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.



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: