included in the first place? Although it was omitted from the Act of Congress which admitted these Territories to Statehood under the names of Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma, each one adopted a const.i.tution whose suffrage clause absolutely barred women and those const.i.tutions were approved by Congress. (See their special chapters.)
[38] In later years woman suffrage amendments were submitted to the voters through the Initiative and Referendum after the Legislature had refused to do it and were carried in Oregon and Arizona and defeated in Nebraska and Missouri. Still later by this method the ratification of the Federal Suffrage Amendment in Ohio by the Legislature was sent to the voters after they had defeated the ratification of the Prohibition Amendment. This was attempted in several other States and both prohibitionists and suffragists were in great distress, which was relieved by a decision of the U. S. Supreme Court that this action was unconst.i.tutional. They learned, however, that the Initiative and Referendum has its harmful as well as its beneficial side.
[39] Miss Anthony and Mrs. Upton went to Washington in November, where Mrs. Harper joined them, and on the 15th President Roosevelt received them cordially and granted them a long interview. Miss Anthony was the princ.i.p.al spokesman and made these requests: 1. To mention woman suffrage in his speeches when practicable. 2. To put experienced women on boards and commissions relating to such matters as they would be competent to pa.s.s upon. 3. To recommend to Congress a special committee to investigate the practical working of woman suffrage where it exists. 4. To see that Congress should not discriminate against the women of the Philippines as it had done against those of Hawaii. 5. To say something that would help the approaching suffrage campaign in Oregon. 6. To speak to the national suffrage convention in Baltimore in February, as he did to the Mothers" Congress. 7. To recommend to Congress a Federal Suffrage Amendment before he left the presidency.
These requests were given to him in typewritten form but President Roosevelt did not comply with one of them and did not communicate further with the committee who called upon him. For full account of this occurrence see Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, page 1375.
[40] Different sessions were opened with prayer by Rabbi Stephen S.
Wise, Father Black and the Reverends Elwin L. House, H. M. Barden, E.
S. Muckley, J. Burgette Short, J. Whitcomb Brougher, E. Nelson Allen, Edgar P. Hill, W. S. Gilbert, A. A. Morrison, T. L. Eliot, Asa Sleeth, J. F. Ghormley, George Creswell Cressey, representing various denominations. Nearly all of them pledged their support to the suffrage movement. The fine musical programs throughout the convention were in charge of Mrs. M. A. Dalton.
[41] Oregon gave suffrage to women in 1912 and Mrs. Duniway received full recognition. See Oregon chapter.
[42] Mr. Blackwell, then 80 years old, used to rise early in the morning and take a trolley ride of thirty or forty miles in various directions to enjoy the beauties of nature. "Feeling unwilling to return east without bathing in the Pacific," he said in one of his letters, "and wishing to visit Astoria, the ancient American fur-post so charmingly immortalized by Washington Irving, I left Portland after the convention closed and had a beautiful voyage of nine hours down the river to where it meets the ocean.... After an early morning plunge into the big waves we chartered an auto and sped over the hard sands to the fir-crowned cliffs."
[43] For results the following year see Oregon chapter.
CHAPTER VI.
NATIONAL AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1906.
The Thirty-eighth annual convention held in Baltimore Feb. 7-13, 1906, was notable in several respects. It had gone into the very heart of conservatism and a larger number of eminent men and women took part in its proceedings than had ever before been represented on a single program.[44] There were university presidents and professors, men and women; office holders, men and women; representatives of other large movements, men and women, and more distinguished women than had ever before a.s.sembled in one convention. It was especially memorable because of the presence on the platform together for the first and only time of the three great pioneers, Susan B. Anthony, Clara Barton and Julia Ward Howe, and never to be forgotten by suffragists as the last ever attended by Miss Anthony. Here was sung the Battle Hymn of the Republic in the presence of the woman who wrote it, Mrs. Howe; and the Star Spangled Banner in the home of its author, Francis Scott Key.
The meetings were held in the beautifully decorated Lyric Theater with appreciative and enthusiastic audiences. The arrangements had been made by the Maryland Suffrage a.s.sociation and its president, Mrs. Emma Maddox Funck. Ministers of nearly all denominations asked blessings on the various sessions and the best musical talent in the city gave its services. The papers were most generous with s.p.a.ce and fair and friendly in their reports. Through the influence and efforts of Dr. M.
Carey Thomas, president of Bryn Mawr College, the remarkable representation of Women"s Colleges was secured. Baltimore"s most prominent woman, Miss Mary E. Garrett, was largely responsible for the social prestige which is especially necessary to success in a southern city. It was a convention long to be remembered by those who were so fortunate as to be a part of it.
The convention opened on the afternoon of February 7 with Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president of the a.s.sociation, in the chair and was welcomed by Mrs. Funck, who said in a graceful speech: "You have come to the conservative South. Conservative--what a sweet-sounding word, what an ark for the timid soul! So you must expect to find a good many folks who mean well but who have not discarded their silver buckles and ruffles, but nothing will more clearly indicate the development of our people from provincialism and bigotry than their generosity of spirit and kindly intent towards the gathering of our clans in this convention. Most people have come to realize that to be a great nation we must have that catholicity of spirit which embraces all ologies and all isms.... From the suffrage pioneers we have learned the lessons of fair play and equal rights."
Fraternal greetings were offered by Mrs. Albert L. Sioussat, president of the State Federation of Women"s Clubs; Mrs. Hattie Hull Troupe, president of the Women"s Twentieth Century Club of Baltimore; Mrs.
Rosa H. Goldenberg, president of the Maryland section Jewish Council of Women, and Mrs. Mary R. Haslup, president of the Baltimore Woman"s Christian Temperance Union. As the vice-president of the a.s.sociation, Dr. Annice Jeffreys Myers of Oregon, who was to respond, had been delayed en route. Dr. Shaw took her place, saying in answer to certain of the greetings: "In all my experience I have observed that those people are most likely to have their prayers answered who do everything they can to help G.o.d answer them; so while we may try by prayer to bring about the highest good not only in the State but in education and philanthropy, we hope to add to our prayers the citizen"s power of the ballot.... We have never had a more generous welcome or a warmer hospitality offered to us and we thank you with all our heart. Whatever may happen while we are here, nothing can take away from us the beauty of the sunshine and the kindliness of your welcome."
The first evening session was opened with prayer by the Rev. John B.
Van Meter, dean of the Woman"s College, Baltimore, and music by a chorus of two hundred voices under the direction of William R. Hall.
Governor Edwin Warfield made an eloquent address in which he said: "A man who would not extend a welcome to such a body of women would not be worthy the name of Maryland, which we consider a synonym of hospitality. Our doors are always wide open to friends and strangers, especially strangers. We are delighted to have you here. While I may not agree with all your teachings, I recognize one fact, that there never has been a.s.sembled in Baltimore a convention composed of women who have been more useful in this country and who have done more for the uplift of humanity. It was proper for you to come to Maryland, a State that was named for a woman, whose capital was named for a woman and whose motto is "Manly deeds and womanly words."" He paid glowing compliments to the splendid public service of Maryland women and said he would not have been elected Governor but for their kindly influence. He declared that he had been almost persuaded by the charming words of Mrs. Howe and said his wife was a "convert" and he "had been voting as a proxy for some time." He believed "the final solution of the question would be a referendum to the women themselves."
Dr. Shaw could not resist saying when she rose to introduce the next speaker: "So many have told us, as the Governor has, about being proxy-voters, that we think it is time they should be relieved of that role and have an opportunity to do their own voting while we women attend to ours." Mayor Tima.n.u.s was indisposed and the welcome for the city was given by the Hon. William F. Stone, Collector of the Port. He vied with the Governor in the warmth of his greeting and his splendid tributes to women and acknowledged his indebtedness for "all that he was or expected to be to his sainted mother and beloved wife,"
but, like the Governor, he could not give his full sanction to woman suffrage. When he had finished Dr. Shaw said with her winning smile and melodious voice: "We have the testimony of Governor Warfield and of Collector Stone that the best each has been able to accomplish has been due to the influence of good women. Now if a good woman can develop the best in an individual man, may not all the good women together develop the best in a whole State? I am glad of this strong point in favor of enfranchising women."
Miss Anthony was to have presided at this meeting and in referring to her absence on account of illness Dr. Shaw said: "I am not taking Miss Anthony"s place this evening--there is only one Susan B. Anthony, but it is also true that there is only one Clara Barton and but one Julia Ward Howe and these grand women we have with us." Miss Barton, who, in her soft plum-colored satin with fichu of white lace, her dark hair parted smoothly over her forehead, did not seem over sixty although she was eighty-four, was enthusiastically received and said in part: "What greater honor and what greater embarra.s.sment than to be asked to take ever so small a step on a platform that Susan B. Anthony had expected to tread. As I stand here tonight my thoughts go back to the time when Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Miss Anthony were pioneers struggling for this righteous cause. I think the greatest reforms, the greatest progress ever made for any reforms in our country have been along the lines on which they worked. Miss Anthony"s has been a long life. She has trod the th.o.r.n.y way, has walked through briars with bleeding feet, but it is through a sweet and lovely way now and the hearts of the whole country are with her. A few days ago some one said to me that every woman should stand with bared head before Susan B.
Anthony. "Yes," I answered, "and every man as well." I would not retract these words. I believe that man has benefited by her work as much as woman. For ages he has been trying to carry the burden of life"s responsibilities alone and when he has the efficient help of woman he will be grateful. Just now it is new and strange and men cannot comprehend what it would mean but the change is not far away.
The nation is soon to have woman suffrage and it will be a glad and proud day when it comes."
Mrs. Howe in the dignity of her eighty-seven years made a lovely picture in a gown of mauve satin with a creamy lace scarf draped about her head and shoulders. She was escorted to the front of the platform by the Governor and said in her brief response: "Madam president and you dear suffrage friends, and the rest of you who are going to become suffrage friends before we leave this city, I give you thanks for this friendly greeting. I am very, very glad to meet you all. I am not going to preach a sermon but I have a text from the New Testament, a question that the Lord asked when the crowd came to see him, "What came ye out to see? A reed shaken with the wind?" No, it was a prophet that they came to see and hear. When you come to these suffrage meetings you do not come to see reeds shaken by the wind. We do not any of us claim to be prophets but you do come to hear a prophecy, a very glad prophecy which some of us have believed in and followed for years, and all the way of that following has been joyous and bright though it has not been popular. I remember many years ago going with Mrs. Livermore and Lucy Stone to a meeting in New England and the report was sent out that "three old crows were coming to disturb the town with their croakings." I can never forget that evening. When Mary Livermore looked the audience over in her calm and dignified manner they quieted down as if by magic. When reasonable measures are proposed in a reasonable way there are always some people who will respond and be convinced. We have no desire to put out of sight the difficulties of government. When we talk about woman suffrage people begin to remember how unsatisfactory manhood suffrage is, but I should like to see what men would do if there was an attempt to take it away.
We might much improve it by bringing to it the feminine mind, which in a way complements the masculine. I frankly believe that we have half the intelligence and good sense of humanity and that it is quite time we should express not only our sentiments but our determined will to set our faces toward justice and right and to follow these through the th.o.r.n.y wilderness if necessary--follow them straight, not to the "bitter end," for it will not be bitter but very sweet and I hope it will come before my end comes."
For the second time Dr. Shaw had written her president"s address but although it was a statesmanlike doc.u.ment the audience missed the spontaneity, the sparkle of wit, the flashes of eloquence that distinguished her oratory above that of all others, and there was a general demand that hereafter she should give them the spoken instead of the written word. She complied and while it was a gain to the audiences of her day and generation it was a great loss to posterity.
Even extended quotations can give little idea of this address which filled over ten columns of the _Woman"s Journal_.
For the first time in the history of our a.s.sociation we meet to protest against the disenfranchis.e.m.e.nt of women in a State in which the first public demand for a part in the conduct of our government was made by a woman. It was in an impa.s.sioned appeal to your a.s.sembly, that in 1647 Mistress Margaret Brent demanded "a part and voyce" as representative of the estate of her kinsman, Lord Baltimore, whose name your city bears. Here Mary Catherine G.o.ddard published Baltimore"s only newspaper through all the severe struggle of the Revolutionary War, and it is stated upon good authority that when Congress, then in session in Baltimore, sent out the official Declaration of Independence, with the names of the signers attached, it was published by official order in Miss G.o.ddard"s paper; that her name was on the sheet which was officially circulated throughout the country; but, although a memorial sheet was afterwards placed in the Court House, Miss G.o.ddard"s name was not left on it. This omission is but one of many evidences that in the compilation of the world"s historic events it has been customary to overlook the part performed by women.
Dr. Shaw took up the section on Labor in President Roosevelt"s recent message to Congress in which he recommended a thorough investigation of the condition of women in industry, saying: "There is an almost complete dearth of data on which to base any trustworthy conclusions,"
and then drawing this one: "The introduction of women into industry is working change and disturbance in the domestic and social life of the nation; the decrease in marriage and especially in the birth-rate have been coincident with it." Dr. Shaw"s comment was in part:
This is unquestionably true but it is also true that this has been coincident with the wider discovery of gold and the application of steam and electricity to mechanics ... and to draw sweeping and universal conclusions in regard to a matter upon which there is an "almost complete dearth of data" is never wise.
Is it true that there is a lower birth-rate among working women than among those of the wealthy cla.s.s? Are not the effects of over-work and long hours in the household as great as are those of the factory or the office? Is the birth-rate less among women who are engaged in the occupations unknown to women of the past?
Or is the decline alike marked among those who are pursuing the ancient occupations but under different conditions?... If conditions surrounding their employment are such as to make it a "social question of the first importance" it is unfortunate the President had not seen that women should const.i.tute at least a part of any commission authorized to investigate it.
One can not but wish that with his expressed desire for "fair play" and his policy of "a square deal" it had occurred to the President that, if five million American women are employed in gainful occupations, every principle of justice would demand that they should be enfranchised to enable them to secure legislation for their own protection. In all governments a subject cla.s.s is always at a disadvantage and at the mercy of the ruling cla.s.s. It matters not whether its name be Empire, Kingdom or Republic, whether the rulers are one or many; and in a democracy there is no way known for any cla.s.s to protect its interests or to be secure in its most sacred rights except through the power of the ballot....
There had been about this time in high places an outburst of attacks on woman suffrage and predictions as to its dangerous possibilities.
Dr. Shaw referred to their authors as Oracles and said: "The great difficulty is that when one Oracle claiming to be divinely inspired has laid down a specific line of conduct which if implicitly followed would lead to the proper development of woman, the happiness of man, the good of the family and the well-being of the State, another Oracle also divinely enlightened lays out a different path by which these ends may be secured, and then another and another until poor women if they should try to follow these self-appointed divine revealers would not only have to be hydra-headed to see these devious paths but hydra-footed to walk in them." Referring to Cardinal Gibbons, she said:
The Oracle of Baltimore tells us that the education and culture of women are good up to a certain point, no further, but he sagely fails to define the point, simply declaring that "too much education of the head is apt to cool the heart; the cultivation of the soul is too much neglected in the higher education; the head and the heart and the body should all be educated together; then they develop equally." There certainly can be no disagreement among us as to the latter statement but why is it more applicable to women than to men? The Oracle does not leave us in doubt as to his view, for in response to the question, "What do you think of the societies and club organizations which attract women so largely just now?" he replies: "A society like the Daughters of the American Revolution I heartily approve of, for it tends to foster patriotism and keep it alive, but other clubs of all kinds for women I strictly disapprove of."
The Oracle of Princeton, ex-President Cleveland, who has gained the most notoriety for his heavy diatribes against women"s clubs, also admits that there are a few societies which it might be well for women to encourage and keep alive--religious organizations and those which administer to the needs of the heathen in a foreign land. The Oracle of Brooklyn, Dr. Lyman Abbott, adds a few more to the list and includes philanthropic, reform and social clubs. Would it be unwomanly to ask why there should have been such wide divergence in the Divine Illumination which each Oracle received?
Dr. Shaw quoted from Mr. Roosevelt: "The President of the United States does not absent himself from the country during the term of his presidency, it is his domain. So should it be with woman; she is queen of her empire and that empire is the home," and after reminding him that the President"s term lasts but four or eight years she asked: "What do men mean by saying that women should remain contentedly in their homes? They do not intend us to understand that we are never to leave them, for they are frequently calling us forth when conditions become so intolerable that even men can no longer endure them. Then they call upon women to come out from the seclusion and protection of their homes and aid them to "save the city and the State."" She pointed out the difference between the time when the home was "a protective and industrial center" and now when "the results of electricity and steam have scattered the households," but in picturing the advance that women had made in their own domain she said: "There never was a time when there was as large a number of good housekeepers and homemakers; when there was as much intelligence shown in the scientific preparation of food; such knowledge of household sanitation; such reverence for individual life; such painstaking study of the needs and rights of childhood; when there was so much thought given to the development of the finer and more permanent qualities of character; when such good comradeship existed between children and their parents; when marriage had so deep a spiritual and human meaning as at the present time. The home ideal of today is the best the world has yet known and it will continue to develop as larger freedom and broader culture come to all who share in its life...."
The manner in which politics enters the modern home was pointed out and the contempt which was shown for the political opinions of women and then in a rousing appeal to women the speaker said: "A few days since I was asked by a compiler of other people"s thoughts to express for him my opinion of the greatest need of American women and I replied, "self-respect." ... The a.s.sumption that woman have neither discernment nor judgment and that any man is superior in all the qualities that make for strength, stability and sanity to any woman, simply because he is a man and she is a woman, is still altogether too common. The time has come when women must question themselves to learn how far they are personally responsible for this almost universal disrespect and then set about changing it."
Dr. Shaw told of the organization of the College Women"s Equal Suffrage League and asked: "Who can compute the loss sustained by our country every year by the addition of unrestricted, ignorant and often criminal male voters and the exclusion of the vast number of college and high-school graduates through the disfranchis.e.m.e.nt of women? If the stability of a government depends upon the morality and intelligence of its voting citizens, how long can the foundations of ours remain secure if we continue to enfranchise ignorance and vice and disfranchise intelligence and virtue?" The action of Legislatures in past years was depicted as "playing shuttlec.o.c.k and battledore with the amendment, pa.s.sing it in one House to defeat it in another, in a hypocritical desire to appear favorable and inspire us with hope in order to retain the small amount of influence they think we possess, and yet compelling us to begin the work all over again." After reviewing the long struggle of American women for political freedom she ended with an impa.s.sioned peroration of which only a portion can be quoted:
No cla.s.s of men in any nation have ever been compelled to wage such an arduous and difficult struggle for their political freedom. Through the influence of the Democratic party, without an effort on their own behalf, white working men were enfranchised; and by an Act of Congress under Republican leadership the newly emanc.i.p.ated men slaves were protected in their right of suffrage. The same Act placed in the Const.i.tution of the United States for the first time the word "male," which robbed women of the protection guaranteed to every other cla.s.s of citizens in the most sacred right of citizenship--the right to a voice in the Government.
Such is the boasted chivalry of the Land of Freedom, which has left its women to strive against tradition, prejudice, conservatism, self-interest, political power and in addition all the forces of corruption combined, to secure the privilege which was conferred upon vast numbers of men who never even demanded it and many of whom knew nothing of its significance after it was granted. I claim, and fear no contradiction, that the women of this land are better qualified to exercise the suffrage with intelligence, honesty and patriotism than were any other cla.s.s of citizens in the world at the time when it was conferred upon them.
Must women, unaided, continue the struggle for forty years longer until they have rounded out a century, a.s.sailing the bulwarks of prohibitive const.i.tutions in the forty-one States yet to be won?
Or will not some brave, consistent and freedom-loving President, recognizing the duty the Government owes to the disfranchised millions of patriotic women, recommend to Congress to submit an amendment to the Federal Const.i.tution forbidding disfranchis.e.m.e.nt on account of s.e.x? And will not the time speedily come when Congress, recognizing the great injustice which was inflicted upon the women of the land when by enfranchising a race of slave men they riveted the fetters of disfranchis.e.m.e.nt upon educated and patriotic women, redeem the nation from this stigma? It was the most ungrateful and unjust act ever perpetrated by a republic upon a cla.s.s of citizens who had worked and sacrificed and suffered as did the women of this nation in the struggle of the Civil War only to be rewarded at its close by such unspeakable degradation as to be reduced to the plane of subjects to enfranchised slaves....
I stand here tonight to say that we have never known defeat; we have never been vanquished. We have not always reached the goal toward which we have striven, but in the hour of our greatest disappointment we could always point to our battlefield and say: "There we fought our good fight, there we defended the principles for which our ancestors and yours laid down their lives; there is our battlefield for justice, equality and freedom. Where is yours?"
While the eminent speakers attracted the largest audiences that ever had attended the conventions of the a.s.sociation, according to the opinions of the older suffragists, the delegates themselves were equally interested in the morning meetings devoted to the reports and other business. The corresponding secretary, Miss Kate M. Gordon, a keen student of politics and organization, in speaking of factors in success, said: "There is great necessity for a personal acquaintance between the leaders in our suffrage work in the States and the prominent politicians in the States; the personal acquaintance also of the editors and managers of our great public-opinion-forming newspapers; a pleasant working relation in women"s clubs and all movements for better social conditions in our respective communities; a more intimate acquaintance with the educational influences, the teachers in our public schools and the college life of our communities."
Miss Gordon made a special plea for cooperation in the efforts for Child Labor legislation and she ended by saying: "But means and methods for the future of our work pale into insignificance in the need of the hour, which is Oregon. Funds for this campaign must be a matter of conscience with every believer. In proportion to the grat.i.tude you feel for the comfortable position which women occupy today, measure your contribution; no sacrifice can be too great at this crucial moment in our onward history." Throughout the convention the work in Oregon, where an amendment to the State const.i.tution would be voted on in November, was the uppermost thought. The treasurer made a special appeal for funds; the chairman of the Press Committee told of it; it was discussed and planned for in the business meetings and different speakers referred in hopeful words to its probable success.
An amendment to the const.i.tution abolishing proxies empowered to cast the full vote to which the State was ent.i.tled and providing that delegates present should cast only their own vote caused a spirited discussion, with Mrs. Catt and eastern delegates in favor and Dr. Shaw and western delegates opposed and was lost by a vote of 68 to 11. No change of officers was made at this convention. Reports of Committees on Libraries, Literature, Enrollment, Presidential Suffrage, etc., were presented by their chairmen. A lively discussion on the use of the union label on literature, stationery, etc., resulted in an almost unanimous decision to retain it. Very interesting reports of work in the States were made by their respective presidents. Invitations for the next convention were received from the Chamber of Commerce of Wheeling, W. Va., the Chamber of Commerce, Bar a.s.sociation and Suffrage Club of Oklahoma City and the Commission for celebrating the founding of Jamestown, Va.
Miss Antoinette Knowles (Cal.), chairman of the Committee on Church Work, said that by standing for temperance many churches could be obtained for meetings that would not be opened for those purely on suffrage. She gave a list of orthodox churches which had been thus secured; told of successful addresses she had made on the relation between woman suffrage and temperance and urged the appointment of a church committee in every State. The report of Miss Elizabeth J.
Hauser, headquarter"s secretary, told of the usual large amount of work, which included the distribution of 62,000 copies of the quarterly publication, _Progress_; 106,753 pieces of literature and many thousands of suffrage stamps, picture postals and souvenirs.
Speakers and fraternal delegates had been sent to a large number of national conventions throughout the country and cordially received.
Many of these had adopted resolutions for woman suffrage including the American Federation of Labor, National a.s.sociation of Letter Carriers, National Grange, National Council of Jewish Women, Supreme Commandery Knights of Temperance, National a.s.sociations of Universalists and of Spiritualists. The State conventions of various kinds that had endorsed it were almost without number and excellent work had been done at county fairs, granges, farmers" inst.i.tutes, summer a.s.semblies and educational and religious societies. It was voted to make _Progress_ the official organ of the a.s.sociation and issue it monthly.
The national headquarters in Warren, O., had been removed to a s.p.a.cious room on the ground floor of the county court house, formerly used for a public library.
The chairman of the Press Committee, Mrs. Elnora M. Babc.o.c.k, made her last report, as the press work was henceforth to be done at the national headquarters with its excellent staff and facilities. For twelve years Mrs. Babc.o.c.k had carried on this work, which in her capable hands had reached an immense volume and become a leading feature of the National a.s.sociation. She reported that over 5,000 papers were now using the material sent out from the press bureau and that it was very difficult to respond to all the calls for it. In answer to the second broadside of former President Cleveland in the _Ladies" Home Journal_, which refused to publish anything from anybody on the other side, 2,000 copies of articles by different persons and 1,000 of the excellent refutation by Representative John F. Shafroth of Colorado had been distributed. The report stated that Mrs. Ida Porter Boyer, the efficient chairman of Pennsylvania, had been sent by the National a.s.sociation to supervise the press work of the Oregon campaign. It urged that grateful recognition should be shown to papers that favor woman suffrage saying: "Editors are called upon for help and are not thanked for the kindness and good they do nearly as much as they should be." The convention gave Mrs. Babc.o.c.k a rising vote of thanks for her long and faithful work.