the husband's lifetime.
+
+These facts should be borne in mind when reading the laws which
+declare that husband and wife have the same power to dispose of
+separate property. Comparatively few women in this country have
+property when married, especially if young at the time, and the same
+is true of the majority of men, but afterwards the woman may never
+hope to accumulate any, as the joint earnings of the marriage
+partnership belong exclusively to the husband, and the duties of the
+average household prevent the wife from engaging in outside work.
+However, in order that she might not be left absolutely penniless
+after years of labor, the Common Law provided that she should be
+entitled to "dower," i. e., the possession, for her lifetime, of
+one-third of all the real estate of which her husband was possessed in
+fee simple during the marriage. That is, she should receive the
+life-use of one-third of any realty she might have brought into the
+marriage and one-third of all they had earned together. But if the
+husband had converted these into cash, bonds, stocks or other personal
+property, she could legally claim nothing. He had "curtesy," i. e.,
+the life-use of all her real estate, (sometimes dependent on the birth
+of children, sometimes not), and usually the whole of her personal
+estate absolutely.
+
+Curtesy has now been abolished in over one-half the States. The law of
+dower still exists in more than one-half, but special statutes in
+regard to personal property and the wife's separate estate have been
+made so liberal that in comparatively few States is she left in the
+helpless condition of olden times. In about one-half of them she takes
+from one-third to the whole (if there are no children) of both real
+and personal estate absolutely; but in all of them it is only at the
+death of the husband that she has any share or control of the joint
+accumulations except such as he chooses to allow. At the death of the
+wife all of these belong legally to the husband and she can not secure
+to her children or her parents any part of the property which she has
+helped to earn. Space forbids going into a discussion of the general
+upheaval which follows the death of the husband, the inventories
+which must be taken, the divisions which must be made, generally
+resulting in the breaking up of the home; while at the death of the
+wife all passes peacefully into the possession of the husband and
+there is no scattering of the family unless he wishes it. A general
+but necessarily superficial statement of the property laws will be
+found in connection with each State in the following chapters, and
+they represent a complete legal revolution during the past half
+century.
+
+Fathers and mothers are given equal guardianship of children in the
+District of Columbia and nine States--Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois,
+Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New York and Washington. (See
+Pennsylvania.) In all others the father has the sole custody and
+control of the persons, education, earnings and estates of minor
+children. Where this right is abused the mother can obtain custody
+only by applying for separation or divorce or proving in court the
+unfitness of the father. In a number of States the father may by will
+appoint a guardian even of a child unborn, to the exclusion of the
+mother. In others the widow is legally entitled to the guardianship
+but forfeits it by marrying again. Others do not permit a widow to
+appoint by will a guardian for her children. Tennessee and Louisiana
+offer examples of the English and French codes in this respect.
+
+Although the father is the sole guardian and entitled to the services
+of the children, and although the joint earnings of the marriage
+belong exclusively to him, and in a number of States he is declared in
+the statutes to be the "head of the family," in many of them the
+mother is held to be equally liable for its support. Her separate
+property may be taken for this purpose and she is also required to
+contribute by her labor. In such cases the husband decides what
+constitutes "necessities" and the wife must pay for what he orders. A
+recent decision of the Illinois courts compelled a wife to pay for the
+clothes of an able-bodied husband. In most but not all of the States
+the husband, if competent, is punished for failure to support his
+family. The punishment consists in a fine, the State thus taking from
+the family what money he may possess; or confinement in prison, where
+he is boarded and lodged while the family is in nowise relieved.
+
+It has not been deemed necessary to consider at length the subject of
+divorce, except to mention the laws of the few States which
+discriminate against women. South Carolina is the only one which does
+not grant divorce; New York the only one which makes adultery the sole
+cause. In the remainder the causes have a wider range, but in all the
+records show that the vast majority of divorces are granted to wives.
+The following list is taken from the New York _Sun_ (1902) and
+corresponds with information gathered from other sources:
+
+  Habitual drunkenness, in all except eight States.
+  Wilful desertion, generally.
+  Felony, in all except three.
+  Cruelty, and intolerable cruelty, in all except five.
+  Failure by the husband to provide, in twenty.
+  Fraud and fraudulent contract, in nine.
+  Absence without being heard from, for different periods, in six.
+  Ungovernable temper, in two.
+  Insupportably cruel treatment, outrages and excesses, in six.
+  Indignities rendering life burdensome, in six.
+  Attempt to murder other party, in three.
+
+  Insanity or idiocy at time of marriage, in six. Insanity lasting
+  ten years, in Washington; incurable insanity, in North Dakota,
+  Florida and Idaho.
+
+  Husband notoriously immoral before marriage, unknown to wife,
+  in West Virginia. [Pregnancy of wife before marriage, unknown
+  to husband, in many States].
+  Fugitive from justice, in Virginia.
+  Gross misbehavior or wickedness, in Rhode Island.
+  Any gross neglect of duty, in Kansas and Ohio.
+  Refusal of wife to remove into the State, in Tennessee.
+  Mental incapacity at time of marriage, in Georgia.
+  Three years with any religious society that believes the marriage
+  relation unlawful, in Massachusetts; and joining any such sect, in
+  New Hampshire.
+  When parties can not live in peace and union, in Utah.
+  Vagrancy of the husband, in Missouri and Wyoming.
+  Excesses, in Texas.
+  Where wife by cruel and barbarous treatment renders condition
+  of husband intolerable, in Pennsylvania.
+
+By reference to the History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. I, pp. 482, 717,
+745 and following, it will be seen that the resolutions favoring
+divorce for habitual drunkenness offered in the first women's
+conventions, during the early '50's, almost disrupted the meetings,
+and caused press and pulpit throughout the country to thunder
+denunciations, but half a century later such laws exist in
+thirty-seven of the forty-five States and meet with general approval.
+It is frequently charged that the granting of woman suffrage has been
+followed by laws for free divorce, but an examination of the statutes
+will show that exactly the same causes obtain in the States where
+women do not vote as in those where they do; that there has not been
+the slightest change in the latter since the franchise was given them;
+and that in Wyoming, where it has been exercised since 1869, there is
+the smallest percentage of divorce in proportion to the population of
+any State in the Union. The three places which are so largely utilized
+by outsiders who wish a speedy divorce, because only a ninety days'
+residence is required, are North and South Dakota and Oklahoma, in
+neither of which have women any suffrage except for school trustees.
+
+The "age of consent or protection" for girls, i. e., the age when they
+are declared to have sufficient understanding to consent to
+intercourse, and above which they can claim no legal protection, was
+fixed at ten years by the Common Law. No action was taken by any State
+to advance the age up to which they might be protected until 1864,
+when Oregon raised it to fourteen years. No other State followed this
+example until 1882, when Wyoming made it fourteen. In 1885 Nebraska
+added two years making it twelve. At this date women commenced to
+besiege the Legislatures in all parts of the country, and there was a
+general movement from that time forward to have the age of protection
+increased, but in almost every instance where this has been
+accomplished, the penalty for violation of the law has been reduced,
+and now in thirteen States no minimum penalty is named. The age still
+remains at ten years in Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North and South
+Carolina. In Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee and West Virginia the age
+is twelve years, but in Tennessee it is only a "misdemeanor" between
+twelve and sixteen. (For the recent efforts of women in Georgia and
+Florida to have the age advanced, and their failure, see the chapters
+on those States.) In Delaware the Common Law age of ten years was
+reduced to seven by the Legislature in 1871, and no protection was
+afforded to infants over seven until 1889 when the age was raised to
+fifteen, but the crime was declared to be only a "misdemeanor."
+
+Women who have "all the rights they want," and men who insist that
+"the laws are framed for the best interests of women," are recommended
+to make a study of those presented herewith.
+
+Under the head of Suffrage it is stated whether women possess any form
+of it and, if so, in what it consists. The story of the four States
+where they have the complete franchise--Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and
+Idaho--naturally is most interesting, as it describes just how this
+was obtained and gives considerable information on points which are
+not fully understood by the general public. The chapter on Kansas
+doubtless will come next in interest, as there women have had the
+Municipal ballot since 1887. It is frequently said in criticism that
+women have School Suffrage in twenty-six States and Territories,
+including the five mentioned above, but they do not make use of it in
+large numbers. What this fragmentary suffrage includes, the
+restrictions thrown around it and the obstacles placed in its way, are
+described in the chapters of those States and Territories where it
+prevails--Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky,
+Massachusetts, Minnesota, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota,
+New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South
+Dakota, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin.
+
+It will be seen that in New York women tax-payers in villages, and in
+Louisiana and Montana all tax-paying women, may vote on questions
+submitted for taxation, and an account is given of the first use which
+women made of this privilege in Louisiana in 1899. In Iowa all women
+may vote on the issuing of bonds. In Mississippi they have the merest
+form of a franchise on a few matters connected with country schools
+and the running at large of stock. In Arkansas they may sign a
+petition against liquor selling within certain limits and their names
+count for as much as men's. After a careful study of the situation the
+wonder will not be that women do not exercise more largely these
+grudgingly-given and closely-restricted privileges, but that in many
+States they think it worth while to exercise them at all. In the four,
+however, where they have the Full Suffrage, and in Kansas where they
+have the Municipal, the official figures which have been carefully
+tabulated will demonstrate beyond further controversy that where they
+possess exactly the same electoral rights as men they use them in
+even a larger proportion. These statistics answer conclusively the
+question, "Do women want to vote?"
+
+The information as to Office-Holding is necessarily somewhat desultory
+as there is no record in any State of the women in office. This is
+true even of those pertaining to the schools, and in very few cases
+does the State Superintendent of Public Instruction know how many
+women are serving as county superintendents and members of school
+boards. The information on these points contained in the State
+chapters was secured principally through personal investigation and by
+an extended correspondence, and while it is believed to be entirely
+correct so far as it goes, it does not by any means include the total
+number of offices filled by women. Imperfect as is the list it will be
+a surprise to those who look upon office-holding as the natural
+prerogative of man. A stock objection to woman suffrage is that women
+will be wanting the offices. An examination of the reports here
+submitted will disclose the surprising fact that in a number of States
+where women do not vote they are filling as many offices as in those
+where they have the full franchise. Probably the majority of State
+constitutions declare that the offices must be held by electors, but
+where this proviso is not made, women have been elected and appointed
+to various offices and so far as can be learned have given general
+satisfaction.[156]
+
+The necessity for matrons at police stations and jails, and for women
+physicians in all institutions where women and children are confined,
+is too evident to need any argument in its favor, and yet it is only
+within the past ten years that they have been thus employed to any
+extent and even now they are found in only a small fraction of such
+institutions. The objection to these matrons on the part of the police
+force has been strenuous, and yet, almost without exception, after
+they have gained a foothold, the police officers testify that they do
+not understand how the department got on without them. It ought to be
+equally evident that there should be women on the boards of all
+institutions which care for women and children, but, although in most
+instances these positions have no salary, there is the most violent
+opposition to giving women a place, and the concession has had to be
+wrung from Legislatures in the few States where it has been obtained.
+The right of women and their value to school offices is now partly
+conceded in about half the States. Women librarians also have met with
+some favor. As to offices in general, most of which carry either
+salary or patronage or both, they will continue to be regarded as
+belonging entirely to voters and as perquisites of party managers with
+which to reward political service, although all of them are
+proportionately supported by women tax-payers.
+
+As regards Occupations, the census of 1900 shows 3,230,642 women
+engaged in wage-earning employments, exclusive of domestic service,
+and the question of their admittance to practically all such may be
+regarded as settled, but it has not been gained without a contest.
+Women, however, are still barred from the best-paying positions and
+are usually compelled to accept unequal wages for equal work. This is
+partly due to disfranchisement and partly to economic causes and can
+be remedied only by time. In many of the States of which it is said,
+"No profession is forbidden to women," the test has not been made, and
+until some woman attempts to be a minister, physician, lawyer or
+notary public it can not be known whether she will encounter a
+statutory prohibition.
+
+The department of Education presents the most satisfactory condition.
+The battle for co-education, which means simply a chance for women to
+have the best advantages which exist, has been bitterly fought. A
+guerilla warfare is still maintained against it, but the contest is so
+nearly finished as to warrant no fears as to the future. Every State
+University but those of Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina and
+Virginia, is open to women on exactly the same terms as to men (with
+the exception of some departments of Pennsylvania). They have full
+admission to Chicago and Leland Stanford Universities, two of the
+largest in the United States. They may enter the post-graduate
+department of Yale and receive its degrees. Harvard and Princeton are
+still entirely closed to them, as are a number of the smaller of the
+old, established Eastern universities, but this is largely compensated
+by the great Woman's Colleges of the East--Bryn Mawr, Wellesley, Smith
+and Vassar--which accommodate nearly 4,000 students. The Medical
+Department of Johns Hopkins, and Medical, Theological, Law and Dental
+Colleges in all parts of the country, admit women to their full
+courses. This is true also of Agricultural Colleges and of Technical
+Institutes such as Drexel and Pratt. There is now no lack of
+opportunity for them to obtain the highest education, either along the
+line of general culture or specialized work.[157]
+
+The details of the following chapters will show that the civil, legal,
+industrial and educational rights of women are so far secured as to
+give full assurance that they will be absolute in the near future. The
+political rights are further off, for reasons which are presented in
+the introduction to this volume, but the yielding of all the others is
+proof sufficient that the spirit of our institutions will eventually
+find its fullest expression in perfect equality of rights for all the
+people.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[151] The names of newspapers which have supported this cause are not
+given, partly for these reasons and partly because on this question
+they reflect simply the personal views of the editors, and a change of
+management may cause a complete reversal of their attitude toward
+woman suffrage.
+
+[152] A reading of these chapters will show that the suffrage
+societies have started many progressive movements and then turned them
+over to other organizations of women, believing they would thrive
+better if freed from the effects of the prejudice against woman
+suffrage and everything connected with it.
+
+[153] Notwithstanding these efforts, the very statutes which are
+intended to be fair to women are continually found to be defective,
+and whenever any doubt arises as to their construction the Common Law
+must prevail, which in all cases is unjust to women. An example of
+this kind will be found in the chapter on New York, showing that it
+was held in 1901 that a wife's wages belonged to her husband, although
+it was supposed that these had been secured to her beyond all question
+by a special statute of 1860.
+
+[154] For abstract of the Common Law in regard to women see History of
+Woman Suffrage, Vol. III, p. 961.
+
+[155] A few of the States were formed under the Spanish or French code
+instead of the English Common Law, but neither was more favorable to
+women.
+
+[156] No mention is made of women postmasters as these are found in
+all States. The first were appointed by President Grant during his
+first term of office, 1868-1872.
+
+[157] In the various States under the head of Education, Roman
+Catholic colleges and universities are not considered, as they are
+nowhere co-educational.
+
+The public school statistics are taken from the reports for 1898-9 of
+the U. S. Commissioner of Education.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+ALABAMA.[158]
+
+
+Actual work for woman suffrage in Alabama began in 1890, at the time
+the constitutional convention of Mississippi was in session. The
+editor of the New Decatur _Advertiser_ opened his columns to all
+matter on the question and thus aroused local interest, which in 1892
+culminated in the formation in that town of the first suffrage club in
+the State, with seven charter members. The women who thus faced a most
+conservative public sentiment were Mesdames Harvey Lewis, F. E.
+Jenkins, E. G. Robb, A. R. Rose, B. E. Moore, Lucy A. Gould and Ellen
+Stephens Hildreth.
+
+Before the close of the year a second club was formed in Verbena by
+Miss Frances A. Griffin, who has since become noted as a public
+speaker for this cause. Others were soon established through the
+efforts of Mesdames Minnie Hardy Gist, Bessie Vaughn, M. C. Arter, W.
+J. Sibert and Miss B. M. Haley.
+
+In 1892 and 1893 the _Woman's Column_, published in Boston, was sent
+by the National Association to 1,500 teachers, ministers, school
+superintendents, editors, legislators and other prominent people, the
+names being furnished by Mrs. Hildreth. A State organization was
+effected in 1893, with Mrs. Hildreth, president, and Miss Griffin,
+secretary.
+
+In 1895 Miss Susan B. Anthony, president of the National Association,
+and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of its organization committee,
+who were making a southern tour, were asked by the New Decatur Club to
+include that city in their itinerary. They were also invited by Mrs.
+Alberta Taylor to address her society at Huntsville. These visits of
+the great leader and her eloquent assistant aroused much interest, but
+the financial depression prevented active work.
+
+Mrs. Virginia Clay Clopton was elected State president in 1896; Mrs.
+Annie D. Shelby, Mrs. Milton Hume and Mrs. Taylor were made
+vice-presidents; Mrs. Laura McCullough and Mrs. Amelia Dilliard,
+recording secretaries; Mrs. Hildreth, corresponding secretary; and
+Mrs. E. E. Greenleaf, treasurer. Mrs. Clopton represented the
+association at the Tennessee Centennial in 1898. Opposition is so
+great that it has been deemed wise to do nothing more than distribute
+literature and present the arguments in the press.
+
+A State convention was held at Huntsville, Oct. 1, 1900, Mrs. Taylor
+presiding. Mrs. Clopton being obliged to resign, Miss Griffin was made
+president. Mrs. Hume and Mrs. Robert Cunningham were chosen
+vice-presidents; Mrs. Greenleaf, treasurer; Miss Julia Tutweiler,
+State organizer.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: In January, 1893, through the influence
+of the suffrage association, Senator J. W. Inzer presented a bill to
+amend the State constitution so as to permit women to vote on
+municipal questions and prohibitory liquor enactments. It never was
+reported from the Judiciary Committee.
+
+In 1895, at the desire of the New Decatur Club, Representative Osceola
+Kyle introduced a bill raising the "age of protection" for girls from
+ten to fourteen years, and a similar one was offered for the Woman's
+Christian Temperance Union. Although these efforts were not successful
+then, public attention was drawn to the subject, and at the next
+session, in 1897, the age was raised to fourteen years with a penalty
+of death or imprisonment for not less than ten years in the
+penitentiary.
+
+Previous to 1886 legislation and public sentiment in Alabama were of
+the most conservative kind, but at the Constitutional Convention held
+that year changes in the statutes were made which gave to women many
+rights and privileges not before possessed. Dower but not curtesy
+obtains. If there are no lineal descendants, and the estate is
+solvent, the widow takes one-half of the real estate for life, but if
+the estate is insolvent, one-third only. If there are lineal
+descendants, then the dower right is one-third, whether the estate is
+solvent or not. If a husband die without a will, his widow, if there
+are no children, is entitled to all of his personal property; if
+there is but one child, she is entitled to one-half; if there are more
+than one and not more than four children, then she is entitled to one
+child's portion. A homestead to the value of $2,000 is exempt to her
+from all creditors and no will can deprive her of it, unless she has
+signed a mortgage on it. If a wife die without a will, her husband is
+entitled to one-half of her personal property, whether there are
+children or not, and to the life use of all her real estate.
+
+A wife may will her property to whom she pleases, excluding her
+husband from all share. He can do this with his property, but can not
+impair her dower rights. She can not sell her real estate without his
+written consent, but can sell her personal property without it. He can
+mortgage or sell his real estate, except the homestead, and can
+dispose of his personal property, without her consent.
+
+A married woman may be agent, guardian or administrator. She may
+acquire and hold separate property not liable for the debts of her
+husband, though necessaries for the family can be a liability. Her
+bank deposit is her own, and her earnings can not be taken by her
+husband or his creditors. A wife can not become surety for her
+husband. Property purchased with her money will be returned to her
+upon application to the court.
+
+A wife may engage in business with her husband's written consent. If
+she does so without it she incurs no penalty, but it is necessary in
+order that her creditors may recover their money. She must sue and be
+sued and make contracts jointly with the husband.
+
+If a woman commit a crime in partnership with her husband (except
+murder or treason) she can not be punished; nor, if she commit a crime
+in his presence, can he testify against her.
+
+Common law marriage is valid and the legal age for a girl is fourteen
+years.
+
+The father is the guardian of the minor children, and at his death may
+appoint a guardian to the exclusion of the mother. If this is not done
+she becomes the legal guardian of the girls till they are eighteen, of
+the boys till fourteen.
+
+Alabama is one of the few States which do not by law require the
+husband to support the family.
+
+The convicted father of an illegitimate child must pay to the Probate
+Court for its support not exceeding $50 yearly for ten years, and must
+give $1,000 bond for this purpose. Failing to do this, judgment is
+rendered for not more than $625 and he is sentenced to hard labor for
+the county for one year.
+
+It is a criminal offense to use foul language to or in the hearing of
+a woman, or by rude behavior to annoy her in any public place; or to
+take a woman of notorious character to any public place of resort for
+respectable women and men. Slander against a woman's character is
+heavily punished; a seducer is sent to the penitentiary if his victim
+previously has been chaste. Procurers may be sentenced to the
+penitentiary.
+
+The "age of protection for girls" is 14 years, and the penalty is
+death or imprisonment in the penitentiary from ten years to life.
+
+SUFFRAGE: Women have no form of suffrage.[159]
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: Women are not eligible to any elective office. They
+act as enrolling clerks in the Legislature. Two women, whose fathers
+died while holding the position, were made registrars in chancery.
+Women can not serve as notaries public.
+
+There are no women trustees on the board of any State institution,
+although the charitable and benevolent work is almost entirely in the
+hands of women. A man is superintendent of the Girls' Industrial
+School and the entire board is composed of men. Limited State aid is
+extended to a number of institutions founded and controlled by women,
+including the Boys' Industrial Farm.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: Women are legally prohibited from acting as lawyers,
+physicians or ministers. They are not allowed to engage in mining.
+
+EDUCATION: All educational institutions admit women. The State
+Polytechnic at Auburn was the pioneer, offering to women in 1892 every
+course, technical, scientific and agricultural. The State University
+at Tuscaloosa opened its doors to them in 1896. Two scholarships for
+girls are maintained here, one by the ladies of Montgomery and one by
+those of Birmingham. In 1900, out of a class of 178 boys and 23
+girls, two boys and four girls took the highest honors.
+
+The State Industrial School for Girls, at Montevallo, was established
+in 1896. There are two co-educational Normal Schools at Florence and
+Troy.
+
+The colored men and women have excellent advantages in several Normal
+Schools and Colleges. The Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute,
+under the presidency of Booker T. Washington, has a national
+reputation. Colored children have also their full share of public
+schools.
+
+There are in the public schools 2,262 men and 5,041 women teachers.
+The average monthly salary of the men is $32; of the women, $25.35.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The most progressive movement in the State is that of the Federation
+of Women's Clubs, formed in 1895, and including at present fifty-eight
+clubs. Its work has been extremely practical in the line of education
+and philanthropy. The most important achievement is the Boys'
+Industrial Farm, located at East Lake near Birmingham. This is managed
+by a board of women and has a charter which secures its control to
+women, even if it become entirely a State institution. The club women
+have for three years sustained five scholarships for girls, two at
+Tuscaloosa and three at Montevallo. They have organized also a free
+traveling library, and in four cities free kindergartens.
+
+In conclusion it may be noted that the strength of the woman movement
+in the State has been wonderfully developed in all directions during
+the last five years.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[158] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Ellen Stephens
+Hildreth of New Decatur, the first president of the State Woman
+Suffrage Association.
+
+[159] In the Constitutional Convention of 1901, an amendment providing
+that any woman paying taxes on $500 worth of property might vote on
+all bond propositions was adopted with great enthusiasm, but the next
+day, under the influence of the argument that "it would be an entering
+wedge for full suffrage," it was reconsidered and voted down. U. S.
+Senator John T. Morgan urged this amendment. The new constitution did
+contain a clause, however, providing that if a wife paid taxes on $500
+worth of property her husband should be entitled to this vote.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+ARIZONA.[160]
+
+
+The Territory having elected delegates to a convention to be held in
+Phoenix in August and September, 1891, to prepare a constitution for
+Statehood, Henry B. Blackwell and Lucy Stone of Massachusetts sent
+Mrs. Laura M. Johns of Kansas to Arizona in August to endeavor to
+secure a clause in this constitution granting suffrage to women. She
+was received in Tucson by Mr. and Mrs. Hughes, editors and proprietors
+of an influential daily paper, who gave every possible assistance.
+
+Mrs. Johns soon went to Phoenix, where the convention was in session,
+and followed up a previous correspondence with the delegates
+by personal interviews. She found a powerful champion in
+ex-Attorney-General William Herring, chairman of the committee which
+had the question of woman suffrage in charge. When she asked
+permission to address this committee it set an early date and
+suggested that it might be pleasanter for the ladies if the hearing
+should be held in a private residence. Accordingly Mrs. E. D. Garlick,
+formerly of Winfield, Kansas, opened her parlor, invited a number of
+ladies who were interested and the committee met with them and
+listened courteously to their plea for the ballot. A favorable report
+was presented to the convention and General Herring, Mrs. Johns, Mrs.
+Hughes and others spoke eloquently in favor of its acceptance. The
+measure was lost by three votes.
+
+So much interest had been manifested that a Territorial Suffrage
+Association was formed, with Mrs. Hughes as president and Mrs. Garlick
+as corresponding secretary. Mrs. Johns intended to organize the
+Territory but was suddenly called home by a death in her family.
+
+Four years later, in 1895, while she was working in New Mexico for the
+National Association, she was requested by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt,
+chairman of its organization committee, to speak at the annual
+convention in Phoenix; and on the way she held preliminary meetings at
+Tucson, Tempe and other places.
+
+In January, 1896, Mrs. Hughes, whose husband was now Governor, went to
+the convention of the National Association in Washington to interest
+that body in Arizona, which it was then expected would soon enter
+Statehood. She made a strong appeal, assuring the delegates that the
+pioneer men of the Territory were willing to confer the suffrage on
+the women who had braved the early hardships with them, and saying:
+
+     It is of the most vital importance that our women be enfranchised
+     before the election of delegates to the approaching
+     constitutional convention, as the Congressional enabling act
+     provides that all persons qualified as voters under the
+     Territorial law shall be qualified to vote for delegates to this
+     convention and for the ratification or rejection of the same.
+
+     If our women are enfranchised before the enabling act is passed,
+     then Arizona is safe and no power can prevent them from being
+     accorded their rights in the constitution, and if their rights
+     are not conceded they will see to it that the constitution fails
+     of ratification.
+
+In March the National Association sent Mrs. Johns again into the
+Territory and she remained until May. In company with Mrs. Hughes she
+made a successful tour through the Salt River Valley, receiving
+generous hospitality, addressing large audiences and forming local
+clubs. The two ladies then crossed the Territory to Yuma, speaking at
+various points on the way, and went from there to Prescott. Governor
+Hughes himself spoke at the meetings held in Clifton. Mrs. Johns then
+went to the Northern counties. Altogether most of the towns were
+visited, and while the distances were great and the difficulties
+numerous, the meetings were well attended and earnest advocates were
+found even in small mining camps among the mountains.
+
+Mrs. Johns returned in the winter of 1897 and addressed the
+Legislature in behalf of a bill for woman suffrage but no action was
+taken. Among the friends and workers not elsewhere mentioned were the
+Hon. and Mrs. George P. Blair, ex-Mayor Gustavus Hoff, C. R. Drake,
+John T. Hughes; the other officers of the suffrage association were
+Mrs. C. T. Hayden, vice-president; Mrs. R. G. Phillips, corresponding
+secretary; Mrs. Lillian Collins, recording secretary; Mrs. Mary E.
+Hall, treasurer.
+
+In the winter of 1899 the time seemed propitious for a vigorous
+movement, and Mrs. Chapman Catt and Miss Mary G. Hay spent a month at
+Phoenix during the legislative session. Every possible effort was
+made, there seemed to be a remarkable sentiment in favor of woman
+suffrage among the better classes and it looked as if it would be
+granted. The final result is thus described in Mrs. Chapman Catt's
+report to the national convention the following April:
+
+     Our bill went through the House by an unprecedented majority, 10
+     yeas, 5 nays, and then, as in Oklahoma, the remonstrants
+     concentrated their opposition upon the Council. Here, as there,
+     the working opponents were the saloon-keepers, with the
+     difference that in Arizona they are often the proprietors of a
+     gambling den and house of prostitution in connection with the
+     saloons, and thus the opposition was more bitter and intolerant
+     because it was believed greater damage would result from the
+     votes of women. Every member of the Council received letters or
+     telegrams from the leading proprietors of such resorts,
+     threatening political ruin if he failed to vote against the
+     measure. It was well known that money was contributed from these
+     same sources. Here, as in Oklahoma, a majority were pledged to
+     support the bill, but here, too, they played a filibustering game
+     which prevented its coming to final vote. Pledges made to women
+     are not usually counted as binding, but these pledges, as in
+     Oklahoma, were made to men who were political co-workers. They
+     did not deem it prudent to break these pledges by an open vote
+     against the bill, but they held that they were not violated when
+     they kept the matter from coming to a vote. The opposition was
+     led by the proprietor of the largest and richest saloon in the
+     Territory.
+
+     I have never found anywhere, however, so many strong, determined,
+     able men, anxious to espouse our cause as in Arizona. The general
+     sentiment is overwhelmingly in our favor. At one time three
+     prominent men were in Phoenix to do what they could for the
+     suffrage bill, each of whom had traveled four hundred miles for
+     this express purpose. Governor N. O. Murphy recommended woman
+     suffrage in his message and did all that was possible to assist
+     its passage. The press is favorable, the intelligent and moral
+     citizens are eager for it, but the vicious elements, as
+     everywhere, are opposed. For a month the question was bitterly
+     contested, but its foes prevented a vote. So again a campaign,
+     which was sure of victory had each man voted his conviction,
+     ended in crime and bribery won the day. The pay of legislators in
+     the Territories is very small, and the most desirable men can not
+     afford to serve. In consequence there drifts into every
+     Legislature enough men of unprincipled character to make a
+     balance of power. It may interest you to know that in both
+     Territories we were told that all such legislation is controlled
+     by bribery, and that our measure could be put through in a
+     twinkling by "a little money judiciously distributed," but to
+     such suggestions we replied that what the suffragists had won
+     they had won honestly and we would postpone further advances till
+     they could come in the same way. In the future years of strife
+     over this question there will be many hands stained with guilt,
+     but they will be those of the remonstrants and not ours. Though
+     crime prevented the victory, yet we were abundantly assured of
+     the lasting results of the campaign.
+
+LAWS: Curtesy and dower were abolished by Territorial legislation, but
+in 1887 Congress passed an act granting a widow dower in all the
+Territories. If either husband or wife die without a will, leaving
+descendants, out of the separate property of either the survivor has
+one-third of the personal and a life use of one-third of the real
+estate. If there are no descendants, the survivor has all of the
+personal and a life use of one-half the real estate; if there are
+neither descendants nor father nor mother of the decedent, the
+survivor has the whole estate. The community property goes entirely to
+the survivor if there are no descendants, otherwise one-half goes to
+the survivor, in either case charged with the community debts. If the
+widow has a maintenance derived from her own property equal to $2,000,
+the whole property so set apart, other than her half of the homestead,
+must go to the minor children. If the homestead was selected from the
+community property it vests absolutely in the survivor. If selected
+from the separate property of either, it vests in that one or his
+heirs. It can not exceed $5,000 in value.
+
+Married women have the exclusive control of their separate property;
+it is not liable for the debts or obligations of the husband; it may
+be mortgaged, sold or disposed of by will without his consent. The
+same privileges are extended to husbands.
+
+A married woman may sue and be sued and make contracts in her own name
+as regards her separate property, but she must sue jointly with her
+husband for personal injuries, and damages recovered are community
+property and in his control.
+
+If a married woman desire to become a sole trader she must file a
+certificate in the registry of deeds setting forth the nature and
+place of business. She can not become a sole trader if the original
+capital invested exceeds $10,000 unless she takes oath that the
+surplus did not come from any funds of the husband. If the wife is not
+a sole trader her wages are community property and belong to the
+husband while she is living with him.
+
+The father is the legal guardian of the minor children. At his death
+the mother becomes guardian so long as she remains unmarried, provided
+she is a suitable person.
+
+If the husband fails to support his wife, she may contract debts for
+necessaries on his credit, and for such debts she and her husband must
+be sued jointly and if he is not financially responsible her separate
+property may be taken.
+
+The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 14 years in
+1887, and to 18 in 1895. The penalty is confinement in the
+penitentiary for life or for not less than five years.
+
+SUFFRAGE: Since 1887 every person, male or female, twenty-one years
+old, who is the parent or guardian of a child of school age residing
+in the district, or has paid Territorial or county school tax,
+exclusive of poll-tax, during the preceding year, is eligible to the
+office of school trustee and entitled to vote for this officer at any
+School District election. This includes all cities and towns in the
+Territory.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: Women may legally serve as school trustees, court
+commissioners, clerks of court, official stenographers, deputies and
+clerks in Territorial, county and municipal offices, and notaries
+public. Very few, however, are filling any of these offices.
+
+Governor L. C. Hughes held that women were qualified to sit on any
+State Board and appointed one on the board of the State Normal School
+and one assistant superintendent of the Insane Asylum. None have since
+been appointed. There are no women physicians in any public
+institutions, and no police matrons at any jail or station-house.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to
+women.
+
+EDUCATION: The State University is co-educational. In the public
+schools there are 122 men and 257 women teachers. The average monthly
+salary of the men is $73.23; of the women, $63.17.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[160] The History is indebted to Mrs. L. C. Hughes of Tucson, former
+president of the Territorial Woman Suffrage Association, and to Mrs.
+Laura M. Johns of Kansas for material used in this chapter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+ARKANSAS.[161]
+
+
+In 1885 the first woman suffrage association in Arkansas was formed at
+Eureka Springs by Miss Phoebe W. Couzins and Mrs. Lizzie D. Fyler, who
+was made president. Miss Susan B. Anthony lectured in February, 1889,
+in Helena, Fort Smith and Little Rock, at the last place introduced by
+Gov. James B. Eagle. On Sunday afternoon she spoke at a temperance
+meeting in this city, to a large audience that manifested every
+evidence of approval although she advocated woman suffrage. These were
+the first addresses on woman's enfranchisement given in the State.
+
+No regularly constituted State suffrage convention ever has been held,
+but at the close of the annual Woman's Christian Temperance Union
+convention it is customary for the members of this body who favor the
+ballot for woman to meet and elect the usual officers for that branch
+of the work.
+
+For fifteen years before her death in 1899, Mrs. Clara A. McDiarmid
+was a leader, was president of the association and represented the
+State at the national conventions. Dr. Ida J. Brooks is an earnest
+worker, and valuable assistance has been given by Mrs. Fannie L. Chunn
+and Mrs. Bernie Babcock.
+
+In 1896 Mrs. Lida A. Meriwether of Tennessee gave twelve lectures
+under the auspices of the National Association. Miss Frances A.
+Griffin of Alabama also spoke here on this subject.
+
+Not even this brief history of the suffrage movement would be complete
+without a mention of the _Woman's Chronicle_, established in 1888 by
+Catherine Campbell Cunningham, Mary Burt Brooks and Haryot Holt
+Cahoon. Mrs. Brooks was principal of the Forest Grove School, and Miss
+Cunningham a teacher in the public schools of Little Rock, but every
+week for five years this bright, newsy paper appeared on time. It was
+devoted to the general interests of women, with a strong advocacy of
+their enfranchisement. During the General Assembly it was laid each
+Saturday morning on the desk of every legislator. Charles E.
+Cunningham encouraged and sustained his daughter in her work.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: The only bill for woman suffrage was that
+championed in the Senate by J. P. H. Russ, in 1891, "An act to give
+white women the right to vote and hold office, and all other rights
+the same as are accorded to male citizens." This unconstitutional
+measure passed third reading, but it is not surprising that it
+received only four affirmative votes; fourteen voted against it and
+fourteen refrained from voting.
+
+In 1895 the law recognizing insanity after marriage as a ground for
+divorce was repealed.
+
+This year a law was passed requiring the councils of all first-class
+cities to elect a police matron to look after woman prisoners.
+
+Dower exists but not curtesy, unless the wife dies intestate and there
+has been issue born alive. If there are children the wife is entitled
+to one-third of the real property for her life and one-third of the
+personal property absolutely. If there are no children living she
+takes in fee simple one-half of the real estate where it is a new
+acquisition and not an inheritance, and one-half of the personal
+estate absolutely as against the collateral heirs; but as against
+creditors she takes one-third of the real estate in fee simple and
+one-third of the personal property absolutely. If either the husband
+or the wife die without a will and there are neither father, mother,
+nor their descendants, nor any paternal or maternal kindred capable of
+inheriting, the whole estate, both real and personal, goes to the
+surviving wife or husband.
+
+The wife may sell or transfer her separate real estate without the
+consent of the husband. He can do the same with his real estate but
+can not impair her dower. A transfer of the homestead requires the
+joint signature.
+
+A married woman as sole trader may engage in business on her own
+account and have the profits free from the interference of her
+husband, but if she is simply working for wages he may sue for her
+earnings and his receipt will bind her.
+
+The father is the legal guardian of the children, having custody of
+their persons and property, but "no man shall bind his child to
+apprenticeship or service, or part with the control of such child, or
+create any testamentary guardianship therefor, unless the mother
+shall in writing signify her consent thereto." At the father's death
+the mother may be guardian of the persons of the children but not of
+their property unless derived from her.
+
+There is no law requiring the husband to support his family.
+
+The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 12 to 16 years in
+1893, with a penalty of imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than
+five years nor more than twenty-one. In 1899 the minimum penalty was
+reduced to one year.
+
+SUFFRAGE: Women have no form of suffrage except under the Three-Mile
+Law. This provides that, on petition of a majority of the inhabitants
+living within three miles of any church or school, the court shall
+make it illegal for liquor to be sold within this limit for two years.
+The law never has been utilized in the larger cities, but has been
+tried in numerous small towns and hundreds of outlying districts,
+where it has borne the test bravely, ruling out completely the public
+drink-houses. Wherever it has been put into force, women have been a
+strong factor, giving their own signatures in its favor and in many
+instances making house to house canvasses to obtain signers.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: Women are not eligible for any elective office. For
+twenty-five years, however, they have held clerkships in both branches
+of the General Assembly. In 1899 a bill to disqualify them from
+holding these was defeated in the Lower House by a considerable
+majority. But this same Legislature did not hesitate to declare women
+not qualified to serve as notaries public, which they had been doing
+for several years.
+
+There are police matrons in Little Rock and Hot Springs.
+
+For one year the "visiting committee" appointed by the School Board
+was composed of three men and two women. The latter made a written
+report, but the innovation was not repeated.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: Women are not permitted to practice law. No other
+profession or occupation is legally forbidden.
+
+EDUCATION: All of the universities and colleges are coeducational,
+even the Law and Medical Departments of the State University being
+open to women.
+
+In the public schools there are 4,515 men and 2,558 women teachers.
+The average monthly salary of the men is $49.22, of the women,
+$35.52.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[161] The History is indebted for the material for this chapter to
+Miss Catherine Campbell Cunningham of Little Rock, one of the earliest
+suffrage workers in the State.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+CALIFORNIA.[162]
+
+
+The first woman suffrage meeting on the Pacific Coast was held in San
+Francisco in May, 1869, and a State association was formed in January,
+1870. From that date meetings were held regularly and a committee of
+women did faithful work at the Legislature every session, securing
+many changes in the laws to the advantage of women.[163]
+
+At the annual meeting of the association in San Francisco in December,
+1884, Mrs. Laura De Force Gordon succeeded Mrs. Clara S. Foltz as
+president and held the office for the next ten years. During this time
+she attended a number of national suffrage conventions in Washington
+and delivered addresses in many parts of the United States.
+
+In the political campaign of 1888 Mrs. Gordon and Mrs. Foltz were
+employed as speakers by the Democratic Central Committee, and Miss
+Addie L. Ballou by the Republican. The Populist and the Labor parties
+selected women as delegates to their State conventions and placed them
+on their tickets for various offices. Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake of
+New York and Mrs. Marilla M. Ricker of New Hampshire visited the
+Pacific Coast and gave very acceptable lectures to the suffrage
+societies.
+
+In 1889 Mrs. Ellen Clark Sargent and Mrs. Sarah Knox Goodrich each
+subscribed $100 to send Mrs. Gordon to Washington Territory to aid the
+women there in securing the adoption of a suffrage amendment to the
+State constitution. She canvassed the State, contributing her
+services. The next year, through the efforts of these two ladies and
+their own contributions, over $1,000 were sent to South Dakota to
+assist the women in a similar attempt.
+
+Suffrage meetings for various purposes were held in 1890, the largest
+being a grand rally at Metropolitan Temple, July 4, to celebrate the
+admission of Wyoming as a State with full suffrage for women, at which
+there were addresses by the Hon. T. V. Cator, the Rev. C. W. Wendte,
+James K. Barry, the Hon. P. Reddy, the Hon. Charles Summer, Mrs.
+Gordon and others. This year the State Grange and the Farmers'
+Alliance cordially indorsed woman suffrage at their conventions. The
+annual suffrage meeting was held in Washington Hall, San Francisco,
+September 26. Mrs. Gordon was appointed a committee to select her own
+assistants and have full charge of the legislative work during the
+winter.
+
+In 1891 practically every organization of either men or women seemed
+to be permeated with the agitation for woman suffrage. Among the most
+effective speakers and writers were Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Stetson,
+Mrs. Sarah B. Cooper, Miss Agnes Manning, Miss Ina D. Coolbrith, Mme.
+A. L. Sorbier, Mrs. E. O. Smith and Mrs. Sara A. T. Lemmon.[164]
+
+Many informal business meetings were held during the next two years in
+Mrs. Gordon's law office. The adoption of equal suffrage by Colorado
+in 1893 inspired the California women to renewed effort. An Equal
+Rights League was formed of experienced suffrage workers. This was
+followed by the Young Woman's Suffrage Club, Miss Fannie Lemme,
+president, which became very popular. The Political Equality Club of
+Alameda County was organized in April. The Portia Law Club, Mrs.
+Foltz, dean, occupied a prominent place. The Woman's Federation also
+was an active society.
+
+In 1893 the Trans-Mississippi Congress met in San Francisco with five
+regularly accredited women delegates in attendance. A woman suffrage
+resolution was presented for their indorsement and eloquently
+advocated by Mrs. Mary Lynde Craig. It was bitterly contested but
+finally passed by 251 yeas, 211 nays, amidst cheers and the waving of
+hats.
+
+In 1894 was held the great Midwinter Fair, and the Woman's Congress
+Auxiliary became an intellectual focus for gifted women. It culminated
+in the brilliant convocation which was in session in Golden Gate Hall,
+San Francisco, for a week in May. Its promoters were Mrs. John Vance
+Cheney, Mrs. Horace Davis, Mrs. Cooper, Miss Hattie Cooper, Mrs. Mary
+S. Sperry, Mrs. Lovell White, Mrs. William A. Keith, Mrs. Tupper
+Wilkes, Mrs. Alice Moore McComas, Mrs. Gordon and others. Mrs. Irving
+M. Scott, president of Sorosis, received the Congress socially in her
+elegant home. A large reception was given also at the magnificent
+country residence of Mrs. Frank M. Smith in East Oakland.
+
+The Congress was followed by a mass meeting under the auspices of the
+suffrage societies. The hall would scarcely hold the audiences, which
+were especially distinguished by the large number of men, and noted
+men were also among the speakers. The venerable Alfred Cridge of the
+Single Tax League created much interest by a practical illustration of
+proportional representation, the candidates for president and
+vice-president being Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, the
+women doing the voting. Letters of regret at inability to be present
+but expressing sympathy with the object of the meeting were received
+from Gov. James H. Budd, President David Starr Jordan of Leland
+Stanford University, U. S. Senator Perkins, Supreme Judge McFarland,
+Judge James G. Maguire and others.
+
+This year the State Association elected as its president Mrs. Nellie
+Holbrook Blinn, who had been an ardent worker in the cause for a
+number of years and a prominent speaker for the Republican party. Mrs.
+Annie K. Bidwell was made vice-president; Mrs. Hester A. Harland,
+recording secretary; Mrs. Emily Pitt Stevens, corresponding secretary;
+Mrs. Emma Gregory, treasurer. Meetings were held every fortnight in
+St. George's Hall. In a short time General Warfield, proprietor of the
+California Hotel, offered the society the use of its parlors, which
+was gladly accepted.
+
+In August a reception was given in honor of the National Press
+Association, then holding a convention in San Francisco, at which
+addresses were made by Mayor Adolph Sutro, the Hon. Samuel Shortridge
+and others. During the autumn a number of large and enthusiastic
+meetings were held.
+
+In May, 1895, Miss Susan B. Anthony and the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw,
+president and vice-president of the National Association, arrived in
+San Francisco in response to a cordial invitation to assist in the
+Woman's Congress which opened on the 20th. No meetings ever held were
+more beautiful and inspiring than these, presided over by Mrs.
+Cooper.[165] The best speakers in the State, men and women,
+participated and every possible honor, public and social, was
+conferred upon the two Eastern guests.
+
+After the congress they accepted invitations to speak in San Jose, Los
+Angeles, Pasadena, Riverside, Pomona and San Diego. The audiences
+everywhere were large and cordial and their pathway was literally
+strewn with flowers. They returned to San Francisco and again
+addressed great audiences in that city and Oakland. Miss Shaw accepted
+the invitation of the executive committee to be one of the orators at
+the Fourth of July celebration in Woodward's Pavilion.
+
+On July 2, 3, these ladies met with the State Suffrage Convention in
+Golden Gate Hall. Under their wise counsel a board of officers was
+elected which proved acceptable to all the members of the
+association,[166] and a constitution was adopted which eliminated the
+causes of past contentions.
+
+The State was now thoroughly aroused over the submission by the
+Legislature the preceding winter of an amendment conferring Full
+Suffrage on women, which was to be voted on the next year. Auxiliary
+societies were reported from Oakland, San Jose, Stockton, Los Angeles,
+Fresno and other places and 300 new members were enrolled. The big
+hall was crowded at the evening meetings and addresses were made by
+Mrs. Sargent, the new president, Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw, Mrs. Cooper,
+Mrs. Craig, Mrs. Blinn and others.
+
+The officers elected at this time continued through all the long and
+trying campaign of 1896, which is described further on. The amendment
+was defeated at the election of November 3. The State convention was
+called for November 5, 6, in order that the Eastern women might be
+present, as they were to leave on the 7th. A magnificent farewell
+meeting was held on the first evening in Metropolitan Temple, which
+was crowded from pit to dome. The _Call_ declared, "It was more like
+the ratification of a victory than a rally after defeat;" and at the
+close of the convention said: "It furnished during its entire sessions
+an example of pluck and patience such as should forever quiet the
+calumny that women do not know how to govern themselves--that they
+become hysterical in the face of defeat."
+
+The committee[167] reported a set of strong, courageous resolutions
+which were adopted with cheers. The last one declared: "While we
+accept the verdict of the election we do not regard it as final, but
+believing that our cause is just and must prevail, we will enter at
+once on a vigorous campaign which will end only when the ballot is
+placed in the hands of California women."
+
+A systematic plan of work was adopted and, as Mrs. Sargent was about
+to leave for a year abroad, Mrs. Mary Wood Swift was elected
+president. Mrs. Goodrich and Mrs. Sargent were made honorary
+presidents. Twelve hundred dollars were raised to pay all outstanding
+campaign debts, and the convention closed with a good-bye reception to
+Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt and the other ladies
+from the East.
+
+The annual State meeting of 1897 was held in San Francisco, October 5,
+6, with able addresses by the Rev. E. S. Chapman, Albert H. Elliott, a
+San Francisco attorney, Doctors Beecher and Bushnell, representing the
+women in their profession, Mrs. E. O. Smith and many others. Mrs.
+Swift was re-elected president and continued to serve until 1900.
+
+The convention of 1898 also was held in San Francisco, October 4-6,
+and was made a jubilee meeting to celebrate the calling of the First
+Woman's Rights Convention in 1848.
+
+In 1899 the annual State meeting, held in San Francisco November 7, 8,
+was greatly stimulated by the presence of Mrs. Chapman Catt, chairman
+of the national organization committee, and Miss Mary G. Hay, its
+secretary. Active societies were reported in many counties and a large
+amount of work done by the press committee of fourteen members, Mrs.
+Mary L. Wakeman Curtis, chairman. It was announced that the Susan B.
+Anthony Club would hold a public meeting in the audience room of the
+Century Club, February 15, to celebrate that lady's eightieth
+birthday, at which President Jordan and Albert H. Elliott would be the
+orators. Addresses were given by Miss Sarah Severance, Mrs. Julia S.
+Sanborn, Mrs. Mary McHenry (Wm. A.) Keith, Mrs. Smith, Miss Selina
+Solomons and Miss Clara M. Schlingheyde.
+
+On the evening of November 9 the convention was transferred to Oakland
+and every seat in the large Unitarian church was filled. Mrs. Chapman
+Catt was the speaker, introduced by the Rev. J. K. McLean. Mrs.
+Baldwin, president of the Alameda County society, Mrs. Swift and other
+prominent women occupied the beautifully decorated platform. During
+the afternoon a reception had been given in the artistic home of Mrs.
+Emma Shafter Howard.
+
+The convention for 1900 was held in San Francisco as usual, December
+14, 15. Mrs. Annie R. Wood was elected president.[168]
+
+One of the largest auxiliary societies is that of Alameda County with
+a dozen branches. The presidents have been the Rev. J. K. McLean, Mrs.
+M. S. Haight, Mrs. Alice M. Stocker, Mrs. Isabel A. Baldwin, Mrs. H.
+J. D. Chapman and Mrs. Frances A. Williamson.[169]
+
+The San Jose Club was formed for campaign work, Nov. 14, 1895, with
+fifty-four charter members. It has continued to hold weekly meetings
+under the presidency of Dr. Alida C. Avery.[170] There are a number of
+other efficient clubs in Northern California.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION: As early as 1868, and for many years afterwards,
+Mrs. Laura De Force Gordon addressed the Legislature in behalf of
+political rights for women, and from then until the present time there
+have been few sessions which have not had the question brought before
+them. A large number of legislators, lawyers and leading women have
+contended that the constitution of the State is so worded that it is
+within the power of the Legislature to confer the full franchise by
+statute, but bills for this purpose always have been defeated by a
+majority who hold that this can be done legally only by an amendment
+to the constitution adopted by the electors. Mrs. Nellie Holbrook
+Blinn has spent many winters at Sacramento in the interest of suffrage
+bills, and Mrs. Clara S. Foltz has frequently made legal arguments
+before joint committees. Beginning with 1891 Mrs. Sturtevant Peet,
+president of the State Woman's Christian Temperance Union, has
+remained through every legislative session representing that
+organization, with bills for temperance measures, suffrage and other
+matters of especial interest to women. During all of these years the
+suffrage bills before the Legislature have been reinforced by great
+petitions and hundreds of personal letters from the women of Southern
+California.
+
+In 1889 Miss Sarah M. Severance, State Superintendent of Franchise for
+the W. C. T. U., went to Sacramento with a large petition asking for
+School Suffrage. Mrs. Gordon, a practicing lawyer, already had
+prepared three bills asking for Municipal and School Suffrage
+including the right to hold every educational office. All were
+reported favorably from the Senate committee. The first was passed,
+reconsidered and although again receiving a majority vote, had not the
+constitutional two-thirds. The School Suffrage Bill passed by 24 ayes,
+7 noes. In the Assembly it received 36 ayes, 22 noes, not the required
+majority.
+
+In 1891 a bill was presented to enfranchise women by statute. It was
+championed by Senators McGowan, Dargie and Simpson of the northern,
+and Carpenter and McComas of the southern part of the State. On
+February 7 a hearing was granted by the Judiciary Committee, and Mrs.
+Gordon gave a strong legal argument which was presented to the members
+as a "brief;" and addresses were made by Miss Severance, Mrs. Addie
+L. Ballou and Mrs. Emily Pitt Stevens. Before the vote was taken in
+the Legislature Mrs. Sturtevant Peet presented the great petition of
+the W. C. T. U. containing 15,000 names, and many were offered by
+senators from various counties. Individual appeals were sent by Mrs.
+Ellen Clark Sargent, Mrs. Sarah Knox Goodrich, Dr. Alida C. Avery,
+Mrs. E. O. Smith and many other well-known women. The bill passed the
+Senate by 21 ayes, 17 noes. It had been delayed so long, however, that
+it was too late to reach the Assembly.
+
+In 1894 the State Republican Convention adopted a plank as follows:
+"Believing that taxation without representation is against the
+principles of the Government we favor the extension of the right of
+suffrage to all citizens of the United States, both men and women."
+
+The Legislature of 1895 was strongly Republican and the time seemed to
+be highly propitious for securing woman suffrage. To this end a number
+of influential women visited Sacramento. The first bill presented
+called for enfranchisement by special statute and was introduced and
+championed in the Assembly by Judge E. V. Spencer. On the afternoon of
+January 24 Mrs. Blinn and Mrs. Foltz addressed the Senate Judiciary
+Committee, and in the evening a mass meeting took place in the Court
+House, which the Judiciary and Elections Committees of the Senate and
+House attended in a body, as did also a large number of the members.
+Mrs. Gordon made the leading address and Mrs. Foltz the closing
+speech. Another meeting, held in the Assembly Chamber February 8, was
+addressed by Mrs. E. V. Spencer, Mrs. Blinn, Miss Laura Tilden, a
+lawyer, Mrs. Gordon and Mrs. Peet. Great assistance also was rendered
+by Mrs. Annie K. Bidwell, Mme. A. L. Sorbier, Dr. Lillian Lomax and
+Mrs. Jennie Phelps Purvis.
+
+The bill came to a vote in the Assembly February 11 and passed. A
+defect was then discovered in the title and it was voted on again
+February 19, receiving 46 ayes, 29 noes. In the Senate it met with
+many vicissitudes which need not be recounted, as it eventually failed
+to pass. This was largely because the members did not believe it would
+be constitutional.
+
+This question being settled, Senators McGowan of Eureka, and Bulla of
+Los Angeles, Assemblyman Spencer of Lassen, and others championed a
+resolution to amend the constitution by striking out the word "male"
+from the suffrage clause. This was adopted in March, 1895, by a
+two-thirds majority of both Houses, and signed by Gov. James H. Budd.
+The story of the campaign which was made to secure the adoption of
+this amendment is related hereafter. It was defeated by the voters.
+
+Although the experienced national officers told the California women
+that it would be many years before they would be able to secure
+another bill they did not believe it, but went to the Legislature of
+1897 full of hope that an amendment would be submitted again and they
+could make another campaign while their organizations were intact and
+public sentiment aroused. Mrs. Mary Wood Swift, Mrs. Mary S. Sperry
+and Mme. A. L. Sorbier spent much of the winter in Sacramento, and
+enough members were pledged to pass the bill. When it was acted upon,
+however, while it received a majority in both Houses, it lacked seven
+votes in the Assembly and one in the Senate of the necessary
+two-thirds.[171]
+
+In 1899 Representative W. S. Mellick of Los Angeles introduced a bill
+giving women the right to vote for school trustees, and at elections
+for school bonds or tax levy. It passed the Assembly with only one
+dissenting vote, and the Senate by a majority of six. Gov. Henry T.
+Gage refused to sign it on the old ground of unconstitutionality.
+
+CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT CAMPAIGN: The action of the Legislature of
+1895 in submitting an amendment to the voters, instead of conferring
+the franchise by statute, was somewhat of a disappointment to the
+women as it precipitated a campaign which would come at the same time
+as that for President of the United States, and for which there was
+not sufficient organization. They were very much at sea for a while
+but in the spring of 1895 Miss Susan B. Anthony and the Rev. Anna
+Howard Shaw, president and vice-president of the National Association,
+came to California to the Woman's Congress, and while here, having
+had much experience, helped them plan their work and gave every
+possible encouragement. In the autumn Miss Shaw returned and held
+meetings throughout the State, managed by Miss Harriet Cooper. The
+next year, at the urgent request of the State Association, Miss
+Anthony and Miss Shaw came back and remained from the first of March
+until after the election in November, rendering all the assistance
+within their power in the longest and hardest campaign ever made for a
+woman suffrage amendment. An amendment committee had been appointed at
+the last annual convention and out of this and the State officers a
+Campaign Committee[172] was formed and, in addition, a State Central
+Committee was organized.
+
+Mrs. Sargent opened her handsome home for headquarters the first three
+months, and for eight months she and her daughter, Dr. Elizabeth C.
+Sargent, gave every hour to this work, entertaining as guests Miss
+Anthony, Miss Shaw and other workers and contributing large sums of
+money. In February, Dr. Sargent and Miss Shaw's secretary, Lucy E.
+Anthony, arranged a series of two days' conventions in every county in
+the State. Miss Harriet May Mills and Miss Mary G. Hay of New York,
+experienced organizers, were invited to California to manage these
+conventions and remained throughout the campaign.[173] The Rev. Miss
+Shaw and Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates of Maine were the speakers. The
+audiences were large and cordial, clubs were formed and the meetings
+more than paid expenses.
+
+On Sunday, May 3, the San Francisco _Call_, the leading Republican
+paper, under the management of Charles M. Shortridge, came out with
+flaming headlines declaring for woman suffrage, and several hundred
+copies were sent to the State Republican convention which met in
+Sacramento the following Tuesday. A number of prominent women went to
+this convention, as it was considered very important that it should
+repeat its indorsement of the previous year. The delegation consisted
+of Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw, Mrs. Sargent, State president, Mrs. Mary
+Wood Swift, Mrs. Sarah Knox Goodrich, Mrs. Mary S. Sperry, Mrs. Ida
+Husted Harper and Miss Mary G. Hay, members of the campaign committee.
+Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw addressed the Committee on Resolutions, and
+the next day a plank declaring for the amendment was adopted by the
+big convention with only one dissenting voice.
+
+On May 12 most of these ladies attended the Populist Convention in
+Sacramento. They were received with cheers, escorted to front seats,
+invited to address the convention and the plank was unanimously
+adopted. From here a part of them went to the Prohibition Convention
+in Stockton, meeting a most cordial reception and a similar result.
+The Socialist Labor and the National parties also indorsed the
+amendment.
+
+There was little hope for the indorsement of the Democratic
+Convention, but the ladies, reinforced by Mrs. Sarah B. and Miss
+Harriet Cooper, Mrs. Henry Krebs, Jr., Mrs. Alice M. Stocker and Mrs.
+E. O. Smith attended it on June 16. They were permitted to address the
+Resolutions Committee and present a petition signed by about 40,000
+men and women of the State asking for the amendment, but it was laid
+on the table almost before they had left the room.[174]
+
+A minority report was at once prepared by Charles Wesley Reed and
+signed by himself, William H. Alford, chairman of the committee, and
+two other members, but it was prevented from coming before the
+convention by order of its chairman, Frank Gould of San Joaquin
+County. After the platform had been adopted Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw
+were invited to address the convention, which they did to such effect
+that when they had finished the minority report was demanded. It was
+too late for this but, in spite of the efforts of John P. Irish and W.
+W. Foote of Alameda County,[175] and others, the original resolution
+declaring for an amendment was brought to a vote, receiving 149 ayes,
+420 noes, more than one-fourth the whole number.
+
+The women opened their campaign a few days later with an immense
+ratification meeting in Metropolitan Temple. All of the political
+parties were represented by prominent men who made strong suffrage
+speeches, Congressman James G. Maguire speaking for the fraction of
+the Democratic party. Most of the ladies who had attended the
+conventions made addresses and there was the greatest enthusiasm. Miss
+Anthony was invited to speak at the ratification meeting of each of
+the political parties and was most cordially received. No suffrage
+campaign ever commenced so full of promise.
+
+Headquarters were opened on Main Street in the fine new Parrott
+Building, five rooms being donated for the purpose by the manager of
+the Emporium, William Harper. The furnishings were contributed by
+different firms and individuals, and a handsome banner was swung
+across the street. Here a force of women worked day and night for five
+months, most of them donating their services.[176]
+
+The State Board and all the committees were composed of women of good
+position and especial ability. The counties formed their own
+organizations and all the important towns had active local clubs. The
+report from Southern California appears in another part of this
+chapter. In San Francisco Mrs. Sarah B. Cooper gave generously of her
+valuable time and powerful influence. Mrs. Mary Wood Swift and Mrs.
+Mary S. Sperry responded many times when the finances were at the
+lowest ebb. It would be impossible to name even a small fraction of
+those who freely and continuously gave labor and money.
+
+Each of the eighteen assembly districts of San Francisco was organized
+by precincts, regular meetings were held, a personal canvass was made
+and an immense amount of literature was distributed. It is wholly
+impracticable in a limited space to mention the work done by the
+various counties, as in each where the amendment was carried it was
+due largely to the wise, faithful and unwearying efforts of its own
+women, and any distinction would be invidious.
+
+The work of the W. C. T. U. deserves a prominent place in the history
+of the struggle, as all the powers of its excellent organization and
+experienced workers were devoted to the success of the amendment, and
+the majority in several counties at least was due to its efforts.
+
+For the usual necessary and legitimate campaign purposes a fund of
+about $19,000 was raised and sent to headquarters, almost wholly the
+contributions of women.
+
+Miss Anthony remained in San Francisco addressing meetings in that
+city and making many short trips to neighboring towns, speaking once
+or more every day for eight months. During this time she made a tour
+of Central and Southern California, lecturing in halls, churches,
+wigwams, parlors, schoolhouses and the open air. In some places the
+train was stopped and she spoke from the rear platform which was then
+banked with flowers.
+
+The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw spoke every night for seven months; Miss
+Yates made about one hundred speeches; Mrs. Chapman Catt spent the
+last two months in the State giving several addresses every day. Miss
+Sarah M. Severance spoke under the auspices of the W. C. T. U.
+throughout the campaign. Mrs. Naomi Anderson represented the colored
+people. Every California woman who could make a speech was pressed
+into service for clubs, ward meetings, etc. Many handsome homes were
+opened for parlor lectures. Miss Anthony herself addressed great
+political rallies of thousands of people; church conventions of every
+denomination; Spiritualist and Freethinkers' gatherings; Salvation
+Army meetings; African societies; Socialists; all kinds of labor
+organizations; granges; Army and Navy Leagues; Soldiers' Homes and
+military encampments; women's clubs and men's clubs; Y. M. C. A.'s and
+W. C. T. U.'s. She spoke at farmers' picnics on the mountain tops, and
+Bethel missions in the cellars of San Francisco; at parlor meetings in
+the most elegant homes; and in pool-rooms where there was printed on
+the blackboard, "Welcome to Susan B. Anthony." Her services during the
+entire time were a personal contribution.
+
+The attitude of the press was one of the remarkable features. Mrs. Ida
+Husted Harper was made Chairman of the Press Committee which had local
+members in every community. In company with Miss Anthony every editor
+in San Francisco was visited and assurances received that the
+amendment would have respectful treatment. The _Call_, the _Record_
+and the _Post_ gave strong editorial indorsement, the latter
+maintaining a daily department, the responsibility being largely taken
+by Dr. Sargent. Mrs. Harper had a long article each week in the
+_Sunday Call_ and many weeks one in the _Chronicle_ also. The
+_Examiner_ placed a column on the editorial page of its Sunday edition
+at the disposal of Miss Anthony and she filled it for seven months,
+but the paper gave no official approval. The _Report_ had a double
+column every Saturday edited by Miss Winnifred Harper. The _Bulletin_
+had one conducted by Miss Eliza D. Keith, but editorially it was not
+friendly. Mrs. Mary L. Wakeman Curtis rendered especially valuable
+service. The Populist press was universally favorable, as were the
+_Star_ and other labor papers, the temperance, Socialist and A. P. A.
+organs, the leading Jewish papers, those of the colored people,
+several published in foreign languages and many in the interest of
+agriculture, insurance, etc.
+
+Before the close of the campaign the press chairman was in
+communication with 250 papers in the State which declared editorially
+for woman suffrage. Only 27 spoke openly against it, prominent among
+these being the _San Francisco Chronicle_, _Argonaut_, _Sacramento
+Record-Union_ and _Los Angeles Times_. From California papers alone
+9,000 clippings were received on this subject.
+
+Had it not been the year of a presidential election it is probable
+that the amendment might have carried, but the bitter competition of
+politics soon produced many complications and, although the suffrage
+question was kept absolutely non-partisan, it could not escape their
+serious effects. The demand for free silver had made such inroads on
+the Republican party that it was threatened with the loss of the
+State, and it was soon made to understand by the liquor element that
+its continued advocacy of the suffrage amendment would mean a great
+loss of money and votes. It was found that the chairman of the State
+Central Committee, Major Frank M'Laughlin, was notifying the county
+chairmen not to permit the women to speak at the Republican meetings,
+and it became very difficult to persuade the speakers of that party
+to refer to the amendment, although an indorsement of it was the first
+plank in their platform.
+
+The Populists and Democrats found themselves in accord on financial
+questions and in most localities a fusion was effected. While the
+former, for the most part, were loyal to the amendment they could not
+fully control the speakers or platforms at the rallies and it was kept
+out of sight as much as possible. The A. P. A. was strongly organized
+in California and was waging a bitter war against the Catholic Church,
+and both feared the effect of the enfranchisement of women, although
+at the beginning the former seemed wholly in favor.
+
+The women made a brave fight but these political conditions, added to
+insufficient organization, too small a number of workers, lack of
+necessary funds, the immense amount of territory to be covered, the
+large foreign population in San Francisco and the strong prejudices in
+general against the movement, which must be overcome everywhere, made
+defeat inevitable. The final blow was struck when, ten days before
+election, the wholesale Liquor Dealers' League, which had been making
+its influence felt all during the campaign, met in San Francisco and
+resolved "to take such steps as are necessary to protect our
+interests." One of these steps was to send to the saloonkeepers, hotel
+proprietors, druggists and grocers throughout the State the following:
+
+     At the election to be held on November 3, Constitutional
+     Amendment No. Six, which gives the right to vote to women, will
+     be voted on.
+
+     It is to your interest and ours to vote against this amendment.
+     We request and urge you to vote and work against it and do all
+     you can to defeat it.
+
+     See your neighbor in the same line of business as yourself, and
+     have him be with you in this matter.
+
+Although the women had the written promise of the Secretary of State
+saying, "The amendment shall be third in order on the ballot, as
+certified to me by the various county clerks," it was placed last,
+which made it the easy target for the mass of voters who could not
+read. Hundreds of tickets were cast in San Francisco on which the only
+cross was against this amendment, not even the presidential electors
+voted for.
+
+There were 247,454 votes cast on the suffrage amendment; 110,355 for;
+137,099 against; defeated by 26,744. The majority against in San
+Francisco County was 23,772; in Alameda County, comprising Oakland,
+Alameda and Berkeley, 3,627; total 27,399--665 votes more than the
+whole majority cast against the amendment. Berkeley gave a majority in
+favor, so in reality it was defeated by the vote of San Francisco,
+Oakland and Alameda.[177] Alameda is the banner Republican County and
+gave a good majority for the Republican ticket. There never had been a
+hope of carrying San Francisco for the amendment, but the result in
+Alameda County was a most unpleasant surprise, as the voters were
+principally Republicans and Populists, both of whom were pledged in
+the strongest possible manner in their county conventions to support
+the amendment, and every newspaper in the county had declared in favor
+of it. The fact remains, however, that a change of 13,400 votes in the
+entire State would have carried the amendment; and proves beyond
+question that, if sufficient organization work had been done, this
+might have been accomplished in spite of the combined efforts of the
+liquor dealers and the political "bosses."[178]
+
+As it is almost universally insisted that woman suffrage amendments
+are defeated by the ballots of the ignorant, the vicious and the
+foreign born, an analysis of the vote of San Francisco, which contains
+more of these elements than all the rest of California, is of
+interest. Not one of the eighteen Assembly Districts was carried for
+the amendment and but one precinct in the whole city. It is not
+practicable to draw an exact dividing line between the best and the
+worst localities in any city, but possibly the 28th, or water front,
+district in San Francisco may come under the latter head and the 40th
+under the former. The vote on the amendment in the 28th was 355 ayes,
+1,188 noes; in the 40th, 890 ayes, 2,681 noes, a larger percentage of
+opposition in the district containing the so-called best people.
+Districts 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43 would probably be designated the most
+aristocratic of the city. Their vote on the amendment was 5,189 ayes,
+13,615 noes, an opposing majority of 8,426, or about 1,400 to the
+district. This left the remainder to be distributed among the other
+eighteen districts, including the ignorant, the vicious and the
+foreign born, with an average of less than 1,300 adverse votes in each
+district.
+
+The proportion of this vote was duplicated in Oakland, the most
+aristocratic ward giving as large a negative majority as the one
+commonly designated "the slums."
+
+
+SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.[179]
+
+In the spring of 1885 the first woman suffrage association of Southern
+California was organized in Los Angeles at the home of Mrs. Elizabeth
+A. Kingsbury, a lecturer and writer of ability and a co-worker with
+the Eastern suffragists in pioneer days. This small band of men and
+women held weekly meetings from this time until the opening of the
+Amendment Campaign in 1896, when it adjourned--subject to the call of
+its president--and its members became a part of the Los Angeles
+Campaign Committee.
+
+The principal work of this early suffrage society was educational.
+Once a month meetings were held to which the public was invited,
+addresses were given by able men and women, good music was furnished
+and suffrage literature distributed. For five years Mrs. Kingsbury
+continued its efficient president and then returned to her Eastern
+home. She was succeeded by Mrs. Margaret V. Longley, another pioneer
+worker from the East, who served acceptably for the same length of
+time, when Mrs. Alice Moore McComas was elected. Under her regime was
+called the first county suffrage convention ever held in the State.
+
+All other organizations of women wholly ignored the suffrage
+association during these years. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union
+had its franchise department, but it was by no means so popular as the
+other thirty-nine. Discouragement was met on every hand, but the
+faithful few, adhering to the principles of political liberty, saw
+year by year a slow but certain growth of sentiment in favor of the
+ballot for women.
+
+In the winter of 1887, an effort was made to secure a bill from the
+Legislature conferring Municipal Suffrage upon women. Hundreds of
+letters were written and a large petition was sent but no action was
+taken.[180] Every year afterward a bill asking for some form of
+suffrage was presented to the Legislature, accompanied by great
+petitions signed by representative people, and an unremitting
+agitation was kept up throughout Southern California, until a strong
+sentiment was created in favor of the enfranchisement of women. Among
+those who championed the cause in the Legislature in those days were
+R. N. Bulla, R. B. Carpenter, Edward Denio and W. S. Mellick. U. S.
+Senators George C. Perkins and Stephen M. White also gave their
+influence in its favor.
+
+In the autumn of 1892 the Southern California Woman's Parliament was
+organized. While the fact was emphasized that it was "not a woman's
+rights society;" the suffragists saw here an opportunity for good
+work. The whole membership of their various organizations went into
+this parliament and were active promoters of all the enterprises taken
+up, fully realizing that, sooner or later, in a body where all phases
+of woman's work--in the home, the church, the school and society--were
+discussed, woman's political limitations could not fail to receive
+attention. They were not mistaken for in a short time its sessions
+might properly have been called "woman's rights meetings," but none
+were more careful not to mention this fact than the "strong-minded"
+members. The women who were afraid to be seen at suffrage meetings
+were being so quietly converted that they had no idea of it. The
+sentiment grew and grew--and so did the suffrage association--until,
+after consultation with various members of the Legislature, it was
+decided to ask for an amendment to the State constitution which would
+enfranchise women.
+
+Meanwhile the Los Angeles Suffrage Association called a convention of
+delegates from the southern counties in April, 1894, and a central
+committee was organized consisting of one representative woman from
+each voting precinct. This was productive of systematic work, and when
+the Legislature the following winter submitted an amendment, workers
+in every city, town, hamlet and school district were ready for the
+campaign.
+
+County campaign committees were organized of which that of Los
+Angeles was the leader, and from its headquarters the main work was
+carried on. These, consisting of four large rooms on the second floor
+of the Muskegon block, a fine stone building in the business center of
+Los Angeles, were donated by T. D. Stimson. They were handsomely
+furnished by friends with every requirement for office work and
+semi-public meetings. Leo Alexander and William D. Hayward contributed
+the typewriters. Their arrangement was in the hands of Mesdames J. H.
+Braly, A. M. Davidson, R. L. Craig and Laura B. Fay. All through that
+ever-to-be-remembered hot summer of 1896 these dainty, artistic rooms,
+constantly supplied with fresh flowers, afforded a cool retreat for
+the busy suffragists, as well as a resting place for their less active
+sisters who were invited to visit them, even if not in sympathy, and
+none left without some of the literature and a gentle hint as to their
+obvious duty.
+
+In San Diego the work was led by the president, Mrs. Flora M. Kimball.
+Mrs. Kimball was the first woman ever elected Master of a Grange, and
+was for eight years a member of the San Diego school board. She was a
+most efficient manager and the beautiful grounds around her home were
+the scene of many gatherings. A gifted writer also, her satires during
+this campaign, over the signature "Betty Snow, an anti-suffragist,"
+made many converts.
+
+Prominent among the workers were Mrs. Annie Bristol Sloan, president
+of the San Diego County W. S. A., the Rev. Amanda Deyo, Dr. Lelia
+Latta and Mrs. Laura Riddell; Mrs. Helen Joslin Le Boeuf (Tustin),
+organizer of Orange County; Mrs. Lizzie H. Mills, secretary of the
+Southern California W. C. T. U., and its president, Mrs. N. P. J.
+Button, who kept the question prominently before the people of
+Riverside County. Mrs. Ida K. Spears led the work in Ventura County
+with pen and voice. Kern County though less densely settled had in its
+little clusters of humanity staunch friends of the cause under the
+leadership of Mrs. McLeod, and gave also its majority for the
+amendment. San Bernardino was ably marshaled by Mrs. Ella Wilson
+Merchant, the county president. In Santa Barbara County Mrs. Emily
+Wright had stood sponsor for the cause for many years, and Mrs. S. E.
+A. Higgins assisted with her facile pen. This county in its favorable
+vote ranked next to Los Angeles. The work was tremendous but the
+result was compensating.
+
+The key-note of the campaign was to reach every voter without regard
+to race or rank. Therefore, women of all castes and conditions were
+set to work where their direct influence would be most effective.
+Hundreds of precinct meetings were held during the whole summer. Each
+precinct had its own organization officered by its own people--men and
+women--a vice-president being appointed from each of its churches, and
+this was called Campaign Committee Precinct No. ----, pledged to work
+only until election. The meetings numbered from five to eighteen a
+day, and one day in August twenty-two were held in a single county. In
+the city of Los Angeles the highest number in any one day was nine
+precinct meetings and one public rally in the evening, near the close
+of the campaign. Mrs. McComas addressed four of these meetings and
+spoke at the rally--which was not unusual work for the speakers in the
+field. From the afternoon meetings, held generally in the largest
+homes in the precinct, hundreds of leaflets were sent out and every
+effort was made to increase the interest among women, for it was
+believed that if these did their duty the votes could be secured. The
+evening meetings were held principally in halls or churches, though
+frequently the larger homes and hotel parlors were thrown open for a
+reception where men were the honored guests.
+
+The churches of all Protestant denominations were offered for debates
+and entertainments. In several the Rev. Mila Tupper Maynard--the
+salaried campaign speaker--preached Sunday evenings on texts pertinent
+to the subject, and many pastors delivered special sermons on equal
+rights. Leading hotels gave their parlors for precinct meetings and
+many of the halls used for public gatherings were donated by the
+owners. Noontide meetings were held in workshops, factories and
+railroad stations, and while the men ate their lunch a short suffrage
+talk was given or some good leaflet read aloud. The wives of these men
+were invited to take part, or to have full charge, and many earnest,
+competent workers were found among them who influenced these voters as
+no one else could do. The large proportion of foreign citizens were
+thus reached in a quiet, educational manner.
+
+Another most effective method of work was carried on by the public
+meeting committee. Every political organization had in its ranks some
+father, husband, son or brother who was pledged to watch the suffrage
+interests and report to this committee--composed of men from these
+organizations and women from the campaign committees--when and where a
+wedge could be put in for the amendment. Its main duty was to present
+at political meetings, through the most distinguished speaker on the
+program, a resolution favoring the amendment. In this way it was
+treated as one of the general issues and, being brought before the
+voters by one of their own speakers, did not give the annoyance that
+is sometimes felt when a lady is introduced for this purpose. In every
+instance, the speaker would call upon the voters to "honor themselves
+in honoring the women." This method became very popular and won many
+votes where, otherwise, a hearing could not have been secured.
+
+Another popular plan was that of utilizing the young people, who
+proved effective helpers. Every boy and girl who could sing, play,
+declaim, write an essay or in any other way entertain was enlisted for
+oratorical debates, prize essays and public meetings.[181] Through
+their work many a young man cast his first vote for his mother.
+
+Hearings were secured before clubs and organizations, when short
+addresses were made and resolutions adopted.[182]
+
+The W. C. T. U. was throughout the campaign, active, efficient and
+helpful, while its members were found on all the suffrage committees.
+Valued assistance was given also by the Woman's Parliament, the church
+auxiliaries, labor unions, Christian Endeavor Societies, Epworth
+Leagues, theosophical societies and the Southern California
+Federation of Woman's Clubs--which devoted a whole session of its
+annual meeting to the question.
+
+The Afro-American Congress, convening in Los Angeles, gave up an
+afternoon session to listen to Mrs. Naomi Anderson, the salaried
+organizer. This was followed up with faithful work by the Colored
+Woman's Club, its president, Dr. Mary T. Longley, assisted by Mesdames
+Washington, White, Jackson, Knott, Campbell, Clarkson and others,
+being instrumental in converting many of the colored men to a belief
+in suffrage for women. A number of them indeed became active workers,
+the most prominent being the Rev. John Albright. Mrs. McComas
+addressed the Los Angeles County Republican Convention, which put in
+its platform a resolution in favor of the amendment.
+
+Literature in small, concise leaflets was hung up in the street cars,
+railroad offices, hotels, theaters and post-offices; wrapped in
+dry-goods and grocery parcels and placed in profusion in the public
+libraries, many of these being compiled especially to suit certain
+localities. This required unceasing labor and watchfulness on the part
+of the press committee. Much original matter was used to show the
+people that the women of their community were fully capable of
+expressing their ideas and giving their reasons for desiring the
+ballot.
+
+Fourteen of the papers published in Los Angeles were friendly to the
+amendment and gave it more or less editorial support, while three used
+their influence against it. The Los Angeles _Times_ was unyielding in
+its opposition throughout the campaign, although it published fair
+reports of the meetings. The _Sunday World_ kept pace with the _Liquor
+Dealer_ in its coarse hostility, while the Pasadena _Town Talk_ was a
+good second to both. The majority of the newspapers in Southern
+California were favorable to the proposed measure and were largely
+responsible for its success in this section of the State.[183]
+
+The most harmonious spirit existed at headquarters and among all the
+workers. Enough money was raised to pay salaries to county presidents,
+organizers, corresponding secretary and one speaker. All others
+donated their services. Among the series of county conventions called
+by the State board, Los Angeles not only paid its own expenses but
+contributed $67 to the general State fund. This money was freely given
+by friends and workers, no special assessments being levied and no
+collections taken at public meetings. Those who could not give largely
+worked the harder to secure contributions from those who could. Great
+credit is due to the excellent management of the financial secretary,
+Mrs. Almeda B. Gray, who labored constantly at headquarters from May
+to November, besides contributing a monthly instalment to the county
+fund. Much of it was also due to the wise and conservative policy of
+the president of the campaign committee, Mrs. Elizabeth H. Meserve.
+
+It would be impossible to give even the names of all who assisted in
+this long and arduous campaign. The work was far-reaching, and many
+were modest home-keepers who gave effective service in their own
+immediate neighborhood.[184]
+
+The amendment was defeated--for many reasons. Among the most
+conspicuous were ignorance of the real merits of the issue;
+indifference--for thousands of voters failed to vote either way; a
+secret but systematic opposition to woman's voice in legislative
+affairs from the only organization against it--the Liquor Dealers'
+Association; and, most potent of all, a political combination which
+would not have occurred except at the time of a presidential election.
+Every county in Southern California gave a majority for the amendment,
+Los Angeles County leading with 4,600. Miss Anthony, who spent the
+summer in California aiding and encouraging the women with her wisdom,
+cheerfulness and hope, said on leaving: "The campaign was a
+magnificent one, and it has developed many splendid workers who will
+be ready for the next which is sure to come."
+
+After the disappointing result the Campaign Committee held a meeting,
+passed resolutions of fealty to the cause and adjourned _sine die_.
+But in order to perpetuate the work already done and be ready for "new
+business" at any time, the Los Angeles County Woman Suffrage League
+was organized the following week, Mrs. Elmira T. Stephens, president;
+Mrs. Gray, chairman of advisory board; Mrs. Craig, secretary. The
+natural reaction after defeat followed and no work was done for
+several years.
+
+In November, 1900, the State president, Mrs. Mary Wood Swift, came to
+Los Angeles and gave a parlor talk at the home of her hostess, Mrs. I.
+G. Chandler, and later an address at a public meeting in the Woman's
+Club House, of which Mrs. Caroline M. Severance was chairman.
+Practically all were in favor of reviving the old Woman Suffrage
+League and an executive committee was appointed, Mrs. Sarah Burger
+Stearns (formerly of Minnesota), chairman.
+
+At its call a meeting was held December 1, and the league reorganized:
+President, Mrs. Severance; vice-president, Mrs. Shelley Tolhurst;
+secretary, Mrs. Carl Schutz; treasurer, Mrs. Amelia Griffith; chairman
+of executive committee, Mrs. Stearns. A leaflet announcing the
+formation of the league, its plan of work, etc., was largely
+circulated. A committee was appointed who went before the Legislative
+Conference, which was held later in the Chamber of Commerce, and
+expressed the thanks of the league for the efforts of the Southern
+California members who had worked and voted for the School Suffrage
+Bill at the previous session of 1899.
+
+The executive committee meets once a month and special sessions are
+called whenever necessary. The plan of work, as outlined by Mrs.
+Stearns, was sent to the State convention at San Francisco and
+cordially approved.
+
+In February half of a show window on Broadway was secured, with ample
+floor space back of it. With the donation of $100 by a Los Angeles
+woman both were made attractive with flags, engravings and
+furnishings. Above a handsome desk the suffrage flag with its four
+stars is draped and photographs of prominent women adorn the walls.
+The suffrage papers are kept on file and quantities of fresh
+literature are ready for distribution. Stationery, photographs,
+medallions, etc., are for sale, a register is open for the enrollment
+of friends and a member of the league is always in attendance. When
+another amendment campaign is to be made Southern California will be
+found ready for work and will declare in its favor by a largely
+increased majority.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LAWS: The original property law of California is an inheritance from
+the Mexicans, which it incorporated in its own code, and it is quite
+as unjust as those which still exist on the statute-books of some
+States as a remnant of the barbarous old English Common Law. Community
+property includes all which is accumulated by the joint labors of
+husband and wife after marriage. This is in the absolute control of
+the husband. Previous to 1891 he could dispose of all of it as if he
+had no wife, could will, sell, mortgage, pledge or give it away. That
+year the Legislature enacted that he could not make a gift of it or
+convey it without a valuable consideration, unless the wife consented
+in writing, although he could still dispose of it in ordinary business
+transactions without her knowledge or consent. The decision in the
+Spreckles case apparently nullified this law, as the gift was made in
+1893 and the Supreme Court in 1897 declared it legal.[185]
+
+In 1895 it was provided that at the husband's death the wife is
+entitled to one-half of what remains, subject to one-half of the
+debts. At the death of the wife the whole belongs absolutely to the
+husband without administration. If some portion of it may have been
+set apart for her support by judicial decree, this is subject to her
+testamentary disposition, or, if she makes none, it passes to her
+heirs.
+
+A homestead to the value of $5,000, which must continuously be
+occupied by the family, may be selected from the community property,
+or from the husband's separate estate, or from the wife's with her
+consent. If from the first-named it belongs to the survivor, if from
+the separate property it descends to his or her heirs, subject to the
+power of the court to assign it to the family for a limited period.
+During marriage it can not be mortgaged or conveyed without the
+signature of both. In case of divorce, if it has been selected from
+community property, it may be assigned to the innocent party
+absolutely or for a limited time, or it may be sold and the proceeds
+divided, according to decree. If selected from separate property it
+shall be returned to the former owner, but the court may assign it for
+a limited time to the innocent party.
+
+In 1897 a law was passed that if the estate is less than $1,500 it
+shall be assigned to the widow, subject to incumbrances, funeral
+charges and expenses of settlement.
+
+Separate property consists in what was possessed before marriage or is
+received by gift or inheritance afterwards. If the deceased leave wife
+or husband and only one child, or the lawful issue of one, the
+separate estate is divided in equal shares. If there be more than one
+child or the issue of one, the widow or widower is entitled to
+one-third. If there is no issue the survivor takes one-half and the
+other half goes to the father, mother, brothers and sisters of the
+deceased. If none exists, the survivor is entitled to the whole
+estate.
+
+Either husband or wife may dispose of separate property without the
+consent of the other. Until 1894 it rested upon the wife to prove that
+property was her separate possession, but now the proof rests upon the
+contestants. Until 1897 she was compelled to prove that it was not
+paid for with community earnings. Neither of these recent laws applies
+to property acquired previous to May 19, 1889.
+
+A married woman may be administrator or executor. (1891.)
+
+The wife may engage in business as sole trader and her husband is not
+liable for her contracts, but her earnings, and also any wages she
+may make by her labor, are community property and belong absolutely to
+him, and suit for them must be brought by him. By becoming a sole
+trader she makes herself liable for the support of the family.
+
+A married woman may sue and be sued and make contracts in regard to
+her separate property, but in torts of a personal nature she must be
+sued jointly with her husband, although the wife may defend in her own
+right.
+
+Until 1899 common law marriage was legal, and this consisted merely in
+a promise and the mutual assumption of marital rights, duties and
+obligations. That year a law was passed requiring a license and a
+civil or religious ceremony. The law declares specifically that "the
+husband is the head of the family and the wife is subject to him."
+
+The wife may sue for separate maintenance without divorce.
+
+The father is the guardian of the minor children and entitled to their
+custody, services and earnings. At his death, or if he has abandoned
+his family, the guardianship belongs to the mother, if suitable.
+
+The husband is expected to give his family proper maintenance. There
+is no penalty for not supporting a wife but he can be arrested for
+failure to support the children. If he have no property or is disabled
+from any cause, then the wife must support him and the family out of
+her property or her earnings. The husband decides what are necessaries
+and may take even her personal belongings to pay for them.
+
+In 1887 the W. C. T. U. asked to have the "age of protection" for
+girls raised from 10 to 18 years, but secured only 14. In 1895 they
+succeeded in having a bill passed for 18 years but it was vetoed by
+Gov. James H. Budd. In 1897 they obtained one for 16 years which he
+signed and it is now the law. The penalty is imprisonment in the
+penitentiary for not less than five years.
+
+SUFFRAGE: Women possess no form of suffrage.
+
+In 1900, to make a test case, Mrs. Ellen Clark Sargent brought suit
+before Judge M. C. Sloss, of the Supreme Court of San Francisco, to
+recover her taxes for that year, about $500. The city through its
+attorney filed a demurrer which was argued March 29 by George C.
+Sargent, son of the plaintiff and a member of the bar. He based his
+masterly argument on the ground that a constitution which declares
+that "all political power is inherent in the people" has no right to
+exclude one-half of the people from the exercise of this inherent
+power. He quoted the most eminent authorities to prove that taxation
+and representation are inseparable; that the people of the United
+States would have been slaves if they had not enjoyed the
+constitutional right of granting or withholding their own money; that
+it is inseparably essential to the freedom of a people that no taxes
+can be imposed upon them except with their consent given personally or
+by their representatives. He said in closing:
+
+     If Article I of the State constitution defines inalienable rights
+     and Article II abrogates them, it is monarchy. The Code of Civil
+     Procedure says that where one of two constructions is in favor of
+     natural right and the other against it, the former shall be
+     accepted. The question is whether the Court shall grant this
+     right, or whether by toil and struggle it shall be wrung from the
+     consciences of the electors.
+
+The court decided that the case required a mandamus before the
+Registrar. Application was then made for a writ of mandate against the
+Registrar of Elections to compel him to place Mrs. Sargent's name upon
+the list of voters. Should this be denied she asked to have her taxes
+returned. Both demands were refused by Judge Sloss in the Superior
+Court. He took the ground that if Mr. Sargent's argument should be
+carried to its logical conclusion it would enfranchise idiots,
+lunatics and criminals; that if there is a conflict between the two
+sections of the constitution cited it should be settled in favor of
+limiting the suffrage to males, as where a general and a particular
+provision are inconsistent the latter is paramount to the former. He
+quoted various State Supreme Court decisions and declared that he
+decided the case according to the law.[186]
+
+As Mrs. Sargent had every assurance that this judgment would be
+sustained by the Supreme Court she did not carry the case further. It
+attracted attention and comment in all parts of the country and she
+received encouragement and wishes for her success from all classes of
+society.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: The Legislature of 1873 made women eligible to all
+School offices. None ever has been elected State Superintendent of
+Public Instruction but there is scarcely a county where women have not
+served as superintendents. At present seventeen are acting in this
+capacity. They have frequently been elected School Trustees and a
+woman is now president of the San Francisco school board at a salary
+of $3,000 per annum.
+
+The constitution is interpreted to prohibit women from holding any
+other office. It is claimed by some that this does not include the
+boards of State institutions, but out of twenty-six such boards and
+commissions only one ever has had a woman member--Mrs. Phoebe A.
+Hearst, who is on the Board of Regents of the State University.
+
+There are women on local library boards. A woman has been assistant
+State Librarian, and there have been women deputies and clerks in
+county and city offices. At present in the offices of the
+Attorney-General, Board of Examiners, State Department of Highways and
+Debris Committee women hold positions as clerks at salaries of from
+$1,200 to $1,800. They may serve as notaries public.
+
+In the autumn of 1899 the California Woman's Club resurrected an old
+law which never had been enforced, providing for the appointment of
+assistant women physicians at the hospitals for the insane "provided
+there are already three assistant male physicians." They petitioned
+the proper authorities and the matter was presented to the State
+Lunacy Commission by Gov. Henry T. Gage with his earnest indorsement.
+From highly qualified candidates, whom the club had in readiness, two
+were appointed, and the promise was made that others should be at an
+early date. In a short time the superintendent of one hospital wrote
+that he did not see how they ever had managed without a woman
+physician.
+
+A woman physician is on the Board of Health in Oakland.
+
+In 1891 a law was passed providing for jail matrons in cities of
+100,000 and over. This included only San Francisco and was not
+mandatory. In 1901 a law was secured requiring all cities of over
+15,000 to have a matron at jails and city prisons, to be appointed
+for two years at a salary of $50, $65 or $75 a month, according to the
+size of the city.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: After the hard struggle to obtain a law admitting women
+to the bar in 1877, a long contest followed to secure their admission
+to the Hastings College of Law, a branch of the State University,
+which ended in a favorable decision of the Supreme Court.[187] As a
+result of these efforts the constitutional convention of 1879
+incorporated a provision that "No person shall, on account of sex, be
+disqualified from entering upon or pursuing any lawful business,
+vocation or profession." This does not, however, include appointive or
+elective offices.
+
+EDUCATION: This same constitution of 1879 provided also that "No
+person shall be debarred admission to any of the collegiate
+departments of the State University on account of sex." Most of the
+smaller colleges are co-educational.
+
+The assertion will hardly be questioned that the gifts of women for
+educational purposes in all parts of the Union, in all time, do not
+equal those made by the women of California within the last decade. As
+a memorial to their son, U. S. Senator and Mrs. Leland Stanford
+erected the Leland Stanford, Jr., University at Palo Alto in 1890 and
+endowed it with many millions of dollars. Mr. Stanford's death before
+it was fully completed threw the estate into litigation for a number
+of years, the legality of even some portion of the university
+endowment being in doubt. He left the bulk of his great fortune to his
+wife, and, after the estate was settled and free from all
+encumbrances, she reaffirmed the titles of all previous gifts and
+added the largest part of her own property. The endowment is now about
+$30,000,000, all but $4,000,000 of this having been given by Mrs. Jane
+Lathrop Stanford. This is the largest endowment ever made by any one
+person for one institution, and places Stanford at the head of the
+endowed universities of the world. It has been co-educational in all
+departments from the beginning and the tuition is practically free.
+
+In 1894 Mrs. Miranda Lux of San Francisco left a bequest of $750,000
+for a school of manual training for both sexes. In 1898 Miss Cora Jane
+Flood of San Francisco conveyed to the University of California her
+magnificent estate at Menlo Park and 4,000 shares of stocks, valued at
+not far from $1,000,000. The request was made that the income should
+be devoted to some branch of commercial education. Mrs. Jane Krom
+Sather of Oakland has given about $200,000 to the University. The
+donations of Mrs. Phoebe A. Hearst have been thus far about $300,000,
+but this is merely preliminary to the great endowment of millions for
+which she has arranged. It is exclusive also of $30,000 a year for
+several archaeological expeditions. Liberal gifts have been made by
+other women.
+
+In the public schools there are 1,722 men and 6,425 women teachers.
+The average monthly salary of the men is $81.08; of the women $64.76.
+As a law of 1873 requires equal pay of teachers for equal work, these
+figures show that the highly salaried positions are largely occupied
+by men.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Women's clubs play a very prominent part in the social life. Of these,
+111 with a membership of over 7,000 belong to the State Federation.
+The oldest in the State is the Ebell of Oakland, organized over
+twenty-five years ago, and having now a handsome club house and a
+membership of 500. It raised $20,000 to purchase a site for the new
+Carnegie Library. The Century Club of San Francisco with 275 members
+is one of the oldest and most influential; the California Club has an
+active membership of 400; and there are a number of other flourishing
+clubs in that city, Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda and Sacramento, of from
+175 to 250 members. The Friday Morning Club of Los Angeles, with a
+membership of 500, owns a beautiful club house. The Ebell of that city
+has 300 members, and clubs of from 150 to 200 are found in various
+places in Southern California.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[162] The History is indebted for most of the material in this chapter
+to Mrs. Ellen Clark Sargent of San Francisco, honorary president, and
+Miss Carrie A. Whelan of Oakland, corresponding secretary, of the
+State Woman Suffrage Association.
+
+[163] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. III, Chap. LIII.
+
+[164] Other names which appear in the scant records are Dr. Cora
+Morse, Mesdames William A. Keith, A. W. Manning, Helen Moore, Emily
+Pitt Stevens, Julia Schlessinger, Gertrude Smythe--of San Francisco
+and the towns around the bay; E. L. Collins of the Stockton _Daily
+Mail_, Mrs. D. P. Burr and Mrs. James Gillis of Stockton.
+
+[165] For full description see Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony,
+Chap. XLV.
+
+[166] President, Mrs. Ellen Clark (Aaron A.) Sargent; first
+vice-president, Mrs. Annie K. (General John) Bidwell; second
+vice-president, Mrs. Nellie Holbrook Blinn; third vice-president, Mrs.
+John Spalding; corresponding secretary, Mrs. George Oulton; recording
+secretary, Mrs. Hester A. Harland; treasurer, Mrs. Sarah Knox
+Goodrich; auditors, Mrs. Mary Wood (John F.) Swift and Mrs. Isabel A.
+Baldwin.
+
+[167] Ida Husted Harper, the Rev. Eliza Tupper Wilkes, Mary Wood
+Swift, Dr. Ida V. Stambach, Harriet E. Cotton, Ada H. Van Pelt.
+
+[168] The others who have held office in the State association since
+1896 are--first vice-presidents, Mesdames Frank M. Smith, C. R.
+Randolph, H. J. D. Chapman, Mary Wood Swift, second vice presidents,
+Mrs. Annie K. Bidwell, Mrs. E. O. Smith, third vice-presidents, Mrs.
+Elmira T. Stevens, Mrs. R. H. Pratt, Mrs. A. K. Bidwell, corresponding
+secretaries, Mrs. Harriet E. Cotton, Miss Mary E. Donnelly, Dr. Amy G.
+Bowen, Miss Carrie A. Whelan, recording secretaries, Mrs. Nellie
+Holbrook Blinn, Miss Mary G. Gorham, Mrs. Henry Krebs, Jr., Mrs.
+Dorothy Harnden, treasurers, Mrs. Mary S. Sperry (six years), Miss
+Clara M. Schlingheyde; auditors, Mrs. Lovell White, Mrs. George
+Oulton, Miss Mary S. Keene, Dr. Alida C. Avery, Mrs. Mary Mc. H.
+Keith, Mrs. Anna K. Spero.
+
+[169] Among those who have been officially connected with the work are
+Col. P. T. Dickinson, Col. George and Mrs. Olive E. Babcock, Drs.
+Alice Bush, Susan J. Fenton, Kellogg Lane, Carra B. Schofield, Rev. C.
+W. Wendte, Rev. Eliza Tupper Wilkes, Mr. and Mrs. John L. Howard, Mr.
+and Mrs. Maurice Woodhams, Mesdames A. E. S. Banks, S. C. Borland, J.
+C. Campbell, Ella E. Greenman, L. G. Judd, Mary McHenry Keith, A. A.
+Moore, M. B. Pelton, Emily M. Vrooman, C. L. Wood, J. A. Waymire, John
+Yule; Misses Mollie E. Connors, Mary S. Keene, Mary Snell, Winifred
+Warner, Carrie A. Whelan.
+
+[170] Among the most active members are Mesdames M. B. Braley, Fred L.
+Foster, Sarah Knox Goodrich, J. H. Henry, H. Jennie James, A. K. de
+Jarnette (Spero), E. O. Smith, Laura J. Watkins, Alice B. Wilson.
+
+[171] Immediately afterwards the ladies said to one of the members,
+"Why did you break your pledge to us and vote against the bill?"
+Without a moment's hesitation he answered, "Because I had a telegram
+this morning from the Liquor Dealers' Association telling me to do
+so."
+
+[172] Chairman, Ellen Clark Sargent; vice-chairman, Sarah B. Cooper;
+corresponding secretary, Ida Husted Harper; recording secretary,
+Harriet Cooper; treasurer, Mary S. Sperry; auditors, Mary Wood Swift
+and Sarah Knox Goodrich.
+
+State Central Committee: Mrs. Sargent, Miss Anthony, Mrs. Swift, Mrs.
+Sperry, Mrs. Blinn, with Mary G. Hay, chairman.
+
+[173] Later Mrs. Ida Crouch Hazlitt of Colorado, Mrs. Laura M. Riddell
+of San Diego and other State women were added to the organizing force.
+
+[174] Dr. Elizabeth Sargent was chairman of the Committee on Petitions
+for Northern and Mrs. Alice Moore McComas for Southern California. As
+the names had to be collected in the winter months preceding the
+spring campaign, the distances to be covered were long and the labor
+was the free offering of busy women, it is surprising that the list
+was so large. It by no means represented the suffrage sentiment in the
+State.
+
+[175] Alameda had sent in the largest petition for woman suffrage of
+any county in the State, and San Joaquin afterwards gave a big
+majority vote for the amendment.
+
+[176] A number of young women who were engaged the greater part of
+every day in teaching, stenography, bookkeeping, etc., gave every hour
+that could be spared to the work at headquarters, a free will
+offering. Among those who deserve special mention are Misses Mary,
+Louise and Sarah Donnelly, Mary Gorham, Clara Schlingheyde, Effie
+Scott Vance, Evelyn Grove, Mrs. N. W. Palmer, Winifred and Marguerite
+Warner and Carrie A. Whelan. Mrs. Lelia S. Martin also contributed
+five months' time.
+
+[177] Los Angeles County gave a majority of 4,600 in favor of the
+amendment.
+
+[178] Many personal incidents and anecdotes of this campaign will be
+found in the Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, Chap. XLVII.
+
+[179] This portion of the chapter was prepared by Mrs. Alice Moore
+McComas, former president of the Los Angeles Woman Suffrage
+Association and chairman of the Southern California press committee
+during the amendment campaign of 1896. A considerable amount of space
+is given because it presents so admirable an example of the manner in
+which the work in such a campaign should be done.
+
+[180] The first paper to establish a Suffrage Column was the Los
+Angeles _Express_, in 1887, H. Z. Osborne, editor. This was conducted
+by Mrs. McComas for three years.
+
+[181] Among the many were Gertrude Foster, the young California
+actress, who added attraction to many programs with her brilliant
+readings, and Jessie, daughter of Superior Judge Waldo York, who won
+the prize of $75 offered by Dr. Ella Whipple Marsh, superintendent of
+franchise of the Southern California W. C. T. U., for the best essay
+on woman suffrage, one hundred young people of both sexes competing.
+An oratorical contest for young college men--original orations on
+woman suffrage--resulted in a $20 prize to Edwin Hahn of Pomona
+College, five young men participating. Clare, daughter of Judge C. C.
+McComas, gave highly-appreciated recitations on the woman question,
+and Miss Nina Cuthbert, the young teacher of elocution, delighted many
+audiences with her readings and wonderful imitations.
+
+[182] Prominent among these were the Single Tax Club, Royal Arcanum,
+Foresters, Native Daughters of the Golden West, Socialist League, Y.
+M. C. A., Carpenters' Union, Woman's Relief Corps, Y. W. C. A., Friday
+Morning Woman's Club and the Fraternal Brotherhood.
+
+[183] It is regretted that the carefully compiled list of these
+papers, sent by Mrs. McComas, is too long to be used. [Eds.
+
+[184] In addition to men and women already mentioned the following is
+a partial list of those who aided in various ways: Annie B. Andrews,
+Alice Armor, Prof. W. C. and Sarah A. Bowman, Mary M. Bowman, Mrs.
+(Dr.) B. W. Beacher, Mary E. Benson, Mary E. Bucknell, Alice E.
+Broadwell, Rollo K. Bryan, James G. Clark, Mary L. Crawford, Lucy E.
+Cook, Mary Lynde Craig, Pauline Curram, Gen. A. B. Campbell, Edith
+Cross, Adelaide Comstock, Prof. G. A. Dobinson, the Hon. C. H. Dillon,
+Florence Dunham, Virginia W. Davis, Sallie Markham Davis, Ella H.
+Enderline, Katheryne Phillips Edson, Dr. and Mrs. Eli Fay, Ada C.
+Ferriss, Mary E. Fisher, Miss M. M. Fette, Kate Tupper Galpin, Mary E.
+Garbutt, Prof. Burt Estees Howard, Emma Hardacre, Mary I. Hutchinson,
+Rachel Handby, Mrs. C. E. Haines, Georgia Hodgeman, Judge and Mrs.
+Ivan, Mrs. Mary E. and Miss Kinney, Mrs. E. A. and Miss Lawrence,
+Alice Beach McComas, Ben S. May, Susie Munn, Mattie Day Murphy, Dr.
+Mary Nixon, Mrs. C. W. Parker, Delia C. Percival, Ursula M. Poats,
+Mary Rankin, Rachel Reid, Aglea Rothery, Mr. and Mrs. W. C. B.
+Randolph, Caroline M. Severance, Mrs. Fred Smith, Dora G. Smith,
+Drusilla E. Steele, Annie B. Smith, Gabrella Stickney, Mrs. A.
+Tichenor, Mrs. R. H. F. Variel, Dr. Theoda Wilkins, Mrs. (Dr.) Wills,
+Fanny Wills, Attorney Sarah Wild, Judge Waldo York, Jessie York.
+
+[185] Claus Spreckles gave his son Rudolph a large amount of sugar
+stock which was community property, and Mrs. Spreckles did not join.
+Afterwards he sued to recover and the Supreme Court, all the Judges
+concurring, decided the gift was legal. Justice Temple rendered the
+decision as follows:
+
+"All these differences point to the fact that the husband is absolute
+owner of the community property. The marital community was not
+acquired for the purpose of accumulating property, and the husband
+owes no duty to the community or to the wife, either to labor or
+accumulate money, or to save or to practice economy to that end. He
+owes his wife and children suitable maintenance, and if he has
+sufficient income from his separate estate he need not engage in
+business, or so live that there can be community property. If he earns
+more than is sufficient for such maintenance, he violates no legal
+obligation if he spends the surplus in extravagance or gives it away.
+The community property may be lost in visionary schemes or in mere
+whims. Within the law he may live his life, although the community
+property is dissipated. Of course I am not now speaking of moral
+obligations."
+
+[186] During this trial Mrs. Sargent and her friends in attendance
+were caricatured in the most shameless manner by the San Francisco
+_Call_, which had passed under a new management.
+
+[187] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. III, p. 757.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+COLORADO.[188]
+
+
+After the campaign of 1877, when a woman suffrage amendment was
+defeated in Colorado, the first really important step forward was the
+organization at Denver, in 1890, of a little club to aid the campaign
+in South Dakota. In April Miss Matilda Hindman, who was working there,
+came from that State to ask assistance and formed a committee of six,
+who pledged themselves to raise $100. They were Miss Georgiana Watson,
+president; Mrs. Susan Sharman, secretary; Mrs. Mary J. Nichols,
+treasurer; and Mesdames Amy K. Cornwall, Jennie P. Root and Lavinia C.
+Dwelle.
+
+Shortly afterward Mrs. Louise M. Tyler removed from Boston to Denver,
+bearing a letter from Lucy Stone urging Colorado suffragists to unite
+in an organization auxiliary to the National Woman Suffrage
+Association. Mrs. Tyler heard of this small band, called with Mrs.
+Elizabeth P. Ensley, delivered her message, and their names were added
+to the list of members. The organization was completed and became an
+auxiliary.
+
+About this time Mrs. Leonora Barry Lake followed her lecture,
+delivered under the auspices of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union
+by an appeal to the women of the audience to join the suffrage
+association; and among those who responded were two whose ears had
+longed for such a gospel sound, Mrs. Emily R. Meredith and her
+daughter Ellis. Temperance women who repeatedly had found their work
+defeated by the lack of "the right preservative of rights," such women
+as Mrs. Anna Steele, Mrs. Ella L. Benton, Mrs. Eliza J. Patrick and
+others, thought truly that a society whose sole aim should be the
+ballot was a necessity. At this time the meetings were held in Mrs.
+Tyler's parlor. Miss Watson was much occupied with school duties, and
+in the fall of 1890 Mrs. Tyler was chosen president in her stead.
+
+In 1891 a petition for the right of suffrage by constitutional
+amendment was presented to the Legislature, but the bill not being
+introduced within the specific time it went by default. Ashamed of
+their lack of political acumen, the women then persuaded
+Representative F. F. O'Mahoney, who had a bill prohibiting foreigners
+from voting on their first naturalization papers, to strike the word
+"male" from his measure, thus making it an equal suffrage enactment,
+but bill and rider were defeated. The ladies who worked for suffrage
+were treated with such scant courtesy by some of the legislators, and
+the general sentiment was so adverse, that ultimate success looked
+very distant to the most sanguine friends.
+
+Some of the club even questioned the advisability of giving an
+afternoon a week, as they had been doing, to the study of a government
+in which they had no part and might never hope to have. Mrs. Sharman,
+a small, delicate woman, who already had passed four-score years, was
+its inspiration. She advised the members to remain united, ready for
+active effort when opportunity offered, and in the meantime to
+continue as seed-sowers and students of citizenship in the preparatory
+department.
+
+The membership slowly increased. Mrs. Tyler served as president until
+1892, when Mrs. Olive Hogle was elected. Mrs. Benton (Adams) had given
+the use of her rooms in the central part of Denver, and the society
+remained with her until, having outgrown its quarters, it accepted the
+hospitality of Dr. Minnie C. T. Love early in 1893.
+
+In the spring of 1891 a small majority of its members had put up a
+woman candidate for the East Denver school board and tried their
+"prentice hands" at voting. It is a settled fact that a partial
+suffrage seldom awakens much interest. The school ballot had been
+given to women by the constitution when Colorado became a State, but
+here, as elsewhere, they exercised it only when aroused by some
+especial occasion. Mrs. Scott Saxton was the candidate selected. The
+wiser of the suffragists thought the work should have been undertaken
+sooner, if at all, as there was not then sufficient time for
+canvassing, and the result proved they were right. More women voted
+than ever before, but the men opposed to women on the school board
+came out in still greater numbers. Twelve hundred ballots were
+cast--by far the largest school vote ever polled in the district. Of
+these about 300 were for Mrs. Saxton.
+
+Two years later this effort was repeated and other organizations of
+women aided the suffragists. Mrs. Ione T. Hanna was the candidate.
+There were four tickets in the field and over 6,000 votes were cast.
+This time both men and women voted in favor and, in the face of bitter
+opposition, Mrs. Hanna was elected by 1,900 majority.
+
+A bill providing that the question of full suffrage for women should
+be submitted to the voters at the next general election was drawn by
+J. Warner Mills and presented in the House early in 1893 by J. T.
+Heath. On this, and all other occasions when advice or assistance was
+needed, Mr. Mills gave his legal services without charge.
+
+This was indeed the golden opportunity, the tide which taken at the
+flood might lead on to fortune. The Populist party, which was in
+power, had a suffrage plank in its State platform; in both the other
+parties there were individuals who favored it; and, if the bill
+passed, the Governor's signature was a certainty. But there are as
+many vicissitudes in the life of a bill as in that of an infant. It is
+thrown in the midst of its fellows to struggle for existence, and the
+outcome is not a question of the survival of the fittest but of the
+one that receives the best nursing. If it escapes the death that lurks
+in the committee room, it still may be gently crowded toward the edge
+until it falls into the abyss which awaits bills that never reach the
+third reading.
+
+Mrs. Tyler, chairman of legislative work, gave a large share of her
+time during the entire session to looking after the bill in the House,
+and Miss Minnie J. Reynolds was equally untiring in the Senate. Three
+other suffrage bills were introduced that session but two yielded
+precedence to the one prepared by the association. The author of the
+third believed that women could obtain suffrage only through a
+constitutional amendment, which was what his bill called for. The
+women received such contradictory advice on this point as to awaken
+much anxiety. However, they read in their meetings a copy of the
+statutes of Colorado, and possessing only plain common sense and not
+the legal ability which would have qualified them for a place in the
+Supreme Court, concluded that the referendum to the voters, which
+their bill provided for, was the proper thing to request.
+
+The opposition came from the usual sources. After the bill was
+presented, the _Remonstrance_, the organ of the anti-suffrage society
+in Boston, soon appeared on the desk of every legislator. The liquor
+influence also was prominent in the lobby.
+
+The bill was reported from the committee to the House on Jan. 24,
+1893, with the recommendation that it should not pass and a minority
+report in favor. The former was rejected by a vote of 39 to 21. The
+bill was brought to a final vote on March 8. A number of the members
+of the suffrage club and some other women who approved their cause
+were present by request of the friends in the House. Some of the
+arguments used were peculiar. Ruth didn't vote and she married very
+well (at least at the second trial) nor did any of the women referred
+to in the Bible, so why should the women of the United States do so?
+One Representative said he always attended to affairs out of doors and
+left those within to his wife. He thought that was the right way and
+didn't believe his wife would vote if she could. "But she says she
+would," declared another, who was prompted by Mrs. Tyler, and a ripple
+of laughter arose at the speaker's expense.
+
+There was the customary talk about neglected homes and implied
+disbelief in woman's ability to use the ballot rightly, but only one
+man tried the weapon of insult. Robert W. Bonynge spoke so slightingly
+of the character of women who upheld equal suffrage that one incensed
+woman, not a member of the association and presumably ignorant of
+parliamentary courtesy, gave a low hiss. Immediately he assumed the
+denunciatory and threatened immediate expulsion of all persons not
+members from the House. Frank Carney then arose and referred to the
+fact that the anti-suffrage speakers had received repeated applause
+from their adherents and no notice had been taken of it, although it
+was equally out of place. Mr. Bonynge subsided from his position and
+continued his speech.[189]
+
+The bill finally passed by 34 ayes, 27 noes; divided politically as
+follows: Ayes, 22 Populists, 11 Republicans, 1 Democrat; noes, 3
+Populists, 21 Republicans, 3 Democrats.
+
+Hamilton Armstrong had introduced the bill into the Senate, where it
+had been tabled to await the action of the House. It passed on April 3
+by 20 ayes, 10 noes: Ayes, 12 Populists, 8 Republicans, no Democrat;
+noes, one Populist, 4 Republicans, 5 Democrats.
+
+The bill received the signature of the Populist governor, Davis H.
+Waite, without delay.
+
+A general election was to be held in the fall of 1893, so that the
+verdict of the voters was soon to follow. At the annual meeting of the
+State Woman Suffrage Association that spring the officers chosen were:
+President, Miss Martha Pease; vice-president, Mrs. Ellis Meredith;
+secretary, Mrs. C. S. Bradley; treasurer, Mrs. Ensley; chairman
+executive committee, Mrs. Tyler. On motion of Mrs. Meredith, the name
+of the society was changed to the Non-Partisan Equal Suffrage
+Association of Colorado, as in the word "equal" there is an appeal to
+justice which does not seem to exist in the word "woman."
+
+The women realized the conflict before them in the near future, and
+Mrs. Ellis Meredith volunteered to visit the Woman's Congress, which
+was to meet at Chicago in May, during the World's Fair, and appeal for
+aid to the representatives of the National Association who would be
+there. Miss Susan B. Anthony, Mrs. Lucy Stone and other notables were
+present and appointed a meeting to listen to appeals. These asked help
+for the Constitutional Convention Campaign in New York and the Kansas
+Amendment Campaign, which were both considered very hopeful compared
+to what was thought in the East to be the almost hopeless campaign in
+Colorado. Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake presented the claims of New York,
+Mrs. Laura M. Johns of Kansas, and Mrs. Meredith of Colorado. "Why was
+your campaign precipitated when our hands are so full?" was one of
+the discouraging questions. "Are all those Mexicans dead?" asked Miss
+Anthony, referring to the heavy vote against equal suffrage in the
+first Colorado campaign of 1877. "No," said Mrs. Meredith, "the
+Mexicans are all there yet;" but she explained that there were
+favorable influences now which did not then exist. In the labor unions
+women members voted, and this fact inclined the men belonging to them
+to grant the full franchise. The W. C. T. U., now organized throughout
+the State, had become a firm friend and advocate, and the ruling
+political party was favorable. Clearly this was the time to strike.
+
+A promise of consideration and such aid as the National Association
+was able to furnish was given. Later they decided to send Mrs. Carrie
+Chapman Catt and guarantee her expenses in case she was not able to
+raise them in the State. From her past record, they thought it likely
+she would not only do that but put money in the treasury, and the
+result justified their expectations. She was a financial help, but,
+much as money was needed, her eloquence and judgment were worth more,
+and she always will have a warm place in the hearts of Colorado women
+who were active in the campaign of 1893.
+
+When that campaign opened, there were just $25 in the treasury. Lucy
+Stone sent a donation of $100. Iowa and California gave aid, and there
+were small contributions in money from members of the E. S. A. and
+from auxiliary clubs formed by Mrs. Chapman Catt in different parts of
+the State.
+
+Besides these, others already had been organized. In Longmont a club
+was formed in the spring of 1893 by Mesdames Mary L. Carr, Orpha
+Bacon, Rosetta Webb and Jane Lincoln. They took up the study of laws
+relating to the property rights of women and endeavored to awaken
+interest in the question to be settled the following November. The
+majority which Longmont gave for suffrage is a testimony to the value
+of their work. In Colorado Springs Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford was
+president of a large local society which afterward became auxiliary to
+the State association, with Mrs. Ella L. C. Dwinnell as president, and
+did excellent work in El Paso County. In Greeley many of the workers
+of 1877 were still active. Mrs. Lillian Hartman Johnson organized a
+club in Durango and spoke for the cause. Mrs. A. Guthrie Brown formed
+one in Breckinridge of which Mesdames H. R. Steele, C. L. Westermann
+and E. G. Brown were active members.
+
+All these clubs, large and small, scattered throughout the State,
+assisted in arousing public sentiment, but the situation in Denver was
+the one of most anxious interest. It is always in cities that reforms
+meet defeat, for there the opposing interests are better organized and
+more watchful. In no other State is the metropolis so much the center
+of its life as is Denver of Colorado. Through this modern Palmyra,
+which stands in the center of the continent and of the tide of
+commerce from East and West, flow all the veins and arteries of the
+State life. Arapahoe County, in which it is situated, contains more
+than one-fourth of the population of the entire State. Upon the women
+of Denver, therefore, was imposed a triple share of responsibility.
+Besides the importance of the large vote, there rested particularly
+upon the members of its suffrage club the burden of having invited
+this contest and made it a campaign issue.
+
+In the early fall, the City League of Denver was organized with 100
+members and Mrs. John L. Routt, wife of the ex-governor, as president.
+Mrs. Thomas M. Patterson and Mrs. N. P. Hill were prominent workers in
+this club. A Young Woman's League was formed by Misses Mary and
+Margaret Patterson and Miss Isabel Hill, and there were other leagues
+in various parts of the city. In all this work Mrs. Tyler was
+indefatigable.
+
+Miss Minnie J. Reynolds, chairman of press work, enlisted the help of
+seventy-five per cent. of the newspapers. In some cases editorial
+approval and assistance were given, in others space was allowed for
+suffrage matter. In August Mrs. Elizabeth Tabor donated the use of two
+rooms in the opera house block, one large enough to seat several
+hundred persons, the other a suitable office for the corresponding
+secretary. Dr. Minnie C. T. Love had acted gratuitously in that
+capacity and opened communication with suffragists throughout the
+State, but it was now deemed necessary to employ some one who could
+devote her entire time to the work. Miss Helen M. Reynolds was chosen
+and added to unusual capability the most earnest zeal. The rooms were
+furnished through loans of rugs, desks, chairs, etc.
+
+Equal suffrage was indorsed by the county conventions of the
+Republican, Prohibition and Populist parties, and also at a called
+meeting of the Democratic State Central Committee. Many ministers and
+lawyers spoke in its favor. Among the latter were Charles S. Thomas,
+since governor of the State, J. Warner Mills, Judge L. C. Rockwell,
+Charles Hartzell, Eugene Engley and Attorney-General I. N. Stevens,
+who was one of the most trusted advisers.
+
+There were also women speakers of experience: Mrs. Therese Jenkins of
+Wyoming, Mrs. Susan S. Fessenden of Massachusetts; Mrs. Dora Phelps
+Buell, Mrs. Mary Jewett Telford, president of the Woman's Relief Corps
+in the Department of Colorado and Wyoming and also president for
+several terms of the State W. C. T. U., who made a five-months'
+speaking tour; Mrs. Leonora Barry Lake of St. Louis, who spoke
+efficiently under the auspices of the Knights of Labor. Mrs. Laura
+Ormiston Chant of England delivered an address on her way westward.
+
+Some women made speeches who never had been on the platform before but
+have since developed much oratorical ability. When needed, women who
+did not dare risk an unwritten address read papers. Meetings were held
+all over the city and State. "I should think," said a banker, "from
+the campaign the women are running that they had a barrel of money;"
+but he was a contributor to the fund and knew it was very limited. In
+all about $2,000 were raised, over $300 of which were spent for
+literature. Some of the most efficient leaflets were written by
+members of the association and printed in Denver. Nearly 150,000 of
+these were issued.
+
+In the city press Mrs. Patience Mapleton represented the cause in the
+_Republican_; Mrs. Ellis Meredith in the _Rocky Mountain News_. There
+were house to house canvassers, distributors of literature and others
+who rendered most valuable assistance and yet whose names must
+necessarily remain unrecorded. The most of this service was given
+freely, but some of the women who devoted all their time received
+moderate salaries, for most of the workers belonged to the
+wage-earning class. The speakers asked no compensation but their
+expenses were frequently borne. Halls and churches had to be paid for
+and on several occasions opera houses were rented. When in the final
+report the expenses of election day were given as $17 a murmur of
+amusement ran through the audience.
+
+The women who "had all the rights they wanted" appeared late in the
+campaign. Some of them sent communications to the papers, complaining
+of the effort to thrust the ballot upon them and add to the already
+onerous duties of life. When told that they would not be compelled to
+vote and that if silent influence was in their opinion more potent
+than the ballot, it would not be necessary to cast it aside for the
+weaker weapon, they responded indignantly that if they had the
+franchise of course it would be their duty to use it. Let it be noted
+that many of them have voted regularly ever since they were
+enfranchised, though some have reconsidered and returned to their
+silent influence.
+
+The liquor element slept in fancied security until almost the eve of
+election, as they did not believe the amendment would receive popular
+sanction. When they awoke to the danger they immediately proceeded to
+assess all saloon keepers and as many as possible of their prominent
+patrons. They got out a large number of dodgers, which were put into
+the hands of passers-by. These were an attack upon equal suffrage and
+the women who advocated it, and at the bottom of the first issue was a
+brewer's advertisement. This dodger stated that "only some old maids
+like Lucy Stone, Susan Anthony, Frances Willard, Elizabeth Stanton and
+Mary Livermore wanted to vote." They also employed an attorney to
+juggle the ballots so that they might be thrown out on a technicality.
+There was consternation among the suffragists when the ballot was
+finally produced bearing the words "For the Amendment," "Against the
+Amendment," for it was well known that the measure was not an
+"amendment." The best legal talent in Denver was consulted and an
+opinion rendered that the ruse would prove of no avail, as the
+intention was still clear. The women, however, issued a leaflet
+instructing the voters just where to put the cross on the ticket if
+they wished to vote for equal suffrage.
+
+The suffragists were divided in opinion as to the presence of women at
+the polls on the election day which was to decide their fate. Some
+thought it might be prejudicial, but the friends among the men
+strongly approved their presence in order to influence voters. What
+future election could be of more importance to women than this, and
+why should they hesitate to show their interest? Under directions from
+suffrage headquarters workers at the polls distributed the leaflets,
+often supplementing them by their own eloquence. No woman received any
+discourtesy.
+
+The night of November 7 was an anxious one. Women went home and lay
+awake wondering whether they had done everything possible to insure
+success, or whether failure might be the result of some omission. When
+the returns published the next morning, although incomplete, showed
+that success really had crowned their efforts it seemed almost too
+good to be true. All day long and in the evening people were coming
+and going at suffrage headquarters with greetings and congratulations.
+Women of all classes seemed drawn together by the new tie of
+citizenship.
+
+The full returns gave the result as follows: For suffrage, 35,798;
+against. 29,451; an affirmative majority of 6,347.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+What were the causes of this unique success? First, it may be claimed
+that Western men have more than others of that spirit of chivalry of
+which the world has heard so much and seen so little. The human mind
+inclines to justice, except when turned aside by prejudice, and there
+is less prejudice against and a stronger belief in equal rights in the
+newer communities. The pressure of hard times, culminating in the
+panic of 1893, undoubtedly contributed to the success of the Populist
+party, and to its influence the suffrage cause owes much. A new party
+boldly accepts new principles while the old parties are struggling to
+conform to precedents. This is shown clearly in both the legislative
+and the popular vote. It was in the counties giving Populist
+pluralities that the majority of 6,818 in favor of equal suffrage was
+found. The counties which went Republican and Democratic gave a
+majority of 471 against the measure. The fact, however, that in all
+parties there were friends who were willing to work and speak for it,
+and also the number of suffrage bills which had been introduced at
+this time, showed that the State was ready for it.
+
+[Illustration:
+
+  LAURA A. GREGG.
+  Omaha, Neb.
+
+          MARY WOOD SWIFT.
+          San Francisco, Cal.
+
+      ELLIS MEREDITH.
+      Denver, Colo.
+
+  EMMA SHAFTER HOWARD.
+  Oakland, Cal.
+
+          DR. CORA SMITH EATON.
+          Minneapolis, Minn.
+
+]
+
+The favorable influence of the W. C. T. U. and the labor organizations
+has been referred to. There was but little active opposition from
+women and, as the campaign progressed, indifference often turned into
+sympathy. Women who had kept silent even at home for fear of ridicule
+were surprised and delighted to hear their husbands express approval.
+Those of all classes of society worked unitedly and well. They could
+not have done this if they had not been used to organized effort in
+other directions. How many doors stand open now through which women
+freely pass, unmindful of the fact that they were unlocked by the
+earlier workers in the suffrage cause!
+
+The first feeling was the one common in all victories, that of joy and
+exultation, but the weight of responsibility was soon felt. At the
+first meeting of the executive board of the equal suffrage association
+after the election, Mrs. Routt, a woman of queenly presence, said as
+she took the hand of another member, "I never felt so weak in all my
+life." Mrs. Routt was the first woman in the State to register.
+
+It was natural that other women should look to the suffragists for
+direction, and as long as headquarters were kept open there were
+frequent calls for advice and instruction. Foreign women came to ask
+concerning the measures which would make them naturalized citizens;
+there were inquiries about registration, and the question often came
+from those in humble life: "Now that I have received this new right,
+what books shall I get to teach me how to exercise it?" Surely such an
+awakening of conscience ought to have a purifying effect! One firm in
+Denver stated that they sold more books on political economy in the
+first eight months after the suffrage victory than in twenty years
+before. The suffrage club took up the study of Fiske's Civil
+Government and of parliamentary law, and as long as it existed in the
+old form was actively devoted to political subjects.
+
+The day after the election a German woman came out of her house and
+accosted one of the members of the club with the exclamation, "Ach,
+Yon he feel so bad; he not vote any more; me, I vote now!" When
+assured that John had not been deprived of any of his rights, with
+more generosity than can be attributed to many of the Johns, she
+called her husband, exclaiming delightedly: "Yon, Yon, you vote too;
+we bofe vote!"
+
+AFTER THE BATTLE WAS WON: Colorado had always gone Republican in
+national elections until 1892, when the People's Party scored an
+overwhelming majority. In 1894, while still partially a unit on
+national issues, the parties were widely separated on State affairs
+and each put a ticket in the field.
+
+The reign of the Populists was of short duration. The eccentricities
+of Gov. Davis H. Waite brought upon his party an unmerited degree of
+censure. The Republicans raised a cry of "Redeem the State!" and under
+that motto called to their aid women of former Republican
+affiliations. At no subsequent election have women given such close
+allegiance to party lines. Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, who was sent by the
+National Republican Committee to canvass the State, probably won many
+straight Republican votes by arousing in the minds of the women the
+fear that by attempting to scratch a ticket they might lose their vote
+entirely. They have learned since that the Australian ballot is not so
+intricate that any one who can read and write need stand in awe of it.
+
+The Populist women had formed clubs to assist that party before the
+suffrage was granted. In February, 1894, they opened headquarters in
+Denver and began organizing throughout the State. Miss Phoebe W.
+Couzins of St. Louis assisted them in this campaign. Mrs. Helen M.
+Gougar of Indiana worked for the Prohibitionists. When the annual
+convention of the National Republican League Clubs was held at Denver,
+in June, the Republican women were as yet unorganized. At this time
+Mrs. Frank Hall was persuaded to take charge of that department under
+the direction of the State Central Committee. Women's Republican
+leagues were established throughout the State, and in the larger towns
+and cities complete precinct organizations were effected. In Denver
+women's Republican clubs were formed in every district and, with their
+committees subject to the county central committee, worked separately
+from the men. That known as the East Capitol Hill Women's Republican
+League, founded by Mrs. H. B. Stevens, acquired a membership of 1,000.
+The East Denver Women's Republican Club, president, Mrs. Alma
+Lafferty, was equally successful. These were very active in managing
+the large mass meetings which contributed so much to the success of
+their party.
+
+The Democratic women had a peculiar task. Their party was in the
+minority and it was divided into Silver Democrats and White Wings
+(Cleveland Democrats). The women refused to acknowledge either
+faction. Mrs. Anna Marshall Cochrane and Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford
+called a meeting of the Democratic women of Denver at the home of the
+latter in May, 1894, and organized the Colorado Women's Democratic
+Club with a membership of nine: President, Mrs. Mary V. Macon;
+secretary, Mrs. Cochrane; treasurer, Mrs. Mary Holland Kincaid. The
+National Committee recognized this as the only straight Democratic
+association in Colorado, and appointed Mrs. Bradford as organizer. She
+canvassed the State and being a pleasant and convincing speaker and
+bringing letters from the chairmen of the two State committees, both
+factions attended her meetings. She formed twelve large women's clubs
+and set them to work. When the two State conventions met in Denver,
+they were both quite willing to acknowledge delegates from these
+clubs, but the delegates refused to act except with a united
+convention. Mrs. Bradford was nominated as State Superintendent of
+Public Instruction, being the first woman named in Colorado for a
+State office. Mrs. Macon was nominated for regent of the State
+University. Since there was no chance of electing their ticket, the
+principal work of the Democratic women in this campaign was the
+unifying of the party.
+
+The Republicans elected Mrs. Antoinette J. Peavy Superintendent of
+Public Instruction and three women members of the Legislature--Mrs.
+Clara Cressingham, Mrs. Frances S. Klock and Mrs. Carrie C. Holly.
+
+During this campaign women gained a good deal of insight into
+political machinery and learned much which dampened their ardor as
+party politicians. The idea began to prevail that at least in
+municipal government the best results could be attained by
+non-partisan methods.
+
+In the spring of 1895 Mrs. Hall, as vice-chairman of the Republican
+State Central, Committee, being in charge of the woman's department,
+called a conference of the several presidents of the women's
+Republican clubs of Denver. Their object was to purify the ballot and
+to overcome corrupt gang rule and present worthy candidates. A meeting
+of all the clubs was called in the Broadway Theater and the house was
+crowded. Mrs. E. M. Ashley read an announcement of the objects to be
+accomplished "in the party if they could, out of it if they must." At
+this election, for the first time, the _demi-monde_ were compelled to
+register. Desiring to avoid it they sent a petition to this woman's
+organization, imploring its interference in their behalf. A committee
+of three women of high standing was appointed and appeared before the
+Fire and Police Board to request that these unfortunates should not be
+forced to vote against their will. The board promised compliance but
+disregarded their pledge and those women were compelled to vote.
+
+It is no wonder that other organizations sprang up in rebellion
+against such corrupt methods. The Tax-Payers' Party and the
+Independent Citizens' Movement were examples of these attempts,
+defeated at first but succeeding later. The Civic Federation of
+Denver, an outcome of these efforts, is an organization composed of
+women from all parties, which has endeavored to enforce the selection
+of suitable candidates.
+
+The Silver Issue of 1896 created a division in the ranks of the
+Republican party which dissolved many of its women's clubs. The larger
+wing, under the name of Silver Republican, fused with the other silver
+parties and elected their State ticket. Miss Grace Espy Patton, who
+had been prominent in Democratic politics, was chosen State
+Superintendent of Public Instruction. Three women were elected to the
+Lower House: Mrs. Olive C. Butler, National Silver Party; Mrs. Martha
+A. B. Conine, Non-Partisan; Mrs. Evangeline Heartz, Populist, all of
+Denver.
+
+In the campaign of 1898 voters were divided between the National
+Republican party under U. S. Senator Edward O. Wolcott and a fusion of
+the Silver Republicans, Democrats and Populists under the leadership
+of U. S. Senator Henry M. Teller, Thomas M. Patterson and Charles S.
+Thomas. In Arapahoe County, owing to various conflicting interests in
+the municipal government of Denver, fifteen tickets were filed. Each
+of the principal parties appointed a woman as vice-chairman of the
+State Central Committee: National Republican, Mrs. Ione T. Hanna;
+Silver Republican, Mrs. Arras Bissel; Democratic, Mrs. S. E. Shields;
+Populist, Mrs. Heartz. A woman's executive committee was formed in
+each party.
+
+The Fusion party elected Mrs. Helen M. Grenfell, Silver Republican, as
+State Superintendent of Public Instruction; and Mrs. Frances S. Lee,
+Democrat, Mrs. Harriet G. R. Wright, Populist, and Dr. Mary F. Barry,
+Silver Republican, as members of the House of Representatives.
+
+Conditions in the State changed materially between the Presidential
+elections of 1896 and 1900. The depression in the price of silver,
+which closed many mines and reduced the working force in others, set
+countless men adrift and led to much prospecting and the discovery of
+new gold fields. The mines of Cripple Creek gave Colorado the foremost
+place among gold-producing States, California taking second.
+Consequently, although interest in the silver question did not cease,
+its pressure was less felt. In 1896 the McKinley Republicans had no
+hope of carrying the State, while the Silver Republicans, Populists
+and Democrats had united and were confident of the success which
+always had attended a complete fusion of those parties. Thus in both
+cases the incentive to the utmost exertion was wanting.
+
+In 1900 the situation was different. The Republicans thought there was
+a chance to win and the Fusionists were not over-confident, hence both
+parties were stimulated to greater efforts. In 1896 the straight
+Republicans had only one daily and not more than five weekly papers.
+In 1900 they had fifteen daily and 103 weekly papers supporting their
+ticket. They were thoroughly organized throughout the State. In Denver
+a Woman's Republican League was formed which vied in size with the
+organization of 1894. Mrs. Stanley M. Casper, a most efficient member
+of the Equal Suffrage Club in the campaign of 1893, was president;
+Mrs. A. L. Welch, vice-president and Miss Mary H. Thorn, secretary.
+They organized every district in the city of Denver, appointing women
+to look after the registration, secure speakers and get out the vote.
+It was through this league that U. S. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge came
+to the State. Mrs. J. Ellen Foster and U. S. Senator J. B. Foraker
+also spoke under their auspices, as well as other distinguished
+orators, and from their own ranks Mrs. Hanna, Mrs. Lucy R. Scott, Mrs.
+Peavey and Mrs. Thalia M. Rhoads.
+
+The Colorado Woman's Bryan League were not less active, under the
+following officers: Chairman, Mrs. Salena V. Ernest; vice-chairmen,
+Mesdames Sarah Platt Decker, Katherine A. G. (Thomas M.) Patterson and
+Mary L. Fletcher; secretary, Mrs. Helen Thomas Belford; treasurer,
+Mrs. Harriet G. R. Wright.
+
+Both organizations kept open headquarters, and the daily papers
+contained long lists of parlor meetings held throughout the city,
+addressed by men and women of prominence. The Bryan League was
+fortunate in having among its own members many excellent speakers,
+including Mrs. Decker, Mrs. Patton Cowles, formerly State
+Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Rose Kidd Beare, Mrs.
+Bradford, Mrs. Dora Phelps Buell and Mrs. Wright. Mrs. Grenfell,
+present State Superintendent, and Mrs. Heartz, now Representative,
+both candidates for re-election, made many speeches.[190]
+
+The committees of men and women worked together. On October 27 the
+Woman's Bryan League held a rally of the Silver Parties and a
+reception to U. S. Senator Teller at the Coliseum. The same evening
+the Woman's Republican League gave a reception to their candidates at
+Windsor Hall. Women seem to have an unsuspected gift for managing
+large meetings. The Denver _Times_ (Republican) said: "The women have
+shown an ability to handle campaigns for which they never were given
+credit in the past."
+
+In the election of 1900 the Republicans not only lost their electoral
+ticket but carried fewer counties than they had done for years, yet
+their vote of 26,000 for McKinley in 1896 was increased to 93,000; and
+the Bryan vote was reduced from 161,000 to 122,700. John F. Shafroth
+and John C. Bell, Fusionists, both strong advocates of woman suffrage,
+were elected by large majorities. The Legislature was overwhelmingly
+Democratic, which defeated the re-election to the U. S. Senate of
+Edward O. Wolcott, that the women had especially determined upon.
+Thomas M. Patterson was elected.
+
+I. N. Stevens, of the _Colorado Springs Gazette_, Republican, in
+closing an article on the State campaign says:
+
+     The women have demonstrated their effectiveness in political
+     campaigns, and wherever party candidates and party politics are
+     up to the high standard which they have a right to demand they
+     can be counted upon for loyal support. The Republican party in
+     Colorado can only hope to triumph in one way and that is by
+     appealing to the judgment of the honest and intelligent people of
+     the State with clean candidates for commendable policies and
+     under worthy leadership.
+
+This testimony certainly implies two things, viz.: That the women of
+Colorado are a power in politics which must be reckoned with, and that
+their loyal support can be fully counted upon only when the character
+of the candidates as well as the political methods and aims of the
+party receive due consideration.
+
+The vote at the second presidential election after the suffrage was
+conferred on women was as follows:
+
+Percentage of population in the State: Males, 55; females, 45 (in
+round numbers).
+
+Percentage of vote cast: Males, (nearly) 58-1/2; females, (over)
+41-1/2.
+
+Percentage of vote cast in Denver: Males, 57-1/2; females, 42-1/2.
+
+This vote shows that from all causes an average of only three per
+cent. of the women in the entire State failed to exercise the
+suffrage.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION: The legislation of most importance which is
+directly due to woman suffrage may be summed up as follows: Equal
+guardianship of children; raising the "age of protection" for girls
+from 16 to 18 years; establishment of a State Home for Dependent
+Children; a State Industrial School for Girls; indeterminate sentence
+for criminals; a State Arbitration Board; open meetings of school
+boards; the removal of emblems from ballots; placing drinking
+fountains on the corners of most of the down-town streets of Denver.
+
+Indirectly, the results have been infinitely greater. The change in
+the conduct of Denver stores alone, in regard to women employes, is
+worthy a chapter. Probably no other city of the same size has more
+stores standing upon the so-called White List, and laws which prior to
+1893 were dead letters are enforced to-day.
+
+The bills introduced by women in the Legislature have been chiefly
+such as were designed to improve social conditions. The law raising
+the "age of protection" for girls, the law giving the mother an equal
+right in her children, and the law creating a State Home for Dependent
+Children were secured by women in 1895. In the next session they
+secured the Curfew Law and an appropriation for the State Home for
+Incorrigible Girls. By obtaining the removal of the emblems from the
+ballot, they enforced a measure of educational qualification. They
+have entirely answered the objection that the immature voter would be
+sure so to exaggerate the power of legislation that she would try to
+do everything at once.
+
+Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton said that when she viewed the exhibit of
+woman's work at the Centennial, her heart sank within her; but when
+she bethought her to examine into the part women had had in the work
+accredited to men, she took new courage. In like manner much of the
+legislative work women already have done in Colorado is unchronicled.
+When a woman finds that there are several other bills besides her own
+advocating the same measure of reform, she wisely tries to concentrate
+this effort, even if it is necessary to let the desired bill appear in
+the name of another. Many excellent bills for which they receive no
+credit have run the gauntlet of legislative perils piloted by women.
+
+A notable instance of this is what was called the Frog-Blocking Bill,
+for the protection of railroad employes, which was introduced by a man
+but so ably engineered by Mrs. Evangeline Heartz that upon its passage
+she received a huge box of candy, with "The thanks of 5,000 railroad
+men." While she introduced a number of bills herself, only two of them
+finally passed--one compelling school boards to hold open meetings
+instead of Star Chamber sessions, and the present law providing for a
+State Board of Arbitration. In order to make the latter effective it
+should have a compulsory clause, which she will strive for in the
+Legislature of 1901.
+
+LAWS: While the laws of Colorado always have been liberal to women in
+many respects, there are a few notable exceptions.
+
+The first Legislature of the Territory, in 1861, passed a bill to the
+effect that either party to the marriage contract might dispose of
+property without the signature or consent of the other. The men of
+this new mining country often had left their wives thousands of miles
+away in the Eastern States; there was no railroad or telegraph; mining
+claims, being real estate, had to be transferred by deed, often in a
+hurry, and this law was largely a necessity. It now works great
+injustice to women, however, through the fact that all the property
+accumulated after marriage belongs to the husband and he may legally
+dispose of it without the wife's knowledge, leaving her penniless.
+Even the household goods may be thus disposed of.[191]
+
+A law of recent years exempts from execution a homestead to the value
+of $2,000 for "the head of the family," but even this can be sold by
+the husband without the wife's signature, although he can not mortgage
+it. This property must be designated as a "homestead" on the margin of
+the recorded title, and it must be occupied by the owner. "A woman
+occupying her own property as the home of the family has the right to
+designate it as a homestead. The husband has the legal right to live
+with her and enjoy the homestead he has settled upon her."(!) He has,
+however, the sole right to determine the residence of the family, as
+in every other State, and by removing from a property the homestead
+right is destroyed. If the husband abandon the wife and acquire a
+homestead elsewhere, she has a right only in that.
+
+Neither curtesy nor dower obtains. The surviving husband or wife, if
+there are children or the descendants of children living, receives,
+subject to the payment of debts, one-half of the entire estate, real
+and personal. If there is no living child nor a descendant of any
+child, the entire estate goes to the survivor.
+
+Husband and wife have the same rights in making wills. Each can will
+away from the other half of his or her separate property.
+
+In buying and selling, making contracts, suing and being sued, the
+married woman has the same rights as the unmarried.
+
+In 1895 fathers and mothers were made joint guardians of the children
+with equal powers.
+
+The expenses of the family and the education of the children are
+chargeable upon the property of both husband and wife, or either of
+them, and in relation thereto they may be sued jointly or separately.
+
+In case a man fails to support his family, he can be compelled to do
+so on the complaint of the wife, the chairman of the board of county
+commissioners, or the agent of the humane society. Unless he show
+physical incapacity, or some other good reason for this failure, he
+may be committed to jail for sixty days.
+
+The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 16 years in
+1891; from 16 to 18 in 1895. The penalty is confinement in the
+penitentiary not less than one nor more than twenty years.
+
+SUFFRAGE: School Suffrage was granted to women by the constitution in
+1876, the year Colorado became a State.
+
+The amendment to the constitution adopted by 6,347 majority, Nov. 7,
+1893, is as follows:
+
+     Every female person shall be entitled to vote at all elections,
+     in the same manner in all respects as male persons are or shall
+     be entitled to vote by the constitution and laws of this State,
+     and the same qualifications as to age, citizenship and time of
+     residence in the State, county, city, ward and precinct, and all
+     other qualifications required by law to entitle male persons to
+     vote, shall be required to entitle female persons to vote.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: Possessing the Full Suffrage, women of course are
+eligible to all offices, but naturally the men will not surrender them
+unless compelled to do so. That of State Superintendent of Public
+Instruction is generally conceded by all parties as belonging to a
+woman, and no man has been a candidate for this office since 1893. It
+can best be spared, as it does not encourage idleness or enable its
+holder to amass wealth.
+
+Beginning with 1895 ten women have been elected to the Lower House of
+the Legislature but none to the Senate. Not more than three have been
+members during any one term.
+
+Only two women were elected to State offices in 1900. The others
+holding office at present are as follows: County school
+superintendents, 29; school directors, 508; county clerk, one; county
+treasurer, one; assessor, one; clerk of County Court, one; clerk of
+District Court, one. Of the county superintendents, three were elected
+by a fusion of Democrats and Prohibitionists, three by Democrats,
+Prohibitionists and Silver Republicans; ten by Democrats and thirteen
+by Republicans.
+
+The State Board of Charities and Corrections, which has general
+supervision over all the charitable and penal institutions, has had
+Mrs. Sarah Platt Decker for its president through this and previous
+administrations. Dr. Eleanor Lawney also is on this board. On the
+board of control of the State Industrial School for Girls, three out
+of five members are women; State Home for Dependent Children, four out
+of five; State School for Deaf and Blind, one out of five; State
+Normal School, two out of seven; State Board of Horticulture, one out
+of six. There have been women on the State Board of Pardons.
+
+There are women physicians in the State Insane Asylum and connected
+with all institutions containing women and children.
+
+The law for jurors is construed by the judges to apply equally to men
+and women, but thus far it has been so manipulated that no women have
+been drawn for service.
+
+In 1897-98 two counties had women coroners.
+
+There are eight women clerks in the Senate and seven in the House of
+the present Legislature. A number are employed in the court-house and
+in the county offices.
+
+This partition of offices does not appear very liberal, considering
+that women have cast as high as 52 per cent. of the total vote; but
+there are in the State 30,000 more men than women, who could vote if
+they chose, and they are much more accustomed to holding offices and
+much more anxious to get them. The less the probabilities of election,
+the more liberal the parties have been in granting nominations to
+women.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: The only occupation legally forbidden to women is that of
+working in mines. Children under fourteen can not be employed,
+legally, in mines, factories, stores, etc.
+
+EDUCATION: All the institutions of learning are open alike to both
+sexes. There are five women on the faculty of the State University,
+one on that of the School of Agriculture, nine in the State Normal
+School, and in the State Institute for Deaf Mutes seventeen of the
+thirty-three teachers are women. The Medical Department of the
+University of Denver has three women professors.
+
+In the public schools there are 727 men and 2,557 women teachers. The
+average monthly salary of the men is $67; of the women, $48.42.
+Colorado spends a larger amount per capita for public school education
+than any other State.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On June 29, 30, 1894, a general meeting of Colorado suffragists was
+held in Denver and a reorganization of the State association effected.
+The reason for its continuance was the desire to help other States in
+their efforts to win the franchise, and a feeling of loyalty to the
+National Association, to which in common with all other women those of
+Colorado owed so much.
+
+In May 1895, Miss Susan B. Anthony, president of the National
+Association, and the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president at large,
+on their way to California, addressed a large and delighted audience
+in the Broadway Theater, and a reception was given them by the Woman's
+Club.
+
+In 1896 the Colorado E. S. A. raised the funds to send Mrs. Mary C. C.
+Bradford to aid in the Idaho amendment campaign.
+
+During the Biennial of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, held
+in Denver in June, 1898, the E. S. A. celebrated the Jubilee
+Anniversary of the first Woman's Rights Convention at Seneca Falls, N.
+Y., by a meeting in the Auditorium and a reception in the parlors of
+the Central Christian Church, with addresses by eminent local and
+visiting speakers. In these rooms, for the entire week, this
+organization and the Civic Federation kept open house, and in a
+flag-draped booth gave an illustration of the Australian system of
+voting.[192]
+
+In January, 1899, Denver entertained Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt,
+chairman of the national organization committee, and Miss Mary G. Hay,
+secretary, as they were passing through the State. Mrs. A. L. Welch
+gave a reception in their honor, at which ex-Gov. Charles S. Thomas
+and Gov. Alva Adams spoke enthusiastically of the results of equal
+suffrage, followed by Mrs. Chapman Catt in an interesting address. The
+occasion was especially happy because that day the Legislature had
+almost unanimously passed a joint resolution as follows:
+
+     WHEREAS, Equal suffrage has been in operation in Colorado for
+     five years, during which time women have exercised the privilege
+     as generally as men, with the result that better candidates have
+     been selected for office, methods of election have been purified,
+     the character of legislation improved, civic intelligence
+     increased and womanhood developed to greater usefulness by
+     political responsibility; therefore,
+
+     _Resolved_, by the House of Representatives, the Senate
+     concurring, That in view of these results the enfranchisement of
+     women in every State and Territory of the American Union is
+     hereby recommended as a measure tending to the advancement of a
+     higher and better social order.
+
+     That an authenticated copy of these resolutions be forwarded by
+     the Governor of the State to the Legislature of every State and
+     Territory, and the press be requested to call public attention to
+     them.[193]
+
+This year Mrs. Katherine A. G. Patterson, who had been president of
+the State E. S. A. for three years, retired and was succeeded by Mrs.
+Welch, who was followed in 1900 by Mrs. Amy K. Cornwall, and in 1901
+by Prof. Theodosia G. Ammons.
+
+One of the uncongenial tasks of the officers of the association has
+been the answering of the many attacks made in Eastern papers on the
+position of women in Colorado, though this becomes far less trying
+when it is remembered that in most States public opinion on the
+question of woman suffrage is still in its formative stage. So soon do
+we become accustomed to a new thing, if it is in the order of nature,
+that the women of Colorado have almost ceased to realize that they
+possess an uncommon privilege. It seems as much a matter of course
+that women should vote as that they should enjoy the right of free
+speech or the protection of the _habeas corpus_ act. It is seldom
+defended, for the same reason that it is no longer thought necessary
+to defend the Copernican vs. the Ptolemaic theory. One aim of the
+association is to arouse a more altruistic spirit, and another so to
+unite women that they will stand together for a good cause
+irrespective of party. There is at present a strong legislative
+committee which has been studying the statutes from a non-partisan
+standpoint, with a view to influencing needful legislation.[194]
+
+Before the autumn of 1893 there were many clubs in Denver, mostly of a
+literary nature, each formed of women of a certain rank in life, with
+similar tastes and pursuits. Some had a membership so limited as to
+render them very difficult of access, but in their way all were good.
+Perhaps the only truly democratic association, if those of the
+churches were excepted, where the rich and the poor met together on a
+plane so perfectly level that only mental or moral height in the
+individual produced any difference, was the equal suffrage club.
+Whether related to it or not, this new ideal of club life followed
+closely after the gaining of political equality.
+
+The Woman's Club of Denver was organized April 21, 1894, with 225
+charter members, and now has nearly 1,000. It contains many women of
+wealth and high social standing, many quiet housekeepers without the
+slightest aspirations toward fashionable life, and many women who earn
+their daily bread by some trade or profession. What the public school
+is supposed to do for our youth in helping us to become a homogeneous
+nation, the modern woman's club is doing for those of maturer years.
+The North Side Woman's Club of Denver is second to the Woman's Club
+only in size and time of organization. The Colorado Federation of
+Women's Clubs was formed April 5, 1895, with a charter membership of
+thirty-seven. It now is composed of over 100 clubs, containing about
+4,000 individuals.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+This is merely a plain tale from the hills. Colorado women feel that
+they have done well but have made only a beginning. The fact that
+women are factors in politics underlies and overrules many things not
+directly connected with the results of election day. Many of the dire
+effects predicted of equal suffrage have proved their prophets false.
+In some cases the women themselves have been surprised to find they
+had entertained groundless fears. This is particularly true concerning
+the fierce partisanship which is supposed to run riot in the female
+nature. There is a strong tendency on the part of women to stand by
+each other, though not always to the extent evinced by one lady who
+was and still is a pronounced "anti." At the first election she voted
+for every woman placed in nomination for the Legislature, Populist,
+Democrat, Republican and Prohibitionist, until she had filled out her
+ticket. Women frequently scratch their ballots when by so doing they
+can elect a better man. In legislative work there are absolutely no
+party lines. The Republican and the Democratic women both want the
+same measures, and they look upon themselves as constituents whether
+the member belongs to their party or not.
+
+The vote of the _demi-monde_ always has been a stumbling-block to
+certain particularly good people. These women never register, never
+vote and never attend primaries except when compelled to do so. Their
+identity is often a secret even to their closest associates. It is
+almost impossible to learn their true names. All they ask is to be let
+alone. Unfortunately the city of Denver is under what is known as the
+Metropolitan Fire and Police System. The firemen and police are
+controlled by boards appointed by the Governor. If he is a politically
+scrupulous man and his appointments are good ones, this class is not
+molested. Gov. Davis H. Waite did not compel these women to vote for
+him in 1894, though he had the power. Under the administration of
+Governor Adams, when the Hon. Ralph Talbot was president of the board,
+they took no part whatever.
+
+Possibly those who have been most disappointed at the workings of
+equal suffrage are the Prohibitionists, yet they really have reason
+for congratulation. Weld County, which gave the largest vote for equal
+suffrage of any in the State, has excluded liquor from its borders
+except in one small town, a coal mining camp with a heavy foreign
+vote. In many sections the liquor traffic has been abolished, always
+by the votes of women, but there are many more men than women in the
+State and without their co-operation no general reform can be enacted
+or enforced. Every political party has banished liquor and tobacco
+from its headquarters, as desiring to win the women's support they are
+careful not to give offense. On election days Denver has a holiday
+appearance. The vote is cast early and the members of a family usually
+go together to the polls.
+
+The most noteworthy result is the improved character of the
+candidates, as one of the most important points to be considered is
+whether they can get the votes of women. The addition of a large
+number of independent and conscientious voters to the electorate; the
+wider outlook given to woman herself through the exercise of civic
+rights; and the higher degree of comradeship made possible by the
+removal of political inequality between man and woman; these are the
+greatest benefits which equal suffrage has brought to Colorado.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[188] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Emily R.
+Meredith and her daughter, Ellis Meredith of Denver, both strong
+factors in securing suffrage for the women of their State; the latter
+is on the staff of the _Rocky Mountain News_ and editor of the
+_Western Clubwoman_.
+
+[189] In 1900 Mr. Bonynge was a candidate for Congress on the
+Republican ticket and was overwhelmingly defeated by the votes of
+women.
+
+[190] Mrs. Grenfell was re-elected on the Fusion ticket, having been
+indorsed by the heads of all the State institutions, most of the
+county superintendents and all the prominent educators. The
+Republicans had a woman candidate for this office. Mrs. Heartz was
+re-elected on the Fusion ticket. There was a Republican woman
+candidate for the Legislature also.
+
+[191] A bill was introduced in the Legislature of 1901 to give the
+wife a half-interest in all the earnings after marriage, but it failed
+to pass either House, perhaps owing to the time consumed by the
+important revenue bill.
+
+[192] Governor Adams did a splendid work for equal suffrage in his
+welcome to this great body of women. Quite unaware that it was a
+tabooed subject, he made a most eloquent address openly glorying in it
+and advocating its wholesale extension. Probably no one act of his
+administration made him so many friends among women, and it is said
+that scores of those from other States went home thoroughly converted.
+
+[193] See Appendix--Testimony from Woman Suffrage States.
+
+[194] The Legislature of 1901 passed 116 bills, a number being of
+special interest to women. Among these was one establishing truancy
+schools; another for the care of the feeble-minded; several humane
+society bills; a measure permitting the State Board of Charities and
+Corrections to investigate private charitable institutions; a bill for
+an eight-hour day; one for the preservation of forest trees; one for a
+bi-weekly pay-day, and an Insurance Bill providing that in cases where
+a company has to be sued for the amount of a policy it must pay the
+costs of said suit. This last was indorsed by nearly every woman's
+organization in the State. The Eight Hour Law requires a
+constitutional amendment, and will be voted on in the fall of 1902.
+This is also true of a bill consolidating and reducing the number of
+elections, and of one providing for full citizenship and an
+educational qualification as requisites for suffrage.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+CONNECTICUT.[195]
+
+
+The Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association was organized in September,
+1869, after a memorable two days' convention in Hartford, under the
+call and management of Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker,[196] The Rev.
+Nathaniel J. Burton, D. D., was elected its first president and in
+1871 he was succeeded by Mrs. Hooker, who has now held the office
+thirty years with unswerving loyalty and devotion to the cause. During
+the first fifteen years eight conventions were held, addressed by the
+most prominent speakers in the country.
+
+In 1884 a State convention took place in Hartford, attended by Miss
+Susan B. Anthony and a large delegation of men and women from various
+parts of the State. But one other (1888) intervened between this and
+that which met in Meriden in 1892, when the society was reorganized
+under a broader constitution, with the name of Connecticut
+Woman Suffrage Society for the Study of Political Science.
+Mrs. Hooker was made president and Mrs. Elizabeth D. Bacon
+vice-president-at-large.[197]
+
+Since then annual conventions have been held in Hartford (four),
+Meriden, Willimantic and Southington. Several executive meetings have
+been called yearly and the business of the association has been
+systematically arranged. Public meetings have been addressed by Miss
+Anthony, president of the National Association, Mrs. Carrie Chapman
+Catt, chairman of its organization committee, Mrs. Mary Seymour
+Howell of New York, Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates of Maine and many
+others.[198]
+
+The Hartford Equal Rights Club was organized in 1885 through the
+efforts of Mrs. Emily P. Collins and Miss Frances Ellen Burr, both
+pioneers in the work. Located in the capital, it is the center of the
+effort for the enfranchisement of women.
+
+The Meriden Political Equality Club was formed in 1889. The late Hon.
+Isaac C. Lewis, one of its charter members and a lover of justice and
+equality, in 1893 gave $10,000 in invested funds to aid its work. The
+Equal Rights Club of Willimantic, founded in 1894, is an active body.
+
+A series of public meetings was held in 1892 at Seymour, Willimantic,
+Winsted and Ansonia, arranged and financially supported by the Meriden
+Club and addressed by Mrs. Howell.
+
+In 1895, under the auspices of the State society, a course of twenty
+lectures was arranged by Mrs. Bacon for Miss Yates.
+
+The local clubs have kept the question before the people through
+addresses, the circulation of literature and other methods of
+propaganda. For several years a suffrage tent was supported at the
+State Fair held in Meriden, and one day set apart as Woman's Day, with
+good speakers to present the subject. The press department has been an
+important feature of the work, most efficiently conducted by Mrs. Ella
+B. Kendrick, its superintendent for the past three years.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: Women have been instrumental in securing
+the passage of laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco in any form to
+boys under sixteen years of age; compelling merchants to provide women
+and girls in their employment with seats when not engaged in their
+duties; securing scientific temperance instruction in the public
+schools; and requiring a police matron in all cities of 20,000 or more
+inhabitants.
+
+In 1884 a bill giving women the right to vote in school district
+meetings was rejected in the House by 83 ayes, 95 noes, and in the
+Senate by a majority vote.
+
+In 1885 a bill for School Suffrage was rejected by both Houses.
+
+In 1886 a bill for Full Suffrage was defeated in both Houses.
+
+In 1887 two bills were introduced, one asking Full Suffrage and the
+other that unmarried women be exempt from taxation. In both cases the
+committee reported "Ought not to pass," and the petitioners were given
+leave to withdraw. At this session women were made eligible to serve
+as School Trustees.
+
+This year the annual sessions were changed to biennial.
+
+In 1889 the petitions for Full Suffrage of Mrs. Elizabeth D. Bacon and
+others were indefinitely postponed. During the same session women were
+made eligible to hold the office of assistant town clerk, and to
+become members of ecclesiastical societies.
+
+In 1891 a legal dispute as to the result of a gubernatorial election
+caused the former Governor to hold over, and all legislative business
+to be postponed for two years.
+
+In 1893 the committee, after giving several hearings upon a bill
+asking Full Suffrage, substituted, with the consent of the State
+association, one for School Suffrage. Upon the third reading this
+passed the House, but the Senate referred it back to the committee as
+imperfect. There it would have remained but for the efforts of the
+Hartford Equal Rights Club. It finally passed the Senate and the
+House, was signed by Gov. Luzon B. Morris and became law. Several
+attempts have been made to repeal it but unsuccessfully.
+
+In 1895 a bill providing for the right of women to vote for
+Presidential electors was reported unfavorably by the committee, the
+report being accepted. The same year a Municipal Suffrage Bill went to
+a third reading and was passed by the House, but failed in the Senate
+by unanimous vote.
+
+In 1897 a bill conferring upon women the right to vote for
+Presidential electors was rejected after a third reading both in the
+House and Senate. Another was presented for the exemption of women
+from taxation, the committee reported, "Ought not to pass," and the
+report was accepted. A bill for Municipal Suffrage met the same fate.
+This year a bill was introduced at the request of the Hartford club,
+creating the office of woman factory inspector, with the same salary
+as the male inspector. The Judiciary Committee reported unanimously in
+favor. Great opposition developed in the House, but after some
+amendments it passed, but failed in the Senate.
+
+In 1899 a Municipal Suffrage Bill was again introduced and reported
+upon favorably, but on the third reading it was rejected in the House,
+and defeated by 9 ayes, 12 noes in the Senate. A bill also was
+presented providing that any woman who pays taxes on real estate
+wherein she resides may vote at any meeting upon questions of taxation
+or appropriation of money. This passed the House, but was rejected in
+the Senate. The House refused to concur, and the Senate adhered to its
+former action.
+
+There have been hearings before the Judiciary Committees of several
+Legislatures for the purpose of securing a Reformatory for Women.
+Members of the Woman's Aid Society of Hartford and others equally
+interested have appeared in its behalf.
+
+The law regarding the property rights of women upon the statute books
+of to-day, except one amendment, was passed in April, 1877, and reads
+as follows:
+
+     In case of marriage on or after April 20, 1877, neither husband
+     nor wife shall acquire, by force of marriage, any right to or
+     interest in any property held by the other before, or acquired
+     after such marriage, except as to the share of the survivor in
+     the property as provided by law. The separate earnings of the
+     wife shall be her sole property. She shall have power to make
+     contracts with third persons and to convey to them her real
+     estate, as if unmarried. Her property shall be liable to be taken
+     for her debts except when exempt from execution, but in no case
+     shall be liable to be taken for the debts of her husband. And the
+     husband shall not be liable for her debts contracted before her
+     marriage, nor upon contracts made after her marriage, except as
+     provided by the succeeding sections.
+
+     The dower rights of women married before this date are: A life
+     estate in one-third the husband's realty and one-half his
+     personalty absolutely, unless they shall have made together with
+     their husbands a written contract and recorded the same in the
+     Probate Records, in which they mutually agree to abandon their
+     respective common-law rights in the property of each other, and
+     to claim in place thereof certain other rights as provided by
+     statute made in 1877 as below. The husband before that date took
+     the whole of the wife's personal estate absolutely and the use
+     for life of all her real estate.
+
+     Women married on or after April 20, 1877, and those married
+     earlier, who have made and recorded contracts with their husbands
+     as above stated, have no dower rights, and their husbands have no
+     rights by curtesy, but both have, in place of these, rights more
+     valuable.
+
+     Where there are children, the survivor is entitled to one-third
+     of decedent's real and personal estate absolutely, and in the
+     absence of children, takes all of the decedent's estate
+     absolutely to the extent of $2,000, and one-half of the remainder
+     absolutely after the decedent's debts have been paid.
+
+The father always has been entitled to the custody and control of the
+minor children with power to appoint a guardian by will; but a law was
+passed the present year (1901) which gives the father and mother equal
+rights of guardianship, and on the death of the father makes the
+mother the legal guardian.
+
+If a husband neglect to support his wife he may be committed to the
+workhouse or county jail and sentenced to hard labor not more than
+sixty days, unless he can show good cause why he is unable to furnish
+such support, or unless he can give a bond. If he neglect to comply
+with his bond the selectmen of the town shall immediately furnish
+support to the extent provided for in such bond. (1895.)
+
+In 1887 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 14
+years, and in 1895 this was increased to 16. The penalty is
+imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than three years.
+
+SUFFRAGE: The School Suffrage Law of 1893 allows all women citizens
+who have arrived at the age of majority, and have resided one year in
+the State and six months in the town, to vote at any meeting held for
+election of school trustees or for any educational purpose.
+
+At the first election after the passage of this Act, 4,471 women voted
+in the State. Since then the number has gradually decreased for
+several reasons. Women soon learned that their vote amounted to but
+little because of the fact that Connecticut has a minority
+representation upon its school boards. This practically eliminates
+contest in the election of school officers, for it often occurs that
+only the exact number of candidates to be elected are placed in
+nomination. In cities men are frequently placed on school boards to
+pay political debts or as an opening for further advancement,
+therefore it has been found almost impossible to secure the nomination
+of women. This, of course, decreases their interest in the election.
+In several marked instances, however, where some question of
+importance has arisen, women have registered and voted in large
+numbers.
+
+Willimantic offers a good illustration. All the schools in the town of
+Windham, of which Willimantic is a borough, were under the district
+system. For some time the largest school district had been unwisely
+managed through the influence of one man, who controlled enough votes
+to insure his retention as chairman year after year. In June, 1895,
+when he had entirely forfeited confidence, Mrs. Ella L. Bennett,
+president, and other wide awake members of the Equal Rights Club,
+determined he should no longer hold this office. The best citizens
+assured the women that their fears of his re-election were groundless,
+but they kept on in their efforts and secured the attendance of fifty
+women at the district meeting, where he was defeated by about twenty
+votes.
+
+The level-headed ones saw that consolidation of all the school
+districts was absolutely necessary. Before the election in October the
+women did valiant work in agitating this question. Previous to this
+not more than 200 women ever had voted; but now the number registered
+reached 1,129, and on election day, although the rain fell in torrents
+and rivers of water ran down the streets, 975 cast their ballots. The
+Equal Rights Club conducted the election so far as the women were
+concerned, assisted in preparing ballots, kept a check-list and sent
+carriages where it seemed necessary. Every little while, all day long,
+could be heard from the hall where the voting was going on, "Fall
+back, ladies, fall back and give the men a chance." At the noon hour a
+crowd of male voters saw a line of women coming down the street and,
+seizing a ladder, they set it against a window over the stairway,
+scrambled up and thus got into the hall and headed off the women until
+the men had voted. The measure for consolidation was carried.
+
+In Hartford the question of consolidation of districts has twice come
+before the people since women voted, and in both instances they cast a
+large number of ballots. In several districts in this city women have
+shown much interest in the annual meetings. One woman has served three
+years upon a district committee very acceptably, and it is due to the
+efforts and votes of women that wise management has been sustained and
+a good principal kept in office.
+
+In his report of 1896, Secretary Charles D. Hine of the State Board of
+Education, after speaking in unmeasured terms of the efficient
+service rendered by women as school visitors, on boards of education
+and on town and district committees, says:
+
+     The returns indicate that women are not anxious to vote upon
+     educational matters alone. If men were reluctantly permitted as a
+     great favor to vote for agent of the town-deposit fund, they
+     would not swarm to the polls. The exciting interests of State
+     elections are important and varied enough to allure 85 per cent.
+     of the male voters to the polls, but in many districts it is
+     difficult to obtain enough of them to transact the business of
+     the annual meeting. In the largest district in the State, school
+     meetings have been held and considerable sums of money voted,
+     with less than a dozen men present. Woman can not be adjudged
+     peculiarly lacking in interest because they are not found voting
+     in large numbers on one question and one set of officers.[199]
+
+In 1897 the Legislature amended the School Suffrage Law. The women
+believed that this change was effected to make the process of becoming
+a voter more disagreeable. Heretofore they had been permitted to go at
+any time before the town clerk, answer the necessary questions and be
+registered. The amendment required them to observe the same
+regulations as the men who have the full franchise. They must make
+application to the registrar at one fixed time, fill out a blank and
+have their names published in the newspapers in the list of those who
+wish to be made voters. Then at another fixed time they must go before
+the selectmen, await their turn, take the necessary oath, etc. In many
+towns and cities it was ruled that all who had been made voters under
+the old law must re-register. Feeling the injustice of this, many
+women refused. In Hartford they rebelled absolutely, and after much
+discussion in the papers and otherwise the city attorney decided that
+the law was not retroactive.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: Since 1887 women have been eligible as school
+trustees, and at present 45 are serving, of whom 29 are school
+visitors. The latter prescribe rules for the management,
+classification, studies and discipline of the public schools. The old
+school district system prevails in many cities and towns and there are
+a dozen or more women on district committees.
+
+Women are filling other offices, elective and appointive, as follows:
+Public librarians, 27; police matrons, 5; matron of the State
+Hospital for the Insane, one; matrons of Reform School for Boys, six,
+and one assistant; visiting committee of State Industrial School for
+Girls, 12, two acting each month; assistant superintendent for same,
+one; in each of the eight Homes connected with this school are to be
+found a matron and an assistant.
+
+Two of the five members of the State Board of Charities must be women.
+
+Women may serve as notaries public and forty-two are now doing so.
+They are eligible as assistant town clerks.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is forbidden to women by law.
+
+EDUCATION: Wesleyan University, in Middletown, admitted women to equal
+privileges with men in 1872. By a vote of the trustees in 1900 the
+number of women was limited to 20 per cent. of the total number of
+students.
+
+In 1889 the Theological Seminary (Cong'l) of Hartford admitted women
+upon the same terms as men.
+
+In 1892 Yale University opened the courses of the post-graduate
+department, with the degree of Ph. D. to women.
+
+In 1893, by an Act of the Legislature, the State Agricultural School,
+at Storrs, admitted women to its full course.
+
+In the public schools there are 387 men and 3,692 women teachers. The
+average monthly salary of the men is $89.87; of the women, $43.61.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The State Federation of Women's Clubs was organized in 1897 and under
+its auspices traveling libraries have been formed for rural schools,
+free kindergartens supported, etc.
+
+The Society of Colonial Dames has loaned to the library committee
+twenty libraries which have been placed in public schools.
+
+The Civic Club of Hartford, organized in 1895 with a membership of 150
+women, has been instrumental in securing greater cleanliness of
+streets and public places. It has raised $3,000 for the support of
+vacation schools, for three years, and has instituted plans for public
+playgrounds.
+
+In 1898 the Home for Incurable Children was founded by the Children's
+Aid Society, entirely the work of women.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[195] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Elizabeth D.
+Bacon of Hartford, vice-president-at-large of the State Woman Suffrage
+Association.
+
+[196] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. III, p. 321.
+
+[197] County vice-presidents, Mesdames Ella B. Kendrick, J. H. Hale,
+Rose I. Blakeslee, Mary L. Hemstead, George Sanger, Mary C. Hickox,
+the Hon. Edwin O. Dimock, Miss Elizabeth Sheldon; recording secretary,
+Miss Frances Ellen Burr; corresponding secretary, Mrs. G. W. Fuller;
+treasurer, Mrs. Mary J. Rogers; auditors, Joseph Sheldon, Mrs. S. E.
+Browne; member national executive committee, Miss Sara Winthrop Smith.
+
+Among others who have served as State officers are Miss Hannah J.
+Babcock, Mesdames Jane S. Koons, Emma Hurd Chaffee, Annie C. S.
+Fenner, Ella S. Bennett, Ella G. Brooks, B. M. Parsons, Mary J.
+Warren.
+
+[198] Among those who have advocated and worked for equal suffrage are
+the Hon. John Hooker, Judge Joseph Sheldon, Judge George A. Hickox,
+the Hon. Radcliffe Hicks, the Rev. John C. Kimball, the Hon. Henry
+Lewis, Judge M. H. Holcomb, ex-Speaker John H. Light, ex-Gov. Charles
+B. Andrews, the Hon. George M. Gunn, Miss Emily J. Leon and Mrs. Susan
+J. Cheney. Honorable mention might be made of many others who have
+spent time and money without stint in efforts to advance this cause.
+
+[199] In 1902 a revised State constitution was submitted and only 15
+per cent. of the electors voted on it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+DAKOTA.
+
+
+The Territory of Dakota was created in 1861, but in 1889 it entered
+the Union divided into two separate States, North and South Dakota. As
+early as 1872 the Territorial Legislature lacked only one vote of
+conferring the full suffrage on women. The sparsely settled country
+and the long distances made any organized work an impossibility,
+although a number of individuals were strong advocates of equal
+suffrage.
+
+In 1879 it gave women the right to vote at school meetings. In 1883 a
+school township law was passed requiring regular polls and a private
+ballot instead of special meetings, which took away the suffrage from
+women in all but a few counties.
+
+At the convening of the Territorial Legislature in January, 1885,
+Major J. A. Pickler (afterward member of Congress), without
+solicitation early in the session introduced a bill in the House
+granting Full Suffrage to women, as under the organic act the
+legislative body had the power to describe the qualifications for the
+franchise. The bill passed the House, February 11, by 29 ayes, 19
+noes. Soon afterward it passed the Council by 14 ayes, 10 noes, and
+its friends counted the victory won. But Gov. Gilbert A. Pierce,
+appointed by President Arthur and only a few months in the Territory,
+failed to recognize the grand opportunity to enfranchise 50,000
+American citizens by one stroke of his pen and vetoed the bill. Not
+only did it express the sentiment of the representatives elected by
+the voters, but it had been generally discussed by the press of the
+Territory, and all the newspapers but one were outspoken for it. An
+effort was made to carry it over the Governor's veto, but it failed.
+
+In 1887 a law was passed enlarging the School Suffrage possessed by
+women and giving them the right to vote at all school elections and
+for all school officers, and also making them eligible to any
+elective school office. At this time, under the liberal provisions of
+the United States Land Laws, more than one-third of the land in the
+Territory was held by women.
+
+In this same Legislature of 1887 another effort was made to pass an
+Equal Suffrage Bill, and a committee from the franchise department of
+the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, consisting of Mesdames Helen
+M. Barker, S. V. Wilson and Alice M. A. Pickler, appeared before the
+committee and presented hundreds of petitions from the men and women
+of the Territory. The committees of both Houses reported favorably,
+but the bill failed by 13 votes in the House and 6 in the Council.
+
+It was mainly through women's instrumentality that a local option bill
+was carried through this Legislature, and largely through their
+exertions that it was adopted by sixty-five out of the eighty-seven
+organized counties at the next general election.
+
+In October, 1885, the American Woman Suffrage Association held a
+national convention in Minneapolis, Minn., which was attended by a
+number of people from Dakota, who were greatly interested. The next
+month the first suffrage club was formed, in Webster. Several local
+societies were afterwards started in the southern part of the
+Territory, but for five years no attempt was made at bringing these
+together in a convention.[200]
+
+The long contention as to whether the Territory should come into the
+Union as one State or two was not decided until 1889, when Congress
+admitted two States. Thenceforth there were two distinct movements for
+woman suffrage, one in North and one in South Dakota.
+
+
+NORTH DAKOTA.[201]
+
+On July 4, 1889, a convention met at Bismarck to prepare a
+constitution for the admission of North Dakota as a State. As similar
+conventions were to be held in several other Territories, Henry B.
+Blackwell, editor of the _Woman's Journal_, came from Boston in the
+interest of woman suffrage. His object was to have it embodied in the
+constitution if possible, but failing in this he endeavored to have
+the matter left as it had been under the Territorial government, viz.:
+in the hands of the Legislature. To this end, H. F. Miller introduced
+the following clause:
+
+     The Legislature shall be empowered to make further extensions of
+     suffrage hereafter at its discretion to all citizens of mature
+     age and sound mind, not convicted of crime, without regard to
+     sex, but it shall not restrict suffrage without a vote of the
+     people.
+
+Toward the adoption of this all efforts were directed. Two public
+meetings were addressed by Mr. Blackwell, and on July 8 the
+Constitutional Convention itself invited him to speak to its members.
+
+After remaining in Bismarck two weeks he went to Helena to attend the
+Montana convention, but before leaving he succeeded in obtaining the
+promise of 30 votes out of the 38 necessary for the adoption of the
+clause. During his absence Dr. Cora Smith (Eaton), secretary of the
+Grand Forks Suffrage Club, was called to Bismarck to carry on the
+work. The secretary of the Territory, L. B. Richardson, placed at her
+service a room on the same floor as Convention Hall, and to this the
+friends of woman suffrage brought members who had not yet declared
+themselves in favor. Some ladies were always there to receive them and
+present the arguments in the case, among these Mrs. Mary Wilson, Mrs.
+George Watson, Dr. Kate Perkins and Mrs. Benjamin of Bismarck.
+Everything was managed with scrupulous formality and courtesy.
+
+Mr. Miller's proposition was championed by R. M. Pollock and Judge
+John E. Carland in Committee of the Whole, and after a second reading
+was referred to the Committee on Elective Franchise, but on July 25 it
+reported the substitute of S. H. Moer, confining the suffrage to
+males. A minority report was offered, directing the Legislature at its
+first session to submit an amendment to the voters to enfranchise
+women. After a heated discussion the minority report was defeated, and
+the constitution provided as follows:
+
+     No law extending or restricting the right of suffrage shall be
+     enforced until adopted by _a majority of the electors of the
+     State voting at a general election_.
+
+By requiring not merely a majority of those voting on the question but
+of the largest number voting at the election, no amendment for any
+purpose ever has been carried.
+
+On the question of School Suffrage women received greater
+consideration, the constitution providing that all women properly
+qualified should vote for all school officers, including State
+Superintendent, also upon any question pertaining solely to school
+matters, and should be eligible to any school office.
+
+ORGANIZATION: The suffragists were widely scattered over this immense
+Territory and there had been little opportunity for organized work. In
+the spring of 1888 a call had been issued in Grand Forks, signed by
+seventy-five representative men and women, for a meeting to form an
+association, and on April 12 this was held in the court-house, which
+was crowded to the doors. The extension of the franchise to women was
+strongly advocated by Judge J. M. Cochrane, Prof. H. B. Wentworth,
+Mrs. Sara E. B. Smith, Mrs. Sue R. Caswell and others; and encouraging
+letters were read from the Hon. William Dudley Foulke, Lucy Stone and
+Julia Ward Howe of the American Suffrage Association. A public meeting
+on July 25 at the same place was addressed by Mrs. Ella M. S. Marble
+of Minnesota. On September 9 Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake of New York
+gave a strong lecture.
+
+Other local clubs were formed during the following years, and the
+first State convention was held in Grand Forks, Nov. 14, 15, 1895. It
+was called to order by Dr. Cora Smith Eaton, president of the local
+society. Mrs. Laura M. Johns of Kansas, a national organizer who had
+just made a successful lecturing tour of the State, was elected
+chairman and Mrs. Edwinna Sturman was made secretary. Cordial letters
+of greeting were read from Miss Susan B. Anthony, president of the
+National Suffrage Association, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of
+the national organization committee, U. S. Senator Henry C.
+Hansbrough,[202] Miss Elizabeth Preston, president of the State W. C.
+T. U., and others. In Miss Anthony's letter was outlined the plan of
+work that she never failed to recommend to State organizations, which
+said in part:
+
+     First, your local clubs should cover the respective _townships_,
+     and the officers should not only hold meetings of their own to
+     discuss questions pertaining to their work, but should have the
+     men, when they go into their _town meetings_ for any and every
+     purpose pertaining to local affairs--especially into the meetings
+     which nominate delegates to county conventions--pledged to
+     present a resolution in favor of the enfranchisement of women. By
+     this means you will secure the discussion of the question by the
+     men who compose the different political parties in each
+     township--an educational work that can not be done through any
+     distinctively woman suffrage meeting, because so few of the rank
+     and file of voters ever attend these.
+
+     Then, when the time comes for the county convention to elect
+     delegates to the State nominating convention, let every town
+     meeting see to it that they are instructed to vote for a
+     resolution favoring the submission and indorsement of a
+     proposition to strike the word "male" from your constitution. If
+     the State conventions of the several parties are to put
+     indorsement planks in their platforms, the demand for these must
+     come from the townships composing the counties sending delegates
+     thereto. Women going before a committee and asking a resolution
+     indorsing equal suffrage, are sure to be met with the statement
+     that _they have heard nothing of any such demand among their
+     constituents_. This has been the response on the many different
+     occasions when this request has been made of State conventions.
+     From this repeated and sad experience we have learned that _we
+     must begin with the constituents_ in each township and have the
+     demand start there.
+
+Dr. Eaton was elected president of the association.
+
+The second convention took place at Fargo, Nov. 30, 1897. An extra
+meeting was held this year at the Devil's Lake Chautauqua Assembly on
+Woman's Day, with Mrs. Julia B. Nelson, president of the Minnesota,
+and Mrs. Ella Knowles Haskell, of the Montana W. S. A., among the
+speakers. Dr. Eaton having removed from the State, Miss Mary Allen
+Whedon was made president.
+
+The third convention met in Larimore, Sept. 27, 28, 1898, with
+delegates from eleven counties. Mrs. Chapman Catt was present and
+contributed much to the success of the meetings. These were held in
+the M. E. Church with the active co-operation of the pastor, the Rev.
+H. C. Cooper. Mrs. Flora Blackman Naylor was chosen president.
+
+The fourth convention was held in Hillsboro, Sept. 26, 27, 1899, at
+which Mrs. Susan S. Fessenden of Massachusetts gave valuable
+assistance. A page to be devoted to suffrage matter was secured in the
+_White Ribbon Bulletin_, a paper published monthly under the auspices
+of the State W. C. T. U.
+
+The annual meeting of 1900 convened in Lakota, September 25, 26, in
+the M. E. Church, its pastor, the Rev. Stephen Whitford, making the
+address of welcome. A Matron's Silver Medal Oratorical Contest was
+given under the direction of Mrs. Cora Ross Clark.[203]
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: In the Legislature of 1893 a bill was
+introduced granting women taxpayers the right of suffrage. This was
+voted down by the House: 18 ayes; 22 noes. A motion was offered that
+all woman suffrage bills hereafter presented at this session should be
+rejected, but it was tabled.
+
+A bill to submit to the voters an amendment conferring Full Suffrage
+on women in the manner provided by the constitution was introduced in
+the Senate by J. W. Stevens and passed by 16 ayes, 15 noes. It was
+called up in the House on the last day of the session. Miss Elizabeth
+Preston was invited to address that body, and the Senate took a recess
+and came in. The bill received 33 ayes, a constitutional majority, and
+was returned to the Senate. The House then took a recess, and during
+this brief time the enemies of the measure secured enough votes to
+recall it from the Senate. This body by vote refused to send it back,
+thus endorsing it a second time. The Speaker of the House, George H.
+Walsh, refused to sign it. Then began a long fight between the House
+and the Senate. A motion was made by Judson La Moure instructing the
+President of the Senate to sign no more House bills until the Speaker
+signed the Woman Suffrage Bill. This armed neutrality lasted until 10
+o'clock that night when some of the senators, who had important
+measures yet to pass, weakened and voted to send the bill back to the
+House. When it reached there a motion prevailed to expunge all the
+records relating to it.
+
+In the Legislature of 1895 a bill for a suffrage amendment was
+introduced in the House by A. W. Edwards, editor of the Fargo _Forum_.
+Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe was sent by the National Association to assist
+in the work for the passage of this and other bills of interest to
+women. The courtesy of the floor was extended to her in the House and
+she was invited to address the members, the Senate again taking a
+recess and coming in to listen. Col. W. C. Plummer spoke against the
+bill, which received 28 ayes but not a constitutional majority. No
+suffrage bill has been introduced since.[204]
+
+Dower and curtesy have been abolished. If either husband or wife die
+without a will, leaving only one child or the lawful issue of one
+child, the survivor is entitled to one-half of the real and personal
+estate. If there is more than one child living, or one child and the
+lawful issue of one or more children, the widow or widower receives
+one-third of the estate. If there is no issue living, he or she
+receives one-half of the estate; and if there is neither father,
+mother, brother nor sister, the whole of it. The survivor may retain a
+homestead to the value of $5,000, which on his or her death the minor
+children are entitled to occupy.
+
+A married woman may contract, sue and be sued and proceed in all
+actions as if unmarried. She may dispose of all her separate property
+by deed or will, without the consent of her husband. He can not do
+this.
+
+The father is the legal guardian of the persons, estates and earnings
+of the minor children. If he abandon them the mother is entitled
+thereto. At his death she is the guardian, if suitable. Should she
+marry again she loses the guardianship but, by agreement, the court
+may re-appoint her.
+
+If the husband is not able to support the family the wife must
+maintain him and the children to the best of her ability, and her
+separate estate may be held liable. If he wilfully neglect to provide
+for them his separate property shall be held liable, and he may be
+imprisoned in the county jail not less than sixty days nor more than
+six months.
+
+In case either husband or wife abandons the family and leaves the
+State for a year or more, or is sent to prison for a year or more, the
+court may authorize the one remaining to sell or encumber the property
+of the other for the maintenance of the family or the debts which were
+left unpaid after due notice has been given to the absent one.
+
+The causes for divorce do not differ from those in a number of other
+States, but by requiring a residence of only six months a great
+inducement is offered to persons from outside to come here for the
+express purpose of securing a divorce.
+
+The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 14 years in
+1887. The women attempted in 1895 to have it raised to 18 but
+succeeded only in getting 16 years. The reduction of the penalty,
+however, made this of small avail. For the first degree it is
+imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than ten years; second
+degree, imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than five years.
+"But no conviction can be had in case the female is over the age of 10
+years and the man under the age of 20 years, and it appears to the
+satisfaction of the jury that the female was sufficiently matured and
+informed to understand the nature of the act and consent thereto."
+
+SUFFRAGE: The Territorial Legislature of 1879 gave women a vote on
+questions pertaining to the schools, which were then decided at school
+meetings. This was partially repealed by a law of 1883 which required
+regular polls and a private ballot, but this Act did not include
+fifteen counties which had school districts fully established, and
+women still continued to vote at these district school meetings. In
+1887 a law was enacted giving all women the right to vote at all
+school elections for all officers, and making them eligible for all
+school offices. By the State constitution adopted in 1889 all women
+properly qualified may vote for all public school officers, including
+State Superintendent, and on all questions pertaining solely to school
+matters.
+
+At the special school election held in Grand Forks, Aug. 4, 1890, Mrs.
+Sara E. B. Smith and Dr. Cora Smith (Eaton) voted. Objections were
+raised, but with the law and the constitution back of them they
+carried the day. On September 5, in response to a request from the
+Grand Forks W. S. A., Attorney-General J. M. Cochrane gave a written
+opinion that the provision of the constitution relating to woman
+suffrage was not self-executing, and that until supplementary
+legislation was enacted providing the requisite machinery for
+recording school ballots cast by women, they could not vote. As the
+authorities in a number of places refused to provide separate boxes,
+the Legislature of 1893 passed an act requiring them.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: Women are eligible for all school offices, but for no
+other elective office.
+
+In 1892 Mrs. Laura J. Eisenhuth was elected State Superintendent of
+Public Instruction on the Democratic ticket. In 1894 she was again
+nominated but was defeated by Miss Emma Bates on the Republican
+ticket.
+
+Eleven women are now serving as county superintendents, and many on
+local school boards. They do not sit on any State boards. All of the
+directors of the Woman's Reformatory, under control of the W. C. T.
+U., are women.
+
+In the Legislature they serve as librarians, journal, enrolling and
+engrossing clerks and stenographers. They act also as deputies in
+State, county and city offices. By special statute of 1893 they may be
+notaries public.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to
+women.
+
+EDUCATION: All of the educational institutions are open to both sexes
+alike and women are on the faculties. Dr. Janette Hill Knox was
+vice-president of Red River Valley University (Meth. Epis.) for five
+years.
+
+There are in the public schools 1,115 men and 2,522 women teachers.
+The average monthly salary of the men is $39.92; of the women,
+$35.57.
+
+The Woman's Christian Temperance Union was the first and still
+continues to be the largest of the organizations. It works for the
+franchise through public lectures, petitions, legislative bills and
+various educational measures. The Woman's Relief Corps and a large
+number of church, lodge and literary societies enlist women's
+activities in a marked degree. They sit on the official boards of many
+churches and some of these are composed entirely of women.
+
+
+SOUTH DAKOTA.[205]
+
+In June, 1883, a convention was held at Huron to discuss the question
+of dividing the Territory and forming two States, and a convention was
+called to meet at Sioux Falls, September 4, and prepare a constitution
+for those in the southern portion. The suffrage leaders in the East
+were anxious that this should include the franchise for women. Mrs.
+Matilda Joslyn Gage of New York, vice-president-at-large of the
+National Suffrage Association, lectured at various points in the
+Territory during the summer to awaken public sentiment on this
+question. On September 6 a petition signed by 1,000 Dakota men and
+women, praying that the word "male" should not be incorporated in the
+constitution, was presented to the convention, accompanied by personal
+appeals. There was some disposition to grant this request but the
+opponents prevailed and only the school ballot was given to women,
+which they already possessed by Act of the Legislature of 1879.
+However, this constitution never was acted upon.
+
+The desire for division and Statehood became very urgent throughout
+the great Territory, and this, with the growing sentiment in Congress
+in favor of the same, induced the Legislature of 1885 to provide for a
+convention at Sioux Falls, composed of members elected by the voters
+of the Territory, to form a constitution for the proposed new State of
+South Dakota and submit the same to the electors for adoption, which
+was done in November, 1885. Many of the women had become landholders
+and were interested in the location of schoolhouses, county seats,
+State capital and matters of taxation. As their only organization was
+the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, a committee was appointed
+from that body, consisting of Alice M. A. Pickler, Superintendent of
+the Franchise Department, Helen M. Barker and Julia Welch, to appear
+before the Committee on Suffrage and ask that the word "male" be left
+out of the qualifications of electors. They were helped by letters to
+members of the convention from Lucy Stone, Henry B. Blackwell, Susan
+B. Anthony, Lillie Devereux Blake and others of national reputation.
+
+Seven of the eleven members of the committee were willing to grant
+this request but there was so much opposition from the convention,
+lest the chances for Statehood might be imperiled, that they compelled
+a compromise and it was directed that the first Legislature should
+submit the question to the voters. They did incorporate a clause,
+however, that women properly qualified should be eligible to any
+school office and should vote at any election held solely for school
+purposes. This applied merely to school trustees, as State and county
+superintendents are elected at general and not special elections.
+
+The constitution was ratified by the voters in 1885, with a provision
+that "the Legislature should at its first session after the admission
+of the State into the Union, submit to a vote of the electors at the
+next general election, the question whether the word 'male' should be
+stricken from the article of the constitution relating to elections
+and the right of suffrage."
+
+Congress at that time refused to divide the Territory and thus the
+question remained in abeyance awaiting Statehood.
+
+In 1889, an enabling act having been passed by Congress, delegates
+were elected from the different counties to meet in convention at
+Sioux Falls to prepare for the entrance of South Dakota into
+Statehood. This convention reaffirmed the constitution adopted in
+1885, and again submitted it to the voters who again passed upon it
+favorably, and the Territory became a State, Nov. 2, 1889.
+
+The first Legislature met at once in Pierre, and although they were
+required by the constitution to submit an amendment for woman suffrage
+a vote was taken as to whether this should be done. It stood in the
+Senate 40 yeas, one nay; absent or not voting, 4; in the House 84
+yeas, 9 nays; 21 absent.
+
+On Nov. 11, 1889, Miss Anthony, in response to urgent requests from
+the State, made a lecture tour of twelve cities and towns and
+addressed the Farmers' Alliance at their convention in Aberdeen, when
+they officially indorsed the suffrage amendment. On her return home
+she sent 50,000 copies of Senator T. W. Palmer's great woman suffrage
+speech to individual voters in Dakota under his frank.
+
+A State Suffrage Association had been formed with S. A. Ramsey,
+president, Alonzo Wardall, vice-president, the Rev. M. Barker,
+secretary, and Mrs. Helen M. Barker, treasurer and State organizer;
+but the beginning of this campaign found the women with no funds and
+very little local organization. Mr. Wardall, who was also secretary of
+the Farmers' Alliance, went to Washington and, with Representative and
+Mrs. J. A. Pickler, presented a strong appeal for assistance to the
+national suffrage convention in February, 1890. It was heartily
+responded to and a South Dakota campaign committee was formed with
+Miss Anthony chairman. The officers and friends made vigorous efforts
+to raise a fund and eventually $5,500 were secured. Of this amount
+California sent $1,000; Senator Stanford personally gave $300; Rachel
+Foster Avery of Philadelphia, the same amount; Mrs. Clara L. McAdow of
+Montana, $250; a number gave $100, among them U. S. Senator R. F.
+Pettigrew of South Dakota, and different States sent various
+sums.[206]
+
+The first of May Miss Anthony returned to South Dakota and established
+campaign headquarters in Huron. A mass convention of men and women was
+held and an active State organization formed with Mrs. Philena Everett
+Johnson, president, Mr. Wardall, vice-president, which co-operated
+with the national committee and inaugurated an active campaign. The
+new State had adopted as its motto, "Under God the People Rule," and
+the suffragists wrote upon their banners, "Under God the People Rule.
+Women Are People." A large number of national speakers came in the
+summer. Local workers would organize suffrage clubs in the
+schoolhouses and these efforts would culminate in large rallies at the
+county seats where some noted speakers would make addresses and
+perfect the organization.
+
+Those from the outside who canvassed the State were Henry B.
+Blackwell, editor _Woman's Journal_, Boston, the Rev. Anna Howard
+Shaw, national lecturer, Mary Seymour Howell (N. Y.), the Rev. Olympia
+Brown (Wis.), Matilda Hindman (Penn.), Carrie Chapman Catt (Wash.),
+Laura M. Johns (Kan.), Clara Bewick Colby (Neb.), the Rev. Helen G.
+Putnam (N. D.), Julia B. Nelson (Minn.) Miss Anthony was always and
+everywhere the moving spirit and contributed her services the entire
+six months without pay. When $300 were lacking to settle the final
+expenses she paid them out of her own pocket. Mr. Blackwell also
+donated his services. Most effective State work was done by Mrs. Emma
+Smith De Voe, and the home of Mr. and Mrs. De Voe was a haven of rest
+for the toilers during the campaign. Among the other valuable State
+workers were Dr. Nettie C. Hall, Mrs. Helen M. Barker, and Mrs.
+Elizabeth M. Wardall, superintendent of press. A large number of
+ministers indorsed the amendment. Two grand rallies of all the
+speakers were held, one in Mitchell, August 26, 27, during which time
+Miss Anthony, Mr. Blackwell, Miss Shaw and Mrs. Pickler addressed the
+Republican State Convention; the other during the State Fair in
+September. The 17th was "Woman's Day" and the Fair Association invited
+the ladies to speak. Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw and Mrs. De Voe complied.
+The summing up of the superintendent of press was as follows: Total
+number of addresses by national speakers, 789; State speakers, 707;
+under the auspices of the W. C. T. U., 104; total, 1,600; local clubs
+of women organized, 400; literature sent to every voter.
+
+It would be difficult to put into words the hardships of this campaign
+of 1890 in a new State through the hottest and dryest summer on
+record. Frequently the speakers had to drive twenty miles between the
+afternoon and evening meetings and the audiences would come thirty
+miles. All of the political State conventions declined to indorse the
+amendment. The Republicans refused seats to the ladies on the floor of
+their convention although Indians in blankets were welcomed. The
+Democrats invited the ladies to seats where they listened to a speech
+against woman suffrage by E. W. Miller, land receiver of the Huron
+district, too indecent to print, which was received with cheers and
+applause by the convention. The minority committee report asking for
+an indorsement, presented by Judge Bangs of Rapid City, was
+overwhelmingly voted down. A big delegation of Russians came to this
+convention wearing huge yellow badges lettered, Against Woman Suffrage
+and Susan B. Anthony.
+
+The greatest disappointment of the campaign was the forming of an
+Independent party by the Farmers' Alliance and the Knights of Labor.
+The Alliance at its convention the previous year, 478 delegates
+present, at the close of Miss Anthony's address, had declared that
+they would do all in their power to carry the suffrage amendment, and
+it was principally on account of their assurances of support and on
+the invitation of their leaders, that she undertook the work in South
+Dakota. The Knights of Labor at their convention in January of the
+present year had adopted a resolution which said: "We will support
+with all our strength the amendment to be voted on at the next general
+election giving women the ballot ... believing this to be the first
+step toward securing those reforms for which all true Knights of Labor
+are striving."
+
+But the following June these two organizations formed a new party and
+absolutely refused to put a woman suffrage plank in their platform,
+although Miss Anthony addressed their convention and implored them to
+keep their promise, assuring them that their failure to support the
+amendment would be its death blow. The previous summer H. L. Loucks,
+president of the Farmers' Alliance, had made a special journey to the
+State suffrage convention at Minneapolis to invite her to come to
+South Dakota to conduct this canvass. He was a candidate for Governor
+on this new party ticket and in his speech of acceptance did not
+mention the pending amendment. Before adjourning the convention
+adopted a long resolution containing seven or eight declarations,
+among them one that "no citizen should be disfranchised on account of
+sex," but so far as any party advocacy was concerned the question was
+a dead issue.
+
+A bitter contest was being made between Huron and Pierre for the
+location of the State capital, and the woman suffrage amendment was
+freely used as an article of barter. There were 30,000 Russians,
+Poles, Scandinavians and other foreigners in the State, most of whom
+opposed woman suffrage. The liquor dealers and gamblers worked
+vigorously against it, and they were reinforced by the women
+"remonstrants" of Massachusetts, who sent their literature into every
+corner of the State.
+
+At the election, Nov. 4, 1890, the amendment received 22,072 ayes,
+45,862 noes, majority opposed 23,790. The Republicans carried the
+State by 16,000 majority.
+
+At this same election an amendment was submitted as to whether male
+Indians should be enfranchised. It received an affirmative vote of 45
+per cent.; that for woman suffrage received 35 per cent. Of the two
+classes of voters it seemed the men preferred the Indians. It was
+claimed by many, however, that they did not understand the wording of
+the Indian amendment and thought they were voting against it.[207]
+
+As the School Suffrage possessed by women applied only to trustees and
+did not include the important offices of State and county
+superintendents, and as it was held that the franchise for this
+purpose could be secured only by a constitutional amendment, it was
+decided to ask for this. Through the efforts of Mrs. Anna R. Simmons
+and Mrs. Emma A. Cranmer, officers of the State Association, a bill
+for this purpose was secured from the Legislature of 1893. As there
+seemed to be no objection to women's voting for school trustees it was
+not supposed that there would be any to extending the privilege for
+the other school officers. It was submitted at the regular election in
+November, 1894, and defeated by 17,010 ayes, 22,682 noes, an opposing
+majority of 5,672.
+
+In 1897 the above ladies made one more effort and secured from the
+Legislature the submission again of an amendment conferring the Full
+Suffrage on women. The campaign was managed almost entirely by Mrs.
+Simmons and Mrs. Cranmer. The National Association assisted to the
+extent of sending a lecturer, Miss Laura A. Gregg of Kansas, who
+remained for two months preceding the election; and $100 worth of
+literature also was furnished for distribution. The Dakota women
+raised about $1,500, and every possible influence was exerted upon the
+voters. The returns of the election in November, 1898, gave for the
+amendment 19,698; against, 22,983; adverse majority, 3,285.
+
+In 1890 the amendment had received 35 per cent. of the whole vote cast
+upon it; in 1898 it received 77 per cent. The figures show
+unmistakably that the falling off in the size of the vote was almost
+wholly among the opponents.[208]
+
+ORGANIZATION: After the defeat of the suffrage amendment in 1890 a
+more thorough State organization was effected and a convention has
+been held every year since. That of 1891 met in Huron and Mrs. Irene
+G. Adams was elected president. Soon afterwards she compiled a leaflet
+showing the unjust laws for women which disgraced the statute books.
+
+In 1892 a successful annual meeting took place at Hastings and Mrs.
+Mary A. Groesbeck was made president. In September, 1893, the
+convention was held in Aberdeen during the Grain Palace Exposition.
+The State president and the president elect, Mrs. Emma A. Cranmer, had
+charge of the program for Woman's Day, and Mrs. Clara Hoffman (Mo.)
+gave addresses in the afternoon and evening.
+
+In 1894 Mrs. Anna R. Simmons was elected president and continued in
+office for six years. This year $100 was sent to aid the Kansas
+campaign. During 1894 and '95 she made twenty public addresses and
+held ten parlor meetings. At the convention in Pierre in September,
+1895, she was able to report fifty clubs organized with 700 members.
+Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization
+committee, was present at this convention.
+
+Active work was continued throughout 1896 and 1897, when the
+submission of a suffrage amendment was secured. The year of 1898 was
+given up to efforts for its success. Mrs. C. C. King established and
+carried on almost entirely at her own expense the _South Dakota
+Messenger_, a campaign paper which was of the greatest service. The
+State convention met in Mitchell September 28-30. Miss Elizabeth Upham
+Yates (Me.) came as representative of the National Association and
+gave two addresses to large audiences. The following October a
+conference of National and State workers was held at Sioux Falls, the
+former represented by Mrs. Chapman Catt, the Rev. Henrietta G. Moore
+(O.) and Miss Mary G. Hay, national organizers. Several public
+sessions were held.
+
+The annual meeting of 1899 took place in Madison, September 5, 6. The
+tenth convention met in Brookings, Sept. 5, 1900. Mrs. Simmons having
+removed from the State, Mrs. Alice M. A. Pickler was elected
+president. Mrs. Philena Everett Johnson was made vice-president.[209]
+
+Among the prominent friends of woman suffrage may be mentioned the
+Hon. Arthur C. Mellette, first State Governor; U. S. Senators Richard
+F. Pettigrew, James H. Kyle and Robert J. Gamble; Lieutenant-Governor
+D. T. Hindman; members of Congress J. A. Pickler, W. B. Lucas and
+E. W. Martin; the Hons. S. A. Ramsey and Coe I. Crawford;
+Attorney-General John L. Pyle, Judge D. C. Thomas, General W. H.
+Beadle, Professor McClennen, of the Madison Normal School, and
+ministers of many churches. The Hon. J. H. Patton and the Hon. W. C.
+Bowers paid the expenses of the legislative committee of the suffrage
+association while they were in Pierre during the winter of 1897 to
+secure the submission of an amendment. Chief Justice of the Supreme
+Court A. J. Edgerton, was a pronounced advocate of woman suffrage and
+appointed a woman official stenographer of his judicial district, the
+best salaried office within his gift. Associate Justice Seward Smith
+appointed a woman clerk of the Faulk County district court.[210]
+
+LAWS: Neither dower nor curtesy obtains. If either husband or wife die
+without a will, leaving only one child or the lawful issue of one, the
+survivor is entitled to one-half of the separate estate of the other;
+or one-third if there are more than one child or the issue of more
+than one. If there are no children nor the issue of any, the survivor
+is entitled to one-half of the estate and the other half goes to the
+kindred of the deceased. If there are none the survivor takes all. A
+homestead of 160 acres, or one-quarter of an acre in town, may be
+reserved for the widow or widower.
+
+Either husband or wife may dispose of separate property, real or
+personal, by deed or will, without the consent of the other. Joint
+real estate, including the homestead, can be conveyed only by
+signature of both, but the husband may dispose of joint personal
+property without the consent of the wife.
+
+In order to control her separate property the wife must keep it
+recorded in the office of the county register.
+
+On the death of an unmarried child the father inherits all of its
+property. If he is dead and there are no other children, the mother
+inherits it. If there are brothers and sisters she inherits a child's
+share.
+
+A married woman can not act as administrator. Of several persons
+claiming and equally entitled to act as executors, males must be
+preferred to females.
+
+A married woman can control her earnings outside the home only when
+living separate from her husband.
+
+The father is the legal guardian and has custody of the persons and
+services of minor children. If he refuse to take the custody or has
+abandoned his family or has been legally declared a drunkard, the
+mother is entitled to the custody.
+
+The law declares the husband the head of the family and he must
+support the wife by his separate property or labor, but if he has not
+deserted her, and has no separate property, and is too infirm to
+support her by his labor, the wife must support him and their children
+out of her separate property or in other ways to the extent of her
+ability. An act of Feb. 21, 1896, makes the wife liable for
+necessaries for the family purchased on her own account to the same
+extent that her husband would be liable under a similar purchase, but
+with no control over the joint earnings.
+
+The causes for divorce are the same as in most States but only six
+months' residence is required. The disposition of the children is left
+entirely with the court.
+
+In 1887, through the efforts of the W.C.T.U., the "age of protection"
+for girls was raised from 10 to 14 years. In 1893 they tried to have
+it made 18 but the Legislature compromised on 16 years. Rape in the
+first degree _is punishable_ by imprisonment in the penitentiary not
+less than ten years; in the second degree, not less than five years.
+
+The penalty for seduction and for enticing away for purposes of
+prostitution is prescribed by the same words "is punishable," which in
+reality leaves it to the judgment of the court, but the statutes fix
+the penalty for all other crimes by the words "shall be punished." In
+addition to this latitude the penalty for seduction or enticing for
+purposes of prostitution is, if the girl is under 15, imprisonment in
+the penitentiary not more than five years, or in the county jail not
+more than one year, or by fine not exceeding $1,000, or both; with no
+minimum penalty.
+
+SUFFRAGE: The Territorial Legislature of 1879 gave women a vote on
+questions pertaining to the schools, which were then decided at school
+meetings. This was partially repealed by a law of 1883 which required
+regular polls and a private ballot, but this act did not include
+fifteen counties which had school districts fully established, and
+women still continued to vote at these district school meetings. In
+1887 a law was enacted giving all women the right to vote at all
+school elections for all officers, and making them eligible for all
+school offices. The constitution which was adopted when South Dakota
+entered the Union (1889) provided that "any woman having the required
+qualifications as to age, residence and citizenship may vote at any
+election held solely for school purposes." As State and county
+superintendents are elected at general and not special elections,
+women can vote only for school trustees. They have no vote on bonds or
+appropriations.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: The State constitution provides that all persons,
+either male or female, being twenty-one years of age and having the
+necessary qualifications, shall be eligible to the office of school
+director, treasurer, judge or clerk of school elections, county
+superintendent of public schools and State Superintendent of Public
+Instruction. All other civil offices must be filled by male electors.
+
+There are at present eleven women serving as county superintendents.
+They sit on the school boards in many places and have been treasurers.
+A woman was nominated for State Superintendent of Public Instruction
+by the Independent party.
+
+Efforts to secure a law requiring women on the boards of State
+institutions have failed. The Governor is required to appoint three
+women inspectors of penal and charitable institutions, who are paid by
+the State and make their report directly to him. They inspect the
+penitentiary, reform school, insane hospitals, deaf and dumb institute
+and school for the blind. There is one assistant woman physician in
+the State Hospital for the Insane. Women in subordinate official
+positions are found in all State institutions.
+
+They act as clerks in all city, county and State offices and in the
+Legislature, and have served as court stenographers and clerk of the
+Circuit Court.
+
+There are eight women notaries public at the present time.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to
+women. Ten hours is made a legal working day for them. Four women are
+editing county papers.
+
+EDUCATION: All institutions of learning are open alike to both sexes
+and there are women on the faculties. In the public schools there are
+1,225 men and 3,581 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the
+men is $36.45; of the women $30.82.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The W.C.T.U. was the first organization of women in the State and
+through its franchise department has worked earnestly and collected
+numerous petitions for suffrage. The Woman's Relief Corps is the
+largest body, having 1,800 members. The Eastern Star, Daughters of
+Rebekah, Ladies of the Maccabees, and other lodge societies are well
+organized. The Federation of Clubs, the youngest association,
+represents 200 members. A number of churches have women on their
+official boards.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[200] At the New Orleans Exposition in 1885 the displays of Kansas,
+Dakota and Nebraska taught the world the artistic value of grains and
+grasses for decoration, but it was exemplified most strikingly in the
+Dakota's Woman's Department, arranged by Mrs. J. M. Melton of Fargo.
+Among the industrial exhibits was a carriage robe sent from a leading
+furrier to represent the skilled work of women in his employ. There
+were also bird fans, a curtain of duck skins and cases of taxidermy,
+all prepared and cured by women, and a case of work from women
+employed in the printing office of the Fargo Argus. Four thousand
+bouquets of grasses were distributed on Dakota Day and carried away as
+curious and beautiful memorials. All were made by women in the
+Territory.
+
+[201] The History is indebted for this part of the chapter to Dr.
+Janette Hill Knox, of Wahpeton, corresponding secretary of the State
+Woman Suffrage Association.
+
+[202] U. S. Senator W. N. Roach also wrote and voted in favor of woman
+suffrage. Martin N. Johnson, M. C., was a strong advocate.
+
+[203] Officers elected: Honorary presidents, Dr. Cora Smith Eaton and
+Miss Mary Allen Whedon; president, Mrs. Flora Blackman Naylor;
+vice-president, Mrs. G. S. Roberts; corresponding secretary, Dr.
+Janette Hill Knox; recording secretary, Mrs. Henrietta Paulson
+Haagenson; treasurer, Mrs. Anna Carmody; auditors, Mrs. J. S. Kemp,
+Mrs. Addie L. Carr; member national executive committee, Mrs. Lois L.
+Muir; organizer and lecturer, Mrs. Mary E. Slater; press
+superintendent, Mrs. Flora P. Gates.
+
+In addition to these, the following have served as State officers:
+Vice-presidents, Mesdames Mary Wilson, Florence Dixon and G. S.
+Roberts; corresponding secretaries, Mrs. Sara E. B. Smith, Mrs. Delia
+Lee Hyde; recording secretary, Mrs. Helen de Lendrecie; treasurer,
+Mrs. Katherine V. King; auditors, Dr. Helena G. Wink and Mesdames M.
+B. Goodrich, L. C. McKinney and L. C. Campbell.
+
+Among other efficient workers may be mentioned Gov. Eli Shortridge,
+Gov. Roger Allen, Dr. M. V. B. Knox, Miss Bena Halerow, and Mesdames
+Ida S. Clark, Mazie Stevens, Nellie Mott, Frances M. Dixon, R. C.
+Cooper and S. M. Woodhull.
+
+[204] In the Legislature of 1901 a bill was introduced in the House by
+H. E. Lavayea of Grand Forks County, to take away School Suffrage from
+women. The bill was unconstitutional and was never reported from the
+committee, but its introduction stirred up indignant protests from all
+parts of the State.
+
+[205] The History is indebted to Mrs. Alice M. A. Pickler of Faulkton,
+president of the State Woman Suffrage Association, for the material
+contained in this part of the chapter.
+
+[206] The speakers raised about $1,400 which went toward paying their
+expenses. Over $1,000 were secured by other means. Most of the State
+workers donated their expenses.
+
+[207] A graphic account of this campaign, with many anecdotes and
+personal reminiscences, will be found in the Life and Work of Susan B.
+Anthony, Chap. XXXVIII.
+
+[208] Petitions have been presented to several Legislatures to grant
+Municipal Suffrage by statute but a bill for this purpose has been
+brought to a vote only once, in 1893, when it was passed by the
+Senate, 27 ayes, 11 noes; and defeated in the House by only one vote.
+
+[209] Others who have served in official position are vice-president,
+Mrs. Emma A. Cranmer; corresponding secretaries, Mesdames Kate Uline
+Folger, F. C. Bidwell, Hannah V. Best; treasurers, Mrs. Elizabeth M.
+Wardall, Mrs. Marion L. Bennett, Mrs. Clara M. Williams; auditor, Mrs.
+John Davis; superintendents of literature, Mrs. Jane Rooker Breeden,
+Mrs. Delia Robinson King.
+
+[210] The list of men and women who are not so widely known but who
+have stood faithfully for woman suffrage would be a long one. Among
+them are S. H. Cranmer, Rev. and Mrs. C. E. Hagar, Mrs. Alice Gossage,
+Mrs. C. E. Thorpe, Mrs. Luella A. Ramsey, Mrs. Ruby Smart, Kara Smart
+and Floy Cochrane.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+DELAWARE.[211]
+
+
+In the campaign of 1884 the Republicans had a Ship of State called the
+New Constitution, with an eagle on the top, which was mounted on
+wheels and taken from place to place where they held public meetings.
+When they came to Greenwood, the home of Mrs. Mary A. Stuart, she put
+a "blue hen" upon it, saying they should not have an eagle to
+represent freedom for men and nothing to represent women. So the hen
+went from one end of Delaware to the other, sitting in state in a
+glass coop. Some of the Republican speakers announced from the
+platform this year that they favored enfranchisement of women.
+
+In 1888 the State Woman's Christian Temperance Union adopted the
+franchise department with Mrs. Patience Kent as superintendent, and
+held several public meetings. In 1889 Mrs. Martha S. Cranston was
+elected her successor, and still occupies the position.
+
+Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery, corresponding secretary of the National
+Association, organized the Wilmington Equal Suffrage Club, the first
+in the State, on Nov. 18, 1895, with twenty-five members. The
+membership soon increased to fifty-three.
+
+The following winter Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the
+national organization committee, sent into the State the Rev.
+Henrietta G. Moore of Ohio and Miss Mary G. Hay of New York, the
+latter to arrange meetings and the former to address them and organize
+clubs. On Jan. 17, 18, 1896, they assisted in a convention at
+Wilmington, where a State Association was formed.
+
+As Delaware was to hold a Constitutional Convention in 1897, the
+National Association was especially interested in pushing the suffrage
+work there. Mrs. Chapman Catt met with the executive committee in
+Wilmington to arrange plans, and Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado
+and Miss Laura A. Gregg of Kansas were sent during March and April to
+further organization. Three county associations were formed, and Mrs.
+Hortense Davenport held parlor meetings in various towns throughout
+May.
+
+On Nov. 27, 1896, the second annual convention was held in the New
+Century Club parlors in Wilmington. Judge William N. Ashman of
+Philadelphia and Mrs. Mary Heald Way of Oxford, Penn., addressed the
+audience in the evening.
+
+Petitions were circulated throughout the State, and Mrs. Cranston and
+Miss Hay went to Dover to present the Constitutional Convention with a
+memorial, which was referred to the Committee on Elections. It
+contained the signatures of 1,592 men and 1,228 women. A hearing was
+granted Jan. 13, 1897. Mrs. Emalea P. Warner, Mrs. Margaret W. Houston
+and Miss Emma Worrell made addresses. Mrs. Chapman Catt was the chief
+speaker. Only two members of the committee were absent. A vote was
+taken February 16 on omitting the word "male" from the new
+constitution, and the proposition was defeated by 7 yeas, 17 nays,
+with 6 not present.
+
+A national conference was held in Wilmington April 22, 23.
+Mrs. Chapman Catt and the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, national
+vice-president-at-large, were the principal speakers, and Mrs.
+Elizabeth G. Robinson, Mrs. Elizabeth Walling and Mrs. Houston
+assisted in making the meetings a success. On Sunday Miss Shaw
+preached in the Union M. E. Church in the morning and the Delaware
+Avenue Baptist Church in the evening.
+
+The third State meeting took place at Wilmington, Dec. 2, 1897, with
+addresses by Miss Diana Hirschler of Boston and Mrs. C. O. H. Craigie
+of Brooklyn.
+
+There was no convention in 1898, but the State association held a
+meeting in the Unitarian Church, in Wilmington, Dec. 15, 1899, which
+was addressed by Mrs. Chapman Catt.
+
+After the national convention in February, 1900, Mrs. Bradford made a
+few addresses in the State. The annual meeting took place in
+Newcastle, Nov. 15, 1900. Among the speakers were Mrs. Ellen H. E.
+Price of Pennsylvania and Professors William H. Purnell and Wesley
+Webb.
+
+Mrs. Martha S. Cranston has been president of the State association,
+and Mrs. Margaret W. Houston vice-president, since its beginning.
+Others who have served in official capacity are Mrs. Margaret H. Kent,
+Edward Mullen, Miss Emma Lore, Mrs. Mary R. De Vou and Mrs. May Price
+Phillips. Among those not previously mentioned who have given valuable
+assistance are Chief Justice Charles B. Lore and Mrs. Gertrude Nields.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: No bill for woman suffrage has been
+presented to the Legislature since 1881.
+
+On the petition of women a law was passed in 1887 requiring employers
+to provide seats for female employes when not on duty.
+
+In 1889 a police matron was appointed for Wilmington.
+
+In 1893 the Bastardy Law, which compelled the father of an
+illegitimate child to pay fifty cents a week for its support during
+seven years, was repealed; $3 a week for ten years were asked, but the
+law made it $1 a week for ten years.
+
+Until 1889 the "age of protection" for girls was only seven years.
+That year, on petition of many women, it was raised to fifteen, but
+the violation of the law was declared to be only a "misdemeanor,"
+punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000 or imprisonment for not
+more than seven years, or both, at the discretion of the court, with
+no minimum penalty named. In 1895 the Legislature, on the insistence
+of women, raised the "age of protection" to eighteen years, but
+continued to extend the "protection" to boys as well as girls. It has
+been found very difficult to secure the conviction of men for this
+crime, and those convicted have been repeatedly pardoned by the
+Governor.
+
+On May 10, 1897, the Legislature passed a bill requiring the
+proprietors of mills, factories and stores in the city of Wilmington
+to provide comfortable toilet-rooms for their female employes, and one
+giving power for the appointment of women as factory inspectors. One
+was appointed by Chief Justice Lore the same year.
+
+If there is a child or the lawful issue of a child living, the widow
+has a life-interest in one-third of the real estate and one-third
+absolutely of the personal property. If there is no child nor the
+descendant of any child living, the widow has a life-interest in
+one-half of the real estate and one-half absolutely of the personal
+estate. If there are neither descendants nor kin--brothers, sisters,
+their descendants, father nor mother--the widow has the entire real
+estate for her life, and all the personal estate absolutely. If a
+child of the marriage was born alive, whether living or dead at the
+death of the wife, the widower has her entire real estate during his
+life, and the whole of her personal estate absolutely, subject to all
+legal claims. If there has not been a child born alive, the widower
+has a life-interest in one-half of her real estate, but the whole of
+her personal estate absolutely.
+
+The father is the legal guardian of the children, and he alone may
+appoint a guardian at his death.
+
+For failure to support his wife and minor children, a man may be fined
+from $10 to $100; and, by Act of 1887, arrested and required to give
+bail not exceeding $500. The court may order him to pay reasonable
+support not exceeding $100 per month and give security to the State.
+If he fail to comply, he may be committed to jail. The wife is
+competent as a witness.
+
+SUFFRAGE: The women in Milford, Townsend, Wyoming and Newark who pay a
+property tax are privileged to vote for Town Commissioners in person
+or by proxy. All such women in the State may vote for School Trustees.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: In January, 1900, the Supreme Court denied the
+application of a woman to practice at the bar, on the ground that a
+lawyer is a State officer and all State officers must be voters.
+
+In the one city of Wilmington women are eligible as school directors,
+but none ever has been elected.
+
+A woman factory inspector was appointed by the Chief Justice in 1897,
+and reappointed in 1900.
+
+Women never have served as notaries public.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: Only the practice of law is legally forbidden.
+
+EDUCATION: Delaware has one college, at Newark, which receives State
+funds. Women were admitted in 1872, and during the next thirteen years
+eighty availed themselves of its advantages. It was then closed to
+them. The only High School in the State, at Wilmington, is open to
+girls.
+
+There are in the public schools 211 men and 643 women teachers. It is
+impossible to obtain their average salaries.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[211] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Martha S.
+Cranston of Newport, president of the State Woman Suffrage
+Association.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.[212]
+
+
+The women of the District of Columbia who desire the suffrage have a
+unique place among those of other localities. As the franchise for men
+even is not included in the privileges of citizenship, all are
+compelled to work circuitously through Congress in order to gain that
+which in the States is secured directly by the ballot. The suffrage
+societies stand in especially close relation to the National
+Association, as every year from 1869 until 1895, and each alternate
+year since, they have served as its hosts and arranged the many
+details of its delegate conventions. Being near, also, to the great
+legislative body of the nation they often serve as messengers and
+mediators between congressional committees and various State
+organizations of women.
+
+The District, however, has its own vital problems to solve, and in
+these the suffrage association takes a prominent part. Since 1883,
+through its organized and persistent efforts, alone or in co-operation
+with other societies, many local reforms and improvements have been
+secured. These have been unusually difficult to obtain because subject
+to the dual authority of Congress and of the District Commissioners.
+Nevertheless, so systematically and harmoniously have the women worked
+that the entire personnel of the association's committees has often
+been changed during the long delays in the introduction of a bill, the
+lobbying for it and its final passage, without in the least imperiling
+its success.
+
+The District society never has languished since its organization in
+1868. Dr. Clara W. MacNaughton is now president and there are over one
+hundred active members.[213]
+
+The Equal Suffrage Association of the District of Columbia is a
+separate body, corresponding to a State association, and is composed
+of delegates elected from the District society and the Junior Equal
+Suffrage Club. It was organized Dec. 2, 1898, and holds regular
+meetings. Mrs. Helen Rand Tindall is the president.[214]
+
+The association made every possible effort to secure a bill to
+recompense Anna Ella Carroll for her services during the war. It has
+used its influence in favor of industrial schools and kindergartens in
+the public schools and has urged Congress to appropriate money for
+vacation schools. In 1895 it petitioned the national convention of the
+Knights of Labor, meeting in Washington, to adopt a resolution asking
+Congress to restore suffrage to the citizens of the District of
+Columbia with no distinction of sex. This was unanimously adopted
+without even the formality of referring to a committee. Delegates were
+sent to the International Congress of Women in Brussels in 1897.
+
+In 1900, for the first time, the suffrage women of the District gave
+free entertainment to delegates to the national convention. Mrs. Ellen
+Powell Thompson was chairman of the committee and contributed largely
+to the success of that memorable convention, which ended with the
+celebration of Miss Susan B. Anthony's eightieth birthday and her
+retirement from the presidency of the National Association. Mrs.
+Thompson was especially active in securing the handsome gift of a
+purse of over $200, which was presented to her by the District
+society. Mrs. Julius C. Burrows assisted in many ways and through her
+influence the Corcoran Gallery of Art was opened to the brilliant
+reception given in honor of Miss Anthony.
+
+Among many who openly espouse woman suffrage are ex-Gov. and Mrs. John
+W. Hoyt of Wyoming, now living in Washington, Mrs. John B. Henderson,
+Mrs. A. L. Barber, Mrs. Judith Ellen Foster, president of the Woman's
+Republican Association of the United States, and Miss Clara Barton,
+founder and president of the National Red Cross Society; to whom might
+be added hosts of others.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: The suffrage association has been largely
+instrumental in securing most of the District legislation in favor of
+women, as the records of the past twenty years will show. What is
+regarded as the most important achievement of this nature since 1884
+is the passage by Congress, in 1896, of the Married Woman's Property
+Rights Bill.
+
+The removal of the disabilities of wives had been agitated for a
+number of years by the association. In 1893 a bill for this purpose,
+drafted by one of its members, Miss Emma M. Gillett, attorney-at-law,
+was passed by the Senate. When it reached the House it went through
+the usual stages, was tossed about from one committee to another and
+deferred and delayed in the most exasperating manner. It was
+championed by Miss Gillett, however, with an unswerving courage and
+fidelity which never allowed it to be forgotten or neglected, and she
+was treated always with the utmost courtesy when appearing before
+congressional committees.
+
+In 1894 Mrs. Ellen Spencer Mussey, always an ardent suffragist, as
+chairman of the committee on legislation for the District Federation
+of Women's Clubs, began a vigorous prosecution of this bill before
+Congress. Miss Gillett and Mrs. Mussey were ably assisted by Mrs.
+Belva A. Lockwood, Mrs. Lucia B. Blount, Mrs. M. E. Coues and Mrs.
+Mary S. Lockwood.
+
+At this time married women had no legal right to hold property, and in
+most respects the District laws remained about as arbitrary as they
+were in the reign of King Charles II. A mother had no right by law to
+her own child, the father having legal sanction to dispose of the
+offspring even before it was born. At the time this committee was
+urging Congress to pass the bill, the public was horrified by a
+notorious case in the courts of the District in which a profligate
+father, who had never done anything to benefit his children, had
+disposed of them by will, debarring the mother from their custody and
+control. This cruelty and injustice was an object-lesson which
+especially evoked the sympathy of Congress.
+
+The bill finally passed both Houses, was approved by President William
+McKinley, and became a law June 1, 1896. At a special meeting, held
+June 11, Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood presented the association with an
+engrossed copy of the new law, and the women held a jubilee to
+celebrate their victory.
+
+The law provides that the real, personal or mixed property which shall
+come to a woman by descent, purchase, gift, etc., shall be and remain
+her sole and separate property, notwithstanding her marriage, and
+shall not be subject to the disposal of her husband or be liable for
+his debts.
+
+A married woman may bargain, sell and convey her real and personal
+property, enter into any contract, sue and be sued the same as a
+married man.
+
+A married woman may carry on any business or enter any profession, by
+herself or with others, and the proceeds shall be her separate
+property and may be invested in her own name.
+
+The law also provides that the father and mother shall be equal
+guardians of their children, and that the survivor may by last will
+and testament appoint a guardian.
+
+The husband, if he have property, is required by a recent decision to
+furnish his family with reasonable support; otherwise there is no
+penalty for failure to do so.
+
+Dower and curtesy obtain. The widow's dower is one-third for life of
+the real estate, and one-third of the personal estate absolutely if
+there is a child or descendant of any living. If there is no issue or
+descendant of any, but father, mother, brother, sister or descendants
+of these, the widow has one-half the personal estate. If none of
+these, the widow may have all of the personal estate, and all of the
+real estate if there is no kindred whatever. A widower, if his wife
+has borne a living child, is entitled to the use of one-third of her
+real estate for life, and one-third of her personal property. If there
+are no heirs, lineal or collateral, he takes the whole estate
+absolutely.
+
+The "age of protection" for girls was raised in 1889 from 12 to 16
+years. The penalty is, for the first offense imprisonment at hard
+labor in the penitentiary not more than fifteen years, and for each
+subsequent offense not more than thirty years. No minimum penalty is
+fixed.
+
+SUFFRAGE: Since the Territorial government was abolished and male
+citizens disfranchised, in 1874, there have been numerous petitions to
+Congress for the ballot by both men and women, but no action has been
+taken by that body.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: Through the early '80's Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood, Mrs.
+Jane H. Spofford and others worked unceasingly for the placing of
+matrons at the jail and police stations. One was appointed in 1884,
+and, during the sixteen years since, a matron has been secured for the
+jail and three for the ten police stations, largely through the
+efforts of the suffragists and especially of Mrs. Ellen Powell
+Thompson, president of the District Association. The women have had
+the hearty support of Major Richard Sylvester, Chief of Police.
+
+In 1892 an act was passed for a Board of Guardians for Dependent
+Children, of which at least three of the nine members must be women.
+
+Principally to the efforts of Mrs. Sara A. Spencer, with the help of
+other members of the association, is due the bill providing for a
+Girl's Reform School, in 1892. The board of managers has always been
+composed of men, but there are a woman superintendent and a woman
+physician.
+
+Mrs. Lockwood and Mrs. Elizabeth A. Russell worked long and arduously
+to secure a House of Detention and also a special carriage and a
+special court for the women and children arrested. To Major Sylvester
+above all others, however, belongs the credit of securing this House
+of Detention. Senator James McMillan of Michigan, chairman of the
+Committee on the District of Columbia, framed the bill and it was
+finally transformed into law. This house was opened in the summer of
+1900. A Lieutenant of Police and three matrons have charge, under
+supervision of the Chief.
+
+Mrs. Marilla M. Ricker was made notary public and master in chancery
+in 1885, and Miss Emma M. Gillett soon afterward. They secured the
+legislation necessary for women to hold the latter office. There are
+at present four or five women masters in chancery and twenty women
+notaries in the District.
+
+It required six years of agitation and effort on the part of the
+suffrage association before women were allowed to serve as members on
+the Board of Public School Education. The principal movers in this
+work were Dr. Clara W. MacNaughton, Mrs. Thompson, Mrs. Helen Rand
+Tindall, Mrs. Lockwood and Mrs. Caroline E. Kent. During this time the
+bill passed through many vicissitudes and its friends became
+discouraged, but in 1894 Dr. MacNaughton went to work with a strong
+determination to secure its passage. Great assistance was rendered by
+Senator McMillan and the Hon. Edwin F. Uhl, at that time Assistant
+Secretary of State. The bill was finally passed just before Congress
+adjourned for that year. The school board, which has charge of both
+white and colored schools, consists of five members, each with a
+salary of $500 a year. Mrs. Mary C. Terrill (colored) served five
+years and resigned. She was succeeded by Mrs. Betty G. Francis
+(colored). Mrs. Mary Hope West (white) is the other woman member. A
+woman is serving as assistant superintendent of the public schools,
+receiving $2,500 per annum; and a woman is employed as assistant
+secretary of the Board of Education.
+
+Women sit on the Hospital Boards and those of Public Charities. It
+never has been possible to secure the appointment of women physicians
+at any of the hospitals or asylums.
+
+As women are admitted to the various Government Departments there
+naturally would be more of them holding office in the District of
+Columbia than in all the States combined. The relative number of men
+and women employed is as follows:
+
+  _LEGISLATIVE._
+
+                                                 _Male._ _Female._
+
+  Senate, officers and employes                     382            3
+  House of Representatives, officers and employes   272          ...
+  Capitol Police                                     65          ...
+  Library of Congress                               216          151
+  United States Botanic Garden                       28          ...
+                                                   ----         ----
+                                                    963          154
+
+                         _EXECUTIVE._
+
+  Executive Office                                   28          ...
+  State Department                                   92           17
+  Treasury Department                             3,234        2,313
+  War Department[215]                               2,411          300
+  Navy Department[216]                              2,992           85
+  Postoffice Department                             812          237
+  Interior Department                             4,810        2,862
+  Department of Justice                             191           21
+  Department of Agriculture                         650          332
+  Government Printing Office                      2,623        1,068
+  Department of Labor                                74           10
+  Fish Commission                                    55           12
+  Interstate Commerce Commission                    133          ...
+  Civil Service Commission                           55            6
+  Industrial Commission                              10            7
+  Smithsonian Institution                           320           39
+  Bureau of American Republics                       13            9
+  Local Postoffices in District                     606           22
+                                                   ----         ----
+                                                 19,109        7,340
+
+                        _JUDICIAL._
+
+  Supreme Court of the United States                 12          ...
+  Court of Claims                                    25            2
+                                                   ----         ----
+                                                     37            2
+
+                        _SUMMARY._
+
+                                                 20,109        7,496
+
+Whether the number of women is increasing or decreasing is a disputed
+question. The Civil Service alone enables them to hold their places or
+to secure new ones against the tremendous pressure for the offices
+which is brought upon the appointing powers by the men who form the
+voting constituency of the country. Chiefs of the Divisions rarely
+call for a woman on the Civil Service list of eligibles.
+
+Few women fill the highly salaried positions. One woman receives
+$2,500 as Portuguese translator; one, working in the U. S. Land Office
+at Lander, Wyoming, receives the same. One secured a $2,250 position
+in the Federal Postoffice Department but was soon reduced to an $1,800
+place and her own given to a man. The salaries of women in general
+range from $900 to $1,600, not more than fifty receiving the latter
+sum, while many hundreds of men clerks receive $1,800. Clerkships
+under Civil Service rules are supposed to pay the same to men and
+women, but the latter rarely secure the better-paid ones. There are a
+large number of positions graded above clerkships and paying from
+$2,000 to $3,000 a year to which women are practically never
+appointed.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: No professions or occupations are forbidden to women. Two
+of the pioneer women physicians in the United States made name and
+fame in Washington--Dr. Caroline B. Winslow and Dr. Susan A.
+Edson--the latter the attending physician during the last illness of
+President James A. Garfield.
+
+EDUCATION: Howard University, for white and colored students, is the
+only one which graduates women in medicine. In all of its ten
+departments, including law, it is co-educational. Columbian University
+(Baptist) opens its literary departments to women but excludes them
+from those of law and medicine, which are its strongest
+departments.[217] They were admitted to the Medical School in 1884,
+but excluded in 1892 on the ground that the university could not
+afford to have professors for separate classes and that the buildings
+were too small for the increased number of students.
+
+Mrs. Ellen S. Mussey and Miss Emma M. Gillett, in 1896, established
+the Washington College of Law for the legal education of women. Mrs.
+Mussey has been the dean since its organization and is the only woman
+dean of a law school in the country. The Hon. Edward F. Bingham, Chief
+Justice of the Supreme Court of the District, is president of the
+board of trustees, and leading members of the bar have used their
+influence to make the college a success. The curriculum is the same as
+obtains in the leading institutions. There are several men among the
+students. Mrs. Mussey is counsel for the Red Cross Society.
+
+The American University (Methodist Episcopal), now being organized for
+post-graduate work, is to be co-educational.
+
+The great Catholic Universities, here, as everywhere, are closed to
+women. Trinity College for Women (Roman Catholic) was dedicated Nov.
+22, 1900. The necessity for this college became apparent from their
+many applications to enter the universities for men. It is the first
+institution founded by this church for the higher education of women
+such as is provided by the largest of the women's colleges in the
+United States.
+
+There are in the public schools 155 men and 1,004 women teachers. The
+average monthly salary of the men is $94.48; of the women, $64.31.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The introduction of Kindergartens into the public schools received the
+assistance of all the women's societies in the District. In 1898 a
+bill passed Congress appropriating $15,000 with which to make the
+experiment. This proving successful an annual appropriation of $25,000
+was made.[218]
+
+The Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Mrs. Clinton Smith, president,
+has secured the suppression of liquor selling in the cafe of the new
+Library of Congress, and a large number of most beneficent measures.
+In December, 1900, the national convention of the W. C. T. U. was held
+in Washington and among the strongest resolutions adopted were those
+declaring for woman suffrage and the abolishment of the army canteen.
+A bill for the latter purpose passed the House while the convention
+was in session, and soon afterwards passed the Senate.
+
+The District Federation of Women's Clubs includes eleven affiliated
+organizations comprising nearly four thousand women.
+
+Mrs. Julius C. Burrows (Mich.) is among the most prominent of the many
+women engaged in philanthropic work. Largely under her direction the
+Training School for Nurses connected with the Garfield Memorial
+Hospital has become one of the best in the country.
+
+Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby has long owned and published the _Woman's
+Tribune_. Mrs. Mary S. Lockwood for a number of years has edited the
+_American Magazine_, the official organ of the National Society
+Daughters of the American Revolution. Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood is
+associate editor of _The Peacemaker_.
+
+Dr. Anita Newcombe McGee was the first woman in the United States
+commissioned as surgeon, with the rank of lieutenant and the privilege
+of wearing shoulder straps. She examined most of the women nurses who
+volunteered their services in Cuba and the Philippines.
+
+All of the women mentioned above are members of the suffrage
+association, and those engaged in public work of all kinds are, almost
+without exception, advocates of woman suffrage.
+
+During the Spanish-American War the women of the District, including
+the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Woman's Christian
+Temperance Union and the District Federation of Women's Clubs, united
+in their services. Pleasant headquarters were opened in different
+localities. Mrs. Judith Ellen Foster, Mrs. James B. Tanner and many
+other loyal Red Cross women answered the call of Clara Barton, and
+assisted daily through the long, hot summer of 1898 in contributing to
+the comfort of the soldiers when passing through Washington or while
+stationed at Camp Alger; and also in sending supplies for the comfort
+of those at the front. There were no castes, creeds or factions in
+this great work of patriotism.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[212] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Florence Adele
+Chase, for a number of years on the editorial staff of a daily paper
+at Grand Rapids, Mich., now on the editorial force in the Division of
+Publications of the Agricultural Department at Washington, the only
+woman who has held the position.
+
+[213] The presidents since 1884 have been Mrs. Ruth G. Denison, Dr.
+Susan A. Edson, Mrs. Ella M. S. Marble, Mrs. Mary L. Bennett, Mrs.
+Mary Powell Davis, Mrs. Ellen Powell Thompson, Miss Cora La Matyr
+Thomas and Mrs. Helen Rand Tindall.
+
+On March 18, 1901, the association was incorporated by Clara W.
+MacNaughton, Mary L. Talbott, Ellen Powell Thompson, Helen Rand
+Tindall, Clara Bewick Colby, Kate W. Burt, Sara A. Haslett, Caroline
+E. Kent and Belva A. Lockwood, "to secure for women citizens of the
+United States the full rights of citizenship; to build a clubhouse for
+women; and to collect funds for appropriate memorials to the memory of
+women who have performed meritorious work for the enfranchisement of
+women and the good of humanity."
+
+[214] The Junior Equal Suffrage Club is probably the first
+organization of young people to become affiliated with the National
+Association. It was founded Jan. 24, 1895, by three girls in the
+Central High School, Anna Kemball, Alice Stearns and Edith Maddren.
+Young men comprise about one-third of its membership and join in its
+proceedings and discussions.
+
+[215] Not including 71 officers of the U. S. Army on duty at the War
+Department.
+
+[216] Not including 37 officers U. S. Navy and 4 officers U. S. Marine
+Corps on duty at Navy Department.
+
+[217] In 1901 women graduates were admitted as special students to
+lecture courses in the graduate department, known as the National
+School of Jurisprudence and Diplomacy, by a special vote of the
+trustees in each case, but no general rule has been made.
+
+[218] The Senate committee included Senators Allison, Cullom, Gorman,
+Quay and Cockrell. When Mrs. Mussey appeared before them to ask for a
+new appropriation, after the trial had proved a success, she stated
+that she was about to ask something for that which is the most
+precious to every woman's heart--a little child. The Senators at once
+declared that a little child was also the dearest thing on earth to a
+man's heart, and unanimously recommended the appropriation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+FLORIDA.[219]
+
+
+The brief history of work in Florida for the enfranchisement of women
+gathers about the name of Mrs. Ella C. Chamberlain. She returned to
+her home in Tampa from attendance on the Woman's Inter-State
+Conference at Des Moines in the autumn of 1892, and secured space for
+a suffrage department in the principal paper of that city. In January,
+1893, she presented the question so forcibly at a social gathering, as
+a woman taxpayer, that a gentleman suggested forming a society and
+twenty members were secured, eight of them men. Mrs. Chamberlain was
+made president; O. G. Sexton, secretary; Miss Stowell, treasurer.
+
+In 1894 the president addressed the Carpenters' Union twice, and
+considerable literature was distributed. In December the suffragists
+of Tampa, aided by those of Melrose, held a bazar which netted $125.
+
+In January, 1895, a State convention was held in Tampa and the
+following officers were elected: President, Mrs. Chamberlain;
+vice-presidents, Mesdames E. W. King, Emma Tebbitts, Jessie M.
+Bartlett; secretary, Miss Nellie Glenn; treasurer, J. L. Cae. During
+the year Mrs. Chamberlain gave addresses at the De Funiak Springs
+Assembly, the Adventists' Campmeeting and in various towns. The
+society paid dues to the National Association until 1897, when the
+president removed from the State, no one came forward to take the
+leadership and the movement has since languished.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: Until 1901 the women never had a bill
+before the Legislature, although the W. C. T. U. aided greatly in
+securing the State Reform School. Its influence also was strongly used
+against a Dispensary Bill.
+
+Some men and many women had long felt that the law placing the "age of
+consent" for girls at 10 years was a disgrace to the State. In 1887 W.
+B. Lamar (now Attorney-General) presented a bill raising it to 17
+years, but this was defeated.
+
+Florida makes a distinction between "age of consent" and "age of
+protection." Up to 10 years the crime is rape and the penalty is death
+or imprisonment for life. The law "protects" girls until 16 to the
+extent of a penalty of imprisonment not more than one year or a fine
+not exceeding $500, with no minimum fixed. Several attempts were made
+by the W. C. T. U. to have both ages changed to 18 years, but bills
+for this purpose always were laid on the table.
+
+In 1901 this organization, under the leadership of Mrs. C. S.
+Burnett-Haney, its superintendent of purity, began a thorough and
+systematic canvass of the State to secure such a petition for raising
+the age as it would be impossible for the Legislature to ignore. For
+this 15,000 signatures of representative men and women were obtained,
+besides the official indorsement of U. S. Senators Stephen R. Mallory
+and James P. Taliaferro, Congressmen S. M. Sparkman and Robert W.
+Davis, four Judges of the Circuit Court, with many other Judges,
+attorneys and city officers; also those of Presidents W. F. Yocum of
+the State Agricultural College, G. M. Ward of Rollins College, John F.
+Forbes of Stetson University, the State Superintendent of Public
+Instruction and over 100 other leading educators. The petition
+received also the unanimous indorsement of the State Press Association
+and the State Medical Association, and the signatures of 100
+physicians, including every member of the State Medical Board.
+
+In the hope of at least a measure of success two bills were
+introduced, one raising the "age of consent" from 10 to 14 years, and,
+as it had been found practically impossible to secure a conviction
+under the existing penalty, to reduce this to a term of imprisonment.
+This bill was presented and championed in the House by R. H. Burr, the
+age was raised to 16 years and the bill passed unanimously, May 17. In
+the Senate it was indefinitely postponed.
+
+The second bill asked that the "age of protection" be raised from 16
+to 18 years, and that the penalty be increased to imprisonment from
+one to twenty years or a fine of from $500 to $2,000. This bill also
+was advocated by Mr. Burr and passed the House May 17, but with no
+minimum penalty. The vote stood 26 ayes, 20 noes.
+
+In the Senate every possible means was adopted to prevent this bill
+from reaching a vote, and it was only by the determined efforts of E.
+N. Dimick, and all the influence which the W. C. T. U. could bring to
+bear, that it finally was passed the last day of the session, May 31,
+with but two dissenting votes, although a number of senators absented
+themselves. It was signed the same day by Gov. William S. Jennings.
+
+Thus as the result of all this great canvass, the expenditure of much
+time and money and the assistance of the best elements in the
+community, a child of 10 years may still consent to her own ruin in
+Florida, and the age at which the law will give any protection
+whatever was raised only two years. The penalty which may be inflicted
+was increased, but by the refusal to fix a minimum of fine or
+imprisonment there is but a slight improvement over the original
+status.
+
+If over 16 each of the parties may be punished by imprisonment not
+exceeding three months or a fine not exceeding $30.
+
+All property of the wife, real or personal, owned by her before
+marriage or lawfully acquired afterward, by gift, bequest or purchase,
+is her separate estate and is not liable for the debts of the husband
+without her written consent in legal form. It remains, however, under
+his care and management, but he can not charge for these, nor can she
+compel him to account for its rents, proceeds or profits.
+
+The wife can not transfer her real or personal property without the
+husband's joinder. If he has been insane one year she can convey or
+transfer without his signature. Any married woman who may wish to take
+charge of her estate, and become a free dealer in every respect, must
+apply to the court for a license. Since 1891 a married woman's
+earnings acquired by any employment aside from the household are her
+separate property.
+
+Dower but not curtesy prevails. The widow has the life use of
+one-third of the real estate and, if there are no children or but one
+child, she has one-half the personal estate absolutely; if more than
+one, she has one-third. If there are no children and no will she takes
+the whole estate, real and personal. If the wife die without a will,
+and the husband but no descendants survive her, the whole of her
+estate goes to him; but if there are children or their descendants,
+the estate, both real and personal, descends in distribution to them.
+The homestead, to the extent of 160 acres of land in the country or a
+half-acre in town, is exempt from seizure for debt.
+
+A married woman may dispose of her property, both real and personal,
+by last will and testament in the same manner as if she were
+unmarried.
+
+The father has legal control of the persons, education and property of
+the children, and he alone may appoint a guardian by will, during any
+part of infancy.
+
+The husband is required by law to support his family and, on his
+failure to do so, the court may make such orders as are necessary. If
+living separate from him, the wife may sue for alimony without divorce
+if legal cause exist.
+
+SUFFRAGE: Women possess no form of suffrage.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: Women are not eligible to any office, elective or
+appointive, except that they may serve as notaries public.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: Women have been admitted to the practice of law in a few
+judicial circuits, but none have been admitted into the medical
+profession. No other occupation is legally forbidden.
+
+EDUCATION: All of the institutions of learning are open alike to both
+sexes.
+
+In the public schools there are 1,121 men and 1,671 women teachers.
+The average monthly salary of the men is $35; of the women, $32.40.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[219] The History is indebted to Mrs. C. S. Burnett-Haney of Stuart,
+superintendent of purity for the State Woman's Christian Temperance
+Union, for much of the information in this chapter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+GEORGIA.[220]
+
+
+The first woman suffrage association of Georgia was organized in July,
+1890, by Miss H. Augusta Howard and her sister, Miss Claudia Hope
+Howard (Maxwell). For some time the membership was composed only of
+these two, their mother, Mrs. Anne Jane Lindsay Howard, and other
+relatives, all residents of Columbus. Mr. and Mrs. D. M. Allen of
+Douglasville were the first outside the Howard family to encourage and
+support the infant organization. In 1892 Mrs. Kate Mallette Hardwick
+and Mrs. Mary L. McLendon became members, and served for several years
+as auditor and vice-president.
+
+The Atlanta association was organized in the Marietta Street M. E.
+Church, March 21, 1894, by Mrs. McLendon and Mrs. Margaret Chandler;
+perfected in the Unitarian Church on March 28, and begun with a
+membership of forty men and women.
+
+In the latter part of 1895, Miss Howard and Mrs. Maxwell, who had
+served continuously as president, secretary and treasurer of the State
+association, resigned their offices; and Mrs. Frances Cater Swift was
+elected president; Mrs. U. O. Robertson, secretary; Miss Adelaide
+Wilson, treasurer.
+
+In 1896 Mrs. McLendon was made president; Mrs. S. L. Ober Allen and
+Mrs. Ala Holmes Cheney, vice-presidents; Dr. L. D. Morse,
+corresponding secretary; Mrs. Gertrude C. Thomas, recording secretary;
+Miss Sarah A. Gresham, treasurer.
+
+The annual convention of the National Association, which was held in
+the opera house in Atlanta the first week of February, 1895, gave a
+new impetus to the movement in Georgia.[221] Men and women throughout
+the State felt its widespreading influence. Many ancient Southern
+prejudices received a death-blow when those who harbored them saw what
+manner of women had espoused this hitherto unpopular cause.[222]
+
+All the Atlanta papers extended a cordial greeting to the convention
+and devoted columns of space to biographical sketches, reports of
+meetings, etc., but the _Sunny South_, edited by Col. Henry Clay
+Fairman, was the only one which editorially indorsed the suffrage
+movement. The business manager of the Atlanta _Constitution_, William
+A. Hemphill, and his wife, tendered a large reception to the members
+of the convention.
+
+F. H. Richardson, editor of the Atlanta _Journal_, the largest evening
+paper in the State, was converted to a belief in woman suffrage at
+this time, and is now an honorary member of the organization. As a
+part of his work, he has made an earnest and long-continued effort to
+have women placed on the school board.[223]
+
+The Woman's Board of the Cotton States and International Exposition,
+soon to be held in Atlanta, were so impressed by the _personnel_ of
+this convention that an official invitation was extended for them to
+hold a Suffrage Day on Oct. 17, 1895, in the Woman's Congress Assembly
+Hall. This was accepted by Miss Anthony on behalf of the National
+Association, and under the guiding hand of Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery,
+its corresponding secretary, Suffrage Day was one of the very best of
+the many days celebrated during the Woman's Congress. The State
+association also fitted up a booth in the Liberal Arts Building and
+large quantities of literature were distributed by Mrs. H. M. Tripp,
+who kindly took charge.
+
+The first State convention was held in Atlanta, Nov. 28, 29, 1899. The
+following resolution, offered in the Legislature by Representative
+Martin V. Calvin, was adopted: "The use of the Hall of the House of
+Representatives is hereby granted to Mrs. Virginia D. Young of South
+Carolina, Miss Frances A. Griffin of Alabama, and Mrs. Isabella Webb
+Parks of Georgia, on the 28th inst., for the purpose of delivering
+lectures on the scope of the elective franchise."[224]
+
+The first evening session was held in the State capitol. Mrs.
+McLendon, the president, called the meeting to order. The address of
+welcome for Georgia was made by Mrs. Thomas; for Atlanta, by its
+president, Mrs. Swift; Miss Gresham responded to both. Mrs. Young,
+Miss Griffin, Mrs. Maxwell and Mrs. Parks delivered addresses to a
+large and interested audience.[225]
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: In 1888 the Hon. Augustus Dupont applied
+to the Legislature for a city charter for the town of Dupont, and
+sought to secure suffrage to all persons, male or female, owning
+property in the corporation, but failed.
+
+In 1895 the Atlanta association presented two bills to the
+Legislature--one to raise the "age of protection" for girls from 10 to
+18 years; the other, drawn by Charles A. Reid, a member of the society
+and an able lawyer, to take the necessary measures for granting equal
+legal and political rights to women. Neither was reported from the
+committees.
+
+In 1897 Representative Martin V. Calvin introduced a bill to make a
+woman eligible to serve on the staff of physicians at the State insane
+asylum, but it failed to pass.
+
+In 1898 an effort was made to secure a bill providing police matrons
+in every city of 10,000 or more inhabitants, and one to exempt the
+property of women from taxation until they should be permitted to
+vote. Both failed.
+
+Miss Frances A. Griffin appeared for the Georgia W. S. A. at the
+convention of the State Federation of Labor, held in Augusta in April,
+1900, and in response to her address it called on its members to
+demand a change in the United States Constitution which should secure
+the legal and political equality of women. A strong suffrage plank was
+added to the platform of the federation, and Miss Griffin was invited
+by it to address the Legislature in the interest of the Child Labor
+Bill, which it had championed so unsuccessfully for a number of years.
+
+One result of the State suffrage convention held in Atlanta in 1899,
+was that the following petitions were ordered to be circulated and
+returned for presentation to the legislative committees in the fall of
+1900:
+
+     1. That the University of Georgia be opened to women.
+
+     2. That women be members of the boards of education.
+
+     3. That women physicians be placed on the staff of the State
+     insane asylum.
+
+     4. That women be made eligible to the office of president of the
+     State Normal and Industrial College for Girls.
+
+     5. That the "age of protection" for girls be raised from 10 to 18
+     years.
+
+     6. That girls of eighteen be permitted to enter the textile
+     department of the State Technological School.
+
+Four bills were considered by the Legislature of 1900 in which the
+women of the State were deeply interested. All failed, and many of
+them now see that Legislatures, like juries, should be composed of an
+equal number of men and women to secure exact justice for both.
+
+The Child Labor Bills, introduced by Representative Seaborn Wright and
+C. C. Houston, to prevent the employment in factories of children
+under ten and under twelve years of age were defeated by a vote of
+more than three to one.
+
+The Textile Bill was read twice in the House but failed to secure a
+third reading. Lyman Hall, president of the school, was in favor of
+the bill.
+
+The Age of Protection Bill, introduced by Representative C. S. Reid,
+was very quietly handled. Only one paper (the Atlanta _Daily News_)
+informed the public that it would be made the special order for
+November 15. It was defeated by 71 ayes, 77 noes. At the request of
+women Mr. Reid moved that it be reconsidered November 16, which
+resulted in its being voted down by a larger majority than the day
+before. Mr. Reid thought it well that his bill was defeated, since it
+only asked that the "age of protection" be raised from 10 to 12 years.
+
+The suffragists asked that it be raised from 10 to 18, and the Woman's
+Christian Temperance Union from 10 to 21. Many petitions had been sent
+to previous Legislatures by both these organizations, but this was the
+first time a bill had been presented and carried to a vote.
+
+The bill to admit women to the State University was not considered by
+the Legislature of 1900.[226]
+
+The State W. C. T. U. has been laboring to secure the passage of a law
+for scientific temperance instruction in the public schools since
+1890, when Mrs. Mary H. Hunt of Massachusetts, who was the first woman
+to speak in the capitol building, addressed the Legislature. The bill
+passed both Houses in 1894, but was vetoed by Gov. William J. Northen
+because no provision had been made to require teachers to stand an
+examination on the subject.[227]
+
+Since 1857, when the law which gave a husband the right to whip his
+wife was amended, there have been some favorable changes. In 1866 a
+law was enacted allowing a married woman to own property, but not
+including any wages she might earn.
+
+In 1891, when a married woman was suing for personal injury in a
+railroad accident, Chief Justice Logan E. Bleckley decided that the
+amount of a wife's recovery for physical damages "is not to be
+measured by pecuniary earnings, for such earnings as a general rule
+belong to the husband and the right of action for this loss is in
+him." In 1892 Judge Thomas J. Simmons rendered practically the same
+decision, and in 1893 ruled again: "Inasmuch as the earnings of the
+wife belong to her husband, her individual and personal damages can be
+measured only by the consciences of an impartial jury."
+
+In November, 1895, when William H. Flemming (now a member of Congress)
+was Speaker of the House of Representatives, he offered a bill which,
+as he said, "was to complete the good work begun with the Married
+Woman's Property Act of 1866, by making a wife's labor as well as her
+acquired property her own." It passed the House by 98 ayes, 29 noes,
+but was killed in the Senate.
+
+As the law now stands a married woman in Georgia can control her
+earnings only if a sole trader with her husband's consent by notice
+published in the papers for one month, or if living separate from him.
+
+Dower obtains but not curtesy. If a husband die intestate, leaving a
+wife and issue, the wife may elect to take dower--a life interest in
+one-third of the real estate--or she may take a child's share of the
+whole estate absolutely, unless the shares exceed five in number, when
+she may have one-fifth.
+
+The father is legally entitled to the custody and control of the
+children, and at his death may appoint a guardian to the exclusion of
+the mother. The husband must furnish necessities for the family
+suitable to their station in life.
+
+The "age of protection" for girls still remains 10 years, with a
+penalty of death, or if recommended to mercy by the jury, imprisonment
+in the penitentiary at hard labor not less than one nor more than
+twenty years.
+
+SUFFRAGE: Women have no form of suffrage.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: In December, 1884, Representative Martin V. Calvin
+introduced and carried through the Legislature, under most unfavorable
+pressure, a bill to render women eligible to employment in the State
+House. Besides the large number engaged in manual labor, a woman is
+now postmaster of the House of Representatives, and many others are
+employed as stenographers, typewriters and engrossing clerks, the
+Governor himself having a woman stenographer.
+
+In 1896 Representative J. E. Mosley succeeded in having an ancient law
+amended, by which women were made eligible to the position of State
+librarian; but none has been appointed, although one is now assistant.
+
+In the opinion of State School Commissioner G. R. Glenn, women are
+eligible to sit on School Boards, but none ever has done so. Within
+the past two years the Board of Education in Atlanta has appointed a
+Board of Women Visitors to the public schools, but they can exercise
+no authority. Lately they have been permitted to be present at the
+meetings of the board as listeners but they can have no voice.
+
+In July, 1895, a committee, Mrs. F. S. Whiteside, chairman, appeared
+before the city council of Atlanta with a petition asking for a police
+matron, signed by more than 1,000 well-known citizens. On the same day
+a committee of the W. C. T. U., Mrs. McLendon, chairman, presented a
+similar petition from temperance people.[228] The matter was referred
+to the police committee, who "laid it on the table" and it never was
+heard from afterward.
+
+In 1897 a woman was employed by the Ladies' Society of the First M. E.
+Church South to stay at police barracks and serve as matron. In May,
+1898, she was engaged by the city at a salary of $20 per month, but
+was dismissed without warning in June of the same year. The different
+organizations of women protested so vigorously that the position of
+police matron was created by the city council with a salary of $40 per
+month, but no matron has been appointed up to date.[229]
+
+Women can not serve as notaries public.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: Women may practice medicine, but are forbidden by statute
+to practice law.
+
+EDUCATION: The Legislature of 1889 established the State Normal and
+Industrial College for Girls (white) at Athens, largely through the
+efforts of women. The Hon. W. Y. Atkinson, afterward Governor,
+championed the bill. No woman is eligible to serve as president of
+this college. A board of Women Visitors was appointed by Governor
+Atkinson.
+
+Considerable effort has been made by the Georgia Federation of Woman's
+Clubs to have the doors of the State University opened to women. At
+present they are permitted to enter certain departments of the branch
+colleges in different parts of the State, but not to enter the
+University itself upon any terms, being thus deprived of the highest
+educational facilities.
+
+The State Normal School and the North Georgia Agricultural College
+(both white), the Georgia State Industrial College (colored) and the
+Atlanta University (white and colored) are co-educational.
+
+In the public schools there are 4,168 men and 4,811 women teachers. It
+is impossible to obtain the average monthly salaries, but those of
+women are estimated to be two-thirds of those paid to men.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[220] The History is indebted for the material for this chapter to
+Mrs. Mary L. McLendon, of Atlanta, honorary president of the State
+Woman Suffrage Association.
+
+[221] See Chap. XV.
+
+[222] The State association never should cease to be grateful to "the
+Howard girls," (Augusta, Claudia and Mrs. Miriam Howard Du Bose), as
+the national officers called them, who brought this grand object
+lesson to Georgia to give Southern women the advantages which they
+themselves had enjoyed the previous year in Washington, D. C. They
+refused all proffered aid and themselves paid the expenses, which
+amounted to $600, declaring that it was only right for them to do so,
+since they had consulted no one when they gave the invitation at
+Washington but had taken the full responsibility.
+
+[223] William C. Sibley, Will N. Harben, G. Gunby Jordan, Walter H.
+Johnson, J. Colton Lynes, Charles Hubner, Lucian Knight, editor of the
+_Constitution_, and Walter B. Hill, chancellor of the State
+University, all have declared in favor of woman suffrage. Mrs. Julia
+I. Patten, editor of the _Saturday Review_, is a member of the Atlanta
+association and her paper is its official organ.
+
+Among others who have stood by a cause which it requires courage to
+advocate in this State are J. H. and Mrs. Addie D. Hale, W. T. Cheney,
+S. M. White and William Forsyth; Mesdames Harriet Winchell, A. H.
+Ames, Mary Brent Reid, Harry Dewar, Nettie C. Hall, Francis Bellamy,
+A. G. Helmer, Sara Strahan, M. T. Wynne, Sarah McDonald Sheridan,
+Patrick H. Moore, E. A. Latimer, E. A. Corrigan, Charles Behre and Dr.
+Schuman; Misses Mary Lamar Jackson, editor of the woman's department
+in the Atlanta _Journal_, E. Williams, Willette Allen and Sarah
+Freeman Clarke, sister of James Freeman Clarke, of Boston.
+
+[224] This certainly proved that woman suffrage had gained at least in
+respectful consideration among politicians since February, 1895. At
+that time Gov. W. Y. Atkinson refused the use of the same hall for the
+great National Association to hold a mass meeting on the last day of
+its visit to Atlanta. He declared it would be unconstitutional to
+allow women to use it, although white and negro men had been permitted
+to do so for many and varied purposes. The Hon. Charles A. Collier, a
+county commissioner, granted the basement of the courthouse for this
+meeting, which was a marked success, though held underground. Speeches
+were made by Miss Susan B. Anthony, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, Mrs.
+Elizabeth Lyle Saxon, Mrs. Josephine K. Henry and others.
+
+[225] Officers elected: President, Mrs. Gertrude C. Thomas;
+vice-presidents, Mrs. S. L. Ober Allen, Miss Sarah A. Gresham;
+corresponding secretary, Mrs. Alice Daniel; recording secretary, Mrs.
+Claudia Howard Maxwell; treasurer, Mrs. E. O. Archer; auditor, D. M.
+Allen. Mrs. McLendon, who had been in office since 1892, refused to
+serve longer and was made honorary president.
+
+[226] A bill presented by Thomas J. Chappelle in 1901 to make the
+University co-educational was defeated in the Senate and not
+considered in the House. Virginia and Louisiana are the only other
+States which exclude women, although North Carolina admits them only
+to its post-graduate department.
+
+[227] A bill providing for the teaching of the effects of alcoholic
+drinks and other narcotics upon the system, requiring all teachers to
+stand an examination on this subject, and affixing a penalty for the
+failure of any board of education to enforce the law, passed the
+Legislature of 1901--Senate, 23 ayes, 7 nays; House, 106 ayes, 28
+nays. It was signed by Gov. Allan C. Candler, December 17.
+
+This law is now in effect in every State, Georgia being the last to
+adopt it.
+
+[228] The Atlanta South Side W. C. T. U. is the only one in the State
+to adopt the franchise department. Mrs. Isabella Webb Parks, one of
+the editors of the _Union Signal_ and also a member of the city
+suffrage association, is its superintendent of franchise.
+
+[229] In August, 1901, a police matron was at last appointed at a
+salary of $30 per month. In December one of the police commissioners
+stated that she was invaluable and he did not see how they ever had
+managed to get on without a matron.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+IDAHO.[230]
+
+
+Idaho was admitted into the Union as a State in 1890. Previous to this
+time there had been practically no work done for woman suffrage in the
+Territory except that of Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway of Oregon. Between
+1876 and 1895 she gave 140 public lectures, at the same time securing
+subscribers to her paper, the _New Northwest_, devoted to the
+interests of women, and distributing literature. She traveled 12,000
+miles by river, rail, stage and buckboard and canvassed many a mile on
+foot.
+
+In 1887 Mrs. Duniway addressed the Territorial Legislature in behalf
+of a bill to enfranchise women. In 1889 she appealed to the
+constitutional convention at Boise to adopt a woman suffrage clause.
+Judge William H. Claggett, the president, and a majority of the
+members favored it, but yielded to the fears of the minority that it
+would endanger the acceptance of the constitution by the voters.
+
+Judge Milton Kelly, founder and for many years editor of the Boise
+_Daily Statesman_, was one of the early advocates of the rights of
+women, as also was his wife, who was, indeed, the pioneer suffragist
+of Idaho. Mrs. Rebecca Mitchell, president of the State Woman's
+Christian Temperance Union, was another early laborer. At her request
+Louis E. Workman introduced a bill into the House of the Legislature
+of 1893, asking for a constitutional amendment conferring suffrage on
+women, and it was defeated by only two votes.
+
+In a little country schoolhouse, May 16, 1893, at Hagerman, Lincoln
+County, the first suffrage society was formed. The teacher, Mrs.
+Elizabeth Ingram, was president and prime mover, and its members were
+scattered over a territory of ten miles.
+
+Up to this time, there had not been any organized effort in the State
+to secure the ballot for women, although there was a pronounced
+sentiment in its favor. The real campaign began at the time of the
+assembling of the Republican State Convention in 1894. At a conference
+of a few friends of the measure a resolution was prepared for
+presentation, pledging the party to submit the question of equal
+suffrage to a vote. The plank was introduced and championed by the
+Hon. W. E. Borah. Mrs. J. Ellen Foster of Washington, D. C., addressed
+the convention, and the Hon. Edgar Wilson urged the adoption of the
+resolution, which was done with little or no opposition.
+
+The Populist State Convention passed a similar resolution, but it was
+not adopted by the Democratic.
+
+As a result of the election the Republicans were placed in
+overwhelming control of the Legislature, and the desired joint
+resolution submitting the question to a vote was passed unanimously in
+the Senate on January 11, and by 33 yeas, 2 nays in the House on Jan.
+17, 1895.
+
+The campaign for woman suffrage was spirited and effective. In the
+early part of the year Mrs. Duniway came to Boise and held a meeting.
+A temporary organization was formed at that time, but for sufficient
+reasons nothing was done to start the work until some months later.
+
+In the summer the National Association sent Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe of
+Illinois to assist in organizing the State. She lectured through June
+and July and formed many clubs, often making her own appointments and
+overcoming the most discouraging obstacles.
+
+A State convention was held in Boise Nov. 20, 1895, at which officers
+were elected as follows: President, Mrs. J. H. Richards;
+vice-president, Mrs. W. W. Woods; secretary, Mrs. Eunice Pond Athey;
+treasurer, Mrs. Leah Burnside; advisory board, Mrs. Kate E. N.
+Feltham, Mrs. M. J. Whitman, Miss Annette Bowman. A telegram was
+received from Miss Susan B. Anthony, saying: "Educate the rank and
+file of voters through political party newspapers and meetings."
+
+To the advisory board were added William Balderston,[231] D. L.
+Badley and James A. McGee. The last having been made chairman of the
+Democratic State Central Committee was able to be of much assistance
+to the suffragists.
+
+Mrs. Laura M. Johns of Kansas came into the State in May, 1896, in
+time to attend a meeting of the advisory board at Nampa and to render
+invaluable help. By order of the board a convention was called in
+Boise, July 1-3, at which Mrs. Johns was present. The officers elected
+were: President, Mrs. Whitman; vice-presidents, Mrs. Feltham, Mrs.
+Helen Young, Idaho's only woman attorney, Mrs. D. L. Badley;
+secretary, Mrs. Athey; treasurer, Mrs. I. Herron; press committee,
+Mrs. Kate Green, Mrs. Young, Mrs. Minnie Priest Dunton. Thus
+organized, the association conducted the final campaign.
+
+The president authorized the secretary to send a circular letter to
+all clubs urging them to commence in the precinct primaries the work
+of securing suffrage planks in the platforms of the several political
+parties. Wherever possible delegates were elected pledged to support
+the amendment.
+
+Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organizing
+committee, came to Boise August 14. On the 18th and 25th she lectured
+to crowded houses there and captured her audiences. She addressed the
+committees on resolutions of the different party State conventions,
+and, with the aid of Mrs. Johns, Major and Mrs. W. W. Woods and other
+effective workers, secured a plank favoring the amendment in each of
+the four platforms--Republican, Democratic, Populist and Silver
+Republican. Her coming was opportune and her work most valuable. The
+indorsement by the Democratic convention was a great achievement, and
+the fact that the planks had been inserted in all the political
+platforms was a strong point later on in the case before the Supreme
+Court.[232]
+
+After the conventions Mrs. Johns returned home, and Mrs. Chapman Catt
+went to aid the California campaign, speaking several times in Idaho
+_en route_.
+
+Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado came in September. For six weeks
+she traveled over sandhills, mountains, valleys and sage plains,
+visiting points not reached by other workers. She organized fourteen
+new clubs and made many converts. Mrs. Helen D. Harford of Oregon
+lectured at several places on her way to the St. Louis W. C. T. U.
+convention. Many campaign speakers of all political parties called the
+attention of the voters to the amendment, and some gave a large
+portion of their time to the cause. This proved of great benefit,
+reaching voters who would not attend a suffrage meeting.
+
+Headquarters were opened at Boise August 1. As three of the counties
+had no organizations whatever, it was found necessary to reach the
+precincts in these, as well as in some others, by correspondence; but
+by November 3 there were few without at least one active worker. Mrs.
+Whitman came to Boise October 1, and labored zealously until the
+election. Previous to her coming Miss Frances Wood had ably assisted
+the secretary at headquarters.
+
+The press was carefully looked after during the last three months of
+the campaign, and out of sixty-five papers only three were openly
+opposed. Seven thousand copies of the resolutions passed at the
+suffrage convention in July were sent out; also literature presented
+by the Utah association, 100 copies of the _Woman's Tribune_ and 3,000
+leaflets from Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby, and 9,000 tracts purchased of
+the National Association.[233]
+
+A strong factor in the campaign was the large colony in the Southern
+part of the State who were residents of Utah when women voted there
+and who believed in their enfranchisement. Mrs. Emily S. Richards of
+Utah did effective work among them.
+
+The amendment was voted upon at the general election of November,
+1896. The association had had 50,000 dodgers printed, "Vote for the
+woman suffrage amendment." These were sent to every precinct in the
+State and given to voters on election day as a reminder. On that day
+the local clubs did heroic work. It would be impossible to describe in
+detail the final effort made by the women. Mrs. R. H. Leonard, Sr., of
+Silver City, and her co-workers stood all day, ankle-deep in snow,
+distributing the slips and urging the voters to cast their ballots in
+favor of the amendment. At many points refreshments were served as
+near the polls as permissible under the law.
+
+When the results of the election were officially announced it was
+found that there were 12,126 votes in favor of the amendment and 6,282
+against it--a majority of 5,844.
+
+A question arose, however, whether this was such a majority as is
+contemplated by the constitution, the number of electors voting on the
+amendment not being as great as the largest number voting on the
+candidates. The constitution provides that "if a majority of the
+electors shall ratify the same, such amendment or amendments shall
+become a part of this constitution." It was held by the opponents that
+it would require a majority of all the electors to ratify it, and the
+matter was taken at once to the Supreme Court. Attorneys J. H. Hawley,
+W. E. Borah and M. W. Tate gave their services gratuitously to
+prosecute the case. Judge J. H. Richards also rendered valuable
+assistance.
+
+After a few weeks of anxious waiting, this tribunal, consisting of
+Judges Isaac N. Sullivan, Joseph W. Huston and John T. Morgan,
+rendered a unanimous decision that a _majority of those voting on the
+question_ was sufficient to carry it. And thus the women of Idaho were
+enfranchised!
+
+The total expenses of this campaign were less than $2,500.
+
+The city election of Boise, in July, 1897, was the first after the
+adoption of equal suffrage, and the woman vote was a most important
+factor. The issue was that of public improvements. On this the
+majority of women took sides in favor of progress, although the
+_personnel_ of the tickets was such that it was thought they would
+generally vote the other way; and to them belongs the credit of the
+victory.
+
+The first State election under equal suffrage was in 1898, and there
+was very general participation by women. In all the counties their
+clubs did effective work and exercised a good influence. The election
+was noticeable for its order and the absence of anything like the
+scenes at the polls so common in former times. About 40 per cent. of
+the vote was cast by women. One of them, Mrs. B. T. Jeffers, rode
+sixty miles on horseback to her old home in order to vote.
+
+Three women were elected members of the Legislature, Mrs. Clara
+Campbell, Republican; Mrs. Hattie Noble, Democrat; Mrs. Mary Allen
+Wright, Populist. Mrs. Wright was chairman of the House Committee of
+the Whole during one entire afternoon, and ruled with a firm but
+impartial hand.
+
+Four women were elected county treasurers, and these have given entire
+satisfaction. One of them has been renominated by her party. Miss
+Permeal French was elected State superintendent of public instruction
+and re-elected in 1900.[234] Fifteen women were chosen county
+superintendents.
+
+In nearly all the counties women are found holding responsible
+appointments. Three have been made deputy sheriffs. Since equal
+suffrage was adopted women have been placed on the Board of Regents of
+the State University for the first time.
+
+Gov. Frank Steunenberg said in 1900:
+
+     In a general sense there can be no doubt that the participation
+     of women in our public affairs has had a most elevating
+     influence. All parties see the necessity of nominating the best
+     individuals. The natural aim of women is toward the highest good
+     of the community, and the best social conditions. Instead of
+     seeking extremes of reform, as had been predicted, they are
+     interested in stable and conservative administration, for the
+     benefit of the homes and the children, and they avoid radical and
+     excessive reforms. In short, the objections which in theory have
+     been urged against woman's participation in public affairs have
+     been overcome by the actual application of the system in Idaho.
+
+     The suggestion may be made that this activity of women in public
+     affairs has operated to draw them away from their homes and from
+     the usual domestic avocations, a suggestion which our experience
+     amply disproves. In Idaho women are to-day the same loving wives,
+     kind mothers and capable home-managers that they always have
+     been. Nor has there been the least belittling of the sex in the
+     eyes of the men, nor any falling off in that tenderness and
+     respect which men universally accord to women. There is not the
+     slightest interruption of family ties. Whether husband and wife
+     vote together or oppositely excites no interest and no animosity,
+     although naturally families are apt to have the same party
+     affiliations. The system has not operated to take women from
+     their homes, nor has it tended to make them in any way
+     masculine.[235]
+
+In the presidential election of 1900 women showed the liveliest
+interest. The universal testimony was that never in the history of the
+State had there been such order about the polling-places. Four-fifths
+of the ballots were cast by 1 o'clock. The women did as effective work
+as the men in getting out the voters.
+
+The total population of Idaho is 161,762, and is composed, in round
+numbers, of 58 per cent. of males and 42 per cent. of females. The
+total vote of the men was 55,096; of the women, 19,660. In the
+counties representing the agricultural, manufacturing and general
+business of the State the women's vote averaged 41 per cent. of the
+total ballot. In the counties devoted exclusively to mining, where
+there are very few women, they cast only 24 per cent. This brought the
+average of the women's vote in the entire State down to 35-1/2 per
+cent. of the total.
+
+In Boise 1,982 men and 1,561 women registered; total, 3,543. The vote
+cast was 3,281. Allowing for the usual failures on the part of the
+men, these figures show that over 40 per cent. of the vote of this
+city must have been cast by women.[236]
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: The placing of the ballot in the hands of
+women has had the effect of bringing about two changes of the highest
+importance. The session of the Legislature held immediately after the
+adoption of the suffrage amendment passed an act prohibiting gambling.
+Prior to that time it had been licensed in the State, and its
+establishments were openly conducted in practically all communities.
+Against this evil the sentiment of the women was solidly arrayed, and
+it could not be ignored. Before they voted, a bill altering the law
+would have been ignominiously pigeon-holed, but the ballot in their
+hands wrought a change under which a measure abolishing gambling was
+enacted. This was found defective, and gambling continued until the
+next legislative session. The gambling interests organized a lobby to
+prevent the enactment of a valid law against their business, but they
+failed, the law was passed, and gambling has since been suppressed in
+nearly all communities. The sentiment which obtained the law secures
+its enforcement--men do not dare run counter to the wishes of women,
+when the latter have in their hands the power to make or unmake
+politicians.
+
+The present session of the Legislature (1900) passed a bill exempting
+women from jury service. Gov. Frank W. Hunt returned it with his veto,
+in which he said that this was in response to the protests of the
+women themselves, who objected to being deprived of this right. There
+was some talk in the Legislature of passing it over his veto, but this
+was finally abandoned. The women took the ground that while the
+ostensible object was to relieve them of an onerous duty, the real one
+was to protect the gamblers and other law-breakers to whom women
+jurors show no favor.
+
+It is to be regretted that Governor Hunt could not have been
+influenced by the protests of women on another point. The law of Idaho
+provides that while a wife may hold property in her own name, the
+husband shall have control of it. The present Legislature passed an
+act giving married women control of their separate property. This was
+vetoed by the Governor, who said:
+
+     Our statutes as they now exist provide complete adjustment of the
+     property relations between man and wife, placing them upon equal
+     terms, excepting that the husband has the management and control
+     of his wife's property during marriage, unless it should be taken
+     from him on complaint of the wife for causes set forth in Sec.
+     2,499.
+
+As the law stands the wife can secure control over her own property
+only by going into court, showing that her husband is mismanaging it,
+and obtaining a decree taking it away from him.
+
+The law regarding the inheritance of the separate estates is the same
+for husband and wife, but not so of the community. Upon the death of
+the wife the entire community property belongs to the husband without
+administration. Upon the death of the husband one-half the community
+property belongs to the wife; the other half is subject to his
+testamentary disposition, or in the absence of that goes to his
+descendants in equal shares. If he leave neither will nor descendants,
+it goes to the wife.
+
+The earnings of the wife belong to the husband unless she is living
+separate from him.
+
+No provision is made compelling the husband to support the wife, but
+if he is infirm she must support him.
+
+If the wife desire to engage in business she must apply to the court
+for permission, showing the necessity for it; and every time she
+wishes to remove to another place she must repeat this process.
+
+The father is the legal guardian of the children. At his death the
+mother, if suitable, is guardian while she remains unmarried.
+
+The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 14 years in
+1893, and from 14 to 18 in 1895. The penalty is imprisonment in the
+penitentiary for not less than five years, and this may be extended
+for life.
+
+SUFFRAGE: Women have complete suffrage.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: Women are eligible to all offices. (See previous
+pages.)
+
+OCCUPATIONS: Naturally none are forbidden to women.
+
+EDUCATION: The State University and all other educational institutions
+are open to both sexes.
+
+In the public schools there are 344 men and 558 women teachers. The
+average monthly salary of the men is $56.11; of the women, $44.83.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[230] The History is indebted for this chapter to William Balderston,
+editor of the Boise _Daily Statesman_, and Mrs. Eunice Pond Athey,
+secretary of the State Suffrage Association during the amendment
+campaign of 1896, when women became enfranchised.
+
+[231] It was through the influence of Mr. Balderston more than that of
+any other one man that the suffrage amendment was passed by the
+Legislature. His power politically was felt during all the campaign.
+It was only his personal influence which secured for the measure the
+help of the _Daily Statesman_ of Boise, which it was so necessary to
+have. Through his persuasion the co-operation of the National Woman
+Suffrage Association was invited. He was our principal adviser
+throughout, and with money, voice and pen aided the cause in every
+possible way. [Eunice Pond Athey.
+
+[232] Republican: We favor the amendments to the constitution of this
+State proposed by the late Republican Legislature, including equal
+suffrage for men and women, and recommend their adoption.
+
+Silver Republican: We favor the adoption of the proposed amendment to
+the constitution of the State providing for the extension of the right
+of suffrage to women.
+
+People's Party: Believing in equal rights to all and special
+privileges to none, we favor the adoption of the pending woman's
+suffrage amendment to the constitution.
+
+Democratic: We recommend to the favorable consideration of the voters
+of the State the proposed constitutional amendment granting equal
+suffrage, believing that the great question should receive the earnest
+attention of every person as an important factor in the future welfare
+of the State.
+
+[233] Among those who aided this movement were Judge J. H. Richards,
+the Hon. Fremont Wood, Ex-Secretary of State George J. Lewis, Judge C.
+O. Stockslager, J. H. Hawley, U. S. Marshal Joseph Pinkham, Judge J.
+H. Beatty, the Hon. J. A. McGee, the Hon. Joseph Perrault, the Hon.
+Edgar Wilson, and their wives; also the wives of the Justices of the
+Supreme Court; Mesdames Martha B. Keller, M. A. Wright and Mina J.
+Mathew, and Miss Annette Bowman of the faculty of the State
+University.
+
+[234] Gov. Frank Steunenberg thus testified: "It is conceded by all
+that Miss French is the best officer in that capacity the State ever
+has had. The place she occupies is one of unusual importance with
+us.... Of the three women in the Legislature it may also be said that
+they made most acceptable public officers, serving with ability and
+success."
+
+[235] See Appendix--Testimony from Woman Suffrage States.
+
+[236] Prof. L. F. Henderson of the State University says that equal
+suffrage, even in the few years it has been in operation in Idaho, has
+proved itself a thing so simple, so natural, so entirely free from any
+objectionable features, that it is now generally accepted and looked
+upon as a matter of course. It has already converted the majority of
+the men who were opposed and, which is still more remarkable, has
+converted also the majority of the women.
+
+Mrs. Henderson says the intelligent women take more interest in
+suffrage than the ignorant ones; that women have suffered no loss of
+consideration or social influence, but are treated, if anything, with
+more respect. The possession of the ballot has made them much more
+intelligent about public questions, as it has stimulated the study of
+these.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+ILLINOIS.[237]
+
+
+The Illinois Equal Suffrage Association has had only four presidents
+in the past sixteen years. Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert retired from
+this office at the annual meeting of Sept. 25, 1884, and was succeeded
+by Mrs. Mary E. Holmes, who served until the autumn of 1889, when Mrs.
+Harbert again filled the presidency for one year. At the convention of
+1890 Mrs. Holmes was re-elected, and held office until her resignation
+in 1897. In May of this year, Mrs. Julia Mills Dunn was elected. In
+1899 Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch was made president, and in 1900
+Mrs. Harbert resumed the position for one year. The other officers
+elected were: Vice-president, Dr. Julia Holmes Smith; corresponding
+secretary, Mrs. Mary Munn; recording secretary, Miss S. Grace
+Nicholas; treasurer, the Rev. Kate Hughes; chairman executive
+committee, Mrs. Elmina E. Springer.
+
+As the work is divided into districts and counties, and as there are
+twenty-two districts and 102 counties partially organized, it will not
+be possible to name in this chapter the hundreds of quiet but very
+efficient workers, men and women, or to tell of their unselfish
+devotion, shown often in the face of fierce opposition.
+
+The association has held a State convention each year, except 1893,
+the year of the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, when it was decided
+instead to attend the World's Congress of Representative Women, which
+met in May.[238] At many of these meetings national officers were
+present, among them Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone, and the halls
+were seldom large enough to accommodate the crowds in attendance.
+There have been also district and county conventions every year, while
+Fourth of July celebrations, county fairs and Chautauqua assemblies
+have been utilized to disseminate suffrage sentiment.
+
+In 1888 Senator Miles B. Castle, Judge C. B. Waite, Mrs. Dunn and Mrs.
+Helen M. Gougar, the last-named from Indiana, held suffrage
+conferences in various cities. Later in this and the following year,
+similar meetings were held in a number of other places by the Illinois
+workers, with the assistance of Mrs. Gougar and the Rev. Anna Howard
+Shaw.
+
+In 1891 occurred a series of conventions which extended over six weeks
+and was conducted by Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace of Indiana and Mrs.
+McCulloch. In November Mrs. Holmes made a two-weeks' lecturing trip.
+
+In 1892 and '93 Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe canvassed the State, speaking in
+nearly fifty towns and cities, and raising enough money to defray all
+expenses and put a handsome amount in the treasury for legislative
+work.
+
+In March, 1893, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national
+organization committee, made a lecture tour of the central and
+southern part of Illinois.
+
+In 1897 the National Association held a series of meetings in Illinois
+with Miss Mary G. Hay of New York, Mrs. Jennie Hutchins, Mrs. Leonora
+Beck, as managers, and Mrs. Dunn and the Rev. Ida C. Hultin as
+speakers. During the summer Mrs. Dunn, with Mrs. Martha A. B. Conine
+of Colorado lectured in numerous cities; and in November the national
+officers held a conference in Chicago, in which Miss Anthony and Miss
+Shaw, president and vice-president of the National Association, Mrs.
+Chapman Catt and also many local workers participated.
+
+In 1898 Miss Lena Morrow made speeches for the State association and
+spent a month lecturing before labor organizations. She secured
+suffrage resolutions from unions representing a membership of 25,000.
+
+Mrs. McCulloch gave the month of June, 1890, to canvassing South
+Dakota in the interest of the suffrage amendment there; and in the
+fall of 1898 Mrs. Dunn and Miss Morrow were sent to that State to
+assist in its second campaign for one month, at the expense of the
+Illinois association. Miss Morrow worked also in the amendment
+campaign of 1900 in Oregon for two-and-one-half months, a portion of
+her expenses being contributed by Illinois suffragists.
+
+The Chicago Political Equality League was organized by Miss Ellen A.
+Martin, who was at its head for many years.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: In 1891, at the request of the State E.
+S. A., a joint resolution was presented to the Legislature for an
+amendment to the constitution enfranchising women. This was championed
+in the House by George W. Curtis and brought to a vote. It received 54
+votes, a majority of those cast but not a constitutional majority,
+which is one over one-half of the whole membership. Charles Bogardus
+managed the bill in the Senate, but was not able to secure a vote upon
+it. The hard work for this Amendment Bill, however, paved the way for
+the passage of the School Suffrage Bill later in the session.
+
+This bill had been prepared by the State Woman's Christian Temperance
+Union, and was introduced into the Senate by T. C. MacMillan. Although
+there were many more petitions asking for the amendment than for
+School Suffrage, their combined influence, with Senator MacMillan's
+earnest work, was sufficient to pass this bill through the Senate by
+29 ayes, 4 noes. At the closing hour of the last session in the House,
+Dr. H. M. Moore, one of the members of a third party that finally had
+assisted the Democrats to elect John M. Palmer as United States
+Senator, made an urgent plea that something should be done for the
+women; and because of his eloquence, or the gratitude of the
+Democrats, or the keen sense of justice among all the members, the
+Senate School Suffrage Bill was passed by 83 ayes, 43 noes.
+
+As it was the general impression that women had received the full
+School Franchise by this bill, they proceeded to vote on bonds,
+location of buildings and various other matters pertaining to the
+schools, and also for county superintendents. The bill was obscurely
+worded, and it has taken four decisions of the Supreme Court of
+Illinois to decide just the points which it covered and the limits to
+which it might be constitutionally extended. As it now stands, under
+this law women can vote only for candidates for such school offices
+as have been created by the Legislature. (See Suffrage.)
+
+However, this bill was useful in securing from the Supreme Court the
+ruling that the Legislature had power to regulate the suffrage
+concerning all positions created by itself. Heretofore the weight of
+judicial opinion had been the other way; that no change whatever could
+be made in the suffrage except by constitutional amendment.[239]
+
+During the session of 1893 R. W. Coon secured the passage in the
+Senate of a Township Suffrage Bill prepared by the State association.
+Its members argued that if school offices not named in the
+constitution are creations of the Legislature, so are most of the
+township offices and therefore it has power to grant women the
+suffrage for these. This bill was accompanied by a petition of 12,000
+names. Senator Bogardus made a spirited report on these, extolling the
+character of the signers, whose standing he had ascertained from the
+senators of their districts. It passed the Senate by 26 votes, a
+constitutional majority. In the House the committee reported it
+favorably, many members pledged themselves to its support, and it went
+through the second reading safely; but just when expectation ran
+highest, it was referred back to the committee and smothered.
+
+In this same Legislature a bill to repeal the School Suffrage Law was
+defeated in the House, less than 40 of the 153 members voting aye. It
+was not brought to a vote in the Senate.
+
+In 1895 Senator Coon introduced the Township Bill again, but owing to
+absentees it received only 23 votes, 26 being necessary to pass it.
+Fearing that a majority of the members of the House were pledged to
+vote for it, the chairman of the committee to which it was referred
+made a sub-committee of three notorious opponents who took care that
+it never was reported.
+
+In 1897 Senator G. W. Monroe took charge of the State association's
+measures. Bills for Township and Bond Suffrage, and for suffrage for
+certain city, county and township officers and for Presidential
+electors, were introduced by him but failed to pass.
+
+In the special session of 1898 only such matters could be considered
+as were named by Gov. John R. Tanner in calling it. The State
+association petitioned him to include woman suffrage in the list, but
+he did not grant the request. One of the subjects named was taxation.
+The association prepared a bill to exempt the property of women from
+taxation until they were allowed to vote. All the metropolitan papers
+were interested in or amused by this bill, and gave it considerable
+publicity, but it was not acted upon.
+
+In 1899 the three bills championed by Senator Monroe in 1897 were
+managed by Senator Isaac H. Hamilton. He forced two of them to a vote,
+but neither received a majority.
+
+During all this time Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch, a practicing
+lawyer of Chicago, auditor of the National Association and former
+president of the State E. S. A., was the very efficient legislative
+superintendent. She pressed the bills with a force which almost
+brought success by its own momentum, and yet by her good judgment and
+fair methods kept the respect of legislators who were bitterly opposed
+to her measures.[240]
+
+Sometimes the hearings on these bills occurred in the Senate Chamber
+or the House of Representatives. One of the most noteworthy was in
+1895, when about twenty women, representing many different localities,
+societies and nationalities, made clever five-minute speeches.
+
+The State association has sent the _Woman's Journal_, the _Woman's
+Column_ and other suffrage literature to members of the Legislature
+for months at a time. Petitions always have accompanied the bills.
+Added to those presented in 1899 were resolutions adopted by various
+Chicago labor organizations of men, representing a membership of
+25,000. The petitions of the State association generally have exceeded
+all those presented for all other measures.[241]
+
+There has been no distinction between husband and wife in the laws of
+inheritance since 1873. The surviving wife or husband is endowed of a
+third part of all the real estate of which the other dies possessed.
+If either die without a will, leaving a surviving child or children,
+or descendants of such, the survivor receives, in addition, one-third
+of the personal estate absolutely. If, however, there are no lineal
+descendants, the widow or widower receives absolutely one-half of the
+real estate and the whole of the personal estate. If there are no
+descendants and no kindred, the whole estate goes to the surviving
+widow or widower.
+
+A married woman has held her property in her own name since 1861. She
+has been entitled to engage in business, control her earnings, sue and
+be sued and make contracts since 1869.
+
+Until 1901 the father was entitled to the care of the persons and
+education of the minor children. In 1898 Mrs. McCulloch published, in
+the form of a story called Mr. Lex, a _resume_ of the terrible
+injustice and cruelty possible under this law; and also pointed out
+the same possibilities in the administration of other laws which seem
+entirely fair to the casual observer. It was widely reviewed by the
+Chicago press and aroused much interest. In the winter of 1901 a bill
+was passed by the Legislature giving fathers and mothers equal
+guardianship and custody of their minor children. Mrs. McCulloch,
+representing the State E. S. A., had charge of this bill. A copy of
+her book, Mr. Lex, was sent to every member, as well as the full facts
+from every State which had such a law as the one proposed. She also
+obtained the indorsement of numerous organizations and influential
+persons, and had many individual letters written to members. All this
+simply to give mothers equal guardianship with fathers of their own
+children!
+
+Mrs. McCulloch was ably assisted by the Rev. Kate Hughes. The bill
+passed by the large vote of 34 ayes, 8 noes, in the Senate; 119 ayes,
+one no, in the House. It was signed by Gov. Richard Yates on May 18.
+
+The wife is entitled to support suited to her condition in life. The
+husband is entitled to the same support out of her individual
+property. They are jointly liable for family expenses. Failure to
+support the wife and children under twelve years of age is a
+misdemeanor, and may be punished by a fine of not less than $100 or
+more than $500, or imprisonment in the county jail, house of
+correction or workhouse not less than one month nor more than twelve
+months, or both such fine and imprisonment. The wife may sue for
+separate maintenance without divorce.
+
+The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 14 years in
+1887, but it never has been possible to have this age extended. The
+penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary for from one year to life.
+
+In 1893 Mrs. Florence Kelley and Miss Mary Kenney, aided by the
+women's and men's labor organizations of Chicago and by many women's
+clubs, secured a Factory Inspection Law. It contained a prohibition
+against the employment of a woman over eight hours daily in any
+factory or workshop, but this section was declared unconstitutional
+because it was a restriction upon the right to contract.
+
+SUFFRAGE: The Legislature which adjourned in 1891 left the School
+Suffrage Law obscure, incomplete and with no provisions to carry out
+its intentions. In many cases the women had to provide their own
+ballots and ballot-boxes. To the credit of the large majority of the
+judges of election it can be said that they accepted the votes of the
+women with no certainty that they were acting legally or would be
+sustained by future decisions. In a number of instances, however, in
+the more ignorant parts of the State, the votes were insolently
+refused.
+
+In the country and unincorporated towns, in villages and small cities,
+where the school boards are elected by the people, there are a number
+of officers for whom women may vote;[242] but in places like Chicago,
+where the board is appointed by the mayor, the only vote they have is
+for three trustees of the State University every two years.
+
+In the summer and fall of 1893 the officers of the State association
+agitated the question of asking for the nomination of a woman as one
+of these trustees, and in March, 1894, the convention in Danville
+approved this suggestion. The auxiliary societies were urged to use
+all their influence to have delegates from their counties to the State
+political conventions instructed to vote for a woman candidate. Later
+in the spring several of the suffrage officers and prominent women of
+Chicago appeared before the Republican State Central Committee, and
+the same day visited the Republican State Editorial Association,
+asking their influence to secure the nomination of a woman for
+trustee. Letters were sent to 200 leading politicians of different
+parties giving reasons why such action should be taken and asking for
+their co-operation. Personal appeals were made to the editors of the
+Chicago dailies for their influence.
+
+Then came the most important work of all--securing the indorsement of
+the Cook County conventions. Previous to that of the Republicans Mrs.
+McCulloch interviewed leading members of the county committee and
+received an invitation to present the matter to the convention, which
+she did, representing both the State E. S. A. and the Woman's Club of
+Chicago. Mrs. Elmina D. Springer also made an address. They were
+invited to meet the resolutions committee, were treated with great
+courtesy, and the resolution asking that delegates to the State
+convention be instructed to vote as a unit for the nomination of a
+woman for University trustee, was adopted.
+
+The Chicago Woman's Club sent fifty women to the Cook County
+Democratic Convention and secured the same pledge.
+
+Committees were then appointed to manage this question in the State
+conventions of the parties. Just a few days before the first
+(Democratic), the attorney-general, who was a Democrat, gave the
+opinion that women could not legally vote for trustees or be trustees,
+and published it widely in the Chicago press. Mrs. McCulloch followed
+him with a carefully prepared brief which also was given to the press.
+This new difficulty made it imperative for her to attend the
+Democratic State Convention to present her view of the disputed legal
+point, and this she did with marked success. Whenever any of the
+delegates said, "Why, haven't you read Maloney's opinion that a woman
+can not hold the office or vote for trustee?" she would answer, "Yes,
+but haven't you read my opinion that she can?" She addressed the
+entire convention, and the nomination of Dr. Julia Holmes Smith was
+made unanimously. The other political parties then had to follow with
+the nomination of a woman or fall behind the Democrats in chivalry.
+
+As the Chicago Woman's Club sent a strong representation to the
+Republican convention, and as pledges already had been secured from
+the delegates, the committee appointed by the suffrage association did
+not deem it necessary to attend. Mrs. Lucy L. Flower was nominated by
+this body.
+
+The Prohibitionists nominated two women, one of them the secretary of
+the Illinois E. S. A., Prof. Rena Michaels Atchison.
+
+This recognition from the different parties so encouraged the women
+that in 1894 they voted enthusiastically throughout the State,
+especially in Chicago where the candidates were well known. Before the
+election, however, a difficulty arose from an unexpected quarter. The
+men composing the Board of University Trustees became alarmed, and
+employed an attorney who gave an opinion that women neither could vote
+for trustees nor be elected to the office. He rushed into print; Mrs.
+McCulloch, who might have been worn to shreds by this time, patiently
+answered the young man, and "the women went right on voting."
+
+Professor Atchison had the compliment of receiving about 3,000 votes
+more than the men on the same ticket as herself, and Dr. Smith
+likewise ran ahead of her ticket.[243] Mrs. Flower was the successful
+candidate, also leading the nominees of her party.
+
+The Republican women organized by appointing a State Central
+Committee, and placed upon it a woman from each congressional
+district.[244] The Democratic women formed a Cornelia Club which
+worked for the interest of their party's nominee.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: A statute of Illinois (1873) provides that no person
+shall be debarred from any occupation, profession or employment
+(except the military), on account of sex, and that this shall not be
+construed to affect the eligibility of any person to an elective
+office.[245]
+
+The following have served as trustees of the State University: Mrs.
+Lucy L. Flower, Dr. Julia Holmes Smith, Mrs. Mary Turner Carriel, Mrs.
+Alice Asbury Abbott, Mrs. Carrie Thomas Alexander. The term of office
+is six years.
+
+Women are eligible to all school offices (1873) and large numbers have
+served as county superintendents, members of city boards of education
+and directors of district schools. All the principal cities now have
+women on their school boards. In Chicago there are two at the present
+time. Ten counties have women for superintendents.
+
+Miss Cora B. Hirtzell was appointed as assistant by C. S. Thornton,
+corporation counsel of Chicago, and served during his whole term of
+office.
+
+Miss Mary M. Bartelme was appointed by Gov. John R. Tanner Public
+Guardian of Cook County, and is the only woman in the United States to
+fill such a position. Her duties are to look after the persons of
+minors and their small estates, when no one else will take the
+guardianship, and she has over 200 children under her care. She
+received the highest commendation from Judge Christian C. Kohlsaat,
+formerly of the Probate Court, and continues to hold office under his
+successor.
+
+A decision of the Supreme Court permits a woman to be Master in
+Chancery, but only one ever was appointed.
+
+Women may be official court reporters, but only two have been
+appointed. The office of a Judge being elective he naturally feels
+obliged to give these places to voters.
+
+Women have been notaries public for over twenty years.
+
+Miss Kate O'Connor was deputy clerk of Winnebago County for ten years,
+and Miss Rose Beatson was deputy county treasurer. Mrs. A. T. Ames was
+deputy sheriff of Boone County.
+
+Frequently the position of State Librarian has been filled by a woman,
+and of late years that of postmaster in the House and the Senate. The
+librarian of the Southern Normal University at Carbondale is a woman.
+Women have served as presidents of library boards in various places.
+
+Women sit on the Board of Directors of the Illinois Farmers'
+Institute. One of the State Commissioners of Public Charities was a
+woman; but she resigned because of the introduction of politics into
+the board. A woman has served on the State Board of Health.
+
+The Home for Juvenile Female Offenders was established in 1893. It is
+under the control of five trustees, two of whom are women. The
+superintendent also is a woman.
+
+The Soldiers' Widows' Home was established by a law of 1895, which
+provided that of the five trustees three should be women and members
+of the State Woman's Relief Corps. The entire board is now composed of
+women.
+
+Chicago has three women deputy factory inspectors, and formerly had a
+chief inspector, Mrs. Florence Kelley, who served four years with
+great ability.
+
+Miss Jane Addams of Hull House was appointed garbage inspector of the
+nineteenth ward of Chicago by Mayor George B. Swift. She served one
+year and was succeeded by Miss Amanda Johnson, also a resident of Hull
+House. Under their care this ward, which had been one of the most
+neglected in the city, became famous for cleanliness and order.
+
+Volunteer associations of women in Chicago did so much in this
+direction that some of their members finally took the civil service
+examinations for garbage inspectors or contractors and several
+received official positions. Among the most prominent of these is Mrs.
+A. Emmagene Paul, who superintends a large force of men in the first
+ward of Chicago. As this is a down-town ward it is one of the hardest
+in the city to keep clean, but she performs the work to the
+satisfaction of all except "gang" politicians, who have made every
+possible effort to have Mayor Carter Harrison remove her.
+
+Mrs. Bertha Honore Palmer of Chicago was appointed United States
+Commissioner at the Paris Exposition of 1900 by President McKinley,
+the only woman distinguished by any government with so important a
+position. Miss Addams was appointed a member of the Jury of
+International Awards, Department of Social Economics, for the same
+exposition. Her election as vice-president of this jury made her
+eligible to membership in the Group Jury, on which she also served.
+This was a distinction conferred upon no other woman.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: All occupations were opened to women by a statute of
+1873, which declared also that they should not be required to work on
+streets or roads or serve upon juries.
+
+They were not allowed to practice law until 1872, Mrs. Myra W.
+Bradwell having been the first to make application in 1869.[246] Since
+that time ninety women have been admitted to the bar. Among those who
+have done noteworthy work is the daughter of Judge and Mrs. Bradwell,
+Mrs. Bessie Bradwell Helmer, who was chief editor of twenty volumes of
+the Appellate Court Reports and, since the death of her mother, has
+been president of the _Chicago Legal News_ Company, which issues the
+principal law publications of the State.
+
+Mrs. Catharine V. Waite published the _Chicago Law Times_ for two
+years; Mrs. Marietta B. R. Shay wrote The Student's Guide to Common
+Law Pleading; and Miss Ellen A. Martin organized the National Woman
+Lawyer's League, and is its secretary. Women are members of the State
+and the Chicago Bar Associations and of the Chicago Law Institute.
+
+The World's Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago in 1893, opened
+large fields of usefulness and power to women. Those of Illinois were
+especially conspicuous in the wonderful work done by their sex during
+this World's Fair. Its Board of Lady Managers was appointed under an
+Act of Congress to represent the special interests of women at the
+exposition, and Mrs. Bertha Honore Palmer was elected president. Mrs.
+Ellen M. Henrotin of Chicago was vice-president and active
+superintendent of the Woman's Branch of the World's Congress
+Auxiliary.
+
+A complete official report of nearly 1,000 pages of the Congress of
+Representative Women, the greatest assemblage of women which ever had
+been held up to this date, was prepared by the Chairman of the
+Organization Committee, Mrs. May Wright Sewall of Indianapolis, who
+made several trips abroad in the interest of the Congress. To her
+great executive capacity and untiring efforts for three years, with
+those added of its secretary, Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery of
+Philadelphia, and the splendid co-operation of the committee of
+Chicago women--Miss Frances E. Willard. Dr. Sarah Hackett Stevenson,
+Dr. Julia Holmes Smith, Mrs. Lydia Avery Coonley, Mrs. Elizabeth
+Boynton Harbert and Mrs. William Thayer Brown--is due the fact that
+this Congress was the most conspicuous success of any held during the
+Exposition, with the exception of the Parliament of Religions. It
+convened May 15, 1893, and continued one week, during which eighty-one
+meetings were held in the different rooms of the Art Palace.
+Twenty-seven countries and 126 organizations were represented by 528
+delegates. According to official estimate the total attendance
+exceeded 150,000.[247]
+
+EDUCATION: The law colleges never have been closed to women. Union
+College of Law was the first in the United States to graduate a woman,
+Mrs. Ada H. Kepley, in 1870.
+
+Some of the medical schools are still bitterly opposed to admitting
+women. All the homeopathic colleges are open to them with the
+exception of the Chicago Homeopathic. At Harvey Medical College about
+half the students are women, and several of the full professorships
+are filled by them. Hahnemann College admits them but has no woman
+professor or instructor. In 1899 Dr. Julia Holmes Smith was elected
+dean of the National Medical College (Homeopathic) with no dissenting
+vote, and in 1900 she was re-elected. She is the only woman dean of a
+medical institution composed of both sexes. Women are received in the
+College of Physicians and Surgeons, which is the medical department of
+the State University. Rush College, one of the largest of the
+allopathic institutions, has just been opened to them. All of the
+colleges named above are in Chicago. Dr. Sarah Hackett Stevenson was
+the first woman admitted to the American Medical Association.
+
+The theological schools generally are closed to women. They are
+admitted to the full courses of the Garrett Biblical Institute of the
+Northwestern University. Lombard University gives them the full
+privileges of its Divinity School (Universalist). In 1898 the Chicago
+Union Theological Seminary (Congregationalist) opened its doors to
+them. They may also enter the theological department of Chicago
+University, but its circular of information says: "Women students
+receive no encouragement to become ministers."
+
+The State University and all of the other large universities and
+colleges in Illinois are open to women, although some of the minor
+institutions are still closed.
+
+There are in the public schools 6,973 men and 18,974 women teachers.
+The average monthly salary of the men is $60.42; of the women, $53.27.
+In the Chicago schools women receive the same pay as men for the same
+work, but the highly salaried positions are largely monopolized by
+men.
+
+An incident which has no parallel deserves a place on these pages. In
+Chicago it was long the custom, whenever retrenchment of taxes became
+necessary, to cut down the salaries of the school teachers. In 1899
+they could not get even what was legally due to them, and in 1900 the
+same condition prevailed.
+
+Various reasons were given for the shortage of funds, but two of the
+teachers. Miss Margaret Haley and Miss Catharine Goggin, obtained
+information that the reason of the deficit was that some of the
+largest corporations in the State were not assessed for taxes. Without
+any backing they began an investigation. When proof positive was
+secured, through a long search of official records, they laid the case
+before the Teachers' Federation of 4,000 members, who authorized them
+to prosecute it to the end and supplied the necessary funds.
+
+They went before the Board of Equalization with proofs that hundreds
+of millions of dollars of corporation property was not assessed for
+taxation; but the board refused absolutely to act. Then they filed a
+mandamus to compel it to do so, and brought the matter into the
+courts. Every legal, political and financial influence that could be
+secured in the State was used to fight these courageous women. They
+carried the case through the lower courts and into the Supreme Court,
+which confirmed their contention that these corporations should be
+taxed (Oct 24. 1901.)
+
+The Union Traction Company and the Chicago Consolidated Traction
+Company, two of the greatest corporations which for years had been
+avoiding their legal taxes, applied to the United States Circuit Court
+for an injunction to restrain the State Board of Equalization from
+assessing them. They invoked the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal
+Constitution, which says that private property shall not be taken
+without due process of law. The injunction was refused.
+
+This decision will increase the revenues of Chicago not less than
+$5,000,000 a year, unless some scheme is evolved for circumventing the
+law, which has not been enforced up to this time. (July, 1902.)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+During the campaign of 1900 both Republican and Democratic clubs of
+women were formed. The Democratic Club of Chicago announced that it
+would be permanent, and at all times would oppose every legislative
+and congressional candidate who should be unfavorable to woman
+suffrage.
+
+The Illinois Federation of Women's Clubs has been a great educator. It
+was organized in 1894, and is composed of 225 clubs with a membership
+of 20,000. The Chicago Woman's Club is one of the largest in the
+United States and does a vast amount of practical work.
+
+Miss Frances E. Willard belonged to Illinois as well as to the world,
+and it was through her powerful influence that the great organization
+of the W. C. T. U. was first swung into line for the enfranchisement
+of women. By voice and pen she aided this cause for over twenty years.
+
+Among other staunch supporters are Mrs. Lydia Avery Coonley-Ward,
+whose home and purse and pen are used for the benefit of woman
+suffrage; and her mother, Mrs. Susan Look Avery, who speaks and writes
+with the vigor of youth, although eighty-three years of age. Mrs.
+Emily M. Gross is one of the large contributors.
+
+Senator Miles B. Castle was chairman of the Illinois E. S. A.
+executive committee for over twenty years, and edited and published
+the State organ, the _Suffragist_, for five years, supplying the
+deficit from his own pocket. The Rev. C. C. Harrah, now of Iowa, did
+valiant service for many years as chairman of the State advisory
+committee. He sent his leaflet, Jesus Christ the Emancipator of
+Woman, at his own expense to hundreds of ministers throughout the
+country, and it is still in use by the National Association.
+
+Mrs. Eva Munson Smith, vice-president of the State association,
+published a volume entitled Woman in Sacred Song, which contains poems
+written by 830, and 150 musical compositions by 50 different women.
+Mrs. Carrie Ashton Johnson, secretary, compiled a popular Suffrage
+Dime Speaker. Miss Mary H. Krout, for ten years connected with the
+_Inter-Ocean_, never has failed to use her influence in favor of woman
+suffrage. Mrs. Fannie H. Rastall gave her services as editor-in-chief
+of the _Woman's Forum_ for several years.
+
+Sixteen years ago but one paper in Illinois had a woman's department;
+now this is a feature of all, and 161 are regularly publishing
+suffrage matter furnished by the State press bureau.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[237] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Mary E. Holmes
+of Chicago, who has been officially connected with the State Equal
+Suffrage Association since 1884.
+
+[238] State conventions have been held as follows: Watseka, 1884;
+Geneseo, 1885; Sandwich, 1886; Galva, 1887; Rockford, 1888; Joliet,
+1889; Moline, 1890; Kewanee, 1891; Aurora, 1892; Chicago (World's
+Fair), 1893; Danville, 1894; Decatur, 1895; Harvey, 1896; Waukegan,
+1897; Springfield, 1898; Barry, 1899. The twenty-seventh annual
+meeting took place in Edgewater, Oct. 11, 12, 1900.
+
+[239] Among the officers for whom the Legislature has the power to
+allow women to vote are Presidential electors, members of the State
+Board of Equalization, clerk of the Appellate Court, county collector,
+county surveyor, members of the Board of Assessors, sanitary district
+trustees, members of the Board of Review, all officers of cities,
+villages and towns (except police magistrates), supervisor, town
+clerk, assessor, collector and highway commissioner.
+
+The Legislature has power also to permit women to vote on general
+questions submitted to the electors, besides voting in all annual and
+special town meetings.
+
+[240] During these years various suffrage bills were introduced by
+other organizations. The school board of Winnetka had one to give
+women a right to vote on all matters relating to schools; the W. C. T.
+U. one for a constitutional amendment; and members of the Legislature
+occasionally on their own responsibility introduced bills.
+
+[241] In 1891 an anti-suffrage petition, signed by twelve persons,
+aroused some interest on account of its novelty. In later Legislatures
+their petitions do not seem to have appeared, but some of those twelve
+signers can be found composing the Chicago Anti Suffrage Society of
+the present day.
+
+[242] In April, 1891, fifteen women of Lombard voted at the municipal
+election under a special charter which gave the franchise to citizens
+over twenty-one years of age. The judges were about to refuse the
+votes, but Miss Ellen A. Martin, of the law firm of Perry & Martin in
+Chicago, argued the legal points so conclusively that they were
+accepted. No one has contested that election, and the women have
+established their right to vote.
+
+[243] Although Dr. Smith was defeated she was really the first woman
+who served as trustee of the State University, for Gov. John P.
+Altgeld appointed her to fill a member's unexpired term and she took
+her seat one month before Mrs. Flower, serving eighteen months. At the
+next election her name was again placed on the Democratic ticket,
+which was again defeated.
+
+[244] They continued to hold delegate conventions every two years to
+nominate a woman for trustee, until the Primary Election Law, recently
+passed, provided that delegates to nominating conventions must be
+elected at the polls.
+
+[245] During the Legislature of 1873 a Joint Special Committee was
+appointed to revise the laws. Through the heroic efforts of Miles B.
+Castle in the Senate and Judge James B. Bradwell in the House, with
+the assistance of the veteran law professor and reviser of statutes,
+the Hon. Harvey B. Hurd, a most liberal legislation for women, in all
+directions possible at that time, was secured.
+
+[246] See History Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, p. 601.
+
+[247] Mrs. Sewall's report will be found in most public libraries. A
+graphic account of this Congress is contained in the Life and Work of
+Susan B. Anthony, Chap. XLI. See also present volume of this History,
+Chap XIV.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+INDIANA.[248]
+
+
+The earliest woman suffrage society in Indiana was formed in Dublin
+only three years after that first memorable convention at Seneca
+Falls, N. Y., in 1848, and annual meetings were held until the
+beginning of the Civil War, and resumed after its close.
+
+That of 1884 took place December 9, 10, in the Methodist Church at
+Kokomo with delegates present from a number of cities. The resolutions
+included one of sorrow over the deaths of Frances Dana Gage, a pioneer
+suffragist, and Laura Giddings Julian, daughter of Joshua R. Giddings
+and wife of George W. Julian, M. C., both staunch advocates of the
+enfranchisement of women, as she herself had been. Dr. Mary F. Thomas,
+who had joined in the call for the first meeting in 1851, was
+re-elected president and the Hon. William Dudley Foulke made
+vice-president-at-large. Among the speakers were the Reverends
+Frazier, Hudson and McCune, Dr. Gifford and Judge Pollard.
+
+The annual meeting of 1885 was held at Warsaw, October 22, 23, and
+welcomed by Mayor Royse. On account of the advanced age of Dr. Thomas
+her resignation was accepted and Mrs. Mary S. Armstrong elected
+president. Henry B. Blackwell and Lucy Stone were present throughout
+the sessions.
+
+The State convention of 1886 met in Richmond, November 8, 9, in the
+Eighth Street Friends' Meeting House and was welcomed by the Mayor.
+Addresses were made by Mr. Blackwell, Mrs. Stone, Mrs. Zerelda G.
+Wallace, Dr. Thomas, Mr. Foulke, Mrs. Mary E. Haggart, Mrs. Armstrong,
+Mrs. Mattie Stewart Charles, Sylvester Johnson and others.
+
+In 1887 the convention took place at La Porte, December 1, 2, and was
+addressed by Mr. Foulke, Professor Hailman and Mrs. Eudora F. Hailman,
+the Rev. Mr. Grant, General Packard, Mrs. J. W. Ridgway, Mrs.
+Rhenton, Sylvanus Grover and others. Mr. Foulke was elected president
+and Mrs. Haggart vice-president-at-large.[249]
+
+Up to this time these annual meetings had been convened under the
+auspices of the American Woman Suffrage Association. In 1878 a strong
+society had been organized in Indianapolis with Mrs. Zerelda G.
+Wallace, president, Mrs. May Wright Sewall, secretary, and 175
+members. It had held numerous meetings and done a large amount of
+legislative and political work, but had made no State or national
+alliances. In May, 1887, however, it called a convention, which met in
+Plymouth Congregational Church, and with the assistance of Miss Susan
+B. Anthony a State organization was effected, auxiliary to the
+National Woman Suffrage Association. The officers elected were:
+President, Mrs. Helen M. Gougar; vice-president-at-large, Mrs.
+Wallace; secretary, Mrs. Ida Husted Harper; treasurer, Mrs. Juliette
+K. Wood; chairman executive committee, Mrs. Sewall; superintendent of
+press, Miss Mary E. Cardwill.
+
+In November, under the management of this board, two days' conventions
+were held in each of the congressional districts of the State, at
+Evansville, Vincennes, Bloomington, Kokomo, Logansport, Wabash,
+Lafayette, South Bend, Fort Wayne, Muncie, Madison, New Albany and
+Terre Haute. The speakers were Miss Anthony, Mrs. Wallace, Mrs. Sewall
+and Mrs. Gougar, the meetings being arranged by Mrs. Harper. They were
+well attended, a great deal of suffrage sentiment was aroused and a
+balance was left in the treasury.
+
+The annual convention took place at Indianapolis in the Grand Opera
+House, May 15, 16, 1888, with delegates present from every
+congressional district. Among the speakers were Mr. Foulke, Mrs. Annie
+Jenness Miller and Miss Anthony. The board of officers was re-elected.
+
+The third convention met at Rushville, Oct. 10, 11, 1889. Miss Anthony
+was in attendance. By previous arrangement delegates from the
+American branch were present and, with unanimous consent, a union of
+two bodies into one State organization was effected. Although
+receiving a majority vote, Mrs. Sewall, Miss Cardwill and Mrs. Harper,
+for personal reasons, refused longer to serve. The election finally
+resulted: President, Mrs. Gougar; vice-president-at-large, Mrs.
+Wallace; secretary, Mrs. Caroline C. Hodgin; treasurer, Mrs. Hattie E.
+Merrill; chairman executive committee, Mrs. E. M. Seward;
+superintendent of press, Mrs. Georgia Wright. A resolution was adopted
+mourning the death of Dr. Mary F. Thomas.
+
+State meetings were held for several years afterward, but the records
+of them are not available.
+
+In 1899, the State association having been apparently defunct for a
+long time, a conference of the officers of the National Association
+was called to meet in Indianapolis, at the earnest request of
+Mrs. Sewall and a committee. There were present on December
+7, 8, Miss Anthony, president, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw,
+vice-president-at-large, Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, treasurer, Miss
+Laura Clay and Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch, auditors, and Mrs.
+Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the organization committee. Mrs.
+Sewall gave two receptions to enable the people of the city to greet
+them; a large one was given by Mrs. Lucy McDowell Milburn, wife of the
+Rev. Joseph A. Milburn, of the Second Presbyterian Church; and a
+luncheon at the handsome residence of Mrs. Alice Wheeler Peirce by the
+committee.
+
+Business meetings were held at the Denison Hotel. The evening
+meetings, in Plymouth Church, were large and enthusiastic. A new State
+association was formed and also a new local club for Indianapolis,
+while the staunch and steadfast old societies of Kokomo and Tipton
+were aroused to new activity.[250]
+
+At the State meeting in Indianapolis in November, 1900, the old board
+of officers was re-elected, except that Mrs. Mary Shank was made
+vice-president and Mrs. Ethel B. McMullen, treasurer.
+
+A very considerable sentiment in favor of woman suffrage exists
+throughout the State and many well-known individuals advocate it,
+among them U. S. Senator Albert J. Beveridge and most of the
+Congressional delegation, State officials, judges, clergymen and
+prominent members of the women's clubs, but there is so slight an
+organization that little opportunity is afforded for public expression
+or action.
+
+From 1884 down to the present women have appeared many times in person
+and by petition before county and State conventions of the different
+political parties, asking for a recognition in their platforms of the
+right of women to the suffrage. Although these efforts have met with
+no response from the Democratic party, and none from the Republican in
+State meetings, a few county conventions have adopted planks to this
+effect. In 1889 the Greenback and the United Labor State Conventions
+unequivocally indorsed the franchise for women. In 1892 the Populist
+and the Prohibition State platforms contained declarations for woman
+suffrage. In 1894 the Populists again adopted the plank. Similar
+action was taken by the Social Democratic Party in 1900. Among those
+appearing before these bodies are found the names of Mrs. Sewall, Mrs.
+Gougar, Mrs. Haggart, Mrs. Pauline T. Merritt, Miss Flora Hardin, Mrs.
+Florence M. Adkinson, Mrs. Augusta Cooper Bristol and Mrs. Harper.
+
+During the past sixteen years a number of women have sat as delegates
+in the State conventions of the Greenback, Prohibition, Populist,
+Socialist and Labor parties. Women have shown great interest in
+politics for many years, crowding the galleries at the State
+conventions and forming at least one-half of the audiences at the
+campaign rallies. Among those who have canvassed the State in national
+campaigns are the noted orators, Miss Anna E. Dickinson, and Mrs.
+Nellie Holbrook Blinn of California, for the Republican party; Mrs.
+Mary E. Lease and Mrs. Annie L. Diggs, both of Kansas, for the
+Populist; Miss Cynthia Cleveland for the Democratic, and Mrs. Helen M.
+Gougar for the Republican, Prohibition and Populist.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: It is most difficult to look up the
+history of legislation on any subject in Indiana. The original bills
+are not printed but are presented in writing, stowed away in
+pigeon-holes and thenceforth referred to only by number, with perhaps
+a fragment of their titles. After several women, deeply interested in
+the question, had attempted to make a list of the suffrage bills
+during the last sixteen years and had given up in despair, they
+appealed to one of the best lawyers in the State, who is a firm
+believer in the enfranchisement of women. He responded that no
+accurate report could be made without first going through all the
+pigeon-holes and over all the journals of the two Houses during that
+period, which would require weeks of time and great expense. As very
+few of these bills ever were reported from the committees, it seemed
+unnecessary to undertake their resurrection for the purposes of this
+History.
+
+The Indiana Legislature meets biennially and there is seldom a session
+in which bills are not presented for municipal or full suffrage. In
+1893 bills were before this body asking for the Municipal ballot, and
+newspaper accounts speak of Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace, Mrs. Mary S.
+Armstrong and Mrs. Laura G. Schofield as working industriously for
+their passage.
+
+In 1895 Judge George B. Cardwill introduced two bills without request,
+one for an amendment to the constitution striking out the word "male;"
+the other to amend the law so as to make it obligatory to have one
+woman on the school board of every city. The women made no effort to
+secure consideration of these bills, and they lay dormant in
+committee.
+
+It never has been thought worth while to make the struggle for School
+Suffrage, as Indianapolis is the only city which elects its school
+board. In the others this is appointed by the Common Council.
+
+On Feb. 5, 1897, Miss Susan B. Anthony, who was visiting Mrs. Sewall,
+addressed the Legislature in joint session asking it to recommend to
+Congress the passage of a Sixteenth Amendment to the Federal
+Constitution enfranchising women.
+
+In 1898, under the auspices of Mrs. M. A. Tompkins, State
+superintendent of franchise for the Woman's Christian Temperance
+Union, an active and systematic canvass was begun to secure from the
+Legislature the submission of an amendment to the State constitution
+to strike out the word "male." She was assisted by members of her
+organization in every county; short, convincing articles were
+prepared for the newspapers, petitions circulated and 30,000 names of
+men and women obtained.
+
+Accompanied by these a joint resolution was presented to the
+Legislature of 1899--in the Senate by O. Z. Hubbell, in the House by
+Quincy A. Blankinship, and both labored strenuously for its passage.
+The Senate Bill was referred to the Committee on Revision of Laws,
+Frederick A. Joss, chairman, and the House Bill to the Judiciary
+Committee, Silas A. Canada, chairman. They granted hearings, were
+addressed by Miss Marie Brehm of Chicago, national superintendent of
+franchise for the W. C. T. U., and reported the bill favorably. It
+passed the Senate by unanimous vote, January 25. The members of the
+House had been personally interviewed by Mrs. Tompkins and Miss Brehm,
+and two-thirds of them were pledged to vote for the measure.
+
+The law provides that not more than two bills for amending the State
+constitution can be before the Legislature at one time, and, as two
+preceded this one, Speaker Littleton, who was opposed to it, ruled it
+out of order and would not permit it to be considered. The same
+condition existed in the Senate but that body deemed its action
+perfectly legal, as all which could be done was to submit the bill to
+the next Legislature. Thus all the work of nearly two years was
+lost.[251]
+
+In 1899 a number of Factory Inspection Laws were passed, some of them
+especially intended to protect women. While these serve their purpose
+in one way they may defeat it in another, as those, for instance,
+limiting the work of women to ten hours a day and prohibiting their
+employment at night in any manufacturing concern, when no such
+restrictions are imposed on men, which often is to their advantage
+with employers. Seats for women employes, suitable toilet-rooms and a
+full hour for the noonday meal are commendable features of these new
+laws.
+
+Through the efforts of Robert Dale Owen and a few other broad-minded
+men, when the constitution of Indiana was revised in 1851 the laws for
+women were made more liberal than those of most other States at that
+period, although conservative compared to present standards. Unjust
+discriminations have been abolished from time to time since then,
+until now, in a very large degree, the laws bear equally upon husband
+and wife. Some distinctions, however, still exist, as is shown by the
+introduction of bills in almost every Legislature "to remove the
+existing disabilities of married women."
+
+Dower and curtesy are abolished. If a husband die, with or without a
+will, one-third of his real estate descends to the widow in fee
+simple, free from all demands of creditors; provided, however, that
+where the real estate exceeds in value $10,000, the widow shall have
+one-fourth only, and where it exceeds $20,000, one-fifth only as
+against creditors. If a husband die without a will and leave a widow
+and one child, the real estate is divided equally between them; the
+personal estate is divided equally if there are not more than two
+children; if there are more than two the widow still has one-third. If
+a man has children living by a former marriage and none by a
+subsequent marriage, the widow can have only a life interest in her
+share of his estate. If a wife die, with or without a will, one-third
+of her real and personal estate descends to the widower, regardless of
+its value, but subject to its proportion of her debts contracted
+before marriage. If a husband or wife die without a will, leaving no
+child, but father or mother, one or both, three-fourths of the entire
+estate goes to the widow or widower, unless it does not exceed $1,000,
+in which case it all goes to the widow or widower. If there are
+neither children, father nor mother, the entire estate goes to the
+widow or widower.
+
+The husband is liable for the wife's debts incurred before marriage to
+the extent of any property received by him through her. He is not
+liable for his wife's contracts with respect to her separate property,
+business or labor, or for torts committed by her.
+
+She may sue in her own name for injury to her person, property or
+character. The husband may maintain action for the loss of her society
+and services.
+
+A wife can not convey or encumber her separate real estate without the
+joinder of her husband, nor can he do this with his separate real
+estate unless she joins. Husband and wife each may dispose of
+two-thirds of their real and personal estate by will without the
+consent of the other.
+
+A married woman may without any legal formalities carry on business or
+trade or perform any labor or services on her sole and separate
+account and her earnings shall be her sole and separate property,
+provided she keeps her business distinct from her husband's, as all
+their joint earnings are his property.
+
+A wife can act as executor or administrator of an estate only with her
+husband's consent.
+
+No married woman can become surety for any person.
+
+The father has the custody of the persons and the control of the
+education of the minor children, even though there may be a guardian
+appointed for their property. (1896.)
+
+A wife may sue for support: (1) If deserted by her husband and left
+without means of support; (2) if he has been convicted of a felony and
+put in State prison; (3) if he is a habitual drunkard; (4) if he join
+a religious society prohibiting marriage. The court may award
+necessary support according to circumstances, may sell lands of the
+husband, or allow the wife to sell her lands without his joining.
+(1896.)
+
+The "age of protection" for girls is 14 years. No bills presented by
+women to have it raised ever have been allowed to get beyond a
+legislative committee. The penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary
+from one to twenty-one years.
+
+SUFFRAGE: Women possess no form of suffrage. A decision of the Supreme
+Court, Feb. 1, 1901, that an amendment to be adopted must receive a
+majority of the highest number of votes cast at the election, has made
+it practically impossible to secure the franchise for women by
+changing the State constitution. It is held, however, by lawyers whose
+opinion is of value, that this even now may be legally construed so as
+to permit them to vote.
+
+Sustained in her own belief by these views and by a Supreme Court
+decision of 1893, which interpreted this constitution to permit women
+to practice law (see Occupations), Mrs. Helen M. Gougar decided to
+make a test case, and offered her vote in the State election, Nov. 6,
+1894, at her home in Lafayette. It was refused and she brought suit
+against the election board in the Superior Court of Tippecanoe County.
+Sayler & Sayler and John D. Gougar, husband of the plaintiff, were
+her attorneys, but she was herself admitted to the bar and argued her
+own case before Judge F. B. Everett, Jan. 10, 1895. She based her
+masterly argument on the rights guaranteed to all citizens by the
+Federal Constitution, and on the first article of the constitution of
+Indiana, which declares that "the General Assembly shall not grant to
+any citizen, or class of citizens, privileges or immunities which,
+upon the same terms, shall not equally belong to all citizens;" and
+she used with deadly effect the parallel between the decision of the
+Supreme Court in the case of Antoinette D. Leach, by which she was
+enabled to practice law, and the claims which were now being made as
+to the right of women to vote.[252]
+
+The long, adverse decision of Judge Everett was based upon his
+declaration that "suffrage is not a natural right or one necessarily
+incident to such freedom and preservation of rights as are upheld by
+the National and State constitutions;" that "the intention of their
+framers to limit the suffrage to males is so strong that it can not be
+disregarded;" and that "the legal and well understood rule of
+construction is that the express mention of certain things excludes
+all others."
+
+Mrs. Gougar then carried her case to the Supreme Court of Indiana, and
+was herself the first woman admitted to practice before that body. Her
+brief was filed by her attorneys and she made her own argument before
+the full bench, the court-room being crowded with lawyers and members
+of the Legislature. It was said by one of the judges to be the
+clearest and ablest oral argument presented since he had been a
+member.
+
+Nevertheless the judgment of the lower court was affirmed. The
+decision, in which the five judges concurred, was founded almost
+exclusively upon the affirmation that "that which is expressed makes
+that which is silent cease." This decision reversed absolutely the one
+rendered in the case of Leach for the right to practice law, which had
+declared that "although the statute says voters may practice, it says
+nothing about women, and therefore there is no denial of this right to
+them;" or in other words "that which is expressed does _not_ make that
+which is silent cease." Yet both of these opinions were written by
+the same Chief Justice--Leonard J. Hackney!
+
+The decision closed by saying: "Whatever the personal views of the
+Justices upon the advisability of extending the franchise to women,
+all are agreed that under the present constitution it can not be
+extended to them."
+
+As it is practically impossible to amend the State constitution, the
+outlook for woman suffrage in Indiana appears hopeless except through
+an amendment to the National Constitution.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: Women are not eligible for election to any offices
+within the gift of the voters, except those pertaining to the public
+schools.
+
+In 1873 the Legislature enacted that women should be eligible to any
+office the appointment or election to which is or shall be vested in
+the Governor or General Assembly.
+
+In 1881 it was enacted that women should be eligible to any office
+under the general or special school laws of the State.
+
+Notwithstanding these liberal provisions there is scarcely one of the
+Northern States where so few women have served in office. There never
+has been even a woman candidate for that of State Superintendent. Many
+years ago there were a few county superintendents but none now fill
+that office and not half a dozen women ever have sat on local school
+boards. These are appointed by the Common Council in all the towns and
+cities except Indianapolis. On one occasion its Local Council of Women
+nominated two of its members for school trustees, but both were
+defeated. Women themselves were not allowed to vote, but their
+interest brought out an unusually large number of men.[253] At present
+not one woman is known to be filling any school office.
+
+The law of 1873 includes the boards of all penal and benevolent
+institutions, State Librarian, custodians of public buildings, and
+many minor offices, but women have found it practically impossible to
+secure any of these. The explanation for this probably lies in the
+fact that Indiana is a pivotal State in politics and the parties are
+so evenly divided that the elections are equally apt to be carried by
+either party. It thus becomes vitally necessary to utilize every
+office for political purposes and none can be spared to persons
+without votes. For a number of years the two parties elected women as
+State Librarian, and they gave much satisfaction, although several
+times the political pressure has been so great that the office has had
+to be given to men.[254]
+
+A number of times bills have been presented to require the Governor to
+put a representation of women on the boards of all State institutions
+where women and children are confined, but they never have been
+carried.
+
+In 1873 the first State prison in the United States exclusively for
+women was opened in Indianapolis, but the management was vested in a
+board of men with a visiting board of women and a woman
+superintendent. In 1877 a bill was passed placing the entire
+management of this Woman's Reformatory in the hands of women. An
+Industrial School for Girls is now under the same supervision.[255]
+
+In 1889 an act of the Legislature established the State Board of
+Charities and Corrections and provided that two of its six trustees
+should be women. It exercises supervision over the State penal and
+benevolent institutions. In 1899 a legislative act required that on
+petition of fifteen citizens of any county the Circuit Judge must
+appoint a board to exercise the same supervision over its
+institutions, to consist of four men and two women.
+
+The only other women serving on State boards are one for the Soldiers'
+and Sailors' Orphans' Home at Knightstown and one for the Home for
+Feeble-minded Youth at Ft. Wayne.[256]
+
+The State Board of Charities and Corrections has made great effort to
+secure women physicians at all State Institutions and, though there is
+no law authorizing it, there is now one at each of the four Hospitals
+for the Insane, and at the Woman's Prison and Girls' Industrial
+School. One was appointed for the Home for Feeble-minded but a man now
+holds the position.
+
+Almost every State, county and city office has women deputies,
+assistants or stenographers. It is said that one-third of the employes
+in the State House are women. Many serve as notaries public, and a
+number as court stenographers.
+
+The need of a Police Matron in Indianapolis was so obvious and it had
+been so impossible to persuade the authorities of this fact, that in
+November, 1890, the Meridian W. C. T. U. obtained permission from the
+Mayor and Commissioners to place one on duty at the central station
+house at their own expense. This was continued until March, 1891, when
+a change in the city charter vested the authority in a Board of
+Safety. The matron, Mrs. Annie M. Buchanan, had given such
+satisfaction that on petition of the Woman's Local Council she was
+regularly employed by the city, with full police powers, at a salary
+of $60 per month and two furnished rooms for her occupancy. The first
+year 852 women and children came into her charge, 24 of the latter
+being under five years of age.
+
+The State W. C. T. U. appointed Mrs. Buchanan as the head of a
+movement to secure Police Matrons in all cities of 7,000 inhabitants.
+A bill for this purpose was presented in 1893 but failed to pass. In
+1895 the Local Council of Women also made this a special line of work,
+and to Mrs. Buchanan's petition, signed by one hundred of the leading
+men and women of the State and the entire Common Council, were added
+the names of the presidents of the forty-nine societies composing the
+Council of Women, representing 8,000 members. It asked for a law
+compelling the appointment of Police Matrons in all cities of 10,000
+inhabitants. This time the bill passed both Houses but so altered as
+to merely permit the Mayor and Commissioners to appoint such Matrons,
+a power they already possessed.
+
+Mrs. Buchanan remained in office seven years, until her marriage. The
+experiment in Indianapolis has been so successful that matrons are now
+employed in Evansville, Terre Haute, Richmond and Lafayette, but these
+by no means include all of the cities of over 10,000 inhabitants.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: The only occupations forbidden to women are those of
+working in mines and selling liquor. Women have served as bank
+cashiers and directors for twenty years.
+
+In 1875 Miss Elizabeth Eaglesfield was admitted to practice law at
+the Vigo County bar, through the efforts of Judge William Mack, and
+had a number of cases in the courts of Indianapolis. Eighteen years
+later Mrs. Antoinette D. Leach, although properly qualified, was
+refused a license to practice in Greene County. The lower court based
+its refusal on a clause in the State Constitution which says: "Every
+person of good moral character, _being a voter_, shall be entitled to
+practice law in all the courts of the State." She carried the case to
+the Supreme Court which reversed this judgment. Its decision, June 14,
+1893, says that "while voters are granted admission to practice there
+is no _denial_ of such right to women, and it must be held to exist as
+long as not forbidden by law. That which is expressed does not make
+that which is silent cease." (See Suffrage on previous page.) The
+decision continued:
+
+     The right to practice law is not a political question, but
+     belongs to that class of rights inherent in every citizen, and
+     pertains to the fundamental duty of every inhabitant to gain a
+     livelihood. Judge Cooley says: "To forbid to an individual or a
+     class the right to the acquisition or enjoyment of property in
+     such manner as should be permitted to the community at large,
+     would be to deprive them of liberty in particulars of primary
+     importance." In Story on the Constitution it is said that the
+     right to acquire, possess and enjoy property and to choose from
+     those which are lawful the profession or occupation of life, are
+     among the privileges which the States are forbidden by the
+     Constitution to abridge.[257]
+
+Basing her claims on this decision, a woman the next year, 1894,
+applied for license to sell liquor. This was refused on the ground
+that the statute reads: "Any _male_ inhabitant having certain other
+specified qualifications may obtain a license." The Supreme Court
+decided that "by the use of the word 'male' women are inhibited from
+obtaining license to vend intoxicating liquor at retail."
+
+Thus within three years--1893, '94, '95--the same Supreme Court
+rendered three decisions each absolutely reversing the others.
+
+EDUCATION: The State University was opened to women in 1867. They are
+admitted on equal terms with men to all State institutions of
+learning, including Purdue University (agricultural). The only
+colleges closed to them are Wabash at Crawfordsville, and the Rose
+Polytechnic at Terre Haute. There are women on the faculties of most
+of the co-educational universities. A number of women have been
+graduated from the various Law and Medical Schools.
+
+In the public schools there are 7,252 men and 8,236 women teachers.
+The average monthly salary of the men is $48.80; of the women $43.55.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Women's Clubs number considerably over one hundred, and there are
+also many which are composed of both men and women. The State Press
+Association had both as charter members. The Union of Literary Clubs,
+a strong organization of 104 branches, includes many of these and also
+those composed of women alone and of men alone.
+
+The Woman's Club of Indianapolis, founded in 1875, is the oldest in
+the city. Under its auspices and through the inspiration of Mrs. May
+Wright Sewall, the Propylaeum, a handsome club house, was built at a
+cost of over $30,000. It was dedicated in 1891 with imposing
+ceremonies, in which the Governor, the Mayor and many distinguished
+guests assisted the board of directors. All of the stock is held by
+women and the construction was entirely superintended by women. It is
+one of the important institutions of the city, and is used by a number
+of men's and of women's clubs and for many public and private
+functions.
+
+In numerous forms of organized work, sanitary inspection, free
+kindergartens, flower missions, training schools for nurses,
+collegiate alumnae, art associations, musical clubs, industrial unions,
+patriotic societies, church missionary boards, lodge auxiliaries and
+countless others--women render conspicuous and inestimable service.
+The State Monograph for the World's Fair, previously referred to,
+gives detailed information of the associated work of Indiana women in
+nearly fifty distinct departments.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[248] The History is indebted to Mrs. Alice Judah Clarke of Vincennes
+for much of the information contained in this chapter.
+
+[249] The other names which appear most frequently during these years
+as officers and workers are the Rev. A. Marine, Doctors Isabel
+Stafford and Anna B. Campbell, Miss Mary D. Naylor and Mesdames Laura
+C. Schofield, Georgia Wright, Sarah E. Franklin, Laura Sandefur, Laura
+C. Arnold, C. A. P. Smith, S. S. McCain, H. R. Ridpath, Mary B.
+Williams, Laura Kregelo, H. R. Vickery, Emma E. Dixon, Pauline T.
+Merritt, Eliza J. Hamilton, L. May Wheeler and Florence M. Adkinson.
+
+[250] State officers: President, Mrs. Bertha G. Wade; vice-president,
+Mrs. Mary S. Armstrong; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Alice Wheeler
+Peirce; recording secretary, Mrs. Hester Moore Hart; treasurer, Mrs.
+Alice E. Waugh; auditors, Mrs. Grace Julian Clarke and Mrs. Albertina
+A. Forrest.
+
+Among the strong members of the Tipton club are Judge and Mrs. Dan
+Waugh, State Senator and Mrs. G. W. Gifford, Representative and Mrs.
+W. R. Ogleboy, Postmaster and Mrs. M. W. Pershing, Dr. and Mrs. M. V.
+B. Newcomer and W. H. Barnhart, editor of the _Advocate_.
+
+[251] In 1901 the suffrage societies had a similar bill before the
+Legislature, supported by a large petition. It was passed by the House
+on March 5 by 52 ayes, 35 noes. Enough votes to carry it had been
+pledged in the Senate, but the night following its success in the
+House hurried consultations were held and the element which fights
+woman suffrage to the death issued its edict. The next morning the
+vote was reconsidered and the measure defeated. It was therefore
+unnecessary to bring it before the Senate.
+
+[252] Mrs. Gougar's argument in full, with authorities cited, was
+published in a pamphlet of sixty pages.
+
+[253] In 1901 the Political Equality Club of Indianapolis put up a
+woman candidate who polled over 4,000 votes but was not elected.
+
+[254] The women who have filled this office are Sarah A. Oren,
+1873-75; Margaret F. Peelle, 1879-1881; Elizabeth O. Callis,
+1881-1889; Mary A. Ahern, 1893-1895; Mrs. E. L. Davidson, 1895-1897.
+At present the first and second assistants are women.
+
+[255] For particulars of this unique institution see Vol. III, p. 970.
+
+[256] A Monograph on the Associated Work of Indiana Women, prepared in
+1893 by Mrs. Ida Husted Harper for the Columbian Exposition, showed
+about twenty county and city orphans' home entirely controlled by
+women, and also a number of Homes for the Friendless, Old Ladies'
+Homes, Children's Aid Societies, etc.
+
+[257] Some of the highest legal authorities in the State declare that
+this is not the law and that it will be so decided whenever the
+question is presented to another Supreme Court. If this should happen
+then women could practice law only by an amendment of the
+constitution. What then would be the status of the cases in which Mrs.
+Leach and other women had acted as attorney?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+IOWA.[258]
+
+
+For thirty years the women of Iowa have been petitioning its
+legislative body for the elective franchise. Any proposed amendment to
+the State constitution must pass two successive Legislatures before
+being submitted to the voters, which makes it exceedingly difficult to
+secure one. Throughout the State, however, there has been a steady,
+healthy growth of favorable sentiment and the cause now numbers its
+friends by thousands.
+
+The Iowa Equal Suffrage Association was formed in 1870 and ever since
+has held annual conventions. That of 1884 took place in Des Moines,
+November 27, 28, Mrs. Narcissa T. Bemis presiding. The report of the
+vice-president, Mrs. Jane Amy McKinney, stated that Miss Matilda
+Hindman of Pennsylvania had been employed two months of the year,
+besides working several weeks upon her own responsibility. She had
+delivered seventy-two lectures, formed about forty organizations and
+obtained many hundreds of names to pledges of help. Mrs. Helen M.
+Gougar of Indiana had given fifteen addresses, distributed 3,000
+tracts and secured 500 subscribers for her paper, _Our Herald_. Mrs.
+Mariana T. Folsome, financial secretary, had gone from town to town,
+arranging her own meetings and visiting many places where no suffrage
+work ever before had been done. Mrs. Margaret W. Campbell, State
+organizer, had addressed 139 meetings and assisted in organizing ten
+counties. Letters urging a Sixteenth Amendment to the Federal
+Constitution had been written to all the Iowa members of Congress.
+
+The convention met Oct. 21, 22, 1885, in Cedar Rapids, and elected
+Mrs. Campbell president. Lucy Stone and Henry B. Blackwell delivered
+evening addresses, while among the delegates was Mrs. Carrie Lane
+Chapman (Catt). Mrs. Mary J. Coggeshall, chairman of the executive
+committee, reported that each of the eleven congressional districts
+had been given in charge of a vice-president of the State association,
+local societies had been formed, numerous public meetings held and
+seventeen counties organized. Petitions were in circulation asking the
+Legislature to amend the constitution of the State so as to
+enfranchise women, and others that women be excused from paying taxes
+until they had representation. About forty weekly papers had columns
+edited by the press committee. At the State Agricultural Fair this
+committee had, as usual, a large amount of literature in a handsomely
+decorated booth, which was crowded with visitors from all parts of the
+State.
+
+In the autumn of 1886 the annual meeting convened in Ottumwa. During
+that year funds had been raised and a permanent cottage erected on the
+State Fair grounds to be used as suffrage headquarters. There was also
+established in Des Moines a State paper, the _Woman's Standard_, with
+Mrs. Coggeshall as editor and Mrs. Martha C. Callanan as business
+manager. This paper, an eight-page monthly, issued its first number in
+September.[259]
+
+The State Convention of 1887 was held in Des Moines, and that of 1888
+in Ames. At the latter Miss Susan B. Anthony gave an inspiring
+address. The State Agricultural College is located at Ames, and Capt.
+James Rush Lincoln of the military department tendered the delegates
+an exhibition drill on the campus of Company G, which was composed
+entirely of girls.
+
+The annual convention took place in Oskaloosa, Oct. 30-Nov. 1, 1889. A
+letter of approval was received from George A. Gates, president of
+Iowa College. Mr. Blackwell and Lucy Stone were present and added much
+to the interest of the meetings. Mrs. Campbell was for the third time
+elected president.
+
+On Dec. 4, 5, 1890, the association again assembled in Des Moines,
+with Miss Anthony in attendance. The resolutions recommended that the
+suffragists make an effort to place women on all the school boards,
+and that they work for the election of legislators favoring Municipal
+and School Suffrage for women.
+
+The society was incorporated under the State laws Nov. 7, 1891, as the
+Iowa Equal Suffrage Association. The twentieth convention was held at
+Ames, December 3, 4. Three departments of work were arranged--fair,
+press and oratorical contest--and a superintendent of each was
+appointed. Reports were received from all parts of the State which
+indicated an increasing growth of sentiment and it was decided to
+place another organizer in the field. The delegates were invited by
+President William Beardshear to visit the State Agricultural College.
+Upon their return they passed a resolution declaring that "the
+Legislature ought to provide a suitable hall for women students."
+Margaret Hall has since been erected, a commodious building designed
+for their exclusive use.
+
+The twenty-first annual meeting was called at Des Moines, Sept. 22,
+1892, in connection with the Mississippi Valley Suffrage Conference.
+There were present Miss Anthony, president of the National
+Association, Mr. Blackwell, Senator M. B. Castle and Mrs. Catharine
+Waugh McCulloch of Illinois, Miss Laura Clay of Kentucky, Mrs. Sarah
+Burger Stearns of Minnesota and many others from different States. The
+report of Mrs. Eliza H. Hunter, chairman of the executive committee,
+said:
+
+     In no previous year has the demand upon our workers been so
+     great, and never has the response been so quick and hearty. Mrs.
+     Chapman Catt, Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe of Illinois, the Rev. Olympia
+     Brown of Wisconsin, and Mrs. Belle Mitchell of Iowa, have been
+     our lecturers and organizers. The association was invited to send
+     a speaker to the Chautauqua Assembly at Colfax and the Rev. C. C.
+     Harrah was secured. A plan of work prepared by Mrs. Chapman Catt
+     was issued as a supplement to the _Woman's Standard_, and sent to
+     every county president and local club. Mrs. Callanan published at
+     the same time the Iowa Collection of Readings and Recitations for
+     suffrage societies. The study topics arranged for clubs two years
+     ago had been in such demand that a new supply was necessary. We
+     also have had printed 6,000 copies of a tract, A Woman Suffrage
+     Catechism, by Mrs. C. Holt Flint. The State Agricultural Society
+     by request set apart one day of the fair as Woman's Day, and five
+     women's organizations took part in the exercises. At the hour
+     devoted especially to suffrage Mrs. DeVoe made the address, Mrs.
+     Coggeshall presiding. It was hard to tell where this hour began
+     and ended, for to the listener all seemed suffrage hours.
+
+This report told also of a series of questions sent out which
+ascertained that, in the territory covered by twenty-eight clubs,
+seventy-eight ministers were in favor of suffrage and eighteen
+opposed; and in the same territory forty editors were in favor and
+nineteen opposed. There were at that time fifty-seven clubs in the
+State.
+
+The year 1893 marked a period of unusual activity. The executive
+committee held monthly meetings. Four organizers were kept in the
+field. A large amount of money was raised and $100 donated to the
+campaign in Colorado. A request was sent to the clubs that each
+contribute to the campaign in Kansas, which in many instances was
+done. The annual meeting took place in Webster City, November 9, 10.
+
+The convention of 1894 was held in Marshalltown, November 8, 9. That
+of 1895 met in Des Moines, October 18, 19. Mrs. Laura M. Johns of
+Kansas was secured for a month of organization work and the suffrage
+enrollment ordered to be continued.
+
+In 1896 Mrs. Adelaide Ballard was elected State organizer. At the
+State Fair Mrs. Pauline Swalm delivered an address on The Woman
+Citizen. The suffrage cottage was kept open and a long list of names
+was placed upon the enrollment books. The annual meeting convened in
+Independence, November 17-19. Mrs. Ballard reported thirty-seven new
+clubs organized. Mrs. Anna H. Satterly announced that forty-two
+newspapers were publishing articles furnished by the National
+Association, which also sent Mrs. DeVoe for a month's work in the
+State.
+
+In January, 1897, the National Association held its convention in Des
+Moines, with many noted women in attendance.[260] This gave a great
+impetus to the work and had a decided effect upon sentiment in the
+State, particularly on that of the daily papers in Des Moines, most of
+which since this time have treated the cause with marked courtesy. At
+the close of the convention fifty members were added to the city club.
+The National Association heartily approved the plan of an active
+campaign with a view to securing the submission of a suffrage
+amendment from the Legislature. Under the directions of Mrs. Chapman
+Catt, chairman of its organization committee, workers were sent into
+the field to hold a series of conventions for the purpose of
+perfecting the organization of the State. These resulted in county
+societies in ninety-four of the ninety-nine counties and one hundred
+new clubs. The speakers were the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, national
+vice-president-at-large, and the Rev. Henrietta G. Moore of Ohio; the
+managers, Miss Mary G. Hay of New York and Miss Laura A. Gregg of
+Kansas. Mrs. Ballard and Mrs. Clara M. Richey each gave a month to
+conducting meetings, and other Iowa women rendered valuable
+assistance.
+
+The annual meeting of 1897 took place in Des Moines, October 13-15.
+Mrs. Chapman Catt, Miss Hay, Miss Moore and Mrs. Addie M. Johnson of
+Missouri were present. Much enthusiasm was manifested and $1,400 were
+raised to carry on the next year's work. It was decided to open
+headquarters in Des Moines the first of January, 1898, with Mrs. Ina
+Light Taylor as office secretary.
+
+Beginning in April, 1898, the State association conducted a series of
+conferences throughout the northern part of Iowa, employing as
+speakers Mrs. Campbell and Mrs. Ballard; and as managers Miss Ella
+Harrison of Missouri and Mrs. Richey. At the same time the National
+Association sent into the southern part Miss Moore and Mrs. Martha A.
+B. Conine of Colorado, as speakers, and Miss Gregg and Mrs. Jennie L.
+Wilson as managers. The annual meeting was held in Council Bluffs,
+October 19-21. Mrs. Evelyn H. Belden was made president.
+
+During 1899 a large amount of work was done by correspondence. The
+office of press superintendent was transferred to headquarters, from
+which 200 newspapers were supplied each week with suffrage matter. Two
+hundred and fifty clubs were in active existence. The convention met
+in Mason City, October 10-12. Mrs. Belden was unanimously re-elected
+and $1,500 were raised.
+
+The convention of 1900 was held in Des Moines, October 16-18, with
+Mrs. Chapman Catt in attendance. During the year Mrs. Nellie Welsh
+Nelson had done organization work in northwestern Iowa, and Miss Hay
+and Dr. Frances Woods lately had held a number of meetings and formed
+several clubs. One thousand dollars were pledged to continue the State
+headquarters. Mrs. Belden was again elected to the presidency, and
+the association entered upon the new century bearing the banner it had
+followed for thirty years, with the inscription, "Never give up."[261]
+
+Year after year the executive committee have visited the State
+conventions of all the political parties asking for a plank in their
+platforms indorsing equal suffrage, but without success. Many of the
+prominent officials and political leaders, however, have openly
+declared in favor of the enfranchisement of women.[262]
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: From its organization in 1870 the State
+association has had a bill before every Legislature asking some form
+of suffrage for women. This usually has passed one House but never
+both at the same session. The petitions accompanying these bills have
+varied from 8,000 signatures in 1884 to 100,000 in 1900. In 1884 the
+measure was carried in the Senate but lost in the House.
+
+In 1886 a bill for Municipal Suffrage was introduced by Representative
+J. A. Lyons, amended to include School Suffrage and recommended for
+passage, but it never came to a vote.
+
+In 1888 a bill for Municipal and School Suffrage was lost in the House
+by 11 ayes, 80 noes. This was presented in the Senate also but never
+voted upon.
+
+In 1890 a bill for School Suffrage was recommended for passage in the
+House but did not reach a vote. A bill for Municipal Suffrage at the
+same session was not reported. Both were killed in the Senate
+committee.
+
+In 1892 a bill allowing women to vote for Presidential Electors was
+introduced in the House but was unfavorably reported and indefinitely
+postponed. In the Senate it was referred to the Committee on Suffrage
+and never reported.
+
+In 1894 a bill for Municipal and School Suffrage was favorably
+reported in the House. It was made a special order and, after being
+amended so as to give women the right to vote _only when bonds were to
+be issued_, it was returned to the Judiciary Committee. They reported
+it without recommendation for the reason that they were not agreed as
+to its constitutionality. It was passed by 51 ayes, 39 noes. In the
+Senate the amended bill passed by 27 ayes, 20 noes.
+
+The greatest difficulty in the way of securing Municipal or School
+Suffrage was the opinion prevalent among legislators that it would be
+unconstitutional. In view of this fact the State association decided
+to drop all partial suffrage measures and ask only for the Full
+Franchise by constitutional amendment.
+
+In 1898 a legislative committee was appointed with Mrs. Belden, State
+president, as chairman. Assisted by Miss Mary G. Hay of New York, she
+spent some time at the capital trying to secure a joint resolution for
+the submission of an amendment. The resolution was lost in the House
+by 50 ayes, 47 noes--just one short of a constitutional majority,
+which is one over a half of the whole number of members. It did not
+come to a vote in the Senate.
+
+In 1900 Mrs. Belden established headquarters at the Savery House in
+Des Moines, and with other members of the legislative committee
+conducted a vigorous campaign for submission. The bill was reported
+favorably by unanimous vote of both House and Senate committees, but
+was lost in the House by 44 ayes, 55 noes. Subsequently it passed the
+"sifting committee," for the first time in the history of suffrage
+legislation in the State. It was then acted upon by the Senate and
+lost by 24 ayes, 23 noes--lacking two votes of a constitutional
+majority. The absence on account of illness of some of the friends of
+the measure contributed to this result. In the meantime work had been
+done in the House by Mrs. Belden and the Hon. G. W. Hinkle which had
+made it certain that if the bill was carried in the Senate the House
+would reconsider and pass it. The bill was treated with courtesy and
+fairness and instead of ignoring its claims men came voluntarily to
+talk about it and showed a genuine interest.
+
+The laws of inheritance are the same for husband and wife. Dower and
+curtesy are abolished. The surviving husband or wife is entitled to
+one-third in fee simple of both real and personal estate of the other
+at his or her death. If either die intestate, leaving no issue,
+one-half of the estate goes to the survivor, the rest to his or her
+parents, one or both; or if they are both dead, to their descendants.
+If there are none such, the whole estate goes to the surviving husband
+or wife. If there should have been more than one wife or husband, the
+half portion is equally divided between the husband or wife living and
+the heirs of those who are dead, or the heirs of all, if all are dead.
+
+A married woman may contract, sue and be sued and carry on business in
+her own name as if unmarried and her earnings are her sole and
+separate property.
+
+In 1896 an act was passed making it illegal for the husband to
+mortgage household goods without the wife's signature. The same year
+it was made a misdemeanor and punishable as such for a man to desert a
+woman whom he married to escape prosecution for seduction.
+
+The law declares the father and mother natural guardians and legally
+entitled to the custody of the minor children, but in practice the
+father has prior claim.
+
+The support and education of the family are chargeable equally on the
+husband's and the wife's property.
+
+In 1886 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 13
+years; and in 1896, on petition of the Woman's Christian Temperance
+Union, from 13 to 15 years. The penalty is imprisonment in the
+penitentiary for life or for any term of years not less than twenty.
+An amendment was made in 1894 that "a man can not be convicted upon
+the testimony of the person injured unless she be corroborated by
+other evidence."
+
+The same year this organization secured a law compelling the
+separation of men and women prisoners in county jails.
+
+SUFFRAGE: Since 1894 the right of any citizen to vote at any city,
+town or school election, on the question of issuing any bonds for
+municipal or school purposes, and for the purpose of borrowing money,
+or on the question of increasing the tax levy, shall not be denied or
+abridged on account of sex.
+
+At all elections where women may vote, no registration of women shall
+be required, separate ballots shall be furnished for the question on
+which they are entitled to vote, a separate ballot-box shall be
+provided in which all ballots cast by them shall be deposited, and a
+separate canvass thereof made by the judges of the election, and the
+returns thereof shall show such vote.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: Women are not forbidden by law to hold any office
+except that of legislator.
+
+In 1884 thirteen women were serving as county superintendents and ten
+as superintendents of city schools; six were presidents, thirty-five
+secretaries and fifty treasurers of school boards. In 1885 the school
+board of Des Moines elected a woman city superintendent at a salary of
+$1,800, with charge of eighty teachers, including two male principals.
+In 1900 twenty-one women were elected county superintendents. A large
+number are acting as school trustees but it is impossible to get the
+exact figures.
+
+The office of State librarian always was filled by a woman until 1898,
+when Gov. Leslie M. Shaw placed a man in charge. The librarian of the
+State University always has been a woman. There are two women on the
+Library Board of Des Moines.
+
+Clerkships in the Legislature and in the executive offices are
+frequently given to women.
+
+For six years Mrs. Anna Hepburn was recorder of Polk County, and this
+office has been held by women in other counties.
+
+A law of 1892 requires cities of over 25,000 inhabitants to employ
+police matrons. They wear uniform and star and have the same authority
+as men on the force, with this difference in their appointment: The
+law makes it permanent and they can not be dismissed unless serious
+charges are proved against them.
+
+A woman has been appointed a member of the Board of Examiners for the
+Law Department of the State University. For a number of years women
+have been sitting on the State boards of Charities and Reforms. They
+have served on the Board of Trustees of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home. A
+woman is on the State Board of Education, and another on the State
+Library Commission.
+
+The law provides that women physicians may be employed in the State
+hospitals for the insane, but only two or three have been appointed.
+The Board of Control may appoint a woman on the visiting committee for
+these asylums but this has not yet been done. A few women have served
+on this board.
+
+The law also provides for women physicians in all State institutions
+where women are placed, but does not require them.
+
+The Legislature of 1900 passed a bill to establish a Woman's
+Industrial Reformatory of which the superintendent must be a woman.
+The salary is $1,000 a year.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to
+women. In 1884 Iowa furnished, at Marion, what is believed to be the
+first instance of the election of a woman as president of a United
+States national bank.
+
+EDUCATION: The universities and colleges, including the State
+Agricultural College, always have been co-educational.
+
+In the public schools there are 5,855 men and 22,839 women teachers.
+The average monthly salary of the men is $37.10; of the women, $31.45.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The women of Iowa have thrown themselves eagerly into the great club
+movement, and clubs literary, philanthropic, scientific and political
+abound. The State Federation numbers 300 of these with a membership of
+12,000. This, however, does not include nearly all the women's
+organizations.
+
+By all the means at their command women are striving to fit themselves
+for whatever duties the future may have in store for them. With an
+unfaltering trust in the manhood of Iowa men, those who advocate
+suffrage are waiting--and working while they wait--for the time when
+men and women shall stand side by side in governmental as in all other
+vital matters.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[258] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Clara M. Richey
+of Des Moines, recording secretary of the State Equal Suffrage
+Association.
+
+[259] The _Woman's Standard_ has continued to be a source of pride to
+Iowa women up to the present time, and is now edited by J. O.
+Stevenson and published by Mrs. Sarah Ware Whitney.
+
+[260] See Chapter XVII.
+
+[261] The following have served as presidents, beginning with 1884:
+Mrs. Narcissa T. Bemis, Mrs. Margaret W. Campbell (four terms), Mrs.
+Mary B. Welch, Mrs. Mary J. Coggeshall (two terms), Mrs. Estelle T.
+Smith (two terms), Mrs. Rowena Stevens, Mrs. M. Lloyd Kennedy, Mrs.
+Adelaide Ballard (two terms), Mrs. Evelyn H. Belden (three terms).
+
+The officers at present are: Vice-president, Mrs. Dollie Romans
+Bradley; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Nellie Welsh Nelson; recording
+secretary, Mrs. Clara M. Richey; treasurer, Mrs. Mary J. Coggeshall;
+executive committee, Mrs. Anna H. Ankeny, Mrs. Emma C. Ladd, Miss
+Alice Priest; auditors, Mrs. Martha C. Callanan, Mrs. Ina Light
+Taylor; member national executive committee, Mrs. Margaret W.
+Campbell; State organizer, Dr. Frances Woods.
+
+[262] It is plainly impossible to mention the names of all or even a
+large part of the workers in a State where so much has been done. A
+few of the most prominent not already named are George W. Bemis;
+Mesdames Irene Adams, Virginia Branner, S. J. Cole, S. J. Cottrell,
+Mary E. Emsley, Clara F. Harkness, Julia Clark Hallam, Helen M.
+Harriman, Etta S. Kirk, Alice S. Longley, Hannah Lecompte, Florence
+Maskrey, Emily Phillips, Martha A. Peck, Mettie Laub Romans, C. A.
+Reynolds, Cordelia Sloughton, Roma W. Woods; Misses Daisy Deighton,
+Ella Moffatt, Katharine Pierce.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+KANSAS.[263]
+
+
+The first Woman's Rights Association was organized in Kansas in the
+spring of 1859, by a little coterie of twenty-five men and women, with
+the object of securing suffrage for women from the convention which
+was to meet in July to form a constitution for Statehood. They did not
+succeed in this but to them is largely due its remarkably liberal
+provisions regarding women.[264]
+
+Afterwards local suffrage societies were formed but there was no
+attempt to have a State association until 1884. In the winter of that
+year Mrs. Bertha H. Ellsworth was sent to the National Convention at
+Washington by the society of Lincoln, and she returned enthusiastic
+for organization. After some correspondence the first convention was
+called by Mrs. Hetta P. Mansfield, who had been appointed
+vice-president of Kansas by the National Association, and it met in
+the Senate Chamber at Topeka, June 25. Mrs. Helen M. Gougar, who was
+making a lecture tour of the State, was invited to preside, and Mrs.
+Anna C. Wait, president of the five-year-old society at Lincoln and
+for many years the strongest force behind the movement, acted as
+secretary.[265] Telegrams of greeting were received from Lucy Stone
+and Henry B. Blackwell, editors of the _Woman's Journal_. At the
+evening meeting Mrs. Ellsworth recited an original poem and Mrs.
+Gougar delivered a fine address to a large audience. Professor W. H.
+Carruth, of the University of Kansas, assisted, coming as delegate
+from a flourishing suffrage society at Lawrence, of which Miss Sarah
+A. Brown was president and Mrs. Annie L. Diggs secretary. A
+constitution was adopted and Mrs. Mansfield was elected president;
+Mrs. Wait, vice-president; Mrs. Ellsworth, corresponding secretary.
+
+In the fall of 1884 Mrs. Ellsworth and Mrs. Clara B. Colby of
+Nebraska, made an extended lecture and organizing tour. At Salina they
+met and enlisted Mrs. Laura M. Johns, and then began the systematic
+work which rapidly brought Mrs. Johns to the front as the leader of
+the suffrage forces in Kansas. In addition to her great ability as an
+organizer, she is an unsurpassed manager of conventions, a forceful
+writer, an able speaker and a woman of winning personality.
+
+On Jan. 15, 16, 1885, the State association held its annual meeting in
+Topeka, during the first week of the Legislature. Its chief business
+was to secure the introduction of a bill granting Municipal Woman
+Suffrage, in which it succeeded. Mrs. Gougar was an inspiring figure
+throughout the convention, addressing a large audience in Assembly
+Hall. A Committee on the Political Rights of Women was secured in the
+Lower House by a vote of 75 yeas, 45 nays, after a spirited contest.
+One was refused in the Senate by a tie vote. Much interest and
+discussion among the members resulted and a favorable sentiment was
+created. Mrs. Wait was made president, Mrs. Johns, vice-president. A
+second convention was held this year in Salina, October 28, 29, with
+"Mother" Bickerdyke and Mrs. Colby as the principal speakers. A large
+amount of work was planned, all looking to the end of securing
+Municipal Suffrage from the next Legislature.
+
+During 1886 the State Woman's Christian Temperance Union, under the
+presidency of Mrs. Fannie H. Rastall, zealously co-operated with the
+suffrage association in the effort for the Municipal Franchise, Miss
+Amanda Way, Mrs. Sarah A. Thurston, Miss Olive P. Bray and many other
+able women making common cause with its legislative committee and
+working for the bill. About 9,000 suffrage documents were distributed.
+
+This autumn eleven conventions in the congressional districts of the
+State were held under the efficient management of Mrs. Johns and Mrs.
+Wait, beginning at Leavenworth, October 4, 5, and following at
+Abilene, Lincoln, Florence, Hutchinson, Wichita, Anthony, Winfield,
+Independence, Fort Scott and Lawrence. Miss Susan B. Anthony,
+vice-president-at-large of the National Association, Mrs. Colby and
+Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon of New Orleans, were the speakers. They were
+greeted by crowded houses, Miss Anthony especially receiving an
+ovation at every place visited.
+
+In October the American W. S. A. held its national convention in
+Topeka. Lucy Stone, Henry B. Blackwell, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw and
+Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, of Massachusetts, and the Hon. William Dudley
+Foulke and Mrs. Mary E. Haggart, of Indiana, were present. The meeting
+was of incalculable benefit at this time. For the next few months Mrs.
+Gougar, with her strong speeches, was everywhere in demand; Mrs. Saxon
+was continuously at work; Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace of Indiana made a
+number of powerful addresses, and the whole State was aroused in the
+interest of the bill.
+
+Instead of holding the usual State convention in 1886 it met in
+Topeka, Jan. 11-13, 1887, when the Legislature was in session, and was
+largely attended for success seemed near at hand. Mrs. Belva A.
+Lockwood of Washington, D. C., made an able address. The other
+speakers were Professor Carruth, the Rev. C. H. Rogers, Mrs. Saxon and
+Mrs. Colby. Miss Sarah A. Brown, as chairman of the committee,
+reported a resolution urging the Legislature to confer Municipal
+Suffrage on women, which was unanimously carried, and the most
+determined purpose to secure its passage by the Legislature then in
+session was manifested. Mrs. Johns was elected president, an office
+which she held eight consecutive years.
+
+The bill passed and became a law February 15. The next annual meeting
+took place in Newton, Oct. 13-15, 1887, with the usual large
+attendance.[266] Miss Anthony, Mr. Blackwell, the Rev. Miss Shaw and
+Rachel G. Foster (Avery) were the speakers from abroad. Two notable
+events were the appearance of Kansas' first woman mayor, Mrs. M. D.
+Salter of Argonia, and the reading of a carefully compiled statement
+relative to the first vote of women in the towns and cities at the
+election the preceding April. This paper was the work of Judge Francis
+G. Adams, for many years secretary of the State Historical Society,
+and a lifelong friend and helper of woman's enfranchisement. It
+answered conclusively the question whether women would vote if they
+had an opportunity.
+
+This convention was followed by a very successful series of meetings
+in many cities to arouse public sentiment in favor of Full Suffrage,
+under the management of Mrs. Johns and Mrs. Letitia V. Watkins, State
+organizer, with Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw and Miss Foster as speakers.
+Considerable attention was given to the speech recently made by U. S.
+Senator John J. Ingalls at Abilene, vigorously opposing woman
+suffrage.
+
+Mrs. Mary A. Woodbridge of the National, and Mrs. Rastall of the
+Kansas W. C. T. U., also made an active canvass of the State. These
+organizations united in a strong appeal to women to be equal to their
+new responsibilities, which was supplemented by one from the national
+president, Miss Frances E. Willard.
+
+The State convention met at Emporia, Nov. 13-15, 1888, with Miss
+Anthony as its most inspiring figure. A notable feature was the
+address of Mrs. Johns, the president, in which she said:
+
+     And this brings me to speak of our attitude toward political
+     parties. Whatever may be the individual preferences of the
+     officers of our State Association, _our organization is
+     non-partisan_. I have hitherto regarded it as necessary that it
+     should be strictly non-partisan, just as I have believed that it
+     must remain non-sectarian, so that no one of any faith, political
+     or religious, shall be shut out from our work.... I believe that
+     this attitude toward sects will be necessary to the day of our
+     full enfranchisement; but not as it now is will our relations to
+     _party_ remain. The time is not yet ripe perhaps, but the years
+     will not be many to go over our heads before we shall feel the
+     necessity of declaring our allegiance to a party, and it is
+     possible that to this we will be compelled to come before we
+     secure an amendment to the constitution of the State striking out
+     the word "male."
+
+A strong speech was made by Secretary Adams, urging that women should
+do aggressive political work with a view of securing the franchise.
+From this time on women were not only welcomed as political allies,
+but their influence and active participation were sought in party
+politics. Many women lent their aid chiefly owing to their belief
+that they would thus become so valuable as to win party support to
+their full enfranchisement; others were enlisted by reason of their
+interest and devotion to the issues. Whether for good or ill as it
+should affect full suffrage, Kansas women thenceforth entered fully
+into party affiliations, but as individuals and not as representing
+the suffrage association.
+
+The State convention of 1889 assembled in Wichita, October 1-3. Miss
+Anthony was an honored guest and among those who made addresses were
+Mrs. Colby, Mrs. Mary D. Lowman, mayor of Oskaloosa, and the Hon.
+Randolph Hatfield.
+
+At the convention of 1890 in Atchison, November 18-20, Miss Anthony
+was again present accompanied by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt and Mrs.
+Colby.
+
+The annual meeting of 1891 was held in Topeka, November 20, 21. During
+the past year the great political change from Republicanism to
+Populism had taken place in Kansas. Women had been among the most
+potent factors in this revolution, and as woman suffrage was at that
+time a cardinal principle of the Populist party, and there always had
+been considerable sentiment in favor of it among Republicans, the
+prospects of obtaining the Full Franchise seemed very bright.
+
+In February and March of 1892 a series of thirty two-days' conventions
+was held in the congressional districts and in nearly one-third of the
+counties of the State, attended by great crowds. Miss Jennie Broderick
+was chairman of the committee, Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery secretary and
+treasurer, and Mrs. Martha Powell Davis, Mrs. Martia L. Berry, Mrs.
+Diggs and Mrs. Wait were the other members. Mrs. Avery contributed
+$1,000 toward this canvass. Outside speakers were Miss Florence
+Balgarnie of England, Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell of New York, Mrs. Clara
+C. Hoffman of Missouri, and the Rev. Miss Shaw. The State speakers
+were Mesdames S. A. Thurston, May Belleville Brown, Elizabeth F.
+Hopkins, J. Shelly Boyd and Caroline L. Denton. Mrs. Johns arranged
+all of these conventions, presided one day or more over each and spoke
+at every one, organizing in person twenty-five of the thirty-one local
+societies which were formed as a result of these meetings.
+
+The first week in June a two-days' suffrage conference was held at
+the Ottawa Chautauqua Assembly, with the assistance of Miss Anthony,
+president, and Miss Shaw, vice-president-at-large of the National
+Association. From here Miss Anthony went to the State Republican
+Convention, in session at Topeka, accompanied by Mrs. Johns, Mrs.
+Hopkins and Mrs. Brown, officers of the State suffrage society. They
+were joined by Miss Amanda Way and "Mother" Bickerdyke, and by
+unanimous vote all of these ladies were given seats upon the floor of
+the convention. Miss Anthony was invited to address the body,
+conducted to the platform amid ringing cheers and her remarks were
+cordially received. Later several of the ladies addressed the
+resolutions committee, and the final result, by 455 yeas, 267 nays,
+was a plank in the platform unequivocally declaring for the submission
+of an amendment to the constitution to enfranchise women. A similar
+plank already had been adopted by the Populist State Convention at
+Wichita with great enthusiasm.
+
+During the autumn campaign following, Mrs. Diggs and other women spoke
+from the Populist platform, and Miss Anthony, Mrs. Johns and Mrs. T.
+J. Smith from the Republican. Miss Anthony, however, simply called
+attention to the record of the Republican party in the cause of human
+freedom, and urged them to complete it by enfranchising women, but did
+not take up political issues.
+
+The State convention of 1892 was held at Enterprise, December 6-8, and
+the problem of preserving the non-partisan attitude of the
+organization so as to appeal with equal force to Republicans and
+Populists presented itself. With this in view, Mrs. Diggs, a Populist,
+was made vice-president, as support and counsellor of Mrs. Johns, the
+president, who was a prominent Republican, and the association,
+despite the political diversity of its members, was held strictly to a
+non-partisan basis.
+
+Both Republicans and Populists having declared for the submission of a
+woman suffrage amendment, the Legislature of 1893 passed a bill for
+this purpose, championed by Representative E. W. Hoch and Senator
+Householder. From that time forward, Mrs. Johns, Mrs. Diggs and
+hundreds of Kansas women of both Republican and Populist faith labored
+with untiring zeal for its success. Nothing was left undone that human
+wisdom could plan or human effort carry out.
+
+On Sept. 1, 2, 1893, a mass meeting was held in Kansas City at which
+Mrs. Chapman Catt ably presented the question. Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe
+of Illinois agreed to raise $2,000 in the State. Mrs. Thurston, at the
+head of the press bureau, announced that hundreds of papers were
+pledged to support the amendment; the State Teachers' Association
+passed a strong resolution for it; the Grand Army of the Republic was
+in favor; Miss Helen L. Kimber related much success in organizing, and
+from every county came reports of meetings and debates.
+
+Mrs. Johns, State president, went to the National Suffrage Convention
+in Washington in the winter of 1894 and made a most earnest appeal for
+assistance in the way of speakers and funds, both of which were
+promised by the association. She was appointed chairman of the
+amendment committee with power to name the members,[267] and they
+opened up with energy the long campaign of agitation, education and
+organization. They started enrollment books, appointed polling
+committees and undertook to put people to work in every one of the
+2,100 voting precincts. The National Association contributed $2,571
+and also a number of speakers. A constitutional amendment campaign was
+in progress in New York but Miss Anthony made many trips from there to
+Kansas, and spent months in canvassing the State, donating her
+services during the entire time.
+
+Work was continued without cessation for the purpose of creating a
+public sentiment which would be strong enough to compel the delegates
+to the political State conventions of 1894 to adopt a plank supporting
+this amendment, just as in 1892 they had adopted one asking for it.
+But in 1892 the Populists had swept the State, and in 1894 the
+Republicans were determined to regain possession of it at all hazards.
+The amazement and grief of the Republican women was beyond expression
+when they learned early in 1894 that their party was going to refuse
+indorsement at its convention in June. Every possible influence was
+brought to bear by the State and the National Associations. Miss
+Anthony, Miss Shaw and Mrs. Chapman Catt went to Kansas to open the
+spring canvass for the women, May 4. They spoke to an immense audience
+in Kansas City and a resolution was adopted urging all parties to put
+a woman suffrage plank in their platforms. Miss Anthony's speech was
+published in full in the Leavenworth _Times_, Col. D. R. Anthony,
+editor, and circulated throughout the State. This was the beginning of
+a great series of two-days' suffrage conventions held by two groups of
+speakers and so "overlapping" that meetings were going on in four
+county seats every day, until 85 of the 105 counties had been reached
+in this way. The Rev. Miss Shaw and Mrs. Chapman Catt represented the
+National Association, reinforced by a number of able State speakers.
+All of these meetings were arranged and managed by Mrs. Johns.
+
+Although obliged to return to New York at that time, in three weeks
+Miss Anthony went back to Kansas, arriving the day before the
+Republican convention, June 6. Neither she nor Miss Shaw was allowed
+to address the resolutions committee, which had been carefully
+fortified against all efforts by the appointment as chairman of
+ex-Gov. C. V. Eskridge, an active opponent of woman suffrage since the
+previous campaign of 1867. Mrs. J. Ellen Foster of Washington, D. C.,
+and Mrs. Johns, both strong Republican speakers, were, however,
+permitted to present the claims of the women, but the platform was
+absolutely silent, not even recognizing the services of Republican
+women in municipal politics.
+
+The next Saturday night a mass meeting attended by over 1,000 people
+was held in Topeka, Mrs. Diggs presiding, Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw
+making the addresses.
+
+Every effort was now put forth to secure a plank from the Populist
+convention, June 12. There was great opposition, as the party knew the
+approaching struggle would be one of life or death. Gov. L. D.
+Lewelling had asserted he would not stand for re-election on a
+platform which declared for woman suffrage. While the resolutions
+committee was out, Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw and Mrs. Chapman Catt
+addressed the convention amidst great enthusiasm. The majority of the
+committee, led by its chairman, P. P. Elder, were bitterly opposed to
+a suffrage plank. It occupied them most of the night, and was defeated
+by 13 yeas, 8 nays. The one woman member, Mrs. Eliza Hudson, brought
+in a minority report signed by herself and the other seven, and in
+spite of every parliamentary tactic it was brought to a debate and
+discussed four hours, Judge Frank Doster[268] leading the affirmative.
+The debate was closed by Mrs. Diggs,[269] and the resolution was
+adopted by 337 yeas, 269 nays--with a rider attached to it saying,
+"but we do not regard this as a test of party fealty."
+
+The Democratic women brought every possible influence to bear on the
+State convention of that party but it adopted the following
+resolution: "We oppose woman suffrage as tending to destroy the home
+and family, the true basis of political safety, and express the hope
+that the helpmeet and guardian of the family sanctuary may not be
+dragged from the modest purity of self-imposed seclusion to be thrown
+unwillingly into the unfeminine places of political strife."
+
+Miss Shaw continued canvassing the State for two months. Then Mrs.
+Chapman Catt went out and remained until after election, making
+addresses, conferring with the politicians and counseling with the
+women. Miss Anthony, who was obliged to give most of the summer to the
+great campaign in progress in her own State of New York, returned to
+Kansas October 20, and spoke daily on the Populist platform in the
+principal towns until election day, November 6, but only on the
+suffrage plank. A large number of the ablest of the Kansas women made
+speeches throughout the campaign and an army of them worked for the
+amendment.[270]
+
+The battle was lost, and the grief and disappointment of the Kansas
+women were indescribable. The amendment failed by 34,837 votes--95,302
+yeas, 130,139 nays. The total vote cast for Governor was 299,231;
+total vote on suffrage amendment, 225,441; not voting on amendment,
+73,790. There was an attempt to keep count of the ballots according to
+parties, but it was not entirely successful and there was no way of
+correctly estimating their political complexion. However, the vote for
+Gov. E. N. Morrill (Rep.) lacked only 1,800 of that for the other
+three candidates combined, which shows how easily the Republican party
+might have carried the amendment. Subtracting the 5,000 Prohibition
+votes, three-fourths of which it was conceded were cast for the
+amendment, it lacked 27,000 of receiving as many votes as were cast
+for the Populist candidate for Governor. Since some Republicans must
+have voted for it, the figures prove that a vast number of Populists
+did not do so.[271]
+
+The first State convention following the defeat of 1894 was held at
+Winfield, December 6, 7, of that year. Mrs. Johns was once more
+elected president, but the profound disappointment over the defeat of
+the amendment made it impossible to revive organization or interest to
+any satisfactory degree.
+
+From 1887 until 1895 Mrs. Johns was the efficient and devoted
+president of the State association. As she declined to serve longer,
+the convention which met at Eureka, November 21, 22, elected Mrs. Kate
+R. Addison to this office. Mrs. Addison began her official work with
+much hopefulness, established a monthly paper, the _Suffrage
+Reveille_, and succeeded in enlisting new workers in the cause. Miss
+Laura A. Gregg, State organizer, added a number of clubs and over 200
+members.
+
+In June, 1896, Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Stetson was brought into the
+State for twenty-seven lectures, beginning with the Chautauqua
+Assembly at Winfield. The annual meeting took place at Topeka,
+November 10, ll, and Mrs. Addison was re-elected.
+
+The convention of 1897 was held at Yates Center, December 8-10, and
+Mrs. Addison was continued in office. Mrs. Stetson had again made a
+lecturing tour of the State and a general revival of interest was
+reported.
+
+Miss Anthony and Mrs. Chapman Catt were present at the State
+convention in Paola, Oct. 21, 22, 1898. Mrs. Abbie A. Welch, a pioneer
+in the cause, was elected to the presidency. During this year Mrs.
+Johns and Miss Gregg organized a number of counties, and the press
+superintendent, Mrs. Alice G. Young, did effective work with the
+newspapers.
+
+The annual meeting of 1899 was held in Kansas City, October 9-11, and
+was the most largely attended since the great defeat. Gov. John P. St.
+John was the orator of the occasion. The Rev. Father Kuhls, a Catholic
+priest, spoke as a disbeliever in woman's enfranchisement, which
+furnished inspiration for a reply by Mrs. Diggs. This event created an
+interest equalling the old-time enthusiasm, and it was believed that
+the hour for renewed activity had struck. Mrs. Diggs was made
+president, and it was unanimously resolved to take up again the work
+for full enfranchisement.
+
+The convention of 1900 was held in Olathe, December 18, 19. The State
+at the recent Presidential election having gone strongly Republican,
+Mrs. Diggs thought it not political wisdom to remain at the head of
+the association and Miss Gregg was elected president. When it was
+learned that she had taken charge of the Nebraska suffrage
+headquarters her duties devolved upon Miss Helen L. Kimber, the new
+vice-president. This convention voted against the proposition to ask
+the Legislature of 1901 to submit a constitutional amendment, thinking
+it advisable first to devote two years to the work of organization,
+after which it is generally believed the full suffrage can be
+secured.[272]
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION: The State Association from its beginning in 1884
+made Municipal Suffrage its chief object. In 1885 a bill for this
+purpose was presented in the House by Frank J. Kelly. It was favorably
+reported by the Judiciary Committee, but although advanced somewhat on
+the calendar it was too far down to reach a vote.
+
+At a special session in 1886 the bill was reported to the House by the
+committee on Political Rights of Women, and a large force of competent
+women went to Topeka to urge its passage. On February 10 it stood
+eighth from the top on the calendar. On February 11, when the
+Committee on Revision submitted its report, it stood sixty-first. A
+strong protest was made by its friends on the floor and by a standing
+vote it was restored to its original place. The enemies were now
+thoroughly alarmed. A State election was close at hand and the
+Prohibitionists were crowding the Republicans. The bill was
+practically a Republican measure and its opponents in that party hit
+upon the scheme of getting up a Third Party scare. They were led by
+ex-Gov. George T. Anthony who declared he would spend his last cent to
+defeat the bill. It was denounced by press and politicians as a sly
+Prohibition trick, some of its best friends were thus silenced and it
+was quietly smothered. The bill was introduced in the Senate by L. B.
+Kellogg and favorably reported from the Judiciary Committee with an
+opposing minority report. It was ably championed by himself, Senators
+H. B. Kelly and R. W. Blue, but was eventually stricken from the
+calendar by the Committee on Revision and a motion to reinstate was
+lost by 12 yeas, 25 nays, on February 16.
+
+When the Legislature convened in 1887 the election was over and had
+resulted favorably for the Republicans. The suffragists had spent the
+intervening ten months in a campaign of their own. Miss Anthony had
+come to Kansas and they had held conventions in all the principal
+cities. At her request the W. C. T. U. had given up their plan of
+asking for an amendment to the constitution and joined the attempt to
+secure Municipal Suffrage under the leadership of their president,
+Mrs. Fannie H. Rastall. Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace, their national
+superintendent of franchise, gave a series of her eloquent lectures.
+The strongest suffrage speakers in the country came to the State,
+under the management of Mrs. Laura M. Johns, and petitions were
+secured containing 10,000 names, more than ever had been presented for
+any purpose. This agitation was continued up to the opening of the
+Legislature, Jan. 11, 1887, when Mrs. Johns was on hand with the bill.
+It was introduced in the Senate by Judge R. W. Blue and referred to
+the Judiciary Committee, of which he was chairman. A favorable report,
+with a minority dissent, was made, but the original bill had been
+substituted by one which provided merely that "women should vote for
+all city officers." A vigorous protest was made by the suffrage
+leaders. They insisted that the right to vote for city bonds should be
+included, and that the inequalities should be remedied in the present
+law which prevented women of first and second class cities from voting
+on school questions as did those of the third class and the country
+districts. A compromise was finally effected and a bill drafted by
+which women should vote for all city and school officers and on bonds
+for school appropriations.
+
+A petition against the bill was sent in signed by nineteen women of
+Independence, saying in effect that women had all the rights they
+needed. On the morning when it was to be discussed an enormous bouquet
+adorned the desk of Senator R. M. Pickler, leader of the opponents,
+the card inscribed, "From the women of Kansas who do not wish to vote.
+History honors the man who dares to do what is right." Later
+investigation disclosed the fact that no woman had any part in sending
+the flowers, but that, as one member remarked in open session, their
+chief perfume was that of alcohol.
+
+After hours of debate and an adjournment the bill finally was adopted
+on January 28, by 25 yeas, all Republicans; 13 nays, 10 Republicans, 3
+Democrats. Judge Blue's table was loaded with flowers and every
+Senator who voted in favor was decorated with a choice buttonhole
+bouquet sent by the ladies.
+
+The bill was already far advanced in the House, under the management
+of Gen. T. T. Taylor. On February 10 the discussion continued the
+entire day. Scripture was read and Biblical authorities cited from Eve
+to St. Paul; the pure female angels were dragged through the filthy
+cesspool of politics, and the changes were rung on the usual hackneyed
+objections. The measure was splendidly championed, however, by many
+members, especially by T. A. McNeal (Rep.) who made a telling response
+to the scurrilous speech of Edward Carrol (Dem.), leader of the
+opposition. No member of the House rendered more effective service
+than did A. W. Smith, Speaker. It passed by 91 yeas--88 Rep., 3 Dem.;
+22 nays, 5 Rep., 17 Dem. The total vote of both Houses was 116
+yeas--113 Rep., 3 Dem.; 35 nays, 15 Rep., 20 Dem. The bill was signed
+by Gov. John A. Martin (Rep.), February 15, 1887.[273]
+
+Notwithstanding all the efficient work done by the officers of the
+State association, the local clubs and the platform speakers, this
+measure would not have become a law but for the vigilant work of the
+women with the Legislature itself. Mrs. Johns was on hand from the
+first, tactfully urging the bill. She had very material aid in the
+constant presence, active pen and careful work of J. B. Johns, her
+husband. Mrs. Helen M. Gougar of Indiana was granted the privilege of
+addressing the House while in session. Prominent women from all parts
+of the State were in attendance, using their influence with the
+members from their districts. On the day of final debate in the House
+the floor and galleries were crowded, over 300 women being present. A
+jubilee impossible to describe followed the announcement that the bill
+had passed.[274] The next day the House was transformed by the women
+into a bower of blossoms.
+
+In March, the next month after Municipal Suffrage was granted to
+women, the "age of protection" for girls was raised from ten to
+eighteen years.
+
+Two years later, in 1889, a bill was presented to amend this law,
+which passed the Senate by 26 yeas, 9 nays, and was sent to the House.
+It was so smothered in words that the general public was not aware of
+its meaning. By the time it reached the House, however, the alarm had
+been sounded that it proposed to reduce the age of consent, and there
+was a storm of protest. This was not alone from women but also from a
+number of men. The Labor Unions were especially active in opposition
+and the House was inundated with letters and petitions. The bill was
+referred to the Judiciary Committee which reported it with the
+recommendation that it be not passed. Its author claimed that it was
+intended simply to afford some protection for boys.[275] In 1891
+Attorney-General L. B. Kellogg recommended that, in order to protect
+young men of immature years from women of immoral life, inquiry as to
+the character of the woman bringing the charge should be permitted.
+Gov. Lyman U. Humphrey urged that such an amendment should be adopted,
+which could be done without lowering the age of protection for girls.
+No change, however, has been made in the law.
+
+In 1889 the divorce law was so amended as to give the wife all the
+property owned by her at the time of marriage and all acquired by her
+afterward, alimony being allowed from the real and personal estate of
+the husband.
+
+This year a bill was passed creating the Girls' Industrial School.
+Mrs. S. A. Thurston was one of the prime factors in securing this
+bill.
+
+As the Legislature was overwhelmingly Republican the greatest effort
+was put forth to secure a law making it mandatory to place women on
+the State Boards of Charitable Institutions. Thirty-six large
+petitions were introduced by as many members in each House but all
+failed of effect.
+
+In 1891 the Populist party gained control of the House of
+Representatives, although the Senate was still Republican. Mrs. Annie
+L. Diggs had been appointed by the Farmers' Alliance on their State
+legislative committee and she began a vigorous campaign to secure Full
+Suffrage for Women by Statutory Enactment, which it was believed
+could be done under the terms of the constitution. The bill was
+introduced into the House and urged by J. L. Soupene. Mrs. Diggs had
+the assistance of Col. Sam Wood and other ardent friends of suffrage.
+The Committee on Political Rights of Women reported the bill
+favorably, and said through its chairman, D. M. Watson:
+
+     While the constitution declares in the first section of its
+     suffrage article that "every white male person, etc., shall be
+     deemed a qualified elector," in the second section it names
+     certain persons who shall be excluded from voting. Women are not
+     given the right to vote in the first nor are they excluded in the
+     second, and this indicates that the question of their right to
+     vote was intended to be left to the Legislature. The Supreme
+     Court (Wheeler vs. Brady, 15th Kas., p. 33,) says: "There is
+     nothing in the nature of government which would prevent it. Women
+     are members of society, members of the great body politic,
+     citizens as much as men, with the same natural rights, united
+     with men in the same common destiny, and are capable of receiving
+     and exercising whatever political rights may be conferred upon
+     them."
+
+On February 14 the bill received 60 yeas, 39 nays, not a
+constitutional majority. The sentiment in favor was so strong among
+the Populists that a reconsideration was finally secured and the bill
+passed by 69 yeas--64 Pop., 4 Rep., 1 Dem.; 32 nays--16 Pop., 12 Rep.,
+4 Dem. Previous to its passage the Speaker, P. P. Elder (Pop.)
+presented a protest signed by himself, 7 Populists, 4 Republicans and
+4 Democrats, declaring it to be unconstitutional and giving eight
+other objections.[276]
+
+The friends were much elated at its passage over this protest and sent
+at once for Mrs. Johns to come to Topeka and work for its success in
+the Senate. She made every possible effort but in vain, the
+Republicans basing their refusal on its unconstitutionality. There was
+every reason to believe the Supreme Court would have upheld the
+statute.
+
+In 1893 an amendment to the constitution was submitted to the electors
+by votes of both Republican and Populist members of the Legislature
+and was defeated in 1894, as has been related.
+
+In 1897 two bills were introduced, one providing for a Bond Suffrage
+which is not included in the Municipal; the other to enable women to
+vote for Presidential electors. They were not reported from committee.
+
+In 1899 a bill providing that there should be women physicians in
+penal institutions containing women and at least one woman on the
+State Board of Charities was favorably reported by, the House
+committee, but did not reach a vote.
+
+This year an act was secured creating the Traveling Libraries
+Commission. The work for this was initiated and principally carried
+forward by Mrs. Lucy B. Johnston, who enlisted the women of the Social
+Science Federation in 1897. The federated club women had conducted the
+enterprise three years and now turned over to the State forty
+libraries of about 5,000 volumes. In 1901 the appropriation was raised
+from $2,000 to $8,000.
+
+On Jan. 14, 1901, a bill prepared by Auditor Carlisle of Wyandotte
+county was introduced by its Representative J. A. Butler (Dem.) of
+Kansas City, to repeal the law giving Municipal Suffrage to women. It
+was received with jeers and shouts of laughter and referred to the
+Judiciary Committee, which, on the 17th, reported it with the
+recommendation that it be not passed. On January 18 he re-introduced
+the same measure under another title. This time protests were sent in
+from all parts of the State. Mrs. Diggs went to Mr. Butler's home and
+secured a large number of these from his own constituents. A hearing
+was given by the Judiciary Committee to a delegation of prominent
+women and the bill was never reported.
+
+As there seemed so much favorable sentiment it was hastily decided to
+ask this Legislature to give women the right to vote for Presidential
+electors, which would unquestionably be legal. Mrs. Johns and Miss
+Helen Kimber looked after its interests with the Republican members;
+Mrs. Diggs with the Populists. The evening of February 26, when the
+vote was to be taken in the Senate, floor and galleries were crowded
+with women of position and influence. Senator Fred Dumont Smith (Rep.)
+had charge of the bill, and Senator G. A. Noftzger (Rep.) led the
+opposition. The vote resulted in 22 yeas--16 Rep., 4 Pop., 2 Dem.; 13
+nays--12 Rep., 1 Pop. The friends had every reason to believe the
+House would pass the bill, but in the still small hours of the night
+following the action of the Senate, its Republican members in caucus
+decided that this might injure the party at the approaching State
+election, and the next morning it was reconsidered and defeated by 14
+yeas--9 Rep., 4 Pop., 1 Dem.; 23 nays--21 Rep., 1 Pop., 1 Dem.
+
+LAWS: The constitution of Kansas, adopted in 1859, contained more
+liberal provisions for women than had existed in any State up to that
+time. It made the law of inheritance the same for widow and widower;
+gave father and mother equal guardianship of children; and directed
+the Legislature to protect married women in the possession of separate
+property. This was not done, however, until 1868, the next year after
+the first campaign to secure an amendment conferring suffrage upon
+women. At this time a statute provided that all property, real and
+personal, owned by a woman at marriage, and all acquired thereafter by
+descent or by the gift of any person except her husband, shall remain
+her sole and separate property, not subject to the disposal of her
+husband or liable for his debts.
+
+A married woman may make contracts, sue and be sued as if unmarried;
+engage in any business or perform any services and her earnings shall
+be her sole and separate property to be used or invested by her. The
+wife can convey or mortgage her separate personal property without the
+husband's signature. He can do the same without her signature except
+such as is exempt so long as a man is married. Neither can convey or
+encumber real estate without consent of the other.
+
+If there are no children the surviving husband or wife takes all the
+property real and personal; if there are children, one-half. Neither
+can dispose by will of more than one-half of the separate property
+without the consent of the other. A homestead of 160 acres of land, or
+one acre within city limits, is reserved free from creditors for the
+survivor. If the wife marry again, or when the children have attained
+their majority, the homestead must be divided, she taking one-half. If
+she die first the husband has the right of occupancy for life, whether
+he marry or not, but the homestead must descend to her heirs.
+
+The husband must support the wife according to his means, or she may
+have alimony decreed by the court without divorce, or in some cases
+she may sue directly for support. In case of divorce the wife is
+entitled to all the property owned by her at marriage and all acquired
+by her afterwards, alimony being allowed from the real and personal
+estate of the husband.
+
+The "age of protection" for girls is 18, with penalty of imprisonment
+at hard labor not less than five nor more than twenty-one years.
+
+SUFFRAGE: (See page 659.)
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: The first State constitution, in 1859, declared women
+eligible for all School offices. As it does not require that any State
+officer except member of the Legislature shall be an elector, women
+are not legally debarred from any other State office. The constitution
+does prescribe the qualifications for some county officers, and the
+Legislature for others and for all township officers. Some of these
+are required to be electors and some are not; some can be voted for
+only by electors and the law is silent in regard to others. It would
+perhaps require a Supreme Court decision in almost every case if there
+were any general disposition to elect women to these offices. Twenty
+years ago a few were serving as county clerks, registers of deeds,
+regents of the State University, county superintendents and school
+trustees.
+
+In 1889 Attorney-General L. B. Kellogg (Rep.) appointed his wife
+Assistant Attorney-General. She was a practicing attorney and her
+husband's law partner and filled the office with great ability. Miss
+Ella Cameron served out her father's unexpired term as Probate Judge
+and the Legislature legalized her acts.
+
+There is no law requiring women on the boards of State institutions
+but a number have been appointed. Gov. L. D. Lewelling (Pop.) in 1893
+appointed Mrs. Mary E. Lease member of the State Board of Charities
+and Mrs. Eva Blackman on the Board of Police Commissioners of
+Leavenworth. These were the first and last appointments of women to
+these positions.
+
+In 1894 women physicians were appointed by him in two insane asylums,
+the Orphans' Home and the Girls' Industrial School.
+
+In 1897 Gov. John W. Leedy (Pop.) appointed Mrs. John P. St. John
+member Board of Regents of State Agricultural College and Dr. Eva
+Harding physician at Boys' Reform School.
+
+In 1898 Mrs. Annie L. Diggs was appointed State Librarian by the
+Supreme Court, Judges Frank Doster, Stephen Allen, Populists; William
+A. Johnston, Republican. The term is four years. There are two women
+assistants in the State library.
+
+Miss Zu Adams is first assistant in the State Historical Library.
+Three other women are employed as assistants in that office.
+
+Each of the three State Hospitals for the Insane has a woman
+physician, but this is not required. The law provides that the Girls'
+Industrial School shall have a woman physician and superintendent. Its
+officers always have been women, except the farmer and engineer. In
+1894 a woman was appointed as farmer and was said to be the best the
+institution ever had.
+
+Mrs. Lucy B. Johnston and Mrs. Mary V. Humphreys are members of the
+State Traveling Library Commission, Mrs. Diggs, as State Librarian,
+being president.
+
+Since the very first time that women voted they have been clerks of
+elections, and in some instances, judges.
+
+Several small towns have put the entire local government into the
+hands of women. From 1887 to 1894 there had been about fifty women
+aldermen, five police judges, one city attorney, several city clerks
+and treasurers, and numerous clerks and treasurers of school boards.
+In 1896 a report from about half the counties showed twenty women
+county superintendents of schools, and 554 serving on school boards.
+They are frequently made president or secretary of the board.
+
+Women have been candidates for State Superintendent of Public
+Instruction, but none has been elected.
+
+A number of women within the past few years have been elected county
+treasurers, recorders, registers and clerks. They serve as notaries
+public. Probably one-third of the county offices have women deputies.
+
+The record for 1900, as far as it could be obtained, showed the women
+in office to be one clerk of the district court, two county clerks,
+seven registrars of deeds and twenty-seven county superintendents of
+schools. This list is far from complete.
+
+About twenty-five women have been elected to the office of mayor in
+the smaller towns of Kansas. In several instances the entire board of
+aldermen have been women. The business record of these women has been
+invariably good and their industrious efforts to improve sanitation,
+schools, sidewalks, and to advance the other interests of their town,
+have been generously seconded and aided by the men of their community.
+Among the most prominent of the women mayors were Mrs. Mary D. Lowman
+of Oskaloosa, Mrs. Minnie D. Morgan of Cottonwood Falls, and Mrs.
+Antoinette Haskell of Gaylord. Mrs. Lowman, the second woman to be
+elected, conducted a great work in improving the conditions of the
+municipality, morally and physically. She held her office two terms
+with entire boards of women aldermen, and refused to serve a third
+term, saying that she and her boards had accomplished the work they
+set out to do. They retired with much honor and esteem, having made a
+creditable amount of street improvements and left the treasury with
+more money than they found in it. Mrs. Morgan is editor with her
+husband of a Republican newspaper, an officer in the Woman's State
+Press Association and holds high official position in the Woman's
+Relief Corps. Mrs. Haskell is the wife of a prominent lawyer and
+politician. She held the office of mayor for two terms and the last
+time her entire board of aldermen were women. Her administration of
+municipal affairs was so satisfactory that she was besought to accept
+a third term but declined.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: The constitution of the State, framed in 1859, opened
+every occupation to women.
+
+EDUCATION: This first constitution also required the admission of
+women to all the State educational institutions and gave them a place
+on the faculties. As early as 1882 one-half of the faculty of the
+State University was composed of women. This university, the State
+Agricultural College and the State Normal College average an equal
+number of men and women graduates. Women hold places on the faculties
+of all these institutions.
+
+In the public schools there are 5,380 men and 7,133 women teachers.
+The average monthly salary of the men is $39; of the women, $32.
+
+SUFFRAGE: The constitution for Statehood, framed in 1859, provided
+that all women over 21 should vote at all School District meetings the
+same as men, the first one to contain such a provision. This excluded
+all women in first and second class cities in after years, as their
+school affairs are not managed through district meetings. When a test
+case was made it was decided by the Supreme Court that no women could
+legally vote for State or county superintendents, but only for
+trustees. (5th Kansas, p. 227.) Both the constitution and the statutes
+are confused as to the qualifications of those who may vote for
+various county and township officers but women never have been
+permitted to do so.
+
+In 1887 the Legislature granted Municipal Suffrage to women. The law
+is as follows:
+
+     In any election hereafter held in any city of the first, second
+     or third class, for the election of city or school officers, or
+     for the purpose of authorizing the issuance of any bonds for
+     school purposes, the right of any citizen to vote shall not be
+     denied or abridged on account of sex; and women may vote at such
+     elections the same as men, under like restrictions and
+     qualifications; and any women possessing the qualifications of a
+     voter under this act shall also be eligible to any such city or
+     school office.
+
+This law includes women in all of the villages, as these are known as
+"third class cities." Women in country districts, however, continue to
+have only a limited School Suffrage. It does not give women a vote on
+any questions of taxation which are submitted to the electors except
+for school purposes.
+
+Nevertheless this was an advanced step which attracted the attention
+of the entire country. While in Wyoming women had Full Suffrage, it
+was a sparsely settled Territory, with few newspapers and far removed
+from centers of political activity. Kansas was a battle-ground for
+politics, and great interest was felt in the new forces which had been
+called into action. From the first women very extensively took
+advantage of their new privilege. It was granted February 15 and the
+next municipal election took place April 5, so there were only a few
+weeks in which to accustom them to the new idea, make them acquainted
+with the issues, settle the disputed points and give them a chance to
+register. The question was at once raised whether they could vote for
+justices of the peace and constables, and at a late hour
+Attorney-General S. B. Bradford gave his opinion that they could not
+do so, as these are township officers. This made separate ballot-boxes
+necessary and in many places these were not provided, so there was
+considerable misunderstanding and confusion. On election day a wind
+storm of unusual violence, even for that section of the country, raged
+all day. Through the influence of the Liquor Dealers' Association,
+which had used every possible effort to defeat the suffrage bill,
+reporters were sent by a number of large papers in different cities,
+especially St. Louis, with orders to ridicule the voting of the women
+and minimize its effects. As a result the Eastern press was soon
+flooded with sensational and false reports.
+
+An official and carefully prepared report of 112 pages was issued by
+Judge Francis G. Adams, secretary of the Kansas State Historical
+Association, and Prof. William H. Carruth of the State University,
+giving the official returns from 253 cities. The total vote was
+105,216; vote of men, 76,629; of women, 28,587. In a few of the very
+small cities there were no women's votes. In many of the second-class
+cities more than one-half as many women as men voted. In Leavenworth,
+3,967 ballots were cast by men, and 2,467 by women; in Lawrence, 1,437
+by men, 1,050 by women. In Kansas City, Topeka and Fort Scott about
+one-fourth as many women as men voted. In these estimates it must be
+taken into consideration that there were many more men than women in
+the State. In 1890, three years later, the census report showed the
+excess of males to be about 100,000.
+
+The pamphlet referred to contained 100 pages of extracts from the
+press of Kansas on the voting of women, and stated that these
+represented but a fraction of the comment. They varied as much as the
+individual opinions of men, some welcoming the new voters, some
+ridiculing and abusing, others referring to the movement as a foolish
+fad which would soon be dropped. The Republican and Prohibitionist
+papers almost universally paid the highest tribute to the influence of
+women on the election and assured them of every possible support in
+the future. The Democratic papers, with but few exceptions, scoffed at
+them and condemned woman suffrage. The immense majority of opinion was
+in favor of the new regime and was an unimpeachable answer to the
+objections and misrepresentations which found place in the press of
+all other parts of the country.
+
+The interest of Kansas women in their political rights never has
+abated. The proportion of their vote varies in about the same ratio as
+that of men. Upon occasions when the character of candidates or the
+importance of the issue commands especial attention a great many go to
+the polls. Their chief interest, however, centers in questions which
+bear directly upon the education and welfare of their children, the
+environment of their homes and those of kindred nature. When issues
+involving these are presented they vote in large numbers.
+
+There is always a larger municipal vote in the uneven years when
+mayors are to be elected, and therefore a comparison is made in five
+prominent cities between the vote of 1887 and that of 1901 to show
+that in the fourteen years the interest of women in the suffrage has
+increased instead of diminished.
+
+  _Town._        _Year._     _Man-Vote._     _Woman-Vote._
+  Kansas City     1887       3,956          1,042
+  Kansas City     1901       8,900          4,582
+  Topeka          1887       4,580          1,049
+  Topeka          1901       7,338          5,335
+  Fort Scott      1887       1,273            425
+  Fort Scott      1901       1,969          1,270
+  Leavenworth     1887       3,967          2,467
+  Leavenworth     1901       5,590          3,018
+  Wichita         1887       3,312          2,984
+  Wichita         1901       .....          .....
+
+It was impossible to obtain the vote of Wichita in 1901 but the
+registration was 6,546 men, 4,040 women, and out of these 10,586,
+there were 8,960 who voted. One of the most prominent lawyers in
+Wichita writes of this election: "The women fully maintained the ratio
+of the registration. The vote was small on account of inclement
+weather but I am sure that it kept away more men than women."
+
+At one election it is recorded the vote of women exceeded that of men
+in one second-class and three third-class cities. In one instance all
+but two of the women of Cimarron cast their ballots. In Lincoln for
+several years women have polled 46 per cent. of the entire vote. The
+percentage of males in the State by the census of 1900 was 52.3.
+
+The question frequently is asked why, with the ballot in their hands,
+women do not compel the enforcement of the prohibitory law, as it is
+generally supposed that Municipal Suffrage carries with it the right
+to vote for all city officials. The same year that women were
+enfranchised, the Legislature, for whom women do not vote, passed a
+law authorizing the Governor, for whom women do not vote, to appoint a
+Board of Police Commissioners for each city of the first class, with
+power to appoint the police judge, city marshal and police, and have
+absolute control of the organization, government and discipline of the
+police force and of all station-houses, city prisons, etc. Temperance
+men and women strongly urged this measure as they believed the
+Governor would have stamina enough to select commissioners who would
+enforce the prohibitory law. This board was abolished at the special
+session of the Legislature in 1897, as it was made a scapegoat for
+city and county officers who were too cowardly or too unfriendly to
+enforce the liquor ordinances, and it did not effect the hoped-for
+reforms.
+
+In 1898 City Courts were established. By uniting the townships with
+cities and giving these courts jurisdiction over State and county
+cases, to relieve the congested condition of State courts, women are
+deprived of a vote for their officers. The exercise of the Municipal
+Franchise at present is as follows:
+
+  MEN VOTE FOR                            WOMEN VOTE FOR
+  Mayor,                                  Mayor,
+  Councilmen,                             Councilmen,
+  School Board,                           School Board,
+  City Attorney,                          City Attorney,
+  City Treasurer,                         City Treasurer,
+  City Clerk,                             City Clerk.
+  Judge of City Court,
+  Clerk of City Court,                    APPOINTED BY MAYOR
+  Marshal of City Court,                  Police Judge,
+  Two Justices of the Peace,              City Marshal,
+  Two Constables.                         Chief of Police.
+
+In cities of less than 30,000 the Police Judge is elected and women
+may vote for this officer. In the smallest places the City Marshal is
+also Chief of Police.
+
+It will be seen that even for the Police Court in the largest cities
+women have only an indirect vote through the Mayor's appointments. In
+all the cities and towns liquor sellers when convicted here simply
+take an appeal to a higher court over which women have no
+jurisdiction. They have no vote for sheriff, county attorney or any
+county officer. These facts may in a measure answer the question why
+women are helpless to enforce the prohibitory law or any other to
+which they are opposed.
+
+Nevertheless even this small amount of suffrage has been of much
+benefit to the women and to the cities. As the years go by the general
+average of the woman-vote is larger. Municipal voting has developed a
+stronger sense of civic responsibility among women; it has completely
+demolished the old stock objections and has familiarized men with the
+presence of women at the polls. Without question a higher level in the
+conduct of city affairs has resulted. It may, however, well be
+questioned as to whether Municipal Suffrage has not militated against
+the full enfranchisement of women. Politicians have been annoyed by
+interference with their schemes. Men have learned that women command
+influence in politics, and the party machine has become hostile to
+further extension of woman's opportunity and power to demand cleaner
+morals and nobler standards.[277]
+
+Judge S. S. King, Commissioner of Elections at Kansas City, has given
+the suffrage question much thought, and he has gleaned from the
+figures of his official records some interesting facts. Alluding to
+the mooted question of what class of women vote he says:
+
+     The opponents of woman suffrage insist that the lower classes
+     freely exercise the franchise, while the higher classes generally
+     refrain from voting. As women in registering usually give their
+     vocation as "housekeeper" it is impossible to learn from that
+     record what particular ledge of the social strata they stand
+     upon, therefore, in order to locate them as to trades, business,
+     etc., I give them the positions occupied by their husbands and
+     fathers. I take the 17th voting precinct of Kansas City as a
+     typical one. It is about an average in voting population of white
+     and colored men and women and in the diversified industries. The
+     149 white women who registered in this precinct, as indicated by
+     the vocations of their husbands, fathers, etc., would be
+     classified thus:
+
+     The trades (all classes of skilled labor), 32; the professions,
+     26; merchants (all manner of dealers), 16; laborers (unskilled),
+     15; clerks, 10; public officers, 8; bankers and brokers, 7;
+     railroad employes, 7; salesmen, 5; contractors, 2; foremen, 2;
+     paymaster, 1; unclassified, 16. Thus, if the opponents of woman
+     suffrage use the term "lower classes" according to some
+     ill-defined rule of elite society, the example given above would
+     be a complete refutation. If by "lower classes" they mean the
+     immoral and dissolute, the refutation appears to be still more
+     complete, for the woman electorate in the 17th precinct is
+     particularly free from those elements.
+
+It is extremely rare to find a prominent man in Kansas, except certain
+politicians, who openly opposes woman suffrage. With a very few
+exceptions the most eminent cordially advocate it, including a large
+number of ministers, lawyers and editors. It would require a chapter
+simply to catalogue the names of well-known men and women who are
+heartily in favor of it. Had Kansas men voted their convictions,
+Kansas women would long since have been enfranchised, but political
+partisanship has been stronger than the sense of justice.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[263] The History is indebted for this chapter principally to Mrs.
+Annie L. Diggs of Topeka, State Librarian and former president of the
+State Woman Suffrage Association. The editors are also under
+obligations to Mrs. Laura M. Johns of Salina and Mrs. Anna C. Wait of
+Lincoln, former presidents.
+
+[264] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. I, p. 191.
+
+[265] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. III, Chap. L.
+
+[266] At this meeting, on motion of Mrs. Johns, the yellow ribbon was
+adopted as the suffrage badge, in honor of the sunflower, the State
+flower of Kansas, the one which follows the wheel track and the
+plough, as woman's enfranchisement should follow civilization. It was
+afterwards adopted by the National Association in recognition of
+Kansas, then the most progressive State in regard to women. Those of a
+classical bent accepted it because yellow among the ancients signified
+wisdom.
+
+[267] Secretary, May Belleville Brown; treasurer, Elizabeth F.
+Hopkins; Mrs. S. A. Thurston, Mrs. L. B. Smith, Alma B. Stryker, Eliza
+McLallin, Bina A. Otis, Helen L. Kimber, Sallie F. Toler, Annie L.
+Diggs; from the National Association, Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of
+the organization committee, Rachel Foster Avery and Alice Stone
+Blackwell, corresponding and recording secretaries.
+
+[268] Now Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Kansas.
+
+[269] Of Mrs. Diggs' speech Mrs. Johns writes: "It was one of the most
+masterly arguments I ever heard. At one point she said: 'The great
+majority of you declare that woman suffrage is right, (a roar of
+'yes,' 'yes,' went up), and yet you oppose this plank. Are you afraid
+to do right?' Her reply to the flimsy objections of the chairman, P.
+P. Elder, was simply unanswerable. She cut the ground from under his
+feet, and his confusion and rout were so complete that he stood
+utterly confounded. That small woman with her truth and eloquence had
+slain the Goliath of the opposition!"
+
+[270] The following speakers and organizers were placed at fairs,
+Chautauqua assemblies, picnics, teachers' institutes and in
+distinctive suffrage meetings: James Clement Ambrose (Ills.), Theresa
+Jenkins (Wyo.), Elizabeth Upham Yates (Me.), Clara C. Hoffman (Mo.);
+Mrs. Johns, J. B. Johns, the Revs. Eugenia and C. H. St. John, Mary G.
+Haines, Luella R. Kraybill, Helen L. Kimber, Laura A. Gregg, Lizzie E.
+Smith, Ella W. Brown, Naomi Anderson, Eva Corning, Ella Bartlett, Alma
+B. Stryker, Olive I. Royce, Caroline L. Denton, Mrs. Diggs, May
+Belleville Brown, J. Willis Gleed, Thomas L. Bond, the Rev. Granville
+Lowther, Prof. W. H. Carruth and Mayor Harrison of Topeka.
+
+During the autumn Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe (Ills.), and Mrs. Julia B.
+Nelson (Minn.), made addresses for one month; Mrs. Rachel L. Child
+(Ia.) spoke and organized for two months.
+
+[271] Returns were received from 71 out of the 105 counties, covering
+714 of the 2,100 voting precincts. These returns were carefully
+tabulated by Mrs. Thurston, acting secretary of the amendment campaign
+committee. The result showed that of Republicans _voting on the
+proposition_, 38-1/2 per cent. voted _for_; of Populists, 54 per
+cent.; of Democrats, 14 per cent.; of Prohibitionists, 88 per cent.
+
+Of the entire vote of the Republican party for its ticket, 22 per
+cent. were silent on the amendment; of the entire vote of the People's
+party, 22 per cent.; of the Democratic, 28 per cent.; of the
+Prohibition, 24 per cent.
+
+[272] Others who have held official position are vice-presidents,
+Mesdames J.K. Hudson, Sallie F. Toler, Noble L. Prentis, Abbie A.
+Welch, Fannie Bobbet and Emma Troudner; corresponding secretaries,
+Mrs. Priscilla Finley, Miss Sarah A. Brown, Dr. Nannie Stephens, Mrs.
+Elizabeth F. Hopkins, Mrs. Ray Mclntyre, Mrs. B.B. Baird, Mrs. Alice
+G. Young; recording secretaries, Dr. Addie Kester, Mrs. Alice G. Bond,
+Prof. William H. Carruth, Mrs. M.M. Bowman, Mrs. Emma S. Albright,
+Miss Matie Toothaker; treasurers, Mrs. Martia L. Berry, Dr. C.E.
+Tiffany, Mrs. Lucia O. Case, Mrs. Henrietta Stoddard Turner; auditors,
+Mrs. Emma S. Marshall, Mrs. S.A. Thurston; parliamentarians, Mesdames
+Ella W. Brown, Bina A. Otis, Luella R. Kraybill, Antoinette L.
+Haskell; librarians, Mrs. May Belleville Brown, Dr. Emily Newcomb;
+State organizer, Miss Jennie Newby; superintendent press work, Mrs.
+Nannie K. Garrett.
+
+A number of these filled various offices and some of them bore the
+brunt of the work continuously for years. Other names which appear
+frequently are J. K. Hudson, editor Topeka _Capital_, Dr. Sarah C.
+Hall, Mesdames M. E. De Geer, M. S. Woods, E. D. Garlick, E. A. Elder,
+L. B. Kellogg, Jennie Robb Maher, Miss Emma Harriman, the Rev. W. A.
+Simkins, Judge Nathan Cree, Walter S. Wait, Sarah W. Rush, Dr. J. E.
+Spaulding, Dr. F. M. W. Jackson, Henrietta B. Wall, Mrs. Lucy B.
+Johnston, Miss Genevieve L. Hawley.
+
+[273] Miss Susan B. Anthony was in the National Convention at
+Washington and this news was telegraphed her as a birthday greeting.
+
+[274] Among the most influential workers for this bill during the
+three sessions of the Legislature, in addition to those mentioned,
+were Thomas L. Bond; Mesdames Bertha H. Ellsworth, Hetta P. Mansfield,
+Martia L. Berry, S. A. Thurston and Henrietta B. Wall; Misses Jennie
+Newby, Olive P. Bray and Amanda Way.
+
+[275] Mrs. Johns says of this occasion: "If we had ever had any doubt
+that even our small moiety of the suffrage would strengthen our
+influence for righteousness, the effect of our protest at this time
+and the attitude of the politicians toward us would have dispelled
+that doubt. We felt our power and it was a new thrill which we
+experienced."
+
+[276] Among these were the following:
+
+The relations of man and wife "are one and inseparable" as to the good
+to be derived from or the evil to be suffered by laws imposed, and the
+addition of woman suffrage will not better their condition, but is
+fraught with danger and evil to both sexes and the well-being of
+society.
+
+This privilege conferred will bring to every primary, caucus and
+election--to our jury rooms, the bench and the Legislature--the
+ambitious and designing women only, to engage in all the tricks,
+intrigues and cunning incident to corrupt political campaigns, only to
+lower the moral standing of their sex; it invites and creates
+jealousies and scandals and jeopardizes their high moral standing;
+hurls women out from their central orb fixed by their Creator to an
+external place in the order of things. Promiscuous mingling with the
+rude and unscrupulous element around earnest and exciting elections
+tends to a familiarity that breeds contempt for the fair sex deeply to
+be deplored.
+
+The demand for female suffrage is largely confined to the ambitious
+office-seeking class, possessing an insatiable desire for the forum,
+and when allowed will unfit this class for all the duties of domestic
+life and transform them into politicians, and dangerous ones at that.
+
+When the laws of nature shall so change the female organization as to
+make it possible for them to sing "bass" we shall then be quite
+willing for such a bill to become a law.
+
+It is a grave mistake, an injury to both sexes and the party, to add
+another "ism" to our political creed.
+
+  Republican--A. H. Heber, W. R. Hopkins, F. W. Willard, J. Showalter.
+  Democrat--J. O. Milner, G. M. Hoover, T. C. Craig, F. M. Gable.
+  Populist--Robt. B. Leedy, J. L. Andrews, Wellington Doty, B. F. Morris,
+  Levi Dumbauld, C. W. Dickson, Geo. E. Smith of Neosho.
+
+[277] In 1901, in Topeka, a candidate for the mayoralty, supposed to
+represent the liquor element, speaking on the afternoon of election
+day--bleak, dismal and shoe-top deep in snow and mud--said: "I will
+lose 1,000 votes on account of the weather as the women are out and
+they are opposed to me. It is impossible to keep them from voting."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+KENTUCKY.[278]
+
+
+In October, 1886, the Association for the Advancement of Women held
+its annual congress in Louisville, and for the first time woman
+suffrage was admitted to a place on the program. It was advocated by
+Mrs. Ednah D. Cheney of Massachusetts and Miss Laura Clay.
+
+The subject was much discussed for the next two years and in February,
+1888, Mrs. Mary B. Clay, vice-president of the American and of the
+National Woman Suffrage Associations, called a convention in
+Frankfort. Delegates from Lexington and Richmond attended, and Mrs.
+Zerelda G. Wallace of Indiana was present by invitation. The Hall of
+Representatives was granted for two evenings, the General Assembly
+being in session. On the first Mrs. Wallace delivered an able address
+and the hall was well filled, principally with members of the
+Legislature. On the second Mrs. Clay spoke upon the harsh laws in
+regard to women, and Prof. E. B. Walker on the injustice of the
+property laws and the advantage of giving women the ballot in
+municipal affairs. He was followed by Mrs. Sarah Clay Bennett, who
+argued that women already had a right to the ballot under the
+Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. At the
+conclusion of her address she asked all legislators present who were
+willing to give the ballot to women to stand. Seven arose and were
+greeted with loud applause.
+
+When the annual meeting of the American W. S. A. convened in
+Cincinnati, Ohio, Nov. 20-22, 1888, Miss Laura Clay, member of its
+executive committee from Kentucky, issued a call to the suffragists of
+that State to attend this convention for the purpose of organizing a
+State association. Accordingly delegates from the Fayette and Kenton
+county societies met and organized the Kentucky Equal Rights
+Association. The following officers were elected: President, Miss
+Clay; vice-presidents, Mrs. Ellen Battelle Dietrick, Mrs. Mary B.
+Clay; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Eugenia B. Farmer; recording
+secretary, Miss Anna M. Deane; treasurer, Mrs. Isabella H. Shepard.
+
+The second annual convention was held in the court house at Lexington,
+Nov. 19-21, 1889, with officers and delegates representing seven
+counties. The evening speakers were Mrs. Clay, Mrs. Josephine K. Henry
+and Joseph B. Cottrell, D. D. A committee was appointed, Mrs. Henry,
+chairman, to present the interests of women to the approaching General
+Assembly and the Constitutional Convention. (See Legislative Action
+for 1890.)
+
+The next annual meeting took place in Richmond, Dec. 3, 4, 1890. Mrs.
+Sarah Hardin Sawyer was asked to prepare a tract on co-education,
+which proved of great assistance in opening the colleges to women. The
+evening speakers were Mrs. Shepard, Mrs. Henry and the Rev. John G.
+Fee, the venerable Kentucky Abolitionist.
+
+The fourth convention was held in Louisville, Dec. 8-10, 1891, and was
+addressed by the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw and the Rev. Dr. C. K. J.
+Jones.
+
+The fifth annual meeting convened in Richmond, Nov. 9, 10, 1892.[279]
+Mrs. Lida Calvert Obenchain's paper, "Why a Democratic Woman Wants the
+Ballot," was afterwards widely circulated as a leaflet. The evening
+speakers were Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby of Washington, D. C., and Dr. J.
+Franklin Browne.
+
+The General Assembly of 1892 was in session most of that year and some
+months in 1893, as there was a vast amount of business to be done in
+bringing all departments of legislation into harmony with the new
+constitution. During all this time the State association was busy
+urging the rights of women; and at its sixth convention, held in
+Newport, Oct. 17-19, 1893, was able to report that a law had been
+secured granting a married woman the power to make a will and control
+her separate property. Among the speakers was the Rev. G. W.
+Bradford.
+
+The annual meeting took place in Lexington, Oct. 24-26, 1894. The most
+encouraging successes of any year were reported in the extension of
+School Suffrage and the passage of the Married Woman's Property Rights
+Bill. In answer to the petition of the Fayette County society to Mayor
+Henry T. Duncan and the city council of Lexington to place a woman on
+the school board, Mrs. Wilbur R. Smith had been appointed. She was the
+first to hold such a position in Kentucky. Mrs. Farmer gave an address
+on School Suffrage, with illustrations of registration and voting,
+which women were to have an opportunity to apply in 1895.[280]
+
+In 1895 Richmond was again selected as the place for the State
+convention, December 10-12, at which legislative work in the General
+Assembly of 1896 was carefully planned. (See Legislative Action.)
+
+The convention met in Lexington, Dec. 18, 1896. A committee was
+appointed to work for complete School Suffrage in the extra session of
+the General Assembly the next year.[281]
+
+Covington entertained the annual meeting Oct. 14, 15, 1897. Mrs. Emma
+Smith DeVoe of Illinois, a national organizer, was present, being then
+engaged in a tour through the State. This convention was unusually
+large and full of encouragement.
+
+The eleventh convention was held in Richmond, Dec. 1, 1898, and the
+twelfth in Lexington, Dec. 11, 12, 1899. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt,
+chairman of the national organization committee, and Miss Mary G. Hay,
+secretary, assisted, the former giving addresses both evenings. It was
+decided to ask the General Assembly to make an appropriation for the
+establishment of a dormitory for the women students of the State
+College.
+
+Miss Laura Clay has been president of the State Association since it
+was organized in 1888. Mrs. Ellen Battelle Dietrick was the first
+vice-president, but removing to Massachusetts the following year, Mrs.
+Mary Barr Clay, the second vice-president, was elected and has
+continued in that office. There have been but two other second
+vice-presidents, the Hon. William Randall Ramsey and Mrs. Mary C.
+Cramer, and but two corresponding secretaries, Mrs. Eugenia B. Farmer
+and Mrs. Mary C. Roark. The office of treasurer has been filled
+continuously by Mrs. Isabella H. Shepard.[282] During all these years
+H. H. Gratz, editor of the Lexington _Gazette_, and John W. Sawyer,
+editor of the _Southern Journal_, have been among the most faithful
+and courageous friends of woman suffrage. The Prohibition papers,
+almost without exception, have been cordial.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: During the General Assembly of 1890, a
+committee of eight from the E. R. A. went to Frankfort to ask
+legislation on the property rights of women, and for women physicians
+in the State asylums for the insane. A petition for property rights
+was presented, signed with 9,000 names. Of these 2,240 were collected
+by Mrs. S. M. Hubbard. On January 10 appeals were made in
+Representatives' Hall by Miss Laura Clay for the Women Physicians
+Bill, and by Mrs. Josephine K. Henry for the Property Rights Bill. The
+latter had carefully prepared a compendium of the married women's
+property laws in all the States, which was of incalculable value
+throughout the years of labor necessary to secure this bill.
+
+The press of the State, with few exceptions, espoused the cause of
+property rights for women. Seven bills were presented to this General
+Assembly, among them one drawn and introduced into the Senate by Judge
+William Lindsay, afterward United States Senator. This secured to
+married women the enjoyment of their property, gave them the power to
+make a will and equalized curtesy and dower. Although reported
+adversely by the committee, it was taken up for discussion and was
+eloquently defended by Judge Lindsay. It passed the Senate, but, was
+defeated in the House by the opposing members withdrawing and
+breaking the quorum.[283] A bill introduced by the Hon. William B.
+Smith, making it obligatory upon employers to pay wages earned by
+married women to themselves and not their husbands, became a law at
+this session.
+
+The Constitutional Convention held in 1890-91 was the field of much
+labor by the State association. In October a committee consisting of
+Mrs. Henry, Miss Clay, Mrs. Eugenia B. Farmer, Mrs. Isabella H.
+Shepard and Mrs. Sarah Clay Bennett went to Frankfort to appeal for
+clauses in the new constitution empowering the General Assembly to
+extend Full Suffrage to women; to secure the property rights of wives;
+and to grant School Suffrage to all women. The importance of their
+claims was so impressed upon the convention that it appointed a
+special Committee on Woman's Rights, with one of its most esteemed
+members, the Hon. Jep. C. Jonson, as chairman, who did all in his
+power to bring their cause favorably before this body.
+
+On the evening of October 9, in Representatives' Hall, Miss Clay, Mrs.
+Shepard and Mrs. Bennett addressed an audience composed largely of
+members, being introduced by Mr. Jonson. Later, Mrs. Henry was given a
+hearing before the committee. Her tract appealing for property rights
+was read before the convention by Mr. Jonson and supplied to each of
+the 100 members. In addition she supplied them several times a week
+with leaflets, congressional hearings, etc., and wrote 200 articles
+for the press on property rights and thirty-one on suffrage.
+
+The five ladies, with Mrs. Sarah Hardin Sawyer and Mrs. Margaret A.
+Watts, met in Frankfort again on December 8, and obtained hearings
+before the Committees on Revision of the Constitution, Education and
+Woman's Rights. Mrs. Henry also addressed the Committee on Elections,
+who asked that her speech be printed and furnished to each member of
+the convention.
+
+On December 12 the Hon. W. H. Mackoy, at the request of the
+suffragists, offered this amendment to the section on elections: "The
+General Assembly may hereafter extend full or partial suffrage to
+female citizens of the United States of the age of 21 years, who have
+resided in this State one year, etc." By his motion the ladies
+appeared before the convention in Committee of the Whole. They
+selected Miss Clay as their spokesman and sat in front of the
+speaker's stand during her address.
+
+The only clause finally obtained in the new constitution was one
+permitting the General Assembly to extend School Suffrage to women;
+but the Legislature of 1892 made important concessions.
+
+Among the members of the General Assembly of 1894 especial gratitude
+is due to Judges S. B. Vance and W. H. Beckner. The former introduced
+the Bill for Married Women's Property Rights in the House, giving
+Senator Lindsay credit for being practically its author. Judge Beckner
+cordially supported this bill, saying he preferred it to one of his
+own, which he had introduced but would push only if it should be
+evident that Judge Vance's more liberal bill could not become law. To
+the leadership of these two is due the vote of 79 ayes to 14 noes with
+which the bill passed the House. In the Senate it came near to defeat,
+but was carried through by the strenuous efforts of its friends,
+especially of Senators W. W. Stephenson, Rozel Weissinger and William
+Goebel. Senator Weissinger withdrew in favor of the House bill one of
+his own, not so comprehensive. The bill passed on the very last day of
+the session possible to finish business. The Senate vote was 21 yeas,
+10 nays.[284] It was signed March 15 by Gov. John Young Brown, who
+always had favored it.
+
+Another signal victory this year was School Suffrage for women of the
+second-class cities. Since 1838 widows with children of school age had
+been voters for school trustees in the country districts, and in 1888
+this right was extended to allow tax-paying widows and spinsters to
+vote on school taxes. This general law, however, did not apply to
+chartered cities. The vigilance of Mrs. Farmer observed and seized
+the opportunity offered by the revision of city charters, after the
+adoption of the new constitution, to put in clauses granting full
+School Suffrage to all women. At her instigation, in 1892, the equal
+rights associations of Covington, Newport and Lexington, the only
+second-class cities, petitioned the committee selected to prepare a
+charter for such cities to insert a clause in the section on
+education, making women eligible as members of school boards and
+qualified to vote at all elections of such boards. This was done, and
+the charter passed the General Assembly in 1894, and was signed by
+Governor Brown on March 19. The influence of the State association was
+not sufficient, however, to have School Suffrage put in the charters
+of cities of the first, third and fourth classes. The Hons. Charles
+Jacob Bronston, John O. Hodges, William Goebel and Joel Baker did
+excellent service for this clause.
+
+The changes wrought by liberal legislation and the part the State
+association had in securing this will be best understood by quotations
+from a leaflet issued by the State Association:
+
+     In 1888 the Kentucky E. R. A. was organized for the purpose of
+     obtaining for women equality with men in educational, industrial,
+     legal and political rights.
+
+     We found on the statute books a law which permitted a husband to
+     collect his wife's wages.
+
+     We found Kentucky the only State which did not allow a married
+     woman to make a will.
+
+     We found that marriage gave to the husband all the wife's
+     personal property which could be reduced to possession, and the
+     use of all her real estate owned at the time or acquired by her
+     after marriage, with power to rent the same and receive the rent.
+
+     We found that the common law of curtesy and dower prevailed,
+     whereby on the death of the wife the husband inherited absolutely
+     all her personalty and, when there were children, a life interest
+     in all her real estate; while the wife, when there were children,
+     inherited one-third of her husband's personalty and a
+     life-interest in one-third of his real estate.
+
+     I. In 1890 we secured a law which made the wife's wages payable
+     only to herself.
+
+     II. From the General Assembly of 1892-93 we secured a law giving
+     a married woman the right to make a will and control her real
+     estate.
+
+     III. From the General Assembly of 1894 we secured the present Law
+     for Husband and Wife. The main features of this are:
+
+     1. Curtesy and dower are equalized. After the death of either
+     husband or wife, the survivor is given a life estate in one-third
+     of the realty of the deceased and an absolute estate in one-half
+     of the personalty.
+
+     2. The wife has entire control of her property, real and
+     personal. She owns her personal property absolutely, and can
+     dispose of it as she pleases.[285] The statute gives her the
+     right to make contracts and to sue and be sued as a single woman.
+     This enables a married woman to enter business and hold her stock
+     in trade free from the control of her husband and liability to
+     his creditors.
+
+     3. The power to make a will is the same in husband and wife, and
+     neither can by will divest the other of dower or interest in his
+     or her estate.
+
+     These splendid property laws are pronounced by leading lawyers to
+     be the greatest legal revolution which has taken place in our
+     history.
+
+A section of the new constitution made it the duty of the General
+Assembly to provide by law as soon as practicable for Houses of Reform
+for Juvenile Offenders. The State Woman's Christian Temperance Union
+decided in 1892 to urge it to act speedily, and the Equal Rights
+Association co-operated heartily, with a special view to securing
+provision for girls equal to that for boys, and women on the Board of
+Managers. A joint committee from the two associations was appointed,
+with Mrs. Frances E. Beauchamp chairman for the former and Mrs. S. A.
+Charles for the latter. They compiled a bill with legal advice of
+Senator Bronston, who had been largely instrumental in securing the
+section. The unremitting labor of three years was at last crowned with
+success in 1896, when a bill, essentially that prepared by the women,
+passed the General Assembly and was signed by Gov. William O. Bradley,
+March 21.[286] This bill provides for two separate institutions, one
+for girls and one for boys, on the cottage family plan. The general
+government is vested in a board of six trustees, three women and three
+men.
+
+From the General Assembly of 1898 the E. R. A. finally obtained the
+law making it mandatory to have at least one woman physician in each
+State insane asylum, for which they had been petitioning ten years.
+Representative W. C. G. Hobbs introduced the bill into the House,
+where it passed by a vote of 77 ayes, 4 noes. Mr. Bronston supported
+it in the Senate, where it received 26 ayes, one no. It was approved
+by Governor Bradley March 15.
+
+In the same year the benevolent associations of the women of
+Louisville secured an act providing for police matrons in that city,
+the only first-class one in the State, which was approved by the
+Governor March 10.[287] The first police matron was appointed March 4,
+before the law required it, at the request of women and through the
+influence of Mayor Charles P. Weaver, Chief of Police Jacob H. Haager,
+Jailer John R. Pflanz and Judge Reginald H. Thompson. By the action of
+the State Board of Prison Commissioners this year, two women were
+appointed as guards for the women's wards in the penitentiary, their
+duties being such as usually pertain to a matron.
+
+This year the Women's Club of Central Kentucky set on foot a movement
+for a free library in Lexington. Senator Bronston secured a change in
+the city charter to facilitate this object. The act provides that the
+library shall be under the control of a board of five trustees and was
+intentionally worded to make women eligible. Mayor Joseph Simrall
+appointed two of the club women, Mrs. Mary D. Short and Mrs. Ida
+Withers Harrison. This is the first free library established in
+Kentucky.
+
+Owing to the turbulent political conditions in the General Assembly of
+1900, the State association did not send its usual committee to the
+capital. However, a committee from the W. C. T. U. did go, and
+succeeded in securing an appropriation to build the young women's
+dormitory at the State College, receiving in this effort the
+encouragement of the E. R. A., as agreed upon at their convention of
+1899.
+
+The history of the State association would not be complete without
+recording its failures. In 1893 an effort to raise the "age of
+protection" for girls from 12 to 18 was made a part of its work. It
+was deemed expedient to place this in the hands of a special
+committee, Mrs. Thomas L. Jones and Mrs. Sarah G. Humphreys consenting
+to assume the arduous task. Mrs. Henry wrote a strong leaflet on the
+"age of protection," and Mrs. Humphreys sent many articles to the
+press. A petition was widely circulated and bore thousands of names
+when the ladies carried it to the General Assembly in 1894. They
+succeeded in having a bill introduced, and were given hearings before
+an appropriate committee; but the Assembly adjourned without acting.
+In 1895, Mrs. Martha R. Stockwell was added to the committee, which
+again went to the Assembly with the petition; but without success, and
+the "age of protection" still remains 12 years. The penalty is death
+or imprisonment for life.
+
+By special statute the Common Law is retained which makes 12 years the
+legal age for a girl to marry.
+
+A law to make mothers equal guardians with fathers of minor children
+is one to which the State association has devoted much attention, but
+which still waits on the future for success. At present the father is
+the legal guardian, and at his death may appoint one even for a child
+unborn. If the court appoints a guardian, the law (1894) requires that
+it "shall choose the father, or his testamentary appointee; then the
+mother if [still] unmarried, then next of kin, giving preference to
+the males."
+
+The husband is expected to furnish the necessaries of life according
+to his condition, but if he has only his wages there is no law to
+punish him for non-support.
+
+SUFFRAGE: Kentucky was the first State in the Union to grant any form
+of suffrage to women by special statute, as its first School Law,
+passed in 1838, permitted widows in the country districts with
+children of school age to vote for trustees. In 1888 further
+extensions of School Suffrage were made and in the country districts,
+including fifth and sixth class cities, i. e., the smallest villages,
+any widow having a child of school age, and any widow or spinster
+having a ward of school age, may now vote for school trustees and
+district school taxes; also taxpaying widows and spinsters may vote
+for district school taxes.
+
+In 1894 the General Assembly granted women the right to vote for
+members of the board of education on the same terms as men in the
+second-class cities, by a special clause in their charter. There are
+three of these--Covington, Newport and Lexington.[288]
+
+In the one first-class city, Louisville, the five third-class and the
+twenty or more fourth-class cities, no woman has any vote.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: In 1886 Mrs. Amanda T. Million was appointed to the
+office of county superintendent of public schools. Her husband had
+been elected in Madison County, but dying at the commencement of his
+term, Judge J. C. Chenault, after the eligibility of a woman had been
+ascertained, appointed the widow to fill out the year. Mrs. Million
+then became a candidate, and was elected for the remaining three years
+of the term, being the first woman in the State to fill that office.
+Her case attracted much attention and at the election in 1889 four
+women were elected county superintendents; in 1893, eight, and in
+1897, eighteen.
+
+In 1895 Mayor Henry T. Duncan appointed two women on the Lexington
+School Board, Mrs. Ida Withers Harrison and Mrs. Mary E. Lucas, to
+serve until their successors were elected under the laws of the new
+charter. In August the women held a mass meeting, conducted by a joint
+committee from the local E. R. A., the W. C. T. U. and the Woman's
+Club of Central Kentucky, to nominate a woman from each ward. They
+named Mrs. Harrison, Mrs. Ella Williamson, Mrs. Sarah West Marshal and
+Mrs. Mary C. Roark. This ticket was indorsed the same day by the
+Citizens' Association (of men). Judge Frank Bullock allowed private
+houses to be used for women to register, one in each precinct, the
+registration officers all to be women--clerk, two judges and a
+sheriff. They were sworn in and did their duty nobly. The Democratic
+and Republican parties refused to accept the Woman's Ticket. The women
+therefore selected a man from each ward in addition to the four women
+nominated, making the required number of eight, known as the
+Independent Ticket, which was triumphantly elected in November by
+voters of all parties and both sexes.
+
+In Covington, three women were placed on the Republican ticket, but
+were defeated. About 5,000 women voted. In Newport two women were
+placed on the Democratic ticket, but it was defeated. About 2,800
+women registered.
+
+The Prohibitionists nominated Mrs. Josephine K. Henry for clerk of
+the Court of Appeals in 1890. Though in many places the election
+clerks refused to enter her name on the polling-books, doubting the
+eligibility of a woman, she received 4,460 votes. This case is worthy
+of note because it was the first in Kentucky where a woman was a
+candidate for election to a State office; and because, as she ran on a
+platform containing a suffrage plank, practically all the votes for
+her were cast for woman suffrage.
+
+Women have been State librarians continuously since January, 1876,
+when the first one was elected.
+
+In 1894 the Senate for the first time elected a woman as enrolling
+clerk, and women have held this office ever since.
+
+During the session of 1900, stormy as it was, the House for the first
+time elected a woman as enrolling clerk.
+
+Women serve as notaries public. (For other offices see Legislative
+Action.)
+
+OCCUPATIONS: Women are engaged in all the professions and no
+occupation is forbidden to them by law. On Dec. 15, 1886, the Court of
+Appeals affirmed the right of women to dispense medicines. The case
+was that of Bessie W. White (Hager), a graduate of the School of
+Pharmacy of Michigan University. She applied to the State Board of
+Pharmacy for registration in 1883, complying with all the
+requirements. They rejected her application, whereupon she applied for
+a mandamus. The writ was granted but an appeal was taken. Judge
+William H. Holt delivered the opinion of the Appellate Court, saying
+in his decision: "It is gratifying to see American women coming to the
+front in these honorable pursuits. The history of civilization in
+every country shows that it has merely kept pace with the advancement
+of its women."
+
+EDUCATION: On April 27, 1889, at a called meeting of the Board of
+Curators of Kentucky University (Disciples of Christ) in Lexington, it
+was decided to admit women students. This was the result of a petition
+the preceding June by the Fayette County E. R. A. In response a
+committee had been appointed, President Charles Louis Loos, chairman,
+and, upon its favorable report, the resolution was carried by
+unanimous vote. An immediate appropriation was made for improvements
+to the college buildings to accommodate the new students, the opening
+was announced in the annual calendar and women invited to avail
+themselves of its advantages. This was the second institution of
+higher education opened to women, the State Agricultural and
+Mechanical College and Normal School, also in Lexington, having
+admitted them in 1880.
+
+In 1892 the work done by Mrs. Sarah Hardin Sawyer resulted in the
+admission of women to Wesleyan College in Winchester. The Baptist
+College at Georgetown became co-educational through the influence of
+Prof. James Jefferson Rucker. The Homeopathic Medical College, opened
+in Louisville the same year, admitted women from the first and placed
+a woman upon the faculty. In 1893 the Madison County E. R. A. secured
+the admission of girls to Central University at Richmond.
+
+Co-education now prevails in all the normal and business schools, and
+in the majority of the institutions of higher learning; the only
+notable exceptions being Centre University, Danville; Baptist College,
+Russellville; Baptist Theological College[289] and Allopathic Medical
+College, Louisville.
+
+There are in the public schools 4,909 men and 5,057 women teachers.
+The average monthly salary of the men is $44; of the women, $37.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Woman's Emergency Association of Louisville, organized during the
+Spanish-American War, called a non-partisan mass meeting February 6,
+1900, "for the special purpose of directing the attention of women to
+the importance and necessity of using their influence on behalf of
+good citizenship." The mass meeting was addressed by several prominent
+gentlemen, who deplored the spirit of lawlessness prevailing in the
+State and declared that the remedy rested with the women, but the
+suggestion that these should have the franchise was not once made.
+
+The State E. R. A. sent a memorial to the annual meeting of the
+Kentucky Federation of Women's Clubs in 1900, soliciting their
+assistance in securing from the General Assembly the extension of
+School Suffrage to the women of all towns and cities. It was voted to
+give the co-operation desired.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[278] The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Laura Clay of
+Lexington, president of the State Equal Rights Association since its
+organization, and first auditor of the National-American Woman
+Suffrage Association since 1895.
+
+[279] The State W. C. T. U. at its convention in 1892 adopted a
+franchise department, and has proved a faithful and valuable ally in
+educating public sentiment and obtaining desired legislation.
+
+[280] In the congressional contest of the Seventh District, between W.
+C. P. Breckinridge and W. C. Owens, in 1894, the women took such a
+share in defeating the former that their action became an instructive
+part of political history. Mrs. F. K. Hunt, president of their Owens
+Club, which did such distinguished service for public morality,
+afterwards became a member of the Equal Rights Association, this
+campaign having convinced her, as she said, that "there is a place for
+women in politics."
+
+[281] In the Presidential campaign of 1896, Mrs. Josephine K. Henry
+and Miss Margaret Ingals spoke for the Silver Democrats, and Mrs.
+Frances E. Beauchamp for the Prohibitionists, under the auspices of
+the party committees.
+
+In June, 1898, Mrs. Beauchamp, president of the State W. C. T. U., was
+elected permanent chairman and presided over the State Prohibition
+Convention held in Louisville--the first time a woman ever filled such
+a position in Kentucky. She was also elected a member of the National
+Central Committee of the Prohibitionists in 1899. This party has
+retained the woman suffrage plank in its State platform since 1889.
+
+[282] The other State officers have been, recording secretaries, Dr.
+Sarah M. Siewers; Mesdames Mary Ritchie McKee, Mary Muggeridge, Mary
+R. Patterson, Sarah Hardin Sawyer, Kate Rose Wiggins; Misses Anna M.
+Deane, Mary Susan Hamilton, Mary E. Light; third vice-presidents,
+Mesdames Sallie H. Chenault, S. M. Hubbard, Mary H. Johnson, Thomas L.
+Jones, N. S. McLaughlin; Miss Belle Harris Bennett; superintendents of
+press, Mrs. Lida Calvert Obenchain, Mrs. Sarah G. Humphreys;
+superintendent of legislative work, Mrs. Josephine K. Henry.
+
+[283] This bill, drawn up with legal precision and clearness, was
+practically the one passed four years later (1894), which raised
+Kentucky's property laws for wives to a just and honorable plane.
+
+[284] On the night of March 8 Mrs. Josephine K. Henry spoke in
+Frankfort on the subject of American Citizenship. The Legislative Hall
+was voted unanimously and the Senate, which was holding night
+sessions, adjourned to hear her address. The Property Rights Bill was
+on this night virtually dead. Mrs. Henry in her speech never alluded
+to this bill, but plainly asked the Legislature to create a power to
+which she could apply and receive her papers of citizenship, claiming
+that she had every qualification save that of sex. The speech did not
+procure for her the right to vote, but the next morning, amid the
+greatest tumult, the dead Property Rights Bill was resurrected and
+passed.
+
+                                   Minutes of Kentucky E. R. A., 1894.
+
+[285] The wife can not dispose of real estate without the husband's
+signature. He can convey real estate without her signature but it is
+subject to her dower.
+
+[286] This year the E. R. A., the W. C. T. U. and the Woman's Club of
+Central Kentucky petitioned Governor Bradley to appoint a woman
+physician for the insane asylum at Lexington. He did appoint one, Dr.
+Kathryn Houser, but placed her in the Hopkinsville asylum.
+
+[287] A notable feature of this act is that none shall be appointed
+who has not been recommended by a committee composed of one woman
+selected by each of the following organizations: Home of Friendless
+Women, Flower Mission, Free Kindergarten Association, Humane Society,
+Charity Organization Society, City Federation of Women's Clubs,
+Kentucky Children's Home Society, W. C. T. U. and Women's Christian
+Association.
+
+[288] This Act was repealed in 1902 because more colored than white
+women voted in Lexington at the spring election. This is the only
+instance where the suffrage has been taken from women after being
+conferred by a Legislature. [Eds.
+
+[289] This college was opened to women in 1902.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII.
+
+LOUISIANA.[290]
+
+
+The history of woman suffrage in Louisiana must center always about
+the names of Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon and Mrs. Caroline E. Merrick.
+In 1879, before there had been any general agitation of this question
+in the State, these ladies appeared before the convention which was
+preparing a new constitution, and urged that the ballot should be
+granted to women on the same terms as to men. The only concession to
+their demands was a clause making women eligible to any office of
+control or management under the School Laws of the State.
+
+Mrs. Saxon continued to create equal suffrage sentiment until her
+removal to another State, and Mrs. Merrick remains still a principal
+figure in the movement. Until his death in 1897 she had the earnest
+encouragement and assistance of her distinguished husband, Edwin T.
+Merrick, for ten years Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Louisiana
+prior to the Civil War.
+
+As New Orleans is the only large city and contains one-fourth of the
+population of a State which is among the most conservative in the
+Union, organized work naturally would be confined to this locality,
+but up to 1884 it had no active club or society of women. In this year
+there was a demand by the press that the women of New Orleans should
+organize for the promotion of the World's Cotton Centennial, to be
+held there in the autumn and winter of 1884-85. This was done and the
+Woman's Department was a conspicuous feature of the centennial. Mrs.
+Julia Ward Howe of Massachusetts was the commissioner for the
+Government, different States sent capable representatives and there
+was cordial co-operation with the women of New Orleans.
+
+[Illustration:
+
+  SUSAN LOOK AVERY.
+  Louisville, Ky., and Chicago, Ill.
+
+          HELEN PHILLEO JENKINS.
+          Detroit, Mich.
+
+      LOUISA SOUTHWORTH.
+      Cleveland, Ohio.
+
+  MARY BENTLEY THOMAS.
+  Ednor, Md.
+
+          KATE M. GORDON.
+          New Orleans, La.
+
+]
+
+In March, 1885, Miss Susan B. Anthony visited the city for two weeks.
+She was deluged with invitations for addresses, and spoke in
+Agricultural Hall of the exposition at the request of the Press Club,
+in Tulane Hall under the auspices of the city teachers, at the Girls'
+High School and in half-a-dozen other places. Everywhere she was most
+warmly welcomed and was favorably reported in the papers, although her
+doctrines were new and unpopular. Mrs. Eliza J. Nicholson, owner and
+manager of the _Picayune_, and Mrs. M. A. Field (Catharine Cole), of
+its editorial staff, gave pleasant manifestations of friendship. One
+of the addresses delivered by Miss Anthony was before the Woman's
+Club, which had been an outgrowth of the exposition committees. Mrs.
+May Wright Sewall of Indiana gave an address on this same occasion.
+While this club had by no means been formed in the interests of
+suffrage, it was a decided innovation and the first step out of
+tradition and conservatism.
+
+The work of the women of Louisiana in the Anti-Lottery campaign of
+1891 is entitled to special mention. The lottery, as the great money
+power, controlled absolutely the politics of the State, and the
+leading newspapers were a unit in its support. The reform movement to
+prevent the renewal of its charter was without money, prestige or the
+influence of the press. The women came nobly to the rescue of this
+apparently hopeless cause. They formed leagues for the collection of
+money, they called meetings, they assisted in every possible way to
+educate the public mind and awaken the public conscience. To them
+belongs a large share of the credit for the final overthrow at the
+polls of this octopus corporation, which was so long a reproach to the
+State.
+
+In 1892 the Portia Club was formed, a strictly suffrage organization,
+with Mrs. Merrick as president.[291] Under its auspices the
+Association for the Advancement of Women held its annual congress in
+New Orleans in 1895, during which Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby of
+Washington, D. C., gave an address on The Philosophy of Woman
+Suffrage. At another time Mrs. Clara C. Hoffman of Missouri lectured
+for the club.
+
+In January, 1895, Miss Anthony, president of the National Suffrage
+Association, accompanied by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of its
+organization committee, came again to New Orleans. The _Picayune_ said
+of their first appearance:
+
+     If any one doubted the interest which Southern women feel in the
+     all-absorbing question of the day, "Woman and her Rights," that
+     idea would have been forever dispelled by a glance at the
+     splendid audience assembled last night. The hall was literally
+     packed to overflowing, not only with women but with men,
+     prominent representatives in every walk of life.
+
+In 1896 the Era[292] Club was organized with Miss Belle Van Horn as
+president. The successful work of this society has been largely due to
+the ability and personal influence of Mrs. Evelyn W. Ordway, a
+progressive Massachusetts woman, professor of chemistry in Newcomb
+College, New Orleans, who was its second president. Miss Kate M.
+Gordon was the third.
+
+In 1896 the Era united with the Portia Club in the beginning of a
+State suffrage association, of which Mrs. Merrick was made president.
+Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado gave two lectures before the new
+association this year. Those who have represented this body at the
+national conventions are Mrs. Merrick, Miss Katharine Nobles and Miss
+Gordon.
+
+In 1898 a convention was held in New Orleans to prepare a new State
+constitution. A committee composed of Mrs. Marie Garner Graham, Miss
+Nobles, Miss Gordon and Miss Jean Gordon appeared before the Suffrage
+Committee in support of a petition for Full Suffrage for the educated,
+taxpaying women of Louisiana, which had been presented to the
+convention by the Hon. A. W. Faulkner. Mrs. Graham made an eloquent
+appeal in behalf of using the intelligence and morality embodied in
+the woman's vote in solving the political problem of the South. The
+committee further requested that Mrs. Chapman Catt be permitted to
+address the convention. The request was immediately granted and an
+official invitation courteously extended.
+
+Mrs. Merrick, who was a delegate to the suffrage convention then in
+session at Washington, urged that some prominent members of the
+National Association should accompany this speaker on her important
+mission, and Miss Laura Clay of Kentucky and Miss Mary G. Hay of New
+York were duly appointed. On February 24, in Tulane Hall, before the
+assembled convention and a large throng of listeners in the galleries,
+Mrs. Chapman Catt made a strong argument for the enfranchisement of
+Louisiana women.
+
+For many days woman suffrage was seriously considered as a means to
+the end of securing white supremacy in the State. The following week
+the Athenaeum, the finest lecture hall in New Orleans, was crowded with
+men and women from all classes of society anxious to hear more on this
+daily topic of discussion, as presented by Mrs. Chapman Catt, Miss
+Clay and Miss Frances A. Griffin of Alabama. Seats were reserved for
+the members of the Constitutional Convention, who responded almost
+unanimously to the invitation to be present.
+
+Dr. Henry Dickson Bruns, a member of the Suffrage Committee, bent
+every effort to secure Full Suffrage for women as the only means to
+effect the reform in political conditions so much desired. The
+majority report of the committee, however, contained only this clause:
+"All taxpaying women shall have the right to vote in person or by
+proxy on all questions of taxation."
+
+While the women were greatly disappointed, this was really a signal
+victory in so conservative a State.
+
+Those who supposed that women would make practically no use of this
+scrap of suffrage were soon to be undeceived. New Orleans was at this
+time a city of 300,000 with absolutely no sewerage system; an
+inadequate water supply, and what there was of this in the hands of a
+monopoly; an excellent drainage system plodding along for the want of
+means at a rate which would have required twenty years to complete it.
+The return of yellow fever, the city's arch-enemy, after a lapse of
+eighteen years, created consternation. Senseless quarantines prevailed
+on all sides; business was paralyzed; property values had fallen;
+commercial rivals to the right and left were pressing. A crisis was at
+hand, and all depended on the hygienic regeneration of the city.
+
+The lawful limit of taxation had been reached. One of two ways alone
+remained--either to grant franchises to private corporations, or for
+the taxpayers to vote to tax themselves for the necessary
+improvements. Finally a plan was evolved, where, by a combination with
+the drainage funds, the great public necessities--water, sewerage and
+drainage--could be secured to the city by a tax of two mills on the
+dollar, covering a period of forty-two years. A similar proposition
+had been voted down two years before, and little hope was entertained
+that it would carry this time. Here was the women's opportunity. They
+found that one-third of the taxpayers must sign a petition calling the
+election to establish its legality. This meant that from 9,000 to
+10,000 signatures must be secured. They learned also that to carry the
+measure there must be a majority of numbers as well as of property
+values.
+
+Realizing that a campaign of education was on their hands, the Era
+Club called a mass meeting of women, at which prominent speakers
+presented the necessities of the situation. At its close a resolution
+was adopted to form a Woman's League for Sewerage and Drainage, of
+which Miss Gordon was made president. The papers, which a short time
+before had been most vehement in their denunciation of suffrage for
+taxpaying women, were now unanimous in commending their public spirit
+and predicting ultimate victory through the women.
+
+The first work of the league was to secure a correct list of women
+taxpayers, the number of whom had been variously estimated from 1,500
+to 7,000. Actual count proved that the names of more than 15,000 women
+appeared on the roll, about one-half the taxpayers of the entire city.
+Leaving a large margin for possible duplicates, foreign residents and
+changes by death, a conservative estimate gave at least 10,000 women
+eligible to vote. Few can realize the magnitude of this undertaking,
+for the names were without addresses but simply given as owners of
+such and such pieces of property in such and such boundaries.
+
+The work of location was at last accomplished, and then came the task
+of securing the names of these women to the petitions. The lists were
+divided according to wards, with a chairman for each, who appointed
+lieutenants in the various precincts. Parlor meetings to interest
+women were held everywhere, in the homes of the rich, the poor and the
+middle classes. Volunteer canvassers were secured and suffrage
+sentiment awakened. Occasionally mass meetings of men and women
+together were called, and good speakers obtained to arouse the people
+to the necessity of voting for the tax. It was the number of women's
+signatures which enabled the mayor to order the election.
+
+The law carried with it the privilege of voting by proxy, and the
+women who were active in this movement had the great task of gathering
+up the proxies of all those who had not the courage to go to the
+polls. These had to be made out in legal form and signed by two
+witnesses, and they then learned that no woman in Louisiana can
+legally witness a document, so in all these thousands of cases it was
+necessary to secure two men as witnesses. It made no difference
+whether they could read or write, whether they owned property or not,
+if males it was sufficient.[293]
+
+The election was held June 6, 1899. The _Picayune_, which, with the
+other papers, had opposed the extension of even this bit of suffrage
+to women, came out the next morning with a three-quarter-page picture
+of a beautiful woman, labeled New Orleans, on a prancing steed named
+Progress, dashing over a chasm entitled Sanitary Neglect and
+Commercial Stagnation, to a bluff called A Greater City, while in one
+corner was a female angel with wings outspread, designated as Victory.
+The two-page account began as follows:
+
+     The great election for Sewerage and Drainage has come and gone,
+     and with it a notable chapter in the history of woman's work in
+     New Orleans in behalf of municipal improvement. It is unanimously
+     conceded, as incontestably proven by facts, that but for the
+     number of signatures of women sent to the mayor the election
+     never would have been called. It was also conceded late yesterday
+     afternoon that the noble work of the women had won the day in
+     behalf of these much-needed improvements for our beloved city....
+
+     The politician has been crushed, and let the credit go where it
+     belongs. The women of New Orleans did it, under the leadership of
+     those two active, energetic and self-sacrificing young women, the
+     Misses Kate M. and Jean Gordon, and all the glory is theirs.
+     Woman plays a most important part in the politics and affairs of
+     this city. Whenever a crisis approaches, the men on the right
+     side appeal to her and the appeal is never in vain. She jumps
+     into the breach, and invariably victory perches upon her banner.
+     All honor to the fair sex! The women, or rather the few women who
+     were in the Sewerage and Drainage League, probably did as much
+     work for the special tax as all the men in this city put
+     together, and they did it quietly and thoroughly....
+
+     It was the first time in the history of New Orleans that women
+     were allowed the proud privilege of the suffrage, and it was a
+     novel sight to see them at the polls, producing their
+     certificates of assessment and then retiring to the booths,
+     fixing their ballots and depositing them in the boxes.... Enough
+     of them showed their independence of the sterner sex to prove to
+     the community that they are a deal more competent to wield the
+     ballot than a vast majority of the male suffragans. From what
+     some of the commissioners of election say, the women demonstrated
+     that they had observed the instructions as to voting with a great
+     deal more punctiliousness than the men. They had no difficulty in
+     arranging their ballots, and knew the routine better than many
+     men who had been in the habit of voting, not only early but
+     often.
+
+This paper contained also an interview with Mrs. Merrick, of which the
+following is a portion:
+
+     "Women are saying everywhere, Mrs. Merrick, that much of the
+     glory of this day is due to you, for you were the first woman in
+     the State to pin your faith to the suffrage cause."
+
+     "Without boasting," she said modestly, "the women of Louisiana, I
+     think, do owe a little to me. For years I stood alone for their
+     enfranchisement, especially where questions of property and
+     taxation were concerned.... I may say I have fought, labored and
+     almost died for suffrage. I do hope to see the women of New
+     Orleans with the School and Municipal Suffrage before I die. I am
+     getting old now," she added sweetly; "I am threescore and ten; I
+     cast my first vote to-day. It was only for sewerage and drainage;
+     but then it was for the protection of the home from the invasion
+     of disease, the better health of our city, the greater prosperity
+     of our commonwealth, and I am satisfied; for it will be
+     discovered that women hold the balance of power in all things
+     good and true, and our votes will soon be wanted in other
+     praiseworthy reforms."
+
+The duties of the women did not end when they had voted for the tax.
+It was necessary to have a Sewerage and Water Board of seven
+commissioners, and the voters were to decide whether these should be
+elected by the people or appointed by the mayor with the ratification
+of the City Council. The politicians were determined on the former
+method, while the business interests of the city demanded the latter.
+The women almost to a unit voted for appointment, and the majority of
+1,000 by which it was carried can be placed practically to the credit
+of the Woman's League for Sewerage and Drainage.[294] It was conceded
+that of the 6,000 votes cast at this election, at least one-half were
+those of women.
+
+The tax was immediately levied, the necessary legislative and
+constitutional authority was obtained, the bonds were all sold and the
+work is now under way for a complete system of drainage, sewerage and
+water supply.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: In 1894 a law was passed permitting women
+to receive degrees from Law and Medical Schools; also one allowing a
+married woman to "subscribe for, withdraw or transfer stock of
+building, homestead or loan associations, and to deposit funds and
+withdraw the same without the assistance and intervention of her
+husband." This law was secured by these associations to protect their
+own interests.
+
+In 1896 the same privilege was extended in regard to depositing money
+in savings banks and withdrawing it, which a married woman could not
+do up to this time.
+
+The laws of Louisiana for the most part are a survival of the
+Napoleonic Code:
+
+     Art. 25. Men are capable of all kinds of engagements and
+     functions, unless disqualified by reasons and causes applying to
+     particular individuals. Women can not be appointed to any public
+     office, nor perform any civil functions, except those which the
+     law specially declares them capable of exercising. Widows and
+     unmarried women of age may bind themselves as sureties or
+     indorsers for other persons, in the same manner and with the same
+     validity as men who are of full age.
+
+     Art. 81. If a father has disappeared, leaving minor children born
+     during his marriage, the mother shall take care of them, and
+     shall exercise all the rights of her husband with respect to
+     their education and the administration of their estate.
+
+     Art. 82. If the mother contracts a second marriage, she can not
+     preserve her superintendence of her children, except with the
+     consent of a family meeting composed of the relations or friends
+     of the father. [Failing to call this family meeting, she forfeits
+     also her right to appoint a guardian at her death.]
+
+     Art. 121. The wife can not appear in court without the authority
+     of her husband, although she may be a public merchant,[295] or
+     possess her property separate from her husband.
+
+     Art. 122. The wife, even when she is separate in estate from the
+     husband, can not alienate, grant, mortgage, acquire, either by
+     gratuitous or encumbered title, unless her husband concurs in the
+     act, or yields his consent in writing.
+
+     Art. 126. A married woman over the age of twenty-one years, may,
+     by and with the authorization of her husband, and with the
+     sanction of the Judge, borrow money or contract debts for her
+     separate benefit and advantage, and to secure the same, grant
+     mortgages or other securities affecting her separate estate,
+     paraphernal or dotal.
+
+     Art. 135. The wife may make her last will without the authority
+     of her husband.
+
+     Art. 302. The following persons can not be tutors [_i. e._,
+     guardians]: 1. Minors, except the father and mother. 2. Women,
+     except the mother or grandmother. 3. Idiots and lunatics. 4.
+     Those whose infirmities prevent them from managing their own
+     affairs. 5. Those whom the penal law declares incapable of
+     holding a public office, etc.
+
+     Art. 1316. Married women, even if separated in property, can not
+     institute a suit for partition without the authorization of their
+     husbands or of the Judge.
+
+     Art. 1480. A married woman can not make a donation _inter vivos_
+     [between living persons] without the concurrence or special
+     consent of her husband, or unless she be authorized by the Judge.
+     But she needs neither the consent of her husband nor any judicial
+     authorization to dispose by donation _mortis causa_ [in prospect
+     of death].
+
+     Art. 1591. The following persons are absolutely incapable of
+     being witnesses to testaments: 1. Women of what age soever. 2.
+     Male children who have not attained the age of sixteen years
+     complete. 3. Persons who are insane, deaf, dumb or blind. 4.
+     Persons whom the criminal laws declare incapable of exercising
+     civil functions.
+
+     Art. 1664. A married woman can not accept a testamentary
+     executorship without the consent of her husband. If there is
+     between them a separation of property, she may accept it with the
+     consent of her husband, or, on his refusal, she may be authorized
+     by the courts.
+
+     Art. 1782. All persons have the capacity to contract, except
+     those whose incapacity is specially declared by law--these are
+     married women, those of insane mind, those who are interdicted,
+     and minors.
+
+     Art. 2335. The separate property of the wife is divided into
+     dotal and extradotal. Dotal property is that which the wife
+     brings to the husband to assist him in bearing the expenses of
+     the marriage establishment. Extradotal property, otherwise called
+     paraphernal property, is that which forms no part of the dowry.
+
+     Art. 2338. Whatever in the marriage contract is declared to
+     belong to the wife, or to be given to her on account of the
+     marriage by other persons than the husband, is part of the dowry,
+     unless there be a stipulation to the contrary.
+
+     Art. 2347. The dowry is given to the husband, for him to enjoy
+     the same as long as the marriage shall last.
+
+     Art. 2349. The income or proceeds of the dowry belong to the
+     husband, and are intended to help him support the charges of the
+     marriage, such as the maintenance of the husband and wife, that
+     of their children, and other expenses which he may deem proper.
+
+     Art. 2350. The husband alone has the administration of the dowry,
+     and his wife can not deprive him of it; he may act alone in a
+     court of justice for the preservation or recovery of the dowry,
+     against such as either owe or detain the same, but this does not
+     prevent the wife from remaining the owner of the effects which
+     she brought as her dowry.
+
+     Art. 2358. The wife may, with the authorization of her husband,
+     or, on his refusal, with the authorization of the Judge, give her
+     dotal effects for the establishment of the children she may have
+     had by a former marriage.
+
+All accumulations after marriage, except by inheritance, here as in
+all States, are the property of the husband. Any wages the wife may
+earn, the very clothes she wears, belong entirely to him.
+
+The laws of inheritance of separate property are practically the same
+for widow and widower.
+
+The father is the legal guardian of the persons and property of minor
+children. Until 1888 the custody of children while a divorce suit was
+pending was given to the father, but now this is granted to the
+mother. The final guardianship is awarded by the Judge to the one who
+succeeds in obtaining the divorce.
+
+Before 1896 no "age of protection" for girls was named in the
+statutes, but the penalty for rape was death. In this year, the Arena
+Club of New Orleans, a socio-economic society of women, secured a law
+fixing the age at 16 years. The penalty was changed to imprisonment,
+with or without labor, for a period not exceeding five years, with no
+minimum penalty named.
+
+SUFFRAGE: Since 1898 taxpaying women have the right to vote in person
+or by proxy on all questions of taxation.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: The clause in the constitution of 1879 that made women
+eligible to school offices was inoperative on account of some
+technicality, which in 1894 Mrs. Helen Behrens, a member of the Portia
+Club, succeeded in having removed. In 1896 Mrs. Evelyn W. Ordway, as
+chairman of a committee from the Era Club, presented a petition to the
+City Council signed by all of the editors and many other
+representative men of New Orleans, asking for the appointment of a
+woman to an existing vacancy on the school board, but this was
+refused. No women ever were appointed to such positions except in a
+few country districts.
+
+The office of State librarian had been held by a number of women
+previous to 1898. The Constitutional Convention of that year,
+however, which gave the taxpayer's suffrage to women, swept away every
+vestige of their right to hold any office by adopting a clause
+declaring that only qualified voters should be eligible to office.
+Under this ruling women can not serve as notaries public.
+
+There are no women on the boards of any public institutions in the
+State and none has a woman physician.
+
+Four police matrons are employed by New Orleans, one for the parish
+prison, one for the police jail and two for station houses.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to
+women.
+
+EDUCATION: The State University at Baton Rouge is one of three in the
+United States which do not admit women to any department. Tulane, in
+New Orleans, the largest university in Louisiana, admits women to
+post-graduate work and to the Departments of Law and Pharmacy, but the
+Medical Department is still closed to them. The H. Sophie Newcomb
+Memorial College for Girls is a part of Tulane University. It was
+endowed by Mrs. Josephine Louise Newcomb with $2,500,000 in memory of
+her daughter. At her death she left to it the remainder of her estate,
+valued at $1,500,000.
+
+New Orleans University (white) and Leland University (colored) are
+co-educational. Most of the other colleges in the State are open to
+women.
+
+In the public schools there are 1,991 men and 2,166 women teachers.
+The average monthly salary of the men is $37; of the women, $29.70.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[290] The History is indebted for the material for this chapter to
+Miss Kate M. Gordon, president of the Era Club, Mrs. Evelyn W. Ordway
+and Mrs. Martha Gould, all of New Orleans.
+
+[291] Other presidents: Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon, Mrs. Evelyn W.
+Ordway, Miss Florence Huberwald, Mrs. Helen Behrens.
+
+[292] The clever reader between the lines will see that E. R.
+A.--Equal Rights Association--is concealed in this innocent appearing
+word.
+
+[293] Miss Kate M. Gordon herself obtained and voted 300 proxies.
+After the election the Business Men's Association of New Orleans
+presented her with a gold medal. [Eds.
+
+[294] So determined were the politicians to have this board elected,
+instead of appointed, in order that they might get control of the
+$42,000,000 fund, that a bill for this purpose was passed by the
+Legislature of 1902 and signed by Gov. William W. Heard. The matter
+will be carried to the Supreme Court.
+
+[295] Certain legal processes are necessary before a woman can engage
+in business on her own account.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+MAINE.[296]
+
+
+The Maine Woman Suffrage Association entered upon its career in 1873,
+flourished until 1876 and then ceased active work, which was not
+resumed until 1885. In September of that year, a convention was called
+in co-operation with the New England W. S. A., which resulted in the
+reorganization of the society. The Rev. Henry Blanchard, D. D., pastor
+of the First Universalist Church at Portland, was elected president,
+continuing in that capacity until 1891. During these six years of
+unremitting service, twelve public meetings (with occasional executive
+sessions) are recorded, all of which were held in Portland and
+addressed by the best speakers on suffrage, including Mrs. Lucy Stone,
+Henry B. Blackwell, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe
+and Mrs. Mary A. Livermore.
+
+In 1891 Dr. Blanchard resigned and Mrs. Hannah J. Bailey was elected
+president, as she said, "because it was thought best to have a woman
+at the head of the organization in order to confute the argument, then
+often advanced by the legislators, that women do not want the ballot."
+Mrs. Bailey's term of office expired in 1897, by her own request. In
+the six years of her leadership, six public conventions took place,
+all in Portland. The business of the association having been
+systematically arranged, a large amount of work was done in the
+executive meetings which occurred frequently.
+
+In 1892 a local club was organized in Portland, and this, as a live
+and aggressive force, has been of incalculable benefit to the cause.
+Other clubs were formed in this administration at Saco, Waterville and
+Hampden. The last owes its existence to the efforts of Mrs. Jane H.
+Spofford, formerly of Washington, D. C., and for many years treasurer
+of the National Association.
+
+In 1897 the present incumbent, Mrs. Lucy Hobart Day, was chosen State
+president. During the past three years there have been three annual
+conventions held respectively at Hampden, Waterville and Portland,
+with one semi-annual conference at Saco. Miss Susan B. Anthony,
+president of the National Association, was present at the first of
+these and afterwards addressed a public meeting in Portland.
+
+In addition to these conventions, in May, 1900, a series of public
+meetings in the interest of further organization was held at Old
+Orchard, Saco, Waterville, Hampden, Winthrop, Monmouth, Cornish and
+Portland, arranged by the president and addressed by Miss Diana
+Hirschler, a practicing lawyer of Boston.
+
+The second week of August, 1900, was celebrated in Maine as "Old Home
+Week," and from the 7th to the 11th the State association kept "open
+house" in Portland to old and new friends alike. The register shows a
+record of 232 names, with fourteen States represented, from California
+to Maine.
+
+On August 24, the association again made a new departure by holding a
+Suffrage Day at Ocean Park, Old Orchard, this being the first time
+Maine suffragists had appeared on the regular platform of any summer
+assembly in the State. The national president, Mrs. Carrie Chapman
+Catt, was in attendance and the day was a memorable one.
+
+Since 1898 the press department has taken on new life under the
+management of Mrs. Sarah G. Crosby, and has grown from a circulation
+of six to eighty newspapers containing suffrage matter.
+
+New clubs have been formed at Old Orchard and Skowhegan. A regular
+system of bi-monthly meetings of the executive committee has been
+instituted, the business there transacted being reported to the
+various clubs, thus keeping the mother in touch with her
+children.[297]
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: There have been several hearings before
+legislative committees in the interest of a reformatory prison for
+women, together with repeated petitions for a matron of the State
+prison, so far with negative results.
+
+In all changes of laws in favor of women much work has been done by
+themselves. They have been instrumental also in securing the passage
+of laws against obscene literature, cigarettes and immoral kinetoscope
+exhibitions. They have opposed and prevented the appointment of a
+conspicuously immoral man as Judge; have prevented the pardon of
+notoriously vile women in some marked cases, and have secured police
+matrons in several of the large cities, also matrons of almshouses.
+
+In 1887 a petition was presented to the Legislature asking for a
+constitutional amendment in favor of woman suffrage. "The significant
+vote" was upon the third reading of the bill, when it was ordered to
+be engrossed by 15 yeas, 13 nays in the Senate, and 67 yeas, 47 nays
+in the House; but as a two-thirds vote was necessary it failed to
+pass.
+
+In 1889 the vote on a bill granting Municipal Suffrage to women stood
+42 yeas, 91 nays in the House; 18 yeas, 8 nays in the Senate.
+
+In 1891 the Judiciary Committee reported "ought not to pass" on the
+bill to confer Municipal Suffrage on women, to which the House voted
+to adhere, the Senate concurring.
+
+In 1893 it was moved in the House to substitute the favorable minority
+report for the majority report on the Municipal Suffrage Bill. This
+motion was lost by 54 yeas, 63 nays. The Senate non-concurred with the
+House and accepted the minority report by 16 yeas, 13 nays.
+
+In the campaign of 1895 an exceedingly active canvass for Municipal
+Suffrage was made by the use of petitions. These were circulated by
+the State Association and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, over
+9,000 names being sent to the Legislature. At the hearing before the
+Judiciary Committee every county in the State was represented, and the
+hall was crowded to its utmost capacity. The committee reported in
+favor, and their report was accepted in the House by 79 yeas, 54
+nays. The Senate refused to concur in the action of the House by 11
+yeas, 15 nays.
+
+In 1897 the petitions for Municipal Suffrage were placed on file, the
+House and Senate concurring in this action.
+
+In 1899 a bill was presented asking "exemption from taxation for the
+taxpaying women of Maine," on the ground that "taxation without
+representation is tyranny." The Committee on Taxation granted a
+hearing and reported "leave to withdraw," which report was accepted in
+the House, the Senate concurring.
+
+Dower and curtesy were abolished in 1895. If there is no will the
+interest of the husband or wife in the real estate of the other is the
+same; if there is issue of the marriage living, one-third absolutely;
+if no such issue, then one-half; if there is neither issue nor
+kindred, then the whole of it. The same provisions of law hold
+regarding the personal estate of each. Both a wife and a husband have
+the right to claim their statutory share in the estate of the other in
+preference to any provision that may have been made by a will,
+provided that such an election is made within a period of six months.
+The widow is entitled to occupy the home for ninety days after the
+husband's death, and to have support for that length of time. He is
+accorded the same privileges and the presence of a will does not
+change the case. A more liberal allowance than formerly is granted to
+the family from an insolvent estate.
+
+In the presence of two witnesses, before marriage, the man and the
+woman may determine what rights each shall have in the other's estate
+during marriage and after its dissolution by death, and may bar each
+other of all rights in their respective estates not then secured to
+them.
+
+A married woman may acquire and hold real and personal property in her
+own right, and convey the same without joinder of her husband. He has
+the same legal privilege. The wife may control her own earnings, and
+carry on business, and the profits are her sole and separate property.
+
+She can prosecute and defend suits in her own name both in contract
+and in tort, and the wages of the wife and minor children are exempt
+from attachment in suits against the husband.
+
+Dower, alimony and other provisions for the wife are made in case of
+divorce for the husband's fault, and a law of 1895 compels the husband
+to support his family or contribute thereto (provided the separation
+was not the fault of the wife) and the Supreme Judicial Court may
+enforce obedience.
+
+Maine is one of the few States in the Union where fathers and mothers
+have equal guardianship of their children. (1895.)
+
+In 1887 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 13
+years. In 1889 it was advanced to 14 years, providing unqualified
+protection, with penalty of imprisonment for life or for a term of
+years. In 1897 an act was passed providing a "qualified" protection
+for girls between 14 and 16--that is, protection from men over
+twenty-one years of age.
+
+Some of the above laws have originated with the legislators
+themselves. Others have been asked for by the women of the State,
+through the medium of the W. S. A., the W. C. T. U. and the Woman's
+Council; but in the various organizations it has been those who are
+suffragists that have carried these measures to a successful
+issue.[298]
+
+SUFFRAGE: Women have no form of suffrage.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: At the present time women are filling offices,
+elective and appointive, as follows: School superintendents, 69;
+school supervisor, one; school committee, 112; public librarians, 40;
+trustee of State insane asylum, one; physician on board of same, one;
+matron of same, one; supervisor female wards of same, one; police
+matrons, 2; visiting committee of State Reform School, one; trustees
+of Westbrook Seminary, 3; Stenographic commissioners, 4; trustees of
+Girls' State Industrial School, 2; principal of same, one; matrons of
+same, 3.
+
+There are fifteen women justices of the peace, with authority to
+administer oaths and solemnize marriages.
+
+Women are eligible also as deputy town clerk and register of probate.
+They can not serve as notaries public.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: As early as 1884 Maine had women lawyers, ministers,
+physicians, authors and farmers. No occupation is forbidden them by
+law, and they are found in all departments of work. Since 1887 the
+working day for women and children is limited to ten hours.
+
+EDUCATION: The educational advantages accorded to women are equal to
+those of men. Bates College, Colby College and the State University,
+including the Agricultural Department, were opened to them before
+1884. Bowdoin College alone does not admit women.
+
+There are in the public schools 1,020 men and 5,427 women teachers.
+The average monthly salary of the men is $35; of the women, $27.20.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+During the past ten years the literary club movement has done an
+immense amount of educational work, and Maine was the first State to
+federate. In 1899 the federation instituted a system of traveling
+libraries, which has become a great power for good in the rural
+districts, and several clubs circulate libraries of their own. It also
+has secured minor bills on educational matters.
+
+In 1893 two important institutions were established--the Home for
+Friendless Girls, in Belfast, and the Home for Friendless Boys, in
+Portland. There are also other homes for children.
+
+In 1894 the Invalids' Home (now the Mary Brown Home, in honor of its
+founder) was incorporated. Any woman in Portland of good character may
+be admitted to it for $3 a week.
+
+All of the above were organized by women, and are managed by them.
+
+This in brief is the history of woman's progress in the Pine Tree
+State since 1884.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[296] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Lucy Hobart Day
+of Portland, president of the State Suffrage Association, whose work
+is done under the motto, "In order to establish justice."
+
+[297] State officers for 1900: President, Mrs. Lucy Hobart Day;
+vice-president-at-large, Mrs. S. J. L. O'Brion; vice-president, Mrs.
+Sarah Fairfield Hamilton; corresponding secretary, Miss Anne Burgess;
+recording secretary, Miss Lillia Floyd Donnell; treasurer, Dr. Emily
+N. Titus; auditor, Miss Eliza C. Tappan; superintendent press work,
+Miss Vetta Merrill.
+
+Among others who have served are Mesdames Lillian M. N. Stevens, Etta
+Haley Osgood, Winnifred Fuller Nelson and Helen Coffin Beedy; Miss
+Louise Titcomb and Dr. Jane Lord Hersom.
+
+[298] Among those who have been instrumental in securing better
+legislation for the women of the State may be mentioned the Hon.
+Thomas Brackett Reed, Judge Joseph W. Symonds, Franklin Payson;
+ex-Governors Joseph Bodwell, Frederick Robie, Henry B. Cleaves and
+Llewellyn Powers; Mesdames Augusta Merrill Hunt, Margaret T. W.
+Merrill and Ann Frances Greeley; Dr. Abby Mary Fulton and the Misses
+Cornelia M. Dow, Charlotte Thomas and Elizabeth Upham Yates.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+MARYLAND.[299]
+
+
+If but one State in the Union allowed woman to represent herself it
+should be Maryland, which was named for a woman, whose capital was
+named for a woman, and where in 1647 Mistress Margaret Brent, the
+first woman suffragist in America, demanded "place and voyce" in the
+Assembly as the executor and representative of her kinsman, Lord
+Baltimore. Her petition was denied but she must have had some gallant
+supporters, as the archives record that the question of her admission
+was hotly debated for hours. After the signal defeat of Mistress
+Brent, there seems to have been no demand for the ballot on the part
+of Maryland women for about 225 years.[300]
+
+In 1870 and '71 Miss Susan B. Anthony, Mrs. Lucy Stone and Mrs. Julia
+Ward Howe lectured in Baltimore and there was some slight agitation of
+the subject.
+
+Immediately following the national suffrage convention of 1883, in
+Washington, Miss Phoebe W. Couzins of Missouri addressed a large and
+enthusiastic audience at Sandy Spring. Soon afterwards Madame Clara
+Neymann of New York spoke in the same place and was cordially
+received. She and Mrs. Caroline Hallowell Miller were invited about
+this time to make addresses at Rockville. Mrs. Miller also spoke on
+the rights and wrongs of women at the Sandy Spring Lyceum.
+
+In 1889 Mrs. Miller invited some of her acquaintances to meet at her
+home in Sandy Spring to form a suffrage association. Thirteen men and
+women became members, all but one of whom belonged to the Society of
+Friends.[301] This year Maryland was represented for the first time at
+the national suffrage convention by a delegate, Mrs. Sarah T. Miller.
+She is now superintendent of franchise in the State Woman's Christian
+Temperance Union, this department having been adopted in 1893.
+
+Annual State conventions have been held since 1889 and about 300
+different members have been enrolled. The membership includes many
+men; one public meeting was addressed by a father and daughter, and a
+mother and son. The officers for 1900 are: President, Mary Bentley
+Thomas; vice-president, Pauline W. Holme; corresponding secretary,
+Annie R. Lamb; recording secretary, Margaret Smythe Clarke; treasurer,
+Mary E. Moore; member national executive committee, Emma J. M. Funck.
+
+The first to organize a suffrage club in Baltimore was Mrs. Sarah H.
+Tudor. It has now a flourishing society and many open meetings have
+been held with large and interested audiences.
+
+In 1896 six members of the W. C. T. U. of Baltimore went before the
+registrars and demanded that their names should be placed on the
+polling books. Mrs. Thomas J. Boram, whose husband was one of the
+registrars, was spokeswoman and claimed their right to vote under the
+Constitution of the United States. She made a strong argument in the
+name of taxpaying women and of mothers but was told that the State
+constitution limited the suffrage to males. The other ladies were Dr.
+Emily G. Peterson, Miss Annie M. V. Davenport, Mrs. Jane H. Rupp, Mrs.
+C. Rupp and Mrs. Amanda Peterman.
+
+Among the outside speakers who have come into the State at different
+times are the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president-at-large of the
+National Association, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the
+national organization committee, Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado,
+Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates of Maine, the Rev. Henrietta G. Moore of
+Ohio, Mrs. Annie L. Diggs and Miss Laura A. Gregg of Kansas, Miss
+Helen Morris Lewis of North Carolina, Mrs. Ruth B. Havens of
+Washington, D. C., and Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch of Chicago.
+
+One of the first and most efficient of the workers is Mrs. Caroline
+Hallowell Miller, who has represented her State for many years at the
+national conventions and pleased the audiences with her humorous but
+strong addresses. Her husband, Francis Miller, a prominent lawyer, was
+one of the very few men in the State who advocated suffrage for women
+as early as 1874, when he made an appeal for the enfranchisement of
+the women of the District of Columbia before the House Judiciary
+Committee.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: The constitution of Maryland opens as
+follows:
+
+     The right of the people to participate in the Legislature is the
+     best security of liberty and the foundation of all free
+     government; for this purpose, elections ought to be free and
+     frequent; and every male (!) citizen having the qualifications
+     prescribed by the constitution ought to have the right of
+     suffrage.
+
+The Legislature has been petitioned to grant full suffrage to women;
+to raise the "age of protection" for girls, and to refrain from giving
+State aid to institutions of learning which do not admit women
+students on equal terms with men.
+
+The Legislature of 1900 took a remarkably progressive step. An act
+authorizing the city of Annapolis to submit to the voters the question
+of issuing bonds to the amount of $121,000, to pay off the floating
+indebtedness and provide a fund for permanent improvements, contained
+a paragraph entitling women to vote.
+
+This bill was introduced in the Senate January 25, by Elijah Williams
+and was referred to the Committee on Finance. On January 31, Austin L.
+Crothers reported it favorably. On February 1, at the motion of
+Senator Williams, the bill was recommitted and on the 15th Senator
+Crothers again reported it favorably. On the 19th it was passed by the
+Senate unanimously.
+
+The Senate Bill was presented to the House of Delegates February 20,
+and referred to the Committee on Ways and Means. On the 28th,
+Ferdinand C. Latrobe (who had been mayor of Baltimore four or five
+times) reported the bill favorably. On March 23 it was passed by the
+House, 69 yeas, one nay, the negative vote being cast by Patrick E.
+Finzel of Garrett County.
+
+It is a common practice of the General Assembly to pass laws
+applicable only to one county or portion of a county, or to one
+municipality or to one special occasion, as in this instance.
+
+As this law was a decided innovation in a very conservative community,
+naturally the number of women availing themselves of it for the first
+time was not large, and it hardly seemed worth a special Act of the
+Legislature, except as a progressive step. The Baltimore _Sun_ of May
+14 said:
+
+     Women voted in Annapolis to-day under the law permitting property
+     owners to say if $121,000 bonds shall be issued for street and
+     other improvements. The novelty of their presence did not disturb
+     the serenity of the polling-room or unnerve the ladies who were
+     exercising their right to vote for the first time. They were
+     calm, direct and as unruffled as though it were the usual order
+     of things. Those who voted are of the highest social standing.
+     They received the utmost courtesy at the polls and voted without
+     any embarrassment whatever.
+
+Numerous changes in the statutes have been made during the past twelve
+years, modifying the discriminations against married women under the
+old Common Law.
+
+In 1888 it was enacted that a wife might bring action for slander in
+her own name and defend her own character.
+
+The last of these improved laws went into effect in 1898, when the
+inheritance of property was made the same for widow and widower.
+Absolute control of her own estate was vested in the wife. Power was
+given her to make contracts and bring suit, and she alone was to be
+liable for her own actions.
+
+Inequalities still exist, however, in regard to divorce and
+guardianship of children. The fifth ground for absolute divorce is as
+follows: "Where the woman before marriage has been guilty of illicit
+carnal intercourse with another man, the same being unknown to the
+husband at the time of marriage." A similar act on the part of the
+husband prior to the marriage does not entitle the wife to a divorce.
+
+The father has complete control of the minor children and may appoint
+a guardian by will. If he die without doing so the mother becomes
+their natural guardian, but her control over a daughter terminates at
+eighteen years of age while the father's continues to twenty-one. This
+power of appointing a testamentary guardian was created by an act of
+Charles II, and adopted as a part of the laws of Maryland. It gives
+the father power, by deed or will, to dispose of the custody and
+tuition of his infant children up to the age of twenty-one, or until
+the marriage of the daughters. It gives him custody of their persons
+and all their real and personal estate, not only such as comes from
+his family, but all they may acquire of any person soever, even from
+the family of the mother. The guardian is placed _in loco parentis_
+and his rights are generally regarded as paramount.
+
+For non-support of the family the husband may be fined $100 or
+imprisoned in the House of Correction not exceeding one year, or both,
+at discretion of the court. (1896.)
+
+Wife-beaters are punished by flogging or imprisonment.
+
+In 1899 women succeeded in having the "age of protection" for girls
+raised from 14 to 16 years, with penalty ranging from death to
+imprisonment in the penitentiary for eighteen months.
+
+Employers are compelled to provide seats for female employes. Children
+under twelve can not work in factories. Women or girls may not be
+employed as waiters in any place of amusement.
+
+SUFFRAGE: Women have no form of suffrage.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: The State librarian is a woman, who has filled the
+position most satisfactorily for a number of years and through her
+care valuable documents relating to colonial times have been saved
+from destruction and classified. A leading paper of Baltimore said
+that these had been allowed to remain in the cellar of the State House
+for years, and would have been ruined but for the new system of public
+housekeeping inaugurated by the womanly element.
+
+Women physicians have been placed in charge of women patients at one
+State insane asylum.
+
+Police matrons are employed at all the station houses in Baltimore.
+During the past two years women have been placed on its jail boards
+and on the boards of most of its charitable and reformatory
+institutions. By the recommendation of two mayors they have been put
+on the school board. They have applied for positions on the
+street-cleaning board but without success.
+
+Women are doing efficient work on the jail and almshouse boards of
+Harford County and the school boards of Montgomery.
+
+Women serve as notaries public.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: In 1901 Miss Etta Maddox, a graduate of the Baltimore
+College of Law, was refused admission to the bar and carried her case
+to the Supreme Court. It was argued before the full bench and the
+opinion rendered by Justice C. J. McSherry, November 21. Her petition
+was denied on the ground that the act providing for admission to the
+bar uses the masculine pronouns. In this decision the general
+proposition was affirmed that "women are excluded from all occupations
+which were denied them by the English common law, except when the
+disability has been removed by express statutory enactment."[302] It
+is believed that this opinion makes it illegal for women to serve as
+notaries public, and as a number have been serving for several years,
+three in Baltimore, the situation promises to be very serious, many
+deeds, etc., having been acknowledged before them.
+
+EDUCATION: Through the leadership of Miss Mary E. Garrett and Dr. M.
+Carey Thomas, president of Bryn Mawr College, assisted by Miss Mary
+Gwinn and Miss Elizabeth King (now Mrs. William Ellicott), committees
+of prominent women were organized in various States for raising a fund
+to open a Medical Department in Johns Hopkins University which should
+be co-educational. The trustees required an endowment of $500,000. The
+committees raised $200,000 and Miss Garrett herself added the
+remaining $300,000. In 1893 this Medical College, which is not
+outranked in the country, was dedicated alike to men and women with
+absolutely no distinction in their privileges. Women are not admitted
+to any other department of Johns Hopkins.
+
+Of the nine other colleges and universities two are open to women, and
+the Woman's College of Baltimore, which receives State aid, is for
+them alone. They may be graduated from the Baltimore Colleges of Law
+and of Dentistry. The State Colleges of Agriculture, of Medicine and
+of Law are closed to them. The State Normal Schools admit both sexes
+on equal terms.
+
+There are 1,162 men and 3,965 women teachers in the public schools. It
+is impossible to obtain the average monthly salaries.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[299] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Mary Bentley
+Thomas of Ednor, who for the last nine years has been president of the
+State Suffrage Association.
+
+[300] Miss Mary Catherine Goddard conducted the Baltimore post-office
+and also the only newspaper in the city, the _Maryland Journal and
+Commercial Advertiser_, through all the trying times of the
+Revolutionary War. On July 12, 1775, she published a detailed account
+of the battle of Bunker Hill, which had occurred on June 17, and the
+Declaration of the Continental Congress giving the causes and
+necessity for taking up arms. The first official publication of the
+Declaration of Independence, with the signers' names attached, was
+entrusted by Congress, at that time sitting in Baltimore, to Miss
+Goddard.
+
+She remained in control of her paper for ten years. In 1779 she made
+an appeal through its columns for the destitute families of the
+American soldiers, and by her efforts $25,000 were raised for their
+needs.
+
+[301] The charter members were Caroline H., Margaret E., Sarah T.,
+Rebecca T. and George B. Miller, Margaret B. and Mary Magruder, Ellen
+and Martha T. Farquhar, James P. and Jessie B. Stablu, Hannah B.
+Brooke and Mary E. Moore. At the second meeting a number of others
+became members, including the writer of this chapter.
+
+[302] State Senator Jacob M. Moses presented a bill in the Legislature
+of 1902 to permit women to practice law, which passed, was signed by
+the Governor and Miss Maddox was admitted to the bar.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV.
+
+MASSACHUSETTS.[303]
+
+
+The first suffrage convention ever held which assumed a national
+character by inviting representatives from other States took place in
+Worcester, Mass., Oct. 23, 24, 1850.[304]
+
+The New England Woman Suffrage Association was formed at Boston in
+November, 1868, with Mrs. Julia Ward Howe as president; and the
+Massachusetts Association was organized in the same city Jan. 28,
+1870, of which also Mrs. Howe was elected president. In 1871 Henry B.
+Blackwell, editor of the _Woman's Journal_, was made corresponding
+secretary of both associations and has filled the office of the latter
+continuously, of the former twenty-two years.
+
+From those years until the present each of these bodies has held an
+annual meeting in Boston and they have almost invariably been
+addressed by men and women of State, of national and of international
+reputation. They have met in various churches and halls, but of late
+years the historic old Faneuil Hall has been selected. The State
+association meets in the winter and the New England association during
+Anniversary Week in May, when there are business sessions with reports
+from the various States, public meetings and a great festival or
+banquet. The last is attended by hundreds of people, all the tickets
+are frequently sold weeks in advance, and with its prominent
+after-dinner speakers it has long been an attractive feature.[305]
+
+The annual meeting of 1884 was held January 22, 23, presided over by
+William I. Bowditch, who had succeeded the Rev. Dr. James Freeman
+Clarke as president in 1878. A number of fine addresses were given and
+the official board was unanimously re-elected.[306] Mr. Bowditch's
+opening address was afterwards widely circulated as a tract, The
+Forgotten Woman in Massachusetts.
+
+It was voted that a fund should be raised to organize local suffrage
+associations or leagues throughout the State, and that, as soon as
+$2,500 was in hand, an agent should be put in the field. Mr. Bowditch,
+Miss Louisa M. Alcott, John L. Whiting and Henry H. Faxon each
+subscribed $100 on the spot; $800 was raised at the meeting and more
+than $2,500 within four months.
+
+This year, in the death of Wendell Phillips, the cause of equal rights
+lost one of its earliest and noblest supporters. On February 28 an
+impressive memorial service was held in Boston. Mrs. Howe presided and
+the other speakers were William Lloyd Garrison, Theodore D. Weld,
+Judge Thomas Russell, Mrs. Ednah D. Cheney, Elizur Wright, the Rev.
+Samuel May, George W. Lowther, Mrs. Lucy Stone and Mr. Blackwell. John
+Boyle O'Reilly and William P. Liscomb read memorial poems.
+
+Fifty-seven meetings were held this year in different parts of the
+State, arranged by Arthur P. Ford and Miss Cora Scott Pond. The
+speakers were the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, Miss Matilda Hindman, Miss
+Pond and Miss Ida M. Buxton, and at some of the meetings Lucy Stone,
+Mr. Blackwell and Mrs. Adelaide A. Claflin. In addition six
+conventions were held and a large number of local leagues were formed.
+Suffrage sociables were given monthly in Boston. Leaflets were
+printed, including Wendell Phillips' great speech at the Worcester
+Convention in 1850, which were sent out by tens of thousands, and
+50,000 special copies of the _Woman's Journal_ were distributed
+gratuitously. Mrs. H. M. Tracy Cutler was employed for a month in
+Worcester to enlist interest in the churches, and Miss Pond for two
+months in Boston. Letters were sent to every town, with postal cards
+inclosed for reply, to find who were friends of suffrage, and to those
+so found a letter was sent asking co-operation. This constitutes an
+average twelve months' work for the past thirty years.
+
+The sixteenth annual meeting of the New England Association took place
+May 26, 27, Lucy Stone presiding. The Rev. Minot J. Savage and Edward
+M. Winston of Harvard University were among the speakers. The two
+associations united as usual in the May Festival. Letters of greeting
+were read from the Hons. George F. Hoar, John D. Long and John E.
+Fitzgerald, Postmaster Edward S. Tobey, Col. Albert Clarke and
+Chancellor William G. Eliot, of Washington University, St. Louis. The
+Rev. Robert Collyer, Mr. Garrison and the Rev. Miss Shaw made
+addresses.
+
+At the State convention, Jan. 27, 28, 1885, addresses were made by
+Mrs. Margaret Moore of Ireland, A. S. Root of Boston University, and
+the usual brilliant galaxy, while letters expressing sympathy with the
+cause were read from John G. Whittier, the Rev. Samuel Longfellow, the
+Rev. Samuel J. Barrows and many others. An appeal to the Legislature,
+written by Lucy Stone, was unanimously adopted.
+
+An Anti-Woman Suffrage Association formed in Massachusetts the
+previous year, had devoted itself chiefly to securing signatures of
+women to a protest against the franchise. In 1885 Mrs. Kate Gannett
+Wells and her associates obtained the signatures of about 140
+influential men to a remonstrance against "any further extension of
+suffrage to women," and published it as an advertisement in the Boston
+_Herald_ of Sunday, February 15. The list included President Eliot of
+Harvard, a number of college professors, one or two literary men,
+several ex-members of the Legislature, and a number of clergymen of
+conservative churches; but it was made up largely of those prominent
+chiefly on account of their wealth.
+
+An average of ten suffrage meetings and conventions a month were held
+in various cities throughout the year. The Rev. Miss Shaw and Miss
+Pond attended nearly all, and Mrs. Stone, Mr. Blackwell, Mrs. Claflin,
+Mr. Garrison, Miss Eastman and Mr. Bowditch addressed some of them,
+besides local speakers. Two thousand persons gathered in Tremont
+Temple on the opening night of the May anniversary, Lucy Stone
+presiding. Senator Hoar, Mrs. Livermore and others made short speeches
+and later responded to toasts at the Festival.
+
+Mr. Blackwell presided over the State convention Jan. 26, 1886. At the
+New England meeting this year Frederick Douglass delivered an oration
+and spoke also at the Festival, over which Miss Eastman presided. The
+association kept Miss Shaw in the field for six months and Miss Pond
+throughout the year and held summer conventions in Cottage City and
+Nantucket, besides ten county conventions in the fall. There were
+123,014 pages of literature sent out and agents visited seventy-five
+towns. A suffrage bazar was held in December with Mrs. Livermore as
+president and Mrs. Howe as editor of the _Bazar Journal_. The list of
+vice-presidents included Phillips Brooks and many other distinguished
+persons. The brunt of the work, however, was borne by Miss Pond and
+Miss Shaw, and the bazar cleared $6,000.
+
+Mrs. Howe, Mrs. Stone, Mr. Garrison, Mrs. Cheney, State Senator Elijah
+A. Morse and others addressed the annual convention of 1887.
+Petitions were circulated for Municipal and Presidential Suffrage and
+a constitutional amendment; also for police matrons, the raising of
+the age of protection for girls, improvements in the property rights
+of married women, a bill enabling husbands and wives to make legal
+contracts with each other, and one making women eligible to all
+offices from which they are not debarred by the constitution. In March
+the association gave $1,000 to the constitutional amendment campaign
+in Rhode Island, and a number of the officers contributed their
+services.
+
+Mrs. Howe presided at the May Festival, and among the speakers were
+Mrs. Helen M. Gougar of Indiana, Mrs. J. Ellen Foster of Iowa, the
+Revs. Henry Blanchard of Maine and Frederick A. Hinckley of Rhode
+Island. Mr. Garrison read an original poem rejoicing over the granting
+of Municipal Suffrage in Kansas. At the New England Convention which
+followed, these speakers were reinforced by the Rev. Jenkyn Lloyd
+Jones of Chicago. On October 19 the State Association gave a reception
+to Miss Frances E. Willard, president of the National Woman's
+Christian Temperance Union, at the Hotel Brunswick.
+
+In December a great bazar was held in Boston for the joint benefit of
+the American Suffrage Association and various States which took part.
+The gross receipts were nearly $8,000. This year the association moved
+into larger offices at No. 3 Park street; held fifty-one public
+meetings and four county conventions and organized twenty-one new
+leagues. The _Woman's Journal_ was sent for three months to all the
+members of the Legislature; 378,000 pages of suffrage literature were
+sold and many thousands more given away.
+
+During the annual meeting in February, 1888, a reception was given to
+Mrs. Rebecca Moore, of England, at which John W. Hutchinson sang and
+many bright speeches were made. At the twentieth anniversary of the
+New England association, in May, Lucy Stone presided. Mrs. Laura
+Ormiston Chant and Mrs. Alice Scatcherd of England, and Baroness
+Gripenberg and Miss Alli Trygg of Finland, were among the speakers.
+Others were Miss Clara Barton, Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker of
+Connecticut, the Hon. William Dudley Foulke and Mrs. Zerelda G.
+Wallace of Indiana. At the Festival Music Hall was crowded to
+overflowing and Miss Susan B. Anthony was one of the guests of honor.
+
+This year great excitement was aroused among both men and women by a
+controversy over the historical text-books used in the public schools
+of Boston. At the request of a priest the school board removed a
+history which the Catholics regarded as unfair in its statements, and
+substituted one which many Protestants considered equally unfair. The
+school vote of women never had risen much above 2,000, and generally
+had been below that number. This year 25,279 applied to be assessed a
+poll tax and registered, and 19,490 voted, in one of the worst storms
+of the season. All the Catholic candidates were defeated. The suffrage
+association kept out of the controversy as a body, but its members as
+individuals took sides as their personal views dictated.
+
+In 1889 Gov. Oliver Ames, for the third time, recommended women
+suffrage in his inaugural, saying: "Recent political events have
+confirmed the opinion I have long held, that if women have sufficient
+reason to vote they will do so and become an important factor in the
+settlement of great questions. If we can trust uneducated men to vote
+we can with greater safety and far more propriety grant the same power
+to women, who as a rule are as well educated and quite as intelligent
+as men."
+
+The convention met January 29-31. Among outside speakers were Mrs.
+Ellen Battelle Dietrick of Kentucky, Prof. William H. Carruth of
+Kansas, and the Hon. Hamilton Willcox of New York. Col. Thomas
+Wentworth Higginson presided at the May Festival and Mrs. Howe's
+seventieth birthday was celebrated. Mrs. Laura M. Johns of Kansas,
+Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell of New York, Mrs. Emily P. Collins of
+Connecticut, and many from other States were present.
+
+An organizer was kept in the field eight months and a State lecturer
+two months; summer meetings were held at Swampscott, Hull and
+Nantasket. Two quarterly conferences took place in Boston between the
+State officers and representatives from the eighty-nine local leagues.
+A great Historical Pageant was given under Miss Pond's supervision in
+May and October, which netted $1,582; the _Woman's Journal_ was sent
+four months to all the legislators, and leaflets to all the students
+of Harvard and Boston Universities; 15,000 leaflets were given to the
+South Dakota campaign. The State Farmers' Institute, held at West
+Brookfield, adopted a woman suffrage resolution almost unanimously.
+
+In Boston 10,051 women voted and the Catholic candidates for the
+school board were again defeated. The Independent Women Voters elected
+all their nominees, and candidates who had the joint nomination of
+both Republicans and Democrats were defeated.
+
+Ex-Gov. John D. Long was one of the speakers at the convention of Jan.
+28, 29, 1890; also Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates of Maine. In April an
+evening with authors and composers was arranged, chiefly by Miss Lucia
+T. Ames. Well-known authors read from their writings and musicians
+contributed from their own compositions. In the same month a week's
+fair called The Country Store was held, Miss Charlotte H. Allen
+supervising the arrangements, with gross receipts, $2,346. The Rev.
+Charles G. Ames presided at the May Festival and the Rev. Anna Garlin
+Spencer of Rhode Island was one of the speakers.
+
+In July a reception was given in the suffrage parlors to the ladies of
+the National Editorial Association and the members of the New England
+Women's Press Association. The editors of the _Woman's Journal_--Lucy
+Stone, Mr. and Miss Blackwell--and the associate editor, Mrs. Florence
+M. Adkinson, received the guests, assisted by the Rev. Miss Shaw and
+Miss Lucy E. Anthony. During Grand Army week in August a reception was
+extended to the ladies of the Woman's Relief Corps and others, the
+guests received by Mrs. Livermore, Mrs. Howe, the editors of the
+_Journal_ and Dr. Emily Blackwell, dean of the Women's Medical College
+of the New York Infirmary for Women and Children.
+
+In October the association exhibited at the Hollis Street Theater a
+series of Art Tableaux, The History of Marriage, showing the marriage
+ceremonies of different ages and countries, Mrs. Livermore acting as
+historian. The receipts were $1,463. The association sent literature
+to the legislators, to several thousand college students and to all
+the members of the Mississippi Constitutional Convention; had a booth
+for two months at the Mechanics' Fair in Boston; supplied suffrage
+matter every week to 603 editors in all parts of the country and gave
+133,334 pages of leaflets to the campaign in South Dakota. The
+chairman of its executive committee, Mrs. Stone, also donated 95,000
+copies of the _Woman's Column_ to the same campaign, and the
+secretary, Mr. Blackwell, contributed five weeks' gratuitous service
+in Dakota, lecturing for the amendment.
+
+The Boston Methodist ministers, at their Monday meeting, passed
+unanimously a resolution in favor of Municipal Woman Suffrage; and a
+gathering of Massachusetts farmers, at the rooms of the _Ploughman_,
+did the same with only one dissenting vote, after an address by Lucy
+Stone, herself a farmer's daughter.[307]
+
+The annual meeting, Jan. 27, 28, 1891, was made a celebration of the
+fortieth anniversary of the First National Woman's Rights Convention,
+which had been held at Worcester in October, 1850. Miss Susan B.
+Anthony came on from Washington to attend. The advance of women in
+different lines during the past forty years was ably reviewed
+in the addresses by representative women in their respective
+departments.[308] Only two of the speakers at the convention of forty
+years ago were present on this occasion, Lucy Stone and the Rev.
+Antoinette Brown Blackwell; and two who had signed the Call--Colonel
+Higginson and Charles K. Whipple. The resolutions were reaffirmed
+which had been reported by Wendell Phillips and adopted at the
+convention of 1850. At this time Mrs. Howe was elected president of
+the State association.
+
+The New England meeting in May was preceded by a reception to Miss
+Anthony, the Rev. Miss Shaw and Miss Florence Balgarnie of England,
+all of whom made addresses at the convention and the Festival, where
+ex-Governor Long presided.
+
+The meetings this year included a number of college towns and among
+the speakers were Senator Hoar, Mr. Garrison, Mr. Blackwell, Mrs.
+Livermore, Mrs. Howe and Mrs. Stone, with the younger women, Mrs. Anna
+Christy Fall, Mrs. Adelaide A. Claflin, Miss Elizabeth Sheldon
+(Tillinghast), Miss Elizabeth Deering Hanscom. At Amherst a large
+gathering of students listened to Senator Hoar. President and Mrs.
+Merrill E. Gates occupied seats on the platform. At South Hadley
+President Elizabeth Storrs Mead of Mt. Holyoke entertained all the
+speakers at the college, and at Northampton it was estimated by the
+daily papers that 500 Smith College girls came to the meeting.
+
+On October 21 the association gave a reception to Theodore D. Weld in
+honor of his eighty-eighth birthday. This date was the anniversary of
+the famous mob of 1835, which attacked the meeting of the Boston
+Female Anti-Slavery Society. Later a reception was tendered to Mrs.
+Annie Besant of the London School Board. On November 17, during the
+week when the W. C. T. U. held its national convention in Boston, a
+reception was given in the suffrage parlors to all interested in the
+Franchise Department. A special invitation was issued to White
+Ribboners from the Southern States where none was yet adopted, and the
+spacious rooms were filled to overflowing. Lucy Stone presided and
+Julia Ward Howe gave the address of welcome. Many brief responses were
+made by the Southern delegates and by Northern delegates and friends.
+
+In December a suffrage fair was held under the management of Mrs.
+Dietrick, now of Boston, which netted $1,800. Senator Hoar's speech at
+Amherst was sent to the students of all the colleges in the State.
+
+At the annual meeting Jan. 26, 27, 1892, the Rev. Joseph Cook gave an
+address. Lucy Stone presided at the New England convention and Mrs.
+Howe at the Festival. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt was the speaker from a
+distance. Letters were read from the Hon. Thomas B. Reed, Terence V.
+Powderly and U. S. Senators Joseph M. Carey and Francis E. Warren of
+Wyoming.
+
+In addition to the usual work this year $200 were offered in $5 prizes
+to the children of the public schools for the best essays in favor of
+woman suffrage. Mrs. Dietrick was employed for six months as State
+organizer. An appeal for equal suffrage signed by Mrs. Stone, Mrs.
+Howe and Mrs. Livermore was sent to editors throughout the State with
+the request to publish it and to indorse it editorially, which was
+done by many. A letter signed by the same was sent to every minister
+in Boston asking him either to present the subject to his congregation
+or permit it to be presented by some one else, and a number consented.
+
+A Woman's Day was held at the State Agricultural Fair in Worcester,
+when it was estimated 70,000 people were present. Col. Daniel Needham,
+president of the Fair, expressed himself as thankful for the
+opportunity to welcome woman suffrage. Mrs. Rufus S. Frost, Lucy
+Stone, Mrs. Livermore, Mrs. Claflin and Mr. Blackwell were the
+speakers. When a vote was taken at the close, the whole audience rose
+in favor of suffrage.
+
+The Independent Women Voters of Boston again elected their entire
+school ticket. Miss Frances E. Willard and Mrs. Claflin addressed the
+Working Girls' Clubs of the State on suffrage at their annual reunion
+in Boston. The association was represented at the great farewell
+reception to Lady Henry Somerset, Lucy Stone presenting her with
+twenty-three yellow roses for the States with School Suffrage and one
+pure white for Wyoming.
+
+This year at a special meeting the association amended the old
+constitution under which it had been working since 1870, and
+unanimously adopted a delegate basis of representation.
+
+The annual meeting was held Dec. 6, 7, 1892, instead of January, 1893.
+Mrs. Howe presided and addresses were made by Mrs. Stone, Mrs.
+Livermore, the Hon. George A. O. Ernst, Mrs. Estelle M. H. Merrill,
+president of the New England Women's Press Association, and others.
+Lucy Stone was elected president and superintendents were instituted
+for different departments of work.
+
+At a gathering of Massachusetts farmers in Boston, Lucy Stone and Mrs.
+Olive Wright of Denver, spoke for woman suffrage; the meeting declared
+for it unanimously by a rising vote and every farmer present signed
+the petition. The State Grange, at its annual convention, adopted a
+strong suffrage resolution by 96 yeas, 27 nays. The Unitarian
+Ministers' Monday Club of Boston, after an address by Mrs. Stone, did
+the same, and every minister present but one signed the petition. The
+Universalist Ministers' Monday meeting in Boston, at her request,
+voted by a large majority to memorialize the Legislature for woman
+suffrage. The Central Labor Union took similar action. The Boston
+_Transcript_, _Globe_, _Advertiser_, _Traveller and Beacon_, the
+Springfield _Republican_, Greenfield _Gazette and Courier_, Salem
+_Observer_, Salem _Register_ and many other papers supported the
+Municipal Suffrage Bill which was then pending.
+
+At the May Festival of 1893 Senator Hoar presided and 900 persons sat
+down to the banquet. Mrs. Laura Ormiston Chant of England, and Miss
+Kirstine Frederiksen of Denmark, were the speakers from abroad. A
+reception to these ladies preceded the annual meeting of the New
+England Association. Mme. Marie Marshall of Paris, was added to the
+above speakers, also Wendell Phillips Stafford of Vermont, Mrs. Ellen
+M. Bolles of Rhode Island, and others. On June 5 a reception was given
+to Mrs. Jane Cobden Unwin of London, Richard Cobden's daughter. On
+July 19, by invitation of the Waltham Suffrage Club, the State
+association and the local leagues united in a basket picnic at Forest
+Grove. On this occasion Lucy Stone made her last public address.
+
+Woman's Day at the New England Agricultural Fair in Worcester was
+observed in September with addresses by Mrs. Chant, Mrs. Livermore,
+Mrs. Fanny Purdy Palmer and Mr. Blackwell, representing Lucy Stone,
+who was too ill to be present. There was a very large audience. Part
+of a day was also secured at the Marshfield Fair with an address by
+Mrs. Katherine Lente Stevenson. A convention was held at Westfield,
+October 2, when the opera house was crowded to hear Mrs. Livermore.
+
+Mr. Blackwell presented a resolution in favor of Municipal Suffrage
+for women in the Resolutions Committee of the Republican State
+Convention, October 6. It was warmly advocated by the Hon. John D.
+Long, Samuel Walker McCall, M. C., Mayor Fairbanks of Quincy, and
+others, and would possibly have been passed but for the strenuous
+opposition of the chairman, ex-Gov. George D. Robinson, who said he
+would decline to read the platform to the convention if the resolution
+was adopted. It was finally lost by 4 yeas, 7 nays.
+
+On Oct. 18, 1893, occurred the death of Lucy Stone at her home in
+Dorchester. She said with calm contentment, "I have done what I wanted
+to do; I have helped the women." Her last whispered words to her
+daughter were, "Make the world better." The funeral was held in James
+Freeman Clarke's old church in Boston. Hundreds of people stood
+waiting silently in the street before the doors were opened. The Rev.
+Charles G. Ames said afterward that, "the services were not like a
+funeral but like a solemn celebration and a coronation." The speakers
+were Mr. Ames, Colonel Higginson, Mrs. Livermore, Mr. Garrison, Mrs.
+Cheney, the Rev. Samuel J. Barrows, Mrs. Chant, the Rev. Anna Garlin
+Spencer of Providence, Mary Grew of Philadelphia, with a poem by Mrs.
+Howe. A strong impetus was given to the suffrage movement by the wide
+publication in the papers of the facts of Lucy Stone's simple and
+noble life, and by the universal expression of affection and regret. A
+life-long opponent declared that the death of no woman in America had
+ever called out so general a tribute of public respect and esteem.
+
+The State association again held its annual meeting in December. Among
+the resolutions adopted was the following:
+
+     In the passing away of Lucy Stone, our president, the beloved
+     pioneer of woman suffrage, who has been, ever since 1847, its
+     mainstay and unfailing champion, the cause of equal rights in
+     this State and throughout the Union has suffered an irreparable
+     loss.
+
+Her daughter closed the report of the year's work by saying: "Let all
+those who held her dear show their regard for her memory in the way
+that would have pleased and touched her most--by doing their best to
+help forward the cause she loved so well."
+
+Mrs. Mary A. Livermore was elected president.
+
+On December 16 the association celebrated in Faneuil Hall the one
+hundred and twentieth anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. One of the
+last expressed wishes of Lucy Stone had been that the celebration
+should take place in the Old South Church, but the use of this
+historic building was refused by the trustees, much to the
+mortification of the more liberal members of the General Committee of
+the Old South. Colonel Higginson, who had presided at the centennial
+celebration of the same event by the suffragists twenty years before,
+again presided and made the opening address. Other speakers were Mrs.
+Chapman Catt and Wendell Phillips Stafford. Mr. Garrison gave a poem
+and Mr. Blackwell read the speech made by Lucy Stone at the
+celebration in 1873. Letters were read from Senator Hoar, Frederick
+Douglass and others. Governor-elect Frederick T. Greenhalge and Lieut.
+Gov.-elect Roger Wolcott occupied seats on the platform.
+
+This year the Massachusetts W. S. A. had become incorporated. It had
+sent suffrage literature to all the Episcopalian, Unitarian and
+Universalist clergymen in the State, to most of the Methodist
+ministers, to 1,100 public school teachers and to a large number of
+college students. Its president, Lucy Stone, had sent, from her death
+bed, the largest contribution to the Colorado campaign given by any
+individual outside of that State. Its secretary, Mr. Blackwell, had
+attended the National Convention of Republican Clubs at Louisville,
+Ky., and secured the adoption of the following resolution: "We
+recommend to the favorable consideration of the Republican Clubs of
+the United States, as a matter of education, the question of granting
+to the women of the State and nation the right to vote at all
+elections on the same terms and conditions as male citizens."
+
+A thousand copies of William I. Bowditch's Taxation Without
+Representation and George Pellew's Woman and the Commonwealth were
+bound and presented to town and college libraries. Mayor Nathan
+Matthews, Jr., of Boston appointed two women on the Board of Overseers
+of the Poor, despite the strong opposition of the aldermen. He also
+appointed three women members of a commission to investigate and
+report to him upon the condition of public institutions. Toward the
+end of the year he again appointed two women on a similar committee,
+including one of those who served before. The Hon. George S. Hale
+said at the annual suffrage meeting, "Both ladies are admirably
+qualified, and the one who acted last year is declared by all the men
+who served with her to be the most valuable member of the board."
+
+Out of 622 students and professors at Wellesley College, who were
+questioned as to their views on suffrage, 506 declared themselves in
+favor, and 500 of them united in sending a telegram of congratulation
+to the women of Colorado on the passage of the equal suffrage
+amendment this year. (1893.)
+
+At the May Festival 1,000 sat down to the banquet and hundreds
+occupied the balconies. Ex-Governor Long presided. One of the speakers
+was Robert S. Gray, chairman of the Committee on Woman Suffrage in the
+Legislature. In honor of Mrs. Howe's seventy-fifth birthday Mrs. Alice
+J. Harris sang The Battle Hymn of the Republic, the audience joining
+in the chorus.
+
+On June 18 delegates from many labor organizations met in Boston, in
+response to a call from the Boston Workingmen's Political League, and
+decided to act together at the ballot box. Their platform demanded
+universal suffrage irrespective of sex.
+
+Lucy Stone mite-boxes were circulated by the association for funds to
+aid the amendment campaign in Kansas. Mr. Blackwell attended the
+National Convention of Republican Clubs held in Denver. On June 27 it
+reiterated the woman suffrage resolution it had passed the year before
+in Louisville.
+
+On July 24 Woman's Day was celebrated at the Massachusetts Chautauqua
+in South Framingham, with many able speakers. On September 4 Woman's
+Day was observed at the New England Agricultural Fair in Worcester.
+Colonel Needham, its president, made an earnest woman suffrage address
+and was followed by Mrs. Howe, Miss Yates, Mrs. Mary Sargent Hopkins
+and Mr. Blackwell. In December a suffrage fair was held under the
+management of Mrs. Abby M. Davis which cleared about $1,800. On the
+opening night Mrs. Cheney presided and there were addresses by Lady
+Henry Somerset and Miss Frances E. Willard.
+
+This year the association kept the papers supplied with suffrage
+articles more thoroughly than ever before; had speakers present the
+subject to thirty-one women's clubs; furnished literature to the
+legislators, to 5,000 public school teachers, to all the
+Congregational ministers in the State and to many of other
+denominations; and sent 3,782 leaflets to college students and
+graduates.
+
+Governor Greenhalge in his inaugural in 1895, said, "I hold to the
+views expressed in the message of last year as to the extension of
+Municipal Suffrage to women." He also referred to it favorably in an
+address before the New England Women's Press Association, and at the
+Parliament of Man held in Boston.
+
+Mrs. Livermore presided at the annual meeting, January 8, 9. Mrs.
+Helen H. Gardiner and Representative Alfred S. Roe were among the
+speakers. From this time date the Fortnightly Meetings at the suffrage
+headquarters, and these have been held ever since except during the
+summer vacations. They are usually well attended and seldom fail to
+have some speaker of note.
+
+On May 4 Mr. Blackwell's seventieth birthday was celebrated by a
+reception and dinner at Copley Square Hotel, Boston, ex-Governor Long
+presiding. A newspaper said, "The guests on this occasion represented
+the conscience and culture of New England." Addresses were made by
+many of his co-workers,[309] and among those who sent letters were the
+Rev. Samuel May, Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Ainsworth R. Spofford,
+of the Library of Congress, Ex-Governor Claflin, Mrs. J. Ellen Foster,
+the Hon. James L. Hughes, president of the Equal Rights Association of
+Toronto, Professor and Mrs. Carruth of Kansas University, and others.
+On May 14 the golden wedding of the Rev. D. P. and Mrs. Livermore was
+celebrated by a reception in the suffrage parlors. Their daughters,
+son-in-law and grandchildren received with them. In accordance with
+Mrs. Livermore's wish there was no speaking but a great throng of
+distinguished guests, including both suffragists and "antis," were
+present.
+
+At the May Anniversary a reception was given to Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi
+of New York, and Miss Elizabeth Burrill Curtis, daughter of the
+staunch advocate of suffrage, George William Curtis. Mr. Blackwell
+presided at the Festival in Music Hall and 700 sat down to the
+banquet.
+
+Woman suffrage was indorsed by the Garment Makers' Union of Boston,
+with its 400 members. This year a long list of prominent persons
+signed a published statement declaring themselves in favor, all the
+names being collected within about a week. This remarkable list
+included several hundred names, about one-third of men. So far as
+personal achievement goes they were among the most prominent in the
+State and included several presidents of colleges, a large number of
+noted university men, public officials, lawyers, editors, etc. Among
+the women were the president, dean and twenty professors of Wellesley
+College; the director of the Observatory and six instructors of Smith
+College, physicians, lawyers, authors, large taxpayers, and many noted
+for philanthropy.[310]
+
+The association secured a Woman's Day at the New England Chautauqua
+Assembly; brought the question before hundreds at parlor meetings and
+public debates, outside of the many arranged by the Referendum
+Committee; published six leaflets and a volume, The Legal Status of
+Women in Massachusetts, by Mr. Ernst, and distributed an immense
+amount of literature.
+
+Up to this time the anti-suffrage associations organized in
+Massachusetts always had gone to pieces within a short period after
+they were formed. But in May, 1895, the present Association Opposed to
+the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women was organized, with Mrs.
+James M. Codman at its head and Mrs. Charles E. Guild as secretary.
+This was a society composed of women alone. Col. Higginson said in
+_Harper's Bazar_:
+
+     All the ladies move in a limited though most unimpeachable
+     circle. All may be presumed to interchange visiting cards and
+     meet at the same afternoon teas. There is not even a hint that
+     there is any other class to be consulted. Where are the literary
+     women, the artists, the teachers, the business women, the
+     temperance women, the labor reform advocates, the members of the
+     farmers' grange, the clergymen's wives? Compared with this
+     inadequate body how comfortably varied looks the list of the
+     committee in behalf of woman suffrage. [Distinguished names
+     given.] It includes also women who are wholesomely unknown to the
+     world at large but well known in the granges and among the
+     Christian Endeavorers. Can any one doubt which list represents
+     the spirit of the future?
+
+     The more cultivated social class--the "Four Hundred," as the
+     saying is--have an immense value in certain directions. They
+     stand for the social amenities and in many ways for the worthy
+     charities. Generous and noble traditions attach to their names
+     and nowhere more than in Boston. But one thing has in all ages
+     and places been denied to this class--that of leadership in bold
+     reforms.
+
+On November 5 the mock referendum, which had been opposed by many of
+the leading suffragists, was voted on and received a large negative
+majority. (See Legislative Action.)
+
+The State association held its annual convention, Jan. 14, 15, 1896,
+with large audiences. It opened with a Young People's Meeting, Miss
+Blackwell presiding.[311] The Rev. Father Scully and Mrs. Fanny B.
+Ames, State Factory Inspector, were among the many who gave addresses.
+At the business meeting the following resolution on the mock
+referendum was adopted:
+
+     WHEREAS, The returns show that we only need to convert twenty per
+     cent. of the male voters in order to have a majority; and
+
+     WHEREAS, Public sentiment is growing rapidly and grows faster the
+     more the subject is discussed; therefore,
+
+     _Resolved_, That we petition the Legislature to give us a real
+     instead of a sham referendum, by submitting to the voters a
+     constitutional amendment enfranchising women.
+
+The president, Mrs. Livermore, was made a Doctor of Laws by Tufts
+College and was given a great birthday reception by her
+fellow-townsmen, with addresses by Mrs. Susan S. Fessenden and Mr.
+Blackwell and a poem by Hezekiah Butterworth.
+
+The May Festival also opened with a Young People's Meeting, Mrs. Howe
+as "grandmother" introducing the speakers.[312] Mr. Garrison presided
+at the Festival and the speakers included Alfred Webb, M. P., of
+Dublin, the Rev. Dean Hodges, of the Episcopal Theological School,
+Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Stetson and Prof. Ellen Hayes of Wellesley.
+
+A series of meetings was held this year in Berkshire County. Mrs. Mary
+Clarke Smith was kept in the field as State organizer for seven
+months. A speaker was sent free of charge to every woman's club or
+other society willing to hear the suffrage question presented; 13,000
+pages of literature were distributed. On October 27 the State Baptist
+Young People's Union at its anniversary indorsed woman suffrage. In
+December a rousing meeting was held in Canton, Congressman Elijah
+Morse presiding, with Mrs. Livermore and Miss Yates as speakers.
+
+Among the deaths of the year was that of Frederick T. Greenhalge--the
+latest of a long line of Massachusetts governors who have advocated
+woman suffrage since 1870--Governors Claflin, Washburn, Talbot,
+Brackett, Long, Butler and Ames.
+
+At the annual meeting, in 1897, the speakers included the Rev. George
+L. Perin and Augusta Chapin, D. D. As the laws were about to be
+revised and codified it was decided to ask for an equalization of
+those bearing on domestic relations. The _Women's Journal_ noted that
+never before had so many petitions for suffrage been sent in within so
+short a time. On February 16 the association gave a large and
+brilliant reception at the Vendome to Miss Jane Addams of Chicago.
+Col. Higginson presided, and Miss Addams, Mrs. Howe and Mrs. Livermore
+spoke. On April 17 a reception was given in the suffrage parlors to
+Mrs. Harriet Tubman, the colored woman so noted in anti-slavery days
+for her assistance to fugitive slaves, Mrs. Ednah D. Cheney assisting.
+
+Mr. Blackwell presided at the Festival, May 27, and eloquent addresses
+were made by the Rev. Dr. George C. Lorimer, Lieutenant-Governor John
+L. Bates, Mrs. Florence Howe Hall and many others, while letters of
+greeting were read from Lady Henry Somerset and Mrs. Millicent Garrett
+Fawcett of England. It was Mrs. Howe's seventy-eighth birthday and she
+was received with cheers and presented with flowers.
+
+On July 29 the annual meeting of the Berkshire Historical and
+Scientific Society, held at Adams, was "a woman suffrage convention
+from end to end," with Miss Susan B. Anthony as the guest of honor in
+her native town. Her friends and relatives from all parts of the
+country were present and addresses were made by the vice-president of
+the society, the Rev. A. B. Whipple, by Miss Shaw, Mrs. Chapman Catt,
+Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery, Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton and Miss
+Blackwell, officers of the National Suffrage Association, and by Mrs.
+May Wright Sewall, vice-president of the International Council of
+Women, Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby, editor of the _Woman's Tribune_ and
+Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, Miss Anthony's biographer.
+
+The Prohibition State Convention in September resolved that
+"educational qualifications and not sex should be the test of the
+elective franchise." The next year it adopted a woman suffrage plank.
+
+In December the association held a bazar under the management of Miss
+Harriet E. Turner which cleared $3,200. During the year the usual
+large amount of educational work was done, which included 1,024
+suffrage articles furnished to 230 newspapers, and the holding of 176
+public meetings. The New England Historical and Genealogical Society
+voted unanimously to admit women to membership. Strong efforts were
+made to have the Boston school board elect several eminently qualified
+women as submasters, but sex prejudice defeated them.
+
+The Anti-Suffrage Association published an anonymous pamphlet entitled
+Tested by its Fruits. The Massachusetts W. S. A. published a
+counter-pamphlet by Chief-Justice Groesbeck of Wyoming, who testified
+that some of the laws which it represented as then in force had been
+repealed many years before, and that upon some "an absurd
+construction" had been placed.
+
+The convention of Jan. 26, 1898, was addressed by J. M. Robertson of
+England. At the May Festival in Hotel Brunswick, the Hon. Hugh H. Lusk
+of New Zealand gave an address, and the occasion was made noteworthy
+by bright speeches from young women--Mrs. Helen Adelaide Shaw, Miss
+Maud Wood (Park) of Radcliffe and Miss Hanscom of Boston University
+and Smith College. Several members of the Legislature spoke and
+reports were received from all the New England States.
+
+Woman's Day was celebrated at the Mechanics' Fair in Boston. This year
+the association began to issue a monthly letter to the local leagues.
+As an addition to the literature, Secretary-of-the-Navy John D. Long's
+suffrage address with his portrait was issued as a handsome pamphlet.
+In response to an appeal from the president, Mrs. Livermore (so well
+known through the Sanitary Commission during the Civil War), $500 and
+many boxes of supplies were sent to the soldiers in the
+Spanish-American War, and the secretary of the State association,
+Mrs. Ellie A. Hilt, literally worked herself to death in this service.
+
+The usual meetings were held in 1899 and 1900 and the same great
+amount of work was done. To increase the school vote of women in 1899
+thirty-eight public meetings were held by the association, with the
+result that in Boston 3,000 new names were added to the registration
+list. In 1900 the association contributed liberally to the suffrage
+campaign in Oregon. A large and brilliant reception was given at the
+Hotel Vendome in honor of Mrs. Livermore's 80th birthday.
+
+Presidents of the State association since 1883 have been the Hon.
+William I. Bowditch (1878) to 1891; Mrs. Julia Ward Howe to 1893; Mrs.
+Lucy Stone elected that year but died in October; Mrs. Mary A.
+Livermore, 1893 and still in office. Henry B. Blackwell has been
+corresponding secretary over thirty years.[313]
+
+The first president of the New England association was Mrs. Howe. In
+1877 Mrs. Lucy Stone was elected, and at her death in 1893 Mrs. Howe
+was again chosen and is still serving.[314]
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION:[315] The first petition for the rights of women
+was presented to the Legislature by William Lloyd Garrison in 1849. In
+1853 Lucy Stone, Theodore Parker, Wendell Phillips and Thomas
+Wentworth Higginson went before the constitutional convention held in
+the State House, with a petition signed by 2,000 names, and pleaded
+for an amendment conferring suffrage on women.
+
+The first appearance of a woman in this State before a legislative
+committee was made in 1857, when Lucy Stone, with the Rev. James
+Freeman Clarke and Mr. Phillips, addressed the House Judiciary asking
+suffrage for women and equal property rights for wives. The next year
+Samuel E. Sewall and Dr. Harriot K. Hunt were granted a similar
+hearing. In 1869, through the efforts of the New England Suffrage
+Association, two hearings were secured to present the claims of 8,000
+women who had petitioned for the franchise on the same terms as men.
+This was the beginning of annual hearings on this question, which have
+been continued without intermission for over thirty years. Henry B.
+Blackwell has spoken at every hearing and Lucy Stone at every one
+until her death.
+
+_1884_--Petitions were presented for Municipal Suffrage, for the
+appointment of police matrons; also for laws permitting husbands and
+wives to contract with each other and make gifts directly to each
+other; allowing a woman to hold any office to which she might be
+elected or appointed; and requiring that a certain number of women
+should be appointed on Boards of Overseers of the Poor, on State
+Boards of Charities and as physicians in the women's wards of insane
+asylums. Hearings were given on most of these petitions. At that of
+January 25 for Municipal Suffrage the speakers were William I.
+Bowditch, Mrs. Stone, Mr. Blackwell, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, Mrs. Ednah
+D. Cheney, the Rev. J. W. and Mrs. Jennie F. Bashford, Mary F.
+Eastman, Mrs. H. H. Robinson, Mrs. Harriette Robinson Shattuck and
+Miss Nancy Covell.
+
+On January 29 a hearing was given to the remonstrants conducted by
+Thornton K. Lothrop. The speakers were Francis Parkman (whose paper
+was read for him by Mr. Lothrop) Louis B. Brandeis, Mrs. Kate Gannett
+Wells, William H. Sayward, Mrs. Lydia Warner and George C. Crocker. A
+letter was read from Mrs. Clara T. Leonard. Mr. Parkman asserted that
+the suffragists "have thrown to the wind every political, not to say
+every moral principle;" that "three-fourths of the agitators are in
+mutiny against Providence because it made them women;" and that "if
+the ballot were granted to women it would be a burden so crushing that
+life would be a misery."
+
+This year 315 petitions for suffrage with 21,608 signatures were
+presented. The remonstrants who set out with the avowed intention of
+getting more secured about 3,000. A number of persons who signed the
+anti-suffrage petition in Boston published letters afterwards over
+their own names and addresses saying that they had signed without
+reading, upon the assurance of the canvasser employed by the
+remonstrants that it was a petition to permit women to vote on the
+question of liquor license.
+
+In the House Municipal Suffrage was discussed March 12, 13, and
+finally was defeated by 61 yeas, 155 nays. A bill to let women vote on
+the license question, which had not been asked for by the suffrage
+association, was voted down without a count.
+
+A law was enacted requiring two women trustees on the board of every
+State lunatic hospital, and one woman physician in each. Samuel E.
+Sewall, Frank B. Sanborn, Mr. Blackwell and Miss Mary A. Brigham had
+been the speakers at the hearing in behalf of this measure. All the
+other petitions were refused.
+
+_1885_--On Municipal Suffrage and the submission of a constitutional
+amendment a hearing was given February 17. As usual the Green Room was
+crowded. There were before the committee petitions for suffrage with
+16,113 signatures, and petitions against it with 285. The speakers in
+favor were the Rev. James Freeman Clarke, Mrs. Cheney, Lucy Stone, Mr.
+Blackwell, Mr. Bowditch, William Lloyd Garrison, Jr., Miss Eastman,
+Mrs. Adelaide A. Claflin, Mrs. Abby M. Gannett and Miss Lelia J.
+Robinson. The opposition was conducted by Mr. Brandeis and the
+speakers were Judge Francis C. Lowell, Mrs. Gannett Wells, Thomas
+Weston, Jr., Henry Parkman and the Rev. Brooke Hereford, lately from
+England, with letters from President L. Clark Seelye of Smith College,
+Miss Mary E. Dewey and Mr. Sayward. The committee reported in favor of
+Municipal Suffrage with only one dissenting. The House on May 4
+rejected the bill by 61 yeas, 131 nays.
+
+While the women sat in the gallery waiting for the measure to be
+discussed, the bill proposing to limit the working day for women and
+children to ten hours was "guyed, laughed at and voted down amid
+ridicule and uproar." This Legislature also refused the petition of
+Mr. Sewall and others for one or more women on every Board of
+Overseers of the Poor; for the better protection of wives; for the
+submission of a constitutional amendment granting women full suffrage;
+and for the amendment of the school suffrage law to make it as easy
+for women as for men to register. (See Suffrage.)
+
+_1886_--At the hearing, January 28, a letter was read from the Hon.
+Josiah G. Abbott, and addresses were made by Mr. Garrison, Lucy Stone,
+Mr. Blackwell, Mrs. Cheney, Mrs. Eliza Trask Hill, the Rev. Ada C.
+Bowles, Mrs. Shattuck, Mrs. Robinson, Miss Eastman and Mrs. Claflin.
+The remonstrants' hearing had been appointed for January 29. Their
+attorney, E. N. Hill, tried at the last moment to get a postponement
+but failed. The leaders of the "antis" declined to speak but several
+of the rank and file appeared and made the usual objections. The
+committee reported in favor of Municipal Suffrage. It was discussed in
+the House April 14, about the same number speaking on each side, and
+defeated by 77 yeas, 132 nays, the most favorable vote since 1879.
+
+On May 20, before the Senate Judiciary Committee, representatives of
+the suffrage association and other societies had a hearing in behalf
+of bills to raise the "age of protection" and to provide adequate
+penalties for seduction, but no action was taken.
+
+_1887_--On January 6 Governor Oliver Ames, in his inaugural address to
+the Legislature, said, "I earnestly recommend, as a measure of simple
+justice, the enactment of a law securing Municipal Suffrage to women."
+The suffrage petitions this year had 5,741 signatures, the remonstrant
+petitions 81. On February 2 it was ordered in the House, on motion of
+Josiah Quincy, that the Committee on Woman Suffrage consider the
+expediency of submitting the question of Municipal Suffrage to the
+women of the different cities and towns, the right to be given to them
+in any city or town where the majority of those who voted on the
+question should vote in favor; or where a number of women should
+petition for it equal to a majority of the number of men who voted at
+the last annual municipal or town election; or where a majority vote
+of the men should be given for it at the annual election.
+
+On motion of Mr. Quincy an order for legislation to equalize the
+interest of husbands and wives in each other's property had been
+previously introduced but was lost.
+
+On February 9 a hearing was given to the petitioners. The speakers
+were the same as the previous year with the addition of Col. T. W.
+Higginson. Mr. Blackwell presented two letters in favor of the bill,
+one addressed to Republicans, one to Democrats.[316] Clement K. Fay
+spoke for the remonstrants.
+
+The committee reported in favor of Municipal Suffrage, two dissenting.
+It was discussed in the House March 3 and 10. Mr. Bailey of Everett
+offered an amendment that the provisions of the bill be tried for ten
+years, but it was not put to a vote. The bill was lost by 86 yeas, 122
+nays, including pairs.
+
+A bill to let women vote on the license question passed the House by
+116 yeas to 88 nays, including pairs, but was defeated in the Senate,
+24 yeas, 13 nays.
+
+The bill was passed providing for police matrons in all cities of
+30,000 or more inhabitants.
+
+_1888_--The Legislature was asked for Municipal and Presidential
+Suffrage and for the submission of a constitutional amendment; also
+for various improvements in the laws relating to women. The Woman's
+Christian Temperance Union petitioned for License Suffrage. Several
+thousand women signed the petition and one hundred the remonstrance.
+On January 25 a hearing was given on the petitions for Municipal and
+License Suffrage. Mr. Bowditch, Lucy Stone, Mr. Blackwell, Mrs. Howe
+and Mrs. Cheney spoke for Municipal Suffrage and Miss Elizabeth S.
+Tobey for License Suffrage. Mr. Brandeis made an argument as attorney
+for the remonstrants. Charles Carleton Coffin, A. A. Miner, D. D.,
+Mrs. Claflin, the Rev. Ada C. Bowles and Miss Cora Scott Pond replied
+for the petitioners.
+
+On February 20 and 25 hearings were given on the petitions for six
+bills drawn by Mr. Sewall: 1. To give mothers the equal care, custody
+and education of their minor children. 2. To give married women a
+right to appoint guardians for their minor children by will. 3. To
+repeal the act of 1887 limiting the inheritance of personal property.
+4. To regulate and equalize the descent of personal property between
+husband and wife. 5. To equalize curtesy and dower and the descent of
+real estate between husband and wife. 6. To enable husbands and wives
+to make gifts, contracts and conveyances directly with one another,
+and to authorize suits between them.
+
+Addresses in support of the petitions were made by Mr. Sewall, Mrs.
+Howe, Mrs. Stone, Mr. Blackwell, the Hon. George A. O. Ernst, Miss
+Robinson, George H. Fall and others. All these measures were refused.
+Several new statutes for the better protection of women were passed
+this year, however, at the instance of Mr. Sewall, among them one
+providing severe penalties for any person who should aid in sending a
+woman as inmate or servant to a house of ill fame; one prohibiting
+railroads from requiring women or children to ride in smoking cars;
+one providing that women arrested should be placed in charge of police
+matrons.
+
+On April 23 Municipal Suffrage was defeated in the House, 50 yeas, 121
+nays. License Suffrage, after a prolonged contest, passed by 118 yeas,
+110 nays, and was defeated in the Senate, 20 yeas, 19 nays.
+
+_1889_--At the hearing of January 31 the attendance was larger than
+ever before. Prof. W. H. Carruth, Franklyn Howland and the Rev. J. W.
+Hamilton (afterwards Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church) were
+added to the usual list of speakers.
+
+On February 4 a hearing was granted to the W. C. T. U. for Municipal
+Suffrage, and on February 8 one was given to the remonstrants. The
+Hon. John M. Ropes, the Rev. Charles B. Rice, the Rev. Dr. Dexter of
+the _Congregationalist_ and Arthur Lord spoke in the negative. They
+said they were employed as counsel by the remonstrants, whose names
+and numbers they declined to give. As Mr. Lord was unable to complete
+his argument in the allotted time, at his request a further hearing
+was granted on February 11. Extracts were read from letters by Mrs.
+Clara T. Leonard and Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney.[317] Mrs. Howe, Lucy
+Stone, Mr. Blackwell, Col. L. Edwin Dudley and Miss Tobey replied.
+Chester W. Kingsley, chairman of the legislative committee, said that
+as no petitions against suffrage had been sent in he would ask all the
+remonstrants present to rise. Not a person rose, but the men standing
+in the aisles tried to sit down. Mr. Lord suggested that the
+remonstrants were averse to notoriety, whereupon Senator Kingsley
+asked all in favor to rise, and the great audience rose in a body.
+
+Among the petitions sent in this year for Municipal Suffrage was one
+signed by President Helen A. Shafer of Wellesley College, a number of
+the professors and about seventy students who were over twenty-one.
+The committee reported in favor of both Municipal and License
+Suffrage. The former was discussed March 12 and lost by a vote,
+including pairs, of 90 yeas, 139 nays. The _Woman's Journal_ said:
+"Although not a majority, the weight of character, talent and
+experience was overwhelmingly in favor of the bill, as is shown by the
+fact that _the chairmen of thirty of the House Committees_, out of a
+total of forty-one, were recorded in its favor."
+
+License Suffrage passed the Senate, 15 yeas, 12 nays, after a long
+fight, and was defeated in the House, 101 yeas, 42 nays.
+
+_1890_--Suffrage petitions were presented and also petitions asking
+that fathers and mothers be made equal guardians of their children;
+that contracts between husbands and wives be legally valid; and that a
+widow be allowed to stay more than forty days in the house of her
+deceased husband without paying rent. All these were refused.
+
+On March 12 a hearing was given to the petitioners for suffrage. Mrs.
+Stone, Mr. Blackwell, the Rev. J. W. Hamilton, Mrs. Ellen B. Dietrick,
+the Rev. Frederick A. Hinckley, Mr. Crane of Woburn and Miss Alice
+Stone Blackwell spoke in behalf of the W. S. A., and Mrs. Susan S.
+Fessenden, Mrs. Amelia C. Thorpe and Miss Tobey in behalf of the W. C.
+T. U. Mr. Ropes, Dr. A. P. Peabody and J. B. Wiggin spoke against
+woman suffrage. Mr. Lord asked that the hearing be extended for
+another day, as he wished to speak in behalf of the remonstrants,
+although no petitions had been sent in. Mr. Blackwell requested the
+chairman of the committee to ask Mr. Lord to state definitely whom he
+represented. The chairman answered that if he did not choose to tell
+he could not compel him. On March 19 a hearing was given to Mr. Lord,
+who spoke for more than an hour. The usual distinguished suffrage
+advocates spoke in answer.
+
+On April 8 seventy-nine Republican Representatives met at the Parker
+House, Boston, in response to an invitation from the Republican
+members of the House Committee on Woman Suffrage. Ex-Gov. John D. Long
+presided. Addresses were made by Mr. Long, U. S. Collector Beard,
+Mayor Thomas N. Hart of Boston, the Hon. Albert E. Pillsbury,
+ex-president of the Senate, ex-Governor Claflin and State Treasurer
+George E. Marden. Letters were read from the Hon. W. W. Crapo and
+ex-Governor Ames. The following was unanimously adopted:
+
+     _Resolved_, That it is the duty of the Republican party of
+     Massachusetts forthwith to extend Municipal Suffrage to the women
+     of the commonwealth.
+
+On April 17, after extended discussion in the House, the bill was
+lost, including pairs, by 73 yeas, 141 nays. The same Legislature
+defeated a proposal to disfranchise for a term of three years men
+convicted of infamous crimes, and it voted to admit to suffrage men
+who did not pay their poll-tax.
+
+_1891_--On February 4 a hearing was granted to the petitioners for
+Municipal Suffrage, conducted by Mr. Blackwell for the association, by
+Mrs. Fessenden for the W. C. T. U. To the usual speakers for the
+former were added Mrs. Helen Campbell, the Rev. Charles G. Ames, and
+also the Rev. Daniel Whitney, who had advocated woman suffrage in the
+Massachusetts constitutional convention of 1853 and now celebrated his
+eighty-first birthday by supporting it again. The speakers for the W.
+C. T. U. were the Rev. Joseph Cook, Mrs. Thorpe, President Elmer
+Hewitt Capen of Tufts College, Mrs. Katherine Lente Stevenson and
+others. Mrs. Martha Moore Avery spoke for the labor reformers. No
+remonstrants appeared.
+
+In the Senate, March 31, Senators Gilman, Nutter and Breed spoke for
+Municipal Suffrage, and no one in the negative. The bill was lost by a
+vote, including pairs, of 12 yeas, 25 nays.
+
+This year a bill was passed requiring the appointment of women as
+factory inspectors, and two were appointed.
+
+_1892_--The suffrage association petitioned for Municipal and Full
+Suffrage, also for equal property rights for women. The W. C. T. U.
+for Municipal and License Suffrage, and both societies for legislation
+granting women equal facilities with men in registering to vote for
+school committee. On March 2 a hearing was given by the Committee on
+Election Laws on an order introduced by Senator Gorham D. Gilman to
+remove the poll-tax prerequisite for women's school vote, as it had
+been removed from men. Bills to secure for them a more just and
+liberal method of registration, drafted by ex-Governor Long and Mr.
+Blackwell, were submitted. Addresses were made by these two, Senator
+Gilman, Mrs. Cheney, Dr. Salome Merritt, Mrs. Brockway and others.
+
+On February 19 a hearing was given on the suffrage petitions which
+were advocated by Senator Gilman, Colonel Dudley, Mrs. Howe, Lucy
+Stone, Mr. Blackwell, the Hon. George S. Hale, Mrs. Trask Hill and
+others. No remonstrants appeared. On March 14 the hearing for the W.
+C. T. U. was held with many prominent advocates.
+
+License Suffrage was discussed in the House April 27, and on a _viva
+voce_ vote was declared carried, but on a roll call was defeated, 93
+yeas, 96 nays. A reconsideration was moved next day and the advocates
+of the bill secured twenty-three additional votes, but the opponents
+also increased their vote and the motion was refused. Out of the 240
+members 117 recorded themselves in favor of the bill. Municipal
+Suffrage was voted down in the Senate May 2, without debate, by 10
+yeas, 22 nays.
+
+The poll-tax was abolished as a prerequisite for voting in the case of
+women. This had been done in the case of men in 1890. A bill to permit
+a wife to bring an action against her husband, at law or in equity,
+for any matter relating to her separate property or estate passed the
+House but was defeated in the Senate. The Senate Judiciary Committee
+reported against legislation to enable a woman to be appointed a
+justice of the peace.
+
+_1893_--This year for the first time the State W. S. A., the National
+W. S. A. of Massachusetts, the W. C. T. U., the Independent Women
+Voters and the Loyal Women of American Liberty all united in
+petitioning for a single measure, Municipal Suffrage. The hearing at
+the State House on February 1 was conducted by Mr. Blackwell.
+Addresses were made by Lucy Stone,[318] Mrs. Howe, Mrs. Mary A.
+Livermore, Mrs. Stevenson, the Rev. Louis A. Banks, Mayor Elihu B.
+Hayes of Lynn, Mrs. A. J. Gordon, Mrs. Trask Hill, Mrs. A. P.
+Dickerman, Mrs. Fiske of St. Johns, N. B., Amos Beckford, George E.
+Lothrop, Mrs. M. E. S. Cheney and Miss Blackwell. Mrs. M. E. Tucker
+Faunce was the sole remonstrant.
+
+The committee reported in favor of the petitioners, 7 yeas, 4 nays.
+The question was debated in the Legislature February 21. Every inch of
+space was crowded, the first three rows of the men's gallery were
+allowed on this occasion to be occupied by women and even then many
+stood. On motion of Representative White of Brookline an amendment was
+adopted by 110 yeas, 90 nays, providing that Municipal Suffrage should
+be granted conditionally; the question be submitted to a vote of the
+men and women of the State, and the measure to go into effect only in
+case the majority of those voting on it voted in favor. The bill as
+amended was then defeated by 111 yeas, 101 nays, almost every opponent
+of suffrage voting against it. They thus virtually declared that they
+were not willing women should have Municipal Suffrage even if the
+majority of both men and women could be shown to favor it. The adverse
+majority this year was ten votes; the smallest in any previous year
+had been 49.
+
+_1894_--Gov. Frederick T. Greenhalge, in his inaugural message to the
+Legislature, strongly urged that it should consider the extension of
+Municipal Suffrage to women.
+
+On January 18 a hearing was given by the Joint Special Committee. No
+remonstrant petitions had been sent in. The chairman invited alternate
+speeches from suffragists and opponents, but only one of the latter
+presented himself, J. Otis Wardwell of Haverhill, who said:
+
+     I appear here this morning for a lady who, I understand, has
+     occupied a position as chairman or secretary of an organization
+     that has for some time been an active opponent of woman suffrage.
+
+     _Mr. Blackwell_--May I inquire what the organization is that the
+     gentleman refers to? We have never been able to find out much
+     about this organization against woman suffrage. We hear that
+     there is one, but if so it is a secret society. What is the name
+     of it?
+
+     MR. WARDWELL--I do not know the name of it, sir. [Laughter.]
+
+When pressed for the name of the lady at whose request he appeared he
+finally acknowledged that it was Mrs. C. D. Homans of Boston. It was
+afterwards reported that she was extremely indignant with him for
+having disclosed her name.
+
+Addresses in favor of suffrage were made by Mrs. Howe, Mrs. Livermore,
+Mr. Ernst, Mr. Garrison, Mr. and Miss Blackwell, for the State W. S.
+A.; by Mrs. Cheney, president, for the State School Suffrage
+Association; by Dr. Salome Merritt and Miss Charlotte Lobdell for the
+National W. S. A. of Massachusetts; by Willard Howland, Mrs. Gleason
+and others for the W. C. T. U.; by Mrs. Trask Hill for the Independent
+Women Voters; and by Mrs. Avery for the labor element; also by Miss
+Catherine Spence of Australia, Mrs. Emily A. Fifield of the Boston
+school board, and others. Henry H. Faxon added a few words.
+
+A second hearing was given January 19, at which Mrs. Fessenden and
+twelve other speakers represented the W. C. T. U. No remonstrants
+appeared. At the request of a member of the Joint Special Committee a
+third hearing was given on January 29. The Rev. Dr. Hamilton, Mrs. L.
+A. Morrison, Mrs. Trask Hill and others spoke in favor of suffrage,
+and Jeremiah J. Donovan against it. The committee made a majority
+report against Municipal Suffrage and a minority report in favor.
+
+On January 31 Arthur S. Kneil offered an amendment providing that the
+question should be submitted to the men and women of the State, and
+that the act should take effect only if a majority of the votes cast
+on the proposition were in favor. Wm. H. Burges wanted it submitted to
+the men only. A second amendment proposed to lay the whole matter on
+the table till the opinion of the Supreme Court could be taken on the
+constitutionality of Mr. Kneil's amendment. On February 1 there was a
+spirited discussion but finally both amendments were defeated, and
+the minority report in favor of the bill was substituted for the
+adverse majority report by a vote of 104 yeas, 90 nays.
+
+On February 2 Senator Arthur H. Wellman urged the adoption of his
+order that the Justices of the Supreme Court should be required to
+give their opinion to the House on three questions:
+
+     1. Is it constitutional, in an act granting to women the right to
+     vote in town and city elections, to provide that such act shall
+     take effect throughout the commonwealth upon its acceptance by a
+     majority of the voters of the commonwealth?
+
+     2. Is it constitutional to provide in such an act that it shall
+     take effect in a city or town upon its acceptance by a majority
+     of the voters of such city or town?
+
+     3. Is it constitutional to provide that such an act shall take
+     effect throughout the commonwealth upon its acceptance by a
+     majority of the voters of the commonwealth, including women
+     specially authorized to register and vote upon this question?
+
+Alfred S. Roe and the other leading advocates of Municipal Suffrage
+withdrew their opposition to the order, saying that they preferred the
+bill as it stood, but that if amendments were to be added to it at any
+subsequent stage it would be well to know whether they were
+constitutional. The order was adopted.
+
+On March 3 four Justices of the Supreme Court--Field, Allen, Morton
+and Lathrop--answered "No" to all three questions. Justices Holmes and
+Barker answered "Yes" to all three; and Justice Knowlton answered "No"
+to the first and third and "Yes" to the second. These opinions were
+published in full in the _Woman's Journal_ of March 10, 1894.
+
+On March 14 Municipal Suffrage was discussed in open session. An
+amendment was offered to limit the right to taxpaying women and a
+substitute bill to allow women to vote at one election only. The
+latter was offered by Richard J. Hayes of Boston, who said, "You would
+see the lowest women literally driven to the polls by thousands by
+mercenary politicians. The object lesson would settle the question
+forever." The amendment and the substitute were lost and the bill was
+passed to its third reading by a vote, including pairs, of 122 yeas,
+106 nays.
+
+On March 29 the galleries were crowded with women. Richard Sullivan of
+Boston offered an additional section that the question be submitted to
+the men at the November election for an expression of opinion. This
+was adopted by 109 yeas, 93 nays. The bill to grant women Municipal
+Suffrage at once, irrespective of what the expression of opinion in
+November might be, was then passed to be engrossed, by a vote,
+including pairs, of 118 yeas, 107 nays. A motion to reconsider was
+voted down.
+
+On April 5 the bill came up in the Senate. Floor and galleries were
+crowded and hundreds were turned away. Senator William B. Lawrence of
+Medford, a distiller, offered as a substitute for the bill a proposal
+to submit the question to the men at the November election for an
+expression of opinion as a guide to action by the next Legislature. He
+said it was absurd to grant women the suffrage first and call for an
+expression of opinion by the men afterward. The vote on the substitute
+was a tie, 19 yeas, 19 nays. To relieve the president of the Senate
+from the necessity of voting Senator John F. Fitzgerald changed his
+vote, but Senator Butler declined to be so relieved and gave his
+casting vote against the substitute. The bill for Municipal Suffrage
+was then defeated by 14 yeas, 24 nays.
+
+The Boston _Herald_, of April 9, had an editorial entitled Liquor and
+Woman Suffrage, expressing satisfaction in the defeat of the bill but
+emphatic disapproval of the corrupt methods used against it in the
+Senate. A majority of the Senators had promised to vote for it but the
+Liquor Dealer's Association raised a large sum of money to accomplish
+its defeat, a persistent lobby worked against it and several Senators
+changed front. The _Herald_ plainly intimated that the result was due
+to bribery.
+
+The credit of the unusually good vote in the House in 1893 and '94 was
+largely due to Representative Alfred S. Roe of Worcester, an able
+member, highly esteemed and very popular, who worked for the bill with
+the utmost zeal and perseverance.
+
+There were petitions this year from many different organizations
+representing a vast aggregate membership. On June 9 a bill to allow
+women to be notaries public was defeated in the Senate by 10 yeas, 12
+nays.
+
+_1895._--On January 30 a great hearing was held in old
+Representatives' Hall at the State House, with floor, aisles and
+galleries crowded to the utmost capacity. Senator Alpheus M. Eldridge
+presided and Mrs. Livermore, as president of the State Association,
+conducted the hearing for the five organizations that appeared as
+petitioners. Addresses were made by Lady Henry Somerset, Mrs. Howe,
+Mr. Blackwell, Profs. Hayes and Webster of Wellesley College, Mrs.
+Fessenden, Mrs. Trask Hill, Mrs. Emily McLaughlin, Mrs. Boland, John
+Dean, F. C. Nash, Frank H. Foster, chairman of the legislative
+committee of the American Federation of Labor for Massachusetts, James
+F. Norton, the representative of 10,000 Good Templars.
+
+No opposing petitions had been sent in but Thomas Russell appeared as
+attorney for the remonstrants and said: "Believing as they do that the
+proper place for women is not in public urging or remonstrating
+against legislation before public gatherings, but rather in the home,
+the hospital, the school, the public institution where sin and
+suffering are to be found and to be alleviated, they have not
+themselves appeared before you"--but had sent him.[319] Representative
+Roe said that the lawyer who had spoken for the remonstrants at the
+hearing of 1894 had received $500 for his services, and asked Mr.
+Russell if he appeared in the same capacity. He answered that no
+compensation had been promised him, and that he did not mean to accept
+any. He added: "I represent no organization, anything more than an
+informal gathering of ladies, and as for the numbers I can not state.
+But I do not come here basing my claim to be heard on the numbers of
+those who have asked me to appear. It is the justice of the cause
+which I speak upon that entitles me to a hearing, as it would if there
+were no one but myself."
+
+Later twelve remonstrances were sent in, signed by 748 women. For
+suffrage there were 210 petitions from 186 towns and cities
+representing 133,111 individuals, men and women.
+
+The opposition, alarmed by the large affirmative vote of 1894, this
+year put forth unprecedented efforts. Daily papers were paid for
+publishing voluminous letters against suffrage--sometimes of four
+columns--and an active and unscrupulous lobby worked against the bill.
+For the first time in history an anti-suffrage association was formed
+within the Legislature itself. Representatives Dallinger, Humphrey,
+Bancroft of Clinton, Eddy of New Bedford, and others, organized
+themselves into a society, elected a chairman and secretary and
+worked strenuously and systematically, making a thorough canvass of
+the House and pledging as many members as possible to vote "No."
+
+The suffragists made the mistake of devoting their attention mainly to
+the Senate, where it was expected that the bill would come up first,
+and where it was believed that the main difficulty would be, but on
+March 5 the Municipal Suffrage Bill was brought up in the House. Every
+inch of space was crowded with spectators. After much discussion the
+bill was defeated by 137 yeas, 97 nays.
+
+On March 13 a bill to raise the "age of protection" for girls from 16
+to 18 years was defeated by 108 yeas, 55 nays.
+
+On May 17 Senator Wellman's bill for a "mock referendum" was adopted
+by the Legislature. It proposed to take a vote of the men and women of
+the State on the question "Is it expedient that Municipal Suffrage
+should be extended to women?"
+
+THE MOCK REFERENDUM: This is called by the advocates of equal rights a
+"mock referendum" because it was to have no legal validity and was to
+give the women nothing even if it should be carried in their favor.
+The _Woman's Journal_ said:
+
+     Two years ago an amendment was added to the Municipal Suffrage
+     Bill providing that it should become law when ratified by a vote
+     of the majority of the men and women of the State. Nearly every
+     opponent in the House voted against the bill after that amendment
+     had been incorporated, showing clearly that they were not willing
+     to let women have suffrage even if a majority of the men and
+     women of the State should vote for it. It was then believed that
+     such action would be constitutional. The Supreme Court afterwards
+     gave its opinion that Municipal Suffrage could not be extended by
+     a popular vote of either the men or the women, or both, but must
+     be extended, if at all, by the Legislature. Following that
+     decision, the opponents have become clamorous for a popular vote.
+
+The suffragists, who, beginning in 1869, had petitioned year after
+year for the submission to the voters of a legal and straightforward
+constitutional amendment, which would give women the ballot if the
+majority voted for it, were disgusted with this sham substitution.
+Mrs. Livermore, the State president, declared that she would neither
+take part in the mock vote herself nor advise others to do so. This
+feeling was so general that at the last meeting of the executive
+committee of the W. S. A. for the season, in June, it was found
+impossible even to pass a resolution recommending those men and women
+who favored equal suffrage to go to the polls and say so.
+
+A number of individual suffragists, however, believed that advantage
+should be taken of the chance to make an educational campaign and, as
+the _Woman's Journal_ of June 8 said, "to use the opportunity for what
+it is worth as a means of agitation." Therefore a Suffrage Referendum
+State Committee was formed of more than fifty prominent men and women,
+including U. S. Senator Hoar, ex-Governor Long, the Hon. J. Q. A.
+Brackett, Mrs. Howe, Mrs. Livermore, Mrs. Fannie B. Ames, Mrs.
+Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward, the editors of the _Woman's Journal_ and
+others. Mrs. Mary Clarke Smith was employed as organizer, beginning
+July 10, and as good a campaign was made as the circumstances
+permitted. By the time the executive committee reassembled in October,
+every one had become convinced of the wisdom of this course, and the
+State Suffrage Association and the Referendum Committee worked hand in
+hand during the last few weeks before election. It was a disadvantage
+that the bill for the "mock referendum" was passed just before people
+went away for the summer, and that the vote was to be taken soon after
+they came back in the fall; nevertheless, a spirited campaign was
+made, a large number of meetings and rallies were held and a great
+quantity of literature was distributed.
+
+About six weeks before election a Man Suffrage Association was formed
+with Francis C. Lowell as chairman, Thomas Russell as treasurer and
+Charles R. Saunders as salaried secretary.[320] This society was
+composed wholly of men. It sent out an enormous number of circulars
+and other documents, spent money like water, enlisted active political
+workers, utilized to a considerable extent the party "machines," and
+as far as possible secured a committee of men to work at each polling
+place on election day and roll up a large negative vote of men. It
+contained a number of influential politicians who displayed much skill
+in their tactics. They published a manifesto against equal rights
+signed by one hundred prominent men. The _Woman's Journal_, which
+printed this document on October 19, said:
+
+     In the main the protest represents merely money and social
+     position. There are half-a-dozen names on it which it is a pity
+     and a shame to see there. All the rest were to be expected. They
+     are men whose opinion would be of weight on questions of stocks
+     and bonds, but whose opinion on questions of moral reform has
+     only a minus value.... Its signers have pilloried themselves for
+     posterity. It is regarded as discourteous to-day to remind
+     President Eliot of Harvard that his father was the only member of
+     Congress from Massachusetts who voted for the Fugitive Slave Law.
+     Forty years hence it will be regarded as cruel to remind the
+     children of these gentlemen [among whom was President Eliot] that
+     their fathers put their names to a protest against equal rights
+     for women.
+
+At first the two anti-suffrage associations, the men's and the
+women's, co-operated with the suffragists in getting up debates; but
+no man ever consented to take part in one against suffrage a second
+time, and toward the end of the campaign it became almost impossible
+to secure speakers in the negative. Both sides published appeals and
+counter-appeals and the question was discussed in the press, at public
+meetings and in social circles to an extent unprecedented in the
+history of the State. Even the advertisements in the street cars began
+with the query in large letters, Should Women Vote? in order to
+attract attention to a particular brand of soap, etc.
+
+During the early part of the canvass the opponents of suffrage
+circulated pledges for signature by women promising to vote "No" in
+November,[321] but they soon became convinced that in trying to get
+out a large vote of women against suffrage they had undertaken more
+than they could accomplish. The Massachusetts Association Opposed to
+the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women supplied in plate form to a
+large number of State papers a series of articles one of which urged
+women to express themselves against suffrage, warned them that
+"_silence will be cited as consent_," and said: "It is our duty in any
+clear and forcible way that presents itself, to say 'I am not sure
+that our country should run this enormous new risk.'"
+
+The "antis" have since asserted that in saying "in any clear and
+forcible way that presents itself," they did not mean to include the
+most obvious way, _i. e._, by voting "No" when given an opportunity by
+the Legislature to do so. Later in the campaign they issued a
+manifesto declaring that they did not urge women to register or vote,
+and that _silence was not to be interpreted as consent_. And finally,
+just before registration closed in Boston and the other cities, when
+it was clear that the majority of women were not going to register to
+vote either way, they issued another manifesto urging women _not_ to
+vote against suffrage!
+
+This was a transparent device to conceal the fewness of their numbers,
+and they thus stultified all their previous professions, as they had
+asserted for years that whenever women were given the right to vote on
+an important question it would be their duty to do so, irrespective of
+their personal inclinations, and it was in order to save women from
+this burden that their enfranchisement was opposed. If they could have
+brought out an overwhelming vote of women against equal suffrage, of
+course they would have done so. Since they could not, it was their
+policy to advise women not to express themselves and thus let the few
+who were strongly opposed be confounded with the mass of those who
+were indifferent. The Man Suffrage Association, which professed to be
+working in full harmony with the women's organization, declared in
+small and inconspicuous type that it did not urge women to take the
+trouble to register, merely for the sake of expressing themselves on
+the referendum, but that it did urge those who voted at all to vote
+"No." It published a circular giving reasons "why women and the
+friends of women should vote no," and it covered walls and fences from
+one end of the State to the other with huge placards bearing in
+enormous letters the words, "Men and Women, Vote No!"
+
+The main object of this association, however, was not to get an
+expression of opinion from the women (which would weigh little either
+way) but to influence the Legislature through a large negative vote
+from the men. Mr. Saunders was reported in an interview in the Boston
+_Herald_ as saying that the women who took the trouble to vote at all
+would probably vote in favor ten to one (it proved to be twenty-five
+to one), but that if the _men_ would give a good majority against it
+the Legislature could be relied upon to defeat a genuine amendment for
+years.
+
+The suffragists spent only $1,300 during the entire canvass. The Man
+Suffrage Association never made the sworn report of its receipts and
+expenditures which the law requires of every campaign committee,
+although even the papers opposed to suffrage exhorted it to do so and
+warned it that it was placing itself in a false position by refusing,
+but the treasurer published an unsworn statement, not of his receipts
+but of his general expenditures, by which it appeared that the
+association, during the six weeks of its existence, spent $3,576. In
+addition large sums were expended by the women's anti-suffrage
+association, which, not being a campaign committee but a permanent
+society, was under no legal obligation to file a statement.
+
+The "mock referendum" was voted on at the State election, Nov. 5,
+1895, receiving 108,974 yeas, 187,837 nays. Men cast 86,970 yeas,
+186,115 nays; women cast 22,204 yeas, 861 nays. Forty-eight towns gave
+a majority for equal suffrage, two were a tie, and in several the
+adverse majority was only one or two votes, and yet in most of these
+towns no suffrage league existed, and in some of them no suffrage
+meeting ever had been held.
+
+The number of men who voted in the affirmative was a general surprise.
+A leaflet by one of the leading remonstrants, circulated during the
+campaign, asserted that "not one citizen of sound judgment in a
+hundred is in favor of woman suffrage;" but nearly one-third of the
+male voters who expressed themselves declared for it. There was the
+smallest affirmative vote in the most disreputable wards of Boston.
+Nearly 2,000 more votes of men were cast for suffrage than had been
+cast for prohibition in 1889. The proportion of votes in favor was
+almost twice as large as in Rhode Island, the only other New England
+State in which the question had been submitted, although in that there
+was no anti-suffrage association in the field. Outside of Boston the
+largest negative vote by women was cast in Cambridge and Newton, which
+have the reputation of being remonstrant strongholds. In 238 of the
+322 towns not one woman voted "No." In most of these the anti-suffrage
+association had no branches, and there is no reason to suppose that
+the women ever had heard of its eleventh-hour advice to women not to
+vote. In every county, and in every Congressional, Senatorial and
+Representative district the women's vote was in favor at least ten to
+one. The "mock referendum" answered the main purpose of its promoters,
+however, for it did seriously cut down the vote for suffrage in the
+Legislature for several years thereafter, but it made a host of
+converts among the people at large and gave a fresh impetus to the
+activity of the State Suffrage Association, which ever since has
+steadily grown in membership.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_1896_--The usual petitions for suffrage were presented from 79 cities
+and towns, with 7,780 signatures. The Joint Special Committee on Woman
+Suffrage, which had been appointed annually for many years, was
+discontinued, with the good result that the suffragists ever since
+have had their hearings before two more influential committees, those
+on Constitutional Amendments and on Election Laws. On February 26 the
+latter gave a hearing for Municipal Suffrage. Mr. Blackwell opened the
+case for the petitioners and the usual number of fine addresses were
+made. Thomas Russell spoke for the remonstrants, and Miss Blackwell
+replied to him. On February 27 the Committee on Constitutional
+Amendments gave a hearing. Addresses were made by Mrs. Howe, Mr.
+Garrison, the Rev. Florence E. Kollock, Oswald Garrison Villard, Mr.
+Ernst, Mrs. Isabel C. Barrows, Miss Cora A. Benneson and Clyde
+Duniway, formerly of Oregon. Mr. Russell again spoke for the
+remonstrants and was answered by Miss Blackwell, Miss Gail Laughlin
+and Mrs. Mary Clarke Smith.
+
+On March 4 a hearing was given to the petitioners for License
+Suffrage. Just after the hearing closed Mr. Russell arrived to
+remonstrate, but too late.
+
+On March 9 a hearing was given on the petition of the State W. S. A.
+that the times of registration should be the same for women (school)
+voters as for men.
+
+The Committee on Constitutional Amendments recommended that the
+question of submitting a suffrage amendment be referred to the next
+Legislature--three dissenting and favoring its submission this year.
+On March 23 consideration of the question was voted down and the yeas
+and nays were refused.
+
+On March 31 and April 1 License Suffrage was discussed and finally
+defeated by 93 yeas, 116 nays, including pairs.
+
+The Committee on Election Laws reported in favor of Municipal Suffrage
+but the bill was defeated.
+
+The Supreme Court decided that women could not be made notaries public
+because they are not distinctly named as eligible in the State
+constitution.
+
+Thomas F. Keenan, an opponent of woman suffrage, introduced a bill to
+license houses "for commercial sexual intercourse," which he alone
+voted for.[322]
+
+_1897_--It was decided to ask this year for a thorough revision and
+equalization of the statutes bearing on domestic relations, in view of
+the fact that the last Legislature had appointed a committee of
+lawyers to revise and codify the laws. Especial attention was called
+to the need of a law making fathers and mothers joint guardians of
+their children. Mr. Ernst, in behalf of the association, prepared a
+bill equalizing the property rights of husbands and wives. Mr.
+Russell, in behalf of the M. A. O. F. E. S. W. (which had for years
+been circulating leaflets declaring that the laws of Massachusetts
+were already more than just to women) prepared a bill tending in a
+similar direction; and a Judge of Probate prepared a more limited
+bill. All three appeared before the revising committee and, after
+repeated conferences, a bill making some improvements was recommended
+by the committee and enacted by the Legislature, but with a proviso
+that it should not go into effect until the following year, in order
+that the next Legislature might have a chance to amend it.
+
+On February 10 the committee gave a hearing to the petitioners for the
+submission of an amendment to enfranchise women. It was addressed by
+Mr. Blackwell, Mrs. Cheney, Mrs. Boland, the Rev. Thomas Scully, the
+Rev. Mr. Ames, the Rev. Augusta Chapin, Miss Blackwell and others. No
+remonstrants appeared. The committee reported favorably, but on
+February 18 the bill was defeated by 74 yeas, 107 nays.
+
+On February 24 the Committee on Election Laws heard arguments for
+Municipal and Presidential Suffrage, and also on the petition of the
+W. C. T. U. for License Suffrage. The committee had before it 144
+largely signed petitions for suffrage and none against it. Mrs. Howe
+and Mr. Blackwell spoke in behalf of the measures asked for by the
+suffrage association, and a large number of prominent women for the W.
+C. T. U. Mr. Russell, Mrs. J. Elliott Cabot, Frank Foxcroft, Miss
+Dewey, Dr. Walter Channing, Mrs. A. J. George, A. Lawrence Lowell and
+Miss Mary A. J. McIntyre spoke against all three bills. Miss
+Blackwell, at the close, replied in behalf of both associations.
+Members of the committee asked the president of the anti-suffrage
+association, Mrs. Cabot, and almost all the women who spoke on that
+side whether they would vote for or against license if they had the
+ballot. Everyone answered that she would vote for license. Mr. Russell
+had declared that if women were allowed to vote, "no license would be
+carried in every town and city of the commonwealth, contrary to the
+will of the people." The committee gave a majority report against all
+the bills.
+
+On March 10 the question of accepting the adverse report on License
+Suffrage came up in the Legislature. The vote stood, 100 yeas, 100
+nays, and Speaker John L. Bates gave his casting vote in favor of
+substituting the bill for the adverse report. On March 18 the question
+was debated and the vote resulted in 108 yeas, 125 nays. There was
+much public interest and a lively discussion in the papers. Municipal
+and Presidential Suffrage were lost without a roll-call. A bill to
+make the Boston School Board appointive instead of elective, which
+would have deprived women of their School Suffrage, was defeated.
+
+_1898_--The hearing on February 2 was conducted by Mr. Blackwell for
+the petitioners; Mr. Russell for the remonstrants. A letter from
+ex-Gov. William Claflin in favor of suffrage was read. Mrs. Anna
+Christy Fall, Mr. Garrison, ex-U. S. Attorney Frank B. Allen, Mrs.
+Helen Adelaide Shaw, Dr. A. E. Winship, editor of the _Journal of
+Education_, and others spoke for suffrage; Mrs. Arthur D. Gilman, Mrs.
+Egbert C. Smythe, Mrs. Rothery of Wellesley, Mrs. Lincoln R. Stone
+and Mrs. George against it. Miss Blackwell replied for the
+petitioners. The committee reported "leave to withdraw." On February
+14, after debate in the House of Representatives, the vote stood 44
+yeas, 97 nays.
+
+On February 23 the committee gave a hearing on Municipal Suffrage and
+on License Suffrage, both of which were eloquently urged. Mrs. Cabot,
+Mrs. Charles E. Guild, the Rev. Thomas Van Ness, the Rev. Reuen
+Thomas, Mrs. Henry F. Durant, Mrs. William T. Sedgwick, Mr. Foxcroft
+and Mr. Russell spoke in opposition. Municipal Suffrage was not
+debated, but after discussion on March 10 and 11, in the House of
+Representatives, the vote on License Suffrage, including pairs, stood
+60 yeas, 116 nays.
+
+The record for 1899 and 1900 presented no variations except that a
+number of local associations petitioned for Municipal Suffrage for
+Taxpaying Women. The State association did not officially ask for
+this, though the majority of its officers favored the measure. The
+annual hearings were given, the usual large crowds were in attendance,
+the ablest men and women in the State advocated the granting of
+suffrage, those heretofore mentioned spoke in opposition,[323] and the
+negative vote was in about the same proportion as before the
+"remonstrants" made their appearance.[324]
+
+LAWS: Until 1845 the women of Massachusetts suffered to the fullest
+extent the barbarities of the English Common Law. After that date the
+changes were gradual but very slow. From 1884 there was but little
+improvement in the property laws until 1899, when a radical revision
+was effected by a legislative committee and approved by the
+Legislature. As there was to be a general revision of the statutes and
+the new book would not be issued until Jan. 1, 1902, it was decided
+that all should go into effect at that date. The new property law for
+women provides as follows: No distinction is made between real and
+personal property in distributing the estate. The surviving husband or
+wife takes and holds one-third if the deceased leaves children or
+their descendants; $5,000 and one-half of the remaining estate if the
+deceased leaves no issue; and the whole if the deceased leaves no
+kindred. This is taken absolutely and not for life. Curtesy and dower
+have not been abolished but the old-time curtesy, which is a life
+interest in the whole of a deceased wife's real estate, is cut down to
+a life interest in one-third, the same as dower; and in order to be
+entitled to dower or curtesy the surviving husband or wife must elect
+to take it in preference to abiding by the above provisions.
+
+Either husband or wife can make a will under the new law without the
+consent of the other, but the survivor, if not satisfied with the will
+of the deceased, can waive it within a year and take the same share of
+the estate that he (or she) would have taken if there had been no
+will, except that, if he would thus become entitled to more than
+$10,000 in value, he shall receive, in addition to that amount, only
+the income during his life of the excess of his share of such estate
+above that amount; and except that, if the deceased leaves no kindred,
+he, upon such waiver, shall take the interest he would have taken if
+the deceased had died leaving kindred but no issue.
+
+A discretionary amount may be assigned by the Probate Court to the
+widow for the support of herself and minor children and takes
+precedence of the debts of the deceased. The old law took this
+allowance out of the personal estate only, and often the widow was
+not able to receive the immediate assistance she needed, because the
+property was all in the form of real estate. The new law permits the
+real estate to be used if necessary. It also gives $100 to a minor
+child for his immediate necessities, if there is no widow; the old law
+gave $50. The new law permits the widow to remain in her husband's
+house for six months after his death. The old law gave her only forty
+days.
+
+A married woman has full control of her separate property, and can
+dispose of her real estate subject only to the husband's interests. If
+she has been deserted or if the court has decreed that she is living
+apart from him for justifiable cause, she can by will or deed dispose
+of all her real and personal estate as if unmarried. The husband can
+do the same.
+
+A married woman can be executor, administrator, guardian or trustee.
+She may make contracts with any one except her husband; may sue and be
+sued, carry on business in her own name, by complying with the legal
+requirements; control and invest her earnings and enter into
+partnerships. She is responsible for her contracts and debts and her
+property may be held for them. The husband is not liable on any
+judgments recovered against the wife alone, and her separate property
+is not liable on any judgment or execution against the husband. Suits
+between husband and wife are not allowed except for divorce.
+
+The father is the legal guardian of the persons and estates of minor
+children; he has power to dispose of them during the lifetime of the
+mother and may appoint a guardian at his death.[325]
+
+For non-support of wife and minor children the husband may be fined
+not exceeding $20 or imprisoned in the house of correction not
+exceeding six months. At the discretion of the court the fine is paid
+in whole or part to the town, city, society or person actually
+supporting such wife and children. (1893.)
+
+The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 13 years in
+1886; to 14 in 1888; to 16 in 1893. The penalty is imprisonment in the
+State prison for life or for any term of years, or for any term in any
+other penal institution in the commonwealth. This may be one day in
+the city jail.
+
+Among various laws passed in the interests of women was one in 1895
+making army nurses eligible to receive State aid. One of 1896 requires
+the State to inter the wife or widow of an honorably discharged
+soldier, sailor or marine who served during the Civil War, if she did
+not leave sufficient means for funeral expenses, provided she was
+married prior to 1870. In 1900 it was enacted that the State should
+perform a similar service for the mothers of said soldiers, sailors or
+marines, and that this should not be with the pauper dead, in either
+case.
+
+Massachusetts has detailed laws regarding the employment of women,
+among them one restricting the hours of work in any mercantile
+establishment to fifty-eight in a week, except in retail stores during
+the month of December. Ten hours is a legal workday for women in
+general.
+
+Separate houses of detention are required for women prisoners in
+cities of over 30,000.[326]
+
+SUFFRAGE: The original charter of Massachusetts in 1691 did not
+exclude women from voting. In 1780 the first constitution prohibited
+them from voting except for certain officers. The new constitution of
+1820 limited the suffrage strictly to males.
+
+In 1879 the Legislature enacted that a woman twenty-one years of age,
+who could give satisfactory evidence as to residence and who could
+stand the educational test (_i. e._, be able to read five lines of the
+constitution and write her name), and who should give notice in
+writing to the assessors that she wished to be assessed a poll tax
+(two dollars) and should give in under oath a statement of her taxable
+property (which was not required of men, as they had the option of
+letting the assessors guess at the amount) should thereupon be
+assessed and should be entitled to register and vote for members of
+school boards.[327] In order to keep her name on the registration
+list this entire process had to be repeated every year, while a man's
+name once placed on the list was kept there without further effort on
+his part, and the payment of the same poll tax entitled him to full
+suffrage.
+
+In 1881 the poll tax was reduced to fifty cents, and the law was
+changed so that women's names should remain on the registration list
+so long as they continued to reside and pay their taxes in the place
+where they were registered. Even now, however, it requires constant
+watchfulness on their part to have this done. In 1890 the poll tax as
+a prerequisite for voting was abolished for men, and in 1892 for
+women. Only a few weeks in each year were set apart when women might
+register until 1898, when it was enacted that the time of registration
+should be the same for both.
+
+The School Suffrage includes only a vote for members of the school
+board and not for supervisors, appropriations or any questions
+connected with the public schools. Women are not authorized to attend
+caucuses or have any voice in nominations of school officers. As they
+were thus deprived of all voice in selecting candidates, an
+association, Independent Women Voters, was formed in Boston in 1889 by
+Mrs. Eliza Trask Hill, who served as president until 1896, when she
+removed from the city, and Mrs. Sarah J. Boyden has filled the office
+since then. This organization, which was entered at the registration
+office as a political party, holds a caucus in each ward between
+January 1 and April 1 every year and nominates candidates for the
+School Board. Such nomination by 100 or more legal voters entitles
+their names to be placed on the Australian ballot. Some of the
+nominees of the Independent Women Voters are often accepted by the
+regular parties, but even when this is refused they are sometimes
+elected over the Republican or Democratic candidates.
+
+Because of the conditions attached and the small privilege granted it
+is remarkable that any considerable number of women should have voted
+during these past years. When School Suffrage was first granted, in
+1879, only 934 women voted, and for the first seven years the average
+was only 940. Since then there has been a large increase of interest.
+During the past seven years the number never has fallen below 5,000.
+In 1898, 5,201 women voted; in 1899, 7,090; in 1900, 9,542; and this
+year (1901) there were 15,545 names on the register and 11,620 voted.
+The highest number was reached in 1888, when under special
+circumstances 25,279 women were registered and 19,490 voted.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: Women have served as School Committee (trustees) since
+1874. For some time previous to 1884 they could hold by appointment
+the offices of overseers of the poor, trustees of public libraries,
+school supervisors, members of the State Boards of Education and of
+Health, Lunacy and Charity, without special legislation. It was
+required that there should be women on the boards of the three State
+Primary and Reform Schools, State workhouse, State almshouse and Board
+of Prison Commissioners, and that certain managers and officers of the
+Reformatory Prison for Women at Sherborn should be women.
+
+In 1884 a bill was passed requiring the appointment of two women on
+the board of every Hospital for the Insane and one woman physician for
+each. In 1885 it was enacted that women might be assistant registers
+of deeds; in 1886 that they might be elected overseers of the poor. In
+1887 a law was passed requiring police matrons in all cities of 30,000
+inhabitants or more. There had been matrons in Boston fifteen years.
+
+In 1890 the Supreme Court decided that a woman could not act as notary
+public. In 1891 it was enacted that there should be women factory
+inspectors; in 1895 that a woman could be appointed assistant town or
+city clerk; in 1896 that county commissioners might appoint a woman
+clerk _pro tempore_!
+
+The evolution of the Special Commissioner shows the laborious
+processes by which women make any gains in Massachusetts. In 1883 a
+law was passed that women attorneys could be appointed Special
+Commissioners to administer oaths, take depositions and acknowledge
+deeds. In 1889 it was amended to give Special Commissioners the same
+powers as justices of the peace in the above respects and also that of
+issuing summonses for witnesses. In 1896 it was provided that any
+woman over twenty-one, the same as any man, whether a lawyer or not,
+could be appointed commissioner; a change of name by marriage should
+terminate her commission but should not disqualify her for
+re-appointment. In 1898 the powers were extended to appointments of
+appraisers of estates. In 1899 the powers of the Special Commissioner
+were made coincident with those of justice of the peace, but the
+authority to perform the marriage ceremony was taken from justices
+generally and is now given to specified ones only.
+
+Women can not be justices of the peace. They may be appointed by the
+State to take acknowledgments of deeds but not to perform the marriage
+ceremony unless regularly ordained ministers.
+
+Women at present are serving on State Boards as follows: Commissioners
+of Prisons, Charity and Free Public Library--two each; trustees of
+Insane Hospitals at Danvers, Northampton, Taunton, Worcester and
+Medfield--two each, and at Westborough, three; School for
+Feeble-minded, one; Hospital for Epileptics, two; for Dipsomaniacs and
+Inebriates, one; Hospital Cottages for Children, one; State Hospital
+and State Farm, two; Lyman and Industrial Schools, two.
+
+It has been impossible to ascertain the number of women serving as
+School Trustees later than 1898. Then the records showed 194 on boards
+in 138 towns, but, as in many cases only the initials of the prefixes
+to the names were given, this is probably an underestimate. Women
+serve on the boards of public libraries.
+
+Women are found in the following official positions in Boston:
+trustees of public institutions, two; of children's institutions,
+three; of insane hospitals, two; of bath departments, two; overseers
+of the poor, two; city conveyancer in law department, one; Superior
+Court stenographer, one; probation officers, two; chief matron House
+of Detention, one; supervisor of schools, one; members of school
+committee, four.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: Massachusetts claims the first woman who ever practiced
+medicine in the United States--Dr. Harriot K. Hunt, who studied with
+her father and began in 1835, long before a medical college in the
+country was open to women. In 1881 Lelia J. Robinson applied for
+admission to the bar in Boston and the Supreme Court decided a woman
+to be ineligible. The Legislature of 1892 enacted that women should be
+admitted to the practice of law. No professions or occupations are now
+legally forbidden to them.
+
+EDUCATION: One of the first seminaries for women in the United States
+was Mt. Holyoke at South Hadley, Mass., now a college with 550
+students; the largest college for women in the world is Smith at
+Northampton, with 1,131 students; one that ranks among the four
+highest in existence, Wellesley, has 819; Radcliffe at Cambridge, has
+407. The requirements of admission and the examinations are the same
+for Radcliffe as for Harvard and the courses of instruction are
+identical. The teaching is done by members of the Harvard faculty,
+over one hundred of them. All degrees must be approved by the
+President and Fellows of Harvard, the diplomas are countersigned by
+the President and bear the University seal. Nevertheless Radcliffe is
+not recognized as having any official connection with the ancient
+university. A number of graduate courses in Harvard are open to women
+but without degrees.
+
+Boston University, with 1,430 students, is co-educational in all its
+departments, including law, medicine and theology. The same is true of
+the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the State Agricultural
+College. There has been no distinction of sex in Tufts College
+(Univers.) since 1892; or in Clark University (post-graduate) in
+Worcester, since 1900. The College of Physicians and Surgeons and
+Tufts Colleges of Medicine and Surgery, in Boston, admit women. They
+are excluded from Andover Theological Seminary (Cong'l), Newton
+Theological Institute (Baptist), Amherst College, Williams College and
+Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
+
+In the public schools there are 1,197 men and 12,205 women teachers.
+The average monthly salary of the men is $136.23; of the women,
+$51.41. Omitting the High School salaries, the average amount paid to
+men per month is $130.09; to women, $49.61. In some counties over
+one-half as much is paid to women teachers as to men, but in Essex
+County the monthly ratio is $127.82 to men, and $47.17 to women, and
+in Suffolk County $200.07 to men and $63.44, or less than one-third,
+to women. Boston has 215 men teachers at an average monthly salary of
+$213.61; and 1,762 women at an average of $69.68. In no other State is
+the discrepancy so great in the salary of men and women teachers.
+
+The women's clubs of Massachusetts are as the sands of the sea. Of
+these 169, with a membership of 21,451, belong to the State
+Federation. The New England Woman's Club was organized in 1868, the
+same year as Sorosis in New York and about one month earlier. These
+two are generally spoken of as the pioneers of women's clubs as they
+exist to-day.
+
+
+THE NATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.[328]
+
+When the third volume of the History of Woman Suffrage closed in 1885
+it left this association three years old, with Mrs. Harriette Robinson
+Shattuck, president, Dr. Salome Merritt, vice-president, and thirteen
+other vice-presidents who represented the same number of counties. To
+these leaders and others it seemed necessary that Massachusetts should
+have this society in order to give a support to the officers and the
+methods of the National Woman Suffrage Association, which they were
+not receiving from the State society, at that time auxiliary to the
+American Association. In those three years conventions had been held
+in some twenty cities.
+
+Mrs. Harriet M. Emerson was then engaged in preparing petitions, to
+which she secured many signers, asking for "a statute to enable a
+widow who desires it, to become on reasonable terms a co-executor with
+those appointed by her husband's will." For several years she spent
+much time on this work and had the help of many of the best citizens
+of Boston. It was ably presented at each session of the Legislature,
+but no action was taken.[329]
+
+Mrs. Harriet H. Robinson, the corresponding secretary, has published
+Massachusetts in the Woman Suffrage Movement, The New Pandora, a
+woman's play, Capt. Mary Miller, etc.; Mrs. Shattuck, The Woman's
+Manual of Parliamentary Law, Advanced Rules for Large Assemblies.
+Another member, Mrs. Sara A. Underwood, has done valuable work on the
+newspapers of Boston, New York and other cities, and before the
+Legislature. The writings of Mrs. Evaleen L. Mason are well known.
+
+[Illustration:
+
+  HARRIET MAY MILLS.
+  Syracuse, N. Y.
+
+          FLORENCE HOWE HALL.
+          Plainfield, N. J.
+
+      REV. ANNA GARLIN SPENCER.
+      Providence, R. I.
+
+  LUCRETIA L. BLANKENBURG.
+  Philadelphia, Pa.
+
+          LAVINA A. HATCH.
+          E. Pembroke, Mass.
+
+]
+
+In 1888 certain historical text-books which were objected to by the
+Roman Catholics were removed from the schools and replaced by others.
+This caused great excitement, over 25,000 women registered to vote,
+and for two successive years helped to defeat all the Catholic
+candidates for the school board and to elect a number of women. The
+members of this association maintained the non-partisan side and
+opposed the extremists who urged that Catholics should be excluded
+from the board, thus depriving it of some of its most experienced and
+faithful men.
+
+In April, 1888, the association applied for a charter and became the
+first incorporated body of woman suffragists in the State. In December
+a petition was sent to Congress asking for an amendment to the United
+States Constitution prohibiting disfranchisement on account of sex.
+
+In 1889 a petition from this association was introduced in the
+Legislature to require assessors to ask at every house whether there
+are women there who wish to be assessed a poll tax. A petition was
+also sent in for a law providing that one-third of the membership of
+the school committee consist of women. These were presented by Mr.
+Barker of Malden.
+
+At the eighth annual meeting in May, 1890, C. W. Ernst gave an
+instructive address on political topics.
+
+In October, 1891, a special meeting was called to discuss the question
+of discontinuing auxiliaryship to the National-American Association,
+and continuing work as an independent organization. After a full
+discussion the vote resulted in remaining auxiliary, only one opposed.
+
+In March, 1892, a plan was laid before the association by Dr. Merritt
+for action in the various cities and towns of the State to secure the
+nomination in caucuses of such senators and representatives only as
+would declare themselves in favor of woman suffrage. A committee was
+formed to confer with other organizations, and at the next meeting it
+reported that the Boston Suffrage League, Mrs. Ellen Battelle
+Dietrick, president, had approved the plan and called a meeting where
+nine wards were represented and a compact signed. In May this
+agreement was adopted by the Suffolk County Committee, who were to
+work in Boston while the association was to manage outside counties.
+One thousand copies were printed and circulated but the final results
+showed not enough interest to make the measure a success.
+
+At this time Mrs. Shattuck resigned the presidency, "being engaged in
+work more imperative," and Mrs. Robinson gave up her office of
+corresponding secretary. At the October meeting Miss Hatch was elected
+a member of the executive committee of the National Association for
+the Columbian Exposition. Mrs. Sarah A. P. Dickerman acted as
+president during the remainder of the year. Valuable discussions were
+held on State and National Banks, Should the Governor Exercise the
+Veto Power? Shall Immigration Be Restricted? Which Would Benefit
+Boston Most, License or No License? and other timely questions.
+
+In January, 1893, it was voted to petition the Legislature that women
+be allowed to vote on a constitutional amendment affecting their
+property rights. A special effort was made in petition work both for
+Congress and the Legislature. In one small village where forty-two
+signatures were obtained, only four persons refused to sign. In May
+Dr. Merritt was unanimously elected president of the association, and
+remained in office until her death in 1900. At this meeting a
+statement was made that in Massachusetts there were from 105,000 to
+110,000 families with widows or single women as heads, not represented
+by one vote. In December a committee was appointed to confer with the
+legislative committee of the State School Suffrage Association to
+secure an extension of the time (then only two or three days) which
+was allotted to the registration of women.
+
+At the legislative hearing in January, 1894, petitions were presented
+by this association from seven counties, covering twenty-one towns. At
+this date 186 women were reported as holding office, eleven being
+district superintendents of schools. The following May the
+registration laws were so changed that women have since had the same
+time as men in which to register. Under the present law, the assessors
+in their regular rounds are required to take the names of women voters
+having the same residence as on a previous voting list. These are then
+entered on the register for the ensuing campaign without further
+trouble.
+
+In September, 1895, a special meeting was called to decide how best to
+help the work for the referendum which had been submitted by the
+Legislature in order to ascertain how many women desired to vote.
+Twenty-five dollars were appropriated toward defraying the expenses of
+the State committee appointed to conduct this campaign.
+
+In 1896 much time was spent on measures helpful to women and children.
+One of these was to secure the early closing of stores, the result
+being that through the entire summer all the principal stores in
+Boston were closed at 5 P. M. every day, and on Saturdays at 12 M., as
+they have been each summer since.
+
+
+House Bill 625 of 1896 started with a most innocent appearance under
+the title, "A bill to enlarge the powers of the police commissioners
+of Boston." In reality it asked that the powers of the police force be
+so extended as to allow them to issue permits for the keeping of
+houses of ill-repute, with authority for their inspection and control.
+Other organizations joined this one in opposition, with the result
+that the bill was defeated.
+
+The association also advocated "A bill to prohibit child insurance,"
+on account of the injury done to families by absorbing the means which
+should be expended for food, clothes and other necessaries in the
+payment of policies. It was considered, moreover, in the nature of a
+premium for child murder by neglect.
+
+The most interesting event of 1898 was the celebration of the fiftieth
+anniversary of the first woman's rights convention. Dr. Merritt spoke
+of the rise of the movement, saying that 1848 was as marked an epoch
+in the rights of women as was 1776 in the rights of men. Miss Hatch's
+paper gave the trend of events previous to the Seneca Falls
+Convention, showing that these molded public sentiment and gave rise
+to the calling of this memorable meeting. Speeches, letters from
+absent members and a roll of honor, each giving the name of an old
+worker and adding appropriate remarks, followed.
+
+In addition to the usual petitions was one to Congress in behalf of
+the Hawaiian women. A protest was also sent against the admission to
+Congress of Brigham H. Roberts of Utah, a polygamist and an enemy to
+woman suffrage.
+
+Since 1884 this association has held 128 public meetings. It has been
+represented by active working delegates at every convention of the
+National Association since becoming an auxiliary in 1882. The
+recording secretary has held that office for seventeen years, never
+having been absent from a monthly meeting unless because of illness or
+attendance at the national conventions. She has been a delegate to the
+latter for fourteen years.
+
+This association did much pioneer press work. From its first session a
+report of the same, with items made up of whatever had occurred in any
+part of the world advantageous to woman's advancement since the
+previous meeting, has appeared next day in the leading Boston dailies,
+with scarcely an omission during the eighteen years.
+
+Besides those already mentioned the following have held office and
+been faithful workers: Mesdames A. M. Mahony, Sarah A. Rand and Lydia
+L. Hutchins; and the Misses Hannah M. Todd, Elizabeth B. Atwill,
+Charlotte Lobdell, Agnes G. Parrott and Sophia M. Hale. In 1901 the
+society united with the Massachusetts State Association.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[303] The History is indebted for the material for this chapter to
+Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, editor of the _Woman's Journal_ (Boston)
+and recording secretary of the National American Woman Suffrage
+Association since 1890. It is due to the _Woman's Journal_, founded in
+1869, that so complete a record of the State work has been obtained.
+
+[304] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. I, p. 215.
+
+[305] Among many names which appear in connection with these annual
+meetings are those of the Revs. Daniel P. Livermore, Charles W.
+Wendte, S. S. Herrick, Philip S. Moxom, Charles F. Thwing, L. B.
+Bates, F. A. Abbott, S. W. Bush, William J. Potter, C. P. Pitblado,
+George Willis Cooke, Fielder Israel, Eben L. Rexford, Christopher R.
+Eliot, David A. Gregg, Edward A. Horton, B. F. Hamilton, George A.
+Gordon, Charles F. Dole, Nathan E. Wood, W. W. Lucas, the Revs. Ida C.
+Hultin, Lorenza Haynes, Mary Traffern Whitney, Lila Frost Sprague, J.
+W. Clarke, of the Boston Traveller, D. H. Beggs, President of the
+Central Labor Union, Judge Robert Pitman, the Hon. Joseph H. Walker,
+Francis J. Garrison, John Graham Brooks, John L. Whiting, Sam Walter
+Foss, Sherman Hoar, W. L. Haskel, Mesdames Martha Perry Lowe, E. N. L.
+Walton, Martha Sewall Curtis, O. A. Cheney, Ellie A. Hilt, Abby M.
+Davis, Judith W. Smith, Misses Anna Gardner, Lucia T. Ames, Eva
+Channing, Amorette Beecher, Alice Parker, all of Massachusetts. The
+Rev. J. W. Bashford, Delaware College, Ohio, the Rev. Florence E.
+Kollock, Illinois, Mrs. Caroline M. Severance, California, Mrs. Helen
+Coffin Beedy, Mrs. Etta H. Osgood, Maine, U. S. Senator Henry W.
+Blair, Mrs. Armenia S. White, Miss Mary N. Chase, New Hampshire, Mrs.
+M. L. T. Hidden, Mrs. A. D. Chandler, Vermont, Mrs. Elizabeth B.
+Chace, Dr. John C. Wyman, Dr. Ira Aldrich, Jeanette S. French, Louise
+Tyler, Rhode Island, Mesdames Emily O. Kimball, Josephine M. Bissell,
+Emily J. Leonard, Annie C. S. Fenner, Judge Joseph and Miss Elizabeth
+Sheldon, Connecticut, Mrs. Cornelia Collins Hussey, New Jersey, Judge
+William S. Peirce, Philadelphia, Miss Anna Gordon, Illinois, Dr. Ida
+Joe Brooks, Arkansas, Ellis Meredith, Denver, Giles B. Stebbins,
+Michigan, Lloyd McKim Garrison, New York, Amelia B. Edwards, Mrs.
+Percy Widdrington, England.
+
+[306] As this board was continued for many years with but little
+change, and as it indicates clearly the personnel of the association,
+the remainder is given in full. Vice presidents, Mrs. Mary A.
+Livermore, John G. Whittier, U. S. Senator George F. Hoar, Mrs. Julia
+Ward Howe, Mrs. Ednah D. Cheney, Theodore D. Weld, ex Gov. William
+Claflin, Judge Samuel E. Sewall, William Lloyd Garrison, Mrs. Ralph
+Waldo Emerson, the Hon. John Hopkins, Miss Abby W. May, A. Bronson
+Alcott, Marie E. Zakrzewska, M. D., Col. Thomas W. Higginson, Miss
+Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Wendell Phillips, Miss Louisa M. Alcott, the
+Rev. James Freeman Clarke, Mrs. Adelaide A. Claflin, the Rev. William
+I. Haven, Judge Thomas Russell, Lucy Sewall, M. D., Robert C. Pitman,
+George A. Walton, Mrs. C. B. Redmund, Charles W. Slack, Seth Hunt,
+Mrs. Eliza K. Church, the Rev. Jesse H. Jones, Uretta McAllister,
+Julia M. Baxter; recording secretary, Charles K. Whipple; treasurer,
+Miss Amanda M. Lougee; executive committee, Mrs. Lucy Stone, chairman,
+Mrs. Mary C. Ames, Miss Mary F. Eastman, Mrs. Judith W. Smith, Mrs.
+Henrietta L. T. Wolcott, Mrs. W. I. Bowditch, Mrs. S. E. M. Kingsbury,
+Mrs. E. N. L. Walton, Mrs. S. C. Vogl, S. C. Hopkins, Mrs. E. P.
+Nickles, Mrs. Fenno Tudor, Dr. J. T. Leonard, Miss Alice Stone
+Blackwell, Miss Eva Channing, the Rev. J. W. Bashford, Mrs. Harriet W.
+Sewall, Miss Kate Ireson, Frederick A. Claflin, Arthur P. Ford, Miss
+M. Ada Molineux, S. Frank King, Miss Cora Scott Pond, J. Avery
+Howland.
+
+[307] In the 111 Granges of the State, 70 women were secretaries and
+39 lecturers this year.
+
+[308] Mrs. Helen Campbell spoke on Women in Industry, Mrs. Howe on
+Women in Literature, the Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell on Women in
+the Ministry, Mrs. Charlotte Emerson Brown, president of the General
+Federation, on Women's Clubs, Mrs. Susan S. Fessenden, president of
+the State W. C. T. U., on Women's Work for Temperance, Mary A. Greene,
+LL. B., on Women in Law, Dr. Emily Blackwell on Women in Medicine,
+Mrs. Sallie Joy White, late president of the New England Women's Press
+Association, on Women in Journalism, and Miss Eastman on Steps in
+Education for Girls from Dame School to College. The opportunities for
+women at Vassar, Wellesley, Bryn Mawr, Boston University and Mt.
+Holyoke were presented respectively by Dr. Emma B. Culbertson, Prof.
+A. Eugenia Morgan, Miss Cora A. Benneson, Miss E. D. Hanscom and Miss
+Sarah P. Eastman, president of the Boston Mt. Holyoke Alumnae. Mrs.
+Cheney read a paper on Women in Hospitals and Miss Alla Foster gave
+reminiscences of her mother, Mrs. Abby Kelly Foster. Lucy Stone spoke
+on the Gains of Forty Years, Colonel Higginson on Landmarks of
+Progress, Mr. Blackwell on Kansas and Wyoming. Woman Suffrage by State
+and Federal Legislation; Mr. Garrison on Women Needed as Political
+Helpmeets; and the Rev. Ada C. Bowles on the Suffrage Revival in
+Worcester in 1869. Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates spoke on Suffrage, and
+the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer on Our Debt to the Pioneers.
+
+Letters were read from U. S. Senators Joseph M. Carey and Francis E.
+Warren of Wyoming, ex-president James H. Fairchild of Oberlin, the
+Hon. Charles Robinson of Kansas, Thomas Davis, husband of Paulina
+Wright Davis, Francis G. Adams, secretary of the Kansas Historical
+Society, Theodore D. Weld, Mesdames Hannah M. Tracy Cutler, Elizabeth
+B. Chace, Frances H. Drake, Caroline Healy Dall, J. Elizabeth Jones,
+Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Caroline M. Severance, Clara B. Colby, Miss
+Mary Grew, Miss Anna L. T. Parsons, Mrs. Millicent Garrett Fawcett of
+England, and others.
+
+[309] Mrs. Livermore, the Rev. Charles G. Ames, Mrs. Cheney, Prof.
+Ellen Hayes of Wellesley, the Hon. Alfred S. Roe, Mrs. Phebe Stone
+Beeman, Mrs. Sallie Joy White and Mr. M. H. Gulesian of Armenia, with
+a poem by Mr. Garrison.
+
+[310] The best known of these names are included in the list of
+eminent persons in the Appendix.
+
+[311] There were addresses by Fletcher Dobyns and Oswald Garrison
+Villard of Harvard, Miss Maud Thompson of Wellesley College, Edson
+Reifsnyder of Tufts, and Miss Mabel E. Adams, with music by the Boston
+Choral Society.
+
+[312] Miss Elva Hurlburt Young, president of the senior class of
+Wellesley College, A. M. Kales and Raymond M. Alden of Harvard, W. H.
+Spofford Pittinger of Providence, R. I. A poem by Mrs. Stetson, Girls
+of To-day, was recited by Miss Marion Sherman of the Boston School of
+Oratory.
+
+[313] Other officers have been Recording secretary, Miss Alice Stone
+Blackwell, treasurers, Miss Amanda M. Lougee, Mrs. Harriet W. Sewall,
+Francis J. Garrison, William Lloyd Garrison, chairmen of the executive
+committee, Mrs. Lucy Stone, Mrs. Judith W. Smith, Miss Blackwell. Vice
+presidents for 1900 are the Hons. George F. Hoar, John D. Long,
+William Claflin, W. W. Crapo, Josiah Quincy, George A. O. Ernst, J. W.
+Candler, Lieut. Gov. John L. Bates, Col. T. W. Higginson, the Rev.
+George Willis Cooke, William I. Bowditch, William Lloyd Garrison,
+Prof. Ellen Hayes, Mesdames Julia Ward Howe, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
+Ward, Pauline Agassiz Shaw (Quincy A.), Oliver Ames, Fanny B. Ames,
+Abby Morton Diaz, Susan S. Fessenden, Ole Bull, Emma Walker
+Batcheller, Martha Perry Lowe, Mary Schlesinger, Miss Mary F. Eastman,
+Miss Lucia M. Peabody.
+
+[314] Mr. Blackwell was corresponding secretary from 1871 to 1893,
+Miss Laura Moore of Vermont, one year, and Mrs. Ellen M. Bolles of
+Rhode Island, from 1894 to the present time, recording secretaries,
+Charles K. Whipple, Mrs. O. Augusta Cheney, Mrs. Ellie A. Hilt, Miss
+Eva Channing, treasurers, Mrs. Harriet W. Sewall, John L. Whiting,
+Miss Amanda M. Lougee, Francis J. Garrison. The vice presidents are
+the presidents and prominent members of the New England State
+Associations.
+
+[315] Limited space has prevented any resume of the speeches made
+during these years in the conventions or before the legislative
+committees. The reader is referred to the files of the _Woman's
+Journal_ which have been placed in a number of public libraries. The
+names of legislators who have advocated woman suffrage will be found
+at the close of Legislative Action.
+
+[316] The one to the Republican members was signed by Alanson W.
+Beard, William Claflin, William W. Crapo, Henry L. Dawes, Frank P.
+Goulding, Thomas N. Hart, George F. Hoar, John D. Long, Samuel May,
+Adin Thayer and John G. Whittier; the other to the Democratic by
+Josiah G. Abbott, Edward Avery, John M. Corse, John E. Fitzgerald,
+John Hopkins, George E. McNeil, Bushrod Morse, Frederick O. Prince,
+Albert Palmer and Charles H. Taylor.
+
+[317] These letters have been doing duty ever since, being quoted in
+adverse reports of congressional committees, Legislatures, speeches
+and documents of the opponents, etc.
+
+[318] This was the last time Lucy Stone addressed a legislative
+committee. She had presented her first plea in 1857. Every year since
+1869 she had made her annual pilgrimage to the State House to ask for
+the rights of women.
+
+[319] The remonstrants in past years had gone repeatedly before
+legislative committees, and since 1897 they have appeared and spoken
+every year in opposition to any form of suffrage for women.
+
+[320] Mr. Saunders, when asked by a reporter of the Boston _Record_ if
+it was true that he received $150 per month for his services, declined
+to say, but stated that he should consider that a small amount, as he
+was giving practically all of his time and effort.
+
+[321] The M. A. O. F. E. S. W. says that this was not done by the
+association officially. It was certainly done by some of its prominent
+members.
+
+[322] On one occasion, after Mrs. Julia Ward Howe and her associates
+had made their appeals, Mr. Keenan referred to them in the legislative
+debate as "women masquerading in pants," and said, "I never knew a
+woman who loved her children or her home that wanted to vote."
+
+[323] Dr. Lyman Abbott of New York, Miss Heloise E. Hersey, Miss Sarah
+E. Hunt, Mesdames Barrett Wendell, W. W. Vaughan, Judith Andrews,
+Nathaniel Payne, James H. Robbins, Frank B. Fay and Henry Thompson
+also "remonstrated."
+
+[324] It seems desirable to preserve the names of those who have
+championed and voted for a measure so bitterly opposed. Those of the
+eighty four opponents may drop into oblivion. Honor roll Senators S.
+Stillman Blanchard, Arthur B. Breed, Gorham D. Gilman, Robert S. Gray,
+Charles H. Innes, Francis W. Kittridge, Joel D. Miller, Henry S.
+Milton, Joseph O. Neill, Isaac N. Nutter, Representatives John E.
+Abbott, Charles H. Adams, Frederick Atherton, Frank E. Badger, Thomas
+C. Batchelder, John L. Bates, Alanson W. Beard, Amos Beckford, Frank
+P. Bennett, Thomas W. Bicknell, John B. Bottum, Harvey L. Boutwell,
+George A. Brown, Walter J. D. Bullock, Edward B. Callender, James F.
+Carey, George D. Chamberlain, Albert Clarke, Charles Carleton Coffin,
+Henry Cook, Louis A. Cook, Charles U. Corey, Fred E. Crawford,
+Franklin Cross, Arthur B. Curtis, Francis W. Darling, William D.
+Dennis, Solomon K. Dexter, E. Walter Everett, George H. Fall, Frank E.
+Fitts, Jubal C. Gleason, Samuel L. Gracey, James W. Grimes, Thomas E.
+Grover, Luther Hall, Harris C. Hartwell, Martin E. Hawes, William R.
+Hayden, Alfred S. Hayes, Ehhu B. Hayes, Charles E. Haywood, Edmund
+Hersey, John Hildreth, John G. Horan, Charles R. Johnson, George R.
+Jones, William E. Judd, Alfred F. Kinney, John Larrabee, Mahlon R.
+Leonard, Frederic O. MacCartney, Samuel W. McCall, James H. Mellen,
+John M. Merriman, Charles H. Miller, Daniel L. Milliken, Charles P.
+Mills, Bushrod Morse, James J. Myers, H. Heustis Newton, Herbert C.
+Parsons, George W. Penniman, Francis C. Perry, Albert Poor, Josiah
+Quincy, Francis H. Raymond, Alfred S. Roe, (Judge) Thomas Russell,
+Thomas E. St. John, Howard K. Sanderson, Charles F. Shute, George T.
+Sleeper, Frank Smith, Metcalf J. Smith, George L. Soule, Eugene H.
+Sprague, Ezra A. Stevens, Hazard Stevens, Stephen S. Taft, George F.
+Tucker, John E. Turtle, O. W. H. Upham, Horace G. Wadlin, Jesse B.
+Wheeler, Frederick L. Whitmore, John W. Wilkinson, John A. Woodbury,
+Charles L. Young.
+
+[325] In 1847 Lucy Stone began to advocate giving the mother equal
+guardianship of the children with the father. During the past thirty
+years the State Suffrage Association has repeatedly petitioned the
+Legislature to this effect. In 1902 many other organizations joined in
+the effort, and the petition for equal guardianship was indorsed by
+34,000 women. The Committee on Probate and Chancery reported
+adversely. Representative George H. Fall's Equal Guardianship Bill was
+debated on two days and finally passed both Houses and was signed by
+Gov. W. Murray Crane in June.
+
+The only society of women that has ever ranged itself publicly on the
+opposing side of this question is the Massachusetts Anti-Suffrage
+Association. For years it circulated with its official imprint a
+leaflet in defense of the law which excluded mothers from the custody
+and guardianship of their children.
+
+[326] For information in regard to the laws the History is indebted to
+Mrs. Anna Christy (George H.) Fall, a practicing lawyer of Malden.
+
+[327] This was purely class legislation, as the woman who had paid
+property tax was not required to pay poll-tax, and poor women could
+not vote without paying two dollars each year. The law was not asked
+for by the Suffrage Association.
+
+[328] The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Lavina Allen
+Hatch of East Pembroke, recording secretary of the association from
+its beginning in 1882, and also corresponding secretary from 1892.
+
+[329] In 1884 the Boston Political Class was formed as an auxiliary.
+While the idea of such an educational scheme originated with Sara A.
+Underwood, its successful development is due to Harriette Robinson
+Shattuck, who became president of the class. Lavina Allen Hatch kept
+its records, and Dora Bascom Smith gave the use of her parlors for its
+fortnightly meetings.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI.
+
+MICHIGAN.[330]
+
+
+From the time of the defeat of the suffrage amendment to the State
+constitution in 1874 there was no central organization in Michigan for
+ten years, although a few local societies maintained an existence.
+Through a conjunction of these forces a convention was called at
+Flint, May 21, 1884, which resulted in the forming of a State Equal
+Suffrage Association, officered as follows: President, Mary L. Doe;
+vice-president, Gov. Josiah W. Begole; corresponding secretary, Nellie
+Walker; recording secretary, Fannie Holden Fowler; treasurer, Cordelia
+F. Briggs.
+
+The second State convention was held in Grand Rapids, Oct. 7-9, 1885,
+with Lucy Stone and Henry B. Blackwell in attendance. Letters were
+received from Susan B. Anthony, president of the National Association,
+and Thomas W. Palmer, U. S. Senator from Michigan. The latter said: "I
+hope that you will put forward the economic aspect of the
+question--its effect upon taxation. Women are the natural economists."
+
+In lieu of the annual meeting in 1886 four political State
+conventions--Prohibition, Greenback, Republican and Democratic--were
+memorialized for a plank indorsing a Municipal Suffrage Bill. Sarah E.
+V. Emery appeared before the Prohibition convention, which adopted the
+plank. She also attended the Democratic, where she was invited to the
+platform and made a vigorous speech, which was received with applause,
+but the suffrage resolution was not adopted. Emily B. Ketcham attended
+the Republican convention but was refused a hearing before the
+Committee on Resolutions. After its report had been accepted friends
+obtained an opportunity for her to address the meeting, but she was
+received with considerable discourtesy. Mrs. Fowler secured the
+adoption of the plank by the Greenback convention.
+
+The association met in the State House at Lansing, Jan. 13, 14, 1887.
+Miss Anthony, vice-president-at-large of the National Association,
+gave an address in Representative Hall. She was introduced by Gov.
+Cyrus G. Luce, and many senators and representatives were in the
+audience.[331]
+
+The convention of 1888 took place in Bay City, June 6-8. The Rev. Anna
+Howard Shaw and Helen M. Gougar of Indiana addressed large audiences
+in the opera house on successive evenings. Immediately afterward a
+series of two days' meetings was held by Mrs. Gougar, assisted by May
+Stocking Knaggs, at Saginaw, Flint, Port Huron, Detroit, Battle Creek
+and Grand Rapids, societies being organized at several places.
+
+In November the Association for the Advancement of Women met in
+Detroit. Many suffragists were in attendance and the State president,
+Mrs. Doe, called a council in the parlors of the Church of Our Father.
+Fifty responded and it was unanimously decided to renew the effort for
+Municipal Suffrage.
+
+The annual meeting was held in the State House at Lansing, Jan. 19-21,
+1889. A letter was received from Senator Palmer, enclosing a draft for
+$100 and saying: "Equal suffrage in municipal affairs means better
+statutes, better ordinances, better officers, better administration,
+lower taxation, happier homes and a better race." This generous gift
+enabled the association to keep a committee--Helen Philleo Jenkins,
+Harriet A. Cook, Mrs. Ketcham and Mrs. Knaggs--at the capital for
+several weeks, where they worked systematically to convert members and
+to secure victory.
+
+The convention met at Detroit, Feb. 13, 14, 1890. Mrs. Doe, who had
+been the leader of the State forces since their organization, declined
+renomination and Mrs. Jenkins was chosen president.
+
+The association convened at Lansing again Feb. 10-12, 1891; and its
+speakers were given a joint hearing in Representative Hall on the
+Municipal Suffrage Bill, which was then before the Legislature.
+Addresses were made by Harriet J. Boutelle, Belle M. Perry, Sarah E.
+V. Emery and Martha Snyder Root.
+
+Miss Anthony was present at the State convention, which took place in
+Battle Creek, May 4, 5, 1892. Articles of incorporation were adopted
+and Mrs. Ketcham was elected president.
+
+In June the State Republican Convention met at East Saginaw. Mrs.
+Ketcham, with Mrs. Doe, chairman of the legislative committee, pleaded
+before the Committee on Resolutions for recognition of this measure.
+They were courteously treated and when about to retire their opinion
+was asked on a list of resolutions presented from Genesee County,
+_viz._: That women professors be appointed at Michigan University
+until their number should bear a fair proportion to the number of
+women students; that women be appointed on boards of control of the
+State penal, reformatory and charitable institutions; that Municipal
+Suffrage for women be recommended, and that an amendment to the State
+constitution, striking out the word "male" as a qualification for
+voters, be submitted to the electors. The ladies indorsed all except
+the fourth proposition, but none of them was adopted.
+
+After the nominations for the Legislature had been made, letters were
+written to candidates of all parties to ascertain their attitude
+toward the Municipal Suffrage Bill. Many favorable and some evasive
+replies were received, while not a few letters were wholly ignored. A
+suffrage lecture course was arranged in eight cities, from November,
+1892, to March, 1893, inclusive, with Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw,
+president and vice-president-at-large of the National Association and
+Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the organization committee, Mrs.
+Clara Bewick Colby of Washington, D. C., and Mrs. Lida A. Meriwether
+of Tennessee, as speakers.
+
+The next annual convention was held in the Capitol, Feb. 1-3, 1893.
+Mrs. Colby had preceded it in January with her address on Wyoming,
+given in Representative Hall, the facts and figures of which left a
+strong impression.[332] The speakers addressed the Legislature in
+behalf of the Municipal Suffrage Bill.
+
+In January, 1894, Miss Anthony lectured at Ann Arbor before the
+University Association. By the efforts of Mrs. Olivia B. Hall, her
+hostess and friend of many years, preparations had been made for a
+mass meeting, in which the State E. S. A. participated, Miss Shaw also
+being present. It convened in Newberry Hall, January 15-17, with a
+large attendance and resulted in the organization of the Ann Arbor E.
+S. A., with one hundred members and Mrs. Hall as president. On the
+last evening she gave a large reception at her home in honor of the
+two ladies, which was attended by President and Mrs. George B. Angell
+and many of the university faculty.
+
+This year's convention assembled at Grand Rapids, May 7-10, with the
+Rev. Ida C. Hultin of Illinois as the principal speaker.
+
+The meeting of 1895 took place at Saginaw, May 7-9. In the evening
+Representative George H. Waldo gave a review of his efforts in behalf
+of the Equal Suffrage Bill, and an enthusiastic indorsement of the
+measure. This convention had the assistance of Mrs. Chapman Catt, who
+made the chief address. Mrs. Ketcham retired from the presidency and
+the association elected Mrs. Knaggs. A new standing committee of five
+was appointed to secure women physicians and attendants in public
+institutions for the care of women and girls. After adjournment the
+Saginaw Political Equality Club was formed.
+
+In 1896 the State convention met in Pontiac, May 19-22. Senator Palmer
+was the orator of the occasion.
+
+The following July Mrs. Knaggs and Carrie C. Faxon addressed the
+Democratic State Convention at Bay City, through the courtesy of the
+Hons. John Donovan and O'Brien J. Atkinson. They were accorded an
+attentive hearing with much applause, and given a rising vote of
+thanks, emphasized by an exhortation from the chairman, the Hon.
+Thomas Barkworth, that the party prepare to concede to the women of
+the State their political rights.
+
+The annual meeting of 1897 took place in Vermontville, May 11-13. On
+November 22, 23, a national conference was held in Grand Rapids by
+Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw and Mrs. Chapman Catt, together with the
+officers of the State association and many other Michigan women.
+
+In 1898 the convention met in Bay City, May 3-5. On the last evening
+Mrs. May Wright Sewall of Indiana gave a brilliant address on The
+Duties of Women Considered as Patriots. Its strong peace sentiments
+aroused deep interest, as this was at the beginning of the
+Spanish-American War.
+
+The invitation of the Susan B. Anthony Club of Grand Rapids to the
+National W. S. A., to hold its annual convention in that city in 1899,
+having been accepted, the date was fixed for April 27 to May 3,
+inclusive, and it was decided that the State meeting should
+immediately follow. This national gathering was full of interest,
+affording as it did an opportunity of attendance to many women of the
+State who were unable to go to the convention at Washington.[333]
+Grand Rapids women were generous in their hospitality, all visitors
+being entertained free of expense. The executive ability of Mrs.
+Ketcham was evident from first to last. The State association held a
+business session May 4, and was addressed by Mr. Blackwell and Mrs.
+Colby. Mrs. Lenore Starker Bliss was elected president.
+
+An immediate result of the national meeting was the organization of
+the Anna Shaw Junior Equal Suffrage Club of Grand Rapids, with
+seventeen youthful members.
+
+In December the American Federation of Labor held its annual
+convention in Detroit. Miss Anthony addressed it by invitation and
+urged the members to adopt a resolution asking Congress for a
+Sixteenth Amendment forbidding the disfranchisement of United States
+citizens on account of sex. Her speech was most enthusiastically
+received and the resolution she offered was immediately adopted, and,
+in the form of a petition which represented nearly 1,000,000 members,
+duly forwarded to Congress.
+
+Prior to the State convention of 1900 Mrs. Chapman Catt, assisted by
+Miss Shaw, Miss Harriet May Mills of New York and Mrs. Root, held two
+days' conventions at Hillsdale, Battle Creek, Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor,
+organizing suffrage clubs at the first three places. The annual
+meeting convened in Detroit, May 15-17, Miss Shaw and Mrs. Chapman
+Catt giving addresses on consecutive evenings. Mrs. Bliss declining
+renomination, Mrs. Ketcham was unanimously replaced at the head of the
+State association.[334]
+
+In July, at the request of Miss Anthony, the Columbia Catholic Summer
+School held in Detroit extended an invitation for a speech on
+suffrage. Mrs. Chapman Catt was selected, all arrangements being made
+by Mrs. Jenkins and others. Father W. J. Dalton, who introduced her,
+said he hoped to see women voting and filling all offices, even that
+of police commissioner.
+
+The Greenback and the People's parties have welcomed women as
+assistants. Prominent among these have been Marian Todd, Martha E.
+Strickland and Elizabeth Eaglesfield. In 1896 Mrs. Emery and Mrs. Root
+were placed upon the State Central Committee of the People's Party.
+The Prohibitionists also have received women as party workers.
+
+Besides those already named, others who have been foremost in every
+plan to forward equality for women are Giles B. and Catharine A. F.
+Stebbins, Sara Philleo Skinner, Lila E. Bliss, H. Margaret Downs,
+Delisle P. Holmes, Wesley Emery, Brent Harding, Smith G. Ketcham and
+John Wesley Knaggs; among the younger women, Florence Jenkins Spalding
+and Edith Frances Hall.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION: Prior to 1885 the charters of twelve cities made
+inoperative the early State law which gave School Suffrage to women.
+By appealing to the Legislature of that year the charters of Grand
+Rapids and Bay City were so amended that the right to vote at school
+meetings was conferred upon women.
+
+The new State association organized in 1884 adopted as its principal
+plan of work a bill which had been drawn by the Hon. Samuel Fowler and
+introduced in the Legislature of 1883, to grant Municipal Suffrage to
+women.
+
+In 1885 this bill was presented in the Senate by John W. Belknap, a
+strong supporter. Independent of the State association, Theodore G.
+Houk introduced in the House a joint resolution to strike the word
+"male" from the constitution. The Joint Judiciary Committees granted a
+hearing to the friends of woman suffrage in February. The Municipal
+Bill came to a vote in the Senate on May 21, which resulted in 14
+ayes, 15 noes, but was not acted upon in the House. The Houk joint
+resolution passed the House by 81 ayes, 10 noes, but was not brought
+up in the Senate.
+
+In 1887 the Municipal Suffrage Bill was again taken up, being
+introduced simultaneously in both Houses, in the lower by Henry
+Watson, in the upper by Charles J. Monroe, both staunch friends. A
+hearing was had before the Senate Judiciary and the House Committee on
+Elections in March. Miss Frances E. Willard aided the suffragists by a
+brief address. On April 12 the House committee reported in favor of
+striking out all after the enacting clause, thus completely
+obliterating the bill, which report was accepted by a vote of 50 ayes,
+33 noes. The Senate Bill was not considered.
+
+In 1889 the Municipal Suffrage Bill was introduced in the Senate by
+Arthur D. Gilmore and in the House by Dr. James B. F. Curtis. It was
+referred to the Judiciary Committees, and at their request the hearing
+was had before the entire Legislature during the annual convention of
+the State E. S. A. No outside lecturers were invited, because the
+friends of the measure were met by a strongly-expressed wish that the
+women of Michigan should speak for themselves. Short speeches were
+made by May Stocking Knaggs, Catharine A. F. Stebbins, Emily B.
+Ketcham, Lucy F. Andrews, Elizabeth Eaglesfield, Frances Riddle
+Stafford, Harriet A. Cook, Mrs. R. M. Kellogg, Phebe B. Whitfield and
+Mary B. Clay of Kentucky who was then residing in the State. Mrs.
+Clara Bewick Colby being present, she was invited to make the closing
+remarks.
+
+Just before this hearing the bevy of officers and speakers passing
+through the corridor on their way to the House were warned by Joseph
+Greusel, a friendly journalist, that a circular of protest had been
+placed upon the desk of each member. This was headed: "Massachusetts
+Remonstrants against Woman Suffrage, to the Members of the Michigan
+Legislature;" and contained the familiar array of misrepresentations.
+With the co-operation of Lucy Stone, a reply was printed immediately
+after the convention and likewise distributed in the Legislature.
+
+The House Bill remained under the judicious guardianship of Dr.
+Curtis. The chairman of the legislative committee, Mrs. Knaggs, was in
+constant attendance and secured valuable information on the practical
+working of Municipal Suffrage from Gov. Lyman U. Humphrey,
+Attorney-General Simeon B. Bradford, ex-Attorney-General L. B. Kellogg
+and Laura M. Johns, all of Kansas. The Hon. Charles B. Waite of
+Chicago prepared by request an exhaustive legal opinion on The Power
+of the Legislature of Michigan in Reference to Municipal Suffrage. The
+Judiciary Committee--John V. B. Goodrich, Russell R. Pealer, Byron S.
+Waite, Norris J. Brown, Oliver S. Smith, Thomas C. Taylor, James A.
+Randall--gave a unanimous report in favor of the bill, which included
+this opinion and the Kansas reports. Senator Thomas W. Palmer, who had
+been appointed Minister to Spain, went to Lansing on the very eve of
+leaving this country and, in an address to the joint Houses of the
+Legislature, made a strong plea for the measure.
+
+As the day fixed for the consideration of the bill approached, the
+suffrage committee found itself confronted by an arrangement, quietly
+made by the opponents, to have an address delivered in Representative
+Hall by a Mrs. Mary Livermore, who had been holding parlor meetings in
+Detroit for pay and speaking against woman suffrage; and the false
+report was industriously circulated that this was the great suffragist
+of like name, who had discarded her lifelong convictions and gone over
+to the enemy.
+
+The bill was considered May 15, 1889. By the courtesy of J. B.
+Mulliken, general manager of the D. L. and N. R. R., a special train
+which carried a large delegation of women was sent from Detroit. Some
+came from other parts of the State and the societies of Lansing were
+well represented. The galleries were filled and the floor of the House
+was lined with interested women. After a largely favorable discussion
+the vote was taken, resulting in 58 yeas, 34 noes. The bill was
+immediately dispatched to the Senate. That body lost no time, but at
+once brought the measure under consideration and after a brief
+discussion it was defeated by one vote--11 ayes, 12 noes.[335]
+
+That evening Mrs. Livermore gave her belated dissertation and, upon
+motion, was followed by Adele Hazlitt, who with great courtesy slew
+her weak arguments.
+
+At this session the charters of East Saginaw and Detroit were amended
+to give women of those cities the school ballot; the former through
+the efforts of Representative Rowland Connor.[336]
+
+In 1891 the Municipal Suffrage Bill was again presented to the
+Legislature, in the House by Samuel Miller and in the Senate by Alfred
+Milnes, both champions of the measure. The State suffrage convention
+was in session at the capital February 10-12, and the Legislature gave
+a joint hearing in Representative Hall to its speakers, all Michigan
+women. The Senate Bill was taken up March 25, discussed and lost by 14
+ayes, 12 noes. It was then tabled and taken up again May 13, receiving
+14 ayes, 15 noes. Just prior to this consideration of the bill
+ninety-five petitions in its favor, representing eighty-eight towns
+and bearing several thousand signatures, were presented.
+
+This discussion was the most trying of all during the ten years of
+effort to secure Municipal Suffrage, owing to the character of the
+chief opponent, Senator Frank Smith, who represented the basest
+elements of Detroit. Knowing his illiteracy, the reporters had
+expected much sport by sending his speech to the papers in full, but
+in the interests of decency they refrained from publishing it. Women
+came down from the galleries white with anger and disgust, and avowed
+that if they never had wanted the ballot before they wanted it now.
+The suffrage committee received many friendly courtesies from
+Lieut.-Gov. John Strong, besides a substantial gift of money. When
+asked for the use of the Senate Chamber for one evening of the
+convention he said: "Certainly; your money helped to build the State
+House. You have as much right to it as any of us."
+
+In March, 1893, the bill was introduced by Henry Wirt Newkirk in the
+House and Samuel W. Hopkins in the Senate. Both were lawyers of
+distinguished ability, and among the most earnest advocates the
+measure ever had. The State suffrage convention was in session while
+it was being considered. The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw and the Rev.
+Caroline Bartlett made addresses before the Legislature, the latter
+speaking on Woman's Legitimate and Illegitimate Work in Politics.
+These speeches took the place of the customary committee hearing. The
+evening before the bill was voted on Miss Anthony addressed the
+Legislature with her customary acumen and force.
+
+The measure had been made the special order for 2:30 P. M. the next
+day. The House assembled at 2 o'clock. Following the roll-call the
+usual order was the presentation of petitions. At this time a member
+in the rear, at a sufficient distance from the Speaker's desk to give
+impressiveness to what would follow, rose and presented "A petition
+from the people of Chippewa County in favor of the Municipal Woman
+Suffrage Bill." A page sprang forward and taking the document, which
+was prepared upon paper of an extra size and ornamented with long
+streamers of red and green ribbons, ran with it to the clerk's desk,
+and that officer proceeded to read it at length, including a long list
+of signatures which comprised Patrick O'Shea, Annie Rooney, Spotted
+Tail, etc. This petition was followed by two others of similar
+character, bearing Indian names of such significance as the wit of the
+opposition could invent. After this dignified prelude the House
+discussed the measure at length, and defeated it by a vote of 38 ayes,
+39 noes. A reconsideration was moved and the bill tabled.
+
+This Municipal Suffrage Bill was taken up again in May and passed the
+House on the 19th with an educational amendment: "Women who are able
+to read the constitution of Michigan in the English language." The
+vote was 57 ayes, 25 noes. On May 25 it was considered in the Senate
+and, after a vigorous battle, was carried by a vote of 18 ayes, 11
+noes. Gov. John T. Rich affixed his signature May 27, and apparent
+victory was won after ten years of effort. Representative Newkirk and
+Senator Hopkins received the heartfelt gratitude of those for whom
+they had given their ardent labors, and local societies held jubilee
+meetings. The newspapers of the State were unanimous in expressing
+welcome to the new class of voters.
+
+Mary L. Doe started at once upon a tour for the purpose of organizing
+municipal franchise leagues for the study of city government, and
+everywhere was met with eager interest. She left a league in every
+place she visited, men also joining in the plans for study. Thus in
+conscientious preparation for their new duties, women in the various
+municipalities passed the summer and early autumn of 1893.
+
+Mayor Pingree of Detroit recognizing the new law, ordered a sufficient
+additional number of registration books, but Edward H. Kennedy and
+Henry S. Potter, who were opposed to it, filed an injunction against
+Hazen S. Pingree and the Common Council to restrain them from this
+extra purchase. Mary Stuart Coffin and Mary E. Burnett "countered" by
+filing a mandamus September 30, to compel the election commissioners
+to provide means for carrying out the law. As these were cases for
+testing the constitutionality of the law they were taken directly to
+the Supreme Court. They were set for argument October 10, at 2 P. M.,
+but a case of local interest was allowed to usurp the time till 4
+o'clock, one hour only being left for the arguments with three
+advocates on each side. Two of the women's lawyers, John B. Corliss
+and Henry A. Haigh, therefore filed briefs and gave their time to the
+first attorney, Col. John Atkinson.
+
+A decision was rendered October 24, the mandamus denied and the
+injunction granted, all the judges concurring, on the ground that the
+Legislature had no authority to create a new class of voters. Those
+who gave this decision were Chief Justice John W. McGrath and Justices
+Frank A. Hooker, John D. Long, Claudius B. Grant and Robert M.
+Montgomery.[337]
+
+In spite of this Waterloo, the names of those men who, through the ten
+years' struggle, in the various sessions of the Legislature, stood as
+champions of the political rights of women, are cherished in memory.
+Besides those already given are Lieut-Gov. Archibald Butters,
+Senators Edwin G. Fox, James D. Turnbull, Charles H. McGinley and C.
+J. Brundage, and Representative Fremont G. Chamberlain. In both
+Houses, session after session, there were many eloquent advocates of
+woman's equality.
+
+No further efforts have been made by women to secure the suffrage; but
+in 1895 George H. Waldo, without solicitation, introduced into the
+House a joint resolution to amend the constitution by striking out the
+word "male." This was done in fulfilment of a promise to his mother
+and his wife, when nominated, to do all that he could to secure the
+enfranchisement of women if elected. Although the officers of the
+State association did not believe the time to be ripe for the
+submission of such an amendment, they could not withhold a friendly
+hand from so ardent and sincere a champion. The resolution was lost by
+one vote.
+
+This Legislature passed what was known as "the blanket charter act,"
+in which the substitution of "and" for "or" seemed so to affect the
+right of women to the school ballot in cities of the fourth class as
+to create a general disturbance. It resulted in an appeal to
+Attorney-General Fred A. Maynard, who rendered an opinion sustaining
+the suffrage of women in those cities.
+
+In 1897 the main efforts of the association were directed toward
+securing a bill to place women on boards of control of the State
+Asylums for the Insane, and one to make mandatory the appointment of
+women physicians to take charge of women patients in these asylums and
+in the Home for the Feeble-Minded. These measures were both lost; but
+on April 15 Governor Pingree appointed Jane M. Kinney to the Board of
+Control of the Eastern Michigan Asylum for the Insane at Pontiac for a
+term of six years, and after twenty days' delay the Senate confirmed
+the appointment.
+
+Interest was taken also in a bill requiring a police matron in towns
+of 10,000 inhabitants or more, which this year became law.
+
+In 1899 a bill was again introduced into the Legislature to make
+mandatory the appointment of women physicians in asylums for the
+insane, the Industrial Home for Girls, the Home for the Feeble-Minded,
+the School for Deaf Mutes and the School for the Blind. This measure
+had now enlisted the interest of the State Federation of Women's Clubs
+and many other organizations of women, and thousands of petitions
+were presented. Emma J. Rose led the work of the women's clubs in its
+behalf. It passed the Legislature and became a law.
+
+LAWS: In 1885 a law was enacted that manufacturers who employ women
+must furnish seats for them; in 1889 that no girl under fifteen years
+of age should be employed in factories or stores for a longer period
+than fifty-four hours in a single week; in 1893 that no woman under
+twenty-one should be employed in any manufacturing establishment
+longer than sixty hours in any one week; in 1895 that no woman under
+twenty-one should be allowed to clean machinery while in motion.[338]
+
+A law enacted in 1897 prohibits the use of indecent, immoral, obscene
+or insulting language in the presence of any woman or child, with a
+penalty for its violation.
+
+Dower but not curtesy obtains. The widow is entitled to the life use
+of one-third of the real estate, and to one-third of the rents, issues
+and profits of property not conveniently divisible, owned by her
+husband. She may stay in the dwelling of her husband and receive
+reasonable support for one year. She is entitled to her apparel and
+ornaments and those of her husband, $250 worth of his household
+furniture and $200 worth of his other personal property, which she may
+select. If he die without a will and there are no children she
+inherits one-half, and if there are no other heirs the whole of her
+husband's real estate, and personal property, if the latter, after all
+debts are paid, does not exceed $1,000. If there is excess of this it
+is distributed like real estate. This reservation is not made for the
+widower, but "no individual, under any circumstances, takes any larger
+interest than the husband in the personal property of his deceased
+wife."
+
+Where the wife has separate real estate she may sell, mortgage or
+bequeath it as if she were "sole." The husband can not give full title
+to his real estate unless the wife joins so as to cut off her dower.
+
+The wife's time, services, earnings and society belong to her husband,
+but he may give to his wife her services rendered for another,
+whether in his own household or elsewhere, so that she may recover for
+them in her own name. Damages for the loss of such services and
+society, resulting from injuries inflicted upon the wife, belong to
+the husband and are to be recovered in his own name. Her obligation to
+render family services for him is co-extensive with his obligation to
+support her. She can sue in her own name for personal injuries.
+
+Husband and wife can not be partners in business; but of personal
+property owned by them jointly she is entitled to her share the same
+as if unmarried; and real estate held by them in fee or in joint
+tenancy goes entirely to the survivor without probate or other
+proceedings.
+
+A wife may become a sole trader with the husband's consent, or may
+form a business partnership with another. She can not become security.
+
+All persons, except infants and married women and persons of unsound
+mind, may submit differences to arbitration.
+
+The father is legally entitled to the custody of the persons and
+education of minor children, and may appoint a guardian by will for
+the minority even of one unborn, but the mother may present objections
+to the Probate Judge and appeal from his decision.
+
+The husband must provide the necessities of life according to his
+station and means while the wife remains in his domicile. If she is
+deserted or non-supported, the Circuit Court of the county shall
+assign such part of his real or personal estate as it deems necessary
+for her support, and may enforce the decree by sale of such real
+estate, which provision holds during their joint lives.
+
+In 1887 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 14
+years. In 1895 a bill to raise the age from 14 to 18 was introduced in
+the Senate by Joseph R. McLaughlin. More than 10,000 persons
+petitioned for its passage, two similar bills having been introduced
+in the House. A hearing was granted by the Judiciary Committees, at
+which speeches were made by Senator and Mrs. McLaughlin, Clara A.
+Avery, Mrs. Andrew Howell, Dr. E. L. Shirley, the aged Lucinda
+Hinsdale Stone, Melvin A. and Martha Snyder Root. Mrs. Root also
+addressed the Legislature in Representative Hall. The bill was amended
+to 17 years and passed in the Senate. The next day, after its friends
+had dispersed, the vote was reconsidered and the bill amended to 16
+years, passing both Houses in this form. The penalty is imprisonment
+for life, or for any such period as the court shall direct, no minimum
+penalty being named.
+
+SUFFRAGE: When at the close of the Civil War the States eliminated the
+word "white" from their constitutions, Michigan in 1867 amended her
+School Law to conform and also struck out the word "male" as a
+qualification for the suffrage, and gave tax-paying women a vote for
+school trustees. In 1881 this law was further amended to include
+parents or guardians of children of school age. No woman can vote for
+county or State Superintendents, as these officers are provided for
+under the constitution. Tax-paying women may also vote on bonds and
+appropriations for school purposes.
+
+The year of 1888 was marked by a test of the constitutionality of this
+School Law, which involved the right of the Legislature to confer any
+form of suffrage whatever upon women. The test was made through the
+prosecution of the inspectors of election of the city of Flint by Mrs.
+Eva R. Belles, whose vote was refused at a school election, she being
+a qualified voter under the State law. Mrs. Belles won her case which
+was then appealed to the Supreme Court. This affirmed the decision of
+the lower court and sustained the law.
+
+In May, 1893, the Legislature conferred Municipal Suffrage on women,
+but in October the Supreme Court decided it unconstitutional on the
+ground that "the Legislature had no authority to create a new class of
+voters." (See Legislative Action.) The Court held that it could,
+however, confer School Suffrage as "the whole primary school system is
+confided to the Legislature and its officers are not mentioned in the
+constitution." By this decision women can have no other form of the
+franchise except by constitutional amendment.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: Hundreds of women are serving as officers and members
+of school boards throughout the State, as township school inspectors
+and as county school commissioners and examiners.
+
+A number are acting as deputy county clerks, and one as deputy clerk
+of the United States District Court. The latter frequently opens the
+court. Women serve as notaries public.
+
+For thirty years women have filled the office of State Librarian, the
+present incumbent being Mary C. Spencer.
+
+Dr. Harriet M. C. Stone has been for several years assistant physician
+in the Michigan Asylum for the Insane at Kalamazoo.
+
+The State Industrial School for Girls has two women on the Board of
+Guardians, one of whom, Allaseba M. Bliss, is the president and is
+serving her second term of four years, having been reappointed by Gov.
+Hazen S. Pingree.[339] Since 1899 the law requires women physicians in
+asylums for the insane and other State institutions where women and
+children are cared for.
+
+In the autumn of 1898 Mrs. Merrie Hoover Abbott, law-partner in the
+firm of Abbott & Abbott of West Branch, was nominated on the
+Democratic ticket as prosecuting attorney of Ogemaw County. She was
+elected and entered upon her duties Jan. 1, 1899. _Quo warranto_
+proceedings were instituted by Attorney-General Horace M. Oren to test
+her right to the office, and October 17 the Supreme Court filed its
+opinion and entered judgment of ouster. In the meantime Mrs. Abbott
+had discharged successfully the duties of the position. The opinion
+was as follows: "Where the constitution in creating a public office is
+silent in regard to qualification to office, _electors_ only are
+qualified to fill the same, and since under the constitution women are
+not electors, they are not eligible to hold such offices. The office
+of prosecuting attorney is a constitutional office which can only be
+held by one possessing the qualification of an elector."
+
+From this opinion Justice Joseph B. Moore dissented, making an able
+argument. In closing he said:
+
+     The statutes of this State confer upon woman the right to
+     practice law. She may represent her client in the most important
+     litigation in all the courts, and no one can dispute her right.
+     She may defend a person charged with murder. Can she not
+     prosecute one charged with the larceny of a whip? To say she can
+     not seems illogical.... Individuals may employ her and the courts
+     must recognize her employment. If the people see fit, by electing
+     her to an office the duties of which pertain almost wholly to the
+     practice of the law, to employ her to represent them in their
+     litigation, why should not the courts recognize the
+     employment?... Where the constitution and the statutes are silent
+     as to the qualification for a given office, the people may elect
+     whom they will, if the person so elected is competent to
+     discharge the duties of the office.... None of the duties of
+     prosecuting attorney are of such a character as to preclude one
+     from their performance simply because of sex.
+
+Charles S. Abbott, Allen S. Morse and T. A. E. Weadock were the
+advocates for Mrs. Abbott, and she also made a strong oral argument in
+her own behalf. Unfortunately the case was not one which permitted an
+appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is forbidden by law to women.
+
+EDUCATION: All universities and colleges admit women. The University
+of Michigan (Ann Arbor), one of the largest in the country, was among
+the first to open its doors to them. (1869.) Mrs. Lucinda Hinsdale
+Stone was a strong factor in securing their admission. In having women
+on its faculty, it is still in advance of most of those where
+co-education prevails.
+
+In the public schools there are 3,471 men and 12,093 women teachers.
+The average monthly salary of the men is $44.48; of the women, $35.35.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Michigan may truly be called the founder of Woman's Clubs, as the
+first one for purely literary culture of which we have any record was
+formed in Kalamazoo, in 1852, by Mrs. Stone, to whom the women of the
+State are deeply indebted in many ways. At present (1902) there are
+133 in the General Federation with a membership of about 10,000, and a
+number are not federated. This State also leads all others in the
+number of women's club houses, ten of the leading clubs possessing
+their own. There are two of these in Grand Rapids--the St. Cecilia
+(musical) costing $53,000, and the Ladies' Literary costing $30,000,
+both containing fine libraries, large audience rooms and every
+convenience.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[330] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Mary L. Doe and
+Mrs. May Stocking Knaggs, both of Bay City and former presidents of
+the State Equal Suffrage Association.
+
+[331] This year strong societies were formed in Detroit, Bay City and
+Battle Creek. Michigan sent three representatives, Melvin A. and
+Martha Snyder Root and Emily B. Ketcham, to the New England Woman
+Suffrage Bazaar held at Boston in December. Mr. and Mrs. Root had
+spent much time and money canvassing the State to arouse interest and
+secure contributions for this, and at its close New England gave to
+Michigan the total proceeds of her sales.
+
+[332] Melvin A. Root presented at this convention a compact digest of
+The Legal Condition of Girls and Women in Michigan, which was
+published the following year. It has been used widely, not only in
+this but in other States, and has proved of inestimable service. A
+liberal gift of money came from the Hon. Delos A. Blodgett of Grand
+Rapids, a constant friend.
+
+[333] See Chap. XVIII.
+
+[334] Other officers elected: Vice-president, Clara B. Arthur;
+corresponding secretary, Alde L. T. Blake; recording secretary, Edith
+Frances Hall; treasurer, Martha Snyder Root; auditors, Margaret M.
+Huckins, Frances Ostrander; member national executive committee,
+Lenore Starker Bliss.
+
+[335] Many petitions in favor of the bill had been sent unsolicited,
+this not being a part of the plan of work. After the quick defeat in
+the Senate it was found that the chairman of the committee to which
+these had been referred had on file the names of 5,502 petitioners
+(2,469 men, 3,033 women) out of twenty-one senatorial districts. These
+were in addition to many thousands sent in previous sessions, when
+petitioning had been a method of work.
+
+[336] Although the Detroit women obtained the change in their law just
+before the spring election, they made a house to house canvass to
+secure registration and polled a vote of 2,700 women, electing
+Sophronia O. C. Parsons to the school board.
+
+[337] It is interesting to note that in Wayne County women registered
+and attended primary meetings prior to this decision, but their votes
+were held not to invalidate the nominations, although at least one of
+the Judges of the Recorder's Court owed his election to being
+nominated through the votes of women.
+
+[338] In April, 1896, a large number of the philanthropic women of
+Detroit, including many suffragists, organized the Protective Agency
+for Women and Children, opening an office in the Chamber of Commerce
+Building and employing an agent on salary. Since then it has done
+admirable work and has obtained some good legislation.
+
+[339] Mrs. May Stocking Knaggs has been appointed (1901) a member of
+the Board of Control of the State Industrial School for Girls, by Gov.
+Aaron T. Bliss. [Eds.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVII.
+
+MINNESOTA.[340]
+
+
+The first agitation of the question of woman suffrage in Minnesota,
+and the first petitions to the Legislature to grant it, began
+immediately after the Civil War, through the efforts of Mrs. Sarah
+Burger Stearns and Mrs. Mary J. Colburn, and the first suffrage
+societies were formed by these ladies in 1869. The work has continued
+with more or less regularity up to the present.
+
+From 1883 to 1890 the State Suffrage Association held its annual
+meetings regularly in one or the other of the Twin Cities, Minneapolis
+and St. Paul. Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Henry B. Blackwell, Julia
+Ward Howe, the Hon. William Dudley Foulke, Mary A. Livermore, the Rev.
+Ada C. Bowles, Abigail Scott Duniway and other eminent advocates were
+secured as speakers at different times. Dr. Martha G. Ripley succeeded
+Mrs. Sarah Burger Stearns as president in 1883, and was re-elected
+each year until 1889. She was followed by Mrs. Ella M. S. Marble for
+that year, and Dr. Mary Emery for 1890.
+
+The association contributed toward sending Mrs. Julia B. Nelson to
+South Dakota to speak in the suffrage campaign of 1890. On November
+18, 19, the State convention was held in St. Paul, Mrs. Stearns
+presiding. Mrs. Nelson was elected president. Among the speakers were
+Attorney-General Moses E. Clapp, the Reverends Mr. Vail and Mr.
+Morgan, Mrs. A. T. Anderson, Mrs. Priscilla M. Niles, Mrs. Ella
+Tremain Whitford and the Rev. Olympia Brown of Wisconsin.
+
+In the autumn of 1891 the convention met at Blue Earth City. This
+place had not lost the savor of the salt which Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
+Susan B. Anthony and Phoebe W. Couzins had scattered in the vicinity
+thirteen years before, and the meetings were enthusiastic and
+well-attended. The Rev. W. K. Weaver was the principal speaker.
+
+It was largely as the superintendent of franchise of the State Woman's
+Christian Temperance Union, which was better organized, that Mrs.
+Nelson, president of the suffrage association from 1890 to 1896, was
+able to secure thousands of signatures to the petitions for the
+franchise which were sent to each Legislature during those years.
+
+The meeting of 1892 took place at Hastings, September 6-8, and was
+welcomed by the Rev. Lewis Llewellyn. Letters were read from many
+noted people, and addresses given by the Rev. Mr. Morgan, Mrs. Stearns
+and several local speakers.
+
+The convention met in Lake City, Aug. 24, 25, 1893, with the usual
+fine addresses, good music and representative audiences.
+
+In 1894 Woman's Day was celebrated at the State Fair, its managers
+paying the speakers.
+
+In the spring and autumn of 1895 Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe of Illinois and
+Mrs. Laura M. Johns of Kansas, national organizers, lectured
+throughout Minnesota and formed a number of clubs. They also attended
+the State convention, which was held in the Capitol at St. Paul,
+September 10, 11. Gov. D. M. Clough was among those who made
+addresses.
+
+In 1896 the president, Mrs. Nelson, gave one month to lecturing and
+visiting societies.
+
+In October, 1897, the acting president, Mrs. Concheta Ferris Lutz,
+made an extended lecture tour. The annual meeting convened at
+Minneapolis in November, at the same time as a conference of the
+officers of the National Association. All arrangements were made by
+Dr. Cora Smith Eaton, Dr. Ripley and Mrs. Niles. The meetings in the
+First Baptist Church, one of the largest in the city, were very
+successful. On Sunday evening the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw,
+vice-president-at-large of the National Association, preached in the
+Universalist Church, and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the
+national organization committee, lectured in the Wesley M. E. Church,
+both to crowded houses. The next evening, when Miss Anthony, national
+president, and the latter spoke, every foot of standing ground was
+occupied, and on Tuesday, when Miss Shaw gave her lecture on The Fate
+of Republics, the church was equally well-filled.
+
+Mrs. Nelson, after seven years' service, relinquished the office of
+president and Dr. Eaton was elected. Professional duties soon made it
+necessary for her to resign and her place was filled by Mrs. Lutz.
+Political equality clubs were formed in six different wards of
+Minneapolis by Dr. Eaton.
+
+The convention of 1898 was called October 4, 5, at Minneapolis, with
+Mrs. Chapman Catt in attendance. The meetings were held in the G. A.
+R. Hall, the Masonic Temple and the Lyceum Theater. Mrs. Martha J.
+Thompson was elected president and Dr. Ethel E. Hurd corresponding
+secretary.
+
+In 1899 the convention met in the court-house of Albert Lea, October
+9, 10. On the first evening Mrs. Chapman Catt was the speaker, her
+theme being A True Democracy. The Rev. Ida C. Hultin of Illinois
+lectured on The Crowning Race. Miss Laura A. Gregg and Miss Helen L.
+Kimber, both of Kansas, national organizers, gave reports of county
+conventions conducted by them throughout Minnesota, with the
+assistance of Mrs. Evelyn H. Belden, president of the Iowa Equal
+Suffrage Association. The records showed ninety-eight suffrage
+meetings altogether to have been held during the year.
+
+In 1900 the convention took place at Stillwater, October 11, 12. The
+officers elected were: President, Mrs. Maude C. Stockwell;
+vice-president, Mrs. Jennie E. Brown; corresponding secretary, Miss
+Delia O'Malley; recording secretary, Mrs. Maria B. Bryant; treasurer,
+Dr. Margaret Koch; auditors, Sanford Niles and Mrs. Estelle Way;
+chairman executive committee, Mrs. Martha J. Thompson.[341]
+
+Judge J. B. and Mrs. Sarah Burger Stearns, C. W. and Mrs. Martha A.
+Dorsett have been among the oldest and most valued suffrage workers
+in the State. Miss Martha Scott Anderson, on the staff of the
+Minneapolis _Journal_, gives efficient help to the cause. Three
+presidents of the State W. C. T. U., Mesdames Harriet A. Hobart,
+Susanna M. D. Fry and Bessie Laythe Scoville have been noted as
+advocates of equal rights.[342]
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: In February, 1891, at the request of Mrs.
+Julia B. Nelson, president, and Mrs. A. T. Anderson, chairman of the
+executive committee of the State association, S. A. Stockwell
+introduced in the House a bill conferring Municipal Suffrage upon
+women. Mrs. Nelson spent several weeks at the capital looking after
+the petitions which came from all parts of the State, interviewing
+members of the Legislature, distributing literature and trying to get
+the bill out of the hands of the Committee on Elections, to which it
+had been referred. After repeated postponements a hearing finally was
+granted, at which she made a strong plea and showed the good results
+of woman suffrage in Kansas and Wyoming. The bill was indefinitely
+postponed in Committee of the Whole, by a vote of 52 yeas, 40 nays.
+
+Among the leaflets placed on the desk of each member was one
+especially prepared by Mrs. Nelson, entitled Points on Municipal
+Suffrage. One of its twelve points was this: "If the Legislature has
+the power to restrict suffrage it certainly has the right to extend
+it. The Legislature of Minnesota restricted the suffrage which had
+been given to women by a constitutional amendment, when it granted to
+the city of St. Paul a charter taking the election of members of the
+school board entirely out of the hands of women by giving their
+appointment to the mayor, an officer elected by the votes of men
+only."[343]
+
+Early in the session of 1893 Mrs. Nelson had a conference with
+Ignatius Donnelly, leader of the Populists, who was then in the
+Senate. He was willing to introduce a suffrage bill, but as the
+Republicans were in the majority it was thought best to have this done
+by John Day Smith, the leader of that party in the Senate. Mr. Smith
+consented, with the understanding that Mr. Donnelly should help by
+championing the bill. "Municipal Suffrage for women with educational
+qualifications," was all this bill asked for. Mrs. Nelson, Mrs. Anna
+B. Turley and Senator Donnelly made addresses before the Judiciary
+Committee at a hearing in the Senate Chamber, with an interested
+audience present. Mrs. Nelson also gave an evening lecture here on The
+Road to Freedom.
+
+In place of this bill one to submit an amendment to the voters was
+substituted. The suffragists were averse to this, but accepted it with
+the best grace possible, and enthusiastically worked for the new bill
+to amend the State constitution by striking the word "male" from the
+article restricting the suffrage. Senators Smith, Donnelly and Edwin
+E. Lommen spoke for the bill, and it passed the Senate by 31 yeas, 19
+nays.
+
+In the House it was persistently delayed by the chairman of the
+Judiciary Committee, George H. Fletcher, and the friends could not get
+it upon the calendar in time to be reached unless it should be made a
+special order. Edward T. Young endeavored to have this done, but as
+there were several hundred other bills to be considered and less than
+three days of the session left, his motion was lost. On the last
+night, Mr. Young and H. P. Bjorge made an effort to have the rules
+suspended and the bill put upon its final passage. The vote on this
+motion was 54 yeas, 44 nays, but as a two-thirds vote is necessary it
+was lost. Speaker W. E. Lee voted with the affirmative.[344]
+
+Three Suffrage Bills were introduced into the Legislature of 1895, two
+in the House and one in the Senate. The first, for an amendment to the
+State constitution, was offered by O. L. Brevig and was indefinitely
+postponed. S. T. Littleton presented the second, which was to give
+women a vote upon all questions pertaining to the liquor traffic. This
+found favor in the eyes of the W. C. T. U., as did also the County
+Option Bill of J. F. Jacobson, but both were unsuccessful. George T.
+Barr introduced a Municipal Suffrage Bill into the Senate, but too
+late for it to be acted upon.
+
+In 1897 Ignatius Donnelly secured the introduction of a bill to
+enfranchise taxpaying women. A hearing was given by the Judiciary
+Committee, at which Mrs. Nelson argued that in simple justice women
+who pay taxes should have a voice in their expenditure or be exempted
+from taxation, but the bill was not reported.
+
+This year the State Federation of Clubs secured a resolution to submit
+an amendment to the electorate in 1898, giving women the privilege of
+voting for and serving on Library Boards.
+
+In 1899 the Local Council of Women of Minneapolis obtained the
+Traveling Library Bill.
+
+During this year no petitioning or legislative work was done by the
+suffragists. The previous legislature had submitted an amendment,
+which carried, providing that all amendments hereafter must receive a
+majority of the largest number of votes cast at an election, in order
+to be adopted. The precedent had been established in 1875 of requiring
+a vote of the electors on the granting of School Suffrage to women,
+and in 1898, of Library Suffrage, and it was held that _the same would
+have to be done_ on granting Municipal or any other form of the
+franchise.
+
+Dower and curtesy were abolished March 9, 1875. If either husband or
+wife die without a will, the survivor, if there is issue living, is
+entitled to the homestead for life and one-third of the rest of the
+real estate in fee-simple, or by such inferior tenure as the deceased
+was possessed of, but subject to its just proportion of the debts. If
+there are no descendants, the entire real estate goes absolutely to
+the survivor. The personal property follows the same rules. If either
+husband or wife has wilfully and without just cause deserted and lived
+separately from the other for the entire year immediately prior to his
+or her decease, such survivor shall not be entitled to any estate
+whatever in any of the lands of the deceased.
+
+The estate of a child who dies without a will and leaves neither wife
+nor children, goes to the father; if he is dead, to the mother.
+
+The wife can not convey or encumber her separate real estate without
+the joinder of her husband. The husband can sell or mortgage all his
+real estate without her joinder, but subject to her dower. They are
+both free agents as to personal property.
+
+If divorce is obtained for the adultery of the wife, her own real
+estate may be withheld from her, but not so in case of the husband.
+
+In case of divorce, the court decides which parent is more fit for the
+guardianship of children under fourteen years of age; over fourteen,
+the child decides. Except when children are given to the mother by
+decree of court, the father is the legal guardian of their persons and
+property. He may appoint by will a guardian for a child, born or
+unborn, to the exclusion of the mother.
+
+The husband must support the family according to his means. Failure to
+do so used to be considered a misdemeanor but it has recently been
+made a felony punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary from one
+to three years unless he give bond for their maintenance. This is
+likely to be of little effect, however, because of the law of
+"privileged communications" which makes it impossible for the wife to
+testify against the husband.
+
+In 1891 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 16
+years, after thousands of women had petitioned to have it raised to
+18. If the child is under 10 years the penalty is imprisonment in the
+penitentiary for life; between 10 and 14 not less than seven nor more
+than thirty years; between 14 and 16 not less than one nor more than
+seven years, or it may be imprisonment in the county jail not less
+than three months nor more than one year.
+
+SUFFRAGE: An amendment to the constitution was adopted in 1875, giving
+women a vote on all questions pertaining to the public schools. It
+being held afterward that this did not enable them to vote for county
+superintendents, an act for this purpose was passed by the Legislature
+in 1885. (!) The constitution was further amended by popular vote in
+1898, granting to women the franchise for members of Library Boards,
+and making them eligible to hold any office pertaining to the
+management of libraries. On as harmless an amendment as this 43,600
+men voted in the negative, but 71,704 voted in the affirmative; and it
+was adopted.
+
+This was probably the last election at which any amendment whatever
+could have been carried; for, among four submitted in the same year,
+was one providing that thereafter no amendment could be adopted by
+merely a majority of those voting upon it, but that it must have a
+majority of the largest number of votes cast at that election.[345]
+None ever has been submitted which aroused sufficient interest to
+receive as large a vote of both affirmative and negative combined as
+was cast for the highest officer. Therefore in Minnesota it is
+impossible for women to obtain any further extension of the franchise.
+Their only hope for the full suffrage lies in the submission of an
+amendment to the Federal Constitution by Congress to the Legislatures
+of the various States.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: An act of 1887 declares that a woman shall retain the
+same legal existence and legal personality after marriage as before,
+and shall receive the same protection of all her rights as a woman
+which her husband does as a man; and for any injury sustained to her
+reputation, person or property, she shall have the same right to
+appeal, in her own name alone, to the courts for redress; but this act
+shall not confer upon the wife the right to vote or hold office,
+except as is otherwise provided by law. By a constitutional amendment
+adopted in 1875 women were made eligible to all offices pertaining to
+the public schools and to public libraries. They have served as State
+librarians.
+
+Miss Jennie C. Crays was president of the Minneapolis school board for
+two years. There are forty-three women county superintendents at the
+present time, each having from 100 to 130 districts to visit. Women
+have served as clerks and treasurers of school districts.
+
+A law of 1889 gave to women as well as men the powers of constables,
+sheriffs or police officers, as agents of the Society for the
+Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
+
+A law of 1891 enabled women to be appointed deputies in county
+offices.
+
+Dr. Adele S. Hutchison is a member of the State Medical Board which
+examines physicians for license to practice. She was appointed by Gov.
+John Lind and is the first woman to hold such a position. Women can
+not sit on any other State boards.
+
+There is no law requiring police matrons but they are employed in
+Minneapolis and St. Paul by the city charters.
+
+The State hospitals for the insane are required by law to have women
+physicians. The steward's clerk in the State Institute for Defectives
+is a woman. The State Public School for Dependent and Neglected
+Children has a matron, a woman agent and a woman clerk. The State
+Training School, once called the Reform School, has women for agent
+and secretary.
+
+The State Prison has a matron for the eight women prisoners. There are
+about 500 men prisoners (1900).
+
+The Bethany Home at Minneapolis was established by women in 1875, and
+is entirely officered by them. In 1900 it cared for 126 mothers and
+226 infants, and had a kindergarten and a training school for nurses.
+The city hospitals send all their charity obstetrical cases here, and
+about half of its support comes from the city.
+
+The Northwestern Hospital for Women and Children was founded by women
+in 1882, and until 1899 was entirely officered and managed by them.
+
+The Maternity Hospital for unfortunate women was founded by Dr. Martha
+G. Ripley in 1888. In 1899 it cared for 103 mothers and 99 infants.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is forbidden to women by law.
+Women were admitted to the bar in 1877 by act of the Legislature.
+There are sixty-eight women doctors registered as in actual practice
+in the State. In Minneapolis there is an active Medical Women's Club
+of physicians of both schools. Women ministers are filling pulpits of
+Congregational, Universalist, Christian and Wesleyan Methodist
+churches, and the superintendent of the State Epworth League is a
+woman.
+
+Women are especially conspicuous in farming, which is one of the
+greatest industries of the State.[346]
+
+A number of women own and publish papers, and each of the large
+metropolitan dailies has one or more women on its staff.
+
+EDUCATION: Women have been admitted to all departments of the State
+University since its foundation, and there are women professors and
+assistants in practically every department, including that of
+Political Science and the College of Engineering and Mechanic Arts. Of
+the four officers of the Department of Drawing and Industrial Art,
+three are women. The College of Medicine and Surgery also has women
+professors in every department, and women are on the faculty of the
+College of Dentistry.
+
+The State School of Agriculture was established in the fall of 1888.
+In October, 1897, women were admitted to the regular course of study.
+In the Academic Department their class work is with the men, but
+instead of the especial branches of carpentry, blacksmithing and field
+work, they have sewing, cooking and laundering. They also have a
+department of home management, home economy, social culture, household
+art and domestic hygiene, Mrs. Virginia C. Meredith, preceptor.
+
+All the other educational institutions are open to women, and the
+faculties of the Normal Schools are largely composed of women.
+
+In the public schools there are 2,306 men and 9,811 women teachers.
+The average monthly salary of the men is $46; of the women, $35.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The State Federation of Women's Clubs, Mrs. Lydia P. Williams,
+president, is in effect a suffrage kindergarten, many of its members
+working on committees of education, reciprocity, town and village
+improvements, household economics, legislation, etc.
+
+In Minneapolis a stock company, capitalized at $80,000, is being
+formed to erect a club house for the women's societies.
+
+The Local Council of Women of Minneapolis, organized 1892, is one of
+the strongest associations of the kind in the United States. During
+the past seven years it has been composed of nearly one hundred
+different organizations in the city, and now comprises twelve
+departments: reform and philanthropy, church, temperance, art, music,
+literature, patriotism, history, education, philosophy, social and
+civic. Honorary president, Mrs. T. B. Walker, acting president Mrs. A.
+E. Higbee, and corresponding secretary, Mrs. J. E. Woodford, are
+largely responsible for the success of the Council. (1900).
+
+The School and Library Association was formed in 1899 at a meeting
+called by representatives of the Political Equality, the Business
+Women's, the Medical Women's and the Teachers' Clubs of Minneapolis.
+Eleven hundred signatures are required for the nomination of a member
+of the school board, but the women secured over 5,000 names on each
+petition for their candidates for school and library trustees, the
+largest one having 5,470. The association sent out dodgers with
+pictures and brief write-ups of the candidates, and also leaflets
+explaining to the women how to register and vote. Mrs. A. T. Anderson
+has been at the head of this work.
+
+Women attend the conventions of the Prohibition and the People's
+parties as delegates, and are welcome speakers. Miss Eva McDonald
+(Valesh) was secretary of the Populist Executive Committee. Both
+Prohibitionists and Populists have passed woman suffrage resolutions
+in their State conventions. The Federation of Labor and the Grange
+have done the same.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[340] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Julia B. Nelson
+of Red Wing, who for twenty years has been the rock on which the
+effort for woman suffrage has been founded in this State. She
+acknowledges much assistance from Drs. Cora Smith Eaton and Ethel E.
+Hurd, both of Minneapolis.
+
+[341] Among the officers of the State association at different times
+have been Mesdames Harriet Armstrong, Sarah C. Brooks, S. P. T. Bryan,
+E. G. Bickmore, Fxine G. Bonwell, Annie W. Buell, Charlotte Bolles,
+Jessie Gray Cawley, E. L. Crockett, L. B. Castle and Hannah Egleston,
+Prof. S. A. Farnsworth, Mesdames Eleanor Fremont, Sarah M. Fletcher,
+May Dudley Greeley, Mary A. Hudson, Julia Huntington, Dr. Bessie Park
+Hames, Oliver Jones, Miss Anna M. Jones, Mrs. Charles T. Koehler, Miss
+Ruth Elise Kellogg, the Rev. George W. Lutz, Mrs. Julia Moore, William
+B. Reed, Mesdames Susie V. P. Root, Lottie Rowell, Antoinette B. St.
+Pierre, H. G. Selden, Miss Blanche Segur, Mesdames Martha Adams
+Thompson, T. F. Thurston, Mr. J. M. Underwood, Miss Emma N. Whitney,
+Mesdames Belle Wells, Roxana L. Wilson and Mattie B. Whitcomb.
+
+[342] It would be impossible to name all of the men and women, in
+addition to those already mentioned, who have rendered valuable
+assistance. Among the more conspicuous are Miss Pearl Benham, Mesdames
+R. Coons, M. B. Critchett, J. A. Clifford, Edith M. Conant, Lydia H.
+Clark, Miss A. A. Connor, Mesdames Eliza A. Dutcher, L. F. Ferro, H.
+E. Gallinger, Doctors Chauncey Hobart, Mary G. Hood, Nettie C. Hall,
+Mesdames Norton H. Hemiup, Rosa Hazel, Julia A. Hunt, Doctors Phineas
+A. and Katherine U. Jewell, Mrs. Lucy Jones, Miss Eva Jones, Mesdames
+Leland, Kirkwood, A. D. Kingsley, V. J. D. Kearney, Frances P.
+Kimball, M. A. Luly, Viola Fuller Miner, Paul McKinstry, Jennie
+McSevany, the Rev. Hannah Mullenix, Mesdames E. J. M. Newcomb,
+Antoinette V. Nicholas, the Reverends Margaret Olmstead, Alice Ruth
+Palmer, Mesdames Pomeroy, E. A. Russell, D. C. Reed, the Rev. W. W.
+Satterlee, Mesdames Rebecca Smith, Abigail S. Strong, C. S. Soule,
+Anna Smallidge, M. A. Van Hoesen, Dr. Mary E. Whetstone, Mesdames L.
+May Wheeler, Sarah E. Wilson and E. N. Yearley.
+
+[343] Mrs. Nelson published at this time, through financial aid from
+Mrs. Sarah Burger Stearns, a little paper for gratuitous distribution,
+called the _Equal Rights Herald_.
+
+[344] This Legislature of 1893 provided for the adoption of a State
+Flag, and appointed a committee of women to select an appropriate
+design. At the request of a few women the Moccasin Blossom was made
+the State Flower by an act of the same Legislature, which was passed
+with great celerity.
+
+[345] The vote on this was 69,760 for, and 32,881 against, a total of
+102,641; yet the whole number of votes cast in that election of 1898
+was 251,250. The amendment itself could not have been adopted if its
+own provisions had been required!
+
+[346] The woman farmer turns up the soil with a gang-plow and rakes
+the hay, but not in the primitive fashion of Maud Muller. She is
+frequently seen "comin' through the rye," the wheat, the barley or the
+oats, enthroned on a twine-binder. The writer has this day seen a
+woman seated on a four-horse plow as contentedly as her city cousin
+might be in an automobile. Among the many plow-girls of Nobles County
+is Coris Young, a genuine American of Vermont ancestry, who has plowed
+120 acres this season, making a record of eighty acres in thirteen
+days with five horses abreast.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII.
+
+MISSISSIPPI.[347]
+
+
+In 1884 the idea of an organization devoted exclusively to the
+advancement of the "woman's cause" in Mississippi had not assumed
+tangible form, granting that even the audacious conception had found
+lodgment in the brain of any person. The nearest approach seems to
+have been a Woman's Press Club, which sprung into being about this
+time, but was short-lived, due to the fact, it is charged, that a
+little leaven of "woman's rights" having crept in, "the whole lump"
+was threatened.
+
+To the Women's Christian Temperance Union the State is largely
+indebted for the existence of its Woman Suffrage Association, which
+was organized in Meridian, May 5, 1897, immediately upon the
+adjournment of a convention of the State W. C. T. U. The seed sown in
+1895 by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national
+organization committee, and Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates of Maine, and
+in 1897 by Miss Ella Harrison of Missouri and Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford
+of Colorado, now produced a harvest of clubs, and resulted in a roster
+of friends in twenty-four towns. Mrs. Nellie M. Somerville was elected
+president of the association, and Mrs. Lily Wilkinson Thompson
+corresponding secretary.
+
+The first annual convention was held in Greenville, March 29, 30,
+1898. The second and third took place at Clarksdale, the former April
+5, 6, 1899, and the latter in May, 1900.[348] At this meeting the
+report of the superintendent of press, Mrs. Butt, showed that
+twenty-two newspapers had opened their columns to suffrage articles.
+Mrs. Chapman Catt and Miss Mary G. Hay, national organizer, were
+present, and the former gave an address to a large and sympathetic
+assemblage. She was likewise greeted with good audiences at seven
+other towns, among them Jackson, the capital, where she spoke in the
+House of Representatives. A work conference was held at Flora in
+September of this year.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: The W. S. A. has not attempted any
+legislative work, other than the one effort made in 1900 to secure a
+bill providing for a woman physician at the State Hospital for the
+Insane. This was introduced and championed in the Senate by R. B.
+Campbell (to whom the association is also indebted for the compilation
+of a valuable pamphlet on The Legal Status of Mississippi Women). It
+passed that body almost unanimously, but did not reach the House.
+
+The measure which provided for the State Industrial Institute and
+College for Women (white) was the conception of Mrs. Annie Coleman
+Peyton, the bill itself being framed by her brother, Judge S. R.
+Coleman, a legislator and a leading attorney. It was sent to the
+Legislature as early as 1877, but was not at that time even
+considered. Mrs. Peyton continued her agitation in its behalf and
+succeeded in having it introduced in 1880 and in 1882, but it was
+twice defeated. By the time the Legislature convened in 1884, however,
+its author had enlisted the sympathy of so many of the prominent men
+and women of the State that the bill was passed at that session. Wiley
+P. Nash and Mac C. Martin were its earnest champions on the floor of
+the House; while Col. J. L. Power, the present Secretary of State,
+Major Jonas, of the Aberdeen _Examiner_, and Mrs. Olive A. Hastings
+were among the ablest coadjutors of Mrs. Peyton.
+
+In 1900 the suffrage association petitioned Gov. A. H. Longino to
+appoint one woman on the board of this institution, which is wholly
+for women, but he refused on the ground that it would be
+unconstitutional.
+
+In 1880 the Legislature abrogated the Common Law as to its provisions
+for wives, being a pioneer among the Southern States to take such
+action. It declared:
+
+     The Legislature shall never create any distinction between the
+     rights of men and women to acquire, own, enjoy and dispose of
+     property of all kinds, or their power to contract in reference
+     thereto. Married women are hereby emancipated from all
+     disabilities on account of coverture. But this shall not prevent
+     the Legislature from regulating contracts between husband and
+     wife; nor shall the Legislature be prevented from regulating the
+     sale of homesteads.
+
+The property belonging to the wife at the time of marriage no longer
+passes to her husband, although it is still largely under his control.
+He becomes her debtor and is accountable to her for her separate
+property; and she must have him account to her annually for the income
+and profits which he may receive from it, otherwise she will be
+barred. If the wife permit the husband to employ the income or profits
+of her estate in the maintenance of the family, he will not be liable
+to her therefor.
+
+Dower and curtesy are abolished. If either husband or wife die without
+a will, leaving no children nor descendants of any, the entire estate,
+real and personal, goes to the survivor. But if there are one or more
+children or descendants by this or by a former marriage, the surviving
+wife or husband has a child's share of both real and personal estate.
+
+Each has equal rights in making a will, although if the provisions are
+not satisfactory to the survivor he or she can take under the law, but
+this can not be done if separate property is owned equal to what would
+be the inheritable portion of the estate.
+
+If the residence is upon the property of the husband, that is the
+homestead and exempt from his debts and he is the head of the family.
+If it is upon the property of the wife, that is the homestead and
+exempt from her debts, and she is the head of the family. In neither
+case can it be mortgaged or sold unless both join, but the one owning
+it may dispose of it by will.
+
+A married woman may qualify as executor or administrator of the estate
+of a deceased person, and as guardian of the estate of a minor or
+person of unsound mind.
+
+She may contract, sue and be sued and carry on business in her own
+name as if unmarried and her earnings belong to her.
+
+The father is the legal guardian of the minor children and by will may
+appoint a guardian of their property, but he can not deprive the
+mother of the custody of their persons.
+
+The husband is required by law to support and maintain his family out
+of his estate and by his services unless the wife sees fit to allow
+him to use her property for this purpose.
+
+Alimony is allowed to the wife whether the suit for divorce is brought
+by her or against her, or whether she asks simply for separation; but,
+even if divorced, unchastity on her part will bar her right to further
+alimony.
+
+The "age of protection" for girls remains at 10 years. The penalty is
+death or imprisonment in the penitentiary for life.
+
+The Constitutional Convention of 1890 provided that no Legislature
+should repeal or impair the above property rights of married women.
+
+This convention was called primarily to change the constitution with
+reference to the elimination of the negro vote. It was composed of
+representative men thoroughly alive to what they construed as the best
+interests of the State. As one way of circumventing the threatened
+supremacy of this vote, the enfranchisement of women was variously
+considered. The first amendment for this purpose was submitted by
+Judge John W. Fewell:
+
+     _Resolved_, That it is a condition necessary to the solution of
+     the franchise problem, that the right to vote shall be secured by
+     proper constitutional enactment to every woman who shall have
+     resided in this State six months, and who shall be 21 years of
+     age or upward, and who shall own, or whose husband, if she have a
+     husband, shall own real estate situate in this State of the clear
+     value of $300 over and above all incumbrances.
+
+     The vote of any woman voting in any election shall be cast by
+     some male elector, who shall be thereunto authorized in writing
+     by such woman so entitled to vote; such constitutional amendment
+     not to be so framed as to grant to women the right to hold
+     office.
+
+This was referred to the Committee on Franchise, composed of
+thirty-five members, but was defeated. The idea was that a great many
+white women owned property, while very few negro women did, hence the
+woman vote would furnish a reserve fund which could be called out in
+an emergency, the author of the measure himself being "not an advocate
+of female suffrage generally," according to his remarks before the
+convention. Many, perhaps a majority, at one time favored the scheme,
+it was said, though comparatively few of the committee recognized the
+justice of woman's enfranchisement _per se_.
+
+J. W. Odom offered, among other measures from the "California
+Alliance" of DeSoto County, a proposition that the right of suffrage
+be conferred upon women on "certain conditions" not specified. John P.
+Robinson and D. J. Johnson also submitted sections providing for
+"female suffrage under certain conditions." Jordan L. Morris offered
+the following:
+
+     The Legislature shall have power to confer the elective franchise
+     on all women who are citizens of the State and of the United
+     States, 21 years of age and upwards, who own, in their own right,
+     over and above all incumbrances, property listed for taxation of
+     the value of $500 or upwards, or who, being widows, own jointly
+     with their own or their husband's children, property of said
+     value listed for taxation; or who are capable of teaching a
+     first-grade public school in this State, as prescribed by law,
+     and who never have been convicted, and shall not thereafter be
+     convicted of any crime or misdemeanor and not pardoned therefor,
+     to such extent and under such restrictions and limitations as it
+     may deem proper to prescribe.
+
+All of these noble efforts resulted in no action whatever to
+enfranchise women.
+
+SUFFRAGE: Since 1880 a woman as a freeholder, or leaseholder, may vote
+at a county election, or sign a petition for such an election to be
+held, to decide as to the adoption or non-adoption of a law permitting
+stock to run at large. She may also, if a widow and, as such, the head
+of the family, manifest by ballot her consent or dissent to leasing
+certain portions of land in the township, known as the "sixteenth
+sections," which are set apart for school purposes. As a patron of a
+school, which presupposes her widowhood, she may vote at an election
+of school trustees, other than in a "separate school district," which
+practically limits this privilege to women in the country.[349]
+
+As a taxpayer a woman can petition against the issuance of bonds by
+the municipality in which she resides (except where the proposed
+issuance is governed and regulated by a charter adopted previous to
+the code of 1892), but if a special election is ordered she can not
+vote for or against issuing the bonds.
+
+The Legislature in dealing with the liquor traffic may make the grant
+of license depend upon a petition therefor signed by men and women, or
+by women only, or upon any other condition that it may prescribe; and
+it seems to be equally true that the Legislature may grant to women
+the right to vote at elections held to determine whether or not local
+option laws shall be put in force, but it never has done so.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: The constitution provides that "all qualified
+electors, and no others, shall be eligible to office."
+
+In the constitutional convention of 1890 Jordan L. Morris offered a
+resolution "that the Legislature may make women, with such
+qualifications as may be prescribed, competent to hold the office of
+county superintendent of schools." This amendment was tabled. J. W.
+Cutrer submitted a section "making eligible to all offices connected
+with the public schools, except that of State Superintendent of Public
+Education, all women of good moral character, twenty-five years or
+upwards of age," which was not favorably reported. A clause was
+introduced by W. B. Eskridge making "any white woman twenty-one years
+old, who has been a _bona fide_ citizen of the State two years before
+her election, and who shall be of good moral character," eligible to
+the office of chancery or circuit clerk; and another, that "any white
+woman, etc., shall be qualified to hold the office of keeper of the
+Capitol and State librarian."
+
+The last office, as recommended in a separate measure by George G.
+Dillard, which was adopted, is the only one to which women are
+specifically eligible, but none has held it.
+
+In some counties the constitution has been liberally interpreted to
+make women eligible to serve on school boards; this, however, is
+regulated usually by the judgment of the county superintendent. Women
+are elected to such positions occasionally in the smaller towns.
+
+The code of 1892 created the text-book committee, whose duty is to
+adopt a uniform series of books for use in the public schools of a
+county. An official record is kept of its specific functions, all
+members being required to "take the oath of office," etc., and thus
+constituted public officers according to a recent ruling of the
+Attorney-General. The majority of these committees are women
+teachers, appointed by the county superintendents, but no provision
+has been made for their remuneration.
+
+Women can not serve as notaries public.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to
+women. They are licensed to practice medicine, dentistry and
+pharmaceutics. It is believed that the statute would be construed to
+enable them to practice law, but the test has not been made. Several
+women own and manage newspapers.
+
+EDUCATION: The State University has been open to women for twenty
+years, and annually graduates a number. Millsaps College, a leading
+institution for men, has recently admitted a few women to its B. A.
+course, and this doubtless will become a fixed policy. The
+Agricultural and Mechanical College and the State Normal School (both
+colored) are co-educational. Several women hold college
+professorships.
+
+In the public schools there are 3,645 men and 4,254 women teachers:
+The average monthly salary of the men is $32.18; of the women, $26.69.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The State Federation of Women's Clubs was organized in 1897 and has a
+membership of fifteen societies.
+
+Women have never actively participated in public campaigns except in
+local politics where the liquor question has been the paramount issue.
+Miss Belle Kearney is a temperance lecturer of national reputation,
+and a pronounced advocate of woman suffrage.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[347] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Hala Hammond
+Butt of Clarksdale, president of the State Woman Suffrage Association
+and editor of the _Challenge_, a county paper.
+
+[348] Officers elected: President, Mrs. Hala Hammond Butt;
+vice-president, Mrs. Fannie Clark; corresponding secretary, Mrs.
+Harriet B. Kells; recording secretary, Mrs. Rebecca Roby; treasurer,
+Miss Mabel Pugh. Other officers have been Miss Belle Kearney and
+Mesdames Nellie Nugent, Charlotte L. Pitman and Pauline Alston Clark.
+
+[349] Any municipality of 300 or more inhabitants may be declared a
+"separate school district" by an ordinance of the mayor or board of
+aldermen if it maintain a free public school at least seven months in
+each year. Four months is the ordinary public term, the additional
+three months' school being supported by special taxation. Thus as soon
+as a woman has to pay a special tax she is deprived of a vote.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIX.
+
+MISSOURI.[350]
+
+
+The movement toward equal suffrage in Missouri must always recognize
+as its founder Mrs. Virginia L. Minor. She was a thorough believer in
+the right of woman to the franchise, and at the November election of
+1872 offered her own vote under the provisions of the Fourteenth
+Amendment to the Federal Constitution. It was refused; she brought
+suit against the inspectors and carried her case to the Supreme Court
+of the United States, where it was argued with great ability by her
+husband, Francis Minor, but an adverse decision was rendered.[351]
+
+The first suffrage association in the State was organized at St. Louis
+in the winter of 1867. Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Miss Susan B.
+Anthony lectured under its auspices at Library Hall in the autumn of
+that year, and a reception was given them in the parlors of the
+Southern Hotel. For many years meetings were held with more or less
+regularity, Mrs. Minor was continued as president and some legislative
+work was attempted.
+
+On Feb. 8, 9, 1892, an interstate woman suffrage convention was held
+in Kansas City. Mrs. Laura M. Johns, president of the Kansas
+association, in the chair. Mrs. Minor, Mrs. Beverly Allen and Mrs.
+Rebecca N. Hazard were made honorary presidents and Mrs. Virginia
+Hedges was elected president. Addresses were given by Mrs. Clara C.
+Hoffman, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell of New
+York and Miss Florence Balgarnie of England. A club was formed in
+Kansas City with Mrs. Sarah Chandler Coates as president.
+
+During the next few years the State association co-operated with other
+societies in public and legislative work. Mrs. Minor passed away in
+1894, an irreparable loss to the cause of woman suffrage.
+
+In May, 1895, the Mississippi Valley Congress was called at St. Louis
+under the auspices of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and
+various other organizations participated. Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw,
+president and vice-president-at-large of the National Association,
+stopped on their way to California and made addresses. Just before
+Miss Anthony began her address, seventy-five children, some of them
+colored, passed before her and each laid a rose in her lap, in honor
+of her seventy-five years.
+
+The preceding spring the National Association had sent Mrs. Anna R.
+Simmons of South Dakota into Missouri to lecture for two months and
+reunite the scattered forces. A State suffrage convention followed the
+congress and Mrs. Addie M. Johnson was elected president. At its close
+a banquet with 200 covers was given in the Mercantile Club Room, with
+Miss Anthony as the guest of honor. A local society, of nearly one
+hundred members, was formed in St. Louis. During October Mrs. Simmons
+again made a tour of the State at the expense of the National
+Association.
+
+On June 15, 16, 1896, the annual convention took place in St. Louis
+with delegates present from seventeen clubs. Addresses were made by
+Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization
+committee, Henry B. Blackwell, editor of the _Woman's Journal_, Mrs.
+Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado and others who were in the city trying
+to obtain some recognition for women from the National Republican
+Convention. Miss Ella Harrison was made president. Public meetings
+were called for November 12, 13, in Kansas City, as it was then
+possible to have the presence of Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw and Mrs.
+Chapman Catt on their return from the suffrage amendment campaign in
+California.
+
+In January, 1897, Mrs. Bradford spent three weeks lecturing in the
+State, and the president devoted a month to this purpose during the
+autumn. The annual meeting convened in Bethany, December 7-9, Mrs.
+Johns and Mrs. Hoffman being the principal speakers.
+
+The convention of 1898 was held at St. Joseph, October 17-19, with
+Miss Anthony and Mrs. Chapman Catt in attendance, and the board of
+officers was re-elected.
+
+In the fall of 1899 a series of conferences, planned by the national
+organization committee, was held in twenty counties, being managed by
+Mrs. Johnson and Miss Ella Moffatt, and addressed by Miss Lena Morrow
+of Illinois and Mrs. Mary Waldo Calkins. These ended with a State
+convention at Chillicothe in October.
+
+The annual meeting of 1900 was held in St. Joseph during October, and
+Mrs. Johnson was elected president.[352]
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: In 1887, through the efforts of Mrs.
+Julia S. Vincent and Mrs. Isabella R. Slack, a bill was introduced in
+the Legislature to found a Home for Dependent Children. The bill was
+amended until when it finally passed it created two penal
+institutions, one for boys and one for girls.
+
+In 1893 a bill proposing an amendment to the State constitution,
+conferring Full Suffrage on women, was brought to a vote in the
+Assembly and received 47 ayes, 69 noes. In 1895 a similar bill was
+lost in the Assembly.
+
+In 1897, largely through the efforts of Miss Mary Perry, a bill was
+secured creating a State Board of Charities, two members of which must
+be women. This was supported by the Philanthropic Federation of
+Women's Societies, who also presented one for women on school boards,
+which was not acted upon.
+
+Bills for conferring School Suffrage on women have been presented on
+several occasions, but never have been considered. One has been
+secured compelling employers to provide seats for female
+employes.[353]
+
+Dower and curtesy both obtain. If there are any descendants living,
+the widow's dower is a life-interest in one-third of the real estate
+and a child's share of the personal property. If there are no
+descendants, the widow is entitled to all her real estate which came
+to the husband through the marriage, and to all the undisposed-of
+personal property of her own which by her written consent came into
+his possession, not subject to the payment of his debts; and to
+one-half of his separate real and personal estate absolutely, and
+subject to the payment of his debts. If the husband or wife die
+intestate, leaving neither descendants, father, mother, brothers,
+sisters, or descendants of brothers or sisters, the entire estate,
+real and personal, goes to the survivor. If a wife die, leaving no
+descendants, her widower is entitled to one-half of her separate real
+and personal estate absolutely, subject to her debts. (Act of 1895.)
+
+In 1889 an attempt was made to give a married woman control of her
+separate real estate, which up to that time had belonged to the
+husband. Endless confusion has resulted, as the law applies only to
+marriages made since that date. To increase the complications a wife
+may hold real property under three different tenures: An equitable
+separate estate created by certain technical words in the conveyance,
+and this she can dispose of without the husband's joining in the deed;
+a legal separate estate, which she can not convey without his joining;
+and a common-law estate in fee, of which the husband is entitled to
+the rents and profits. In either case, if the wife continually permits
+the husband to appear as the owner and to contract debts on the credit
+of the property, she is estopped from withholding it from his
+creditors. There may be also a joint estate which goes to the survivor
+upon the death of either.
+
+No married woman can act as executor or administrator.
+
+The wife's separate property is liable for debts contracted by the
+husband for necessaries for the family. If he is drunken and worthless
+she may have him enjoined from squandering her property. For these
+causes and for abandonment the court may authorize her to sell her
+separate property without his signature.
+
+The wife may insure the husband's life, or he may insure it for her,
+and the insurance can not be claimed by his creditors.
+
+A married woman may sue and be sued, make contracts and carry on
+business in her own name, and possess her wages. She may recover in
+her own name for injuries which prevent her from conducting an
+independent business, but not for those which interfere with the
+performance of household duties, as her services in the home belong to
+the husband. She may, however, bring suit in her own name for bodily
+injuries.
+
+The wife may sue for alienation of her husband's affections and
+recover, according to a recent Supreme Court decision, "even though
+they may not be entirely alienated from her and though he may still
+entertain a sneaking affection for her."
+
+The husband is liable for torts of the wife and for slanders spoken by
+her, although out of his presence and without his knowledge or
+consent. (1899.)
+
+The father is the guardian of the persons, estates and education of
+minor children. At his death the mother is guardian, but if she
+marries again she loses the guardianship of the property because no
+married woman can be curator of a minor's estate.
+
+If the husband abandon or fail to support his family, he may be fined
+and imprisoned and the court may decree their maintenance out of his
+property. The wife must live where and how the husband shall
+determine. If she chooses to live elsewhere his obligation to support
+her ceases. In case of divorce he must support the children, even if
+their custody is given to the mother.
+
+The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 12 to 14 years in
+1889 and to 18 years in 1895. The penalty was reduced, however, and is
+at present "imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of two years,
+or a fine of not less than $100 or more than $500, or imprisonment in
+the county jail not less than one month nor more than six months, or
+both such fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court."
+Between the ages of 14 and 18 years, the girl must be "of previously
+chaste character."
+
+SUFFRAGE: Women possess no form of suffrage.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: In 1897 the Supreme Court decided that women may hold
+any office from which they are not debarred by the constitution of the
+State. They are now eligible as county clerks, county school
+commissioners and notaries public, and for various offices up to that
+of judge of the Supreme Court, which are not provided for by the
+constitution. It is the opinion of lawyers that they may serve on city
+school boards, and they have been nominated without objection, but
+none has been elected. Women are barred, however, from all State
+offices.
+
+Two women sit on the State Board of Charities, but they can not do so
+on any other State boards.
+
+A number are now serving as county clerks and county commissioners.
+
+The W. S. A. and the W. C. T. U. have secured the appointment of
+salaried police matrons from the board of police commissioners in St.
+Louis, Kansas City and St. Joseph. There are also depot matrons in
+these cities, and the first two have women guards at the jails and
+workhouses.
+
+St. Louis has a woman inspector of shops and factories.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to
+women.
+
+EDUCATION: This was one of the first States in the Union to open its
+Law and Medical Schools to women. In 1850, when Harriet Hosmer, the
+sculptor, could not secure admission to any institution in the East
+where she might study anatomy she was permitted to enter the Missouri
+Medical College.
+
+In 1869 the Law College of Washington University at St. Louis admitted
+Miss Phoebe W. Couzins, and she received her degree in 1872.
+
+The State University and all the State institutions of learning are
+co-educational. The Presbyterian Theological School admits women.
+
+In the public schools there are 5,979 men and 7,803 women teachers.
+The average monthly salary of the men is $49.40; of the women,
+$42.40.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[350] The History is indebted for material for this chapter to Mrs.
+Addie M. Johnson of St. Louis, president of the State Woman Suffrage
+Association.
+
+[351] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, p. 734, and following,
+or Wallace's Supreme Court Reports, Vol. XXI.
+
+[352] Other officers elected: Vice-president, Mrs. Kate M. Ford;
+corresponding secretary, Dr. Marie E. Adams; recording secretary, Mrs.
+Sue DeHaven; treasurer, Mrs. Alice C. Mulkey; auditors, Miss Almira
+Hayes and Mrs. Ethel B. Harrison; member national executive committee,
+Mrs. Etta E. M. Weink.
+
+Among those who have held official position since 1894 are:
+Vice-presidents, Mrs. Cordelia Dobyns, Mrs. Amelie C. Fruchte;
+corresponding secretaries, Mrs. G. G. R. Wagner, Mrs. Emma P. Jenkins;
+recording secretary, Mrs. E. Montague Winch; treasurer, Mrs. Juliet
+Cunningham; auditors, Mrs. Maria I. Johnston, Mrs. Minor Meriwether.
+
+[353] In 1901 women obtained a law and appropriation for a State Home
+for Feeble-Minded Children.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER L.
+
+MONTANA.[354]
+
+
+In August, 1883, Miss Frances E. Willard, national president, came to
+Montana and formed a Territorial Woman's Christian Temperance Union in
+Butte. At this time Miss Willard in her speeches, and the union in its
+adoption of a franchise department, made the initiative effort to
+obtain suffrage for the women of Montana. This organization has been
+here, as elsewhere, a great educative force for its members, training
+them in parliamentary law, broadening their ideas and preparing them
+for citizenship. Out of its ranks have come the Rev. Alice S. N.
+Barnes, Mesdames Laura E. Howey, Delia A. Kellogg, Mary A. Wylie,
+Martha Rolfe Plassman, Anna A. Walker and many other earnest advocates
+of the ballot for women. Within the past five or six years a number of
+professional and business women have joined the suffrage forces and
+to-day they compose a majority of the active leaders.
+
+No attempt was made to organize the State until Mrs. Emma Smith De Voe
+was sent by the National Association in 1895. She visited most of the
+prominent towns and formed clubs or committees. The first State
+convention was called at Helena in September of this year by the
+suffrage association of that city, Miss Sarepta Sanders, president,
+and Mrs. Kellogg, secretary. It was assisted by Mrs. Carrie Chapman
+Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, to whose
+eloquent addresses was due the great impetus the cause received at
+this time.[355]
+
+Mrs. De Voe again visited the State in the spring of 1896. The annual
+meeting took place at Butte in November. Mrs. Harriet P. Sanders, wife
+of Senator Sanders, having declined re-election, was unanimously made
+honorary president, and Mrs. Ella Knowles Haskell succeeded her in the
+presidency. Nearly 300 members were reported.
+
+A large and successful convention met at Helena in November, 1897,
+when a State central committee was appointed, with Mrs. Haskell as
+chairman and members in nearly every county. Madame F. Rowena Medini
+was made president, but she left the State before her year of office
+had expired and Dr. Mary B. Atwater filled her place. No convention
+being held in 1897 or 1898 she acted as president until that of
+October, 1899, when Dr. Maria M. Dean was elected. Mrs. Chapman Catt
+was present.
+
+To Mrs. P. A. Dann of Great Falls, a contemporary of Miss Susan B.
+Anthony, too much honor can not be given for her years of service and
+financial help. U. S. Senator Wilbur F. Sanders has been a loyal
+friend. Foremost among the early workers for woman suffrage in Montana
+was Mrs. Clara L. McAdow, whose energy and business talent made the
+Spotted Horse, a mine owned by herself and husband, a valuable
+property.
+
+In July, 1889, Henry B. Blackwell, corresponding secretary of the
+American W. S. A., came to Montana to present the question to the
+Constitutional Convention. His address was received with warm applause
+but the convention refused to adopt a woman suffrage amendment by 34
+yeas, 29 nays. A resolution was presented that the Legislature might
+extend the franchise to women whenever it should be deemed expedient,
+thus putting the matter out of the hands of its proverbial enemies.
+The measure had able champions in B. F. Carpenter, W. M. Bickford, J.
+E. Rickards, Hiram Knowles, P. W. McAdow, J. A. Callaway, Peter Breen,
+T. E. Collins, W. A. Burleigh, W. R. Ramsdell, Francis E. Sargeant,
+William A. Clark (now U. S. Senator), its president, and others.
+Prominent among those opposed were Martin Maginnis and Allen Joy. It
+was lost by a tie vote, July 30. A proposal to submit the question
+separately to the electors was defeated by the same vote, August 12.
+The constitution conferred School Suffrage, which women already
+possessed under Territorial government, and gave to taxpaying women a
+vote on questions of taxation.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: In 1895 women secured an enactment that
+the commissioners of any county, at the request of a certain number of
+petitioners, must call a special election for a vote on licensing the
+sale of liquor. A two-thirds vote is necessary to prohibit this. Women
+themselves can neither petition nor vote on the question.
+
+This year a bill was introduced by Representative John S. Huseby for a
+constitutional amendment granting suffrage to women. It was passed in
+the House, 45 yeas, 12 nays; indefinitely postponed in the Senate by a
+"rising vote," 14 yeas, 4 nays.
+
+In 1897 a systematic effort was made to secure a bill for this
+amendment. Mrs. Ella Knowles Haskell, chairman of the State central
+committee, invaded the legislative halls with an able corps of
+assistants from the W. S. A. Petitions signed by about 3,000 citizens
+were presented, and it looked for a time as if the bill might pass. It
+was debated in the House and attracted much attention from the press,
+but lacked five votes of the required two-thirds majority. It was not
+acted upon in the Senate.
+
+In 1899 Dr. Mary B. Atwater, then president of the State Association,
+with other officers and members, succeeded in having a Suffrage
+Amendment Bill introduced. Some excellent work was done, but the
+measure was lost in Committee of the Whole.
+
+Dower is retained but curtesy abolished. If there is only one child,
+or the lawful issue of one child, the surviving husband or wife
+receives one-half of the entire estate, real and personal; if there is
+more than one child, or one child and the lawful issue of one or more
+deceased children, the survivor receives one-third. If there is no
+issue living the survivor takes one-half of the whole unless there is
+neither father, mother, brother, sister nor their descendants, when
+the widow or widower takes it all.
+
+The wife may mortgage or convey her separate property without the
+husband's signature. He may do this but can not impair her dower right
+to one-third.
+
+A married woman may act as executor, administrator or guardian. She
+may also sue and be sued and make contracts in her own name.
+
+A married woman can control her earnings by becoming a sole trader
+through the necessary legal process. She thus makes herself
+responsible for the maintenance of her children.
+
+The father, if living, or if not, the mother, while she remains
+unmarried and if suitable, is entitled to the guardianship of minor
+children. In case of divorce, other things being equal, if the child
+be of tender years, it is given to the mother, and if of an age to
+require education and preparation for business, then to the father.
+
+By the code of 1895 the husband is required to furnish support for the
+family as far as he is able, and the wife must help if necessary. Her
+personal property is subject to debts incurred for family expenses.
+Even though divorce be denied, the court may award maintenance to wife
+and children.
+
+Montana is one of three States which make 18 years the legal age for
+the marriage of girls. In all others it ranges from 12 to 16 years.
+
+In 1887, on petition of women, the "age of protection" for girls was
+raised from 10 to 15 years, and in 1895 to 16. The penalty is
+imprisonment not less than five years.
+
+SUFFRAGE: Women may vote for school trustees on the same terms as men,
+but not for other school officers. They had this privilege under
+Territorial government. Those possessing property may vote also on all
+questions submitted to taxpayers. These privileges were incorporated
+in the first State constitution.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: Women may serve as county superintendents or hold any
+school district office.
+
+In 1884 there were two women county superintendents; now every county
+in the State has a woman in this office. The superintendent of the
+Helena schools is a woman. The Rev. Alice S. N. Barnes held the
+position of school trustee as early as 1888. Dr. Maria M. Dean has
+been elected three times in succession as a trustee in Helena. She is
+chairman of the board and has been influential in many progressive
+measures.
+
+Women have served on library boards and been city librarians. Miss Lou
+Guthrie has been for a number of years librarian of the State Law
+Library, and Mrs. Laura E. Howey fills this position in the State
+Historical Library.
+
+There has been a woman on the State Board of Charities since its
+organization in 1893, Mrs. Howey, Mrs. M. S. Cummins and Mrs. Lewis
+Penwell having been successively elected.
+
+Dr. Mary B. Atwater has been for over three years chairman of the
+Board of Health of Helena.
+
+Women served as notaries public until a ruling of Attorney-General C.
+B. Nolan (1901) declared this illegal.
+
+In 1892, the first year the Populist party put a ticket in the field,
+it nominated Miss Ella Knowles for the office of Attorney-General. She
+made a spirited campaign, addressing more than eighty audiences, and
+alone organized some fourteen counties, being the first Populist to
+speak in them. She ran 5,000 votes ahead of her ticket, in a State
+which casts only about 50,000. The contest was so close that it was
+three weeks before it was decided who had been elected; but when the
+votes came in from the outlying precincts, where she was unknown, it
+was found that her Republican opponent, H. J. Haskell, had a majority.
+Miss Knowles was then appointed Assistant Attorney-General, an office
+which she filled for four years to the eminent satisfaction of the
+people. During this time she married her rival.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: No occupation is now legally forbidden to women. Mainly
+through the efforts of Mrs. Haskell, a bill was passed by the
+Legislature of 1889 which gave women the right to practice law. The
+Rev. Alice S. N. Barnes was ordained in the Congregational Church in
+1896, and has preached regularly ever since. In 1889 she was chosen as
+moderator at the Conference of the Congregational Churches of Montana,
+at Helena.
+
+EDUCATION: The educational advantages for women are the same as those
+accorded men. All institutions of learning--the State University, the
+Agricultural College, even the School of Mines--are open to both
+sexes.
+
+In the public schools there are 201 men and 885 women teachers. The
+average monthly salary of the men is $69.28; of the women, $48.61.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Montana women were awarded seven medals at the World's Fair in Chicago
+in 1893. Their botanical exhibit was one of the most notable at the
+exposition. It was artistically arranged by Mrs. Jennie H. Moore, the
+flowers being all scientifically labeled and properly classified. Of
+the $100,000 appropriated to the use of the State Commission, the men
+assigned $10,000 to the women for their department, exercising no
+supervision over them. At the close of the exposition they brought
+back $2,800, which they turned into the State treasury, and $3,000
+worth of furniture, which they presented to various State
+institutions.
+
+In 1894 there was an exciting contest over removing the location of
+the permanent capital and some fear that Helena would lose it. A
+number of her leading women, in a special car provided by the Northern
+Pacific R. R., visited the prominent towns in Eastern Montana,
+speaking and working in the interest of their city and undoubtedly
+gaining many votes for Helena, which was selected instead of the
+rival, Anaconda.
+
+In 1896 Mrs. Haskell was made a delegate to the Populist convention of
+Lewis and Clarke County, which met in Helena, and also to the Populist
+State and National Conventions. She took a prominent part in their
+proceedings, and was instrumental in securing a woman suffrage plank
+in the Populist State platform after a hard fight on the floor of the
+convention. At the Populist convention in St. Louis that year she was
+chosen a member of the National Committee.
+
+In the autumn of 1900 a number of prominent women of Helena appeared
+as representatives of the suffragists before the Lewis and Clarke
+County Conventions, and before the State conventions--Republican,
+Democrat and Populist--asking that they insert a plank in their
+platforms recommending the submission of the question of woman
+suffrage to the voters. Only the Populists adopted it. The ladies also
+attended the State conventions of the three parties with the same
+resolution; but the Populists alone indorsed it, "demanding" suffrage
+for women.
+
+One of the important factors in this movement is the Woman's Relief
+Corps, an organization which has grown in strength during the last
+decade and is making its members staunch patriots and woman
+suffragists. It has had an educative influence equal to that of the W.
+C. T. U. but on different lines. Women are actively identified with
+lodges and clubs, many of the latter being members of the General
+Federation of Women's Clubs.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[354] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Mary Long
+Alderson of Helena, one of the first officers of the State Woman
+Suffrage Association.
+
+[355] Officers elected: President, Mrs. Harriet P. Sanders;
+vice-president, Mrs. Martha Rolfe Plassman; corresponding secretary,
+Mrs. Delia A. Kellogg; recording secretary, Mrs. Mary Long Alderson;
+treasurer, Dr. Mary B. Atwater; auditors, Mrs. Martha E. Dunckel and
+Mrs. Hiram Knowles; delegate-at-large, Mrs. Mary A. Wylie. Dr. Atwater
+has been elected to the same office at each succeeding convention.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LI.
+
+NEBRASKA.[356]
+
+
+After the defeat of the constitutional amendment to confer the
+suffrage, which was submitted to the voters of Nebraska in 1882, the
+women were not discouraged, but continued to hold their State
+conventions as usual. That of 1884 took place at York, in January, and
+was welcomed by Mayor Harlan.
+
+On Jan. 16, 17, 1885, the annual meeting was held at Lincoln. Mrs. Ada
+M. Bittenbender was the principal speaker, and the convention was
+specially favored with music by the noted singer of ante-bellum days,
+James G. Clark. Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby, editor of the _Woman's
+Tribune_, was elected president.
+
+The convention of 1886 met at Madison, August 18, 19, and was
+addressed by Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon of New Orleans.
+
+On Jan. 6-8, 1887, the convention assembled in the Hall of
+Representatives in Lincoln. It was fortunate in having Miss Susan B.
+Anthony, who was enthusiastically received by large audiences. The
+chancellor postponed the opening lecture of the university course so
+that the students might hear her address. Mrs. Saxon again rendered
+valuable assistance.
+
+The convention of 1888 met in the opera house at Omaha, December 3, 4,
+memorable in being honored by the presence of the two great leaders,
+Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, president, and Miss Susan B. Anthony,
+vice-president-at-large of the National Association. A reception was
+held at Hotel Paxton, and short speeches were made by prominent men. A
+notable feature was the exhibit of the rolls containing the names of
+12,000 Nebraska men and women asking for equal suffrage.
+
+The convention for 1889 took place in May, at Kearney, James Clement
+Ambrose being among the speakers.
+
+Fremont claimed the tenth annual meeting, Nov. 12, 1890, Miss
+Anthony, and Mrs. Julia B. Nelson of Minnesota stopping off to attend
+it on their return from several months' campaigning in South Dakota.
+
+The convention of 1891 was held at Hastings in October, and that of
+1892 at Pender, July 1, 2. In 1893 all efforts were concentrated on
+the work done at the World's Fair in Chicago, and the raising of money
+to assist the Colorado campaign, and the convention was omitted.
+
+Miss Anthony, now national president, also attended the meeting of
+1894, in Beatrice, November 7, 8. This time she was on her way home
+from a campaign in Kansas for a suffrage amendment, to which the
+Nebraska association had contributed liberally. A telegram announcing
+its defeat was handed her on the platform, just as she was about to
+begin her speech, and no one who was present ever will forget her
+touching account of the efforts which had been made in various States
+for this measure during the past twenty-seven years. The delegates
+were welcomed by Mayor Schultz.
+
+David City was selected for the next convention, Oct. 30, 31, 1895;
+and that of 1896 was enjoyed at the summer session of the Long Pine
+Chautauqua Assembly. Mrs. Colby had spent two months lecturing
+throughout the State and preparing for this meeting. Money was raised
+for the Idaho suffrage campaign, then in progress. Mrs. Colby and Miss
+Elizabeth Abbott addressed the Resolution Committee of the Populist
+State convention, asking for a woman suffrage plank.
+
+The meeting of 1897, at Lincoln, September 30, was assisted by Mrs.
+Ida Crouch Hazlett, a lecturer and organizer from Denver, who was
+engaged for State work.
+
+In October, 1898, the convention was held in Omaha during the
+executive meeting of the National Council of Women, which enabled it
+to have addresses by Miss Anthony, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw,
+vice-president-at-large of the National Association, Mrs. Adelaide
+Ballard of Iowa, and other prominent speakers. Mrs. Colby declining to
+stand for re-election, after sixteen years' service, Mrs. Mary Smith
+Hayward was the choice of the association. One hundred dollars were
+sent to South Dakota for amendment campaign work.
+
+In October, 1899, the National W. S. A. sent eight organizers into the
+State to hold a series of forty-nine county conventions; 250 meetings
+were held, 18 county organizations effected and 38 local clubs formed.
+The canvass ended in an enthusiastic convention in the capitol
+building at Lincoln, with Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the
+national organization committee, the Rev. Ida C. Hultin of Illinois,
+Mrs. Evelyn H. Belden of Iowa, Miss Laura A. Gregg of Kansas and Miss
+Mary G. Hay of New York, among the speakers. State headquarters were
+opened at Omaha with Miss Gregg in charge. Her work has been so
+effective that it has been necessary to employ assistants to send out
+press articles, arrange for lectures, etc.
+
+In 1900 a very successful annual meeting took place in Blair, October
+23, 24, with a representation almost double that of the previous year
+and an elaborate program. Mrs. Chapman Catt was again present, there
+was much enthusiasm and it was resolved to continue the efforts to
+create a public sentiment which would insure a woman suffrage clause
+in the new State constitution which is expected in the near
+future.[357]
+
+Among the many flourishing local societies may be mentioned that of
+Table Rock, which is so strong an influence in the community that the
+need of any other club for literary or public work is not felt. It
+holds an annual banquet to which husbands and friends are invited, and
+the husbands, in turn, under the name of the H. H. (Happy Husband)
+Club give a reception to the suffragists, managing it entirely
+themselves.
+
+The society at Chadron, under the inspiration of Mrs. Hayward, is one
+of the most active, and has sent money to assist campaigns in other
+States. A canvass of the town in February, 1901, showed that 96 per
+cent. of the women wanted full suffrage.
+
+Mrs. Colby organized a Club in Lincoln which has done excellent
+service under the leadership of Dr. Inez C. Philbrick.
+
+Suffrage headquarters have been established at the Chautauquas held at
+Long Pine, Beatrice, Salem and Crete, and various Woman's Days have
+been held under the auspices of the State Association, at which
+speakers of national reputation have made addresses. Anthony and
+Stanton Birthdays have been largely observed by the suffrage clubs.
+
+The history of the Nebraska work for the past sixteen years is
+interwoven with that of the president, Mrs. Colby, who has given her
+life and money freely to the cause. At a convention in Grand Island in
+May, 1883, it was voted to establish a suffrage paper at Beatrice, for
+which the State association was to be financially responsible, and
+Mrs. Colby was made editor. A year later, when the executive committee
+withdrew from the arrangement, she herself assumed the entire burden,
+and has edited and published the _Woman's Tribune_ to the present
+time. In 1888 she issued the paper in Washington, D. C., during the
+sessions of the International Woman's Council and the National W. S.
+A., publishing eight editions in the two weeks, four of sixteen and
+four of twelve pages, each averaging daily 12,500 copies. A few years
+afterwards the office was permanently removed to Washington. As long
+as Mrs. Colby was a resident of Nebraska she stood at the head of
+every phase of the movement to obtain equal rights for women. Miss
+Mary Fairbrother, editor and proprietor of the _Woman's Weekly_, has
+made her paper a valuable ally.
+
+Miss Helen M. Goff, a lawyer, acted as corresponding secretary of the
+State Association for many years, speaking for the cause in political
+campaigns, holding a suffrage booth at State fairs, and working in the
+Legislature for suffrage bills.[358]
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: In 1887 a bill for Municipal Suffrage was
+introduced by Senator Snell of Fairbury, and by Representative Cole of
+Juniata. Mrs. Colby had secured 3,000 signatures for this measure, and
+with Mrs. Jennie F. Holmes, president of the State Woman's Christian
+Temperance Union, worked all winter to secure its passage.[359]
+
+In 1893 three bills were introduced into the Legislature relating to
+suffrage for women, and one asking for a law providing for police
+matrons in cities of 25,000 or more inhabitants. Miss Goff remained at
+the capital all winter looking after these bills. Mrs. Colby,
+representing the State W. S. A., and Mrs. Zara A. Wilson the State W.
+C. T. U., had charge of the Bill for Municipal Suffrage. J. F. Kessler
+introduced this in the House and worked for it. It was defeated by 35
+ayes, 48 noes.
+
+The bill for Full Suffrage was introduced into the House by G. C.
+Lingenfelter, and championed by W. F. Porter (now Secretary of State)
+and others. It was defeated by 42 ayes, 47 noes. The Populist members
+supported this, but considered that Municipal Suffrage discriminated
+against women in the country. The bill for extended School Suffrage
+was introduced too late to reach a vote. The Police Matron Bill was
+carried.
+
+In 1895 the W. S. A. decided to do no legislative work except to
+second the efforts of the W. C. T. U. to have the "age of protection"
+for girls raised to 18 years; and to secure a resolution asking
+Congress to submit a woman suffrage amendment to the Federal
+Constitution. The latter measure was not acted upon; the former was
+successful.
+
+In 1897 bills were introduced for the Federal Amendment, for Municipal
+Suffrage, to allow women property holders to vote on issuing bonds,
+and to make the right of the surviving husband or wife equal in the
+family estate. Both branches of the Legislature invited Mrs. Colby to
+address them. Immediately afterward the House Judiciary Committee
+approved an amendment to the State constitution, striking out the word
+"male," but this was defeated later in the session. The other bills
+were not reported from the committees.
+
+In 1899 a hearing was granted to a committee from the suffrage
+association urging a resolution asking Congress to submit a woman
+suffrage amendment to the State Legislatures, and such a measure was
+reported to the House but not adopted.
+
+Dower and curtesy both obtain. A widow is entitled to the life use of
+one-third of the real estate. In case the husband die without a will,
+after the payment of all debts, charges, etc., she may have household
+furniture to the value of $250 and other personal property not
+exceeding $200. If any residue remains she is entitled to the same
+share that a child receives. If there is no issue living, a widow
+takes the use for life of the entire estate, both real and personal.
+If there is no kindred of the husband, the widow comes into absolute
+possession. If a wife die, leaving no issue, the husband has the life
+use of all her real estate. If she leave children by a former husband
+they are entitled to all of the estate which did not come to her as a
+gift from her surviving husband. If she leave issue by the latter
+only, or by both, then the widower has a life interest in one-third of
+her real estate. After the payment of her debts her personal property
+is distributed in the same way as her real estate.
+
+The wife can mortgage or sell her real estate without the husband's
+signature and without regard to his curtesy. He can do the same with
+his separate property but subject to her dower. Both must join in an
+incumbrance or sale of the homestead.
+
+A married woman may control her own property and wages and carry on
+business in her own name.
+
+Father and mother have equal guardianship and custody of minor
+children. (1895.)
+
+The husband is expected to furnish suitable maintenance according to
+his own ideas. The property which belonged to the wife before marriage
+can be levied on for the husband's debts for necessaries furnished the
+family if he have no property.
+
+The mother is not "next of kin" and can not sue for damages to a minor
+child. In 1900 a child of thirteen was injured by a locomotive, and
+the Judge held that the father and not the mother was entitled to
+bring suit, although she had a divorce years before and had brought up
+the child without any assistance from him.
+
+If a divorce is granted for the wife's adultery "the husband may hold
+such of her personal estate as the court may term just and
+reasonable." If she secure a divorce on account of his adultery, "the
+court may restore to her the whole, or such part as may seem just, _of
+her own property_ which she had at marriage. If this is insufficient
+for the support of herself and her children the court may decree
+alimony from the husband's estate."
+
+The "age of protection" for girls was raised in 1885 from 10 to 12
+years; in 1887 from 12 to 15; in 1895 from 15 to 18. The penalty is
+imprisonment in the penitentiary not more than twenty nor less than
+three years, but the law provides that if such "female child is over
+15 and previously unchaste" this penalty shall not be inflicted. For
+such the law offers no protection. Nor shall there be conviction for
+the crime against a child of any age without other evidence than her
+own testimony. (1895.)
+
+SUFFRAGE: In 1869 School Suffrage was conferred on women. In 1875 the
+Legislature repealed this law except for widows and spinsters. In 1881
+it was again changed, and women since then have voted in school
+district matters on the same terms as men; _i. e._, if parents of
+children of school age or assessed on property real or personal they
+may vote at all elections pertaining to schools. They can not,
+however, vote for State or county superintendents or county
+supervisors (commissioners). As the last named levy the taxes, and the
+other two are the most important officers connected with the schools,
+it will be seen that women are deprived of the most valuable school
+vote. All efforts, however, to secure an extension of the school
+franchise have resulted in failure.
+
+As it requires a majority of the highest number of votes cast at an
+election to carry an amendment, it is useless to ask the Legislature
+to submit one conferring Full Suffrage upon women.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: There is nothing in the State constitution or the
+statutes making women ineligible to any elective office except
+membership in the Legislature.
+
+Although they are not allowed to vote for county superintendents there
+are at present sixteen women filling this office, eight of them
+serving a second term and three a third, while nineteen are
+superintendents or principals of schools. A woman was candidate on the
+Fusion ticket for regent of the State University; another has been
+registrar since the university opened, and one is at present recorder.
+
+Mrs. Ada M. Bittenbender was candidate for Supreme Judge.
+
+A woman is deputy State auditor. Women are serving or have served as
+postmasters and as clerks in both houses of the Legislature, clerk of
+the State library and member of the State examining committee of
+education. Miss Mary Fairbrother was proof-reader in the House in
+1899. Miss Helen M. Goff is assistant reporter in the State department
+of the Judiciary. Women act as notaries public.
+
+The W. S. A. and W. C. T. U. secured a bill requiring the appointment
+of women physicians at three State insane asylums. There are matrons
+at all of the State institutions for the blind, feeble-minded, etc.,
+and also at the Girls' Industrial School, although the superintendent
+is always a man. The Milford Industrial School has a woman physician,
+a woman superintendent and a board of five women visitors. At the Home
+for the Friendless all the officers and employees are required to be
+women and there is a board of women visitors.
+
+All cities of 25,000 or more are required to appoint police matrons at
+$50 per month. This includes only Omaha and Lincoln.
+
+A woman is Secretary of the Board of Trade in Omaha and official agent
+for the Humane Society with police powers.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to
+women. A woman is president of one bank and vice-president of another.
+Among the many in newspaper work, an Indian, Mrs. Susette La F.
+Tibbles, is prominent.
+
+EDUCATION: All institutions of learning are open to women. In the
+public schools there are 2,038 men and 7,154 women teachers. The
+average monthly salary of the men is $45.05, of the women, $36.56.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Prohibition party always puts a suffrage plank in its State
+platform and women candidates on its ticket, even for the office of
+Lieutenant-Governor, but it polls so small a vote that this can be
+only complimentary. The Populist and Republican parties have indorsed
+equal suffrage at county conventions and elected women on their
+tickets. Women go as delegates to the Prohibition and Populist
+conventions. One of the strongest of the State organizations is the
+Woman's Relief Corps.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[356] The History is indebted for the material for this chapter to
+Mrs. Mary Smith Hayward of Chadron, former president of the State
+Woman Suffrage Association.
+
+[357] The present officers of the association are: President, Mrs.
+Clara A. Young; vice-president, Mrs. Amanda J. Marble; corresponding
+secretary, Miss Nelly E. Taylor; recording secretary, Mrs. Ida L.
+Denny; treasurer, Mrs. K. W. Sutherland; auditors, Mrs. Mary Smith
+Hayward and Mrs. Getty W. Drury.
+
+[358] Other names which appear from time to time as doing good work
+for this cause are the Hon. J. D. Ream, M. H. Marble, J. W. Dundas,
+Mesdames A. J. Marble, Susanna A. Kendall, Irene Hernandez, Miriam
+Baird Buck, Lucy Merwin, Vannessa Goff, Maria C. Arter, Mary E.
+McMenemy, F. C. Norris, M. A. Van Middlesworth, M. A. Cotton, Misses
+Viola Kaufman and Edna Naylor.
+
+[359] Mrs. Colby gives this interesting bit of description: "Our
+husbands were both in the Senate. We had apartments in the same house,
+where, hobnobbing over our partnership housekeeping, we planned our
+public work. Our husbands each had a spell of sickness at the same
+time, and while our functions of State presidency were temporarily
+exchanged for those of nursing, our enemies took advantage of us and
+killed that bill, on the very day, February 15, that Gov. John A.
+Martin signed the bill under which the women of Kansas have ever since
+enjoyed the municipal ballot."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LII.
+
+NEVADA.[360]
+
+
+The question of equal political rights for women always has been a
+subject of discussion in Nevada. Through the efforts of Miss Hannah K.
+Clapp and a few other women a suffrage bill was passed by the Senate
+in 1883, but was defeated in the House. Miss Mary Babcock was one of
+the most efficient of these early workers. Many party leaders,
+whenever opportunity permitted, have referred to the justice of
+enfranchising the women who with the men braved the dangers and
+endured the hardships of pioneer life, and are equally interested in
+the material development and political well-being of the State. After
+the organization of the Nevada Woman's Christian Temperance Union the
+superintendent of the franchise department distributed literature,
+brought up the topic at public meetings, urged it as a subject of
+debate in clubs and schools and thus secured a steady gain in suffrage
+sentiment.
+
+The first step toward associated effort was taken by the women of
+Austin, Nov. 30, 1894, in forming the Lucy Stone Non-Partisan Equal
+Suffrage League. One or two others were organized that year, and a
+general agitation was begun through press and petition work by the
+suffragists in every community.
+
+In the spring of 1895 the visit of Miss Susan B. Anthony, president of
+the National Association, and the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw,
+vice-president-at-large, who were on their way to California, created
+such widespread enthusiasm that a new impetus was given to the
+movement. A little later Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe of Illinois was sent by
+the National Association to canvass the State with the help of the
+local workers. As a result a convention was held at Reno, October 29,
+30. Mrs. DeVoe and Mrs. Frances A. Williamson were the principal
+speakers, and the ten minutes' addresses by the delegates from various
+counties were very clever and acceptable. A State Equal Suffrage
+Association was formed with Mrs. Williamson as president; Miss Clapp
+and Dr. Eliza Cook, vice-presidents; Fannie Weller, corresponding
+secretary; Phoebe Stanton Marshall, recording secretary; Elda A. Orr,
+treasurer; Kate A. Martin and Alice Ede, auditors; Annie Warren, press
+work; Mary A. Boyd, State Fair work; Emma B. Blossom, superintendent
+of literature; Marcella Rinkle, member national executive committee.
+
+The president, who was also chairman of the legislative work
+committee, was in the lecture field four months. She had to act as her
+own advance agent, but during this time she spoke in every city and
+town in the State and organized numerous clubs. Her meetings were well
+attended, and great interest was manifested. The second convention was
+held at Reno, Sept. 24, 1896, with every county represented. Mrs. Elda
+A. Orr was elected president and Mrs. Williamson, State organizer and
+lecturer. Mrs. Orr has ever since been continued as president, and to
+no one person in Nevada is the cause of woman suffrage so much
+indebted for hospitality, financial aid and valuable work.
+
+The public meeting called on November 9 to greet Miss Anthony and Mrs.
+Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee,
+was very successful. Miss Anthony gave a _resume_ of the exciting
+campaign just closed in California, and made an object lesson of its
+critical points which greatly amused the audience. Mrs. Chapman Catt
+followed in an able argument on woman suffrage as the best and safest
+means to secure and maintain good government.
+
+In order to give the movement a more pronounced individuality Mrs.
+Williamson and her daughter, M. Laura Williamson, founded the _Nevada
+Citizen_, a monthly paper devoted to the social, civil and industrial
+advancement of women. They edited and managed it, publishing it at
+their own risk, and it received a liberal patronage. After a
+successful existence of two years, business called both from the State
+and it was discontinued.
+
+In 1897 Mrs. Williamson again canvassed the various counties, and the
+most prominent men and women were found willing to give the measure
+their indorsement. The third annual meeting was held at Carson City,
+October 30, with delegates from most of the counties. The numerous
+greetings from leading politicians showed an increasing interest in
+this question. Mrs. Orr and Mrs. Williamson were both re-elected. The
+former made an able address, and Mrs. Frances Folsom gave a general
+review of the laws relating to the property rights of women in the
+different States.
+
+The fourth convention was postponed till the meeting of the
+Legislature in the winter of 1899, in order that the speakers might
+appear before that body with their arguments for the submission of a
+woman suffrage amendment to the voters.[361]
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: In 1895 a bill was introduced in the
+House by Henry H. Beck, to amend the State constitution by eliminating
+the word "male" from before the word "citizen" wherever it occurs. All
+amendment bills have to pass two successive Legislatures and then be
+submitted to the voters. The Rev. Mila Tupper Maynard and Mrs. Frances
+A. Williamson managed the legislative work this year. The former made
+an eloquent address before the Legislature in joint assembly. An
+exciting debate followed in the House, but the bill was defeated by
+six votes. About ten days later it was introduced in the Senate by Dr.
+William Comins, who supported it with an able speech. It was strongly
+opposed but finally passed by a two-thirds vote. Toward the close of
+the session it was reconsidered in the House, and after a spirited
+debate was passed by four votes.
+
+In 1897 the legislative work was conducted by Mrs. Williamson. She
+read a brief of the constitutional grounds on which women claim the
+right of suffrage before the Judiciary Committees of both Houses, and
+addressed the Legislature in joint assembly.[362] This year the bill
+for a constitutional amendment was introduced in the Senate by Dr.
+Comins. The Judiciary Committee recommended its passage, and after a
+lively debate it received a two-thirds vote. Later on the bill was
+presented in the House by Frank Norcross. It was held in committee and
+delayed in every possible way, but finally was brought up in joint
+assembly. A stubborn debate followed, in which the advocates made an
+able defense, but it was defeated by a tie vote. A motion to
+reconsider it was defeated also.
+
+In 1899 the Constitutional Amendment Bill again passed the Senate by
+the usual two-thirds vote, and was defeated again in the House by the
+usual small vote.
+
+Governors Colcord, Jones and Sadler recommended in their biennial
+messages to the Legislature that the proposed suffrage amendment to
+the State constitution be submitted to the voters.[363] The Reno
+_Gazette_ and Wadsworth _Dispatch_ merit special mention for the able
+manner in which they have advocated the suffrage movement.
+
+A married woman may control her separate property if a list of it is
+filed with the county recorder, but unless it is kept constantly
+inventoried and recorded it becomes community property.
+
+The community property, both real and personal, which includes all
+accumulated after marriage, is under absolute control of the husband,
+and at the death of the wife all of it belongs to him without
+administration. On the death of the husband the wife is entitled to
+one-half of it. If he die leaving no will and no children, she may
+claim all of it after she has secured the payment of debts to the
+satisfaction of creditors. The inheritance of separate property is the
+same for both, and either may claim a life interest in a homestead not
+exceeding $5,000 in value.
+
+To become a sole trader a woman must comply with certain legal
+conditions. Her earnings are considered by law to belong to her if her
+husband has allowed her to appropriate them to her own use, when they
+are regarded _as a gift from him to her_.
+
+A married woman may sue and be sued and make contracts in her own
+name.
+
+The father is the legal guardian of the children and may appoint one
+by will. If this is not done, the mother, if suitable, is the guardian
+while she remains unmarried.
+
+The husband is required to furnish the necessaries of life to the
+family; but there is no penalty for failure to do so, except that
+where the neglect has been continued for one year, when it could have
+been avoided by ordinary industry, the wife is entitled to a divorce.
+
+In 1889 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 12 to 14
+years. The penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of
+not less than five years, which may extend for life.
+
+SUFFRAGE: Women possess no form of suffrage.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: Women are not eligible to any elective or appointive
+offices except those of county school superintendents and school
+trustees. There are serving at present one county superintendent and
+fifteen trustees.
+
+Women act as clerks in State, county and city offices. They can not
+serve as notaries public.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to
+women. A number are carrying on mining, and have had mines patented in
+their own names.
+
+EDUCATION: Women are admitted to all educational institutions on the
+same terms as men.
+
+In the public schools there are 40 men and 274 women teachers. The
+average monthly salary of the men is $101; of the women, $61.50.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[360] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Frances A.
+Williamson, first president of the State Equal Suffrage Association.
+
+[361] Among those who have filled the various offices are: Vice
+presidents, Margaret Campbell and Susan Humphreys, corresponding
+secretaries, May Gill and Catharine Shaw; auditors, A. A. Rattan, Mary
+Cowen and Laura A. Huffines; superintendent of press work, Margaret
+Furlong; superintendent of literature, Hester Tate; members national
+executive committee, Caroline B. Norcross and Elizabeth Webster.
+
+Prominent among the active suffragists, besides those already
+mentioned, are Sadie Bath, Lettie Richards, Martha J. Wright, Gerty
+Grey, Annie Ronnow, Emma Hilp, Mary Haslett, Mamie Dickey, Edith
+Jenkins, Louisa Loschenkohl, Clara Dooley, Mary Bonner, Eliza Timlin
+and Josie Marsh.
+
+[362] Mrs. Williamson was assisted by Elda A. Orr, Elizabeth Webster,
+Mary Alt, Mary A. Boyd, Jane Frazer, Kate A. Martin, Elizabeth Evans,
+Marcella Rinkle, Susan Humphreys, Sara Reynolds, Frances Folsom, Emma
+B. Blossom and others, whose womanly and dignified work was
+complimented by the legislative body and the public in general.
+
+[363] Among the members of both Houses who from time to time have
+championed this question and favored all legislation for the
+advancement of women are Messrs. Bell, Birchfield, Coryell, Denton,
+Ernest, Garrard, Gregooich, Haines, Julien, Kaiser, Lord, Mante,
+Martin, Marshall, McHardy, McNaughton, McCone, Murphy, Richards,
+Skagg, Vanderleith and Williamson.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIII.
+
+NEW HAMPSHIRE.
+
+
+New Hampshire has been rich in distinguished citizens who believed in
+woman suffrage. Ex-United States Senator Henry W. Blair always has
+been one of its most devoted advocates, and his successor, Dr. Jacob
+H. Gallinger, is no less a staunch friend. The names of both for many
+years have stood as vice-presidents of the State Association. From
+1868 the Hon. Nathaniel P. and Mrs. Armenia S. White were the pillars
+of the movement and there was an efficient organization. His death in
+1880 and her advancing years deprived it of active leadership and,
+while the sentiment throughout the State continued strong, there was
+little organized work. Mrs. White was president for many years and
+afterwards was made honorary president. Parker Pillsbury was for a
+long time vice-president and later the Hon. Oliver Branch. Mrs. Jacob
+H. Ela and Mrs. Bessie Bisbee Hunt served several years as chairmen of
+the executive committee.[364] Many petitions for suffrage were
+circulated and sent to the Legislature and money was raised for the
+National Association. The Grange and the Woman's Christian Temperance
+Union have been valuable allies.
+
+On June 29, 30, 1887, a convention was held in Concord and
+arrangements made for a systematic canvass of the State.
+
+On Jan. 10, 1889, Mrs. White and other officers of the State
+Association were granted a hearing by the Constitutional Convention
+then in session. They presented petitions and made a plea that the
+State constitution be amended so as to prohibit political
+distinctions on account of sex. The special committee reported
+"inexpedient to legislate" and their report was adopted.
+
+A State meeting was held in Concord, Dec. 14, 1892, a full board of
+officers was elected and it was voted to become auxiliary to the
+National American Association and to remain auxiliary to the New
+England Association.
+
+On Jan. 10, 1895, the New England W. S. A. held a convention in Nashua
+with Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates of Maine, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, Henry
+B. Blackwell and Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, editors of the _Woman's
+Journal_, Boston, as speakers. The day after its close the annual
+business meeting of the New Hampshire Association was held and was
+addressed by Miss Blackwell. On November 8 it called a meeting at the
+same place for the transaction of some special business.
+
+On Jan. 10, 1896, and on Feb. 24, 1897, the annual meetings were held
+in Nashua, the latter addressed by Miss Blackwell. Mrs. Marilla M.
+Ricker, a former officer of the society but now practicing law in
+Washington, D.C., was candidate for U. S. Minister to Colombia, and
+New Hampshire was one of six States which petitioned for her
+appointment. Ex-Senator Blair exerted himself in her behalf, but it is
+hardly necessary to say that she was not appointed.
+
+The desire for a more effective organization had grown so strong that
+in November, 1900, Mrs. Susan S. Fessenden of Boston was sent into the
+State by the New England Association and spent two weeks, forming
+clubs in Concord, Newport, Littleton, Andover and North Conway, and
+preparing for societies in Nashua and Manchester.
+
+In the autumn of 1901 Miss Mary N. Chase of Andover spent a month
+organizing local societies. A convention was called for December 16,
+17, in Manchester, at which ten towns were represented. The meetings
+were held in the City Hall, and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of
+the National Association, was introduced to a fine audience the first
+evening by Cyrus H. Little, Speaker of the House of Representatives.
+Addresses were made also by Mr. and Miss Blackwell. A strong official
+board was elected[365] and an effort will be made to educate public
+sentiment to demand a woman suffrage clause from the convention to
+revise the State constitution, which is likely to be held within a
+short time. On the evening of December 17 Mrs. Chapman Catt spoke in
+Concord, the State capital.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: The suffrage association has been
+petitioning the Legislature since 1870. That year it secured a law
+allowing women to serve on school boards. In 1878 it obtained School
+Suffrage for women.
+
+In 1885 it presented a petition, signed by several thousand citizens,
+asking the Full Franchise for women, and was given "leave to
+withdraw."
+
+In 1887 a bill conferring Municipal Suffrage and permitting women to
+hold all municipal offices was presented with a petition signed by
+2,500 citizens. A hearing was granted by the committee on July 6 and
+300 persons were present. On the 13th it was favorably reported in the
+House, but August 6, it was defeated by 87 ayes, 148 noes. This year
+the House raised the "age of protection" for girls from 10 to 14 years
+but the Senate amended to 13 years.
+
+In 1889 the bill for Municipal Suffrage was again introduced, sent to
+the Judiciary Committee and referred to the next session as
+"unfinished business."
+
+In 1891 the petitions for this bill contained 3,000 signatures, and
+Mr. Angell of Derry also introduced a bill for suffrage for tax-paying
+women, but neither was acted upon. This experience was repeated in
+1893.
+
+In 1895, after a hearing had been granted to the women, the bill was
+reported favorably by the Judiciary Committee and passed a second
+reading in the House, but a third was refused. D. C. Remick and M.
+Lyford were earnest in their support of the measure. This year the
+"age of protection" for girls was raised to 16, but the bill was
+vetoed by Gov. Busiel who claimed that it was not properly framed.
+
+Dower and curtesy both obtain. The widow is entitled to a life
+interest in one-third of the real estate and a homestead right of
+$500, and if she waive the provisions of the will in her favor she
+may have, after the payment of debts, one-third of the personal
+property if issue survive; if not, one-half. If she waive its
+provisions and release her dower and homestead right, she may have,
+after all debts and expenses of administration are paid, one-third of
+the real estate absolutely if issue by her survive, and, if not,
+one-half, and the same amount of personal property. The widower is
+entitled to a life interest in all the wife's real estate, and a
+homestead right of $500, and if he waive the provisions of her will in
+his favor, the same amount of her personal property as she would
+receive of his. If he release his curtesy and homestead right he is
+entitled to the same amount of her real estate as she would have of
+his.
+
+A married woman retains control of her separate property. She can
+mortgage or convey it without the husband's joinder but can not bar
+his curtesy of life use of the whole or his homestead right; nor can
+she deprive him of these by will. The husband has the same privileges,
+subject to her dower.
+
+A married woman may carry on business in her own name. She may sue and
+be sued and make contracts. Her earnings are her sole and separate
+property. She can not become surety for her husband.
+
+The father is the legal guardian but if he is insane or has given
+cause for divorce the court may award the minor children to the
+mother. The judge of probate may appoint a guardian, when necessary,
+to have care of the persons and property of minor children, and it may
+be either the father or mother.
+
+If the husband refuse to provide for his family he may be prosecuted
+in criminal form. If he is insane or has given cause for divorce the
+court may award support out of his property.
+
+The common law making 12 years the legal age for a girl to marry has
+been retained by special statute.
+
+The "age of protection" for girls is 13 years with a penalty of
+imprisonment not exceeding thirty years, but no minimum punishment
+named.
+
+SUFFRAGE: Since 1878 women, possessing the same qualifications
+required of men, that is, residence in the district three months
+preceding the election, are entitled to vote for members of the school
+board and for appropriations of money. There are no county
+superintendents, and the State Superintendent of Instruction is
+appointed by the Governor and Council. The city ordinances of
+Manchester, Franklin and Nashua prohibit women from this suffrage, but
+they may vote in Concord, the capital.
+
+New Hampshire was the first State in New England to give School
+Suffrage to women.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: Women are eligible to all elective or appointive
+School offices except where it is forbidden by special charters. They
+are not eligible to any other elective office.
+
+A number are serving on School Boards. They may sit on State Boards
+which are appointed by the Governor. They have done so only on the
+Board of Charities and Corrections and on that of the State Normal
+School.
+
+There is no law requiring women physicians in any State institutions,
+or police matrons in any city. One has been appointed in Manchester.
+
+Women may act as notaries public.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: On July 25, 1889, Chief Justice Charles Doe of the
+Supreme Court delivered the opinion that women may become members of
+the bar and practice in all the courts. No occupation or profession is
+legally forbidden. Ten hours are made a working day.
+
+EDUCATION: The old college of Dartmouth at Hanover is for men only.
+The State Agricultural College at Durham admits both sexes.
+
+In the public schools there are 256 men and 2,714 women teachers. The
+average monthly salary of the men is $69.75; of the women $40.59.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[364] Among other officers since 1884 are: Presidents, Mrs. E. J. C.
+Gilbert and Miss Josephine F. Hall; vice-presidents, Judge J. W.
+Fellows, Gen. Elbert Wheeler, the Rev. Enoch Powell, Mrs. Martha E.
+Powell, John Scales, Mesdames C. A. Quimby, Caroline R. Wendell, N. H.
+Knox, Marilla H. Ricker, M. L. Griffin, Fanny W. Sawyer and Mary
+Powers Filley; corresponding secretaries, Mrs. Jacob H. Ela, Mrs.
+Maria D. Adams; recording secretary, the Rev. H. B. Smith; treasurers,
+Mesdames A. W. Hobbs, C. R. Meloon, Uranie E. Bowers and Miss Abbie E.
+McIntyre; auditor, Mrs. C. R. Pease; executive committee, Mrs. Mary E.
+H. Dow and Mrs. (Dr.) Tucker.
+
+[365] President, Miss Mary N. Chase; vice-president, Mrs. Elizabeth B.
+Hunt; secretary, Miss Mary E. Quimby; treasurer, the Rev. Angelo Hall;
+auditors, Miss C. R. Wendell and the Hon. Sherman E. Burroughs.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIV.
+
+NEW JERSEY.[366]
+
+
+Although many local suffrage meetings had been held in New Jersey
+prior to 1867, in that year a State Society was organized by Lucy
+Stone, which met regularly in various cities until she removed to
+Massachusetts a few years afterwards, when the association and its
+branches gradually suspended, except the one at Vineland, with Mrs.
+Anna M. Warden as president. Mrs. Cornelia C. Hussey, Mrs. Katherine
+H. Browning, Mrs. Warden and others continued to represent the State
+as vice-presidents at the national conventions.
+
+In 1890 Dr. Mary D. Hussey, who had been a member of the old society,
+invited a number of active suffragists to unite in forming a new State
+association. Eleven responded and, at the residence of Mrs. Charlotte
+N. Enslin, in Orange, February 5, a constitution was adopted, Judge
+John Whitehead elected president and Dr. Hussey secretary and
+treasurer.[367]
+
+In 1891 the Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell became president; Mrs.
+Amelia Dickinson Pope was elected in 1892; and in 1893 Mrs. Florence
+Howe Hall, daughter of Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, accepted the presidency.
+
+The first public meeting of the association was held at Orange, March
+4, 1893, where Mrs. Clara C. Hoffman of Missouri, gave an address. The
+first auxiliary society formed was that of Essex County, with forty
+members, Mrs. Jennie D. De Witt, president. Five other State meetings
+were held and the membership trebled. Among the lecturers were Aaron
+M. Powell, Mrs. Blackwell, Mrs. S. M. Perkins of Ohio, and the
+president. A number of clergymen gave sermons on suffrage, 14,000
+pages of literature were circulated in seventeen of the twenty-one
+counties, and the _Woman's Column_ was sent to 200 persons at the
+expense of Mrs. Cornelia C. Hussey. The women's vote at school
+meetings greatly increased and a number were elected trustees. The
+annual convention was held at Newark in November.
+
+The constitutional amendment campaign in the neighboring State of New
+York had a very favorable effect on public opinion in New Jersey
+during 1894. In addition to the usual meetings a memorial service in
+honor of Lucy Stone was held in Peddie Memorial Church, Newark, one of
+the largest churches in the State, with more than 2,000 people
+present, Mrs. Mary A. Livermore being the chief speaker. Another
+meeting was held in Orange, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe making the principal
+address.
+
+A sunflower lunch was given to raise funds for the campaign in Kansas
+and $200 were sent, of which half was contributed by Mrs. Hussey.
+Among the vast amount of literature circulated were 1,000 copies of
+suffrage papers. The State convention was held as usual in Newark,
+November 24. This year the Populist party declared for woman suffrage
+in its State convention. The Knights of Labor also have indorsed it.
+
+In 1895, before entering upon the three years' campaign for the
+restoration of School Suffrage, which had been declared
+unconstitutional the previous year, the association presented to the
+Legislature petitions signed by about 1,000 persons, asking for the
+restoration of full suffrage to the women of New Jersey, which had
+been taken away in 1807. This was done not with any expectation of
+success but in order to place the association on record as having
+demanded this right. In the new measure for School Suffrage they
+begged that it might include the women of towns and cities instead of
+merely country districts, according to the law of 1887, but this was
+refused.
+
+Mrs. Anna B. S. Pond arranged a course of lectures for the benefit of
+the School Suffrage fund and, with a souvenir, $100 were raised. A
+handsome suffrage flag was presented to the association by Miss Martha
+B. Haines, recording secretary.
+
+Four meetings of the State association were held in Newark, and one in
+Plainfield during the year, and lectures were given by Mrs. Lillie
+Devereux Blake of New York, Mrs. Annie L. Diggs of Kansas, Miss
+Elizabeth Upham Yates of Maine, and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman
+of the national organization committee. The fifth convention assembled
+in the chapel of Trinity (Episcopal) Church, Elizabeth, November 29.
+Mrs. Ella B. Carter, chairman on press work, stated that many leading
+papers were advocating the restoring of School Suffrage. Mrs. Harriet
+L. Coolidge, chairman of the School Suffrage Committee, reported that
+about fifty women had held the office of trustee since 1873, when this
+right was given, that twelve more were still serving despite the
+Supreme Court decision, and that women had voted in school meetings in
+almost every county.
+
+The School Suffrage Resolution passed the Legislature, but as it had
+to be approved by two successive Legislatures before it could be
+submitted to the voters, it was necessary to agitate the subject so
+the law-makers might see that the people really desired the passage of
+this measure, and the winter of 1896 was devoted to this purpose. A
+new circular setting forth the success it had previously been was
+circulated in connection with the petition. As the president was
+unable to attend the session of the Legislature, Miss Mary Philbrook,
+chairman of the Committee on Laws, took charge of the measure, which
+in March was passed for the second time without opposition. It was
+decided, however, to have certain other proposed amendments to the
+constitution altered, and that for School Suffrage was kept back with
+the others, as the constitution can be amended only once in five
+years.
+
+In the spring circulars were sent to 300 newspapers to be published,
+urging women to attend school meetings and to exercise the scrap of
+franchise still left to them--a vote on appropriations.[368] New
+Jersey sent $150 to the National Association and $50 to California for
+its campaign this year, in addition to the money spent on State work.
+The annual meeting was held in Orange, Nov. 27, 1896. A vote of thanks
+was tendered Miss Jane Campbell of Philadelphia for her generous gift
+of 300 copies of "Woman's Progress" containing an account of suffrage
+in New Jersey by Mrs. Hall.
+
+The signatures to the petition were increased to over 7,000 in 1897,
+and the Legislature passed the resolution for the School Suffrage
+Amendment for the third time, in March. The association at once began
+active work to influence the voters. Meetings were held in halls,
+churches and parlors in all parts of the State and many articles were
+published explaining the scope of the amendment. The State Federation
+of Women's Clubs, the Granges, Working Girls' Societies, Daughters of
+Liberty, the Ladies of the G. A. R., the Junior Order of American
+Mechanics and other organizations gave cordial indorsement. Mrs. Hall
+delivered three addresses on this subject before the State Federation
+of Clubs; Mrs. Emily E. Williamson, afterwards its president, also
+made a strong speech, urging the members to work for the amendment,
+and paid for 5,000 of the Appeals which were sent out. The W. C. T. U.
+rendered every possible assistance in securing signers for the
+petitions and educating public sentiment.
+
+During the summer an extensive correspondence was carried on with
+prominent people including the State board of education, State, county
+and city superintendents of public instruction, etc. They were asked
+to sign An Appeal to the Friends of Education which clearly set forth
+the advantages of the proposed amendment. Having obtained the one
+hundred influential signatures desired the document was widely
+distributed to the press. Copies were sent to many organizations of
+men and women, and also to the clergy, with the request that they
+would use their influence with their congregations. A number did so,
+but probably many were afraid to speak on this subject lest they
+injure the chances of the Anti-Gambling Amendment to the constitution,
+which was to be voted on at the same time. The school authorities
+strongly indorsed the amendment and related the benefit which School
+Suffrage for women had been within their experience. Extracts from
+these letters, including one from the State Superintendent of Public
+Instruction, the Hon. Charles J. Baxter, thanking the association for
+work in its behalf, were widely published.
+
+The Republican State Executive Committee and some county committees
+indorsed the amendment. Efforts were made to have it presented at the
+many meetings which were held in behalf of the Anti-Race Track
+Amendment, but they were not always successful. Through an unavoidable
+circumstance the press work fell principally on the president. The
+corresponding secretary, Dr. Hussey, gave an immense amount of labor,
+devoting the whole summer to the work of the campaign. Mrs. Angell
+rendered most efficient service, a part of it the sending of a letter
+to nearly every minister in the State. Mrs. L. H. Rowan was chairman
+of the finance committee but so sure were the friends of success that
+only $150 were expended.
+
+The special election was held Sept. 28, 1897, and the result was a
+great disappointment. The School Suffrage Amendment, to which it was
+generally supposed there would be practically no opposition, was
+defeated--65,021 ayes, 75,170 noes. The adverse vote came almost
+entirely from the cities where the actual experiment never had been
+made. The country districts, where women had exercised School
+Suffrage, understood its workings and voted for the amendment. The
+Germans in particular opposed it, and it was said that they and many
+other voters understood it to give complete suffrage to women. As it
+was printed in full on the ballot itself, the carelessness and
+indifference of the average voter were thus made painfully apparent.
+
+The labor was not altogether wasted, however, as through it the people
+were brought to understand that women still had a partial vote at
+school meetings. (See Suffrage.) For instance the women of Cranford,
+where a new schoolhouse was badly needed, were told by their town
+counsel that they had lost the ballot, but the president of the
+suffrage association informed them of the error of this learned
+gentleman, and they came out and voted, the campaign being conducted
+by the Village Improvement Association, a club composed of women. The
+majority in favor of the new schoolhouse was only seven. The
+opposition called a second meeting and reversed this decision. The
+women circulated petitions and compelled the school board to call a
+third meeting where they won the day. It was voted to erect one new
+building to cost $24,700 and another on the south side to cost nearly
+$11,000.
+
+This same year, in South Orange, two unsuccessful attempts were made
+to get an appropriation to build a much-needed High School. The men
+finally decided to call upon the women for help. Nearly 500 attended
+the meeting, and the $25,000 appropriation was carried by an
+overwhelming majority. The school at Westfield and two new High School
+buildings at Asbury Park and Atlantic Highlands were built because of
+the women's vote. Manual training was introduced into the Vineland
+schools through the zeal of women. A report from Moorestown says: "The
+year that women first began to vote at school meetings marks a decided
+revival of intelligent interest in our public schools." In Scotch
+Plains, where the meetings were held in the public school building, a
+holiday afterwards had always been necessary in order to clean it.
+With the advent of the feminine voters, expectoration and peanut
+shells ceased to decorate the floors, and the children were able to
+attend school the next day as usual. The Women's Educational
+Association introduced manual training into the public schools of East
+Orange.[369]
+
+A number of meetings of the State association were held during 1897,
+and among the speakers were Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford and Mrs. Ellis
+Meredith of Colorado, Mrs. Celia B. Whitehead and Miss Laura E.
+Holmes. The annual convention took place at Wissner Hall, Newark,
+November 30.
+
+Three State meetings were held in 1898, the conference of the National
+Board co-operating with the State association, taking the place of the
+convention. This was held May 6, 7, at Orange, and was the strong
+feature of the year. Through the efforts of the local committee, Mrs.
+Minola Graham Sexton, chairman, a large attendance was secured. Among
+the speakers were the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president-at-large
+of the National Association, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, Mrs. Mariana W.
+Chapman, president of the New York State Association, and a number of
+State women. New Jersey contributed this year $648 to the Organization
+Committee of the National, most of which went to the Oklahoma
+campaign. The largest contributions were from Mrs. Cornelia C. Hussey,
+$450; Moorestown League (Miss S. W. Lippincott) $50; collections at
+Orange, $41; Essex County, $40; Mrs. A. Van Winkle, $20.
+
+The annual meeting was held at Camden, Nov. 29, 1898. Mrs. Rachel
+Foster Avery, corresponding secretary of the National Association, and
+Miss Jane Campbell, president of the Philadelphia county association,
+were the afternoon speakers, Mrs. Bradford making the principal
+address of the evening. The New Jersey Legal Aid Association was
+formed this year in Newark, Dr. Hussey taking an active part. The
+first president was Miss Cecilia Gaines, who was succeeded by Mrs.
+Stewart Hartshorn. Its object is to give legal assistance to those
+unable to pay for it, and especially to women. All its officers are
+women, and a woman attorney is employed. Up to the present time (1901)
+it has had applications from 700 persons.
+
+Two meetings of the State Association were held in 1899. A
+contribution of $220 was made to the National Organization Committee.
+At the annual meeting, held November 28, at Jersey City, Major Z. K.
+Pangborn, editor of the _Journal_, made an address at the evening
+session. The principal speaker was Mrs. Percy Widdrington of London,
+who gave an account of woman suffrage and its good practical results
+in England.
+
+Resolutions of deep regret for the death of Aaron M. Powell, editor of
+_The Philanthropist_, were adopted.
+
+The State Association held two meetings during 1900, and did a great
+deal of work in preparation for the National Suffrage Bazar. Dr.
+Hussey was made chairman of the Bazar Committee, while Mrs. Sexton
+arranged the ten musical entertainments which were given during the
+Bazar. The tenth annual convention was held at Moorestown, November
+13, 14. There was a large attendance, including many men. The new
+national president, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, was the principal
+speaker. Others were Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg, president of the
+Pennsylvania Association; Mrs. Mary V. Grice, president of the State
+Congress of Mothers; Mrs. Catharine B. Lippincott, representing the
+Grange, and Mrs. Hall, who spoke on the American Woman in the American
+Home.
+
+Mrs. Hall, who had been president during the whole period of active
+life of the association, declined re-election. She did so with the
+greatest reluctance, but felt that the increasing pressure of work
+made it important that some one with more leisure at her disposal
+should fill the office. Mrs. Sexton was elected president.[370]
+
+Mrs. Cornelia C. Hussey is the largest contributor in New Jersey to
+the suffrage cause in general. Since many of her donations have been
+made to the National Association directly, not passing through the
+hands of the State treasurer, they can not be computed here, nor does
+she herself know their full amount. She has given also most liberally
+to State work and her contributions run well up into the thousands. A
+number of New Jersey women have been made life members of the National
+Association by her. She is a member of its organization
+committee.[371]
+
+In early days Mrs. Theresa Walling Seabrook stood almost alone in the
+W. C. T. U. in her advocacy of woman suffrage and it required ten
+years of effort to secure a franchise department, of which she was
+made the first superintendent. For many years, however, this
+organization has been an active and helpful force and undoubtedly has
+made numerous converts, besides securing valuable legislation. The
+Grange has been always a faithful ally of the woman suffrage cause.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: On Feb. 13, 1884, a special committee of
+the Assembly granted a hearing on the petition of Mrs. Celia B.
+Whitehead and 220 others, asking the restoration of the right of Full
+Suffrage which had been unconstitutionally taken away from women in
+1807. (See Suffrage.) Henry B. Blackwell and the Rev. Phoebe A.
+Hanaford of Massachusetts and Mrs. Theresa Walling Seabrook presented
+the question. They asked also for School Suffrage. The committee
+reported favorably on both measures. The former reached a vote and was
+defeated by 24 yeas, 27 nays.
+
+In 1887 Dr. William M. Baird, Speaker of the Assembly, had a bill
+introduced conferring School Suffrage on women in villages and country
+districts, and advocated it from the floor. It passed unanimously,
+March 23, not on its merits but because the Speaker wanted it. It was
+passed by the Senate March 31, by 15 yeas, 2 nays, and signed April 8,
+by Gov. Robert S. Green.
+
+This year Aaron M. Powell and the Rev. A. H. Lewis secured a law
+raising the "age of protection" for girls from 10 to 16.
+
+In 1894 the courts decided that the law granting School Suffrage to
+women was unconstitutional and that an amendment to the constitution
+would be necessary to enable them to exercise it. The suffrage
+association immediately took steps to secure a resolution submitting
+this amendment to the electors, as previously described. In 1895 it
+was introduced in the Senate by Foster M. Voorhees (now Governor) and
+passed in June by 13 yeas, 2 nays. It passed the Assembly by 36 yeas,
+one nay. It had to be acted upon by two Legislatures. In March, 1896,
+it passed the Senate unanimously; and the Assembly by 57 yeas, one
+nay. A technicality required it to pass the third Legislature, which
+it did in March, 1897--Senate, 15 yeas, 1 nay; Assembly, 42 yeas, 5
+nays.
+
+In April, 1894, it was enacted that women might be notaries.
+
+In March, 1895, a bill was secured making women eligible to
+appointment as Commissioners of Deeds, after having failed in 1891,
+'92 and '94, and Miss Mary M. Steele was appointed.
+
+In 1896 Miss Mary Philbrook, an attorney, with the help of the
+suffrage officials, secured a bill making women eligible as Masters in
+Chancery and was herself the first one appointed.
+
+This year the State Teachers' Association secured a law permitting a
+Teachers' Retirement Fund to be created, which, with some amendments
+in 1899, enables a teacher after twenty years' service, if
+incapacitated for further work, to receive from $250 to $600 per
+annum. Some improvement also was made in the property laws for women.
+
+In April, 1898, through the efforts of the Federation of Women's
+Clubs, a law was passed and an appropriation made for State Traveling
+Libraries.
+
+Dower and curtesy obtain. The widow is entitled to a life use of
+one-third of the real estate and, if there is a child or children, to
+one-third of the personal property absolutely; if there are no
+children, to one-half of it. The remainder of the real and personal
+estate goes to the husband's kindred. "The widow may remain in the
+mansion house of her husband free of rent until dower is assigned."
+The widower is entitled to the life use of all the wife's real estate,
+and if there is no will, to all her personal property without
+administration. She may, however, dispose of all of it by will as she
+pleases. She can not by will deprive the husband of his curtesy in
+real estate, except by order of the Court of Chancery when she is
+living separate from him. She can not encumber or dispose of her
+separate estate without his joinder. He can mortgage or convey his
+real estate without her joinder but it is subject to her dower. Her
+separate property is liable for her debts but not for those of her
+husband.
+
+Since 1895 a married woman may contract as if unmarried, and sue and
+be sued in her own name as to property, but for personal injuries the
+husband must join. She can not become surety.
+
+Since 1896 she may carry on business in her own name, her earnings and
+wages are her separate property, and her deposits in savings banks are
+free from the control of her husband.
+
+The father is the legal guardian of the persons and estates of minor
+children. At his death the mother becomes guardian. In case of
+separation with no misconduct on the part of either, the mother has
+the preference until the child is seven years old, after which the
+rights are equal. Provision is made for the access of the mother to
+infant children. On the death of the one to whom the child is assigned
+it is subject to the order of the court.
+
+The husband must furnish such support as will maintain the wife in the
+position in which he has placed her by marriage. If he refuse he must
+give bonds or go to jail. The wife must contribute to the support of
+the family if the husband is unable.
+
+The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 16 years in
+1887. The penalty is a fine not exceeding $1,000 or imprisonment at
+hard labor not exceeding fifteen years, or both. No minimum penalty is
+named.
+
+No girl under fourteen shall be employed in a factory, and no children
+under fourteen shall be employed in any workshop or factory over ten
+hours a day or sixty hours a week. The failure of employers to
+provide seats for female employes beside a work bench or counter shall
+be punished as a misdemeanor.
+
+SUFFRAGE: New Jersey is the first State in which a woman ever cast a
+ballot. The constitution adopted July 2, 1776, conferred the franchise
+on "all inhabitants worth $250, etc." In 1790 a revision of the
+election law used the words "he or she," thus giving legislative
+sanction to a construction of the constitution which placed women in
+the electorate. While the records show that women did vote for various
+officers, including President of the United States and members of the
+Legislature, yet in those days of almost absolute male supremacy, when
+it was not customary for women to own even $250 worth of property and
+all they possessed became the husband's at marriage, it is not to be
+supposed that very many could avail themselves of the privilege.
+Enough did so, however, to make them a factor in the fierce political
+contentions which soon arose, and to gain the enmity of politicians.
+In 1807 the Legislature passed an arbitrary act limiting the suffrage
+to "white male citizens." This was clearly a usurpation of authority,
+as the constitution could be changed only by action of the voters.
+Nevertheless, men were in power and women were no longer permitted to
+exercise the franchise.
+
+In 1844 a convention framed a new constitution in which the suffrage
+was restricted to "white males," and only men were allowed to vote on
+its adoption. Women were still electors according to the existing
+constitution, and yet they were not permitted to vote for delegates to
+this convention nor for the ratification of the new constitution. No
+Supreme Court could have rendered any other decision than that this
+was illegally adopted.
+
+For exactly eighty years women were deprived of any franchise. During
+the last twenty of this period they made repeated efforts to vote and
+presented numerous petitions to the Legislature to have their ancient
+right restored. In 1887 this body enacted that women might vote at
+school meetings (i. e. in villages and country districts) for
+trustees, bonds, appropriations, etc.
+
+In 1893 a law was enacted giving the right to vote for Road
+Commissioner to "all freeholders." An election was very soon contested
+at Englewood, and in June, 1894, the Supreme Court decided that the
+act was illegal because "it is not competent for the Legislature to
+enlarge or diminish the class of voters comprehended within the
+constitutional definition." [The court had forgotten about that
+Legislature of 1807.]
+
+This gave the opportunity for those who were opposed to women's
+exercising the School Suffrage. At a special election for school
+trustees held in Vineland, July 27, 1894, the women were forcibly
+prevented from depositing their ballots. The State Superintendent of
+Public Instruction was appealed to and he directed the county
+superintendent to appoint a board of trustees, as the election from
+which the women were excluded was illegal. This was done on the advice
+of the Attorney-General, who held that the constitution by empowering
+the Legislature to "provide for the maintenance and support of a
+system of free public schools," gave it the power to confer on women
+the right to vote at school meetings for school officers.
+
+Without following the details it is only necessary to relate that the
+Supreme Court declared that "the State constitution says, 'Every male
+citizen, etc., shall be entitled to vote for all officers that are now
+or may be hereafter elective by the people' (!) and school trustees
+are elective officers within this provision, therefore the Act
+allowing women to vote for them is unconstitutional."
+
+Women had been voting for these officers seven years under this Act,
+and always for the benefit of the schools, according to the almost
+universal testimony of educational authorities. It now became
+necessary, in order to continue this privilege, to obtain an amendment
+to the constitution. The story of the three years' effort made by the
+State Suffrage Association for this purpose is related earlier in the
+chapter. Since this had to be made they begged that the amendment
+might include School Suffrage for the women in towns and cities also,
+but this was refused. And yet even a proposition to restore School
+Suffrage to those of villages and rural districts, when submitted to
+the voters, was defeated at the election on Sept. 28, 1897, by 65,029
+yeas, 75,170 nays, over 10,000 majority.
+
+While the Supreme Court decision took away the vote for trustees it
+did not interfere with the right of women in villages and country
+districts to vote on questions of bonds and appropriations for the
+building of schoolhouses and other school purposes, and that is the
+amount of suffrage now possessed by women in New Jersey. When the
+school laws were revised in 1900 this fragment was carefully guarded
+and provision made for furnishing two boxes, one in which the men
+might put their vote on all school matters, and the other where women
+might put theirs on the ones above specified.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: In 1873 a law was passed that "no person hereafter
+shall be eligible to the office of school trustee unless he or she can
+read and write," and women were authorized to serve when duly elected.
+In 1894, when the School Suffrage was taken away by the Supreme Court,
+thirty-two were holding the office and the decision did not abrogate
+this right. They have continued to be elected and twenty-seven are
+serving at the present time. At Englewood, in 1899, Miss Adaline
+Sterling was president of the board. Women are not eligible as State
+or county superintendents.
+
+Four of the nine trustees of the State Industrial School for Girls are
+women, and a woman physician is employed when one is needed.
+
+Dr. Mary J. Dunlop has been superintendent and medical director of the
+State Institution for Feeble-Minded Women since 1886, and three of the
+seven managers are women.
+
+There are no women physicians in any other State institution and no
+law requiring them. In most of the hospitals there are training
+schools for nurses with women superintendents.
+
+The State Board of Children's Guardians has a woman chairman of the
+executive committee, and a woman attorney.
+
+The State Charities Aid Association has seven women on the Board of
+Managers, including the general secretary. Women sit on the boards of
+the State School for Deaf Mutes, the Home for Waifs and those of some
+county asylums. Most of the almshouses have matrons in the female
+department but there are no women on the boards of management.
+
+A matron and three assistants are in charge of the women in the
+penitentiary and there is a matron at the jails of most cities. In
+some of them police matrons have been appointed, but no law requires
+this.
+
+In the State Hospital at Trenton over eighty women are employed,
+including four supervisors, a librarian, stenographers, nurses, etc.
+
+In the State Home for Boys there are over twenty women, including
+principal of school, teachers, matrons, typewriters, etc.
+
+There are women on a number of Public Library Boards, and one, at
+least, acts as treasurer. The head librarian and all the assistants of
+the Plainfield public library are women. Sixty of the ninety-nine
+public libraries in the State employ women librarians, and five are
+served by volunteers. Most of the assistants in all cities are women.
+
+Women act as masters in chancery, commissioners of deeds and notaries
+public, and one at least has served as district clerk.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to
+women. Admission to the bar having been denied to Miss Mary Philbrook,
+in 1894, solely on account of her sex, she requested a hearing before
+the Judiciary Committee of the Legislature of 1895, which was
+addressed by Mrs. Florence Howe Hall, president of the State Suffrage
+Association, Mrs. Carrie Burnham Kilgore, a lawyer of Philadelphia,
+and Miss Philbrook herself. Soon afterward a law was enacted making
+women eligible to examination for admission to the bar, which, in
+June, was passed successfully by Miss Philbrook, who thus became the
+first woman lawyer. There are now eight. In 1899, Miss Mary G. Potter
+of the New York Bar, Miss Philbrook of the New Jersey Bar, and Dr.
+Mary D. Hussey of the New York University Law School, called a meeting
+of women attorneys at East Orange. A committee was appointed which
+organized the Women Lawyers' Club in New York, on June 24, with
+members in both States.
+
+There are about one hundred women physicians in the State,
+seventy-five allopathic and the rest belonging to other schools. They
+are members of most of the county medical societies, which makes them
+members of the State Medical Society. Dr. Sarah F. Mackintosh was the
+first woman admitted to a county society (Passaic) in 1871. Dr.
+Frances S. Janney was elected president of the Burlington County
+Medical Society in 1900, the first to receive such an honor. The first
+meeting of women physicians took place in Atlantic City, June, 1900,
+when those of the State gave a reception to those from other States
+who were attending the convention of the American Medical Association.
+The Medical Club of Newark, the first organization of women
+physicians, was formed the next November, with seventeen charter
+members from Newark and its vicinity, Dr. Katherine Porter of Orange,
+president.
+
+EDUCATION: Princeton University is closed to women, and so are
+Princeton Theological Seminary (Presb.), Drew Theological Seminary
+(Meth. Epis.) and Rutgers College (Dutch Reformed). There is no
+college for women in New Jersey. The State Normal School is
+co-educational.
+
+In the public schools there are 833 men and 5,806 women teachers. The
+average monthly salary of the men is $86.21; of the women $48.12. In
+Plainfield the principals of all the public schools, except the High
+School, are women. This is due to the fact that the city
+superintendent from 1881 to 1892 was a woman, Miss Julia Buckley
+(afterwards dean of the woman's department of Chicago University), and
+the custom established by her has been continued.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+New Jersey has so many associations of women that they have acted as a
+bar against the formation of suffrage clubs, women feeling that they
+had already too many meetings to attend. The State Federation of
+Women's Clubs has been an active and progressive force. It secured
+State Traveling Libraries; and if the Palisades are preserved from
+destruction, as now seems likely, this will be due to its earnest
+efforts. It was influential, in 1899, in having the kindergarten made
+a part of the public school system. It also has a town improvement
+department, with numerous branches. Several of its auxiliary clubs
+have founded public libraries, and some of them have conducted
+campaigns to put women on the school board. Other clubs have supported
+kindergartens and arranged free lectures for the public.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[366] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Florence Howe
+Hall of Plainfield, president of the State Woman Suffrage Association
+for the past eight years, and to Dr. Mary D. Hussey of East Orange,
+its founder and corresponding secretary.
+
+[367] The others present were Mesdames Phebe C. Wright, Alice C.
+Angell, Sarah A. McClees, Caroline Ross Graham, Katherine H. Browning,
+Anna M. Warden, Mrs. Minola Graham Sexton, Mrs. Emma L. Blackwell.
+
+[368] The sending of this yearly circular to the press, shortly before
+the time of the annual school meeting, has been continued under the
+special charge of the president.
+
+[369] East Orange also had from 1894 to 1900 a school committee
+consisting of ten women elected every year at the annual school
+meeting--a sort of auxiliary association which did good work. In 1900
+it became a city, and the school officers are now elected at the polls
+where women can not vote.
+
+[370] The remaining officers elected were: Vice-president, Mrs. W. J.
+Pullen; corresponding secretary, Dr. Mary D. Hussey; recording
+secretary, Miss J. H. Morris; treasurer, Mrs. Anna B. Jeffery;
+auditor, Mrs. Mary C. Bassett.
+
+The other officers who have served during the past ten years are:
+Vice-presidents, Mrs. Katherine H. Browning, Mrs. Margaret C.
+Campfield, Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Mrs. Harriet Lincoln
+Coolidge; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Charlotte C. R. Smith;
+recording secretaries, Miss Martha B. Haines, Mrs. Emma L. Blackwell,
+Mrs. Alice C. Angell, Miss Mary Philbrook; treasurers, Mrs. Charlotte
+N. Enslin, Dr. Mary D. Hussey, Mrs. Stephen R. Krom; auditors, Aaron
+M. Powell, Miss Susan W. Lippincott, Mrs. J. M. Pullen; chairmen press
+committee, Anna B. S. Pond, Dr. Florence de Hart.
+
+[371] Among many others who have served faithfully as local presidents
+and in other ways are Dr. Ella Prentiss Upham, Mrs. Maria H. Eaton,
+Mrs. Samuel R. Huntington, Mrs. Madge S. MacClary, Mrs. Sarah S.
+Culver, Miss M. Louise Watts.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LV.
+
+NEW MEXICO.[372]
+
+
+At the Constitutional Convention held in 1888 an effort was made to
+secure equal political rights for women, but it received little
+support. In September, 1893, Mrs. E. M. Marble visited Albuquerque and
+organized a suffrage club with Mrs. G. W. Granger as president. In
+December, 1895, Mrs. Laura M. Johns, president of the Kansas E. S. A.
+and national organizer, spent a few days in New Mexico, on the way to
+and from Arizona, and formed several clubs.
+
+In 1896 Mrs. Julia B. Nelson, president of the Minnesota W. S. A.,
+began work in the Territory under the auspices of the National
+Association, her first address being delivered at Raton, April 1, and
+her last May 12, at the same place. Her mission was to discover the
+suffragists, make converts, arrange for a Territorial convention and
+effect an organization auxiliary to the national.[373] As a result a
+convention was held at Albuquerque, April 28, 29, conducted by Mrs.
+Johns and Mrs. Nelson. A Territorial association was formed and the
+following officers were elected: President, Mrs. J. D. Perkins;
+corresponding secretary, Mrs. Alice P. Hadley; recording secretary,
+Miss Clara Cummings; treasurer, Mrs. Martha C. Raynolds.
+
+In 1897 and 1898 no conventions were held, on account of the absence
+of several of the officers from the Territory. Through the efforts of
+Mrs. Hadley (herself prevented by physical infirmity), H. B.
+Fergusson, delegate to Congress for New Mexico, represented the
+Territory and made a speech in the convention of the National
+Association at Washington in 1898.
+
+In November, 1899, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national
+organization committee, and Miss Mary G. Hay, secretary, spent one day
+in Santa Fe with George H. and Mrs. Catherine P. Wallace. Mr. Wallace
+was secretary of the Territory, and in their home, the historic old
+Palacio, forty people gathered to hear Mrs. Chapman Catt lecture. She
+made an hour's address, after which there was an interesting
+discussion. As a result, a meeting was called for December 19, and the
+Territorial association was reorganized with the following officers:
+President, Mrs. Wallace; vice-president, Mrs. Hadley; corresponding
+secretary, Mrs. Esther B. Thomas; recording secretary, Mrs. Anna Van
+Schick; treasurer, Miss Mary Morrison; member national executive
+committee, Mrs. Ellen J. Palen. Several vice-presidents were named and
+twenty-five members enrolled.[374]
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: On Feb. 10, 1893, a bill was passed in
+the Lower House declaring the right of female citizens to vote at
+elections and hold offices relating to public schools and public
+education. It was not acted upon by the Senate. In 1895 this bill was
+defeated.
+
+In 1899 a bill was introduced by Representative McIntosh of San Juan
+County (near the Colorado line), on request of his constituents, for
+the extension of School Suffrage to women. This received the favorable
+votes of one-third of the Lower House, but did not reach the Senate.
+
+A law was passed April 2, 1884, defining the rights of the married
+woman. It secured to her the control of property owned by her at the
+time of marriage and of wages earned afterward, made her not liable
+for her husband's debts and gave her the same power to make contracts,
+wills, etc., as was possessed by him. The law at present is as
+follows:
+
+     Curtesy still obtains. One-half of the community property goes to
+     the wife whether the husband dies testate or intestate. In
+     addition to this she is entitled to one-fourth of the rest of his
+     estate, "provided this deduction shall only be made when said
+     property amounts to $5,000, and the heirs be not descendants;
+     although it may exceed this sum in the absence of the latter.
+     Also from the property of the wife the fourth shall be deducted
+     as the marital right of the husband, and upon the same
+     conditions, should the husband without this aid remain poor." If
+     there are no legitimate children surviving, the widow or widower
+     shall be heir to all the acquired property of the marriage
+     community.
+
+By act of 1897, a mortgage not executed by the wife shall in no wise
+affect the homestead rights of the wife or family.
+
+By act of 1899: "The signature or consent of the wife shall not be
+necessary or requisite in any conveyance, incumbrance or alienation of
+real property owned by the husband, whether such property became his
+before or during coverture; but the right to make such conveyance or
+create such incumbrance shall exist in the husband to the same extent
+as though he were unmarried."[375]
+
+The father is the legal guardian of the minor children.
+
+The husband is not required by law to support the family.
+
+In 1887 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 14
+years, with penalty of imprisonment not less than five nor more than
+twenty years.
+
+SUFFRAGE: Women have no form of suffrage.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: In 1899 a bill passed for appropriations, etc., for
+the Deaf and Dumb Asylum recommended the appointment of two women on
+the Board of (five) Trustees. The appointments were duly made and
+confirmed.
+
+Women serve as members of county school examining boards.
+
+The new office of supervising teacher of the Government Indian Pueblo
+Schools has been filled by Miss Mary E. Dissett.
+
+Women are special masters in court, notaries public, court and
+legislative stenographers in Spanish and English and census
+enumerators. In the last two administrations a woman has acted as
+private secretary to the Governor.
+
+A woman has been appointed commissioner for New Mexico to take
+testimony in Indian depredation claims.
+
+At a Territorial Irrigation Convention, in 1900, one woman was a duly
+elected delegate, taking part in the discussions, etc.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: All professions and occupations are open to women. They
+conduct ranches and engage in mining. In Santa Fe the Woman's Board of
+Trade, an incorporated body, has so ably conducted the work for
+charities and for civic improvements as to arouse a sentiment that
+women might well be intrusted with educational and more extended
+municipal affairs. In Las Cruces an organization of women is doing a
+similar work.
+
+EDUCATION: All educational institutions are open to both sexes, and
+degrees are conferred alike upon men and women. The Territorial
+University at Albuquerque, the Las Vegas Normal University and others
+have women on their faculties.
+
+At the meeting of the Territorial Educational Association in December,
+1899, a council was formed composed of twenty-five members, both women
+and men. At its first meeting, in September, 1900, a resolution in
+favor of School Suffrage for women was unanimously adopted.
+
+In the public schools there are (approximately) 390 men and 316 women
+teachers. The average salaries are not obtainable.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The call to arms for the Spanish-American War brought men to the
+different recruiting posts in New Mexico, but no provision for them
+had been made by the government. The women of Santa Fe, Albuquerque,
+Las Cruces, Las Vegas and other towns quickly organized Soldiers' Aid
+Societies and raised funds to feed and care for them, till the
+companies were mustered in and came under Uncle Sam's charge.
+
+At the Territorial Democratic Convention in Albuquerque, April, 1900,
+the following was included in the platform: "It is our belief that
+women should be granted an equal voice and position with men in all
+matters pertaining to our public schools."
+
+The native Spanish-Americans have great reverence for their elders.
+Among a few of the old Don families where the eldest member living is
+a senora, so greatly are her wishes and opinions respected that the
+entire community will vote as she dictates; the politician has only to
+secure her allegiance and he is sure of the vote in her precinct. The
+suffrage bills which have been presented to the Legislature have not
+been opposed by the Spanish-American members, but by the
+Anglo-Saxons.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[372] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Catherine P.
+Wallace of Santa Fe, president of the Territorial Suffrage
+Association. While Mr. Wallace was consul-general to Australia, in
+1890, she visited New Zealand and assisted the women there in their
+successful effort for the franchise. When this subject was before the
+Australian Parliament at Melbourne, she furnished the Premier with the
+debate in the United States Congress on the admission of Wyoming, and
+with other documents.
+
+[373] Mrs. Nelson visited Raton, Blossburg, Albuquerque, Santa Fe,
+Springer, Las Vegas, Watrous, Wagon Mound, Socorro, San Marcial, Las
+Cruces, Deming, Silver City, Hillsboro and Kingston, giving two or
+three lectures at each place and leaving a club in many.
+
+[374] Among the best known of the advocates are Mrs. M. J. Borden,
+Professor and Mrs. Hiram Hadley of the Agricultural College, President
+and Mrs. C. L. Herrick and Miss Catherine Fields, all of the
+Territorial University; Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson Raynolds, Judge and
+Mrs. McFie, Col. and Mrs. I. H. Elliott and Secretary George H.
+Wallace.
+
+[375] This law was repealed by the Legislature of 1901, and it was
+made impossible for either husband or wife to convey real property
+without the signature of the other.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVI.
+
+NEW YORK.[376]
+
+
+The State of New York, home of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B.
+Anthony, may be justly described as the great battle-ground for the
+rights of women, a title which will not be denied by any who have read
+the preceding three volumes of this History. The first Woman's Rights
+Convention in the world was called at Seneca Falls in 1848.[377] New
+York was also a pioneer in beginning a reform of the old English
+Common Law, so barbarous in its treatment of women. And yet, with all
+the splendid work which has been done, the State has been slow indeed
+in granting absolute justice. At the commencement of the new century,
+however, the legal and educational rights of women are very generally
+conceded, but their political rights are still largely denied. Except
+during the Civil War, there has not been a year since 1851 when one or
+more conventions have not been held to demand these rights, and when a
+committee of women has not visited the Legislature to secure the
+necessary action. A State association was formed in 1869.
+
+The convention of 1884 met in the Common Council Chamber at Albany,
+March 11, 12, with the usual large attendance of delegates from all
+parts of the State, and the evening sessions so crowded that an
+overflow meeting was held in Geological Hall. Mrs. Lillie Devereux
+Blake, the president, was in the chair and addresses were made by
+Mesdames Matilda Joslyn Gage, Mary Seymour Howell, Caroline Gilkey
+Rogers and Henrica Iliohan; and by Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway of
+Oregon, Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert of Illinois and Mrs. Helen M.
+Gougar of Indiana, who had come from the national convention in
+Washington. On the way to Albany a large reception had been tendered
+to them at the Hoffman House in New York. On March 13 a hearing was
+held in the Assembly Chamber before the Judiciary Committee on the
+bill for Full Suffrage for women. The room was filled and strong
+speeches were made by all of the above women. Gov. Grover Cleveland
+gave a courteous reception to the delegates.
+
+In 1885 the convention took place in Steinway Hall, New York, February
+12, 13, all the counties being represented by delegate or letter. The
+speakers were Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mrs. Gage, Mrs. Howell,
+Mrs. Rogers and the Rev. Dr. Charles H. Eaton and Mrs. Delia S.
+Parnell (mother of Charles Stewart Parnell). On the evening of the
+12th a large reception to Mrs. Stanton was given at the Murray Hill
+Hotel.
+
+The convention of 1886 met in Masonic Hall, New York, March 23, 24.
+Addresses were made by Miss Susan B. Anthony, James Redpath, Mesdames
+Blake, Howell, Rogers and Iliohan, Gov. John W. Hoyt of Wyoming and
+Mrs. Margaret Moore of Ireland. A reception was tendered to Dr.
+Clemence S. Lozier at the Park Avenue Hotel.
+
+In the fall an interesting observance was arranged by the State
+Suffrage Association when the statue of Liberty Enlightening the
+World, given to the American nation by France, was unveiled on October
+28. There was a great excursion down the bay to witness this ceremony
+and the association chartered a boat which was filled with friends of
+the cause. A place was secured in the line between two of the great
+warships, and, while the cannon thundered a salute to the majestic
+female figure which embodied Freedom, speeches were made on the
+suffrage boat by Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Margaret Parker of England, Mrs.
+Harriette R. Shattuck of Massachusetts, Mrs. Gage, Mrs. Howell and
+others.
+
+The convention met again in New York at Masonic Hall, April 21, 22,
+1887, and was addressed by Madame Clara Neymann, Rabbi Gustave
+Gottheil, Mrs. Florence McCabe, Mrs. Gage, Mrs. Howell, Dr. Lozier and
+others.
+
+In 1888 the annual meeting assembled at the same place, March 22, 23.
+It was attended by the many delegates who had come from European
+countries to the International Congress of Women about to be held in
+Washington, D. C. Among the speakers were Baroness Alexandra
+Gripenberg of Finland and Mrs. Ashton Dilke, Mrs. Alice Scatcherd and
+Mrs. Zadel Barnes Gustafson of England. On the evening preceding the
+opening of the convention a large reception was given to these foreign
+ladies at the Park Avenue Hotel.
+
+The State convention was held in Rochester, Dec. 16, 17, 1890, in the
+First Universalist Church. Its distinguishing feature was the
+reception given in the Chamber of Commerce to Miss Susan B. Anthony by
+her fellow townsmen, as a welcome home from her long and hard campaign
+in South Dakota. The large rooms were handsomely decorated and over
+600 people were present during the evening, including President David
+Jayne Hill and a number of the faculty of Rochester University,
+several members of Congress and many men of prominence.
+
+The speakers at the convention were Miss Mary F. Eastman of Boston,
+the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, Mrs. Greenleaf, Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Howell and
+Miss Anthony. Mrs. Blake positively declined a re-election, having
+served eleven consecutive years, and Mrs. Jean Brooks Greenleaf was
+elected president. During Mrs. Blake's presidency she had many times
+canvassed New York and had extended her lecture tours into various
+other States, going as far west as California.
+
+Henceforth, in addition to annual conventions, the association adopted
+the plan of holding mid-year executive meetings in various cities for
+the transaction of business, with public sessions in the evenings
+addressed by the best speakers.
+
+In 1891 the convention met in Auburn, November 10, 11, the audiences
+crowding the opera house on both evenings. Miss Anthony, Mrs.
+Greenleaf, Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Howell and Miss Shaw were the speakers,
+with an address of welcome from Mrs. J. Mary Pearson. Reports showed
+that the membership had doubled in the last year, and that Woman's Day
+had been observed at many fairs, resulting in the forming of county
+organizations. A resolution was adopted urging the Legislature to
+appoint some women on the State Board of Managers for the Columbian
+Exposition in 1893. The convention closed with a reception at the
+elegant home of Mrs. Eliza Wright Osborne, niece of Lucretia Mott and
+daughter of Martha C. Wright, two of those who called the first
+Woman's Rights Convention.
+
+Syracuse was selected for the annual meeting of 1892, November 15-17.
+Miss Anthony, president of the National Association, was in
+attendance, and the opera house was filled at all the sessions. Mrs.
+Martha T. Henderson, vice-president-at-large, who had been appointed
+to represent the State, was delegated to arrange for the noon-day
+suffrage meetings during the Columbian Exposition. Mrs. Greenleaf's
+address reviewed the great debate which had taken place at the New
+York Chautauqua Assembly the preceding August, between the Rev. Anna
+Howard Shaw and the Rev. J. M. Buckley, editor of the _Christian
+Advocate_, and emphasized the evident sympathy of the immense audience
+with the side of the question presented by the former. Suffrage Day
+had been observed at the Cassadaga Lake Assembly with an address by
+Miss Anthony, and also at the State Fair. The association was
+congratulated on the fact that there had been a further extension of
+School Suffrage during the year.
+
+All interest centered in the approaching convention to revise the
+constitution of the State, through which it was hoped a woman suffrage
+amendment would be obtained. Miss Anthony, Mrs. Blake and Mrs. Howell
+had been appointed to address the Legislature, which they had done in
+April of this year, for the purpose of securing women delegates to
+this convention, that was to be held in 1893, but eventually was
+deferred one year. Committees were appointed which visited the
+political State conventions the following summer, asking a declaration
+in their platforms for this amendment, but were unsuccessful.
+
+The annual meeting of 1893 was held at Brooklyn, in Long Island
+Historical Hall, Nov. 13-16. It was welcomed by Mrs. Mariana Wright
+Chapman, president of the Brooklyn suffrage society. The plan of work
+was perfected, which had been prepared by Miss Anthony and Mrs.
+Stanton, for an active canvass of the State in behalf of a plank in
+the approaching Constitutional Convention. Addresses were made by Mrs.
+Julia Ward Howe and Henry B. Blackwell of Boston, Miss Anthony, the
+Rev. Miss Shaw, national vice-president-at-large; Mrs. Ella A. Boole,
+Aaron M. Powell, Gen. C. T. Christiansen, Mrs. Anna C. Field, Mrs.
+Emma Bourne, Mrs. Blake and others. Among the resolutions adopted was
+the following:
+
+     The thanks of this association are due to Gov. Roswell P. Flower
+     for his recognition of woman's ability in the appointment to a
+     State office of our national president, Susan B. Anthony, viz: as
+     one of the Board of Managers of the State Industrial School at
+     Rochester.
+
+The great campaign of 1894, undertaken to secure a clause for woman
+suffrage in the revised State constitution, will be considered further
+on in this chapter.
+
+The annual convention met in Ithaca, Nov. 12-14, 1894, the opera house
+being filled with the usual large audiences. It was welcomed by Mayor
+Clinton D. Bouton and President Jacob Gould Schurmann of Cornell
+University. Miss Anthony was present and a galaxy of eloquent New York
+women made addresses.
+
+Newburgh entertained the convention Nov. 8-12, 1895. The speakers were
+Miss Anthony, Dr. Edward McGlynn, Miss Elizabeth Burrill Curtis,
+daughter of George William Curtis; Miss Arria S. Huntington, daughter
+of Bishop Frederick D. Huntington; Miss Margaret Livingston Chanler,
+Madame Neymann, Mrs. Maude S. Humphrey, Mrs. Chapman, Mrs. Cornelia K.
+Hood, Miss Julie Jenney, Mrs. Boole, Mrs. Annie E. P. Searing, Mrs. M.
+R. Almy, Miss Harriette A. Keyser, Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Howell, the Rev.
+Miss Shaw and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national
+organization committee. Miss Anthony was especially stirred by a
+previous speech which reflected on the dress, manners and social
+standing of the pioneers in the movement for the rights of women, and
+which felicitated the present advocates on their great superiority in
+these respects. She named the pioneers, one by one, paid warm tribute
+to their beautiful personality and commanding ability and asked where
+a woman could be found in all the present generation to excel, if,
+indeed, to equal them.
+
+The delegates enjoyed visits to the many interesting places in the
+neighborhood, including West Point and Vassar College. A beautiful
+reception was given by Mrs. C. S. Jenkins. It was supposed that the
+disappointment of the previous year in failing to secure an amendment
+from the Constitutional Convention would result in a falling off in
+membership, but instead this was found to be considerably augmented.
+At the close of the convention the delegates went to New York to
+attend Mrs. Stanton's eightieth birthday reception at the Metropolitan
+Opera House.
+
+The convention of 1896 was held in Rochester, November 18, 19, with
+more delegates present than ever before. It was preceded by a
+reception on the evening of the 17th, where the guests were delighted
+to greet Miss Anthony and her little band, who had arrived that
+morning from their arduous field of labor in the California amendment
+campaign. The welcome for the city was extended by Mayor George
+Warner. Many of the speakers of the previous year were present, with
+the addition of the Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, the first
+ordained woman minister, and the noted colored woman of anti-slavery
+days, Harriet Tubman. The press chairman, Mrs. Elnora Monroe Babcock,
+reported that, instead of the 135 newspapers of the year before, 253
+in the State were now using suffrage matter regularly furnished by her
+committee.
+
+On the Friday night succeeding the convention a banquet was given in
+honor of Miss Anthony, with over 200 guests. Mrs. Mary Lewis Gannett
+was toastmistress and Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw made interesting
+addresses.
+
+Mrs. Greenleaf, who had done such heroic work during the past six
+years and sustained the association on so high a plane, felt obliged
+to decline a re-election, and Mrs. Mariana Wright Chapman was
+unanimously chosen for her place. Mrs. Greenleaf was appointed
+fraternal delegate to the annual meeting of the State Grange, and Mrs.
+Howell to the State Labor Convention, and both were cordially
+received. The Grange had on several occasions declared for woman
+suffrage.
+
+Geneva extended a welcome to the convention Nov. 3-5, 1897, and
+successful meetings were held in Collins Hall and the opera house. The
+speakers from abroad and many delegates were entertained at the
+handsome home of Mrs. Elizabeth Smith Miller, daughter of Gerrit
+Smith. Added to the usual list were Miss Alice Stone Blackwell,
+recording secretary of the National Association; the Rev. Annis Ford
+Eastman, Mrs. Gannett, Mrs. Mary E. Craigie, and Miss M. F. Blaine,
+Charles Hemiup, W. Smith O'Brien, the Rev. Remick and Dr. William H.
+Jordan of Geneva. A pleasant event of the year had been the carving of
+Miss Anthony's face on the stairway of the magnificent new Capitol
+building at Albany, by order of George W. Aldridge, State
+superintendent of public works.
+
+On April 28, 29, 1898, the fortieth anniversary of the first Woman's
+Rights Convention was held in Rochester. This city also had
+entertained that convention which had adjourned in Seneca Falls to
+hold a session here. The anniversary proceedings took place afternoons
+and evenings in the Central Presbyterian church with a fine corps of
+speakers.[378]
+
+On Nov. 8-11, 1898, the annual meeting was held in the court house at
+Hudson. It was welcomed by the mayor, Richard A. M. Deeley, for the
+city and by Mrs. Mary Holsapple for the local suffrage club. An
+address of greeting also was given by Judge Levi S. Longley, and the
+Hudson Club extended its courtesies. A letter from Mrs. Stanton was
+read by her daughter, Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch of England, who also
+made an address. Many of the strong speakers were present who have
+been frequently mentioned in connection with these State conventions.
+The treasurer reported receipts for the year $3,220.
+
+Chautauqua County invited the convention of 1899 to Dunkirk, November
+1-3, and entertained it royally. There was a reception on the first
+evening, and a luncheon was given every day to the delegates who
+wished to remain at the hall between sessions. Both day and evening
+meetings were large and enthusiastic, the former held at the Woman's
+Union, the latter in Academy Hall. Mayor Alexander Williams welcomed
+the convention for the city, and Mrs. Ellen Cheney for the county in a
+witty poem, Mrs. Chapman responding. Stirring addresses were made by
+the Hon. F. S. Nixon and Dr. J. T. Williams. Miss Anthony was present,
+with many of the old speakers and several new ones, among them Mrs.
+Carrie E. S. Twing.
+
+The last annual meeting of the century convened at Glens Falls, Oct.
+29-Nov. 1, 1900, in Ordway Hall. Addresses of welcome were made by the
+Hon. Addison B. Colvin and the president of the Warren County
+association, Mrs. Susie M. Bain. Mrs. Chapman Catt, Miss Shaw, Mrs.
+Boole, president State Woman's Christian Temperance Union; Mrs.
+Chapman, Mrs. Howell and Miss Harriet May Mills were among the
+principal speakers. A notable feature was the presence of many bright
+and enthusiastic young workers. Pledges of support were made for the
+national bazar to be held the next month in New York.
+
+Among the resolutions adopted was one congratulating Miss Anthony upon
+her success in raising the last of the $50,000 fund which was to open
+the doors of Rochester University to women.
+
+In addition to this long array of conventions without a break, the
+mid-year executive meetings in various cities have been of almost
+equal interest. At nearly every one of these State conventions Miss
+Anthony has assisted with her inspiring presence and strong words of
+counsel. To many of them Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, not able to come
+in person, has sent ringing letters of encouragement, for which the
+affectionate greetings of the delegates have been returned. New York
+has the largest membership of any State in the Union and pays the
+largest amount of money into the national treasury each year, not
+alone in auxiliary dues, but in private subscriptions.
+
+The State association has had but three presidents in over twenty
+years: Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake, 1879-1890; Mrs. Jean Brooks
+Greenleaf, 1890-1896; Mrs. Mariana W. Chapman, 1896 and still serving.
+Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage was continuously in office from the time a
+State association first existed.[379]
+
+With active work in progress for so many years, and with suffrage
+organizations in the counties and towns throughout all of this large
+State, it would be impossible to make personal mention of even a small
+fraction of those who have aided the movement. The hundreds who have
+furnished the money and the thousands who have served in a quiet way
+through all the years would require a separate chapter.[380]
+
+It would be equally impossible to describe the efforts made from year
+to year, the meetings held, the memorials presented to political
+conventions, the debates, the parliamentary drills, the lecture
+courses, the millions of pages of literature distributed, the
+struggles to place women on the school boards, the special efforts of
+the standing committees on legislation, press, industries, work among
+children, etc. It is far more difficult to write the history of a
+State where so much has been done than where the tale may be quickly
+told. No State is better organized for suffrage work.[381] There is no
+doubt that a strong sentiment exists outside of New York City in favor
+of the enfranchisement of women. However, with the adverse influence
+always exerted by a great metropolis, it is impossible to foretell
+when this will be accomplished.
+
+CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT: The history of the struggle of a
+comparatively few women to secure a clause for equal suffrage in the
+State constitution, when it was revised in 1894, told in the fewest
+possible words, is as follows:[382]
+
+As early as 1887 Gov. David B. Hill, at the earnest request of the
+State Suffrage Association, had recommended that women should have a
+representation in the convention which would frame this revision. Miss
+Susan B. Anthony, Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake, Mrs. Mary Seymour
+Howell and Mrs. Caroline Gilkey Rogers addressed a joint committee of
+the Legislature urging that women delegates should be permitted to sit
+in this convention. Mrs. Blake also prepared a strong written appeal
+which was sent to every member. Gov. Roswell P. Flower in his message
+in 1892 made a similar recommendation. Again Miss Anthony, Mrs. Blake
+and Mrs. Howell made a plea for women, this time before the Assembly
+Judiciary Committee.
+
+The original bill provided for a certain number of delegates to be
+appointed by the Governor, among these four to represent the
+Prohibitionists, three the Labor Party and three the Woman Suffrage
+Association. The power of the Governor to appoint was afterwards
+declared unconstitutional. A bill allowing three women delegates
+passed the Assembly, but was defeated in the Senate. The act which
+finally was secured provided that all the delegates should be elected,
+and that there should be two representatives each for the Prohibition,
+Labor and Socialist parties. None was granted to the Suffragists; but
+the law said: "The electors may elect any citizen of the State above
+the age of twenty-one years."
+
+The following was then sent to each of the political party
+conventions, through properly accredited delegates:
+
+     Among other duties incumbent upon the members of your honorable
+     body is that of nominating delegates-at-large to the convention
+     called for the revision of the State constitution. As women are
+     eligible to these positions we offer you the names of three who
+     have been selected by the executive board of the State W. S. A.
+     as their choice of delegates for that convention, with the hope
+     that you will accept them as candidates of your own.
+
+The names presented were those of Miss Anthony, Mrs. Howell and Miss
+Emily Howland, the last a large taxpayer and an excellent business
+woman. The ladies were courteously listened to by the Democrats, and
+refused an opportunity to speak by the Republicans. Similar efforts
+were made in district conventions.
+
+Both Republicans and Democrats, however, refused to nominate any
+women, the compensation of $10 per day, in addition to the political
+power conferred, making the positions entirely too valuable to give to
+a disfranchised class. The name of even Susan B. Anthony was declined
+by the Republicans of her district. The Democrats of that district,
+who were in a hopeless minority, made the one exception in the whole
+State and nominated Mrs. Jean Brooks Greenleaf, who ran some votes
+ahead of the rest of the ticket.
+
+[Illustration:
+
+  MARY S. ANTHONY.
+  Rochester, N. Y.
+
+          JEAN BROOKS GREENLEAF.
+          Rochester. N. Y.
+
+      MARIANA W. CHAPMAN.
+      Brooklyn, N. Y.
+
+  EMILY HOWLAND.
+  Sherwood, N. Y.
+
+          ELIZA WRIGHT OSBORNE.
+          Auburn, N. Y.
+
+]
+
+Every effort was now directed toward obtaining a clause in the new
+constitution, as there was little doubt that if this could be done it
+would be adopted with the rest of that instrument. An eloquent appeal
+was issued to all the friends of liberty throughout the State, urging
+them to assist in securing this measure of justice to women. A
+campaign was carefully planned with an ability which would have been
+creditable to experienced political managers, and $10,000 were raised
+and expended with the most rigid economy.[383]
+
+To save rent headquarters were established in Miss Anthony's own home
+in Rochester, which soon became a beehive of industry, and the work
+increased until practically every room was pressed into service. The
+president of the State association and campaign committee, Mrs.
+Greenleaf, and the corresponding secretary, Miss Mary S. Anthony, gave
+practically every hour of their time for six months to this great
+effort. The postoffice daily sent mail sacks to the house, which were
+filled with petitions and other documents and set out on the porch for
+collection.
+
+Miss Anthony herself, at the age of seventy-four, spoke in every one
+of the sixty counties of the State, contributing her services and
+expenses. This series of mass meetings was managed by Miss Harriet May
+Mills and Miss Mary G. Hay. The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw spoke at forty
+of these, and Mrs. Howell at a large number. The entire management of
+New York City was put into the hands of Mrs. Blake, while the campaign
+for Brooklyn was conducted by Mrs. Mariana W. Chapman. Mrs. Carrie
+Chapman Catt made thirty-eight speeches in these two cities and
+vicinity. Mrs. Stanton, from her home in New York, sent many strong
+articles to the metropolitan press, which were copied throughout the
+State. Mrs. Martha R. Almy. State vice-president, was an active
+worker.
+
+Women of social influence in this city, who never had shown any public
+interest in the question, opened headquarters at Sherry's, held
+meetings and secured signatures to a suffrage petition. The leaders of
+this branch were Mrs. Josephine Shaw Lowell, Mrs. Joseph H. Choate,
+Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi, Mrs. J. Warren Goddard, Mrs. Robert Abbe, Mrs.
+Henry M. Sanders and Miss Adele M. Fielde. Among those who signed the
+petition were Chauncey M. Depew, Russell Sage, Frederick Coudert, the
+Rev. Heber Newton, the Rev. W. S. Rainsford, Bishop Henry C. Potter,
+Rabbi Gustave Gottheil, John D. Rockefeller, Robert J. Ingersoll and
+William Dean Howells.
+
+One of the surprises of the campaign was the organization in Albany of
+a small body of women calling themselves "remonstrants," under the
+leadership of the Episcopal bishop, William Croswell Doane, and Mrs.
+John V. L. Pruyn. Another branch was organized in New York City by
+Mrs. Francis M. Scott, and one in Brooklyn with Mrs. Lyman Abbott at
+the head and the support of her husband's paper, _The Outlook_.
+
+The suffrage forces circulated 5,000 petitions and secured 332,148
+individual signatures, about half of them women (including 36,000
+collected by the W. C. T. U.) and memorials from labor organizations
+and Granges, bringing the total, in round numbers, to 600,000.[384]
+The "remonstrants" obtained only 15,000 signatures, yet at that time
+and ever afterwards many of the newspapers insisted that the vast
+preponderance of sentiment among men and women was opposed to equal
+suffrage.
+
+A part of the work was to collect statistics showing the amount of
+property on which taxes were paid by women. It was impossible to
+obtain these in New York City, but in three-fifths of the towns and
+cities outside it was found to be $348,177,107. In Brooklyn women paid
+one-fourth of all the taxes. The drudgery of preparing these tax lists
+and recounting and labeling all the petitions was done chiefly by Miss
+Isabel Howland.
+
+During the convention an office and a reception room in the Capitol
+were granted for the use of the women. On May 24 Miss Anthony and Mrs.
+Greenleaf addressed the Suffrage Committee of the Constitutional
+Convention in the Assembly Chamber of the Capitol at Albany. A large
+crowd was present, including the committee and most of the delegates.
+Mrs. Greenleaf's remarks were brief but forcible, and Miss Anthony
+spoke earnestly for three-quarters of an hour, seeming to have the
+full sympathy of her audience.
+
+The women of New York City were accorded a hearing on May 31, and
+strong arguments were made by Dr. Jacobi, Miss Margaret Livingstone
+Chanler, Mrs. Blake and Miss Harriette A. Keyser. On June 7 the
+Suffrage Committee was addressed by representative women, in
+five-minute speeches, from all of the Senatorial districts outside of
+New York City.[385] Mrs. Greenleaf presided at all these
+meetings.[386]
+
+The final hearing was accorded June 28, when U. S. Senator Joseph M.
+Carey, who had come from Wyoming by invitation for this purpose, made
+a most convincing argument based on the practical experience of his
+own State for twenty-five years. He was followed by Mrs. Howell and
+Mrs. Mary T. Burt, president of the State W. C. T. U.
+
+All of these addresses in favor of recognizing woman's right to the
+franchise were valueless except for the creation of public sentiment
+and as a matter of history, for the chairman of the convention, the
+Hon. Joseph H. Choate, had appointed a Suffrage Committee the large
+majority of whom were known anti-suffragists, and he was reported to
+have said before the convention met that the amendment should not be
+placed in the constitution. The committee made an adverse report,
+which was discussed by the convention on the evenings of August 8 and
+15, with the Assembly Chamber crowded at each session.[387] The
+advocates of adopting a woman suffrage plank were led by the Hon.
+Edward Lauterbach and the opponents by Mr. Root and William P.
+Goodelle, chairman of the Suffrage Committee.[388]
+
+While the ballot was being taken Mr. Choate went on the floor among
+the delegates, and himself gave the last vote against the amendment.
+The ballot resulted--in favor of the amendment, 58; opposed, 98.
+
+Even though a defeat, this was a decided advance over the
+Constitutional Convention of 1867, when there were but 19 ayes and 125
+noes. Then less than one-seventh, this time more than one-third of the
+members were in favor of the enfranchisement of women.
+
+The following month Miss Anthony and Mr. Lauterbach addressed the
+Committee on Resolutions of the State Republican Convention, and Miss
+Anthony and Mrs. Blake that of the Democratic, asking for a
+recognition of woman suffrage in their platforms, but both ignored the
+request.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION: Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Miss Susan B.
+Anthony were the pioneers in legislative work for woman suffrage, the
+former making her first speech before a committee--in behalf of
+property rights--as early as 1845, and continuing her appeals for the
+various rights of women during twenty-five years, after which her
+addresses were given usually before the committees of the United
+States Congress. Miss Anthony made her first appearance in Albany in
+1853, and her last one before a committee there in 1897. She devoted
+her strongest efforts to the Legislature of her own State until the
+demands of national work became so great as to absorb most of her
+time, and then she, too, transferred her appeals to the legislative
+body of the United States, although assisting always the work in New
+York.
+
+Meanwhile other competent laborers had come into the field. In 1873
+Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake began her legislative work, and for
+twenty-five years there were few bills in the interests of women under
+consideration at Albany which were not managed by her, with an able
+corps of assistants, chief among whom was Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell.
+
+For fifty years there is an almost unbroken record of the efforts of
+women to secure equality of rights from the Legislature of New York,
+and they have succeeded to the extent that now, with the exception of
+the statute providing for dower and curtesy, but few serious
+discriminations exist against women in the laws, although the
+injustice of disfranchisement has been mitigated in only a slight
+degree.
+
+When the Legislature assembled on Jan. 1, 1884, Mrs. Blake and Mrs.
+Howell were at hand to further the interests of the pending bill "to
+prohibit disfranchisement on account of sex." On March 13 a hearing
+was held in the Assembly Chamber before the Judiciary Committee and a
+large audience. The speakers were Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway of
+Oregon, Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert of Illinois and Mrs. Helen M.
+Gougar of Indiana, Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Howell and Mrs. Caroline Gilkey
+Rogers. On May 8, after an exciting debate, the bill was defeated--57
+ayes, 62 noes.
+
+The bill of 1885 was drawn by Mrs. Blake and was accompanied by a
+strong written argument, with many court decisions to show that it was
+within the power of the Legislature itself to protect all citizens
+from disfranchisement. This was presented by Gen. James W. Husted,
+speaker of the House. Two hearings were given in the Assembly
+Chamber, at which addresses were made by Mrs. Stanton, Mrs. Blake,
+Mrs. Howell, Mrs. Rogers and Gov. John W. Hoyt of Wyoming.
+
+The bill was debated April 7. General Husted, Mayor James Haggerty and
+Dr. J. T. Williams spoke in favor; Gen. N. M. Curtis and Kidder Scott
+in opposition. The vote stood 57 ayes, 56 noes, but a constitutional
+majority was lacking.
+
+During the summer Mrs. Blake spoke in almost every district whose
+member had voted against the measure.
+
+In 1886 a bill for Municipal Suffrage only was presented, drawn by
+Augustus Levy and introduced in the Senate by George Z. Erwin, in the
+House by Speaker Husted. On February 10 a hearing took place in the
+Assembly Chamber. Mrs. Blake presided and the speakers were Mrs.
+Matilda Joslyn Gage, Mrs. Howell, Mrs. Rogers and Mrs. Annie Jenness
+Miller. On March 2 the Senate gave a hearing to Mr. Levy and James
+Redpath. The campaign this winter was one of the most vigorous ever
+made. Besides the executive officers of the State association, who
+were in Albany some days of every week, much help was secured by the
+occasional visits of prominent women and the numerous letters of
+influential people from all parts of the State. On the night of the
+final vote the Assembly Chamber was filled by friends of the measure
+and many officials were present, including the Lieutenant-Governor and
+the Attorney-General. As this bill would give women only the right to
+vote in municipal affairs, it had many supporters who would not have
+favored full suffrage. The debate was long and earnest, Mr. Erwin,
+General Husted, Mr. Longley of Brooklyn, Mr. Freligh of Ulster and
+others speaking in favor, and General Curtis, William F. Sheehan and
+others in opposition. The roll-call was taken in great excitement, and
+the ayes went up until their number reached 65, the constitutional
+majority. A round of applause broke out, but in an instant two men
+arose and changed their votes from the affirmative to the negative, so
+that on the final call the vote stood, 63 ayes, 52 noes.
+
+This winter another law was enacted to remove all doubts as to the
+constitutionality of the one of 1880, which conferred School Suffrage
+on women in villages and country districts. Representative Charles
+Sprague introduced a bill making mothers and fathers joint guardians
+of their children, but it was defeated.
+
+In 1887 Mrs. Howell drew up the Municipal Suffrage Bill, which was
+introduced by Senator Erwin. She spent ten days personally
+interviewing every senator until she had the promise of the twenty
+votes which were given the bill on its final passage, seventeen being
+necessary. There were but nine noes.
+
+After the clerk had read the bill in the Assembly, Speaker Husted
+said: "If there is no objection this bill will go at once to the third
+reading." Wm. F. Sheehan, the leading opponent of woman suffrage, was
+asleep at the time and so it was thus ordered. Mrs. Howell continued
+her efforts, but the measure was defeated--48 ayes, 68 noes--by a
+moneyed influence from New York City, after nearly enough votes to
+carry it had been promised.
+
+A bill providing police matrons in cities, with the exception of New
+York and Brooklyn, was secured from this Legislature. It had been
+passed in 1882, but not signed by Gov. Alonzo B. Cornell; passed again
+in the Assembly in 1883, but defeated in the Senate by the Police
+Department of New York City. The bill was finally secured by the
+Woman's Prison Association, but it was not made mandatory and no
+attention was paid to it by the city authorities.
+
+A bill was presented this year to relieve women from the death
+penalty, on the ground that since they had not the full privileges of
+men they should not suffer equal punishment. The measure was ably
+supported, but failed to pass.
+
+In 1888 the Municipal Suffrage Bill was presented in the Senate by
+Charles Coggeshall, and in the Assembly by Danforth E. Ainsworth. A
+hearing in the Senate Chamber on February 15 was addressed by Mrs.
+Blake, Mrs. Rogers and the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer of Rhode Island.
+The bill was lost in the Senate by a tie vote, 15 ayes, 15 noes; in
+the House by 48 ayes, 61 noes.
+
+Laws were enacted at this session providing that there shall be women
+physicians in all State insane asylums where women are patients; and
+also that there shall be at least one woman trustee in all public
+institutions where women are placed as patients, paupers or criminals.
+
+In 1889 the Municipal Suffrage Bill was again presented in the
+Assembly by Mr. Ainsworth, but it was lost by 56 ayes, 43 noes, not a
+constitutional majority.
+
+In 1890 the Municipal Suffrage Bill was presented by Speaker Husted,
+but was defeated by 47 ayes, 52 noes.
+
+In 1891 no legislative work was attempted beyond the efforts toward
+securing a representation of women in the Constitutional Convention,
+which it was supposed would be held at an early date.
+
+In 1892 an act was passed to enable women to vote for County School
+Commissioners, which received the signature of Gov. Roswell P. Flower.
+
+This year a Police Matron Bill was obtained which was made mandatory
+in cities of 100,000 and over. This bill had been passed several times
+before and vetoed, but it finally obtained the Governor's signature.
+Even then the Police Commissioners of New York refused to appoint
+matrons until the matter was taken up by the Woman Suffrage League of
+that city. This was the end of a ten years' struggle on the part of
+women to secure police matrons in all cities. Most active among the
+leaders were Mrs. Mary T. Burt, Mrs. Abby Hopper Gibbons and Mrs.
+Josephine Shaw Lowell, backed by the W. C. T. U., the Prison Reform,
+the Suffrage and various other philanthropic and religious societies.
+
+In 1892 Hamilton Willcox, who had worked untiringly in the Legislature
+for many years, had a bill introduced in the Assembly to give a vote
+to self-supporting women. It was referred to the Judiciary Committee,
+but met with general disfavor. Mrs. Howell being in the Assembly
+Chamber with friends one evening, three of its members invited her to
+go to their committee room and draw up a bill for Full Suffrage,
+telling her they would report it favorably in place of the Working
+Woman's Bill. This she did and the new bill was at once reported. The
+next week she gave every moment to working with the members for it,
+aided by General Husted, Mr. Willcox and William Sulzer. On Friday
+morning, one week from the day the bill was reported, it came to the
+final vote and passed by 70 ayes, only 65 being required for the
+constitutional majority. Excitement ran high at this success and ten
+minutes were given for congratulations to Mrs. Howell by friends and
+foes alike. The Monday following she carried the bill from the
+Engrossing Committee to the Senate. Only three days of the session
+were left and the committee held no more meetings, so she saw
+separately each member of the Judiciary Committee and all gave a
+vote in favor of considering the bill. Mr. Sheehan was now
+Lieutenant-Governor and presiding officer of the Senate and would
+allow no courtesies to Mrs. Howell, but one senator, Charles E.
+Walker, arranged for her to see every member, and she secured the
+promise of 18 votes, 17 being required. On Thursday evening, although
+Senator Cornelius R. Parsons made many attempts to secure recognition,
+the bill was not allowed to come before the Senate. There was every
+reason to believe Governor Flower would have signed it.[389]
+
+In 1893 Mrs. Cornelia H. Cary worked for a bill providing that on all
+boards of education one person out of five should be a woman, but it
+failed to pass. The measure making fathers and mothers joint guardians
+of their children, so often urged, became a law this year chiefly
+through the efforts of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union of
+Buffalo, which had been hampered constantly in its efforts to care for
+helpless children by the interference of worthless fathers.[390]
+
+A law also was enacted, championed by Col. George C. Webster, giving
+to a married woman the right to make a valid will without her
+husband's consent.
+
+The season of 1894 was given wholly to the work of securing a woman
+suffrage amendment in the revised State constitution.
+
+In 1895 Mrs. Martha R. Almy, as chairman of the Legislative Committee,
+began work in Albany early in January and was absent but one
+legislative day from that time until May. She was assisted by Mrs.
+Helen G. Ecob, and their effort was to secure a resolution to amend
+the constitution by striking out the word "male." In order to submit
+such an amendment in New York, a resolution must be passed by two
+successive Legislatures.
+
+Judge Charles Z. Lincoln, the legal adviser of Gov. Levi P. Morton,
+drew up the resolution and it was introduced January 22 in the
+Assembly by Fred S. Nixon, and in the Senate by Cuthbert W. Pound. It
+was favorably reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee early in the
+session. The chairman of the Assembly Committee, Aaron B. Gardenier,
+was very hostile, and after every effort to get a report had been
+exhausted, Mr. Nixon and Mrs. Almy made a personal appeal to the
+committee and were successful. On March 14 six men brought in the
+mammoth petition for woman suffrage which had been presented to the
+Constitutional Convention the previous year. The resolution was passed
+by 80 ayes, 31 noes. This was a remarkable action for the first
+Legislature after the great defeat in the Constitutional Convention
+only a few months before.
+
+When the measure came to the Senate it was moved by Senator Pound to
+substitute Mr. Nixon's resolution for his own, as they were identical.
+But Amasa J. Parker[391] objected in order to make it run the gauntlet
+of the Senate Committee again, and this gave the anti-suffragists an
+opportunity to oppose it. He then asked for a hearing for Bishop
+William Croswell Doane and others before the State Judiciary
+Committee, of which he was a member, which Chairman Edmond O'Connor
+granted. The committee met but once a week, and twice the hearing was
+postponed to accommodate the opposition. The second time, as no one
+appeared against the resolution, it was again reported favorably. Just
+after this had been done Mr. Parker appeared and objected, and the
+chairman agreed to recall it and give the opposition one more chance.
+On April 10, the time appointed for the hearing, Bishop Doane sent a
+letter declining the honor of appearing, but a delegation from New
+York City came up, and Mrs. Francis M. Scott and Prof. Monroe Smith of
+Columbia University addressed the committee opposing the measure.
+Mrs. Almy and Mrs. Mary H. Hunt replied in its behalf. For the third
+time the resolution was reported favorably by the Senate Committee,
+and April 18 the vote was taken. Senators Pound, Coggeshall and
+Bradley spoke in favor, and Jacob H. Cantor in opposition. It was
+carried by 20 ayes, 5 noes.
+
+When the resolution went to the Revision Committee it was found that
+in one section there was a period where there should have been a
+comma. Mrs. Almy was obliged to remain two weeks and get an amendment
+through both Houses to correct this error. Finally the resolution was
+declared perfect, and was ordered published throughout the State, etc.
+Then it was discovered that the word "resident" was used instead of
+"citizen," and the entire work of the winter was void. As it is not
+required that copies of original bills shall be preserved, the
+responsibility for the mistake never can be located.
+
+The Senate of 1896, by a change in the term of office, was to sit
+three years instead of two; and a concurrent resolution, in order to
+pass two successive Legislatures, would have to be deferred still
+another year, so no work was attempted.
+
+On Jan. 4, 1897, when the Legislature assembled, every member found on
+his desk a personally addressed letter appealing for the right of
+women citizens to representation, signed by all the officers of the
+State Suffrage Association and by the presidents of all the local
+societies. The resolution asking for a suffrage amendment was
+introduced in the Senate by Joseph Mullen, in the Assembly by W. W.
+Armstrong, and was referred to the Judiciary Committees. Repeated
+interviews by Mrs. Mariana W. Chapman, Mrs. Mary E. Craigie, chairman
+of the legislative committee, and other members were not sufficient to
+secure a favorable vote even from the committees, as they were
+frightened by the action of the preceding Legislature.
+
+The New York Society Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to
+Women was at work on the spot, and every legislator received a letter
+urging him not to consider any kind of a bill for woman suffrage.
+Finally a hearing was appointed by the Senate Committee for March 24.
+In the midst of a snowstorm, all the way from Rochester came the
+National president, Miss Anthony; from New York City, the State
+president, Mrs. Chapman; the chairman of the national organization
+committee, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt; Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi and Miss
+Elizabeth Burrill Curtis; from Syracuse, Miss Harriet May Mills; and
+in Albany already were Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Almy, Mrs. Julia D. Sheppard
+and a number of local suffragists. Miss Anthony, Mrs. Chapman Catt and
+Miss Mills addressed the committee. As the delegation withdrew one
+senator said to another: "I do not know what is to become of us men
+when such women as these come up to the Legislature." Nevertheless the
+resolution was not reported by the committee.
+
+Under the auspices of a Civic Union of all the boroughs of the
+proposed "Greater New York," an active campaign was carried on during
+this winter to secure various advantages for women under the new
+charter, but it met with no especial success.
+
+In 1898 Mrs. Mary Hilliard Loines was chairman of the legislative
+committee, and Mrs. Florence Dangerfield Potter, a graduate of Cornell
+and of the New York University Law School, acted as attorney. The
+Suffrage Amendment Resolution was introduced the first week of the
+session by Representative Otto Kelsey, a steadfast friend of woman
+suffrage. The usual number of letters was sent throughout the State to
+secure co-operation and a hearing was given March 2 in the Assembly
+library. The speakers introduced by Mrs. Loines were Mrs. Chapman,
+Miss Mills, Mrs. Craigie, Miss Margaret Livingstone Chanler and Mrs.
+Martha A. B. Conine, a member of the Colorado Legislature. The Rev.
+William Brundage of Albany spoke forcibly in favor of the amendment.
+No opponents were present. Although the chairman and some members of
+the committee were in favor, it was learned that the majority were
+opposed, so a vote was not pressed. The Senate committee being the
+same as the previous year, it was thought not worth while to introduce
+the resolution into that body.
+
+In 1899 the legislative work differed from that of the years directly
+preceding, the executive committee having decided that it might be
+wiser to ask for some form of suffrage which the Legislature itself
+could grant without submitting the question to the voters. The
+following bills were authorized:
+
+     1: To make it obligatory to appoint at least one woman on school
+     boards in those cities, about forty-six in all, where the office
+     is appointive.
+
+     2: To amend the village law, making it obligatory that in all
+     charters where a special vote of tax-payers is required on
+     municipal improvements or the raising or distribution of taxes,
+     women properly qualified shall vote on the same basis as men.
+
+A great many letters had been sent to Gov. Theodore Roosevelt, then
+newly elected, asking him to recognize the rights of women in his
+inaugural address, which he did by calling the attention of the
+Legislature to "the desirability of gradually extending the sphere in
+which the suffrage can be exercised by women." These two bills,
+therefore, were sent to him for approval and he appointed an interview
+at Albany with a committee from the State association. Mrs. Loines,
+Mrs. Blake, Miss Mills, Miss Mary Lyman Storrs and Mrs. Nellie F.
+Matheson went with the State president to this interview, and the
+Governor cordially indorsed the bills.
+
+Letters were sent to the legislators and also to the presidents of the
+county suffrage societies, asking them to influence their
+representatives. The bill for the Taxpayers' Suffrage was introduced
+into the Assembly by Mr. Kelsey. That good work was done was evident
+by the vote--98 ayes, 9 noes.
+
+But the battle was with the Senate, where the bill was introduced by
+W. W. Armstrong. On February 22 a hearing was given in the Senate
+Chamber before the Judiciary Committee. Suffragists and opponents were
+there in force. The latter were represented by Mesdames Arthur M.
+Dodge, W. Winslow Crannell and Rossiter Johnson. The State president
+introduced the suffrage speakers, Miss Chanler, Mrs. Blake and Mrs.
+Harriot Stanton Blatch, the last being qualified from residence to
+testify to the good effect of this kind of suffrage in England. Mrs.
+Elizabeth Smith Miller, Miss Anne Fitzhugh Miller and others were
+present. Owing largely to the influence of Elon R. Brown the committee
+brought in an adverse report.[392] Senator Armstrong moved to disagree
+and the vote, thus called for, in the Senate stood 21 ayes, 24 noes--a
+vote on the report, not on the bill, but it put the Senate on record.
+
+The Bill for Women on Appointed Boards of Education, which had been
+changed under protest of the suffragists to "one-third of the members
+of the board" from "at least one woman," was voted on April 19. In the
+Assembly it received 59 ayes, 23 noes; but 76 was the constitutional
+majority, so Senate action was useless. It was bitterly opposed by
+many prominent school officers.
+
+In 1900 the Legislature made a glaring exhibition of the position in
+which a non-voting class can be placed. Early in the session a
+resolution was offered on the motion of Senator Thomas F. Grady of New
+York City, "that it is not expedient or advisable to attempt at this
+session any changes in the constitution in regard to woman suffrage."
+It passed by 26 ayes, 17 noes. Let it be said, for the honor of the
+State, that there were senators who protested indignantly against such
+trampling upon the rights of the people. Several who voted in favor of
+this resolution afterwards voted for the suffrage bill.
+
+The Bill for Woman Suffrage on Tax Questions was introduced the very
+next day by Senator Armstrong. Soon afterward it was presented in the
+Assembly by Mr. Kelsey. On March 22 it passed with only two negative
+votes--John Hill Morgan of Brooklyn and James B. McEwan of Albany.
+When this bill came to the Senate there were so many before it that
+April 4 its friends moved to take it up out of order by suspension of
+rules. Senators Armstrong, Coggeshall and Lester H. Humphrey spoke in
+favor, Senator Grady against. The vote in favor was 23 ayes, 19 noes
+(nine of these from New York City), but twenty-six votes were
+necessary to suspend. The situation, however, was more encouraging
+than the year before. The legislative committee of the State W. S. A.
+this year consisted of Mesdames Loines, Blake, Matheson, Priscilla D.
+Hackstaff and Ella Hawley Crossett.
+
+In 1901 the committee was composed of Mesdames Loines, Hackstaff,
+Craigie, Jean Brooks Greenleaf and Lucy P. Allen. All efforts were
+centered on the bill to give taxpaying women the right to vote on
+questions of taxation. A conference with Governor Odell showed his
+friendliness to the bill and disclosed the fact that he had used his
+influence to amend the charter of his own city of Newburg to give this
+privilege to women.
+
+Speaker Nixon, in his opening address, referred to the bill as a
+measure of justice which he hoped would be introduced every year until
+it became a law. Mr. Kelsey for the third time constituted himself its
+champion, and worked earnestly for its success. Letters poured in from
+all parts of the State, the W. C. T. U. co-operated cordially, and
+hearings were granted by House and Senate committees. The bill passed
+the Assembly February 26 by 83 ayes, 29 noes. Of the latter 18 were
+from New York City. Of the 38 absent or not voting 22 were from that
+city.
+
+In the Senate the bill was referred to the Judiciary Committee as
+usual. On March 20 a hearing before this committee was arranged for
+those in favor and opposed. It was conducted by Mrs. Loines for the
+suffragists, who were represented by Mrs. Chapman, Miss Chanler, a
+large taxpayer in Dutchess County, and Miss Alice Stone Blackwell of
+Boston, but a taxpayer in New York. Mrs. Arthur M. Dodge was at the
+head of the eighteen women who came from the anti-suffrage society to
+protest against taxpaying women being granted a representation on
+questions of taxation. The other speakers were Mrs. Rossiter Johnson
+of New York City, Mrs. Crannell of Albany, and Mrs. William Putnam of
+Groton who read a paper written by Mrs. Charles Wetmore. The first
+took the ground that the bill was unconstitutional. The second
+protested against the attempt "to force widows, spinsters and married
+women to vote against their will." The third begged the members of the
+Senate Committee "not to be hoodwinked into believing this was not a
+suffrage measure," and assured them that "many of the members had
+pledged themselves to vote for it without recognizing that it was a
+suffrage bill." She also said: "For the last fifty years, while the
+suffragists have been wasting their strength in the effort to get the
+ballot, we, and women like us, have been quietly going ahead and
+gaining for women the rights they now enjoy in regard to education,
+property and the professions. The suffragists had nothing to do with
+it."
+
+The friends of the bill in the Senate tried in vain to obtain a report
+from the Judiciary Committee, the chairman, Edgar Truman Brackett,
+being opposed to the bill. Finally, on April 11, Senator Humphrey
+moved "to discharge the committee from further consideration," which
+was carried by 22 ayes, 20 noes. On April 19 it was brought to a vote
+and passed by 27 ayes, 14 noes, 8 of the latter from New York City.
+Mr. Grady was absent.
+
+The bill was signed by Gov. Benjamin F. Odell, April 24, 1901. It was
+generally understood that U. S. Senator Thomas C. Platt was in favor
+of the measure. Judge Charles Z. Lincoln, chairman of the Statutory
+Revision Committee, gave most valuable assistance.
+
+The effect of this bill was far greater than had been anticipated,
+because of the importance of New York as a State. Before six months
+had passed women in considerable numbers had voted in a dozen
+different places. Although it applied only to towns and villages,
+these numbered about 1,800. What was of more importance, the principle
+had been recognized. There was scarcely a newspaper in the United
+States that did not contain an editorial upon the subject, which in
+the vast majority of cases declared the law to be just.
+
+LAWS: Dower and curtesy obtain. If the husband die without a will the
+widow is entitled to the life use of one-third of the real estate and,
+after the payment of the debts, to one-third of the personal estate
+absolutely. If there are no children she may have one-half of the
+latter--stocks, cash, furniture, pictures, silver, clothing, etc.--and
+the other half goes to the husband's relatives, even down to nephews
+and nieces. The widow may, however, have the whole if it does not
+exceed $2,000. If it exceed that amount, $2,000 may be added to her
+half. If there are no relatives of the husband she may have all the
+personal property. If there has been a living child the widower has a
+life interest in all the wife's estate. If there have been no children
+he takes all the personal property absolutely, and her real estate
+goes to her next of kin. If there is a child living he has one-third
+of the personal property absolutely.
+
+The husband is liable for the wife's debts before marriage to the
+extent of any property acquired from her by ante-nuptial agreement.
+She holds her separate property, however acquired, free from any
+control of the husband and from all liability for his debts. She can
+live on her own real estate, and forbid her husband entering upon it.
+
+Either husband or wife can make a will without the knowledge or
+consent of the other, the latter disposing of all her separate
+property, the former of all but the wife's life interest in one-third
+of the real estate. The law provides, however, that no person having
+husband, wife, child or parent can bequeath over one-half of his
+property, after payment of debts, to any institution, association or
+corporation.
+
+The wife can mortgage or convey her real and personal estate without
+the husband's signature. He may do this with his personal property but
+not with his real estate.
+
+A married woman may carry on any trade or business and perform any
+labor or services on her own account, and her earnings are her sole
+and separate property. She may sue and be sued as if unmarried, and
+may maintain an action in her own name and the proceeds of such action
+will be her separate property.[393]
+
+She may contract as if unmarried and she and her separate estate are
+liable. A woman engaged in business can not be arrested for a debt
+fraudulently contracted. All women enjoy certain exemptions from the
+sale of their property under execution which in the case of men are
+granted only to householders--that is, a man who provides for a
+family.
+
+The husband's creditors have no claim to a life insurance unless the
+annual premiums have exceeded $500; and it is also exempt from
+execution for the wife's debts.
+
+Common Law marriages are legal, requiring neither license nor
+ceremony, and 14 years is the legal age for the girl.[394]
+
+Absolute divorce is granted only for adultery. In case of either
+absolute or limited divorce the husband may be required to pay alimony
+to the wife during her life, even if she should marry again.
+
+Every married woman is joint guardian of her children with her
+husband, having equal powers, rights and duties in regard to them, and
+on the death of either parent the survivor continues guardian. (1893.)
+
+A husband is required to support his wife commensurately with his
+means and her station in the community, without regard to the extent
+of her individual property. If he fail to do this or if he abandon his
+family he may be arrested and compelled to give security that he will
+provide for them and will indemnify the town, city or county against
+their becoming a charge upon the public within one year. Failing, he
+may be sent to prison or penitentiary for not less than six months'
+hard labor, or until he gives such bond, but none of this is
+obligatory on the court.
+
+In 1887 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 16
+years, and it was made optional with the court to impose less than the
+existing penalty of ten years' imprisonment. A few years afterward it
+was proposed to reduce the age to 12 years. Mrs. Mary H. Hunt, in
+behalf of the W. C. T. U., went before the Judiciary Committee and
+said: "I represent 21,000 women and any man who dares to vote for this
+measure will be marked and held up to scorn. We are terribly in
+earnest." The matter was dropped. In 1895 the age was raised from 16
+to 18, with a penalty for first degree of not more than twenty years'
+imprisonment; for second degree, not more than ten. No minimum penalty
+is named. Trials may be held privately, and it is the testimony of the
+various protective associations of women that it is almost impossible
+to secure convictions.
+
+The laws contain many provisions for the benefit of female employes;
+among them one that if any employer in New York City fail to pay wages
+due up to $50, none of his property is exempt from execution and he
+may be imprisoned without bail.
+
+SUFFRAGE: In 1880 a law was enacted by the Legislature declaring that
+"no person shall be deemed ineligible to serve as any school officer,
+or to vote at any school meeting, by reason of sex, who has the other
+qualifications now required by law."
+
+It was the undoubted intention to give School Suffrage to all women by
+this law, but at once Attorney-General Hamilton Ward rendered a
+decision that it did not apply to cities but only to places where
+separate "school meetings" were held, mainly country districts and
+villages.
+
+In 1881 another attempt was made by the Legislature to confer School
+Suffrage on all women by striking out the word "male" in an old
+statute of 1864, but as it failed to amend the very portion of the law
+which referred to School Commissioners, this left the condition
+unchanged.
+
+In 1886 the Legislature tried it again by enlarging the qualifications
+of voters, but as the words "school district" were used it did not
+succeed in giving the suffrage to any women except those who already
+possessed it.
+
+In 1892 the Legislature once more came boldly to the rescue, and
+undertook to enact that women should have a vote for _District_ School
+Commissioners, which would bring under its provisions all the women of
+the State. The Act read: "All persons without regard to sex, who are
+eligible to the office of School Commissioner, and have the other
+qualifications required by law, shall have the right to vote for
+School Commissioner."
+
+As the Act of 1880 had said specifically that "no person shall be
+deemed ineligible to serve as any school officer by reason of sex,"
+this seemed to settle the question. The Act further provided that "All
+persons so entitled to vote for School Commissioner shall be
+registered as provided by law for those who vote for county officers,
+and whenever School Commissioners are to be elected it shall be the
+duty of the county clerk to prepare a ballot to be used exclusively by
+those who, by reason of sex, can vote only for School Commissioner."
+
+This Act went into effect in April, 1893, and in the autumn Mrs.
+Matilda Joslyn Gage registered in Manlius, Onondaga County.
+Immediately the board of inspectors were requested to remove her name
+from the registry. They refused and application was made to the
+Supreme Court to strike off her name, on the sole contention that she
+was not a lawful voter on account of her sex. The application was
+granted on the ground that the Act conferring upon women the right to
+vote for School Commissioner was unconstitutional. The inspectors
+obeyed the order. Mrs. Gage appealed to the General Term, where the
+order was affirmed, and then she carried her case to the Court of
+Appeals. The decision here was in brief that a School Commissioner is
+a _county officer_, and that by the State constitution only male
+citizens may vote for such officers. The decision closed by saying: "A
+Constitutional Convention may take away the barrier which excludes the
+claimed right of the appellant, but until that is done we must enforce
+the law as it stands."[395]
+
+Thus after twenty years of time, four acts of the Legislature and
+three decisions of the highest courts, the School Suffrage for women
+is still confined exclusively to those of the villages and country
+districts. The law condensed reads as follows:
+
+     Every person of full age residing in any school district, etc.,
+     who owns or hires real property in such district liable to
+     taxation for school purposes; and every such resident who is the
+     parent of a child who shall have attended the school in said
+     district for a period of at least eight weeks within one year
+     preceding such school meeting; and every such person, not being
+     the parent, who shall have permanently residing with him or her a
+     child of school age, etc.; and every such resident and citizen as
+     aforesaid, who owns any personal property, assessed on the last
+     preceding assessment-roll of the town, exceeding $50 in value,
+     exclusive of such as is exempt from execution, and no other,
+     shall be entitled to vote at any school meeting held in such
+     district, for all school district officers and upon all matters
+     which may be brought before said meeting. No person shall be
+     deemed ineligible to vote at any such school district meeting, by
+     reason of sex, who has one or more of the other qualifications
+     required by this section.[396]
+
+This was the only suffrage granted to women until 1901, when the
+following was enacted by the Legislature:
+
+     A woman who possesses the qualifications to vote for village or
+     town officers, except the qualification of sex, and who is the
+     owner of property in the town or village assessed upon the last
+     preceding assessment-roll thereof, is entitled to vote upon a
+     proposition to raise money by tax or assessment.
+
+This law is believed to include about 1,800 places. The bill for it
+was managed by a committee of the State Suffrage Association in three
+successive Legislatures.
+
+By the city charters of eleven of the thirty-six third-class
+cities--Amsterdam, Cohoes, Corning, Geneva, Ithaca, Jamestown,
+Newburg, Niagara Falls, North Tonawanda, Oswego and Watertown,
+taxpaying women have a vote on special appropriations. Hornellsville
+also conferred this privilege but it was declared illegal by the
+corporation council, because the word "resident" was used instead of
+"citizen."
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: By a statute of 1880 women are eligible for any school
+office. The State Superintendent of Public Instruction is elected by
+the Legislature. Instead of county superintendents, as in most States,
+New York has District Commissioners. A district may comprise either a
+part or the whole of a county, but no city may form any part of it. At
+present ten women are serving as District Commissioners. A
+considerable number sit on the school boards of cities and villages
+but no exact record is kept. In Greater New York thirty women serve as
+school inspectors; there are also four supervisors in the departments
+of sewing, cooking, kitchen-garden and physical culture, at salaries
+ranging from $2,000 to $2,500.
+
+The same law which enables women to serve as District School
+Commissioners makes them eligible to all district offices, including
+those of trustee, collector, treasurer and librarian, as the law in
+prescribing qualification, omits the word "male."[397]
+
+Women also are eligible to the office of village clerk. They serve as
+notaries public, clerks of the Surrogate Court and deputy tax
+collectors. Miss Christine Ross of New York City is a certified public
+accountant and auditor.
+
+Most cities have police matrons. Sixty fill this position in Greater
+New York at a salary of $1,000 per annum.
+
+Women are employed as city physicians in several places. The law
+requires one woman physician in each State hospital for the insane and
+eleven are at present employed, leaving only the State Homeopathic
+Hospital at Gowanda[398] and the Manhattan Hospital on Long Island
+without one.
+
+One woman trustee is required on the board of every State institution
+where women are placed as patients, paupers or criminals, but this is
+not strictly obeyed. A list of the boards of eleven hospitals shows
+twelve women and sixty-five men, but four have no women members. Two
+women are on the board of Craig Colony of Epileptics; three on that of
+the Custodial Asylum for Feeble-Minded.
+
+The following are serving as State officials: On State Board of
+Charities of twelve commissioners, one woman, with thirteen employed
+in different departments at from $480 to $1,400 per annum; State
+Superintendent Woman's Relief Corps, at $1,500; two State hospital
+accountants at $1,400, three at $700; principal of House of Refuge for
+Women at Hudson, $1,200; superintendent Western House of Refuge,
+$1,200; five in Commission of Lunacy Department, $700 to $1,400;
+fourteen in the State Library, $50 to $175 per month; seven in
+Administrative Department of the Board of Regents of the University of
+New York, and thirteen in the College and High School Departments (not
+teachers), $720 to $1,200 per annum; ten in Home Education Department,
+$50 to $150 per month; in the Department of Public Instruction, five
+confidential clerks at from $900 to $2,000; in Bureau of Examinations
+seven women at $900 (men in same positions receive $1,800); in State
+Museum one woman at $600; in Training Class Bureau two women clerks at
+$900; three women in office of Secretary of State at $900; one index
+clerk in Bureau of Charitable Institutions at $1,050; one in State
+Comptroller's office at $1,050; one examiner for Civil Service
+Commission at $900 (men receive $1,400 for same work), and three
+stenographers at $600 to $900; two State's prison stenographers at
+$1,000; a Bertillon indexer, $1,200; one clerk for Commission of
+Labor, $1,200; one for Free Employment Bureau, $900; under
+Superintendent of Insurance, five women, $1,200 to $1,400; in office
+of State Architect three, $626 to $900; in Bureau of Records two
+clerks, $1,200; thirteen women are Factory Inspectors or employes in
+that department, $600 to $1,500; twelve in the service of Commissioner
+of Excise, $720 to $1,080.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to
+women. Several are presidents of banks, a number are brokers, many are
+directors of corporations and there are women managers of countless
+enterprises.
+
+EDUCATION: The two great universities, Cornell at Ithaca and Columbia
+in New York City, admit women to all departments and grant them the
+full degrees. In Cornell they recite in the same classes with the men
+students, and have the additional advantage of a residential hall on
+the campus. There are no women on the faculty. Dr. M. Carey Thomas,
+president of Bryn Mawr College, has been a member of the board of
+trustees for several years. The women undergraduates of Columbia have
+class-rooms and residence in Barnard, an independent corporation but
+an affiliated college, its dean having the same relation to Columbia
+as the heads of all the other colleges. The faculty is composed partly
+of the regular Columbia staff and partly of special professors, among
+whom are a number of women. The seniors attend certain courses in
+philosophy and science in the regular university classes, and all of
+these are open to post graduates. The University of New York, situated
+in and near the city, is co-educational in its post-graduate courses
+and in its Departments of Law, Pedagogy and Commerce. Its Law
+Department is celebrated for the prominent women it has graduated.
+Pratt Institute of Brooklyn is open to both sexes alike.
+
+The Universities of Syracuse and Rochester are co-educational. The
+latter was opened in 1900 through the efforts of the women of the city
+in raising a fund of $50,000. The project would have failed, however,
+had it not been for the assistance of Miss Anthony. On the morning of
+the day when the limit would expire which had been fixed by the
+trustees for the raising of this sum, $8,000 were still lacking.
+Every possible source had been exhausted and in despair the women
+appealed to Miss Anthony, who already had collected and turned over a
+considerable amount. She set out with the wonderful determination
+which always has characterized her, and at 4 o'clock in the afternoon
+she went before the board of trustees with the full quota in checks
+and pledges, making herself responsible for the last $2,500.
+
+Union Theological Seminary of New York City (Presbyterian) is one of
+the very few orthodox institutions of this kind which admit women.
+
+The State is distinguished by having in Vassar the first of the great
+colleges for women which offer a course of study approximating that of
+the best universities. It was founded in 1861. Over 700 students are
+in attendance.
+
+Besides seven large co-educational institutions there are eight or ten
+smaller ones for boys alone and several for girls alone.
+
+In the public schools there are 5,405 men and 28,587 women teachers;
+in New York City 1,263 men and 10,949 women. The average annual salary
+for teachers in the cities outside of New York is $597; in that city,
+which employs one-third of the whole number, $1,035. The average
+annual salary in the commissioner districts is $322.49. There are
+women in Greater New York receiving $2,500; there are hundreds in the
+State receiving one-tenth of that sum. So far as it has been possible
+to secure an estimate there is fully as much discrepancy between men's
+and women's salaries for the same work as in other States.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The women of Greater New York take a prominent part in political
+campaigns. There are seven or eight Women's Republican Clubs, a Health
+Protective Association and a Woman's Municipal League which were
+active in 1897 when Seth Low, president of Columbia College, was
+candidate for mayor on the Reform ticket.[399] There is also a
+flourishing Ladies' Democratic Club.
+
+A unique observance is the annual Pilgrim Mothers' Dinner at the
+renowned Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. This was instituted in December, 1892,
+by the New York City Suffrage League, Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake,
+president, in memory of those noble women, who are apt to be
+overlooked at the celebrations in honor of the Pilgrim Fathers.
+
+New York divides with Massachusetts the honor of forming the first
+Woman's Club--Sorosis, in 1868--and it continues foremost among the
+States in the size and influence of its organizations of women. Over
+200, part of them suffrage societies, belong to the Federation of
+Clubs, and these represent only a portion of the whole number. There
+are eighty auxiliaries to the State Suffrage Association.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[376] The History is indebted for the material for this chapter to
+Mrs. Mariana Wright Chapman of Brooklyn, Mrs. Jean Brooks Greenleaf of
+Rochester, and Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake of New York, the presidents
+of the State Woman Suffrage Association during the past twenty years.
+
+[377] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. I, p. 67.
+
+[378] Those making addresses were Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw, Mrs.
+Chapman Catt, Mrs. Gannett, Mrs. Searing, Rabbi Max Landsberg, the
+Hon. Charles S. Baker, the Hon. John Van Voorhis, the Rev. H. Clay
+Peeples, the Rev. Ward Platt, the Rev. H. H. Stebbins, the Rev. J. W.
+A. Stewart and Prof. S. A. Lattimore, acting president of the
+Rochester University.
+
+Addresses of welcome: Miss Mary S. Anthony for the City Political
+Equality Club, the Rev. W. C. Gannett for the church that welcomed the
+first convention, Mrs. Jean Brooks Greenleaf for the State
+association.
+
+The committee of arrangements were Mesdames S. A. West, Amy E. T.
+Searing, J. G. Maurer, S. C. Blackall, Florence D. Alexander, Mary L.
+Gannett, D. L. Kittredge, Emma B. Sweet, A. B. Taylor, D. L. Johnson,
+F. B. Van Hoesen; Misses Jessie Post, Frances Alexander; Messrs. C. G.
+Alexander and Joseph Bloss.
+
+[379] The others who have held office since 1883 are as follows: Mary
+S. Anthony, Martha R. Almy, Elnora Monroe Babcock, Henrietta M.
+Banker, Ella Hawley Crossett, Hannah B. Clark, Elizabeth Burrell
+Curtis, Everline R. Clark, Charlotte F. Daley, Margaret H. Esselstyne,
+Mrs. Hannah L. Howland, Emily Howland, Isabel Howland, Cornelia K.
+Hood, Maude S. Humphrey, Mary Seymour Howell, Priscilla Dudley
+Hackstaff, Ada M. Hall, Martha H. Henderson, Helen M. Loder, Anne F.
+Miller, Jennie McAdams, Harriet May Mills, Clara Neymann, Eliza Wright
+Osborne, Mary J. Pearson, Helen C. Peckham, Mary Thayer Sanford, Kate
+Stoneman, Kate S. Thompson, Emily S. Van Biele, Emilie J. Wakeman.
+
+[380] Aside from those elsewhere mentioned, the names which seem to
+occur most often in looking over the records are those of Dr. Sarah L.
+Cushing, Dr. Cordelia A. Greene, Zobedia Alleman, Abigail A. Allen,
+Kornelia T. Andrews, Amanda Alley, Mary E. Bagg, Charlotte A.
+Cleveland, Ida K. Church, Susan Dixwell, Eliza B. Gifford, Esther
+Herman, Ella S. Hammond, Mary Bush Hitchcock, Belle S. Holden, Mary H.
+Hallowell, Emeline Hicks, Mary N. Hubbard, Marie R. Jenney, Rhody J.
+Kenyon, Lucy S. Pierce, Harriet M. Rathbun, Martha J. H. Stebbins,
+Julia D. Sheppard, Chloe A. Sisson, Delia C. Taylor.
+
+[381] Much of the credit for the excellent organization is due to Miss
+Harriet May Mills, State organizer, daughter of C. D. B. Mills of
+anti-slavery record. Miss Mills is a graduate of Cornell University,
+and is devoting her youth and education entirely to the cause of woman
+suffrage.
+
+[382] The story of this canvass, the largest and most systematic which
+ever has been made for such a purpose, is given in full in "Record of
+the New York Campaign of 1894," a pamphlet of 250 pages, issued by the
+State association in 1895, and placed in many libraries throughout the
+country. It is given also, with many personal touches, in the Life and
+Work of Susan B. Anthony, Chap. XLII.
+
+[383] From treasurer's report: Emily Howland generously contributed
+$1,200. That staunch friend, Sarah L. Willis of Rochester gave $720.
+Abby L. Pettengill of Chautauqua County, $220. Mr. and Mrs. H. S.
+Greenleaf of Rochester, $200. General C. T. Christiansen of Brooklyn
+began the contributions of $100, of which there were eight others from
+our own State--Semantha V. Lapham, Ebenezer Butterick, Mrs. H. S.
+Holden, Marian Skidmore, Hannah L. Howland, Cornelia H. Cary, Mr. and
+Mrs. James Sargent; Mrs. Louisa Southworth of Ohio.
+
+[384] One who was a witness gives this description:
+
+"There were no more dramatic scenes during the convention than those
+afforded by the presenting of the petitions. The names were enrolled
+on pages of uniform size and arranged in volumes, each labeled and
+tied with a wide yellow ribbon and bearing the card of the member who
+was to present it. At the opening of the sessions, when memorials were
+called for, he would rise and say: 'Mr. President, I have the honor to
+present a memorial from Mary Smith and 17,117 others (for example),
+residents of ---- county, asking that the word 'male' be stricken from
+the Constitution.' Often one after another would present a bundle of
+petitions until it would seem as though the entire morning would be
+thus consumed. They were all taken by pages and heaped up on the
+secretary's table, where they made an imposing appearance. Later they
+were stacked on shelves in a large committee room.
+
+"Mrs. Burt, the president of the W. C. T. U., brought in the petitions
+of her society all at once, many great rolls of paper tied with white
+ribbon. A colored porter took them down the aisle on a wheelbarrow."
+
+[385] Mesdames Cornelia K. Hood, Cornelia H. Cary, Mariana W. Chapman,
+Mary E. Craigie, Cora Sebury, Martha R. Almy, A. E. P. Searing, Elinor
+Ecob Morse, Marcia C. Powell, Helen G. Ecob, Susie M. Bain, Carrie E.
+S. Twing, Clara Neymann, Selina S. Merchant, Henrietta M. Banker,
+Maude S. Humphrey, Mary Lewis Gannett; Dr. Sarah H. Morris; Misses
+Arria S. Huntington, Emily Howland, Elizabeth Burrill Curtis.
+
+[386] A hearing, on June 14, was given to the "Antis," as the press
+dubbed the remonstrants. Their petition against being allowed the
+suffrage was presented by the Hon. Elihu Root, and the speeches were
+made by Francis M. Scott, the Rev. Clarence A. Walworth, the Hon.
+Matthew Hale and J. Newton Fiero. Letters were read from the Hon.
+Abram S. Hewitt and Austin Abbott.
+
+[387] Among the earnest advocates of the suffrage article were Judges
+Titus and Blake of New York, Judge Towns of Brooklyn, Judge Moore of
+Plattsburg, Messrs. Lincoln, Church and McKinstry of Chautauqua,
+Maybee of Sullivan, Cornwall of Yates, Powell of Kings, Cassidy of
+Schuyler, Kerwin of Albany, Phipps of Queens, Fraser of Washington,
+Arnold of Dutchess, Bigelow and Campbell of New York, Roche of Troy.
+
+Speeches in opposition were made by Messrs. McClure, Goeller and
+Platzek of New York, Fuller of Chenango, Griswold of Greene, Mereness
+of Lewis, Sullivan of Erie, Lester of Saratoga, Hirshberg of Newburg,
+Kellogg of Oneonta, Mantanye of Cortland, Cookinham of Utica.
+
+[388] Members of committee in favor of woman suffrage clause: Edward
+Lauterbach, Mirabeau Lamar Towns, Vasco P. Abbott, John Bigelow,
+Gideon J. Tucker. Opposed: William P. Goodelle, Henry J. Cookinham,
+John F. Parkhurst, Henry W. Hill, D. Gerry Wellington, John W.
+O'Brien, Henry W. Wiggins, Thomas G. Alvord, David McClure, De Lancy
+Nicoll, John A. Deady, William H. Cochran.
+
+[389] In the work for other bills Mrs. Howell was assisted by Miss
+Kate Stoneman, New York's first woman lawyer, Mrs. Sarah A. Le Boeuf,
+Mrs. Joan Cole and Miss Winnie, all of Albany. George Rogers Howell,
+assistant and also State librarian, aided his wife in every way. As a
+State officer for many years he had strong influence and it always was
+used for woman's political freedom. During these years Mrs. Howell, as
+president of the Albany Political Equality Club, conducted many public
+meetings in the Senate Chamber of the historic old Capitol building
+until it was torn down. Legislators and State officers came each
+Tuesday night to hear the suffrage speeches.
+
+[390] In 1860, after ten years of persistent effort by Mrs. Stanton,
+Miss Anthony and other pioneer workers, who had gathered up thousands
+of petitions and besieged the Legislature, session after session, a
+law was secured giving father and mother joint guardianship. In 1862,
+so quietly that the women were not aware of it, the Legislature
+repealed this law and again vested the guardianship solely in the
+father. Although repeated efforts were afterwards made to have the
+mother's right restored, this was not done for thirty years.
+
+[391] Senator Parker is a brother of Mrs. J. V. L. Pruyn, who
+organized the first anti-suffrage society in the State, at Albany.
+
+[392] In Senator Brown's own city of Watertown, over 50 per cent. of
+the women had just voted to bond the city for a new High School, the
+press giving them full credit for it, but he persistently opposed this
+bill.
+
+[393] It was not supposed that this right could be questioned, but in
+1901, in New York City, a woman who was supporting her children by
+washing while her husband was in the hospital, was thrown from a
+trolley car with her baby in her arms and injured so that she could
+not work. She brought suit against the Street Railway Company before a
+municipal court, and was awarded $147.50. The company appealed to the
+Supreme Court and Justice David Leaventritt reversed the decision,
+saying in his opinion, "At Common Law the husband was absolutely
+entitled to the earnings of his wife, and neither the Enabling Act of
+1860 nor the broader one of 1864 has affected the right, unless the
+service and earnings were rendered and received expressly upon her
+sole and separate account." Afterwards in explanation he said that the
+woman had not made it clear in her suit that she was working for
+herself and not performing service for her husband.
+
+In 1902 a law was passed securing absolutely to married women their
+own earnings and the right to sue for damages by loss of wages in case
+of personal injury.
+
+[394] In 1901 an attempt was made to correct this evil, and a
+ridiculous law was passed and duly signed by Governor Odell providing
+that a couple may become husband and wife by signing an agreement
+before witnesses, but in order to make this legal it must be recorded
+within six months. If at the end of this time it has not been recorded
+both are free to marry somebody else. If the fourteen year old wife
+should not know of this legal requirement she may find herself
+abandoned without redress.
+
+[395] This decision covers many pages with hair-splitting definitions,
+tracing the laws governing School Commissioners back to 1843, and
+summing up with the following unintentional satire.
+
+"The Constitution, in Article 2, Section 1, prescribes the
+qualifications of voters 'for all officers that now are or hereafter
+may be elected by _the people_,' and confines the franchise
+specifically to 'male citizens.' The office of School Commissioner was
+one thereafter made 'elective by _the people_,' through the operation
+of the alternative given by Article 10, Section 2, which provides that
+'all officers whose offices may hereafter be created by law shall be
+elected by _the people_ or appointed as the Legislature may direct.'
+That is, in such cases, it may choose between election and appointment
+and in the latter event may dictate the authority and mode of
+appointment. The Legislature chose that the office should be elective,
+and, becoming such, it fell within the scope and terms of the
+constitutional provisions applicable to elections by _the people_."
+
+[396] By the charters of the third class cities of Auburn, Geneva,
+Hornellsville, Jamestown, Norwich, Union Springs and Watertown women
+have School Suffrage on the same terms as men. The city of Kingston is
+divided into several common and union free school districts and women
+are authorized to vote.
+
+[397] For legal opinion see Appendix for New York.
+
+[398] In 1902 the hospital at Gowanda, the largest of the kind in the
+State, placed a woman on its staff as specialist in gynecology.
+
+[399] In 1901, when Mr. Low was again a candidate and was elected,
+these clubs were a prominent factor in the campaign. They arranged
+meetings, addressed large audiences, raised $30,000 and circulated
+1,000,000 pieces of literature. Their work was commended by the press
+of the whole United States and much credit was given them for the
+success of the Reform ticket. When the Board of Education of forty-six
+members was appointed by Mayor Low, various societies petitioned him
+to give women a representation upon it, but he declined to do so.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVII.
+
+NORTH CAROLINA.[400]
+
+
+The only attempt at suffrage organization in North Carolina was made
+by Miss Helen Morris Lewis, Nov. 21, 1894. A meeting was called at the
+court house in Asheville and attended by a large audience, which was
+addressed by Miss Lewis and Miss Floride Cunningham. Thomas W. Patton,
+mayor of the city, made a stirring speech in favor of giving the
+ballot to women. At his residence the next day a society was formed
+with a membership of forty-five men and women; president, Miss Morris;
+vice-president, T. C. Westall; secretary, Mrs. Eleanor Johnstone
+Coffin; treasurer, Mayor Patton. The next mayor of Asheville, Theodore
+F. Davidson, also advocated woman suffrage.
+
+In 1895 addresses were made in various cities by Miss Laura Clay of
+Kentucky and Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates of Maine, who had been
+attending the national convention in Atlanta.
+
+Later on Miss Frances E. Willard, president of the National Woman's
+Christian Temperance Union, and Miss Belle Kearney, a noted lecturer
+from Mississippi, aroused considerable enthusiasm in various places by
+pleas for woman suffrage in their temperance addresses. Miss Lewis has
+spoken in a number of towns and at the State Normal School. No
+organized work has been done, however, and but little public interest
+is felt.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: Early in February, 1895, as a result of
+the suffrage meeting held in Asheville, a bill was presented in the
+Legislature to place women on school boards. Mrs. Lillie Devereux
+Blake of New York, a native of North Carolina, addressed the
+legislators in its behalf and upon the rights of women. The bill
+provoked a hot discussion but was defeated. It is impossible to obtain
+a record of the vote.
+
+In 1897 a bill to permit women to serve as notaries public
+was defeated in the House on the ground that it would be
+unconstitutional, as this is a State office. The same year a bill
+providing for the appointment of women physicians in the State insane
+asylums was referred to a committee and never reported.
+
+Bills also have been presented for full suffrage and suffrage for
+tax-paying women, but none has been acted upon. Several Acts have been
+passed prohibiting employers from working women in the chain gangs on
+the public roads in different counties.[401]
+
+The most unjust discriminations against women in the property laws
+were removed by the Constitutional Convention of 1868. Since then a
+married woman may acquire and hold real estate and have the enjoyment
+of its income and profits in her own separate right, and she may
+dispose of it by will subject to the husband's curtesy (the life use
+of the whole); but she can not sell any of it without his consent. The
+husband can not sell his real estate so as to cut off the dower of the
+wife (the life use of one-third) without her consent.
+
+The code of 1883 stipulates that if the husband receives the income of
+the wife's separate property and she offers no objection, he can not
+be made liable to account for his use of it for more than one year
+previous to the date of the complaint or of her death. By an act of
+1889, the husband is required to list the property of the wife "in his
+control."
+
+Both dower and curtesy obtain. If there are neither descendants nor
+kindred the widow is heir of the entire estate. If there are not more
+than two children, and the husband die without a will, one-third of
+the personal property goes to the widow; if there are more than two
+children, she shares equally with them; if there be no child or legal
+representative of a deceased child, one-half goes to the widow, the
+other half to the kindred of the husband. If a wife die without a
+will, the widower has a life estate in her real property, if there has
+been issue born alive, and all of her personal property absolutely,
+subject to her debts.
+
+A homestead to the value of $1,000 is exempt from sale during
+widowhood unless the widow have one in her own right.
+
+The wife is not bound by contract unless the husband joins in writing.
+In actions against her he must be served with the suit.
+
+The wife can not be a sole trader without the husband's written and
+recorded consent, unless living apart from him under legal divorce or
+separation, or unless he is an idiot or a lunatic, or has abandoned
+her or maliciously turned her out of doors. She controls even her
+wages only under these circumstances.
+
+The divorce laws make the discrimination against women that while the
+husband can secure a divorce for one act of adultery on the part of
+the wife, she can secure one from him on this ground only if he
+separates from her and lives openly in adultery.
+
+The father is the legal guardian of the persons and education of the
+minor children, and may appoint a guardian by will even for one
+unborn. The court appoints the guardian for the estate.
+
+Wilful neglect by the husband to provide adequate support for the wife
+and children is a misdemeanor.
+
+The "age of protection" for girls still remains 10 years, with a
+penalty of death. Over 10 and under 14 the crime is a misdemeanor,
+punishable with fine or imprisonment in the penitentiary at discretion
+of the court, if the child has been previously chaste.
+
+SUFFRAGE: Women possess no form of suffrage.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: By the State constitution only those entitled to vote
+are eligible to office. Women are thus barred from every elective and
+appointive office, even that of notary public.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to
+women. They are admitted to the State Medical Society and made
+chairmen of various sections. There has been a revolution of public
+sentiment during the past twenty years in regard to women in
+wage-earning occupations. What formerly would have caused ostracism is
+now regarded as proper and commendable.
+
+EDUCATION: In 1897 the post-graduate work of the State University was
+opened to women. The undergraduate departments are still closed to
+them. Other institutions are about equally divided among
+co-educational, for boys only and for girls only. The State Normal and
+Industrial School for Girls (white) and the Agricultural and
+Mechanical College for Boys (colored), both at Greensborough, offer
+excellent opportunities. There are four other universities and
+colleges for colored students.
+
+In the public schools there are 4,127 men and 4,077 women teachers.
+The average monthly salary of the men is $25.07; of the women,
+$22.24.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[400] The History is indebted for most of the information in this
+chapter to Mrs. Sarah A. Russell of Wilmington, the wife of Gov.
+Daniel L. Russell.
+
+[401] In 1901 a bill, supported by a petition largely signed by women,
+which provided for a reformatory for youthful criminals where they
+might be separated from the old and hardened, was introduced in the
+Legislature but never was brought to a vote.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVIII.
+
+OHIO.[402]
+
+
+The second Woman's Rights Convention ever held took place at Salem,
+Ohio, in April, 1850, and such meetings were continued at intervals
+until the beginning of the Civil War. After the war a State
+association was formed, but the records of its existence are not
+available. In the early summer of 1884 Mrs. Rachel S. A. Janney, whose
+husband was president of the State Agricultural College (now the State
+University), called a convention in Columbus, at which Mrs. Rosa L.
+Segur, Mrs. Ellen Sully Fray, Mr. and Mrs. O. G. Peters, Mrs.
+Elizabeth Coit and family, Mrs. Ammon of Cleveland, and other
+well-known advocates were present. So few were in attendance, however,
+that it was thought best not to organize permanently, but Judge Ezra
+B. Taylor of Warren was chosen president and Mrs. Frances M. Casement,
+vice-president. Judge Taylor, in declining because of Congressional
+duties, expressed sympathy and interest in the movement. He was a
+member of the Judiciary Committee of the U. S. House of
+Representatives for thirteen years, and through his influence when
+chairman, in 1890, a majority report in favor of a Sixteenth Amendment
+to the Constitution to enfranchise women was submitted to the House
+for the first and last time.
+
+Mrs. Casement did very efficient work, especially in the northern part
+of the State, and as a result a large and enthusiastic meeting was
+held at Painesville, her home, in May, 1885, and a State association
+regularly organized. On the list of officers were placed three persons
+who through all these years have made the enfranchisement of women
+their paramount work--Mrs. Casement, Mrs. Segur of Toledo and Mrs.
+Coit of Columbus. Mrs. Casement, who was made president, always has
+given generously of time and money and is still a member of the
+executive committee. Mrs. Segur, who was elected corresponding
+secretary, also continues her activity. She does much press work and
+is one of the main supports of the Toledo W. S. A., which has held
+regular monthly meetings since its organization in 1869. Mrs. Coit was
+chosen treasurer and held the office fourteen years, during which she
+seldom missed a convention or an executive meeting. In 1900 she was
+made honorary president without one dissenting vote.[403]
+
+In addition to the State conventions from two to five executive
+committee meetings have been held yearly since 1885. Before the
+adoption of the biennial sessions of the Legislature, there were
+usually conferences at Columbus in midwinter to influence legislation,
+and different members remained there for weeks. Mrs. Sarah C.
+Schrader, Mrs. Martha H. Elwell and Mrs. Louisa Southworth rendered
+especially valuable service in such matters.
+
+Mrs. Southworth, in her home at Cleveland, also had charge of the
+systematic enrollment of persons indorsing woman suffrage, which has
+been very effective in answering the objection that women do not want
+to vote. This was begun in 1888, when she was made national
+superintendent of enrollment, as she was a thorough advocate of this
+method of petition. Bills for woman suffrage introduced into the
+Legislature need the backing of many names, and in this way more can
+be added each year. The blanks are headed: "We believe that women
+should vote on equal terms with men;" and an effort is made to keep
+the names of men and women separate. The original lists are carefully
+preserved, but typewritten copies for reference are made and
+classified according to towns, counties and Congressional districts,
+pains being taken each year not to register duplicates. The entire
+expenses, amounting to several thousand dollars, have been borne by
+Mrs. Southworth. All of the canvassers have contributed their
+services.[404]
+
+Good educational work has been done through Woman's Day at colleges,
+camp meetings and county fairs. A memorable occasion was that of the
+Centennial Celebration of the city of Cleveland in 1896. One day was
+devoted to the consideration of the advancement of woman in
+philanthropy, education, domestic science, etc. Although the speakers
+had been requested not to touch upon the question of her political
+enfranchisement, three women indirectly mentioned it and these
+received the heartiest applause of any brought out in the course of a
+whole day of able speechmaking. One of them was not permitted to
+retire until she acknowledged in a graceful word or two the enthusiasm
+of the audience. The committee having charge of this celebration asked
+a woman in each township on the Western Reserve to gather facts in
+regard to its early women, and over 200 granted the request. These
+papers when published made four volumes of valuable information
+respecting the pioneer women of this famous section of Ohio.
+
+In 1896 the Rev. Henrietta G. Moore, a Universalist minister of
+Springfield, and Miss Laura A. Gregg of Kansas, visited seventeen
+towns and cities in the interest of the State W. S. A. and formed
+numerous organizations.
+
+A conference of national and State officers, with several public
+meetings, was held at Toledo in the autumn of 1897, Mrs. Fray,
+president of Lucas County, making the arrangements. The following
+spring Mrs. Harriet Brown Stanton of Cincinnati did the preparatory
+work for a two days' meeting in that city, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw,
+vice-president-at-large, and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the
+organization committee of the National Association, being the
+speakers.
+
+In the spring of 1900 Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, president of the
+State association, visited fifteen principal towns preparing the way
+for organization, while in others plans were made by correspondence.
+Five persons participated in the campaign made later: Miss Shaw and
+Mrs. Chapman Catt as speakers, each contributing two weeks of time;
+Miss Harriet May Mills and Miss Mary G. Hay, of New York, national
+organizers; Mrs. Upton accompanying the party. The object was to
+ascertain suffrage sentiment and to organize the northwestern part of
+the State. The next work was done in the southern part, Ohio women
+making the arrangements and Dr. Frances Woods of Iowa acting as
+speaker and organizer. At the close of 1900 the State had twice as
+many members as the year before, with vastly increased interest and
+activity. This growth was due to many causes, not least among them
+being the work and inspiration of Miss Elizabeth J. Hauser, who was
+corresponding secretary for five years, and for ten has scarcely
+missed a convention.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION: In 1888 the Legislature was asked to submit to the
+voters an amendment giving Full Suffrage to women. This measure was
+lost, and a Municipal Suffrage Bill met a like fate.
+
+In 1889 a bill for Full Suffrage was defeated in the Senate by 19
+ayes, 9 noes, a three-fifths majority being required.
+
+In 1890 a similar bill was introduced in the House and discussed at
+length. It received 54 ayes, 47 noes, but not a constitutional
+majority.
+
+In 1891 the Legislature was petitioned without result, and in 1892 and
+1893 School Suffrage Bills were defeated by small majorities.
+
+It was enacted in 1893 that mayors in cities of 10,000 inhabitants and
+upward shall furnish proper quarters for women and female children
+under arrest, and that these shall be out of sight of the rooms and
+cells where male prisoners are confined. The law further provides for
+the appointment of police matrons.
+
+In 1894 a Municipal Suffrage Bill was introduced but was not reported
+from committee. This year, however, School Suffrage was granted to
+women.
+
+To Mrs. Caroline McCullough Everhard and Mrs. Katherine B. Claypole,
+president and recording secretary of the State W. S. A., women are
+largely indebted for this law. Like all reform measures, it was
+preceded by many discouraging defeats. In 1892 a bill was introduced
+into the House by E. W. Doty, providing that women should vote for and
+serve as members of school boards. It was lost by seven votes,
+reconsidered in the adjourned session of 1893 and lost again by six
+votes. Another bill was introduced into the House in January, 1894, by
+Gustavus A. Wood, but was defeated by 47 ayes, 43 noes. Mrs. Everhard
+then made an earnest appeal to Senator William T. Clark to introduce
+the same bill. He promptly acceded and it passed the Senate on April
+10 by 20 ayes, 6 noes. It was returned to the House and passed April
+24 by 55 ayes, 26 noes, 11 not voting. Mr. Clark at once sent a
+telegram to the president of the association: "Woman suffrage bill a
+law; truth is mighty yet."
+
+In 1894 the Legislature was asked to enact a law making women eligible
+as trustees of homes and asylums for women and children. The request
+was refused on the ground that the law would be declared
+unconstitutional because such trustees must be electors.
+
+In 1896 Free Traveling Libraries were established.
+
+In 1898 the Legislature provided that a woman could be a notary
+public. Two months later the law was declared unconstitutional, as
+notaries must be electors.
+
+LAWS: In 1884 a law was enacted giving a married woman the right to
+sue and be sued and to proceed in various other matters as if
+unmarried. Her personal property and real estate were liable to
+judgment, but she was entitled to the benefits of all exemptions to
+heads of families.
+
+In 1887 married women obtained absolute control of their own property.
+This act gave a wife the right to enter into any engagements or
+transactions with her husband, or any other person, to hold and
+dispose of real and personal property and to make contracts.
+
+Dower was retained but curtesy abolished, except for a man married
+before 1887 and regarding property owned by his wife before that date.
+Either husband or wife on the death of the other is now entitled to
+one-third of the real estate for life. If either die without a will,
+and there are no children or their legal representatives living, all
+the real estate passes to the survivor, and the personal property
+subject to the debts. If there are children, or their legal
+representatives, the widow or widower is entitled to one-half of the
+first $400, and to one-third of the remainder subject to distribution.
+A homestead not exceeding $1,000 in value may be reserved for the
+widow.
+
+In 1893 it was made legal for a married woman to act as guardian; and
+in 1894 as executor or administrator.
+
+By the code of 1892 the father is legal guardian of the children and
+may appoint a guardian by will, even of one unborn. If he has
+abandoned the mother, she has custody.
+
+The husband must support his wife and minor children by his property
+or labor, but if he is unable to do so, the wife must assist as far as
+she is able. The father or, when charged with maintenance thereof, the
+mother of a legitimate or illegitimate child under sixteen, who being
+able, either by reason of having means or by labor or earnings, shall
+neglect or refuse to provide such child with proper home, care, food
+and clothing; or, if said child is a legal inmate of the county or
+district children's home, shall refuse to pay the reasonable cost of
+its keeping, shall upon conviction be guilty of felony and punished by
+imprisonment in the penitentiary for not more than three years nor
+less than one, or in a county jail or workhouse at hard labor for not
+more than one year nor less than three months.
+
+In 1887 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 12
+years; in 1894 from 12 to 14; in 1896 from 14 to 16. The penalty is
+imprisonment not more than twenty nor less than three years.
+
+SUFFRAGE: The law of 1894 permits women, on the same terms as men, to
+vote for members of the boards of education (trustees), but not for
+State Commissioner (superintendent) nor on any question of bonds or
+appropriations. There are no county commissioners in Ohio.
+
+The history of this law, after it passed into the Revised Statutes, is
+as follows: In December, 1894, Mrs. Ida M. Earnhart of Columbus, whose
+husband, Senator M. B. Earnhart, had championed the bill, was one of
+the first women to register for voting at the school election to be
+held the next April. For the purpose of a test case a written request
+was made of the board of elections to strike her name from the list;
+they refused and suit was brought in the name of the State of Ohio
+against the board and Mrs. Earnhart. The case was argued in the
+Circuit Court of Franklin County in January, 1895. Mrs. Caroline
+McCullough Everhard, president of the State W. S. A., attended the
+hearing. Senators William T. Clark and M. B. Earnhart ably defended
+the law. On February 1 the decision was rendered by Judge J. G.
+Shauck, Judges Charles G. Shearer and Gilbert H. Stewart concurring in
+the opinion, which declared the law to be constitutional. The case was
+appealed to the Supreme Court, where the decision of the lower court
+was sustained. This completed the victory which the State suffrage
+association had worked so hard to win. More than 30,000 women voted at
+the first election following. In the spring of 1902, 14,800 women
+registered in Cleveland and 80 per cent. voted.
+
+Everything was quiet until the winter of 1898, when the activity of
+the suffragists was again called out by the introduction into the
+House of a bill by A. J. Hazlett to repeal the School Suffrage law.
+The board of elections of Cleveland had asked for this. Forthwith
+letters were sent to all the suffrage clubs by Mrs. Everhard, and
+requests were made to many prominent persons to use their influence
+against it. Protesting petitions were circulated and, with more than
+40,000 names, were sent to the Legislature in a very short time. On
+Feb. 10, 1898, members of the legislative committee of the State W. S.
+A. appeared before the House Committee on Elections and spoke against
+the bill. Through courtesy to Mr. Hazlett, who was a member of this
+committee, it was reported back, but without recommendation, and when
+brought to a vote in the House it was overwhelmingly defeated--76
+against repeal, 22 in favor.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: No woman can be elected or appointed to any office,
+with the exception of that of school trustee, as the statutes provide
+that all incumbents must be electors. The same law applies to the
+boards of all State institutions. It also prevents women from serving
+as notaries public.
+
+They can act as deputies, since these are considered merely as clerks.
+The law specifies that women can be Probate Court deputies because
+minors are eligible to that office.
+
+Women can not be State School Commissioners, and there is no office of
+county commissioner. They are serving acceptably on the school boards
+of various towns and cities, but no official record is anywhere kept
+of the exact number.[405]
+
+A law of 1892 says: "In all asylums for the insane there shall be
+employed at least one female physician." There are eight such
+institutions in the State and at present only four have women
+physicians.
+
+The same year it was made mandatory on every Judge of Common Pleas to
+appoint in his county a board of visitors consisting of three men and
+three women, whose duty it is to make periodical visits to the
+correctional and charitable institutions of the county and to act as
+guardians _ad litem_ to delinquent children.
+
+A law of 1893 requires police matrons in all cities of 10,000
+inhabitants and over. They must be more than thirty years old, of good
+moral character and sound physical health, and must have the
+indorsement of at least ten women residents of good standing. Their
+salary is fixed at not less than two-thirds of the minimum salary paid
+to patrolmen in the same city, and they may serve for life unless they
+are discharged.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to
+women.
+
+EDUCATION: Oberlin was the first co-educational college in the United
+States (1833). Antioch was the second (1853). The State University and
+all other State institutions of learning always have been open to both
+sexes alike. Of the thirty-four colleges and universities twenty-seven
+are co-educational, five are for men and two for women. There are
+seventy-nine higher educational institutions other than colleges, such
+as academies, normal and business schools, theological seminaries,
+etc. Of these eight are for men, ten for women, fifty-nine
+co-educational and two without statistics.
+
+In the public schools there are 10,556 men and 15,156 women teachers.
+The average monthly salary of the men is $50; of the women, $40.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Ohio is one of the leading States in the number of women's clubs--289,
+with a membership of 10,300, being enrolled in the General Federation.
+It was principally through the efforts of this large body of women
+that a bill was passed in 1896 providing for Traveling Free Libraries
+and 900 are now in circulation, more than in any other State. It also
+was instrumental in securing a bill for the establishment of State
+Normal Schools in connection with Ohio and Miami Universities.
+
+The Rookwood Pottery of Cincinnati, which has more than a national
+reputation, is the result of the intelligence and well directed
+efforts of a woman--Mrs. Maria Longworth Nichols (now Mrs. Bellamy
+Storer). Inspired by the Japanese display at the Centennial Exposition
+in Philadelphia, in 1876, she began experimenting with the clays of
+the Ohio valley and eventually developed the exquisite pottery which
+is found in every art museum and large private collection in the
+country, and whose manufacture employs a number of skilled artists.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[402] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Harriet Taylor
+Upton of Warren, treasurer of the National-American Woman Suffrage
+Association since 1892 and president of the State association.
+
+[403] Presidents of the State association: Frances M. Casement,
+1885-1888, Martha H. Elwell, 1888-1891, Caroline McCullough Everhard,
+1891-1898, Harriet Brown Stanton, 1898-1899, Harriet Taylor Upton,
+1899 and now serving.
+
+State Conventions: Painesville, 1885, Toledo, 1886, Cleveland, 1887;
+Chillicothe, 1888, Akron, 1889, Massillon, 1890, Warren, 1891, Salem,
+1892, Delaware, 1893, Cincinnati, 1894, Ashtabula, 1895, Alliance,
+1897, Cincinnati, 1898, Akron, 1899, Athens, 1900. During the
+Presidential campaign of 1896, when William McKinley, a resident of
+Ohio, was a candidate, the excitement was so intense that it was
+thought wise to abandon the convention, which was to have been held in
+October at Springfield.
+
+[404] When the State Suffrage Association decided to abandon this
+work, Mrs. Southworth was elected State superintendent of franchise by
+the W. C. T. U. and the enrollment was continued. At their national
+convention, in 1901, it showed 50,000 names and aroused great
+enthusiasm. Of these, 9,650 were collected in the four cities of
+Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and Toledo; during the year 7,500
+names had been added to the list. The system has been adopted by the
+unions in many States.
+
+[405] Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, the author of this chapter, is now
+serving her second term on the board of education in Warren, O. In the
+spring of 1898 the local political equality club determined to have
+some women in this position and selected Mrs. Upton and Mrs. Carrie P.
+Harrington. Two vacancies having occurred, the board (which fills such
+vacancies) was asked to appoint them but refused. Their names
+therefore were presented to the Republican caucus in the spring of
+1898. Instead of two candidates, as usual, there were four, as the two
+vacancies were to be filled for the remainder of the term. The board
+and the politicians still refused to recommend the women, so six names
+went before the caucus. The women were asked whether they wanted to
+run for the short term to fill the vacancies or for the full term of
+three years. They refused to say, but simply asked that their names
+should be considered. They had little hope of anything but to fill the
+vacancies, as the president and treasurer of the present board were
+candidates for the long term. The night of the caucus was very stormy,
+but the women of the city turned out in force and, with the assistance
+of the men, the two women were nominated for the long term. A
+Republican nomination is equivalent to an election in Warren.
+
+The board was magnanimous, both ladies were placed on committees and
+most courteously treated. The next year Mrs. Upton was made chairman
+of the most important committee, that on supplies, buildings and
+grounds, which expends nine tenths of all the money used by the board.
+The other woman member was added to this committee when the new
+grammar school was begun in 1899. It is considered one of the best
+ventilated and best planned buildings in that part of the State.
+
+In the spring of 1901 both were triumphantly re-elected. Mrs. Upton
+was continued as chairman of her committee, and Mrs. Harrington was
+made chairman of the next in importance, that on text books. [Eds.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIX.
+
+OKLAHOMA.[406]
+
+
+Oklahoma Territory was opened to settlement April 22, 1889, and its
+first woman's organization was the Woman's Christian Temperance Union,
+founded in Guthrie, March 10, 1890, by Mrs. Margaret O. Rhodes, under
+the direction of Miss Frances E. Willard. In the following April a
+convention was called at Oklahoma City, delegates coming from ten
+societies, and Mrs. Rhodes was elected president. In October, 1890,
+the first annual convention was held in Guthrie, the capital, Mrs.
+Alice Williams of Missouri being the principal speaker. The first
+Legislature was in session and she also addressed this body making a
+strong plea for legislation in favor of temperance and woman suffrage.
+
+In 1895 Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the organization
+committee of the National Suffrage Association, arranged for a
+lecturer to visit all the principal towns on the Rock Island and Santa
+Fe Railroads, and Miss Laura A. Gregg of Kansas was selected for this
+pioneer work. She came into the Territory the first week in October
+and lectured in twelve places, forming clubs. Her campaign closed at
+Guthrie where the first suffrage convention was held, November 11, 12,
+and an association organized. Miss Margaret Rees was elected
+president,[407] Mrs. J. R. Keaton, secretary, and Mrs. R. W. Southard,
+delegate to the national convention.
+
+Mrs. Julia B. Nelson of Minnesota was sent into the Territory by the
+National Association for three months in May, 1896. She spoke in
+twenty-three towns, organizing a number of clubs, and on June 7, 8,
+closed her work with a mass meeting in Guthrie.
+
+The third convention was held in Perry, Nov. 13, 14, 1897, Mrs. Laura
+M. Johns of Kansas being present as the chief speaker. Mrs. Celia Z.
+Titus was elected president; Margaret Rees, corresponding secretary;
+Sarah L. Bosworth, recording secretary; Eva A. Crosby, treasurer.
+
+In September, 1898, Miss Mary G. Hay, organizer for the National
+Suffrage Association, arranged for a campaign, preparatory to asking
+the Legislature to grant woman suffrage, as in a Territory full
+suffrage can be given by legislative enactment. In October Mrs.
+Chapman Catt came on and meetings were held in the chief towns, where
+committees were appointed to look after petitions and other necessary
+work. This series of meetings closed November 6, 7, with the annual
+convention in Oklahoma City. Mrs. Rhodes was elected president, Mrs.
+Della Jenkins, vice-president, Miss Rees continued as secretary, Mrs.
+Minnie D. Storm made treasurer.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION: In the first Legislature, in 1890, specific work
+was begun for woman suffrage. When the law regarding the franchise was
+under discussion a petition was presented praying that it should read,
+"Every citizen of the age of 21 shall have a right to vote," instead
+of "every male citizen." A proposition for this was lost by three
+votes in the House and was not considered by the Council. School
+Suffrage was granted to women.
+
+In 1897 a bill asking for the enfranchisement of women was prepared by
+Miss Margaret Rees and introduced in the House, where it was carried
+by a vote of 13 yeas, 9 nays, but was killed in the Council. Mrs.
+Johns, who had been sent by the National Association, labored most
+earnestly for the bill and won hundreds of friends for the cause by
+her wise council and able management.
+
+After the suffrage convention in 1898, described above, Miss Hay
+returned to New York and Miss Laura A. Gregg was appointed by the
+National Association to co-operate with the Oklahoma women in securing
+the franchise from the Legislature of 1899. Their efforts and the
+results were thus related in the report to the National Suffrage
+Convention at Grand Rapids, Mich., in April, by Mrs. Chapman Catt, who
+had remained in Guthrie most of the winter looking after the interests
+of the bill with the discretion and ability for which she is
+distinguished:
+
+     Last November headquarters were opened in a business block at
+     Guthrie, in charge of Miss Gregg, from which an active
+     correspondence was conducted, resulting in a large petition and a
+     constant accession of new recruits. There was a most thorough
+     system of press work, nearly every newspaper in the Territory
+     aiding the movement. The strongest and best men espoused our
+     cause and the outlook seemed propitious. The Legislature convened
+     the first week in January, but an unfortunate quarrel arose
+     between it and the Governor which hindered legislation and
+     compelled our campaign to drag throughout the entire sixty days'
+     session. Miss Gregg continued her work at headquarters during the
+     winter, and Miss Hay spent a month in Guthrie looking after the
+     interests of our bill. It finally passed the house, 14 yeas, 10
+     nays, the week before the session was to close, and immediately
+     the opposition concentrated its efforts on the Council. However,
+     a majority were pledged to support our measure, and we felt
+     little fear.
+
+     As soon as the news spread that the bill was through the House, a
+     telegram was received by each member of the Council from the
+     Albany (N. Y.) women remonstrants. These were not all phrased
+     alike, but each asked the recipient: "What can be done to defeat
+     the woman suffrage bill? Answer at our expense." At nearly the
+     same moment, the chief agent of the Saloonkeepers' League, an
+     association recently organized, as they claimed, "to protect our
+     interests from unjust legislation," appeared upon the scene. Only
+     a week remained of the legislative session. Whether this agent of
+     the Oklahoma saloons came at the invitation of the Albany
+     remonstrants, or the Albany remonstrants sent their telegrams
+     offering assistance at the instigation of the Saloonkeepers'
+     League, or whether their simultaneous appearance was by chance, I
+     am unable to say. That they appeared together seems significant.
+     If they work as distinct forces, a study in the vagaries of the
+     human reason is presented in the motives offered to the public by
+     these two organizations. The Albany remonstrants would protect
+     the sweet womanly dignity of Oklahoma women from the debasing
+     influence of politics. The Saloonkeepers' League would save the
+     debasing influence of politics from the sweet womanly dignity of
+     Oklahoma women. So these Albany women, who never fail to inform
+     the public of their devotion to the church, join hands with the
+     Oklahoma saloonkeepers, who never fail to declare that the church
+     is a fanatical obstacle to personal liberty. A queer union it is,
+     but some day the world will discover the mystery which has
+     consummated it!
+
+     It so happened that in this Legislature there was a member who
+     for thirty years, in a neighboring State, had been an avowed
+     friend of suffrage. This was known to all Oklahoma, and even the
+     enemies expected him to lead our forces in the Council. This man
+     not only betrayed us, but headed the opposition in a
+     filibustering effort to keep the bill from coming to a final vote
+     and succeeded. Now, why did he fail us? Did he renounce the faith
+     of a lifetime? No. Did the suffragists offend him? No; but even
+     if they had done so a man of character does not change his views
+     in a moment for a personal whim. Why, then, this change? Any
+     member of the Legislature, for or against suffrage, if he would
+     speak as frankly to others as he did to us, would tell you it was
+     for money. Rumor was plentiful stating the amount and the donor.
+     The saloons all over Oklahoma, with a remarkable unanimity of
+     knowledge, boasted beforehand that the bill was killed and that
+     this man was the instrument which they had used, and while they
+     were boasting he was conferring with us and promising us his
+     faithful support, hoping to conduct the filibustering so adroitly
+     that we could not detect his hand in it....
+
+     To come to the main point, we had won the victory but a crime
+     robbed us of it. Suffragists know how to bear defeats with
+     fortitude, for each one is only a milestone showing the progress
+     made on a journey, but a defeat by the defection of a friend is a
+     new thing in the history of our movement.
+
+Dr. Delos Walker of Oklahoma City was one of those who assisted in
+every way possible to give the ballot to the women of the Territory.
+Dr. C. F. McElwrath of Enid championed the bill in the House and
+secured its passage over the head of every opponent. The efforts of
+the women were supplemented also by those of Senator I. A. Gandey and
+Representative William H. Merten, both of Guthrie, and T. F. Hensley
+of El Reno, editor of the _Democrat_.
+
+LAWS: Dower and curtesy do not obtain. If either husband or wife die
+without a will, leaving only one child or the lawful issue of one
+child, the survivor receives one-half of both real and personal
+property. If there is more than one child or one child and descendants
+of one or more deceased children, the widow or widower receives
+one-third of the estate. If there is no issue living the survivor
+receives one-half; and if there is neither issue, father, mother,
+brother nor sister, the survivor takes the whole estate. A homestead
+may be occupied by the widow or widower until otherwise disposed of
+according to law.
+
+Husband or wife may mortgage or convey separate property without the
+consent of the other.
+
+A married woman may sue and be sued and make contracts in her own
+name. She may carry on business as a sole trader and her earnings and
+wages are her sole and separate property.
+
+The usual causes for divorce exist but only a 90 days' residence is
+required. A wife may sue for alimony without divorce. In cases where
+both parties are equally at fault the court may refuse divorce but
+provide for the custody and maintenance of children and equitable
+division of property.
+
+The father is the legal guardian of the children. At his death the
+mother becomes the guardian, if a suitable person, but if she
+remarries the guardianship passes to the second husband.
+
+The husband is expected to furnish a suitable support for the family,
+but no punishment is prescribed for a failure to do this.
+
+No law existed for the protection of girls until 1890 when the age was
+made 14 years. In 1895 it was raised to 16 years. The penalty is first
+degree (under 14), imprisonment not less than ten years; second degree
+(under 16), not less than five years. In both cases the girl must have
+been "of previous chaste character."
+
+SUFFRAGE: The first Territorial Legislature (1890) granted School
+Suffrage to the extent of a vote for trustees.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: Women may hold all school offices. Eleven of the
+twenty-three counties have women superintendents. They are not
+eligible to State offices but are not prohibited by law from any
+county offices. One woman is registrar of deeds and one is deputy U.
+S. marshal. There are at the present time about one hundred women
+notaries public.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to
+women. Ten hours is made a legal working day.
+
+EDUCATION: All educational institutions are open alike to both sexes.
+In the public schools there are 914 men and 1,268 women teachers. The
+average monthly salary of the men is $31.93; of the women, $26.20.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Thirty Federated Clubs in Oklahoma, with over 700 members, are taking
+up successfully a great variety of public work. Guthrie contains eight
+of these, with a membership of more than one hundred, and the library
+committee has succeeded in starting a library, which has now seven
+hundred volumes.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[406] The History is indebted for material for this chapter to Mrs.
+Margaret Olive Rhodes of Guthrie, president of the Territorial Woman
+Suffrage Association.
+
+[407] Mrs. Rachel Rees Griffith and her two daughters are known as the
+Mothers of Equal Suffrage in Oklahoma. Miss Margaret was the first
+Territorial president, while no one has done more in the local club of
+Guthrie than Miss Rachel. Mrs. Griffith is nearly eighty years of age,
+but fully expects to live to see the women of Oklahoma enjoying the
+full franchise.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LX.
+
+OREGON.[408]
+
+
+After the defeat of the woman suffrage amendment in 1884 no organized
+effort was made for ten years, although quiet educational work was
+done. On the Fourth of July, 1894, a meeting was called at the
+residence of Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway in Portland and a committee
+formed which met every week for several months thereafter. Woman's Day
+was celebrated at the convention of the State Horticultural
+Association, in September, by invitation of its president, William
+Salloway. Addresses were made by N. W. Kinney and Mrs. Duniway, and
+Governor Lord and his wife were on the platform. On October 27 a mass
+meeting was held at Marquam Grand Theater, at which a State
+organization was effected and a constitution adopted which had been
+prepared by the committee.[409]
+
+In January, 1895, the association secured from the Legislature a bill
+for the submission of a woman suffrage amendment, which it would be
+necessary for a second Legislature to pass upon. The annual meeting of
+the State Association was held at Portland in November as quietly as
+possible, it being the aim to avoid arousing the two extremes of
+society, consisting of the slum classes on the one hand and the
+ultra-conservative on the other, who instinctively pull together
+against all progress. Officers were elected as usual and the work went
+on in persistent quietude.
+
+The convention of 1896 met in Portland, November 16.[410] Mrs.
+Duniway, the honorary president, was made acting president, that
+officer having left the State; Mrs. H. A. Laughary, honorary
+president; Dr. Annice F. Jeffreys, vice-president-at-large; Ada
+Cornish Hertsche, vice-president; Frances E. Gotshall, corresponding
+secretary; Mary Schaffer Ward, recording secretary; Mrs. A. E.
+Hackett, assistant secretary; Jennie C. Pritchard, treasurer. These
+State officers were re-elected without change until November, 1898,
+when Mrs. W. H. Games was chosen recording secretary and Mrs. H. W.
+Coe, treasurer. In 1899, and again in 1900, Mrs. Eunice Pond Athey,
+formerly of Idaho, became assistant secretary.
+
+The year 1896 was a period of continuous effort on the part of the
+State officers to disseminate suffrage sentiment in more or less
+indirect ways, so that other organizations of whatever name or nature
+might look upon the proposed amendment with favor. Early in this year
+the executive committee decided to organize a Woman's Congress and
+secure the affiliation of all branches of women's patriotic,
+philanthropic and literary work, to be managed by the suffrage
+association. It was resolved also to obtain if possible the attendance
+of Miss Susan B. Anthony, president of the National Association, who
+was at that time in the midst of the amendment campaign in California.
+
+Never has there been a more successful public function in Oregon than
+this Congress of Women, which was held the first week in June, 1896,
+with Miss Anthony as its bright particular star. The love of the
+people for the great leader was universally expressed, socially as
+well as publicly. The speakers represented all lines of woman's
+work--education, art, science, medicine, sanitation, literature, the
+duties of motherhood, philanthropy, reform--but sectarian and
+political questions were excluded. It was most interesting to note the
+clever manner in which almost all the speakers sandwiched their
+speeches and papers with suffrage sentiments, and also the hearty
+applause which followed every allusion to the proposed amendment from
+the audiences that packed the spacious Taylor Street Church to
+overflowing. Mrs. Sarah B. Cooper, the noted San Francisco
+philanthropist, was a special attraction and made many converts to
+woman suffrage by her beautiful presence and eloquent words.
+
+For ten consecutive days in July commodious headquarters were
+maintained at the Willamette Valley Chautauqua, under the supervision
+of the State recording secretary, Mrs. Ward. The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw
+Day was the most successful one of the assembly. Miss Shaw spoke as if
+inspired, and afterward a large reception was held in her honor.
+
+Thirty-six regular meetings and four mass meetings were held by the
+suffrage association during the year.
+
+The Woman's Club movement had by this time assumed important
+proportions among society women, under the tactful management of that
+staunch advocate of equal rights, Mrs. A. H. H. Stuart; and the
+suffragists joined heartily in the new organization, which, in spite
+of its non-political character, strengthened the current of public
+opinion in behalf of the proposed amendment.
+
+The Oregon Emergency Corps and Red Cross Society became another
+tacitly acknowledged auxiliary. The Oregon Pioneer Association
+approved the amendment by unanimous resolution, and the State Grange,
+the Grand Army of the Republic, the Woman's Christian Temperance
+Union, the Good Templars, the Knights of Labor, the Printers' Union,
+the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and other organizations were
+recognized allies.
+
+In 1898 the second Woman's Congress took place at Portland in April
+under the auspices of the executive committee of the State E. S. A.,
+forty affiliated societies of women participating.
+
+The suffrage business for this year was all transacted in executive
+sessions, and no convention held.
+
+Woman's Day at the Willamette Valley Chautauqua in July, when forty
+different organizations of men and women were represented, was a great
+success. Suffrage addresses were given by Mrs. Alice Moore McComas of
+California, Dr. Frances Woods of Iowa, and Mrs. Games. Col. R. A.
+Miller, the president, himself an ardent suffragist, extended an
+invitation for the following year.
+
+In 1899 Mrs. Duniway was invited by the Legislature to take part in
+the joint proceedings of the two Houses in honor of forty years of
+Statehood.
+
+This year, in preparation for the election at which the woman suffrage
+amendment submitted by the Legislature of 1899 was to be voted on, 106
+parlor meetings were held, 30,000 pieces of literature distributed,
+and the names and addresses of 30,000 voters in fourteen counties
+collected. Mrs. Duniway spoke by special invitation to a number of the
+various orders and fraternities of men throughout the State, most of
+whom indorsed the amendment. The usual headquarters were maintained
+during the Fair, under the management of Dr. Jeffreys.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION: The Legislature, having changed its time of
+meeting from September in the even years to January in the odd ones,
+convened in 1895. Through the efforts of its leading members, a bill
+passed both Houses in February to submit again a woman suffrage
+amendment to the voters. The resolution proposing it was carried
+without debate in the House by 41 ayes--including that of Speaker
+Moore--11 noes. In the Senate the vote was 17 ayes, 11 noes. As
+Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway was lecturing in Idaho, the State
+suffrage association was represented at this Legislature by its
+vice-president-at-large, Dr. Annice F. Jeffreys.
+
+The meeting of the Legislature of 1897 found the women ready and
+waiting for the necessary ratification of the amendment; but the
+Solons of the non-emotional sex fell to quarreling among themselves
+over the United States senatorial plum and, being unable to agree on a
+choice of candidates, refused to organize for any kind of business, so
+another biennial period of public inactivity was enforced upon the
+suffragists.
+
+The Legislature convened in January, 1899, and with it came the
+long-delayed opportunity. Mrs. Duniway and Dr. Jeffreys had charge of
+the Suffrage Amendment Bill. They were recognized by prominent
+members, and admitted by vote to the privileges of the floor in each
+House. Senator C. W. Fulton, who had distinguished himself as the
+champion of the amendment in 1880 and 1882, was requested by them to
+carry their banner to victory once more. He assured them that
+personally he was willing, but said so many bills on all sorts of
+side issues had been insisted upon by women that the members were not
+in a mood to listen to any more propositions from persons who had no
+votes.
+
+The ladies did not press the matter, but for days they furnished
+short, pithy letters to the papers of the capital city, answering
+fully all of the usual objections to woman suffrage. They also sent an
+open letter to each member of the Legislature, explaining that this
+plea for equal rights was based wholly upon the fundamental principle
+of self-government, and not made in the interest of any one reform. In
+this were enclosed to every Republican member Clarkson on Suffrage in
+Colorado and Clara Barton's Appeal to Voters; to every Democrat her
+Appeal and some other document, taking care to keep off of partisan
+toes. At length Senators Fulton and Brownell, leaders in the Upper
+House, considered the time ripe for calling up the amendment, which
+was at once sent in regular order of business to the Lower House,
+where it was referred to the Judiciary Committee and--buried.
+
+Finally Senator Fulton secured a request from the Senate that the bill
+be returned for further consideration, and a hearing was made a
+special order of business. The room was filled with ladies and Mrs.
+Duniway was asked to present the claims of the women of the State,
+over half of whom, through their various societies, had asked for the
+submission of the amendment. On the roll-call which followed the vote
+stood 25 ayes, one no.
+
+The measure was made a special order of business in the House the same
+evening. The hall was crowded with spectators, Mrs. Duniway spoke ten
+minutes from the Speaker's desk, and the roll-call resulted in 48
+ayes, 6 noes.
+
+A feature of the proceedings was the presentation by one of the
+members, in a long speech, of a large collection of documents sent by
+the Anti-Suffrage Association of Women in New York and Massachusetts.
+The preceding autumn they had sent a salaried agent, Miss Emily P.
+Bissell of Delaware, to canvass the State against the bill.
+
+The succeeding campaign was very largely in the nature of a "still
+hunt." Mrs. Ida Crouch Hazlett, of Colorado, held meetings for two
+months in counties away from the railroads and did effective work
+among the voters of the border. Miss Lena Morrow, of Illinois, also
+did good service for some time preceding election, in visiting the
+various fraternal associations of men in the city of Portland, by whom
+she was generally accorded a gracious hearing. These ladies
+represented the National Association.[411]
+
+All went well until about two weeks before election day, June 6, 1900,
+and the measure in all probability would have carried had it not been
+for the slum vote of Portland and Astoria, which was stirred up and
+called out by the _Oregonian_, edited by H. W. Scott, the most
+influential newspaper in the State. It was the only paper, out of 229,
+which opposed the amendment. But notwithstanding its terrible
+onslaught, over 48 per cent. of all the votes which were cast upon the
+amendment were in its favor. Twenty-one out of the thirty-three
+counties gave handsome majorities; one county was lost by one vote,
+one by 23 and one by 31.
+
+The vote on the amendment in 1884 was 11,223 ayes; 28,176 noes. In
+1900 it stood 26,265 ayes; 28,402 noes. Although the population had
+more than doubled in the cities, where the slum vote is naturally the
+heaviest and is always against woman suffrage, the total increase of
+the "noes" of the State was only 226, while in the same time the
+"ayes" had been augmented by 15,042.
+
+LAWS: If either husband or wife die without a will and there are no
+descendants living, all the real estate and personal property go to
+the survivor. If there is issue living, the widow receives one-half of
+the husband's real estate and one-half of his personal property. The
+widower takes a life interest in all the wife's real estate, whether
+there are children or not, and all of her personal property absolutely
+if there are no living descendants, half of it if there are any.
+
+All laws have been repealed that recognize civil disabilities of the
+wife which are not recognized as existing against the husband, except
+as to voting and holding office.
+
+By registering as a sole trader a married woman can carry on business
+in her own name.
+
+In 1880 the Legislature enacted that "henceforth the rights and
+responsibilities of the parents, in the absence of misconduct, shall
+be equal, and the mother shall be as fully entitled to the custody and
+control of the children and their earnings as the father, and in case
+of the father's death the mother shall come into as full and complete
+control of the children and their estate as the father does in case of
+the mother's death."
+
+If the husband does not support the family, the wife may apply to the
+Circuit Court and the Judge may issue such decree as he thinks
+equitable, generally conforming to that in divorce cases, and may have
+power to enforce its orders as in other equity cases.
+
+The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 14 in 1864 and
+from 14 to 16 years in 1895. The penalty is imprisonment not less than
+three nor more than twenty years. The fact that the victim was a
+common prostitute or the defendant's mistress is no excuse.
+
+SUFFRAGE: In 1878 an Act was passed entitling women to vote for school
+trustees and for bonds and appropriations for school purposes, if they
+have property of their own in the school district upon which they or
+their husbands pay taxes.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: Women are not eligible to any elective office, except
+that of school trustee.
+
+An old law permitted women to fill the offices of State and county
+superintendents of schools, but it was contested in 1896 by a defeated
+male candidate and declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
+
+Women can not sit on any State boards.
+
+They are employed as court stenographers, and in various subordinate
+appointive offices. They may serve as notaries.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to
+women.
+
+EDUCATION: All the large educational institutions are open to women.
+In the public schools there are 1,250 men and 2,443 women teachers.
+The average monthly salary of the men is $43; of the women, $34.81.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[408] The History is indebted for the material for this chapter to
+Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway of Portland, honorary president of the
+State Equal Suffrage Association and always at the head of the
+movement in Oregon.
+
+[409] Dr. Frances A. Cady, Lydia Hunt King, Eugenie M. Shearer,
+Charlotte De Hillier Barmore, Mary Schaffer Ward, Gertrude J. Denny,
+Alice J. McArty, Ada Cornish Hertsche, Maria C. DeLashmutt, Cora
+Parsons Duniway, Frances Moreland Harvey and Abigail Scott Duniway.
+
+[410] Department superintendents chosen: Evangelical work, Mrs.
+Charlotte De Hillier Barmore; press, Mrs. Eugenie M. Shearer; round
+table, Mrs. Julia H. Bauer; music, Mrs. H. R. Duniway, Mrs. A. E.
+Hackett; Cooper Medal contests, H. D. Harford and Mrs. S. M. Kern;
+health and heredity. Dr. Mary A. Leonard; legislation and petitions,
+Dr. Annice F. Jeffreys, Mrs. Duniway. Fifteen counties were
+represented by Dr. Annie C. Reed and Mesdames F. M. Alfred, R. A.
+Bensell, F. O. McCown, A. A. Cleveland, F. M. Lockhart, J. H. Upton,
+J. L. Curry, A. R. Burbank, M. E. Thompson, J. W. Virtue, A. S.
+Patterson, A. C. Hertsche and J. J. Murphy.
+
+[411] The chairmen of the county committees were Miss Belle
+Trullinger, now the wife of Gov. T. T. Geer, and Mesdames R. A.
+Bensell, J. A. Blackaby, Thomas Cornelius, S. T. Child, C. H. Dye, W.
+R. Ellis, J. B. Eaton, P. L. Fountain, J. B. Huntington, Almira
+Hurley, T. B. Handley, Ellen Kuney, H. A. Laughary, Stephen A. Lowell,
+A. E. Lockhart, M. Moore, James Muckle, J. J. Murphy, Jennie McCully,
+Celia B. Olmstead, R. Pattison, A. S. Patterson, N. Rulison, Anna B.
+Reed, E. L. Smith, Thomas Stewart, C. U. Snyder, C. R. Templeton, M.
+E. Thompson, J. H. Upton, J. W. Virtue, Clara Zimmerman.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXI.
+
+PENNSYLVANIA.[412]
+
+
+The thought of woman suffrage in Pennsylvania always brings with it
+the recollection of Lucretia Mott of Philadelphia, one of the four
+women who called the first Woman's Rights Convention, at Seneca Falls,
+N. Y., July 19, 20, 1848, and among the ablest advocates of the
+measure.[413]
+
+The Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage Association was organized Dec. 22,
+1869, with Mary Grew as president.[414] There have been annual
+meetings in or near Philadelphia regularly since that time, and large
+quantities of suffrage literature have been distributed.[415] In 1892
+Miss Grew resigned, aged 80, and was succeeded in the presidency by
+Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg, who still holds this office.
+
+The convention of 1900 took place in Philadelphia, November 1, 2, and
+the other officers elected were vice-president, Mrs. Ellen H. E.
+Price; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Mary B. Luckie; recording
+secretary, Mrs. Anna R. Boyd; treasurer, Mrs. Margaret B. Stone;
+auditors, Mrs. Mary F. Kenderdine and Mrs. Selina D. Holton. Miss Ida
+Porter Boyer, superintendent of press work, reported that 326
+newspapers in the State, exclusive of those in Philadelphia which were
+supplied by a local chairman, were using regularly the suffrage matter
+sent out by her bureau, and that the past year this consisted of
+17,150 different articles.
+
+A number of able speakers have addressed the Legislature or canvassed
+the State from time to time, including Miss Susan B. Anthony and the
+Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, president and vice-president of the National
+Association; Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national
+organization committee; Henry B. Blackwell, editor of the _Woman's
+Journal_; Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Stetson of New York, Mrs. Mary C. C.
+Bradford of Colorado, Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates of Maine, and Miss
+Laura A. Gregg of Kansas; Judge William N. Ashman, Miss Matilda
+Hindman, Miss Boyer, Mrs. Blankenburg and Miss Jane Campbell,
+president of the Philadelphia society.[416]
+
+The latter is the largest and most influential suffrage society in the
+State. Previously to 1892 the Philadelphians who were identified with
+the movement belonged to the Pennsylvania association. In the fall of
+this year it was decided to make it a delegate body, and as that meant
+barring out individual memberships, the Philadelphia members formed a
+county organization. Miss Grew was invited to lead the new society,
+but feeling unable to perform the necessary duties she accepted only
+the honorary presidency. It was, however, largely owing to her counsel
+and influence that so successful a beginning was made. After her death
+in 1896 the office of honorary president was abolished.
+
+The first president of this society was Miss Campbell, who has been
+annually re-elected. The club has quadrupled its membership in the
+eight years of its existence, counting only those who pay their yearly
+dues, and has now 400 members. It has worked in many directions;
+distributed large quantities of literature; has sent speakers to
+organizations of women; fostered debates among the young people of
+various churches and Young Men's Literary Societies by offering prizes
+to those successful on the side of woman suffrage; held public
+meetings in different parts of the city, which includes the whole
+county; assisted largely in the national press work, and always lent a
+generous hand to the enterprises of the National Association.[417]
+
+In 1895 this society prepared a list of all the real and personal
+property owned by women within the city limits, which amounted to
+$153,757,566 real and $35,734,133 personal. These figures comprise 20
+per cent. of the total city tax, and all of it is without
+representation.
+
+With the hope of arousing suffrage sentiment, classes were formed
+under the auspices of the State association to study political
+science; Mrs. Susan S. Fessenden of Massachusetts was employed to
+organize clubs in the State; requests were sent to all the clergymen
+of Philadelphia to preach a sermon or give an address on Woman
+Suffrage; and prizes of $5, $10 and $15 were offered for the three
+best essays on Political Equality for Women, fifty-six being received.
+
+A Yellow Ribbon Bazar was held in Philadelphia in 1895, the net
+proceeds amounting to over $1,000. Miss Mary G. Hay, Miss Yates and
+Miss Gregg were then employed as organizers, and were very successful
+in forming clubs. There are now sixteen active county societies.[418]
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS AND LAWS: In 1885 Miss Matilda Hindman was sent to
+Harrisburg to urge the Legislature to submit an amendment to the
+voters striking out the word "male" from the suffrage clause of the
+State constitution. As a preliminary, 249 letters were sent to members
+asking their views on the subject; 89 replies were received, 53
+non-committal, 20 favorable, 16 unfavorable. Miss Hindman and eleven
+other women appeared before a Joint Committee of Senate and House to
+present arguments in favor of submitting the amendment. A bill for
+this purpose passed the House, but was lost in the Senate by a vote of
+13 ayes, 19 noes. This was the first concerted action of the
+Pennsylvania suffragists to influence legislation for women. A legacy
+of $1,390 from Mrs. Mary H. Newbold aided their efforts to secure the
+bill.
+
+Political conditions have been such that it has been considered
+useless to try to obtain any legislative action on woman suffrage, and
+no further attempts have been made. To influence public sentiment,
+however, mass meetings addressed by the best speakers were held in the
+Hall of the House of Representatives during the sessions of 1893, '95,
+'97 and '99.
+
+In 1897 and 1899 the suffragists made strenuous attempts to secure a
+bill to amend the Intestate Law, which greatly discriminates against
+married women, but it was killed in committee.
+
+Owing to a gradual advance in public sentiment laws have been enacted
+from time to time protecting wage-earning women; also enlarging the
+property rights of wives, enabling them to act as incorporators for
+business of profit, and giving them freedom to testify in court
+against their husbands under some circumstances.
+
+In 1891 a number of influential women decided to form a corporation,
+with a stock company, for the purpose of building a club house and
+equipping the same to rent as a business of profit. The charter was
+refused, because several of the women making application were married.
+After some delay enough single women were found to take out the
+letters patent. When incorporated the original number organized the
+company and built the New Century Club House in Philadelphia, which
+paid five per cent. to stockholders the first year. One of the members
+of this board of directors, to save time and trouble, made application
+to be appointed notary public, but she was refused because the law did
+not permit a woman to serve. Public attention was thus called to the
+injustice of these statutes and, after much legislative tinkering,
+laws were passed in 1893 giving wives the same right as unmarried
+women to "acquire property, own, possess, control, use, lease, etc."
+The same year women were made eligible to act as notaries public.
+
+Dower and curtesy both obtain. If there is issue living, the widow is
+entitled to one-third of the real estate for her life and one-third of
+the personal property absolutely. If no issue is living, but
+collateral heirs, the widow is entitled to one-half of the real
+estate, including the mansion house, for her life, and one-half of the
+personal estate absolutely. If a wife die intestate, the widower,
+whether there has been issue born alive or not, has a life interest in
+all her real estate and all of her personal property absolutely. If
+there is neither issue nor kindred and no will the surviving husband
+or wife takes the whole estate.
+
+A husband may mortgage real estate, including the homestead, without
+the wife's consent, but she can not mortgage even her own separate
+estate without his consent. Each can dispose of personal property as
+if single.
+
+As a rule a married woman can not make a contract, but there are some
+exceptions. For instance, she can contract for the purchase of a
+sewing-machine for her own use. The wife must sue and be sued jointly
+with the husband.
+
+A married woman must secure the privilege from the court of carrying
+on business in her own name.
+
+The law provides that the party found guilty of adultery can not marry
+the co-respondent during the lifetime of the other party. If any
+divorced woman, who shall have been found guilty of adultery, shall
+afterward openly cohabit with the person proved to have been the
+partaker of her crime, she is rendered incapable of alienating either
+directly or indirectly any of her lands, tenements or hereditaments,
+and all wills, deeds, and other instruments of conveyance therefor are
+absolutely void, and after her death her property descends and is
+subject to distribution according to law in like manner as if she had
+died intestate. This latter clause does not apply to a divorced man.
+
+In June, 1895, through the legislative committee of the State W. S.
+A., Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg, chairman, and with the co-operation
+of other women's organizations, the following law, championed by
+Representative Frank Riter, was secured:
+
+     A married woman who contributes by the efforts of her own labor
+     or otherwise toward the support, maintenance and education of her
+     minor child, shall have the same and equal power, control and
+     authority over her said child, and the same and equal right to
+     the custody and services, as are now possessed by her husband who
+     is the father of such minor child.
+
+The best legal authorities are undecided as to whether labor within
+the household entitles the mother to this equal guardianship or
+whether it must be performed outside the home. The father is held to
+be the only person entitled to sue for the earnings of a minor child,
+and as no legal means are provided for enforcing the above law it is
+practically of no effect.
+
+The law says, "As her baron or lord, the husband is bound to provide
+his wife with shelter, food, clothing and medicine;" also:
+
+     If any husband or father neglect to maintain his wife or
+     children, it is lawful for any alderman, justice of the peace or
+     magistrate, upon information made before him, under oath or
+     affirmation, by the wife or children, or by any other person, to
+     issue his warrant for the arrest of the man, and bind him over
+     with one sufficient surety to appear at the next Court of Quarter
+     Sessions, there to answer the said charge.
+
+     If he is found to be of sufficient ability to pay such sum as the
+     court thinks reasonable and proper, it makes an order for the
+     comfortable support of wife or children, or both, the sum not to
+     exceed the amount of $100 per month. The man is to be committed
+     to jail until he complies with the order of the court, or gives
+     security for the payment of the sum. After three months'
+     imprisonment, if the court find him unable to pay or give
+     security, it may discharge him.
+
+In 1887 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 16
+years. The penalty is a fine not exceeding $1,000, and imprisonment by
+separate and solitary confinement at labor, or simple imprisonment,
+not exceeding fifteen years. No minimum penalty is named.
+
+SUFFRAGE: Women possess no form of suffrage.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING:[419] The State constitution of 1873 made women
+eligible for all school offices, but they have had great difficulty in
+securing any of these. Out of 16,094 school directors in the State
+only thirty-two are women. In Philadelphia a Board of Public
+Education, appointed by the courts, co-operates with the school
+directors. This board consists of forty-one members, only three being
+women. In the entire State, six women are reported to be now filling
+the offices of county and city school superintendent and assistant
+superintendent.
+
+In seventeen years but sixty-seven women (in twelve counties) have
+been appointed members of the Boards of Public Charities.
+
+In 1899 a law was passed recognizing Accounting as a profession, and
+Miss Mary B. Niles is now a Certified Public Accountant and Auditor.
+
+There have been women on the Civil Service Examining Board for nurses,
+matrons, etc., but there are none at present.
+
+To Pennsylvania belongs the honor of appointing the first woman in a
+hospital for the insane with exclusive charge--Dr. Alice Bennett,
+Norristown Asylum, in 1880. Now all of the six State hospitals for the
+insane employ women physicians. In Philadelphia there are five
+hospitals under the exclusive control of women.
+
+Women have entire charge of the female prisoners in the Philadelphia
+County jail. Police matrons are on duty at many of the station houses
+in cities of the first and second class, sixteen in Philadelphia.
+
+Committees of women, officially appointed, visit all the public
+institutions of Philadelphia and Montgomery counties.
+
+Dr. Frances C. Van Gasken served several years as health inspector,
+the only woman to fill such an office in Philadelphia.
+
+Six women are employed as State factory inspectors and receive the
+same salary as the men inspectors.
+
+Within the past ten years a large number of women have become city
+librarians through appointment by the Common Councils.
+
+Mrs. Margaret Center Klingelsmith, LL.B., is librarian of the State
+University Law School, but has been refused admission to the Academy
+of Law (Bar Association) of Philadelphia, although there is a strong
+sentiment in her favor led by George E. Nitzsche, registrar of the Law
+School.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: The only prohibited industry is mining. No professions
+are legally forbidden to women.
+
+In 1884 a graduate of the Law Department of the University of
+Pennsylvania, Mrs. Carrie Burnham Kilgore, made the fight for the
+admission of women to the bar and was herself finally admitted to
+practice in the courts of Philadelphia. Judges William S. Pierce,
+William N. Ashman and Thomas K. Finletter advocated this advanced
+step.
+
+There are 150 women physicians in Philadelphia alone.
+
+EDUCATION: The Woman's Medical College of Philadelphia, Clara
+Marshall, M. D., dean, was incorporated in 1850.[420] The idea of its
+establishment originated with Dr. Bartholomew Fussell, a member of
+the Society of Friends. Its foundation was made possible through the
+effective work of Dr. Joseph S. Longshore in securing a charter from
+the Legislature. Dr. Hannah Myers Longshore was a member of the first
+graduating class, a pioneer among women physicians, and through her
+skill and devotion won high rank in her profession.[421] In 1867 the
+name was changed by decree of court from Female Medical College to
+Woman's Medical College. It is the oldest and largest medical school
+for women in the world, and has nearly 1,000 alumnae, including
+students from nineteen foreign countries. The management is entirely
+in the hands of women.
+
+In 1861 the Woman's Hospital was founded, mainly through the efforts
+of Dr. Ann Preston, to afford women the clinical opportunities denied
+by practically all the existing hospitals. It is now one of the
+largest in Philadelphia.
+
+During the past twenty years a number of educational institutions have
+been opened to women. Of the forty colleges and universities in the
+State, just one-half are co-educational; three are for women alone;
+two Catholic, one military and fourteen others are for men alone. Of
+the sixteen theological seminaries, only one, the Unitarian at
+Meadville, admits women. They have the full privileges of the Colleges
+of Pharmacy and Dentistry in Philadelphia.
+
+The principal institutions closed to women are the Jefferson Medical,
+Hahnemann Medical, Medico-Chirurgical, Franklin and Marshall,
+Haverford, Lafayette, Moravian, Muhlenberg, St. Vincent, Washington
+and Jefferson, Waynesburg, Lehigh and most of the departments of the
+Western University.
+
+In the University of Pennsylvania (State) women are admitted on equal
+terms with men to the post-graduate department; as candidates for the
+Master of Arts degree; and to the four years' course in biology,
+leading to the degree of B. S. They may take special courses in
+pedagogy, music and interior decoration (in the Department of
+Architecture) but no degree. The Medical, Dental and Veterinary
+Departments are entirely closed to them. Of the large departments, Law
+is the only one which is fully, freely and heartily open to women on
+exactly the same terms as to men, and it confers the degree of LL. B.
+upon both alike. There are no women on the faculty, but Prof. Sara
+Yorke Stevenson, the distinguished archoaelogist, is secretary of the
+Department of Archaeology and Paleontology and curator of the Egyptian
+and Mediterranean Section.
+
+The Drexel Institute, founded and endowed by Anthony J. Drexel, was
+opened in December, 1891. Instruction is given in the arts, sciences
+and industries. All the departments are open to women on the same
+terms as to men. Booker T. Washington has a free scholarship for a
+pupil, and one is held by the Carlisle Indian School.
+
+Bryn Mawr, non-sectarian, but founded by Joseph W. Taylor, M. D., a
+member of the Society of Friends, was opened in 1885. It stands at the
+head of the women's colleges of the world, and ranks with the best
+colleges for men. Miss M. Carey Thomas, Ph. D., LL. D., is president.
+
+Notwithstanding these splendid educational advantages, as late as 1891
+there was no opportunity in the Philadelphia public schools for a girl
+to prepare for college or for a business office. In 1893 the present
+superintendent, Edward Brooks, reorganized the Girls' High School,
+arranging a four years' classical course and a three years' business
+course.
+
+There are in the public schools 9,360 men and 19,469 women teachers.
+The average monthly salary of the men is $42.69; of the women, $38.45.
+In Philadelphia the average for men is $121.93; for women, $67.61. In
+this city, by decree of the board of education, the highest positions
+are closed to women.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Pennsylvania is rich in women's clubs, 117 belonging to the State
+Federation. The three largest are the New Century, with 600 members;
+Civic, 500; New Century Guild (workingwomen), 400--all in
+Philadelphia. Most of the clubs have civic departments. The suffrage
+societies have full membership in the State Federation of Clubs. The
+Civic and Legal Education Society of Philadelphia, composed of men and
+women, has lecture courses on national, State and municipal government
+and a practical knowledge of law. A study class of municipal law is
+conducted by Mrs. Margaret Center Klingelsmith, the law librarian of
+the State University.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[412] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Lucretia
+Longshore Blankenburg of Philadelphia, who has been president of the
+State Suffrage Association since 1892.
+
+[413] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. I, p. 67.
+
+[414] Officers in 1884: President, Mary Grew, vice presidents, John K.
+Wildman, Ellen M. Child, Passmore Williamson, corresponding secretary,
+Florence A. Burleigh, recording secretary, Anna Shoemaker, treasurer,
+Annie Heacock, executive committee, Mary S. Hillborn, Martha B. Earle,
+Sarah H. Peirce, Gertrude K. Peirce, Joshua Peirce, Leslie Miller,
+Maria P. Miller, Harriet Purvis, Caroline L. Broomall, Deborah
+Pennock, J. E. Case, Matilda Hindman, Dr. Hiram Corson.
+
+[415] These meetings have been held in Chester, West Chester,
+Lancaster, Reading, Lewistown, Oxford, Kennett Square, Norristown,
+Scranton, Pittsburg, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Chester and Columbia.
+
+[416] For an account of the Citizens' Suffrage Association, Edward M.
+Davis, president, see Vol. III, p. 461.
+
+[417] At the annual meeting of October, 1900, the following were
+elected: President, Miss Jane Campbell; vice-presidents, Miss Eliza
+Heacock and Miss Elizabeth Dornan; corresponding secretary, Miss
+Katherine J. Campbell; recording secretary, Mrs. Olive Pond Amies;
+treasurer, Mrs. Mary F. Kenderdine. Sixteen delegates were elected to
+represent the society at the State convention.
+
+[418] Among the men and women who have been especially helpful to the
+cause of woman suffrage since 1884, besides those already mentioned,
+are Robert Purvis, John M. Broomall, Edward M. Davis, Drs. Hannah E.
+Longshore, Jane V. Myers, Jane K. Garver; Mesdames Rachel Foster
+Avery, Emma J. Bartol, Eliza Sproat Turner, Elizabeth B. Passmore, J.
+L. Koethen, Jr., Helen Mosher James, Charlotte L. Peirce, Ellen C. H.
+Ogden, Mary E. Mumford, Elizabeth Smith, J. M. Harsh, J. W. Scheel, H.
+C. Perkins, Hanna M. Harlan, Misses Julia T. Foster, M. Adeline
+Thomson, Susan G. Appleton, Julia A. Myers, L. M. Mather, Lucy E.
+Anthony.
+
+[419] William and Hannah Penn were both Proprietary Governors of the
+colony, William from the time of its settlement in 1682 until 1712,
+when he was stricken with illness. Hannah then took up the affairs and
+administered as governor until William's death in 1717, and after that
+time until her son became of age.
+
+Sidney Fisher, in his account of the Pennsylvania colony, says that
+this is the only instance in history where a woman has acted as
+Proprietary Governor. Hannah Penn was skilful in her management and
+retained the confidence of the people through financial and political
+embarrassments.
+
+[420] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. I, p. 389.
+
+[421] Drs. Joseph and Hannah Myers Longshore were the uncle and mother
+of Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg. [Eds.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXII.
+
+RHODE ISLAND.[422]
+
+
+Rhode Island was one of the pioneer States to form a woman suffrage
+association. On Dec. 11, 1868, in answer to a call signed by a large
+number of its most distinguished men and women, a successful meeting
+was held in Roger Williams Hall, Providence, and Mrs. Paulina Wright
+Davis was elected president of the new organization.[423] Many series
+of conventions in different parts of the State were held between 1870
+and 1884, at which the officers and special speakers presented
+petitions for signatures and prepared for legislative appeals.
+
+In 1884, by unanimous vote of the Assembly, the State House was
+granted for the first time for a woman suffrage convention. Four
+sessions were held in the Hall of the House of Representatives, and
+Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Henry B. Blackwell,
+William Lloyd Garrison, Mary F. Eastman and others addressed great
+throngs of people who filled the seats, occupied all the standing room
+and overflowed into the lobbies.
+
+Up to the present date this association has held an annual convention
+in October, a special May Festival with social features in the spring,
+and from one to four meetings each intervening month. These have been
+rendered attractive by papers and addresses from the members and by
+public speakers of ability from different parts of the United States
+and from other lands. In addition to this active propaganda special
+organizers have been secured from time to time to canvass the State
+and win intelligent support for the cause.
+
+The association has had but three presidents--Paulina Wright Davis for
+the first two years, Elizabeth Buffum Chace from 1870 until her death
+in 1899, aged ninety-two, and Ardelia C. Dewing, now serving. When
+Mrs. Chace was unable longer to be actively the leader, Anna Garlin
+Spencer, who returned in 1889 to reside in Rhode Island, as first
+vice-president acted for her about seven years and Mrs. Dewing for the
+remainder of the time. Mrs. Davis was an exquisite personality with
+soul ever facing the light; Mrs. Chace, a woman of granite strength
+and stability of character, with a keen mind always bent upon the
+reason and the right of things, and with a single-hearted devotion to
+the great principles of life.[424]
+
+The vice-presidents of the association number "honorable names not a
+few."[425] Among them was the Rev. Frederick A. Hinckley, who during
+the eleven years of his ministry in Providence, 1878-1889, acted as
+the first vice-president and did the greatest possible service to the
+association in all ways, ever championing the principle of equality of
+rights. The secretaries of the association always have been among the
+leaders in the movement. At first Rhoda Anna Fairbanks (Peckham) was
+the single officer in that capacity. In 1872 Anna C. Garlin (Spencer)
+was added as corresponding secretary but resigned in 1878 when her
+marriage required her removal from the State.[426] Mrs. Ellen M.
+Bolles served from 1891 to 1900 when Mrs. Annie M. Griffin was
+elected. There have been but three treasurers--Marcus T. Janes, Mrs.
+Susan B. P. Martin and Mrs. Mary K. Wood.[427] The chairman of the
+Executive Committee has always shared the heaviest burdens. Mrs.
+Chace was the first chairman. Mrs. S. E. H. Doyle succeeded her and
+continued in the office until her death in 1890. Mrs. Anna E. Aldrich
+then served to the end of her life in 1898. The association has done a
+great deal of active work through its organizers, the brilliant and
+versatile Elizabeth Kittridge Churchill, Mrs. Margaret M. Campbell,
+Mrs. Louise M. Tyler, and others. Mrs. Ellen M. Bolles, from 1890 to
+1898, acted as organizer as well as secretary.
+
+The State Society affiliated with the New England Woman Suffrage
+Association from the first; with the American in 1870 and with the
+National-American in 1891. It was incorporated in 1892 and has been
+the recipient of legacies from James Eddy, Mrs. Rachel Fry, Mrs. Sarah
+Wilbour, Mrs. Elizabeth B. Chace and others. It raised and expended
+for the woman suffrage campaign of 1887 more than $5,000 and has had
+some paid worker in the field during most of the years.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION: From the first year of its existence, 1869, the
+State Association petitioned the Legislature for an amendment to the
+constitution abolishing sex as a condition of suffrage, and hearings
+were held before many committees.
+
+In 1885, through the influence of Representative Edward L. Freeman, a
+bill for such an amendment actually passed both Houses, but failed
+through some technicality.
+
+In 1886 it passed both Houses again by the constitutional majority of
+two-thirds. It was necessary that it should pass two successive
+Legislatures, and the vote in 1887 was, Senate, 28 ayes, 8 noes;
+House, 57 ayes, 5 noes. The amendment having been published and read
+at the annual town and ward meetings was then submitted to the voters.
+It was as follows: "Women shall have the right to vote in the election
+of all civil officers and on all questions in all legal town, district
+or ward meetings, subject to the same qualifications, limitations and
+conditions as men."
+
+The story of this campaign can be compressed into a few sentences, but
+it was a great struggle in which heroic qualities were displayed and
+was led by the woman whose life has meant so much for Rhode Island,
+Mrs. Elizabeth Buffum Chace, who had as her able lieutenant the Rev.
+Frederick A. Hinckley, and as her body-guard all the faithful leaders
+of the suffrage cause in the State and helpers from other
+States.[428] Headquarters were established immediately in the business
+center of Providence. These rooms were opened each morning before nine
+o'clock and kept open until ten at night throughout the contest. The
+campaign lasted twenty-nine days, during which ninety-two public
+meetings were held, some in parlors but most in halls, vestries and
+churches. Miss Cora Scott Pond came at once into the State to organize
+the larger public meetings and Miss Sarah J. Eddy and Mrs. C. P.
+Norton arranged for parlor meetings. The regular speakers were Henry
+B. Blackwell, William Lloyd Garrison, the Revs. C. B. Pitblado, Louis
+A. Banks, Frederick A. Hinckley, Ada C. Bowles; Mesdames Mary A.
+Livermore, J. Ellen Foster, Zerelda G. Wallace, Julia Ward Howe,
+Katherine Lente Stevenson, E. S. Burlingame, Adelaide A. Claflin; Miss
+Mary F. Eastman and Miss Huldah B. Loud.[429] Miss Susan B. Anthony
+was invited to make the closing speech of the campaign but declined as
+she considered the situation hopeless.
+
+The cities and towns were as thoroughly canvassed by these speakers as
+the short time permitted. A special paper, _The Amendment_, was edited
+by Mrs. Lillie B. Chace Wyman, assisted by Miss Kate Austin and Col.
+J. C. Wyman; the first number, issued March 16, an edition of 20,000,
+and the second, March 28, an edition of 40,000. They contained
+extracts from able articles on suffrage by leading men and women,
+letters from Rhode Island citizens approving the proposed amendment,
+and answers to the usual objections.
+
+The principal newspapers of Providence, the _Journal_ and the
+_Telegram_, both led the opposition to the amendment, the former
+admitting in an editorial, published March 10, "the theoretic justice
+of the proposed amendment to the constitution conferring suffrage upon
+women," but hoping it would be rejected because "whatever may be said
+for it, the measure has the fatal defect of being premature and
+impolitic." The opposition of the _Telegram_ was more aggressive and
+even of a scurrilous type. To offset this hostility if possible the
+suffrage association hired a column of space in the _Journal_ and half
+a column in the _Telegram_ and kept this daily filled with suffrage
+arguments; toward the end of the campaign securing space also in the
+_Daily Republican_. The papers of the State generally were opposed to
+the measure, but the Woonsocket _Daily Reporter_, Newport _Daily
+News_, Hope Valley _Sentinel-Advertiser_, Pawtuxet Valley _Gleaner_,
+Providence _People_, Bristol _Phenix_, Central Falls _Visitor_ and a
+few others gave effective assistance. The association distributed
+about 39,000 packages of literature to the voters.
+
+In the Providence _Journal_ of April 4 the names of over ninety
+prominent voters were signed to this announcement: "We, the
+undersigned, being opposed to the adoption of the proposed Woman
+Suffrage Amendment to the Constitution, respectfully urge all citizens
+(!) to vote against it at the coming election."
+
+The next day the _Journal_ contained in the space paid for by the
+association the signatures of about the same number of equally
+prominent men appended to this statement: "We favor the passage of the
+Woman Suffrage Amendment which has been submitted to the voters of
+Rhode Island for action at the coming election." The same issue
+contained a list of many of the most distinguished men and women in
+this and other countries, beginning with Phillips Brooks and Clara
+Barton, and headed, "Some Other People of Weight Who Have Indorsed
+Woman Suffrage. Match This if You Can."
+
+The election was held April 6, 1887, and at the sixty-two polling
+places men and women were on hand to urge the electors to vote for the
+amendment. The result was 6,889 ayes, 21,957 noes--the largest defeat
+woman suffrage ever received.
+
+Many of the ablest lawyers having decided that no extension of
+franchise, not even a school vote, could be secured in Rhode Island
+through the Legislature (except possibly Presidential Suffrage) and
+the amendment to the constitution having been defeated by so heavy a
+vote, it was deemed best not to ask for another submission of the
+question for a term of years. Therefore other matters, involving
+legal equality of the sexes, formed for a while the chief subjects for
+legislative work.
+
+In 1892 a special appeal was made to the General Assembly to confer
+upon women by statute the right to vote for presidential electors.
+Three hearings were had before the House committee but the bill was
+not reported.
+
+In 1895 a hearing, managed by Mrs. Jeanette S. French, was granted by
+the Senate committee. A number of able women of the State made
+addresses and the committee reported unanimously in favor of
+submitting again an amendment for the Full Suffrage. It was too late,
+however, for further action and was referred to the May session. At
+that time it passed the Senate but was lost in the House by a small
+majority.
+
+In 1897 the Governor was empowered by the General Assembly to appoint
+a commission to revise the State constitution. This was deemed by many
+as opposed to the spirit of the basic law of the Commonwealth, in
+substituting a small appointive body for the Constitutional Convention
+of Electors previously considered necessary to revise the fundamental
+law of the State, but the commission was appointed. The Woman Suffrage
+Association early presented a claim for a hearing which was granted
+for May 11. The Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer conducted it and introduced
+the other speakers who were all citizens of the State and of influence
+in their communities.[430] After interviews were held with the
+commission, the association adopted resolutions which were afterwards
+incorporated in a letter and read by Mrs. Bolles to the Committee on
+Revision. It said in part:
+
+     We are informed that you consider it inadvisable to incorporate a
+     suffrage amendment in the revised constitution lest it endanger
+     the acceptance of other proposed and necessary changes. This view
+     may be correct, but surely it need not prevent you from advising
+     a provision by which the Legislature would be empowered to extend
+     suffrage to women at its discretion, and this we greatly desire.
+     A conservative measure of this nature could not call out a large
+     amount of antagonism from the voters, while it would be a great
+     help to women in their efforts to obtain a voice in such matters
+     of public concern as are of vital importance to their interests.
+     The constitution of Rhode Island is far behind the spirit of the
+     age in its treatment of women, as only one other State makes it
+     equally difficult for them to obtain even the simplest form of
+     political rights. In revising the fundamental law this fact ought
+     not to be overlooked and the instrument should be so constructed
+     as to bring it up to date in this respect.
+
+These appeals were not responded to favorably by the Commission,
+although great courtesy and willingness to consider the subject were
+manifested, and a large minority vote was given in the Commission
+itself to empower the Legislature to grant suffrage at discretion by
+statute. The proposed revision was submitted to the electors and
+during the campaign preceding their vote the association passed the
+following resolution at its annual meeting of Oct. 20, 1898:
+"Resolved, That we consider the proposed constitution unworthy the
+intelligence and civilization of the age, for these reasons: First, It
+does not give suffrage to women citizens and makes the obtaining of an
+amendment for this purpose even more difficult than it is at present
+by requiring a larger legislative majority to submit any question to
+the voters. Second, It restricts the suffrage of men by a property
+qualification."
+
+The revised constitution was voted down by a large majority.
+
+LAWS: The Suffrage Association from its first existence closely
+watched legislation affecting women and children, and often appeared
+by representative speakers before committees engaged in framing
+changes in such laws; but in 1892 and '93 a special effort was made to
+secure full legal equality for men and women. Miss Mary A. Greene, a
+Rhode Island lawyer, educated for and admitted to the bar in
+Massachusetts, was engaged to prepare a full statement of the existing
+laws relating to women and children and to draw up a code for
+suggestion to the Legislature which should embody the exact justice
+for which the association stood. This step was taken at that time
+because the Legislature had just appointed a Committee of Codification
+to consider the statutes bearing on domestic relations, contract
+powers, etc. The suggestions of the association, as prepared by Miss
+Greene, were not acted upon in any formal way, still less with
+completeness, but the changes made in the interest of equal rights for
+women were marked and the association had a distinct share in them.
+The property laws for women are now satisfactory except that of
+inheritance which is as follows:
+
+Dower and curtesy both obtain. If the husband die without a will,
+leaving children, the widow is entitled to the life use of one-third
+of the real estate, and to one-third of the personal property
+absolutely, the remainder going to them. If there are no children or
+descendants she takes one-half of the personal property and as much of
+the real estate for life as is not required to pay the husband's
+debts. The other half of the personal property goes to the husband's
+relatives and, after her death, all of the real estate. The widower is
+entitled to a life use of all the wife's real estate if there has been
+issue born alive. If she die without a will he may take the whole of
+her personal property without administration or accountability to the
+children or to her kindred. The widow and minor children are entitled
+to certain articles of apparel, furniture and household supplies and
+to six months' support out of the estate. The widow has the prior
+right as administrator.
+
+The wife may dispose of her personal and real property by will, but
+can not impair the husband's curtesy, or the life use of all her real
+estate. The husband may do the same subject to the wife's dower, or
+life use of one-third of the real estate.
+
+If any person having neither wife nor children die without a will "the
+property shall go to the father of such person if there be a father,
+if not, then to the mother, brothers and sisters."
+
+All the property of a married woman, whether acquired before or after
+marriage, is absolutely secured to her sole and separate use, free
+from liability for her husband's debts. Personal and real estate may
+be conveyed by her as if unmarried, the latter subject to the
+husband's curtesy. Her husband must present an order from her to
+collect the rents and profits.
+
+A married woman may make contracts, sue and be sued, and carry on any
+trade or business, and her earnings are her sole and separate
+property. She can not, however, enter into business partnership with
+her husband.
+
+Neither husband nor wife is liable for the torts of the other. The
+wife's property is liable for her debts or torts.
+
+A married woman may act as executor, administrator or guardian if
+appointed to those offices by will, but she can not be appointed to
+them by the court except to the guardianship of children.[431]
+
+In case of divorce for fault of the husband the wife may have dower as
+if he were dead. If alimony be claimed the dower is waived. If the
+divorce is for the fault of the wife, the husband, if entitled to
+curtesy, shall have a life estate in the lands of the wife, subject to
+such allowance to her, chargeable on the life estate, as the court may
+deem proper. In case of separation only, the petitioner may be
+assigned a separate maintenance out of the property of the husband or
+wife as the case may be.
+
+The father is the legal guardian of the minor children. At his death
+the mother is entitled to the guardianship and custody. The mother may
+be appointed guardian by the court during the husband's lifetime. If
+he is insane or has deserted or neglected his children she is entitled
+to full custody.
+
+If the wife is deserted by her husband unjustifiably and not supported
+by him, she may receive authority from the court for the custody and
+earnings of her minor children, and he may be imprisoned not less than
+six months nor more than three years. If he abandon her and is absent
+from the State one year or more or is condemned to prison for a year
+or more, the court can order the income from his property applied to
+the support of his family.
+
+A law of 1896 provided that a wife owning property might contract in
+writing for the support of her husband and children, but this was
+repealed in three months. She is not required to support them by her
+labor or property, as the husband is the legal head of the family.
+
+The most of the above laws have been enacted since 1892.
+
+Until 1889, 10 years was the age for the protection of girls, but then
+it was made 14 years, with a penalty of not less than ten years'
+imprisonment. In 1894 it was raised to 16 and the penalty made not
+more than fifteen years with no minimum number specified. The former
+penalty still holds, however, for actual rape.
+
+SUFFRAGE: Women have no form of suffrage. The husband may vote as a
+taxpayer by right of his wife's real estate.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: Eligibility to office is limited by the constitution
+to electors. The article referring to school committee (trustees)
+merely says, however, that they shall be "residents of the town." In
+1872 and '73 the suffrage association procured by direct effort an Act
+qualifying women to serve on school committees and many have done so
+with distinction. There are sixteen now serving in the State. The city
+charter of Pawtucket requires one of the three members to be a woman.
+
+As far back as 1869 an appeal was made by the suffrage association
+that women should be placed on all boards of management of
+institutions in which women were confined as prisoners or cared for as
+unfortunates. In partial response an Act was passed in 1870
+establishing an Advisory Board of Female Visitors to the charitable,
+penal and correctional institutions of the State. This board had no
+powers of control, but had full rights of inspection at all times and
+constituted an official channel for criticism and suggestions. It is
+still in existence and is composed of seven representative women.
+
+The association was not satisfied with a board of such limited powers
+and in 1874 it memorialized the Legislature for an Act requiring that
+women, in the proportion of at least three out of seven, should be
+placed on the State Board of Charities and Correction, with equal
+powers in all particulars. This petition was presented for three years
+successively and special hearings granted to its advocates, but at
+last was definitely refused. In 1891, however, two institutions, the
+State Home and School for Dependent Children and the Rhode Island
+School for the Deaf, were placed in charge of boards of control, to be
+appointed by the Governor, to report to the Legislature and to
+exercise full powers of supervision and management, "at least three of
+whom shall be women."
+
+In 1878 a meeting was held by the association to consider the need of
+good and wise women in all places where unfortunate women are in
+confinement, and the matter of placing police matrons in stations was
+discussed. Agitation followed and the W. C. T. U., under the
+enthusiastic lead of Mrs. J. K. Barney, adopted the matter as a
+special work, the W. S. A. aiding in all possible ways. In March,
+1881, the first police matron in the country (it is believed) was
+appointed in Providence and installed as a regular officer. From this
+beginning the movement spread until in 1893 an Act was passed by the
+General Assembly, without a dissenting voice, requiring police matrons
+in all cities, the nominations in each to be recommended by twenty
+women residents in good standing.
+
+The first agitation for women probation officers was started in a
+meeting of the State Suffrage Association in 1892. The W. C. T. U. and
+the leaders in rescue mission work in Providence continued the
+movement, and in 1898 a woman was appointed in Providence to that
+office, with equal powers of the man probation officer, to be
+responsible for women who are released on parole.
+
+In 1893 an Act was passed as the result of a determined movement
+lasting several years, in which the suffrage association shared,
+although the principal leaders were the labor reform organizations of
+the State and the Council of Women of Rhode Island (to which body the
+W. S. A. was auxiliary). It raised the legal age of the child-worker
+from ten to twelve years, provided for sanitary conditions and moral
+safeguards in shops and factories, and for the appointment of two
+factory and shop inspectors, "one of whom shall be a woman," to secure
+its enforcement. The man and woman inspector were made exactly equal
+in power, responsibility and salary, instead of the woman being, as in
+most States, a deputy or special inspector. Mrs. Fanny Purdy Palmer
+was chosen for this position.
+
+Appointive offices which women have held recently, or are holding, are
+assistant clerk of the Supreme Court and Court of Common Pleas;
+stenographer for same; clerk to State Commissioner of Public Schools;
+clerk to State Auditor and Insurance Commissioner; as superintendent
+of State Reform School for Girls, and as jailer in Kent county.
+
+No woman has ever applied to serve as notary public, but doubtless it
+would not be considered legal.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: No occupation or profession is forbidden to women, but a
+test is soon to be made as to whether they will be admitted to the
+bar. Women are prohibited from contracting to work more than ten hours
+a day. They can bind themselves to be apprentices till the age of
+eighteen, men until twenty-one.
+
+EDUCATION: Rhode Island contains only one university--Brown--founded
+in 1764. In 1883 Miss Helen McGill and Miss Annie S. Peck, college
+graduates, addressed a meeting at Providence on the higher education
+of women. Arnold B. Chace was requested at this time to report at the
+next regular meeting of the State Suffrage Association the prospects
+for the admission of women to Brown University, as he was treasurer of
+the university corporation. At a later meeting the Rev. Ezekiel Gilman
+Robinson, then president of the university, by request addressed the
+association and declared his views, saying in substance that he was
+not in favor of their admission, especially in the undergraduate
+departments, as the discipline required by young men and women was
+quite different and all social questions would be complicated by the
+presence of the latter.
+
+After much discussion at other meetings it was decided to form a
+committee, representing several organizations interested in the
+advancement of women, to work more definitely in this direction. On
+Feb. 20, 1886, a number of ladies assembled at the home of Mrs. Rachel
+Fry, a prominent member of the suffrage association, and, after
+discussion and advice from Mr. Chace, appointed a committee.[432]
+Three days later it met at the home of Mrs. R. A. Peckham, organized
+and elected Miss Sarah E. Doyle chairman and Mrs. Fanny Purdy Palmer
+secretary. It met again March 14, to hear reports on the conferences
+of the members with professors of the university, and the result
+showed a considerable number of them in favor of the project. To
+influence public opinion the committee published statistics showing
+that thirty young women of Rhode Island were attending colleges
+outside the State, and argued that most of these who now were "exiles"
+would gladly receive the higher education at home.
+
+The movement was accelerated by the act of four young girls, Elizabeth
+Hoyt, Henrietta R. Palmer, Emma L. Meader and Helen Gregory, who took
+by permission the classical course in the Providence High School, at
+that time limited to boys; and in 1887 addressed a petition prepared
+by David Hoyt, the principal, to the president of the university,
+urging that when their preparation was complete they might be allowed
+to share the educational privileges of Brown. They received a
+discouraging response and all turned to other colleges.
+
+Up to this time friends on the faculty and in the corporation of the
+university were working up a scheme for the unofficial entrance of
+women and their instruction in the class-rooms, and the committee had
+engaged itself with the practical details connected with this plan.
+
+On Feb. 4, 1889, this somewhat informal committee organized an
+association and adopted a constitution which declared its object, "to
+secure the educational privileges of Brown University for women on the
+same terms offered to men." Of the thirty-two original signers to this
+constitution eighteen were members of the State Suffrage Association
+and the number included the president, two vice-presidents, secretary,
+treasurer and four members of the executive committee. The same
+officers were continued.
+
+Prof. Benjamin Franklin Clarke was from the first an earnest supporter
+of the claims of the women, and worked within the faculty as Arnold B.
+Chace did in the corporation. When in 1889 Elisha Benjamin Andrews
+(who as professor had in 1887 indorsed the woman suffrage amendment)
+became the president of the university, the cause of the higher
+education of women took a great leap forward. In October, 1891, the
+Women's College connected with Brown University was established and a
+small building hired for its home. Six young women, among them the now
+distinguished president of Mount Holyoke College, Miss Mary Woolley,
+entered the class rooms. The results of the next ten years are thus
+summed up in the official year-book for 1901:
+
+     The Women's College was founded in October, 1891. At first only
+     the privileges of university examinations and certificates of
+     proficiency were granted. In June, 1892, all the university
+     degrees and the graduate courses were opened. In November, 1897,
+     the institution was accepted by the corporation and officially
+     designated the Women's College of Brown University. The immediate
+     charge, subject to the direction of the president, was placed in
+     the hands of a dean. All instruction was required to be given by
+     members of the university faculty. Pembroke Hall, which was built
+     by the Rhode Island Society for the Collegiate Education of
+     Women, was formally transferred to the university in October,
+     1897, and was accepted as the recitation hall of the Women's
+     College.
+
+The record of the admission of women to this ancient university is
+part of the history of the Woman Suffrage Association, because all the
+initial movements were taken by that body, the society which continued
+the work was separated from the association only for purposes of
+practical efficiency, and the first principle on which the movement
+proceeded was that of absolute equality in educational opportunity,
+which is the corollary of political democracy. With its actual opening
+to women, however, other elements of leadership assumed control and
+have secured later results.
+
+On Jan. 16, 1892, the original association having practically secured
+its object, the money in the treasury was turned over to the Women's
+Educational and Industrial Union, and from that body finally found its
+way to a scholarship fund for the Women's College, and the association
+disbanded. Later the need for raising funds to meet the requirement
+for buildings and endowments led to the reorganization of the work,
+and the present Rhode Island Society for the Collegiate Education of
+Women was formed. Miss Doyle was elected the president of this new
+association, as she had been of the old. At the dedication of Pembroke
+Hall, which the efforts of this later society had secured, the early
+history (especially the connection of the Woman Suffrage Association
+with the work) was not dwelt upon, but the facts should have permanent
+record to furnish one more proof that woman suffrage societies have
+started great collateral movements, which, when they are fully
+successful, often forget or do not know the "mother that bore
+them."[433]
+
+It was not until 1893 that the full classical course of the Providence
+High School, preparatory for the university, was officially thrown
+open to girls, although a few had previously attended. Now all
+departments, including the manual training, are open alike to both
+sexes, and there are no distinctions anywhere in the public schools.
+In these there are 207 men and 1,706 women teachers. The average
+monthly salary of the men is $103.74; of the women, $51. Only one
+other State (Mass.) shows so great a discrepancy.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Association of Collegiate Alumnae has an active branch in Rhode
+Island. Seventeen clubs representing 1,436 members belong to the State
+Federation. The Local Council of Women, which is auxiliary to the
+National Council, has a membership, by delegate representation, of
+thirty-two of the leading educational, church, philanthropic and
+reformatory societies of Providence and of the State. About one-half
+of these have men as well as women for members, but all are
+represented in the Council by women. This body has done many important
+things, having taken the most active part in securing Factory and Shop
+Inspection; initiated the formation of the Providence Society for
+Organizing Charity; started the movement for a Consumers' League and
+launched that association; and is now at work to secure a State
+institution for the care and training of the Feeble-Minded. The
+Council holds from six to ten private meetings in the year, at least
+two public meetings, and an annual public Peace Celebration in
+conjunction with the Peace Committee of the International Council of
+Women.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[422] The History is indebted for this chapter to the Rev. Anna Garlin
+Spencer of Providence, vice-president-at-large of the State Woman
+Suffrage Association.
+
+[423] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. III, p. 340.
+
+[424] The annual meeting in October, 1895, celebrated the completion
+of a quarter of a century's service on the part of Mrs. Elizabeth
+Buffum Chace as president of the Rhode Island Woman Suffrage
+Association. Letters from absent friends were read expressing their
+high appreciation of her life-long service in the cause of humankind
+as well as womankind. Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, Mr. William Lloyd Garrison
+and Miss Mary F. Eastman attended to speak for the cause, and to
+testify their love for Mrs. Chace. The Hon. E. L. Freeman, ex-Gov.
+John W. Davis and others of the State also spoke words of great
+respect. The association honored itself by once more electing Mrs.
+Chace its chief officer, although she had expressed a strong desire to
+retire from the position as she felt that the burden of the work
+should be borne by younger shoulders. [Annual Report to National
+Suffrage Convention.
+
+[425] Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Julia Ward Howe, Rowland Hazard,
+Phebe Jackson, Susan Sisson, Sarah Helen Whitman, Elizabeth K.
+Churchill, Abraham Payne, Sarah T. Wilbour, Charlotte A. Jenckes,
+George L. Clarke, Francis C. Frost, Susan R. Harris, Augustus Woodbury
+and many others of the best known and most useful citizens.
+
+[426] Others were Mrs. M. M. Brewster, Mrs. Mary C. Peckham, Mrs.
+Rowena P. B. Tingley, Miss Charlotte R. Hoswell, Mrs. Anna E. Aldrich
+and Mrs. Martha Knowles.
+
+[427] Present board: President Mrs. A. C. Dewing; first
+vice-president, Mrs. Thomas W. Chase; second vice-president, Mrs.
+Ellen M. Bolles; third vice-president, Mrs. Charlotte B. Wilbour;
+secretary, Mrs. Annie M. Griffin; treasurer, Mrs. Mary K. Wood;
+auditors, Mrs. O. I. Angell, Mrs. Elizabeth Ormsbee; honorary
+vice-presidents, the Hon. H. B. Metcalf, Dr. L. F. C. Garvin and
+Arnold B. Chace.
+
+[428] The officers were: President, Mrs. Chace; vice-presidents, Mr.
+Hinckley, Arnold B. Chace, Phebe Jackson, Mary O. Arnold and Julia
+Ward Howe; acting secretary, Mrs. Anna E. Aldrich; treasurer, Mrs.
+Mary K. Wood; executive committee, Mrs. S. E. H. Doyle, Miss Sarah J.
+Eddy, Mesdames Aldrich, Fanny Purdy Palmer, C. P. Norton, Louisa A.
+Bowen, Elizabeth C. Hinckley, Susan C. Kenyon, Mary E. Bliss, Frances
+S. Bailey and S. R. Alexander, from whom the campaign committee was
+selected.
+
+[429] Occasional addresses were made by Gen. Thomas W. Chace, Col. J.
+C. Wyman, Judge R. C. Pitman, Dr. L. F. C. Garvin, the Revs. H. C.
+Westwood, Augustus Woodbury, H. I. Cushman, N. H. Harriman, Thomas R.
+Slicer, O. H. Still, J. H. Larry; Messrs. Olney Arnold, Augustine
+Jones, R. F. Trevellick, Ralph Beaumont, John O'Keefe and others.
+
+[430] Dr. Helen C. Putnam represented the physicians, Mrs. Mary Frost
+Evans the editors, Miss Sarah E. Doyle the teachers, Mrs. Mary A.
+Babcock and Mrs. A. B. E. Jackson the W. C. T. U., Mrs. L. G. C.
+Knickerbocker and Mrs. S. M. Aldrich women in private life, while the
+W. S. A. contributed Mrs. J. S. French, Mrs. A. C. Dewing and Mrs.
+Ellen M. Bolles. Edwin C. Pierce and Rabbi David Blaustein, members of
+the association, also spoke in favor of suffrage for women.
+
+[431] The right to be appointed by the court was given to married
+women by Act of 1902.
+
+[432] Mrs. Francis W. Goddard, Miss Sarah E. Doyle, principal of the
+Girls' High School of Providence; Mrs. M. M. Brewster, president of
+the Women's Educational and Industrial Union; Mrs. Fanny Purdy Palmer
+and Mrs. R. A. Peckham, representing the State Suffrage Association;
+Mrs. Augustine Jones, representing the Friends' School, and Mrs. M. E.
+Tucker.
+
+[433] The Suffrage Association has held one meeting in Pembroke Hall,
+however, which was presided over by its acting president and at which
+the daughter of Julia Ward Howe, Mrs. Florence Howe Hall, spoke upon
+"The Political Position of Women in England," and the use of Sayles
+Hall of Brown University was freely granted for a series of meetings
+under the auspices of the W. S. A. devoted to a presentation of
+"Woman's Contribution to the Progress of the World." These were
+addressed by Abba Goold Woolson, Mary A. Livermore, Lillie Devereux
+Blake, Lillie Chace Wyman, Alice Stone Blackwell, Mary F. Eastman,
+Prof. Katherine Hanscom and the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer.
+
+In October, 1901, Miss Susan B. Anthony addressed the students and was
+enthusiastically received.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXIII.
+
+SOUTH CAROLINA.[434]
+
+
+In 1890 Mrs. Virginia Durant Young being on a visit to Mrs. Adelaide
+Viola Neblett at Greenville, these two did so inspire each other that
+then and there they held a suffrage conference with Mrs. S. Odie
+Sirrene, Mrs. Mary Putnam Gridley and others, and pledged themselves
+to work for woman's enfranchisement in South Carolina.
+
+Mrs. Young made a suffrage address to the Woman's Christian Temperance
+Union of Beaufort in 1891, and later spoke on the subject by
+invitation at Lexington and in the Baptist church at Marion. She
+eventually succeeded in forming a State association of 250 men and
+women who believed in equal rights, and interested themselves in
+circulating literature on this question. Its officers for 1900 are
+Mrs. Young, president; Mrs. Mary P. Prentiss, vice-president; Miss
+Harriet B. Manville, corresponding secretary; Mrs. Gridley, treasurer.
+
+In 1895 Miss Susan B. Anthony, president of the National Association,
+Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake of New York, and Mrs. Ellen Battelle
+Dietrick of Massachusetts, made addresses at various places, on their
+way home from the national convention in Atlanta. In April of this
+year Miss Laura Clay of Kentucky, Miss Helen Morris Lewis of North
+Carolina, and Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates of Maine, with Mrs. Young and
+Mrs. Neblett, began a suffrage campaign at Greenville. They went
+thence to Spartanburg, Columbia and Charleston. Here the party
+divided, Miss Clay and Mrs. Young going to Georgetown, Florence,
+Marion, Latta, Darlington, Timmonsville and Sumter. Later Mrs.
+Neblett, Miss Clay and Mrs. Young spoke at Allendale, Barnwell,
+Hampton and Beaufort.
+
+Miss Clay, auditor of the National Association, worked four months in
+South Carolina this year at her own expense. Half of the time was
+spent in Columbia, assisting Mrs. Young and others in the effort to
+have an amendment giving suffrage to taxpaying women incorporated in
+the new constitution then being framed. They had hearings before two
+committees in September, and presented their arguments to the entire
+Constitutional Convention in the State House, with a large number of
+citizens present. The amendment failed by a vote of 26 yeas, 121 nays.
+
+President D. B. Johnston, of the Girls' Industrial and Normal College,
+and John J. McMahan, State superintendent of instruction, have done
+much to advance the educational status of women, and both believe in
+perfect equality of rights. Among other advocates may be mentioned the
+Hon. Walter Hazard, Dr. William J. Young, McDonald Furman, B. Odell
+Duncan, George Sirrene, Col. John J. Dargan, Col. Ellison Keith, the
+Rev. Sidi H. Brown, Col. V. P. Clayton, the Rev. John T. Morrison,
+Samuel G. Lawton, J. Gordon Coogler and William D. Evans, president of
+the State Agricultural Society.
+
+Miss Martha Schofield, superintendent of the Colored Industrial School
+at Aiken, regularly enters a protest against paying taxes without
+representation. Other women who have been devoted workers in the cause
+of suffrage are Miss Mary I. Hemphill, editor with her father of the
+Abbeville _Medium_; Mesdames Marion Morgan Buckner, Daisy P. Bailey,
+Florence Durant Evans, Lillian D. Clayton, Gertrude D. Lido, Cora S.
+Lott, Abbie Christensen, Martha Corley and Mary P. Screven; Dr. Sarah
+Allen; Misses Claudia G. Tharin, Iva Youmans, Annie Durant, Kate Lily
+Blue and Floride Cunningham.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: In 1892 Mrs. Virginia Durant Young
+petitioned the Legislature for her personal enfranchisement, adopting
+this method of presenting the arguments in a nutshell, and as "news"
+they were widely published and commented on. At this session Gen.
+Robert R. Hemphill, a stanch advocate, presented a bill in the Senate
+to give women the franchise and the right of holding office, and
+brought it to a vote on December 17; yeas, 14, nays, 21.
+
+In 1895 numerously signed petitions for suffrage were sent to the
+Legislature by the women of Fairfax, Lexington and Marion. The right
+of petition was also frequently used by the members of the State W. C.
+T. U.
+
+In 1896 Mrs. Young addressed the Legislature in behalf of Presidential
+Suffrage for women.
+
+In 1892, '93, '95 and '98 the laws were improved in regard to married
+women's property rights, allowing them to hold real estate
+independently of their husbands, restraining husbands from collecting
+debts or wages owing to their wives, and making the wife's signature
+necessary to the legality of mortgage.
+
+In 1895 was enacted by the Constitutional Convention that, "The real
+and personal property of a woman, held at the time of her marriage, or
+that which she may thereafter acquire, either by gift, grant,
+inheritance, devise or otherwise, shall be her separate property, and
+she shall have all the rights incident to the same, to which an
+unmarried woman or a man is entitled. She shall have the power to
+contract and be contracted with, in the same manner as if she were
+unmarried."
+
+Dower prevails but not curtesy. If either husband or wife die without
+a will the other has an equal claim on the property. Should there be
+one or more children, the survivor receives one-third of the real and
+the personal estate. If there are no lineal descendants, but
+collateral heirs, the survivor takes one-half of the entire estate. If
+there are no lineal descendants, father, mother, brother, sister,
+child of such brother or sister, brother of the half-blood or lineal
+ancestor, the survivor receives two-thirds of the estate and the other
+third goes to the next of kin. If there is no kin, the survivor takes
+the whole estate.
+
+A homestead to the value of $1,000 is exempted to "the head of the
+family."
+
+South Carolina is the only State which does not allow divorce.
+
+The father is the legal guardian of the children, and may appoint a
+guardian of their persons and property by will.
+
+The law requires the husband to support the family, but there is no
+effective way for its enforcement. Any one may sell the wife
+necessaries and subject the husband's property to the payment of the
+bills, if he does not furnish a suitable support, but he can claim his
+homestead against such a debt and in many ways render this remedy
+unavailing.
+
+In 1895 the "age of protection for girls" was raised from 10 to 14
+years. The penalty is "death, with privilege of the jury to recommend
+to mercy, whereupon the penalty may be reduced to imprisonment in the
+penitentiary at hard labor during the whole lifetime of the prisoner."
+
+Seduction under promise of marriage is punished by a fine of not less
+than $500 nor more than $5,000, or imprisonment for not less than six
+months nor more than five years.
+
+SUFFRAGE: Women possess no form of suffrage.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: In the early '90's Gov. Benjamin R. Tillman secured
+the election of the first woman State librarian. Ever since this
+office has been filled by a woman, elected annually by the
+Legislature. No other elective office is open to women.
+
+A number of the engrossing clerks in the Senate are women.
+
+Through the efforts of the W. C. T. U. there is a police matron at
+Charleston.
+
+Dr. Sarah Allen was appointed physician in the State hospital for the
+insane in 1896, and still holds the position.
+
+There are women directors on the board of the Columbia Library
+Association.
+
+Women do not serve on the board of any State institution.
+
+They can not be notaries public.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: Women are not permitted to practice law. No other
+profession or occupation is legally forbidden to them.
+
+EDUCATION: In 1894 the State University at Columbia opened its doors
+to women. In the same year the Medical College of Charleston admitted
+them, and still later Furman University (Baptist) at Greenville. These
+were direct results of the agitation for equal rights. Charleston
+College and Clemson Agricultural College are closed to women, but they
+may enter the other educational institutions. Gov. Benjamin R. Tillman
+was largely instrumental in securing the Girls' Industrial and Normal
+College at Rock Hill, in 1894.
+
+In the public schools there are 2,245 men and 2,728 women teachers.
+The average monthly salary of the men is $25.18; of the women,
+$24.29.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[434] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Virginia D.
+Young of Fairfax, owner and editor of the _Enterprise_ and president
+of the State Woman Suffrage Association.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXIV.
+
+TENNESSEE.[435]
+
+
+No organized work for woman suffrage had been done in Tennessee up to
+1885, when Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon was appointed president of the
+State by the National Association. In 1886 she removed to Washington
+Territory and Mrs. Lida A. Meriwether was made her successor. As the
+best means of obtaining a hearing from people who would not attend a
+suffrage meeting, Mrs. Meriwether decided to begin her work in the
+ranks of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. After three years of
+quiet effort in this organization (of which she was State president)
+she succeeded in adding the "franchise" to its departments and having
+a solid suffrage plank nailed into its platform by unanimous vote. In
+May, 1889, she formed in Memphis the first local suffrage club, with a
+membership of fifty.
+
+In January, 1895, Miss Susan B. Anthony, president of the National
+Association, and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of its
+organization committee, came to Memphis and were welcomed not only by
+the suffrage society, but also by the Local Council of Women, the
+Woman's Club and the Nineteenth Century Club. They addressed a fine
+audience in the Young Men's Hebrew Association Hall.
+
+The following June Mrs. Meriwether was employed by the National
+Association to lecture and organize for two weeks, and visited the
+most important towns in the State.
+
+In May, 1897, Miss Frances A. Griffin of Alabama made a six weeks'
+lecture and organizing tour under the auspices of the association,
+during which she spoke in every available town of any size, Mrs.
+Nellie E. Bergen acting as advance agent. No other organizing work
+ever has been done in Tennessee.
+
+The first State suffrage convention was held at Nashville in May,
+1897, an association formed and Mrs. Meriwether unanimously elected
+president. This was in fact an interstate convention, being held
+during the Tennessee Centennial Exposition at the invitation of the
+managing committee, who offered the suffragists the use of the Woman's
+Building for three days to give reasons for the faith that was in
+them. Delegates were present from Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama,
+Mississippi and Illinois. Addresses were given by Miss Laura Clay and
+Mrs. Lida Calvert Obenchain of Kentucky, Mrs. Virginia Clay Clopton
+and Miss Griffin of Alabama, Miss Josephine E. Locke of Illinois, Mrs.
+Flora C. Huntington and Mrs. Meriwether.
+
+The second convention took place at Memphis, April 22, 1900, Mrs.
+Chapman Catt and Miss Mary G. Hay, national organizer, in attendance.
+Mrs. Meriwether was elected honorary president for life; Mrs. Elise M.
+Selden was made president and Miss Margaret E. Henry, corresponding
+secretary. On Sunday evening Mrs. Chapman Catt addressed a mass
+meeting in the Grand Opera House, and the next evening spoke in the
+audience hall of the Nineteenth Century Club, both given free of
+charge.
+
+One incident will further show the growth of public sentiment in this
+direction. In 1895 a prominent Memphis woman sent to the _Arena_ an
+article entitled The Attitude of Southern Women on the Suffrage
+Question, which she claimed to be that of uncompromising opposition.
+In conclusion she said: "The views presented have been strengthened by
+opinions from women all over the South, from the Atlantic Coast to
+Texas, from the Ohio to the Gulf. More than one hundred of the
+home-makers, the teachers and the writers have been consulted, all of
+them recognized in their own communities for earnestness and ability.
+Of these, only thirteen declared themselves outright for woman
+suffrage; four believed that women should vote upon property and
+school questions; while nine declined to express themselves. All the
+others were opposed to woman suffrage in any form." She then gave
+short extracts from the letters of eighteen women, four in favor and
+fourteen opposed.
+
+The editor wrote to Mrs. Josephine K. Henry of Kentucky asking for an
+article from the other side. She sent one entitled The New Woman of
+the New South, and the two were published in the _Arena_ of February,
+1895. Mrs. Henry gave extracts from the letters of seventy-two
+prominent women in various parts of the South--all uncompromising
+suffragists. She had written to Mrs. Meriwether that, as her opponent
+was from Tennessee, she wanted a distinct voice from that State, and
+requested her to give a few reasons for desiring the suffrage and
+obtain the signatures of women to the same. Mrs. Meriwether supplied
+the following:
+
+     We, the undersigned women of Tennessee, do and should want the
+     ballot because--
+
+     1. Being 21 years old, we object to being classed with minors.
+
+     2. Born in America and loyal to her institutions, we protest
+     against being made perpetual aliens.
+
+     3. Costing the treasuries of our counties nothing, we protest
+     against acknowledging the male pauper as our political superior.
+
+     4. Being obedient to law, we protest against the statute which
+     classes us with the convict and makes the pardoned criminal our
+     political superior.
+
+     5. Being sane, we object to being classed with the lunatic.
+
+     6. Possessing an average amount of intelligence, we protest
+     against legal classification with the idiot.
+
+     7. We taxpayers claim the right to representation.
+
+     8. We married women want to own our clothes.
+
+     9. We married breadwinners want to own our earnings.
+
+     10. We mothers want an equal partnership in our children.
+
+     11. We educated women want the power to offset the illiterate
+     vote of our State.
+
+Mrs. Meriwether sent this "confession of faith" to the presidents of
+every suffrage club and W. C. T. U. in Tennessee, giving them a
+fortnight to obtain signatures and adding, "The King's business
+requires haste." In two weeks it was returned with the names of 535
+women, while several presidents wrote: "If you could only give us two
+weeks more we could double the number."[436]
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS AND LAWS: Dower and curtesy both obtain. The widow
+receives one-third of the real estate, unless there are neither
+descendants nor heirs-at-law, when she takes it all in fee-simple. Of
+the personal property she takes a child's share, unless there are no
+lineal descendants, when she takes it all. The widower is entitled to
+a life interest in the wife's real estate, if there has been issue
+born alive, and to all of her personal estate whether there are
+children or not. The law provides that a homestead to the value of
+$1,000 shall inure to the widow.
+
+The wife can neither sue nor be sued nor make contracts in her own
+name, unless the husband has deserted her or is insane. The husband is
+entitled to her earnings and savings.
+
+Meigs' Digest says: "The general principle of the law is that marriage
+amounts to an absolute gift to the husband of all personal goods of
+which the wife is actually or beneficially possessed at the time, or
+which come to her during coverture. So that if it be money in her
+pocket or personal property in the hands of a third party, the title
+vests at once in the husband.
+
+"By right of his marriage the husband takes an interest in his wife's
+real estate, and during their joint lives the law gives him a right to
+the crops, profits and products of her lands. He has the usufruct of
+all her freehold estate. The husband is entitled to the profits of all
+lands held by the wife for her life, or for the life of another.
+
+"When a marriage is dissolved at the suit of the husband, and the
+defendant is owner in her own right of lands, his right to and
+interest therein and to the rents and profits of the same, shall not
+be taken away or impaired, but the same shall remain to him as though
+the marriage had continued. And he shall also be entitled to her
+personal estate, in possession or in action, and may sue for and
+recover the same in his own name.
+
+"When the wife is forced to separate from her husband, by reason of
+cruel and inhuman treatment from him, she may, by a bill in equity,
+have a suitable provision made for her support, out of the rents and
+profits _of her land_."
+
+The code says: "A father, whether under the age of twenty-one years,
+or of full age, may by deed executed in his lifetime or by last will
+and testament in writing, from time to time and in such manner and
+form as he thinks fit, dispose of the custody and tuition of any
+legitimate child under the age of twenty-one years and unmarried,
+whether born at the time of his death or afterwards, during the
+minority of such child, or for a less time." If the father abandon the
+family the mother becomes guardian, but she can not appoint one by
+will.
+
+No law requires the husband to support wife or children.
+
+The legal age for marriage is fourteen years for boys and twelve for
+girls.
+
+By earnest pleading and continual petitioning during the past ten
+years women have secured the following: 1. The passage of a bill
+making women eligible as superintendents of county schools. 2. Police
+matrons in two cities--Memphis and Knoxville. 3. A law raising the
+"age of protection" for girls from 10 to 16 years (1893), but if over
+12 the crime is only a misdemeanor. The penalty is, if under 12,
+"death by hanging, or, in the discretion of the jury, imprisonment in
+the penitentiary for life or for a period not less than ten years;" if
+over 12, "imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than three months
+nor more than ten years; provided no conviction shall be had on the
+unsupported testimony of the female ... or if the female is a bawd,
+lewd or kept female." (1895.)
+
+SUFFRAGE: Women possess no form of suffrage.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: Women are not eligible to any elective office except
+that of county superintendent of schools, which was provided for by
+special statute about 1890. They can not serve as school trustees.
+
+For a number of years all the librarians and engrossing clerks of both
+Senate and House have been women. They can not act as notaries public.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: Women have engaged in the practice of law, but this was
+forbidden by a recent decision of the Supreme Court (1901). It was
+based on the ground that an attorney is a public officer, and as women
+are not legally entitled to hold public office they can not practice
+law.
+
+EDUCATION: Degrees in law have been conferred upon several women at
+Vanderbilt University, for white students, and at Fiske University,
+for colored. All institutions of learning, except a few of a sectarian
+nature, are coeducational.
+
+In the public schools there are 5,019 men and 4,195 women teachers.
+The average monthly salary of the men (estimated) is $31.88; of the
+women, $26.18.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[435] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Lida A.
+Meriwether of Memphis, honorary president of the State Woman Suffrage
+Association.
+
+[436] Among prominent men who have aided in protective and progressive
+work for women are Legislators W. H. Milburn, Thomas A. Baker and
+Joseph Babb; Editors G. W. Armistead of the _Issue_, Gideon Baskette
+of the Nashville _Banner_ and J. M. Keating of the Memphis _Appeal_;
+the Revs. H. S. Williams, W. B. Evans, C. H. Wilson and T. B. Putnam;
+Judges E. H. East and Arthur Simpson. Among women may be mentioned
+Mesdames E. J. Roach, Georgia Mizelle, Bettie M. Donaldson, Margaret
+Gardner, Emily Settle, Ida T. East, Caroline Goodlett, S. E. Dosser,
+A. A. Gibson, Mary T. McTeer and Kate M. Simpson; Misses Louise and
+Mary Drouillard, J. E. Baillett, M. L. Patterson and S. E. Hoyt. Lo!
+all these are of the faithful--and yet "the half hath not been told."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXV.
+
+TEXAS.[437]
+
+
+The first addresses in favor of woman suffrage in Texas are believed
+to have been given by Mrs. Mariana T. Folsom in 1885. The first
+attempt at organization was made on May 10, 1893, when Mrs. Rebecca
+Henry Hayes called a meeting in the parlors of the Grand Windsor Hotel
+at Dallas for the purpose of forming a State association. Fifty-two
+names were enrolled; Mrs. Hayes was made president, Dr. Lawson Dabbs
+corresponding secretary, and Margaret L. Watrous, recording
+secretary.[438] Mrs. Sarah S. Trumbull was elected State organizer and
+auxiliary associations were formed in various towns. Mrs. Hayes
+traveled 9,000 miles in the interest of this cause during the next two
+years, but as Texas has 360 counties and a scattered and widely
+separated population, organized work is very difficult.
+
+In 1896 Mrs. Elizabeth Good Houston became president. Mrs. Alice
+McAnulty served a number of years most efficiently as corresponding
+secretary. Dr. Grace Danforth also did effective work. Mrs. L. A.
+Craig presented the question to the Democratic State Convention of
+1894, but without any practical result. Mrs. McAnulty and Mrs.
+Elizabeth Fry attended the Populist State Convention the same year,
+but no action was taken.
+
+Since 1887 the State W. C. T. U. has been pledged to woman suffrage.
+The president, Mrs. S. C. Acheson, under whose management it was
+adopted, was an enthusiast upon the subject. Mrs. Fry was the first
+State superintendent of franchise, and, through both the W. C. T. U.
+and the W. S. A., has rendered valuable service. Later, Mrs. Mary E.
+Prendergast filled this position, distributing much literature and
+speaking in many cities. Judge Davis McGee Prendergast became a
+convert before his wife and convinced her of the righteousness of
+woman suffrage. These two ladies are southern-born and life-long
+Texans.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: In 1891, through the efforts of the W. C.
+T. U., the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 12
+years. In 1895 it was raised to 15 years. The penalty is death or
+imprisonment in the penitentiary from not less than five years to
+life.
+
+No attempt ever has been made to secure the franchise, but at this
+time (1895) the women learned that thirty of the legislators believed
+in woman suffrage, one of them declaring: "If some of these seats were
+occupied by women, we men would do better work."
+
+Neither dower nor curtesy obtains. If there are any lineal descendants
+a surviving husband or wife is entitled to a life interest in
+one-third of the real estate and to one-third of the personal estate
+absolutely; if none, to all the personal property and a life interest
+in one-half the real estate. If there are neither father, mother,
+brothers, sisters nor their descendants, the surviving husband or wife
+is entitled to the whole estate, both real and personal, as to
+separate property.
+
+In addition to such provision, one-half of the community property
+passes to the widow or widower if there are one or more children and
+the whole of such property if there are no lineal descendants. A widow
+or widower is also entitled to retain a homestead not exceeding $5,000
+in value. If either husband or wife die without a will or become
+insane, and there are no living descendants, and the other party to
+the marriage has no separate estate, the community property passes to
+the survivor without an administration, unless there is a guardianship
+by the State of the insane spouse. If, however, there are descendants,
+the survivor has the exclusive management of the community property. A
+woman loses this right if she contract another marriage. In the event
+of the insane person being restored to a sound mental condition, an
+accounting of such property must be rendered.
+
+The property which a woman owns at marriage, or acquires by gift,
+devise or descent afterward, remains her separate estate, but passes
+under the absolute control of the husband, except that he can not sell
+it without her consent.
+
+The wife can not sell her separate property without the husband's
+consent. He may sell his separate property without hers.
+
+He may also sell the community property, except the homestead, without
+her consent.
+
+The wife must sue and be sued jointly with her husband in regard to
+her separate property, and all other matters.
+
+The wages of the wife belong to the husband as part of the community
+property, whether she is living with him or separate from him.
+
+Divorce is granted to the husband if the wife commit a single act of
+adultery; to the wife, only if the husband has abandoned her and lived
+in adultery with another. The law places the division of the property
+entirely in the hands of the judge, but provides that "nothing herein
+contained shall be construed to compel either party to divest himself
+or herself of real estate." Supreme Court decisions have laid down the
+general rule that separate property shall be restored to its owner.
+Where there are no children the community property may be divided as
+in case of death. The court, however, may make such provision as it
+deems essential for the support of wife or children or an invalid
+husband. If necessary it may place separate or community property in
+the hands of trustees, the rents and profits to be applied to the
+maintenance and education of the children or the support of the wife.
+The judge assigns the children for their best interests. In general
+practice the mother, unless disqualified morally, retains the custody
+of female children of any age and of males to the age of eight, when
+they are usually given to the father. There is no absolute rule, and
+in case of children or property an appeal may be taken to a higher
+court.
+
+The father is the natural guardian of the persons and education of the
+minor children, and is entitled to be appointed guardian of their
+estates.
+
+The law of support, revised in 1895, provides that "if the husband
+fail to support the wife or children from the proceeds of the land
+_she_ may have or fail to educate the children as the fortune of the
+_wife_ would justify, she may in either case complain to the County
+Court, which upon satisfactory proof shall decree that so much of
+_her_ proceeds shall be paid to the wife for the support of herself
+and the education of the children as the court may deem
+necessary."[439]
+
+SUFFRAGE: Women possess no form of suffrage.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: Most of the public offices have some women on their
+clerical force, that of the comptroller having seven. They are paid
+the same as men for the same work.
+
+Women were postmasters of both Senate and House in the Legislature of
+1900, and acted as clerks of committees.
+
+They can serve as notaries public.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to
+women. They practice law and medicine, are managers of many kinds of
+business and proprietors of hotels, and two have been presidents of
+banks.
+
+Mrs. Henrietta King is widely known as "the Cattle Queen of the
+World." Her ranch covers a million acres, and the net proceeds of her
+sales of horses and cattle are estimated at $500,000 a year. A number
+of women own and manage ranches.
+
+EDUCATION: Most of the leading institutions of learning are open to
+both sexes. Among these are the State University, Baylor University
+(Baptist), Southwestern University (Methodist South), Fort Worth
+Polytechnic (Methodist Episcopal), Trinity University (Cumberland
+Presbyterian) and Wiley University (colored). Austin College and the
+State Agricultural and Mechanical College are restricted to male
+students.
+
+The State Industrial College for Girls (white) was established by the
+Legislature of 1900, with an appropriation of $60,000. All of the
+industries will be taught, from domestic science to draughting. The W.
+C. T. U. and others had been petitioning for this ten years.[440]
+
+The Prairie View State Normal School for colored youth of both sexes
+has had an Industrial Department from its beginning years ago. A
+movement is now on foot to establish such a department as a portion of
+the public school system. Austin already has one, made possible by
+legacy, and its fine results have greatly inspired the law-makers.
+
+One woman has served as superintendent of schools at Waco, and there
+are many women principals of High Schools.
+
+There are in the public schools 7,347 men and 7,672 women teachers.
+The average monthly salary of the men is $49.20; of the women, $35.50.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Practically all of the progressive steps enumerated above have been
+taken since 1883. When it is remembered that less than twenty years
+ago women were virtually ostracized if they attempted any kind of
+occupation outside the home, even teaching being looked upon askance,
+the changes seem almost miraculous.
+
+Texas has 130 Woman's Clubs with a membership of about 3,500. With
+other good works they have distributed great quantities of reading
+matter among isolated families. They also have established forty
+public libraries and four traveling libraries.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[437] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Helen M.
+Stoddard of Fort Worth, president of the State Woman's Christian
+Temperance Union.
+
+[438] Under the direction of Dr. Dabbs a Congress of Women was held in
+connection with the State Fair, and a Texas Woman's Council was
+formed, not committed to suffrage but progressive in its views.
+
+[439] The lawyer who was consulted as to the accuracy of these
+statements said, after a careful examination: "There are so many other
+laws bearing upon each of these that all this is necessarily
+imperfect, but there is enough else, that is likewise true, to fill a
+book."
+
+[440] In 1901 Mrs. Helen M. Stoddard was appointed by Gov. Joseph D.
+Sayers a member of the committee to locate this school. The
+appointment was confirmed by the Senate, and the committee of twelve
+men elected her secretary. She received, of course, the same pay as
+the other members. Later three women were placed on the Board of
+Regents, herself among the number. [Eds.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXVI.
+
+UTAH.[441]
+
+
+To write the history of woman suffrage in Utah one must turn backward
+to 1870, when the Legislature of the Territory passed a bill
+conferring the franchise upon women, to which acting-Governor S. A.
+Mann affixed his signature February 12. From that time women voted at
+all elections, while some of them took a practical interest in public
+matters and acted as delegates to political conventions and members of
+Territorial and county committees.
+
+The first attempt to elect a woman to any important office was made in
+Salt Lake City at the county convention of 1878, when Mrs. Emmeline B.
+Wells was nominated for treasurer. She received the vote of the entire
+delegation, but the statute including the word "male" was held to
+debar women from holding political offices. A bill was presented to
+the next Legislature with petitions numerously signed asking that this
+word be erased from the statutes, which was passed. Gov. George W.
+Emory, however, refused to sign it, and though other Legislatures
+passed similar bills by unanimous vote, none ever received his
+signature or that of any succeeding governor.
+
+In June, 1871, Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Miss Susan B. Anthony,
+the president and vice-president-at-large of the National Woman
+Suffrage Association, stopped at Salt Lake City on their way to the
+Pacific Coast and met many of the prominent men and women.
+
+In 1872 the _Woman's Exponent_ was established, and it is impossible
+to estimate the advantage this little paper gave to the women of this
+far western Territory. From its first issue it was the champion of the
+suffrage cause, and by exchanging with women's papers of the United
+States and England it brought news of women in all parts of the world
+to those of Utah. They also were thoroughly organized in the National
+Woman's Relief Society, a charitable and philanthropic body which
+stood for reform and progress in all directions. Through such an
+organization it was always comparatively easy to promote any specific
+object or work. The Hon. George Q. Cannon, Utah's delegate in the
+'70's, coming from a Territory where women had the ballot, interested
+himself in the suffrage question before Congress. He thus became
+acquainted with the prominent leaders of the movement, who went to
+Washington every winter and who manifested much interest in the women
+afar off in possession of the rights which they themselves had been so
+long and zealously advocating without apparent results. Among these
+were Mrs. Stanton, Miss Anthony, Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker and
+others of national reputation.
+
+Women were appointed as representatives from Utah by the National
+Suffrage Association, and the correspondence between its officers and
+Mrs. Wells, who had been made a member of their Advisory Committee and
+vice-president for the Territory, as well as the fact that the women
+of Utah were so progressive on the suffrage question and had sent
+large petitions asking for the passage of a Sixteenth Amendment to the
+Federal Constitution to enfranchise all women, resulted in an
+invitation for her to attend its annual convention at Washington, in
+January, 1879. Mrs. Wells was accompanied by Mrs. Zina Young Williams
+and they were cordially welcomed by Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony.
+This was a valuable experience for these women, as, even though they
+had the right of suffrage, there was much to learn from the great
+leaders who had been laboring in the cause of woman's enfranchisement
+for more than thirty years. They were invited to address the
+convention, and selected with others to go before Congressional
+committees and the President of the United States, as well as to
+present important matters to the Lady of the White House. The kindness
+which they received from Mrs. Hayes and other noted women always will
+remain a pleasant memory of that first visit to the national capitol.
+On their return home they took up the subject of the ballot more
+energetically in its general sense than ever before through public
+speaking and writing.
+
+During the seventeen years, from 1870 to 1887, that the women of Utah
+enjoyed the privilege of the ballot several attempts were made to
+deprive them of it. In 1880 a case came before the Supreme Court of
+the Territory on a mandamus requiring the assessor and registrar to
+erase the names of Emmeline B. Wells, Maria M. Blythe and Cornelia
+Paddock from the registration list, also the names of all other women
+before a certain specified date, but the court decided in favor of the
+defendants.
+
+In the spring of 1882 a convention was held to prepare a constitution
+and urge Congress to admit Utah as a State. Three women were
+elected--Mrs. Sarah M. Kimball, Mrs. Elizabeth Howard and Mrs.
+Wells--and took part in framing this constitution, and their work was
+as satisfactory as that of the male members. Although this was a new
+departure, it caused no friction whatever and was good political
+discipline for the women, especially in parliamentary law and usage.
+
+This year another case was brought, before the Third District Court,
+to test the validity of the statute conferring the elective franchise
+upon the women of the Territory. A registrar of Salt Lake City refused
+to place the names of women upon the list of voters, and Mrs. Florence
+L. Westcott asked for a writ compelling him to administer the oath,
+enter her name, etc. The case was called for argument Sept. 14, 1882,
+Chief Justice James A. Hunter on the bench, and able lawyers were
+employed on both sides of the question. The decision sustained the
+Legislative Act of 1870 under which women voted. Associate Justice
+Emerson agreed with Judge Hunter, and Associate Justice Twiss
+acknowledged the validity of the law, but insisted that women should
+be taxpayers to entitle them to the right. This test case decided all
+others and women continued to vote until the passage of the
+Edmunds-Tucker Law, in March, 1887. During this period women gained
+much political experience in practical matters, and their association
+with men acquainted with affairs of State, in council and on
+committees gave them a still wider knowledge of the manipulation of
+public affairs.
+
+In September, 1882, the National W. S. A. held a conference in Omaha,
+Neb., and Mrs. Wells and Mrs. Zina D. H. Young attended. Miss Anthony,
+Mrs. May Wright Sewall, chairman of the Executive Committee, and many
+other distinguished women were in attendance. Mrs. Wells, as
+vice-president for Utah, presented an exhaustive report of the
+suffrage work in the Territory, which was received with a great deal
+of enthusiasm.
+
+At the national convention in Washington the previous January the
+proposed disfranchisement of Utah women by the Edmunds Bill had been
+very fully discussed and a resolution adopted, that "the proposition
+to disfranchise the women of Utah for no cause whatever is a cruel
+display of the power which lies in might alone, and that this Congress
+has no more right to disfranchise the women of Utah than the men of
+Wyoming."[442] This sympathy was gratefully acknowledged by the women
+of the Territory.
+
+The suffrage women throughout the various States made vigorous
+protests against the injustice of this pending measure. A committee
+appointed at the convention in Washington, in the winter of 1887,
+presented a memorial to the President of the United States requesting
+him not to sign the bills, but to veto any measure for the
+disfranchisement of the women of Utah.[443] Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood
+made an able speech before the convention on this question. There were
+at that time several bills before Congress to deprive Utah women of
+the elective franchise.
+
+During the subsequent years of this agitation every issue of the
+_Woman's Exponent_ contained burning articles, letters and editorials
+upon this uncalled-for and unwarranted interference with the affairs
+of the women of this Territory. The advocates of the rights of all
+women stood up boldly for those of Utah, notwithstanding the scoffs
+and obloquy cast upon them. It was a fierce battle of opinions and the
+weaker had to succumb. The strong power of Congress conquered at last,
+and the Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887 wrested from all the women, Gentile
+and Mormon alike, the suffrage which they had exercised for seventeen
+years. Naturally they were very indignant at being arbitrarily
+deprived of a vested right, but were obliged to submit. They were
+determined, however, not to do so tamely but to teach their sons,
+brothers and all others the value of equal suffrage, and to use every
+effort in their power toward securing it whenever Statehood should be
+conferred.
+
+Mrs. Arthur Brown and Mrs. Emily S. Richards were appointed to
+represent the Territory at the National Suffrage Convention in
+Washington in 1888, and were there authorized to form an association
+uniform with those in various States and Territories. Heretofore it
+had not been considered necessary to organize, as women were already
+in possession of the ballot.
+
+Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon and Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby, who had been
+lecturing on suffrage in Oregon and Washington, visited Salt Lake in
+September, 1888. They spoke in the theater, and on the following day a
+reception was tendered them in the Gardo House, where they had the
+opportunity of meeting socially between five and six hundred people,
+both Gentiles and Mormons, men and women. The same evening another
+large audience in the theater greeted them, and on the day succeeding
+at 10 A. M. there was a meeting for women only in the Assembly Hall.
+These meetings were held under the auspices of the Woman's Relief
+Society, Mrs. Zina D. H. Young, president. Though they occurred at a
+time when the people were suffering from indignities heaped upon them
+because of unjust legislation, yet a strong impression was made on
+those (mostly Gentiles) who never previously had been converted to
+suffrage.
+
+After careful deliberation and several preliminary meetings in the
+office of the _Woman's Exponent_, a public call was made through the
+daily papers, signed by the most influential women of Salt Lake City,
+for a meeting in the Assembly Hall, Jan. 10, 1889, to organize a
+Territorial Suffrage Association. Mrs. Richards occupied the chair and
+Mrs. Lydia D. Alder was elected secretary _pro tem_. Prayer was
+offered and the old-fashioned hymn, "Know this that every soul is
+free," was sung by the congregation.[444] One hundred names were
+enrolled and Mrs. Caine and Mrs. Richards were elected delegates to
+the National Convention. Mrs. Caine was already at the Capital with
+her husband, the Hon. John T. Caine, Utah's delegate in the House of
+Representatives. Mrs. Richards arrived in time to give a report of the
+new society, which was heard with much interest.
+
+Within a few months fourteen counties had auxiliary societies.
+Possibly because of the former experience of the women there was very
+little necessity of urging these to keep up their enthusiasm. Towns
+and villages were soon organized auxiliary to the counties, and much
+good work was done in an educational way to arouse the new members to
+an appreciation of the ballot, and also to convince men of the
+benefits to be derived by all the people when women stood side by side
+with them and made common cause.
+
+On April 11, three months after the Territorial Association was
+organized, a rousing meeting was held in the Assembly Hall, in Salt
+Lake City, Mrs. Alder, vice-president, in the chair. Eloquent
+addresses were made by Bishop O. F. Whitney, the Hon. C. W. Penrose,
+the Hon. George Q. Cannon, Dr. Martha P. Hughes (Cannon), Mrs. Zina D.
+H. Young, Mrs. Richards, Ida Snow Gibbs and Nellie R. Webber.
+
+A largely attended meeting took place in the County Court House, Ogden
+City, in June, the local president, Elizabeth Stanford, in the chair.
+Besides brief addresses from members eloquent speeches were made by C.
+W. Penrose and the Hon. Lorin Farr, a veteran legislator. The women
+speakers of Salt Lake who had been thoroughly identified with the
+suffrage cause traveled through the Territory in 1889, making speeches
+and promoting local interests, and strong addresses were given also by
+distinguished men--the Hons. John T. Caine, John E. Booth, William H.
+King (delegate to Congress), bishops and legislators. The fact can not
+be controverted that the sentiment of the majority of the people of
+Utah always has been in favor of equal suffrage.
+
+At the annual meeting, held in the Social Hall, Salt Lake City, in
+1890, Mrs. Sarah M. Kimball, a woman of great executive ability, was
+elected president.[445]
+
+In 1890 Mrs. Kimball and Maria Y. Dougall went as delegates to the
+National Convention and reached Washington in time to be present at
+the banquet given in honor of Miss Anthony's seventieth birthday. In
+Mrs. Kimball's report she stated that there were 300 paid-up members
+of the Territorial Association exclusive of the sixteen county
+organizations.
+
+During 1890 the women worked unceasingly, obtaining new members and
+keeping up a vigorous campaign all the year round. Meetings were held
+in the most remote towns, and even the farmer's wife far away in some
+mountain nook did her part toward securing the suffrage.
+
+On July 23, 1890, the day Wyoming celebrated her Statehood, the
+Suffrage Association of Utah assembled in Liberty Park, Salt Lake
+City, to rejoice in the good fortune of Wyoming women. The fine old
+trees were decorated with flags and bunting and martial music
+resounded through the park; speeches rich with independent thought
+were made by the foremost ladies, and a telegram of greeting was sent
+to Mrs. Amalia Post at Cheyenne.
+
+Conventions were held yearly in Salt Lake City, with the best speakers
+among men and women, and the counties represented by delegates. Many
+classes in civil government also were formed throughout the Territory.
+
+At the National Convention in Washington, in February, 1891, there
+were present from Utah ten representatives, and the number of paid-up
+members entitled the delegates to twenty votes, the largest number of
+any State except New York.
+
+On Feb. 15, 1892, the association celebrated Susan B. Anthony's
+birthday in one of the largest halls in Salt Lake City, handsomely
+decorated and the Stars and Stripes waving over the pictures of Mrs.
+Stanton and Miss Anthony. Several members of the Legislature took part
+in the exercises, which were entirely of a suffrage character. A
+telegram was received from Miss Anthony which said, "Greetings, dear
+friends: that your citizens' right to vote may soon be secured is the
+prayer of your co-worker." A message of love and appreciation was
+returned.
+
+On July 29, 1892, a grand rally in the interest of suffrage was held
+in American Fork, attended by the leaders from Salt Lake City and
+other parts of the Territory. Ladies wore the yellow ribbon and many
+gentlemen the sunflower; the visitors were met at the station with
+carriages and horses decorated in yellow, and bands of music were in
+attendance. Mrs. Hannah Lapish, the local president, had charge, a
+fine banquet was spread, and the entire day was a grand feast of
+suffrage sentiment. C. W. Penrose was the orator.
+
+During 1892 Mrs. Wells traveled in California and Idaho, and wherever
+she went, in season and out of season, spoke a good word for the
+cause, often where women never had given the subject a thought, or had
+considered it brazen and unwomanly. The annual convention in October
+was an enthusiastic one, but the real work of the women during that
+year was for the Columbian Exposition, though a suffrage song book was
+published and much literature circulated, not only in Utah but
+broadcast throughout the West; and Mrs. Richards did some work in
+Southern Idaho.
+
+In some striking respects 1893 was a woman's year, and much was done
+to advance the suffrage cause indirectly. The association gave a large
+garden party in Salt Lake, with addresses by Mrs. Minnie J. Snow, Mrs.
+Julia P. M. Farnsworth and the Hon. George Q. Cannon.
+
+At the annual convention Mrs. Wells was elected president, Mrs.
+Richards vice-president, and they continued in office during the time
+of the struggle to obtain an equal suffrage clause in the State
+constitution. Mrs. Wells made personal visits throughout the
+Territory, urging the women to stand firm for the franchise and
+encourage the men who were likely to take part in the work toward
+Statehood to uphold the rights of the women who had helped to build up
+the country, as well as those who since then had been born in this
+goodly land, reminding them that their fathers had given women
+suffrage a quarter of a century before.
+
+In February, 1894, Mrs. Wells called an assembly of citizens for the
+purpose of arousing a greater interest in a Statehood which should
+include equal rights for women as well as men. The audience was a
+large one of representative people. They sang Julia Ward Howe's
+Battle Hymn of the Republic and also America, and brilliant addresses
+were made by the Hon. John E. Booth, the Hon. Samuel W. Richards, Dr.
+Richard A. Hasbrouck, a famous orator formerly of Ohio, Dr. Martha
+Hughes Cannon, Mrs. Zina D. H. Young and Mrs. Lucy A. Clark. As a
+result of this gathering parlor meetings were held in various parts of
+the city, arousing much serious thought upon the question, as the
+Territory was now on the verge of Statehood.
+
+On July 16 President Grover Cleveland signed the enabling act and the
+_Woman's Exponent_ chronicled the event with words of patriotic ardor,
+urging the women to stand by their guns and not allow the framers of
+the constitution to take any action whereby they might be defrauded of
+their sacred rights to equality. Miss Anthony's message was quoted,
+"Let it be the best basis for a State ever engrossed on parchment;"
+and never did the faith of its editor waver in the belief that this
+would be done.
+
+From this time unremitting work was carried on by the women in all
+directions; every effort possible was made to secure a convention of
+men who would frame a constitution without sex distinction, and to
+provide that the woman suffrage article should be included in the
+document itself and not be submitted separately.
+
+At the annual convention in October, 1894, a cordial resolution was
+unanimously adopted thanking the two political parties for having
+inserted in their platforms a plank approving suffrage for women.
+
+The November election was most exciting. Women all over the Territory
+worked energetically to elect such delegates to the convention as
+would place equal suffrage in the constitution.
+
+After the election, when the battle was in progress, women labored
+tactfully and industriously; they tried by every means to educate and
+convert the general public, circulated suffrage literature among
+neighbors and friends and in the most remote corners, for they knew
+well that even after the constitution was adopted by the convention it
+must be voted on by all the men of the Territory.
+
+In January, 1895, the president, Mrs. Wells, went to Atlanta to the
+National Convention, accompanied by Mrs. Marilla M. Daniels and Mrs.
+Aurelia S. Rogers. In her report she stated that the women of Utah had
+not allied themselves with either party but labored assiduously with
+both Republicans and Democrats. In closing she said: "There are two
+good reasons why our women should have the ballot apart from the
+general reasons why all women should have it--first, because the
+franchise was given to them by the Territorial Legislature and they
+exercised it seventeen years, never abusing the privilege, and it was
+taken away from them by Congress without any cause assigned except
+that it was a political measure; second, there are undoubtedly more
+women in Utah who own their homes and pay taxes than in any other
+State with the same number of inhabitants, and Congress has, by its
+enactments in the past, virtually made many of these women heads of
+families."
+
+A convention was held February 18 in the Probate Court room of the
+Salt Lake City and County building. Delegates came from far and near.
+Mrs. Wells presided, and vice-presidents were Mrs. Richards, Mrs. C.
+W. Bennett; secretary, Mrs. Nellie Little; assistant secretary, Mrs.
+Augusta W. Grant; chaplain, Mrs. Zina D. H. Young. A committee was
+appointed by the Chair to prepare a memorial for the convention,[446]
+and stirring speeches were made by delegates from the various
+counties.
+
+In the afternoon as many of the ladies as could gain admittance went
+into another hall in the same building, where the Constitutional
+Convention was in session, and where already some members had begun to
+oppose woman suffrage in the constitution proper and to suggest it as
+an amendment to be voted upon separately. The Hon. F. S. Richards, a
+prominent member, presented their memorial, which closed with the
+following paragraph: "We therefore ask you to provide in the
+constitution that the rights of citizens of the State of Utah to vote
+and hold office shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex, but
+that male and female citizens of the State shall equally enjoy all
+civil, political and religious rights and privileges." This was signed
+by Emeline B. Wells, president Woman Suffrage Association; Emily S.
+Richards, vice-president; Zina D. H. Young, president National
+Woman's Relief Society; Jane S. Richards, vice-president, and all the
+county presidents.
+
+The next morning a hearing was granted to the ladies before the
+Suffrage Committee. Carefully prepared papers were read by Mesdames
+Richards, Carlton, Cannon, Milton, Pardee and Pratt. Mrs. Wells spoke
+last, without notes, stating pertinent facts and appealing for
+justice.
+
+There was much debate, pro and con, in the convention after this time,
+and open and fair discussions of the question in Committee of the
+Whole. The majority report was as follows:
+
+     _Resolved_, That the rights of citizens of the State of Utah to
+     vote and hold office shall not be denied or abridged on account
+     of sex. Both male and female citizens of this State shall equally
+     enjoy all civil, political and religious rights and privileges.
+
+The minority report submitted later was too weak and flimsy to be
+considered.
+
+The women addressed a cordial letter of appreciation and thanks to the
+committee who had so nobly stood by their cause.[447] Having secured
+this favorable report the women had not supposed it would be necessary
+to continue their efforts, and it would not have been except for a
+faction led by Brigham H. Roberts who actively worked against the
+adoption of this article by the delegates.[448] Numerously signed
+petitions for woman suffrage from all parts of the Territory were at
+once sent to the convention.
+
+On the morning of April 8 the section on equal suffrage which had
+passed its third reading was brought up for consideration, as had been
+previously decided. The hall was crowded to suffocation, but as the
+debate was limited to fifteen minutes it was soon disposed of without
+much argument from either side. The vote of the convention was 75
+ayes, 6 noes, 12 absent. Every member afterwards signed the
+constitution.
+
+On May 12, Miss Anthony and the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, president and
+vice-president-at-large of the National Association, arrived, as
+promised, to hold a suffrage conference. They were accompanied by Mrs.
+Mary C. C. Bradford and Mrs. Ellis Meredith of Colorado. The
+conference met in the hall where the Constitutional Convention had
+adjourned a few days before. Mrs. Wells presided and Gov. Caleb W.
+West introduced Miss Anthony, assuring his audience it was a
+distinguished honor, and declaring that the new State constitution
+which included woman suffrage would be carried at the coming election
+by an overwhelming majority. Miss Anthony responded in a most
+acceptable manner. Governor West also introduced Miss Shaw who made an
+eloquent address. Mrs. Bradford and Mrs. Meredith were formally
+presented and welcome was extended by Mesdames Zina D. H. Young, W.
+Ferry, B. W. Smith, J. Milton, C. E. Allen, M. I. Home, E. B. Ferguson
+and the Hon. J. R. Murdock, a pioneer suffragist and member of the
+late convention.
+
+The same afternoon a reception was given in honor of the ladies at the
+handsome residence of the Hon. F. S. and Mrs. Richards, attended by
+over three hundred guests, including State officials, officers and
+ladies from the military post, and many people of distinction. The
+conference lasted two days, with large audiences, and the newspapers
+published glowing accounts of the proceedings and the enthusiasm. Many
+social courtesies were extended.
+
+Miss Anthony and her party held meetings in Ogden and were honored in
+every possible way, the Hon. Franklin D. Richards and his wife and the
+Hon. D. H. Peery being among the entertainers there.
+
+The question soon arose whether women should vote on the adoption of
+the constitution at the coming November election. The commission which
+had been appointed by the U. S. Government to superintend affairs in
+Utah, decided at their June meeting to submit the matter to the
+Attorney-General. There was considerable agitation by the public
+press; some newspapers favored the women's voting and others thought
+its legality would be questioned and thus the admission to Statehood
+would be hindered. The women generally were willing to abide by the
+highest judicial authority.
+
+A test case was brought before the District Court in Ogden, August 10.
+The court room was crowded with attorneys and prominent citizens to
+hear the decision of Judge H. W. Smith, which was that women should
+register and vote. The case was then carried to the Supreme Court of
+the Territory and the decision given August 31. Chief Justice Samuel
+A. Merritt stated that Judge G. W. Bartch and himself had reached the
+conclusion that the Edmunds-Tucker Law had not been repealed and would
+remain effective till Statehood was achieved, and that he would file a
+written opinion reversing the judgment of the lower court. Judge
+William H. King, the other member, dissented and declared that "the
+disfranchisement of the women at this election he regarded as a wrong
+and an outrage."
+
+The opinion of the Supreme Court could not be ignored and therefore
+the women citizens acquiesced with the best grace possible.
+Unremitting and effective work continued to be done by the suffrage
+association, although the foremost women soon affiliated with the
+respective parties and began regular duty in election matters. The
+leaders went through the Territory urging women everywhere to look
+after the interests of the election and see that men voted right on
+the constitution, which was not only of great importance to them and
+their posterity but to all women throughout the land.
+
+Women attended conventions, were members of political committees and
+worked faithfully for the election of the men who had been nominated
+at the Territorial Convention. A few women also had been placed on the
+tickets--Mrs. Emma McVicker for Superintendent of Public Instruction,
+Mrs. Lillie Pardee for the Senate, and Mrs. E. B. Wells for the House
+of Representatives, on the Republican ticket, and it was held that
+although women were not allowed to vote, they might be voted for by
+men. But finally, so many fears were entertained lest the success of
+the ticket should be imperiled that the women were induced to
+withdraw. Mrs. Wells' name remained until the last, but the party
+continuing to insist, she very reluctantly yielded, informing the
+committee that she did it under protest. On Nov. 5, 1895, the
+Republican party carried the election by a large majority; the
+constitution was adopted by 28,618 ayes, 2,687 noes, and Full Suffrage
+was conferred on women.
+
+[Illustration:
+
+  LAURA M. JOHNS.
+  Salina, Kan.
+
+          MARY J. COGGESHALL.
+          Des Moines, Iowa.
+
+      EMMELINE S. WELLS,
+      Salt Lake City, Utah.
+
+  MARY SMITH HAYWARD.
+  Chadron, Neb.
+
+          JULIA B. NELSON.
+          Red Wing, Minn.
+
+]
+
+President Cleveland signed the constitution of Utah, Jan. 4, 1896, and
+the inaugural ceremonies were held in the great tabernacle in Salt
+Lake City, January 6, "Utah completing the trinity of true Republics
+at the summit of the Rockies." Gov. Heber M. Wells took the oath
+administered by Chief Justice Charles S. Zane, and at a given
+signal the booming of artillery was heard from Capitol Hill.
+Secretary-of-State Hammond read the Governor's first proclamation
+convening the Legislature at 3 o'clock that day. Mrs. Pardee was
+elected clerk of the Senate and entered upon the duties of the office
+at the opening session, signing the credentials of the U. S.
+Senators--the first case of the kind on record. C. E. Allen had been
+elected representative to Congress, and the Legislature at once
+selected Frank J. Cannon and Arthur Brown as United States Senators.
+
+At the National Suffrage Convention in Washington, the evening of
+January 27 was devoted to welcoming Utah. Representative Allen and
+wife were on the platform. The Rev. Miss Shaw tendered the welcome of
+the association. Senator Cannon, who had just arrived in the city,
+responded declaring that woman was the power needed to reform
+politics. Mrs. Allen and Mrs. S. A. Boyer spoke of the courage and
+persistence of the women, and Mrs. Richards gave a graphic account of
+the faithful work done by the Utah Suffrage Association.
+
+In January, 1897, Mrs. Wells attended the National Convention in Des
+Moines, Iowa, and described the first year's accomplishments to an
+appreciative audience.
+
+On Oct. 30, 1899, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the National
+organization committee, and Miss Mary G. Hay, secretary, came to Salt
+Lake City on the homeward way from Montana, and a meeting was held in
+the office of the _Woman's Exponent_, Mrs. Wells in the chair and
+about twenty-five ladies present, all ardent suffragists. After due
+deliberation a committee was appointed, Mrs. Richards, chairman, Mrs.
+J. Fewson Smith, secretary, to work for suffrage in other States,
+especially Arizona. Subsequently this committee organized properly,
+adopted the name Utah Council of Women, and did all in their power to
+raise means and carry on the proposed work, and dues were sent to the
+national treasury.
+
+In February, 1900, Mrs. Richards, president, and Mrs. Lucy A. Clark,
+delegate, went to Washington and took part in the National Convention
+and the celebration of Miss Anthony's eightieth birthday. On this
+occasion the Utah Silk Commission presented to her a handsome black
+silk dress pattern, which possessed an especial value from the fact
+that the raising of the silk worms, the spinning of the thread and all
+the work connected with its manufacture except the weaving was done by
+women.
+
+During this year the Council of Women worked assiduously to make a
+creditable exhibit at the national suffrage bazar, Mrs. Mary T. Gilmer
+having personal charge of it in New York City.
+
+LAWS: Dower and curtesy are abolished. The law reserves for the widow
+one-third of all the real property possessed by the husband free from
+his debts, but the value of such portion of the homestead as is set
+apart for her shall be deducted from this share. If either husband or
+wife die without a will leaving only one child or the lawful issue of
+one, the survivor takes one-half the real estate; if there are more
+than one or issue of one living, then one-third. If there is issue the
+survivor has one-half the personal estate. If none he or she is
+entitled to all the real and personal estate if not over $5,000 in
+value, exclusive of debts and expenses. Of all over that amount the
+survivor receives one-half and the parents of the deceased the other
+half in equal shares; if not living it goes to the brothers and
+sisters and their heirs.
+
+Also the widow or widower is entitled to one-half the community
+property subject to community debts, and if there is no will, to the
+other half provided there are no children living.
+
+A homestead not exceeding $2,000 in value and $250 additional for each
+minor child, together with all the personal property exempt from
+execution, shall be wholly exempt from the payment of the debts of
+decedent, and shall be the absolute property of the surviving husband
+or wife and minor children. This section shall not be construed to
+prevent the disposition by will of the homestead and exempt personal
+property.
+
+A married woman has absolute control over her separate property and
+may mortgage or convey it or dispose of it by will without the
+husband's consent. The husband has the same right, but in conveying
+real estate which is community property, the wife's signature is
+necessary.
+
+A married woman may engage in business in her own name and "her
+earnings, wages and savings become her separate estate without any
+express gift or contract of the husband, when she is permitted to
+receive and retain them and to loan and invest them in her own name
+and for her own benefit, and they are exempt from execution for her
+husband's debts." (1894.)
+
+A married woman may make contracts, sue and be sued in her own name.
+
+The father is the legal guardian of the children, and at his death the
+mother. The survivor may appoint a guardian.
+
+Support for the wife may be granted by the court the same as alimony
+in divorce, if the husband have property in the State. If not there is
+no punishment for non-support. (1896.)
+
+The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 13 years in
+1888, and to 18 years in 1896. The penalty is imprisonment in the
+penitentiary not less than five years.
+
+SUFFRAGE: The Territorial Legislature conferred the Full Suffrage on
+women in 1870, and they exercised it very generally until 1887 when
+they were deprived of it by Congress through what is known as the
+Edmunds-Tucker Act. Utah entered the Union in 1896 with Full Suffrage
+for women as an article of the State constitution.
+
+That they exercise this privilege quite as extensively as men is shown
+by the following table prepared from the election statistics of 1900.
+It is not customary to make separate returns of the women's votes and
+these were obtained through the courtesy of Governor Wells, who, at
+the request of the Utah Council of Women, wrote personal letters to
+the county officials to secure them. Eleven of the more remote
+counties did not respond but those having the largest population did
+so, and, judging from previous statistics, the others would not change
+the proportion of the vote.
+
+
+  Counties.          Registered.                  Voted.
+
+               Men.    Women.   Total.    Men.    Women.   Total.
+
+  Salt Lake   14,083   13,328   27,411   13,102   12,802   25,904
+  Utah         5,921    5,922   11,843    5,649    5,650   11,299
+  Cache        3,112    3,210    6,322    2,946    3,085    6,031
+  Box Elder    1,759    1,548    3,307    1,677    1,466    3,143
+  Davis        1,175    1,327    2,502    1,133    1,277    2,410
+  Carbon         986      511    1,497      937      477    1,414
+  Uintah         851      683    1,534      796      622    1,418
+  Iron           743      672    1,415      708      646    1,354
+  Washington     690      752    1,442      690      752    1,442
+  Piute          409      264      673      399      246      645
+  Morgan         408      387      795      398      378      775
+  Rich           404      289      693      398      286      684
+  Wayne          342      302      644      318      309      627
+  Grand          285      135      420      263      129      392
+  Kane           280      341      621      219      285      504
+  San Juan       123       61      184      106       56      162
+
+              31,571   29,732   61,313   29,738   28,486   58,198
+
+  Total registration of men      31,571
+    "   vote         "   "       29,738
+  Registered but not voting       1,833
+  Total registration of women    29,732
+    "   vote         "   "       28,486
+  Registered but not voting       1,246
+
+It will be seen that in five counties the registration and vote of
+women was larger than that of men, and in the State a considerably
+larger proportion of women than of men who registered voted. Women
+cast nearly 50 per cent. of the entire vote and yet the U. S. Census
+of this year showed that males comprised over 51 per cent. of the
+population.
+
+All of the testimony which is given in the chapters on Wyoming,
+Colorado and Idaho might be duplicated for Utah. From Mormon and
+Gentile alike, from the press, from the highest officials, from all
+who represent the best interests of the State, it is unanimously in
+favor of suffrage for women. The evidence proves beyond dispute that
+they use it judiciously and conscientiously, that it has tended to the
+benefit of themselves and their homes, and that political conditions
+have been distinctly improved.[449]
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: Governor Heber M. Wells at once carried into effect
+the spirit of the constitution, adopted in 1895, by appointing women
+on all State boards of public institutions where it was wise and
+possible. Two out of five places on the Board of the Deaf and Dumb
+Institute were given to women, Harriet F. Emerson and Dr. Martha
+Hughes Cannon.
+
+The first Legislature, 1896, passed "An act for the establishment of
+sericulture" (raising of silk worms). Women had worked energetically
+to secure this measure, and it was appropriate that five of them,
+three Republican and two Democratic, should be appointed as a silk
+commission, Zina D. H. Young, Isabella E. Bennett, Margaret A. Caine,
+Ann C. Woodbury and Mary A. Cazier. Each was required to give a
+thousand-dollar bond. A later Legislature appropriated $1,000 per
+annum to pay the secretary.
+
+Two women were appointed on the Board of Regents of the State
+University, Mrs. Emma J. McVicker, Republican and Gentile; Mrs.
+Rebecca E. Little, Democrat and Mormon. Both are still serving. Two
+were appointed Regents of the Agricultural College, Mrs. Sarah B.
+Goodwin and Mrs. Emily S. Richards.
+
+At the close of the Legislature the Republican State Central Committee
+was reorganized; Mrs. Emmeline B. Wells was made vice-chairman, Miss
+Julia Farnsworth, secretary. The Democratic party was quite as liberal
+toward women and the feeling prevailed that at the next election women
+would be placed in various State and county offices. There were many
+women delegates in the county and also in the State conventions of
+both parties in 1896, and a number of women were nominated.
+
+It was a Democratic victory and the women on that ticket were
+elected--Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon to the Senate, Eurithe Le Barthe and
+Sarah A. Anderson to the House; Margaret A. Caine, auditor of Salt
+Lake County; Ellen Jakeman, treasurer Utah County; Delilah K. Olson,
+recorder Millard County; Fannie Graehl (Rep.), recorder Box Elder
+County, and possibly some others.
+
+In the Legislature of 1897, Mrs. Le Barthe introduced a bill
+forbidding women to wear large hats in places of public entertainment,
+which was passed. Dr. Cannon championed the measure by which a State
+Board of Health was created, and was appointed by the Governor as one
+of its first members. She had part in the defeat of the strong lobby
+that sought to abolish the existing State Board of Public Examiners,
+which prevents incompetents from practicing medicine. She introduced a
+bill compelling the State to educate the deaf, mute and blind; another
+requiring seats for women employes; what was known as the Medical
+Bill, by which all the sanitary measures of the State are regulated
+and put in operation; and another providing for the erection of a
+hospital for the State School of the Deaf, Dumb and Blind, carrying
+with it the necessary appropriation. All the bills introduced or
+championed by Dr. Cannon became laws. She served on the Committees on
+Public Health, Apportionment, Fish and Game, Banks and Banking,
+Education, Labor, etc.
+
+At the close of their second term the Senate presented her with a
+handsome silver-mounted album containing the autographs of all the
+Senators and employes. She had drawn what is known as the long term,
+and at its close she was chosen to present a handsome gavel to the
+president of the Senate in behalf of the members. Thus far she has
+been the only woman Senator.
+
+In 1899 Mrs. Alice Merrill Horne (Dem.), the third woman elected to
+the House, was appointed chairman of the State University Land Site
+Committee, to which was referred the bill authorizing the State to
+take advantage of the congressional land grant offered for expending
+$301,000 in buildings and providing for the removal of the State
+University to the new site. At a jubilee in recognition of the gift,
+held by the faculty and students, at which the Governor and
+Legislature were guests, Mrs. Horne was the only woman to make a
+speech and was introduced by President Joseph T. Kingsbury in most
+flattering terms for the work she had done in behalf of education. She
+championed the Free Scholarship Bill giving one hundred annual Normal
+School appointments, each for a term of four years; and one creating a
+State Institute of Art for the encouragement of the fine arts and for
+art in public school education and in manufactures, for an annual
+exhibition, a course of lectures and a State art collection, both of
+which passed. She was a member of committees on Art, Education, Rules
+and Insane Asylum; was the only member sent to visit the State Insane
+Asylum, going by direction of the Speaker of the House, as a committee
+of one, to surprise the superintendent and report actual conditions.
+Mrs. Horne was presented with a photographed group of the members of
+the House, herself the only woman in the picture.
+
+The November election of 1900 was fraught with great interest to the
+women, as the State officials were to be elected as well as the
+Legislature, and they were anxious that there should be some women's
+names on the tickets for both the House and Senate, and that a woman
+should be nominated for State Superintendent of Public Instruction by
+both parties. For this office the Republican and the Democratic women
+presented candidates,--Mrs. Emma J. McVicker and Miss Ada Faust,--but
+both conventions gave the nomination to men. Meantime Dr. John R.
+Park, the superintendent, died suddenly and Gov. Wells appointed Mrs.
+McVicker as his successor for the unfinished term.
+
+Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, of Washington, D. C. was sent to Utah by the
+Republican National Committee, and with Mrs. W. F. Boynton and others,
+made a spirited and successful campaign.
+
+There never has been any scramble for office on the part of women, and
+here, as in the other States where they have the suffrage, there is
+but little disposition on the part of men to divide with them the
+"positions of emolument and trust." Only one woman was nominated for a
+State office in 1900, Mrs. Elizabeth Cohen for the Legislature, and
+she was defeated with the rest of the Democratic ticket. All of the
+women who have served in the Legislature have been elected by the
+Democrats.
+
+Several women were elected to important city and county offices. In
+many of these offices more women than men are employed as deputies and
+clerks.
+
+In 1900 Mrs. W. H. Jones was sent as delegate to the National
+Republican Convention in Philadelphia, and Mrs. Elizabeth Cohen to the
+Democratic in Kansas City, and both served throughout the sessions.
+This is the first instance of the kind on record, although women were
+sent as alternates from Wyoming to the National Republican Convention
+at Minneapolis in 1888.
+
+Women are exempted from sitting on juries, the same as editors,
+lawyers and ministers, but they are not excluded if they wish to serve
+or the persons on trial desire them. None has thus far been summoned.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women
+except that of working in mines.
+
+EDUCATION: All of the higher institutions of learning are open to both
+sexes. In the public schools there are 527 men and 892 women teachers.
+The average monthly salary of the men is $61.42; of the women, $41.19.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Women in Utah always have been conspicuous in organized work. The
+National Woman's Relief Society was established at Nauvoo, Ills., in
+1842, and transferred to Salt Lake City in 1848. It is one of the
+oldest associations of women in the United States--the oldest perhaps
+of any considerable size. It has over 30,000 members and is one of the
+valuable institutions of the State. The National Young Ladies' Mutual
+Improvement Association has 21,700 members and in 1900 raised $3,000
+partly for building purposes and partly to help the needy.[450] There
+are also a State Council of Women, Daughters of the Pioneers,
+Daughters of the Revolution, Council of Jewish Women, etc.
+Thirty-three clubs belong to the National Federation but this by no
+means includes all of them.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[441] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Emmeline B.
+Wells of Salt Lake City, editor of the _Woman's Exponent_, and
+president of the Territorial Association during the campaign when Full
+Suffrage was secured. Valuable assistance has been rendered by Mrs.
+Emily S. Richards of that city, vice-president during the same period.
+
+[442] Committee: Lillie Devereux Blake of New York, Virginia L. Minor
+of St. Louis, Harriet R. Shattuck of Boston, May Wright Sewall of
+Indianapolis and Ellen H. Sheldon of Washington, D. C.
+
+[443] Committee: Lillie Devereux Blake, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Caroline
+Gilkey Rogers and Mary Seymour Howell, of New York; Clara B. Colby,
+Nebraska; Sarah T. Miller, Maryland; Elizabeth Boynton Harbert,
+Illinois; Harriet R. Shattuck, Massachusetts, and Louisa Southworth,
+Ohio.
+
+[444] The officers elected were: President, Margaret N. Caine;
+vice-presidents, Lydia D. Alder, Nellie R. Webber, Priscilla J. Riter;
+secretary, Cornelia N. Clayton; corresponding secretary, Charlotte I.
+Kirby; treasurer, Margie Dwyer; executive committee, Maria V. Dougall,
+Nettie Y. Snell, Ann E. Groesbeck, Phoebe Y. Beatie and Jennie Rowe.
+
+[445] Vice-presidents, Mrs. Richards, Ann D. Groesbeck and Caroline E.
+Dye; recording secretary, Rachel Edwards; corresponding secretary,
+Julia C. Taylor; treasurer, Margie Dwyer; executive committee,
+Cornelia H. Clayton, Margaret Mitchell, Nellie Little, Theresa Hills
+and May Talmage.
+
+[446] Mesdames Richards, Young, Bennett, G. S. Carlton, J. S. Gilmer,
+Romania B. Pratt, Phebe Y. Beatie, Amelia F. Young, Martha H. Cannon,
+C. E. Allen, Emma McVicker, Ruth M. Fox, Priscilla Jennings, Lillie
+Pardee and Martha Parsons.
+
+[447] Hon. J. F. Chidester, chairman; A. S. Anderson, Joseph E.
+Robinson, Parley Christianson, Peter Lowe, James D. Murdock, Chester
+Call, Andreas Engberg, A. H. Raleigh, William Howard, F. A. Hammond,
+S. R. Thurman. In addition to this committee those who sustained the
+women and pleaded their cause were Messrs. Richards, Whitney, Evans,
+Cannon, Murdock, Rich, Hart, Ivins, Snow, Robinson, Allen, Miller,
+Farr, Preston, Maeser and Wells. There were others, but these were the
+foremost.
+
+[448] Mr. Roberts was elected to Congress on the Democratic ticket in
+1900, although strenuously opposed by the women of Utah, irrespective
+of politics, but largely owing to the vigorous protests of the women
+of the whole United States, he was not permitted to take his seat.
+[Eds.
+
+[449] See Appendix--Testimony from Woman Suffrage States.
+
+[450] In 1889 Mrs. Susa Young Gates established the _Young Woman's
+Journal_, a monthly magazine, as the organ of this association,
+although it was for eight years financially a private enterprise. The
+president, Mrs. Elmina S. Taylor, was her constant help and
+inspiration. The first year Mrs. Lucy B. Young, mother of the editor,
+then past sixty, took her buggy and traveled over Utah explaining the
+venture and securing subscriptions. Two thousand numbers a year were
+published. Of late years the business managers have been women. In
+1897 Mrs. Gates made over the magazine to the association without any
+consideration, but was retained as editor. There were at this time
+practically no debts and 7,000 subscribers, which later were increased
+to 10,000.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXVII.
+
+VERMONT.[451]
+
+
+Much credit is due to the New England Woman Suffrage Association for
+the life and efficiency of the Vermont society. In 1883 this
+organization secured the services of Mrs. Hannah Tracy Cutler of
+Illinois for a series of lectures. At the close of these, and pursuant
+to a call signed by twenty-five citizens, a convention was held at St.
+Johnsbury, November 8, 9, when, with the aid of Lucy Stone and Henry
+B. Blackwell, editors of the _Woman's Journal_, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe
+of Massachusetts, and Mrs. Cutler, the State W. S. A. was formed.[452]
+
+In over seventy towns and villages local committees have been
+appointed to distribute literature, circulate petitions and further
+the general plans of work. For the past two years the editors have
+been supplied with suffrage papers weekly or fortnightly.
+
+Lecture trips have been arranged for the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw,
+vice-president-at-large of the National Association, Mrs. Zerelda G.
+Wallace of Indiana, the Rev. Ada C. Bowles, the Rev. Louis A. Banks,
+Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, Miss Diana Hirschler, Miss Ida M. Buxton,
+of Massachusetts, and Mrs. M. L. T. Hidden. Eighty appointments have
+been filled by Miss Mary N. Chase, A. B. Thirty conventions have been
+held at which valuable aid has been rendered by Mr. and Miss
+Blackwell, Miss Shaw, Mrs. Howe, Mrs. Mary A. Livermore and Mrs.
+Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization
+committee.[453]
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: Harvey Howes of West Haven was the only
+man in a convention called to amend the State constitution in 1870,
+who voted to grant full political rights to women; 233 voted in
+opposition.
+
+To secure to taxpaying women the right of Municipal Suffrage, has been
+the special line of legislative work for the State association.
+Petitions asking for this, with signatures varying in number from
+1,225 to 3,616, and bills to grant it, have been presented in both
+Houses of the Legislature at nine biennial sessions, beginning with
+1884. In every instance save one these have been referred to the
+Judiciary Committees.
+
+In 1884 a Municipal Suffrage Bill was introduced into the House by O.
+E. Butterfield and supported by himself and Messrs. Adams, Henry,
+Stickney and others, but was lost by 69 yeas, 113 nays.
+
+In 1886 a bill to permit all women to vote who paid taxes was
+introduced and strongly advocated in the House by Luke P. Poland. It
+was amended without his consent to require that they should pay taxes
+on $200 worth of property, and passed by 139 yeas, 89 nays. In the
+Senate it was championed by Messrs. Bates, Blake, Bunker, Clark,
+Cushing, Foster, Pierce, Smith, Stanley and Swain, but was lost by 10
+yeas, 18 nays.
+
+In 1888 a Municipal Suffrage Bill was introduced into the House by C.
+P. Marsh, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, that gave a hearing at
+which the State W. S. A. was represented. Later, at a public hearing
+in Representatives' Hall, Henry B. Blackwell, Prof. W. H. Carruth of
+Kansas, Col. Albert Clarke, Mrs. Mary W. Foster and Miss Laura Moore
+urged the passage of this bill. It was reported to the House "without
+expression of opinion." The friendly members on the committee were
+Messrs. Marsh, Ballard and Mann. In the debate which followed, these
+three, with Messrs. Southworth and Dole, supported the bill; and a
+letter was read from Amasa Scott, presenting arguments in its favor.
+It was lost by 38 yeas, 192 nays.
+
+Still later in this session a petition signed by the officers of the
+State association asking that "property owned by women be exempt from
+taxation," was presented in the House; as was also a bill by Hosea
+Mann providing that, "The property, both real and personal, owned by
+women shall be exempt from taxation, except for school purposes." This
+was defeated without debate.
+
+In 1890 a Municipal Suffrage Bill was introduced into the House by Mr.
+Mann and favorably reported by the Judiciary Committee, with reasons
+given "why the bill ought to pass," signed by Messrs. Thompson,
+Darling, Enright, Mann, Robinson and Smith of St. Albans. It was
+advocated by them, Smith of Royalton and others, but was lost by 99
+yeas, 113 nays.
+
+During this session a bill to incorporate the Vermont W. S. A., was
+introduced into the Senate by S. E. Grout. It was favorably reported
+from the General Committee, but was refused passage without debate by
+8 yeas, 10 nays.
+
+In 1892 Wendell Phillips Stafford introduced the Municipal Suffrage
+Bill into the House; it was made a special order and was championed by
+Messrs. Stafford, Booth, Darling, Enright, Martin, Taylor, Weston and
+others, and was passed by 149 yeas, 83 nays. When it reached the
+Senate it was reported from the Judiciary Committee with a weighty
+amendment, and a third reading was refused by 18 yeas, 10 nays.
+
+At this session Gov. Levi K. Fuller in his address, under the heading
+of Municipal Suffrage, called attention to this question and advised
+"giving the matter such consideration as in your judgment it may
+warrant."
+
+In 1894 the bill was introduced again into the House by Hosea Mann,
+who advocated and voted for this measure in four sessions of the
+Legislature. Four members of the Judiciary Committee were
+favorable--Messrs. Ladd, Lord, Lawrence and Stone. Its champions were
+Messrs. Mann, Burbank, Bridgeman, Butterfield, Fuller, Peck, Paddock,
+Smith of Morristown, Vance and others. It was defeated by 106 yeas,
+108 nays.
+
+In 1896, for the first time, a Municipal Suffrage Bill was introduced
+into the Senate, by Joseph B. Holton. It was reported favorably by the
+committee; ordered to a third reading with only one opposing voice;
+advocated by Messrs. Holton, Hulburd, Merrifield and Weeks, and passed
+without a negative vote. When the bill reached the House it was
+reported from the Judiciary Committee "without recommendation." It was
+supported by Speaker Lord, Messrs. Bates, Bunker, Childs, Clark,
+Haskins, McClary and others, but a third reading was refused by 89
+yeas, 135 nays.
+
+In 1898 petitions for Municipal Suffrage signed by 2,506 citizens were
+presented to the Legislature and a bill was introduced into the House
+by E. A. Smith. This was reported by an unfriendly chairman of the
+Judiciary Committee at a time when its author was not present, and was
+lost without the courtesy of a discussion.
+
+In 1900, petitions for Municipal Suffrage for Women Taxpayers were
+presented to the Senate; a bill was introduced by H. C. Royce, and at
+a hearing granted by the Judiciary Committee Henry B. Blackwell, L. F.
+Wilbur, the Hon. W. A. Lord and Mrs. E. M. Denny gave arguments for
+it. Adverse majority and favorable minority reports were presented by
+the committee. By request of Messrs. Royce and Brown, the bill was
+made a special order, when it was advocated by Messrs. Royce and
+Leland; but a third reading was refused by 13 yeas, 15 nays. Later in
+this session, a petition signed by the officers of the State W. S. A.,
+asking that "women, who are taxpayers, be exempt from taxation, save
+for school purposes," was presented to the Senate. This was, by the
+presiding officer, referred to the Committee on the Insane.
+
+The names of all members voting for suffrage bills have been preserved
+by the State association. The names of the opponents pass into
+oblivion with no regrets.
+
+In 1900 a bill was presented, for the second time, by the Federation
+of Clubs, providing for women on the boards of State institutions
+where women or children are confined, but it was killed in committee.
+
+In 1884 the law granting to married women the right to own and control
+their separate property and the power to make contracts, was secured
+through the efforts of the Hon. Henry C. Ide, now United States
+Commissioner in the Philippines. Since 1888 their wages have belonged
+to them.
+
+Dower and curtesy were abolished by the Legislature of 1896. Where
+there are no children the widow or the widower takes in the estate of
+the deceased $2,000 and one-half of the remainder, the other half
+going to the relatives of the deceased. If there are children, the
+widow takes absolutely one-third of the husband's real estate
+(homestead of the value of $500 included) and one-third of his
+personal property after payment of debts; the widower takes one-third
+of the wife's real estate absolutely, but does not share in her
+personal property.
+
+The Court of Chancery may authorize a wife to convey her separate
+property without the signature of her husband. The husband can
+mortgage or convey all his separate property without the wife's
+signature, except her homestead right of $500.
+
+The law equalizing the division of property to the fathers and mothers
+of children dying without wills, was secured by Representative T. A.
+Chase in 1894.
+
+Senator O. M. Barber, now State auditor, was the author, in the same
+year, of the law allowing a married woman to be appointed executor,
+guardian, administrator or trustee.
+
+The father is the legal guardian and has custody of the persons and
+education of minor children. He may appoint by will a guardian even
+for one unborn. (Code, 1894.)
+
+If the husband fail to support his wife the court may make such
+decision as it thinks called for, and the town may recover from a
+husband who deserted his wife and children, leaving them a charge upon
+it for one year previous to the time of action.
+
+A married woman deserted or neglected by her husband "may make
+contracts for the labor of her minor children, shall be entitled to
+their wages, and may in her own name sue for and recover them."
+
+In 1886 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 14
+years. In 1898 it was raised to 16 years. The penalty is imprisonment
+in the penitentiary not more than twenty years or a fine not exceeding
+$2,000, or both, at the discretion of the court. No minimum penalty is
+named.
+
+SUFFRAGE: Women have the same right as men to vote on all questions
+pertaining to schools and school officers in cities, towns and graded
+school districts; and the same right to hold offices relating to
+school affairs. This law, which had been enacted in 1880 and applied
+to "school meetings," was re-enacted when the "town system" was
+established in 1892, and gave women the right to vote on school
+matters in the town meetings.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: Since 1880 "women 21 years of age" may be elected to
+the office of town clerk, and to all school offices.
+
+In 1900 thirteen women were elected town clerks; six were serving as
+school directors, eighty-four as county superintendents and
+seventy-five as postmasters, according to the Vermont _Register_,
+which is not always complete.
+
+Women sit on the State Board of Library Commissioners. In 1900 they
+were made eligible to serve as trustees of town libraries.
+
+This year also a law making women eligible to the office of notary
+public was secured by Representative J. E. Buxton.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to
+women.
+
+EDUCATION: Equal advantages are accorded to both sexes in all the
+colleges, except that the State University, at Burlington, does not
+admit women to its Medical Department.
+
+In 1888, Dr. E. R. Campbell, president of the society, reported as
+follows: "The Vermont Medical Society opens wide its doors to admit
+women, and bids them welcome to all its privileges and honors, on an
+equal basis with their brother physicians."
+
+In the public schools there are 509 men and 3,289 women teachers. The
+average monthly salary of the men is $41.23; of the women, $25.04.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Progressive steps have been taken in the churches of most
+denominations. In 1892, for the first time, women were elected as
+delegates to the annual State Convention of the Congregational
+Churches. In 1900 there were fifteen accredited women delegates in the
+convention. The Domestic Missionary Society, an ally of this church,
+has employed sixteen women during the past year as "missionaries," to
+engage in evangelistic work in the State.
+
+The Vermont Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, although it
+does not admit women to its membership, has passed resolutions five
+times in the last ten years, indorsing equal rights, and has
+petitioned the Legislature to grant them Municipal Suffrage. For this
+credit is due to the Rev. George L. Story and the Rev. L. L. Beeman.
+
+The Free Baptist Church passed a resolution declaring unequivocally
+for the Christian principle of political equality for women at its
+Yearly Meeting in 1889. That year, for the first time in its history,
+it sent a woman delegate to the General Conference.
+
+A similar resolution was passed at a meeting of the Northern
+Association of Universalists, later in the same year. This church
+admits women to equal privileges in its conventions and its pulpits.
+This is also true of the Unitarian Church.
+
+The annual meeting of the State Grange in 1891 adopted this
+resolution: "We sympathize with and will aid any efforts for equal
+suffrage regardless of sex."
+
+All the political parties have been urged to indorse woman suffrage.
+The Prohibitionists did so in their annual convention of 1888. At the
+Republican State Convention that year the Committee on Resolutions,
+through its chairman, Col. Albert Clarke, presented the following,
+which was adopted: "True to its impulses, history and traditions of
+liberty, equality and progress, the Republican party in Vermont will
+welcome women to an equal participation in government, whenever they
+give earnest of desire in sufficient numbers to indicate its
+success."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[451] The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Laura Moore of
+Barnet, who has been secretary of the State Woman Suffrage Association
+for seventeen years.
+
+[452] The following have been presidents: Mrs. M. L. T. Hidden, C. W.
+Wyman, Mrs. M. E. Tucker, the Hon. Hosea Mann, Willard Chase, Mrs. A.
+D. Chandler, L. F. Wilbur, Mrs. P. S. Beeman, the Rev. George L.
+Story, Miss Elizabeth Colley, A. M.
+
+Among those who have served on the executive board are Mesdames L. E.
+Alfred, A. F. Baldwin, F. W. Brown, A. M. W. Chase, E. L. Corwin, C.
+J. Clark, L. D. Dyer, P. R. Edes, M. W. Foster, C. D. Gallup, S. F.
+Leonard, Emma J. Nelson and Julia A. Pierce; Misses Clara Eastman, O.
+M. Lawrence, Laura Moore, Julia E. Smith and Mary E. Spencer; the Hon.
+Chester Pierce, Col. Albert Clarke, Dudley P. Hall and G. W. Seaver.
+
+[453] Some of those who have rendered excellent service to the cause
+are Mesdames Clara Bailey, Lucia G. Brown, M. A. Brewster, Inez E.
+Campbell, H. G. Minot, G. E. Moody, Harriet S. Moore, Emily E. Reed,
+Clinton Smith, Mary H. Semple, Anna E. Spencer, L. B. Wilson and Jane
+Marlette Taft; Misses Caroline Scott, Eliza S. Eaton and I. E. Moody;
+the Rev. Mark Atwood, L. N. Chandler, Editor Arthur F. Stone and
+ex-Gov. Carroll S. Page.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXVIII.
+
+VIRGINIA.
+
+
+As early as 1870 and 1871 Miss Susan B. Anthony, Mrs. Matilda Joslyn
+Gage of New York and Mrs. Paulina Wright Davis of Rhode Island
+lectured on woman suffrage in Richmond. There has been, however, very
+little organized effort in its behalf, although the movement has many
+individual advocates. Since 1880 the State has been represented at the
+national conventions by Mrs. Orra Langhorne, who has been its most
+active worker for twenty years. Other names which appear at intervals
+are Miss Etta Grimes Farrar, Miss Brill and Miss Henderson
+Dangerfield. A few local societies have been formed, and in 1893 a
+State Association was organized, with Mrs. Langhorne as president and
+Mrs. Elizabeth B. Dodge as secretary and treasurer. Its efforts have
+been confined chiefly to discovering the friends of the movement,
+distributing literature and securing favorable matter in the
+newspapers. The Richmond _Star_ is especially mentioned as a champion
+of the enfranchisement of women. In 1895 Miss Anthony, president of
+the National Association, on her way home from its convention in
+Atlanta, addressed a large audience at the opera house in Culpeper.
+Later this year Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates of Maine spoke in the same
+place. Mrs. Ruth D. Havens of Washington, D. C., lectured on The Girls
+of the Future before the State Teachers' Normal Institute.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: Petitions have been sent to the
+Legislature from time to time, by the State association and by
+individuals for woman suffrage with educational qualifications, the
+opening of State colleges to women, the appointment of women
+physicians in the prisons and insane asylums, women on school boards,
+proper accommodations in jails for women prisoners and the separation
+of juvenile offenders from the old and hardened. None of these ever
+has been acted upon.
+
+In 1898 a bill to permit women to serve as notaries public was vetoed
+by the Governor as unconstitutional.
+
+Dower and curtesy both obtain. The wife inherits a life interest in
+one-third of the real estate. If there are children she has one-third
+of the personal property absolutely; if none, one-half. The husband
+inherits all of the wife's personal property whether there are
+children or not, and the entire real estate for life if there has been
+issue born alive. If this has not been the case he has no interest in
+the wife's separate real estate. The homestead, to the value of
+$2,000, is exempted for the wife.
+
+By Act of 1900, a married woman may dispose as though unmarried of all
+property heretofore or hereafter acquired. She can sell her personal
+property without her husband's uniting. He has the same right. She can
+sell her land without his uniting, but unless he does so, if curtesy
+exist, he will be entitled to a life estate. Unless the wife unites
+with the husband in the sale of his real estate, she will be entitled
+to dower.
+
+By the above Act a married woman may contract and be contracted with,
+sue and be sued, in the same manner and with the same consequences as
+if she were unmarried, whether the right or liability asserted by or
+against her accrued before or after the passage of the act. The
+husband is not responsible for any contract, liability or tort of the
+wife, whether the liability was incurred or the tort was committed
+before or after marriage.
+
+There has been no decision as to the wages of a married woman since
+the above Act; but it is believed they would be held to belong to her
+absolutely, even if not engaged in business as a sole trader.
+
+The father is the legal guardian of the minor children, and may
+appoint a guardian for such time as he pleases.
+
+The husband is liable for necessaries for the support of the family,
+and can be sued therefor by any one who supplies them.
+
+The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 12 to 14 years in
+1896. The penalty is death or imprisonment in the penitentiary not
+less than five nor more than twenty years.
+
+SUFFRAGE: Women possess no form of suffrage.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: No offices are filled by women except that there is
+one physician at the Western Insane Asylum and, through the efforts
+of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, a matron in the woman's
+ward of the State prison.
+
+Women are employed as clerks in various county offices. They can not
+serve as notaries public.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: Under the ruling of the courts, a woman can not practice
+law. No other profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women.
+
+EDUCATION: For the higher education the women of Virginia must go
+outside of their State.[454] The State Superintendent of Free Schools
+and the Secretary of the State Board of Education both express great
+regret at this fact, and the hope that all institutions of learning
+will soon be opened to them. Secretary Frank P. Brent says:
+
+     We have as yet no women acting as school superintendents or
+     members of school boards, but I feel sure the Constitutional
+     Convention will make women eligible to one or both of these
+     positions.
+
+     Last year I had the honor to decide that in matters pertaining to
+     the educational affairs of this State, the wife may be regarded
+     as the head of the family, although the husband is living; and
+     this decision has just been reaffirmed by the United States Court
+     of Appeals.[455]
+
+Women are admitted to several of the smaller colleges. The
+Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, and the Woman's College at
+Lynchburgh, both under the same presidency, rank well among
+institutions for women only. Miss Celestia C. Parrish is
+vice-president. Hampton Institute, for negroes and Indians, is
+co-educational.
+
+The public schools make no distinction of sex. There are 2,909 men and
+5,927 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $32.09;
+of the women, $26.39.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[454] The State Universities are closed to women only in Virginia,
+Georgia and Louisiana, and the undergraduate departments in North
+Carolina.
+
+[455] The decision of the court was "When an intelligent, active,
+industrious, frugal woman finds she has married a man who, instead of
+coming up to the standard of a husband, is a mere dependent ... and
+leaves to her the support of the family, it would be contradictory of
+fact and an absurd construction of the law to say that he, and not
+she, is the head of the family."
+
+This is believed to be the first legal decision of the kind and has
+created wide discussion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXIX.
+
+WASHINGTON.[456]
+
+
+The history of woman suffrage in Washington begins with the passage of
+a bill by the Legislature, giving women the full rights of the ballot
+on the same terms as men, which was approved Nov. 23, 1883, by the
+Territorial Governor, William A. Newell. This was due principally to
+the efforts of a few individuals, both men and women, as there was no
+organization.[457]
+
+The municipal elections of the following spring brought the first
+opportunity to exercise the newly-acquired right. The women evinced
+their appreciation of it by casting 8,368 ballots out of the whole
+number of 34,000, and the leading papers testified to the widespread
+acknowledgment of the strength and moral uplift of their vote.
+
+The general election of November, 1884, naturally showed a larger vote
+by both men and women, the latter casting 12,000 out of the 48,000
+ballots. It was estimated at this time that there were less than
+one-third as many women as men in the Territory. When the scattered
+population, the long distances and the difficulties of travel are
+taken into consideration it must be admitted that women took the
+largest possible advantage of the recently granted privileges.
+
+For the next two years they continued to use the franchise with
+unabated zeal, and newspapers and public speakers were unanimous in
+their approval. In a number of instances the official returns, during
+the three-and-a-half years they possessed the suffrage, exhibited _a
+larger percentage of women voting than of men_. Chief Justice Roger S.
+Greene of the Supreme Court estimated that at the last election before
+they were disfranchised four-fifths of all the women in the Territory
+went to the polls.
+
+Many women have remarked upon the increased respect and courtesy of
+the men during this period. Mrs. Elizabeth Matthews, who removed from
+New Orleans to Port Townsend in 1885, states that, although accustomed
+from babyhood to the deferential gallantry of the men of the South,
+she never had dreamed that any women in the world were receiving such
+respectful consideration as she found in Washington Territory at that
+time. The political parties realized the necessity of putting their
+best men to the front, and it was fully conceded that ethics had
+become a factor in politics.
+
+Prior to the Legislature of 1886 some discussion arose as to the
+constitutionality of the Equal Suffrage Law, and, in order to remove
+all doubt, a strengthening Act was passed, which was approved by Gov.
+Watson C. Squire, November 29.
+
+On Feb. 3, 1887, the case of _Harlan vs. Washington_ came before the
+Territorial Supreme Court. Harlan had been convicted of carrying on a
+swindling game by a jury composed of both men and women, and he
+contested the verdict on the ground that women were not legal voters.
+The Supreme Court, whose _personnel_ had been entirely changed through
+a new Presidential administration, decided that the law conferring the
+elective franchise upon them was void because it had not been fully
+described in its title. This decision also rendered void nineteen
+other laws which had been enacted under the same conditions.
+
+The members of the next Legislature had been elected so long before
+the rendering of this decision that their seats could not be
+contested; and as their election had been by both men and women they
+were determined to re-establish the law which the Supreme Court had
+ruthlessly overthrown. Therefore the Equal Suffrage Law was
+re-enacted, perfectly titled and worded, and was approved by Gov.
+Eugene Semple, Jan. 18, 1888.
+
+The members of a convention to prepare a State constitution were soon
+to be chosen, and the opponents of woman suffrage were most anxious to
+have the question considered by the Supreme Court before the election
+of the delegates. They arranged that the judges of the spring
+municipal election in a certain precinct should refuse to accept the
+vote of a Mrs. Nevada Bloomer, the wife of a saloon-keeper and herself
+an avowed opponent of woman suffrage. This was done on April 3, and
+she brought suit against them. The case was rushed through, and on
+August 14 the Supreme Court decided that the Act of January 18 was
+invalid, as a Territorial Legislature had no right to enfranchise
+women, and that in consequence the Equal Suffrage Law was void. The
+Judges responsible for this decision were Associate Justices George
+Turner and William G. Langford.
+
+The very Act of Congress which organized the Territory of Washington
+stated explicitly that, at elections subsequent to the first, _all
+persons should be allowed to vote upon whom the Territorial
+Legislature might confer the elective franchise_.
+
+By the organic act under which all the Territories were formed women
+had been voting in Wyoming since 1869 and in Utah since 1870. The
+arbitrary disfranchisement of the women of the latter by Congress in
+1887 demonstrated that this body did have supreme control over
+suffrage in the Territories, and therefore unimpeachable power to
+authorize their Legislatures to confer it on women, as had been done
+by that of Washington. There never was a more unconstitutional
+decision than that of this Territorial Supreme Court. Congress should
+have refused to admit the Territory until women had voted for
+delegates to the constitutional convention and on the constitution
+itself.[458]
+
+Without doubt the Supreme Court of the United States would have
+reversed the decision of the Territorial Court, but Mrs. Bloomer
+refused to allow the case to be appealed, and no one else had
+authority to do so.
+
+As the women were thus illegally restrained from voting for delegates,
+the opponents of their enfranchisement were enabled to elect a
+convention with a majority sufficient to prevent a woman suffrage
+clause in the constitution for Statehood.
+
+Henry B. Blackwell, corresponding secretary of the American W. S. A.,
+came from Massachusetts to assist in securing such a clause. After a
+long discussion as to whether he should be permitted to address the
+convention, both sides agreed that the delegates should be invited to
+hear him in Tacoma Hall. His address was highly praised even by
+newspapers and persons opposed to equal suffrage. Four days later,
+with Judge Orange J. Jacobs and Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon, he was
+granted a hearing before the Suffrage Committee of the convention.
+
+The question of incorporating woman suffrage in the new State
+constitution was debated at intervals from Aug. 9 to 15, 1889. The
+fight for the measure was led by Edward Eldridge and W. S. Bush. In a
+long and able argument Mr. Eldridge reviewed the recent decision of
+the Supreme Court and made an eloquent plea for justice to women.
+Substitutes granting to women Municipal Suffrage, School Suffrage, the
+right to hold office, the privilege of voting on the constitution, all
+were defeated. Finally a compromise was forced by which it was agreed
+to submit a separate amendment giving them Full Suffrage, to be voted
+on at the same time as the rest of the constitution, women themselves
+not being allowed to vote upon it.[459]
+
+Only two-and-a-half months remained before election, the women were
+practically unorganized, there were few speakers, no money, and the
+towns were widely scattered. Miss Matilda Hindman of Pennsylvania and
+Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby of Washington, D. C., editor of the _Woman's
+Tribune_, came on and canvassed the State. Both were effective
+speakers and they received as much local assistance as possible, but
+all the money and influence which could be commanded by the
+disreputable element that had suffered from the woman's vote were
+brought to bear against the amendment, and its defeat was inevitable.
+
+The constitution was adopted Nov. 5, 1889, the woman suffrage
+amendment receiving 16,521 ayes, 35,913 noes; an adverse majority of
+19,392.
+
+In 1890 the first State Legislature conferred School Suffrage on women
+to the extent of voting for trustees and directors.
+
+The political campaign of 1896 was one in which reform of all kinds
+was unusually in evidence. Three women sat as delegates in the State
+Fusion Convention at Ellensburg. Mrs. Laura E. Peters, president of
+the suffrage club at Port Angeles, was a Populist delegate and was
+chosen a member of the Platform Committee. Through her efforts a
+suffrage plank was inserted in the platform of that branch of the
+convention.
+
+The president of the State Suffrage Association, Mrs. Homer M. Hill,
+said in her official report: "The People's Party was composed of
+Silver Republicans, Populists and Democrats. At the State convention
+these met in separate sessions. The Democrats voted down a resolution
+demanding that the Committee on Platform bring in a report favoring
+the amendment. The Silver Republicans passed one 'commending the
+action of the Free Silver party in presenting to the people the
+proposed amendment to the constitution.' The Populists inserted in
+their platform a plank declaring that 'direct legislation without
+equal suffrage would be government by but one-half of the people,' and
+unequivocally favored the amendment.
+
+"Although each of these three parties had its own platform, the
+combination formed the People's Party and made its fight upon one
+composed of eleven planks, or articles of faith, to which all three
+agreed, _but equal suffrage was not one of them_. Therefore the
+so-called union platform, minus suffrage, was the one generally
+published and used as the basis of the campaign speeches. Because of
+this no speaker of the People's Party was obliged to mention the
+amendment, and it was avoided as an issue in the campaign; the State
+Central Committee permitted each speaker to say what he pleased
+personally, but he was not allowed to commit the party or to urge men
+to vote for it. Nearly every one, however, advocated equal suffrage.
+
+"The Republicans, in convention at Tacoma, adopted the following:
+'Firmly believing in the principle of equal rights to all and special
+privileges to none, we recommend to the voters of the State a careful
+consideration of the proposed constitutional amendment granting equal
+suffrage;' and this always was published as part of the platform. A
+few of the leading Republican orators advocated the amendment and none
+spoke against it. Its defeat is commonly attributed to the fact that
+20,000 of the People's party did not vote upon it, and that _the
+Republicans passed the word a short time before election to vote
+against it_.
+
+"Mrs. W. Winslow Crannell, who was sent out by the Albany (N. Y.)
+Anti-Suffrage Association, did not hold a meeting of women or a public
+meeting in the State. She conferred with men whom the anti-suffrage
+representative, Alfred Downing of Seattle, already knew, and her
+coming tended to arouse the loyal support of the suffragists.
+
+"The Prohibition party gave official indorsement. The Social
+Democratic party and the Socialist Labor party both inserted suffrage
+planks in their platforms. The latter claims 9,000 votes in the
+State."
+
+The Fusion party was everywhere successful and the Legislature of 1897
+was composed of reform elements. Mrs. Peters had charge of the Equal
+Suffrage Bill, which was introduced on the first day of the session by
+the Hon. J. P. de Mattos, and proposed to amend the constitution by
+striking out the word "male" from the suffrage clause. This passed the
+House on February 4 by 54 ayes, 15 noes. The bill was amended in the
+Senate and was strongly supported by Joseph Hill and W. V. Rinehart.
+The amended bill passed the Senate on February 25 by 23 ayes, 11 noes,
+and was returned to the House.
+
+Here it reached a vote March 11, the last day before the close of the
+session, only through Mrs. Peters' slipping up to Speaker Charles E.
+Cline's desk and whispering to him to recognize L. E. Rader, who
+wished to present it. As the Speaker was a staunch suffragist he did
+so. The bill passed by 54 ayes, 15 noes, and was sent back for the
+signature of the President of the Senate and then returned to the
+House for the Speaker to sign. Mrs. Peters thus relates what happened
+after he had done so:
+
+     By the merest accident, Senator Thomas Miller, a friend, obeyed
+     an impression to examine the bill to see if it were all right,
+     when lo and behold! he discovered that the true bill had been
+     stolen during the short recess and an absolutely worthless bill
+     engrossed and signed. Senator Miller at once made the fraud
+     public and Speaker Cline tore his signature from the bill. On
+     Thursday morning, the last day, a certified copy of the true bill
+     was sent to the House, where it was ratified and returned to the
+     Senate. I then requested the President of the Senate to make me a
+     special messenger to take the bill to the Governor for his
+     signature. As I happened to hold the peculiar position of having
+     voted (at the State convention) for both those gentlemen, and as
+     I had taken pains to remind them of that fact, and as both the
+     Governor and Lieutenant-Governor were suffragists, I found no
+     difficulty in having my request granted. I said that the bill had
+     been delayed, deformed, pigeon-holed and stolen, and I would not
+     feel safe until it was made law by the Governor's signature.
+
+     I was duly sworn in as special messenger, and very proudly
+     carried the bill to the office, where Gov. John R. Rogers
+     affixed his signature to it and declared it law.
+
+The history of the campaign which followed, as condensed by the
+president, Mrs. Hill, shows that active work did not begin until the
+convention held at Seattle in January, 1898. The executive committee
+was called together after its adjournment and the situation thoroughly
+canvassed. A resolution which welcomed work for the amendment by other
+societies under their own auspices was unanimously passed, as it was
+realized that there was not time in which to bring all suffragists
+into line under one management. Money was scarce and hard to obtain,
+and public attention was divided between the Spanish-American War and
+the gold excitement in Alaska. The association at once turned its
+attention to the obtaining of funds, the securing of the favorable
+attitude of the press and the formal indorsement of the amendment by
+other organizations.
+
+Clubs were formed in wards and precincts to hold meetings, assist the
+State association financially, distribute literature and circulate a
+petition for signatures of women only, asking that the voters cast
+their ballots for the proposed amendment. It was impossible to
+prosecute the petition work thoroughly throughout the State, but the
+largest cities--Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane and Olympia--with many
+country precincts, both east and west of the mountains, were very
+satisfactorily canvassed. It was found that over 88 per cent. of all
+the women asked to sign the petition did so. The rest were divided
+between the indifferent and those positively opposed. No one received
+a salary for services. Less than $500 was collected, and $5.47
+remained in the treasury, after every bill was paid, the day before
+election.
+
+The State association issued 5,000 pieces of literature of its own, a
+booklet of thirty pages containing testimonials from leading citizens
+of the four Free States--Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho. Early in
+the campaign Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national
+organization committee, sent 62,200 pieces. Henry B. Blackwell, editor
+of the _Woman's Journal_, shortly before the election forwarded from
+Boston 500 pieces to each of the thirty-four counties in Washington.
+This literature no doubt helped to swell the vote for the amendment.
+
+Forty country newspapers were regularly sent free to State
+headquarters; the city papers at half-rates. The press was courteous
+in every instance, and either advocated equal suffrage, kept silence
+or opened its columns to both sides. The Seattle _Daily Times_
+strongly favored it.
+
+The Christian Church Convention, which met in Tacoma early in the
+campaign, gave hearty indorsement to the amendment. The M. E. Church
+Conference followed at the same place with a vote of 27 ayes, 26 noes;
+the Congregational Convention at Snohomish with one dissenting vote.
+Presbyterian and other ministers throughout the State quietly gave
+their support. The ministerial associations of Seattle each received a
+committee from the E. S. A. One of the members of the Ministers'
+Association of Spokane read a paper on Equal Suffrage, which was
+interestingly discussed, showing eight in favor, three opposed and one
+doubtful. The Christian Endeavorers at their convention in Walla Walla
+passed a resolution calling attention to the approaching election, and
+asking for the intelligent consideration of the amendment; eight of
+the trustees were in favor of recommending active work in local
+societies, but because the sentiment was not more nearly unanimous no
+action was taken. The Independent Order of Good Templars and the
+Prohibition party indorsed the amendment. The Woman's Christian
+Temperance Union lent a helping hand judiciously. All demands and
+arguments were non-sectarian and non-political, being based upon the
+claims of justice as the only tenable ground on which to stand.
+
+Many of the most self-sacrificing workers came from the liberal and
+free-thought societies, which are generally favorable to equal rights.
+The Western Central Labor Union of Seattle extended courtesies to the
+E. S. A. and kept suffrage literature in its reading-room. The
+_Freemen's Labor Journal_ of Spokane, State organ of the trades
+unions, supported the amendment. Single Taxers, as a rule, voted for
+it. The State Grange in convention formally indorsed it and promised
+support.[460]
+
+On Nov. 5, 1898, the amendment was voted upon, receiving 20,658 yeas,
+30,540 nays; majority opposed, 9,882. As in 1889, the adverse
+majority was 19,392, a clear gain was shown of 9,510 in nine years.
+
+In 1899 a bill was prepared for the State association by Judge J. W.
+Langley, amending the constitution so that whenever an amendment
+giving the right of suffrage to women should be submitted to the
+people, the women themselves should be permitted to vote upon it. John
+W. Pratt introduced the bill in the House, but it was referred to the
+Committee on Constitutional Revision and not reported. Near the close
+of the session Mr. Pratt brought it up on the floor of the House. A
+motion to postpone it indefinitely was immediately made and,
+practically without discussion, was carried by almost a unanimous
+vote.
+
+ORGANIZATION: For twelve years before the women of Washington were
+enfranchised, Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway of Oregon was in the habit of
+canvassing the Territory in behalf of woman suffrage, traveling by
+rail, stage, steamer and on foot, and where she found halls and
+churches closed against her, speaking in hotel offices and even
+bar-rooms, and always circulating her paper the _New Northwest_. The
+Legislature recognized her services by a resolution in 1886, when
+accepting her picture, The Coronation of Womanhood. There was not
+during all this time any regularly organized suffrage association.
+When in the summer of 1888 the women of the Territory saw the
+franchise taken away from them by decision of the Supreme Court, a
+number of local societies were formed and soon banded themselves into
+an association of which the Hon. Edward Eldridge was president until
+his death in 1892. Afterward A. H. Stewart was made president, Mrs.
+Laura E. Peters, vice-president, and Mrs. Bessie Isaacs Savage,
+secretary. Mrs. Zerelda N. McCoy was president of the Olympia Club,
+and Mrs. P. C. Hale, treasurer.
+
+On Jan. 21, 22, 1895, the first delegate convention was held in
+Olympia, and a State Equal Suffrage Association formally organized.
+Mrs. Savage was elected president; Mrs. Clara E. Sylvester,
+vice-president; Mrs. Lou Jackson Longmire, secretary; Mrs. Ella Stork,
+treasurer. In April a special meeting was held in Seattle and the
+State was divided into six districts for organization and other work,
+as it was evident there would soon be another amendment campaign.
+
+The second convention was held in Seattle, Jan. 29, 30, 1896, with the
+Hon. Orange J. Jacobs as the principal speaker.
+
+Throughout 1897 the efforts of the suffragists were directed toward
+securing a resolution from the Legislature for the submission of an
+amendment, and no convention was held.
+
+In January, 1898, the State association again met in Seattle. Mrs.
+Homer M. Hill was elected president; Mrs. Peters, vice-president; Miss
+Martha E. Pike, secretary; Mrs. Savage, treasurer.
+
+The management of the exposition held in Seattle for three weeks in
+October, kindly accorded space to the Red Cross, Equal Suffrage
+Association, W. C. T. U., Kindergarten and City Federation of Women's
+Clubs. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, with Miss Mary G. Hay, paid
+Washington a visit during this month. She spoke in the first M. E.
+Church at Seattle to a large audience, and the Woman's Century Club
+tendered her a reception. At Tacoma the Woman's Study Club arranged a
+lecture for her in the Tacoma Hotel parlors, which was well attended
+by representative people. Mrs. Emma C. McCully made the preparations
+for her at Ellensburg, and Mrs. Lida M. Ashenfelter bore the expense
+of the meeting at Spokane.
+
+In December, 1899, the State Teachers' Association passed a resolution
+strongly indorsing equal suffrage. The Mental Science Convention took
+similar action.
+
+Since the defeat of the amendment in 1898 no State conventions have
+been held. During 1900 the corresponding secretary, Miss Pike, visited
+many towns and conferred with representative women in reference to
+again taking up the work; while the president, Mrs. Hill, endeavored
+to secure the interest and indorsement of the various political
+parties.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: In 1886 the Legislature amended the
+Homestead Law and gave to widows possession of the homestead, wearing
+apparel and household furniture of their deceased husbands, and the
+right to comply with the legal provisions for securing homesteads in
+case the husbands had not done so; it further declared that the
+homestead should be inviolate from executions for the payment of
+debts, either individual or community; it amended the community
+property law, giving husband and wife equal rights in the
+testamentary disposition of it. It also enabled married women to act
+as administrators.
+
+In 1890 the Legislature conferred School Suffrage upon women. The act
+was approved by Gov. E. P. Terry on March 27. The same Legislature
+passed a bill requiring employers to provide seats for their female
+employes, and enacted that all avenues of employment should be open to
+women. It amended the community property law so that husband or wife
+could prevent the sale of his or her interest.
+
+In 1891 a bill was passed which made a woman punishable for the crime
+of arson, even though the property set fire to might belong to her
+husband.
+
+The Legislature of 1893 appropriated $5,000 for the Woman's Department
+of the State at the World's Fair in Chicago. A bill passed this year
+provided matrons for jails in cities of 10,000 or more inhabitants.
+The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 12 to 16 years.
+Unfortunately the title of this bill was omitted and in compiling the
+code it was excluded, but the Supreme Court afterward legalized the
+action of the Legislature.
+
+In 1899 the age was raised to 18 years. This was accomplished through
+the efforts of the W. C. T. U., under the management of Misses Mary L.
+and Emma E. Page. The penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary for
+life or "for any term of years." No minimum penalty is given. Deceit
+or fraud may be considered force.
+
+Married women were granted the right to act as executors of wills in
+1899.
+
+Dower and curtesy are abolished. The testamentary rights of husband
+and wife are the same in regard to their separate property. If either
+die without a will, leaving only one child, or the lawful issue of
+one, the widow or widower takes half the real estate. If there is more
+than one child living, or one child and lawful issue of one or more
+children deceased, the widow or widower takes one-third of the real
+estate. If there is no descendant living the survivor receives
+one-half the real estate, unless there is neither father, mother,
+brother nor sister of the decedent living, when he or she takes all of
+it. The surviving husband or wife has one-half the personal property
+if there is issue living, otherwise all of it, after the debts are
+paid.
+
+The old Spanish law in regard to community property obtains. While
+each retains control of his or her separate estate, the control of the
+community property is vested absolutely in the husband. This includes
+all acquired after marriage by the joint or separate efforts of
+either; lands acquired under the homestead laws; lands purchased with
+money derived from profits or loans of the wife's separate estate;
+lands purchased by her with money saved from household expenses; and
+the court has held that even her earnings outside the home are
+community property unless she is living apart from her husband. The
+husband can not convey this without the wife's signature, and he can
+not dispose of more than one-half of it by will. Upon the death of
+either husband or wife one-half of the community property descends to
+the survivor, and the other half is subject to testamentary
+disposition. If there is no will the survivor takes half and the heirs
+of the deceased half; if there are none he or she takes the whole. The
+survivor has the preference in the right of administration.
+
+A married woman may make contracts and sue and be sued in her own
+name. Husband and wife can not enter into business partnerships with
+each other.
+
+By an act of 1879 father and mother were given equal guardianship of
+the children, and in case of the death of either the guardianship
+passed to the survivor. But in 1896 the Legislature enacted that the
+father might appoint by will a guardian of both persons and estates of
+minor children to the exclusion of the mother.
+
+The same Legislature passed a law making the expenses of the family
+and education of the children chargeable upon the property of both
+husband and wife, or either of them, and provided that in relation
+thereto they might be sued jointly or separately.
+
+SUFFRAGE: Since 1890 women may vote for school trustees, bonds and
+appropriations on the same terms as men, but can not vote for State or
+county superintendents.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: In the fall of 1894 Miss Ella Guptil was elected
+superintendent of schools for Clallam County. Her right to hold the
+office was contested by her opponent, C. E. Russell. Miss Guptil asked
+the following Legislature to make her position definite, and in
+February, 1895, a bill was passed and approved by Gov. John H. McGraw
+which removed all doubt, and she assumed the office.
+
+At the present time (1900) there are seven women county
+superintendents. Women may sit on the school boards of all cities and
+towns. They are not eligible to any other elective office.
+
+In 1897-98 Mrs. Carrie Shaw Rice served as a member of the State Board
+of Education. Women do not sit on other boards.
+
+The law requires women matrons in the jails of all cities of 10,000
+inhabitants and upwards, but not at police stations.
+
+Women are employed in subordinate capacities in various State and
+municipal offices. They are also librarians in many places.
+
+They can not serve as notaries public.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: It was enacted by the Legislature of 1890 that:
+"Hereafter in this State every avenue of employment shall be open to
+women; and any business, vocation, profession and calling followed and
+pursued by men may be followed and pursued by women, and no person
+shall be disqualified from engaging in or pursuing any business,
+vocation, profession, calling or employment on account of sex:
+Provided, That this section shall not be so construed as to permit
+women to hold public office."
+
+EDUCATION: All of the educational institutions are open to both sexes
+alike.
+
+In the public schools there are 1,033 men and 2,288 women teachers.
+The average monthly salary of the men is $42.13; of the women,
+$34.53.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[456] The History is indebted for the material for this chapter to
+Miss Martha E. Pike of Seattle, corresponding secretary of the State
+Equal Suffrage Association.
+
+[457] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. III, p. 776.
+
+[458] For further information see Appendix for Washington.
+
+[459] For addresses and other proceedings see the _Woman's Tribune_,
+Oct. 5, 1889, and the following numbers.
+
+[460] That practically all of the best elements in the State favored
+this amendment, and yet it was defeated, shows how thoroughly the
+disreputable classes controlled politics.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXX.
+
+WEST VIRGINIA.[461]
+
+
+In 1867 Samuel Young introduced into the Senate of West Virginia a
+bill to confer the suffrage on educated, taxpaying women, but it found
+no advocates except himself. In 1869 he presented a resolution asking
+Congress for a Sixteenth Amendment to enfranchise women, which
+received the votes of eight of the twenty-two senators.
+
+No further step ever was taken in this direction until the spring of
+1895, when Mrs. Annie L. Diggs of Kansas was sent into the State by
+the National Woman Suffrage Association but reported that the question
+was too new to make any organization possible. In the fall Miss Mary
+G. Hay, national organizer, arranged a two weeks' series of meetings
+with the Rev. Henrietta G. Moore of Ohio as speaker, and several clubs
+were formed in the northern part of the State. A convention was called
+to meet in Grafton, November 25, 26, when an association was formed
+and the following board of officers was elected: President, Mrs.
+Jessie C. Manley; vice-president, Harvey W. Harmer; corresponding
+secretary, Mrs. Annie Caldwell Boyd; recording secretary, Mrs. L. M.
+Fay; treasurer, Mrs. K. H. De Woody; auditors, Mrs. M. Caswell and
+Mrs. Louise Harden.
+
+The second convention was held at Fairmont in January, 1897, Mrs.
+Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee,
+assisting. Everything was so new that her presence and instruction
+were an inspiration and a help, without which it is doubtful whether
+the work would have continued. Officers were elected as follows:
+President. Mrs. Fannie J. Wheat; vice-president, Mrs. Mackie M.
+Holbert; recording secretary, Mrs. Beulah Boyd Ritchie; auditors, Mrs.
+Mary Long Parson and Mrs. Mary Butcher; member national executive
+committee, Mrs. Mary H. Grove. The corresponding secretary and the
+treasurer were re-elected.
+
+In April, 1898, the annual meeting was held at Wheeling, in the
+Carroll Club Auditorium. Mrs. Chapman Catt and the Rev. Anna Howard
+Shaw, vice-president-at-large of the National Association, made
+addresses each afternoon and evening, and both filled the pulpit of
+the large Methodist Church on Sunday. All the officers were re-elected
+except the treasurer, who was succeeded by Miss J. B. Wilson.
+
+The next convention took place at Fairmont in the fall of 1899, Mrs.
+Chapman Catt again assisting to make it a success. The officers
+elected were: President, Mrs. Ritchie; vice-president, Mr. Harmer;
+corresponding secretary, Mrs. Boyd; recording secretary, Miss Clara
+Reinheimer; treasurer, Mrs. Holbert; auditors, Mrs. Georgia G. Clayton
+and Mrs. Belle McKinney; member national executive committee, Mrs.
+Wheat; press superintendent, Mrs. Manley.
+
+Prior to 1895, the subject of the enfranchisement of women was
+practically unknown in West Virginia, but now there is no part of the
+State in which the injustice and ignominy of their disfranchisement
+has not been brought to the mind and conscience of the voters.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: In 1897 the Legislature appointed a
+committee to draw up a new State constitution, and the suffragists
+presented to it a petition, signed by about 600 leading men and women,
+asking that the word "male" be omitted from the suffrage clause.
+Individual appeals were made and literature sent to each member of the
+committee. Many signatures for the petition were obtained at the State
+Fair, held in Wheeling, where room for a suffrage booth in the
+Manufacturer's Building was given by the president of the board, Anton
+Reymann, while every other foot of space was rented out at a large
+price. The booth was decorated with portraits of the leaders, Susan B.
+Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and made as attractive as
+possible.
+
+In 1899 the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw addressed a joint session of both
+Houses of the Legislature in behalf of the enfranchisement of women.
+Her expenses were paid by the Fairmont suffrage club.[462] The lecture
+was a decided success, many members of the Legislature expressing
+themselves as favorable to the cause she advocated. The clause
+striking out the word "male" was not, however, reported from the
+committee, and the whole matter of a new constitution eventually was
+dropped.[463]
+
+By an Act of 1891, no child under 12 years of age, of either sex, can
+be employed in any mine, factory or workshop.
+
+By an Act of 1893 a married woman may carry on business in her own
+name, and her earnings and all property, real and personal, purchased
+by her with the proceeds of such earnings, is in all cases her sole
+and separate property and not subject to the control or disposal of
+her husband or liable for his debts. By another act of this year a
+married woman may sue and be sued in any court in her own name.
+
+By an Act of 1895, a married woman may appoint an attorney in fact to
+execute any deed or other writing.
+
+By an Act of 1899 employers are required to provide seats for female
+employes.
+
+Dower and curtesy both obtain. The widower has a life interest in all
+his wife's real estate, whether they have had children or not. The
+widow has a life interest in one-third of her husband's real estate,
+if there are children living. If there are neither descendants nor
+kindred, the entire real estate of a husband or wife dying without a
+will goes to the survivor. If there are children living, the widow or
+widower has one-third of the personal property, and all of it if there
+are none. A homestead to the value of $1,000 is exempted for either.
+
+If a child die possessed of property and without descendants or a will
+the father is heir to all of it; if he is dead, the mother inherits
+only an equal share with each of the remaining children. If both
+parents and all brothers and sisters are dead, the grandfather is the
+sole heir; he failing the grandmother shares equally with her
+surviving children.
+
+The husband can convey his separate property without his wife's
+signature. The wife can not sell or encumber her separate property
+without her husband's consent.
+
+The father is the legal guardian of the minor children. If a widow
+remarry the guardianship of the children of the first husband passes
+to the second, and she can not even appoint a guardian at her death.
+No married woman can be a guardian.
+
+The husband is required to furnish support adequate to his property
+and position in life.
+
+In 1897 the legal age of marriage for girls was raised from twelve to
+sixteen years.
+
+The "age of protection" remains at 12 years. Formerly the penalty was
+death or, in the discretion of the jury, imprisonment for not less
+than seven nor more than twenty years. In 1891 it was enacted that it
+might be regarded as a felony and punished by imprisonment in the
+penitentiary not less than two nor more than ten years. Through the
+efforts of women bills to raise the age have been repeatedly
+introduced but always have been defeated.
+
+SUFFRAGE: Women possess no form of suffrage.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: In 1887 Dr. Harriet B. Jones was appointed assistant
+hospital physician in the State insane asylum, with the same salary
+paid the men physicians. She was the first woman ever appointed to
+such a position in a State institution in West Virginia. On her
+resignation she was succeeded by Dr. Luella F. Bullard, who still
+holds the office.
+
+To the untiring energy of Dr. Jones is due the State Industrial Home
+for Girls. During two sessions of the Legislature she remained at the
+capital, entirely at her own expense and leaving a lucrative practice,
+to urge the need of this institution. At length $10,000 were
+appropriated for this purpose in 1897 and $20,000 more in 1899. Now a
+girl committing a minor offense is no longer placed in jail or in the
+penitentiary while her brother for the same misdeed is sent to the
+Reform School. Dr. Jones was elected president and all the officers
+are women.
+
+The State Home for Incurables also represents the work and ability of
+a woman, Mrs. Joseph Ruffner. Before the same Legislatures as Dr.
+Jones, she appeared with a bill asking an appropriation, and by
+persistence secured one of $66,000. The home is now in successful
+operation with Mrs. Ruffner as president. The Governor is required to
+appoint boards composed equally of men and women for these two
+institutions.
+
+Women sit also on the boards of orphan asylums, day nurseries and
+homes for the friendless.
+
+The Humane Society of Wheeling was organized in 1896 with Mrs. Harriet
+G. List as president. In 1899 she secured an appropriation of $3,000
+from the Legislature to aid in its work.
+
+A woman is librarian on the staff of the Agricultural Experiment
+Station. The board of education of Wheeling appoints the three
+librarians in the public library, which is supported from the school
+fund, and for several years all of these have been women.
+
+In some parts of the State women are appointed examiners to decide on
+the fitness of applicants to teach in the public schools, but they can
+not sit on school boards.
+
+Women can not serve as notaries public.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women
+except that of mining.
+
+EDUCATION: All institutions of learning are open to both sexes alike.
+Bethany College has admitted women for more than ten years, and four
+are on the faculty. In 1897 the State University was made
+co-educational, after much opposition. It has eight women on its
+faculty, and two of the three members of its library staff are women.
+
+In the public schools there are 4,096 men and 2,712 women teachers. It
+is impossible to obtain the average salaries.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[461] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Annie Caldwell
+Boyd of Wheeling, who has been an officer continuously in the State
+Woman Suffrage Association since it was organized.
+
+[462] This club raised money by suppers, festivals and a Woman's
+Exchange for use in the work. It subscribed for twenty-five copies of
+the _Woman's Journal_ to be sent to the State University, to the six
+Normal Schools and to various individuals. It also offered $35 in
+prizes for the best orations on The Enfranchisement of Women, to be
+competed for by the students of the above schools.
+
+[463] In the Legislature of 1901 a bill was introduced conferring on
+women the right to vote for Presidential electors, as this can be done
+by the legislators without a reference to the voters. The bill was
+drawn up by George E. Boyd, Sr. It was reported by the House Judiciary
+Committee, February 21, with the recommendation "that it do not pass."
+Henry C. Hervey spoke strongly in its favor and was ably seconded by
+S. G. Smith, who closed by demanding the ayes and noes on the
+Speaker's question, "Shall the bill be rejected?" The ayes were 31,
+noes 25, the bill being defeated by six votes. Speaker William G.
+Wilson voted against it.
+
+The bill was presented in the Senate by Nelson Whittaker, but U. S.
+Senator Stephen B. Elkins came on from Washington and commanded that
+it be tabled, which was done.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXI.
+
+WISCONSIN.[464]
+
+
+As a Territory Wisconsin interested herself in equal rights. In the
+first Constitutional Convention universal suffrage regardless of sex
+or color had a considerable vote. In the second woman suffrage
+received a certain amount of favorable consideration. Early in the
+history of the State widows were made heirs of all the property in
+case of the death of the husband without children, and laws were
+passed by which a life interest in the homestead was secured to the
+wife. In 1851 the regents of the State University declared that their
+plan "contemplated the admission of women," and in 1869 women were
+made eligible to all school offices.
+
+The first Woman Suffrage Association was organized in 1869 as a result
+of a large convention in Milwaukee, arranged by Dr. Laura Ross and
+Miss Lily Peckham, a bright young lawyer, and addressed by Mrs.
+Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, Miss Susan B. Anthony
+and others. Soon after this several local societies were organized.
+Its annual meetings since 1883 have been held as follows: 1884,
+Richland Center; 1885, Whitewater; 1886, Racine; 1887, Madison; 1888,
+Stevens' Point; 1889, Milwaukee; 1890, Berlin; 1891, Menominee; 1892,
+Richland Center; 1893, Mukwonago; 1894, Racine; 1895, Evansville;
+1896, Waukesha; 1897, Monroe; 1898, Spring Green; 1899, Platteville;
+1900, Brodhead.
+
+The president during 1884 was Mrs. Emma C. Bascom, wife of the
+president of the State University. On leaving for the East she was
+succeeded by the Rev. Olympia Brown, who has been re-elected every
+year since.[465] Mrs. Brown was called to the pastorate of the
+Universalist Church of Racine in 1878, and during her nine years of
+service there held occasional meetings in behalf of woman suffrage in
+various parts of the State.
+
+In addition to annual conventions numerous conferences have been held,
+too many and too similar in character to make a detailed history of
+them essential. In the winter of 1884 a course of lectures was given
+in Racine on subjects relating to women by Mrs. Mary A. Livermore,
+Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, Mrs. Mary E. Haggart, Mrs. May Wright Sewall and
+Mrs. J. G. McMurphy.
+
+In November, 1886, Mrs. Brown held a series of nine district
+conventions in company with Miss Anthony and Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby.
+On November 1 she received a telegram from Miss Anthony, then in
+Kansas, saying that they would join in holding conventions in all the
+congressional districts beginning on the 8th. This seemed a very short
+time in which to prepare for such a campaign, but by the president's
+deciding on places and dates without consultation, sending posters to
+the different towns selected and announcements to all the papers of
+the State, and then going in person to secure halls and make local
+arrangements, the date named found a tolerable degree of preparation.
+The canvass opened with a large reception at the home of Mrs. M. B.
+Erskine in Racine, which was followed by conventions at Waukesha,
+Ripon, Oshkosh, Green Bay, Grand Rapids, Eau Claire, La Crosse,
+Evansville and Madison. At the last place the ladies spoke in the
+Senate Chamber to a distinguished audience. The effect of these
+meetings was marked. Many members were added to the State association,
+branches were organized and an impetus given to the work such as never
+was known before and has not been repeated. Since then many
+conventions have been held by the president of the association, its
+several lecturers and outside speakers.
+
+In 1896 the suffrage association kept open house for ten days at the
+Manona Lake Assembly; during this time the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw,
+national vice-president-at-large, gave one of the Chautauqua lectures
+to an audience of 4,000 people.
+
+In 1898 a conference was held in Madison by the officers of the
+National Association, attended by the State Executive Board and
+representatives of various societies.
+
+The Rev. Ella Bartlett, the Rev. Nellie Mann Opdale and the Rev. Alice
+Ball Loomis have each served as State lecturer for two or more years
+and proved most efficient. Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe has also lectured in
+the State during several different seasons with excellent effect.
+
+Among those who have aided in the work in an early day may be
+mentioned Madame Mathilde F. Anneke, Dr. Laura Ross Wolcott, Mrs. Ella
+Partridge, Mrs. Emeline Wolcott; and later Mrs. Lephia O. Brown, the
+mother, and J. H. Willis, the husband, of the Rev. Olympia Brown.[466]
+
+Prof. Henry Doty Maxon stands pre-eminent among the men who have
+assisted the cause. He was pastor of the Unitarian Church at Menominee
+and vice-president of the State Suffrage Association for a number of
+years, attended the annual meetings regularly and himself arranged one
+of the most successful, which was held in his church, known as the
+Mabel Taintor Memorial Hall. Col. J. G. McMynn exerted an influence in
+favor of woman's advancement, at an early day. Many men have aided by
+giving money and influence, among them State Senator Norman James,
+David B. James, Capt. Andrew Taintor, the Hon. T. B. Wilson, Burr
+Sprague, M. B. Erskine, the Hon. W. T. Lewis, Steven Bull, the Hon.
+Isaac Stevenson, U. S. Senator Philetus Sawyer and Judge Hamilton of
+Neenah. The clergy generally have assisted by giving their churches
+for meetings. The Richland Center Club and the Greene County Equal
+Rights Association deserve special mention for their faithfulness and
+generosity. The Suffrage Club of Platteville is also very active.
+
+One of the most important features of the work has been the
+publication of the _Wisconsin Citizen_, a monthly paper devoted to
+the interests of women. It was started in 1887 to educate the people
+on the suffrage bill of 1885 and has continued ever since, no other
+one influence having been so helpful to the cause. The association
+owes this paper to Mrs. Martha Parker Dingee, a niece of Theodore
+Parker, who edited it for seven years, reading all the proofs, without
+help and without remuneration; and to Mrs. Helen H. Charlton who has
+edited and published the paper from 1894 to the present time.
+
+Miss Sarah H. Richards compiled and published an interesting history
+and directory of the Wisconsin Woman Suffrage Association to which the
+present sketch is much indebted.
+
+LEGISLATIVE ACTION: Only one measure looking to the extension of
+suffrage to women ever has been passed by the Legislature. This was
+done in 1885 as the result of the efforts of Alura Collins Hollister,
+who was appointed to represent the association in legislative work at
+Madison. The following was submitted to the voters: "Every woman who
+is a citizen of this State of the age of twenty-one years and upward,
+except paupers, etc., who has resided within the State one year and in
+the election district where she offers to vote ten days next preceding
+any election pertaining to school matters, shall have the right to
+vote at such election." This was discussed at length in both branches
+of the Legislature and passed on March 13 by a large majority.
+
+It was voted upon at the fall election in 1886 receiving a majority of
+4,583, and thus became a law.[467]
+
+It will be noted that this law specifies what women are to vote, viz.:
+actual citizens who are not paupers; where women are to vote, viz.: in
+the election districts where they reside; when women are to vote,
+viz.: when there is an election pertaining to school matters. It does
+not specify what women are to vote upon or for whom--they are full
+voters without limitation at all elections pertaining to school
+matters. What elections pertain to school matters? First, the general
+election held once in two years, at which the State Superintendent of
+Public Instruction and officers controlling the State University and
+other State institutions are chosen. Second, the municipal election
+which in most cities pertains to school matters, as a school board or
+superintendent is chosen then. Third, other elections in country
+villages where one or more school officers are chosen. Fourth, special
+elections where subjects relating to schools are voted upon. Of
+several suffrage bills reported at this session this one, called the
+Ginty Bill, was the only one which provided for a submission of the
+question to the voters, which shows the purpose of the framers to have
+been to grant State or national suffrage. The broad scope of this law
+practically giving women a vote on the election of all national, State
+and municipal officers, was pointed out to the leaders of the suffrage
+association by some of the men instrumental in its passage, notably
+Senator Norman James, chairman of the Joint Special Committee that
+reported the bill. It is claimed that the Legislature did not intend
+to pass a law so far reaching, but the circumstances of its passage,
+political conditions at the time, as well as the statements of its
+members and of the committee, show that they did intend to pass this
+broad, far-reaching law, giving suffrage to women.
+
+To awaken women to the necessity of voting at the first
+opportunity--the municipal election in 1887--the suffrage association
+undertook an active canvass of the State which lasted without
+interruption until the autumn of 1888, a period of over two years. The
+Rev. Olympia Brown gave up her church in Racine and devoted herself
+exclusively to the work. The association was assisted by Miss Anthony,
+Mrs. Livermore, Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon, Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton
+Harbert and Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch. Some of these speakers
+remained a month, others a week and some only for two or three
+lectures. The State president attended every meeting.
+
+On the morning of the election in April, 1887, Attorney-General
+Charles B. Estabrook sent out telegrams to those places where he
+supposed women would be likely to vote, ordering the inspectors to
+reject their ballots, which was done; but where they were not advised
+by him the ballots of women were accepted.
+
+The next effort of the suffrage leaders was to instruct the people in
+the law and the circumstances of its passage, and thus to inspire
+confidence in spite of the refusal of the ballots. It was suggested
+that as the Presidential election was near at hand, politicians would
+not leave it uncertain as to whether or not women were entitled to
+vote, but would secure an interpretation of the law from the Supreme
+Court without proper argument and presentation of the facts, hence the
+State W. S. A. decided to test the matter itself. The case was brought
+by Mrs. Brown against the election inspectors in Racine for refusing
+to accept her vote, and was ably argued before Judge John B. Winslow
+of the Circuit Court, now a member of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin.
+He overruled the demurrer of the inspectors, stating that women were
+entitled to vote at that election and for all candidates, thus
+confirming the law.
+
+An appeal was immediately taken by the inspectors to the Supreme
+Court, and in order to keep the subject before the people and to
+create a favorable public sentiment the association continued its
+canvass by distributing literature and giving lectures. The decision
+rendered Jan. 31, 1888, was written by Justice John B. Cassody and was
+so vague and loosely worded that lawyers were not agreed as to its
+meaning. He reversed the finding of the lower court, however,
+declaring the intent of the law to be to confer School Suffrage
+only.[468]
+
+The association now found itself confronted by a large debt, the whole
+suit having cost about $1,500, but by active work the autumn of 1888
+found everything paid. In all this Mrs. Almeda B. Gray, one of the
+officers of the association, was a leading spirit, contributing
+largely in time and money; Mrs. M. A. Fowler worked night and day,
+making routes for speakers and planning the campaign, other women
+assisted according to their ability and the club at Richland Center
+did excellent service. The decision still left room for litigation,
+the claim being made that the ruling of the Supreme Court plainly
+recognized the right of women to vote provided their ballots were put
+in a separate box.
+
+In the following November Wm. A. McKinley was elected Superintendent
+of Schools for Oconto County by the votes of women placed in a
+separate box. His election was contested and the case was argued
+before Judge Samuel B. Hastings of Green Bay, who, quoting from the
+decision of Judge Cassody, decided that women had a right to vote
+provided their ballots were put into a separate box. This case also
+was appealed to the Supreme Court, where the decision, rendered by
+Judge William P. Lyon, Jan. 26, 1890, was that the votes of the women
+in Oconto County were illegally counted. The ground for this finding
+was that further legislative action was necessary before separate
+ballot-boxes could be legally provided. Judge Cassody dissented from
+this opinion.
+
+The law then became practically a dead letter, except in a few
+instances, until 1901, when an Act of the Legislature provided for
+separate ballot boxes for women, and in the spring of 1902 they voted
+on school questions.
+
+In 1895 the legislative committee, consisting of Mrs. Jennie
+Lamberson, Mrs. Jessie Luther and Mrs. Alice Kollock, assisted by Mrs.
+Charlton, secured the introduction of two bills--one to strike the
+word "male" from the State constitution, the other for a suffrage
+amendment by statute law. A hearing was granted before the joint
+committee of both Houses in the Senate Chamber, which was crowded.
+Mesdames Elizabeth Boynton Harbert (Ills.), Helen H. Charlton, Nellie
+Mann Opdale, Ellen A. Rose and Dr. Annette J. Shaw were the
+speakers.[469] The bills were reported favorably but were lost after
+discussion.
+
+LAWS: Dower and curtesy obtain. A widow is entitled to a life interest
+in one-third of the real estate and, if the husband die without a
+will, to the share of a child in the personal estate. If there is no
+lawful issue she has the entire estate, both real and personal. The
+widower has a life interest in all the real estate of his wife not
+disposed of by will, or in all of it if the wife died intestate,
+unless she left issue by a former husband, in which case such issue
+takes it, free from the right of the surviving husband to hold the
+same by curtesy. If the wife die without a will and leave no issue,
+the widower is entitled to the entire estate, both real and personal.
+There may also be reserved for the widow a homestead of not more than
+forty acres of farm land, or one-quarter of an acre in a town, which
+at her subsequent marriage or death passes to the heirs of the former
+husband. If none exist she does not lose her homestead rights by
+marrying again.
+
+The wife may dispose of all her real estate by conveyance during her
+lifetime or by will, without the husband's consent. He can not destroy
+her dower rights.
+
+A married woman may sue and be sued, make contracts and carry on
+business in her own name.
+
+The father, if living, and in case of his death the mother, while she
+remains unmarried, shall be entitled to the custody of the persons and
+education of the minor children. The father may by will appoint a
+guardian for a child, whether born or unborn, to continue during its
+minority or for a less time.
+
+Neglect to provide for a wife and minor children is a misdemeanor,
+punished by imprisonment in the county jail not less than fifteen
+days, during ten days of which food may be bread and water only; or by
+imprisonment in the penitentiary not exceeding one year, or in the
+county workhouse, at the discretion of the court.
+
+In 1887 a law was passed raising the "age of protection" for girls
+from 10 to 14 years. In 1889 this was amended by lowering the age to
+12 and reducing the punishment from imprisonment for life to not more
+than thirty-five nor less than five years. The clause also was added:
+"Provided that if the child shall be a common prostitute, the man
+shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary not less than one year nor
+more than seven."[470] In 1895 the age was raised again to 14 years
+with the same penalty.
+
+SUFFRAGE: By the law of 1885 every woman who is a citizen of this
+State of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, except paupers,
+etc., who has resided in the State for one year and in the election
+district where she offers to vote ten days next preceding any election
+pertaining to school matters, shall have a right to vote at such
+election. By the present interpretation of this law the suffrage of
+women is limited to school officers and questions. Suffrage may be
+extended by statute but such law must be ratified by a majority of the
+voters at a general election.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: There is no law authorizing women to hold any elective
+office except such as pertains to schools, but they have been eligible
+to these since 1869. Eighteen women have served as county
+superintendents at the same time; nine are acting at present. They sit
+on school boards in a number of cities.
+
+In the Legislature women act as enrolling and engrossing clerks, and
+as clerks and stenographers to committees. They are also found as
+clerks, copyists and stenographers in the various elective and
+appointive State, city and county offices.
+
+In the State institutions they are employed as teachers, matrons,
+bookkeepers, supervisors, State agents for placing dependent children,
+etc. The Milwaukee Industrial School for Girls, supported partly by
+public and partly by private funds, is the only institution managed
+entirely by women.
+
+There are no women physicians at any of the State institutions. One
+woman was appointed county physician in Waukesha, and one or two have
+been made city physicians.
+
+The office of police matron was established by city ordinance in
+Milwaukee in 1884. There is none in any other city.
+
+Women act as notaries public and court commissioners.
+
+Women could not sit on any State Boards until the Legislature of 1901
+authorized the appointment of one woman on the Board of Regents for
+the State University, and one on that of the State Normal School. It
+also authorized the appointment of a woman State Factory Inspector.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to
+women.
+
+EDUCATION: In 1851 the regents of the State University took a stand in
+favor of co-education. In 1866 an Act reorganizing the university
+declared that in all its departments it should be opened to male and
+female students; but owing to prejudices it was not until 1873 that
+complete co-education was established, although women were graduated
+in 1869. All institutions of learning are open alike to both sexes.
+
+In the public schools there are 2,654 men and 9,811 women teachers.
+The average monthly salary of the men is $41; of the women, $29.50.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[464] The History is indebted for most of the material in this chapter
+to the Rev. Olympia Brown of Racine, president of the State Woman
+Suffrage Association since 1884.
+
+[465] The other officers at present are: Vice-presidents, Mrs. Ellen
+A. Rose and Mrs. Madge Waters; chairman executive committee, Mrs. Etta
+Gardner; corresponding secretary, Mrs. M. Geddes; recording secretary,
+Miss Emma Graham; treasurer, Mrs. Lydia Woodward; State organizer, the
+Rev. Alice Ball Loomis; district presidents, Dr. Abby M. Adams,
+Mesdames Kate Taylor, M. A. Fowler, L. A. Rhodes, Augusta Morris,
+Alura Collins Hollister, L. M. Eastman, Mary Upham, Emma Shores and
+Sylvia Rogers; press committee, Mesdames Sarah Buck, Clara F.
+Eastland, Jennie Beck and Dora Putnam; finance committee, Mesdames
+Anna Gile, Donald Jones and J. B. Hamilton.
+
+[466] Besides those mentioned above, Mesdames Nancy Comstock,
+Josephine DeGroat, M. A. Derrick, M. A. Fowler, M. M. Frazier, Laura
+James, Dr. Sarah Monroe, E. A. Rose, S. A. Rhodes, Burr Sprague and
+Lydia Woodward all have been most valuable helpers. Among generous
+contributors have been W. H. Crosby, Charles Erskine; Mesdames L. J.
+Barlow, Laura C. Demmon, Almeda B. Gray, Mary E. Hulett, Emma V.
+Laughton, Mary Merrill, Margaret Messenger, Hannah Patchen, Dr. Laura
+Ross Wolcott, Emeline Wolcott and Park Wooster; those who have aided
+by the pen are Mesdames Marian V. Dudley, Clara Eastland, Hattie Tyng
+Gardner, Etta Gardner, C. V. Leighton and Minnie Stebbins Savage.
+
+[467] The State constitution provides that the suffrage may be
+extended by a law submitted to the electors at any general election.
+If it receives a majority vote it is held to have the force of a
+constitutional amendment.
+
+[468] The open letter addressed to Judge Cassody, March 28, 1888, by
+Mrs. Brown, in regard to this decision, was pronounced by the best
+lawyers as unsurpassed in logic, legal acumen, keen sarcasm and
+righteous indignation. [Eds.
+
+[469] E. P. Wilder, associate editor of the Madison _State Journal_,
+chief official organ of the Republican party, made an excellent
+address at this time in favor of woman suffrage, which was afterwards
+printed as a leaflet.
+
+[470] This is believed to be the only case on record where the age of
+protection has been lowered. The amendment was urged by Senator P. J.
+Clawson of Monroe, Green County At its next meeting the county
+suffrage society passed the strongest possible denunciatory
+resolutions, and thereafter its members worked diligently to defeat
+Mr. Clawson for the nomination to Congress, which they succeeded in
+doing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXII.
+
+WYOMING.[471]
+
+
+It is said that a contented people or a happy life is one without a
+history. The cause of woman suffrage in Wyoming has not been marked by
+agitation or strife, and for that reason there is no struggle to
+record, as is the case in all other States. In its story Mrs. Esther
+Morris must ever be considered the heroine. A native of New York, she
+joined her husband and three sons in 1869 at South Pass, then the
+chief town of Wyoming. She was a strong advocate of the
+enfranchisement of women and succeeded in enlisting the co-operation
+of Col. William H. Bright, president of the first Legislative Council
+of the Territory, which that very year passed a bill conferring on
+women the full elective franchise and the right to hold all offices.
+Gov. John A. Campbell was in some doubt as to signing it, but a body
+of women in Cheyenne, headed by Mrs. Amalia Post (wife of Morton E.
+Post, delegate to Congress), went to his residence and announced their
+intention of staying until he did so. A vacancy occurring soon
+afterward in the office of Justice of the Peace at South Pass, the
+Governor appointed Mrs. Morris on petition of the county attorney and
+commissioners. She tried between thirty and forty cases and none was
+appealed to a higher court.[472]
+
+In 1871 a bill to repeal this woman suffrage law was passed by the
+Legislature and vetoed by Governor Campbell. An attempt to pass it
+over his veto failed. No proposition to abolish it ever was made in
+the Legislature thereafter.
+
+In 1884, fifteen years after women had first voted in Wyoming, U. S.
+District Attorney Melville C. Brown, at the request of Miss Susan B.
+Anthony, sent to the National Association an extended resume of the
+status of women suffrage in the Territory, to which he himself had
+been opposed in 1869. It expressed throughout the most emphatic
+approval without any qualifications. Some of the statements were as
+follows:
+
+     Women have exercised their elective franchise, at first not very
+     generally but of late with universality, and with such good
+     judgment and modesty as to commend it to the men of all parties
+     who hold the good of the Territory in high esteem.... It has been
+     stated that the best women do not avail themselves of the
+     privilege. This is maliciously false.... The foolish claim has
+     also been made that the influence of the ballot upon women is
+     bad. This is not true. It is impossible that a woman's character
+     can be contaminated in associating with men for a few minutes in
+     going to the polls any more than it would be in going to church
+     or to places of amusement. On the other hand women are benefited
+     and improved by the ballot.... The fact is, Wyoming has the
+     noblest and best women in the world because they have more
+     privileges and know better how to use them.
+
+     To conclude I will say: Woman suffrage is a settled fact here,
+     and will endure as long as the Territory. It has accomplished
+     much good; it has harmed no one; therefore we are all in favor,
+     and none can be found to raise a voice against it.
+
+In the convention called the first Monday of September, 1889, to
+prepare a constitution for admission as a State, this was the first
+clause presented for consideration:
+
+     The right of citizens of the State of Wyoming to vote and hold
+     office shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex. Both
+     male and female citizens of this State shall enjoy all civil,
+     political and religious rights and privileges.
+
+After just twenty years' experience of woman suffrage no man in this
+convention was found in opposition to it, but to the surprise of the
+members, one delegate, A. C. Campbell of Laramie, proposed to amend
+this section by making it a separate article to be voted upon apart
+from the rest of the constitution. He supported his amendment by a
+long speech in which he said that he himself should vote in favor of
+the article and, from his observations throughout the Territory, he
+believed two-thirds or more of the people would do the same, but he
+thought they ought to have a chance to express themselves; that "they
+were going to have a pretty tough time anyhow getting into the Union,
+and if they put in a proposition of this kind without giving those
+persons who were opposed to woman suffrage a chance to express
+themselves, they would vote against the whole constitution."
+
+The other members of the convention looked upon this as a scheme of
+the opponents, and Mr. Campbell had no support to his proposition. On
+the contrary, the most eloquent addresses were made by George W.
+Baxter, Henry A. Coffeen, C. W. Holden, Asbury B. Conaway, Melville C.
+Brown, Charles H. Burritt and John W. Hoyt demanding that the suffrage
+clause should stand in the constitution regardless of consequences.
+Space will permit only the keynote of these courageous speeches.[473]
+
+     MR. BAXTER: ... I defend this because it is right, because it is
+     fair, because it is just.... I shall ever regard as a
+     distinguished honor my membership in this convention, which, for
+     the first time in the history of all this broad land, rising
+     above the prejudice and injustice of the past, will incorporate
+     into the fundamental law of the State a provision that shall
+     secure to every citizen within her borders not only the
+     protection of the courts, but the absolute and equal enjoyment of
+     every right and privilege guaranteed under the law to any other
+     citizen.
+
+     MR. COFFEEN: ... The question, as I take it, is already settled
+     in the hearts and minds and judgments of the people of our
+     glorious State proposed-to-be, and shall we stand here to-day and
+     debate over it when every element of justice and right and
+     equality is in its favor; when not one iota of weight of argument
+     has been brought against it; when every word that can be said is
+     in favor of continuing the good results of woman suffrage, which
+     we have experienced for twenty years?... I shall not go into the
+     policy or propriety of submitting such a proposition as this now
+     before us to the people of this Territory....
+
+     MR. HOLDEN: I do not desire at this time to offer any reason why
+     the right to vote should be granted to women; that is not the
+     question before us. The question is, shall we secure that right
+     by fundamental law? The proposition now under consideration is,
+     shall we leave it to the people of Wyoming to say whether or not
+     the privilege of voting shall be secured to women? Now, Mr.
+     Chairman, I believe that I voice the wishes of my constituency
+     when I say that rather than surrender the right which the women
+     of this Territory have so long enjoyed--and which they have used
+     not only with credit to themselves but with profit to the country
+     in which they live--I say that rather than surrender that right
+     we will remain in a Territorial condition throughout the endless
+     cycles of time.
+
+     MR. CONAWAY: ... The sentiment of this convention, and I believe
+     of the people whom we represent, is so nearly unanimous that
+     extended discussion, it seems to me, would be a waste of
+     time.... If it were proposed to submit to a vote of the people
+     whether the property of the gentleman from Laramie should be
+     taken from him, or my property should be taken from me and given
+     to somebody else, there would be no difference of opinion upon
+     it. In Wyoming this right of our women has been recognized, has
+     been enjoyed; there are such things in law as vested rights, and
+     the decisions of our courts are unanimous that it is not within
+     the power of the Legislature ever to take away from any person
+     his rights or his property and to confer them upon another, and
+     that is what this clause proposes to do, to submit to a vote
+     whether we shall take away from one-half of our citizens--and, as
+     my friend has well stated, the better half--a certain right, and
+     increase the rights of the other half by so doing....
+
+     MR. BROWN: I was a member of that second Legislature which tried
+     to disfranchise women.... From that day to the present no man in
+     the Legislature of Wyoming has been heard to lift his voice
+     against woman suffrage. It has become one of the fundamental laws
+     of the land, and to raise any question about it at this time is
+     as improper, in my judgment, as to raise a question as to any
+     other fundamental right guaranteed to any citizen in this
+     Territory. I would sooner think, Mr. Chairman, of submitting to
+     the people of Wyoming a separate and distinct proposition as to
+     whether a male citizen of the Territory shall be entitled to
+     vote....
+
+     MR. HOYT: ... For twenty years the women of this Territory have
+     taken part with the men in its government, and have exercised
+     this right of suffrage equally with them, and we are all proud of
+     the results. No man in Wyoming ever has dared to say that woman
+     suffrage is a failure. There has been no disturbance of the
+     domestic relations, there has been no diminution of the social
+     order, there has been no lessening of the dignity which
+     characterizes the exercise of the elective franchise; there have
+     been, on the contrary, an improvement of the social order, better
+     laws, better officials, a higher civilization. Why, then, this
+     extraordinary proposition that, after so many years, having
+     exercised with us the right of suffrage since the foundation of
+     this Territorial government, women are now to be singled out, to
+     be set aside, and the question submitted to a vote as to whether
+     they shall have a continuance of the rights which have been given
+     to them by unanimous consent, and which they have exercised
+     wisely and properly and, as my friend says, with profit to the
+     whole Territory? This is indeed an extraordinary proposition, to
+     submit to a vote the continuance of a vested right. I will not
+     impugn the motives of the gentleman who makes it, but I demand as
+     a matter of justice that it shall be voted down by an
+     overwhelming majority, and I would that he had never presented
+     it.... We are told that if we put this clause into our
+     constitution as a fundamental law, we shall fail to secure its
+     approval by the people of Wyoming and its acceptance by the
+     Congress of the United States; but if it should so prove that the
+     adoption of this provision to protect the rights of the women
+     should work against our admission, then I agree with my friend,
+     Mr. Holden, that we will remain out of the Union until a
+     sentiment of justice shall prevail....
+
+     MR. BURRITT: ... Mr. Campbell destroyed any argument that he made
+     in favor of this amendment by saying, first, that woman suffrage
+     as a principle is right; second, that he would vote for it if
+     presented to the people. And he further said that he was not
+     afraid, in defending the right of petition, to come before this
+     convention and indorse this proposition to be separately voted
+     upon, even if it cost him the ladies' vote or the votes of any
+     other class. That certainly is very courageous on the part of the
+     gentleman from Laramie.... But I will say this much in addition,
+     which he did not say, that, as a member of this convention and
+     believing the right of suffrage to be a vested right, of which it
+     would be wrong and wicked for us to attempt to deprive women, I
+     have also the courage to rise above the single constituent that I
+     have in Johnson County who is opposed to woman suffrage (and I
+     know but one) and to rise above the majority even of its citizens
+     if I knew they were opposed, and I am sure that this convention
+     and this State have as much courage as I have. Believing that
+     woman suffrage is right, I am sure that this convention has the
+     courage to go before Congress and say that if they will not let
+     us in with this plank in our State constitution we will stay out
+     forever.... I stand upon the platform of justice, and I advocate
+     the continuance of the right of women to vote and hold office and
+     enjoy equally with men all civil, religious and political
+     privileges, and that this right be incorporated as a part of the
+     fundamental law of the State....
+
+The woman suffrage clause was retained as a part of the constitution,
+which was adopted by more than a three-fourths majority of the popular
+vote.
+
+A bill to provide for the admission of Wyoming as a State was
+introduced into the House of Representatives on Dec. 18, 1889, and
+later was favorably reported from the Committee on Territories by
+Charles S. Baker of New York. A minority report was presented by
+William M. Springer of Illinois, consisting of twenty-three pages, two
+devoted to various other reasons for non-admission and twenty-one to
+objections because of the woman suffrage article.
+
+As it was supposed that the new State would be Republican, a bitter
+fight was waged by the Democrats, using the provision for woman
+suffrage as a club. The bill was grandly championed by Joseph M.
+Carey, delegate from the Territory (afterward United States senator)
+who defended the suffrage clause with the same courage and ability as
+all the others in the constitution.[474]
+
+The principal speech in opposition was by Joseph E. Washington of
+Tennessee, who said in part:
+
+     My chief objection to the admission of Wyoming is the suffrage
+     article in the constitution. I am unalterably opposed to female
+     suffrage in any form. It can only result in the end in unsexing
+     and degrading the womanhood of America. It is emphatically a
+     reform against nature.... I have no doubt that in Wyoming to-day
+     women vote in as many [different] precincts as they can reach on
+     horseback or on foot after changing their frocks and bustles....
+     Tennessee has not yet adopted any of these new-fangled ideas, not
+     that we are lacking in respect for true and exalted
+     womanhood.[475]
+
+William C. Oates of Alabama also delivered a long speech in
+opposition, of which the following is a specimen paragraph:
+
+     I like a woman who is a woman and appreciates the sphere to which
+     God and the Bible have assigned her. I do not like a man-woman.
+     She may be intelligent and full of learning, but when she assumes
+     the performance of the duties and functions assigned by nature to
+     man, she becomes rough and tough and can no longer be the object
+     of affection.
+
+He concluded his argument by saying that if ever universal suffrage
+should prevail the Government would break to pieces of its own weight.
+
+The enfranchisement of women was also vehemently attacked by Alexander
+M. Dockery of Missouri, George T. Barnes of Georgia, William M.
+Springer of Illinois, and William McAdoo of New Jersey. It was
+strongly defended by Henry L. Morey of Ohio, Charles S. Baker of New
+York, Daniel Kerr and I. S. Struble, both of Iowa, and Harrison B.
+Kelley of Kansas.
+
+Every possible effort was made to compel the adoption of an amendment
+limiting the suffrage to male citizens, and it was defeated by only
+six votes. The bill of admission was passed March 28, 1890, after
+three days' discussion, by 139 ayes to 127 noes. During the progress
+of this debate Delegate Carey telegraphed to the Wyoming Legislature,
+then in session, that it looked as if the suffrage clause would have
+to be abandoned if Statehood were to be obtained, and the answer came
+back: "We will remain out of the Union a hundred years rather than
+come in without woman suffrage."[476]
+
+In the Senate the fight against the suffrage article was renewed with
+added intensity. The bill for the admission of Wyoming was reported
+favorably through the chairman of the Committee on Territories,
+Orville H. Platt of Connecticut, in January, 1890, but was not reached
+on the calendar until February 17. On objection from Francis M.
+Cockrell of Missouri, that there was not time then for its
+consideration, it was postponed, but without losing its place on the
+calendar. Not until May 2, however, did it come up again as unfinished
+business, and only to be again postponed. On May 8 the bill was set
+down for the following Monday, but it was June 25 before it finally
+received extended consideration. The debate continued for three days
+and the clause conferring suffrage on women took a prominent place.
+
+George G. Vest of Missouri led the opposition and said in the course
+of his lengthy oration:
+
+     I shall never vote to admit into the Union any State that adopts
+     woman suffrage. I do not propose to discuss the sentimental side
+     of the question.... In my judgment woman suffrage is antagonistic
+     to the spirit, to the institutions, of the people of the United
+     States. It is utterly antagonistic to my ideas of the Government
+     as the fathers made it and left it to us. If there were no other
+     reason I would never give the right of suffrage to women because
+     the danger to the institutions of the United States to-day is in
+     hurried, spasmodic, sentimental suffrage.... I believe that with
+     universal suffrage in this country, the injecting into our
+     suffrage of all the women of the United States would be the
+     greatest calamity that could possibly happen to our institutions
+     and people.... If there were no other reason with me, I would
+     vote against the admission of Wyoming because it has that feature
+     in its constitution. I will not take the responsibility as a
+     senator of indorsing in any way, directly or indirectly, woman
+     suffrage. I repeat that in my judgment it would be not only a
+     calamity but an absolute crime against the institutions of the
+     people of the United States....
+
+In an extended speech John H. Reagan of Texas said:
+
+     But what are we going to do, what are the people of this
+     Territory going to do, by the adoption of this constitution? They
+     are going to make men of women, and when they do that the
+     correlative must take place that men must become women. So I
+     suppose we are to have women for public officers, women to do
+     military duty, women to work the roads, women to fight the
+     battles of the country, and men to wash the dishes, men to nurse
+     the children, men to stay at home while the ladies go out and
+     make stump speeches in canvasses.... Mr. President, when the
+     Almighty created men and women He made them for different
+     purposes, and six thousand years of experience have recognized
+     the wisdom and justice of the Almighty in this arrangement. It is
+     only latterly that people have got wiser than their Creator and
+     wiser than all the generations which have preceded them.... The
+     constitution of society, the necessity for the existence of
+     society, the necessity of home government, which is the most
+     important of all the parts of government, can only be preserved
+     and perpetuated by keeping men in their sphere and women in their
+     sphere....
+
+     It is a wholesome thing to reflect that after a hard day's
+     struggle and of rough contacts which men must have with each
+     other, they can go to a home presided over by one there who
+     soothes the passions of the day by the sweetness of her temper,
+     the gentleness of her disposition and the happiness which she
+     brings around the family circle. But if the wife and the husband
+     are both out in the bitter contests of the day, making speeches,
+     electioneering with voters, pushing their way to the polls, they
+     will both be apt to go home in a bad humor, and there will not be
+     much happiness in a family during the remainder of the day which
+     follows such a scene. And while they are both out what will
+     become of the children? Are they to take care of themselves?
+
+     What rights can women expect to have that they do not have now?
+     They are clothed with the protection of law.[477] In my judgment,
+     Mr. President, the day that the floodgate of female suffrage is
+     opened upon this country, the social organism will have reached
+     the point at which decay and ruin begin.... Why, sir, what is the
+     advantage? If the head of the family votes he is apt to reflect
+     the views of the family. It is more convenient than to have all
+     the family going out to vote.
+
+Wilbur F. Sanders of Montana interrupted Senator Reagan to ask if the
+law should not be an expression of the intellectual and moral sense of
+all the people, and whether governments did not derive their just
+powers from the consent of the governed.
+
+John T. Morgan of Alabama entered into a long and sarcastic argument
+to prove that if a woman could vote in Wyoming she might be sent to
+Congress and then she could not be admitted because the law says a
+senator or representative "must be an inhabitant of the State in which
+_he_ is chosen." He ignored the fact that all legal papers are made
+out with this pronoun, which presents no difficulty in their
+application to women.
+
+Henry B. Payne of Ohio said that he was not in favor of woman
+suffrage, and that no woman in England ever had been permitted to
+exercise the elective franchise. (Women then had been voting in
+England for twenty-one years, the same length of time as in Wyoming.)
+He asked, however, if these little technical objections would not be
+more than overcome by the moral influence that a woman Representative
+might exert in the committee rooms and on the floor of the House.
+
+Mr. Morgan at once launched forth into a panegyric on the moral
+influence of woman which certainly demonstrated that if sentimentalism
+were a bar to voting, as Senators Vest and Reagan had insisted it
+should be, the senator from Alabama would have to be disfranchised.
+Part of it ran as follows:
+
+     It is not the moral influence of woman upon the ballot that I am
+     objecting to, and it is not to get rid of that or to silence or
+     destroy such influence that I oppose it, but it is the immoral
+     influence of the ballot upon woman that I deprecate and would
+     avoid. I do not want to see her drawn into contact with the rude
+     things of this world, where the delicacy of her senses and
+     sensibilities would be constantly wounded by the attrition with
+     bad and desperate and foul politicians and men. Such is not her
+     function and is not her office; and if we degrade her from the
+     high station that God has placed her in to put her at the
+     ballot-box, at political or other elections, we unman ourselves
+     and refuse to do the duties that God has assigned to us.
+
+     I can say for myself and for those who are dearest to me of all
+     the objects in this life, that I would leave a country where it
+     was necessary that my wife and daughters should go to the polls
+     to protect my liberties. I would just as soon see them shoulder
+     their guns and go like Amazons into the field and fight beneath
+     the flag for my liberties, as to see them muster on election day
+     for any such purpose.[478]
+
+James K. Jones of Arkansas based his argument on the estimate of an
+equal number of men and women in Wyoming, and assumed that all the
+women had voted in favor of the suffrage clause and that therefore it
+did not represent the wishes of men, thus denying wholly the right of
+women to a voice in a matter which so vitally concerned themselves. In
+reality women formed considerably less than one-third of the adult
+population, while the constitution was adopted by more than a
+three-fourths vote.
+
+William M. Stewart of Nevada and Algernon S. Paddock of Nebraska
+defended the right of the Territory to decide this question for
+itself.
+
+George Gray of Delaware declared his belief that "woman suffrage is
+inimical to the best interests of society." John C. Spooner of
+Wisconsin disapproved the enfranchisement of women, but believed
+Wyoming had a right to place it in its constitution.
+
+Orville H. Platt of Connecticut in urging the acceptance of the report
+said:
+
+     I never have been an advocate of woman suffrage. I never
+     believed, as some senators do, that it was wise. But with all
+     that, I would not keep a Territory out of the Union as a State
+     because its constitution did allow women to vote, nor would I
+     force upon a Territory any restriction or qualification as to
+     what its vote should be in that respect. When Washington
+     Territory came here and asked for admission and the bill was
+     passed, it had had woman suffrage, and I was appealed to by a
+     great many citizens all over the United States to keep it out of
+     the Union, so far as my action could do so, until it restored the
+     right of women to vote which had been taken away under a decision
+     of its own courts--taken away, as I thought, unjustly; for I did
+     not consider that decision good law. The senator from
+     Massachusetts, Mr. Hoar, interrogated me when I was advocating
+     the admission of Washington as to why we did not incorporate into
+     that enabling act some language that should undo the wrong which
+     had been done by the Supreme Court of the Territory and restore
+     to women the right of voting. I said then, as I say now, that I
+     think this is a matter which belongs to the Territory; and I am
+     surprised that gentlemen who are so devoted to home rule as a
+     sacred right which should never be interfered with in this
+     republic, should not be willing to allow to a Territory, when it
+     asks for admission, the right to determine whether women should
+     or should not be permitted to vote by the constitution of the
+     proposed State.... Why should we, the Congress of the United
+     States, stand here and say to that Territory, where women have
+     enjoyed the right of voting for twenty years, and nobody arises
+     to gainsay it or to intimate that they have not exercised the
+     right wisely, why should we stand here and say: "Keep out of the
+     Union; we will let no community, no Territory, in here which does
+     not deprive its women of the right they have enjoyed while in a
+     Territorial condition"?
+
+After every possible device to strike out the obnoxious clause had
+been exhausted, the bill to admit Wyoming as a State was passed on
+June 27, 1890, by 29 ayes, 18 noes, 37 absent.[479] Although Henry W.
+Blair of New Hampshire and Henry M. Teller of Colorado interposed
+remarks showing a thorough belief in the enfranchisement of women,
+there was no formal argument in its behalf, it being generally
+understood that all Republicans would vote for the bill in order to
+admit a Republican State, and a number did so who were not in favor of
+woman suffrage.
+
+When the people of Wyoming met at Cheyenne, July 23, to celebrate
+their Statehood, by Gov. Francis E. Warren sat Mrs. Amalia Post,
+president of the Woman Suffrage Association. The first and principal
+oration of the day was made by Mrs. Theresa A. Jenkins, of which the
+History of Wyoming says:
+
+     Proceeding to the front of the platform, Mrs. Jenkins, in clear,
+     forceful tones which penetrated to the very outskirts of the
+     crowd, delivered without manuscript or notes an address which in
+     logic and eloquence has rarely if ever been equaled by any woman
+     in the land.... At its conclusion she received an ovation and was
+     presented with a magnificent basket of flowers.
+
+     The great incident of the celebration, the presenting of the
+     flag, next followed. Mrs. Esther Morris, the "mother" of the
+     woman suffrage movement in this State, who is widely respected
+     for her great ability and heroic womanhood, was by general
+     consent accorded the post of honor and made the presentation to
+     Governor Warren. Gathering its folds about her she said:
+
+     "On behalf of the women of Wyoming, and in grateful recognition
+     of the high privilege of citizenship which has been conferred
+     upon us, I have the honor to present to the State of Wyoming this
+     beautiful banner. May it always remain the emblem of our
+     liberties, 'and the flag of the Union forever.'"
+
+     The Governor, on receiving it from Mrs. Morris, made an eloquent
+     response during which he paid this tribute to women:
+
+     "Wyoming in her progress has not forgotten the hands and hearts
+     that have helped advance her to this high position; and, in the
+     adoption of her constitution, equal suffrage is entrenched so
+     firmly that it is believed it will stand forever.... Women of
+     Wyoming, you have builded well, and the men of Wyoming extend
+     heartiest greeting at this time. They congratulate you upon your
+     achievements, and ask you to join them in the future, as in the
+     past, in securing good government for our commonwealth."
+
+The poet of the day was a woman, Mrs. I. S. Bartlett, who gave The
+True Republic. In every possible way the men showed their honor and
+appreciation of the women, and from this noble attitude they never
+have departed.
+
+In May, 1895, Miss Susan B. Anthony, president of the National
+Association, carried out a long-cherished desire to visit Wyoming. She
+was on the way to take part in the Woman's Congress of San Francisco,
+accompanied by the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president-at-large, and
+they stopped at Cheyenne where they were the guests of Senator and
+Mrs. Carey, who gave a dinner party in their honor, attended by
+Governor and Mrs. Richards, Senator and Mrs. Warren, Mrs. Morris, Mrs.
+Jenkins, Mrs. Post and other distinguished guests. They went
+immediately from dinner to the new Baptist church, which was filled to
+overflowing, and were introduced by the Governor. At the close of the
+lecture Mrs. Jenkins said, "Now I desire to introduce the audience to
+the speakers." She then called the names of the Governor and all his
+staff, the attorney-general, the United States judges, the senators
+and congressmen, the mayor and members of the city council. Each arose
+as his name was mentioned, and before she was through it seemed as if
+half the audience were on their feet, and the applause was most
+enthusiastic.
+
+Miss Anthony often spoke of this as one of the proudest moments of her
+life--when it was not necessary to beg the men in her audience to do
+justice to women, but when these men, the most eminent in the State,
+rose in a body to pay their respects to the women whom they had
+enfranchised without appeal, and to those other women who were
+devoting their lives to secure political freedom for all of their sex.
+
+During the more than thirty years which have elapsed since the
+suffrage was given to women, not one reputable person in the State
+ever has produced any evidence or even said over his or her own
+signature that woman suffrage is other than an unimpeachable success
+in Wyoming.
+
+Every Governor of the Territory for twenty years bore witness to its
+good results. Governors of Territories are appointed by the President,
+not elected by the people, and as they were not dependent on women's
+votes, their testimony was impartial.
+
+Year after year the State officials, the Judges of the Supreme Court,
+ministers, editors and other prominent citizens have testified in the
+strongest possible manner to the beneficial results of woman
+suffrage.[480]
+
+Gov. Francis E. Warren said in 1885: "I have seen much of the workings
+of woman suffrage. I have yet to hear of the first case of domestic
+discord growing therefrom. Our women nearly all vote." He also
+reported to the Secretary of the Interior: "The men are as favorable
+to woman suffrage as the women are. Wyoming appreciates, believes in
+and indorses woman suffrage." In his official report the next year he
+stated: "Woman suffrage continues as popular as at first. The women
+nearly all vote and neither party objects." And in 1889: "No one will
+deny that woman's influence in voting always has been on the side of
+good government. The people favor its continuance." In the same year,
+while still Governor, he wrote:
+
+     After twenty years' trial of woman suffrage in Wyoming Territory,
+     it is pronounced an unqualified success by men and women alike,
+     and of both political parties.... I sincerely hope that all the
+     new States will so provide that it may prevail immediately, or
+     that it can be extended at any time hereafter when their
+     Legislatures desire, if they are not now ready to take the step.
+
+     The women of Wyoming have been exceedingly discreet and wise in
+     their suffrage, so much so that the different Legislatures have
+     not attempted its overthrow, although majorities have sometimes
+     been largely Republican and at other times largely Democratic.
+
+During all his years as United States senator Mr. Warren never has
+failed to give his testimony and influence in favor of the
+enfranchisement of women.
+
+In 1889 Delegate Joseph M. Carey wrote from the House of
+Representatives at Washington: "Wyoming Territory has for twenty years
+had full woman suffrage. It has commended itself to the approval of
+our people of all parties ... I sincerely hope the new States will
+adopt suffrage principles without regard to sex, or provide by a
+clause in their respective constitutions that the Legislatures may by
+statute confer the right of franchise upon women." Throughout his
+subsequent term in the United States Senate he was consistent in this
+attitude and has remained so ever since.
+
+Following the example of every Territorial Governor, Amos W. Barber,
+the first State Governor, declared:
+
+     Woman suffrage does not degrade woman. On the contrary, it
+     ennobles her and brings out all the strong attributes of true
+     womanhood. To their credit be it said, the women are almost a
+     unit for ability, honesty and integrity wherever found, in high
+     life or low life. A man must walk straight in Wyoming, for the
+     women hold the balance of power and they are using it wisely and
+     judiciously. The cause of education is their first aim. They are
+     making our schools the model of the country, and, too, they can
+     make a dollar go much further than their husbands can.
+
+In 1900 a petition was circulated in the State, asking Congress to
+submit a Sixteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution, prohibiting
+the disfranchisement of United States citizens on account of sex. It
+was signed by the Governor, the Secretary of State, the Auditor of
+State, the State Superintendent of Instruction, the State engineer,
+the Judges of the Supreme Court, the United States district attorney,
+the United States surveyor general, the director and the observer of
+the United States Weather Bureau, the mayor of Cheyenne and a long
+list of editors, ministers, lawyers, physicians, bankers and the most
+prominent women in the State. Mrs. Carey, who had the petition in
+charge, wrote to Miss Anthony: "Thousands of names could be secured if
+it were necessary."
+
+Literally speaking the testimony from Wyoming in favor of woman
+suffrage is limited only by the space for this chapter.[481]
+
+In 1901 this joint resolution was passed:
+
+     WHEREAS, Wyoming was the first State to adopt woman suffrage,
+     which has been in operation since 1869 and was adopted in the
+     constitution of the State in 1890; during which time women have
+     exercised the privilege as generally as men, with the result that
+     better candidates have been elected for office, methods of
+     election purified, the character of legislation improved, civic
+     intelligence increased and womanhood developed to greater
+     usefulness by political responsibility; therefore,
+
+     _Resolved_, By the House of Representatives, the Senate
+     concurring, That, in view of these results, the enfranchisement
+     of women in every State and Territory of the American Union is
+     hereby recommended as a measure tending to the advancement of a
+     higher and better social order;
+
+     _Resolved_, That an authenticated copy of these resolutions be
+     forwarded by the Governor of the State to the Legislature of
+     every State and Territory, and that the press be requested to
+     call public attention to these resolutions.
+
+                     EDWARD W. STONE, _President of the Senate_.
+                     J. S. ATHERLEY, _Speaker of the House_.
+     Approved Feb. 13, 1901.
+
+                                   DEFOREST RICHARDS, _Governor_.
+
+For a number of years women served on grand and petit juries. In
+compiling the first volume of the Laws of Wyoming, Secretary and
+Acting Governor Edward M. Lee said:
+
+     In the provisions of the woman suffrage clause, enacted in 1869,
+     we placed this youngest Territory on earth in the van of
+     civilization and progress. That this statement has been verified
+     by practical experience the testimony is unanimous, continuous
+     and conclusive. Not a link is wanting in the chain of evidence
+     and, as a Governor of the Territory once said: "The only
+     dissenting voices against woman suffrage have been those of
+     convicts who have been tried and found guilty by women jurors."
+     Women exercised the right of jurors and contributed to the speedy
+     release of the Territory from the regime of the pistol and
+     bowie-knife. They not only performed their new duties without
+     losing any of the womanly virtues, and with dignity and decorum,
+     but good results were immediately seen. Chief Justice J. H. Howe,
+     of the Supreme Court, under whose direction women were first
+     drawn on juries, wrote in 1872: "After the grand jury had been in
+     session two days the dance-house keepers, gamblers and
+     _demi-monde_ fled out of the State in dismay to escape the
+     indictment of women jurors. In short, I have never, in
+     twenty-five years' experience in the courts of the country, seen
+     a more faithful and resolutely honest grand and petit jury than
+     these."
+
+The best women in the Territory served as jurors, and they were
+treated with the most profound respect and highly complimented for
+their efficiency. The successor of Chief Justice Howe was opposed to
+their serving and none were summoned by him. Jury duty is not
+acceptable to men, as a rule, and the women themselves were not
+anxious for it, so the custom gradually fell into disuse. The juries
+are made up from the tax lists, which contain only a small proportion
+of women. There are no court decisions against women as jurors, and
+they are still summoned occasionally in special cases.
+
+Women have not taken a conspicuous part in politics. The population is
+scattered, there are no large cities and necessarily no great
+associations of women for organized work. They are conscientious in
+voting for men who, in their opinion, have the best interests of the
+community at heart. More latitude must necessarily be permitted in new
+States, but in 1900 they decided that it was time to call a halt on
+the evil of gambling, and as the result of their efforts a law was
+passed by the present Legislature (1901) forbidding it. The Chicago
+_Tribune_ gave a correct summing-up of this matter in the following
+editorial:
+
+     The women of Wyoming are to be credited with securing one reform
+     which is a sufficient answer, in that State at least, to the
+     criticism that woman suffrage has no influence upon legislation
+     and fails to elevate political action. There will be no legalized
+     gambling in Wyoming after the first of January next, the
+     Legislature having just passed a law which makes gambling of
+     every kind punishable by fine and imprisonment after the above
+     date.
+
+     This has been the work of the women. When they began their
+     agitation about a year and a half ago, gambling was not only
+     permitted but was licensed. The evil was so strongly entrenched
+     and the revenue accruing to the State so large that there was
+     little hope at first that anything would be accomplished. The
+     leaders of the crusade, however, organized their forces skilfully
+     in every town and village. Their petitions for the repeal of the
+     gambling statute and for the passage of a prohibitory act were
+     circulated everywhere, and were signed by thousands of male as
+     well as female voters. When the Legislature met, the women were
+     there in force, armed with their voluminous petitions. The
+     gamblers also were there in force and sought to defeat the women
+     by the use of large sums of money, but womanly tact and
+     persuasion and direct personal appeals carried the day against
+     strong opposition. The Legislature passed the bill, but it was
+     the women who won the victory.
+
+The most prejudiced must admit that women could not have done this if
+they had not represented at least as many votes as the gambling
+fraternity.
+
+LAWS: The first Legislature (1869), which conferred the suffrage upon
+women, gave wives exactly the same rights as husbands in their
+separate property.
+
+Dower and curtesy have been abolished. If either husband or wife die
+without a will, leaving descendants, one-half of the estate, both real
+and personal, goes to the survivor. If there are no descendants,
+three-fourths go to the survivor, one-fourth to the father and mother
+or their survivors, unless the estate, both real and personal, does
+not exceed $10,000, in which case it all passes to the widow or
+widower. A homestead to the value of $1,500 is exempted for the
+survivor and minor children.
+
+A married woman may sue and be sued, make contracts and carry on
+business in her own name.
+
+The father is the guardian of the minor children, and at his death the
+mother. There is no law requiring a husband to support his
+family.[482]
+
+The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 14 years in
+1882, and from 14 to 18 in 1890. The penalty varies from imprisonment
+for one year to life. Seduction under promise of marriage up to the
+age of 21 years is a penitentiary offense. Male and female habitues of
+a house of ill-repute are considered guilty of the same offense, but
+the man is liable for a fine of $100 and imprisonment for sixty days,
+while the woman is liable for only half this punishment.
+
+SUFFRAGE: Women have had the Full Franchise since 1869.
+
+No separate record is kept of their votes, as they have exercised the
+suffrage so long that this would seem no more necessary than to keep
+one of the men's votes. The census of 1900 gives the percentage of men
+in the State as 63 (in round numbers) and of women as 37. The estimate
+of those who are best informed is that 90 per cent. of the women who
+are eligible use the suffrage.
+
+OFFICE HOLDING: Since the organization of the Territory in 1869 women
+have been eligible to all official positions, but there never has been
+any scramble for office.
+
+No woman ever has served in the Legislature.
+
+Miss Estelle Reel was State Superintendent of Public Instruction for
+four years. She is now National Superintendent of Indian Schools,
+appointed by President William McKinley, and has 300 of these under
+her charge.
+
+Miss Grace Raymond Hebard is librarian of the State University, and
+for the past ten years has filled the position of secretary of the
+board of trustees, upon which women serve.
+
+Miss Bertha Mills is clerk of the State Land Board, with a salary
+equal to that of any clerk or deputy in the State House.
+
+Miss Rose Foote was assistant clerk in the House of Representatives of
+the last Legislature, and as a reader she left nothing to be desired.
+Women frequently serve as legislative enrolling clerks. There have
+been women clerks of the courts.
+
+Women hold several important clerkships in the State Capitol and are
+found as stenographers, etc., in all the State, county and municipal
+offices.
+
+In many districts they serve on the school board, and nearly all of
+the counties elect them to the responsible position of superintendent.
+As such they conduct the institutes, examine teachers and have a
+general supervision of the schools.
+
+OCCUPATIONS: The only industry legally forbidden to women is that of
+working in mines.
+
+EDUCATION: All educational advantages are the same for both sexes.
+
+By a law of 1869 Wyoming requires equal pay for men and women in all
+employment pertaining to the State. This includes the public schools,
+in which there are 102 men and 434 women teachers. But here as
+elsewhere the men hold the higher positions and their average monthly
+salary is $60.40, while that of the women is $42.86.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[471] The History is indebted to the Hon. Robert C. Morris of
+Cheyenne, clerk of the Supreme Court of Wyoming, for much of the
+information contained in this chapter.
+
+[472] Mrs. Morris is the mother of Robert C. Morris, and this
+paragraph is inserted by the editors. A full account of this first
+experiment in woman suffrage will be found in Vol. III, Chap. LII.
+
+[473] Published in full in Wyoming Historical Collections, Vol. I.
+
+[474] In an address Mr. Carey said later: "I was agreeably surprised
+to have so many of the ablest men in Congress, both in public and in
+private conversation, disclose the fact that they firmly believed the
+time would come when women would be permitted to exercise full
+political rights throughout the United States."
+
+[475] See laws for women in Tennessee chapter.
+
+[476] Miss Susan B. Anthony was an interested and anxious listener to
+this debate from the gallery of the House, and a joyful witness to the
+final passage of the bill.
+
+[477] See laws for women in Texas chapter.
+
+[478] In 1901, when a convention in Alabama was framing a new
+constitution, Senator Morgan sent a strong letter urging that this
+should include suffrage for tax-paying women.
+
+[479] A telegram announcing that President Harrison had signed the
+bill was handed to Miss Anthony while she was addressing a large
+audience at Madison, S. D., during the woman suffrage campaign in that
+State, and those who were present say, "She spoke like one inspired."
+
+By request of Miss Anthony and Lucy Stone, officers of the National W.
+S. A., the woman suffrage clubs of the entire country celebrated on
+the Fourth of July the admission into the Union of the first State
+with the full franchise for women, and an address from Mrs. Stanton
+was read--Wyoming the First Free State for Women.
+
+[480] From 1876 to 1883 Edgar Wilson Nye (Bill Nye) was editor of the
+Laramie _Boomerang_, in which he published the following as the result
+of his eight years' observation of woman's voting:
+
+"Female suffrage, I may safely and seriously assert, according to the
+best judgment of the majority in Wyoming Territory, is an unqualified
+success. An effort to abolish it would be at once hooted down. Its
+principal opposition comes from those who do not know anything about
+it. I do not hesitate to say that Wyoming is justly proud because it
+has thus early recognized woman and given her a chance to be heard.
+While she does not seek to hold office or act as juror, she votes
+quietly, intelligently and pretty independently. Moreover, she does
+not recognize the machine at all, seldom goes to caucuses, votes for
+men who are satisfactory, regardless of the ticket, and thus scares
+the daylights out of rings and machines."
+
+[481] See Appendix--Testimony from Woman Suffrage States.
+
+[482] When the attention of a distinguished jurist of Wyoming was
+called to these laws he said the question never had been raised, but
+there would be no objection to changing them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXIII.
+
+GREAT BRITAIN.
+
+EFFORTS FOR THE PARLIAMENTARY FRANCHISE.[483]
+
+BY MISS HELEN BLACKBURN, EDITOR OF THE ENGLISHWOMAN'S REVIEW, LONDON.
+
+
+The chapter on Great Britain contributed by Miss Caroline Ashurst
+Biggs to Vol. III of this History of Woman Suffrage brought the story
+down to the passage of the Representation-of-the-People Act of 1884
+which extended Household Suffrage to the Counties and created the
+Service Franchise, thus giving the ballot to a large number of
+agricultural labourers and men who had their residence on premises of
+which their employers paid the rent and taxes, but which still left
+all such women without any franchise whatsoever.
+
+With the passing of that Act may be said to have begun a new phase in
+the movement. During the '70's there had been a debate and division on
+the Women's Suffrage Bill in the House of Commons nearly every year.
+After the General Election of 1880 the question of Household Suffrage
+in the Counties came to the front, and all the efforts of the Women's
+Suffrage Societies were directed and inspired by the anticipation that
+when the claims of the agricultural labourer were dealt with, those of
+women would find their opportunity. But far from this, they were left
+practically in a worse position than before, for now 2,000,000 new
+voters were added to the number of those who could make prior claim to
+the attention of their representatives.
+
+_1885._--Immediately after the General Election which followed the
+passing of the new Reform Bill, Mr. Gladstone gave notice of his Bill
+for Home Rule for Ireland and the party feeling aroused was of such
+intensity that the Liberal party was cloven in twain. The Women's
+Suffrage movement was affected by the keen party strife, in which
+women were as deeply interested as men, and the question of their
+enfranchisement was no longer the only rallying point for their
+political activity. This period is marked by a rapid development of
+organisations amongst women for party purposes. In the Primrose
+League, which had been started in 1883, women had been assigned
+unprecedented recognition as co-operating with men on equal footing
+for political purposes. It does not promote special measures but lays
+down for its principle the Maintenance of Religion, of the Estates of
+the Realm and of the Imperial Ascendancy of the British Empire, thus
+indicating its Conservative tendency. The Women's Liberal Federation,
+founded in 1885 to promote liberal principles, endeavours to further
+special measures. The Women's Liberal Unionist Association founded in
+1888 had for its principal object the defence of the legislative union
+between England and Ireland.
+
+Thus women entered actively into the work of the three respective
+parties, and this re-acted in various ways on the Women's Suffrage
+propaganda. It might seem that this had a depressing effect, for the
+rigid neutrality in regard to party which always had characterised the
+National Societies for Women's Suffrage might easily seem dull and
+tame to the ardent party enthusiasts, and many of the Liberal women
+threw their energies by preference into the Women's Liberal
+Associations, but the old charge that women had no interest in
+politics, now received its complete quietus. It seems indeed a far cry
+from the manners of sixty years ago, when to talk politics to a woman
+was considered rude, to the manners of to-day when the Primrose League
+balances its 75,000 Knights with 63,000 Dames, besides associates
+innumerable, both men and women; and the Women's Liberal Federation
+with its 448 Associations has actively worked for candidates in a
+great number of counties in England.
+
+_1886._--The number of members returned after the General Election of
+1885 who were understood to be favorably inclined towards the
+enfranchisement of women, exceeded any previous experience and on
+February 18th the motion to adjourn discussion was rejected by 159
+ayes, 102 noes, and the bill passed second reading without further
+division; but before going into Committee another dissolution of
+Parliament took place.
+
+The General Election which followed was even more favorable, the
+friendly Members returned being in an actual majority, and yet session
+after session passed and the pressure of Government business consumed
+Parliamentary time.
+
+_1887-1890._--The need of a central point, such as is afforded when
+there is a bill before the House, round which all the suffrage forces
+could rally independent of party, made it difficult for them to
+maintain their cohesion. The Central Committee of the National Society
+for Women's Suffrage had been such a point but it could not escape the
+distracting outside influences, and a revision of its rules took place
+in December, 1888, with the result that the Society as hitherto
+existing dissolved and reformed in two separate organisations. One of
+these established new rules which enabled it to affiliate with
+Societies formed for other purposes; and one adhered to the old rules
+which admitted only organisations formed with the sole object of
+obtaining the Franchise. But if, as was held, the internal
+re-organisation of the Societies redounded to greater strength, even
+more so did an unprecedented attack from the outside, in the Summer of
+1889, when the _Nineteenth Century_ opened its pages to a protest
+against the enfranchisement of women, to which a few ladies in London
+society had been diligently canvassing for signatures. The appearance
+of this protest was naturally the sign for an immediate counterblast,
+and the two Central Societies in London put a form of declaration into
+immediate circulation. The _Fortnightly Review_ gave space to a reply
+from the pen of Mrs. Millicent Garrett Fawcett and to a selection from
+the signatures which poured into the Suffrage Offices with a rapidity
+that was amazing, as in sending out the forms for signature numbers
+had not been aimed at but rather it was sought to make the list
+representative. The _Nineteenth Century_ had contained the names of
+104 ladies, mostly known as wives of public men, while those who had
+taken part in work for the good of the community and to advance the
+interests of women were conspicuous by their absence. The
+_Fortnightly_ gave space for about 600 names asking for the suffrage,
+selected from over 2,000 received within a few days.[484]
+
+This was the last work in which the distinguished reformer, Miss
+Caroline Ashurst Biggs, took part, as she died in September, 1889.
+Miss Lydia Becker, editor of _The Women's Suffrage Journal_, which she
+had founded in 1870, passed away the following Summer. These two
+deaths were an irreparable loss to the movement for the
+enfranchisement of women.
+
+_1891._--Parliamentary prospects grew brighter and Mr. William
+Woodall, who had charge of the Suffrage Bill, obtained May 13th for
+its consideration. The first Lord of the Treasury, Mr. W. H. Smith,
+had received a deputation appointed by the Suffrage Societies April
+20th, to present him with a largely signed memorial praying that Her
+Majesty's Government would reserve the day appointed for the
+discussion of a measure "which suffers under the special disadvantage
+that those whom it chiefly concerns have no voting power with which to
+fortify their claims." They received the assurance that the House
+would not adjourn before the 13th, and that the Government had no
+intention of taking the day for their business.
+
+On April 30th, however, when the Government proposed to take certain
+specified days for their business, Mr. Gladstone objected, insisting
+that they should be uniform in their action and take all Wednesdays up
+to Whitsuntide. This afforded a manifest opportunity for shelving the
+Suffrage Bill which the opponents were quick to perceive and,
+although Mr. Smith declared himself unable to take this day, Sir Henry
+James moved that all Wednesdays be taken. This was carried and the
+Government, for probably the first time in Parliamentary History, had
+a day forced on them.
+
+_1892._--Better fortunes attended the endeavours of the Parliamentary
+leaders in the following session. Mr. Woodall having accepted office
+in the Government, Sir Algernon Borthwick (now Lord Glenesk) undertook
+the necessary arrangements for the introduction of the Bill. This was
+placed, by the result of the ballot for a day, in the hands of Sir
+Albert Rollit, who set it down for April 27th in the following terms:
+
+     Every woman who (1) in Great Britain is registered as an elector
+     for any Town Council or County Council, or (2) in Ireland is a
+     rate-payer entitled to vote at an election for guardians of the
+     poor, shall be entitled to be registered as a Parliamentary
+     elector and, when registered, to vote at any Parliamentary
+     election for the County borough or division wherein the
+     qualifying property is situate.
+
+This Bill was brought forward for second reading on the appointed day
+by Sir Albert Rollit with a powerful statement of the question, and a
+debate followed marked by a high and serious tone. For this brief
+narrative it will suffice to note the closing speech from the Right
+Hon. A. J. Balfour, who concluded by saying that whenever any
+important extension of the Franchise was brought up "they would have
+to face and deal with the problem of Women's Suffrage--and deal with
+it in a complete fashion." The division showed 175 for the Bill, 192
+against--a result which was a surprise to both sides, for the
+opponents had exerted themselves in a manner beyond all precedent;
+they had sent round a whip signed by twenty members, ten on each side
+of the House, and Mr. Gladstone had written a letter to Mr. Samuel
+Smith, that had been circulated as a pamphlet, in which amongst other
+points he urged that at least it should be ascertained "that the
+womanly mind of the country was in overwhelming proportion and with
+deliberate purpose bent on procuring the vote."
+
+_1893-1895._--At the opening of the Parliament it was a great
+satisfaction to the Women's Suffrage party that Viscount Wolmer (now
+the Earl of Selborne) had undertaken the Parliamentary leadership of
+the question. It will hardly be needful here to go into all the causes
+which thwarted the vigilance of the leader in procuring a hearing for
+the measure in that Parliament.
+
+On June 1st, 1895, a representative Conference was held at Westminster
+Town Hall to consider a plan for an appeal to the House of Commons
+from women all over the United Kingdom. Miss Florence Davenport Hill,
+who presided, briefly explained that the object of such an appeal was
+to convince the country in a more emphatic manner than could be
+possible by the petitions, memorials and demonstrations that already
+had been tried again and again, all of which were necessarily limited
+in their scope. This appeal should be from women of all ranks and
+classes in all parts of the United Kingdom. The Appeal for the
+Parliamentary Franchise then agreed upon was managed by a committee
+appointed from the chief organisations amongst women.
+
+_1896._--This effort to "focus the diffused interest of women in the
+suffrage into one concentrated expression" resulted in the collection
+of 257,796 signatures, nearly every constituency in the United Kingdom
+being represented. Although the Appeal was in readiness for
+presentation in the session of 1895, a suitable opportunity did not
+arise until 1896, when a fairly good place had been drawn in the
+ballot by Mr. Faithfull Begg and the Bill was set down for May 20th.
+Permission was obtained to place the Appeal in Westminster Hall on May
+19th, and passes were given to the Committee to enable them to show it
+to any Members of Parliament who might wish to inspect it.
+Accordingly--although it was already known that all Wednesdays had
+been taken in Government business--the Appeal of the women of this day
+and generation for constitutional rights was placed in that grand old
+Hall, round which the Parliamentary associations of a thousand years
+are clustered. Many Members showed great interest in studying the
+signatures from their respective constituencies.
+
+Irrespective of the interest called forth, other good results
+followed, for the Women's Suffrage Societies had been drawn into
+pleasant relation with a great many new friends and helpers all over
+the country. It was also shown that women who differed widely on
+political and social questions could work cordially and unanimously
+for this common object. The closer union which this work had brought
+about led to the modification of the Special Appeal Committee into a
+combined Committee for Parliamentary Work. A Conference held in the
+Priory Rooms, Birmingham, October 16th, attended by delegates from all
+the Women's Suffrage Societies, greatly assisted concerted action.
+
+_1897._--All was thus in good working order when at the opening of the
+session an excellent place was drawn in the ballot by Mr. Faithfull
+Begg (M. P. for St. Rollox division of Glasgow) and the Women's
+Franchise Bill was set down for February 3rd, when it passed second
+reading by a majority of 71. The old opponents sent out a strong whip
+against the Bill and mustered in force, but they were exceeded by the
+old friends, nor did the division show the whole strength of the
+movement, as many known to be favorable were still absent at that
+early date of the session.[485] A statement issued by the National
+Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, said:
+
+     This vote places the question of Women's Suffrage in a new phase,
+     and its friends have only to continue to press it upon the
+     attention of Parliament and the public in order to render it
+     necessary at no distant date that it should be dealt with by the
+     Government of the day. This has been the history of nearly all
+     important measures of reform. They have very rarely been placed
+     on the Statute Book by private members; but private members by
+     repeatedly bringing a particular question before the House give
+     the opportunity for its full consideration by Parliament and the
+     country, so that in due time it takes its place as a Government
+     measure. It will be the aim of the Union to put Women's Suffrage
+     in this position, so that no Government, of whatever party, shall
+     be able to touch questions relating to representation without at
+     the same time removing the electoral disabilities of women.
+
+The closer coalition that Autumn of all the Societies which make
+Women's Suffrage their sole object into a National Union was in itself
+a symptom of that new phase, and the combined Sub-Committee was now
+further modified into the Executive Committee of the National Union of
+Women's Suffrage Societies.
+
+_1898-1899._--The value of this second reading has been permanent
+notwithstanding that its progress through the next stage of going into
+Committee was thwarted by what even the _Times_ described as an
+"undignified shuffle." The rule that Bills which have reached
+Committee stage before Whitsuntide should be taken on Wednesdays after
+Whitsuntide in their turn, so that if any one Bill is not finished on
+the day it is taken it is carried to the next, was so worked as to
+shut out the Women's Franchise Bill in 1899, and the rule which was
+meant to give equitable share to all was abused by purposely
+protracted talk over Bills which had no claim to such profuse
+attention.
+
+This was the last opportunity that the pressure of the eventful years
+with which the century closed afforded for Parliamentary debate. The
+great meeting in Queen's Hall, London, June 29th, 1899, when the
+National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies gave hearty welcome to
+their fellow-workers from all parts of the globe during the
+International Council of Women, remains the latest event of public
+significance.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The new House of Commons, 1901, includes 267 members who have voted in
+former Parliaments on the question of extending the Parliamentary
+Franchise to Women; of these 96 are opponents, 171 are supporters. One
+has continued to be a consistent opponent from the division on Mr.
+John Stuart Mill's amendment to the Reform Bill of 1867. Two have
+continued to be consistent supporters from the same division. Of
+members whose first time of voting dates from one or other of the
+numerous divisions which took place between the Reform Acts of 1867
+and 1884, there still remain 20 opponents and 25 supporters. Of the
+members who recorded their vote for the first time on the question in
+the division on Sir Albert Rollit's Bill of 1892, there remain 24
+opponents and 30 supporters. Of those whose first votes date from the
+division on Mr. Faithfull Begg's Bill in 1897, there remain 51
+opponents and 114 supporters.
+
+Thus the ratio of supporters gradually strengthens, and this
+notwithstanding the retirement of twice as many tried friends as of
+steady opponents. If to these considerations it is added that amongst
+the newly-elected members, for each one who is understood to be an
+opponent there are at least three understood to be friendly, it will
+be seen that the march of time strengthens the ranks of the Women's
+Suffrage cause in the House of Commons.
+
+Amongst the supporters who have retired from Parliamentary life are
+three past leaders of the Women's Suffrage Bill, Mr. Leonard Courtney,
+Mr. Woodall and Mr. Faithfull Begg. Two past leaders now have seats in
+the Cabinet, Lord Selborne and Mr. George Wyndham. The Premier, Lord
+Salisbury, has been at all times a true friend; the leader of the
+House of Commons, the Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, has voted and spoken
+in favor of the question in that body.
+
+Mention has been made of the death of Miss Becker and of Miss Biggs.
+Miss Isabella M. S. Tod of Belfast, who passed away on December 8th,
+1896, was a bright and leading spirit, in Ireland especially. In
+November, 1899, the Edinburgh Committee lost their much-loved Hon.
+Secretary, Miss Eliza Wigham, who had held that office for more than
+thirty years. In the same month Mr. Jacob Bright, who secured the
+Municipal Franchise for women, also passed away.
+
+In Ireland the Local Government Act of 1898 gave fresh impetus to
+women's public work, and Mrs. Haslam, the veteran Hon. Secretary of
+the Dublin Women's Suffrage Society, for the past twenty-six years,
+still encourages the rising workers of today.
+
+The North of England Women's Suffrage Society has just sent a petition
+with over 29,000 signatures entirely from women working in Lancashire
+cotton factories. The petition, which looked like a garden roller from
+its size, was brought up by a deputation of fifteen of the women, and
+by them placed in the hands of their Parliamentary friends for
+presentation.
+
+In London the branches have amalgamated into one Central
+Society--President, Lady Frances Balfour; Chairman, Mrs. Millicent
+Garrett Fawcett--and life and effort are apparent in every
+direction.[486]
+
+The new century has opened with a heavy shadow of sorrow for the
+British people in the death of their much-loved sovereign, Queen
+Victoria. Her reign will always be conspicuous as an era of change of
+tone in regard to the studies and pursuits of women. The extent to
+which that change is due to the presence on the throne of a woman full
+of goodness--one for whom Truth was her guide and Duty her rule in
+every action of her life--will stand out more clearly perhaps to
+future generations. But this we know, that during the Victorian era
+the idea of separateness in the interests of men and women has grown
+less and less, while co-operation and sympathy have grown more and
+more, so that these words of one of the pioneer thinkers on this
+subject, Mrs. Jameson, have become a key-note to the suffrage
+movement: "Whatsoever things are good, whatsoever things are wise,
+whatsoever things are holy, must be accomplished by communion between
+brave men and brave women."
+
+
+LAWS SPECIALLY AFFECTING WOMEN.
+
+Half a century ago married women had no right to their earnings, nor
+to dispose of their property; all belonged to the husband unless
+settled on the wife and then it was in keeping of trustees. Mothers
+had no rights in their children. All professions were closed to women.
+
+_1839._--Custody of Infants Act empowered the Lord Chancellor to leave
+custody of her child to the mother, up to the age of seven, in case of
+divorce.
+
+_1873._--Custody of Infants Act allowed the mother custody of her
+child to the age of sixteen in case of divorce.
+
+_1886._--Guardianship of Infants Act gave the right to a surviving
+mother to be joint guardian in addition to any appointed by the
+father. The Act also enabled her to appoint a guardian in case of the
+father's death or incapacity; it also required the Court to have
+regard to the wishes of the mother as well as of the father.
+
+_1870-1874._--Married Women's Property Acts secured to them all rights
+to property acquired by their own skill and industry, and to all
+investments of their own money in their own names.
+
+_1882._--Married Women's Property Act consolidated and amended the
+previous act, enabling married women to acquire, hold and dispose by
+will or otherwise of any real or personal property without the
+intervention of a trustee.
+
+_1876._--Medical Education Act permitted medical degrees to be
+conferred on women.
+
+_1890._--Intestates Act provided that when a man dies intestate
+leaving a widow and no children, all his estate if under L500, goes to
+the widow, if over L500 she shall have L500 in addition to her share
+in the residue.[487]
+
+
+LAWS RELATING TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT. (SUFFRAGE.)
+
+_1869._--Municipal Corporations Act restored to women rate-payers of
+England the vote in Municipal Elections which had been taken away by
+the Municipal Corporation Act of 1835.
+
+_1870._--Elementary Education Act created School Boards and placed
+women on a complete equality both as electors and as eligible for
+election.
+
+_1881-1882._--The Municipal Act for Scotland gave to women the same
+Municipal Franchise possessed by those of England since 1869. They
+already had the School Franchise.
+
+_1888._--The County Electors Act gave women equal franchises with men
+for the election of Councillors for the County Councils created by the
+Local Government Act of that year.
+
+_1894._--Local Government Act which reorganised the Parochial Poor-Law
+Administration in the Counties, confirmed the rights of women to all
+Local Franchises and their eligibility as Poor-Law Guardians; and made
+them also eligible as Parish and District Councillors.
+
+_1896._--Poor-Law Guardian Act for Ireland made women for the first
+time eligible as Poor-Law Guardian.
+
+_1898._--Irish Local Government Act reorganized the system of Local
+Government in Ireland on similar lines to that in England. Women who
+had hitherto been excluded from the Municipal Franchise now had all
+Local Franchises conferred on them and were made eligible for Rural
+and Urban District Councils.
+
+_1899._--London Government Act changed the system of Vestries to that
+of Borough Councils throughout the Metropolitan Districts. Women had
+been eligible on the old Vestries and several were then serving. Their
+claim to sit on the new Borough Councils was, however, rejected.
+
+
+WOMEN IN PUBLIC WORK.
+
+Half a century ago no offices were held by women beyond such parochial
+offices as Sextoness, Overseer and Churchwarden, which they
+occasionally filled. Their always-existing right to act as Poor-Law
+Guardians seems to have been entirely left in abeyance until the early
+'70's, when the attention of public-spirited women was being called to
+the need of reformation in the workhouses.
+
+_1870._--MEMBERS OF SCHOOL BOARD: Miss Lydia Becker was the first
+woman to be elected to public office by the popular vote. This was at
+the first School Board election in Manchester, in November, 1870. She
+was re-elected at every subsequent triennial election until her death
+in 1890. Several were elected in London and other large towns. Their
+number has gone on slowly increasing, both in towns and rural
+districts, the women being re-elected again and again whenever they
+continued to stand.
+
+_1873._--POOR-LAW INSPECTORS: The first woman was appointed Poor-Law
+Inspector in 1873. Then for some years there was no other. Two now
+fill that office, appointed in 1885 and 1898 respectively.
+
+_1875._ POOR-LAW GUARDIANS: The first Poor-Law Guardian was elected in
+1875. There are now over 1,000 serving as Guardians and District
+Councillors in England, a few in Scotland, and about 90 in Ireland.
+
+_1892._--ROYAL COMMISSIONS: Women were appointed as Assistant
+Commissioners on the Royal Commission of Labor in 1892, and as Royal
+Commissioners to enquire into secondary education in 1895.
+
+_1894._--FACTORY INSPECTORS: The first women Factory Inspectors were
+appointed in 1894, and six are now serving.
+
+The Education Department also has a few as Inspectors. Local
+authorities in large towns are realizing the value of women as
+Sanitary Inspectors, and the number of these increases gradually.
+
+
+STEPS IN EDUCATION.
+
+Half a century ago there was not one school or college where women
+could have any approach to University classes. Now there are over
+2,000 women graduates, besides 1,500 who hold certificates from Oxford
+and Cambridge in place of the degrees which would have been theirs had
+those ancient seats of learning opened their gates to women graduates.
+The following table shows the particulars:
+
+                                                             Approximate
+                                                            total number
+                                                            of graduates
+  Distribution.            Women Admitted.                   in January,
+                                                                   1900.
+
+  London University        By a supplemental charter of 1878      1,100
+  Victoria University      By its charter of foundation, 1880       180
+  Royal University of Ireland                            1882       425
+  The Scottish Universities:
+    Edinburgh,             By an ordinance of the University
+    Glasgow,                 Commissioners in 1892 empowering
+    Aberdeen,                the admission of women                 226
+    St. Andrews.
+  University of Wales      By a charter in 1893 incorporating the
+                             Colleges of Aberystwith, Cardiff,
+                             Bangor                                  27
+  Durham                   By an amending charter in 1895            25
+  Girton College, Cambridge      Opened for women 1872              529
+  Newnham College,      "        Opened for women 1880              577
+  Halls for Women in Oxford      Opened for women 1879              426
+
+The students of the three Women's Colleges above take the examinations
+of Cambridge and Oxford and have instruction in part from their
+faculties, but receive only certificates instead of degrees. The other
+universities grant them full degrees.
+
+The establishment of an equal standard of knowledge for men and women
+has brought about the result that the achievements of women in
+literature, science and art, once treated as abnormal and exceptional
+are now quite normal and usual; and the liberal learning, once
+confined to the very few in favored circumstances, is within the reach
+of numbers. As a corollary to this it has been recognized that women's
+occupations also deserve systematic training, with the result that
+when once the training was given the resourcefulness of women has
+enabled them to follow out new lines, and a new independence has
+dawned upon them. At the same time the sense of personal
+responsibility which comes of independence has made many more women
+realize that they have a duty to the community, and therefore has
+compelled them to set their thoughts and minds to the performance of
+those duties. As a natural consequence the fact is being more and more
+realized by the Electorate and by Government Departments that women
+can bring useful service to the community.
+
+
+THE ISLE OF MAN.
+
+[The ancient kingdom of the Isle of Man, with an independent
+government since the time of the vikings, and making its own laws
+which require only the sanction of the Crown, extended Full Suffrage
+to women property owners in December, 1880, and the act received the
+assent of Queen Victoria, January 5th, 1881. This was extended to all
+women rate-payers in 1892.]
+
+
+PROGRESS IN THE COLONIES.
+
+NEW ZEALAND.[488]
+
+The first of the Colonies of the British Empire to grant the
+Parliamentary Franchise to women was New Zealand, therefore, the story
+of Colonial Progress fitly opens with the land of the Maories. The
+earliest public mention that this writer has been able to find of the
+question was in a speech of Sir Julius Vogel to his constituents in
+1876, when he said that he was in favor of extending the franchise to
+women--but as far back as 1869 a pamphlet on the subject, entitled An
+Appeal to the Men of New Zealand, had been written by Mrs. Mary
+Mueller, who may be fitly termed the pioneer woman suffragist of that
+colony.
+
+In 1878 the Government introduced an Electoral Bill which included the
+franchise for rate-paying women; this passed the House of
+Representatives but met with much opposition in the Upper House on
+points unconnected with women's suffrage, so that it was ultimately
+withdrawn.
+
+In 1887 Sir Julius Vogel, Colonial Treasurer, introduced a Bill
+giving practically universal suffrage to women. This was supported by
+the Premier, Sir Robert Stout, and passed the House of Representatives
+May 12, 1887, by 41 ayes, 22 noes. Several Members stated that they
+only voted for it in the hope that in Committee it would be limited to
+owners of property. An amendment proposed to this effect in Committee
+was rejected, but this proved a fatal victory, for when the clause was
+put as it stood the "noes" carried the day.
+
+A resolution moved by Sir John Hall in 1890, carried by a majority of
+26, was a further note of encouragement.
+
+The work for Women's Suffrage was mainly carried on by the Women's
+Christian Temperance Union, and they now put forth increased energy,
+so that early in 1891 Mrs. Kate W. Sheppard, Franchise Superintendent,
+was able to report that many local unions had appointed franchise
+superintendents. With what effect they worked was shown when Sir John
+Hall presented in August, 1891, a petition for the suffrage seventy
+yards long, which was run out to the furthest end of the House; a row
+of Members ranged themselves on either side to inspect the signatures
+and found no two alike, as some seemed to expect. On September 4th Sir
+John Hall's Bill again passed in the House of Representatives, but was
+lost by two votes in the Legislative Council, or Upper House.
+
+In 1892 Sir John Hall presented in behalf of the measure the largest
+petition ever seen in the New Zealand Parliament. That year the Hon.
+J. Ballance introduced an Electoral Bill on behalf of the Government,
+in which the most important new feature was the franchise for women.
+It passed the House of Representatives, but a difference on technical
+details between the two branches of the Legislature delayed its
+passage in the Council.
+
+In 1893 the Electoral Act of New Zealand conferred the Franchise on
+every person over twenty-one, although this did not carry the right to
+sit in Parliament.
+
+As a General Election was close at hand no time was lost in enrolling
+women on the register. The report of the New Zealand W. C. T. U. of
+1893 supplies the following figures:
+
+                                      Men.      Women.
+  On the Register                    177,701   109,461
+  Voting at the Poll                 124,439    90,290
+
+A lady present in Auckland during the election relates that the
+interest taken by the Maori women was very great and that nearly half
+the Maori votes registered in Auckland were those of women.
+
+The Hon. H. J. Seddon, Premier of New Zealand, when in England for the
+celebration of the Queen's jubilee in 1897, spoke of the measure as a
+great success, saying, "It has come to stay." The Bishop of Auckland,
+speaking at the Church Congress in England that year, said "it had led
+to no harm or inconvenience, but the men of New Zealand were wondering
+why they had permitted the women of that Colony to remain so long
+without the right to vote in Parliamentary elections."
+
+
+SOUTH AUSTRALIA.[489]
+
+On July 22d, 1885, Dr. Stirling moved a Resolution in the House of
+Assembly in favor of conferring the Franchise for both Houses of the
+Legislature, on widows and spinsters who possessed qualifications
+(property) which would entitle them to vote for the Legislative
+Council. The debate was adjourned on the motion of the
+Attorney-General and on August 5th the Resolution carried without a
+division or serious opposition.
+
+This favorable start is the more remarkable that there had been no
+previous agitation, no society or committee formed, no petitions
+presented, no meetings held. It was a matter of enlightened conviction
+on the part of the legislators. Dr. Stirling introduced a Bill in
+1886, in the same terms as his resolution, and on April 13th it passed
+second reading by a majority of two of those voting, but as amendments
+to the Constitution must have a majority of the whole House, the Bill
+could not be proceeded with. A general election followed soon after,
+at which Dr. Stirling did not re-enter Parliament, and Mr. Caldwell
+took charge of the Bill, which in November, 1889, again passed second
+reading in the House of Assembly, but again by an insufficient
+majority.
+
+In the Summer of 1889 a public meeting was held to form a Women's
+Suffrage League, which set to work holding meetings and collecting
+signatures to petitions under the guidance of its Hon. Secretary, Mrs.
+Mary Lee. The efforts of the parliamentary friends were thrice
+baffled--in 1890, 1891 and 1893--by the necessity for a majority of
+the whole House, which stopped further immediate progress though each
+time the Bill had passed second reading. The growth of support was,
+however, evidenced by the reply of the Premier to a deputation from
+the Women's Suffrage League in November, 1893--that "on the question
+of Women's Suffrage the Government were in the position of just
+persons who needed no conversion, as they were thoroughly at one in
+the matter and were willing to do all they could to place Women's
+Suffrage on the Statute Book."
+
+When, in August, 1894, the Government brought their Adult Suffrage
+Bill to the Legislative Council the opponents did their utmost to
+bring about its defeat by obstructive amendments, but in vain. Finally
+they moved that the clause prohibiting women from sitting in
+Parliament be struck out, expecting thereby to wreck the Bill, but the
+supporters of the measure accepted the amendment and so it was carried
+by a combination of opponents and supporters, giving women Full
+Suffrage and the right to sit in the Parliament. An address and
+testimonial were presented to Mrs. Lee by the Hon. C. C. Kingston, the
+Premier, Dr. Cockburn, other Members of Parliament and friends. In
+making the presentation the Premier said he did so at request of the
+Committee, for her important services in one of the greatest
+constitutional reforms in Australian history. Royal assent was given
+to the Bill in 1895.
+
+The first election under this Act took place in April, 1896.
+Statistics published in the _Australian Register_ of June 10th, give
+the following totals:
+
+                                                 Men.    Women.
+  On the roll in Adelaide and suburbs           30,051   24,585
+  On the roll in the country districts          47,701   34,581
+  Voting in Adelaide and suburbs                19,938   16,253
+  Voting in country districts                   31,634   23,059
+  Percentage voting in Adelaide and suburbs      66.34    66.11
+  Percentage voting in the country districts     66.32    66.68
+
+Speaking at the Annual Meeting of the Central Committee of the Women's
+Suffrage Society in London, July 15th, 1898, Dr. Cockburn (now Sir
+John Cockburn, K. C. M. G.) said: "The refining influence of women has
+made itself felt in this sphere as in every other: they have elevated
+the whole realm of politics without themselves losing a jot of their
+innate purity. 'No poorer they but richer we,' by their addition to
+the electoral roll."
+
+
+WEST AUSTRALIA.[490]
+
+The women of West Australia enjoyed the unprecedented experience of
+having organised their Franchise League and gained the Franchise in
+one year. The question, however, had been more or less before the
+Colony since 1893. In that year Mr. Cookworthy had introduced a
+Women's Suffrage Resolution in the House of Assembly which was lost by
+only one vote.
+
+After the next General Election, Mr. Cookworthy again introduced his
+Resolution in 1897, when it was lost by two votes, one of its
+strongest supporters being absent. Although there was at that time no
+organisation specially for the Suffrage, the Women's Christian
+Temperance Union did much to extend interest, and there was a large
+body of support to be found amongst the intelligent women of the
+Colony. This led to the formation of a Women's Franchise League for
+Western Australia.
+
+This League was formally organized at a public meeting of the Leisure
+Hour Club in Perth, May 11th, 1899, Lady Onslow presiding. That autumn
+a Resolution similar to the one which had been introduced in the
+Legislative Assembly passed the Council, and before the year closed
+the Electoral Act was passed of which the important part for women
+lies in the interpretation clause, which interprets "Elector" as any
+person of either sex whose name is on the Electoral Roll of a province
+or district. Royal assent to the Bill was given in 1900. Although
+women now can vote for members of the Parliament they can not sit in
+that body.
+
+Already the Women's Franchise League of Western Australia is
+transformed into the Women's Electoral League.
+
+
+NEW SOUTH WALES.[491]
+
+The Mother Colony seems likely to be the next to enfranchise women.
+The question in that Colony first came prominently forward when Sir
+Henry Parkes, the veteran statesman and oft-times Premier, proposed a
+clause to give equal voting power to women in his Electoral Bill in
+1890. The clause was eventually dropped, but the very fact that it had
+been introduced in a Government Bill by a man of such high position as
+Sir Henry Parkes gave the question the impetus for which the friends
+of the movement were waiting to collect the growing interest into
+organized form and combined action.
+
+On May 6th, 1891, the Womanhood Suffrage League of New South Wales was
+formed, Lady Windeyer was elected president and an active campaign was
+begun. On July 30th Sir Henry Parkes moved a Resolution in the
+Legislative Assembly "that in the opinion of this House the franchise
+for the election of members of the Legislative Assembly should be
+extended to women on the same conditions and subject to the same
+qualifications as men." The debate was a very long one, occupying
+twelve hours and concluding at 3 a. m., when the motion was lost by 34
+ayes, 57 noes. The friends of Women's Suffrage were in no way cast
+down by this vote. They believed that in a full House on a fair test
+division their friends would have been in a majority, but many who
+were anxious for the passing of the Electoral Bill voted against Sir
+Henry Parkes' motion lest the inclusion of women should imperil its
+chances in the Upper House.
+
+The next debate on the question was on November 18th, 1894, when Mr.
+O'Reilly moved a Resolution that "in the opinion of this House the
+time has arrived when the franchise should be extended to women." This
+was supported by Sir Henry Parkes. The Premier, Sir G. H. Reid,
+approved of Women's Suffrage in the abstract but objected that the
+present Parliament had received no mandate from the people. Sir George
+Dibbs thought the demand a just one. Eventually the motion, with the
+words "the time has now arrived" omitted, was carried by a large
+majority. No debate has taken place since 1894, as the pressure on the
+time of the Legislature has been great with Federal and other matters,
+but the question was never in a more hopeful position. The sudden
+change of government in 1899 placed a strong friend to the cause at
+the head of affairs in the present Premier, Sir William Lyne, and at
+the annual meeting of the Suffrage League in August, 1900, Mr. Fegan,
+M. P. (Minister for Mines) congratulated the women of New South Wales
+on being so near the goal of their desires. The Premier had
+definitely said that before the session closed a Bill would be
+introduced to give women the suffrage, and he hoped that next year
+they would be able to disband their League, its work being finished.
+The Bill was introduced in 1901 but was lost by 19 ayes, 22 noes.
+
+On Aug. 14, 1902, the bill conferring the Parliamentary Franchise on
+women passed the Council. It had already passed the Assembly and is
+now law.
+
+
+VICTORIA.[492]
+
+In Melbourne an organisation for Women's Suffrage has been in
+existence some sixteen years, but it is only within the last five
+years that the question has come within the region of practical
+politics. The movement suffered from want of concentration of energy.
+"At one time the original association, though still in existence, was
+rivalled by other societies with the same object, but more or less
+tinged with local, class or religious characteristics. This rivalry,
+though it tended to the growth of the movement, deprived it of force
+and eventually led to divided counsels and consequently to comparative
+failure." _The Australian Woman's Sphere_[493] from which the above
+words are quoted, goes on to say: "A few years since, largely owing to
+the patience and tact of the late Annette Bear Crawford, its first
+Hon. Secretary, there was formed the 'United Council for Women's
+Suffrage' which aimed at including representatives of all the leagues
+that had for their main object, or for one of them, the political
+enfranchisement of women."
+
+The formation of this Council has been the sign of a new life in the
+question in Melbourne. At the General Election of 1894 a determined
+effort was made to secure the return of a majority of members pledged
+to vote for the suffrage cause. The Government promised a Bill in the
+session of 1895, and on November 26th the Premier, Sir George Turner,
+introduced a Women's Suffrage Bill which passed the House of Assembly
+without a division, but was lost in the Legislative Council by two
+votes.
+
+The Women's Suffrage Bill passed the Legislative Assembly in 1897,
+'98, '99, 1900, '01, each time with an increased majority, but each
+time its progress has been stopped in the Council.
+
+Nevertheless there are many evidences of increasing vitality in the
+movement in Victoria, not the least of these being the rise of an
+Anti-Women's Suffrage Crusade. These "New Crusaders" have presented a
+petition which purports to be signed by 22,987 "adult women" of
+Victoria. But in 1891 before the suffrage was a live subject, before
+it had entered the region of practical politics, the women suffragists
+in six weeks obtained 30,000 signatures of adult women. The first and
+the most natural result of the anti-suffrage movement has been to
+bring down enquiries on the United Council from all parts of the
+Colony how to help Women's Suffrage.
+
+
+QUEENSLAND.[494]
+
+The Women's Suffrage question appears to have received its first
+awakening in Queensland from the visit of Miss Hannah Chenings, who in
+1891 came from Adelaide on a lecturing tour in connection with an
+effort to obtain a law for the better protection of young girls. Her
+account of the Women's Franchise League in South Australia aroused a
+wish for a similar organisation here, and after a period of silent
+growth the Women's Suffrage Association was formed in 1894, mainly
+through the instrumentality of Mrs. Leontine Cooper and Mrs. Maginie,
+who, as Miss Allen, had been a member of the New South Wales Society.
+
+At the first annual meeting of this association, in March, 1895, the
+report showed that petitions had been presented with over 11,000
+signatures, and that letters expressing themselves as favorable to the
+measure had been received from thirty Members of the Legislative
+Assembly. In the General Election of 1897 a large number of candidates
+declared themselves in favor, but so far the effort to carry a Bill
+through the House has met with disappointment, and the Women's
+Suffrage Association are bending their efforts towards inducing the
+Government to bring in a Bill. Here, as in the other Colonies where
+they are still unenfranchised, the women feel deeply the injustice of
+their exclusion from the Federal Referendum.
+
+
+TASMANIA.[495]
+
+As long ago as 1885 a Constitutional Amendment Act passed second
+reading in the Tasmanian House of Assembly which provided for the
+extension of the Franchise to unmarried women rate-payers, but
+notwithstanding the support of the Government the question made no
+further advance in Parliament.
+
+In recent years a Bill to enfranchise women on the same terms as men
+has passed the House of Assembly on several occasions with increasing
+majorities, but the opponents are still too numerous to carry it
+through the Upper House. The Women's Christian Temperance Union have
+been the most energetic workers in its behalf.
+
+[It will be noticed that in each of these Australian States the
+Women's Suffrage Bill repeatedly passed the Assembly, or Lower House,
+which is elected by the people, but was defeated in the Council or
+Upper House, which is composed entirely of wealthy and aristocratic
+members, who can be voted for only by these classes, and some of whom
+are appointed by the Government and hold office for life. In 1901 a
+Federation of the six States was formed with a National Parliament,
+both Houses to be elected by the people. In June, 1902, a bill passed
+this Federal Parliament giving women the right to vote for its members
+and be elected to this body. About 800,000 women have been thus
+enfranchised, the largest victory ever gained for this movement.
+
+In South and West Australia and New South Wales women may vote for
+members of the State Parliament. In Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania
+they may vote for the Federal but not for the State Parliament, an
+anomaly which doubtless will be very soon rectified. It is possible
+that before this volume is read all the women of the six Australian
+States will possess the full franchise by constitutional right.--Eds.]
+
+In the South African Colonies there has been, as yet, no history to
+record. That the question simmers in many thoughtful minds there can
+scarcely be a doubt, but the time for organised action does not seem
+to have yet arrived.
+
+The other Colonies of Great Britain, with the exception of Canada, are
+not self-governing.
+
+
+DOMINION OF CANADA.
+
+The story of the movement to obtain the Parliamentary Franchise in the
+Dominion dates back to 1883. In April of that year the Premier, Sir
+John Macdonald, introduced a Bill in the Legislature for amending the
+electoral law, including a clause which gave the suffrage to unmarried
+women who possessed the necessary qualifications.
+
+Previously, on March 9th, the Toronto Women's Literary and Social
+Progress Club had gathered in public for the first time in the City
+Council Chamber to consider the Suffrage question. Mrs. McEwan
+presided and a paper "treating pithily and with much aptness on the
+subject of the Franchise" was read by Miss E. Foulds, who moved a
+Resolution "that in the opinion of this Meeting the Parliamentary
+Franchise should be extended to women who possess the qualifications
+which entitle men to vote." This and a second resolution proposing the
+formation of a society to forward such legislation as might be
+required were both carried, many ladies and gentlemen speaking in
+their support and a large number of those present giving in their
+names as members. On April 5th an adjourned meeting was held and the
+Canadian Women's Suffrage Association was constituted.
+
+Sir John Macdonald's Bill was presented too late to become a law and
+was re-introduced in 1884. It was in this year that members of the
+British Suffrage Association visited Canada. Miss Lydia Becker and
+Mrs. Lilias Ashworth Hallett were among them, and they and several
+other English ladies united in sending an address to Sir John
+Macdonald thanking him for the introduction of provisions in his Bill
+to enable women to vote and expressing their high appreciation of the
+just and generous spirit which had actuated him. Mrs. Hallett had some
+conversation with Sir John Hall, who told her the only difficulty they
+expected in Canada as regarded passing the Bill was from the French
+population. This expectation proved to be well-founded. The Women's
+Suffrage Clauses were rejected by 51 ayes, 78 noes, after a debate
+extending over thirty-one consecutive hours.
+
+It was ten years before any further effort was made to secure the
+Parliamentary Franchise. In 1894 a petition for this, in behalf of the
+Women's Christian Temperance Union, supplemented by memorials from the
+Provinces, was presented by Sir James Grant to the House of Commons,
+and by the Hon. Mr. Scott to the Senate, but no resolution was
+offered. A Bill introduced by Mr. Dickey, dealing with the electoral
+franchise, contained a clause asking suffrage for widows and
+spinsters, but the Bill was read only once. Mr. Davis, unsolicited,
+brought in a resolution for Women's Franchise on the same terms as
+men. Forty members voted for it, one hundred and five against it.
+
+A petition for the Parliamentary Franchise for women, very largely
+signed by Federal voters throughout the Dominion, was presented to the
+House of Commons and the Senate in 1896. This was the last effort in
+the Parliament, and as a change has since been made in the Electoral
+Act, making the voters' list for the Dominion coincide with the
+Provincial lists, the battle will therefore have to be fought out in
+each separate Province.
+
+
+THE PRESENT POLITICAL CONDITION.[496]
+
+Women in Canada have no vote for any law maker, either Federal or
+Provincial. Their franchise is confined to municipalities, which can
+only make by-laws that relate to the execution of existing laws. But
+although women have no direct vote, they have, by much labor and
+united effort, effected some important changes in the criminal code
+and civil laws, as well as in the political position of women in the
+municipalities. The societies which have accomplished the most, if not
+all, of these changes are the Women's Christian Temperance Union, the
+Women's Enfranchisement Association and the National Council of Women.
+
+In the Province of Ontario, in 1884, widows and spinsters were given
+the Municipal Franchise on the same terms as men. All women, married
+or single, if owners of property, may vote on money by-laws where such
+are submitted to the electors. Any woman on the assessment roll may
+vote for School Trustees and is eligible for this office. In 1892 it
+was enacted that women might study law and qualify for the Bar. In
+1893 a Bill to give Municipal Suffrage to married women and one to
+grant the Provincial Suffrage to all women were defeated by 16 ayes,
+53 noes.
+
+In the Province of New Brunswick the Legislature in 1886 gave,
+unsolicited, to widows and spinsters the right to vote on the same
+terms as men at Municipal elections. In 1893 an Act was passed
+permitting the appointment of a woman as School Trustee. This was
+amended in 1896 making it compulsory that two on each Board shall be
+women.
+
+In the Province of Nova Scotia the Municipal Franchise was granted to
+widows and spinsters in 1887. A Bill for the Provincial Franchise was
+defeated in 1893; and again in 1894 by one vote. An Act of 1895
+permits all women, if rate-payers, to vote on School matters. A
+married woman having property in her own right, provided that her
+husband is disqualified, may vote in Municipal elections under the
+Married Woman's Property Act, since 1891. In the city of Halifax
+widows and spinsters who are rate-payers may vote on Municipal
+questions. In 1894 a Bill giving women a more extended suffrage was
+lost by seven votes; in 1895 by four votes; in 1899 a Bill for the
+full Provincial Franchise was lost by twenty-seven votes.
+
+In the Province of Prince Edward Island, in 1888, the Municipal
+Suffrage was granted to widows and spinsters owning property. An Act
+of 1899 made women eligible to appointment on School Boards.
+
+In the Province of British Columbia, in 1888, the Municipal Franchise
+was conferred on widows and spinsters owning property. An Act of 1891
+allows the wife of any householder or freeholder to vote on School
+matters but not to hold office; in 1897 the Act was amended making
+them eligible as School Trustees. This same year all women rate-payers
+were given the Municipal Franchise. Only owners of property may vote
+on by-laws for raising money upon the credit of the municipality.
+
+In the Province of Manitoba, in 1891, the Municipal Franchise was
+extended to women. Any qualified woman rate-payer can vote on School
+questions and is eligible for School offices. Women property owners
+may vote on all submitted by-laws. In 1892 a measure to give women the
+full Provincial Suffrage was defeated by 28 ayes, 11 noes.
+
+In the Province of Quebec, in 1892, the Municipal and School Franchise
+was conferred on widows and spinsters on the same terms as on men. The
+law relating to the right of women to sit on the School Board was
+ambiguous, so a petition was presented that they be declared eligible.
+The response to this was an amendment excluding women. In Montreal,
+under the old charter, only widows and spinsters who owned property
+had the Municipal Franchise; in 1899 this was amended, adding tenancy
+with residence as a qualification. In 1898 a Bill granting them the
+Provincial Suffrage was lost on division.
+
+In the Northwest Territories, in 1894, the Municipal Franchise was
+granted to widows and spinsters. In School matters every woman
+rate-payer can vote and is eligible to School offices.[497]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[483] The women of Great Britain and Ireland possess every franchise
+except that for members of Parliament. Local suffrage is restricted to
+spinsters and widows, but the important vote for Parish and District
+Councils, created by the Local Government Act of 1894, is possessed by
+married women "provided husband and wife shall not both be qualified
+in respect to the same piece of property." It may be stated in general
+terms that all electors must be rate-payers, although there are some
+exceptions applying to a small percentage of persons. [Eds.
+
+[484] These were classified in groups: (1) The general list (2) Wives
+of clergymen and church dignitaries. This list was headed by Mrs.
+Benson and Mrs. Thomson, the wives of the Archbishops of Canterbury
+and York. (3) Officials, including ladies who are Poor Law Guardians
+and members of School Boards. (4) Education, including the names of
+such leaders in the movement for the higher education of women as Mrs.
+Wm. Grey, Miss Emily Davies, Mrs. Henry Sidgwick--the Mistress of
+Girton, the Principal of Newnham College, upwards of sixty university
+lecturers and teachers and head mistresses of High Schools, upwards of
+eighty university graduates and certificated students, and there were
+omitted for want of space the names of over 200 other women engaged in
+the teaching profession. (5) Registered medical practitioners, headed
+by Mrs. Garrett Anderson, M. D.; Miss Elizabeth Blackwell, M. D., and
+Mrs. Scharlieb, M. D., together with a number of ladies engaged in the
+department of nursing. (6) Social and philanthropic workers. (7)
+Literature, including Miss Anna Swanwick, Mrs. Anne Thackeray Ritchie,
+Miss S. D. Collet, Miss Olive Schreiner, Mrs. Emily Crawford, Miss
+Amelia B. Edwards. (7) Art and music. (8) Landowners, women engaged in
+business and working women, the latter class represented by the
+secretaries of nine women trades' societies, and over 180 individual
+signatures of women artisans.
+
+[485] The text of the Bill was as follows:
+
+(1) This Act may be cited as the Parliamentary Franchise (Extension to
+Women) Act, 1897.
+
+(2) On and after the passing of this Act every woman who is the
+inhabitant occupier, as owner or tenant, of any dwelling-house,
+tenement or building within the borough or county where such
+occupation exists, shall be entitled to be registered as a voter in
+the list of voters for such borough or county in which she is so
+qualified as aforesaid, and, when registered, to vote for a member or
+members to serve in Parliament.
+
+Provided always that such woman is not subject to any legal incapacity
+which would disqualify a male voter.
+
+[486] The first petition for woman suffrage presented to Parliament,
+in 1867, was signed by only 1,499 women. The petition of 1873 was
+signed by 11,000 women. The petition presented to the members of the
+last Parliament was signed by 257,796 women. [Eds.
+
+[487] No reference has been made in the above table to the various
+Factory Acts which impose restrictions on women's labour--these belong
+to a different department--but whether their interference with the
+labor of women be for good or for evil, that interference is an
+additional argument for allowing them a voice in the election of
+representatives.
+
+[488] In 1877 New Zealand granted School Suffrage to women, and in
+1886 Municipal Suffrage.
+
+[489] In 1880 South Australia granted Municipal Suffrage to women.
+
+[490] In 1871 West Australia granted Municipal Suffrage to women.
+
+[491] In 1867 New South Wales granted Municipal Suffrage to women.
+
+[492] In 1869 Victoria granted Municipal Suffrage to women.
+
+[493] The first number of _The Australian Woman's Sphere_ was
+published in Melbourne, September 1, 1900. It is edited by Miss Vida
+Goldstein and appears monthly.
+
+[494] In 1886 Queensland granted Municipal Suffrage to Women.
+
+[495] Tasmania granted Municipal Suffrage to women in 1884.
+
+[496] This portion of the report is condensed by the editors of the
+History from a chapter written by Mrs. Henrietta Muir Edwards for "The
+Women of Canada, Their Life and Work," a handbook prepared by the
+National Council of Women, at the request of the Canadian Government,
+for the Paris Exposition of 1900.
+
+[497] In the city of Vancouver any single woman, widow or spinster,
+may vote for municipal officers, and all women possessing the other
+necessary qualifications of male voters may vote for all municipal
+officers and upon all municipal questions. Married women may vote in
+the election of School Trustees. It has recently been decided that a
+man possessing no property of his own, and not being a householder in
+his own right, may be allowed to vote in municipal matters if his wife
+be a property owner or a householder. [Eds.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXIV.
+
+WOMAN SUFFRAGE IN OTHER COUNTRIES.
+
+
+In most of the countries of the world women possess some form of
+suffrage, but for many reasons it is almost impossible to define
+exactly in what it consists. Like suffrage for men it is largely based
+on property, and in most cases can be used only through a proxy.
+Generally the woman loses the franchise by marriage and the husband
+may vote by right of the wife's property. In Belgium, Luxemburg, Italy
+and Roumania the husband votes at local elections by right of the
+taxes paid by the wife, and in case of a widow this right belongs to
+the eldest son, grandson or great grandson, or if there is none, then
+to the son-in-law. The Italian electoral law of 1870 gave a widow the
+right to vote by proxy in Parliamentary elections. All the Italian
+universities are open to women.
+
+The constitution of Germany says "every German" above twenty-five
+years of age shall have the Parliamentary Franchise, but no woman ever
+has been permitted to vote under it. There are, besides, twenty-five
+constitutions for the different States which form the Empire. By the
+wording of some of them, women landed proprietors undoubtedly are
+entitled to take part in elections. The Prussian code declares that
+the rights of the two sexes are equal, if no special laws fix an
+exception, and it gives the Parliamentary Franchise to _every one_ who
+possesses the county or burgess suffrage. The by-laws which prescribe
+the qualifications for the latter in some instances exclude women and
+in others declare that women land holders may act as electors, but
+only "through a proctor" (proxy). Teachers undoubtedly, as State
+officials, are entitled to take part in local government. Some of the
+provinces allow women taxpayers to vote by proxy in the rural
+districts. Neither the Government nor public sentiment, however, looks
+with favor upon women electors. It is only in recent years that a few
+of the most advanced have begun to agitate the question in this
+country, which holds a most conservative attitude towards women. They
+have recently been admitted to a few of the universities.
+
+In most of the Prussian towns the property qualifications of the wife
+are accounted to the husband in order that he may take part in
+municipal elections. In Saxony women proprietors of landed estates,
+whether married or single, are entitled to a municipal vote but this
+can be exercised only by proxy, and for this purpose one of their male
+relatives must be invested with their property. In Saxony, Baden,
+Wurtemburg, Hesse, the Thuringian States and perhaps a few more, women
+are permitted to attend public political meetings and be members of
+political societies, but in all other German States they are excluded
+from both. They are thus prohibited from forming organizations to
+secure the franchise. In Westphalia since 1856, and Schleswig-Holstein
+since 1867, all qualified women have some form of suffrage by male
+proxy.
+
+In the Austro-Hungarian Empire, since 1862, women with property have a
+proxy vote in municipal and provincial elections and for members of
+the Lower House of the Parliament, but there are many restrictions to
+this law. In Bohemia, since 1873, women who are large landed
+proprietors have a proxy vote for members of the Imperial Parliament
+and the local Diet.
+
+In Russia among the peasant class the representative of the household
+votes. The wife, if owner of the necessary amount of property, may
+select her husband as proxy, but he may also delegate his vote to the
+wife, and it is a common thing to see her take his place at elections
+and at village and country meetings of all kinds. In the cities and
+territorial assemblies, women, married or unmarried, possessing
+sufficient property, may vote by male proxy for members of the
+municipal and county assemblies. Property-owning women of the nobility
+may vote by proxy in the assemblies of the nobility. Part of the
+universities are open to them. There are 650 women physicians in
+Russia.
+
+So far as can be learned women are not eligible to office in the
+above-mentioned countries with a very few exceptions.
+
+In Finland, since 1865, widows and spinsters may vote at rural
+elections; since 1873 those who are rate-payers may vote at municipal
+elections. Since 1889 women are eligible as Guardians of the Poor. In
+1900 they were made eligible to all municipal offices. An influential
+Finnish Woman's Association with twenty branches is agitating for
+suffrage on the same terms as men.
+
+In Holland there is no form of woman suffrage and the constitution of
+1887 expressly prohibits it.
+
+Women in Denmark have no franchise, but Premier Duentzer has announced
+that the first reform movement of the new Cabinet (1901) will be the
+extension of Municipal Suffrage to women.
+
+In 1893, through the efforts of the Socialists, universal suffrage was
+granted to men in Belgium. While this gives to every man a vote, it
+permits to the married man, if he pays a small tax, two votes as the
+head of a family; if he pays tax on what would be about $2,000, or has
+a university degree, he is allowed three votes. The vast majority of
+those owning property or possessing university degrees belong to the
+established (Catholic) Church, and the Socialists soon found
+themselves out-voted by a minority. They then instituted a new
+movement demanding "one man, one vote," and the Government, which is
+Catholic, said: "If you compel this we will enfranchise women,"
+believing that this would strengthen its power. At this writing the
+contest is going on and becoming more violent.
+
+Switzerland, whose pride is its absolutely republican form of
+government, allows no woman a vote on any question or for the election
+of any officer. They are admitted to the universities.
+
+In France, in 1898, unmarried women engaged in commerce (including
+market women, etc.) were given a vote for Judges of the Tribunals of
+Commerce. A Woman Suffrage Society has just been formed in Paris which
+is attracting considerable attention. Women are admitted to the
+highest institutions of learning.
+
+The laws in all the countries thus far mentioned are most unjust to
+women and especially to wives.
+
+Women in Sweden have voted in church matters since 1736. It was
+provided in 1862 that women who are rate-payers may vote directly or
+by proxy, as they choose, for all officers except for members of the
+Parliament. Indirectly they have a voice in the election of the First
+Chamber or House of Lords, as they vote for the County Council which
+elects this body. They have School and Municipal Suffrage and that for
+Provincial representatives. The laws are very liberal to women. All
+of the educational institutions, the professions, occupations and many
+of the offices are open to them. They are members of the Boards of
+Education, Municipal Relief Committees and Parochial Boards. About six
+hundred have received university degrees.
+
+In Norway, since 1889, in towns women with children may vote for
+school inspectors and be eligible to the school boards. In rural
+communes they are eligible as inspectors, and women who pay a school
+tax may vote on all school questions and officers, while those who pay
+no tax but have children may vote on all questions not involving
+expenditures. In 1884 a Woman Suffrage Association was formed under
+the leadership of Miss Gina Krog for the purpose of securing the
+Municipal Franchise. In 1890 a bill for this purpose received 44 out
+of 114 votes in the Parliament. It was then made an issue by the
+Liberal party. In 1895 a vote on Local Option was granted to women. In
+1898 the Radical party secured universal suffrage for men without
+property restrictions. They then came to the assistance of women and
+were joined by a large number of Conservatives. In 1901 Municipal
+Suffrage was granted to all women who pay taxes on an income of 300
+crowns ($71) in country districts and 400 in cities. If husband and
+wife together pay taxes on this amount both may vote. About 200,000
+women thus became electors. Women are found in many offices, in most
+occupations and professions, and are admitted to all educational
+institutions.
+
+Iceland, since 1882, grants Municipal Suffrage to tax-paying widows
+and spinsters; since 1886 all women have had a parish suffrage, which
+enables them to vote in the selection of the clergy, who have a
+prominent part in public affairs.
+
+At the Cape of Good Hope women have a limited vote. In the tiny Island
+of Pitcairn, in the Southern Pacific, they have the same suffrage as
+men. This is doubtless true of many isolated localities whose records
+are little known. Among primitive peoples the government is generally
+in the hands of the most competent without regard to sex, and some of
+these are still under the reign of the Matriarchate, or the rule of
+mothers, to whom belong the property and the children. The early
+Spanish inhabitants of the North American continent placed much
+authority in the hands of women, and the same is true of the Indian
+tribes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXXV.
+
+NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS OF WOMEN.
+
+
+The most conspicuous and significant movement which challenges
+attention at the beginning of the new century is that toward
+organization, and the three great combinations which stand out most
+prominently in interest and importance are the organization of
+capital, the organization of labor and the organization of women. We
+scarcely can go back so far in history as not to find men banded
+together to protect their mutual interests, but associations of women
+are of very modern date. The oldest on record was formed in
+Philadelphia, in the closing days of the eighteenth century--Female
+Society for the Relief and Employment of the Poor--which in 1798
+established a house of industry in Arch St., known as the Home for
+Spinners. The society is still in active existence and gives
+employment to a large number of women. Church Missionary Societies of
+Women had their origin early in the century, but as mere annexes to
+those officered and managed by men. The first association to approach
+national prominence was the Female Anti-Slavery Society, founded in
+Boston in 1833, which almost cost the reputation of every one who
+joined it, so strong was the prejudice against any public action on
+the part of women. The American Female Guardian Society and Home for
+the Friendless was established in New York in 1834, and still exists,
+having cared for 50,000 children. Later in this decade Female Bible
+Societies came into being to supply Bibles to penal and charitable
+institutions and to put them in various public places.
+
+[Illustration: MRS. IDA HUSTED HARPER.
+
+Author of Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, and Joint Editor with her
+of The History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. IV.]
+
+From 1840 to 1850 the old Washingtonian Societies, composed entirely
+of men, were gradually replaced by the Sons of Temperance, and as they
+also were decidedly averse to receiving women into their organization,
+and as the latter were deeply interested in the subject, a few of them
+timidly formed the Daughters of Temperance, in the face of extreme
+opposition on the part of both sexes. In the decade following
+commenced the agitation of the question of Woman Suffrage, and soon
+conventions in its interest began to be of frequent occurrence, to the
+joy of the newspapers, most of which treated them with ridicule and
+denunciation.
+
+The decade ushered in by 1860 brought the long Civil War, during
+which, in the Sanitary Commission, the Woman's Loyal League, the
+Freedmen's Bureau and other associations, women displayed an
+unsuspected power of organization, and at its close their status in
+many ways was completely changed and greatly advanced.
+
+In 1868 the country was electrified by the advent of Sorosis in New
+York City and the New England Woman's Club in Boston. These were the
+first societies formed by women purely for their own recreation and
+improvement--all others had been for the purpose of reforming the weak
+and sinful or assisting the needy and unfortunate--and they met with a
+storm of derision and protest from all parts of the country, which
+their founders courageously ignored. The last quarter of a century has
+witnessed so many organizations of women that it would be practically
+impossible to record even their names. Every village which is big
+enough for a church contains also a woman's club, and they exist in
+many country neighborhoods. In the larger cities single societies have
+from 500 to 1,000 members, and in a number handsome club houses have
+been built and furnished, some of them costing from $50,000 to
+$80,000.
+
+From 1850 the annual conventions in the interest of Woman's Rights
+were called under the auspices of a Central Committee, but in 1869 the
+National and American Woman Suffrage Associations were formed. Five
+years later the Woman's Christian Temperance Union sprang into
+existence. There are now more than one hundred associations of women
+in the United States which are national in their form and aims, and a
+number have become international through their alliance with those of
+other countries. In 1888, in Washington City, the National Council of
+Women, a heroic undertaking, was founded to gather these vast and
+diverse organizations into one great body. By 1900 sixteen had become
+thus affiliated, representing a membership of about 1,125,000 women.
+
+An International Council also was organized in 1888 to be composed of
+similar National Councils in various countries and to meet in a
+Congress every five years. At the close of the century fourteen
+National Councils had affiliated with the International, representing
+a membership of 6,000,000. This is not only immeasurably larger than
+any other association of women but is exceeded in size by very few
+organizations of men, and its two great Congresses--during the
+Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893, and at London in 1899--were
+occasions of world-wide interest and value.
+
+Each of the more than one hundred national associations of women in
+the United States holds its annual, biennial or triennial convention
+in some one of the large cities, which is attended by delegates from
+all parts of the country. The sessions are presided over by a woman,
+discussions are carried on with due attention to parliamentary usage,
+a large amount of business is transacted with system and accuracy, and
+in every respect these meetings compare favorably with those conducted
+by men after centuries of experience. They are treated with the
+greatest respect by the newspapers which vie with each other in
+publishing pictures of the delegates, their addresses and extended and
+complimentary reports of the proceedings. The character of these
+national organizations, the scope of their objects and the extent of
+their achievements can in no way be so strikingly illustrated as by
+giving a list of the most important.[498]
+
+THE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN was organized March 31, 1888, in
+Washington, D. C., "to unite the women of all the countries in the
+world for the promotion of co-operative internationalism through the
+abatement of that prejudice which springs from ignorance and which
+can be corrected only by that knowledge which results from personal
+acquaintance.
+
+"In the first place its influence has united different organizations
+of the same country hitherto indifferent or inimical to each other;
+and in the second it has commenced the work of uniting the women of
+different nations and abating race prejudice. It has promoted the
+movement of peace and arbitration, and through its international
+committees it is forming a central bureau of information in regard to
+women's contribution to the work of the world."
+
+It is composed at present of fourteen National Councils of as many
+different countries representing an individual membership of about
+6,000,000 women. Its president is Mrs. May Wright Sewall, who was one
+of its founders.
+
+
+THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN was organized in Washington, D. C.,
+March 31, 1888. Its constitution is introduced by the following
+preamble:
+
+"We, women of the United States, sincerely believing that the best
+good of our homes and nation will be advanced by our own greater unity
+of thought, sympathy and purpose, and that an organized movement of
+women will best conserve the highest good of the family and the State,
+do hereby band ourselves together in a confederation of workers
+committed to the overthrow of all forms of ignorance and injustice,
+and to the application of the Golden Rule to society, custom and law.
+This Council is organized in the interest of no one propaganda, and
+has no power over its auxiliaries beyond that of suggestion and
+sympathy; therefore, no society voting to become auxiliary shall
+thereby render itself liable to be interfered with in respect to its
+complete organic unity, independence or methods of work, or be
+committed to any principle or method of any other society or to any
+utterance or act of the Council itself, beyond compliance with the
+terms of this constitution."
+
+The scope of the Council's work is indicated by the heads of its
+departments: Home Life, Educational Interests, Church and Missionary
+Work, Temperance, Art, Moral Reform, Political Conditions,
+Philanthropy, Social Economics, Foreign Relations, Press,
+Organization; and by its standing committees: Citizenship, Domestic
+Science, Equal Pay for Equal Work, Dress Reform, Social Purity,
+Domestic Relations under the Law, Press, Care of Dependent and
+Delinquent Children, Peace and Universal Arbitration.
+
+Each of these departments and committees works along its special lines
+and at the annual executive meetings and the triennial Councils the
+reports of their work are discussed, their recommendations considered
+and every possible assistance rendered. The general public is invited
+to the evening sessions and valuable addresses are made by specialists
+on the above and other important subjects.
+
+The Council is composed of sixteen national organizations, one State
+Council, six local councils--representing a membership of about
+1,125,000 women.
+
+
+THE NATIONAL WOMAN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION was organized in
+Cleveland, Ohio, Nov. 18-20, 1874, to carry the precepts of the
+following pledge into the practice of everyday life: "I hereby
+solemnly promise, God helping me, to abstain from all distilled,
+fermented and malt liquors, including wine, beer and cider, and to
+employ all proper means to discourage the use of and traffic in the
+same."
+
+Its object was further stated as follows: "To confirm and enforce the
+rationale of this pledge, we declare our purpose to educate the young;
+to form a better public sentiment; to reform, so far as possible, by
+religious, ethical and scientific means, the drinking classes; to seek
+the transforming power of divine grace for ourselves and all for whom
+we work, that they and we may wilfully transcend no law of pure and
+wholesome living; and finally we pledge ourselves to labor and to pray
+that all these principles, founded upon the Gospel of Christ, may be
+worked out into the Customs of Society and the Laws of the Land."
+
+The W. C. T. U. is held to be the most perfectly organized body of
+women in existence. It originated the idea of Scientific Temperance
+Instruction in the public schools and has secured mandatory laws in
+every State and a federal law governing the District of Columbia, the
+Territories and all Indian and military schools supported by the
+Government; 16,000,000 children in the public schools receive
+instruction under these laws as to the nature and effect of alcohol
+and other narcotics on the human system. Through its efforts the
+quarterly temperance lesson was included in the International Sunday
+School Lesson Series in 1884, and a World's Universal Temperance
+Sunday was secured; 250,000 children are taught scientific reasons for
+temperance in the Loyal Temperance Legions, and all these children are
+pledged to total abstinence and trained as temperance workers. W. C.
+T. U. Schools of Methods are held in all Chautauqua gatherings.
+
+This organization has largely influenced the change in public
+sentiment in regard to social drinking, equal suffrage, equal purity
+for both sexes, equal remuneration for work equally well done, equal
+educational, professional and industrial opportunities for women. It
+has been a chief factor in State campaigns for statutory prohibition,
+constitutional amendment, reform laws in general and those for the
+protection of women and children in particular, and in securing
+anti-gambling and anti-cigarette laws. It has been instrumental in
+raising the "age of protection" for girls in many States and in
+obtaining curfew laws in 400 towns and cities. It aided in securing
+the Anti-Canteen Amendment to the Army Bill (1900) which prohibits the
+sale of intoxicating liquors at all army posts. It helped to
+inaugurate police matrons who are now required in nearly all the large
+cities of the United States. It organized Mothers' Meetings in
+thirty-seven States before any other society took up the work.
+Illinois alone has held 2,000 Mothers' Meetings in a single year.
+
+It keeps a superintendent of legislation in Washington during the
+entire session of Congress to look after reform bills. It aided in
+preventing the repeal of the prohibitory law in Indian Territory, the
+resubmission of the prohibitory constitution of Maine, and in
+preserving the prohibitory law of Vermont. It has secured 20,000,000
+signatures and attestations, including 7,000,000 on the Polyglot
+Petition to the governments of the world. Thousands of girls have been
+rescued from lives of shame and tens of thousands of men have signed
+the total abstinence pledge and been redeemed from inebriety through
+its efforts.
+
+The association protests against the legalizing of all crimes,
+especially those of prostitution and liquor selling. It protests
+against the sale of liquor in Soldiers' Homes, where now an aggregate
+of $253,027 is spent annually for intoxicating liquors, and only about
+one-fifth of the soldiers' pension money is sent home to their
+families. It protests against the United States Government receiving a
+revenue for liquors sold within prohibitory territory, either local or
+State, and against all complicity of the Federal Government with the
+liquor traffic. It protests against lynching and lends its aid in
+favor of the enforcement of law. It works for the highest well-being
+of our soldiers and sailors and especially for suitable temperance
+canteens and a generous mess. It works for the protection of the home,
+especially against its chief enemy, the liquor traffic, and for the
+redemption of our Government from this curse, by the prohibition of
+the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors for beverage
+purposes.
+
+The organizing of this great society in the various States and
+Territories, and the systematizing of the work under forty different
+departments, is due to the efforts of Miss Frances E. Willard more
+than to any other one person, and its success is indebted largely to
+her ability and personal popularity. As its president until her death
+in 1898, she not only perfected the organization in this country, but
+originated the idea of the Polyglot Petition and of the World's W. C.
+T. U., which was organized under the auspices of that of the United
+States. It now includes fifty-eight different countries and has
+500,000 members.
+
+The official organ, _The Union Signal_, a weekly of sixteen pages, is
+issued by the Woman's Temperance Publishing Association of Chicago,
+which publishes also _The Young Crusader_ and many books and leaflets.
+The National W. C. T. U. gives away 5,000,000 pages of literature per
+year, exclusive of that circulated by the States and different
+departments. It has received and expended since its organization in
+round numbers $400,000. This does not include the large expenditures
+of the various State and local unions.
+
+Every State and Territory in the United States, including Alaska and
+Hawaii, has a W. C. T. U., and one is beginning in the Philippines.
+These are auxiliary to the National. It is organized locally in over
+10,000 cities and towns. The Young Woman's Christian Temperance Union
+is called a branch, also the Loyal Temperance Legions among children.
+There are thirty-eight other departments, and it is usual to include
+the two branches and speak of forty departments. The membership paying
+dues is 300,000. There was a gain of 15,000 members this year above
+all losses.
+
+The Frances E. Willard National Temperance Hospital and Training
+School for Nurses, in Chicago, is owned and controlled by an
+incorporated board of thirty trustees. Its basic principle is the cure
+of disease without the use of alcohol as an active medicinal agent.
+Eminent physicians are on the staff and every effort is made to have
+it rank with the very best of hospitals.
+
+At the national convention in Washington, D. C., in 1900, fifty States
+and Territories were represented by 509 delegates. Mrs. Lillian M. N.
+Stevens succeeded Miss Willard as president.
+
+
+THE AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS SOCIETY was organized March 1, 1882,
+with headquarters at Washington, D. C. Its object is the relief of
+suffering by war, pestilence, famine, flood, fires, and other
+calamities of sufficient magnitude to be deemed national in extent. It
+is governed by the provisions of the International Convention of Aug.
+22, 1864, at Geneva, Switzerland.
+
+Up to the present time relief has been given on fields as follows:
+Michigan forest fires, 1881, material and money, $80,000; Mississippi
+floods, 1882, money and seeds, $8,000; Mississippi floods, 1883,
+material and seeds, $18,500; Mississippi cyclone, 1883, money, $1,000;
+Balkan war, 1883, money, $500; Ohio and Mississippi river floods,
+1884, food, clothing, tools, housefurnishings and feed for stock,
+$175,000; Texas famine, 1885, appropriations and contributions,
+$120,000; Charleston, S. C., earthquake, 1886, money, $500; Mt.
+Vernon, Ill., cyclone, 1888, money and supplies, $85,000; Florida
+yellow fever epidemic, 1888, physicians and nurses, $15,000;
+Johnstown, Pa., flood disaster, 1889, money and all kinds of building
+material, furniture, etc., $250,000; Russian famine, 1891-2, food,
+$125,000; Pomeroy, Ia., cyclone, 1893, money and nurses, $2,700; South
+Carolina Islands hurricane and tidal wave disaster, money and all
+kinds of supplies, material, tools, seeds, lumber, $65,000;
+reconcentrado relief in Cuba, 1898-9, $500,000; American-Spanish War,
+1898-9, $450,000; Galveston flood and hurricane, 1900, $120,000;
+total, $2,016,200.
+
+Miss Clara Barton was its principal founder and has been its president
+continuously.
+
+
+THE ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGIATE ALUMNAE was organized January 14, 1882;
+incorporated by special act of the Massachusetts Legislature, April
+20, 1899, to unite the alumnae of different institutions for practical
+educational work.
+
+From 1890 to 1901 the association gave fourteen $500 European
+fellowships (sharing two others) and ten $300 American fellowships.
+Among those holding the fellowships was the first woman admitted to
+the laboratory of the United States Fish Commission, the first woman
+to receive the Ph. D. degree from Yale, the first woman admitted to
+Goettingen University, the first woman permitted to work in the
+biological laboratory at Strasburg University, the first American
+woman to receive the degree of Ph. D. from any German university, and
+the first American woman to receive a Ph. D. from Goettingen and
+Heidelberg Universities.
+
+The character of the work accomplished by those holding fellowships
+made it possible for the association to establish, three years ago, a
+Council to Accredit Women for Advanced Work in Foreign Universities.
+Any woman applicant, college graduate or otherwise, found qualified in
+work, character and serious purpose, receives a certificate properly
+signed and attested which will secure for her, if possible to any
+woman, the courtesy and privileges desired at a foreign university.
+
+The organization contributes to the support of the Association for
+Maintaining the American Woman's Table at the Zoological Station at
+Naples and to that for Promoting Scientific Research by Women. The
+latter pays $500 annually for the support of the Woman's Table, and to
+promote research has just offered a prize of $1,000, which offer, it
+is expected, will be renewed biennially.
+
+The A. C. A. Committee on Corporate Membership maintains a high
+standard of colleges whose graduates are admitted to this
+organization, which has done much in a quiet way to raise the
+standards of department work, equipment and endowment of American
+colleges admitting women.
+
+For the past three years the association has published a magazine
+containing the addresses and reports given at its annual meetings.
+Among its other publications are statistics relative to the Health of
+College Women (1885); a Bibliography of the Higher Education of Women
+(1897); a full descriptive list of the fellowships for graduate study
+open to women in this country, together with a list of the
+undergraduate scholarships offered to women in the nineteen colleges
+belonging to the A. C. A. (1899). It will soon issue studies of the
+growth and development of colleges, a supplement to the Bibliography
+of the Higher Education of Women, a study of the child from the point
+of view of parents and teachers, and a comprehensive statistical
+investigation into the health, occupations and marriage-rate of
+college and non-college women.
+
+The work of the national association is carried on largely by standing
+committees which are under the leadership of the women most notable in
+education--college presidents, deans and professors. Meanwhile, the
+president, six vice-presidents and presidents of the various branches,
+acting through a salaried secretary-treasurer, give coherency and
+support to the development of its various objects. In addition, each
+branch has committees which deal with local issues, such as public
+school work of all kinds, home economics, development of children,
+civil service reform, college settlements, etc. The investigation of
+the sanitary conditions of the Boston public schools, 1895-1896,
+started the wave of schoolhouse cleaning which has swept across the
+country and which has not stopped at schoolhouses but has included
+school boards and systems of school administration. The Chicago branch
+has just issued a summary of laws relating to compulsory education and
+child-labor in the United States, which shows the inadequacy of the
+first (except in three States) and the lack of correlation between the
+two which makes for lawlessness and crime. It is hoped that this
+summary will serve as a basis for agitation which shall not cease
+until compulsory education becomes a fact and not a theory.
+
+The association has twenty-five branches and 3,000 members.
+
+
+THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF WOMEN was organized in New York
+in October, 1873, at the very beginning of the club movement, to
+interest the women of the country in matters of high thought and in
+all undertakings found to be useful to society, and to promote their
+efficiency in these through sympathetic acquaintance and co-operation.
+It had a number of distinguished presidents and held congresses in
+many States, which almost invariably led to the formation of local
+clubs for study and mutual improvement, as well as to good works in
+other lines. Among the cities in which a congress was held were New
+York, Syracuse, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Des Moines,
+Denver, Madison, St. Paul, Toronto, Baltimore, Memphis, Knoxville,
+Louisville, Atlanta and New Orleans. Many distinguished women were
+included in its membership and it had a strong influence in rendering
+possible the extensive formation of the women's clubs which are now so
+important a feature in American society. Its work is partly chronicled
+in two large volumes which give the papers presented and action taken
+at the meetings. The many great organizations of women in recent years
+have made further work on the part of the association unnecessary.
+
+
+THE GENERAL FEDERATION OF WOMEN'S CLUBS was organized March 20, 1890,
+to bring into communication the various women's clubs in order that
+they may compare methods and become mutually helpful. The work is
+accomplished through three committees--Art, Education and Industries.
+Those on Art have used their influence toward its study and its
+application to the home, and also for the quickening of enthusiasm in
+horticulture and gardening, from which has developed the beautifying
+of public squares and school yards. In Education some of the most
+important results are the establishment of hundreds of traveling
+libraries, assistance in organizing and fostering kindergartens,
+encouragement of manual training in the public schools, and the
+formation of Mothers' Clubs for the study of child culture. The
+federation has worked with other organizations for the appointment of
+women on school boards and legislation for broader educational
+advantages for women. In fact, its work has ranged from kindergarten
+to university.
+
+The Industrial Committee studies conditions surrounding wage-earning
+women and children and encourages co-operation between the woman of
+leisure and the one who is self-supporting, and the organization of
+laboring women in unions and clubs. One principal object is to
+eliminate the child from the factory and then to educate it. The Civic
+work has ranged from Health Protective Associations in cities to
+Village Improvement Societies.
+
+There are thirty-six State Federations, eleven foreign clubs and
+nearly 700 individual clubs belonging to the federation, representing
+over 200,000 members (1900).
+
+
+THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COLORED WOMEN was organized July, 1896, to
+arouse all women, especially colored women, to a sense of their
+responsibility, both in molding the life of the home and in shaping
+the principles of the nation; to secure the co-operation of all women
+in whatever is undertaken in the interest of justice, purity and
+liberty; to inspire in all women, but especially in colored women, a
+desire to be useful in whatever field of labor they can work to the
+best advantage.
+
+Kindergartens and day nurseries for the infants of working women have
+been established; mothers' meetings have been generally held and
+sewing classes formed; a sanitarium with a training school for nurses
+has been founded in New Orleans; ground purchased on which an Old
+Folks' Home is to be built in Memphis, and charity dispensed in
+various ways. Women on plantations in the "black belt" of Alabama have
+been taught how to make their huts decent and habitable with the small
+means at their command, and how to care for themselves and their
+families in accordance with the rules of health. Schools of Domestic
+Science are conducted, and a large branch is that of Business Women's
+Clubs. The Convict Lease System, "Jim Crow" Car Laws, Lynching and
+other barbarities are thoroughly discussed, in the hope that some
+remedy for these evils may be discovered. Statistics concerning the
+progress and achievements of colored people are being gathered.
+Musical clubs are formed to develop this inherent gift. An organ is
+published called _Notes_, edited by Mrs. Booker T. Washington and an
+assistant in each State.
+
+The association has 125 branches in twenty-six States and over 8,000
+members.
+
+
+THE NATIONAL CONGRESS OF MOTHERS held its first public convention at
+Washington in February, 1897, and permanent organization was effected
+there in 1898. Its objects are to raise the standards of home life; to
+give young women opportunities to learn how to care for children; to
+bring into closer relations the home and the school; to surround the
+childhood of the whole world with that wise, loving care in the
+impressionable years of life which will develop good citizens.
+
+Practical efforts have been made to accomplish all of these objects.
+Mothers have used their influence in behalf of free kindergartens in
+the public schools; in having school buildings properly constructed,
+lighted, heated and ventilated, and for shorter hours in school and
+less study outside. They have lent their efforts to the uplifting of
+the drama, since, rightfully used, it can be made a powerful
+educational factor, and have worked for a pure press, recognizing that
+it is the greatest material power in the world today. They have
+regarded their children first of all as future mothers and fathers,
+next as citizens, and they are demanding that public educational
+systems adopt their standards of values in the adjustment of
+curricula.
+
+They have established Mothers' Clubs in many communities, especially
+among women whose opportunities for training of any kind have been
+meager; have seen that creches and free kindergartens are provided for
+the children of the poor; that reading rooms are open for the use of
+boys and girls; have urged that women should serve upon all school
+boards and those of all prisons and reformatory institutions; have
+taken the city fathers to task wherever laws pertaining to the
+cleanliness and health of a community are not enforced; have called
+mass meetings once a month to discuss questions pertaining to the
+welfare of the child; by precept and example have set forth the
+advantages of simplicity of dress and entertainment, and have
+interested themselves in all kinds of humane work.
+
+State Congresses have been formed in nine States, exact membership not
+known. Mrs. Theodore W. Birney was the founder of the organization and
+has been its president continuously.
+
+
+THE NATIONAL WOMAN'S RELIEF SOCIETY was organized March 17, 1842, at
+Nauvoo, Ills., being almost the oldest woman's society in existence.
+It became national in 1868 and was incorporated in 1892, to assist the
+needy, and to care for the afflicted, to lift up the fallen, to
+ameliorate the condition of suffering humanity, to encourage habits of
+industry and economy; to give special attention to those who have not
+had proper training for life, to sacredly care for the dying and the
+dead, to minister to the lonely, however lowly, in the spirit of grace
+and heavenly charity.
+
+It has been a veritable school of instruction to thousands of women,
+and its organization is so perfect that it is comparatively easy to
+carry out any plan of work formed by the General Board. Donations are
+almost entirely by the members themselves, and they have working
+meetings, bazars and fairs occasionally to raise means for the needful
+purposes. Many of the branches have built houses for meetings and some
+also own houses for their poor instead of paying rent. Industries have
+been carried on to supply work to such as were able to do something
+for their own support. Of these the most notable is the silk industry
+in Utah. Over 100,000 bushels of wheat have been stored in granaries
+against a day of famine or scarcity. Hundreds of nurses and many
+midwives have been trained under the fostering care of the society. At
+present money is being raised by donation to erect a commodious
+building in Salt Lake City opposite the Temple, suitable for
+headquarters.
+
+The society has 659 branches and 30,000 members in this and other
+countries and upon the islands of the sea. Mrs. Eliza R. Snow and Mrs.
+Zina D. H. Young have been the only two presidents.
+
+
+THE INTERNATIONAL SUNSHINE SOCIETY had its origin in the early
+nineties in a department edited by Mrs. Cynthia Westover Alden in the
+New York _Recorder_, which she afterwards carried into the _Tribune_.
+It was first called the Shut-In Society, but the present name was
+adopted in 1896 and it was incorporated in 1900.
+
+Its object is to incite its members to the performance of helpful
+deeds, and to thus bring happiness into the greatest possible number
+of hearts and homes. The membership fee consists of some act or
+suggestion that will carry sunshine where it is needed. This may be
+the exchange of books, pictures, etc., loaning or giving useful
+articles, suggesting ideas for work that can be done by a "shut-in"
+and sending the materials for it, making holiday suggestions and a
+general exchange of helpful ideas.
+
+There are many Sunshine libraries, some of them traveling, all over
+the United States and Canada. In Memphis there is a Sunshine Home for
+Aged Men, a Newsboys' Club House and a Lunch Room for Working Girls.
+Several branches have Sunshine wards in hospitals. The leading women's
+clubs have Sunshine Committees, and hundreds of churches have them in
+their King's Daughters' and Christian Endeavor Societies. Among the
+thousands of articles which have been placed where they will do the
+most good are pianos, sewing machines, invalid chairs, baby carriages,
+furniture and clothing of every description.
+
+There are more than 100,000 members and over 2,000 well-organized
+branches. The society is officered and managed by women and they
+compose the immense majority of the members. Mrs. Alden has been the
+president continuously.
+
+
+THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN was organized in Chicago in 1893,
+as a result of the Congress of Jewish Women, which was a branch of the
+Parliament of Religions held during the Columbian Exposition. Its
+objects are to bring about closer relations among Jewish women and a
+means of prosecuting work of common interest; to further united
+efforts in behalf of Judaism through a better knowledge of the Bible,
+Jewish literature and conditions. It has given much attention to
+social reform through preventive philanthropy and it affiliates with
+many organizations of women interested in the public welfare. The
+Council conducts manual training and industrial schools, sewing and
+household schools, kitchen gardens, kindergartens, mothers' clubs,
+boys' clubs, circulating libraries, reading rooms, free baths,
+employment bureaus, milk and ice depots for the poor, crippled
+children's classes and many other philanthropies.
+
+During the Spanish-American War the Council contributed about $10,000
+in money and goods, and in several cities was the first organization
+to undertake this relief work. It has sixty-three sections in various
+States and 6,000 members. Mrs. Hannah G. Solomon has been president
+continuously.
+
+
+THE WOMEN'S NATIONAL INDIAN ASSOCIATION was organized in March, 1879,
+for the civilization, education, enfranchisement and Christianization
+of the native Indians of the United States; the first society devoted
+exclusively to Indian advancement, to ask and labor for all these; to
+demand from the Government lands in severalty, citizenship, industrial
+teaching and education for the aborigines (1881), and these were
+granted in the passage of the Dawes Severalty Bill in February, 1887.
+
+Besides its important work politically, beginning a movement which has
+gained 60,000 Indian citizens, at least 25,000 of whom pay taxes and
+10,000 of whom voted at the last elections, it has opened directly or
+indirectly Christian, educational and industrial instruction at
+forty-seven stations, or in as many tribes; has builded many Indian
+homes, starting civilized industries in these and in tribes,
+furnishing agricultural implements, sewing machines, looms, stock,
+etc., from a loan fund of $12,000. It has various other departments of
+help for red men--schools, libraries, temperance teaching, etc.--and
+has expended in all these (besides sending missionary boxes of
+supplies for the aged and helpless into seventy tribes) from $15,000
+to $28,000 annually. It has now a House of Industries where women and
+girls are taught sewing, knitting, weaving, etc. Altogether forty-one
+buildings have been erected.
+
+The Association has nearly 100 branches in between thirty and forty
+States and Territories and has several thousand members. Mrs. Amelia
+Stone Quinton was general secretary from the beginning for eight
+years, and has since been president continuously.
+
+
+THE NATIONAL LEAGUE OF WOMEN WORKERS was organized April 29, 1897, in
+the interest of working women and their clubs. It is intended that the
+League shall stand as a central bureau of information, offering
+counsel and help when sought, but not placing restrictions upon any
+club. It has issued various publications, a monthly magazine, _The
+Club Worker_, a collection of songs, one of practical talks, another
+of plays and of entertainments; also a pamphlet entitled How to Start
+a Club. It has made a collection of all publications issued by the
+various auxiliary State associations and clubs, which are distributed
+free of charge to members. Between 8,000 and 9,000 publications are
+annually sold and distributed. The secretary each year visits from
+fifty to one hundred clubs to acquaint them with the work of other
+similar organizations. The League has collected data relating to the
+management of lunch clubs, vacation houses and co-operative homes for
+working women.
+
+It is made up of five associations, and includes 100 clubs in Vermont,
+Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania and
+Maryland, with a membership of over 8,000.
+
+
+THE NATIONAL CHRISTIAN LEAGUE FOR THE PROMOTION OF SOCIAL PURITY was
+organized in New York in October, 1885, and a national charter was
+obtained in 1889. Its object is to elevate opinion respecting the
+nature and claims of morality, with its equal obligation upon men and
+women, and to secure a practical recognition of its precepts on the
+part of the individual, the family and the nation; to organize the
+efforts of Christians in preventive, educational, reformatory and
+legislative effort in the interest of Social Purity. It uses every
+righteous means to free women and girls from financial dependence upon
+men, not only by seeking to raise the status of domestic service, but
+by teaching the advantages of self-support in every kind of legitimate
+business. During the past six years the League has secured employment
+directly for 3,300 applicants; it has supplied temporal and social
+benefits to thousands of distressed women; furnished more than
+5,000,000 pages of literature helpful to all the people; prevented
+and stopped immoral shows and impure exhibitions; clothed the naked,
+fed the hungry and housed the shelterless.
+
+The League has Hospital Auxiliaries, Social Culture Clubs, Industrial
+Homes with training for Italians and other foreigners; members in
+nearly every State and Territory--in Europe, China, Japan, India and
+South America. It was founded by Mrs. Elizabeth B. Grannis, who has
+been its president continuously.
+
+
+THE YOUNG LADIES' NATIONAL MUTUAL IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION was
+organized at Salt Lake City in June, 1869. Associations were formed in
+different States, and these were gradually grouped into "stake" or
+county societies, each one presided over by a president and her board
+of workers. On June 19, 1880, an organization of these "stakes" was
+effected and a general president elected. The object is mutual
+improvement for all, in spiritual, mental and physical conditions.
+
+It is an educational association and has bettered the condition of
+thousands of girls, leading them toward the light, cultivating
+unselfishness, a love of humanity, and a desire to help the world; it
+has given to all its members a deeper, truer, purer education than
+they could otherwise have obtained. While not strictly a beneficiary
+organization, it disburses several thousand dollars a year. It owns
+considerable property, including houses and libraries.
+
+The association has 507 branches and 22,000 members in ten States and
+Territories and a number of foreign countries. Mrs. Elmina Shepard
+Taylor has been president since 1878.
+
+
+THE NATIONAL KINDERGARTEN UNION was organized in July, 1892, to unite
+kindergarten interests; to promote the establishment of kindergartens,
+and to elevate the standard of their training and teaching. It has
+instituted more friendly relations between kindergartners, bringing
+together the conservative and radical elements upon a common platform.
+A broader conception of the principles of Froebel and their relation
+to education in general has been promoted, thus enlarging the scope of
+the kindergarten idea and widening its influence. There are at present
+seventy branches with 6,000 members.
+
+
+THE WOMAN'S PRISON ASSOCIATION AND ISAAC T. HOPPER HOME was organized
+by Mr. Hopper in 1845 in New York and incorporated in 1854. It was
+afterwards sustained for many years by his daughter, Mrs. Abby Hopper
+Gibbons. Its object is the amelioration of the condition of women
+prisoners, the improvement of prison discipline and the government of
+prisons in respect to women; also the support and encouragement of
+women convicts after their release. The association has secured in New
+York the searching of women prisoners by women; a law requiring police
+matrons; one providing a Reformatory for Women and Girls, and others
+of like import. The Home is in a large measure self-supporting. From
+this first organization a number of similar ones have been established
+and the condition of women prisoners has been much improved.
+
+
+THE NATIONAL HOUSEHOLD ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION was organized in March,
+1893, to promote a scientific knowledge of the care of children, and
+of the economic and hygienic value of food, fuel and clothing; to
+inculcate an intelligent knowledge of sanitary conditions in the home,
+and to urge the recognition of housekeeping as a business or trade
+which is worthy of highest thought and effort. This was the first
+organization to present Household Economics in a comprehensive form as
+an important and profound science. The existence of home departments
+in nearly every woman's club may be directly or indirectly traced to
+its influence. From Maine to California women have received from it
+broader and better views of home and home life. It has vice-presidents
+in twenty-nine States.
+
+
+THE NATIONAL WOMAN'S KEELEY RESCUE LEAGUE was organized Sept. 18,
+1893, to restore the victim of inebriety and drugs to health and
+happiness and to aid the unfortunate inebriate to become a
+self-supporting citizen instead of an object of charity; to visit the
+families of inebriates and by every means possible aid them to a
+higher and better life. It has brought sunshine and happiness into
+more than one thousand desolate homes, and enabled the heads of these
+homes to become self-supporting. Husbands and wives who have been
+driven asunder by the curse of drink have been re-united. Thousands of
+children who would have been thrown upon the world or into charitable
+institutions have been saved and are now cared for in well-provided
+homes. Many a family has been kept from becoming a charge upon
+charity, and the current of many a human life has been turned in
+wholesome channels.
+
+The League pays for a man's treatment at the time he enters a Keeley
+Institute, taking his note (properly secured by the indorsement of
+some friend, when possible), and requiring him to pay back in monthly
+installments or as his circumstances will permit. This creates a
+revolving fund to be used over and over again. It has its friendly
+visitors looking after the family while he is taking the treatment and
+endeavors to have employment for him upon his return. Men who have
+been sent to the work-house repeatedly have been permanently
+reclaimed. The League has eighteen branches and 650 members.
+
+
+THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF MUSICAL CLUBS was organized January, 1898,
+to bring into communication the various musical societies that they
+may compare methods of work and become mutually helpful; and to
+arrange in different sections of the country Biennial Musical
+Festivals. It works for the musical life of the nation by creating a
+musical atmosphere, studying composers and their works and bringing
+the best talent in various lines to interpret and illustrate these
+studies. Large, strong clubs have been helpful in sending their
+members to those smaller in numbers and weaker financially. Two
+Musical Festivals have been held, national in character, one in St.
+Louis in May, 1899, the other in Cleveland in May, 1901, with every
+possible artistic advantage of the highest talent.
+
+There are branches in thirty-two States and Canada; 160 clubs are
+federated with 12,000 members.
+
+
+THE NEEDLEWORK GUILD OF AMERICA was organized April, 1885, to collect
+new garments and distribute them to hospitals, homes and other
+charities, and to extend its usefulness by the organization of
+branches. It has distributed to hospitals, homes and other charities
+in the United States about 2,500,000 new garments. This includes the
+results of two or three special collections for national disasters. It
+has 308 branches in this country.
+
+
+RELIGIOUS:
+
+THE WOMAN'S FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL
+CHURCH was organized March 23, 1869. Its object is to engage and unite
+the efforts of Christian women in sending missionaries to the women in
+foreign mission fields of the church and in supporting them and the
+native Christian teachers, and all forms of work carried on by the
+society. It has collected and disbursed $5,454,700; sent to foreign
+fields 365 missionaries, and established a great educational work for
+women throughout the Orient. The first woman's college in Asia, at
+Lucknow, India, was founded by this society. It sent the first fully
+equipped medical woman to the mission fields of the East, and built
+the first hospitals for women in India, China and Korea. Nineteen
+hospitals and dispensaries are supported by the society, and 246
+missionaries in Africa, Burmah, Bulgaria, China, India, Italy, Japan,
+Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, South America and the Philippines, while
+twenty-four medical women are now in the field. There are 18,000 girls
+and women in its various schools.
+
+The society has eleven branches, covering the whole United States,
+5,410 auxiliaries, and 171,765 members. Mrs. Cyrus D. Foss is
+president.
+
+
+THE WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF THE M. E. CHURCH was organized
+July 10, 1880, to enlist and organize the efforts of Christian women
+in behalf of the needy and destitute women and children of all
+sections of the United States, without distinction of race, and to
+co-operate with the other societies and agencies of the church in
+educational and missionary work. The total receipts from July, 1880,
+to July, 1900, were $2,782,773; total value of property, $736,152.
+This property consists of twenty industrial homes and schools, six
+mission homes, two immigrant homes, three children's homes, six
+centers of city mission work, five deaconess and missionary training
+schools, twenty-eight deaconess homes, four rest homes for deaconesses
+and missionaries.
+
+The Society has eighty-nine conferences, 2,500 auxiliary societies,
+59,000 adult members and 13,500 children. The Deaconess Department was
+established in 1888. There are now (1901) 1,160 deaconesses with
+$1,600,000 invested in real estate connected with their work. Mrs.
+Clinton D. Fisk is president.
+
+
+THE WOMEN'S FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF THE METHODIST PROTESTANT
+CHURCH was organized Feb. 14, 1879, to bring the heathen to Christ. It
+has established schools, built churches and done a valuable work
+especially among girls. It has twenty branches and about 3,000
+members. Mrs. F. A. Brown of Cardington, O., is serving her
+twenty-first year as president.
+
+
+THE WOMAN'S BAPTIST FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY was organized April 3,
+1871. The leading object is the Christianization of women in foreign
+lands by furnishing support through the American Baptist Missionary
+Union to Christian women employed by said Union as missionaries,
+native teachers or Bible readers, together with the facilities needed
+for their work. Its missionaries have been sent to Burmah, Assam,
+India, China, Japan and Africa. The home constituency is found in the
+Baptist churches of the New England and Middle Atlantic States.
+
+The total number of American missionaries supported for a longer or
+shorter time is 142. Of these seventy-eight are now connected with the
+society, 112 native Bible women employed as visitors in homes, and 367
+boarding and day schools with more than 14,000 pupils are maintained.
+Many women who have been taught in these schools are exerting a strong
+influence as Christian wives, mothers and teachers. The medical
+missionaries have cared for souls and bodies alike. One of these
+doctors reports 17,000 treatments at her dispensary during the last
+year. Large sums of money have also been expended for mission work of
+various kinds under the care of the wives of missionaries. The total
+amount raised and expended in thirty years is over $2,000,000.
+
+There are numerous auxiliary circles, including about 34,000 women,
+besides 10,000 younger women organized in guilds.
+
+
+THE WOMAN'S BAPTIST FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY of the West was
+organized May 9, 1871, for the elevation and Christianization of the
+women of foreign lands by furnishing support to Christian women
+employed as missionaries, to native teachers and to Bible women,
+together with the facilities needed for their work. It supports 177
+schools, 5,337 pupils, 159 teachers and 94 Bible women. In the medical
+department it has two hospitals, two dispensaries, twenty medical
+students and three helpers; 597 patients were treated in the hospitals
+during the past year and 6,130 outside patients. The amount raised
+since organization is $885,279, and 105 missionaries have been sent
+out. There are 1,530 auxiliaries.
+
+
+THE WOMAN'S BAPTIST HOME MISSION SOCIETY was organized Feb. 1, 1877,
+to aid in spreading the gospel and to Christianize homes by means of
+house-to-house visitation and by missions and schools with special
+reference to exceptional populations in the United States, and among
+neighboring countries. The missionary training school was organized
+Sept. 5, 1881, and located at the headquarters of the society, now in
+Chicago. The same year records the first issue of the monthly organ,
+_Tidings_, which has grown from a four-page circular to a
+thirty-two-page magazine, with a monthly circulation of 13,500 copies.
+The training school has enrolled 518 students. The Society supports
+also two training schools for negro workers--Shaw University, Raleigh,
+N. C., and the Caroline Bishop School in Dallas, Texas. It has
+employed on its own fields 159 missionaries among foreign populations
+in this country from Europe, Indians, Negroes, Chinese, Syrians (from
+Asia), Mexicans, Cubans, Porto Ricans and Americans.
+
+The missionaries report, for the year, besides work along many other
+lines, 80,635 visits in homes. During the twenty-four years the visits
+reported aggregate 1,152,950, and from the headquarters of the Society
+have gone 6,478,544 pages of literature. The total cash receipts have
+been $1,034,104. Besides providing for its own distinctive work, the
+Society has aided the American Baptist Home Missionary Society from
+1882 until 1901 to an extent represented by a total of $91,288.
+
+Figures have a certain value, but the best fruit is seen in the
+results of the work of the missionaries on the fields, through the
+visits in homes, women's meetings, children's meetings, industrial
+schools, parents' conferences, Bible bands, fireside schools, training
+classes, and the circulation of pure, wholesome literature. Through
+this womanly ministry uncounted lives have been transformed and a
+multitude of abodes have become Christian homes. There are 2,807
+auxiliaries and about 60,000 members.
+
+
+THE WOMAN'S AMERICAN BAPTIST HOME MISSION SOCIETY was organized Nov.
+14, 1878, for the evangelization of the women among the freed people,
+the heathen, immigrants and the new settlements of the West, and for
+evangelizing and educating the women and children in any part of North
+America. The amount raised during the last year was $38,000;
+fifty-seven teachers, missionaries and Bible women are supported among
+colored people, Indians, Mexicans, Mormons, Chinese, Alaskans and
+French Catholics.
+
+
+THE FREE BAPTIST WOMAN'S MISSIONARY SOCIETY was organized June 12,
+1873, to conduct home and foreign missions. This is believed to be the
+only Woman's Missionary Society (with possibly the exception of the
+Christian and the Friends') which from the beginning has been entirely
+independent and not an auxiliary organization. It has furnished eleven
+women missionaries for India, one of whom is a professor in the
+Theological School and two are physicians, and supports a large number
+of schools, many native and Bible women and extensive zenana work.
+Besides this it aids all other women missionaries of its
+denominational conference board by annual appropriations for their
+local work among women and children at the various stations occupied
+by Free Baptists. The Rhode Island Kindergarten Hall, the Widows' Home
+and the Sinclair Orphanage, all located at Benares, province of
+Orissa, India, are the property of this society.
+
+Its home missionary work is connected with Storer College, Harper's
+Ferry, W. Va., to which it has furnished thirteen teachers, besides
+contributing largely to the erection and equipment of two of the main
+buildings. Its receipts have been about $200,000. It has a permanent
+fund of about $42,000.
+
+The society has twenty-five State organizations, others in Canada and
+India, with between 8,000 and 9,000 members.
+
+
+THE WOMAN'S PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS OF THE SOUTHWEST
+was organized at St. Louis in April, 1877; originally to create and
+foster a practical and intelligent interest in the spiritual condition
+of women and children in our own land and in heathen lands. Since the
+close of its fourteenth year its work has been for foreign missions
+only, being one of the seven woman's auxiliaries to the Board of
+Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian church in the United States of
+America. It has given to the cause of missions $249,618, and has had
+missionaries, as teachers or physicians, in India, China, Japan,
+Korea, Siam, Persia and South America. The record of their work has
+been of a nature sufficiently encouraging to warrant continued and
+larger support. The Board has 605 branches or auxiliary societies and
+13,776 members.
+
+
+THE WOMAN'S BOARD OF HOME MISSIONS OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH was
+organized in December, 1878, to establish and maintain Christian
+schools among those near home. It has eleven stations in Alaska,
+eighteen among the Indians, twenty-seven among the Mexicans,
+thirty-one among the Mormons, forty among the mountaineers, six among
+the foreigners in this country, five among the Porto Ricans, making a
+total of 138, with 425 missionaries and teachers and 9,337 pupils.
+
+The Board has secured to the Presbyterian church $750,000 worth of
+property and has expended about $3,500,000 since organization. Two
+magazines are published, the _Home Mission Monthly_, and _Over Sea and
+Land_ for the young, the latter jointly with the Foreign Societies. It
+has about 5,000 auxiliary societies with about 100,000 members.
+
+
+THE CHRISTIAN WOMAN'S BOARD OF MISSIONS was organized Oct. 22, 1874,
+to maintain preachers and teachers for religious instruction; to
+encourage and cultivate a missionary spirit and effort in the
+churches; to disseminate missionary intelligence and secure systematic
+contributions for such purposes; to establish and maintain schools for
+the education of both sexes.
+
+Fields: The United States, Jamaica, India, Mexico and Porto Rico.
+Work: University Bible lectureships, Michigan, Virginia, Kansas,
+Calcutta, India; eighteen schools, four orphanage schools, two
+kindergartens, four orphanages with 500 children, one Chinese mission,
+one hospital, three dispensaries, one leper mission, thirty mission
+stations outside the United States; 135 missionaries, besides native
+teachers, evangelists, Bible women and other helpers; $900,000 raised
+during twenty-six years; income last year, $106,728. Its publications
+are _Missionary Tidings_, circulation 13,500; _Junior Builders_, same
+circulation; leaflets, calendars, manuals, song books, etc. Property
+values: United States, $120,000; India, $60,300; Jamaica, $38,550;
+Porto Rico, $10,000; total, $229,650; amount of endowment funds,
+$85,000.
+
+This is purely a woman's organization; funds are raised and disbursed,
+fields entered and work outlined and managed without connection with
+any "parent board," although relations with other organizations of the
+church are most cordial. There are thirty-six State organizations,
+1,750 auxiliaries, forty-five young ladies' circles, 374 mission
+bands, 1,711 junior societies of Christian Endeavor, 177 intermediate
+societies and 40,000 members of auxiliaries.
+
+
+THE WOMAN'S STATE HOME MISSIONARY ORGANIZATION OF THE CONGREGATIONAL
+CHURCH represents a slow but steady growth during the past thirty
+years. Branches exist now in forty-two States and Territories. The
+last report available, that of 1897, showed $100,768 collected that
+year and disbursed for the usual home missionary purposes.
+
+
+THE WOMAN'S CENTENARY ASSOCIATION OF THE UNIVERSALIST CHURCH was
+organized in 1869 to assist weak parishes, foster Sunday-schools, help
+educate women students for the ministry, endow professorships in
+schools and colleges, relieve the wants of sick or disabled preachers,
+ministers' widows and orphans, distribute denominational literature,
+and do both home and foreign missionary work. Since its organization
+it has raised and disbursed over $300,000 and has a permanent fund of
+$20,500, the interest of which is annually expended for the purposes
+for which the association was organized. Millions of pages of
+denominational literature have been distributed. The association has
+ten State societies and 100 mission (local) circles.
+
+
+THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF UNITARIAN AND OTHER LIBERAL CHRISTIAN WOMEN
+was organized in 1890. Its objects are primarily to quicken the
+religious life of Unitarian churches and to bring the women into
+closer acquaintance, co-operation and fellowship; to promote local
+organizations of women for missionary and denominational work and to
+bring the same into association; to collect and disseminate
+information regarding all matters of interest to the church, viz.:
+needs of local societies, facilities for meeting them, work to be
+done, collection and distribution of money, etc.
+
+The Alliance takes part in the missionary work of the denomination,
+assisting small churches and starting new ones; supports one or more
+students each year at the Meadville Theological School and maintains
+several circuit ministers. It has lending and traveling libraries and
+libraries for ministers, and has established and maintained three
+permanent ones in places where there was no free library. Through its
+well-known Post Office Mission it distributes annually about 300,000
+sermons and tracts, and through its Cheerful Letter Exchange an untold
+amount of miscellaneous literature. Money is not disbursed from a
+central treasury, but is given by the branches which are independent
+in such matters, an Executive Board making recommendations. The
+expenditures of the past ten years have been $419,757. The Alliance
+has 255 branches and nearly 11,000 members.
+
+
+THE WOMAN'S MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST
+was organized Oct. 21, 1875, to engage and unite the efforts of women
+in sending missionaries into all the world; to support these and other
+laborers in mission fields, and to secure by gift, bequest and
+otherwise the funds necessary for these purposes. Valuable missionary
+work is being done in West Africa, China and the Philippines. The
+association in the last twenty-five years has raised $311,920. It has
+forty branches and 13,232 members.
+
+
+THE WOMAN'S FOREIGN UNION OF FRIENDS was organized May, 1890, to
+increase the efficiency for spreading the Gospel of Christ among the
+heathen, and to create an additional bond between the women of the
+American Yearly Meetings. It has been the instrumentality of greatly
+quickening the missionary zeal and activity in the denomination. It
+established missions in Japan, China, India and in unoccupied parts of
+Mexico, and rendered valuable assistance in planting missions in
+Alaska, Jamaica and Palestine. It founded and has successfully managed
+the _Friends' Missionary Advocate_. During the past ten years $300,000
+have been raised and expended. It has ten branches and 4,000 members.
+
+
+THE WOMAN'S HOME AND FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF THE GENERAL SYNOD
+OF THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH IN THE U. S. A. was organized in
+1879. Its object is to cultivate a missionary spirit, to create a
+deeper interest in the spread of the Gospel, to disseminate missionary
+intelligence, and to engage and unite the efforts of Christian women
+in the Lutheran church in supporting missions and missionaries on home
+and foreign fields, in co-operation with the Boards of Home and
+Foreign Missions and Church Extension. In the Foreign field it is now
+supporting eight women missionaries in India, two of whom are
+physicians and one a trained nurse. The principal station is Guntur,
+Madras Presidency. In Africa it is supporting two women missionaries
+at Muhlenberg, Liberia. In the Home field it has helped support
+eighteen missions and build churches for twelve of them. The amount
+contributed by the societies for the year ending March 31, 1902, was
+$27,286.
+
+The Society has twenty-two Synodical Societies, 760 auxiliaries and
+20,452 members, active and honorary and cradle roll, besides 489 life
+members.
+
+
+THE WOMAN'S MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF THE GENERAL SYNOD OF THE REFORMED
+CHURCH was organized in 1887, to aid in the advancement of the work of
+Christian Missions in Home and Foreign Lands. Individual societies had
+existed for ten years previous. The last report available is that of
+1893, when 144 societies were reported and $10,000 collected during
+the year. One-third was expended for foreign and two-thirds for home
+missions. The society has published an official organ, the _Woman's
+Journal_, since 1894. Women also belong and contribute to the general
+missionary societies of the church.
+
+
+THE INTERNATIONAL BOARD OF WOMEN'S AND YOUNG WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN
+ASSOCIATIONS had its beginning in 1871, when thirty of these
+associations affiliated for biennial conferences. Later they organized
+as the International Board which became incorporated. Its object is to
+unite in one central organization these bodies of the United States,
+Canada and other countries, and to promote the forming of similar
+ones, to advance the mental, moral, temporal and above all the
+spiritual welfare of young women.
+
+The Ladies' Christian Union of New York, organized in 1858, was the
+first work in this country for the welfare of young business women. A
+home was the imperative need of the friendless young women employed in
+cities then as it is now, since the small wages received make possible
+for them only the poorest quarters amid demoralizing conditions. These
+Christian Women opened a house and took into it as many as they could
+reach, giving clean rooms, wholesome food, cheap rent, pure moral
+atmosphere and religious influences. From this developed the Young
+Women's Christian Association.
+
+The federated associations now own property valued at over $5,000,000.
+In the evolution of this work the Boarding Homes, now accommodating
+over 3,000 at one time, have been supplemented as the need arose. The
+Traveler's Aid Department seeks to reach the young, ignorant girls
+before the agents of evil who haunt the railroad stations and steamer
+landings. During 1900 over 10,000 were thus protected. The Employment
+Bureau during this year assisted over 20,000 applicants. The
+Educational Department, with day and evening classes, has 15,000
+enrolled. There are Recreation Departments, Vacation Homes and many
+other important features. Every phase of the life of a girl or woman
+is touched by the association. Religion in its broad sense is its
+fundamental and guiding principle.
+
+Twenty-three States are represented in sixty associations in the
+United States and Canada, with over 20,000 voting and contributing
+members, over 500,000 associate members--self-supporting girls and
+women--and 2,500 junior members.
+
+
+THE WOMAN'S NATIONAL SABBATH ALLIANCE was organized in 1895, to
+educate the women of America to an intelligent appreciation of the
+relation of this one day in seven to the national life, and to
+emphasize woman's responsibility and influence, especially in the home
+and in society. The work is along educational lines--in creating
+public sentiment in favor of better Sabbath observance. While placing
+a wedge in every tiny opening, its members have prayed, protested,
+proclaimed and practiced. Through this organization Christian women
+have become more fearless in standing for their convictions. The
+Alliance has twenty-two branches and over 1,000 members.
+
+
+PATRIOTIC:
+
+THE WOMAN'S RELIEF CORPS, AUXILIARY TO THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC,
+was organized July 25, 1883. Its object is specially to aid and assist
+the Grand Army of the Republic and to perpetuate the memory of its
+heroic dead; to assist such Union veterans as need help and
+protection, and to extend needful aid to their widows and orphans; to
+cherish and emulate the deeds of army nurses and of all loyal women
+who rendered loving service to the country in her hour of peril; to
+maintain true allegiance to the United States of America; to inculcate
+lessons of patriotism and love of country among children and in the
+communities; to encourage the spread of universal liberty and equal
+rights to all.
+
+General legislation is enacted by the annual national convention, the
+supreme authority; States are governed by department conventions. The
+association has educated women in an exact system of reports and
+returns. There are no "benefits," as it is strictly philanthropic. It
+supports a National Relief Corps Home for dependent army nurses and
+relatives of veterans; has secured pension legislation from the
+general Government for destitute army nurses; has influenced State
+legislation in the founding of homes for Union veterans and their
+dependent ones in Colorado, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin,
+Indiana, California, New York and Kansas; has led to the establishment
+of industrial education in the Ohio Orphans' Home; has been foremost
+in financial aid in every national calamity; has unitedly furthered
+patriotic teaching in schools and the flag in school rooms; and has
+raised and expended for relief in the eighteen years of its existence,
+$2,500,000. The corps has thirty-five departments, 3,174 subordinate
+corps and 142,760 members.
+
+
+LADIES OF THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC were organized Jan. 12, 1886,
+to assist the G. A. R., encourage them in their noble work of charity,
+extend needful aid to members in sickness and distress and look after
+the Soldiers' Homes and the Homes of Soldiers' Widows and Orphans; to
+obtain proper situations for the children when they leave the homes;
+to watch the schools and see that children are properly instructed in
+the history of our country and in patriotism; to honor the memory of
+those fallen and to perpetuate and keep forever sacred Memorial Day.
+Its departments and circles have spent for relief $16,685 and given to
+the G. A. R. $2,658; to the Soldiers' Homes, $364; Soldiers' Widows'
+Homes, $1,461; Soldiers' Orphans' Homes, $179.
+
+The organization has twenty-three departments and 28,070
+members--mothers, wives, daughters, sisters, granddaughters and nieces
+of soldiers and sailors who served honorably in the Civil War.
+
+
+THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF THE DAUGHTERS OF VETERANS OF THE U. S. A. was
+organized and chartered in 1885, to perpetuate the memories of the
+fathers and brothers, their loyalty to the Union and their unselfish
+sacrifices for its perpetuity; to aid them and their widows and
+orphans, when helpless and in distress; to inculcate a love of
+country and patriotism among women; to promote equal rights and
+universal liberty, and to acquire, by donation or otherwise, all
+necessary property and funds to carry out the aforesaid objects; to
+assist the G. A. R. to commemorate the deeds of their fallen comrades
+on the 30th of May.
+
+The Alliance is composed of daughters and granddaughters of the
+Northern soldiers who fought in the Civil War, 1861-1865, and has a
+sufficient membership to assure the soldiers that their memory will
+ever be preserved and their widows and orphans will not want. Over
+$2,000 are spent yearly for relief. The value of donations other than
+money is nearly double that amount. It has assisted in obtaining
+pensions, erected monuments for unknown dead, furnished rooms in
+Soldiers' and Soldiers' Widows' Homes, furnished transportation for
+helpless soldiers, presented flags and banners, brightened sickrooms
+with flowers and cheerful faces. At present it is interested in the
+erection of Lincoln Memorial University at Mason City, Ia., where one
+building is to be known as the Daughters of Veterans' Building. There
+are "tents" scattered all over the Union and many State Departments.
+
+
+THE MOUNT VERNON LADIES' ASSOCIATION OF THE UNION was organized in
+1853. Its purpose was the purchase and preservation of the home and
+tomb of General Washington with 200 acres of land. The sum of $200,000
+was raised by voluntary contributions from the women of the United
+States.
+
+The Regent is elected by the Council and is a life officer. Mrs.
+Justine V. R. Townsend of New York is serving at present. The Regent
+appoints, and the council at its annual meeting ratifies by votes, one
+lady in each State as vice-regent to represent the State. The
+association is purely patriotic. The great annual increase of both
+home and foreign visitors is gratifying, and testifies to the loving
+veneration in which the memory of Washington is held. The entrance fee
+of twenty-five cents is sufficient to keep the home and grounds in
+perfect colonial order.
+
+
+THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF THE DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION was
+organized Aug. 9, 1890, to perpetuate the memory of the spirit of the
+men and women who achieved American Independence, by the acquisition
+and protection of historic spots and the erection of monuments; by the
+encouragement of historical research in relation to the Revolution,
+and the publication of its results; by the preservation of documents
+and relics, and of the records of the individual services of
+Revolutionary soldiers and patriots, and by the promotion of
+celebrations of all patriotic anniversaries; to carry out the
+injunction of Washington in his farewell address to the American
+people, "to promote, as an object of primary importance, institutions
+for the general diffusion of knowledge;" to cherish, maintain and
+extend the institutions of American freedom, to foster true patriotism
+and love of country, and to aid in securing for mankind all the
+blessings of liberty.
+
+The society has carried out its desired objects; brought together the
+women of the North and South; caused many of them to study the
+constitution of their country and parliamentary law; rescued from
+oblivion the memory of many heroic women of the Revolution; examined
+and certified to the 1,000 nurses sent by the Surgeon General's office
+to the Spanish-American War; raised $300,000 in money and sent 56,000
+garments to the hospitals during that war; contributed $85,000 for a
+Memorial Hall in Washington, D. C. It has organized children's
+societies and taught them love for the flag and all it means; made
+foreign-born children realize what it is to be American citizens;
+offered medals and scholarships for historical essays by pupils in
+schools and colleges; helped erect the monuments to Lafayette and
+Washington in Paris. By requiring careful investigation of claims to
+membership the society has caused many families to become re-united
+who had been separated by immigration to remote parts of the country,
+and has stimulated a proper pride of birth--not descent from royalty
+and nobility but from men and women who did their duty in their
+generation and left their descendants the priceless heritage of pure
+homes and honest government. The society has 600 chapters and over
+36,000 members.
+
+
+THE SOCIETY OF THE DAUGHTERS OF THE REVOLUTION was organized Aug. 20,
+1891, to perpetuate the patriotic spirit of the men and women who
+achieved American independence; to commemorate prominent events
+connected with the War of the Revolution; to collect, publish and
+preserve the rolls, records and historic documents relating to this
+period and to encourage the study of the country's history.
+
+Through its State organizations it has marked with tablets historic
+places; promoted patriotism by gifts of historical pictures to public
+schools; helped to bring about an observance of Flag Day through the
+general society; given prizes to various women's colleges for essays
+on topics connected with the War of the Revolution; raised $5,000 to
+erect a monument at Valley Forge in memory of Washington's Army. The
+present work is the establishment of a fund to be loaned in proper
+sums to girls trying to make their way through college. It has
+nineteen State societies and 3,200 members.
+
+
+THE COLONIAL DAMES OF AMERICA were organized in New York City, May 23,
+1890, to honor the brave men who in any important service contributed
+to the achievement of American independence; to collect manuscripts,
+traditions and relics and to foster a true spirit of patriotism. A
+hereditary society was deemed the most effective for this purpose. It
+has made a collection of valuable manuscripts, pedigrees, photographs
+and books; effected restorations in the old Swedes' Church at
+Wilmington, placed tablets in Baltimore, to Washington, and in
+Kingston, N. Y., to Governor Clinton. Historic tableaux have been
+given in the city of New York, with readings of original papers and
+lectures by historians. The publication of the "Letters to Washington"
+from the original manuscripts in the Department of State, has reached
+its fourth and last volume. For the sick and wounded in the
+Spanish-American War the society raised about $6,600, with a
+contribution of hundreds of garments and hospital appliances, and
+several of its members worked in hospitals and camps.
+
+The society also has its valued social side. It has five chapters in
+New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington and Paris (France), with
+about 400 members.
+
+
+THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF UNITED STATES DAUGHTERS OF 1812 was organized
+Jan. 8, 1892. Its object is to publish memoirs of famous women of the
+United States, especially those of the period included in the
+eligibility of this society; to urge the Government, through an act of
+Congress, to compile and publish authentic records of men in military
+and naval service in the war of 1812, and of those in civil service
+during the period embraced by this society; to secure and preserve
+documents of the events for which each State was famous during this
+period; to promote the erection of a home where the descendants of the
+brave patriots of this war can be sheltered from the storms of life.
+
+The work done in the various States is as follows: Two tablets, one
+marking New York City defenses during the war and one for "those who
+served," in the Post Chapel at West Point; Michigan, a monument to
+General McComb in the heart of Detroit; Maryland, the restoration of
+Fort McHenry (the inspiration of The Star Spangled Banner); Louisiana,
+a monument on the field of Cholnette. Massachusetts has received
+permission to restore the frigate Constitution and is raising $400,000
+for this purpose; Pennsylvania is offering prizes in the public
+schools for historical work, and many other enterprises are under way.
+It has nineteen State societies with a membership of 776.
+
+
+THE UNITED DAUGHTERS OF THE CONFEDERACY were organized Sept. 10, 1894.
+The objects of the society are educational, memorial, literary and
+benevolent; to collect and preserve material for a truthful history of
+the War between the States; to honor the memory of those who fought
+and those who fell in the service of the Confederacy; to cherish the
+ties of friendship among the members of the society and to fulfil the
+duties of sacred charity to the survivors of the war and those
+dependent upon them. Much aid has been given to aged and indigent
+Confederate soldiers. There are homes for these soldiers in every
+Southern State and monuments have been erected to the Confederate dead
+in nearly every city. The orphans of Confederate soldiers have been
+educated and cared for, and in a number of States the society has seen
+that correct and impartial histories are used in the public schools.
+It has 500 branches and about 25,000 members.
+
+
+LODGES:
+
+THE SUPREME HIVE LADIES OF THE MACCABEES OF THE WORLD was organized
+Oct. 1, 1892, to extend the benefits of life protection to women; to
+unite fraternally the wives, mothers, daughters and sisters of the
+Knights of the Maccabees, as well as other women who are acceptable;
+to educate its members socially, morally and intellectually. Four
+hundred and twenty-five death claims were paid in 1900, amounting to
+$441,380; and twenty-two disability claims, amounting to $2,400. The
+total amount paid in claims from organization to Jan. 1, 1901, is
+$1,523,504.
+
+The organization is composed of one supreme body, three subordinate
+bodies, known as Great Hives, and 1,835 subordinate or local hives,
+with a membership of 84,657, of whom 19,321 are social and 65,336
+benefit members.
+
+
+THE SUPREME TEMPLE RATHBONE SISTERS OF THE WORLD was organized Oct.
+23, 1888, for promoting the moral, mental and social conditions of its
+members; cultivating a spirit of fraternal love which shall permeate
+and control their daily lives; ministering in all ways to the wants of
+the sick and needy; watching at the bedside of the dying; paying the
+last sad tribute of love and respect to the dead, comforting and
+providing for the widow in her afflictions, and daily exemplifying in
+every possible way the Golden Rule.
+
+The Supreme Temple has general supervision of the Order throughout the
+world and makes the general laws. The Grand Temples, or State
+organizations, supervise the local Temples within their domain. The
+latter, besides carrying out the principles peculiar to a fraternal
+society, select some special work for the good of those outside their
+ranks. Reading rooms have been established, funds donated for public
+improvements, charity, etc. In order to care for the orphans of
+Rathbone Sisters a Home is soon to be erected, the fund being already
+set aside for this purpose. The local Temples care for their own poor
+and sick. In such disasters as those at Galveston and Jacksonville,
+the Temples send liberal donations to their members to relieve their
+financial losses.
+
+The Supreme Temple is composed of twenty-four State organizations and
+1,124 local Temples, with a membership of 71,247. Four insurance
+branches have just been established (1900).
+
+
+THE ORDER OF THE EASTERN STAR was organized in the latter part of the
+eighteenth century--the exact date is not known. Its founders sought
+to create a social tie between the families of Masons, but it early
+reached a higher standard of usefulness. Among its objects are caring
+for the widow and orphan and assisting the Masonic brother in all
+deeds of mercy and love. It has founded Eastern Star Homes for widows
+and orphans of Masons and has become a mighty impetus in the building
+and support of Masonic Homes. Everywhere its members visit the sick,
+relieve the distressed and speak words of cheer to the despairing. It
+has been found helpful all over the land in carrying forward the
+underlying principles of Masonry. It has taught woman to preside in
+public meetings and to make herself conversant in parliamentary law.
+Masonry unites the heads of families, whereas the Eastern Star unites
+the entire families. Its ritualistic teachings are designed to
+inculcate morals and to improve the social virtues. The Order
+comprises 3,491 chapters with a membership of 218,238.
+
+
+THE DAUGHTERS OF REBEKAH were organized in 1851 as a side degree of
+the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and chartered lodges were
+authorized in 1868. The object is benevolent work. The order stands
+very high among charitable organizations and pays out thousands of
+dollars each year for the relief of widows and orphans. The report for
+the present year shows that 6,212 families were assisted at an expense
+of $141,646; and $50,540 were paid for the education of orphans. The
+Indiana lodge erected a monument in Indianapolis to Vice-President of
+the United States Schuyler Colfax, the principal founder of the order.
+
+The Daughters of Rebekah usually exist wherever there is a lodge of
+the I. O. O. F. Men may take the degree but the affairs of the lodges
+are entirely in the hands of women. There are 125,300 men and 200,850
+women members.
+
+
+THE GRAND INTERNATIONAL AUXILIARY TO THE BROTHERHOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE
+ENGINEERS IN THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, AND MEXICO, was organized Oct.
+16, 1887, to elevate the social standing of railroad people, to
+promote a fraternal feeling between families of engineers and to
+render assistance in time of trouble. The Voluntary Relief
+Association, formed in 1890, has paid to needy families of engineers
+over $100,000. It has no home for dependents, but helps widows to keep
+a home and care for their own children. It secures homes for orphans
+and assists in their education out of a special standing fund. There
+are $15,000 in the general fund. The order is exclusively composed of
+women, who manufacture all supplies and from this source realize a
+considerable revenue. Study clubs for intellectual culture are
+maintained in the various branches.
+
+There are 255 subdivisions and about 10,000 members. It was founded by
+Mrs. W. A. Murdock, who has served continuously as president.
+
+
+THE LADIES' AUXILIARY TO THE ORDER OF RAILROAD CONDUCTORS OF AMERICA
+was organized in 1888. The idea originally was merely social, but so
+many objects claimed assistance that, in 1895, the Fraternal
+Beneficiary Association was added to help the widows and children of
+railway conductors. Assessments were levied and in five years $2,200
+had been thus applied. Good speakers, parliamentarians and business
+women have been developed and its members have become broader and more
+enlightened in every direction. There are 156 local divisions, with a
+membership of about 4,000.
+
+
+MISCELLANEOUS: Various organizations are in existence which are
+national in their aims and interests but scarcely have reached
+national proportions in the number of auxiliaries and membership.
+Among these may be mentioned the SOCIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA,
+organized in New York in 1883, to disseminate the principles of Social
+and Industrial Co-operation; the NATIONAL WOMEN'S REPUBLICAN
+ASSOCIATION, founded in 1888; the PRO RE NATA, started in Washington
+in 1889, to perfect its members in the art of extemporaneous speaking;
+WIMODAUGHSIS, organized in Washington in 1890 for the improvement of
+women along all educational lines; the ASSOCIATION OPPOSED TO THE
+FURTHER EXTENSION OF SUFFRAGE TO WOMEN; the NATIONAL FLORAL EMBLEM
+SOCIETY, formed at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 1893, to gain
+an expression from the people which shall lead to the adoption of a
+national flower and also the selection of State flowers, which have
+been chosen in nineteen States and the choice ratified by the
+Legislature; the NATIONAL SOCIETY OF NEW ENGLAND WOMEN, founded in New
+York in 1895, to promote acquaintance among New England women in
+various localities throughout the country for purposes of mutual
+helpfulness; the NATIONAL LEAGUE OF AMERICAN PEN WOMEN, started in
+Washington City in 1896, to band together women journalists, authors
+and illustrators; the WOMEN'S PRESS ASSOCIATION, organized earlier and
+with branches in various States; the GEORGE WASHINGTON MEMORIAL
+ASSOCIATION, incorporated in 1898, to raise $250,000 toward an
+Administration Building to be a part of the university as set forth in
+the will of George Washington--$25,000 of this amount being now on
+hand and as much more guaranteed; the WOMAN'S LEAGUE OF THE GEORGE
+JUNIOR REPUBLIC, formed in 1899 to promote interest in the National
+Republic and establish branches; the NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE LEAGUE,
+founded in 1900 to obtain for women equality of legal, municipal and
+industrial rights through action by the National Congress and the
+State Legislatures; WOMAN'S EDUCATIONAL AND INDUSTRIAL UNION; various
+associations for improving cities and villages by means of parks,
+shade trees, good streets, sanitary appliances, etc.; and countless
+others of a social, educational or philanthropic nature.
+
+There are also a number of large national organizations composed of
+both men and women, with the latter very greatly predominating. Of
+these the most prominent are the UNIVERSAL PEACE UNION, founded in
+1866 and chartered in 1888, with forty branches in the United States
+and sixty in Europe; the SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO
+ANIMALS; the NATIONAL CONSUMERS' LEAGUE; the CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR
+SOCIETY; the EPWORTH LEAGUE; the YOUNG PEOPLE'S UNION; the KING'S
+DAUGHTERS AND SONS; the ANTI-VIVISECTION SOCIETY.
+
+
+The above list shows that women are organized for carrying forward
+practically every department of the world's work, and that their
+associations have been steadily increasing in number, size and scope
+during the past half century. In the early years the Woman Suffrage
+Association not only stood alone in its advocacy of enfranchisement
+but was regarded with the most strenuous disapproval by all other
+organizations of women. In 1881, the Woman's Christian Temperance
+Union, principally through the influence of its president, Miss
+Frances E. Willard, established a department of franchise, but it was
+many years afterwards before the idea of the ballot was received with
+favor by any large number of its members. The sentiment is not now
+unanimous, but considered as a body there are no more active workers
+for woman suffrage. The National Council of Women has no platform, but
+its leaders and also those of the International Council are prominent
+advocates of the franchise. These are now found in greater or less
+numbers in all the organizations but not one of them includes the
+suffrage among the specific objects for which it works. As these
+broaden the associations frequently find it necessary to appeal to
+Legislative bodies, and the result is usually a significant lesson in
+the disadvantage of being without political influence. The Federation
+of Clubs, organized in 1890, in its endeavor to secure the passage of
+bills for various purposes, has applied to more Legislatures, during
+the past few years, than has the Suffrage Association. It is indeed a
+most interesting study to watch the evolution of the so-called women's
+clubs. Formed at first merely for a superficial literary culture, they
+widened by degrees into a study of practical matters related to law
+and economics. From these it was but a step into civics, where they
+are to-day, struggling to improve municipal, and indirectly national
+conditions and gradually having revealed to them the narrow
+limitations of woman's power in public affairs.
+
+With the exception possibly of the church missionary societies and the
+various lodges, there is not one of these associations of women which
+does not depend in a greater or less measure on City Councils, State
+Legislatures or the National Congress for assistance in securing its
+objects. No other means could be so effective in convincing women that
+politics, which they have heretofore believed did not directly concern
+them, in reality touches them at every point. They are learning that
+the mere personal influence which usually was sufficient to gain their
+ends in the household, society and the church--the three spheres of
+action to which they were confined in the past--must be supplemented
+by political influence now that they have entered the field of public
+work. Women have been so long flattered by the power which they have
+possessed over men in social life that they are surprised and
+bewildered to discover that this is wholly ineffectual when brought to
+bear upon men in legislative assemblies. They find that it is not
+sufficient to have personal attractions or family position--not even
+to be a good wife, mother and worker in church and charities--they
+must be also constituents. This is a new word which was not in the
+lexicon of woman in past generations. They investigate and they see
+that whatever may be the private opinion of these legislators, their
+public acts are governed by their constituents, and women alone of all
+classes in the community are not constituents.
+
+This knowledge could come to the average woman only through
+experience, and that which as an individual she might not get in ages
+she is gaining rapidly through organization. A summary of the
+preceding list shows about 2,000,000 women enrolled in the various
+associations. The number which may be duplicated by a membership in
+several, is probably balanced by the number in those which do not
+state the membership. This list includes only national associations
+and it is reasonable to assume that not more than one-half of the
+local societies are auxiliary to national bodies. This is known
+positively to be the case in the General Federation of Clubs, which
+includes less than half of those in the different States. It would be
+a decided underestimate to say that 4,000,000 women in the United
+States are members of one or more organizations, and it is clearly
+evident that this number is increasing. The scope of these
+associations is constantly broadening as women themselves are emerging
+from their narrow environment and seeing the needs of the world in
+wider perspective. They are slowly but certainly learning to devote
+their time and energy to larger objects, and they are awakening to a
+perception, above all else, of the strength that lies in combination,
+a knowledge which was a sealed book to the isolated and undeveloped
+women of past generations. No other influence has been so powerful in
+enabling woman to discover herself and her possibilities.
+
+There will be no more important element to be reckoned with during the
+coming years of the new century than these great associations of
+women, constantly gaining strength and momentum, not alone by the
+increase of membership but also by its personnel, for now they are
+beginning to be composed of college graduates, of property owners, of
+women with business experience. More and more they are directing their
+attention to public questions, and when brains, wealth, executive
+ability, enthusiasm and a strong desire for an honest and moral
+government are thoroughly organized in the effort to obtain it, they
+must necessarily become a powerful factor in State and national
+affairs, and one which inevitably will refuse to be held in a
+disfranchised condition after it shall realize the supreme power which
+inheres in the suffrage.
+
+There is still another and a more important point of view from which
+this subject should be studied. Here are more than 4,000,000 women,
+about one-third of all in the country, banded into active, working
+organizations. The figures given above show that they are raising and
+expending millions of dollars and every dollar for some worthy object.
+The list demonstrates beyond question that every one of these great
+associations exists for the purpose of improving the conditions of
+society and helping and bettering humanity. They represent the highest
+form of effort for education, morality, temperance, religion, justice,
+patriotism and co-operation. Are not these the very qualities most
+needed in our electorate? Is not the nation suffering because of the
+lack of them since it has placed the ballot in the hands of ignorance,
+immorality, intemperance and lawlessness? Does not an emergency exist
+for a political influence which shall counterbalance these and tip the
+scale the other way? Can the Government afford much longer to delay
+the summons for this great, well-organized, finely-equipped force--if
+it is to perfect and make permanent the institutions of the
+republic?
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[498] The National Suffrage Association is not included in the list,
+as twenty-one chapters of this volume are devoted to its work. It was
+the intention to give the name of the president of each organization,
+but as this officer is so frequently changed it seemed best to abandon
+this plan save in special instances. The figures given are for 1900
+with but few exceptions.
+
+The church missionary societies not mentioned here, and some other
+national bodies, were appealed to several times for statistics without
+response. The list, however, includes all of any considerable size and
+importance. It did not seem that it would represent the true
+proportions of these associations if arranged alphabetically or
+according to date of organization, therefore the editors have used
+their individual judgment in placing them.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+EMINENT ADVOCATES OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE.
+
+
+The following list is so incomplete as to make the advisability of
+using it a matter of grave doubt. No name is given except upon what is
+believed to be unimpeachable authority, but it is unavoidable that
+scores should be omitted which are entitled to a place. The list will
+indicate, however, the character of those who have espoused the cause
+of woman suffrage, and it is published with the request that readers
+will forward to the editors additional names which can be used, and
+mention any which should be omitted, in the second edition of this
+volume. There has been no attempt to give all in any profession, but
+only a few of those who may fairly be considered representative. The
+names, for instance, of clergymen alone who are in favor of the
+enfranchisement of women would fill many pages, while those of
+prominent lawyers in every community would require almost unlimited
+space, as it is a question which appeals especially to the sense of
+equity. The following list will indicate sufficiently that this is not
+a movement of ultra-radical and irresponsible extremists.
+
+The only President of the United States who declared himself publicly
+and unequivocally for woman suffrage was Abraham Lincoln, who said as
+early as 1836, "I go for all sharing the privileges of the Government
+who assist in bearing its burdens--by no means excluding women," and
+later utterances indicated that he did not change his position.
+Rutherford B. Hayes never hesitated to express his approval in private
+conversation, and in 1872 he assisted materially in placing in the
+Republican National Platform the nearest approach to an indorsement
+which the movement ever has received from that party. James A.
+Garfield said: "Laugh as we may, put it aside as a jest if we will,
+keep it out of Congress and political campaigns, still the woman
+question is rising on our horizon larger than a man's hand; and some
+solution ere long that question must find." Theodore Roosevelt, when a
+member of the New York Legislature, voted for a woman suffrage bill,
+saying he had been converted by seeing how much the women accomplished
+with their school ballot at Oyster Bay, his home. When Governor he
+said in his message to the Legislature of 1899: "I call your attention
+to the desirability of gradually enlarging the sphere in which the
+suffrage can be extended to women." There is reason to believe other
+Presidents would have expressed themselves favorably had political
+exigencies permitted.
+
+The only Vice-Presidents on record as advocating and voting for woman
+suffrage are Hannibal Hamlin, Schuyler Colfax, Henry Wilson and
+William A. Wheeler. Such action is likely to mean the personal loss of
+votes and injury to one's party, with no compensation other than the
+consciousness of having done right, as women can give no reward.
+Under these conditions it is surprising that so large a number in the
+Congress and State Legislatures have sustained the measures for the
+enfranchisement of women.[499]
+
+  CHIEF JUSTICES OF THE U. S. SUPREME COURT.
+
+  Chase, Salmon P.
+  Wake, Morrison R.
+
+Practically all of the State Supreme Court Justices of Colorado,
+Idaho, Utah and Wyoming, where women have exercised the suffrage for a
+number of years, and of Kansas where they have had a municipal vote
+for fifteen years, are strong advocates of woman suffrage.
+
+  UNITED STATES SENATORS.
+
+  Allen, John B.                  Wash.
+  Allison, William B.             Iowa.
+  Anthony, Henry B.               R. I.
+  Baker, Edward D.                Ore.
+  Baker, Lucien                   Kas.
+  Banks, Nathaniel P.             Mass.
+  Beveridge, Albert J.            Ind.
+  Blair, Henry W.                 N. H.
+  Bowen, Thomas B.                Col.
+  Brice, Calvin S.                Ohio.
+  Brown, B. Gratz                 Mo.
+  Bruce, Blanche K.               Miss.
+  Burnside, Ambrose               R. I.
+  Burrows, Julius C.              Mich.
+  Cameron, Angus                  Wis.
+  Cannon, Frank J.                Utah.
+  Carey, Joseph M.                Wy.
+  Carpenter, Matthew H.           Mich.
+  Chace, Jonathan                 R. I.
+  Chandler, Zach.                 Mich.
+  Cheney, P. C.                   N. H.
+  Clark, Clarence D.              Wy.
+  Clark, William A.               Mont.
+  Conger, Omar D.                 Mich.
+  Conover, Simon B. (1874)        Fla.
+  Cullom, Shelby M.               Ills.
+  Davis, Cushman K.               Minn.
+  Dawes, Henry L.                 Mass.
+  Depew, Chauncey M.              N. Y.
+  Dillingham, William P.          Vt.
+  Dolliver, J. P.                 Iowa.
+  Dolph, Joseph N.                Ore.
+  Dubois, Fred T.                 Ida.
+  Farwell, Charles B.             Ills.
+  Ferry, Thomas W.                Mich.
+  Flanagan, J. W. (1871)          Texas.
+  Gallinger, Jacob H.             N. H.
+  Gamble, Robert J.               S. D.
+  Gilbert, Abijah (1874)          Fla.
+  Hamlin, Hannibal                Me.
+  Hansbrough, Henry C.            N. D.
+  Harvey, James M.                Kan.
+  Heitfield, Henry                Ida.
+  Henderson, John B.              Mo.
+  Hoar, George F.                 Mass.
+  Jones, John P.                  Nev.
+  Kyle, James H.                  S. D.
+  Lapham, Elbridge G.             N. Y.
+  Logan, John A.                  Ills.
+  Manderson, Charles F.           Neb.
+  Mason, William E.               Ills.
+  Matthews, Stanley               Ohio
+  McDonald, Joseph E.             Ind.
+  Mitchell, John H.               Ore.
+  Mitchell, John I.               Penn.
+  Morton, Oliver P.               Ind.
+  Nye, James W.                   Neb.
+  Paddock, Algernon S.            Neb.
+  Palmer, John M.                 Ills.
+  Palmer, Thomas W.               Mich.
+  Patterson, John J. (1874)       S. C.
+  Patterson, Thomas M.            Col.
+  Peffer, William A.              Kas.
+  Perkins, George C.              Cal.
+  Pettigrew, Richard F.           S. D.
+  Platt, Thomas C.                N. Y.
+  Plumb, P. B.                    Kas.
+  Pomeroy, S. C.                   Kas.
+  Pratt, Daniel D.                Ind.
+  Quay, Matthew S.                Penn.
+  Revels, Hiram P.                Miss.
+  Roach, W. N.                    N. D.
+  Ross, Jonathan                  Vt.
+  Sanders, Wilbur F.              Mont.
+  Sargent, Aaron A.               Cal.
+    Minister to Germany.
+  Sawyer, Philetus S.             Wis.
+  Sherman, John                   Ohio.
+  Shoup, George L.                Ida.
+  Sprague, William                R. I.
+  Stanford, Leland                Cal.
+  Stevens, Thaddeus               Penn.
+  Stewart, William M.             Nev.
+  Summer, Charles                 Mass.
+  Teller, Henry M.                Col.
+  Tipton, Thomas W.               Neb.
+  Wade, Benjamin F.               Ohio.
+  Warner, Willard (1869)          Ala.
+  Warren, Francis E.              Wy.
+  West, J. Rodman (1874)          La.
+  White, Stephen M.               Cal.
+  Wilson, Henry                   Mass.
+  Wilson, James F.                Iowa.
+  Windom, William                 Minn.
+    Sec'y of the Treasury.
+  Yates, Richard, Sr.             Ills.
+
+  SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
+
+  Banks, Nathaniel P.             Mass.
+  Henderson, David B.             Iowa.
+  Keifer, J. Warren               Ohio.
+  Reed, Thomas B.                 Me.
+
+  REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS.[500]
+
+  Allen, C. E.                    Utah.
+  Baker, Charles S.               N. Y.
+  Baker, William                  Kas.
+  Barrows, Samuel J.              Mass.
+  Belford, James B.               Col.
+  Bell, John C.                   Col.
+  Blue, Richard W.                Kas.
+  Broderick, Case                 Kas.
+  Broomall, John M.               Penn.
+  Browne, Thomas M.               Ind.
+  Butler, Benjamin F.             Mass.
+  Caine, John T.                  Utah.
+  Cannon, George Q.               Utah.
+  Caswell, Lucien B.              Iowa.
+  Clapp, Moses E.                 Minn.
+  Coffeen, Henry                  Wy.
+  Crump, Rousseau O.              Mich.
+  Cumback, William                Ind.
+  Curtis, Charles                 Kas.
+  Cutcheon, Byron M.              Mich.
+  Davis, John                     Kas.
+  Davis, Thomas                   R. I.
+  Dingley, Nelson                 Me.
+  Douglas, William H.             N. Y.
+  Featherstone, L. P.             Ark.
+  Fergusson, H. B.                N. M.
+  Fisher, Spencer O.              Mich.
+  Fletcher, Lorin                 Minn.
+  Giddings, Joshua R.             Ohio.
+  Glenn, Thomas L.                Ida.
+  Greenleaf, Halbert S.           N. Y.
+  Gunn, James                     Ida.
+  Handy, L. G.                    Del.
+  Haskins, Kittridge              Vt.
+  Hepburn, W. P.                  Iowa.
+  Hitt, Robert R.                 Ills.
+  Julian, George W.               Ind.
+  Kahn, Julius                    Cal.
+  Kasson, John A.                 Iowa.
+    Minister to Germany
+  Kelley, Harrison B.             Kan.
+  Kelley, William D.              Penn.
+  Kerr, Daniel                    Iowa.
+  King, William H.                Utah.
+  Loring, George B.               Mass.
+  Loughridge, William             Iowa.
+  Lucas, W. B.                    S. D.
+  Maguire, James G.               Cal.
+  Martin, E. W.                   S. D.
+  McCall, Samuel Walker           Mass.
+  McCoid, Moses A.                Iowa.
+  Miers, Robert W.                Ind.
+  Milnes, Alfred                  Mich.
+  Mondell, Frank W.               Wy.
+  Morey, Henry L.                 Ohio.
+  Morse, Elijah                   Mass.
+  Mott, Richard                   Ohio.
+  Neville, William                Neb.
+  Northway, S. A.                 Ohio.
+  O'Donnell, James                Mich.
+  Orth, Godlove S.                Ind.
+  Payne, Sereno E.                N. Y.
+  Peelle, Stanton J.              Ind.
+      Judge of the U.S. Court of Claims.
+  Peirce, R. B. F.                Ind.
+  Pence, Lafayette                Col.
+  Pickler, J. A.                  S. D.
+  Powers, Henry H.                Vt.
+  Ranney, A. A.                   Mass.
+  Ray, George W.                  N. Y.
+  Riddle, Albert G.               Ohio.
+  Shafroth, John F.               Col.
+  Simpson, Jerry                  Kas.
+  Smith, Henry C.                 Mich.
+  Smith, William Alden            Mich.
+  Steele, George W.               Ind.
+  Struble, I. S.                  Iowa.
+  Sulzer, William                 N. Y.
+  Sutherland, George              Utah.
+  Taylor, Ezra B.                 Ohio.
+  Taylor, Robert W.               Ohio.
+  Tongue, Thomas H.               Ore.
+  Topp, Robertson                 Tenn.
+  Van Voorhis, John               N. Y.
+  Walker, James A.                Va.
+  Walker, Joseph H.               Mass.
+  Weadock, Thomas A. E.           Mich.
+  White, John D.                  Ky.
+  Wilson, Edgar                   Ida.
+  Woods, S. D.                    Cal.
+
+
+GOVERNORS OF STATES. (Incomplete list.)
+
+  Governor Adams,                 Col.
+     "     Altgeld,               Ills.
+     "     Ames,                  Mass.
+     "     Andrews,               Conn.
+     "     Barber,                Wy.
+     "     Bates,                 Mass.
+     "     Begole,                Mich.
+     "     Bliss,                 Mich.
+     "     Brackett,              Mass.
+     "     Budd,                  Cal.
+     "     Burke,                 N. D.
+     "     Butler,                Mass.
+     "     Butler,                Neb.
+     "     Campbell,              Wy.
+     "     Carpenter,             Iowa.
+     "     Chamberlain,           Ore.
+     "     Claflin,               Mass.
+     "     Clough,                Minn.
+     "     Colcord,               Nev.
+     "     Davis,                 R. I.
+     "     Fifer,                 Ills.
+     "     Folger,                N. Y.
+            Sec'y of the Treasury.
+     "     Fuller,                Vt.
+     "     Greenhalge,            Mass.
+     "     Hale,                  Wy.
+     "     Hoyt,                  Wy.
+     "     Hughes,                Ariz.
+     "     Humphrey,              Kas.
+  Governor Hunt,                  Col.
+     "     Hunt,                  Ida.
+     "     Jewell,                Conn.
+            U.S. Postmaster General.
+     "     Jones,                 Nev.
+     "     Knapp,                 Alaska.
+     "     La Follette,           Wis.
+     "     Long,                  Mass.
+            Sec'y of the Navy.
+     "     Lord,                  Ore.
+     "     Luce,                  Mich.
+     "     McDonald,              Ind.
+     "     McIntire,              Col.
+     "     Mellette,              S. D.
+     "     Morrill,               Kas.
+     "     Morton,                Ind.
+     "     Murphy,                Ariz.
+     "     Newell,                Wash.
+     "     Odell,                 N. Y.
+     "     Osborn,                Wy.
+     "     Pattison,              Penn.
+     "     Pingree,               Mich.
+     "     Porter,                Ind.
+     "     Rich,                  Mich.
+     "     Richards,              Wy.
+     "     Rickards,              Mont.
+     "     Rogers,                Wash.
+     "     Roosevelt,             N. Y.
+     "     Routt,                 Col.
+  Governor Sadler,                Nev.
+     "     Saunders,              Nev.
+     "     Savage,                Nev.
+     "     Semple,                Wash.
+     "     Sprague,               R. I.
+     "     Squire,                Wash.
+     "     Steunenberg,           Ida.
+     "     St. John,              Kas.
+     "     Talbot,                Mass.
+     "     Thayer,                Wy.
+     "     Thomas,                Col.
+  Governor Thomas,                Utah.
+     "     Van Sant,              Minn.
+     "     Voorhees,              N. J.
+     "     Waite,                 Col.
+     "     Warren,                Wy.
+     "     Washburn,              Mass.
+     "     Wells,                 Utah.
+     "     West,                  Utah.
+     "     Winans,                Mich.
+     "     Yates, Sr.,            Ills.
+     "     Young,                 Utah.
+
+
+PRESIDENTS OF UNIVERSITIES. (Incomplete list.)
+
+  Andrews, E. Benjamin          Brown and Neb.
+  Aylesworth, Barton O.         Pres. Col. Agr. Coll.
+  Baker, James H.               Colorado.
+  Bascom, John                  Wisconsin.
+  Bashford, J. W.               Ohio Wesleyan.
+  Beardshear, Wm.               Iowa Agr. College.
+  Capen, Elmer F.               Tuft's College.
+  Dickinson, Frances E.         Harvey Medical (Chicago).
+  Evans, J. G.                  Hedding (Ills.).
+  Hale, Horace M.               Colorado.
+  Hawley, J. H.                 Willamette (Ore.).
+  Gates, George A.              Iowa College.
+  Gunnison, Almon               St. Lawrence.
+  Gunsaulus, Frank W.           Armour Institute.
+  Henderson, L. F.              Idaho.
+  Herrick, C. L.                New Mexico.
+  Hill, Walter B.               Georgia.
+  Hurst, John F.                American University, D. C.
+  Irvine, Julia J.              Wellesley College.
+  Jordan, David Starr           Leland Stanford.
+  Kellogg, Martin V.            California.
+  Kingsbury, J. T.              Utah.
+  Knox, Martin Van Buren        Red River Valley, N. D.
+  Latimore, S. A.               Acting President Rochester.
+  Lyons, S. R.                  Monmouth (Ills.).
+  MacLean, James                Idaho.
+  Marvin, James                 Kansas.
+  Northrop, Cyrus W.            Minnesota.
+  Palmer, Alice Freeman         Wellesley College.
+  Park, John R.                 Utah.
+  Purnell, W. H.                 Delaware College.
+  Rogers, Henry Wade            Northwestern.
+  Shafer, Helen A.              Wellesley College.
+  Sharpless, Isaac              Haverford College.
+  Slocum, W. F.                 Colorado College.
+  Smiley, Elmer E.              Wyoming.
+  Snow, F. H.                   Kansas.
+  Stephens, D. S.               Kansas City.
+  Sutliff, Phoebe I.            Rockford (Ills.).
+  Swain, Joseph                 Indiana and Swarthmore.
+  Thomas, Martha Carey          Bryn Mawr College.
+  Thwing, Charles F.            Western Reserve.
+  Warren, William F.            Boston.
+  Washington, Booker T.         Tuskeegee Institute.
+  Wells, Daniel H.              Utah.
+  White, Andrew D.              Cornell.
+  Whitney, Orson F.             Utah.
+
+
+CLERGYMEN.
+
+  Archbishop Ireland               Catholic.
+  Bishop Bowman, Thomas            Meth. Epis.
+     "   Brooks, Phillips          Prot. Epis.
+     "   Hamilton, John Wm.        Meth. Epis.
+     "   Haven, Gilbert               "
+     "   Hurst, John F.               "
+     "   Huntington, Fred'k D.     Prot. Epis.
+     "   Joyce, Isaac W.           Meth. Epis.
+     "   McQuaid of Rochester      Catholic
+     "   Moore, David H.           Meth. Epis.
+     "   Newman, John P.              "
+  Bishop Potter, Henry C.          Prot. Epis.
+     "   Sessums, Davis               "
+     "   Simpson, Matthew          Meth. Epis.
+     "   Spalding of Peoria        Catholic.
+     "   Turner, Henry McN.        Meth. Epis.
+     "   Walters, A.                  "
+     "   Warren, Henry W.             "
+  Ames, Charles G.                 Unit.
+  Beecher, Henry Ward              Cong'l.
+  Boardman, George W.              Bapt.
+  Bristol, Frank M.                Meth. Epis.
+  Chadwick, John W.                Unit.
+  Channing, William Henry             "
+  Cheever, George B.               Cong'l.
+  Clarke, James Freeman            Unit.
+  Collyer, Robert                  Unit.
+  Conway, Moncure D.                  "
+  Cook, Joseph                     Presb.
+  Dalton, W. J.                    Catholic
+  Duryea, Joseph T.                Cong'l.
+  Eaton, Charles H.                Univ.
+  Eggleston, Edward (author)       Meth. Epis.
+  Foss, Herbert                       "
+  Gannett, William C.              Unit.
+  Gladden, Washington              Cong'l.
+  Gottheil, Rabbi Gustave.
+  Gregg, David                     Presb.
+  Hall, Frank O.                   Univ.
+  Hillis, Newell Dwight            Cong'l.
+  Hinckley, Frederick A.           Unit.
+  Jones, Jenkyn Lloyd                 "
+  Kent, Alexander                  Liberal.
+  King, Thomas Starr               Unit.
+  Longfellow, Samuel                  "
+  Lorimer, George C.               Bapt.
+  May, Samuel J.                   Unit.
+  McGlynn, Edward                  Cath.
+  Mills, B. Fay                    Evang.
+  Moody, Dwight L.                    "
+  Newton, Heber                    Epis.
+  Parker, Theodore                 Unit.
+  Perin, George H.                 Univ.
+  Pierpont, John                   Unit.
+  Pullman, James M.                Univ.
+  Rainsford, M. S.                 Epis.
+  Reed, Myron W.                   Liberal.
+  Savage, Minot J.                 Unit.
+  Scully, Thomas                   Cath.
+  Shippen, Rush                    Unit.
+  Swing, David                     Liberal.
+  Thomas, Hiram W.                    "
+  Tyng, Stephen H.                 Epis.
+
+
+WOMEN MINISTERS.
+
+  Blackwell, Antoinette Brown      Unit.
+  Booth, Maud Ballington           Vols. of Am.
+  Brown, Olympia                   Univ.
+  Buck, Florence                   Unit.
+  Chapin, Augusta, D. D.           Univ.
+  Crane, Caroline Bartlett         Unit.
+  Crooker, Florence Kollock        Univ.
+  Deyo, Amanda                       "
+  Eastman, Annis F.                Cong'l.
+  Hanaford, Phebe A.               Univ.
+  Hultin, Ida C.                   Unit.
+  Moore, Henrietta G.              Univ.
+  Murdock, Marian                  Unit.
+  Safford, Mary J.                   "
+  Shaw, Anna Howard                Prot. Meth.
+  Spencer, Anna Garlin             Liberal.
+  Tucker, Emma Booth               Salv. Army.
+  Whitney, Mary Traffern           Unit.
+  Wilkes, Eliza Tupper               "
+  Woolley, Celia P.                  "
+
+
+ENGLISH CLERGYMEN.
+
+  Archbishop of Canterbury                1901.
+    "        "  York                       "
+  Archdeacon of Manchester.
+  Bishop of Edinburgh                     1895.
+    "    " Exeter                          "
+    "    " Hereford                        "
+    "    " London                          "
+    "    " Southwell                       "
+  Canon Charles Kingsley of Westmin'r.
+    "  Wilberforce       "     "
+  Archbishop Cardinal Vaughn              Cath.
+  Archbishop Moran of Australia
+  Archbishop Nozaleda of the
+    Philippines                           Cath.
+  Hugh Price Hughes.
+  James Martineau, D. D.
+  Most Rev. Gordon Cowie, Bishop of
+    Auckland and Primate of New Zealand.
+  Newman Hall, LL. B., D. D.
+
+
+AMERICAN MEN.
+
+  Alcott, A. Bronson.
+  Atkinson, Edward.
+  Bidwell, Gen. John.
+  Bigelow, John, Minister to France.
+  Birney, James G.
+  Blackwell, Henry B.
+  Booth, Judge Henry, Dean Union Col. of Law, Chicago.
+  Bowles, Samuel.
+  Bradwell, Judge James B.
+  Brooks, John Graham, Pres. National Consumers' League.
+  Bryant, William Cullen.
+  Burdette, Robert J.
+  Cable, George W.
+  Childs, George W.
+  Clark, Francis E., Pres. National Christian Endeavor.
+  Clemens, Samuel R. (Mark Twain).
+  Curtis, George William.
+  Debs, Eugene V.
+  Dole, Sanford B., Governor of Hawaii.
+  Donnelly, Ignatius.
+  Douglass, Frederick.
+  Dow, Neal.
+  Emerson, Ralph Waldo
+  Field, Eugene.
+  Fields, James T.
+  Fisk, Clinton B.
+  Ford, Paul Leicester.
+  Forney, John W.
+  Foss, Sam Walter.
+  Foulke, William Dudley.
+  Garrison, William Lloyd, Sr. and Jr.
+  Gompers, Samuel.
+  Griggs, Edward Howard.
+  Hale, Gen. Irving.
+  Harris, William T., U. S. Commissioner of Education.
+  Hattan, Frank, U. S. Postmaster-General.
+  Higginson, Thomas Wentworth.
+  Hooker, John.
+  Howe, Dr. Samuel G.
+  Howells, William Dean.
+  Hurd, Judge Harvey B., Dean Northwestern Univ. Law Col.
+  Husted, James W., Speaker of New York Legislature.
+  Hutchinson, John.
+  Ingersoll, Robert G.
+  Jackson, Francis.
+  Jackson, James C., Dansville Sanitorium.
+  Johnson, Thomas L.
+  Jones, Samuel M., Mayor of Toledo, O.
+  Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth.
+  McCulloch, Hugh, Secretary of the Treasury.
+  Miles, Nelson A., Lieutenant-General U. S. A.
+  Morton, J. Sterling, Secretary of Agriculture.
+  Nye, Edgar Wilson (Bill).
+  Owen, Robert Dale.
+  Phillips, Wendell.
+  Pillsbury, Parker.
+  Powderly, Terence V.
+  Purvis, Robert.
+  Quincy, Josiah.
+  Ridpath, John Clark.
+  Rogers, Nathaniel P.
+  Sage, Russell.
+  Sargent, Frank P., Com'r of Immigration.
+  Saxton, Gen. Rufus.
+  Smith, Gerrit.
+  Tilton, Theodore.
+  Tourgee, Albion W.
+  Tyler, Moses Coit.
+  Ward, Lester F., Smithsonian Institute.
+  Washington, Booker T.
+  Whittier, John G.
+  Woolley, John G.
+  Wright, Carroll D., Pres. U. S. Labor Commission.
+
+
+AMERICAN WOMEN.
+
+  Addams, Jane, Hull House, Chicago.
+  Alcott, Louisa M.
+  Alden, Cynthia Westover, Pres. Int'l Sunshine Society.
+  Anthony, Susan B.
+  Avery, Rachel Foster, Sec'y Nat'l Suff. Ass'n, 21 years.
+  Barrows, Isabel C.
+  Barry (Lake), Leonora M., Grand Organizer Knights of Labor.
+  Barton, Clara, Pres. American Red Cross Ass'n.
+  Blackwell, Alice Stone, Editor of _The Woman's Journal_.
+  Blackwell, Dr. Elizabeth,
+  Blackwell, Dr. Emily,  Founders of Woman's Medical College of
+    New York Infirmary.
+  Blake, Lillie Devereux, Pres. Nat'l Legislative League.
+  Booth, Mary L., Editor of _Harper's Bazar_.
+  Bradwell, Myra, Founder and editor of _Legal News_.
+  Byrd, Mary E., Director Smith Coll. Observatory.
+  Campbell, Helen.
+  Carr, Mary L., Ex-President W. R. C.
+  Cary, Alice.
+  Cary, Phoebe.
+  Catt, Carrie Chapman, Pres. Nat'l Wom. Suff. Ass'n.
+  Child, Lydia Maria.
+  Clay, Laura,  Aud. Nat'l Wom. Suff. Ass'n.
+  Clemmer, Mary.
+  Colby, Clara B., Editor of _The Woman's Tribune_.
+  Cooper, Sarah B., Pres. Golden Gate Kinder. Ass'n.
+  Crowe, Martha Foote, Dean Northwestern University.
+  Decker, Sarah Platt.
+  Demorest, Mme. Louise, Editor _Demorest's Magazine_.
+  Diaz, Abby Morton.
+  Dickinson, Anna E.
+  Dickinson, Mary Lowe, Hon. Pres. Nat. Council of Women.
+  Diggs, Annie L., State Librarian, Kansas.
+  Edson, Susan A., Physician to Garfield.
+  Fairbanks, Cornelia C., Pres. Gen. Daughters Am. Rev.
+  Field, Kate.
+  Field, Martha R. (Catherine Cole), Ex-Pres. Wom. Int'l Press Ass'n.
+  Fletcher, Alice, Special Indian Agent (Harv. Univ.)
+  Foster, J. Ellen, Pres. Nat'l Wom. Rep. Ass'n.
+  Gage, Matilda Joslyn.
+  Gardiner, Helen H.
+  Garrett, Mary E.
+  Gibbons, Abby Hopper, Pres. Woman's Prison Ass'n.
+  Gougar, Helen M.
+  Grannis, Elizabeth B., Pres. Nat'l Social Purity League.
+  Guiney, Louise Imogen.
+  Hall, Florence Howe.
+  Harbert, Elizabeth Boynton.
+  Haskell, Ella Knowles, Ass't Att'y-Gen. of Montana.
+  Helmuth, Mrs. William Tod, Pres. Nat'l Council of Women.
+  Henrotin, Ellen M., Ex-Pres. Gen. Fed. of Clubs.
+  Holley, Marietta, (Josiah Allen's Wife).
+  Hollister, Lillian M., Sup. Com. Ladies of Maccabees.
+  Hooker, Isabella Beecher.
+  Hosmer, Harriet.
+  Howe, Julia Ward.
+  Jacobi, Dr. Mary Putnam.
+  Kelley, Florence, Ex-Chief State Factory Insp., Ills.
+  Krout, Mary H.
+  Leslie, Mrs. Frank.
+  Lippincott, Sarah J., (Grace Greenwood).
+  Livermore, Mary A.
+
+  Lockwood, Mary S., Editor _Am. Mag._ (D. A. R.).
+  Logan, Olive.
+  Lowell, Josephine Shaw, Pres. Wom. Munic. L., New York.
+  Lozier, Dr. Clemence, Founder Woman's Homeopathic College, New York.
+  Marshall, Dr. Clara, Dean Wom. Med. Coll., Phila.
+  McCulloch, Catharine Waugh.
+  McGee, Dr. Anita Newcomb, Ass't Surgeon U. S. A. in Spanish-American War.
+  Miller, Flo Jamison, Ex-Pres. Woman's Relief Corps.
+  Mitchell, Maria.
+  Mussey, Ellen Spencer, Dean Woman's Law College, Washington, D. C.
+  Nathan, Mrs. Frederick, Pres. N. Y. Consumers' League.
+  Palmer, Bertha Honore, Pres. Board Lady Managers, World's Fair.
+  Parton, Mrs. James (Fanny Fern).
+  Patton, Abby Hutchinson.
+  Paul, A. Emmagene,  Sup't of Street Cleaning Dep't, 1st Ward, Chicago.
+  Peabody, Elizabeth, Educator and philanthropist.
+  Preston, Dr. Ann, Dean of Med. Coll. and founder of Wom. Hosp.,
+    Philadelphia.
+  Sewall, May Wright, Pres. Int'l Council of Women.
+  Seymour, Mary F., Ed. of _Business Woman's Journal_.
+  Smith, Dr. Julia Holmes, Dean Nat'l Med. Coll., Chicago.
+  Solomon, Hannah G., Pres. Nat'l Council of Jewish Wom.
+  Southworth, Mrs. E. D. E. N.
+  Spofford, Harriet Prescott.
+  Stanford, Jane Lathrop (Leland).
+  Stanton, Elizabeth Cady.
+  Stetson, Charlotte Perkins.
+  Stevens, Lillian M. N., Pres. National W. C. T. U.
+  Stevenson, Dr. Sarah Hackett.
+  Stockham, Dr. Alice B.
+  Stone, Lucinda Hinsdale.
+  Stone, Lucy.
+  Stowe, Harriet Beecher.
+  Taylor, Elmina Shepard, Pres. Young Woman's Nat'l Improvement Ass'n.
+  Terrill, Mary Church, Pres. Nat'l Ass'n of Col. Wom.
+  Upton, Harriet Taylor, Treas. Nat'l Wom. Suff. Ass'n.
+  Wallace, Mrs. Lew.
+  Wallace, Zerelda G.
+  Ward, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps.
+  Wells, Emmeline B.
+  Wells, Ida B.
+  White, Sallie Joy, Ex.-Pres. N. E. Wom. Press Ass'n.
+  Whiting, Lilian.
+  Whitney, Anne, Sculptor.
+  Willard, Frances E.
+  Willing, Jennie Fowler.
+  Winslow, Dr. Caroline B.
+  Winslow, Helen M., Editor of _Club Woman_.
+  Young, Zina D. H., Pres. Nat'l Woman's Relief Ass'n.
+  Zakrzewska, Dr. Marie E., Founder New Eng. Hospital for Women and
+    Children.
+
+
+GREAT BRITAIN.
+
+  Aberdeen, Countess of,  Vice-President-at-Large International Council
+    of Women.
+  Aberdeen, Earl of, Gov.-Gen. of Canada.
+  Anderson, Mrs. Garrett, M. D.
+  Balfour, A. J., Prime Minister.
+  Balfour, Lady Frances.
+  Battersea, Lady.
+  Becker, Lydia, Editor _Women's Suffrage Journal_.
+  Begg, Faithfull, M. P.
+  Benson (Archbishop of Canterbury), Mrs.
+  Besant, Annie.
+  Besant, Walter.
+  Biggs, Caroline Ashurst,
+  Blackburn, Helen, Editors _Englishwoman's Review_.
+  Blake, Dr. Sophia Jex.
+  Blatch, Harriet Stanton.
+  Bright, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob.
+  Browning, Elizabeth Barrett.
+  Butler, Josephine E., Pres. Social Purity League.
+  Carlisle, Lady, Pres. Woman's Liberal Federation.
+  Chant, Laura Ormiston.
+  Cobbe, Frances Power.
+  Cobden, Richard.
+  Coleridge, Lord Chief Justice.
+  Courtney, Leonard H., M. P.
+  Crawford, Emily.
+  Davies, Emily, Mistress of Girton.
+  D'Israeli, Benjamin, Prime Minister.
+  Edwards, Amelia B.
+  Fawcett, Henry, M. P. and Postmaster-General.
+  Fawcett, Mrs. Millicent Garrett, Pres. Wom. Suff. Ass'n Great Brit.
+  Fry, Elizabeth.
+  Glenesk, Lord.
+  Grey, Sir George, K. C. B.
+  Harberton, Lady.
+  Haslem, Anna Maria. (Ireland.)
+  Huxley, Thomas H.
+  Lucas, Margaret Bright.
+  Martineau, Harriet.
+  McLaren, Duncan, M. P.
+  McLaren, Mrs. Priscilla Bright.
+  Mill, John Stuart, Mr. and Mrs.
+  Nightingale, Florence.
+  Proctor, Adelaide A.
+  Ritchie, Anne Thackeray.
+  Rollitt, Sir Albert, Earl of Selborne.
+  Salisbury, Marquis of. Prime Minister.
+  Selborne, Earl of.
+  Sidgwick, Mrs. Henry, Princ. of Newnham.
+  Somerset, Lady Henry, Pres. World's W. C. T. U.
+  Somerville, Mary, Astronomer.
+  Stead, Wm. T.
+  Tallon, Daniel. Lord Mayor of Dublin.
+  Taylor, Peter A., M. P., and Mrs.
+  Thomson (Archbish. of York), Mrs.
+  Todd, Isabella M. S. (Ireland).
+  Unwin, Jane Cobden.
+  Wigham, Eliza.
+  Wollstonecraft, Mary, Author of Rights of Woman (1792).
+  Woodall, William, M. P.
+  Wyndham, Hon. George.
+
+
+FRANCE.
+
+  Dumas, Alexandre (fils).
+  Hugo, Victor.
+
+
+AUSTRALIA.
+
+  Barton, Edmund, Premier.
+  Cockburn, Sir John, K. C. W. G.,
+  Kingston, Hon. C. C., Premier S. Aus.
+  Lyne, Sir William, Premier N. S. W.
+  Onslow, Lady.
+  Parkes, Sir Henry, Premier N. S. W.
+  Reid, Sir G. H., Premier N. S. W.
+  Turner, Sir George, Premier Victoria.
+  Windeyer, Lady.
+
+
+NEW ZEALAND.
+
+  Hall, Sir John.
+  Seddon, H. J., Premier.
+  Stout, Sir Robert, Premier.
+  Vogel, Sir Julius, Colonial Treas.
+
+
+CANADA.
+
+  Hall, Sir John, M. P.
+  MacDonald, Sir John, Premier.
+
+
+SOUTH AFRICA.
+
+  Schreiner, Olive.
+
+
+TESTIMONY FROM WOMAN SUFFRAGE STATES.[501]
+
+No attempt is made to give here the mass of testimony which is easily
+available from the States where women vote, but only enough is
+presented to show its nature and the character of those who offer it.
+In the four States where women have exercised the full franchise for
+from six to thirty-three years, not half a dozen reputable persons
+have said over their own names that any of the evils which were so
+freely predicted have come to pass or that its effect upon men, women
+or the community has been other than good. The small amount of
+criticism which has been openly made has been anonymous or from those
+whose word was entitled to no weight. There is not another public
+question on which the testimony is so uniformly one-sided, and similar
+evidence on any other would be accepted as sufficiently conclusive to
+demand a unanimous verdict in its favor.
+
+In 1901 Amos R. Wells, editor of the _Christian Endeavor World_, wrote
+to twenty-five ministers of several different denominations, choosing
+their names at random among his subscribers in the equal suffrage
+States, and asking them whether equal suffrage was working well,
+fairly well or badly. One answered that it worked badly, three that it
+worked fairly well, and the twenty-one others were all positive and
+explicit in saying that it worked well. One point upon which they laid
+stress was the increased intelligence and breadth of mind of the
+women, and the good influence of this upon their children. Mr. Wells
+said in summing up: "Woman suffrage makes elections more expensive,
+but it is a grand school for the mothers of the republic."
+
+
+COLORADO.
+
+In 1898, in answer to the continued misrepresentations of the Eastern
+press, the friends of woman suffrage issued the following:
+
+     We, citizens of the State of Colorado, desire, as lovers of truth
+     and justice, to give our testimony to the value of equal
+     suffrage. We believe that the greatest good of the home, the
+     State and the nation is advanced through the operation of equal
+     suffrage. The evils predicted have not come to pass. The benefits
+     claimed for it have been secured, or are in progress of
+     development. A very large proportion of Colorado women have
+     conscientiously accepted their responsibility as citizens. In
+     1894 more than half the total vote for Governor was cast by
+     women. Between 85 and 90 per cent. of the women of the State
+     voted at that time. The exact vote of the last election has not
+     yet been estimated, but there is reason to believe that the
+     proportional vote of women was as large as in previous years. The
+     vote of good women, like that of good men, is involved in the
+     evils resulting from the abuse of our present political system;
+     but the vote of women is noticeably more conscientious than that
+     of men, and will be an important factor in bringing about a
+     better order.
+
+This was signed by the governor, three ex-governors, both senators,
+both members of Congress and ex-senators, the chief justice and two
+associate justices of the supreme court, three judges of the court of
+appeals, four judges of the district court, the secretary of State,
+the State treasurer, State auditor, attorney-general, the mayor of
+Denver, the president of the State University, the president of
+Colorado College, the representative of the General Federation of
+Women's Clubs, the vice-regent of the Mount Vernon Association, and
+the presidents of thirteen women's clubs.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I am confident that recognition of woman suffrage in the constitution
+of proposed States will not in any way hinder, delay or endanger their
+admission. That question is one belonging to the State and not to the
+general government, and the opponents of woman suffrage will not, I am
+sure, deny to the new States the right to settle that question for
+themselves.
+
+               HENRY M. TELLER (Rep.), _U. S. Senator_. (1889.)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Instead of rough or vicious men, or even drunken men, treating women
+with disrespect, the presence of a single good woman at the polls
+seems to make the whole crowd of men as respectful and quiet as at the
+theater or church. For the credit of American men be it said that the
+presence of one woman or girl at the polls, the wife or daughter of
+the humblest mechanic, has as good an effect on the crowd as the
+presence of the grandest dame or the most fashionable belle. The
+American woman is clearly as much of a queen at the polls, in her own
+bearing and the deference paid her, as in the drawing-room or at the
+opera. I feel more pride than ever in American manhood and American
+womanhood since seeing these gatherings on Tuesday, where men and
+women of all classes and conditions met in their own neighborhood to
+perform with duty and dignity the selection of their own rulers, and
+to give their approval to the principles to guide such officials when
+chosen. No woman was less in dignity and sweetness of womanhood after
+such participation in public duties, and I do not believe there is a
+man of sensibility in Colorado to-day who does not love his wife,
+daughter, sister or mother the more for the womanly and gracious
+manner in which she helped so loyally and intelligently in this
+election.
+
+Indeed, Colorado in this election has left very little of good
+argument for its sincere opponents to urge against suffrage. So nearly
+all of everything having any good sense in it has been disproved here,
+that the opposition is left with very few weapons in its armory, and
+all of them weak.
+
+               JAMES S. CLARKSON (Rep.),
+                              _U. S. Ass't P. M. General_. (1894.)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When the question was submitted in Colorado, I supported and voted for
+the proposition as a matter of abstract right; as every fair man must
+admit, when the question comes to him, that a woman has the same right
+of suffrage as a man. In advocating suffrage you need no platform but
+right and justice; those who will not accept it upon that ground would
+not be persuaded though one rose from the dead. I will add, however,
+that even the most virulent enemy of woman suffrage can not prove that
+any harm has come from the experiment. The test in Colorado is still
+too new to expect a unanimous verdict, yet all fair-minded observers
+are justified in predicting a higher standard of morals and of
+political life as a result of woman suffrage.
+
+               ALVA ADAMS (Dem.), _Governor_. (1898.)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I supported the cause of woman suffrage, not because I thought it
+would work the political regeneration of the country, but because I
+believed it was a woman's due to vote, if she desired to do so. I have
+also said, and I reiterate, that the enfranchisement of Colorado women
+has in many ways benefited the State, that it was a decided advance,
+and that I trusted that other States, in emulation of our example,
+would soon give the right to women throughout the land.
+
+               CHARLES S. THOMAS (Dem.), _Governor_. (1899.)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There is not a political party in the State that will ever dare to
+insert in its platform an anti-suffrage plank; for it must not be
+forgotten that upon this question the voting power of the women would
+equal that of the men. It is no more likely that the women of Colorado
+will ever be disfranchised than that the men will be.
+
+               HORACE M. HALE, _former President State University_. (1901.)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Few are so unjust or bold as to argue seriously against the abstract
+right of women to vote; and experience in Colorado and other Western
+States has done much to dispel the various theoretical and sentimental
+objections that have been raised against the extension of this
+manifest right.
+
+The largest majorities for woman suffrage were given in the most
+intelligent cities, and in the best precincts of each city, while the
+heavy majorities against it were in the precincts controlled by the
+debased and lawless classes, and the lowest grade of machine
+politicians, who rely on herding the depraved vote--showing that these
+elements dreaded the effect of woman suffrage, and realized the
+falsity of the argument that it would increase the immoral and
+controllable vote.
+
+So far as I have been able to judge by observation of elections and
+analysis of returns, more women vote in the better districts than in
+the slums, and the proportion of intelligent and refined voters to the
+ignorant and depraved is larger among women than among men. The
+average result, therefore, has been beneficial.
+
+No true, refined woman is any less womanly for studying questions of
+public interest and expressing her opinions thereon by means of the
+ballot.... The general effect has been decidedly beneficial.
+Especially does it act as a governor on the political machines of all
+parties to regulate the character of nominees and platforms.
+
+Woman suffrage is accepted as an established fact, and is very little
+discussed. I certainly have no reason to think that the general
+sentiment in its favor has decreased, or that the measure would fail
+to pass with as large or a larger majority than before, if again
+submitted to the vote of either the men or women of the State. I have
+no hesitation whatever in stating as my own positive conviction that
+woman suffrage is both right and beneficial, and that it should not
+and never will be repealed in Colorado.
+
+IRVING HALE (of Col.), _General in the Army of the Philippines_.
+(1902.)
+
+It is said that equal suffrage would make family discord. In Colorado
+our divorce laws are rather easy, though stricter than in the
+neighboring States, but since 1893, when suffrage was granted, I have
+never heard of a case where political differences were alleged as a
+cause for divorce or as the provoking cause of family discord. Equal
+suffrage, in my judgment, broadens the minds of both men and women. It
+has certainly given us in Colorado candidates of better character and
+a higher class of officials. It is very true that husband and wife
+frequently vote alike--as the magnet draws the needle they go to the
+polls together. But women are not coerced. If a man were known to
+coerce his wife's vote I believe he would be ridden out of town on a
+rail with a coat of tar and feathers. Women's legal rights have been
+improved in Colorado since they obtained the ballot, and there are now
+no civil distinctions. Equal suffrage tends to make political affairs
+better, purer and more desirable for all who take part in them.
+
+               THOMAS M. PATTERSON (Dem.), _U. S. Senator_. (1902.)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+IDAHO.
+
+It gives me pleasure to say briefly that the extension of the
+franchise to the women of Idaho has positively purified its politics.
+It has compelled not only State conventions, but, more particularly,
+county conventions, of both parties, to select the cleanest and best
+material for public office. Many conventions have turned down their
+strongest local politicians for the simple reason that their moral
+habits were such that the women would unite against them, regardless
+of politics. It has also taken politics out of the saloon to a great
+extent, and has elevated local politics especially to a higher plane.
+Every woman is interested in good government, in good officers, in the
+utmost economy of administration, and a low rate of taxation.
+
+               FRANK W. HUNT (Dem.), _Governor_. (1900.)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Woman suffrage has been in operation in Idaho for over four years and
+there have been no alarming or disastrous results. I think most people
+in the State, looking over the past objections to the extension of the
+right of suffrage, are now somewhat surprised that any were ever made.
+As to advantages--it is, as in all matters of this kind, difficult to
+measure them exactly, because the benefit is largely indirect. I
+think, however, that it has exercised a good and considerable
+influence over conventions, resulting in the nomination of better men
+for office, and that it has been of considerable weight in securing
+the enactment of good laws.
+
+               S. H. HAYS (Fus.), _Ex-Attorney-General_. (1901.)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The adoption of equal suffrage has resulted in much good in Idaho. The
+system is working well, and the best result therefrom is the selection
+for public positions, State, county and municipal. Our politics in the
+past has been manipulated by political adventurers, more or less,
+without regard to the best interests of the people, but principally in
+the interests of a small coterie of politicians of the different
+parties, who have depended upon the public treasury for subsistence.
+The participation of our women in the conventions of our various
+political parties and in elections has a tendency to relegate the
+professional politicians, at least the worst element, and bring forth
+in their stead a better class of people. This tendency is of vast
+importance to the State. It compels leaders of political parties to be
+more careful in the selection of candidates for different offices of
+trust and profit. RALPH P. QUARLES, _Justice of the Supreme Court_.
+(1902.)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Chief Justice and all the Judges of the Supreme Court have
+published a statement saying in part: "Woman suffrage in this State is
+a success; none of the evils predicted have come to pass, and it has
+gained much in popularity since its adoption by our people."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+UTAH.
+
+The lawmakers seem to be afraid of enfranchising women because of the
+deteriorating effect which politics might have on womankind. If this
+be true let the experience of Utah speak. For six years women in this
+State have had the right to vote and hold office. Have the wheels of
+progress stopped? Instead we have bounded forward with seven-league
+boots. Have the fears and predictions of the local opponents of woman
+suffrage been verified? Have women degenerated into low politicians,
+neglecting their homes and stifling the noblest emotions of womanhood?
+On the contrary women are respected quite as much as they were before
+Statehood; loved as rapturously as ever, and are led to the altar with
+the same beatific strains of music and the same unspeakable joy that
+invested ceremonials before their enfranchisement.
+
+The plain facts are that in this State the influence of woman in
+politics has been distinctly elevating. In the primary, in the
+convention and at the polls her very presence inspires respect for law
+and order. Few men are so base that they will not be gentlemen in the
+presence of ladies. Experience has shown that women have voted their
+intelligent convictions. They understand the questions at issue and
+they vote conscientiously and fearlessly. While we do not claim to
+have the purest politics in the world in Utah, it will be readily
+conceded that the woman-vote is a terror to evildoers, and our course
+is, therefore, upward and onward.
+
+One of the bugaboos of the opposition was that women would be
+compelled to sit on juries. Not a single instance of the kind has
+happened in the State, for the reason that women are never summoned;
+the law simply exempts them, but does not exclude them. Another
+favorite idiocy of the anti-suffragists is that if the women vote they
+ought to be compelled to fight. In the same manner the law exempts
+them from military service.
+
+For one I am proud of Utah's record in dealing with her female
+citizens. I take the same pride in it that a good husband would who
+had treated his wife well, and I look forward with eager hope to the
+day when woman suffrage shall become universal.
+
+               HEBER M. WELLS (Rep.), _Governor_. (1902.)
+
+There is literally no end to the favorable testimony from Utah, given
+by Mormons and Gentiles alike.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+WYOMING.
+
+Gov. John A. Campbell was in office when the woman suffrage law was
+passed. In 1871 he said in his message to the Territorial Legislature:
+
+     There is upon our statute book "an Act granting to the women of
+     Wyoming Territory the right of suffrage," which has now been in
+     force two years. It is simple justice to say that the women
+     entering, for the first time in the history of the country, upon
+     these new and untried duties, have conducted themselves in every
+     respect with as much tact, sound judgment, and good sense, as
+     men.
+
+In 1873 he said: "Two years more of observation of the practical
+working of the system have only served to deepen my conviction that
+what we, in this Territory, have done, has been well done; and that
+our system of impartial suffrage is an unqualified success."
+
+Governor Thayer, who succeeded Campbell, said in his message:
+
+     Woman suffrage has now been in practical operation in our
+     Territory for six years, and has, during the time, increased in
+     popularity and in the confidence of the people. In my judgment
+     the results have been beneficial, and its influence favorable to
+     the best interests of the community.
+
+Governor Hoyt, who succeeded Thayer, said in 1882:
+
+     Under woman suffrage we have better laws, better officers, better
+     institutions, better morals, and a higher social condition in
+     general, than could otherwise exist. Not one of the predicted
+     evils, such as loss of native delicacy and disturbance of home
+     relations, has followed in its train.
+
+Later he said in a public address: "The great body of our women, and
+the best of them, have accepted the elective franchise as a precious
+boon and exercise it as a patriotic duty--in a word, after many years
+of happy experience, woman suffrage is so thoroughly rooted and
+established in the minds and hearts of the people that, among them
+all, no voice is ever uplifted in protest against or in question of
+it."
+
+Governor Hale, who was next in this office, expressed himself
+repeatedly to the same effect.
+
+Governor Warren, who succeeded Hale, said in a letter to Horace G.
+Wadlin, Esq., of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, in 1885:
+
+     Our women consider much more carefully than our men the character
+     of candidates, and both political parties have found themselves
+     obliged to nominate their best men in order to obtain the support
+     of the women. As a business man, as a city, county, and
+     territorial officer, and now as Governor of Wyoming Territory, I
+     have seen much of the workings of woman suffrage, but I have yet
+     to hear of the first case of domestic discord growing out of it.
+     Our women nearly all vote, and since in Wyoming as elsewhere the
+     majority of women are good and not bad, the result is good and
+     not evil.
+
+Territorial Governors are appointed, not elected. As U. S. Senator,
+Mr. Warren has up to the present time (1902) repeatedly given similar
+testimony. In various chapters of the present volume may be found the
+strong approval of ex-U. S. Senator Joseph M. Carey.
+
+Most of these Governors were Republicans. Hon. N. L. Andrews
+(Democrat), Speaker of the Wyoming House of Representatives, said in
+1879:
+
+     I came to this Territory in the fall of 1871, with the strongest
+     prejudice possible against woman suffrage. The more I have seen
+     of it, the less my objections have been realized, and the more it
+     has commended itself to my judgment and good opinion. Under all
+     my observations it has worked well, and has been productive of
+     much good. The women use the ballot with more independence and
+     discrimination in regard to the qualifications of candidates than
+     men do. If the ballot in the hand of woman compels political
+     parties to place their best men in nomination, this, in and of
+     itself, is a sufficient reason for sustaining woman suffrage.
+
+Ex-Chief Justice Fisher, of Cheyenne, said in 1883:
+
+     I wish I could show the people who are so wonderfully exercised
+     on the subject of female suffrage just how it works. The women
+     watch the nominating conventions, and if the Republicans put a
+     bad man on their ticket and the Democrats a good one, the
+     Republican women do not hesitate a moment in scratching off the
+     bad and substituting the good. It is just so with the Democratic
+     women. I have seen the effects of female suffrage, and instead of
+     being a means of encouragement to fraud and corruption, it tends
+     greatly to purify elections and give better government.
+
+In 1884 Attorney-General M. C. Brown said in a public letter:
+
+     My prejudices were formerly all against woman suffrage, but they
+     have gradually given way since it became an established fact in
+     Wyoming. My observation, extending over a period of fifteen
+     years, satisfies me of its entire justice and propriety.
+     Impartial observation has also satisfied me that in the use of
+     the ballot women exercise fully as good judgment as men, and in
+     some particulars are more discriminating, as, for instance, on
+     questions of morals.
+
+At another time he said:
+
+     I have been asked if women make good jurors, and I answer by
+     saying, that so far as I have observed their conduct on juries,
+     as a lawyer, I find but little fault with them.... They do not
+     reason like men upon the evidence, but, being possessed of a
+     higher quality of intellectuality, i. e., keen perceptions, they
+     see the truth of the thing at a glance. Their minds once settled,
+     neither sophistry, logic, rhetoric, pleading nor tears will move
+     them from their purpose. A guilty person never escapes a just
+     punishment when tried by women juries.
+
+     The effect of woman suffrage upon the people of Wyoming has been
+     good. It has been said by one man that open, flagrant acts of
+     bribery are commonly practiced at the polls in Wyoming, and this
+     statement is made to show that the effect of woman suffrage has
+     not been good. The statement is not true. In the last election
+     there were in Cheyenne large sums of money expended to influence
+     the result, and votes were bought on the streets in an open and
+     shameless manner. As U. S. Attorney for the Territory, it became
+     my duty to investigate this matter before a grand jury composed
+     of men. The revelations before the jury were astonishing and many
+     cases of bribery were clearly proven; but while a majority of
+     those composing the jury were men of the highest integrity, there
+     were so many members who had probably taken part in the same
+     unlawful transactions that no indictment could be obtained. The
+     circumstances attending this election were phenomenal. It would
+     be unjust to the women, however, if I should fail to add that,
+     while it was clearly proven that many men sold their votes, it
+     was strikingly apparent that few if any women, even of the vilest
+     class, were guilty of the same misconduct.
+
+The Hon. John W. Kingman, for four years a Judge of the U. S. Supreme
+Court of Wyoming says:
+
+     Woman suffrage was inaugurated in 1869 without much discussion,
+     and without any general movement of men or women in its favor. At
+     that time few women voted. At each election since, they have
+     voted in larger numbers, and now nearly all go to the polls. Our
+     women do not attend the caucuses in any considerable numbers, but
+     they generally take an interest in the selection of candidates,
+     and it is very common, in considering the availability of an
+     aspirant for office, to ask, 'How does he stand with the ladies?'
+     Frequently the men set aside certain applicants for office,
+     because their characters would not stand the criticism of women.
+     The women manifest a great deal of independence in their
+     preference for candidates, and have frequently defeated bad
+     nominations. Our best and most cultivated women vote, and vote
+     understandingly and independently, and they can not be bought
+     with whiskey or blinded by party prejudice. They are making
+     themselves felt at the polls, as they do everywhere else in
+     society, by a quiet but effectual discountenancing of the bad,
+     and a helping hand for the good and the true. We have had no
+     trouble from the presence of bad women at the polls. It has been
+     said that the delicate and cultured women would shrink away, and
+     the bold and indelicate come to the front in public affairs. This
+     we feared; but nothing of the kind has happened. I do not believe
+     that suffrage causes women to neglect their domestic affairs.
+     Certainly, such has not been the case in Wyoming, and I never
+     heard a man complain that his wife was less interested in
+     domestic economy because she had the right to vote and took an
+     interest in making the community respectable. The opposition to
+     woman suffrage at first was pretty bitter. To-day I do not think
+     you could get a dozen respectable men in any locality to oppose
+     it.
+
+In 1895 U. S. Senator Clarence D. Clark wrote as follows to the
+Constitutional Convention of Utah which was considering a woman
+suffrage plank:
+
+     So far as the operation of the law in this State is concerned, we
+     were so well satisfied, with twenty years' experience under the
+     Territorial government, that it went into our constitution with
+     but one dissenting vote, although many thought that such a
+     section might result in its rejection by Congress. If it does
+     nothing else it fulfils the theory of a true representative
+     government, and in this State, at least, has resulted in none of
+     the evils prophesied. It has not been the fruitful source of
+     family disagreements feared. It has not lowered womanhood. Women
+     do generally take advantage of the right to vote, and vote
+     intelligently. It has been years since we have had trouble at the
+     polls--quiet and order, in my opinion, being due to two causes,
+     the presence of women and our efficient election laws. One
+     important feature I might mention, and that is, in view of the
+     woman vote, no party dare nominate notoriously immoral men, for
+     fear of defeat by that vote. Regarding the adoption of the system
+     in other States I see no reason why its operation should not be
+     generally the same elsewhere as it is with us. It is surely true
+     that after many years' experience, Wyoming would not be content
+     to return to the old limits, as, in our opinion, the absence of
+     ill results is conclusive proof of the wisdom of the proposition.
+
+In 1896 the Hon. H. V. S. Groesbeck, Chief Justice of the Supreme
+Court, thus summed up the results of twenty-seven years' experience:
+
+     1. Woman suffrage has been weighed and not found wanting. Adopted
+     by a statute passed by the first legislative Assembly of the
+     Territory, in 1869, and approved by the Governor, it has
+     continued without interruption and with but one unsuccessful
+     demand for the repeal of the law. The constitutional convention
+     which assembled in 1889 adopted the equal suffrage provision and
+     refused to submit the question to a separate vote by a large
+     majority. The continuance of the measure for nearly a quarter of
+     a century, and the determination to incorporate it in the
+     fundamental law, even at the risk of failing to secure Statehood,
+     are the strongest arguments of its benefit and permanency.
+
+     2. It has tended to secure good nominations for the public
+     offices. The women as a class will not knowingly vote for
+     incompetent, immoral or inefficient candidates.
+
+     3. It has tended to make the women self-reliant and independent,
+     and to turn their attention to the study of the science of
+     government--an education that is needed by the mothers of the
+     race.
+
+     4. It has made our elections quiet and orderly. No rudeness,
+     brawling or disorder appears or would be tolerated at the polling
+     booths. There is no more difficulty or indelicacy in depositing a
+     ballot in the urn than in dropping a letter in the post office.
+
+     5. It has not marred domestic harmony. Husband and wife
+     frequently vote opposing tickets without disturbing the peace of
+     the home. Divorces are not as frequent here as in other
+     communities, even taking into consideration our small population.
+     Many applicants for divorces are from those who have a husband or
+     wife elsewhere, and the number of divorces granted for causes
+     arising in this State are comparatively few.
+
+     6. It has not resulted in unsexing women. They have not been
+     office-seekers. Women are generally selected for county
+     superintendents of the schools--offices for which they seem
+     particularly adapted, but they have not been applicants for other
+     positions.
+
+     7. Equal suffrage brings together at the ballot-box the
+     enlightened common sense of American manhood and the unselfish
+     moral sentiment of American womanhood. Both of these elements
+     govern a well-regulated household, and both should sway the
+     political destinies of the entire human family. Particularly do
+     we need in this new commonwealth the home influence at the
+     primaries and at the polls. We believe with Emerson that if all
+     the vices are represented in our politics, some of the virtues
+     should be.
+
+In 1902 Justice Corn, of the State Supreme Court, made the following
+public statement:
+
+     Women of all classes very generally vote. Bad women do not
+     obtrude their presence at the polls, and I do not now remember
+     ever to have seen a distinctively bad woman casting her vote.
+
+     Woman suffrage has no injurious effect upon the home or the
+     family that I have ever heard of during the twelve years I have
+     resided in the State. It does not take so much of women's time as
+     to interfere with their domestic duties, or with their church or
+     charitable work. It does not impair their womanliness or make
+     them less satisfactory as wives and mothers. They do not have
+     less influence, or enjoy less respect and consideration socially.
+     My impression is that they read the daily papers and inform
+     themselves upon public questions much more generally than women
+     elsewhere.
+
+     Woman suffrage has had the effect almost entirely to exclude
+     notoriously bad or immoral men from public office in the State.
+     Parties refuse to nominate such men upon the distinct ground that
+     they can not obtain the women's vote.
+
+     The natural result of such conditions is to increase the respect
+     in which women are held, and not to diminish it. They are a more
+     important factor in affairs, and therefore more regarded. It is
+     generally conceded, I think, that women have a higher standard of
+     morality and right living than men. And, as they have a say in
+     public matters, it has a tendency to make men respect their
+     standard, and in some degree attempt to attain it themselves.
+
+     I have never been an enthusiastic advocate of woman suffrage as a
+     cure for all the ills that afflict society, but I give you in
+     entire candor my impressions of it from my observations in this
+     State.
+
+In 1889, after women in Wyoming had very generally exercised the full
+suffrage since 1869, Mrs. Clara B. Colby, editor of the _Woman's
+Tribune_, Washington, D. C., compiled a report from the census
+statistics. Those relating to crime, insanity and divorce were as
+follows:
+
+     The population of the United States has increased in the last
+     decade 24.6 per cent. That of Wyoming has increased 127.9 per
+     cent. But while the number of criminals in the whole United
+     States has increased 40.3--an alarming ratio far beyond the
+     increase of population--notwithstanding the immense increase of
+     population in Wyoming, the number of criminals has not increased
+     at all, but there has been a relative decrease, which shows a
+     law-abiding community and a constantly improving condition of the
+     public morals. In 1870 there were confined in the jails and
+     prisons of Wyoming 74 criminals, 72 men and 2 women. The census
+     of 1880 shows the same number of criminals, 74, as against an
+     average number of criminals in the other Western States of 645.
+     This remarkable fact is made more interesting because the 74 in
+     1890 are all men, and thus the scarecrow of the vicious women in
+     politics disappears. Wyoming being the only State in which the
+     per cent. of criminal women has decreased, it is evident that the
+     morals of the female part of the population improve with the
+     exercise of the right of suffrage.
+
+     There were 189,503 insane in the United States, but there were
+     but three insane persons in Wyoming in 1880, all men. The
+     preponderance of insanity among married women is usually
+     attributed to the monotony of their lives, and since this is much
+     relieved by their participation in politics we should naturally
+     expect to find, as a physical effect, a decreased proportion of
+     insane women where woman suffrage prevails.
+
+     From 1870 to 1880 the rate of divorce increased in the United
+     States 79.4 per cent., three times the ratio of the increase of
+     population, and in the group of Western States, omitting,
+     Wyoming, it increased 436.7 per cent., almost four times the
+     average increase of population, while in Wyoming the average
+     increase in divorce was less than 50 per cent. of that of the
+     population.
+
+     Compare Wyoming with a typical Eastern State--Connecticut--the
+     latter has one insane person to every 363 of the population,
+     Wyoming has one to every 1,497. Nor is this wholly a difference
+     of East and West, for Idaho, its neighbor, shows one insane to
+     every 1,029. Especially would voting seem to increase the
+     intelligence of women, for in Connecticut there are over
+     seven-tenths as many female idiots as there are male idiots,
+     while in Wyoming there are only four-tenths as many.
+
+Woman suffrage may have played no part in these statistics, but if
+they had shown an _increase_ of crime, insanity and divorce, it
+certainly would have been held responsible by the world at large.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+NEW YORK.
+
+The History is indebted to Attorney-General John C. Davies for most of
+the information on School Suffrage contained in the New York chapter,
+and also for the opinion which follows herewith on the right of women
+in that State to hold office.
+
+     By the Consolidated School Law it is provided, as regarding
+     School Commissioners, that "No person shall be deemed ineligible
+     to such office by reason of sex, who has the other qualifications
+     as herewith provided;" and regarding common school districts, it
+     is provided that "Every district officer must be a resident of
+     his district and qualified to vote at its meetings." As certain
+     women are qualified to vote in any common school district, such
+     women are thus eligible to any _district_ office, including the
+     offices of trustee, clerk, collector, treasurer or librarian.
+
+     A similar provision in reference to union free schools, that "No
+     person shall be eligible to hold any school district office in
+     any union free school district unless he or she is a qualified
+     voter in such district and is able to read and write," permits
+     women to hold office as members of the board of education and
+     other district offices.
+
+     Aside from Chapter 214 of the Laws of 1892, which has been held
+     to be unconstitutional, I know of no provision of law extending
+     school suffrage to women in _cities_, except that charters of
+     certain third class cities have extended to women tax-payers the
+     right to vote upon a proposition involving the raising of a tax.
+
+     By the Public Officers' Law, Chap. 681 of the Laws of 1892,
+     Section 3, it is provided that "No person shall be capable of
+     holding a civil office who shall not, at the time he shall be
+     chosen thereto, be of full age, a citizen of the United States,
+     and resident of the State, and, if it be a local office, a
+     resident of the political subdivision or municipal corporation of
+     the State for which he shall be chosen, or within which the
+     electors electing him reside, or within which his official
+     functions are required to be exercised."
+
+     In the case of Findlay against Thorn, in the City Court of New
+     York, where the question arose as to the right of a woman to
+     exercise the office of notary public, Chief Justice McAdam
+     refused to pass upon the question, holding that the right could
+     be decided only in a direct proceeding brought for the purpose by
+     the Attorney-General, in which the notary might defend her title.
+     And the court adds:
+
+     "Whether a female is capable of holding a public office has never
+     been decided by the courts of this State and it is a question
+     about which legal minds may well differ. The Constitution
+     regulates the right of suffrage and limits it to 'male' citizens.
+     Disabilities are not favored and are seldom extended by
+     implication, from which it may be argued that if it required the
+     insertion of the term 'male' to exclude female citizens of lawful
+     age from the right of suffrage, a similar limitation would be
+     required to disqualify them from holding office. Citizenship is a
+     condition or status and has no relation to age or sex. It may be
+     contended that it was left to the good sense of the Executive and
+     to the electors to determine whether or not they would elect
+     females to office and that the power being lodged in safe hands
+     was beyond danger of abuse.
+
+     "If on the other hand it be seriously contended that the
+     Constitution by necessary implication, disqualifies females from
+     holding office, it must follow as a necessary consequence that
+     the Act of the Legislature permitting females to serve as school
+     officers (Chap. 9, Laws of 1880), and all other legislative
+     enactments of like import, removing such disqualifications, are
+     unconstitutional and void. In this same connection it may be
+     argued that if the use of the personal pronoun 'he' in the
+     Constitution does not exclude females from public office, its use
+     in the statute can have no greater effect. The statute, like the
+     Constitution, in prescribing qualifications for office omits the
+     word 'male,' leaving the question whether female citizens of
+     lawful age are included or excluded, one of construction.
+
+     "I make these observations for the purpose of showing that the
+     question whether females are eligible to public office in this
+     State, is one not entirely free from doubt and should not
+     therefore be decided where it arises, as it does here,
+     incidentally and collaterally. When the law officers of the State
+     see fit to test the question in direct proceedings for the
+     purpose, it will be time enough to attempt to settle the
+     contention. In such a proceeding, the case of Robinson (131 Mass.
+     376, and that reported in 107 Mass. 604), where it was held that
+     a woman could not be admitted to practice as an attorney and
+     counselor at law in Massachusetts, and those decided in other
+     States that they can hold office, may be examined and
+     considered."
+
+     See also Am. and Eng. Ency. of Law, Vol. 19, p. 403-4. I might
+     add that in this State there are many women who hold the office
+     of notary public.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+WASHINGTON.
+
+The following account of the unconstitutional disfranchising of the
+women of Washington Territory in 1888 was carefully prepared by the
+editors of the _Woman's Journal_ (Boston). When the editors of the
+present volume decided to incorporate it as a part of the History of
+Woman Suffrage it was submitted to Judge Orange J. Jacobs of Seattle
+for legal inspection. He returned it with the statement that it was
+correct in every particular. It constitutes one of the many judicial
+outrages which have been committed in the United States in the
+determination to prevent the enfranchisement of women:
+
+     Women voted in Washington Territory for the first time in 1884,
+     and were disfranchised by its Supreme Court in 1887.
+
+     Equal suffrage was granted by the Legislature in October, 1883.
+     The women at once began to distinguish themselves there, as in
+     Wyoming and elsewhere, by voting for the best man, irrespective
+     of party. The old files of the Washington newspapers bear ample
+     evidence to this fact. The first chance they had to vote was at
+     the municipal elections of July, 1884. The Seattle _Mirror_ said:
+
+     "The city election of last Monday was for more reasons than one
+     the most important ever held in Seattle. The presence of women at
+     the voting-places had the effect of preventing the disgraceful
+     proceedings usually seen. It was the first election in the city
+     where the women could vote, and the first where the gambling and
+     liquor fraternity, which had so long controlled the municipal
+     government to an enormous extent, suffered defeat."
+
+     The _Post-Intelligencer_ said:
+
+     "After the experience of the late election it will not do for any
+     one here to say the women do not want to vote. They displayed as
+     much interest as the men, and, if anything, more.... The result
+     insures Seattle a first-class municipal administration. It is a
+     warning to that undesirable class of the community who subsist
+     upon the weaknesses and vices of society that disregard of law
+     and the decencies of civilization will not be tolerated."
+
+     Quotations might be multiplied from the papers of other towns,
+     testifying to the independent voting of the women, the large size
+     of their vote, the courtesy with which they were treated, and the
+     greater quiet and order produced by their presence at the polls.
+
+     Next came the general election of November, 1884. Again the
+     newspapers were practically unanimous as to the result. The
+     Olympia _Transcript_, which was opposed to equal suffrage, said:
+     "The result shows that all parties must put up good men if they
+     expect to elect them. They can not do as they have in the
+     past--nominate any candidates, and elect them by the force of the
+     party lash."
+
+     The _Democratic State Journal_ said: "No one could fail to see
+     that hereafter more attention must be given at the primaries to
+     select the purest of material, by both parties, if they would
+     gain the female vote."
+
+     Charles J. Woodbury visited Washington about this time. In a
+     letter to the N. Y. _Evening Post_, he said: "Whatever may be the
+     vicissitudes of woman suffrage in Washington Territory in the
+     future, it should now be put on record that at the election, Nov.
+     4, 1884, nine-tenths of its adult female population availed
+     themselves of the right to vote with a hearty enthusiasm."
+
+     He goes on to say that he arrived in Seattle on Sunday, and was
+     surprised at the quiet and order he found prevailing, and at the
+     general Sunday closing of the places of business: "Even the bars
+     of the hotels were closed; and this was the worst town in the
+     Territory when I first saw it. Now its uproarious theaters,
+     dance-houses, squaw-brothels and Sunday fights are things of the
+     past. Not a gambling house exists."
+
+     Women served on juries, and meted out the full penalty of the law
+     to gamblers and keepers of disorderly houses. The Chief Justice
+     of the Territory was the Hon. Roger S. Greene, a cousin of U. S.
+     Senator Hoar, a man of high character and integrity, and a
+     magistrate celebrated throughout the Northwest for his resolute
+     and courageous resistance to lynch law. In his charge to the
+     grand jury at Port Townsend, August, 1884, he said:
+
+     "The opponents of woman suffrage in this Territory are found
+     allied with a solid phalanx of gamblers, prostitutes, pimps, and
+     drunkard-makers--a phalanx composed of all in each of those
+     classes who know the interest of the class and vote according to
+     it."
+
+     In his charge to another grand jury later, Chief Justice Greene
+     said:
+
+     "Twelve terms of court, ladies and gentlemen, I have now held, in
+     which women have served as grand and petit jurors, and it is
+     certainly a fact beyond dispute that no other twelve terms so
+     salutary for restraint of crime have ever been held in this
+     Territory. For fifteen years I have been trying to do what a
+     judge ought, but have never till the last six months felt
+     underneath and around me, in the degree that every judge has a
+     right to feel it, the upbuoying might of the people in the line
+     of full and resolute enforcement of the law."
+
+     Naturally, the vicious elements disliked "the full and resolute
+     enforcement of law." The baser sort of politicians also disliked
+     the independent voting of the women. The Republicans had a normal
+     majority in the Territory, but they nominated for a high office a
+     man who was a hard drinker. The Republican women would not vote
+     for him, and he was defeated. Next they nominated a man who had
+     for years been openly living with an Indian woman and had a
+     family of half-breed children. Again the Republican women refused
+     to vote for him, and he was defeated. This brought the enmity of
+     the Republican "machine" upon woman suffrage. The Democratic
+     women showed equal independence, and incurred the hostility of
+     the Democratic "machine."
+
+     Between 1884 and 1888 a change of administration at Washington
+     led to a change in the Territorial Supreme Court. The newly
+     appointed Chief Justice and a majority of the new judges of the
+     Supreme Court [appointed by President Cleveland] were opposed to
+     equal suffrage, and were amenable, it is said, to the strong
+     pressure brought to bear upon them by all the vicious elements to
+     secure its repeal. A gambler who had been convicted by a jury
+     composed in part of women contested the sentence on the ground
+     that women were not legal voters, and the Supreme Court decided
+     that the woman suffrage bill was unconstitutional, because it had
+     been headed "An Act to Amend Section So and So, Chapter So and So
+     of the Code," instead of "An Act to Enfranchise Women.".... When
+     the Legislature met in 1888 it re-enacted the woman suffrage
+     bill, giving it a full heading, and strengthening it in every way
+     possible.
+
+     Washington was about to be admitted as a State, and was preparing
+     to hold a Constitutional Convention to frame a State
+     constitution. There was no doubt that the majority of the women
+     wanted to vote. Chief Justice Greene estimated that four-fifths
+     of them had voted at the last election before they were deprived
+     of the right. Two successive Legislatures elected by men and
+     women jointly had re-enacted woman suffrage (for its continuance
+     had been made a test question in the choice of the first
+     Legislature for which the women voted, and that Legislature had
+     been careful to insert the words "he or she" in all bills
+     relating to the election laws). It was admitted on all hands that
+     if the women were allowed to vote for members of the
+     Constitutional Convention, it would be impossible to elect one
+     that would wipe out woman suffrage. It was therefore imperative
+     to deprive the women of their votes before the members of the
+     convention were chosen. A scheme was arranged for the purpose.
+     On the ground that she was a woman, the election officers at a
+     local election refused the vote of Mrs. Nevada Bloomer, a
+     saloon-keeper's wife, who was opposed to suffrage. _They accepted
+     the votes of all the other women._ She made a test case by
+     bringing suit against them. In the ordinary course of things, the
+     case would not have come up till after the election of the
+     constitutional convention. But cases for the restoration of
+     personal rights may be advanced on the docket, and Mrs. Bloomer's
+     ostensible object was the restoration of her personal rights,
+     though her real object was to deprive all women of theirs. Her
+     case was put forward on the docket and hurried to a decision.
+
+     The Supreme Court [George Turner and Wm. G. Langford] this time
+     pronounced the woman suffrage law unconstitutional on the ground
+     that _it was beyond the power of a Territorial Legislature to
+     enfranchise women_. The Organic Act of the Territory said that at
+     the first Territorial election persons with certain
+     qualifications should vote, and at subsequent elections _such
+     persons as the Territorial Legislature might enfranchise_. But
+     the court took the ground that in giving the Legislature the
+     right to regulate suffrage, Congress did not at the time have it
+     specifically in mind that they might enfranchise women, and that
+     therefore they could not do so.(!) The suffragists wanted to have
+     the case appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, but
+     Mrs. Bloomer refused.
+
+     The women themselves being prevented from voting, their friends
+     were not able to overcome the combined "machines" of both
+     political parties, and the intense opposition of all the vicious
+     and disorderly elements, at that time very large on the Pacific
+     Coast. A convention opposed to equal suffrage was elected, and
+     framed a constitution excluding women. A friend of the present
+     writer talked with many of the members while the convention was
+     in session. He says almost every lawyer in that body
+     acknowledged, in private conversation, that the decision by which
+     the women had been disfranchised was illegal. "But," they said,
+     "the women had set the community by the ears on the temperance
+     question, and we had to get rid of them." One politician said,
+     frankly, "Women are natural mugwumps, and I hate a mugwump."
+
+     The convention, however, yielded to the pressure sufficiently to
+     submit to the men a separate amendment proposing to strike out
+     the word "male" from the suffrage clause of the new State
+     constitution, but no woman was allowed to vote on it. In
+     November, 1889, this amendment was lost, the same elements that
+     defeated it in the convention defeating it at the polls, with the
+     addition of a great influx of foreign immigrants.
+
+
+NATIONAL-AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.
+
+This is the most democratic of organizations. Its sole object is to
+secure for women citizens protection in their right to vote. The
+general officers are nominated by an informal secret ballot, no one
+being put in nomination. The three persons receiving the highest
+number of votes are considered the nominees and the election is
+decided by secret ballot. Those entitled to vote are three
+delegates-at-large for each auxiliary State society and one delegate
+in addition for every one hundred members of each State auxiliary; the
+State presidents and State members of the National Executive
+Committee; the general officers of the association; the chairmen of
+standing committees. The delegates present from each State cast the
+full vote to which that State is entitled. The vote is taken in the
+same way upon any other question whenever the delegates present from
+five States request it. In other cases each delegate has one vote.
+Any State whose dues are unpaid on January 1 loses its vote in the
+convention for that year.
+
+The two honorary presidents, president, vice-president-at-large, two
+secretaries, treasurer and two auditors constitute the Business
+Committee, which transacts the entire business of the association
+between the annual conventions.
+
+The Executive Committee is composed of the Business Committee, the
+president of each State, and one member from each State, together with
+the chairmen of standing committees; fifteen make a quorum for the
+transaction of business. The decisions reached by the Executive
+Committee, which meets during the convention week, are presented in
+the form of recommendations at the business sessions of the
+convention.
+
+The constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote at any annual
+meeting, after one day's notice in the convention, notice of the
+proposed amendment having been previously given to the Business
+Committee, and by them published in the suffrage papers not less than
+three months in advance.
+
+The association must hold an annual convention of regularly-elected
+delegates for the election of officers and the transaction of
+business. An annual meeting must be held in Washington, D. C., during
+the first session of each Congress.
+
+The Committee on Resolutions must consist of one person from each
+State, elected by its delegation.
+
+There are few changes in officers and the association is noted for the
+harmony of its meetings, although the delegates generally are of
+decided convictions and unusual force of character. Men are eligible
+to membership and a number belong, but the affairs of the organization
+are wholly in the hands of women.
+
+Auxiliary State and Territorial associations exist in all but Wyoming,
+Idaho, Utah, Arkansas, Nevada and Texas. Suffrage associations are not
+needed in the first three, as the women have the full franchise.
+
+
+OFFICERS FOR 1900.
+
+Honorary Presidents, ELIZABETH CADY STANTON, New York City; SUSAN B.
+ANTHONY, Rochester, N. Y.
+
+President, CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT, New York City.
+
+Vice-President-at-Large, REV. ANNA HOWARD SHAW, Philadelphia.
+
+Recording Secretary, ALICE STONE BLACKWELL, Boston.
+
+Corresponding Secretary, RACHEL FOSTER AVERY, Philadelphia.
+
+Treasurer, HARRIET TAYLOR UPTON, Warren, Ohio.
+
+Auditors, LAURA CLAY, Lexington, Ky.; CATHARINE WAUGH MCCULLOCH,
+Chicago.
+
+Honorary Vice-Presidents--[Prominent names mentioned in various
+States.]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[499] For Congressional action see History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II,
+Chaps. XVII, XXIV, XXV; Vol. III, Chap. XXX; present volume, Chaps.
+III, V, VI, Chapter on Wyoming, and references in footnote of Chap. I.
+
+[500] This list is most incomplete, as members change so frequently
+and the House has not voted on the question since 1869. Most of the
+names given above are of those who have in some way openly advocated
+the measure. Practically all of the members from the States where
+women have the full franchise are in favor, and there always has been
+a large number from Kansas. In 1896, in response to letters of
+inquiry, many announced themselves as ready to vote for a suffrage
+amendment.
+
+[501] This is supplementary to matter contained in the State chapters.
+
+
+STANDING COMMITTEES.
+
+PROGRAMME--Carrie Chapman Catt, N. Y.; Rachel Foster Avery, Acting
+Chairman, Penn.; May Dudley Greeley, Minn.; Lucy Hobart Day, Me.; Kate
+M. Gordon, La.
+
+CONGRESSIONAL WORK--Susan B. Anthony, N. Y.; Carrie Chapman Catt,
+N.Y.; Harriet Taylor Upton, O.; Helen M. Warren, Wy.; Virginia
+Morrison Shafroth, Col.
+
+PRESS WORK--Elnora M. Babcock, N. Y.
+
+ENROLLMENT--Priscilla Dudley Hackstaff, N. Y. and all State
+Treasurers.
+
+FEDERAL SUFFRAGE--Sallie Clay Bennett, Ky.; Martha E. Root, Mich.
+
+PRESIDENTIAL SUFFRAGE--Henry B. Blackwell, Mass, and State Presidents.
+
+NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON LOCAL ARRANGEMENTS--Lucy E. Anthony, Penn.
+
+RAILROAD RATES--Mary G. Hay, N. Y.
+
+
+SPECIAL COMMITTEES.
+
+INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS AFFECTING WOMEN AND CHILDREN--Clara Bewick Colby,
+D. C; Martha E. Root, Mich.; Annie L. Diggs, Kas.; Margaret O. Rhodes,
+Okla.; Annie English Silliman, N. J.; Mary C. C. Bradford, Col.; Gail
+Laughlin, N. Y.
+
+LEGISLATION FOR CIVIL RIGHTS--Laura M. Johns, Kas.
+
+CONVENTION RESOLUTIONS--Susan B. Anthony, N. Y.; Carrie Chapman Catt,
+N. Y.; Ida Husted Harper, D. C.; Anna Howard Shaw, Penn.; Rachel
+Foster Avery, Penn.
+
+POLITICAL EQUALITY SERIES--Alice Stone Blackwell, Mass.; Ida Husted
+Harper, D. C.
+
+
+LIFE MEMBERS. (1901.)
+
+_Alabama_--Adella Hunt Logan.
+
+_California_--Mrs. A. R. Faulkner, Mary Wood Swift.
+
+_Colorado_--Mary C. C. Bradford, Emily A. Brown, Amy K. Cornwall,
+Louisa S. Janvier, Emily R. Meredith.
+
+_Connecticut_--H. J. Lewis.
+
+_District of Columbia_--Julia L. Langdon Barber, Lucia E. Blount, Mary
+Foote Henderson, Margaret J. Henry, Hannah Cassall Mills, Mary A.
+McPherson, Martha McWirther, Mary C. Nason, Julia T. Ripley, Sophronia
+C. Snow, C. W. Spofford, Jane H. Spofford, Mary E. Terry, Helen Rand
+Tindall, Eliza Titus Ward, Nettie L. White.
+
+_Georgia_--Gertrude C. Thomas.
+
+_Illinois_--Sarah O. Coonley, Climenia K. Dennett, Emily M. Gross, Ida
+S. Noyes, Dr. Julia Holmes Smith, Elmina Springer, Lydia A. Coonley
+Ward.
+
+_Indiana_--Ida Husted Harper, Alice Wheeler Peirce, May Wright Sewall.
+
+_Iowa_--Martha C. Callanan, Nancy Logan, Mettie Laub Romans.
+
+_Kansas_--Mabel LaPorte Diggs, Sarah E. Morrow.
+
+_Kentucky_--Susan Look Avery, Sallie Clay Bennett, Mary B. Trimble,
+Laura R. White.
+
+_Louisiana_--Caroline E. Merrick.
+
+_Maryland_--Caroline Hallowell Miller.
+
+_Massachusetts_--Carrie Anders, Martha M. Atkins, Alice Stone
+Blackwell, Henry B. Blackwell, Ellen Wright Garrison, Ellen F. Powers,
+Caroline Scott, Pauline Agassiz Shaw, Nellie S. Smith.
+
+_Michigan_--Delos A. Blodgett, Daisy Peck Blodgett, Olivia B. Hall.
+
+_Minnesota_--Alice Scott Cash, Elizabeth A. Russell, Sarah Vail
+Thompson.
+
+_Missouri_--Phoebe W. Cousins, Virginia L. Minor, Sarah E. Turner.
+
+_Nebraska_--Clara Bewick Colby, Mary Smith Hayward, Mary H. Williams.
+
+_New Hampshire_--Marilla M. Ricker.
+
+_New Jersey_--Florence Howe Hall, Laura Lloyd Heulings, Cornelia C.
+Hussey, Dr. Mary D. Hussey, Mrs. S. R. Krom, Susan W. Lippincott,
+Calista S. Mayhew, Dr. Sarah C. Spotteswoode, Ellen Hoxie Squier,
+Elizabeth M. Vail.
+
+_New Mexico_--Alice Paxson Hadley.
+
+_New York_--Susan B. Anthony, Mary S. Anthony, Victoria Bradley,
+Amelia Cameron, Cornelia H. Cary, George W. Catt, Carrie Chapman Catt,
+Ella Hawley Crossett, Anna Dormitzer, Rebecca Friedlander, Fannie
+Humphreys Gaffney, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Priscilla Dudley Hackstaff,
+Sarah V. Hallock, Mary H. Hallowell, Mary G. Hay, Belle S. Holden,
+Emily Howland, Hannah L. Howland, Dorcas Hull, Emma G. Ivins, Rhody J.
+Kenyon, Mary Elizabeth Lapham, Semantha Vail Lapham, Mrs. Frank
+Leslie, Mary Hillard Loines, Anne Fitzhugh Miller, Elizabeth Smith
+Miller, Martha Fuller Prather, Euphemia C. Purton, Mary Thayer
+Sanford, James F. Sargent, Angelina M. Sargent, Elizabeth Cady
+Stanton, Fanny Garrison Villard, Julia Willetts Williams, Sarah L.
+Willis.
+
+_Ohio_--Caroline McCullough Everhard, Elizabeth J. Hauser, Sallie J.
+McCall, Anna C. Mott, Alice E. Peters, Louisa Southworth, Susan M.
+Sturges.
+
+_Oklahoma_--Rachel Rees Griffiths.
+
+_Pennsylvania_--Lucy E. Anthony, Mary Schofield Ash, Rachel Foster
+Avery, Emma J. Bartol, Lucretia L. Blankenburg, Ellen K. Brazier, Emma
+J. Brazier, Katherine J. Campbell, Kate W. Dewald, Julia T. Foster,
+Alvin T. James, Helen Mosher James, Edith C. James, Dr. Agnes Kemp,
+Caroline Lippincott, Mary W. Lippincott, Hannah Myers Longshore, Jacob
+Reese, Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, Nicolas M. Shaw, M. J. Stecker, M.
+Adeline Thomson.
+
+_Rhode Island_--Sarah J. Eddy, Charlotte B. Wilbour, Sarah S. Wilbour.
+
+_South Carolina_--A. Viola Neblett, Martha Schofield.
+
+_Utah_--Emily S. Richards, Emmeline B. Wells.
+
+_Wisconsin_--Rev. Olympia Brown.
+
+_Persia_--Susan Van Valkenburg Hamilton (formerly of Indiana).
+
+
+DELEGATES TO NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1883-1900.
+
+At the national conventions those who occupy the platform and make the
+addresses naturally have the most conspicuous place, but those who
+come from the various localities, year after year, bringing the
+reports from their States and taking their necessary part in the
+proceedings, are equally valuable factors. Their names, at least,
+should be preserved, and the following list, while by no means
+complete, is as nearly so as it has been possible to make it. Those
+which are included in the National chapters are not repeated. Many of
+the women recorded below receive their deserved mention in the State
+chapters.
+
+_Alabama_: Amelia M. Dillard, Minnie Henderson. _Arizona_: Ex-Gov. and
+Mrs. L. C. Hughes, Pauline M. O'Neill, Mrs. G. H. Oury. Arkansas: Mary
+A. Davis, Lizzie D. Fyler, C. M. Patterson. _California_: Nellie
+Holbrook Blinn, Amy G. Bowen, Emilie Gibbons Cohen, Warren C. Kimball,
+Lucy Wilson Moore, Julia Schlesinger, Mary Simpson Sperry, Beda S.
+Sperry, Mary Wood Swift. _Colorado_: Theodosia G. Ammons, Dr. Mary
+Barker Bates, Margaret Bowen, Nettie E. Caspar, Hattie E. Fox, H.
+Jennie James, B. R. Owens, Katharine A. G. Patterson, Eliza F. Routt,
+Lucy E. Ransom Scott, Mary Jewett Telford, Harriet M. Teller.
+_Connecticut_: Mrs. L. D. Allen, Rose I. Blakeslee, Sarah E. Browne,
+Caroline B. Buell, Mrs. E. C. Champion, Alta Starr Cressy, Mrs. N. F.
+Griswold, Addie S. Hale, Howard J. Hale, Ellen B. Kendrick, Emily O.
+Kimball, Grace C. Kimball, Mary J. Rogers, Abby Barker Sheldon.
+_Dakota Territory_: Marietta M. Bones, Linda B. Slaughter. _Delaware_:
+Mary R. De Vou, Margaret W. Houston, Margaret E. Kent, Patience W.
+Kent, Emma Lore, Mary Elizabeth Milligan, Adda G. Quigley, Mary H.
+Thatcher, Elizabeth Bacon Walling. _District of Columbia_: Frances B.
+Andrews, L. L. Bacon, Mary L. Bennett, Bessie Boone Cheshire, Anna
+Gray De Long, Lucy S. Doolittle, Annie M. Edgar, Dr. Susan Edson, M.
+J. Fowler, Emma M. Gillett, J. Minnie Holn, Martha V. Johnson, Carrie
+E. Kent, Mrs. J. H. La Fetra, Mary S. Lockwood, Sarah J. Messer,
+Henrietta C. Morrison, Helen Mitchell, Hattie E. Nash, Mary V. Noerr,
+Ellen M. O'Connor, Mary A. Ripley, Mary L. Talbot, Cora De La Matyr
+Thomas, Helen Rand Tindall, Eliza Titus Ward, Elizabeth Wilson,
+Theresa Williams, Dr. Caroline B. Winslow. Mary H. Williams.
+_Florida_: Ella C. Chamberlain. Georgia: D. M. Allen, Margaret
+Chandler, Julia Iveson Patton, Gertrude C. Thomas, Adelaide Wilson.
+
+_Idaho_: Mrs. Milton Kelley. _Illinois_: Julia K. Barnes, Mary I.
+Barnes, Emma J. Bigelow, Corinne S. Brown, Hannah J. Coffee, C. H.
+Crocker, Angelina Craver, Climenina K. Dennet, George H. Dennet,
+Sylvia Doton, Emmy C. Evald, Matilda S. Garrigus, Mary T. Hager, Mrs.
+Frank L. Hubbard, Mary Louise Haworth, Kate Hughes, Lizzie F. Long,
+Lena Morrow, Angie B. Schweppe, Eva Munson Smith, Dr. Alice B.
+Stockham, Adeline M. Swain, Nellie J. Tweed, Jessie Waite, Dr. Lucy
+Waite, Margaret Will. Indiana: Lizzie M. Briant, Mary G. Hay, Dr. M.
+A. Jessup, Etta Mattox, Alice Wheeler Peirce, Bertha G. Wade, Alice G.
+Waugh, Iva G. Wooden. Iowa: Alice Ainsworth, Eunice T. Barnett, Lucy
+Busenbark, Narcissa T. Bemis, James Callanan, Martha C. Callanan,
+Margaret V. Campbell, Mary J. Coggeshall, Nettie Sanford Chapin,
+Martha J. Cass, Elizabeth Coughell, Anna B. Crawford, Marietta Farr
+Cannell, Ella G. Cline, Mary Mason Clark, Victoria Dewey, Jane Denby,
+C. Holt Flint, Nellie C. Flint, Louise B. Field, Mrs. W. P. Hepburn,
+Jane Hammond, Julia Clark Hallam, Harriet Jenks, Charles W. Jacobs,
+Rosina Jacobs, Mrs. M. Lloyd Kennedy, A. M. E. Leffingwell, Polly A.
+Maulsby, Florence M. Maskrey, Mary E. McPherson, Jane Amy McKinney,
+Ella Moffatt, Bessie Murray, Emily Phillips, Mary D. Palmer, Emeline
+B. Richardson, Mettie Laub Romans, Rowena Edson Stevens, Estelle
+Smith, Elmina Springer, Frances Smith, Rev. John Ogilvie Stevenson,
+Ina Light Taylor, Roma W. Woods, Frilla Belle Young. _Kansas_: Anna A.
+Broderick, Fannie M. Broderick, Jennie Broderick, B. B. Baird, C. H.
+Cushing, Mabel La Porte Diggs, Caroline Doster, Martha Powell Davis,
+Bertha H. Ellsworth, Nannie Garrett, Dr. Eva Harding, Antoinette
+Haskell, Hetta P. Mansfield, Mrs. J. McPatten, Constant P. McElroy,
+Jennie Robb Maher, Bina A. Otis, Josephine L. Patton, Carrie L.
+Prentiss, Althea B. Stryker, Sarah A. Thurston, Abbie A. Welch, Alonzo
+Wardall, Elizabeth M. Wardall, Anna C. Wait. _Kentucky_: Laura S.
+Bruce, Mary C. Cramer, S. M. Hubbard, Sarah G. Humphries, Mary K.
+Jones, Dr. Sarah M. Siewers, Sarah H. Sawyer, Mrs. M. R. Stockwell,
+Amanthus Shipp, Mary Wood, Sallie B. Wolcott, Laura White. Louisiana:
+Florence Huberwald, Matilda P. Hero, Dr. Harriet C. Keating, Caroline
+E. Merrick, Jr., Katharine M. Nobles, Frances Sladden.
+
+_Maine_: Rev. Henry Blanchard, M. S. Carlisle, Lucy Hobart Day, Martha
+O. Dyer, Dr. Abby M. Fulton, Martha W. Fairfield, Helen A. Harriman,
+Mary C. Nason, Mary E. A. Osborne, Sarah J. L. O'Brien, Abby A. C.
+Peaslee, Cordelia A. Quimby, Sophronia C. Snow, Lucy A. and Lavinia
+Snow, Elizabeth P. Smith. _Maryland_: Amanda M. Best, Juliet L.
+Baldwin, Emma Madox Funck, Emma Frinck, Annie W. Janney, Annie R.
+Lamb, Mary E. Moore, Rebecca T. Miller, Martha S. Townsend, Mary J.
+Williamson. _Massachusetts_: Annie T. Auerbach, Richard and Carrie
+Anders, Martha Atkins, Mr. and Mrs. Oliver C. Ashton, Esther F.
+Boland, Catherine W. Bascom, Samuel J. Barrows, Martha Sewall Curtis,
+Adelaide A. Claflin, Emma Clapp, Sophia A. Forbes, Ellen Wright
+Garrison, Cora Chapin Godfrey, Adeline Howland, Sarah Hudson, Mary E.
+Hilton, Mrs. Arden Hall, Hannah Hall, Charlotte Lobdell, Eveleen L.
+Mason, Louisa A. Morrison, Martha A. P. Neall, Ellen F. Powers, Agnes
+G. Parritt, Maud Wood Park, John Parker, Cora V. Smart, Silvanus
+Smith, Judith W. Smith, Mary Clarke Smith, Nellie S. Smith, Mrs. W. H.
+Semple, Jane A. Stewart, Dora Bascom Smith, Addie E. Tarbell, Sarah E.
+Wall, Eliza Webber, Elizabeth H. Webster, Evelyn Williams, Dr. Marion
+L. Woodward, Mr. and Mrs. John L. Whiting. _Michigan_: Charlotte
+Goeway, Mrs. C. D. Hodges, De Lisle P. Holmes, Sarah L. Hazlett,
+Margaret M. Huckins, Frances Kinney, Dr. Clara W. McNaughton, Ida J.
+Marsh, Nettie McCloy, E. Matilda Moore, Carrie W. Miller, Frances
+Wright Spearman, Sarah E. Smith, Elizabeth A. Willard. _Minnesota_:
+Nina T. Cox, Lydia R. Eastwood, Mayme Jester, Delilah C. Reid, Judge
+J. B. Stearns, Sarah Burger Stearns, Martha Adams Thompson, Sarah Vail
+Thompson. _Mississippi_: Harriet B. Kells, Nellie M. Somerville, Lily
+Wilkinson Thompson. _Missouri_: Alice Blackburn, Mary Waldo Calkins,
+Ella Harrison, Virginia Hedges, Addie M. Johnson, Alice C. Mulky, J.
+B. Merwin, Sarah E. Turner, Emaline A. Templeton, Mary U. Vandwert,
+Mrs. E. E. Montague Winch, Victoria Conkling Whitney, Isabella
+Wightman, Eliza T. Wilson, William Wilson, Sarah Wilson. _Montana_:
+Dr. Maria M. Dean, Eva Hirschberg, George W. Jones, Delia A. Kellogg,
+Marie L. Mason, Sarepta Sanders, Harriet P. Sanders, Dora D. Wright.
+
+_Nebraska_: Maria C. Arter, Rachel Brill, Clara Cross, Nettie L.
+Cronkhite, Abby Gay Dustin, Helen M. Goff, Ellen D. Harn, Ellen A.
+Herdman, Irene Hernandez, Lena McCormick, Amanda J. Marble, Maud
+Miller, Anna L. Spirk, Sarah K. Williams, Esther L. Warner. _Nevada_:
+Hannah R. Clapp, Mary E. Rinkle, Annie Warren, Frances A. Williamson.
+_New Hampshire_: Mary A. P. Filley, M. E. Powell, Marilla M. Ricker,
+Rev. H. B. Smith. New Jersey: Emma L. Blackwell, Phoebe Baily,
+Katherine H. Browning, Hannah Cairns, Jennie D. DeWitt, Dr. Florence
+De Hart, Rev. Phoebe A. Hanaford, Mrs. A. J. Jackson, Jane Bryant
+Kellogg, Susan W. Lippincott, Ellen Miles, Mary Philbrook, Amelia
+Dickinson Pope, Aaron M. Powell, Louise Downs Quigley, Theresa M.
+Seabrook, Minola Graham Sexton, Charlotte C. R. Smith, Laura H. Van
+Cise, M. Louise Watts, Phoebe C. Wright. _New Mexico_: Fannie Baca, I.
+M. Bond, H. D. Fergusson, Ida Morley Jarrett, Mayme E. Marble, Mrs. J.
+D. Perkins, Anna Van Schick. _New York_: Mrs. E. Andreas, Mrs. Wilkes
+Angel, Ruby Abby, Abigail A. Allen, Dr. Augusta Armstrong, Rev.
+Caroline A. Bassett, Victoria Bradley, Sarah F. Blackall, Frances
+Benedict, Mrs. R. G. Beatty, Helen M. Cook, Dr. Harriet B. Chapin,
+Eveleen R. Clark, Cornelia H. Cary, Noah Chapman, Margaret Livingston
+Chanler, Mrs. M. A. Clinton, Charlotte A. Cleveland, Ella Hawley
+Crossett, Lucy Hawley Calkins, Nora E. Darling, Marie Frances
+Driscoll, S. W. Ellis, Mrs. M. D. Fenner, Laura W. Flower, Dr. Fales,
+Catherine G. Foote, Theodosia C. Goss, Eliza C. Gifford, Dr. Virginia
+L. Glauner, Elizabeth P. Hall, Mary H. Hallowell, Frances V. Hallock,
+Dorcas Hull, Etta E. Hooker, Emily Howland, Isabel Howland, Cornelia
+K. Hood, Belle S. Holden, Mary N. Hubbard, Margherita Arlina Hamm,
+Ella S. Hammond, Priscilla D. Hackstaff, Mary Bush Hitchcook,
+Elizabeth Noyes Hopkins, Ada M. Hall, Marie R. Jenney, Julie R.
+Jenney, Frances C. Lewis, Jeannette R. Leavitt, Carrie S. Lerch, Mary
+Hillard Loines, Mrs. P. A. Moffett, Pamela S. McCown, Margaret Morton,
+Mrs. Joshua G. Munro, Anne Fitzhugh Miller, Sarah A. McClees, Deborah
+Otis, Martha F. Prather, Jessie Post, J. Mary Pearson, Lucy S. Pierce,
+Abby Hutchinson Patton, Lucy Boardman Smith, Marian H. Skidmore,
+Angeline M. Sargent, James Sargent, Jessie J. Cassidy Saunders, Mary
+B. Sackett, Jane M. Slocum, Mary Thayer Sanford, Emma B. Sweet, Emma
+M. Tucker, Kate S. Thompson, Sarah L. Willis, Kate Foster Warner, Anna
+Willets, Cerelle Grandin Weller. _North Carolina_: Lilla Ripley
+Barnwell, Floride Cunningham, Miriam Harris, Helen Morris Lewis,
+Margaret Richardson. _North Dakota_: Helen de Lendrecie, Dr. Cora
+Smith (Eaton), Henrietta Paulson Haagensen, Delia Lee Hyde, Mary S.
+Lounsberry, Sara E. B. Smith, Mary Whedon.
+
+_Ohio_: Ella M. Bell, Sarah S. Bissell, W. O. Brown, Frances M.
+Casement, Katharine B. Claypole, Mary N. Cunningham, Elizabeth Coit,
+Martha P. Dana, Martha H. Elwell, Ellen Sully Fray, Mary C. Francis,
+Jannette Freer, Elizabeth Gilmer, Prof. Jennie Gifford, Mary L. Geffs,
+Clara Giddings, Eliza P. Houk, Emma C. Hayes, Margaret Hackadorne,
+Emma P. Harley, Eason Holbrook, Minnie C. Hauser, Elizabeth J. Hauser,
+Cecilia Halloway, Minnie Stull Harris, Prof. Mary Jewett, Josephine
+King, Mary J. Lawrence, Mary Folger Lang, Sallie J. McCall, Rev.
+Henrietta G. Moore, Mary J. McMillan, Anna C. Mott, Lydia A. D.
+Northway, Miss L. J. Ormstead, Addie M. Porter, Alice E. H. Peters, O.
+G. Peters, Sarah M. Perkins, Annie Laurie Quinby, Harriet B. Rossa,
+Florence Richards, Edythe E. Root, Mrs. N. Coe Stewart, Abbie
+Schumacher, Helen R. Smith, Katherine Dooris Sharpe, Hattie A. Sachs,
+Harriet Brown Stanton, Dr. Viola Swift, Lottie M. Sackett, Cornelia
+Shaw, C. Swezey, Rosa L. Segur. _Oklahoma_: Margaret Rees, Mrs. R. W.
+Southard, Celia Z. Titus. _Oregon_: Frances E. Gottshall.
+_Pennsylvania_: Olive Pond Amies, Agnes M. Biddle, Mrs. W. C.
+Butterfield, Mary Patterson Beaver, A. Isabel Bowers, Emma J. Bartol,
+Katherine J. Campbell, Anna M. Child, Alice M. Coates, Elizabeth D.
+Green, Susanna M. Gaskill, Caroline Gibbons, Mrs. E. N. Garrett,
+Bertha W. Howe, Hetty Y. Hallowell, Lidie C. W. Koethen, Mary F.
+Kenderdine, Mary S. Kent, Agnes Kemp, Mary B. Luckie, Alberta
+Moorehouse, Mrs. L. M. B. Mitchell, Dr. Jane V. Myers, Esther A.
+Pownall, Anna C. Pennock, Elizabeth B. Passmore, Charlotte L. Peirce,
+Harriet Purvis, Jacob Reese, Jean B. Stephenson, Nicolas M. Shaw,
+Emily H. Saxton, Mary B. Satterthwaite, Margaret B. Stone, Mattie A.
+N. Shaw, Mrs. G. W. Schofield, Robert Tilney, Annie L. Tilney.
+
+_Rhode Island_: Mary O. Arnold, Emeline Burlingame Cheney, Elizabeth
+Buffum Chace, Ardelia C. Dewing, Jeannette S. French, Charlotte B.
+Wilbour. _South Carolina_: Mary P. Gridley, Jean B. Lockwood, Maude
+Sindersine, Claudia Gordon Tharin, May Tharin. _South Dakota_: Irene
+G. Adams, Ida R. Bailey, Mrs. F. C. Bidwell, Emma Cranmer, Mrs. W. V.
+Lucas, Anna R. Simmons, Mrs. C. E. Thorpe. _Tennessee_: Jennie
+Bailett, L. Graham Crozier, Mary McLeer. _Texas_: Rebecca Henry Hayes,
+L. R. Perkins. _Utah_: Corinne M. Allen, Sarah A. Boyer, Phebe Young
+Beatie, Charlotte Ives Cobb, Marilla M. Daniels, Mary E. Gilmer, Annie
+Godbe, Sarah M. Kimball, Aurelia S. Rodgers. _Vermont_: Mary N. Chase,
+Eliza S. Eaton, Mary Hutchinson, Alice Clinton Smith. Virginia: Elisan
+Brown, Nina Cross, Henderson Dangerfield, Elizabeth B. Dodge, Etta
+Grymes Farrar, Georgia Gibson, Emma R. Gilman, L. M. Green, Arabella
+B. Howard, Anna M. Snowden, Elizabeth Van Lew, Mary B. Wickersham.
+_Washington_: Mrs. Francis W. Cushman, Mrs. L. C. Kellogg, Martha E.
+Pike. _West Virginia_: Jessie G. Manley, Columbia A. Morgan, Florence
+M. Post, Clara Reinhammer. _Wisconsin_: Louisa M. Eastman, Almeda B.
+Gray, Laura B. James, Lucinda Lake, Jessie Nelson Luther, Maybell
+Park, Dora Putnam, Ellen A. Rose. _Wyoming_: Hon. M. C. Brown, Amalia
+B. Post, Mrs. Francis E. Warren.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
+
+
+The famous bibliographer, William Oldys, wrote early in the 18th
+century: "The labour and patience, the judgment and penetration, which
+are required to make a good index are only known to those who have
+gone through this most painful but least-praised part of a
+publication." Lord Campbell said, a century later, in his preface to
+The Lives of Chief Justices: "I proposed to bring a Bill into
+Parliament to deprive an author, who publishes a book without an
+index, of the privilege of copyright."
+
+If an index were deemed so valuable in those periods of comparative
+leisure, one as complete as possible is surely an absolute necessity
+in these days when time is at the highest premium, but the maker is
+under obligation to study conciseness in order that the index may not
+be as long as the book. It has seemed practicable to reduce very
+greatly the length of this one without impairing its efficiency by
+asking the reader to bear in mind a few simple facts as to the
+arrangement of the History.
+
+Chapters II-XXI are devoted exclusively to the conventions of the
+National Suffrage Association and the consequent hearings, reports and
+discussions in Congress; the story of each year is complete in its
+chapter and the date is in the running title on the right hand page.
+The work of the American Association before the two societies united
+is complete in Chapter XXII. These chapters contain the _argument_.
+
+Chapters XXV-LXXII comprise the full history of the work in the States
+and Territories, one chapter given to each and all alphabetically
+arranged with name in running title on the right hand page. Each State
+is subdivided and the heads denoted by capital letters, as follows:
+Organization, Legislative Action, Laws, Suffrage, Office Holding,
+Occupation, Education.
+
+The other chapters are clearly designated in the Table of Contents,
+and practically all the information which the book contains on each
+subject will be found in its respective chapter. The greatest problem
+has been the indexing of the many _speeches_ so as to convey an idea
+of their subject-matter, as a number of them cover a variety of
+topics, and it has been possible to indicate only the principal
+points. The editors trust, however, that the systematic arrangement of
+the volume and the full Table of Contents will enable the reader to
+obtain the desired information without difficulty.
+
+
+  _Age of Protection_, 460,
+    and in each State chapter under _Legislative Action and Laws_,
+      beginning 465.
+
+  AMENDMENT CAMPAIGNS FOR WOMAN SUFFRAGE, xxi; 40;
+    in Calif., 486;
+    in Col., 513;
+    in S. D., 553-7;
+    in Ida., 590;
+    in Kas., 643;
+    in N. J., 822;
+    in N. Y., 847;
+    in Ore., 895;
+    in R. I., 909;
+    in Wash., 973.
+
+  AMENDMENT TO NATIONAL CONSTITUTION FOR WOMAN SUFFRAGE,
+    objection to amending, advantage in securing wom. suff., xx, xxi;
+    14th amend, and attempts of women to vote under it, 3 et seq.;
+    15th amend., effect on wom. suff., 6;
+    effort to amend for Federal Suff. for women, 7;
+    Nat'l. Ass'n. begins work for 16th amend., 11;
+    res. for in '84, 25;
+    Miss Anthony on, 40;
+    same, 42;
+    argument for, 54;
+    sp. of Sen. Palmer, 62;
+    contrary to State's rights, 68;
+    first discussion of 16th amend. in Senate, 85;
+    14th amend., Miss Anthony on, 152; 158;
+    Senate Com. recom. 16th in '92, 201;
+    14th grants wom. suff., 204;
+    women appeal 25 yrs. for 16th amend., 223;
+    efforts of Nat'l Ass'n. for, 367;
+    Mrs. Catt on why one is asked for, 369;
+    Miss Anthony's plea, 373;
+    American Ass'n. declares for, 410, 417.
+
+  AMENDMENTS TO STATE CONSTITUTIONS FOR WOMAN SUFFRAGE,
+    laws in different States, xvi;
+    difficulty in Minn and Neb., failure of Sch. Suff. in N.J., xvi;
+    same in S.D., xvii;
+    submitted by ten States and results, xxi;
+    obstacles to securing, xxiii;
+    comparison of votes, xxix;
+    votes on, 40;
+    adopted in Col., 528;
+    in Idaho, 593;
+    school and library in Minn., 778;
+    law similar to amendment in Wis., 988.
+
+  AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION,
+    work of after '84, Chap. XXII; 13;
+    founded, 14;
+    union with Nat'l Ass'n., 164.
+
+  ANECDOTES, 71;
+    public money for "shes," 193;
+    in Tenn., 196;
+    how men represent women, 197;
+    of Miss Willard, 215;
+    woman on throne, 229;
+    poll tax in Tenn., 241;
+    women's voices, 334;
+    woman's product, 337;
+    from Ala., 341;
+    Miss Anthony's right bower, 351;
+    early education, 354-5;
+    women who have all the rights they want, 360;
+    Miss Anthony on "antis," 384;
+    of Abigail Adams, 422;
+    influence of liquor dealers, 486;
+    Yon's vote in Col., 519;
+    a Mass. legislator, 740;
+    women's money builds State Houses, 763;
+    suff. bill in Wash., 972.
+
+  ANTI-SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION,
+    advantage of, xxix;
+    same, 16;
+    they mean well, 327;
+    in Ills., 603;
+    in Mass., 716 et al.;
+    against mother's guardianship, 744;
+    in N. Y., 850 et al., 971;
+    in Aus., 1032.
+
+  ANTI-SUFFRAGISTS, see Remonstrants.
+
+  AUSTRALIA,
+    --South,            Chapter on, 1027
+    --West,                "     "  1029
+    --New South Wales,     "     "  1029
+    --Victoria,            "     "  1031
+    --Queensland,          "     "  1032
+    --Tasmania,            "     "  1033
+    Enfranchises its women, xiv;
+    first country to grant them Munic. Suff., 224;
+    eminent advocates of wom. suff., 1084.
+
+
+  BAZAR,
+    Nat'l. Ass'n., in New York, 365;
+    Amer. Ass'n. in Boston, descrip. of, Mrs. Howe's and Mrs. Stone's
+      addresses, 426-8.
+
+  BIBLE,
+    wrong interpretation of, 65;
+    for wom. suff., 71;
+    not opp. to, 102; 106;
+    men's interpretation of, 113;
+    purpose of Creator, 119;
+    not alone respons. for subjection of woman, 146;
+    Woman's Bible, discussion of at Nat'l. conv., 263.
+
+  BILL OF RIGHTS, woman's, 154.
+
+  BILLS,
+    for wom. suff., how treated, xxviii;
+    of Nat'l. Ass'n., W. C. T. U., Fed. of Clubs, etc., 451-3,
+    and under head of _Legislative Action_ in State chapters,
+      beginning 465;
+    Nat'l. Ass'n. protests against Edmunds-Tucker Bill, 26;
+    same, 71; 78;
+    res. against, 122-3;
+    committees on, 939.
+
+  BIRTHDAYS,
+    Miss Anthony's 70th, 163;
+      her 74th, 223-4;
+      her 78th, 291;
+      greetings on, 300;
+      her 80th, vi;
+      same, 383; 385 et seq.;
+      gifts on, 389 et seq.;
+      celebration of in Lafayette Opera House, Wash't'n., 394-404;
+      trib. of Wm. Lloyd Garrison, 395,
+      of Mrs. Coonley-Ward, 401,
+      of Miss Shaw, 402;
+      greeting from Mrs. Stanton, 402;
+      Miss Anthony's response, 403;
+      letters rec'd., 403;
+      recep. in Corcoran Art Gallery, 404;
+      her portrait presented, 405;
+      her happiness, 405.
+    --Mrs. Stanton's 80th, 250.
+    --Rev. Anna Howard Shaw's, 391.
+
+  BOARDS,
+    difficulty of getting women on, 462;
+    see each State chapter under _Office Holding_, beginning 465;
+    in Great Britain, 368, 1023.
+    --Lady Managers World's Fair, indebted to Miss Anthony, 211;
+        same, 232;
+        Act of Congress creating, 233; 609.
+
+
+  CALIFORNIA, xv;
+    Legis. refuses suff. amd't, xx;
+    Miss Shaw's acc't. of visit of Miss Anthony and herself in '95, 253;
+    work for suff. amend., 273;
+    honor to Miss Anthony, 274;
+    gift to Miss Anthony, 390.
+    See State Chapter.
+
+  CALLS,
+    for nat'l. suff. conv. of '84, 15;
+    for first Int'l. Council, 125;
+    for conv. of '89, 143;
+    for conv. of '91, 175;
+    for conv. of '94, 221;
+    for first Wom. Rights Conv., 288.
+
+  CAMPAIGNS, for wom. suff. amdts. See Amendment Campaigns.
+
+  CANADA, Dominion of, chapter on, 1034.
+
+  CATHOLICS, in politics, 149;
+    attitude of clergy, 366;
+    wom. suff. in Summer Sch. at Detroit, 447;
+    coeducation, 464;
+    college for women, 575;
+    on Boston Sch. Bd., 706.
+
+  CHIVALRY, specimens of, 16;
+    absurdity of, 17;
+    men and women need each other, 36, 44, 45, 49, 59;
+    Miss Willard on, 141;
+    Chivalry of Reform, Mrs. Howe on, 170;
+    injustice of, 188;
+    in Kas., 199;
+    mistakes of, 209;
+    in South, 241;
+    fear of, 382; 968.
+
+  CHURCH, influence on wom. suff., xxiv;
+    wom. suff. foundation of Christianity, 16;
+    relation to it, 20;
+    prayer vs. votes, 22;
+    same, 37; 41;
+    res. on creeds and dogmas, 58;
+    discussion by Mrs. Stanton, Miss Anthony and others, 59 et seq.;
+    influence of religion over woman, 60;
+    its connect. with wom. suff., 75;
+    woman's influence in church, 96;
+    for equality of rights, Bishop Newman, 112; 121;
+    value of wom. suff. to, 149;
+    Mrs. Stanton's demand for its recog. of woman's  equality, 165;
+    upholds man's headship, 176;
+    opp. to equality of woman, 177;
+    voice of God has soprano and bass, 200;
+    M. E. refuses to ordain women, 206;
+    women might vote at ch. elections, 212;
+    Miss Shaw on mission of, 229;
+    Miss Anthony's plea for relig. liberty, 264;
+    sympathy with wom. suff., 270;
+    woman's services to, 279;
+    woman's position in 292; 359; 464; 497; 708; 711; 718; 962-3; 974;
+    missionary work of women, 1057 et seq.
+
+  CLUBHOUSES, WOMEN'S, Wimodaughsis, 184, 188;
+    in Grand Rapids, 322-3;
+    in Calif., 508;
+    in Indpls., 627;
+    in Mich., 771;
+    in Phila., 901; 1043.
+
+  CLUBS, WOMEN'S, _see_ last paragraph in various State chapters.
+    In Col., 302; 356;
+    in Mich., welcome Nat'l suff. conv., 324;
+    political, 150;
+    in N. Y., 872;
+    first women's clubs on record, 1042-3;
+    Gen'l Federation of, 1050;
+    Musical, Nat'l. Fed. of, 1056.
+
+  COLLEGES. _See_ Universities.
+
+  COLORADO, xxi; xxix;
+    appear. of delegates, 222;
+    Gov. Waite on wom. suff. in, 232;
+    women in Legis., 239; 252;
+    visit of Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw in '95, 253;
+    effect of wom. suff., 268;
+    same, 282;
+    distinguished testimony for, 302-3, 383, 390;
+    legis. res. in favor of, 327;
+    Mrs. Welch at conv. of '99, 327;
+    wom. suff. in, 356;
+    gift and trib. to Miss Anthony on 80th birthday, 400.
+    _See_ State Chapter; also Statistics and Testimony.
+
+  COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION, Lady Managers, _see_ Boards;
+    invites Suff. Ass'n. to World's Fair, 184;
+    ass'n. arranges for booth, 185,
+      discusses res. to open gates on Sunday, 185,
+        to prohibit liquor selling, 186;
+    effect of the Fair on women, 211; 221;
+    Congress of Women all for suff., 232;
+    report of Nat'l. Suff. Ass'n. Com., 232; 609.
+
+  COMMERCIAL SCHOOLS, Fed. of, adopts wom. suff. res. and petits., 447.
+
+  COMMISSIONS, of women demanded for Philippines, 331-2, 343;
+    U. S. Labor, Miss Laughlin on, 361;
+    for Paris expos., Mrs. Palmer on, 367.
+
+  COMMITTEES, of American Suffrage Association, on arrangements for convs.,
+      _see_ Chapter XXII;
+    executive of, 409;
+    on union with Nat'l. Ass'n., 164, 431.
+    --of National Suffrage Association on Int'l Council, 124;
+        on union with Am. Ass'n., 164;
+        on Columbian Expos., 232. _See_ also 1098-9.
+        On Miss Anthony's 80th birthday celebration, 395.
+    --Congressional, on wom. suff., 31.
+        _See_ Reports.
+
+  CONGRESS, power to extend suff., 7 et seq.;
+    work of Nat'l Suff. Ass'n. with, 11;
+    committee reports, discussions and speeches, 12;
+    House debate on Wom. Suff. Com. 31;
+    wom. suff. sp. of Sen. Palmer, 62;
+    first discussion of 16th amend. in Senate, 85;
+    other debates on wom. suff. in Senate, 85;
+    Blair's sp. in '87, 86 et seq.;
+    should submit amend., 93;
+    sp. of Brown, 93 et seq.;
+    Dolph favors wom. suff., 100;
+    discussion of women on juries, 104;
+    Vest opposes wom. suff., 105;
+    Hoar in favor, 109;
+    vote in Senate, 110; 112;
+    authority to enfranchise women, 118;
+    duty to submit suff. amend., 163;
+    favorable sentiment, 181;
+    way to manage a bill in, 218;
+    needs watching, 365;
+    work of Nat'l. Ass'n. for 16th amend., 367;
+    appeals to for 16th amend. to enfranch. women, 445;
+    for rights of women in new possessions, 446;
+    amusing debate on admis. of Wy., 998 et seq.
+    _See_ Amendments and Debates.
+
+  CONGRESSES OF WOMEN,
+    World's Fair, 232, 609;
+    in San Fr., 253, 479, 481;
+    Atlanta expos., 263;
+    London in '99, 352-3;
+    in Los Angeles, 495;
+    in Ore., 892-3.
+
+  CONSTITUTION, NATIONAL,
+    more rigid than in other countries, xv,
+    gives women right to vote, Chapter I;
+    first appearance of "male," 2;
+    attempt of women to vote under 14th amend., 3 et seq.;
+    amend. for Federal Suff. for women, 7;
+    authority over suff., 8 et seq.;
+    provides for amending, 100;
+    vote on wom. suff. amend., 110;
+    rights of women under, 115;
+    Mrs. Stanton on its violation in case of women, 138;
+    fails to protect black men, 153;
+    Mrs. Blake's argument for wom. suff. under its provisions, 374-5.
+
+  CONSTITUTIONS, STATE,
+    all framed by men; different peculiarities, xv et seq.;
+    all barred women from suff., 2;
+    Utah and Wy. included wom. suff. in first, 949, 1003.
+    _See_ State chapters under _Suffrage_.
+
+  CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS. _See_ Conventions.
+
+  CONSTITUTIONAL LAW. _See_ Law.
+
+  CONTRACTS. _See Laws_ in each State chapter.
+
+  CONVENTIONS,
+    American Suff. Assn., from '84 to '88, 406-428;
+    early convs. in Phila., 423.
+    --National Suffrage Ass'n., first one ever called, xiii;
+    earliest ones, 14;
+    res. for Int'l. Suff. Conv., 25;
+    changed attitude of press toward, 57;
+    first suff. meeting held in Washt'n., 70;
+    conv. for '88, 137;
+    complimented by Washt'n. _Star_, 173;
+    convs. before the war, 205;
+    alternate ones taken out of Washt'n., Miss Anthony's protest, 218;
+    the other side, 219;
+    descript. of '94, 221;
+    Miss Anthony's method of presiding, 238;
+    descript. of '95, 236;
+    of '97, 271.
+    See Chapters II-XXI.
+
+  CONVENTIONS,
+    work for wom. suff. in political and other conventions, Chap. XXIII.
+    _See_ State chapters.
+
+  CONVENTIONS, Nat'l. Political,
+    first appeal of women for suff., 435;
+    appeals in 1900, 440 et seq.
+    --Republican, record of, 435-7, 440;
+      for 1900, 443-4.
+    --Democratic, record of, 437, 440;
+      for 1900, 444.
+    --Populist, record of, 437-8, 441;
+      for 1900, 444.
+    --Prohibition, record of, 438;
+      for 1900, 444.
+    --Other Parties, record of, xviii,  438-9;
+      for 1900, 444.
+    _See_ also Democrats, Populists, Republicans, Parties and p. 556.
+    Women delegates to nat'l. convs., 319, 438-9;
+    work of Miss Anthony and others, 439 et seq.;
+    no hope for disfranch. class, 444;
+    sentiment among delegates, 444-5.
+    For work in State political convs., _see_ various State chapters.
+
+  CONVENTIONS, State Constitutional,
+    attempts to secure wom. suff. amdts., 432-3; 453;
+    in Ala., 468;
+    N. D., 544;
+    S. D., 552;
+    Del., 563;
+    Ky., 669;
+    La., 680;
+    Mass., 720;
+    Miss., 786;
+    Mont., 797;
+    N. H., 815;
+    N. J., 830;
+    N. M., 835;
+    N. Y., 203, 847;
+    Utah, 944;
+    Vt., 958;
+    Wash., 969;
+    Wy., 995.
+
+  COUNCILS OF WOMEN, National and International,
+    first Int'l., 124 et seq.;
+    permanent Councils formed, 137, 143;
+    Nat'l. in '91, 175;
+    Miss Shaw's report of London Int'l., 352;
+    Miss Anthony's report of same, suff. pervaded all, Amer. wom. showed
+      effects of liberty, 353;
+    Nat'l. Council, trib. to Miss Anthony on 80th birthday, 396;
+    Int'l., same, 397;
+    Nat'l. Council, founding and work, 1044-5;
+    Int'l., same, 1044-5.
+
+  CREEDS. _See_ Church.
+
+  CRIMINALS, at ballot box, xxvi, 37.
+
+  CUBA,
+    Nat'l. Ass'n. demands rights for its women, 325, 330;
+    appeals to Congress for same, 446.
+
+  CURTESY. _See Laws_ in each State chapter.
+
+
+  DEBATES, in Congress,
+    on Wom. Suff. Com., 31 et seq.;
+    those of former years, 85;
+    first and only debate on 16th Amend, to enfranchise women, 87 et seq.;
+    on admission of Wy., 998 et seq.
+    --in National Suffrage Conventions, on dogmas and creeds, 59 et seq.;
+    on taking wom. suff. into church, 75;
+    on migratory convs., 218;
+    on Woman's Bible, 263.
+
+  DECISIONS. _See_ Supreme Court.
+
+  DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, applied to women, 102.
+
+  DELEGATES, 15;
+    nat'l. conv. made delegate body, 77;
+    foreign to Int'l. Council, 135;
+    dels. to 40th anniv., 288;
+    to conv. of 1900, 350;
+    to Paris Expos., 367;
+    to polit. convs., 319, 438-9;
+    in Col., 521;
+    in Kas., 646;
+    in Mont., 801;
+    _see_ also Utah Chap.;
+    to nat'l. suff. convs. from '84 to 1900, 1101.
+    --Fraternal,
+      to conv. of '96, 256;
+      to Wom. Press Ass'n., 291;
+      to Int'l. Council of '99, 342;
+      to suff. conv. of '99, 323;
+      to suff. conv. of 1900, 366.
+
+  DEMOCRACY,
+    disbelief in, xxvi, 179, 277;
+    wom. suff. asked in name of, 372;
+    U. S. not a, 374.
+
+  DEMOCRATS,
+    enfranch. workingmen, xvii; 143;
+    in Calif., 488-9;
+    in Col., 516;
+    in S. Dak., 555;
+    in Ida., 590-2;
+    in Ills., 605-6;
+    in Ind., 617;
+    in Kas., 647, 650-3;
+    in Mass., 724;
+    in Mich., 755;
+    in N. Y., 847-9, 872;
+    in Utah, 953 et seq.;
+    in Wash., 971;
+    in Congress on Wy., 978.
+    _See_ Conventions.
+
+  DENTISTRY, women in, 464; 700.
+
+  DISFRANCHISEMENT,
+    degradation of,
+      Miss Anthony on, 27; 44; 73; 83; 107;
+      Mrs. Stanton on, 133; 151; 172;
+      great sp. of Mrs. Stanton on, 176; 195; 196;
+      Mrs. Merrick on, 243; 255;
+      men wd. not endure, 373;
+      same, 375.
+      --disadvantages of, 41; 42; 45; 46; 73; 79; 138-9; 190; 195; 196;
+        to women wage-earners, 312;
+        same, 377; 359; 365; 373; 379.
+
+  DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, gift and trib. to Miss Anthony on 80th
+      birthday, 399.
+    _See_ chapter on D. C.
+
+  DIVORCE, 68; 100; 103;
+    national law, women should have voice in, 165;
+    evolution of, 297;
+    in Wyoming, 362;
+    in Wy., S. D. and Ok., 460.
+
+  DOMESTIC,
+    household demands on women, 209;
+    too much housekeeping, 210;
+    future domestic service, 210;
+    effect of domestic life on women, 258;
+    home life of woman suffragists, 279;
+    what home means, 285;
+    woman's position in the home, 292;
+    husbands do not support wives, 171, 208, 311;
+    home vs. factory work, 311;
+    college women and home, 358;
+    need of trained work, 358.
+    _See_ also _Domestic_ under Suffrage.
+
+  DONORS,
+    to Hist. of Wom. Suff., v, vii;
+    to Int'l. Council of Wom., 126;
+    Mrs. Southworth, 257;
+    Miss Anthony, 287;
+    in Conn., 536;
+    in Ga., 582;
+    Mrs. Avery, 642;
+    in N. Y., 849.
+    --women, for education, 356;
+      in Calif., 507;
+      in La., 688;
+      in Md., 700.
+
+  DOWER. _See Laws_ in each State chapter.
+
+  DRESS,
+    descrip. of delegates', 56;
+    of Miss Anthony at conv. of '90, 173;
+    on 80th birthday, 403-4.
+
+
+  EDUCATION,
+    higher education of women, resume of, 463,
+      and in each State chapter under head of _Education_, beginning 465.
+    --majority would never consent to, xxii;
+    statistics of, xxx;
+    same, 18;
+    5,000 teachers in Ind. ask for ballot, 37;
+    educated women will not stand subjection, 44;
+    educated women deprived of ballot, 74;
+    intellectual capacity of women, 90; 101;
+    more than some Senators, 113;
+    woman senior wrangler at Cambridge, 176;
+    a century ago, 192;
+    training of girl of future, 209;
+    easily obtained, 292, 316;
+    Mrs. Sewall on Govt. no right to educate women and refuse them
+      representation, 307;
+    its effects shown in Amer. women at Int'l. Council in London, 353;
+    woman's from beginning of century, obstacles, direful predictions,
+      354-6;
+    health of women graduates, 355;
+    women on Faculties, 355;
+    donations of women to, 356, 507;
+    must lead to suff., 356;
+    effect on domestic life, 357;
+    Catholic, 464;
+    same, 575;
+    in Gr. Brit., 1024.
+    _See_ also Donors, Illiteracy, Public Schools, Universities.
+
+  ELECTORATE,
+    character of, xxiii;
+    elements needed, xxvi;
+    what composed of, 23, 37, 39, 68, 81, 138, 148, 195, 258, 269, 316,
+      324, 371, 415;
+    in Col., 514;
+    in S. D., 556;
+    in Wash., 1098.
+
+  ENROLLMENT, Nat'l., for wom. suff., 137; 878.
+    _See_ Petitions.
+
+  EQUAL RIGHTS,
+    Association for, 14;
+    demand for by Int'l. Council, 136;
+    they belong to women, no thanks to men, 146;
+    crime of denying to women, Mr. Foulke on, 167.
+    _See_ Progress of.
+
+  EUROPE, wom. suff. in countries of. _See_ chapter on, 1038.
+
+
+  FEDERAL SUFFRAGE,
+    argument for, 6 et seq.;
+    Miss Anthony on, 10; 78;
+    Sen. Blair on, 145; 201; 218; 234.
+
+  FEDERATION OF WOMEN'S CLUBS,
+    legis. work, 452.
+    _See_ closing paragraph in various State chapters, beginning 465,
+      and also page 1050.
+
+  FLAGS,
+    at conv. of '94, 221;
+    Col. presents one to Miss Anthony, 222-3;
+    at conv. of '95, 236;
+    flag not desecrated by four stars, 278;
+    golden flag presented to Miss A., 400.
+
+  FOREIGNERS. _See_ Immigrants.
+
+  FOREIGN COUNTRIES, wom. suff. in. _See_ Chap. LXXIV.
+
+  FRANCE,
+    wom. suff. in, 343, 1040;
+    eminent advocates, 1084.
+
+
+  GEORGIA, curiosities in, 228;
+    nat'l. suff. conv. in Atlanta, 236;
+    illiterate vote, 246.
+    _See_ State chapter.
+
+  GODDESS OF LIBERTY, in N. Y. harbor, 47;
+    same, 115;
+    Miss Anthony's features, 120;
+    Wy. represents, 201;
+    on nat'l. Capitol, a mockery, 375.
+
+  GOVERNORS OF STATES, position on wom. suff., 212;
+    list favoring wom. suff., 1078;
+    of Wy. testify for wom. suff., 1087 et seq.
+
+  GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC, favors wom. suff., 184; 644; 893.
+
+  GRANGES, favor wom. suff., 184;
+    always recognized equality of woman, 228;
+    position of woman in, 327;
+    nat'l. adopts wom. suff. res. in 1900, 447-8.
+    _See_ various State chapters.
+
+  GREAT BRITAIN, Chap. LXXIII;
+    efforts for Parliamentary Franchise, 1012, 1020;
+    Primrose League and Liberal Federation, 1013;
+    better laws, 1021;
+    local gov't., 1022;
+    office holding, 1023;
+    education, 1024;
+    colonial progress, 1025 et seq.;
+    petits. for suff., 1015, 1017, 1020.
+    -- gives local franchise to women, xiv;
+      more liberal than U. S. on socialistic questions, 167;
+      enfranch. workingmen, 305;
+      same, 311;
+      progress of wom. suff., 353;
+      Mrs. Blatch on women on boards and wom. suff. in, 368;
+      remonstrants in, 369;
+      eminent advocates of wom. suff. in, 1083.
+
+  GUARDIANSHIP, equal of children. _See_ Laws.
+
+
+  HAWAII, Nat'l. Suff. Ass'n. demands rights for its women, 325;
+    injustice to them, 330;
+    resolution against "male" in its constitn., 343;
+    petitions Congress in behalf of its women, 346;
+    outrageous constitn. adopted by Congress, 346;
+    Hawaiian members object, 347;
+    Miss Anthony's work for its women, 365;
+    appeals to Congress for rights of its women, 446.
+
+  HEAD OF FAMILY. _See_ Laws and pp. 458; 945;
+    in Va., 966.
+
+  HEARINGS before Congressional Committees in '84, 36, 42;
+    in '86, 78;
+    in '88, before Senate com., 137 et seq.;
+    in '89, same, 156;
+    before House, 157;
+    in '90, before Senate, 158, 162;
+    before House, 163;
+    in '92, before Senate, Mrs. Stanton on Solitude of Self, 189;
+    before House, 194;
+    in '94, before Senate and House, 235;
+    in '96, before Senate and House, 267;
+    in '98, before Senate, 305;
+    before House, 318;
+    in 1900, before Senate, 367,
+    Miss Anthony's plea at 80, 373;
+    before House, 373;
+    first appearance of "antis," 381-4.
+
+  HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE, how it was written and published.
+    _See_ Preface.
+
+
+  IDAHO, adopts wom. suff. amend., xxi;
+    welcomed by nat'l. conv., 272;
+    story of amend, camp'n., 283-4;
+    gift to Miss Anthony, 390.
+    _See_ State chapter, also Statistics and Testimony.
+
+  ILLINOIS, great petits. for wom. suff., 39;
+    laws for women, 276.
+    _See_ State chapter.
+
+  ILLITERACY, percentage of, smaller among women than men, xxii, 216;
+    in Ga., 246;
+    shut it out from electorate, 316-17;
+    not the ignorant alone opp. wom. suff., 338, 493;
+    decides fate of women, 371;
+    in S. D., 556.
+
+  IMMIGRANTS, English view of, 23;
+    their enfranchisement, 37;
+    same, 39;
+    polit. danger of, 68-9;
+    German view, 73;
+    in Neb., 81; 82;
+    welcome to, 116;
+    enfranchised, Mrs. Stanton on, 138;
+    political rule of, American women in majority, 148;
+    placed over women, 195;
+    preferred to Amer. women, Mrs. Stanton's picture of, 269;
+    should be welcomed but not enfranch., 316, 317;
+    in Mich., 324;
+    compared to Amer. women, 415; 418.
+
+  INDIA, effect on its women of English laws, 330.
+
+  INDIANS, preferred to women voters in S. D., 182, 557;
+    Gov't. favors over women, 213;
+    vs. American women, 313;
+    effect on women of "land in severalty," 330;
+    Gov't. grants privileges denied to white women, 374;
+    authority of their women, 1041.
+
+  INDIFFERENCE OF WOMEN, xxii;
+    same, xxiv;
+    reasons for, xxv;
+    same, xxix;
+    causes of, 20;
+    men will decide the question, 39;
+    no means of knowing, 46;
+    all women should not be punished for, 84;
+    fear to speak, 92;
+    pity for, 121;
+    women put everything before suff., 149, 150;
+    is result of disfranchis., 160;
+    does not affect the right of suff., 168;
+    Miss Blackwell on, 198;
+    women too much flattered, 208;
+    dangers of, 259;
+    always existed, 275;
+    women do not think, 285;
+    Miss Blackwell gives examples, 320;
+    parable of good Samaritan, 360;
+    natural conservatism, 372;
+    timidity and ignorance, 415;
+    selfishness, 420;
+    those who have all the rights they want, 461;
+    same in Col., 517.
+
+  INDIRECT INFLUENCE, needs responsibility, 55; 96-7;
+    suff. would destroy, 107; 168; 517.
+
+  INDIVIDUALITY of woman, suff. a guarantee of, 82;
+    should not be allowed to wives, 100;
+    Mrs. Stanton on right to, 189;
+    Rev. Anna Howard Shaw on, 230, 361;
+    Mrs. Spencer on, 328;
+    new civilization will recognize, 336; 418.
+
+  IOWA, reasons for refusing suff. amd't., xxi;
+    nat'l. conv. in Des Moines, 270;
+    noted speakers before Legis., 279.
+    _See_ State chapter.
+
+  IRELAND, wom. suff. in, 343;
+    wom. on school and poor law bds., 368.
+    _See_ chapter on Great Britain.
+
+  ISLE OF MAN, wom. suff. in, 1025.
+
+
+  JOURNALISM, xxv;
+    wom. in, 154;
+    early women writers, 295;
+    women in at Paris expos., 343;
+    first, 695.
+
+  JURIES, women should serve on, 38; 45; 51;
+    in Wy., 68;
+    men's obligations, 94;
+    Senators discuss, 104, 106;
+    need of women on, 182;
+    women and jury duty in Ida., 596;
+    in Utah, 955, 1089;
+    in Wash., 422, 968, 1008, 1091;
+    in Wy., 1008.
+
+
+  KANSAS, grants Municipal Suff. to women, xv; xxi; xxix;
+    treatment of women, 199;
+    suff. work of Nat'l. Ass'n. in, 220;
+    descript. of nat'l. delegates, 221-2;
+    first constit'n. recognizes rights of women, 407;
+    Amer. Ass'n. meets in Topeka, 417;
+    early work in, 418, 419;
+    Mrs. Howe's plea for suff. in, 419.
+    _See_ State chapter and Statistics.
+
+
+  LABOR, disabilities of women, 41;
+    relation of wom. suff. to, 70;
+    same, 79;
+    suff. has no influence on price of, 98;
+    wage-earning women should marry, 98;
+    need of ballot for working women, 115;
+    same, 122;
+    Knights of Labor indorse wom. suff., 123;
+    dignifies woman, 162;
+    immoral women come from domestic life, 162;
+    husband does not "support" wife, 171, 208, 311;
+    man's material achievements, 171;
+    not woman's curse, 171;
+    degradation of woman's labor, 177;
+    organizations favor wom. suff., 184;
+    indust. emancip. of women, by Carroll D. Wright, have not taken
+      men's work, new economic factor, leads to suff., 213;
+    suff. demanded for working women, 216;
+    women stenographers, 228;
+    women wage-earners in Fla., 240;
+    Florence Kelley on labor unions and working woman's need of ballot,
+      311;
+    disfranch. women an injury to labor unions, 312;
+    Fed. of Labor greets Nat'l. Suff. Ass'n., let. from Pres. Gompers,
+      equal pay for wom., 334;
+    ass'n. returns thanks, 344;
+    entrance of women into unions and effect on suff., 349;
+    appeal of Nat'l. Fed. for wom. suff. in '99, 359;
+    Miss Laughlin on statistics of wage-earning women, need of ballot, 360;
+    ancient opp. to, 361;
+    working woman's great disadvantage, 377;
+    wages of men and wom., 379; 425;
+    Nat'l. Fed. petit. for wom. suff. in 1900 after appeal from
+      Miss Anthony. Nat'l. Bldg. and Trades Council, same, Int'l.
+      Bricklayers' and Masons', same, 446;
+    organizations for wom. suff., 448;
+    K. of L. declare for, 568.
+    _See_ Statistics.
+
+  LABOR ORGANIZATIONS, for wom. suff.
+    _See_ above, also in Col., 514-16;
+    in S. D., 556;
+    in Ills., 602-4; 652;
+    in Mass., 711-14-33;
+    in Minn., 782;
+    in N. J., 821;
+    in N. Y., 850;
+    in Ore., 893;
+    in R. I., 917;
+    in Wash., 974.
+
+  LAW, first woman admitted to practice before U. S. Sup. Ct., 33;
+    second, 57;
+    contest of Mrs. Bradwell in Ills. and U. S. Sup. Ct., 152;
+    contest in Cal., 507;
+    in Ind., 626;
+    in Md., 700;
+    in Mich. to be pros. atty., 770;
+    in N. J., 833;
+    in Penn., 904;
+    Woman's Coll. of, 574;
+    first woman to apply to practice, 609;
+    first coll. to graduate a woman, 610.
+    _See_ also State chapters under _Occupations_.
+    --women in, send trib. to Miss Anthony on 80th birthday, 398.
+    --Common, 33; 49; 159;
+      resume of and changes made, 454-8; 464;
+      in N. Y., 865.
+    --Constitutional, bar to wom. suff., xiv, xv; 371.
+
+  LAWS FOR WOMEN, resume of, 453-8.
+    --Property, for women, secured by a few, xxiii;
+      in Ky., 15;
+      wife is moneyless, 40;
+      inevitably one-sided, 198;
+      nine-tenths relate to property, 200;
+      uncertain for women, 255;
+      in Ills., 276;
+      women could secure good laws with suffrage, 424;
+      present status, far from just to women, 456-8;
+      Dower and Curtesy, 457;
+      Guardianship of Children, and liability of "head of family"
+        for support, 458;
+      Divorce, and the various causes for, 459;
+      Age of Protection, 460.
+      _See_ each State chapter under head of _Legislative Action and
+        Laws_. For Great Britain, 1021.
+
+  LEGACIES, Mrs. Eddy's to Miss Anthony, v;
+    to Nat'l. Ass'n., 207; 259; 275; 286; 289; 366; 900; 909.
+
+  LEGISLATURES, action on bills and resolutions for full and limited
+      suffrage and other measures, under head of _Legislative Action_,
+      in each State chapter, beginning 465;
+    power to grant limited suff., xv;
+    have granted much to women, 43;
+    Congress should submit wom. suff. amdt. to, 43, 64, 113;
+    work of women members in Col., 525-6;
+    work of women members in Utah, 953 et seq.
+
+  LETTERS, telegrams, greetings, etc., to American suff. convs.,
+      _see_ Chap. XXII;
+    to natn'l. suff. conv. of '84, 15 et seq.,
+    from noted English, 21-2,
+    Bishop Simpson, 24;
+    of '85, 61;
+    of '86, 75;
+    of '87, from Mrs. Stanton, 113,
+    U. S. Treas. Spinner et al., 123;
+    of '89, from Mrs. Stanton, 145;
+    of '91, 179;
+    of '93, last from Lucy Stone, 213,
+      from Bishop Hurst, 220;
+    of '94, from Gov. Waite, Mrs. Sewall, 232;
+    of '96, 254;
+    of '97, from Miss Reed, 285;
+    of '98, from Abigail Bush, Lucinda H. Stone and others, 300-1;
+    of '99, from Samuel Gompers, 334,
+      Mrs. Stanton, 337, 342-3;
+    of 1900, 359, 366.
+    --to Int'l. Council of '88, 135.
+    --to Miss Anthony on 70th birthday, 164;
+      on 80th, 403.
+    --to various Conventions, 447.
+    --to Governors of States and Territories, 212.
+    --to members of Congress, 35, 217, 218, 247, 287, 346.
+    --to political delegates and conventions, 440 et seq.
+    --to State constitutional conventions, 433.
+
+  LIFE AND WORK OF SUSAN B. ANTHONY, iv; 2.
+
+  LIQUOR DEALERS, control in politics, xix;
+    attitude toward wom. suff., xix;
+    influence in Iowa, xxi;
+    in Neb., 80;
+    allied with women remonstrants, 327;
+    opposed to wom. suff., 373;
+    at Nat'l. Brewers' Convention, 447;
+    in Calif., 273, 486, 491-3, 499, 500;
+    in Idaho, 284;
+    in Ariz., 472;
+    in Col., 512, 517;
+    in S. D., 556;
+    in Kas., 650, 660;
+    in Ok., 888.
+
+  LONGEVITY and vitality of women, 29.
+
+  LOUISIANA, Miss Anthony on women taxpayers' suff., 360.
+    _See_ State chapter.
+
+
+  MAGAZINES. _See_ Newspapers.
+
+  MAJORITY, opposed to any reform, xxii;
+    same, xxiii;
+    same, xxvi;
+    must ask for wom. suff. no argument, xxxi; xxxii;
+    never asked for anything, 38;
+    Miss Anthony on, 42;
+    wom. suff. should not wait for, 84;
+    must demand wom. suff., 92;
+    never granted anything, 275;
+    oppose every advance, Mrs. Catt on, 369-71.
+
+  MARRIAGE, suff. has no relation to, 90;
+    Sen. Brown's idea of, 94 et seq.;
+    in wom. suff. States, 103;
+    Sen. Vest on, 106 et seq.;
+    position of woman in, regulations made by men, obstacles to
+      happiness, Mrs. Colby on, 151;
+    meaning of, narrowness of wives a detriment to men, Mrs. Stanton
+      on, 161;
+    interdependence of husband and wife, Mrs. Wallace on, 171;
+    Mr. Hinckley on, 180;
+    each supports the other, 171, 208, 311;
+    of Mr. Blackwell and Lucy Stone, 226;
+    wife need not give up name, 226;
+    individuality of wife, Miss Shaw on, 230;
+    what wives want, 245.
+    _See_ Domestic.
+
+  MASSACHUSETTS, sentiment for wom. suff. in, 36;
+    Lucy Stone on treatment of women by its Legis., 192;
+    early education of women, 192;
+    women taxpayers, 240.
+    _See_ State chapter.
+
+  MATRIARCHATE, Mrs. Spencer on evolution of family life, 328 et seq.;
+    1041.
+
+  MEDICINE, early struggles of women to study, 296;
+    letter from Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, 301;
+    efforts of wom. in, 275, 355;
+    statistics of women physicians, 275, 355, 370;
+    first woman to graduate, 355; 463; 574;
+    first to practice, 748;
+    only woman dean of mixed college, 610;
+    Johns Hopkins Medical, 700;
+    medical societies in N. J., 833;
+    first woman's med. coll., 904;
+    tribute of women in, on Miss Anthony's 80th birthday, 394.
+    _See_ also State chapters under _Occupations_, and for physicians
+      in institutions under _Office Holding_.
+
+  MICHIGAN, Munic. Suff. Bill vetoed, xv;
+    vote on suff. amend., 35;
+    Nat'l. Ass'n. meets, 322.
+    See State chapter.
+
+  MILITARY, argument against wom. suff., nearly obsolete, xxxi;
+    Sen. Palmer on, 64;
+    military questions must give way to economic, 69;
+    ability to bear arms not a voting test, 82;
+    Sen. Blair on military service no connection with suff., 87;
+    same on women can fight, 90;
+    Sen. Brown on women and military service, 94, 96, 100;
+    woman's record, 101, 113;
+    nation's debt to her, 115;
+    brute force passing away, 121;
+    woman's part in war, 161-2, 195;
+    fighting qualities necessary in women, 183;
+    women first to see advantage of peace, 208;
+    Miss Clay on the military argument before Senate Com., 309;
+    Miss Shaw on, 337;
+    how women would have managed Span. Am. War, 339.
+
+  MINISTERS, early women, 59, 260;
+    Rev. Anna Howard Shaw on women ministers, 206;
+    tribute from, on Miss Anthony's 80th birthday, 397; 464;
+    ministers in favor of wom. suff., 1079. _See_ Sermons.
+
+  MINNESOTA, difficulty of carrying wom. suff. amend., xvi;
+    Amer. Suff. Ass'n. meets in Minneapolis, 411.
+    _See_ State chapter.
+
+  MOTHERHOOD, xxxi;
+    needed in politics, 40;
+    not a limitation, 58;
+    Mrs. Stanton on ancient idea of, 60;
+    Sen. Blair on maternity and suff., 91;
+    Sen. Brown on, 94 et seq.;
+    Sen. Dolph on, 103;
+    Sen. Eustis on, 104;
+    Sen. Vest on, 106;
+    Miss Willard asks suff. for mothers, 142;
+    mothers should be honored equally with fathers, 194;
+    mothers should be exempt from wage-earning, 211;
+    child dearer than all else, 226;
+    Mrs. Stetson on, 266;
+    not broad enough, 277;
+    Mrs. Spencer on motherhood among primitive peoples, 328-333;
+    suff. and, 283, 303-4, 357;
+    fits women for suff., 309;
+    all wom. not fitted for, 362;
+    Congress of Mothers, 1051.
+    _See_ also Testimony from Wom. Suff. States, beginning 1085,
+     and State chapters for Colorado, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming.
+
+  MUNICIPAL SUFFRAGE, in Kas., xv;
+    bill vetoed in Mich., xv; 123;
+    effect in Kas., 199;
+    Australia first country to grant, 224;
+    cities need woman's vote, 278, 420, 422;
+    in Ireland, 343;
+    how gained in Kas., 649 et seq.;
+    in Kas., 652, 664;
+    in Great Brit., 1012, 1022;
+    in New Zealand, 1025;
+    in Australia, 1027 et seq.;
+    in Canada, 1035 et seq.;
+    in other countries, 1038 et seq.
+
+
+  NATIONAL SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION, membership and finance, xxx;
+    contests for right to vote under 14th amend., 4;
+    abandons attempt, 6;
+    same for Federal suff., 10;
+    begins efforts for 16th amend., 11;
+    work in the States, 11;
+    work before Congress, 11;
+    effect on the franchise, 13;
+    founded in '69, 14;
+    conventions held, 14;
+    work in Washington, 15;
+    finances in '84, 27;
+    conv. of '88, 137;
+    finances in '89, 154;
+    union with American Ass'n., 164;
+    Miss Anthony declares for free platform, 169;
+    finances in '92, 185;
+    last app. of Mrs. Stanton and Lucy Stone, 186;
+    at Columb. Expos., 217;
+    freedom of platform, 224;
+    mem. serv. for Lucy Stone, 225;
+    finances in '95, org. com. established, 250;
+    finances in '96, 256;
+    headqrs. established, 257;
+    welcomes Utah, 260;
+    breadth of platf., 264;
+    finances of '97, Miss Anthony's contrib., 287;
+    reports on course of study and finance, 289;
+    demands equal rights for women in every depart., 291;
+    finances in '99, 342;
+    Washt'n _Post_ compliments, 349;
+    advantage of meeting in capital, 351;
+    finances in 1900, 364;
+    holds Bazar, 365;
+    rec'd by Pres. McKinley in 1900, Mrs. McKinley sends flowers, 384;
+    Miss Anthony resigns presidency, action of conv., her speeches,
+      etc., 385 et seq.;
+    her farewell, 393;
+    Mrs. Chapman Catt elected pres., 387;
+    introd. by Miss Anthony, sp. of accept., 388;
+    notices of new pres., 389;
+    love for Miss Shaw, 389;
+    celebrates Miss Anthony's 80th birthday, 349 et seq.;
+    appeals to political convs. and delegates in 1900, 440-3;
+    nat'l and State work, 450;
+    work for rights of women in our new possessions, Chap. XIX;
+    synopsis of constitn., officers, committees, life members and
+      delegates, 1098 et seq.
+    For general work, _see_ Chaps. II-XXII.
+
+  NEBRASKA, difficulty of carrying amend., xvi;
+    suff. amend, campn., 80.
+    _See_ State chapter.
+
+  NEED, of man and woman in law and politics, 179;
+    in the home, everywhere, 180;
+    of each for other, 266;
+    same, 284;
+    of both in Gov't, 310.
+
+  NEGROES, how enfranch., xvii;
+    why disfranch., xviii;
+    placed above women, 2;
+    right to suff., 6;
+    nat'l. amend. necessary, 42;
+    women should not have suff., 105-6;  311;
+    deprived of suff. in South, compared to white women, 325;
+    women in smoking cars, 343;
+    if denied suff. should not be counted in basis of represent., 376;
+    trib. of wom. to Miss Anthony on 80th birthday, 398;
+    her sympathy for, 403;
+    Nat'l. Ass'n. of Colored Women, 1051.
+
+  NEW JERSEY, failure of Sch. Suff. amend., xvi;
+    first State to grant wom. suff., 19;
+    account of same, 830. _See_ State chapter.
+
+  NEW SOUTH WALES, chapter on, 1029.
+
+  NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES.[502]
+    _Advertiser_ (New Decatur, Ala.), 465.
+    _Arena, The_, 6, 927-8.
+    _Argonaut_ (San Francisco), 491.
+    _Australian Register_, 1028.
+    _Australian Woman's Sphere_ (Melbourne), 1031.
+    _Boomerang_ (Laramie, Wyo.), 1006.
+    _Bricklayer and Mason_, 446.
+    _Bulletin_ (San Francisco), 491.
+    _Call_ (San Francisco), 482, 487, 491, 505.
+    _Chicago Law Times_, 609.
+    _Christian Advocate_, 207.
+    _Colorado Springs Gazette_, 525.
+    _Commercial Gazette_ (Cin'ti), 428.
+    _Congressional Record_, 110.
+    _Constitution_ (Atlanta), 244, 246.
+    _Daily Statesman_ (Boise, Ida.), 319, 591.
+    _Daily Times_ (Seattle), 974.
+    _Democrat_ (Grand Rapids), 339.
+    _Democratic State Journal_ (Wash.), 1096.
+    _Englishwoman's Review_, 22, 319, 1012.
+    _Enquirer_ (Cin'ti), 428.
+    _Evening News_ (Washtn.), 202.
+    _Evening Post_ (New York), 1096.
+    _Examiner_ (San Francisco), 491.
+    _Express_ (Los Angeles), 495.
+    _Fortnightly Review_, 1014-5.
+    _Freemen's Labor Journal_ (Spokane),  974.
+    _Harper's Bazar_, 716.
+    _Harper's Magazine_, 203.
+    _Herald_ (Boston), 732.
+    _Leader_ (Des Moines), 271, 273.
+    _Legal News, The_ (Chicago), 212, 609.
+    _Lily_ (Amelia Bloomer, ed.), 250, 295.
+    _Liquor Dealer_ (Los Angeles), 499.
+    Massachusetts papers, 711.
+    _Mirror_ (Seattle), 1096.
+    _Nevada Citizen_, 811.
+    _New Northwest_, 975.
+    _Nineteenth Century_ (Eng.), 1014.
+    _Oregonian_ (Portland), 896.
+    _Picayune_ (New Orleans), 680, 683.
+    _Post_ (San Francisco), 491.
+    _Post_ (Washtn.), 188, 201, 221, 236, 349, 361, 385, 387, 390-1,
+      393, 395, 400.
+    _Post-Intelligencer_ (Seattle), 1096.
+    _Public Ledger_ (Phila.), 227.
+    _Record_ (San Francisco), 491.
+    _Record-Union_ (Sacramento), 491.
+    _Remonstrance_ (Boston), 512.
+    _Report_ (San Francisco), 491.
+    Rhode Island papers, 910-11.
+    _Saturday Review_ (Atlanta), 582.
+    _Star_ (Richmond, Va.), 964.
+    _Star_ (San Francisco), 491.
+    _Star_ (Washtn.), 173, 189, 318, 388.
+    _Suffrage Reveille_ (Kas.), 647.
+    _Suffragist_ (Ills.), 612.
+    _Sun_ (Baltimore), 698.
+    _Sun_ (New York), 326, 459.
+    _Sunday World_ (Los Angeles), 499.
+    _Sunny South_ (Atlanta), 238.
+    _Times_ (Leavenworth, Kas.), 645.
+    _Times_ (London, Eng.), 1019.
+    _Times_ (Los Angeles), 491, 499.
+    _Times_ (New York), 364.
+    _Town Talk_ (Los Angeles), 499.
+    _Transcript_ (Olympia), 1096.
+    _Tribune_ (Chicago), 93, 1009.
+    _Una_ (Paulina Wright Davis, ed.), 294.
+    _Wisconsin Citizen_, 342, 987.
+    _Woman's Chronicle_ (Ark), 475-6.
+    _Woman's Column_ (Boston), 431, 465, 708.
+    _Woman's Exponent_ (Utah), 936 et al.
+    _Woman's Forum_ (Ills.), 613.
+    _Woman's Journal_ (Boston), 221, 236, 256, 342, 350, 381-2, 392,
+     406, 417, 423, 426, 430, 701, 726, 734, 736, 1096.
+    _Woman's Standard_ (Ia.), 342, 629.
+    _Woman's Tribune_ (Washtn.), 76, 126, 164, 296, 342, 306, 575, 970.
+    _Women's Suffrage Journal_ (Eng.), 22, 1015.
+    _Young Woman's Journal_, 956. _See_ Press.
+
+  NEW YORK, attempt to confer Sch. Suff. on women, xv;
+    women demand represent. at Centennial, 156;
+    women taxpayers, 240, 247, 313, 314;
+    report of Const'l. Conv. of '94, 247;
+    opinion of Atty. Gen. and other lawyers on Sch. Suff. and
+      Office-Holding for women, 1094. _See_ State chapter.
+
+  NEW ZEALAND, chapter on, 1029;
+    eminent advocates of wom. suff., 1084.
+
+
+  OCCUPATIONS, resume of women in, 463;
+    entrance of women, xxii, xxiii, xxv;
+    statistics, xxx;
+    advantage of ballot, 67;
+    progress of women in, 133;
+    women first in, 208;
+    Mr. Bok on women in business, 229;
+    danger of disfranch. women in, 312;
+    statistics of wages, 379;
+    business women send trib. to Miss Anthony on 80th birthday, 398.
+    _See_ State chapters under head of _Occupations_, beginning p. 465;
+    also Labor and various professions, Law, etc.
+
+  OFFICE-HOLDING by women, resume of, 462, and in each State chapter
+      under head of _Office-Holding_, beginning 465;
+    Sen. Vest on, 108;
+    Sen. Hoar on, 109;
+    in Wy., 117;
+    women first employed in Gov't dept., 123;
+    in Nat'l. Gov't. depts. at present, 572;
+    in Gr. Brit, 1023;
+    in Canada, _see_ chapter on, 1034.
+
+  OFFICERS, of Amer. Suff. Ass'n. in '84, 408;
+    from '84 to 1900, 428;
+    of Nat'l. Suff. Ass'n. in '84, 27;
+    from 1869 to 1900, 387;
+    of Nat'l.-Amer. Ass'n. in '90, 174;
+    in '92, 186; in '94, 233;
+    in 1900, 1099.
+    --of first Nat'l. Council of Women, 137.
+    --of State Suff. Assns., listed in each State chapter,
+      beginning p. 465.
+
+  OPPONENTS of wom. suff., _see_ Church, Congress, Debates, Electorate,
+      Indifference of Women, Liquor Dealers, Remonstrants, Reports, etc.
+    _See_ also for arguments of, p. 93 et seq. and p. 999 et seq.
+
+  OREGON, xxi; xxix;
+    three classes of opponents, 249;
+    Amer. Suff. Ass'n. aids, 408.
+    _See_ State chapter.
+
+  ORGANIZATION for wom. suff.,
+    plan of, 26;
+    inadequacy of, 248;
+    nat'l. com. established, 250;
+    Mrs. Catt's work, 254;
+    her report, 256;
+    work of Utah women, 262;
+    necessity of, 273;
+    report of '97, obstacles to, 289; report of '99, 365;
+    in various States, 451.
+    _See_ also State chapters, beginning p. 465.
+
+  ORGANIZATIONS OF WOMEN, NATIONAL, Chap. LXXV.
+    --Ass'n for Adv'mt of Wom., 1050.
+    --Coll. Alum., Ass'n of, 1048.
+    --Colonial Dames of Amer., 1066.
+    --Col'd Wom., Nat'l Ass'n of, 1051.
+    --Council of Women, Int'l, 1044.
+    --Council of Women, Nat'l, 1044-5.
+    --Daughters of Amer. Rev., 1065.
+    --Daughters of the Rev., 1066.
+    --Daught. of Vets., Nat'l All., 1064.
+    --Daught. of Confed., United, 1067.
+    --Daught. of 1812, Nat. Soc, 1067.
+    --Daughters of Rebekah, 1069.
+    --Eastern Star, Order of, 1068.
+    --Fed. of Clubs, General, 1050.
+    --G. A. R., Ladies of, 1064.
+    --Household Econ., Nat'l As., 1056.
+    --Indian Ass'n. Wom. Nat'l., 1053.
+    --Jewish Wom., Nat. Coun. of, 1053.
+    --Keeley Rescue League, 1056.
+    --Kindergarten Union, Nat'l., 1055.
+    --Loc. Eng'rs, Ladies' Aux., 1069.
+    --Maccabees of World, Sup. Hive, Ladies of, 1067.
+    --Missionary Societies, 1057-1062.
+    --Mothers, Nat'l. Cong. of, 1051.
+    --Mt. Vernon Ladies' Ass'n., 1065.
+    --Music. Clubs, Nat'l. Fed. of, 1056.
+    --Needlework Guild of Am., 1057.
+    --Prison Ass'n., Woman's, 1055.
+    --Railroad Cond., Ladies' Aux., 1069.
+    --Rathbone Sisters of World, Sup. Temple, 1068.
+    --Red Cross Soc., Am. Nat'l., 1048.
+    --Relief Corps, Woman's, 1064.
+    --Relief Soc., Nat'l. Wom., 1052.
+    --Sabbath Alliance, Wom., 1063.
+    --Social Purity, Christian League for, 1054.
+    --Sunshine Soc., Internat'l., 1052.
+    --Wom. Chr. Temp. Union, 1045.
+    --Women Workers, Nat'l., 1054.
+    --Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Ass'n., 1055.
+    --Y'ng Wom. Chr. Ass'n., 1063.
+    --Miscellaneous, 1069.
+    --of Men and Women, 1070.
+    --in Great Britain, Liberal Federation, Primrose League and Nat'l.
+      Suff. Society, 1013-14.
+    --general comment on, majority would not have consented to, xxii;
+    great power of, xxv;
+    value of anti-suff., xxix;
+    working toward suff., xxx;
+    suff. organizations, rank first, 188;
+    vast increase, 396;
+    first on record and evolution of, 1042-3;
+    first temperance organ'zs., 1042;
+    during Civil War, 1043;
+    dignity of convs., 1044;
+    great scope of objects but few for suff., 1070-1;
+    all leading to it, 1071;
+    value in develop, of women, 1072;
+    number enrolled, 1072;
+    future power, 1073;
+    Gov't. must have their help, 1073.
+
+
+  PARTIES, _see_ alphabetical list and also Conventions.
+    So-called Third, xviii;
+    their general attitude, 143; 425; 438-9; 441; 479; 492; 522-3-4;
+      554-6; 591; 600; 617; 647; 755-6; 760; 809; 963; 971-2; 974.
+
+  PEACE, Conf. at Hague, Nat'l. Suff. Ass'n. expresses sympathy, 336;
+    res. for Peace services, 337; 344.
+    _See_ War.
+
+  PERSECUTION, of early workers, xxviii;
+    not ended, xxxii;
+    of sex causes moral chaos, 42;
+    fate of reformers,  132.
+
+  PETITION, woman's right to, 32;
+    have exercised it many years, 33;
+    Congress must not deny, 93.
+
+  PETITIONS, for wom. suff., great number, 33;
+    for many years, 36;
+    in Ills.,  39;
+    in O., 46; 110;
+    national enrollment, 137;
+    million signatures, 184;
+    size of, 268;
+    Fed. of Labor for  wom. suff., 334;
+    in Wy., 448;
+    in N. Y., 850.
+    _See_ Chap. XXIII and State  chapters under _Legislative Action_.
+    In Great Brit., 1015, 1017, 1020;
+    in N. Z., 1026;
+    in Victoria, 1032.
+    --against wom. suff., 107;
+    in Ills.,  602;
+    in Mass., 723, 736 et al.;
+    in N. Y., 850;
+    in R. I., 911.
+
+  PHILIPPINES, Nat'l. Suff. Ass'n. demands  rights for their women, 325;
+    Mrs. Spencer on our duty to the  women of our new possessions, 328
+      et seq.;
+    discussion, 331 et seq.;
+    no hope for their women, 347;
+    testimony  in favor before Senate Com.,  348.
+    _See_ Chap. XIX for full statement.
+
+  PHARMACY, in Ky., 676.
+
+  PHYSICAL ABILITY, woman lacks, 99,  100, 108.
+    _See_ Military.
+
+  PIONEERS, first work for wom. suff.,  xiii;
+    early conditions of women, 1;
+    at Int'l. Council, 136;
+    in the West,  148;
+    struggles of, 154;
+    work of, 188;
+    appeal for their children, 195;
+    tributes to by Miss Anthony and  Fred. Douglass, 204;
+    trib. of Douglass  to, 227;
+    in Utah, 261;
+    gratitude  to, 290;
+    young women should continue  their work, 292;
+    mem. services  for, 293;
+    at conv. of '98, 298-9;
+    of '99, 336.
+
+  PLAN OF WORK, adopted by nat'l. suff. conv. of '84, 26, 62;
+    by conv. of '87, 122;
+    suggestions for suff. clubs, 248;
+    of Amer. Suff. Ass'n. in '84, 410.
+
+  POLICE MATRONS, _see_ _Office-Holding_ in State chapters,
+    beginning p. 465.
+
+  POLITICS, effect of women in, xix;
+    crowding in, xxx;
+    too hard for  women, 94;
+    in '88, 150;
+    wom. suff. in polit. meetings, 257;
+    should advocates suff. take part in? 280 et seq.;
+    in Utah, 319;
+    in N. Y., 872;
+    anti-suffragists in, _see_ Remonstrants.
+
+  POLITICIANS, object to wom. suff., xix; xx; xxi;
+    women as, 99.
+    For Politics and Politicians, _see_ chapters for States where women
+      vote and in which wom. suff. campaigns have been held;
+    also Parties, Conventions, Republicans, etc.
+
+  POPULISTS, 444;
+    in Calif., 488, 491-3;
+    in Col., xviii, 511, '13, '16, '18, '20,  '23;
+    in Ida., 590, '92, '94;
+    in Kas., 642-7, 652-5, 657;
+    in Mont., 800;
+    in Wash., 971-2.
+    _See_ Conventions and Parties.
+
+  PORTO RICO, Nat'l. Ass'n. demands  rights for women in, 325;
+    appeals to Cong. for same, in 1900, 446.
+
+  POSTMASTERS, women, 462.
+
+  PRAYERS, Mrs. McLaren on, 22;
+    Mrs. Gougar on, 37;
+    Mrs. Crooker on,  43;
+    Miss Shaw on, 134.
+    _See_  Church.
+
+  PRESIDENTS, of Nat'l. Suff. Ass'n., Mrs. Stanton, in '84, 15;
+    of united assn's. in '90, 174;
+    resigns and made hon. pres., 186;
+    Lucy Stone made hon. pres., 186;
+    Miss Anthony elected pres. in '92, 186;
+    resigns in 1900, 385;
+    Mrs. Chapman Catt elected, 387;
+    Miss A. made hon. pres., 389.
+    --and Vice-Presidents of U. S. favoring wom. suff., 1075.
+    --of Universities and Colleges, same, 1079.
+
+  PRESIDENTIAL SUFFRAGE, form of petition, 286;
+    bill in Kas., 655.
+
+  PRESS, present attitude, xxviii;
+    on dress of delegates, 56;
+    change in tone, 57;
+    Miss Anthony against starting paper, 216;
+    report of nat'l. press work for '96, 286;
+    for '97,  288;
+    for '99, 365;
+    early comment on wom. suff., 293;
+    wom. suff. dept. in N. Y. _Sun_, 326;
+    need of  women on press, 326;
+    report to  Amer. conv. of '87, 425;
+    of '88, 431;
+    press in Calif, campn., 490, 499.
+    _See_ Newspapers.
+
+  PRINCE OF INDIA, everlasting record, 277.
+
+  PROGRESS OF EQUAL RIGHTS, reasons for, xiii;
+    present status, xxv;
+    hope for future, xxvi;
+    more rapid  in future, xxxiii;
+    effect of Civil War on, 2;
+    Congress'l. Com. report, 53;
+    Sen. Palmer on, 63; 133; 134; 191;
+    Miss Anthony on, 325; 207; 242; 306;
+    in public sentiment, 349;
+    in the South, 362; 369;
+    social, educat'l, etc., Mrs. Catt on, 392;
+    as shown in treatment of Miss Anthony, 394, 398;
+    in position of advocates, 405; 412;
+    in the laws, 455-8.
+
+  PROGRESS OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE, 169; 198;
+    ears will be unstopped, 199; 290;
+    appearances of advocates, 318; 326;
+    13 members electoral coll., 350; 405; 409; 425; 442;
+    in England, 353, 1012.
+
+  PROFESSIONS, women in, _see_ Law, Medicine, etc., also Occupations.
+
+  PROPERTY, Lucy Stone on laws in Mass., 192;
+    owners are one-fourth women, nine-tenths of laws made for property,
+      200.
+    Resume of laws, 453 et seq.
+    _See_ Laws, also each State chapter under _Legislative Action
+      and Laws_.
+
+  PUBLIC SCHOOLS, statistics of pupils, xxx;
+    girls formerly not admitted in Mass., 193; 464;
+    High Schools,  in Del., 566;
+    in Phila., 906;
+    in  Providence, 920.
+    _See_ each State chapter under head of _Education_, beginning, p. 465.
+
+
+  QUEENSLAND, _see_ chapter on, 1032.
+
+
+  RADICALS, of each new age, xxxiii; 117, 271.
+
+  RECEPTIONS, 15; 18; 56; 127; 175; 183; 188; 251; 262; 265; 270; 354; 384.
+    _See_ various State chapters beginning 465.
+
+  REFORMERS, Rev. Anna Howard Shaw on, 131 et seq.
+
+  RELIGION, _see_ Church.
+
+  REMINISCENCES OF ELIZABETH CADY STANTON, iv; 250.
+
+  REMONSTRANTS, women against suff., xxix;
+    in politics, 16;
+    called to account, 19;
+    Mr. Foulke on, 168;
+    Mrs. Howe on, 170; 171;
+    three classes of, 249; 258;
+    Miss Blackwell on, 320;
+    allied with liquor dealers, 327;
+    satire on, 361;
+    Grace Greenwood on, 364;
+    in England, take advantage of every gain, 369;
+    Mrs. Catt on, 370;
+    against education,  property laws, etc., 380;
+    before Sen. com. in 1900, 381;
+    before House com., amusing occurrences, 382;
+    in different stages of evolution, 392;
+    in Col., 512;
+    in S. D., 557;
+    in Kansas, 650;
+    in Mass., 704,  732-3, 736 et al.;
+    in N. Y., 850, 858-9, 861;
+    in Ok., 888;
+    in Ore., 895;
+    in Wash., 971;
+    in Austr., 1031.
+
+  REPORTS, of Congress'l coms. on wom. suff., 12;
+    House Judic., of '84, 47 et seq., 52 et seq.;
+    of '86, 82 et seq.;
+    of '90, 163;
+    of '94, 235;
+    Senate, of '84, 47;
+    _see_ also 93 et seq;
+    of '92, 201;
+    of '96, 207;
+    work of Miss Anthony and Mrs. Upton in securing, 366.
+    --of nat'l. suff. conv. of '84, 15;
+    of Intl. Council of '88, 127;
+    on nat'l. enrollment, 137, 154, 879;
+    of Nat'l. Council of '91, 175;
+    of Columbian  Expos. Com., 232.
+    --State, to nat'l. suff. convs., 15;
+    to American suff. convs., 432.
+   --Miss Anthony's on work in conventions of 1900, 439 et seq.
+
+  REPRESENTATION, basis of, Federal Constitution on, 8;
+    women should not be counted till enfranch., 374, 376.
+    --Indirect, of women by men, 41; 46; 51; 64; 66; 86; 93; 168;
+    Miss Blackwell on, 197.
+
+  REPRESENTATIVES, U. S., favoring wom. suff., 1077.
+    _See_ State chapters under _Legislative Action_.
+
+  REPUBLICANS, enfranch. negro men, xvii;  143;
+    in Calif., 485, 487, 491;
+    in Col., 516, 518, 520-5;
+    in S. D., 555;
+    in Ida., 590-2;
+    in Ills., 605-6;
+    in Ind., 617;
+    in Kas., 643-7, 649-55, 661;
+    in Mass., 712, 724, 727;
+    in Mich., 755;
+    in N. Y., 848 et seq., 872;
+    in Utah, 949, 953 et seq.;
+    in Wash., 971;
+    in Congress on Wy., 1004;
+    Nat'l. League of Clubs, 713-14.
+    _See_ Conventions.
+
+  RESOLUTIONS, at nat'l suff. conv. of '69, right of women to vote
+      under 14th amend., 3;
+    at conv. of '84, 25;
+    on death of Wendell Phillips, 25;
+    for Intl. Council, 25;
+    on Anna Ella Carroll, 25;
+    on creeds and dogmas., 58;
+    memorial of '85, 61;
+    on carrying wom. suff. into church, 75;
+    for 16th amend. to Nat'l const'n., 85;
+    at conv. of '87, 122;
+    of thanks to men, ridiculed by Mrs. Stanton, 145;
+    at conv. of '89, 154;
+    on trial of Susan B. Anthony, 155;
+    on disfranch. of women in Wash. Ty., 155;
+    on represent. of wom. at N. Y. Centennial, 156;
+    by Mrs. Stanton on the church and divorce, 165;
+    memorial of '90, 174;
+    at conv. of '91, 184;
+    for Sunday opening of World's Fair, 186;
+    to prohibit sale of liquor at same, 186;
+    mem. of '93, to Geo. W. Curtis and others, 203 et seq.;
+    at conv. of '93, 216;
+    mem. of '94, 227;
+    of '95, 250;
+    of '96, 259;
+    against Woman's Bible, 263;
+    mem. of '97, 275;
+    at conv. of '98, 290;
+    mem. of '98, 293;
+    of Fed. of Labor for wom. suff. in '98, 334;
+    res. for Peace services, 337;
+    at conv. of '99, 343;
+    mem. of '99, 344;
+    of Fed. of Labor in '99, 359;
+    mem. of 1900, 366;
+    res. on wom. suff. in Col., 383;
+    on Miss Anthony's resignation, 386;
+    of Amer. suff. conv. in '84, 409;
+    mem. of Frances D. Gage and others, 409;
+    at Amer. conv. of '85, 416;
+    of '87, 425;
+    for union of two suff. societies, 426;
+    of Col. Legis., 531;
+    of Wy. Legis., 1007.
+    _See_ also various State chapters beginning 465.
+
+  REVOLUTION, will it be necessary for wom. suff.? 119;
+    women will cause, 139.
+
+  RIGHT, SUFFRAGE A, proved by Nat'l. Constit'n, xxxii;
+    guaranteed by it, 1, 3; 38; 45-6;
+    Rep. Maybury denies, 47;
+    Rep. Poland, 50; 52;
+    Cong. Com. report, 54;
+    Miss Eastman on, 72, 80;
+    Cong. Com. report, 82;
+    Sen. Blair on, 86, 89, 90;
+    Sen. Dolph on, 101-2-5;
+    Sen. Vest denies, 107;
+    Mrs. Gage on, 118;
+    Sen. Blair on, 145;
+    Mr. Foulke on, 167-8;
+    Mrs. Howe on, 170;
+    Mrs. Wallace on, 172;
+    Mrs. Stanton on, 189;
+    Lucy Stone on, 191;
+    Mrs. Catt on, 194;
+    Miss Blackwell on, 197;
+    Miss Reed on, 285;
+    Mr. Garrison on, 305;
+    Miss Anthony on, 325;
+    Mrs. Blake on, 374-5;
+    Chancellor Eliot on, 413; 441-2.
+
+
+  SCHOOL SUFFRAGE, bills vetoed in Calif., xv;
+    experience in N. Y., xv;
+    in Wis., xv;
+    in N. J., xvi;
+    in S. D., xvi;
+    men do not exercise, 198, 541; 212;
+    in Boston, 746;
+    legality in N. Y., 1093;
+    in Great Brit., 1022;
+    in New Zeal., 1025;
+    in Canada, 1034 et seq.;
+    where possessed in U. S., 461.
+    _See_ chapters for these States under _Suffrage_.
+
+  SCIENCE and wom. suff., Mrs. Gage on, 28;
+    botanical objection, 90.
+
+  SELF-GOVERNMENT best means of self-development, Mrs. Stanton on, 40.
+
+  SENATORS, U. S., favoring wom. suff., 1076.
+
+  SERMONS, Miss Shaw on Heavenly Vision and progress of race, 128; 136;
+      175; 184; 185; 202;
+    Miss Shaw on Let no man take thy crown, 229;
+    minister in Atlanta opp. wom. suff., 237;
+    at Atlanta conv., 246-7; 258;
+    dean of Chichester against wom. suff., 320;
+    at conv. of '99. 337;
+    at conv. of 1900, Miss Shaw on Rights of Women, 361;
+    Cardinal Gibbons against wom. suff., 366.
+
+  SOLDIERS, women as, 309-10;
+    wom. produce, 310;
+    efforts to enable to vote, 335;
+    women bear the arm-bearers, 337.
+    _See_ Military and War.
+
+  SOLITUDE OF SELF, address by Mrs. Stanton, 189.
+
+  SOUTH, position of women, 212; 216;
+    speakers, 222;
+    women orators of, 236; 238;
+    its women want suff., 245;
+    illiterate vote in Ga., 246;
+    tour of by nat'l. spkrs., 251; 293; 360;
+    Mrs. Young on progress in, 362;
+    Ala. and Miss. grant property rights to women, 407; 928.
+
+  SOUTH DAKOTA, failure of Sch. Suff. amend., xvii; xxi; xxix;
+    Nat'l. Ass'n. raises funds for campn., 174;
+    Miss Shaw describes, 182; 183;
+    suff. bill vetoed, 414.
+    _See_ State chapter.
+
+  SPEAKERS, at Int'l. Council of '88, 136;
+    at Miss Anthony's 70th birthday recep., 163;
+    at 80th birthday recep., 394-5;
+    at nat'l. suff. convs., _see_ respective chapters, beginning p. 14;
+    before Congress'l. Coms., _see_ chapters for even years;
+    at Amer. suff. convs., _see_ Chap. XXIV.
+    _See_ State chapters for State speakers.
+    --of House of Representatives favoring wom. suff., 1077.
+
+  STATE CHAPTERS, beginning 465.
+
+  STATE'S RIGHTS, to grant suff., 50;
+    same, 78; 118; 144; 234.
+
+  STATISTICS, of women wage-earners, xxiii, xxx;
+    of public schools, xxx;
+    of foreign vote in Wis., 148;
+    of women physicians, 275, 355;
+    health of women graduates, 355;
+    wages of women, 360, 379;
+    of woman vote in Col., 525;
+    in Ida., 595;
+    in Kas., 660;
+    in Mass., 746;
+    in Ohio, 883;
+    in Utah, 952;
+    in Wash., 412, 967;
+    in Wyo., 1010;
+    in New Zeal., 1026;
+    in S. Australia, 1028;
+    vote on wom. suff. in Kas., 647.
+
+  SUFFRAGE, WOMAN,
+    --Advantages of, 21, 41, 53, 55, 65, 66, 83, 159, 161, 162, 178, 181.
+    --Advocates, character of, xxxii, 412;
+    debt owed to, 144;
+    are not dreamers, 421;
+    list of, 1075;
+    _see_ debates in Congress, 32 et seq., 85 et seq., 181 et seq.;
+    also various chapters and p. 1075 et seq.
+    --Bible, for and against. _See_ Bible.
+    --Bills for. _See_ Bills.
+    --Campaigns for. _See_ Amendment Campaigns.
+    --Church, attitude of. _See_ Church.
+    --Congressional Action. _See_ Congress.
+    --Constitutional Phases of. _See_ Constitutions.
+    --Conventions for. _See_ Conventions.
+    --Debates on. _See_ Congress.
+    --Decisions. _See_ Supreme Court Decisions.
+    --Democracy of. _See_ Democracy.
+    --Domestic, argument against wom. suff. losing force, xxxi;
+      Reagan, of Texas, on this point, 31;
+      John Quincy Adams on, 47;
+      woman's sphere, 48;
+      would break up home  49;
+      proper sphere, 53;
+      position of woman in all countries, 52, 83;
+      fear  of quarrels, 92;
+      sphere of two sexes, 94;
+      woman is queen, 95;
+      would disrupt family, 99;
+      harmony not disturbed, 103;
+      embrace of female politician, 106-7-8, 117;
+      woman's sphere narrowed, 190;
+      vote of husband and wife, 198;
+      wives of great men, 206;
+      wom. suff. and home, effect where women vote, 315;
+      evolution of family life, 328;
+      college wom. and home, 357-8;
+      no  relation between suff. and housekeeping,  362;
+      modern home happiest, 371;
+      domestic instincts eternal, 380;
+      effect of wom. suff. on domestic life in Colorado, 283, 356, 1087;
+      in Idaho, 595;
+      in Utah, 319, 1088;
+      in Wyoming, 117, 181, 302, 1089, 1091-2.
+    --Economics of, 308;
+      woman as economic factor, 310;
+      household economics, 357;
+      basis of wom. suff., 377.
+    --Educated, constitutional to require it, 246;
+      argument against, 258;
+      argument for, 292, 316;
+      Gov't. no right to educate women and refuse representation, 307;
+      Mrs. Stanton on, 316;
+      education must lead to suffrage, 356.
+      _See_ Education.
+    --Ethics of, 20, 43, 69, 80, 81, 116;
+      influence of woman, 117; 119;
+      Mrs. Stanton on, 134;
+      Mrs. Wallace on, 170-1; 254-5;
+      evolution of wom. suff., Mrs. Spencer on, 308.
+    --Expediency of, xxiv; 52;
+      Sen. Vest on, 107; 167; 172;
+      Phillips on, 381.
+    --Federal. _See_ Federal Suffrage.
+    --Illiterate. _See_ Illiteracy.
+    --Indifference of Women. _See_ Indifference.
+    --Justice of, 17, 74, 80, 82, 86, 102, 147, 162, 163, 167-8, 183;
+      Lucy Stone on, 191; 199, 297, 305, 358, 378, 381, 413, 415;
+      Curtis and Hoar on, 428.
+    --Labor and. _See_ Labor.
+    --Legislative Action on. _See_ Legislatures.
+    --Liquor Dealers and. _See_ Liquor Dealers.
+    --Majority of women opposed. _See_ Majority.
+    --Military argument against. _See_ Military.
+    --Motherhood and. _See_ Motherhood.
+    --Ministers for and against. _See_ Ministers, Church and Sermons.
+    --Morality through, xxvi; 18, 22, 24, 39, 43, 67, 115, 120, 136, 308.
+    --Municipal. _See_ Municipal Suffrage.
+    --Nature and, limitations of, 53;
+      Mrs. Stanton on balance of forces, 58;
+      nature opposes, 94;
+      can not reverse laws of, 100;
+      can be trusted,  168;
+      same, 247;
+      severe lessons of, 209.
+    --Need of, 46, 69, 84, 88;
+      Mrs. Wallace on, 119; 125, 134;
+      to offset foreign vote, 148; 153;
+      Senate Com. report, 156;
+      by wives and mothers, 161; 168; 193; 244;
+      by city and State, 306;
+      by home, school and municipality, 379;
+      by the Government, 429; 433.
+    --Negroes and. _See_ Negroes.
+    --Non-partisanship of demand, 38, 80, 81, 143, 173;
+      debate at nat'l. conv. of '97, 280; 344; 409.
+    --Opposition to. _See_ Introduction;
+      of church, State, home and society, Mrs. Stanton on, 177;
+      ignorance of, 276;
+      great obstacles, 371.
+      _See_ also Liquor Dealers, Remonstrants, Congressional Debates
+        and Reports.
+    --Organization for. _See_ Organization.
+    --Petitions for. _See_ Petitions.
+    --Philosophy of, Mrs. Colby on, 254.
+      _See_ also Ethics.
+    --Pioneers of. _See_ Pioneers.
+    --Progress of. _See_ Progress of Wom. Suff. and Equal Rights.
+    --Protection of, 17;
+      Mrs. Stanton on, 41; 44-6, 51, 59, 74, 99, 107, 122, 168, 245,
+        378, 413;
+      Higginson on, 424; 426; 428.
+    --Qualifications for, Sen. Blair on, 87-91;
+      physical, 51; 94 et seq.
+      _See_ also Military.
+    --Right of. _See_ Right, Suffrage a.
+    --School. _See_ School Suffrage.
+    --Science of, scientific aspect, by Mrs. Gage, 28.
+    --Sermons on. _See_ Sermons.
+    --South and. _See_ South.
+    --State's Rights and. _See_ State's Rights.
+    --Taxation and. _See_ Taxation and Taxpayers' Suffrage.
+    --Temperance through, xxvi; 18;
+      Bishop Simpson on, 24; 43;
+      Miss Willard's plea, 141;
+      res. against liquor selling at World's Fair, 186; 196.
+    --in Territories. _See_ chapters on Territories.
+    --Testimony for. _See_ Testimony.
+    --Universal, approved, xxvii;
+      Cong. Com. rep., 54;
+      same, 82;
+      Mrs. Hooker on, 115; 257; 258; 285; 369.
+    --War and. _See_ War.
+
+  SUFFRAGE, WOMAN,
+    miscellaneous, full resume of, _see_ Introduction.
+    Amount now possessed and how obtained, xxvii, 34, 461.
+    _See_ also chapters of States and Territories under head of _Suffrage_.
+    Why denied to woman, xiv et seq.;
+    effect on politics, xix;
+    obstacles to, xx et seq.;
+    future prospects, xxvi et seq.;
+    where taken away, xxvii, 674, 968;
+    attempt of women to vote under 14th Amend., 3 et seq.;
+    capacity for, 13;
+    evolution of, 18;
+    Mrs. Spencer on, 308;
+    scientific view of, 28, 90;
+    practical experience, _see_ Testimony, chapters on States where
+      women vote, also Sen. Palmer on, 68, Sen. Dolph on, 103;
+    dangers of, Sen. Brown on, 96 et seq., Sen. Vest on, 105 et seq.,
+      999 et seq.;
+    danger of withholding, Mrs. Stanton on, 119, 139, Mrs. Wallace on, 172;
+    unequal struggle for, Mrs. Stanton on, 139, 338;
+    men's indifference to, 187;
+    peaceful effort for, 231, 245;
+    industrial emancip. leads to, Carroll D. Wright on, 215;
+    man improved by, 391;
+    immense work of a few for, 449.
+    _See_ Vote, and Presidential, Suffrage; also chapter on Great
+      Britain and her Colonies and Chap. LXXIV.
+
+  SUNDAY OBSERVANCE, Mrs. Stanton on, 166; 186; 217.
+
+  SUPREME COURT DECISIONS,
+    U. S.,
+      Dred Scott case defining citizens, 4, 78;
+      on Virginia L. Minor's attempt to vote, 5;
+      Slaughter House Cases, 5;
+      Yarbrough on Federal Suff., 8;
+      on 14th amend., 79; 144; 165;
+      against right of women to practice law, 153;
+      on woman's right to vote, 153;
+      recognizing slavery, 165;
+      Justices of, favoring wom. suff., 1076.
+    --State,
+      on attempt of Miss Anthony, Mrs. Virginia L. Minor and other wom.
+        to vote, 4 et seq.;
+      on Federal Suffrage in Kellar case (Ills), 10;
+      on property rights of women in Calif., 502;
+      on wom. suff. in Calif., 504;
+      on wom. suff. amend. in Ida., 272, 593;
+      on woman's right to vote, to practice law and to sell liquor in
+        Ind., 621-2, 626;
+      on Munic. Suff. in Mich., 765;
+      on Sch. Suff. in N. J., 830;
+      on Sch. Suff. in N. Y., 867;
+      same in O., 883;
+      women's voting on constitn. in Utah, 948;
+      on wom. suff. in Wash., 968-9, 1096;
+        in Wis., 990;
+      Justices of, favoring wom. suff.,
+        Del., 565;
+        Ida., 593, 1089;
+        Kas., 433, 646;
+        Wy., 1090-1-2.
+
+  TASMANIA, chapter on, 1033.
+
+  TAXATION,
+    without representation, xxxi;
+    in Mass., 34; 38; 65; 66; 97; 148;
+    of women in N. Y., Mass. and Tenn., 240;
+    in Ga., 242;
+    in N. Y., 247, 313, 851;
+    of women helps pay Legislators, 374;
+    women should be relieved of until enfranch., 376;
+    Chicago Teachers' Fed. compels taxation of corporations, 611; 763;
+    in Phila., 900.
+
+  TAXPAYERS' SUFFRAGE,
+    States where possessed by women, 461.
+    _See_ chapters for those States under _Suffrage_.
+    --in La., 681;
+      in Miss., 787;
+      in Mont., 799;
+      in N. Y., 869.
+    _See_ also Iowa, 635.
+
+  TEACHERS,
+    _see_ Education, Public Schools and Universities.
+
+  TERRITORIES,
+    demand for wom. suff. in, 417;
+    appeals to Constit'l. Convs. of Dak., Wash., Mont. and Idaho, 439;
+    Mr. Blackwell visits them in interest of wom. suff., 433;
+    have a right to control suff., 1003.
+    _See_ Territorial chapters.
+
+  TESTIMONY, in favor of wom. suff.,
+    from Colorado, 239, 268, 283, 302-3, 338, 356, 383;
+      Kansas, 191;
+      Utah, 261, 283;
+    U. S. Sen. Cannon on, 304;
+    St. Sen. Martha Hughes Cannon on, 319;
+    Washington,
+      U. S. Sen. Palmer on, 68;
+      U. S. Sen. Dolph on, 103, 421, 1096-8;
+    in Wyoming,
+      U. S. Sen. Palmer on, 68,
+      U. S. Sen. Carey on, 117, 181, 200,
+      debate on admission to Statehood, 998 et seq.
+    _See_ Statistics,
+      also _Testimony from Wom. Suff. States_, beginning p. 1085,
+      State chapters for Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Utah and Wyoming
+        and pp. 1027-28.
+
+
+  UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES,
+    large number of women in, xxii;
+    women on faculties, 355;
+    Emma Willard's school, geometry in, 355;
+    Mt. Holyoke, Latin in, 355;
+    first Boston High School, 355;
+    President Eliot on girls in Boston Latin School and Radcliffe, 355;
+    Johns Hopkins Medical, 700;
+    Wellesley students for wom. suff., 714;
+      teachers for, 716;
+      same, 726;
+    Smith, same, 716;
+    Girton and Newnham (Eng.), same, 1015;
+      woman suffrage in, 709;
+    Radcliffe, 355, 749;
+    Columbia, 871;
+    Rochester, 871;
+    Brown, 918-20;
+    Oberlin, 884;
+    Antioch, 885;
+    State, closed to wom., 966;
+    open to women in Gr. Brit., 1024;
+    in other countries, 1038 et seq.;
+    presidents of, favoring wom. suff., 1079.
+    _See_ also Education.
+
+  UTAH,
+    adopts wom. suff., xxi; 252;
+    visit of Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw in '95, 253;
+    welcomed by Nat'l. Ass'n., 260;
+    organiz'n for wom. suff., 262;
+    gift to Miss Anthony, 390.
+    _See_ State chapter, also Statistics and Testimony.
+
+
+  VICTORIA, chapter on, 1031.
+
+  VOICES, of women, 240; 334-5.
+
+  VOTE,
+    woman's, political complexion of, xviii,
+    not wanted by politicians and others, xix;
+    best women would not vote, 50;
+    they would, 97;
+    they would not, 98;
+    women do vote, 93, 117, 181;
+    first voted in N. J., 19, 830;
+    future woman will be urged to vote, 211.
+    _See_ Statistics, Suffrage, Testimony, and chapters for Colorado,
+      Idaho, Kansas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, Australia and
+      New Zealand.
+    --of nat'l. conv. on carrying wom. suff. into church, 77;
+      on Woman's Bible, 263;
+      in U. S. Senate on amend. for wom. suff., 112.
+
+
+  WAGES, _see_ Labor and Statistics.
+
+  WILLS, _see_ p. 455 and Laws.
+
+  WAR,
+    hated by women, xix, 84, 208;
+    man's part compared to woman's, 115;
+    woman's part in war, 161-2;
+    first to see advantages of peace, 208;
+    pathetic war for suff., 231, 245;
+    war should have consent of women, 335;
+    women left to fight alone, 338;
+    badly needed in Span. Am., 339;
+    women and the South African, 391.
+    _See_ Military and Soldiers.
+    --Civil, developed woman, 2;
+      results frittered away, 159;
+      woman's part in, 195.
+
+  WASHINGTON CITY,
+    plan to beautify, xxxii;
+    entertains nat'l. suff. convs. from '69, 14;
+    Miss Anthony's preference as a place for holding convs., 218, 351.
+    _See_ accounts of nat'l. convs., Chaps. II-XXII, also chapter on
+      District of Columbia.
+
+  WASHINGTON TERRITORY, xxi; xxix;
+    Sen. Dolph on enfranch. of its women, 102;
+    their disfranch. denounced, 155;
+    full account of this, 1096-8.
+    _See_ State chapter, also Statistics and Testimony.
+
+  WISCONSIN,
+    Sch. Suff. in, xv;
+    rule of foreigners, 148.
+    _See_ State chapter.
+
+  WOMANLINESS, 52; 88; 95; 106; 160;
+    Mrs. Stanton on, 165; 225; 285; 319; 1086 et seq.
+
+  WOMAN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION,
+    petition for suff., 110; 123;
+    Miss Willard represents before Sen. Com. of '88, 141-2;
+    wom. suff. in '81, 215;
+    at nat'l. conv. of '97, 278.
+    For bills in Legislatures _see_ pp. 451-2, and various State
+      chapters under head of _Legislative Action_;
+      also Canada, New Zealand and Tasmania;
+    for founding and work, 1045 et seq.;
+    attitude towards wom. suff., 1070.
+
+  WOMAN'S RIGHTS CONVENTIONS,
+    demands of first one nearly all granted, xiii;
+    earliest ones held, 14;
+    40th annivers., 125; 204;
+    50th anniv., 288;
+    descrip. of, 298-9;
+    compared to Bunker Hill, etc., 397; 1043.
+
+  WORKINGMEN,
+    how enfranchised, xvii, same, 305;
+    in Great Brit., 311;
+    injured by disfranch. women, 312.
+    _See_ Labor.
+
+  WORKINGWOMEN,
+    relation of wom. suff. to, 70;
+    Nat'l. Ass'n. demands suff. for, 216.
+    _See_ Labor and Statistics.
+
+  WYOMING,
+    adopts wom. suff., xxi;
+    Nat'l. Ass'n. congratulates on admission, 176;
+    gavel from, 238; 252;
+    visit of Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw, 253;
+    compared to Switzerland, 282;
+    gift and trib. to Miss Anthony on 80th birthday, 400;
+    petits. Cong. for 16th amend., 448;
+    debate in Cong. on admission, 998 et seq.
+    _See_ State chapter, also Statistics and Testimony.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[502] It has been impossible to index every paper named in the
+History, and only those are given of which special mention is made.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX OF PROPER NAMES.
+
+
+In order that the following Index may not be overburdened with names,
+it has seemed best not to include those of officers and workers in the
+various States unless they are listed in some capacity elsewhere.
+While this decision causes injustice in some cases, it will be
+approved when it is considered that in the Massachusetts chapter, for
+instance, about 600 different individuals are mentioned, some of them
+a score of times; in those of New York and California, over 300 each,
+and in that of Vermont, including only seven pages, nearly 150. With
+half-a-dozen exceptions the State chapters are very short and it will
+require only a few minutes for the reader to find any name desired.
+Most of the prominent State workers are mentioned elsewhere and
+therefore are listed. Even with this arrangement the Index contains
+almost 1200 names.
+
+  Abbott, Dr. Lyman, 742.
+
+  Abbott, Mrs. Lyman, organizes anti-suff. soc., 850.
+
+  Abbott, Merrie Hoover, contest for office of pros. att'y., 770.
+
+  Aberdeen, Ishbel, Countess of, 301;
+    compliments Amer. wom., 353; 354.
+
+  Adams, Abigail, on female education, 354;
+    courtship, 422.
+
+  Adams, Gov. Alva, 302;
+    talks suff. to Fed. of Clubs, 530; 533;
+    on wom. suff. in Col., 1087.
+
+  Adams, Judge Francis G., 641;
+    statistics of wom. suff. in Kas., 660.
+
+  Adams, Pearl, 27.
+
+  Adams, Samuel, on representation, 66.
+
+  Addams, Jane, 608; 718.
+
+  Adkinson, Florence M., 432; 617; 707.
+
+  Adsit, Mrs. Allen C., 322.
+
+  Alabama, names for, Chap. XXV.
+
+  Alcott, Louisa M., in favor of wom. suff., 411; 431; 702.
+
+  Alden, Cynthia Westover, 1052.
+
+  Alderson, Mary Long, writes Mont. chap., 796.
+
+  Aldridge, George W., 845.
+
+  Alford, William H., 488.
+
+  Allen, C. E., M. C., 260;
+    on wom. suff. platform, 261; 949.
+
+  Allen, Mrs. C. E., 260.
+
+  Allen, U. S. Sen. John B., 158;
+    favors wom. suff., 162;
+    reports in favor, 201.
+
+  Altgeld, Gov. John P. (Ills.), 606.
+
+  Ambrose, James Clement, 802.
+
+  Ames, Rev. Charles G., 425;
+    in Mass., 707 et al., 712.
+
+  Ames, Fanny B., 717.
+
+  Ames, Gov. Oliver (Mass.), 259; 433;
+    recom. wom. suff. in message, 706;
+    same, 723; 718; 727.
+
+  Amies, Olive Pond, 201.
+
+  Anderson, Mrs. Garrett, M. D., (Eng.), 1015.
+
+  Anderson, Martha Scott, 331; 774.
+
+  Anderson, Naomi, 490; 646.
+
+  Anderson, St. Rep. Sarah A. (Utah), 953.
+
+  Andrews, Bishop E. G., 206.
+
+  Andrews, Elisha Benjamin, Pres. Brown Univ.,
+      works for admis. of wom., 919.
+
+  Andrews, St. Speaker N. L., wom. suff. in Wy., 1091.
+
+  Anneke, Mathilde F., 61;
+    work in Wis., 987.
+
+  Anthony, Col. Daniel Reed, 174; 645.
+
+  Anthony, Gov. George T. (Kas.), opp. wom. suff., 649.
+
+  Anthony, U. S. Sen. Henry B., 24;
+    rep. in favor of wom. suff., 47; 61; 89.
+
+  Anthony Lucy E., 239; 392;
+    in Calif, camp'n., 48;, 707; 900.
+
+  Anthony, Mary S., 298;
+    work in N. Y., 849 et al.
+
+  Anthony, Susan B., prepares Hist. of Wom. Suff., III;
+    rec. legacy for, V;
+    purchases rights of Mrs. Stanton and Mrs. Gage and puts book
+    in libraries, resigns presidency of Nat'l. Assn., VI;
+    secures money for Vol. IV and invites Mrs. Harper to write it, VII;
+    demands on her for inform., IX;
+    tries to prevent "male" in Nat'l. Constit., 2;
+    trial for voting, 4;
+    no faith in attempt for Fed. Suff., 11;
+    winter res. in Washt'n., 12;
+    forms Nat'l. Ass'n., 14;
+    issues call for conv. of '84, 15; 17;
+    arouses interest of Eng. wom., 21;
+    disgrace of disfranchisement, 27;
+    never wrote addresses, 28;
+    writes to 112 M. C.'s, 35; 36;
+    pleads for 16th Amend, before U. S. Senate Com., 40;
+    before House Com., 42; 56;
+    opp. relig. debate in wom. suff. conv., 59; 62;
+    describes first suff. meet. in Washt'n., 70; 71; 77;
+    on Sup. Ct. decisions, 78;
+    arrested under Fed. Law for voting, 79; 81;
+    on congress'l action on wom. suff., 112; 114;
+    world needed her, 120;
+    originates Int'l Council, 124;
+    issues call, 126;
+    edits report, 127;
+    opens Council, 133; 135; 136;
+    elected vice-pres., 137;
+    before Senate com. in '88, 140;
+    opens conv. of '89, 144; 150;
+    describes efforts to vote under 14th Amend., 152;
+    conv. res. on outrage of her trial, 155;
+    at Com. hearings, 156;
+    wom. in war, 162;
+    70th birthday, 163;
+    demands free platform, 169;
+    as presiding officer, 173;
+    elected vice-pres. of united ass'ns., 174;
+    puts Int'l Council Report in libraries, 175;
+    opens conv. of '91, 176; 180;
+    Miss Shaw tells treatment of in S. D. Rep. Conv., 182; 184; 185;
+    elected pres. Nat'l. Am. Ass'n., 186;
+    winter home at Riggs House, 188;
+    before House Com., 189;
+    compliments Sen. Hoar, 201; 202;
+    opens memorial service of '93, 203;
+    young wom. should apprec. pioneers, 204;
+    gains of forty years, 207;
+    World's Fair Bd. Lady M'g'rs., 211;
+    on Bd. M'g'rs. N. Y. St. Indust. Sch., 213;
+    refused seat on W. C. T. U. platform in '81, 215;
+    on publishing paper, 216;
+    opp. to convs. outside of Washt'n., 218;
+    flag present, by Col. women, 222;
+    every inch of ground contested, 223;
+    Suff. Ass'n. knows no section, creed or party, 224;
+    spicy introductions, 225; 227;
+    part in securing World's Fair Bd. Lady M'g'rs., 233;
+    wom. never can vote under present Constit'n., 234;
+    introd. Kate Field, 235; 236;
+    rare qualities as presid. officer, 238;
+    examples of repartee, 239, 40, 41;
+    trib. in Atlanta conv., 241;
+    young wom. know it all, 249;
+    announces nat'l. hdqrs., 250;
+    spks. in Southern cities, 251;
+    forgets prayer at conv., 252;
+    Miss Shaw tells of their visit to Western cities, 253;
+    Miss A. jokes younger wom. on holding her bonnet, on getting
+     crosswise with newspapers, 254; 257;
+    spks. at mem. serv. of '96, 260;
+    birthday luncheon, 262;
+    sp. on Woman's Bible, 263; 265;
+    before House Com. of '96, 267; 268;
+    at Des Moines conv. in '97, 271;
+    sp. at same, 272;
+    trib. of _Leader_, 273;
+    on desecrating the flag, 278; 279;
+    on partisanship, 281; 286; 287;
+    opens conv. of '98, 288;
+    birthday luncheon in '98, 291; 293;
+    with Mrs. Hooker at conv. of '98, 296; 298;
+    congrat. on 78th birthday, 300; 301; 304; 318;
+    before House com. of '98, 321;
+    sp. at conv. of '99, on wom. in our new possessions, 325; 327; 328;
+      331;
+    on wom. in Hawaii, 333;
+    on women's voices, 334; 335; 337;
+    a criminal, 339;
+    all wom. can help, 341; 342;
+    decides to resign presidency of Nat'l. Ass'n., 349;
+    vigor at, conv. of 1900, 350;
+    appearance and opening remarks, Miss Shaw tells of her recep. in
+      London, and relates funny story, 351;
+    rep. as delegate to Int'l. Council of '99, 352;
+    describes recep. by Queen, value of representing something, 354;
+    introd. Mr. Blackwell, 357; 359; 360; 364;
+    clears ass'n. of debt, need to watch Congress, 365; 367;
+    sp. before Senate com. of '99, 373;
+    asks hearing for "antis," 381;
+    kindness repudiated, 382-3;
+    courtesy of Pres. and Mrs. McKinley, 384;
+    urged not to resign presidency, 385;
+    insists upon doing so, res. passed by ass'n., her response, 386;
+    always in office, 387;
+    introd. her successor, 388;
+    elected hon. pres., and presented with birthday gifts, 389;
+    _Post_ describes occasion, 390; 391; 392;
+    introd. her old board and makes farewell sp., description by
+      _Post_, 393;
+    80th birthday celebration in Lafayette opera house, gifts and
+      tributes, her acknowledgment, 394-404;
+    evening recep. in Corcoran Art Gallery, description of Miss
+      Anthony, hour of triumph, 404-5; 426;
+    first app. at nat'l. polit. conv., 435;
+    at Nat'l. Repub. conv. in '92, 436;
+    at Nat'l. Popu. conv. in '92, 437;
+    vast numb. of convs. attended, 439;
+    political work in 1900, 440; 443;
+    letters to convs., 445;
+    ad. labor convs., 446;
+    trib. of Brewers' nat'l. conv., 447;
+    in Ala., 465;
+    spks. in Ark., 475;
+    at Calif. Wom. Cong., 480; 482; 486;
+    in Calif. camp'n., 487;
+    same, 489;
+    same, 490;
+    same, 500;
+    on Mexicans in Col., 514; 517;
+    visits Denver, 530;
+    in Conn., 535; 546;
+    plan of work to secure suff. amdt., 547;
+    lect. tour of S. D., 553; 554;
+    in S. D. camp'n., 555;
+    Russian voters oppose, goes before K. of L. and Farmers' Alliance, 556;
+    in Ga., 583;
+    in Ills., 598;
+    telegram to Idaho, 590;
+    in Ind., 615;
+    same, 616;
+    before Ind. Legis., 618;
+    in Iowa, 629;
+    same, 630;
+    work in Kas., 640;
+    tour of Kas., 641;
+    in Kas. camp'n., 643;
+    same, 644; 645; 646; 648; 649;
+    hears of munic. wom. suff. in Kas., 651;
+    in New Orleans, 678;
+    second visit, 679;
+    in Maine, 690;
+    in Baltimore, 695;
+    in Boston, 706; 708;
+    at Adams, 718; 755;
+    in Mich., 756;
+    same, 757;
+    in Ann Arbor, 758;
+    before Fed. of Labor in Detroit, 759;
+    before Mich. Legis., 764;
+    in Minn., 772-3;
+    in Mo., 790;
+    welcome from children in St. Louis and banq., 791-2;
+    in Neb., 802-3;
+    in Nev., 810-11;
+    pioneer work in N. Y., 839;
+    welcome home from S. D., 841;
+    defends pioneers, 843;
+    welcome home from Calif., 844;
+    face carved in N. Y. capitol, 845; 846;
+    refused by N. Y. Repubs. as delegate, 848;
+    work in N. Y. const'l. conv., 849;
+    same, 851;
+    early legis. work in N. Y., 852;
+    work for equal guardianship, 857;
+    last ap. before N. Y. legis. com., 859;
+    secures admis. of girls to Roch. Univ., 871;
+    in Ore., 892;
+    in Penn., 899;
+    in R. I., 907; 910;
+    at Pembroke Hall, Prov., 920;
+    in S. C., 922;
+    in Tenn., 926;
+    in Utah, 936;
+    welcomes Utah wom., 937;
+    in Omaha, 939;
+    teleg. to Utah, 942;
+    same, 944;
+    in Utah, 947;
+    Utah ass'n. presents silk dress, 950;
+    in Va., 964;
+    in Wis., 985-6;
+    same, 989; 995;
+    hears deb. on Wy., 1000;
+    hears of its admis., 1003;
+    requests celebration, 1004;
+    visits Wy., 1005; 1007.
+
+  Arizona, names for, Chap. XXVI.
+
+  Arkansas, names for, Chap. XXVII.
+
+  Armstrong, St. Sen. W. W., for wom. suff. in N. Y. Legis., 859-61-62.
+
+  Arthur, President Chester A., receives delegates, 18; 74.
+
+  Ashman, Judge William N., in Del., 564;
+    work in Penn., 899; 904.
+
+  Atchison, Prof. Rena Michaels, 606.
+
+  Athey, Eunice Pond, 287;
+    writes Idaho chap., 589;
+    in Ore., 892.
+
+  Atkinson, Gov. W. Y. (Ga.), 583; 587.
+
+  Atkinson, Mrs. W. Y., 251.
+
+  Auckland, Bishop of (N. Z.), for wom. suff., 1027.
+
+  Auclert, Hubertine (France), 23; 27.
+
+  Austin, Dr. Harriet N., 205.
+
+  Australia, 1027 et seq.
+
+  Avery, Rachel Foster, 19; 27; 61; 124;
+    arranges for Int'l. Council of Wom., 125;
+    issues call, 126; 128;
+    arranges Miss Anthony's birthday celebr., 163;
+    elected secy. united ass'ns., 174;
+    rep. of Council, 175; 218;
+    advoc. movable convs., 219;
+    rep. on Miss Anthony's efforts for Bd. of Lady Mgrs., 232;
+    opens headqrs., 257;
+    eulogy of Mr. Sewall, 259;
+    rep. of Atlanta Expos., 262;
+    ass'n. makes gift for 21 yrs. as sec'y., 387; 389; 443; 554;
+    in Del., 563;
+    at Ga. Expos., 582;
+    work for World's Fair Wom. Cong., 610;
+    in Kas., 640-1;
+    contrib. to Kas. camp'n, 642;
+    in N. J., 826; 900.
+
+  Avery, Susan Look, 612.
+
+
+  B
+
+  Babcock, Elnora Monroe, press work, 326; 342;
+    press rep., 1900, 365;
+    press work in N. Y., 844.
+
+  Bacon, Elizabeth D., writes Conn. chap., 535; 536.
+
+  Bagby, Fannie M., 18.
+
+  Bagley, Frances, 345.
+
+  Bailey, Hannah J., 201.
+
+  Baker, B. P., 417.
+
+  Baker, Charles S., M. C., 998.
+
+  Balderston, William, 319;
+    writes Idaho chapter, 589;
+    trib. to, 590.
+
+  Balfour, Hon. A. J., Premier of England, 1016; 1020.
+
+  Balfour, Lady Frances (Eng.), pres. suff. soc., 1020.
+
+  Balgarnie, Florence (Eng.), 179; 642; 708; 790.
+
+  Ballard, Adelaide, 271; 279;
+    work in Iowa, 631; 803.
+
+  Banker, George W. and Henrietta M., 366.
+
+  Banks, Rev. Louis A., sp. at Amer. conv. of '86, 421;
+    in R. I., 910;
+    in Vt., 957.
+
+  Barber, Gov. Amos W., on wom. suff. in Wy., 1007.
+
+  Barrett, Mrs. L. B., 410.
+
+  Barrows, Anna, household professions for wom., 357.
+
+  Barrows, Isabel C., Miss Anthony as philanthropist, 354; 739.
+
+  Barrows, Samuel J., M.C., 297; 703; 712.
+
+  Barry, James K., 479.
+
+  Barry, Leonora M. (_See_ Lake).
+
+  Barry, St. Rep. Dr. Mary F. (Col.), 523.
+
+  Bartlett, Rev. Caroline J. (_See_ Crane).
+
+  Bartol, Emma J., donat. to Vol. IV Hist, of Wom. Suff., VII; 900.
+
+  Barton, Clara, at Int'l Council of Wom., 136; 150; 205; 393;
+    trib. to Mrs. Gage, 429;
+    for wom. suff., 569; 576;
+    in Boston, 705; 895; 911;
+    pres. Red Cross Ass'n., 1048.
+
+  Bascom, Emma C., 61; 75.
+
+  Bates, St. Supt. Pub. Instruct., Emma (N. D.), 551.
+
+  Bates, Lieut. Gov. John L. (Mass.), for wom. suff., 718.
+
+  Bates, Dr. Mary H. Barker, 341.
+
+  Bates, Octavia W., on wom. in our new possessions, 331.
+
+  Battersea, Lady (Eng.), 354.
+
+  Beasley, Marie Wilson, 322.
+
+  Bebel, August (Germany), 329.
+
+  Beck, U. S. Senator James B., opp. wom, suff., 157.
+
+  Becker, Lydia (Eng.), 22; 1015; 1023.
+
+  Begg, Faithfull, M. P. (Eng.), work for wom. suff., 1017; 1018.
+
+  Begole, Gov. Josiah W. (Mich.), 755.
+
+  Belden, Evelyn H., wom. and war, 339; 632;
+    legis. work in Iowa, 634; 774; 804.
+
+  Belford, James B., M. C., spks. for wom. suff., 32.
+
+  Bell, John C., M. C., on wom. suff. in Col., 390; 524.
+
+  Benjamin, Mrs. A. S., 324.
+
+  Bennett, Sallie Clay, 6; 16;
+    on Bible for wom. suff., 71;
+    before U. S. Sen. Com., 138;
+    same, 162; 174;
+    wom. suff. under Const'n, 234; 235; 290;
+    work in Ky., 665.
+
+  Benson (Archbishop of Canterbury) Mrs., petit. for wom. suff., 1015.
+
+  Besant, Annie (Eng.), 220; 709.
+
+  Beveridge, U. S. Sen. Albert J., for wom. suff., 616.
+
+  Bieber-Bohm, Hanna (Germany), 301.
+
+  Biggs, Caroline Ashurst (Eng.), 22; 27; 176; 1012; 1015.
+
+  Bingham, Chief Justice Edward F., (D. C.), 574.
+
+  Birney, Mrs. Theodore W., 1052.
+
+  Bissell, Emily P., fears chivalry of men, 382;
+    in Ore., 895.
+
+  Bissell, Mrs. M. R., 323.
+
+  Bittenbender, Ada M., 802; 808.
+
+  Blackburn, Helen, 319; 369;
+    writes chap. for Great Britain, 1012.
+
+  Blackstone, commentaries, 456.
+
+  Blackwell, Alice Stone, 156; 173-4;
+    sp. before U. S. Sen. Com., 197; 218;
+    rep. of conv. of '94, 221; 235;
+    rep. of conv. of '95, 236; 243; 263; 276;
+    at conv. of '97, 281; 291;
+    before House com. of '98, 320; 357;
+    answers "remonstrants" at com. hearings, 383;
+    chap. on Amer. Suff. Ass'n., 406; 443;
+    furnishes material for Mass. chap., 701; 712 et al.;
+    in N. H., 816;
+    in N. Y., 844;
+    before N. Y. legis. com., 863; 920;
+    in Vt., 957.
+
+  Blackwell, Rev. Antoinette Brown, 128;
+    on first Wom. Rights conv., 292; 298; 337;
+    mem. res. at conv. of '99, 344; 425; 426;
+    in Boston, 708;
+    work in N. J., 820 et al.;
+    in N. Y., 844.
+
+  Blackwell, Dr. Elizabeth, 300; 320; 355;
+    in Eng., 1015.
+
+  Blackwell, Dr. Emily, 707.
+
+  Blackwell, Henry B., at conv. of '90, 169; 173; 183; 189; 205; 207;
+    reads last let. of Lucy Stone to conv. of '93, 213; 219; 226;
+    reminis. of Lucy Stone, 227;
+    opp. Fed. Suff., 234; 235;
+    wom. suff. and negro problem, 246; 259; 263; 265;
+    at conv. of '97, 280;
+    on Presidential Suff., 286; 294; 298;
+    Wom. Suff. and Home, 315;
+    on wom. in uncivilized nations, 332;
+    attraction of early convs., 357;
+    res. on Miss Anthony's resignation, 386; 408;
+    reports res., 409; 415; 417; 418; 425;
+    value of woman's vote, 429;
+    at Nat'l. Repub. conv. of '96, 439;
+    work for Ariz., 470;
+    in N. D., 545; 553;
+    in S. D. camp'n., 555;
+    in Ind., 614;
+    in Iowa, 628-9;
+    same, 630;
+    in Kas., 638;
+    same, 640;
+    in Maine, 689;
+    sec'y. N. E. and Mass. Ass'ns., 701;
+    work in Mass., 704 et al.;
+    anniv. Boston Tea Party, 913;
+    at Nat'l. Conv. Rep. Clubs in '93, 713;
+    same in '94, 714;
+    70th birthday, 715; 720;
+    legis. work in Mass., 721;
+    in Mich., 755; 759;
+    in Minn., 772;
+    in St. Louis, 791;
+    in Mont., 797;
+    in N. H., 816;
+    in N. J., 827;
+    in N. Y., 842;
+    in Penn., 899;
+    in R. I., 907;
+    same, 910;
+    in Vt., 957-8;
+    same, 960;
+    in Wash., 969; 973.
+
+  Blaine, U. S. Sen. James G., 325.
+
+  Blair, U. S. Sen. Henry W., 10; 24;
+    signs fav. rep. on wom. suff., 47;
+    great sp. in U. S. Senate in favor of enfranch. wom., 86; 93;
+    in Senate debate, 110;
+    sp. on Fed. Suff. for Wom., 144;
+    debt of wom. to, 157;
+    right of wom. to suff., 162, 164,
+    in N. H., 815, 816.
+
+  Blake, Lillie Devereux, at conv. of '84, 17,
+    before U. S. Sen. Com., 39, 57,
+    plan of work, 62,
+    Rights of Men, 114, 123, 150, 173, 182, 184, 221,
+    trib. to Lucy Stone, 226, 242, 243,
+    legislative rep., 248, 251, 263, 265, 290, 298,
+    voting of soldiers, 335,
+    legis. rep. at conv. of '99, 342,
+    const'l argument before House com., 1900, 374,
+    withdraws as candidate for pres., 387,
+    at Nat'l Repub. conv. of '96, 439,
+    in Calif., 478, 513,
+    in N. D., 546, 553,
+    in N. J., 822,
+    assists on N. Y. chap, work in N. Y., 839 et al.,
+    legis work in N. Y., 853 et al.,
+    Pilgrim Moth Dinner, 873,
+    in N. C., 874, 920,
+    in S. C., 922.
+
+  Blanchard, Henry D. D., 689, 705.
+
+  Blankenburg, Lucretia Longshore, 18, 227, 231,
+    in N. J., 826,
+    writes Penn. chap., work in Penn., 898 et al.,
+    work for guardianship law, 902.
+
+  Blatch, Harriot Stanton (Eng.), 135,
+    at conv. of '90, 167,
+    before U. S. Senate com. of '98, wom. and economics, 310,
+    wom. suff. in England, 368,
+    wom. and war, 391,
+    brings her mother's greeting on Miss Anthony's birthday, 402,
+    in N. Y., 845,
+    same, 861.
+
+  Bleckley, Chief Justice Logan E. (Ga.), 585.
+
+  Blinn, Nellie Holbrook, 480,
+    legislative work, 484, 617.
+
+  Bliss Gov. Aaron T. (Mich.), 770.
+
+  Blodgett, Mrs. Delos A., 322.
+
+  Bloomer, Amelia, 250; 295.
+
+  Bloomer, Nevada, case for wom. suff. in Wash. 968,
+    same, 1098.
+
+  Blount, Lucia E., 183.
+
+  Blue, Richard W., M. C., 150,
+    for wom. suff. in Kas., 422, 649.
+
+  Bogelot, Isabelle (France), 135.
+
+  Bok, Edward W., 229.
+
+  Bolles, Ellen M., 200, 711; 720;
+    work in R. I., 908 et al.
+
+  Bowditch, Hon. William I, 23, 702, 713.
+
+  Bowles, Rev. Ada C., 61; 128; 425, 723, 772,
+    in R. I., 910;
+    in Vt., 957.
+
+  Boyd, Annie Caldwell, writes W. Va. chap., work in W. Va., 980 et al.
+
+  Boyd, Gov. James E. (Neb), opp. wom. suff., 212.
+
+  Boyden, Sarah J., 746.
+
+  Boyer, Ida Porter, 291;
+    press work in Penn., 898.
+
+  Boyer, Sarah A., 262.
+
+  Brackett, Gov J. Q. A. (Mass.), 718.
+
+  Bradford, Mary C. C., 279,
+    at conv. of '97, 282, 284,
+    effects of wom. suff. in Col., 356, 368,
+    in Col., 514,
+    in Del., 564,
+    in Ida., 592,
+    in La., 680,
+    in Md., 696,
+    in Miss., 783,
+    in St. Louis, 791,
+    in N. J., 825, 826,
+    in Penn., 899,
+    in Utah, 947.
+
+  Bradford, Atty. Gen. S. B., 660, 762.
+
+  Bradley Gov. William O. (Ky.), 673.
+
+  Bradwell, Myra B., contest for right of wom. to practice law,
+    152, 227, 250, 295.
+
+  Bray, Olive P., 417, 639.
+
+  Breeden, Rev. H. O., welcomes nat'l. conv. to Des Moines, 270.
+
+  Brehm, Mane, 619.
+
+  Brent, Margaret, 363,
+    first wom. to ask suff., 695.
+
+  Bright, Jacob, M. P., 22, 353, 1020.
+
+  Bright, Mrs. Jacob, 22.
+
+  Bristol Augusta Cooper, 617.
+
+  Bristol, Rev. Frank M., 366.
+
+  Broderick, Case, M. C., 231.
+
+  Broderick, Jennie, 220.
+
+  Brooks, Mrs. (Neb.), 77.
+
+  Brooks, Bishop Phillips, 203;
+    for wom. suff., 704, 911.
+
+  Brotherton, Alice Williams, 164.
+
+  Brougham, Lord, 292.
+
+  Brown, Corinne S., 184.
+
+  Brown, Mrs. F. A., 1058.
+
+  Brown, Gov. John Young (Ky.), 670.
+
+  Brown, U. S. Senator Joseph E., rep. against wom. suff., 47, 90,
+    sp. in U. S. Senate against wom. suff., 93,
+    Mrs. Stanton's comment, 113, 157.
+
+  Brown, Martha McClellan, 17, 173, 428.
+
+  Brown, U. S. Dist. Atty. Melville C., wom. suff. in Wy., 994, 997, 1091.
+
+  Brown, Rev. Olympia, 27, 61, 75,
+    sp. on Rule of Foreigners, 147, 156; 157, 164, 171, 173,
+    in S. D. camp'n, 555, 630,
+    in Minn., 772,
+    writes Wis. chap., work in Wis., 985 et al.
+
+  Brown, Mrs. William Thayer, 610.
+
+  Browne, Thomas M., M. C., rep. in favor of wom. suff., 52.
+
+  Brownell, Dean Louise, 353.
+
+  Bruce, U. S. Sen. Blanche K., for wom. suff., 231.
+
+  Bryan, William J., 439.
+
+  Buck, Rev. Florence, 297.
+
+  Buckley, James M., D. D., opp. to wom. in ministry, 207;
+    opp. wom. suff. at Chautauqua, 842.
+
+  Buckley, Dean Julia, sch. work in N. J., 834.
+
+  Budd, Gov James H. (Cal.), 480; 486, 504.
+
+  Buell, Caroline B., 256.
+
+  Burns, Frances E., 324.
+
+  Burr, Frances Ellen, rep. nat'l conv. of '85, 58; 174;
+    in Conn., 536.
+
+  Burrows, Frances P. (Mrs. Julius C.), 322; 395; 568; 575
+
+  Burt, Mary T., work in N. Y. camp'n., 850 et al.; 856.
+
+  Bush, Abigail, let. to conv. of '98, 298; 345.
+
+  Butler, Gov. Benjamin F. (Mass.), on right of wom. to vote, 204; 718.
+
+  Butt, Hala Hammond, before House com. of 1900, 378;
+    writes Miss. chap., work in Miss., 703 et al.
+
+  Butters, Lieut.-Gov. Archibald (Mich.), favors wom. suff., 765.
+
+  Butterworth, Hezekiah, 717.
+
+  Buxton, Ida M., in Mass., 703;
+    in Vt., 957.
+
+
+  C
+
+  Cabot, Mrs. J. Elliott, pres. anti-suff. ass'n., 741 et al.
+
+  Caine, John T., M. C., 941.
+
+  Caine, Margaret N., 941.
+
+  California, names for, Chap. XXVII.
+
+  Callanan, James C., 270.
+
+  Callanan, Martha C., entertains Nat'l Suff. Com., 270; 629; 630.
+
+  Campbell, Helen, 727.
+
+  Campbell, Jane, in N. J., 822;
+    same, 826;
+    work in Penn., 899 et al.
+
+  Campbell, Gov. John A., 994;
+    wom. suff. in Wy., 1090.
+
+  Campbell, Margaret W., 411;
+    don't class wom. with slaves, 415; 425;
+    in Iowa, 628 et al.
+
+  Campbell, St. Sen. R. B., 784.
+
+  Canada, names for, 1034.
+
+  Candler, Gov. Allan C. (Ga.), 585.
+
+  Cannon, U. S. Sen. Frank J., 260;
+    spks. for wom. suff., 261; 304; 949.
+
+  Cannon, Mrs. Frank J., 260.
+
+  Cannon, Cong. Del. George Q., 937; 941; 943.
+
+  Cannon, St. Sen. Martha Hughes, 301;
+    before House com. of '98, wom. suff. in Utah, 319;
+    work in Utah Senate, 953.
+
+  Capen, Elmer Hewett, pres. Tufts Coll., for wom. suff., 727.
+
+  Carey, U. S. Sen. Joseph M., on wom. suff. in Wyo., 117;
+    admission as State with wom. suff., 180; 189; 207; 224; 318; 433; 710;
+    before N.Y. Constit'l. Conv., 851;
+    fight for admis. of Wy., 998-9; 1005;
+    testimony for wom. suff., 1006; 1090.
+
+  Carey, Mrs. Joseph M., 117; 184;
+    sends petit. from Wy., 449;
+    entertains Miss Anthony, 1005; 1007.
+
+  Carpenter, Frank G., 164.
+
+  Carpenter, Mrs. Rathbone, 322.
+
+  Carroll, Anna Ella, services in Civil War, 26;
+    efforts for, by Nat'l Ass'n., 183; 234; 416; 568.
+
+  Carruth, Prof. W. H., sp. at Amer. conv. of '86, 420;
+    in Kas., 638;
+    statistics of wom. suff. in Kas., 660; 706;
+    in Boston, 715; 725;
+    in Vt., 958.
+
+  Carruth, Mrs. W. H., 715.
+
+  Cary, Alice, 295.
+
+  Cary, Phoebe, 295; 400.
+
+  Cassidy, Jessie J. (_See_ Saunders).
+
+  Castle, St. Sen. Miles B., 426; 612; 630.
+
+  Caswell, Lucien B., M. C., rep. in favor of wom. suff., 84;
+    same, 163.
+
+  Catt, Carrie Chapman, first appearance on nat'l platform, 169; 187;
+    before U. S. Sen. Com., 194; 213;
+    presents flag to Miss Anthony, 223; 229; 245;
+    rep. to conv. of '95, 248; 250; 254;
+    to conv. of '96, 256; 263;
+    sp. at conv. of '97, 274; 279; 284;
+    organiz'n. rep. to conv. of '98, 289;
+    to conv. of '99, 342; 346;
+    to conv. of 1900, 365;
+    before Senate com. of 1900, 369;
+    elected nat'l pres., 387;
+    introd. by Miss Anthony, sp. of acceptance, trib. to Miss A., 388;
+    press notices, 389;
+    presents Miss A. with birthday gifts, 389;
+    sp. on three I's, 392;
+    presides at birthday celebr., 396; 400; 443;
+    at Dem. Nat'l conv. of 1900, 444; 449;
+    in Ala., 465;
+    work in Ariz., 471:
+    rep. of work in Ariz., 472; 482; 483; 490;
+    in Colo. camp'n., 514;
+    visits Denver, 530; 535; 546; 547;
+    in S. D. camp'n., 555; 558; 563;
+    before Del. constit'l. conv., 564;
+    in Ga., 583;
+    in Idaho camp'n., 591; 592;
+    in Ills., 599; 616;
+    in Iowa, 629 et al.;
+    in Kas., 642;
+    same, 644; 645; 646; 648;
+    in Ky., 667;
+    before La. constit'l. conv., 680;
+    in Maine, 690;
+    in Md., 696; 710; 713;
+    in Mich., 757;
+    same, 758; 759;
+    in Minn., 773; 774;
+    in Miss., 783; 784;
+    in St. Louis, 791;
+    same, 792;
+    in Mont., 796;
+    same, 797;
+    in Neb., 804;
+    in Nev., 811;
+    in N. H., 816; 817;
+    in N. J., 822;
+    same, 825;
+    same, 826;
+    in N. M., 836;
+    in N. Y., 843;
+    in N. Y. camp'n., 849;
+    in N. Y., 860;
+    in O., 879;
+    same, 880;
+    in Ok., 886;
+    rep. of legis. work in Ok., 887;
+    in Penn., 899;
+    in Tenn., 926;
+    same, 927;
+    in Utah, 949;
+    in Vt., 957; 973;
+    in Wash., 976;
+    in W. Va., 980;
+    same, 981.
+
+  Catt, George W., 262.
+
+  Caulfield, Anna, 336.
+
+  Chace, Elizabeth Buffum, work in R.I., 907 et al.
+
+  Chace, U. S. Sen. Jonathan, III; rep. in favor of wom. suff., 156.
+
+  Chamberlain, Ella C, 240; 577.
+
+  Chanler, Margaret Livingston, work in N. Y., 843 et al.
+
+  Channing, Dr. William Ellery, 427.
+
+  Chant, Laura Ormiston (Eng.), 135;
+    before U. S. Sen. com., 139; 163; 169;
+    in Col., 516;
+    in Boston, 705, 711.
+
+  Chapin, Augusta, D. D., 718.
+
+  Chapman, Maria Weston, 227.
+
+  Chapman, Mariana W., 240; 290;
+    before U. S. Senate com. of '98, wom. as taxpayers, 313;
+    in N. J., 825;
+    assists on N. Y. chap., 840;
+    work in N. Y., 844 et al.
+
+  Chase, Chief Justice Salmon P., for wom. suff., 1076.
+
+  Chase, Florence Adele, writes chapter for D. C, 567.
+
+  Chase, Mary N., in N. H., 816;
+    in Vt., 957.
+
+  Cheney, Ednah D., in Ky., 665;
+    work in Mass., 702; 704; 712 et al.
+
+  Chichester, Dean of (Eng.), 320.
+
+  Child, Lydia Maria, 227; 295.
+
+  Childs, George W., 75;
+    trib. to, 227.
+
+  Choate, Hon. Joseph H., defeats wom. suff. in N. Y. Constit'l. Conv.,
+    852.
+
+  Christiansen, Gen. C. T., 843.
+
+  Claflin, Adelaide A., 425;
+    work in Mass., 703 et al.;
+    in R. I., 910.
+
+  Chaflin, Gov. William (Mass.), for wom. suff., 715; 718; 727.
+
+  Clapp, Eliza J., 286.
+
+  Clapp, Atty.-Gen. Moses E. (Minn.), ad. suff. conv., 772.
+
+  Clark, U. S. Sen. Clarence D., presents wom. suff. bill, 7;
+    wom. suff. in Wy., 1092.
+
+  Clark, George W., sings at conv., 19.
+
+  Clark, James G., 295; 415; 422; 802.
+
+  Clark, U. S. Sen. William A., 797.
+
+  Clarke, Alice Judah, assists on Ind., chap., 614.
+
+  Clarke, Prof. Benjamin Franklin, of Brown Univ., 919.
+
+  Clarke, Dr. E. H., on education, 355.
+
+  Clarke, James Freeman, D. D., 146; 412; 431; 702;
+    petit. for wom. suff. in '57, 721.
+
+  Clarkson, U. S. Ass't. P. M. Gen. James S., wom. suff. in Col., 1086.
+
+  Clay, Laura, 174; 216; 219;
+    trib. to Lucy Stone, 226;
+    non-partisans, 280; 290;
+    before U. S. Senate com. of '98, wom. suff. and physical develop.,
+      309; 430; 616; 630;
+    writes Ky. chap., 665;
+    work in Ky., 665 et al.;
+    in New Orleans, 680;
+    in N. C., 874;
+    in S. C., 922;
+    in Tenn., 927.
+
+  Clay, Mary B., 15;
+    before House com., 44; 150; 341;
+    at Amer. conv., '84, 407; 426;
+    work in Ky., 665; 761.
+
+  Clemmer, Mary, 295.
+
+  Cleveland, President Grover, 123;
+    receives Intl. Council of Wom., 127; 840; 1097.
+
+  Cleveland, Mrs. Grover, rec. Intl. Council of Wom., 127; 265.
+
+  Clopton, Virginia Clay, 466;
+    in Tenn., 927.
+
+  Clough, Gov. D. M. (Minn.), ad. suff. conv., 773.
+
+  Cobbe, Frances Power (Eng.), 21; 26.
+
+  Cobden, Jane (_See_ Unwin).
+
+  Cobden, Richard, for wom. suff., 21.
+
+  Cockburn, Sir John, Premier S. Austr., for wom. suff., 1028.
+
+  Cockrell, U. S. Sen. Francis Marion, rep. against worn, suff.,
+      47; 90; 93;
+    ridiculed by Mrs. Stanton, 113.
+
+  Codman, Mrs. James M., anti-suff., 716.
+
+  Coffeen, Henry A., M. C., 231.
+
+  Coffin, Charles Carleton, 724.
+
+  Coggeshall, Mary J., 629; 633.
+
+  Cohen, Elizabeth, polit. deleg., 439.
+
+  Coke, Lord, 376.
+
+  Colby, Clara Bewick, 6;
+    res. against creeds and dogmas, 58;
+    sp. on same, 59;
+    plan of work, 62;
+    wom. suff. and labor question, 70;
+    on the church, 76;
+    describes campn. in Neb., 80; 117; 122;
+    Wom. Trib. during Intl. Council, 126;
+    wom. in marriage, 151; 157; 162; 183; 184; 187;
+    on Wyoming, 200;
+    on Fed. Suff., 218; 219; 234; 235; 239; 240; 247;
+    mem. res. at conv. of '95, 250;
+    philos. of wom., suff., 254; 263;
+    mem. res. at conv. of '97, 275-6; 279;
+    on Wyoming, 282; 292;
+    mem. res. at conv. of '98, 293; 331; 337;
+    mem. serv. at conv. of '99, 345; 360;
+    work with Congress, 367;
+    descript. of Miss Anthony's 80th birthday, 306;
+    in S. D. campn., 555; 592;
+    in Kas., 639; 640; 642;
+    in Ky, 666;
+    in New Orleans, 679; 719;
+    in Mich., 757; 759; 761;
+    work in Neb., 802 et al.;
+    in Utah, 940;
+    in Wash., 970;
+    in Wis., 986;
+    statistics from Wy., 1094.
+
+  Colcord, Gov. Roswell K. (Nev.), recom. wom. suff. amdt, 813.
+
+  Colfax, Vice President Schuyler, founds Daught. of Rebekah, 1069;
+    for wom., suff., 1075.
+
+  Collins, Emily P., in R. I., 536;
+    in Mass., 706.
+
+  Collyer, Rev. Robert, for wom. suff., 703.
+
+  Colorado, names for, Chap. XXIX.
+
+  Conger, Mrs. Omar D., 233.
+
+  Conine, St. Rep. Martha A. B. (Col.), 301;
+    before House Com. of '98, 319;
+    elected, 522;
+    in Ills., 599;
+    in Iowa, 632;
+    in N. Y., 860.
+
+  Connecticut, names for, Chap. XXX.
+
+  Connor, Eliza Archard, 153.
+
+  Conway, Mrs. Moncure D., 23.
+
+  Conyers, Bennett J., 241.
+
+  Cook, Coralie Franklin, brings greetings of colored women on Miss
+    Anthony's birthday, 398; 404.
+
+  Cook, Rev. Joseph, ad. suff. conv., 710;
+    before Mass. Legis., 727.
+
+  Coolbrith, Ina D., 479.
+
+  Cooley, Mrs. George Eliot. (_See_ Harper.)
+
+  Coonley, Lydia A. (_See_ Ward.)
+
+  Cooper, Sarah B., 253; 275; 479;
+    pres. Wom. Cong., 481;
+    work in Calif., 488 et al.;
+    in Ore., 893.
+
+  Corbin, Caroline F., 157.
+
+  Corey, Rev. Dr., 189.
+
+  Corn, Assoc. Justice, wom. suff. in Wy., 1093.
+
+  Cornwall, Amy K., 364; 509.
+
+  Corson, Dr. Hiram, 275.
+
+  Coudert, Frederick, signs suff. petit., 850.
+
+  Courtney, Leonard, M. P. (Eng.), work for wom. suff., 1020.
+
+  Couzins, Phoebe W., 18;
+    res. on Phillips and Miss Carroll, 25; 27;
+    on Goddess of Liberty, 47; 117; 163; 169; 475; 520; 695; 772; 795.
+
+  Craigie, Mrs. C. O. H., 564.
+
+  Crane, Rev. Caroline Bartlett, sermon at conv. of '91, 184; 764.
+
+  Crane, Gov. W. Murray (Mass.), 744.
+
+  Cranston, Martha S., writes Del. chap., 563; 564 et al.
+
+  Crawford, Emily (Eng.), petit, for wom. suff., 1015.
+
+  Cressingham, St. Rep. Clara (Col.), 521.
+
+  Crooker, Rev. Florence Kollock, ethics of wom. suff., 20;
+    before House com., 43; 337; 407; 739.
+
+  Cullom, U. S. Sen. Shelby M., 347.
+
+  Cunningham, Catherine Campbell, assists on Ark. chapter,
+    work in Ark., 475.
+
+  Curtis, Elizabeth Burrill, 257;
+    before U. S. Senate com. of '98, are wom. represented, 314;
+    in Mass., 715;
+    work in N. Y. 843, et al.
+
+  Curtis, George William, 23; 164;
+    mem. serv., 203; 372;
+    on wom. suff., 428.
+
+  Cutcheon, Byron M., M. C, spks. for wom. suff., 35.
+
+  Cutler, Hannah M. Tracy, 275; 406; 407;
+    mem. to Mrs. Gage, 410; 426; 703;
+    in Vt., 957.
+
+
+  D
+
+  Dakota (North and South), names for, Chap. XXXI.
+
+  Dall, Caroline H., 294.
+
+  Dalton, Father W. J., 447; 760.
+
+  Dangerfield, Henderson, 212; 964.
+
+  Davies, Emily, Mistress of Girton  (Eng.), petit, for wom. suff., 1015.
+
+  Davies, Atty.-Gen. John C., right of wom. to office in N. Y., 1094.
+
+  Davis, U. S. Sen. Cushman K., for wom. suff., 433.
+
+  Davis, Edward M., 18; 60; 76;
+    work in Penn., 899.
+
+  Davis, John C., M. C., 231; 235.
+
+  Davis, Paulina Wright, 203; 294;
+    work in R. I., 907;
+    in Va., 964.
+
+  Davis, Thomas, 259.
+
+  Dawes, U. S. Sen. Henry L., 111; 164.
+
+  Decker, Sarah Platt, 529 et al.
+
+  De Garmo, Rhoda, 299.
+
+  Delaware, names for, Chap. XXXII.
+
+  Demorest, (Mme.) Louise, 75.
+
+  Dennison, Ruth C., 27.
+
+  Depew, Chauncey M., signs suff. petit., 850.
+
+  Desha, Mary, 173.
+
+  DeVoe, Emma Smith, at conv. of '96, 265; 284;
+    in S. D., 549; 555; 590; 599;
+    in Iowa, 630; 631;
+    in Kas., 644;
+    in Ky., 667;
+    in Minn., 773;
+    in Mont., 796;
+    in Nev., 810;
+    in Wis., 987.
+
+  Dexter, Rev. Morton, ed. _Congregationalist_, opp. wom. suff.; 725.
+
+  Deyo, Rev. Amanda, 128; 496.
+
+  Dickinson, Dr. Frances, 23; 174; 184;  201.
+
+  Dickinson, Mary Lowe, 228; 300.
+
+  Dietrick, Ellen Battelle, 174;
+    at conv. of '91, 179;
+    sp. at conv. of '92, 208;
+    res. on religious liberty, 216; 219; 229; 234; 248;
+    memorial service, 259; 430;
+    in Ky., 666; 706;
+    work in Mass., 709 et al.; 726; 751;
+    in S. C., 922.
+
+  Diggs, Annie L., 61; wom. suff. in Kas., 199;
+    at conv. of '94, 221; 234; 235; 248; 263; 268;
+    at conv. of 1900, 363;
+    in Ind., 617;
+    writes Kas. chap., 638; 643;
+    work in Kas. Legis., 652;
+    app. St. Librarian, 657;
+    in Md., 696;
+    in N. J., 822;
+    in W. Va., 980.
+
+  Dilke, Mrs. Ashton, 135; 841.
+
+  Dingley, Nelson W., M.C., 345.
+
+  District of Columbia, names for, Chap. XXXIII.
+
+  Doane, Bishop William Croswell, opp. wom. suff., 850; 858.
+
+  Dodge, Mrs. Arthur M.,
+    opposes wom. suff. before U. S. Senate com. of 1900, repudiates
+      courtesy of Miss Anthony, 382;
+    begs com. not to be moved by consideration for her, 383;
+    before N. Y. legis. com., 861;
+    same, 863.
+
+  Doe, Chief Justice Charles (N. H.), wom. may practice law, 819.
+
+  Doe, Mary L., at conv. of '99, 334;
+    writes Mich, chap., 755;
+    work in Mich., 756 et al.
+
+  Doggett, Kate Newell, 61; 410.
+
+  Dole, Sanford B. (Hawaii), 347.
+
+  Dolph, U. S. Sen. Joseph N., 93;
+    sp. for wom. suff., 100;
+    same, 104; 218; 295.
+
+  Donnelly, St. Sen. Ignatius, for wom. suff., 776-7.
+
+  Dorsett, Martha Angle, 417;
+    work in Minn., 774 et al.
+
+  Dorsheimer, William, M. C., 51.
+
+  Doster, Chief Justice Frank (Kas.), for wom. suff., 607; 646.
+
+  Douglass, Frederick, 136;
+    at conv. of '89, 151;
+    reminiscences, 204;
+    early suffragists, 227;
+    mem. serv., 259; 298; 403; 430;
+    in Boston, 704, 713;
+    in R. I., 907.
+
+  Douglass, Joseph, 265; 400; 404.
+
+  Dow, Neal, 164.
+
+  Downs, H. Margaret, 322.
+
+  Doyon, Amelia E. H., 259.
+
+  Drake, Gov. Francis M. (Iowa), 270.
+
+  Du Bose, Miriam Howard, 228; 235;
+    work in Ga., 237; 582.
+
+  Dunbar, Mrs. (Md.), 77.
+
+  Duniway, Abigail Scott,
+    at conv. of '84, 16; 27; 151; 156; 157; 236; 239;
+    at conv. of '95, 249;
+    of '99, 339;
+    of 1900, 363;
+    in Idaho, 589; 590;
+    in Minn., 772;
+    in N. Y., 839;
+    writes Ore. chap., work in Ore., 891 et al.;
+    in Wash., 975.
+
+  Duniway, Clyde, 739.
+
+
+  E
+
+  Eagle, Gov. James B. (Ark.), 475.
+
+  Earnhart, Ida M., test case for sch. suff. in Ohio, 882.
+
+  Eastman, Rev. Annis Ford, 202;
+    work in N. Y., 844.
+
+  Eastman, Mary F., woman's right to suff., 72;
+    justice of it, 79; 118; 175;
+    work in Mass., 704 et al.;
+    legis. work, 721;
+    in N. Y., 841;
+    in R. I., 907;
+    same, 910; 920.
+
+  Eaton, Charles H., D. D., for wom. suff., 840.
+
+  Eaton, Dr. Cora Smith, in N. D., 545; 551;
+    assists on Minn, chap., 772;
+    work in Minn., 773 et al.
+
+  Eddy, Eliza Jackson, legacy to Miss Anthony, V.
+
+  Edmunds, U. S. Sen. George F., 375; 939.
+
+  Edson, Dr. Susan A., 295; 574.
+
+  Edwards, Amelia B., petit. for wom. suff., 1015.
+
+  Eisenhuth, St. Supt. Pub. Instruct. Laura J. (N. D.), 551.
+
+  Eliot, Charles W., pres. Harvard Univ., 266;
+    on education of wom., 355;
+    protest against wom. suff., 704;
+    inherits prejudice, 736.
+
+  Eliot, Chancellor Wm. G. (St. Louis), suff. a right, 413; 703.
+
+  Elkins, U. S. Sen. Stephen B., opp. wom. suff. in W. Va., 982.
+
+  Elliott, Albert H., work in Cal., 482 et al.
+
+  Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 61; 1092.
+
+  Emerson, Mrs. Ralph Waldo, 206.
+
+  Ernst, Hon. George A. O., work in Mass., 710 et al.
+
+  Eskridge, Gov. C. V. (Kas.), opp. wom. suff., 645.
+
+  Estee, Hon. Morris M., 436.
+
+  Eustis, U. S. Sen. James B., opp. wom. suff., 104.
+
+  Evald, Mrs. Emmy C., 298.
+
+  Everett, Edward, 433.
+
+  Everhard, Caroline McCullough, at conv. of '92, 185; 201;
+    work in O., 880 et al.
+
+
+  F
+
+  Fair, U. S. Sen. James G., opp. wom. suff., 36; 47.
+
+  Fairbanks, Mayor (Quincy, Mass.), 712.
+
+  Fairman, Col. Henry Clay, 238; 582.
+
+  Fall, Anna Christy (Mrs. George H.), 741; 745
+
+  Fall, St. Rep. George H., work in Mass., 744 et al.
+
+  Farwell, U. S. Sen. Charles B., rep. for wom. suff., 156; 158; 162.
+
+  Fawcett, Postmaster Gen. Henry, M. P. (Eng.), for wom. suff., 17; 61.
+
+  Fawcett, Millicent Garrett, 17; 301;
+    wom. in India, 330;
+    suff. meet. in London, 353; 718;
+    work in Gr. Britain, 1014;
+    same, 1020.
+
+  Fawcett, Philippa, 176.
+
+  Faxon, Henry H., 702 et al.
+
+  Fergusson, Cong. Del. H. B., 835.
+
+  Fessenden, Susan S., in Col., 516;
+    in N. D., 548; work in Mass., 726
+    et al.; in N. H., 816; in Penn., 900.
+
+  Field, Kate, for wom. suff., 235; 275.
+
+  Fish, Sarah, 299.
+
+  Fisher, Chief Justice, wom. suff. in Wy., 1091.
+
+  Fisk, Mrs. Clinton D., 1057.
+
+  Fleming, Gov. Francis P. (Fla.), opp. to wom. suff., 212.
+
+  Flemming, William H., M. C., 586.
+
+  Fletcher, Alice C., 183; 331.
+
+  Flood, Cora Jane, endowment to univers., 507.
+
+  Florida, names for, Chap. XXXIV.
+
+  Flower, Gov. Roswell P. (N. Y.), 213; 843;
+    recom. wom. delegates, 848; 856.
+
+  Folger, Gov. Charles J. (N. Y.), 61.
+
+  Folsom, Mariana T., in Texas, 416; 628; 931.
+
+  Foltz, Clara S., in Calif., 478 et al.
+
+  Foss, Mrs. Cyrus D., 1071.
+
+  Foster, Abby Kelly, 227.
+
+  Foster, Judith Ellen, 19;
+    at Nat'l Repub. conv. of '96, 439;
+    same, 1900, 444;
+    in Col., 520; 569; 576;
+    in Ida., 590;
+    in Kas., 645;
+    in Mass., 705;
+    in R. I., 910;
+    in Utah, 955.
+
+  Foster, Julia (Mrs. J. Heron), 19; 61.
+
+  Foster, Julia T., 19; 27; 61; 126.
+
+  Foster, Rachel G. (See Avery).
+
+  Foulke, Hon. William Dudley, sp. at suff. conv. of '90, 167; 173; 202;
+    trib. to Lucy Stone, 225; 408; 411; 414;
+    at Amer. conv. of '86, 418;
+    value of dreamers, 421;
+    independ. of politician, 422; 423;
+    at Amer. conv. of '88, 428; 546;
+    in Ind., 614;
+    in Kas., 640;
+    in Boston, 706;
+    in Minn., 772.
+
+  Fox, Hattie E., 222.
+
+  Francis, Mary C., 245.
+
+  Franklin, Benjamin, on suff., 66.
+
+  Fray, Ellen Sully, 173.
+
+  Frear, Associate Justice W. F. (Hawaii), 347.
+
+  Fredericksen, Kirstine (Denm'k), 711.
+
+  French, St. Supt. Pub. Instruct. Permeal (Ida.), 594.
+
+  Friedland, Sofja Levovna (Russia), 364.
+
+  Fuller, Gov. Levi K. (Vt), 959.
+
+  Fyler, Lizzie Dorman, 19; 475.
+
+
+  G
+
+  Gaffney, Fannie Humphreys, 396.
+
+  Gage, Frances Dana, 61; 294;
+    mem. serv., 409-10;
+    trib. of Clara Barton, 429; 614.
+
+  Gage, Gov. Henry T. (Cal.), 486; 506.
+
+  Gage, Matilda Joslyn, work on Hist, of Wom. Suff., III;
+    sells rights in, VI; VII; 27;
+    feminine in science, 28; 57;
+    wom. suff. under U. S. constn., 118; 126; 136; 152; 163;
+    mem. res., 345;
+    in Dak., 552;
+    work in N. Y., 839 et al.;
+    test case for sch. suff., 867;
+    in Va., 964.
+
+  Galle, Margarethe, 301.
+
+  Gallinger, U. S. Sen. Jacob H., wom. suff. in N.H., 815.
+
+  Gamble, U. S. Sen. Robert J., for wom. suff., 559.
+
+  Gardiner, Helen H., 146; 263; 715.
+
+  Garfield, President James A., 295; on wom. suff., 1075.
+
+  Garrett, Mary E., endows Johns Hopkins Med. Coll., 700.
+
+  Garrison, Ellen Wright (Mrs. Wm. Lloyd, Jr.), 298.
+
+  Garrison, Wm. Lloyd, Sr., 23;
+    first wom. rights petit., 720.
+
+  Garrison, Wm. Lloyd, Jr., 61; 164; 174;
+    at conv. of '91, 183;
+    before U. S. Senate com. in '98, 305;
+    poem to Miss Anthony, 395; 433;
+    work in Mass., 705 et al.; 712;
+    in R. I., 907-8.
+
+  Gates, George A., pres. Iowa Coll., 276;
+    for wom. suff., 629.
+
+  Gates, Merrill E., pres. Amherst Coll., 709.
+
+  Gates, Susa Young, 956.
+
+  George, Mrs. A. J., opposes wom. suff., 382;
+    same, 741.
+
+  George, U. S. Sen. J.Z., 194;
+    rep. against wom. suff., 201.
+
+  Georgia, names for, Chap. XXXV.
+
+  Gibbons, Abby Hopper, 207; 435;
+    work for police matrons, 856; 1055.
+
+  Gibbons, Cardinal, opp. wom. suff., 367.
+
+  Giddings, Joshua R., 614.
+
+  Giddings, Mrs. W. D., 322.
+
+  Gifford, Prof. Jennie, 235.
+
+  Gillett, Emma M., 571; 574.
+
+  Gladstone, Wm. Ewart, 1016.
+
+  Gleed, J. W., 318.
+
+  Glenesk, Lord (Eng.), for wom. suff., 1016.
+
+  Goddard, Mary Catharine, early woman editor, 695.
+
+  Goggin, Catharine, 611.
+
+  Goldstein, Vida (Australia), 1031.
+
+  Gompers, Samuel, 184;
+    letter approv. wom. suff., 334.
+
+  Goodnight, Isaac H., M. C., 235.
+
+  Goodrich, Sarah Knox, work in Cal., 478 et al.
+
+  Gordon, Anna, 304.
+
+  Gordon, Kate M., 360;
+    writes La. chap., 678;
+    work in Sewerage and Drainage League, 682.
+
+  Gordon, Laura de Force, 57; 60; 150;
+    work in Calif., 478 et al.
+
+  Goss, Josephine Ahnafeldt, 324.
+
+  Gottheil, Rabbi Gustave, 840; 850.
+
+  Gougar, Helen M., wom. before the law, 18;
+    plan of work, 26;
+    before U. S. Senate Com., 37;
+    wom. suff. and Bible, 75; 77;
+    before House Com., 80; 150;
+    in Col., 520;
+    in Ills., 599;
+    work in Ind., 615 et al.;
+    test case for suff., 621;
+    in Iowa, 628;
+    in Kas., 638 et al.;
+    in Mass., 705;
+    in Mich., 756;
+    in N. Y., 839.
+
+  Gould, Helen, 340.
+
+  Grannis, Elizabeth B., 1055.
+
+  Grant, President Ulysses S., first to appoint wom. postmasters, 462.
+
+  Grant, Mrs. Ulysses S., 262; 291.
+
+  Gray, Almeda B., 75;
+    in Cal., 500;
+    work in Wis., 990 et al.
+
+  Gray, St. Rep. Robert S., 714.
+
+  Great Britain and Colonies, names for, Chap. LXXIII.
+
+  Greene, Dr. Cordelia, donation to Hist. of Wom. Suff., VII.
+
+  Greene, Chief Justice Roger S., 407; 412; 422;
+    work in Wash., 967;
+    wom. on juries, 1097.
+
+  Greenhalge, Gov. Frederick T. (Mass.), 275;
+    on wom. suff. plat., 713;
+    recom. wom. suff. in message, 715; 718;
+    again recom., 729.
+
+  Greenleaf, Jean Brooks, before U. S. Sen. Com., 196; 220;
+    at conv. of '94, 221; 224;
+    rep. at conv. of '95, 247;
+    assists on N. Y. chap., 839;
+    work in N. Y., 844 et al.; 849.
+
+  Greenwood, Grace (Sara J. Lippincott), 231; 257; 364.
+
+  Gregg, Laura A., 337;
+    in S. D., 557;
+    in Del., 564;
+    in Iowa, 632;
+    in Kas., 648;
+    in Md., 697;
+    in Minn., 774;
+    in Neb., 804;
+    in O., 879;
+    in Ok., 886-7;
+    in Penn., 899.
+
+  Grenfell, St. Supt. Pub. Instruct. Helen M. (Col.), 523; 524.
+
+  Grew, Mary, 275; 295; 423; 426; 712;
+    work in Penn., 898.
+
+  Griffin, Frances A., evolut. of South. wom., 335;
+    at conv. of '99, 341;
+    in Ala., 465-6;
+    in Ark., 475;
+    in Ga., 583;
+    in La., 681;
+    in Tenn., 926-7.
+
+  Griffing, Josephine S., 295.
+
+  Grimke, Angelina (_See_ Weld).
+
+  Gripenberg, Baroness Alexandra (Finland), at Int'l Council, 139; 301;
+    in Mass., 705;
+    in N. Y., 841.
+
+  Groesbeck, Chief Justice H. V. S., 719;
+    wom. suff. in Wy., 1092.
+
+  Gross, Emily M., 395; 612.
+
+  Groth, Sophia Magelsson (Norway), 136.
+
+  Guild, Mrs. Charles E., anti-suff., 716.
+
+  Gullen. Dr. Augusta Stowe (Canada), 301.
+
+  Gustafson, Zadel Barnes (Eng.), 135;
+    in N. Y., 841.
+
+
+  H
+
+  Hackney, Chief Justice Leonard J. (Ind.), decis. on wom. suff. and
+    wom. lawyers, 623.
+
+  Haggart, Mary E., at conv. of '84, 19;
+    before House com., 45; 75; 411; 425;
+    work in Ind., 614;
+    in Kas., 640;
+    in Wis., 986.
+
+  Hale, Horace M., pres. State Univ., wom. suff. in Col., 1087.
+
+  Hale, Gen. Irving, wom. suff. in Col., 1087.
+
+  Hale, Gov. William, wom. suff. in Wy., 1090.
+
+  Haley, Margaret A., 611.
+
+  Hall, Florence Howe, farce on wom, suff., 362;
+    in Mass., 718;
+    writes N. J. chap., 820;
+    work in N. J., 822 et al.;
+    in R. I., 920.
+
+  Hall, Sir John, M. P., bill for wom. suff. in N. Z., 1026; 1034.
+
+  Hall, Olivia B., 219;
+    in Mich., 758.
+
+  Hamilton, Alexander, 407.
+
+  Hamilton, Emerine J., 174.
+
+  Hamilton, Bishop J. W., 260; 725-6.
+
+  Hamlin, Vice-President Hannibal, for wom. suff., 1075.
+
+  Hammond, Hon. Henry C., 244.
+
+  Hanaford, Rev. Phebe A., at conv. of '84, 19; 61;
+    at Int'l Council, 128;
+    in N. J., 827.
+
+  Haney, Mrs. C. S. Burnett, writes Fla. chap., 577-8.
+
+  Hansbrough, U. S. Sen. Henry C, for wom. suff., 546.
+
+  Harbert, Elizabeth Boynton, at conv. of '84, 17; 24;
+    before U. S. Sen. Com., 39; 115; 164; 176; 407;
+    work in Ills., 598;
+    for World's Fair, 610;
+    in N. Y., 839;
+    in Wis., 989; 991.
+
+  Harlan, St. Sen. A. D., 423.
+
+  Harlan, Associate Justice John Marshall, 10.
+
+  Harper, Frances E. W., 425.
+
+  Harper, Ida Husted, Miss Anthony asks to write Vol. IV, Hist,
+      of Wom. Suff., VII;
+    preface, IX;
+    Author of Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, 2;
+    resolutions at conv. of '98, 290; 291;
+    dept. in N. Y. _Sun_, 326;
+    at conv. of 1900, 357;
+    prepares Congress'l. rep., 366; 482; 487; 488;
+    work in Calif, campn.,490;
+    work in Ind., 615 et al.;
+    monograph on work of Ind. wom., 624;
+    at Adams, 719.
+
+  Harper, Winnifred (Cooley), 490.
+
+  Harrah, Rev. C. C., 612.
+
+  Harrison, President Benjamin, 436.
+
+  Harrison, Mrs. Benjamin, receives Nat'l Council of Wom., 183.
+
+  Harrison, Mayor Carter, 608.
+
+  Harrison, Ella, 632; 783; 791.
+
+  Haskell, Asst. Atty.-Gen. Ella Knowles, at conv. of '96, 262; 297;
+    in N. D., 547;
+    work in Mont., 797 et al.
+
+  Hatch, Lavina Allen, 157; 235;
+    at conv. of '95, 240; 263;
+    writes chap., for Hist., 750;
+    work in Mass., 752 et al.
+
+  Havens, Ruth C. D., girl of the future, 209;
+    in Md., 697;
+    in Va., 964.
+
+  Haviland, Laura P., 344.
+
+  Hawthorne, Rev. Dr., 237.
+
+  Hay, Mary G., 365; 444;
+    in Ariz., 472;
+    in Cal., 482 et al.;
+    in Col., 530;
+    in S. D., 559;
+    in Del., 563;
+    in Ills., 599;
+    in Iowa, 632-4;
+    in Ky., 667;
+    in La., 680;
+    in Miss., 784;
+    in Neb., 804;
+    in N. M., 836;
+    in N. Y., 849;
+    in O., 880;
+    in Ok., 887;
+    in Penn., 900;
+    in Tenn., 927;
+    in Utah, 949;
+    in Wash., 976;
+    in W. Va., 980.
+
+  Hayes, Prof. Ellen, 717.
+
+  Hayes, President Rutherford B., favors wom. suff., 1075.
+
+  Hayes, Mrs. Rutherford B., rec. Utah delegates, 937.
+
+  Hays, Atty.-Gen. S. H., wom. suff. in Idaho, 1088.
+
+  Hayward, Mary Smith, writes Neb. chap., 802;
+    work in Neb., 803 et al.
+
+  Hazlett, Ida Crouch, in Cal., 487;
+    in Neb., 803;
+    in Ore., 895.
+
+  Hearst, Phoebe A., 506;
+    endowment to Cal. Univers., 508.
+
+  Heartz, St. Rep. Evangeline (Col.), 522; 524;
+    work in Legis., 526.
+
+  Hedenberg, J. W., 184.
+
+  Helmer, Bessie Bradwell, 609.
+
+  Hemiup, Judge Norton H., 414.
+
+  Hemphill, St. Sen. Robert R., at conv. of '95, 242;
+    in S. C. Legis., 923.
+
+  Hemphill, Mrs. W. A., 251.
+
+  Henderson, Mary Foote (Mrs. John B.), 366;
+    presents portrait of Miss Anthony to Corcoran Gallery, 405; 569.
+
+  Henderson, Prof. L. F., on wom. suff. in Idaho, 595.
+
+  Henrotin, Ellen M., 183;
+    work at World's Fair, 609.
+
+  Henry, Josephine K., at conv. of '91, 179; 224;
+    trib. to Lucy Stone, 226; 240;
+    southern wom., wants ballot, 244;
+    legis. rep. 248;
+    on wom., and electricity, 249;
+    epigrams, 340;
+    work in Ky., 668 et al.;
+    in Tenn., 927.
+
+  Hepburn, W. P., M. C., 84.
+
+  Hereford, Rev. Brooke, 413;
+    opp. wom. suff., 722.
+
+  Herring, Atty.-Gen. William (Ariz.), 470.
+
+  Hewitt, Hon. Abram S., opp. wom. suff., 857.
+
+  Higginson, Col. Thomas Wentworth, sp. at Amer. conv. of '87, 423;
+    in Mass., 706 et al.; 712;
+    on anti-suffragists, 716;
+    petit. for wom. suff. in '53, 720;
+    in R. I., 908.
+
+  Hildreth, Ellen Stephens, writes Ala. chap., work in Ala., 465 et al.
+
+  Hill, U. S. Sen. David B., 235;
+    recom. wom. delegates, 847.
+
+  Hill, Eliza Trask, 746 et al.
+
+  Hinckley, Rev. Frederick A., 163; 174;
+    husband and wife one, 180;
+    on divorce, 297;
+    in Mass., 705;
+    same, 726;
+    work in R. I., 908 et al.
+
+  Hindman, Matilda, 61-2; 426;
+    in Col., 509;
+    in S. D., 555;
+    in Penn., 899;
+    in Wash., 970.
+
+  Hirschler, Diana, at conv. of 1900, 362;
+    on Miss Anthony's birthday, 398;
+    in Del., 564;
+    in Me., 690;
+    in Vt., 957.
+
+  Hitt, Robert R., M.C., 347.
+
+  Hoar, U. S. Sen. George R., 12; 108;
+    spks. in Sen. for wom. suff., 109; 164;
+    report in favor, greeted by women, 201; 235; 267;
+    letter to conv. of '88, 428; 433;
+    assists wom. suff. in Mass., 704 et al.; 1003.
+
+  Hodges, Rev. Dean, 717.
+
+  Hoffman, Clara C., in S. D., 558;
+    in Kas., 642;
+    in La., 679;
+    work in Mo., 790 et al.;
+    in N. J., 820.
+
+  Hooker, Isabella Beecher, const'l rights of wom., 115; 117;
+    on N. Y. Centen., 144; 156; 157; 163;
+    at conv. of '90, 169; of '91, 179;
+    before U. S. Sen. com. of '92, 189;
+    respect of children, 194;
+    at conv. of '98, 296; 298;
+    in 1900, 358;
+    work in Conn., 535 et al.;
+    in Boston, 705; 937.
+
+  Holley, St. Rep. Carrie C., in Col. Legis., 239; 240; 521.
+
+  Hollister, Lillian M., 256; trib. to Miss Anthony, 398.
+
+  Holly, Myron, 204-5.
+
+  Holly, Sally, 204-5; 227.
+
+  Holmes, Mary E., writes Ills., chap., work in Ills., 598 et al.
+
+  Holt, Gov. Thomas M. (N. C.), opp. wom. suff., 212.
+
+  Holt, Judge William H., trib. to worn, in business, 676.
+
+  Holt, Gov. Thomas M., opp. wom. suff., 212.
+
+  Hopper, Isaac T., 207; 1055.
+
+  Home, St. Rep. Alice Merrill, work in Utah Legis., 954.
+
+  Horton, Chief Justice Albert H. (Kas.), 433.
+
+  Hosmer, Harriet, 164; 795.
+
+  Howard, H. Augusta, 201; 235;
+    entertains nat'l conv., 237; 242;
+    work in Ga., 581 et al.
+
+  Howe, Chief Justice J. H. (Wy.), wom. on juries, 1008.
+
+  Howe, Julia Ward, 136;
+    sp. at Int'l. Council, 140;
+    chivalry of reform, 170, 173; 179;
+    trib. to Lucy Stone, 225;
+    conv. of '94, 229; 362;
+    at Amer. conv. of '85, 411;
+    same, 414;
+    at conv. of '86, 419; 423;
+    of '87, 426;
+    bazar in Boston, 427;
+    conv. of '88, 428;
+    appeal to Constit'l. Convs., 432; 546;
+    in Kas., 640; 678;
+    in Maine, 689;
+    in Baltimore, 695;
+    pres. N. E. and Mass. Ass'ns, 701;
+    work in Mass., 702 et al.; 712; 720;
+    in Minn., 772;
+    in N. J., 821;
+    in N. Y., 842;
+    in R. I., 908 et al.;
+    in Vt., 957;
+    in Wis., 986.
+
+  Howell, Mary Seymour, at conv. of '84, 17;
+    before U. S. Sen. Com., 39;
+    wom. present and past, 116; 149; 169;
+    the woman's war, 231;
+    at conv. of '98, 293; 358; 536;
+    in S. D. campn., 555;
+    in Kas., 642;
+    in Boston, 706;
+    in Mo., 790;
+    work in N. Y., 839 et al.;
+    legis. work, 853.
+
+  Howells, William Dean, signs suff. petit., 850.
+
+  Howland, Emily, 848.
+
+  Howland, Isabel, 851.
+
+  Hoyt, Gov. John W, 569;
+    in N. Y., 840;
+    wom. suff. in Wy., 1090.
+
+  Hoyt, Mrs. John W., 569.
+
+  Hubbell, Mr. and Mrs. F. M., 270.
+
+  Hubner, Major Charles H., 242.
+
+  Hudson, Major J. K., 417;
+    at Amer. conv. of '86, 418.
+
+  Hughes, Hon. James L., at conv. of '94, 231;
+    in Mass., 715.
+
+  Hughes, Gov. L. C., work in Ariz., 470 et al.
+
+  Hughes, Mrs. L. C., assists on Ariz, chap., work in Ty., 470 et al.
+
+  Hughes, Thomas (Eng.), 321.
+
+  Hultin, Rev. Ida C., at conv. of '91, 175; 179; 184;
+    of '94, 232; 235;
+    sp. at conv. of '97, 284;
+    of 1900, 359; 361;
+    on Miss Anthony's birthday, 397;
+    in Ills., 599;
+    in Mich., 758;
+    in Minn., 774;
+    in Neb., 804.
+
+  Humphrey, St. Sen. Lester H., for wom. suff. in N. Y. Legis., 862-3.
+
+  Humphrey, Gov. Lyman U. (Kas.), 433; 652; 762.
+
+  Hunt, Gov. Frank W., wom. on juries, 596;
+    wom. suff. in Idaho, 1088.
+
+  Hunt, Dr. Harriot K., 295;
+    in '58, 721;
+    first wom. phys., 748.
+
+  Hunt, Jane, 294.
+
+  Hunt, Mary H., in Ga., 585;
+    in N. Y., 859;
+    on "age of consent," 866.
+
+  Hunt, Assoc. Justice Ward, sentences Miss Anthony for voting, 153.
+
+  Hunting, Rev. S. S., 411; 425.
+
+  Huntington, Arria S., 843.
+
+  Hurd, Dr. Ethel E., 367; 772;
+    work in Minn., 774 et al.
+
+  Husted, St. Sp'k'r. James W. (N. Y.), favors wom. suff., 853 et al.
+
+  Huston, Sup. Judge Joseph W. (Idaho), decis. on wom. suff. amdt., 593.
+
+  Hussey, Cornelia Collins, 417;
+    work for wom. suff., 820;
+    contributions, 827 et al.
+
+  Hussey, Dr. Mary D., writes N. J. chap., 820;
+    work in N. J., 824 et al.;
+    forms wom. lawyers' club, 833.
+
+  Hutchinson, Abby (See Patton).
+
+  Hutchinson, John W., 75;
+    conv. of '98, 298;
+    sings at Miss Anthony's birthday, 396;
+    in Mass., 705.
+
+
+  I
+
+  Idaho, names for, Chap. XXXVI.
+
+  Ide, U. S. Com. Henry C, 960.
+
+  Illinois, names for, Chap. XXXVII.
+
+  Indiana, names for, Chap. XXXVIII.
+
+  Ingalls, U. S. Sen. John J., opp. wom. suff., 641.
+
+  Ingersoll, Robert J., signs suff. petit., 850.
+
+  Iowa, names for, Chap. XXXIX.
+
+
+  J
+
+  Jackson, Francis, 227.
+
+  Jackson, Dr. James C., 205; 259.
+
+  Jackson, Lottie Wilson, 343.
+
+  Jackson, Dr. Mary B., 295.
+
+  Jacobi, Dr. Mary Putnam, in Boston, 715;
+    in N. Y. camp'n., 850 et al.
+
+  Jacobs, Judge Orange J., in Wash., 969; 976; 1096.
+
+  James, Helen Mosher, 391; 900.
+
+  Jenkins, Helen Philleo, 298;
+    on wom. in Philippines, 331;
+    work in Mich., 756 et al.
+
+  Jenkins, Theresa A., 253;
+    in Col., 516;
+    part in Wy. celebration, 1004-5.
+
+  Jenney, Julie R., 255.
+
+  Jennings, Gov. William S. (Fla.), 579.
+
+  Johns, Laura M., 149; 156; 164; 174;
+    on work in Kas., 220;
+    at conv. of '94, 221; 224; 248; 263;
+    in Idaho, 284;
+    conv. of 1900, 367;
+    work in Ariz., 470-1; 513;
+    in N. D., 546;
+    in S. D. camp'n., 555;
+    in Idaho camp'n., 591;
+    in Iowa, 631;
+    assists on Kas. chap., 638;
+    work in Kas., 639 et al.;
+    suggests yellow ribbon suff. badge, 640;
+    describes Mrs. Diggs' sp., 646;
+    legis. work, 650;
+    in Boston, 706; 762;
+    in Minn., 773;
+    in Mo., 790-1;
+    in N. M., 835;
+    in Ok., 887.
+
+  Johnson, Addie M., 632;
+    writes Mo. chap., 790;
+    work in Mo., 791 et al.
+
+  Johnson, Adelaide, 216.
+
+  Johnson, Martin N., M. C., 189; 546.
+
+  Johnson, Mrs. Rossiter, opposes wom. suff., 382; 863.
+
+  Jones, J. Elizabeth, 275.
+
+  Jones, U. S. Sen. James K., III; opp. wom. suff., 1002.
+
+  Jones, Jenkyn Lloyd, 705.
+
+  Jones, Gov. John P. (Nev.), recom. wom. suff. amd't, 813.
+
+  Jones, Mrs. W. H., polit. del., 439.
+
+  Jordan, David Starr, pres. Stanford Univ., 480;
+    for wom. suff., 483.
+
+  Julian, George W., M. C., 23;
+    for wom. suff., 614.
+
+  Julian, Laura Giddings, 61; 410.
+
+
+  K
+
+  Kansas, names for, Chap. XL.
+
+  Kearney, Belle, at conv. of '98, 293;
+    in Miss., 789;
+    in N. C., 874.
+
+  Keating, Martha A., 324.
+
+  Keefer, Bessie Starr (Canada), 136; 140.
+
+  Keifer, J. Warren, M. C., 31;
+    sp. for wom. suff., 32.
+
+  Keith, Mrs. William A., 479 et al.
+
+  Kelley, Florence, 23;
+    working wom. need ballot, 311;
+    secures factory inspec. law, 604; 608.
+
+  Kelley, William D., M. C., spks. at suff. conv., 147; 174.
+
+  Kellogg, Atty.-Gen. L. B. (Kas.), 433; 656; 762.
+
+  Kelly, Abby (_See_ Foster).
+
+  Kelsey, Mary Atwater, 323.
+
+  Kelsey, St. Rep. Otto, for wom. suff. in N. Y. Legis., 860 et seq.
+
+  Kent, Rev. Alexander, wom. and Hebrew scriptures, 146.
+
+  Kentucky, names for, Chap. XLI.
+
+  Kepley, Ada H., first wom. law grad., 610.
+
+  Ketcham, Emily B., 235;
+    conv. of '99, 322-3;
+    work in Mich., 755 et al.
+
+  Keyser, Harriette A., 256; 263.
+
+  Kilgore, Carrie Burnham, contest for right to prac. law in Penn., 904.
+
+  Kimball, Flora M., 345;
+    work in Cal., 496.
+
+  Kimball, Sarah M., 345.
+
+  Kimber, Helen L., 644 et al.; 774.
+
+  King, Henrietta, largest cattle owner, 934.
+
+  King, William H., M. C., 941.
+
+  Kingman, Judge John W., wom. suff. in Wy., 1092.
+
+  Kingsbury, Elizabeth A., 494.
+
+  Klock, St. Rep. Frances S. (Col.), 521
+
+  Knox, Dr. Janette Hill, writes chap. for N. D., 544; 551.
+
+  Knaggs, May Stocking, at conv. of '96, 255;
+    of '99, 324;
+    writes Mich. chap., 755;
+    work in Mich., 756 et al.
+
+  Kollock, Rev. Florence (_See_ Crooker).
+
+  Korany, Hanna (Syria), 221; 228.
+
+  Krog, Gina (Norway), 1041.
+
+  Krout, Mary H., 613.
+
+  Kyle, U. S. Sen. James H., for wom. suff., 559.
+
+
+  L
+
+  Lake, Leonora M. Barry, 164; 509; 516.
+
+  Lamar, Gov. W. B. (Fla.), 578.
+
+  Langford, Sup. Judge Wm. G. (Wash.), 1098.
+
+  Langhorne, Orra, old-time South. wom., 212; 228;
+    work in Va., 964.
+
+  Lapham, U. S. Sen. Elbridge G., 12; 36;
+    rep. in favor of wom. suff., 47; 89; 174.
+
+  Laughlin, Gail, wage-earning wom., 360; 361; 739.
+
+  Lauterbach, Hon. Edward, sp. for wom. suff., 852.
+
+  Lawrence, Margaret Stanton, 163.
+
+  Leach, Antoinette D., suit to practice law in Ind., 626.
+
+  Lease, Mary E., 617; 657.
+
+  Le Barthe, St. Rep. Eurithe (Utah), 953.
+
+  Lee, St. Rep. Frances S. (Col.), 523.
+
+  Leedy, Gov. John W. (Kas.), 657.
+
+  Leggett, Lucy A., 323.
+
+  Leonard, Clara T., 107; 721.
+
+  Leonard, Emily J., 410.
+
+  Levanway, Dr. Charlotte, 345.
+
+  Lewelling, Gov. L. D. (Kas.), opp. wom. suff., 645; 657.
+
+  Lewis, Helen Morris, 263; 696;
+    in S. C., 922.
+
+  Lewis, Hon. Isaac C., 536.
+
+  Lincoln, President Abraham, 305;
+    favors wom. suff., 1075.
+
+  Lincoln, Judge Charles Z., 858; 864.
+
+  Lind, Gov. John (Minn.), 780.
+
+  Lindhagen, Carl, 301.
+
+  Lindsay, U. S. Sen. William, woman's property bill in Ky., 668.
+
+  Lippincott, Chancellor J. A., 423.
+
+  Lippincott, Sara J. (_See_ Greenwood).
+
+  Livermore, Rev. Danled P., 701 et al.
+
+  Livermore, Mary A., 407; 408; 410; 411;
+    let. to Amer. conv. of '85, 412; 426; 427;
+    appeal to Constitl. Convs., 432; 517;
+    in Maine, 689;
+    work in Mass., 704 et al.; 712;
+    golden wed., 715;
+    made LL. D., 717;
+    Sanit. Com., 719;
+    80th birthday, 720; 732;
+    on mock referendum, 734;
+    in N. J., 821;
+    in R. I., 910; 920;
+    in Vt., 957;
+    in Wis., 985;
+      same, 986;
+      same, 989.
+
+  Locke, Josephine E., 927.
+
+  Lockwood, Belva A., 18;
+    admit, to Sup. Ct., 33; 75;
+    wom. journalists, 343; 569; 571; 575; 640;
+    spks. for Utah wom., 939.
+
+  Lockwood, Mary S., wom. at Columb. Expos., 211; 254; 569; 575.
+
+  Logan, Mrs. John A., 164.
+
+  Logan, Millie Burtis, 298.
+
+  Long, Secy, of the Navy John D., 346;
+    assists suff. work in Mass., 707 et al.; 727.
+
+  Longfellow, Rev. Samuel G., 703.
+
+  Longley, Margaret V., 494.
+
+  Longshore, Dr. Hannah Myers, 905.
+
+  Longshore, Dr. Joseph S., work for Wom. Med. Coll. in Phila., 905.
+
+  Lord, Gov. and Mrs. William P. (Ore.), on suff. platform, 891.
+
+  Lore, Chief Justice Charles B. (Del.), 565.
+
+  Lorimer, George G., D. D., 718.
+
+  Louisiana, names for, Chap. XLII.
+
+  Love, Alfred H., 300.
+
+  Low, Mayor Seth, 872.
+
+  Lowell, Francis C., pres. anti-suff. ass'n., 735.
+
+  Lowell, Josephine Shaw, 850; 856.
+
+  Lozier, Dr. Abram W., 259.
+
+  Lozier, Dr. Clemence S., 16; 146; 295;
+    work in N. Y., 840 et al.
+
+  Lucas, Margaret Bright (Eng.), 22; 124; 174; 423.
+
+  Lucas, W. B., M. C., 559.
+
+  Luce, Gov. Cyrus G. (Mich.), 756.
+
+  Lusk, Hon. Hugh H. (N. Z.), 719.
+
+  Lux, Miranda, donat. to educat., 507.
+
+  Lyne, Sir William, Premier N. S. W., for wom. suff., 1030.
+
+  Lynes, J. Colton, 244.
+
+  Lyon, Mary, 320; 355.
+
+
+  M
+
+  MacDonald, Sir John, Premier of Canada, bill for wom. suff., 1034.
+
+  Machen, August W., 297.
+
+  Macomber, Mattie Locke, 271.
+
+  Maddox, Etta, obtains right for wom. to prac. law in Md., 700.
+
+  Madison, Pres. James, on Fed. Suff., 7;
+    same, 8;
+    a vote necessary, 66.
+
+  Maguire, James G., M. C., 480; 489.
+
+  Maine, names for, Chap. XLIII.
+
+  Marble, Ella M. S., 157; 176; 201;
+    in Dak., 546; in N. M., 835.
+
+  Marsh, Annie McLean, 430.
+
+  Marshall, Dean Clara, M. D., 296; 904.
+
+  Marshall, Marie (Paris), 711.
+
+  Martin, E. W., M. C., 559.
+
+  Martin, Ellen A., 600; 604; 609.
+
+  Martin, Gov. John A. (Kas.), signs
+    munic. wom. suff. bill, 651.
+
+  Martin, Juliet N., 417.
+
+  Maryland, names for, Chap. XLIV.
+
+  Mason, Evaleen L., 201.
+
+  Mason, Prof. Otis T., 328; 331.
+
+  Massachusetts, names for, Chap. XLV.
+
+  Massachusetts Nat'l., names for, 750.
+
+  Maxwell, Claudia Howard, 235;
+    entertains nat'l. conv., 237; 581; 582.
+
+  May, Abby W., 146.
+
+  May, Rev. Samuel J., 227; 702.
+
+  Maybury, William C., M. C., rep. against wom. suff., 47.
+
+  Maynard, Rev. Mila Tupper (_See_ Tupper).
+
+  McAdam, Chief Justice, right of wom. to hold office in N. Y., 1095.
+
+  McAdow, Clara L., 554; work in Mont., 797.
+
+  McCall, Samuel Walker, M. C., 712.
+
+  McClintock, Mary Ann, 288.
+
+  McCoid, Moses A., M. C., rep. in favor of wom. suff., 52.
+
+  McComas, Alice Moore, 480;
+    in Ore., 893;
+    writes S. Calif, chap., 494; 495; 497.
+
+  McConnell, Amanda, 174.
+
+  McConnelly, Mary A., 323.
+
+  McCulloch, Catharine Waugh, 276; 297;
+    before House com. of 1900, 378; 393; 443; 598;
+    work in Ills. Legis., 602;
+      same, 603;
+    for trustees St. Univ., 606, 607; 616; 630; 696;
+    in Wis., 989.
+
+  McCulloch, Sec. of the Treasury Hugh, 259.
+
+  McDiarmid, Clara A., 475.
+
+  McDonald, Eva (Mrs. Valesh), 782.
+
+  McGlynn, Dr. Edward, spks. for wom. suff., 843.
+
+  McKinley, President William, appoints wom. com'r. to Paris Expos., 367;
+    courtesy to suff. ass'n and Miss Anthony, 384; 570; 1010.
+
+  McKinley, Mrs. William, 384.
+
+  McLaren, Priscilla Bright, wom. suff. in Eng. and America, 22;
+    for Int'l. Council, 124; 135; 301; 366.
+
+  McLean, Mrs. John R., 262;
+    luncheon for Miss Anthony, 291.
+
+  McLendon, Mary L., welcomes nat'l. conv., 242;
+    writes Ga. chap., 581; 583.
+
+  McMillan, U. S. Sen. James, 571; 572.
+
+  McPherson, Mary E., 59.
+
+  McQuaid, Bishop, for wom. suff., 366.
+
+  McSherry, Justice C. J. (Md.), denies right of wom. to prac. law, 700.
+
+  McVicar, Mayor John, 270.
+
+  Mead, Elizabeth Storrs, pres. Mt. Holyoke Coll., 709.
+
+  Mellette, Gov. Arthur C. (S. D.), 559.
+
+  Mendenhall, Dinah, 174.
+
+  Meredith, Ellis, 222; 235;
+    writes Colo. chap., 509; 513 et al.;
+    in N. J., 825;
+    in Utah, 947.
+
+  Meredith, Emily R., writes Colo. chap., 509.
+
+  Meriwether, Elizabeth Avery, 72; 76; 79.
+
+  Meriwether, Lee, 72.
+
+  Meriwether, Lida A., 182; 187;
+    sp. before U. S. Senate com., 195; 242; 247; 475;
+    in Mich., 757;
+    writes Tenn. chap., work in Tenn., 926 et al.
+
+  Merrick, Caroline E., 61; 81; 140;
+    sp. at conv. of '95, 243;
+    work in La., 678 et al.
+
+  Merrick, Chief Justice Edwin T. (La.), 275; 678.
+
+  Merrill, Estelle M. H., 710.
+
+  Merritt, Dr. Salome, 730; 750.
+
+  Michigan, names for, Chap. XLVI.
+
+  Mill, John Stuart, 26; 1019.
+
+  Miller, Annie Jenness, 615; 854.
+
+  Miller, Caroline Hallowell, sp. at conv. of '84, 20; 72; 114; 147;
+      187; 263; 296; 391;
+    work in Md., 695.
+
+  Miller, Elizabeth Smith, 435; 844; 861.
+
+  Mills, C. D. B., 847.
+
+  Mills, Harriet May, 215; 265;
+    sp. on educat'l freedom, 354;
+    in Cal., 487;
+    in Mich., 750;
+    work in N. Y., 847 et al.;
+    in O., 880.
+
+  Minnesota, names for, Chap. XLVII.
+
+  Minor, Francis, wom. suff. under 14th amend., 3;
+    before U. S. Sup. Ct., 5;
+    on Fed. Suff., 6; 204.
+
+  Minor, Virginia L., vote, trial and decision, 5;
+    Sup. Ct. reference to same, 9; 17;
+    right of women to vote under Const'n., 78; 152; 153; 156; 157; 162;
+      250; 295;
+    work in Mo., 790 et al.
+
+  Mississippi, names for, Chap. XLVIII.
+
+  Missouri, names for, Chap. XLIX.
+
+  Mitchell, U. S. Sen. John A., rep. for wom. suff., 12.
+
+  Mitchell, Lucretia, 235.
+
+  Mitchell, Maria, 174.
+
+  Montana, names for, Chap. L.
+
+  Moore, Rev. Henrietta G., 558; 563; 632; 696;
+    in O., 879;
+    in W. Va., 980.
+
+  Moore, Laura, writes Vt. chap., work in Vt., 957 et al.
+
+  Moore, Margaret (Ireland), 135; 703;
+    in N. Y., 840.
+
+  Moore, Rebecca (Eng.), 705.
+
+  Morgan, U. S. Sen. John T., 347;
+    advises wom. taxpayers' suff., 468;
+    opp. wom. suff. in Wy., 1001, 1002;
+    favors taxpayers' suff. in Ala., 1002.
+
+  Morgan, Sup. Judge John T. (Idaho), decis. on wom. suff. amdt., 593.
+
+  Morris, Judge Esther, first wom. justice of peace, 994;
+    presents flag to Wy., 1004.
+
+  Morris, Gov. Luzon B. (N. J.), 537.
+
+  Morris, Hon. Robert C., assists on Wy. chap., 994.
+
+  Morrison, Frank, 359.
+
+  Morrison, Mrs. (L. A.), 19.
+
+  Morrow, Lena, 337; 792;
+    in Ore., 895.
+
+  Morse, Elijah, M. C., 718.
+
+  Mosher, Prof. Frances Stewart, 293.
+
+  Mott, James, 299.
+
+  Mott, Lucretia, 133; 205; 227;
+    truth for authority, 260; 264; 288; 294; 295; 299.
+
+  Murdock, Mrs. W. A., 1069.
+
+  Murphy, Claudia Quigley, 219.
+
+  Murphy, Eliza, 275.
+
+  Murphy, Gov. N. O. (Ariz.), recommends wom. suff., 472.
+
+  Mussey, Dean Ellen Spencer, 569; 574; 575.
+
+
+  N
+
+  Names of eminent persons in favor of wom. suff., beginning 1075.
+
+  Nebraska, names for, Chap. LI.
+
+  Neblett, A. Viola, 289; 922.
+
+  Nelson, Julia Ballard, 74; 77;
+    financial side of wom. suff., 79; 547;
+    in S. D. campn., 555;
+    writes Minn. chap., work in St., 772 et al.;
+    legis. work, 775;
+    in Neb., 803;
+    in N. M., 835;
+    in Ok., 886.
+
+  Nevada, names for, Chap. LII.
+
+  New Hampshire, names for, Chap. LIII.
+
+  New Jersey, names for, Chap. LIV.
+
+  New Mexico, names for, Chap. LV.
+
+  New York, names for, Chap. LVI.
+
+  New South Wales, names for, 1029.
+
+  New Zealand, names for, 1025.
+
+  Newcomb, Josephine Louise, endows college in La., 688.
+
+  Newell, Gov. William A. (Wash.), 967.
+
+  Newman, Bishop John P., in fav. of wom. suff., opens conv., 112.
+
+  Newton, Rev. Heber, signs suff. petit., 850.
+
+  Neymann, Clara, German and Amer. independence, 73; 77;
+    before House Com., 81; 117; 187; 298;
+    in Md., 695;
+    in N. Y., 840.
+
+  Nichol, Elizabeth Pease (Scot.), 22.
+
+  Nichols, Clarina I. Howard, 61; 294.
+
+  Nixon, St. Spkr. F. S., N. Y., 846; 858; 863.
+
+  Nordhoff, Charles, 164.
+
+  North Carolina, names for, Chap. LVII.
+
+  Nozaleda, Archbishop, 348.
+
+  Nye, Edgar Wilson (Bill Nye), in favor of wom. suff., 1006.
+
+
+  O
+
+  Oates, William C., M. C., opp. wom. suff., 999.
+
+  Obenchain, Lida Calvert, 927.
+
+  Obermann, Mr., pres. Brewers' Ass'n., 448.
+
+  Odell, Gov. Benjamin F. (N. Y.), for wom. taxpayers' suff., 862; 864.
+
+  Ohio, names for, Chap. LVIII.
+
+  Oklahoma, names for, Chap. LIX.
+
+  Oliver, Rev. Anna, 23;
+    trib. of Miss Shaw, 206; 207.
+
+  Oregon, names for, Chap. LX.
+
+  Osborne, Eliza Wright, 298; 342; 842.
+
+  Otis, James, 66, on virtual represent.
+
+  Otis, Mrs. John G., 220.
+
+  Owen, Robert Dale, 619.
+
+  Owen, Rosamond Dale, 23.
+
+
+  P
+
+  Palmer, Bertha Honore, 184; 367;
+    at Paris Expos., 608;
+    at Columb. Expos., 609.
+
+  Palmer, Fanny Purdy. 711; 917; 918.
+
+  Palmer, U. S. Sen. Thomas W., 12;
+    rep. in favor of wom. suff., 47;
+    Senate sp. in favor, 62; 127; 164; 366; 554;
+    in Mich., 755; 756;
+    ad. Mich. suff. conv., 758, 762.
+
+  Pardee, Lillie, 948-9.
+
+  Parker, Frances Stuart, 174.
+
+  Parker, Margaret E. (Eng.), for Int'l. Council, 124; 840.
+
+  Parker, Theodore, 720.
+
+  Parkes, Sir Henry, Premier N. S. W., bill for wom. suff., 1029; 1030.
+
+  Parkman, Francis, 413;
+    opp. wom. suff., 721.
+
+  Parnell, Delia Stewart, in N. Y., 840.
+
+  Parrott, Lieut.-Gov. (Iowa), 279.
+
+  Passmore, Elizabeth B., 366; 900.
+
+  Patterson, Katherine A. G. (Mrs. Thomas M.), 515 et al.
+
+  Patterson, U. S. Sen. Thomas M., 522; 525;
+    wom. suff. in Col., 1088.
+
+  Patton, Abby Hutchinson, 203.
+
+  Patton, St. Supt. Pub. Instruct. Grace Espy (Col.), 293.
+
+  Paul, A. Emmagene, wom. in street-cleaning dept., 364; 608.
+
+  Payne, U. S. Sen. Henry B., 1002.
+
+  Peavy, St. Supt. Pub. Instruct. Antoinette J. (Col.), 521.
+
+  Peelle, Stanton J., M. C., 426.
+
+  Peet, Mrs. B. Sturtevant, 484.
+
+  Peffer, U. S. Sen. William A., 231;
+    in fav. of wom. suff., 267.
+
+  Pellew, George, 713.
+
+  Penn, Hannah, acting Gov. of Penn., 903.
+
+  Pennsylvania, names for, Chap. LXI.
+
+  Pepys, Samuel, why new gown for wife, 424.
+
+  Perkins, U. S. Sen. George C., 480; 495.
+
+  Perkins, Sarah M., 70; 150;
+    in N. J., 820.
+
+  Pettigrew, U. S. Sen. Richard F., 554; 559.
+
+  Peabody, Elizabeth, 227.
+
+  Pearson, Mrs. (Eng.), 117.
+
+  Pence, Lafayette, M. C., 224.
+
+  Phelps, Eliz. Stuart (See Ward).
+
+  Philbrook, Mary, contest to practice law in N. J., 833.
+
+  Philleo, Prudence Crandall, 174.
+
+  Phillips, Elizabeth McClintock, 275.
+
+  Phillips, Wendell, notifies Miss Anthony of legacy, V; 15; 19;
+    memorial res., 25; 207; 227; 345; 354;
+    expediency, 381; 410;
+    mem. serv. of Mass, ass'n., 702; 708;
+    petit. for wom. suff. in '53, 720;
+    same, 721.
+
+  Phillips, Mrs. Wendell, trib. to, 25.
+
+  Pickler, Alice M. A. (Mrs. J. A.), 173; 183; 235; 423; 544;
+    writes S. D. chap., 552; 554.
+
+  Pickler, Major J. A., M. C., 75; 163; 174; 183; 189;
+    on wom. suff. bill in S. D., 414; 423;
+    efforts for wom. suff. in S. D., 543; 554.
+
+  Pierce, Gov. Gilbert A., 74; 414; 543.
+
+  Pike, Martha E., writes Wash. chap., 967;
+    work in Wash., 976 et al.
+
+  Pillsbury, Mayor George A., 411.
+
+  Pillsbury, Parker, 276;
+    conv. mem. res., 344;
+    Mrs. Stanton's trib., 345;
+    wom. suff. in N. H., 815.
+
+  Pingree, Gov. Hazen S. (Mich.), 765.
+
+  Platt, U. S. Sen. Orville H., on wom. suff., 1003.
+
+  Platt, U. S. Sen. Thomas C., favors wom. suff., 864.
+
+  Plumb, U. S. Sen. Preston B., for wom. suff., 111.
+
+  Poland, Luke P., M. C., report against wom. suff., 50; 958.
+
+  Pond, Cora Scott, 425; 427;
+    work in Mass., 706 et al.;
+    in R. I., 910.
+
+  Porter, Maria G., 275.
+
+  Post, Amalia B., 295; 942;
+    work in Wy., 994; 1004.
+
+  Post, Amy, 174; 299.
+
+  Potter, Bishop Henry M., signs suff. petit., 850.
+
+  Powderly, Terence V., 164; 184.
+
+  Powell, Aaron M., in N. J., 820;
+    mem. res., 826; 828; 843.
+
+  Preston, Dr. Ann, 295;
+    founds Wom. Hosp. in Phila., 905.
+
+  Price, Prof. Ellen H. E., 318; 564.
+
+  Pruyn, Mrs. John V. L., organizes anti-suff. soc. 850.
+
+  Pugh, Sarah, 61; 294.
+
+  Purvis, Robert. 23; 136; 163;
+    trib. of Mrs. Stanton, 345;
+    in Penn., 900.
+
+  Putnam, Rev. Helen G., 555.
+
+
+  Q
+
+  Quarles, Sup. Judge Ralph, decis. on wom. suff. in Idaho, 1089.
+
+  Queensland, names for, 1032.
+
+  Quincy, St. Rep. Josiah, in Mass. Legis., 723.
+
+  Quinton, Amelia Stone, 1054.
+
+
+  R
+
+  Rainsford, Rev. W. S., 850.
+
+  Ralph, Julian, 363.
+
+  Ramabai, Pundita, 136; 321.
+
+  Ranney, A. A., M. C., rep. in favor of wom. suff., 84.
+
+  Rastall, Fannie H., 613; 641.
+
+  Reagan, U. S. Sen. John H., sp. against wom. suff., 31; 1000.
+
+  Reed, Charles Wesley, 488.
+
+  Reed, Kitty, 285.
+
+  Reed, Speaker Thomas B., rep. in favor of wom. suff., 52; 164; 710.
+
+  Reel, Estelle, wom. suff. in Wy., 301;
+    Nat'l. Supt. Indian Sch., 1010.
+
+  Renkes, Flora Beadle, 338.
+
+  Rhode Island, names for, Chap. LXII.
+
+  Rhodes, Margaret Olive, writes Ok. chap., work in Ty., 886 et al.
+
+  Rhone, Leonard, 228.
+
+  Rich, Gov. John T. (Mich.), signs munic. suff. bill, 764.
+
+  Richards, Gov. De Forest (Wy.), advocates wom. suff., 1008.
+
+  Richards, Emily S., 262; 400; 593;
+    assists on Utah chap., work in Utah, 936 et al.; 950.
+
+  Richards, Gov. and Mrs. William A. (Wy.), 1005.
+
+  Richer, Leon (France), 23.
+
+  Richey, Clara M., writes Iowa chap., 628; 632.
+
+  Ricker, Marilla M., in Calif., 478;
+    in N. H., 816.
+
+  Riddle, Judge Albert G., sp. at conv. of '89, 144;
+    trib. to Francis Minor and B. F. Butler, 204.
+
+  Ripley, Dr. Martha G., 417;
+    work in Minn., 772 et al.
+
+  Ritchie, Anne Thackeray (Eng.), 1015.
+
+  Roach, U. S. Sen. W. N., 546.
+
+  Roberts, Brigham H. (Utah), opp. wom. suff., 946.
+
+  Robertson, J. M. (Eng.), 719.
+
+  Robinson, Emily, 294.
+
+  Robinson, Gov. George D. (Mass.), opp. wom. suff., 712.
+
+  Robinson, Harriet H., 26; 721; 750.
+
+  Robinson, Lelia J., LL. B., 454;
+    legis. work in Mass., 722; 748.
+
+  Rockefeller, John D., signs suff. petit., 850.
+
+  Roe, St. Rep. Alfred S., 715; 732.
+
+  Rogers, Caroline Gilkey, 19;
+    before U. S. Sen. com., 38; 57; 118;
+    work in N. Y., 839 et al.
+
+  Rogers, Gov. John R. (Wash.), 973.
+
+  Rollit, Sir Albert, M. P., work for wom. suff., 1016.
+
+  Roosevelt, President Theodore, recom. wom. suff. to N. Y. Legis.,
+    861; 1075.
+
+  Root, Martha Snyder, 6; 173; 183;
+    work in Mich., 756 et al.
+
+  Root, Melvin A., 183; 337;
+    work in Mich., 756 et al.; 757.
+
+  Rose, Ernestine L., 23; 70; 203; 227; 294.
+
+  Ross, Hon. John, 224.
+
+  Routt, Eliza F. (Mrs. John L.), 224; 515; 519.
+
+  Routt, Gov. John L., 212; 224.
+
+  Russell, Sarah A. (Mrs. Daniel L.), writes N. C. chap., 874.
+
+  Russell, Thomas, 382;
+    opp. wom. suff. in Mass. Legis., 733.
+
+  Rutherford, Annie O. (Canada), 342.
+
+
+  S
+
+  Sadler, Gov. Reinhold (Nev.), recom. wom. suff. amdt., 813.
+
+  Sage, Russell, signs suff. petit., 850.
+
+  Salisbury, Marquis of, Premier of England, for wom. suff., 1020.
+
+  Sanborn, Frank B., 722.
+
+  Sanders, U. S. Sen. Wilbur F., 1001.
+
+  Sargent, U. S. Sen. Aaron A., 23; 366.
+
+  Sargent, Ellen Clark (Mrs. Aaron A.), 287; 366;
+    assists on Calif. chap., 478; 481; 482;
+    in Calif. camp'n., 487;
+    test case for suff., 504.
+
+  Sargent, Dr. Elizabeth C., 135; 366; 487.
+
+  Sargent, George C., 504.
+
+  Sartoris, Nellie Grant, 262.
+
+  Sather, Jane Krom, donat. to Cal. Univers., 507.
+
+  Saunders, Charles R., sec'y. anti-suff. ass'n., 735; 737.
+
+  Saunders, Jessie Cassidy, 288; 369.
+
+  Savage, Rev. Minot J., 703.
+
+  Sawyer, U. S. Sen. Philetus, for wom. suff., 987.
+
+  Saxon, Elizabeth Lyle, sp. at conv. of '93, 187; 201; 243; 583; 640;
+    work in La., 678;
+    in Neb., 802;
+    in Tenn., 926;
+    in Utah, 940;
+    in Wash., 970;
+    in Wis., 989.
+
+  Sayers, Gov. Joseph D. (Texas), 934.
+
+  Scatcherd, Alice (Eng.), 124; 135; 140; 705;
+    in N. Y., 841.
+
+  Schenck, Elizabeth T., 61.
+
+  Schofield, Martha, 923.
+
+  Schreiner, Olive, 146; 398;
+    petit. for wom. suff., 1015.
+
+  Scott, Francis M., opp. wom. suff., 851.
+
+  Scott, Mrs. Francis M., organizes anti-suff. soc., 850.
+
+  Scully, Rev. Father Thomas, 717; 740.
+
+  Seddon, Hon. H. J., Premier N. Z., for wom. suff., 1027.
+
+  Seelye, L. Clark, pres. Smith Coll., opp. wom. suff., 722.
+
+  Segur, Rosa L., 219.
+
+  Selborne, Earl of, for wom. suff., 1016.
+
+  Semple, Gov. Eugene (Wash.), signs wom. suff. bill, 155; 968.
+
+  Severance, Caroline M., 501.
+
+  Severance, Sarah M., 484; 490.
+
+  Sewall, Harriet Winslow, 174.
+
+  Sewall, May Wright, call for conv. of '84, 15;
+    sp. at same, 19; 27;
+    equality of sexes, 36; 71;
+    sp. at conv. of '86, 74;
+    before House com., 81; 117;
+    ex. com. rep., 122;
+    arranges for Int'l. Council, 125;
+    call for same, 126;
+    permanent Council, 137;
+    wom. in camp'n. of '88, 150;
+    Miss Anthony's birthday, 163; 173; 175;
+    World's Fair rep. and wom. suff., 232; 259; 293;
+    sp. before Senate com. of '98, education and wom. suff., 307;
+    at conv. of '99, true civilization, peace conf., 336; 337;
+    at conv. of 1900, 364; 367; 387;
+    greetings from Int'l. Council of Wom. on Miss Anthony's birthday, 397;
+    at World's Fair Wom. Cong., 609; 610;
+    work in Ind., 615; 616; 617;
+    work for club-house in Indpls., 627;
+    at Cotton Centennial, 679;
+    at Adams, 718;
+    in Mich., 759;
+    in Omaha, 939;
+    in Wis., 986;
+    pres. Int'l. Council, 1045.
+
+  Sewall, Judge Samuel E., 146; 227; 721;
+    work in Mass, for wom. suff., 722 et al.
+
+  Sewall, Theodore Lovett, mem. service, 259.
+
+  Seymour, Mary F., 127; 227.
+
+  Shafer, Helen A., pres. Wellesley Coll., 726.
+
+  Shafroth, John F., M. C., on wom. suff. in Col., 267; 303; 524.
+
+  Shafroth, Virginia Morrison (Mrs. John F.), trib. and gift on
+    Miss Anthony's birthday, 400.
+
+  Shattuck, Harriette Robinson, 16;
+    at conv. of '84, 21;
+    before U. S. Sen. com., 36; 57; 59; 72; 76; 115; 149; 721; 750;
+    in N. Y., 840.
+
+  Shaw, Rev. Anna Howard, sermon on Heavenly Vision, 128; 149; 156;
+      163; 170; 173; 174;
+    on S. D. camp'n., 182; 185; 186; 188; 189;
+    before U. S. Sen. com., 199;
+    trib. to Mrs. R. W. Emerson and Rev. Anna Oliver, 205; 215; 219; 223;
+    on wom. behind throne, 228;
+    sermon at conv. of '94, 229; 233; 235; 239;
+    logic and emotion of wom., 243;
+    sermon at conv. of '95, 247;
+    rep. of trip to Pacific Coast, 253;
+    Miss Anthony's comment on, 254;
+    trib. to Mrs. Dietrick, 259; 263;
+    on Pres. Eliot, 266; 267;
+    on Miss Anthony in Calif., 274;
+    no millennium till wom. vote, 278; 279; 282; 288; 304; 305;
+    at conv. of '99, pioneer women, men are women's product, 336; 337; 339;
+    closes conv. of '99, 346;
+    Miss Anthony and her right bower, 351;
+    rep. as delegate to Int'l. Council of '99, 352; 354;
+    sermon at conv. of 1900, 361; 373;
+    closes hearing before House com. of 1900, 380;
+    birthday present and response, 391;
+    trib. on Miss Anthony's 80th birthday, 402; 417; 425; 427; 431;
+    at Nat'l. Popu. conv. in '92, 437; 449;
+    at Calif. Wom. Cong., 480; 482; 486;
+    in Calif, camp'n., 487; 490;
+    visits Denver, 530;
+    in S. D. camp'n., 555;
+    in Del., 564;
+    in Ills., 599;
+    in Ind., 616;
+    in Ia., 632; 640;
+    tour of Kas., 641; 642;
+    in Kas. camp'n., 643;
+    same, 644; 645; 646;
+    in Ky., 666;
+    in Maine, 689;
+    in Md., 696;
+    in Mass., 703 et al.;
+    in Mich., 756;
+    same, 757;
+    in Ann Arbor, 758; 759; 760;
+    before Mich. Legis., 764;
+    in Minn., 773;
+    in Mo., 790; 791;
+    in Neb., 803;
+    in N. J., 825;
+    in Nev., 810;
+    in N. Y., 841;
+    debates wom. suff. with Dr. Buckley, 842;
+    in N. Y. camp'n, 849;
+    in Ohio, 879-80;
+    in Ore., 893;
+    in Penn., 899;
+    in Utah, 947;
+    in Vt., 957;
+    in W. Va., 981;
+    in Wis., 986;
+    visits Wy., 1005.
+
+  Shaw, Helen Adelaide, 361; 719 et al.
+
+  Shaw, Pauline Agassiz (Mrs. Quincy A.), gives $1,000 to pub. Vol. IV,
+    Hist. of Wom. Suff., VII.
+
+  Shaw, Gov. Leslie M. (Iowa), 636.
+
+  Sheehan, Lieut.-Gov. William F. (N. Y.), opp. wom. suff., 854; 855; 857.
+
+  Sheldon, Ellen H., 27; 126.
+
+  Sherman, U. S. Sen. John, 7.
+
+  Shippen, Rev. Rush R., 71; 117.
+
+  Shinn, Harriet A., 228.
+
+  Shortridge, Charles M., 487.
+
+  Shortridge, Hon. Samuel, 480.
+
+  Sidgwick, Mrs. Henry, principal Newnham Coll. (Eng.), petit. for wom.
+    suff., 1015.
+
+  Simmons, Anna R., 558; 791.
+
+  Simpson, Jerry, M. C., 231.
+
+  Simpson, Bishop Matthew, for wom. suff., 24; 61; 410.
+
+  Skidmore, Marian, 259.
+
+  Sloss, Judge M. C. (Calif.), decis. on wom. suff., 504.
+
+  Smith, Alice, 235.
+
+  Smith, Mrs. Clinton, 575.
+
+  Smith, Elizabeth Oakes, 227.
+
+  Smith, Gerrit, 203; 227.
+
+  Smith, Hannah Whitall, 121.
+
+  Smith, Dr. Julia Holmes, at Nat'l. Dem. conv. of '96, 439; 606; 610.
+
+  Smith, Rev. Samuel G., 361.
+
+  Smith, Sara Winthrop, 6; 184; 201; 218;
+    wom. suff. under Const'n., 234.
+
+  Smith, Mrs. William Alden, 322.
+
+  Snow, Eliza R., 1052.
+
+  Solomon, Hannah G., 1053.
+
+  Somerset, Lady Henry, 710; 714; 718.
+
+  South Carolina, names for, Chap. LXIII.
+
+  Southwick, Sarah Hussey, 275.
+
+  Southwick, Thankful, 227.
+
+  Southworth, Louisa, nat'l. enrollment, 137; 219; 240;
+    donat. for hdqrs. 250; 257; 286;
+    work in Ohio, 878 et al.;
+    for W. C. T. U., 879.
+
+  Spaulding, Bishop, for wom. suff., 366.
+
+  Spence, Catherine (Australia), 221; 224; 730.
+
+  Spencer, Rev. Anna Garlin, 61;
+    sp. at conv. of '91, 179;
+    sp. before Senate com. of '98, moral develop. and wom. suff., 308;
+    sp. at conv. of '99, wom. in our new possessions, 328;
+    in Boston, 707;
+    same, 712, in N. Y., 855;
+    writes R. I. chap., 907;
+    work in R. I., 908 et al.; 920.
+
+  Sperry, Mary S. (Mrs. Austin), work in Cal., 486 et al.
+
+  Spinner, U. S. Treasurer F. E., 123.
+
+  Spofford, Ainsworth R., 715.
+
+  Spofford, Charles W., 15; 188;
+    hospitality to Miss Anthony, 366.
+
+  Spofford, Jane H. (Mrs. Charles W.), 15; 27; 126; 174;
+    work for wom. suff., 188;
+    hospitality to Miss Anthony, 366; 571;
+    in Maine, 690.
+
+  Spreckles, Claus, community property case, 502.
+
+  Springer, William M., M. C., opp. wom. suff., 998.
+
+  Squire, Gov. Watson C. (Wash.), testimony for wom. suff., 155; 968.
+
+  St. John, Gov. John P. (Kas.), for wom. suff., 648.
+
+  Stafford, St. Rep. Wendell Phillips, 713; 959.
+
+  Stanford, Jane Lathrop (Mrs. Leland), 356;
+    endows univers., 507.
+
+  Stanford, U. S. Sen. Leland, trib. to, 227;
+    founds univers., 507; 554.
+
+  Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, ten yrs. work on Hist. of Wom. Suff., III;
+    sells rights in Hist. to Miss Anthony, VI;
+    mental vigor at 87, VII;
+    tries to prevent "male" in Nat'l. Consti., 2;
+    organizes Nat'l. Ass'n., 14;
+    calls conv. of '84, 15; 21; 27;
+    self-gov't. best means of self-development, 40;
+    sp. at conv. of '85, 57;
+    rights of wom. in church, 59;
+    power of relig. over wom., 60; 70;
+    res. on wom. suff. and church, 75; 112;
+    ridicules rep. of Brown and Cockrell, 113;
+    part in Int'l. Council of Wom., 124;
+    sp. at same, 133; 136; 137;
+    woman's constit'l. right to vote, 138;
+    objects to thanking men for justice, 145; 150;
+    prophecy fulfilled, 153;
+    before U. S. Sen. com. of '90, 158;
+    questioned by com., 161; 163;
+    friendship for Miss Anthony, 164;
+    great. sp. at conv. of '90, 165; 169; 174;
+    degradation of disfranchm't, 176;
+    last appearance at nat'l. conv., 186;
+    Solitude of Self, 189; 205;
+    trib. to dead, 227; 236;
+    80th birthday, 250;
+    Woman's Bible, 263;
+    Miss Anthony defends her, 264;
+    House com. in '96, 268; 288;
+    sp. at conv. of '98, our defeats and our triumphs, 291; 299; 304;
+    before Senate com. of '98, history of ballot, 316;
+    wom. are pariahs and fight their battles alone, 337; 342;
+    trib. to Pillsbury and Purvis, 345; 353; 359;
+    appeal to House com. of 1900, 376;
+    long in office, 387; 402; 404; 415;
+    first app. at polit. conv., 435; 443; 480; 517;
+    woman's work at Centennial, 526; 715;
+    in Minn., 772;
+    in Mo., 790;
+    in Neb., 802;
+    pioneer work in N. Y., 839; 844; 846; 849;
+    early legis. work in N. Y., 852;
+    work for equal guardianship, 857;
+    in Utah, 936;
+    welcomes Utah wom., 937;
+    in Wis., 985;
+    ad. on Wy., 1004.
+
+  Stanton, Marguerite Berry (Mrs. Theodore), 27.
+
+  Stanton, Theodore, 23; 26.
+
+  Starrett, Helen Ekin, trib. to Lucy Stone, 407.
+
+  Stearns, Judge J. B., 774.
+
+  Stearns, Sarah Burger, in Calif., 501; 630;
+    work in Minn., 774 et al.
+
+  Stebbins, Catharine A. F., 299;
+    work in Mich., 760.
+
+  Stebbins, Giles B., in Mich., 760.
+
+  Stetson, Charlotte Perkins, at conv. of '96, 255;
+    same, 258; 263;
+    ballot and motherhood, 266;
+    sp. at conv. of '97, 277; 479; 647; 648;
+    in Boston, 717;
+    in Penn., 899.
+
+  Steunenberg, Gov. Frank, on wom. suff. in Idaho, 594.
+
+  Stevens, Lillian M. N., 438; 1048.
+
+  Stevenson, J. O., 629.
+
+  Stevenson, Katherine Lente, 711;
+    in R. I., 910.
+
+  Stevenson, Dr. Sarah Hackett, 610.
+
+  Stewart, John W., M. C., rep. against wom. suff., 82.
+
+  Stockham, Dr. Alice B., 61.
+
+  Stoddard, Helen M., writes Tex. chap., 931;
+    work for Girls' Indus. Sch., 934.
+
+  Stone, Lucinda Hinsdale, on Dr. Stone's early belief in wom. suff.,
+    299; 771.
+
+  Stone, Lucy, 14; 136; 164;
+    letter to conv. of '90, 169; 174;
+    at Nat'l Council of '91, 178; 186; 187; 189;
+    before U. S. Sen. Com., 191;
+    conv. of '93, her last message, 213; 221;
+    mem. service, 225; 227; 236; 294; 320; 357; 387;
+    acc't of conv. of Amer. Ass'n. of '84, 406;
+    influence on Kas. laws, 407;
+    rep. as ch. ex. com. of Amer. Ass'n., '84, 408; 411;
+    sp. at conv. of '85, 415;
+    acc't. of Amer. conv. of '86, 417; 418; 423;
+    at Legislatures, 424;
+    rep. ch. ex. com., '87, 425;
+    on union of two ass'ns., 426;
+    spks. at bazar in '87, 427;
+    acc't of Amer. conv. '88, 430;
+    appeal to Constit'l. Convs., 432;
+    work for Ariz., 470; 509; 513; 514; 517; 546; 553;
+    in Ills., 598;
+    in Ind., 614;
+    in Iowa, 628;
+    same, 629;
+    in Kas., 638;
+    same, 640;
+    in Maine, 689;
+    in Baltimore, 695; 702;
+    work in Mass., 703 et al.;
+    last pub. ad., 711;
+    death and funeral, 712;
+    on Boston Tea Party, 713; 714;
+    first wom. suff. petit., yrs. in office, 720;
+    legis. work in Mass., 721;
+    for equal guardianship, 744;
+    in Mich., 755; 762;
+    in Minn., 772;
+    in N. J., 820;
+    mem. serv. in N. J., 821;
+    in R. I., 907;
+    in Vt., 957;
+    on admis. of Wy., 1004.
+
+  Strong, Lieut. Gov. John (Mich.), favors wom. suff., 763.
+
+  Stout, Sir Robert, Premier N. Z., for wom. suff., 1026.
+
+  Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 275.
+
+  Sullivan, Sup. Judge Isaac N. (Ida.), decis. on wom. suff. amdt., 593.
+
+  Sulzer, William, M. C., 856.
+
+  Sweet, Ada C., 71.
+
+  Swift, Mary Wood (Mrs. John F.), work in Calif., 482 et al.; 501.
+
+  Swisshelm, Jane Gray, 410.
+
+
+  T
+
+  Taft, Hon. Alphonso, 428.
+
+  Taft, Judge W. H., 348.
+
+  Talbot, Gov. Thomas (Mass.), 718.
+
+  Taney, Chief Justice Roger B., 4.
+
+  Tanner, Gov. John R. (Ills.), 602; 607.
+
+  Taylor, Alberta C., 238; 465.
+
+  Taylor, Ezra B., M. C., rep. in favor wom. suff., 52;
+    same, 82;
+    same, 163; 218; 366;
+    assists in O., 877.
+
+  Taylor, Peter A., M. P., 22; 353.
+
+  Taylor, Mrs. Peter A., 22.
+
+  Telford, Mary Jewett, 201; 516.
+
+  Teller, U. S. Sen. Henry M., 235;
+    sp. at conv. of '98, 303; 433; 524;
+    approves wom. suff., 1086.
+
+  Tennessee, names for, Chap. LXIV.
+
+  Terrell, Mary Church, 298;
+    sp. at conv. of 1900, 358; 572.
+
+  Texas, names for, Chap. LXV.
+
+  Thayer, Gov. John M., wom. suff. in Wy., 1090.
+
+  Thomann, Gallus, 448.
+
+  Thomas, Gov. Charles S., 441; 516; 531;
+    wom. suff. in Col., 1087.
+
+  Thomas, Dean M. Carey, pres. Bryn Mawr Coll., 426;
+    helps secure Wom. Med. Coll. of Johns Hopkins, 700;
+    trustee Cornell Univ. 871; 906.
+
+  Thomas, M. Louise, 175.
+
+  Thomas, Mary Bentley, 239; 263;
+    writes Md. chap., 695; 696.
+
+  Thomas, Dr. Mary F., 75; 146; 406; 407; 410; 411;
+    letter to Amer. conv. of '85, 413;
+    70th birthday, 422; 425; 426; 431; 614; 616.
+
+  Thomasson, John P., M. P., 22.
+
+  Thomasson, Mrs. John P., 22.
+
+  Thompson, Elizabeth, donation to pub. Hist. of Wom. Suff., V.
+
+  Thompson, Ellen Powell, rep. on Congress'l work, 287;
+    trib. and gift to Miss Anthony on birthday, 399;
+    work in D. C., 568 et al.
+
+  Thompson, Col. John, 227.
+
+  Thompson, Martha J., 367; 774.
+
+  Thomson (Archbishop of York) Mrs., petit. for wom. suff., 1015.
+
+  Thomson, M. Adeline, 260; 900.
+
+  Thorpe, Dr. Juliet, 430.
+
+  Thurston, Sarah A., 417; 639 et al.
+
+  Tillinghast, Elizabeth Sheldon, 377.
+
+  Tillman, U. S. Sen. Benj. R., 925.
+
+  Tod, Isabella M. S. (Ireland), 23; 1020.
+
+  Todd, Mabel Loomis, 363.
+
+  Tomlinson, William P., 417.
+
+  Townsend, Justine V. R., 1065.
+
+  Trimble, Dr. John, 227.
+
+  Trygg, Alli (Finland), 705.
+
+  Tubman, Harriet, 718; 844.
+
+  Tupper, Rev. Mila (Maynard), 185; 201; 497.
+
+  Turner, Sup. Judge George (Wash.), 1098.
+
+  Turner, Sir George, Premier Victoria, bill for wom. suff., 1031.
+
+  Tyler, Louise M., 509;
+    work in R. I., 909.
+
+
+  U
+
+  Uhl, Asst. Sec. of State Edwin F., 572.
+
+  Unwin, Jane Cobden (Eng.), 21; 711.
+
+  Upton, Harriet Taylor, work in Cong., 218; 233; 250; 257;
+    sp. at conv. of '97, 279;
+    tells of financial help of Miss Anthony, 286;
+    rep. '98 289; 337;
+    wom. on sch. bds., 338;
+    treas. rep., 1900, 365;
+    secures Congress'l. rep., 366; 443; 616;
+    writes Ohio chap., 877;
+    work in O., 879 et al.;
+    work on sch. bd., 884.
+
+  Utah, names for, Chap. LXVI.
+
+
+  V
+
+  Vance, U. S. Sen. Zebulon B., 157; 158;
+    questions Mrs. Stanton, 161;
+    rep. against wom. suff., 201.
+
+  Van Cleve, Charlotte O., 414.
+
+  Vermont, names for, Chap. LXVII.
+
+  Vest, U. S. Sen. George G., 93;
+    sp. against wom. suff., 105;
+    spks. against wom. suff. in Wy., 1000.
+
+  Victoria (Aus.), names for, 1021.
+
+  Victoria, Queen, compared to Amer. women, 160; 162;
+    rec. Int'l. Council, 354;
+    trib. to, 1021.
+
+  Villard, Oswald Garrison, 739.
+
+  Virginia, names for, Chap. LXVIII.
+
+  Vogel, Sir Julius, Treasurer N. Z., bill for wom. suff., 1025.
+
+  Voorhees, Gov. Foster M. (N. J.), 828.
+
+
+  W
+
+  Wait, Anna C., 18;
+    welcomes conv. to Kas. in '86, 418;
+    assists on Kas. chap., 638.
+
+  Waite, Catharine V., 609.
+
+  Waite, Hon. Charles B., 762.
+
+  Waite, Gov. Davis H., on wom. suff. in Col., 232;
+    signs wom. suff. bill, 513; 520; 533.
+
+  Waite, Dr. Lucy, 184.
+
+  Waite, Chief Justice Morrison R., U. S. has no voters, 5;
+    for wom. suff., 1076.
+
+  Wall, Sarah, 298.
+
+  Wallace, Catherine P., writes N. M. chap., work in Australia
+      and New Zeal., 835;
+    in N. M., 836 et al.
+
+  Wallace, Zerelda G., 23; 71;
+    wom. suff. necessity for Gov't., 119; 136; 150;
+    sp. on a whole humanity, 171; 430;
+    in Ills., 599; 614; 615;
+    legis. work in Ind., 618;
+    in Kas., 640, 650;
+    in Ky., 665;
+    in Boston, 706;
+    in R. I., 910;
+    in Vt., 957.
+
+  Walworth, Rev. Clarence A., opp. wom. suff., 851.
+
+  Ward, Eliza T., 174.
+
+  Ward, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, 412; 735.
+
+  Ward, Prof. Lester F., 308.
+
+  Ward, Lydia A. Coonley, poem on Miss Anthony's eightieth birthday,
+    401; 610; 612.
+
+  Warren, U. S. Sen. Francis E., rep. in favor of wom. suff., 201; 433;
+      710; 1005;
+    testimony for wom. suff., 1006;
+    wom. suff. in Wy., 1090.
+
+  Warren, Helen M. (Mrs. Francis E.), trib. and gift on Miss Anthony's
+    birthday, 400.
+
+  Washburn, Gov. Wm. B. (Mass.), 718.
+
+  Washington, names for, Chap. LXIX.
+
+  Washington, Booker T., 469; 906.
+
+  Washington, Mrs. Booker T., 1051.
+
+  Washington, Joseph E., M. C., opp. wom. suff., 999.
+
+  Wattles, Esther, 300.
+
+  Wattles, John O., 300.
+
+  Wattles, Susan E., 294.
+
+  Waugh, Alice, 235.
+
+  Way, Mary Heald, 564.
+
+  Webb, Alfred, M. P., 717.
+
+  Webster, Prof. Helen, 733.
+
+  Welch, Minerva C. (Mrs. A. L.), 327;
+    wom. suff. in Col., 338; 523.
+
+  Weld, Angelina Grimke, 227.
+
+  Weld, Theodore D., 259; 702; 709.
+
+  Wells, Amos R., collects wom. suff. testimony, 1085.
+
+  Wells, Emmeline B., 262; 279;
+    on wom. suff. in Utah, at conv. of '97, 283;
+    writes Utah chap., work in Utah, 936 et al.; 949.
+
+  Wells, Gov. Heber M., 949; 951; 952;
+    wom. suff. in Utah, 1089.
+
+  Wells, Kate Gannett, 413;
+    opp. wom. suff., 704; 721.
+
+  Wellstood, Jessie M. (Scot.), 19.
+
+  Wendte, Rev. C. W., 479; 701 et al.
+
+  West, Gov. Caleb (Utah), 947.
+
+  West Virginia, names for, Chap. LXX.
+
+  Wheeler, Vice-President William A., for wom. suff., 1075.
+
+  Whelan, Carrie A., assists on Calif. chapter, 478; 489.
+
+  Whipple, Rev. A. B., 718.
+
+  Whipple, Charles K., 708.
+
+  White, Armenia S., 75.
+
+  White, John D., M. C., rep. in favor wom. suff., 12;
+    sp. for same, 35.
+
+  White, U. S. Sen. Stephen M., 495.
+
+  Whiting, John L., 205; 702.
+
+  Whitman, Sarah Helen, 295.
+
+  Whitney, Adeline D. T., opp. wom. suff., 108; 157; 726.
+
+  Whitney, Sarah Ware, 629.
+
+  Whitney, Victoria C., 263.
+
+  Whittier, John Greenleaf, 164; 203; 205; 703.
+
+  Whittle, Dr. Ewing (Eng.), 23; 124.
+
+  Widdrington, Mrs. Percy (Eng.), in N. J., 826.
+
+  Wigham, Eliza (Scot), 19; 1020.
+
+  Wilbour, Charlotte B., 23.
+
+  Wilbur, Julia A., 27; 260.
+
+  Wilbur, Sarah, 259.
+
+  Willard, Emma, 355.
+
+  Willard, Frances E., 110;
+    at Int'l. Council, 136;
+    sp. before U. S. Senate Com., 141; 164; 175; 183;
+    in Denver, 215;
+    death, 304; 438; 517; 610; 612; 641;
+    in Boston, 705; 710; 714;
+    in Mont., 796;
+    in N. C., 874; 886;
+    work in W. C. T. U., 1047; 1048;
+    estab. dept. franchise, 1071.
+
+  Willcox, Albert O., 295.
+
+  Willcox, Hon. Hamilton, 706; 856.
+
+  Williams, Mary H., 212.
+
+  Williamson, Frances A., 263; 483;
+    writes Nev. chap., 810;
+    work in Nev., 811 et al.
+
+  Williamson, M. Laura, 811.
+
+  Wilson, Edgar, M. C., 590.
+
+  Wilson, Vice-President Henry, for wom. suff., 1075.
+
+  Windeyer, Miss (Australia), 224.
+
+  Winship, Dr. A. E., 741.
+
+  Winslow, Dr. Caroline B., 275; 295; 574.
+
+  Wisconsin, names for, Chap. LXXI.
+
+  Wolcott, U. S. Sen. Edward O., 156; 235; 525.
+
+  Wolcott, Lieut.-Gov. Roger (Mass.), 713.
+
+  Wolf, John B., 59.
+
+  Wolf, Simon, 231.
+
+  Wollstonecraft, Mary, 147.
+
+  Wood, Col. S. N., 407; 653.
+
+  Wood, Mrs. S. N., 418.
+
+  Woodall, William, M. P., work for wom. suff., 1015.
+
+  Woodbridge, Mary A., 641.
+
+  Woodbury, Charles J., wom. suff. in Wash., 1096.
+
+  Woods, Dr. Frances, 592; 632;
+    in O., 880;
+    same, 893.
+
+  Woods, Mell C., 279;
+    on wom. suff. in Ida., 283.
+
+  Wright, Hon. Carroll D., sp. on Indust. Emancip. of Wom., 213.
+
+  Wright, Frances, 147; 294.
+
+  Wright, St. Rep. Harriet G. R. (Col.), 523; 524.
+
+  Wright, Martha C., 288; 298; 842.
+
+  Wright, Phoebe C., 235.
+
+  Wyndham, George, M. P., 1020.
+
+  Wyoming, names for, Chap. LXXII.
+
+
+  Y
+
+  Yarbrough, Jasper, case of, 8.
+
+  Yates, Elizabeth Upham, 213;
+    sp. at conv. of '95, 228; 242; 247; 263;
+    in Calif, campn., 487; 490; 536; 558; 696;
+    in Boston, 707;
+    in Mass., 714; 718;
+    in Miss., 783;
+    in N. J., 822;
+    in N. C., 874;
+    in Penn., 899;
+    in S. C., 922;
+    in Va., 964.
+
+  Yates, Gov. Richard (Ills.), 603.
+
+  Young, Virginia Durant, 222; 224; 235; 263; 293;
+    wom. suff. in South, 362; 583;
+    writes S. C. chap., work in S. C., 922 et al.
+
+  Young, Zina D. H., 939; 1052.
+
+
+  Z
+
+  Zelophehad, daughters of, 372.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+[Transcriber's Notes:
+
+The transcriber made the following changes to the text to correct
+obvious errors:
+
+   1. p. xxvi posession --> possession
+   2. p.   23 Parlimentary --> Parliamentary
+   3. p.   33 acomplished  --> accomplished
+   4. p.   74 Disfranchisement:t: --> Disfranchisement:
+   5. p.  175 preceeding --> preceding
+   6. p.  250 Senaca Falls; --> Senaca Falls,
+   7. p.  356 "the bottoms,'" --> "The bottoms,"
+   8. p.  360 they want.'" --> they want."
+   9. p.  402 unforgetable --> unforgettable
+  10. p.  531 Ptolomaic --> Ptolemaic
+  11. p.  643 plaform --> platform
+  12. p.  709 Northen --> Northern
+  13. p.  834 in $86.21 --> is $86.21
+  14. p.  893 mantained --> maintained
+  15. p.  896 disabilites -->disabilities
+  16. p.  900 Committe --> Committee
+  17. p.  974 classess -->classes (Footnote #460)
+  18. p. 1020 conspicious --> conspicuous
+  19. p. 1030 ocupying --> occupying
+  20. p. 1081 Wald --> Waldo
+  21. p. 1088 to higher plane. --> to a higher plane.
+  22. p. 1091 encouragment -->encouragement
+  23. p. 1094 Atorney --> Attorney
+  24. p. 1096 'Whatever may be --> "Whatever may be
+
+End of Transcriber's Notes]
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume
+IV, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HIST OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE, VOL 4 ***
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