CATT, Carrie Chapman SPEECH, ARTICLE, BOOK FILE Speech, 1892

[*First hearing at which Mrs. Catt spoke - 1892 Congress. (1)*]

Although the Constitution of the United States in
Section 2 of Article I, seems to have relegated authority over 
the extension of the suffrage to the various States, yet 
curiously few men in the United States possess the suffrage because 
they or the class to which they belong have secured their
right to it by State action.

The first voters in the United States were those who 
possessed the right under the original charters granted by the 
mother country, and as the restrictions were many, including 
religious tests in most of the Colonies and property qualifications 
in all, the number of actual voters, was exceedingly small.

When it became necessary at the close of the Revolution 
to form a federation for the "common defense" and the promotion 
of the "general welfare," it was obvious that citizenship must be 
made National. To do this it became clearly necessary that 
religious tests must be abandoned, since Catholic Maryland,
Quaker Pennsylvania and Congregational Massachusetts could be united 
under a common citizenship by no other method.

The elimination of the religious test enfranchised a large 
number of men, and this too without a struggle or any form of suffrage 
movement in their behalf.

In 1790 the first naturalization law was passed by Congress. 
Under the Articles of Confederation, citizenship had belonged to 
the States; but since it was apparent to all that citizenship must 
now be National, a compromise was made between the old idea of 
States' rights, and the new idea of Federal union. Each of the

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original States had its representatives in the Convention which 
drafted the Federal Constitution, and by common consent it was 
there planned that citizenship should carry with it the right to 
vote, although this was to be put into the State Constitution and 
not into the National Constitution. These delegates, influencing 
their own States in the formation of their respective Constitutions, 
easily brought this about, and that too without any movement on 
the part of those who were to be naturalized.

This common understanding in the National Constitutional 
Convention, and the Naturalization Act of Congress in 1790 certainly 
enfranchised somewhere between three-fourths and four-fifths 
of all voters in the United States at this time.
      
The population of the Colonies at the time of the Revolution
was two and a half millions, and even though all men had 
been voters, the number could not have been more than seven or 
eight hundred thousand. By the Census of 1900 there were 
21,000,000 of men of voting age in the United States. The Act, 
therefore, of the United States Government, virtually enfranchised 
millions upon millions of men. Generations unborn have come
into the rights of the suffrage in this country under that Act, 
and men of every race and nationality have availed themselves of 
its privileges to become voting citizens of this country. Although 
technically speaking, enfranchisement of the foreign-born 
citizens was extended by the States, yet in reality it is obvious 
that the real granting of this privilege came from Congress itself.

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The thirteen original States retained their property 
qualifications after the formation of the Union, and these were 
removed by State amendments, usually by eliminating the property 
qualifications from the body of the Constitution itself, so that 
the popularity of the revised Constitution itself carried the measure. 
The number of those to be enfranchised was comparatively small, 
and this extension of the suffrage was made in most cases many 
years ago, when the electorate was very small in numbers as 
compared with that of the present day.
The history of the enfranchisement of the negro is well-
known. States attempted to enfranchise the negro by amendment 
to State Constitutions, but in no case was this successfully accomplished. 
Congress undertook to secure their enfranchisement 
by National amendment; and although the various States took action, 
and the amendments were ratified by the necessary three-
fourths of the States, yet it must always be remembered that all 
the Southern States were virtually coerced into giving their consent.
The Legislatures of Ohio and New Jersey ratified the 14th 
Amendment, and before all the other States had [all] been heard from, they 
changed their decision. Congress decided that these States had 
no right to change their position, and although their legislative 
records announce their opposition, the three-fourths of the 
Legislatures necessary to ratification counted these two States 
as in favor. New York ratified the 15th Amendment, and later 
changed its vote, but Congress refused to admit its right to

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change its position, and the ratification of that Amendment was announced with New York favorable, although its own records show it to have been opposed.
     This and many other facts concerning that bit of American history, prove beyond doubt that the enfranchisement of the Negro was not accomplished by State action, but by Congress itself.
     The Indians were enfranchised by acts of Congress which granted to them lands in severalty.
     The evolution of man suffrage in America shows that but one class of men received their votes by direct State action, and this class was the non-property holders. Each class of citizens enfranchised has added to the electorate conservatism and opposition to the next class applying for the vote. Non-property holding men in their various States found political parties and statesmen to advocate their cause, and their enfranchisement was made easy by Constitutional notion. Yet the number of voters in the whole United States at that time was but a handful as compared with the vast electorate. [[insert]] to-day. [[/insert]]
     In the 120 years of National life, no class of men [[strikethrough]] [[insert]] have been forced to [[/insert]] [[strikethrough]] organized a movement in behalf of their own enfranchisement; they have offered no petition or plea, nor given sign that the extension of suffrage to them would be acceptable. Yet American women, who have conducted a persistent, intelligent movement for a half century, which has grown stronger and stronger with the years, appeal^ing for their own enfranchisement ^and supported by a petition of 400,000 citizens of the United States, and [[strikethrough]] they [[/strikethrough]] are told that it is unnecessary to consider their plea, since all women

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do not want to vote.
Gentlemen, is it not manifestly unfair to demand [all] of 
women a test which has never been true in the case of enfranchised 
men, in this or any other country? Is it not true that the 
attitude of the Government toward an unenfranchised class of men 
has ever been that it is a privilege to be extended, and optional 
with the citizen whether or not he shall use it after it is his? 
If any proof of this point is needed, it can be found in the 
fact that the United States Government has absolutely no record as 
to the number of citizens who have been naturalized in this 
country; nor has any State, with the exception of Pennsylvania, 
kept this record.
The Government of the United States has no record whatever 
of the number of Indians who have accepted the Government's offer 
of the rights of citizenship as a reward for taking up land in 
severalty. Manifestly, the Government, as represented by Congress 
and Legislatures of the various States, consider it entirely 
unnecessary to know whether men who have had the "suffrage thrust 
upon them" use it or not; but consider it imperative that women 
must not only demand the suffrage in very large number but give 
guarantee that they will use it before the extension shall be made 
to them.
Is it not likewise unfair to compel women to seek their 
enfranchisement by methods infinitely more difficult that those 
by means of which any man in this country has secured his right 
to a vote?
Ordinary fair play should compel every believer in

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democracy and in individual liberty, no matter what are his views upon the question of woman suffrage, to grant to women the easiest process of enfranchisement, and that is, the submission of a Federal Amendment, to be ratified by three-fourths of the States.

CATT, Carrie Chapman SPEECH, ARTICLE, BOOK FILE Speech, 1900

1.  Hearing before Senate    1900
A survey of the changes which have been wrought within the past
hundred years in the status of women, educational, social, financial
and political, fills the observing man or woman with a feeling akin to
awe.  No great war has been fought in behalf of their emancipation, no
great political party has espoused their cause, no heroes have bled and
died for their liberty; yet words fail utterly to measure the distance
between the "sphere" of the woman of 1800 and that of the woman of 1900.
No race, or people, or sex ever gained so much in rights and privileges
in one century as have the women of the United States in the past one
hundred years.  How has the transformation come?  What mysterious
power has brought it?
On the whole the men and women of 1900 rejoice at every right
gained and every privilege conceded to women.  Not one jot or tittle
would they abate the advantage won; yet when the plea is offered that
the free, self-respecting, self-reliant, independent, thinking women of
this generation be given the suffrage, the answer almost invariably
comes back, "When women as a whole demand it, men will consider it."
This answer carries with it the apparent supposition that all the changes
have come because women wanted them, and that further enlargement
of liberty must cease because women do not want it.  Alas! it is a sad
comment upon the conservatism of the average human being that not one
change of consequence was desired by women as a whole, or even by a
considerable part.  It would be nearer the truth to say women as a whole
have opposed every advance.  The progress has come because women of
larger mould, loftier ambitions and nobler self-respect than the average
have been willing to face the opposition of the world for the sake of
liberty.  More than one such as these deserves the rank of martyr.
The sacrifice of suffering, of doubt, of obloquy, which has been endured
by the pioneers in the woman movement will never be fully known or
understood.  For sixty years and more, a vigorous agitation has been
waged in the United States to establish equal rights for women with men.
Under its influence and guided by the brave leadership of brave men and
women the evolution of the rights of women, has moved on without a break.
Though Congress and Legislatures have turned deaf ears and unseeing eyes

[Page] 2.
toward it, yet the people have listened, discussed and considered.  With
the bold demand for perfect equality of rights in every walk of life, the
public have compromised.  Not willing to grant all, they have conceded
something; and by repeated compromises, and concessions to the main demand,
the progress of woman's rights has been accomplished.
There may be two kinds of restrictions upon human liberty; the
restriction of law and the restraint of custom.  No written law has ever
been more binding than unwritten custom, well supported by popular
opinion.  At the beginning of our century both law and custom restricted
the liberty of women.  It was the edict of custom which prohibited women
from receiving an education beyond the rudiments, engaging in occupations,
speaking in public, organizing societies, or in other ways conducting
themselves like free rational human beings.  It was law which forbade
married women to control their own property or to collect their own
wages, and which forbade all women to vote.  Under the influence of the
storm and the sunshine of agitation, custom has dissolved and melted
away, leaving women at the end of the century, individualized, self-reliant
human thinking beings.  The evolution stops only when it meets
the opposition of Constitutional Law.  The changes have not come because
women wished them, or men welcomed them.  A liberal Board of
Trustees, a Faculty willing to grant a trial, an employer willing to experiment,
a broad minded church willing to hear a woman preach, a few
liberal souls in a community willing to hear a woman speak: these have
been the influences which have brought the changes.  
There is no more elaborate argument or determined opposition to
woman suffrage than there has been to each step of the progress of the
rights of women.  Scientists measured heads and weighed brains to prove
that girls could not master a college education.  Clergymen read the
Scriptures to prove that they must not, and public opinion echoed the
deductions of both.  But girls did master the college curriculum.  When
the world recovered from its astonishment, scientists investigated anew
and discovered that measurement and weight could determine little of the
quality of the human brain; clergymen re-interpreted the Scriptures; and
public opinion adjusted itself to the new conclusion.  Each step of the
way has been bitterly contested; and that there has been advancement in

3.
the rights of women at all, is due entirely to the fact that the few,
not the many, possessed the authority to ensure the change.  Had it
been necessary to submit the question of co-[operation] education to popular vote,
before the experiment had been tried, there would not be 40,000 young
women studying in our Colleges and Universities today.  The Consensus
of public opinion in 1830 was that the brains of women were quite 
incompetent to receive a college education; that their physical health could
not endure a four years course of study; and that a college educated
woman was an anomaly alike repulsive to men and women.  Had a vote been
taken, co-education would have been overwhelmingly defeated.
In 1840, before women had studied or practiced medicine, had it been
necessary to obtain permission to do so, by a vote of men or women, 8,000
graduated women physicians would not now be engaged in the healing art in
our country.
In 1850 when vindictive epithets were hurled from press, pulpit and
public in united condemnation, of the few women who were attempting to be
heard on the platform as speakers, had it been necessary to secure the
right of free public speech through Legislatures or popular approval, the
voices of women would still be silent.  Audiences would never have been
instructed by the logic of a Stanton or an Anthony, exalted by the eloquence
of a Dickinson or a Livermore, charmed by the sweet appeal of a
Stone, convulsed with laughter by the wit of a Shaw, nor uplifted by the
moral suasion of a Willard.  The right of women have come in direct opposition
to the popular consensus of opinion.  Yet, when they have once
become established, they have been wanted by women and welcomed by men.
There are a few fanatics, who if they could, would force the women
of this generation back into the spheres of their grandmothers.  There
are some pessimists who imagine they see all natural order coming to a
speedy end, because of the enlarged liberties and opportunities of women.
There are sentimentalists who believe that the American home, that most
sacred unit of society, is seriously imperiled by the tendencies of women
to adopt new duties and interests.  But this is not the thought of the
average American.  There are few intelligent men who would be willing to

4.
provide their daughters no more education that was taught proper for
their grandmothers; or who would care to restrict their daughters to the
old-time limited sphere of action.  Thinking men and women realize the
American home was never more firmly established than at the present time,
and that it has grown nobler and happier as women have grown more
self-reliant.  The average man and woman recognize that the changes which
have come, have been in the interest of better womanhood and better
manhood, bringing greater happiness to women, and greater blessings to men.
They recognize each step gained, has rendered women fitter companions for
men, wiser mothers and far abler units of society.
The public acknowledges the wisdom, the common sense and practical
judgment of the woman movement, until it asks for the suffrage.  In
other words, it approves every right gained, because it is here, and
condemns the one right not yet gained, because it is not here.
Had it been custom or statutory law which forbade women to vote, the
suffrage would have been won by the same processes which have gained
every other privilege.  A few women would have voted, a few men and women
would have upheld them, and little by little, year after year, the number
of women voters would have increased, until it became as general for
women to vote as it is for men.  Had this been possible the women of the
United States would be voting today in every State in the Union; and
undoubtedly their appearance at the polls would now be generally accepted
as a matter of fact as the college education.  But alas!, when this
step of advancement was proposed, women found themselves face to face
with the stone wall of Constitutional Law.  Women could not vote until
a majority of men should first give their consent.  Indeed the experiment
was tried, to gain this sacred privilege by easier means.  The
history of the voting of Susan B. Anthony of Rochester in 1872 is familiar
to all, but the court decided that the Constitution must first be
amended.  It therefore becomes a necessity to convert to this reform
a majority of the men of the United States. 
It is for these reasons, gentlemen, that we appeal to you to aid in
the submission of a 16th amendment.  Such an amendment would go before

5.
the Legislatures of our country where at least the grade of intelligence
is higher than we should find in the popular vote.  When we recall the
vast amount of illiteracy, ignorance, selfishness and degradation which
exists among certain classes of our people, the task imposed upon us is
appalling.  There are whole precincts of voters in this country whose
intelligence united together does not equal that of one representative
American woman.  Yet, to such classes as these we are asked to take our
cause as the court of final resort.  We are compelled to petition men who
have never heard of the Declaration of Independence, and who have never
read the constitution, for the sacred right of self-government; we are forced
to appeal for justice to men who do not know the meaning of the word; we
are driven to argue our claim with men who have never had a thought in
logical sequence.  We ask men to consider the rights of a citizen in a Republic;
and get the answer in reply given in all seriousness, "Women have more rights
now than they ought to have," and that too, without the faintest notion of the
inanity of the remark, or the emptiness of the brain which conceives it.
When we present our cause to men of higher standing and more liberal
opinion, we find the interest of party, and the personal ambition for
place, is an obstacle which prevents the better man from asserting the
advocacy of a question concerning which there is the slightest doubt as
to its popularity.
The way before us is difficult at best; not because our cause is not
based upon unquestioned justice, not because it is not destined to win
in the end, but because of the nature of the processes through which it
must be won.  In fact the position of this question might well be used
to demonstrate that observation of Aristotle that, "A Democracy has many
striking points of resemblance with Tyranny."
It will be remembered at the close of the war, it was the desire of
the Republican party to enfranchise the negro, and that all its political
power was bent to accomplish this purpose, yet with all its prestige, it
was found to be impossible by any other method than this.  State after
State where abolition sentiment had been strong submitted the question
to popular vote, and in no state was an amendment carried.  It was only

6.
when this question was submitted to picked men, such as we may find in
the legislatures, that it was found possible to carry it.  It matters
not at this day, whether the enfranchisement of the negro was a mistake
or not, (there is a difference of opinion on this point) but certainly
American women, the representatives of American homes, public schools,
colleges and institutions, should be entitled to as fair a chance to
gain political liberty, as was given to the negro.
By a Congressional Act, the way has been opened for the Indians on
the reservations to gain the same right of citizenship, but no such easy
process is open to women.
Gentlemen, though you yourselves may doubt the expediency of Woman
Suffrage, though you may question the soundness of our claim, yet, in the
name of Democracy which permits the people to make and amend their
constitutions, and in the name of American womanhood, prepared by a Century
of unmeasured advance for political duties, we beg your aid in the
speedy submission of this question.  We ask this born in the direct
interest of the thousands of women who want to vote, who suffer
pangs, humiliation and degradation because of their political servitude.
We ask it equally in the indirect interest of the thousands of women who
do not want to vote, believing their indifference or opposition to be the
same natural conservatism which led other women to oppose the college
education for women, the control of property, the freedom of public
speech, and the right of organization.
Years ago George William Curtis plead for Fair Play for women.  It
is the same plea we are repeating.  We are aware, Gentlemen, that you
have no power to grant the privilege we ask; therefore, we only petition
for fair play.  Fair play means, the submission of our question to the most
intelligent constituency which has power to act upon it.
If we shall win, the constitution will have been amended by the
American will.  If we shall fail, we will abide by the decision.  That
is, we will wait till courage has grown stronger, reason more logical,
justice purer; when we will again petition a future Congress to grant us
another opportunity to test the growth of the American intellect.

[Page] 7.
Since right will prevail, we rest content in the positive knowledge that
our cause will eventually triumph.  Now, we ask that the American people
through their Legislatures shall be given an opportunity to record their
opinion upon the question.  As the Daughters of Zelophehad appealed to
Moses and his great Court for Justice, so do the Daughters of America
appeal to you, Gentlemen, for Fair Play.

   "Gentlemen, though you yourselves may doubt the expediency of
Woman Suffrage, though you may question the soundness of our claim,
yet, in the name of Democracy which permits the people to make and
amend their constitutions, and in the names of American womanhood,
prepared by a Century of unmeasured advance for political duties,
we beg your aid in the speedy submission of this question. We ask
this boon in the direct interest of the thousands of women who want
to vote, who suffer pangs of humiliation and degradation because of
their political servitude. We ask it equally in the indirect interest
of the thousands of women who do not want to vote, believing
their indifference or opposition to be the same natural conservatism
which led other women to oppose the college education for women,
the control of property, the freedom of public speech and the right
of organization."

EXTRACTS FROM SPEECH OF CCC. BEFORE SENATE IN 1900.
See other side.

[*1900*]

Extract from speech made by CCC. at hearing before U.S.Senate in 1900.

   "Not one jot ot tittle would they abate the advantage won;yet
when the plea is offered that the free,self reliant,independent,
thinking women of this generation be given the suffrage,the answer
almost invariably comes back,"when women as a whole demand it,men
will consider it." This answer carries with it the supposed supposition
that all the changes have come because women wanted them,and that
further enlargement of liberty must cease because women do not want it.
Alas! it is a sad comment upon the conservatism of the average human 
being that not one change of consequence was desired by women as a whole,
or even by a considerable part. It would be nearer the truth to say
that women as a whole have opposed every advance. The progress has
come because women of larger mould,loftier ambitions and nolber self-respect
than the average have been willing to face the opposition of
the world for the sake of liberty. More than one such as these deserves
the rank of martyr. The sacrifice of suffering,of doubt,of oblique,
which has been endured by the pioneers in the woman movement
will never be fully known or understood."*********
-OVER-


CATT, Carrie Chapman   SPEECH, ARTICLE, BOOK FILE   Speech, Nov. 19, 1902

1902
Stantin Memorial Meeting
Presbyterian Bldg - Nov.19,1902.
Among the millions of men and women who step upon the 
world's stage of action live their lives, perform their 
little share in the world's work and pass off again, 
there is only now and then a character [of of] whose 
mental and moral stature rises [sufficiently]
[high] so far above the heads of his fellow men 
as to render him distinct or conspicuous. We have 
met tonight to honor the memory of one of these 
rare, choice spirits (?) The nineteenth Century [was] one 
of the most remarkable in the history of the world. 
More of that we [know] call progress was won in that century 
than in the five preceding centuries. The speed of progress 
had begun to accelerate. So vast and sweeping were 
the changes wrought in commercial and business 
life in social conditions, in the character of thought 
which dominates, the home, the church and the state 
that the present years as the beginning of the 20th century bear
little relation to those in the beginning of the 19th Century.


2.
[Many and diverse as were those changes there 
are two movements [which stand out] in that century so far reaching 
in their effect that they have infussed their character 
upon [the] every phase]

Many and diverse as were the changes in that 
century, there were two movements, so far reaching 
in their effect, so intertwined with all else, that 
they have impressed their character upon every 
phase of the 19th Century's progress. It is impossible 
to think of the century without calling to 
mind at once, these two movements. One was 
the abolition of human slavery throughout 
the civilized world, the other the abolition of those 
legal and social restrictions which bound the women 
of the world to spheres of ignorance, servitude and 
humiliation. The U.S. wrote upon the tablets of the 
immortals, a galaxy of great names during that century

3
and yet there is scarce one [who did not alla] whose 
fame was not attained, and whose greatness 
was not revealed in work for one or both of 
these movements. The woman in honor tonight 
is one of those Immortals, a conspicuous worker 
and advocate of one those movements and one 
might almost say the founder of the other.

It is never quite possible to name a date 
for the inception of a great movement. 
It is probably more correct to say that [from the very] 
with the first existance of men then began 
an evolution which [would] must inerrably end in the 
emancipation of the slave and the enfranchisement 
of the woman. Yet in all movements 
there comes a crisis, and a climax; a time 
when the world pauses to ask the reason why 
when men and women are freed to take sides; when 


4
when a contest wages between the progressive 
and the unprogressive, between those who see 
the truth and those who do not and which inevitably 
ends with the triumph of truth and right. Undoubtedly 
the climax of the woman movement, the 
beginning of the end was precipitated when 
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott and a few 
friends called a mass meeting in Seneca Falls 
in 1848 to enter organized protest against 
the injustices [of visited] meted out to women. 
It was there a Declaration of Principles was 
adopted, and signed by a hundred men and 
women, demanding for women the almost universally denied privileges of 
praying in prayer, voting in church assemblies, or 
speaking in public; of freedom to attend schools 
and colleges; of opportunity to enter trades, commerce 
and the profession, then entirely closed; of owning 
and controlling property, and the collection of their wages.

5
of equality in causes for divorce, equality 
in guardianship of children, equality of 
moral standards, for the ballot the citizens only weapon 
[of offense and defense With] As the Declaration of 
Independence precipitated the Revolution 
and that in time brought American Independence; 
so that woman's Declaration 
paraphrasing the immortal American 
document and written by E.C.S. precipitated 
the organzazed in movement which 
has in time wrought much and will bring 
the remainder of its clauses to triumphant 
establishment. It has been said that had ECS 
not come to do this work, some other woman 
would have done so; Perhaps so, but the fact remains 
that when the call [came] was made E.C.S. came; the other woman 
did not. Had not CC discovered Am. another would have 
done so, but it was CC bravery and strength of character


6
and indomitable purpose which performed the deed. 
Had not Wm Lloyd Garrison given his life to the 
cause of abolition, the slave would have been free. 
Perhaps, but the fact remains that it was he 
who was mobbed in Boston, he whose [life was 
then abused, he neither paused, who met ridicule with 
patience] compelled the world to think, he who 
whipped it into action.
The greatness of ECS was not demonstrated 
in the mere phrasing of a Declaration, altho' 
it required a great character when flung 
so [radical] revolutionary a document in the face of 
[custom] conventionality. When the declaration was 
such broadcast over the country through 
the press seemed as tho' the whole public 
with one voice arose to denounce the document 
and the men and women who had signed 
it. Nearly all the one hundred who had signed it 
withdrew their names unable to bear the 
sneers and jeers of popular disapproval. No need

7
advocates came to its defense. The press
almost unanimously ridiculed [and] every
claim of the Declaration and every woman
connected with the writing. The pulpit,
with [as] one voice condemned the movement
as unscriptural, indecent and a menace
to all moral order.
It was then the greatness of the woman
revealed itself. She did not withdraw
her name from that Dec. She did not surrender
before that avalanche of opposition.
[and] She did not weep over the unhappy face of the venture
She met personal attacks with patience
[replies,] ridicule with tolerance, argument
with argument. [She flung b Had] Supported by
the faith that eternal much was upon her side,
she [met] stood her ground with a courage which
has challenged the admiration of [her most] friend
and enemy alike. The world might have offered the cup of

8
hemlock, it might have initiated the terrors
of an Inquisition, or led her to the stake; [conscious]
With no knowledge of fear, with no care
what the world thought; she would [replied]
cried with her dying breath. The world does
move and women shall be free. It was the
kind of moral courage which has made
every hero & heroine with which the world is familiar. 
If there were room for doubt that the
[great] supreme forces of evolution had nominated
her as the leader of the woman movement
it would seem to be set at rest when those 
forces had sent to her a mate, a comrade
a woman strong of courage like herself a
woman who could stand calmly, undesturbed
in the midst of the fury of mobs and cry "I will be
heard." E C S & S B A was each a giant in intellect
in courage, in energy; together they were indomitable.
They forced the world to hear them, they compelled what would

9

tothink. Those who joined, remained to advocate,
a forlorning came and one of the  most tragic
movements in history was [?in ?????] Hundreds
of legislative enactments were required to remove
the legal restrictions they sought; and still more difficult
labor was involved in the removal of
restrictions set by the unwritten law of custom.
When the curtain fell upon that life laden
with its 87 years, its 50 years of active service
to the world, the greater part of all that ECS
had stood for had come to be so firmly
established that most women [do not] accept them
as they do the free air without a thought [that
hearts ever ache to do] of how they came.

Death is inevitable and therefore we do 
not come tonight with regret and sorrow that she
has passed into the Great Beyond, [but] rather
in a spirit of joy and gladness that she has lived
We do not come so much to drop the tear of grief, as to off??

CATT, Carrie Chapman SPEECH, ARTICLE, BOOK FILE Speech, 1904

1904
The International Council of Women,
composed of the National Councils of
Women of twenty two countries and
these in turn composed of many National
organizations, will hold its regular quinquennial
session in Berlin, Germany from
June 8th to 20th inclusive. [In connection 
with it] At the same place, with dates
preceding and following the Council
[that] is June 3rd and 4th, and June 21st
and 22nd, there will be held the second
International Woman Suffrage Conference.
The first was held in Washington
D.C. two years ago, and a temporary
organization was effected, with Susan
B. Anthony as Chairman, Fraulein Anita
Augsburg of Germany as Vice Chairman,


2
Florence Tenwick Miller of England as
Treasurer and Carrie Chapman Catt as
Secretary. It is expected that a permanent organization
will be made [at] the coming meeting.
Ten nations will send delegates, each one
being entitled to six. Since the temporary
organization was effected, Sweden has
organized a National Suffrage Association,
consisting of three thousand
members from twenty local unions.
Heretofor their work had been done
by committees but it had been well
done apparently, for the women there
enjoy all suffrage rights except the
privilege of voting for members of Parliament.
Denmark has a bill pending
in the present Parliament which

3
has been recommended by the
Premier and which would give women
full municipal suffrage, a right which
 has long been in existence in 
[other Scandinavian]
Sweden, and for some years in Norway.
The other two Scandinavian countries,
the women of Copenhagen chose February
15th, Miss Anthony's eighty-fourth birthday,
upon which to hold a great public meeting
in behalf of their bill.
There is no better measure of the advance
in popular opinion concerning the
enfranchisement of women than is
evident in Germany. Some years ago
Miss Anthony was visiting in Berlin at the
family of Minister Sargeant, who, at

4
that time represented the United States
[in the Cap] She wrapped some newspapers
[whe] in [the] envelopes used at the time
by the Suffrage Association of the U.S.
[and] directed them to friends in [the] America
[U.S.] and mailed them. In the corner
of each envelope was printed the
basic principles [of republican government
the principles] which had led to the enfranchisement of men, and upon which women were
asking [enfrag] equal political rights: "Taxation
without representation is tyranny," and
Governments derive their just powers
from the consent to the governed" In a
few hours [the papers w] a policeman
appeared at the door, bringing the papers
back, and announced that such [such]
revolutionary expressions could not
be permitted to go through the German

6
mails! At the same time, a law
existed which forbade women to attend
political meetings or to organize for political
purposes. The law has never been repealed,
yet its violation has gradually
been permitted, and now women
not only frequently attend political
meetings, but occasionally take
part in them. A Woman Suffrage Association
has been formed, with headquarters
in the free city of Hamburg.
It is this society, which has invited
the International Woman Suffrage
Conference to Germany. [It is a long
step from the condition]



7
[It is a long step]
It seems a big stretch from the
time when women were forbidden
to look upon a political meeting
and [where] "Taxation without representation"
on an envelope was unlawful
to the coming event of an International
Woman Suffrage Conference [with its
no taxation, no representation] yet Germany 
has compassed it in a few years!
The ten nations which will send
delegates to Berlin for the Suffrage Conference,
are Australia and New Zealand,
as one country Canada, Denmark, [England, Scotland
Ireland, Gr Britain with representatives
from England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales,]

[*8*]
[will be held in Berlin, The law, concern]
France, Gr Britain, with representatives 
from England, Scotland Ireland & Wales, Germany, Holland, Norway, Sweden, and the
United States.

Carrie Chapman Catt

International News

Article sent to
Daily News
Mar. 17/1904

Catt, Carrie Chapman SPEECH, ARTICLE, BOOK FILE Speech, Mar. 20, 1905

[*1905*]
Three minute speech at the
Annual luncheon of
Sorosis

Mch 20, 1905
I feel myself much honored today
that I am privileged to bring a greeting
to Sorosis. I am so constituted that
all my heroes and heroines are
pioneers. The man, or the woman, who
is big enough, and have enough
to step out of the beaten path, and
do something which was never done before,
if it was a good thing to do,
has performed a heroism, which
in my mind, is the most useful the
world has ever known.

I am sure I echo the sentiment
of the woman suffrage clubs
[in the Greater New York, w]
which form the Interurban Political
Equality Council, when I say that
every member rejoices that Sorosis
the pioneer club, was born, that
she grew and that she flourished.
They have had the advantage
of basking in the continual
sunshine of her immediate
well-doing, and they realize that


[*2*]
their cause has profited because
of her influence.
But I would like to make
my greeting mor than local, for
Sorosis is herself mor than local;
she is national and international
She may do her work in N.Y., but her
name and her fame and her influence
[have?] extended the round world
over. Perhaps, I may do this, for I
happen to be an officer in the
National Suffrage Association, and
also in the International Suffrage
Alliance, with its ten nations
affiliated. Form all of these ass'n's,

local, national and international
I gladly bring the tribute of appreciation
of the heroic service of Sorosis
in her earlier days, and her splendid
service ever since.
This testimony all suffragists
will be glad to offer, not alone, when [it
may look] the suspicion may rest upon
[them?] that they may have been bribed
by a good dinner, ut equally when
the back of [Servsis?] is turned
But there is another reason
why I am glad to be here. She who
presides over us is dear to you, for she
is your pioneer; she is equally dear
to us, for she is our pioneer as well. No
[one ha] drop of cowards blood



[*3]
ever flowed in her veins. She is
pioneer in all she does and
thinks and says. She is every inch
a heroine, and deserves to wear
two crowns of laurel; one which you
might give and one which we might [?????].
So in behalf of the suffragists
of the world, I say "All hail to [Servsis?],
may she live long, and her cause
prosper. But I hope the time may
come, some day, some day, when the Mistress
of Club, and all her royal progeny
of club, will arise as one woman,
and shout back to them: All hail to you.
May your cause prosper.  [???]

Treasury Heavy

Tower M'F'G & Novelty Co.

16 M 7 charges 

$26.65

Catt, Carrie Chapman SPEECH. ARTICLE, BOOK FILE Speech, June 15, 1908

[*1908*]

MRS. CATT'S INTERNATIONAL ADDRESS.

The following address was delivered by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, President of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, at the Congress in Amsterdam, June 15, 1908:

It is a suggestive coincidence that 
the opening day of this Congress commemorates 
the anniversary of the 
signing of the immortal Magna 
Charta. That event stands out distinctly 
against the background of 
seven centuries, as one of the most 
important in the history of man. The 
historian Green says of it:  "The 
Great Charter marks the transition 
from the age of traditional rights to 
the age of written legislation, of Parliaments 
and statutes."  It pointed as 
certainly, we may add, to the coming 
of popular government behind the Parliaments, 
and to the "will of the majority" 
behind the statutes.  It pointed 
as unmistakably to the coming of 
votes for men and women.  Given the 
Magna Charta, man suffrage was 
bound to follow; and given man suffrage, 
woman suffrage became inevitable.
The New Era.
The blessings of the new era, inaugurated 
by this remarkable document, 
were not enjoyed by England alone, 
but have been shared, as a common 
possession, by all the nations of the 
world.  The Magna Charta, therefore, 
properly becomes the inheritance of all 
mankind, and June 15, appropriately, 
an international Memorial Day.
Not Yet Complete.
So sweeping have been the changes 
which have taken place since the signing 
of the Charter that the age of the 
English Barons bears little resemblance 
to our own; yet the political 
evolution presaged in 1215 is not yet 
complete.  What celebration of the 
day could be more fitting than the 
opening of a Congress which declares 
for the final step in that evolution?
A Time of Rejoicing.
We may make it also a day of rejoicing, 
for at no time since the movement 
for the enfranchisement of women 
began have its advocates had so 
much cause for self-congratulation as 
now.  The International Woman Suffrage 
Alliance met in Copenhagen 
twenty-two months ago, and, in the 
brief time which has elapsed since 
then, the progress of our cause has 
been so rapid, the gains so substantial, 
the assurance of coming victory so certain, 
that we may imagine the noble 
and brave pioneers of woman suffrage, 
the men and women who were 
the torch-bearers of our movement, 
gathering today in some far-off celestial 
sphere, and singing together a 
glad paean of exultation.
Norway's Victory.
In 1907 Norway granted full suffrage 
rights and eligibility to women upon 
exceedingly generous terms.  To one 
who has observed the attitude of nations 
toward our cause, this act of the 
Norwegian Parliament meant far more 
than an isolated victory. Long before, 
four of the United States of America, 
and New Zealand and Australia, had 
conferred full suffrage upon women; 
but everywhere opponents persistently 
refused to admit that these gains were 
important.  They declared these States 
and nations had had no history and 
gave no assurance of a stable future; 
they said they were too new, their

population too small, their people too impulsive and irresponsible for their acts to be taken seriously.
Equal Suffrage Territory Vast.
It was in vain we pointed to the fact that, if the territories of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, of Denmark, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, the German Empire, the Austrian Empire, and all of European Russia should be added together, it would not equal the territory of the woman-suffrage countries.  We assured our opponents that time would bring them history and prove their governments to be permanent, while fertile lands, unworked mines and undeveloped resources would not fail to attract populations as large as those now to be found in older civilizations.  We called attention to the fact that, however mighty these governments should become, however vast their populations, political rights, equal to those of men, had been guaranteed for all time to all women within their borders.  Still our opponents continued to claim that our movement had not progressed beyond the academic stage, and that no practical gains had been made.
Finland's Victory.
When Finland startled the world by its bold demand for equal suffrage for men and women, the opponents, with quick and ready wit, found excuses to belittle the act and minify its influence.  "It is true," they said, "Finland is old enough, and has a creditable history, but its people are in a state of revolution.  What the Czar has given he may take away.  We shall wait."
A Weighty Precedent.
It was at this point in the world's controversy over woman suffrage that the Norwegian victory came.  Norway was a country with an honorable history, a stable and independent government.  It was evident that the enfranchisement of women had been accomplished after calm deliberation, by a people acknowledged to be intelligent, honest and conscientious.  For the first time, the opponents were compelled to admit that a genuine victory for woman suffrage had been scored.  More, the Norwegian Act lent a new dignity and significance to all the victories which had preceded it.  The sum total of the gains for woman suffrage was at last acknowledged to have weight.  It was conceded that the movement had made progress, and, almost immediately, public sentiment assumed a new attitude toward it.  The friends became more active and hopeful, the opponents more bitter and vindictive.  The press was more willing to discuss the merits of the question; the public more ready to listen, and the indifferent became interested.  The Norwegians "wrought better than they knew," and I venture the prediction that, when the final chapter of the history of woman suffrage shall be written, it will record that the enfranchisement of the Norwegian women marked a decided turning point in the struggle.
Question Up in 51 Legislatures.
The effect of the changed sentiment is evident in many directions, but in no way is it so accurately measured as in increased parliamentary activity.  Within the past two years woman suffrage appeals have been presented to the Parliaments of eighteen European governments, the United States Congress and the Legislatures of twenty-nine States, the Parliaments of Canada and Victoria, and the Legislature of the Philippines, making fifty-one independent legislative bodies.  In some cases the campaign closed with the reception of petitions or memorials by the Parliament, or by hearings granted by the ministry to deputations of suffragists; but in most   
(2)

cases bills proposing to grant woman suffrage were introduced into the Parliament, and in many instances were not only debated with spirit, but were brought to a vote.  The appeals to Parliament were made for the first time, I believe, in twelve of the European countries.  In Spain and the Philippines, bills were introduced by friends of the cause quite unknown to us.
Gains in Seven Countries.
This activity has not been barren of results, and the delegates of seven countries come to this Congress vested with larger political rights than they possessed at the time of the Copenhagen meeting two years ago, namely, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, England and Germany.  Each of the five Scandinavian lands has won something.  Norwegian women come with full suffrage rights.  Finnish delegates come as representatives of the only nation which has elected women to seats in its Parliament.  Sweden and Iceland have gained a step in eligibility, and our Icelandic delegate of two years ago is now a member of the City Council of Reykjavik, the capital.
Denmark's Victory.
The women of Denmark, next to those of Norway, have made the largest gain, and municipal suffrage with liberal qualifications has been bestowed upon them.  English women have secured eligibility to become mayors, and members of town and county councils.  This concession is worthy of congratulation; but far more momentous gains are within sight.
Progress in Germany.
Germany has revised its law controlling political organizations and meetings, and women are now free to join political associations, to organize suffrage societies and to conduct woman suffrage campaigns.  The German association affiliated with the Alliance has been reorganized in accordance with the new law, and is now a federation of national or State associations.  Each national body is free to work with its own Parliament, and appeals to grant woman suffrage have already been made to the legislative authorities of three German nations and the National Reichstag.  The movement in Germany has gained greatly in strength, dignity and influence through the removal of this restrictive law, and we express the hope that the freedom to work for a vote may be speedily followed by the freedom to cast a vote.
Danish Women Congratulated.
The experiences of Denmark and Sweden give food for reflection.  The Danish suffragists have kept up a lively agitation of public sentiment during the past two years, and have developed a new suffrage organization, which now numbers 8,000 members.  The affiliated organization also has increased in membership and activity.  Yet no parliamentary campaign was planned by either.  Instead, quite contrary to precedent, the bill was introduced by the government, without especial solicitation on the part of the women, and was carried by the vote of the conservative parties.  When the measure had become law, the second unprecedented event took place.  The woman suffragists and the king exchanged compliments, the women thanking him for his kind offices in their behalf, and the king felicitating the women upon their new rights and avowing his sympathy with the step which had been taken.  The women of Denmark are to be congratulated upon the liberality of their king and the foresight of their government.
Swedish Women Active.
Quite different has been the Swedish experience.  All that the Danish women have done, they have done, and more.  In two years the membership
 (3)

of the organization has doubled, and the 63 local organizations reported at Copenhagen have become 127.  A petition of 142,128 names has been presented to Parliament; deputations have waited upon the government and have been granted hearings.  But the Swedish government has said to the woman suffragists, just as the leading men of the United States said to American suffragists in 1868, "Wait until all men are enfranchised; it will be time enough then to consider your claim."  Yet private bills were introduced into the Swedish Parliament, and not only were earnestly supported, but were brought to a vote.  Woman suffrage was endorsed by two political parties, and has become a much discussed and an admittedly important question.
With the exception of England, the suffragists of Sweden have, without doubt, worked more indefatigably during the past year than those of any other country.  Their work has been characterized by intelligence, patience, courage, dignity, and unyielding determination.  The campaign has been a grand one, and we offer our assurance to these Swedish workers that a continuation of such efforts cannot fail to bring the result they seek.  Meanwhile, the women of Sweden are learning politics; they are being strengthened and educated by the struggle, and, when enfranchised, they will appreciate fully the privilege and the responsibility.
Scandinavians in the Lead.
In Denmark partial suffrage came because the government was willing; in Sweden full suffrage has been delayed because the government is unwilling.  It is not improbable that the women of Sweden may gain the full suffrage before those of Denmark, and, as the political suffrage carries with it more influence, authority and opportunity, woman suffrage may show greater results in Sweden in the next decade than in Denmark.  Both countries are intelligent and progressive.  The manner in which the problems involved in the woman suffrage situation shall be solved in these two countries will teach important lessons to workers for this cause throughout the world.  Meanwhile, we freely concede that in actual gains the Scandinavians are in the lead.  All honor to that noble race!  Once it was the pioneer explorer upon the great unknown waters of the world; now it is the leader upon the high seas of human progress.
A World-Wide Movement.
Signs of active agitation have not been confined to the countries represented by our thirteen affiliated organizations, but are evident in all parts of the globe.  In Bulgaria a new woman suffrage association has been formed, and this has been welcomed into our Alliance today.  Through its delegate, we pledge to it our fraternal help and sympathy.
Switzerland is making rapid progress towards a National Suffrage Association, which we shall also welcome into affiliation.  In far-away South Africa, Cape Colony and Natal have each effected an organization, and are seeking the suffrage from their respective Parliaments.  They have united in sending delegates to this Congress.  France will hold a Woman Suffrage Congress within a few days, and we hope that it may result in the formation of a National Suffrage Association and the adoption of a policy of active agitation, education and organization.
Austria does not yet legally permit a woman suffrage organization; but it has a woman suffrage committee.  Bohemia, too, finds opportunity to work for woman suffrage, despite the law prohibiting women from taking part in political organizations.  The National Parliament at Vienna and the Diet at Prague have each received petitions asking that suffrage be granted to women.
Caricatures in Italy.
Italy held its first great Congress of Women last April, and one session  
(4)

was devoted to a warm debate on woman suffrage.  A very large audience, ranging from members of the most conservative nobility to well-known advocates of broad democracy, filled the hall.  Several women and two members of Parliament addressed the meeting in favor of suffrage for women.  The newspapers printed long reports, but these were interspersed with caricatures of the women leaders.  Caricatures represent an early, but inevitable, step in woman suffrage evolution.  Curiously, the caricaturists of all lands model suffrage leaders after one common pattern.  Just why they have always pictured them as carrying umbrellas, I do not know.  In early days, it is possible they imagined the umbrella to be the weapon with which women were expected to attack governments; but in these days Italian caricaturists should know that woman suffragists possess far more effective weapons.  Mr. Asquith could teach them better.  We congratulate Italian women upon the progress they are making.  It is only a short step from caricatures to serious consideration, and better times are in store for the Italian suffragists.  The movement in every country has passed through this stage.
Like straws which show the direction of the wind, events here and there indicate the general awakening of women.  Greece and Servia have formed National Councils of Women.  Icelandic women in America have organized a woman suffrage association, and now publish a woman suffrage paper in their own language, which circulates among the Icelanders in the United States and Canada.  From Washington come the tidings that the Japanese Minister declares the women of his country to be making such strides towards emancipation that they may yet outstrip the women of the western nations.  In the land of the Sultan it is reported that the women are growing restive, and there, as elsewhere, the authorities are learning that, if women are to be kept in submission, it is a mistake to permit them to learn to read.
England the Storm Centre.
Although from Occident to Orient, from Lapland to sunny Italy, and from Canada to South Africa the agitation for woman suffrage has known no pause, yet, after all, the storm-centre of the movement has been located in England.  In other lands there have been steps in evolution; in England there has been a revolution.  There have been no guns, nor powder, nor bloodshed, but there have been all other evidences of war.  There have been brave generals, well-trained armies, and many a well-fought battle; there have been tactics and strategies, sorties, sieges, and even prisoners of war.  There are those who have citicised the methods employed; but until we know the whole truth concerning what the women of England have actually done, why they did it, and how they did it, we have no right to criticise.  It must be admitted that the English campaign stands out clearly by comparison not only as the most remarkable ever conducted for woman suffrage, but as the hardest fought campaign ever waged for any reform.  There have been several organizations, and these have differed widely as to methods, yet no time has been wasted in disputes over them, and the main object has never been lost sight of for a moment.  The so-called suffragettes have displayed an amazing amount of energy, of persistency and executive force.  Yet the older and more conservative body of workers has been no less remarkable.  Human nature is so constituted that most leaders would have "sulked in their tents," or joined the general stone-throwing at the new comers, whose methods were declared to be "setting the cause backward hundreds of years."  These English leaders did nothing of the kind.  Instead, with forbearance we may all do well to imitate, they quadrupled their own activities.  Every class, including ladies of the nobility, working girls, housewives and professional women, has engaged in the campaign, and not a man, woman or child in England has been permitted to plead ignorance concerning the meaning of woman suffrage.  Together, suffragists and suffragettes have carried their appeal into the byways and most hidden corners of the kingdom.  They have employed more original methods, enlisted a larger number of women workers, and grasped the situation in a bolder fashion than has been done elsewhere.  In other countries persuasion has been the chief, if not the only, weapon relied upon; in England it has been persuasion plus political methods.
"By their fruits shall ye know
(5)

them."  Already these English women 
have made woman suffrage a political 
issue.  No one can understand the 
meaning of this achievement so well 
as those who have borne the brunt of 
hard fought suffrage battles.  It has 
been the dream of many a suffrage 
campaign, but no other women have 
made it a realization.  When the deputation 
of 60 members of Parliament paid 
a visit to the Prime Minister a few 
days ago to ask for his support for 
woman suffrage, the zenith of the 
world's half-century of woman suffrage 
campaigning was reached.
Triumph in Sight.
English women have effected another 
result, which is likewise an unfailing 
sign of coming triumph.  A new 
movement is invariably attacked by 
ridicule.  If the movement is a poor one, 
it is laughed out of existence, if it is a 
good one, it waxes strong under attack.  
In time the laugh is turned upon its 
early opponents, and when ridicule 
sets in that direction, it is a sign 
that the strife is nearly finished.
Turning the Laugh.
The laugh has now been turned upon 
the English government.  What may 
have been its effect upon England, 
only those who know that country 
from the inside can tell; but there has 
been a change of sentiment toward 
the English suffrage campaign on the 
outside, and of this we may speak.
Watching the Game.
First, the world joined in loudly ex-
pressed disgust at the alleged unfeminine 
conduct of English suffragists.  Editorial 
writers in many lands scourged the 
suffrage workers of their respective 
countries over the shoulders of these 
lively English militants.  Time passed; 
comment ceased; and the world, 
which had ridiculed, watched the 
contest in silence, but with never an 
eye closed.  It assumed the attitude 
of the referee who realizes he is 
watching a cleverly played game, with 
the chances hanging in the balance.  
Then came the laugh.  The dispatches 
flashed the news to the remotest corners 
of the globe that English Cabinet 
Ministers were "protected" in the 
street by bodyguards; the houses of 
Cabinet Ministers were "protected" by 
relays of police, and even the great 
Houses of Parliament were "protected" 
by a powerful cordon of police.  
Protected! and from what?  The em-
barrassing attack of unarmed women!
In other lands police have protected 
emperors, czars, kings and presidents 
from the assaults of hidden foes, 
whose aim has been to kill.  That 
there has been such need is tragic; and 
when, in contrast, the vision was presented 
of the Premier of England hiding 
behind locked doors, skulking along 
side streets, and guarded everywhere 
by officers, lest an encounter with a 
feminine interrogation point should 
put him to rout, it proved too much for 
the ordinary sense of humor.
Parliament Needing Protection.
Again, the dispatches presented another 
view.  Behold, they said, the magnificent 
and world-renowned Houses of 
Parliament surrounded by police, 
and every woman approaching that 
sacred precinct, halted, examined, and 
perhaps arrested!  Behold all this 
elaborate precaution to save members 
of Parliament from inopportune tidings 
that women would have votes; yet, 
despite it all, the forbidden message 
is delivered, for over the Houses floats 
conspicuously and defiantly a huge 
"Votes for Women" kite.  Perhaps 
England did not know the big world 
laughed then; but it did, and more, 
from that moment it conceded the 
victory to the suffragists.  The only 
question remaining unanswered, is: 
How will the government surrender, 
and at the same time preserve its 
dignity and consistency?
A Battle Nobly Fought.
I have no wish to defend, or condemn, 
the tactics which have been employed 
in England; but let me ask a question.  
Had there been newspapers and cables in 1215, 
do you not think the staid and dignified 
nobility of other lands would have been 
scandalized at the unruly behaviour of 
the English Barons?  They certainly 
would.  Yet we have forgotten the 
names of those barons, and we have 
forgotten the methods by which they 
wrested the Magna Charta from King 
John; we only remember that they 
did it, and that all mankind has enjoyed 
larger liberties and opportunities 
ever since.  History repeats itself, and 
I venture the second prediction: For 
the English suffragists, final triumph 
is near at hand.  When it comes, the 
world will forget the details of the 
campaign it has criticised, and will 
remember only that woman suffrage
 is an established fact in one of the 
greatest governments of the world.  
Nay, more, as the English 
(6)


Barons fought a battle for the rights 
of all mankind in the thirteenth century, 
so do I conscientiously believe that 
these English women of the twentieth 
century, suffragists and suffragettes, 
are striking a tremendously effective 
blow in behalf of the political liberty 
of the women of all the nations.  
Let those who will, criticise.  English 
women are making history today, and 
coming generations will pronounce it 
nobly made.  When they have won 
their cause, all women should under-
stand that their proper relation to these 
plucky, self-sacrificing English women 
is not that of critic, but of debtor.
The Situation in America.
I cannot close this review of the 
present-day situation without some 
comment upon the conditions in my 
own country.  For some decades in 
the nineteenth century it was the 
chief example of democracy, and the 
advocates of popular government in 
other lands looked to the United 
States of America for proof of its 
advantage.  For the past 30 years, however, 
reports have been largely current 
declaring universal male suffrage to 
be a signal failure there.  The picture, 
as painted by these reports and 
embellished by many a startling detail, 
is dark and forbidding, and, without 
doubt, has had a powerful restraining 
influence upon the growth of the 
movement for government by the 
people.  Indeed, I believe it may be 
truthfully said that the great European 
movement of 1848, which resulted 
in constitutions and extended suffrage 
in many countries, was largely the 
effect of the beneficial experience 
in the United States; just as during 
the latter part of the last century, 
the report of corruption, bribery 
and the control of legislation by 
political machines in the United States 
has been the chief hindrance to further 
progress.  Antagonists found in these 
reports abundant cause to continue 
their opposition; the indifferent 
found nothing to persuade them to a 
change of view, and even the advocates 
themselves of extended suffrage were 
forced into a position of explanation 
and apology.
Popular Government a Success.
These reports concerning man suffrage 
in the United States have had some 
foundation of truth; yet, among the 
many signs which today point to the 
final triumph of popular government, 
to votes for men and women, there 
is none more significant than the fact 
that, although the United States has 
gathered a population which represents 
every known race; although among its 
people are the followers of every religion, 
and the subjects of every form of 
government; although there has been 
the dead weight of a large ignorant vote; 
yet the little settlement which, 150 years ago, 
rested upon the western shores of the Atlantic, 
a mere colonial possession, has steadily 
climbed upward, until today it occupies 
a proud position of equality among 
the greatest governments of the world.  
After all, what stronger proof could be 
offered that popular government is a 
success?
The existence in our body politic of 
nearly a million illiterate Negroes, and 
another million of illiterate men of 
foreign birth or parentage; the increase 
of our population through immigration 
at the average rate of 1,000,000 
persons each year, and the problems 
of poverty, insanity and criminality arising 
out of these conditions, have made our State 
governments conservative.  The additional 
fact that woman suffrage must come 
through a referendum to the votes of 
all men, has postponed its establishment.  
Nevertheless, man suffrage in the United 
States is as firmly fixed as the Rock of 
Gibraltar, and woman suffrage is as sure 
to follow as are the stars to move in their 
appointed courses.
The Mississippi Dam.
A few years ago, the Mississippi 
river was dammed by a huge mass of 
ice.  For days, the mighty waters 
struggled to break through the 
obstruction, and then, since rivers obey 
an unchanging law which compels 
them to flow on to the sea, the force 
of the water dug a new channel around the 
ice, and the present course of the Great 
River lies a mile away from the old one.  
In some such fashion, the on-marching 
movement for man and woman 
suffrage made its greatest progress 
in the United States when that country 
offered the path of least resistance.  
Then an obstruction appeared. 
 A mixed, ignorant and untrained 
electorate became the ready victim of 
unscrupulous politicians, and offered a 
temptation which the cupidity of selfish 
men could not withstand.  It was an 
obstacle which in the nature of things 
will not be repeated elsewhere.  
(7)

For a time the movement for popular government attempted to overcome this obstacle.  Then, happily, since the evolution of human society obeys the same immutable law which controls the action of rivers, this movement passed around the United States and appeared, with none of its momentum lost, in Australia, New Zealand, and later in the Old World.
Not National, But International.
Naturally, it would have flattered the pride and patriotism of American women, could their country have continued to lead the movement which there had its organized beginning.  But their deep regret that this cannot be does not modify the genuine sincerity of their joy over the progress in other lands.  There are irresistible forces which make for human liberty, and against which kings and armies struggle in vain.  Man suffrage and woman suffrage are such forces.  In the long run it cannot matter where the victory came earliest, since our cause is not national, but international.  The gains will always follow the path of least resistance, and a fortunate combination of political conditions may disclose it at the most unexpected times and in the most undreamed of places.  The workers of every country must be watchful and prepared to seize the opportunity when it offers.  Every victory gained adds momentum to the whole movement.  Every association which labors unitedly and unselfishly to secure the suffrage, aids the work in other lands.
Enemy Not Men, But Conservatism.
In this common cause, women have clasped hands over the mountains and over the seas, and have become in truth a world army.  The legal and political position of women at the beginning has been practically the same in all lands.  As they march on to self-respect, liberty and opportunity, along the self-same road, they will encounter there the same obstacles, the same experiences.  We hear much of the solidarity of the human race.  We represent the solidarity of a sex.  We oppose a common enemy, whose name is not man, but conservatism.  Its weapons are the same in all 
lands--tradition, prejudice and selfishness.  We too have a common weapon--an appeal to justice and fair play.  Arguments pro and con are pronounced in Japanese and Dutch, Icelandic and Italian, but, when translated into a common tongue, they are duplicates.  A Chinese Mandarin and an American Congressman, a Sulu Sultan and an English Prime Minister, will give precisely the same reasons why a woman should not vote.  Therefore, we must remain a united army which, in the words of Susan B. Anthony, "knows only woman, and her disenfranchised."
Delegates from All Countries.
Today delegates are present from every Suffrage Association in the world, and never before have so many nationalities been represented in a convention assembled to discuss woman suffrage.  Our Alliance, in four years, has grown from a federation of eight to one of sixteen National Associations.  Already woman suffrage obtains on one fifteenth of the world's surface.  Heretofore the battle has been fought in countries of large territory and small population; the battles of the future will be in countries of small territory and large population.  This means harder, more tactful, more persistent work.  We must grow closer to each other; we must learn to help each other, to give courage to the faint hearted, and cheer to the disappointed of all lands.  Within our Alliance, we must try to develop so lofty a spirit of internationalism, a spirit so clarified from all personalities, and ambitions, and even national antagonisms, that its purity and grandeur will furnish new inspiration to all workers in our cause.  We must send forth from this meeting a note so full of sisterly sympathy, of faith in womanhood, of exultant hope, a note so impelling that it will be heard by the women of all lands, and will call them forth to join our world's army.  Verily, my sisters, these are good times in which we live, and, unless the signs augur amiss, the time is not far distant when the women of the world shall enter into their own kingdom of individual freedom, in home and church and State.


Published by the National American Woman Suffrage Association, Warren, O.
Price, 2 cents per copy, $1.50 per 100 copies,
Send 10 cents to the National Woman Suffrage Headquarters, Warren. O., for a sample set of the
Political Equality Leaflets; also 25 cents for a year's subscription to Progress, the organ of the
National American Woman Suffrage Association, published monthly.
For suffrage news, subscribe for the Woman's Journal, edited weekly at 6 Beacon St., Boston,
Mass., by Henry B. Blackwell and Alice Stone Blackwell: 3 months on trial, 25 cents: per year, $1.50.
(8)
Press of E. L. Grimes Company, Boston, Mass.

Catt, Carrie Chapman  Speech 1916

[????] Henry Wise [W??] has at last been convinced that what one
suffragist or any [?] group of suffragists say or think about preparedness,
has nothing to do with the questions which have so much disturbed her
mind.  She is right.  Suffragists come and suffragists go, but War and
preparedness seem to go on forever.  She has now reached a definite
conviction and that is that "military strength is the ruling factor in
the lives of Nations" and that "a Nation governed by men and women could
not maintain itself against a Nation governed by men".  She adds that
Nations to be capable of proper defense should be masculinized and not
feminized by giving women the vote.  That is good, for she has drawn a
clear issue.  Were they living, she would have on her side, all the
militarists of the world, from Caesar to Kaiser; from Alexander to Napoleon.
The theory is not new.  Mrs. Wood might have borrowed it from any
century in the past twenty-five thousand years or from any present day
Apache or Moro chief.  In fact she has reverted to the old, old theory
of life which was the "ruling factor" throughout the world for a possible
hundred thousand years.  Against this old theory rises a new and modern
one, a theory which conforms to Christianity, Democracy, Progress.
Upon the wall of time it is written that the new shall replace the old.
The new theory declares that war is a relic of barbarism and must go.
It should be remembered that not long ago, as time flies,
Mr. Asquith in a parliamentary speech against Woman Suffrage, voiced
precisely the same opinions now expressed by Mrs. Wood.  He plead with
the members of Parliament to keep the ballot out of the hands of women,
in order that the Imperial Empire might be backed alone by the safe,
belligerent spirit of the male.  Now Mr. Asquith has been directing
the British Empire under the greatest strain it has ever been called
upon to endure and he has made the important discovery that women, as
war assets, have been of so much value, that Great Britain could not
have got on without them; and he is alleged to have boldly changed his
mind and to hold now that a Government of men and women, is a system
of co-operation which alone can develop the complete power of a Nation
and to make it doubly strong. 
[*[1916]*}


-2-
The most impassable enemy of woman suffrage Great Britain
has ever had, is Lord Northcliffe.  One of the most powerful in the
Conservative Party and owner of the Times and Mail, he wielded an
enormous influence.  His opposition was based upon Mrs. Wood's adopted
theory.  He now declares editorially that the war argument against
woman suffrage was based upon the supposition that women were "useless
in war" but we could not carry on the war without them.  They are
running many of our industries and their services may justly be compared
with those of soldiers.  Lord Northcliffe's conversion to woman
suffrage is considered of consequence enough to lead the Chicago Tribune
to comment upon it editorially at great length.  Great Britain has
had its tragic opportunity to put the war theory to the test.  In
consequence among those who know, many zealous opponents of woman
suffrage are reported as completely convinced of the fallacy of their
former views.
Mrs. Wood's mistake and that of all other sympathizers with her
point of view, is in the supposition that all men possess military
qualities.  The qualities of courage, quick decision, comprehension of
a situation, organization, daring, any one of which may produce a
crucial turning point in defense or offense in times of war, are not
confined to men.
It is a well known fact that in our own Civil war, long
delay and much loss of life, was charged to the indecision of the
Northern Generals.  Now comes Thomas Dixon in his story of "The Victim"
and says that indecision on the part of the trained West Point Generals,
who led the Southern forces, was the main cause of the defeat of the
Southern Army.  Whether that claim be entirely true or not, that
cause undoubtedly lost many a battle.  Indecision was in both of
these cases a masculine, but not a military quality.  On the other
hand, records of bold, decisive sets of women generals and soldiers
on battle fields, ranging all the way from Queen Hatshepsu down to

-3-
Molly Pitcher, have been immortalized in history. In these cases, 
decision was a feminine and yet a military quality. The claim that 
women are weaklings in war times is contradicted in every nation's 
history.

Let us now imagine our own Country at war. It is not 
difficult to do, with all the horros of the cataclysm across the 
ocean daily spread before our view. Against this time, let us build 
a fleet of air ships and a school of sub-marines, so numerous and 
wonderful as to stay the imagination of the most militant; let us 
build great dreadnaughts to sail the ocean; let us establish con-
scription and train our men to march, to manoeuvre and to kill; let 
us tax our people to the utmost limit for all the cost of this prepar-
ation; and yet alas! we are not defended for the enemy that is certain 
to betray us will not come across the sea in ships, not attack our 
Merchant Marine with torpedoes, not yet will it drop bombs upon us 
from above. It will come from our innermost ranks. We shall find
 it among those who have not comprehended the spirit of Americanism 
and who are not loyal to the highest and best our Government represents. 
There is no Nation in Europe which does not possess representatives
 enough in this Country to make it certain that in case of war every 
City and State could be honeycombed with its spies. No move could be 
made, no strategy planned which would not speedily be known to the 
enemy. Our Nation would possess a handicap at the outset well nigh 
impossible to overcome.

It is interesting to note that Germany and England drove 
from their shores even the women and children of their enemy countries; 
and Switzerland became the haven of many women who although married 
to German or French men, were driven from the Husband's country 
because of their birth. European lands could take his means of 
eliminating possible spies. We could not for these are not represent-
atives of any possible enemy country; they are the citizens of our own.

Let us recall that when the Sicilian murderer charged that

-4-
his "boss" had told him that "if the Governor, the Mayor, the Police 
Commissioner, the Judges and the District Attorney failed to do his 
bidding, he could turn them all out of office" it is not an incident 
to be singled out as an exception, but is a symptom of a condition in 
our Country. So long as our political parties upon occasion wink 
at the purchase and manipulation of votes, there will be many men both 
foreign born and native who will welcome bribery.
   Where then is our protection? Shall we find it in air 
craft and submarines? Since we live in barbaric times, such forms 
of preparedness as barbarians can understand are undoubtedly necessary, 
but if we make this kind of preparation only, we shall fail. There 
are two other preparations which must be made if America is to establish 
the kind of defense which will defend. One will place the ballot in 
the hands of woman and thus make them responsible citizens. In the 
Public Schools, the Sunday Schools and the Settlements, women will 
undertake with a new understanding and a new seal the task of the 
"Melting Pot". They and they alone can train in the souls of the young 
of our Country the kind of patriotism and honor that will guard out 
Nation in time of peril.
   The other line of safety lies in a bold, well defined, 
courageous campaign for world peace led by our own Nation while yet 
there is time. Let us have all the equipment of war, if need be, to 
show that as a Nation we are unafraid, but the preparedness which is 
measured by the standards of militarism, is that of yesterday. The 
preparedness of tomorrow recognizes that the old way will not defend 
our land against the disaster of war.

5
From Mrs. Wood's point of view this is idle talk for 
wars are to come again and again and it is right and natural 
that men by the millions shall give up their lives; that women
by the millions shall go through life with broken hearts; that
millions of homes shall be destroyed; that disease shall be spred
through the nations; that immorality shall run rampant through
the world; that women shall be forced to bear children by enemy 
fathers.
But, I thank God there are those with a different
vision; those who believe [h]here is a God above and a race below
big enough and noble enough to respond to the call for a higher
and more human "ruling factor" for nations. They do not stand
for peace at any price but for peace as the result of a vigilant
campaign of education the world over which will demand brave generals and many a diplomatic
battle. They recognize that wars are too costly in an age
which prates of economy, too wasteful for efficiency, too
barbarous for civilization, too atrocious for decency. They
face the fact that organized murder cannot be noble when a single
murder is crime. It will be the greatest and grandest upward 
climb the race has taken. It will not be a struggle between
men and women, but the issue will be drawn between men and women
on one side who hold that things which have been must be; and
men and women on the other side who hold that that which is bad
must not continue. I have no idea how suffragists will divide
in that struggle sure to come, but I'm sure they will not all 
be on one side.
As an individual, not as President of the Suffrage
Association, I shall stand for the new order. I shall do so
knowing that my sex will give its full half of the service
necessary toward establishing that better and higher "ruling
factor for nations." Meanwhile I know too that if war comes to
America that our men and Mrs. Wood will follow the example of 
Mrs. Asquith and Lord Northcliffe and exclaim with [won?] at their 
discovery that no modern war can succeed [wit???????????]
assets." Why wait?

CATT, CARRIE CHAPMAN  SPEECH, ARTICLE, BOOK, FILE Speech Apr. 20, 1917

1. [*April 20/1917*]
Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the Committee on Woman Suffrage.
The Senate Committee on woman suffrage was established in 1883.
Thirty-four years have passed: seventeen Congresses have come and gone
since then. In each Congress the National American woman suffrage Association
through its representatives has appeared before this Committee and
has appealed to it to urge the submission of a constitutional amendment
to the legislatures of the several states.
The stubborness of the pejudice against the application of
the principle of self government to women has been beyond understanding.
One chairman of the Senate suffrage committee said to a fellow member:
"There is no man in Senate or House who can answer the argument of these
women, but I'd rather see my wife dead in her coffin than going to the
polls to vote." Said another member of the Committee "Woman suffrage
is bound to come: the argument is irrefutable, but it shall not come in
my day if any power of mine can prevent it". Said another Senator,
world renowned for his wisdom "Woman suffrage is coming. I preceive
that it is inevitable, but I pray that I may never live to see it."
Pages of similar comment could be furnished from our records in support
of the fact that great men have not only allowed their emotions to
control their reason, but have frankly admitted it when woman suffrage
was the issue. More, they have planned and plotted to evade action on
the question, to postpone, to block its progress, while acknowledging
that the fundamental principles of our government make its establishment
inevitable.
Meanwhile hundreds of American women have given all the
possibilities of their lives to secure the vote for their sex. They
have literally laid "lives and fortunes" upon the altar of this movement
for human freedom and thousands upon thousands of pther women have
given and sacrificed much. Nowhere in all the records of history has

-2-
a class worked so long, so persistently and with so much genuine sacrifice
to gain a single concession of political liberty. It might be
said that these are but the usual signs which have marked every evolution
of the race and that the price of liberty has always been sacrifice.
We might believe so, and be content with the progress made and the assurance
everywhere obvious of final victory, were it not that our Nation
has added undeniable "insult to injury". It is this fact which rankles
deep in the souls of millions of American women. It has saddened their
lives, it has dimmed their vision of American ideals, and has lowered
their respect for our government. The tremendous capacity of women for
constructive work, for loyal upbuilding of the best in civilization, and 
enthusiastic patriotism has been crushed. Some are filled with aimless
unrest, some are busy with small things, some are trying to construct
a better order and to do it without tools. We stand upon the verge of
what may prove the greatest test of endurance, yet put upon our Republic.
Women the greatest force our nation possesses for the creation of public
sentiment are asked to mobilize their forces in aid of a government
which has wronged them. They will grant their loyal support, but their
patriotism will be far less exalted, their service less spontaneous, 
their devotion less fervid than they would be could they feel that
our nation had been just to them. Our nation is engaged in the defense
of democracy, "for the right of those who submit to authority to have
a vote in their own government". The hearts of women would beat more
happily could they feel that our own government had been true to the
standard it now proposes to unfurl upon an international field.
The grievance which every thinking self-respecting American
woman feels is the discrimination which invites to our land the men of
all the nations of earth, naturalizes them after a five year's residence,

3
automatically enfranchises them under all state constitutions, and
then commands American women to seek the ballot at their hands. These
men have not been asked whether they want the vote or whether they will
use it when they get it. No adequate demonstration of their fitness
to vote is required. With the notions of women's sphere in mind,
which were formed in countries where the status of men is low and
that of women lower, they are given the task of deciding whether
American college presidents, teachers in the public schools and the
christian mistresses of our homes are worthy to be trusted with the vote.
The grant of a vote in this country is a liberty extended. It does
not obligate the voter to use the ballot if he does not choose to
exercise the privilege conferred; it grants him freedom to voice his
political opinions when the desire to do so arises. The withholding
of a vote is an oppression, a tyranny for it compels to silence the
voice which would speak. Political freedom for alien men for the
price of a five year's residence and political tyranny for American
women born under our flag, educated in our schools, trained by our institutions, this is the democracy fostered and upheld by the American
republic.
It should be remembered that nineteen states have voted on
woman suffrage referenda during the past five years, of which six only
were won. In several of the remaining thirteen, the defeat was
definitely traceable to the foreign vote. Woman workers at the polls
from every one of these states have reported that illiterate men
signing their names with a mark, ignorant men without understanding,
foreign men who could not speak English, drunken men with minds blurred,
half-witted men, degenerate men and every other type which makes up
the underworld, were marshaled to the polls and directed to vote

4
against woman suffrage by men notorious for political dishonesty.
These reports have come from precinct after precinct, from county
after county, and from every state. Let me assure you that none of
the women who have witnessed such scenes will again give homage to
their government without a reservation. From that moment they seek
the vote, no longer as a right denied them, but as a duty that they
may aid the reclamation of democracy from the degradation to which
in too many localities it has been allowed to sink. From that moment
these women love their government less, but the principles it ought
to cherish more.
Congress, by persistent refusal to submit a Federal constitutional
amendment, is the chief source of the humiliation visted upon
women. The hardship grows yearly more burdensome and more insulting.
When the Senate Committee was established the population of our country
was only about half what it now is. The presidential vote in 1884 was
in 1916, 18,303,093.
New York voted on woman suffrage in 1915 and will do so
again in 1917. Menatime 40,000 men have been naturalized in her courts
and will be permitted to declare their will upon this question.
The wrong done to women of the United States is rendered more 
conspicuous by contrast with other lands. Great Britain was once our
Mother Country. She was accused by her young colony of oppression and
a revolution brought about a separation. Since that day our republic
has worked over her experience in democracy and Great Britain has
evolved another type. Though she still maintains a King, no one can
deny that a fine, vigorous spirit of democracy pervades the British
Empire and despite the continuance of many features of the old autocracy
and of many stubbornly upheld theories, she is a democratic country.
More, she has recognized the political rights of woman as this country

-5-
never has done.  In her great colonies of Australia and New Zealand,
women have equal political rights with men and they were granted by acts
of their Parliaments.  In India, Burmah, and British Honduras, women
have municipal suffrage on equal terms with men and these were granted
by the British Parliament.  In England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales,
all suffrage rights have been extended to women on equal terms with men
except the vote for Parliament.  The one vote Premier Lloyd George has
promised on behalf of the government, Ex-Premier Asquith, world renowned
as the implacable enemy of woman suffrage, has supported the pledge,
and the House of Commons has accepted it by a vote of   to  .
All past political privileges were extended by Parliament and the fulfillment
of the government pledge will be made by Parliament.  Our
northern neighbor Canada has extended full suffrage to women in five
provinces within a year and the territory covered stretches from the
Pacific Ocean to a point due north from Central New York.  The sixth
province, Nova Scotia, has broken through eastern conservatism and
joined the great movement of justice to women.  All these extensions
of political rights to women came through acts of Parliament, except
one which was ratified by the electors.

Four of the five Scandinavian countries have given women full
suffrage, namely, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and the fifth, 
Sweden, has granted every right except the vote for Parliament and all 
these privileges represent acts of Parliament.

Our southern neighbor, Mexico, has a Province Yucatan which 
has just lighted fresh fires of democracy upon her hills to notify the
world that Mexico is not altogether lawless as she has seemed.  She 
has not only given women the vote but has sent a woman, Hermila Galuido, 
to the Mexican congress.

Republican France has pledged to extend to women full suffrage,
except for Parliament, in the immediate future, and the act will come

-6-
from Parliament.

Said Premiere Lloyd George the other day in that great speech 
before the American Luncheon Club: "Many strange things have happened 
in this war - aye and stranger things will come and they are coming 
rapidly.  There are times in history when this world spins so leisurely 
along its destined course that it seems for centuries to be at a standstill.  
Then there are awful times when it rushes along at a giddy pace 
covering the track of centuries in a year.  These are the times we are 
living in now.  Six weeks ago Russia was an autocracy.  She is now a 
democracy!!"  Lloyd George is right, it is a time of strange things 
and none more strange than that women in Russia will vote for the 
constituent assembly and that the two parties which are leading the 
revolutionary forces are pledged to woman suffrage as a permanent 
institution.  Women of Russia have made equal sacrifices for freedom, 
women by hundreds have made the long march into Siberia; they have given 
up their lives at hard labor in the mines, they have languished and 
died in damp cold prisons and all for the freedom of the people.  They 
have enlisted in the present war and at home have kept the farms and 
the shops going.  They have set up hospitals and gone to the front to 
nurse the wounded and to pick them off the battle field.  In grateful 
acknowledgment the new leaders will want to give them the vote.  They 
will want to listen to the plea of the "little grandmother" Minn Brishkooskia, 
who has spent 44 of her 70 years in prisons or exile and who 
contends that "liberty knows no sex".  But when the time comes for 
definite action will these leaders grow cautious and pointing to the 
"Mother of Republic" which has not yet seen fit to enfranchise her women, 
will they hesitate and wonder whether after all women possess something 
untrustworthy.  Will it be that Russian women having given their full 
quota of lives and sufferings that men may enjoy a free government,

-7-
must they now give still other lives and suffer still more to gain
their own freedom - and because our nation has repudiated its own 
principles and hauled down its own standard of self-government whenever 
the political freedom of women has been the question.  It makes the 
blood run chill and heart stop in its beat when we contemplate that the 
injustice done to women of this Republic may now retard the grant of 
political liberty to those of other lands; even as the notorious bribery, 
stuffed balloting and false counts at elections has deterred the grant 
of votes to men in Europe.  God forbid.  Little did American suffragists 
think that any women of darkest Russia and Mexico would be promoted to 
political freedom before those of the United States of America.  We 
are told upon the one hand that the hour of autocracy has struck, that 
democracy the rule of the people, is coming to its own, yet on the other 
we have been warned that this is no time to speak of democracy for half 
of our own people so unmindful of what is really going on in the world 
that we have been pronounced "pestiferous annoyances" by a great newspaper 
and told to keep still until the war is over.  We accept the title 
and decline the advice.  We speak now not so much for ourselves as in 
defense of our Republic.  We would give it another chance to make 
amends and to resume its rightful place as leader of the world's democracy.  
We ask this Committee not only to report our amendment favorably 
to the Senate, but we ask each individual member to urge its immediate 
passage.
LordNorthcliffe, called by some the most influential man in 
Great Britain, declared in one of his chain of great newspapers, "The 
old argument against giving women the franchise was that they were useless 
in war.  But we could not carry on the war without them.  We were 
wrong.  Women have borne their full share in all the departments of 
life.  Let the right to vote be given them."

-6-
Said Ex-Premier Asquith "I no longer regard this question from 
the standpoint we occupied before the war.  Women have worked out their 
own salvation.  I am ready to give them the vote".  These two bitterly 
unrelenting enemies of woman suffrage have surrendered in tardy acknowledgement 
of the worth of women and so the monarchy of George the 3rd, 
leads the seceding western Republic in the establishment of the principle 
for which it once precipitated a Revolution.  As Lloyd George says, 
"strange things are happening".  Lest the trend of events places our 
government in a position where it will merit and receive the contempt of 
the civilized world, we ask immediate action upon our amendment.  Before 
the momentum of the forward march of progress, the conduct of politicians 
which for half a century has played battledors and shuttle cock with 
this sacred plea for human justice; the picayunish insistence upon 
settling this great national question

CCC [Carrie Chapman Catt] speech at hearing before Senate Suff. Committee April 20, 1917

Suffrage Victory Number

National Suffrage News

May 1917

Published Monthly by the
NATIONAL AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION
171 Madison Ave.  New York City
Volume III  Number 4

VOTES FOR WOMEN

NEW SUFFRAGE MAP FOR 1917
(Gained since April 1: Rhode Island, Michigan, and Nebraska)

Page 2 NATIONAL SUFFRAGE
NATIONAL SUFFRAGE NEWS
Continuing the
HEADQUARTERS NEWS LETTER

A printed attempt to maintain intimate contact 
between the National American Woman Suffrage 
Association and its thousands of members throughout 
the country.

Published once a month by the National American 
Suffrage Association, at 171 Madison Ave., 
New York, N.Y., Subscription price per year, 25c.

Entered as second class matter Oct. 6, 1915, at Post Office, New York, N.Y., 
under the act of March 3, 1879.

ROSE YOUNG, Editor

National American Suffrage Association
Honorary President, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw
President, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt
First Vice-President, Mrs. Walter McNab Miller
Second Vice-President, Mrs. Stanley McCormick
Third Vice-President, Miss Esther G. Ogden
Recording Secretary, Mrs. Thomas Jefferson Smith
Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. Frank J Shuler
Treasurer, Mrs. Henry Wade Rogers
First Auditor, Miss Heloise Meyer
Second Auditor, Mrs. Pattie Ruffner Jacobs

Congressional Committee
Headquarters:
1626 Rhode Island Ave.,
Washington, D.C.

EDITORIAL
* * *
Big Rhode Island
"Little Rhody" looms big on the suffrage map to-day. 
First State in the Union east of the Alleghenies to 
give its women the right to vote for the President of 
the United States! First State in the Union to recognize 
that woman suffrage is a war measure, making for the 
efficiency of the State and Nation in war time.
On April 11, the State Senate passed the presidential 
suffrage measure by a vote of 32 to 3. On April 17, 
the House followed suit by a vote of 71 to 20.
Great credit is due Governor Beeckman for the 
growth of suffrage sentiment during this legislative 
session. He has distinguished himself by a strong 
advocacy of votes for women. He promptly signed 
the measure.
Great credit is due also to the group of State workers
headed by Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates and Mrs.
Barton Jenks, honorary president and president, 
respectively, of the Rhode Island Equal Suffrage 
Association.
The significance of the Rhode Island victory can 
hardly be overestimated. True, Rhode Island 
add but five more Electoral College votes to the  comple-
ment in the choice of which women may participate, 
but the establishment of the suffrage banner in this 
entirely new territory, heretofore a particularly inhospitable 
territory, is of especial moment. Of even greater 
is the evidence that the fundamental principle of democracy 
involved in woman suffrage can be relied on to penetrate 
such rigid Eastern conservatism as that supposed to be housed 
in Rhode Island's Senate.
* * *
Michigan Women to Vote for Next President
    Hard on the heels of Rhode Island's victory comes 
the word that Michigan has passed the measure for 
presidential suffrage for women. This second over-
whelming victory assured suffragists that from now on 
the argument for woman suffrage as a war measure is 
going to be found unanswerable both by Federal and 
State governments. 
On April 19th the Michigan House passed a measure 
for presidential suffrage by a vote of 64 to 30. It had 
passed the Senate on March 21st by a vote of 22 to 7. 
This victory surpasses all others for quick action. 
It was only two short months ago that the Michigan 
women, led by Mrs. Orton Clark, started on their 
record-breaking smash toward the goal of presidential 
suffrage. By their valiant work they have added 15 
more electoral votes to women's Electoral College
 share, making a total of 164, including Arkansas's 9 
and the 5 handed in by Rhode Island on April 18th.
It raises the potential number of women qualified to 
vote for the President of the United States to 8,238,405. 
January 1, 1917, women had a voice in choosing 91 
electoral votes. Less than five months later that 
complement is nearly doubled- and the end by no 
means in sight.
* * *
Nebraska's Women Enfranchised
Hardly was the ink dry on the Michigan suffrage 
measure (in future "hardly was the ink dry" will be 
kept standing to meet the exigencies of the suffrage 
score!) when Nebraska marked proudly into the 
suffrage column, flying the banner of the Nebraska 
Women Suffrage Association, upheld by Mrs. W.E. 
Barkley, the association's president.
Nebraska has especial cause for pride because of 
the measure of suffrage granted- presidential, county 
and municipal, and because she turned down a 
municipal suffrage measure which excluded farm 
women and voted in the larger measure which gave 
them the right to stand up and be counted in the vote 
for the next President of the United States.
Add eight more electoral votes to women's share in 
the Electoral College. The total is now 172. Ne-

[*Dal?*]
Extract from Mrs. Catt's speech before the Senate Committee on 
Woman Suffrage, at hearing granted to the N. A. W. S. A., 
April 20, 1917.
In her (Great Britain's) great colonies of Australia and 
New Zealand, women have equal political rights with men, and 
they were granted by acts of their Parliaments.  In India, Burmah, 
and British Honduras, women have municipal suffrage on equal terms 
with men, and these were granted by the British Parliament.  Men 
have no other form of suffrage.  In England, Scotland, Ireland 
and Wales, all suffrage rights have been extended to women on 
equal terms with men except the vote for Parliament.  This one 
vote Premier Lloyd-George has promised on behalf of the Government, 
ex-Premier Asquith, world renowned as the implacable enemy 
of woman suffrage, has supported the pledge, and the House of 
Commons has accepted the report of the Speakers' Conference recommending 
it by a vote of 341 to 62.  All past political privileges 
were extended to British women by Parliament, and the 
fulfillment of the government pledge will be made by Parliament.
Our northern neighbor Canada has extended full suffrage to 
women in five provinces within a year, and the territory covered 
stretches from the Pacific Ocean to a point due north of Central 
New York.  The sixth province, Nova Scotia, has broken through 
eastern conservatism and joined the great movement of justice to 
women.  All these extensions of political rights to women came 
through acts of Parliament, except that of British Columbia, which 
was ratified by the electors.  That these remarkable facts may 
be visualized before your eyes, I present the flags of the British 
Colonies where women have more suffrage than in the United States, 
except in the great West -- Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South 
Africa, India, Burmah, and Honduras.

-2-
Four of the five Scandinavian countries have given women 
universal suffrage, namely, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, 
and the fifth, Sweden, has granted every right except the vote 
for Parliament (the King has twice recommended that that vote be 
extended), and all these privileges represent acts of Parliament.
Our southern neighbor, Mexico, has a province, Yucatan, 
which has just lighted fresh fires of democracy upon her hills 
and so notifies the world that Mexico is not altogether as black 
and lawless as she has seemed.  She has not only given women the 
vote but has sent a woman, Hermila Galinda, to the Mexican Congress.
Republican France has pledged to extend to women municipal 
suffrage, in the immediate future, and the act will come from 
Parliament.

HEARING
BEFORE SENATE COMMITTEE ON WOMAN SUFFRAGE
NATIONAL AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSN.,
APRIL 20 - 1917 - 10 TO 12 O'CLOCK

At ten minutes past 10o'clock Senator Jones, Chairman of the Committee, opened the Hearing.
The speakers were as follows:
Speakers.
Subject.
10.15 o'clock.
Senator Shafroth (Col) 
10 minutes.
Doubling the Undesirable Element.
Doubling the Cost.
Doubling the Vote.

10.28 o'clock.
Senator Kendrick (Wyo.)
5 minutes.
Expediency.
Democracy.

10.40 o'clock.
Senator Thompson (Kan.)
5 minutes.
Women Will Not Vote.

10.50 o'clock
Rep. Rankin (Mont.)
10 minutes.
Difficulty of Amending State Constitutions. 
Where Women Vote.

11 o'clock.
Senator Walsh. (Mont.)
25 minutes.
States Rights.
11.19 o'clock. 
Senator Thomas (Colo.)
5 minutes.
The Opposition of Women.

11.43 o'clock
Senator Smoot (Utah)
5 minutes.
State Action Insufficient.
State has Rejected Suffrage.

11.47 o'clock.
Senator Pittman (Nev.)
Negro Question.

Note: As the time for the closing of the Hearing was so near, Mrs. Catt asked Senator Pittman to permit her to use his time. The Senator consented to do this and to dictate some remarks on his subject to be inserted in the Report of the Hearing. He did not speak. 

-2-

11.48-12.10
Mrs. Catt 
Expediency of Immediate Action.

Note: Mrs. Catt was assigned 45 minutes for her speech, but owing to the fact that a number of the speakers took more time than had been allotted them she was obliged to cut down her speech.

Note: Each speaker was also asked to speak briefly on the working of woman suffrage in his own state.

The Hearing closed at 12.10.
The stenographic report of the Hearing was made by Galt and Hall, short-hand reporters, 650 Munsey Bldg., Telephone, M.4293.

----

Senator Johnson of California, who had promised to speak on woman suffrage in California, was unable to attend the Hearing but promised to send in some remarks on his subject to be printed in the Report.

Senator Shafroth asked permission to add to his remarks one chapter from Mrs. Catt's book on the Federal Amendment.

Senator Thompson of Kansas, asked permission to have printed with his speech some remarks on woman suffrage which he had made on the Floor of the Senate.

Senator Jones granted his request but suggested that Senator Thompson combine his remarks in the Senate with his speech at the Hearing. Senator Thompson consented to do this.

Senator Walsh wished to revise the text of his speech before submitting it for printing.
----


CATT, Carrie Chapman SPEECH, ARTICLE, BOOK FILE Speech, ca. 1917

[ca.1917] 
The Mount Rushmore National Memorial group is bringing a sad realization to the women of the United States and to those of other nations too that theirs is still the forgotten sex. The Rushmore Group, to be carved on a mountainside, is designed to call attention to the meaning of the great events in our history which have distinguished it from the history of other nations. 
Washington, the Founder, Jefferson the interpreter, Lincoln the emancipator. At this point women have urged the introduction of a woman to represent the liberation of women. The process consumed more than a century and for seventy-two years it was an organized, determined struggle. The woman proposed is Susan B. Anthony, for sixty years the "propulsive force" of this movement. 
Perhaps men have forgotten that once girls in this country could only go to the public schools in the summer months, that no high school or college was open to them in this entire world, that a husband could legally whip his wife, that he could pronounce her a scold and have her publicly dipped in the river on a ducking stool, that married women could not control their own property, make a will, or legally collect their own wages. Some may say that could not be. It was; right here in the United States. These discriminations have largely been removed by the continuous campaign of women. 
Women will be slow to forget that Germany granted the vote to women before this Republic did or that the vote was grudgingly given and that its denial in this government of the people was a rank inconsistency. Why exclude women from our history; why deny the greatness of the woman's struggle to find her own status in the world? 
Men on the mountain, very great men, will tell the history men have made, but with no woman there, women of generations to come will ask what really was the matter with the 74th Congress that it

-2-
forgot to put a woman on the mountain. Was its male pride so overwhelming that is could not recognize the fact that in all the world's history no great achievement of human liberty ever took place than the liberation of women. Evidently, this great Republic has a long way to go before it can live up to the Democracy it thinks it is.

CATT, Carrie. Chapman 
SPEECH, ARTICLE, BOOK FILE 
Speech, 1917 

14 1917
By Carrie Chapman Catt.
Because the American ideal of democracy---the democracy 
that means equality at the ballot box and representative government-- 
was threatened this country went into the world war.  The reports 
we have had from abroad have emphasized the power of the enemy and I 
believe America is going to receive the greatest of tests over here 
as well as over there.  The outcome will depend upon the stuff of 
which we are made.  I refuse to believe that the Hohenzollerns will 
ever rule over this country and quite as firmly do I refuse to believe 
that the United States Senate or the state legislatures will 
deny to American women the freedom for which we are offering our men 
and our fortunes.
It is of the very essence of Hohenzollernism to keep equal 
suffrage from the people.  When the British Representation-of-the-People 
Bill, which enfranchised many males and 6,000,000 women, passed 
the House of Lords, German newspapers took pains not to give the 
fact any publicity lest it should fan the flame of freedom in the 
breasts of the people of the Empire.  When the Central Powers are 
told that the United States is urging Liberty bonds upon its people 
with the plea that unless they buy they may have to see Liberty 
shackled in the market place, can any one doubt that Teuton Junkerdom 
finds reassurance in the paradox that in this same United States 
democracy is confined to one-half the adult population.
Be very sure of one thing, there is no Teutonic effort to 
suppress information about each and every American rejection of 
the principles America is advertisedly supporting.  "Government of 
the people, for the people, by the people".  On the contrary, every 
effort is made to give any such rejections publicity in the hope 
that popular clamor for electoral reform in Prussia may be discouraged.

-2-
discouraged.
Some great military authority has laid down this principle 
of military action: "Find out what your enemy doesn't want you to 
do; then do it."  Since Germany wants us to repudiate our belief 
in popular representation, the right tactics for us is to give her 
what she doesn't want and show her finally and forever that the 
American ideal of democracy is one hundred per cent strong.
The same spirit that stirred Patrick Henry right here in 
Virginia to say "Give me liberty or give me death" is the spirit 
which makes suffragists out of American women, and every woman who 
has any realization in her soul of what is coming should rise now and 
say to the men of this land that they shall give patriots, whether 
men or women, a right to vote on the policies of this country.
Southern states have awakened as never before to the justice 
of woman suffrage since this war began.  It is as if they heard 
again the voice of '76.  Southern states are patriotic states and 
their men are realizing as in a flash what it means to their loyal 
sisters and wives and mothers to be ballotless at a time when their 
country needs every true heart and hand.  They are discovering how 
it scorches the souls of Southern women to be represented at the 
polls, in the absence of fathers and sons and brothers, by the less 
loyal men, by the slackers, by the partly naturalized.  Texas has 
just given primary suffrage to its women because it has seen that it 
is unjust that women should be without votes in a state where foreign 
men may vote on first papers.
Women are working for this war, giving their dearest and 
best to it.  Let us have a kind of patriotism in this country which 
means pride in, as well as love of, our native land because it

-3-
measures up to its ideals.
We women have been trying for years to show the danger of 
putting the vote into the hands of the ignorant, or of the indifferent, 
or of the half naturalized.  We are calling on the country now more 
earnestly than ever to allow every woman to put her patriotism to 
use.  The world is looking to the women of this nation to put their 
biggest vision and their warmest prayers into the ballot box, where 
they may be counted for a one hundred per cent self-government, not 
a fifty per cent self-government for men only.
In their long, slow school of effort to win the vote, 
American women have learned to the full the value of that freedom 
for which American men are offering their lives abroad.  They can 
match the loyalty of the men in the trenches with loyalty at the 
polls.  For America's sake, let us have a one hundred per cent democracy 
in America.
May 1, '18.

[*Rush 3 copies*]
[OVER THE TOP]
By [Mrs.] Carrie Chapman Catt.
[It was] Because the American ideal of democracy - the 
democracy that means equality at the ballot box and representative 
government - was threatened [that] this country went into the world war.
[If the question of woman suffrage were set aside now, this country nation]
[would not be living up to its own traditions.]
The reports we have had from abroad have emphasized [the]
the power of the enemy and I believe America is going to recieve the 
greatest of tests over here as well as over there. [and] The outcome will 
depend upon the stuff of which we are made.  I refuse to believe 
that the Hohenzollerns will ever rule over this country and quite as 
firmly do I refuse to believe that the United States Senate or the 
state legislatures [of the state] will deny to American women the freedom for 
which we are offering our men and our fortunes.
It is of the very essence of Hohenzollernism to keep 
equal suffrage from the people.  When the [English] British Representation - 
of-the-People Bill, which enfranchised many males and 6,000,000
[British] women, passed the House of Lords, German newspapers took pains 
not to give the fact any publicity lest it should fan the flame 
of freedom in the breasts of the people of the Empire.  [If] When the Central 
Powers [were to be] are told that [in] the Unites States [which] is urging
Liberty bonds upon its people with the plea that unless they try [in order that] they may [not] have
to see Liberty shackled in the market place, can any one doubt [democracy is confined]
[to one-half the adult population, can any one doubt that it would is]
[not be grateful to teh ears of the Junkers?  Would [???] they not]
[smile at the pretense of political freedom which means only]
[freedom only to males? over twenty-one?]
that Teuton Junkerdom finds reassurance
in the paradox that in this same United Slats,
democracy is confined to one-half the adult populat


Be very sure of one thing, there is no Teutonic
effort to suppress information about each and every American rejection of
the principles America is adventuredly supporting, "Government 
of the people, for the people, by the people." On the [?]
every effort is made to give any such rejections
publicity in the hope that popular clamor for electoral
reform may be discouraged.

Some great military authority has [?] down this principle of
military action: "Find out what your enemy doesn't want you
to do, then do it. Since Germany wants us to repudiate our belief
in popular representation, the right tactics for
us is to give her what she doesn't want and show her finally
and forever that the American ideal of democracy
is one hundred percent strong.

The same spirit that stirred Patrick Henry right here
in Virginia to say, "Give me liberty or give me death"
is the spirit which makes suffragists out of American women, and
every woman who has any realization in her soul of what is
coming should rise now and say to the men of this land
that they shall give patriots, whether men or women, a right
to vote on the policies of this country.

Southern states have awakened as never before to
the justice of woman suffrage since this war began. It is
as if they heard again the voice of '76. Southern states
xxx are patriotic states and their men are realizing as in
a flash what it means to be their loyal sisters and wives and mothers to
be ballotless at a time when their country needs every true
heart and hand. They are discovering how it scorches the souls
of Southern women to xxxxx be represented at the polls, in the
absence of fathers and sons and brothers, by txxxxxxxxx the less
loyal men by the slackers by
the partly naturalized. Texas has just given primary
suffrage to its women because it has seen that it is unjust 
that women should be without votes in a state where foreign men
may vote on first papers.

Women are working for this war, giving their dearest and
best to it. Let us have a kind of patriotism in this
country which means pride in, as well as love of, our native
land because it measures up to its ideals.
We women have been trying for years to show the danger of
putting the vote into the hands of the ignorantxxxxxxxxxx
or of the indifferent, or of the half naturalized.
We are calling on the country now more earnestly than ever
to allow every woman to put her patriotism
to use. The world
is looking to the women of this nation
to put their biggest vision and their warmest prayers into
the ballot box, where they may be counted for a one hundred
percent self-government, not a fifty percent self-government for [?] [?]

In their long, slow school of effort to win the vote, American women
have learned to the full the value of that freedom for
which American men are offering their lives abroad. They 
can match the loyalty the men in
the trenches with loyalty at the polls.
For America's sake, let us have
a one hundred per cent democracy
in America.


Catt, Carrie Chapman  SPEECH, ARTICLE, BOOK FILE  Speech, December 3, 1918

BS&AU
12646

NATIONAL AMERICAN WOMEN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION
Carrie Chapman Catt, President
171 Madison Avenue, New York

PRESS DEPARTMENT
Rose Young, Chairman

Dec. 3-1918

ADVANCE NOTES OF SPEECH BY MRS. CATT AT ALBANY SUFFRAGE CONVENTION
A WOMAN VOTERS COUNCIL, NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL

The women voters of the world have a unique opportunity at this 
time to render a signal and immortal service to the liberty and welfare 
of humanity.  It is an opportunity which will not come their way 
again.  The call comes for help from the distressed nationalities of 
middle Europe struggling forward to representative institutions over 
the obstacles of prejudice and tradition on the one hand and conflicts 
for mastery between groups holding special theories upon the other.  
It is not the first time this has happened.  History is only repeating 
itself.  If it continues to represent itself.  the promise of coming 
liberty for men and women may end in as sorrowful a disappointment 
as before.  The opportunity now offered to women voters is the prevention 
of history's repeating itself.

When the Napoleonic World War came to an end, it was followed 
by a fine impulse to democracy.  The masses of the people were straining 
under the burden of taxation to pay the bill for Napoleon's ill 
fated ambitions.  There were mutterings of discontent on all sides.  
Thrones tottered and universal suffrage for men became a possibility.  
It was already set up in Spain, and was a very probable institution 
in France and Italy.  But there was no international organized group 
of sympathizers with democracy to extend either spiritual or material 
comfort.  On the other hand, the kings and aristocracies of Prussia, 
Austria, Russia, and France, banded together and entering into the 
secret Treaty of Verona, agreed to use their united influence to 
suppress representative institutions wherever they existed in Europe 
and to prevent their establishment where they did not already exist.  
At the point of the bayonet, Europe was quieted, constitutions, suffrage 
privileges and the freedom of the press were suspended and 
leaders of democratic uprisings were beheaded or intimidated into 
silence.  "The fruits of Waterloo", as Dr. Basset calls them, were lost.

A hundred years have passed and the word has moved forward far 
since that day.  Yet, the autocracies, the tories of every land, our 
own included, are as frightened of real democracy and as determined 
to prevent its establishment as ever they were.  They may be fewer in 
number today, but they still possess dangerous and unmeasured power.  
There can be no just, well-balanced, permanent representative government 
which leaves women out.  The mental operation of the man who 
holds that God has equipped him with the ability to vote and blessed 
him with the right of self government and yet believes that women 
have neither the ability nor the right to a voice in their own government, 
is only a modified form of that of the ex- Kaiser, who declared 
himself the instrument of God and that the rule of men was impossible.

The women voters of the world, and they number millions, united, 
insistent, can do for the women of those struggling new republics 
what no men ever have done for them.  The leaders among them may be 
encouraged and aided in unnumbered ways.  From the experience of 
women voters, much may be contributed to embolden the timid, to convince 
the doubting and strengthen the morale of the entire movement.

If an intelligent alert democracy is in truth the only safeguard 
against world war, and no one has suggested any other, women voters 
should know their opportunity is more than an open door; if it is a command 
to action.

The united women voters of the United States, Great Britain, 
Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Denmark, Finland, will 
produce a power which cannot but make its way even against a united 
European tor yism.

-2-

The National American Women Suffrage Association will invite women 
voters to a national convention soon in order that our own voters may 
organize nationally and thus unite their forces with those of other 
lands.

There is an obviously important national program for women voters 
as well.  The great diversity of laws which concern women and children 
in our several states is a continual menace to the safety and welfare 
of the unfortunate and uninformed.

The average women cannot be expected to know the pecularities of 
the laws in forty-eight different states.  She can not be expected to 
know that the age of consent for her daughter is eighteen years in 
Wyoming and ten in Florida; that she will herself become possessed of 
half the estate of her intestate husband in California and one-third 
in New Jersey; that she is equal guardian with her husband over her 
children in Illinois but that she has no claim upon them at all in 
Louisiana.  She cannot be expected to know that if her husband beats 
her, is disloyal, guilty of non-support, plus all other causes which in 
different countries and states are held as sufficient for divorce, she 
could not possibly secure one from him in South Carolina.  She is not 
likely to know that in Colorado she may legally demand an eight-hour 
working day, but that she could be compelled to work sixteen hours in 
Alabama for her daily wage; that her children could not legally be employed 
under laws of Oregon but that no law will protect them in the 
event their father desires to hire them out in North Carolina.

She would not be apt to know that in Idaho for example the state 
is expending nearly 50 cents per $100 of wealth to provide competent 
schools which are scattered over the state every two miles and that at 
the same time a compulsory educational law will, in that state, compel 
her children to take advantage of the good schools provided; but that in 
Alabama only eighteen cents per $100 of wealth is expended on public 
education which means that good schools are rare and that no 
compulsory educational law would compel her children to attend any 
school.  In the one case her children would grow up prepared to take 
their place in the world and in the other they might be mere illiterates.  
The average woman would not be apt to know that in every state where 
women vote there is a mother's pension for the widow left with children 
to support and without means of her own, whereas in a good many states 
no such provision is made.

The laws of the states could be unified and improvements added even 
in the states more liberal in their laws if women voters would agree 
upon a proper constructive program.  It is a fact so obvious that it 
needs no demonstration that if one section of the country is much behind 
the times in education and legal protection to women and children, 
its civilization is bound to prove a deterrent influence over the whole 
nation.  Therefore, it becomes the duty of all forward looking people 
to see that the laws of the whole nation are unified and that the 
standard by which to measure the proper program for each state is the 
code of laws of the most advanced states.

More, if the United States is to become the teacher of the world in 
applied democracy, it must wipe some blots from its own escutcheon.  
That votes are still bought upon occasion, ballot boxes stuffed and 
candidates and measures counted out, is well know.  More careful attention 
to the selection of election officials and still more careful 
attention to their training would contribute the most important 
corrective agency.  Women teachers, bookkeepers, clerks, and many 
stenographers have the especial training for this work.  A skilled 
examination into the election and the corrupt practices laws would reveal 
many a loophole through which the unscrupulous may escape.  A 
unification of these laws will go far to make elections respectable 
and respected; where neither condition is now the case.

Women voters should contribute more to their nation and to the 
world than they will do when acting from a localized viewpoint.  "Those 
who live in the valley do not know what is to be seen from the mountain 
top."  The opportunity to climb the mountain and to view all humanity 
in its struggle upward toward permanent democratic institutions and 
consequent permanent peace is here.  The opportunity to extend a helping 
hand to those who are likely to find the path rough and thorny is 
here.  The women voter with the vision of coming freedom for the race in 
her soul will not hesitate to offer her service.

CATT, CARRIE CHAPMAN SPEECH, ARTICLE, BOOK FILE Speech 1918

[1918]

CCC
Folder F
VI

AN ADDRESS
to the
CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES
by
Carrie Chapman Catt
President of the National American Woman Suffrage Association

"MAKE THE WORLD SAFE FOR DEMOCRACY"
"SHE HAS GIVEN ME TO DEMOCRACY; GIVE DEMOCRACY TO HER"

From The Woman Citizen

National Woman Suffrage Publishing Company, Inc.
171 Madison Avenue  New York, N.Y.

AN ADDRESS
TO THE 
CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES
Woman suffrage is inevitable.  Suffragists knew it before November
6, 1917; opponents afterward.  Three distinct causes make it inevitable.
I. The history of our country.  Ours is a nation born of revolution; 
of rebellion against a system of government so securely entrenched in 
the customs and traditions of human society that in 1776 it seemed impregnable.
From the beginning of things nations had been ruled by 
kings and for kings, while the people served and paid the cost.  The 
American Revolutionists boldly proclaimed the heresies:
"Taxation without representation is tyranny."
"Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed."
Our Theories Make Woman Suffrage Inevitable
The Colonists won and the nation which was established as a result 
of their victory has held unfailingly that these two fundamental principles
of democratic government are not only the spiritual source of our national 
existence but have been our chief historic pride and at all times the sheet 
anchor of our liberties.
Eighty years after the Revolution Abraham Lincoln welded those two 
maxims into a new one:
"Ours is a government of the people, by the people and for the 
people."
Fifty years more passed and the President of the United States, 
Woodrow Wilson, in a mighty crisis of the nation, proclaimed to the
world:
"We are fighting for the things which we have always carried nearest 
our hearts--for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority
to have a voice in their own government." [**1*]
All the way between these immortal aphorisms political leaders have 
declared unabated faith in their truth.  Not one American has arisen to 
question their logic in the one hundred and forty-one years of our national
existence.  However stupidly our country may have evaded the 
1

logical application at times, it has never swerved from its devotion to the
theory of democracy as expressed by those two axioms.
Not only has it unceasingly upheld the THEORY but it has carried
these theories into PRACTICE whenever men made application.
Certain denominations of Protestants, Catholics, Jews, non-land holders, 
workingmen, Negroes, Indians, were at one time disfranchised in all, 
or in part, of our country.  Class by class they have been admitted to the
electorate.  Political motives may have played their part in some instances
but the only reason given by historians for their enfranchisement
is the unassailability of the logic of these maxims of the Declaration.
Meantime the United States opened wide its gates to men of all the
nations of earth.  By the combination of naturalization granted the foreigner
after a five-years' residence by our national government and the
uniform provision of the State constitutions which extends the vote to 
male citizens, it has been the custom in our country for three generations
that any male immigrant, accepted by the national government as a citizen,
automatically becomes a voter in any State in which he chooses to
reside, subject only to the minor qualifications prescribed by the State.
Justifiable exceptions to the general principle might have been entered.
Men just emerging from slavery, untrained to think or act for themselves
and in most cases wholly illiterate, were not asked to qualify for
voting citizenship.  Not even as a measure of national caution has the 
vote ever been withheld from immigrants until they have learned our
language, earned a certificate of fitness from our schools or given definite
evidence of loyalty to our country.  When such questions have been
raised, political leaders have replied: "What!  Tax men and in return
give them no vote; compel men to obey the authority of a government to 
which they may not give consent!  Never.  That is un-American."  So,
it happens that men of all nations and all races, except the Mongolian,
may secure citizenship and automatically become voters in any State in 
the Union and even the Mongolian born in this country is a citizen and
has the vote. With such a history behind it, how can our nation escape
the logic it has never failed to follow, when its last unenfranchised class
call for the vote? Behold our Uncle Sam floating the banner with one
hand, "Taxation without representation is tyranny," and with the other
seizing the billions of dollars paid in taxes by women to whom he refuses
" representation." Behold him again, welcoming the boys of twenty-one
and the newly-made immigrant citizen to " a voice in their own government"

[*2*]

while he denies that fundamental right of democracy to thousands
of women public school teachers from whom many of these men learn
all they know of citizenship and patriotism, to women college presidents,
to women who preach in our pulpits, interpret law in our courts, preside
over hospitals, write books and magazines and serve in every uplifting
moral and social enterprise.
Is there a single man who can justify such inequality of treatment,
such outrageous discriminations? Not one.
Woman suffrage became an assured fact when the Declaration of
Independence was written. It matters not at all whether Thomas Jefferson
and his compatriots thought of women when they wrote that immortal
document. They conceived and voiced a principle greater than
any man. "A Power not of themselves which makes for righteousness"
gave them the vision and they proclaimed truisms as immutable as the
multiplication table, as changeless as time. The Hon. Champ Clark announced
that he had been a woman suffragist ever since he "got the
hang of the Declaration of Independence." So it must be with every
other American. The amazing thing is that it has required so long a time
for a people, most of whom know how to read, "to get the hang of it."
Indeed, so inevitable does our history make woman suffrage that any
citizen, political party, Congress or Legislature that now blocks its
coming by so much as a single day, contributes to the indefensible inconsistency
which threatens to make our nation a jest among the onward-moving
peoples of the world.

Our Practice Makes Woman Suffrage Inevitable

2. The suffrage for women already established in the United States
makes woman suffrage for the nation inevitable. When Elihu Root, as
President of the American Society of International Law, at the eleventh
annual meeting in Washington, April 26, 1917, said, "The world cannot
be half democratic and half autocratic. It must be all democratic or
all Prussian. There can be no compromise," he voiced a general truth.
Precisely the same intuition has already taught the blindest and most hostile
foe of woman suffrage that our nation cannot long continue a condition
under which government in half its territory rests upon the consent
of half the people and in the other half upon the consent of all
the people; a condition which grants representation to the taxed in
half its territory and denies it in the other half; a condition which permits

[*3*]

women in some States to share in the election of the President, Senators and Representatives and denies them that privilege in others. It is too obvious to require demonstration that woman suffrage, now covering half our territory, will eventually be ordained in all the nation. No one will deny it; the only question left is when and how will it be completely established. 

Our Leadership Makes Woman Suffrage Inevitable
3. The leadership of the United States in world democracy compels the enfranchisement of its own women.
The maxims of the Declaration were once called "fundamental principles of government." They are now called "American principles" or even "Americanisms." They have become the slogans of every movement toward political library the world around; of every effort to widen the suffrage for men or women in any land. Not a people, race or class striving for freedom is there, anywhere in the world, that has not made our axioms the chief weapon of the struggle. More, all men and women the world around, with far-sighted vision into the verities of things, know that the world tragedy of our day is not now being waged over the assassination of an Archduke, nor commercial competition, nor national ambitions, nor the freedoms of the seas--it is a death grapple between the forces which deny and those which uphold the truths of the Declaration of Independence. 
Our "Americanisms" have become the issue of the great war!
Every day the conviction grows deeper that a a world humanity will emerge from the war, demanding political liberty and accepting nothing less. In that new struggle there is little doubt that men and women will demand and attain political liberty together. To-day they are fighting the world's battle for Democracy together. Men and women are paying the frightful cost of war and bearing its sad and sickening sorrows together. To-morrow they will share its rewards together in democracies which make no discriminations on account of sex.
These are new times and, as an earnest of its sincerity in the battle for democracy, the government of Great Britain has not only pledged votes to its disfranchised men and to its women, but the measure passed the House of Commons in June, 1917, by a vote of 7 to 1 and will be sent to the House of Lords in December with the assurances of Premier Lloyd George that it will shortly become a national law. The measure will
4
apply to England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and all the smaller British islands.
Canada, too, has enfranchised the women of all its provinces stretching from the Pacific Coast to Northern New York, and the Premier has predicted votes for all Canadian women before the next national election.
Russia, whose opposing forces have made a sad farce of the new liberty, is nevertheless pledged to a democracy which shall include women. It must be remembered that no people ever passed from absolute autocracy into a smoothly running democracy with ready-made constitution and a full set of statutes to cover all conditions. Russia is no exception. She must have time to work out her destiny. Except those maxims of democracy put forth by our own country, it is interesting to note that the only one worthy of immortality is the slogan of the women of New Russia, "Without the participation of women, suffrage is not universal."
France has pledged votes to its women as certainly as a Republic can. Italian men have declared woman suffrage an imperative issue when the war is over and have asked its consideration before. The city of Prague (Bohemia) has appointed a Commission to report a new municipal suffrage plan which shall include women. Even autocratic Germany has debated the question in the Imperial Reichstag.
In the words of Premier Lloyd George: "There are times in history when the world spins along its destined course so leisurely that for centuries it seems to be at a standstill. Then come awful times when it rushes along at so giddy a pace that the track of centuries is covered in a single year. These are the times in which we now live."
It is true; democracy, votes for men and votes for women, making slow but certain progress in 1914, have suddenly become established facts in many lands in 1917. Already our one-time Mother Country has become the standard bearer of our Americanisms, the principles she once denied, and-cynical fact-Great Britain, not the United States, is now leading the world on to the coming democracy.* Any man who has red
____
*The present bill provides that the parliamentary vote shall be extended to women. All other suffrage rights on equal terms with men have long been enjoyed by the women of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales; the women of Canada too have had municipal suffrage for many years, the qualifications varying in different provinces, and the women of Australia and New Zealand have long had full suffrage on equal terms with men. The Scandinavian countries, too, have outstipped us in applied democracy and have taken the second lead. Universal suffrage including women is already established in Finland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland, while Sweden long ago have women equal political rights with men, except the vote for Parliament. The King has twice recommended that this disability must be removed and action is promised soon.
5



American blood in his veins, any man who has gloried in our history and 
has rejoiced that our land was the leader of world democracy, will share 
with us the humbled national pride that our country has so long delayed 
action upon this question that another country has beaten us in what we 
thought was our especial world mission.

The Logic of the Situation Calls for Immediate Action

Is it not clear that American history makes women suffrage inevitable? 
That full suffrage in twelve States makes its coming in all forty-
eight States inevitable? That the spread of democracy over the world, including 
votes for the women of many countries, in each case based upon 
the principles our Republic gave to the world, compels action by our 
nation? Is it not clear that the world expects such action and fails to 
understand its delay?

In the face of these facts we ask you, Senators and Members of the 
House of Representatives of the United States, is not the immediate enfranchisement 
of the women of our nation the duty of the hour?

Why hesitate? Not an inch of solid ground is left for the feet of the 
opponent. The world's war has killed, buried and pronounced the obsequies 
upon the hard-worked "war argument." Mr. Asquith, erstwhile 
champion anti-suffragist of the world, has said so and the British Parliament 
has confirmed it by its enfranchisement of British women. The 
million and fifteen thousand women of New York who signed a declaration 
that they wanted the vote, plus the heavy vote of women in every 
State and country where women have the franchise, have finally and completely 
disposed of the familiar "they don't want it" argument. Thousands 
of women annually emerging from schools and colleges have 
closed the debate upon the one-time serious "they don't know enough" 
argument. The statistics of police courts and prisons have laid the ghost 
of the "too bad to vote" argument. The woman who demanded the 
book and verse in the Bible which gave men the vote, declaring that the 
next verse gave it to women, brought the "Bible argument" to a sudden 
end. The testimony of thousands of reputable citizens of our own suffrage 
States and of all other suffrage lands that woman suffrage has brought 
no harm and much positive good, and the absence of reputable citizens 
who deny these facts, has closed the "women only double the vote" argument. 
The increasing number of women wage-earners, many supporting 
families and some supporting husbands, has thrown out the "women are 

6

represented" argument. One by one these pet misgivings have been relegated 
to the scrap heap of all rejected, cast-off prejudices. Not an argument 
is left. The case against women suffrage, carefully prepared by the 
combined wit, skill and wisdom of opponents, including some men of high 
repute, during sixty years, has been closed. The jury of the New York 
electorate heard it all, weighed the evidence and pronounced it "incompetent, 
irrelevant and immaterial." Historians tell us that the battle of 
Gettysburg brought our Civil War to an end, although the fighting went 
on a year longer, because the people who directed it did not see that the 
end had come. Had their sight been clearer, a year's casualties of 
human life, desolated homes, high taxes and bitterness of spirit, might 
have been avoided. The battle of New York is the Gettysburg of the 
woman suffrage movement. There are those too blind to see that the 
end has come, and others, unrelenting and unreasoning, who stubbornly 
deny that the end has come although they know it. These can compel the 
women of the nation to keep a standing suffrage army, to finance it, to 
fight on until these blind and stubborn ones are gathered to their fathers 
and men with clearer vision come to take their places, but the casualties 
will be sex antagonism, party antagonism, bitterness, resentment, contempt, 
hate and the things which grow out of a rankling grievance autocratically 
denied redress. These things are not mentioned in the spirit 
of threat, but merely to voice well known principles of historical 
psychology.

Benjamin Franklin once said "The cost of war is not paid at the 
time, the bills come afterwards." So too the nation, refusing justice 
when justice is due, finds the costs accumulating and the bills presented 
at unexpected and embarrassing times. Think it over.

If enfranchisement is to be given to women now, how is to be done? 
Shall it be by amendment of the State constitutions or by amendment of 
the Federal Constitution? There are no other ways. The first sends 
the question from the Legislature by referendum to all male voters of 
the State; the other sends the question from Congress to the Legislatures 
of the several States.

Three Reasons for the Federal Method

We elect the Federal method. There are three reasons why we make 
this choice and three reasons why we reject the State method. We choose 
the Federal method (1) because it is the quickest process and justice

7

demands immediate action. If passed by the Sixty-fifth Congress, as it 
should be, the amendment will go to forty-one Legislatures in 1919, and 
when thirty-six have ratified it, will become a national law. In 1869 
Wyoming led the way and 1919 will round out half a century of the most 
self-sacrificing struggle any class ever made for the vote. It is enough. 
The British women's suffrage army will be mustered out at the end of 
their half century of similar endeavor. Surely men of the land of George 
Washington will not require a longer time than those of the land of George 
the Third to discover that taxation without representation is 
tyranny no matter whether it be men or women who are taxed! We 
may justly expect American men to be as willing to grant to the women 
of the United States as generous consideration as those of Great Britain 
have done.

(2) Every other country dignifies women suffrage as a national question. 
Even Canada and Australia, composed of self-governing states like 
our own, so regard it. Were the precedent not established our own national 
government has taken a step which makes the treatment of woman 
suffrage as a national question imperative. For the first time in our history 
Congress has imposed a direct tax upon women and has thus deliberately 
violated the most fundamental and sacred principle of our government, 
since it offers no compensating "representation" for the tax it imposes. 
Unless reparation is made it becomes the same kind of tyrant as was 
George the Third. When the exemption for unmarried persons under the 
Income Tax was reduced to $1,000, the Congress laid the tax upon thousands 
of wage-earning women -- teachers, doctors, lawyers, bookkeepers, 
secretaries and the proprietors of many businesses. Such women are 
earning their incomes under hard conditions of economic inequalities 
largely due to their disfranchisement. Many of these, while fighting 
their own economic battle, have been contributors to the campaign 
for suffrage that they might bring easier conditions for all women. 
Now those contributions will be deflected from suffrage treasuries into 
government funds through taxation. Women realize the dire need of 
huge government resources at this time and will make no protest against 
the tax, but it must be understood, and understood clearly, that the protest 
is there just the same and that women income taxpayers with 
few exceptions harbor a genuine grievance against the government 
of the United States. The national government is guilty of the 
violation of the principle that the tax and the vote are inseparable; it 

8

alone can make amends. Two ways are open: exempt women from 
the Income Tax or grant them the vote -- there can be no compromise. To 
shift responsibility from Congress to the States is to invite the scorn of 
every human being who has learned to reason. A Congress which creates 
the law and has the power to violate a world-acknowledged axiom 
of just government can also command the law and the power to make 
reparation to those it has wronged by the violation. To you, the Congress 
of the United States, we must and do look for this act of primary 
justice. 

(3) If the entire forty-eight States should severally enfranchise 
women, their political status would still be inferior to that of men, since 
no provision for national protection in their right to vote would exist. 
The women of California or New York are not wholly enfranchised, 
for the national government has not denied the States the right to 
deprive them of the vote. This protection can come only by Federal 
action. Therefore, since women will eventually be forced to demand 
Congressional action in order to equalize the rights of men and women, 
why not take such action now and thus shorten and ease the process? 
When such submission is secured, as it will be, forty-eight simultaneous 
State ratification campaigns will be necessary. By the State method, 
thirty-six States would be obliged to have individual campaigns, and 
those would still have to be followed by the forty-eight additional campaigns 
to secure the final protection in their right to vote by the national 
government. We propose to conserve money, time and woman's strength 
by elimination of the thirty-six State campaigns as unnecessary at 
this stage of the progress of the woman suffrage movement.

Three Reasons Against the State Method

The three reasons why we object to the State amendment process 
are: (1) The constitutions of many States contain such difficult provisions 
for amending that it is practically impossible to carry an amendment 
at the polls. Several States require a majority of all the votes 
cast at an election to insure the passage of an amendment. As the number 
of persons voting on amendments is usually considerably smaller than 
the number voting for the head of the ticket, the effect of such provision 
is that the majority of those men who do not vote at all on the 
amendment are counted as voting against it. For example, imagine a 
State casting 100,000 votes for Governor and 80,000 on a woman suffrage

9

amendment. That proportion would be a usual one. Now suppose there 
were 45,000 votes in favor and 35,000 against woman suffrage. The 
amendment would have been carried by 10,000 majority in a State which 
requires only a majority of the votes cast on the amendment, as in the 
State of New York. If, however, the State requires a majority of the 
votes cast at the election, the amendment would be lost by 10,000 majority. 
The men who are either too ignorant, too indifferent or too
careless to vote on the question would have defeated it. Such constitutions 
have rarely been amended and then only on some non-controversial 
question which the dominant powers have agreed to support with the full 
strength of their "machines."

New Mexico, for example, requires three-fourths of those voting at 
an election, including two-thirds from each county. New Mexico is surrounded 
by suffrage States but the women who live there probably can 
secure enfranchisement only by federal action. The Indiana constitution 
provides that a majority of all voters is necessary to carry an amendment; 
thus the courts may decide that registered voters who did not go to the 
polls at all may be counted in the number, a majority of whom it is necessary 
to secure. The constitution cannot be amended. The courts have 
declared that the constitution prohibits the Legislature from granting 
suffrage to women. What then can the women of Indiana do? They 
have no other hope than the Federal Amendment. Several State constitutions 
stipulate that a definite period of time must elapse before an 
amendment defeated at the polls can again be submitted. New York 
has no such provision and the second campaign of 1917 immediately 
followed the first in 1915; but Pennsylvania and New Jersey, both voting 
on the question in 1915, cannot vote on it again before 1920. New 
Hampshire has no such provision for the submission of an amendment by the 
Legislature at all. A Constitutional Convention alone has the right to 
submit an amendment, and such conventions can not be called oftener 
than once in seven years. The constitutional complications in many of the 
States are numerous, varied and difficult to overcome.

All careful investigators must arrive at the same conclusion that the 
only hope for the enfranchisement of the women of several States is 
through Congressional action. Since this is true, we hold it unnecessary 
to force women to pass through any more referenda campaigns. The 
hazards of the State constitutional provisions which women are expected 
to overcome in order to get the vote, as compared with the easy process 

10

by which the vote is fairly thrust upon foreigners who choose to make 
their residence among us, is so offensive an outrage to one's sense of 
justice that a woman's rebellion would surely have been fomented long 
ago had women not known that the discrimination visited upon them was 
without deliberate intent. The continuation of this condition is, however, 
the direct responsibility now of every man who occupies a position 
authorized to right the wrong. You are such men, Honorable Senators 
and Representatives. To you we appeal to remove a grievance more insulting 
than any nation in the wide world has put upon its women.

2. The second reason why we object to the State process is far more 
serious and important than the first. It is because the statutory laws governing 
elections are so inadequate and defective as to vouchsafe little or 
no protection to a referendum in most States. The need for such protection 
seems to have been universally overlooked by the lawmakers. Bipartisan 
election boards offer efficient machinery whereby the representatives 
of one political party may check any irregularities of the other. The 
interests of all political parties in an election are further protected by 
partisan watchers. None of these provisions is available to those interested 
in a referendum. In most States women may not serve as watchers 
and no political party assumes responsibility for non-partisan question. 
In the State of New York women may serve as watchers. They 
did so serve in 1915 and in 1917; nearly every one in the more than 5,000 
polling places was covered by efficiently trained women watchers. The 
women believe that this fact had much to do with the favorable result.

In twenty-four States there is no law providing for a recount 
on a referendum. Voters may be bribed, colonized, repeated and the 
law provides for no possible redress. In some States corrupt voters may 
be arrested, tried and punished, but that does not remove their votes from 
the total vote cast nor in any way change the results. When questions 
which are supported by men's organizations go to referendum, such as 
prohibition, men interested may secure posts as election officials or party 
watchers and thus be in position to guard the purity of the election. This 
privilege is not open to women.

That corrupt influences have exerted their full power against woman 
suffrage, we know well. I have myself seen blocks of men marched to 
the polling booth and paid money in plain sight, both men and bribers 
flaunting the fact boldly that they were "beating the ---- --- women."
I have myself seen men who could not speak a word of English, nor write

11

their names in any language, driven to the polls like sheep to vote against
woman suffrage and no law at the time could punish them for the misuse
of the vote so cheaply extended to them, nor change the result.

It is our sincere belief based upon evidence which has been completely 
convincing to us that woman suffrage amendments in several
States have been won on referendum, but that the returns were juggled
and the amendment counted out.  We have given to such campaigns our
money, our time, our strength, our very lives.  We have believed the
amendment carried and yet have seen our cause announced as lost.  We 
are tired of playing the State campaign game with "the political dice
loaded and the cards stacked" against us before we begin.  The position
of such an amendment is precisely like that of the defendant in a case
brought before an inexperienced judge.  After having heard the plaintiff, 
he untactfully remarked that he would listen to the defendant's remarks
but he was bound to tell him in advance that he proposed to give the
verdict to the plaintiff.  From this lower court, often unscrupulous in its
unfairness, we appeal to the higher, the Congress and the Legislatures of
the United States.

3.  The third reason why we object to the State method is even more
weighty than either or both of the others.  It is because the State method
fixes responsibility upon no one.  The Legislatures pass the question on
to the voters and have no further interest in it.  The political parties, 
not knowing how the election may decide the matter, are loth to
espouse the cause of woman suffrage, lest if it loses, they will have
alienated from their respective parties the support of enemies of woman
suffrage.

Contributors to campaign funds have at times stipulated the return
service of the party machinery to defeat woman suffrage, and as such
contributors are wily enough to make certain of their protection, they 
often contribute to both dominant parties.  Thousands of men in every
State have become so accustomed to accept party nominations and platforms 
as their unquestioned guide that they refuse to act upon a political
question without instruction from their leaders.  When the leaders pass
the word along the line to defeat a woman suffrage amendment, it is impossible 
to carry it.  It is not submitted to an electorate of thinking voters
whose reason much be convinced, but to such voters, plus political
"machines" skillfully organized, servilely obedient, who have their
plans laid to defeat the question at the polls even before it leaves the 

12

Legislature.  From a condition where no one is responsible for the procedure 
of the amendment through the hazards of an election, where
every enemy may effectively hide his enmity and the methods employed
behind the barriers of constitutions and election laws, we appeal to a 
method which will bring our cause into the open where every person
or party, friend or foe involved in the campaign, may be held responsible
to the public.  We appeal from the method which has kept the women of
this country disfranchised a quarter of a century after their enfranchisement 
was due, to the method by which the vote has been granted to the
men and women of other lands.  We do so with the certain assurance that
every believer in fair play, regardless of party fealties, will approve our
decision.

These are the three reasons why we elect the federal method, and the
three reasons why we reject the State method.  We are so familiar with
the objections Congressional opponents urge against suffrage by the federal 
method that we know these objections also, curiously, number three.

Three Objections Answered

Objection No. 1.  War time is not the proper time to consider this 
question.  Two neutral countries, Iceland and Denmark, and three belligerent 
countries, Canada, Russia and Great Britain, have enfranchised
their women during war time and they have been engaged in war for
three and a half years.  That which is proper time for such countries is
surely proper enough for us.

More, it is not our fault, you will admit, that this question is still unsettled 
in 1917.  If our urgent advice has been taken it would have been
disposed of twenty-five years ago and our nation would now be proudly
leading the world to democracy instead of following in third place.  Had
Congress "got the hang of the Declaration of Independence" then, more
men today would know the definition of democracy than do and more
men would understand what a world's war "to make the world safe for 
democracy" means.

In 1866 an Address to Congress was adopted by a Suffrage Convention 
held in New York and presented to Congress later by Susan B. Anthony 
and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.  They protested against the enfranchisement 
of Negro men while women remained disfranchised and
asked for Congressional action.  That was fifty-one years ago.  In 1878
the Federal Suffrage Amendment now pending was introduced in Congress

13

Congress at the request of the National Woman Suffrage Association and has 
been reintroduced in each succeeding Congress.
The representatives of this Association have appeared before the 
Committees of every Congress since 1878 to urge its passage. The women
who made the first appeal, brave, splendid souls, have long since passed
into the Beyond, and every one died knowing that the country she loved
and served classified her as a political pariah. Every Congress has seen 
the Committee Rooms packed with anxious women yearning for the
declaration of their nation that they were no longer to be classed with 
idiots, criminals and paupers. Every State has sent its quota of woman 
to those Committees. Among them have been the daughters of Presidents,
Governors, Chief Justices, Speakers of the House, leaders of
political parties and leaders of great movements. List the women of the 
last century whose names will pass into history among the immortals and 
scarcely one is there who has not appeared before your committees--
Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, Mary A. Livermore, 
Lillie Devereux Blake, Julia Ward Howe, Harriet Beecher Stowe, 
Frances Willard, Clara Barton and hundreds more. There are hundreds 
of women in the suffrage convention now sitting who have paid out more
money in railroad fare to come to Washington in order to persuade men
that "women are people" than all the men in the entire country ever paid
to get a vote.
Perhaps you think our pleas in those Committee Rooms were poor attempts
at logic. Ah, one chairman of the committee long ago said to a 
fellow member: "There is no man living or dead who could answer the 
arguments of those women," and then he added, "but I'd rather see my
wife dead in her coffin than going to vote." Yet, there are those of you
who have said that women are illogical and sentimental! Since Congress 
has already had fifty-one years of peace in which to deal with the question
of woman suffrage, we hold that a further postponement is unwarranted.

Objection No. 2. A vote on this question by Congress and the Legislatures 
is undemocratic; it should go to the "people" of the States. You 
are wrong, gentlemen, as your reason will quickly tell you, if you will 
reflect a moment. When a State submits a constitutional amendment to 
male voters, if does a legal, constitutional thing, but when that amendment 
chiefly concerns one-half the people of the State and the law permits the 
other half to settle it, the wildest stretch of the imagination could not
14

describe the process as democratic. Democracy means "the rule of the 
people," and let me repeat, women are people. No State referendum
goes to the people; it goes to the male voters. Such referenda can never
be democratic. Were the question of woman suffrage to be submitted to 
a vote of both sexes, the action would be democratic, but in that case it 
would not be legal nor constitutional.
Male voters have never been named by any constitution or statute as
the representatives of women; we therefore decline to accept them in 
that capacity. The nearest approach to representation allowed voteless
women are the members of Congress and the Legislatures. These members
are apportioned among the several States upon the basis of population
and not upon the basis of numbers of voters. Therefore every 
Congressman theoretically represents the women of his constituency as
well as the male voters. He is theoretically responsible to them and they
may properly go to him for redress of such grievances as fall within his 
jurisdiction. More, every member of Congress not only represents the 
small constituency confined to his district, but all the people of the
country, since his vote upon national questions affects them all. Women, 
whether the voters or non-voters, may properly claim members of Congress
as the only substitution for representation provided by the constitution.
We apply to you, therefore, to correct a grievous wrong which your constitutional
jurisdiction gives you authority to set right.

Objection No. 3. States Rights. You pronounce it unfair that thirty-six 
States should determine who may vote in the remaining twelve; that
possible Republican Northern States should decide who may vote in 
Democratic Southern States. It is no more unfair than that some counties 
within a State should decide who may vote in the remaining counties;
no more unfair than that the Democratic city of New York should enfranchise
the women of the Republican cities of Albany and Rochester, 
as it has just done.
Forty-eight States will have the opportunity to ratify the Federal 
Amendment and every State, therefore, will have its opportunity to enfranchise
its own women in this manner. If any State fails to do it, we
may agree that that State would probably not enfranchise its own women 
by the State method; but if it would not so enfranchise them that State 
is behind the times and is holding our country up to the scorn of the 
nations. It has failed to catch the vision and the spirit of Democracy 
sweeping over the world. This nation cannot, must not, wait for any
15

State, so ignorant, so backward. That State more than all others needs
woman suffrage to shakes its dry bones, to bring political questions into 
the home and set discussion going. It needs education, action, stimulation
to prevent atrophy. In after years posterity will utter grateful 
thanks that there was a method which could throw a bit of modernity 
into it from the outside.
It is urged that the women of some such States do not want the vote. 
Of course if the thought of an entire State is antiquated, its women will
share the general stagnation, but there is no State where there is not a
large number of women who are working, and working hard, for the vote. 
The vote is permissive, a liberty extended. It is never a burden laid upon
the individual, since there is no obligation to exercise the right. On the 
other hand, the refusal to permit those who want the vote to have and to 
use it is oppression, tyranny- and no other words describe the condition.
When, therefore, men within a State are so ungenerous or unprogressive
or stubborn as to continue the denial of the vote to the women who want
it, men on the outside should have no scruples in constituting themselves
the liberators of those women.
Despite these truths there are among you those who still harbor honest
misgivings. Please remember that woman suffrage is coming; you know
it is. In this connection, have you ever thought that the women of your
own families who may tell you now that they do not want the vote are 
going to realize some day that there is something insincere in your
protestations of chivalry, protection and "you are too good to vote, my
dear," and are going to discover that the trust, respect, and frank
acknowledgement of equality which men of other States have given their
women are something infinitely higher and nobler than you have ever
offered them? Have you thought that you may now bestow upon them
a liberty that they may not yet realize they need, but that tomorrow they 
may storm your castle and demand? Do you suppose that any woman 
 in the land is going to be content with unenfranchisement when she once
comprehends that men of other countries have given women the vote?
Do you not see that when that time comes to her she is going to ask why 
you, her husband, her father, who were so placed, perhaps, that you could
observe the progress of world affairs, did not see the coming change of
custom and save her from the humiliation of having to beg for that which 
women in other countries are already enjoying? Have you known that 
no more potent influence has aroused the sheltered and consequently narrow-
16

visioned woman into a realization that she wanted to be a part of an 
enfranchised class than the manner in which men treat enfranchised
women? There is no patronizing "I am holier than thou" air, but the
equality of "fellow citizens." One never sees that relation between men
and women except where women vote. Some day that woman who doesn't 
know the world is moving on and leaving her behind will see and know 
these things. What will she say and do then? What will you do for her
now?
There are many well known men in Great Britain who frankly confess
that their desire to give British women the vote is founded upon
their sense of gratitude for loyal and remarkable war service women
have performed. They speak of suffrage as a reward. For years women
have asked the vote as a recognition of the incontrovertible fact that they
are responsible, intelligent citizens of the country and because its denial 
has been an outrageous discrimination against their sex. British women
will receive their enfranchisement with joyous appreciation but the joy 
will be lessened and the appreciation tempered by the perfect understanding
that "vote as a reward" is only an escape from the uncomfortable
corner into which the unanswerable logic of the women had 
driven the government. Mutual respect between those who give and 
those who receive the vote would have been promoted had the inevitable
duty not been deferred. We hope American men will be wiser. 
Many of you have admitted that "State's Rights" is less a principle 
than a tradition- a tradition, however, which we know is rooted deep
in the memory of bitter and, let us say, regrettable incidents of history.
But the past is gone. We are living in the present and facing the future. 
Other men of other lands have thrown aside traditions as tenderly revered
as yours in response to the higher call of Justice, Progress and 
Democracy. Can you, too, not rise to this same call of duty? Is any 
good to be served by continuing one injustice in order to resent another
injustice? We are one nation and those of us who live now and make
our appeal to you are like yourselves not of the generation whose
differences created the conditions which entrenched the tradition of 
State's Rights. We ask you, our representatives, to right the wrong
done us by the law of our land as the men of other lands have done.
Our nation is in the extreme crisis of its existence and men should 
search their very souls to find just and reasonable causes for every
thought and act. If you, making this search shall find "State's Rights"
17

a sufficient cause to lead you to vote "no" on the Federal Suffrage
Amendment, then, with all the gentleness which should accompany the
reference to a sacred memory, let us tell you that your cause will bear 
neither the test of time nor critical analysis, and that your vote will 
compel your children to apologize for your act.
Already your vote has forwarded some of the measures which are
far more distinctly State's Rights questions than the fundamental demand
for equal human rights.  Among such questions are the regulation of
child labor, the eight-hour law, the white slave traffic, moving pictures,
questionable literature, food supply, clothing supply, prohibition.  All of
these acts are in the direction of the restraint of "personal liberty" in 
the supposed interest of the public good.  Every instinct of justice, every
principle of logic and ethics is shocked at the reasoning which grants
Congress the right to curtail personal liberty but no right to extend it.
"Necessity knows no law" may seem to you sufficient authority to tax
the incomes of women, to demand exhausting amounts of volunteer
military service, to commandeer women for public work and in other
ways to restrain their liberty as war measures.  But by the same token
the grant of more liberty may properly be conferred as a war measure.  If
other lands have been brave enough to extend suffrage to women in war
time, our own country, the mother of democracy, surely will not hesitate.
We are told that a million or more American men will be on European
battlefields ere many months.  For every man who goes, there is 
one loyal woman and proably more who would vote to support to the
utmost that man's cause.  The disloyal men will be here to vote.  Suffrage
for women now as a war measure means suffrage for the loyal forces,
for those who know what it means "to fight to keep the world safe for
democracy."
The framers of the Constitution gave unquestioned authority to Congress
to act upon woman suffrage.  Why not use that authority and use
it now to do the big, noble, just thing of catching pace with other nations
on this question of democracy?  The world and posterity will honor you
for it.
In Conclusion
In conclusion, we know, and you know that we know, that it has been
the aim of both dominant parties to postpone woman suffrage as long as
possible.  A few men in each party have always fought with us fearlessly,
18

but the party machines have evaded, avoided, tricked and buffeted
this question from Congress to Legislatures, from Legislatures to
political conventions.  I confess to you that many of us have a deep 
and abiding distrust of all existing political parties--they have tricked
us so often and in such unscrupulous fashion that our doubts are
natural.  Some of you are leaders of those parties and all are members.
Your parties we also know have a distrust and suspicion of new women
voters.  Let us counsel together.  Woman suffrage is inevitable--you 
know it.  The political parties will go on--we know it.  Shall we then
be enemies or friends?  Can party leaders in twelve States really obtain
the loyal support of women voters when those women know that the same
party is ordering the defeat of amendments in States where campaigns 
are pending, or delaying action in Congress on the Federal Amendment?
Gentlemen, we ask you to put yourselves in our place.  What would you
do?  Would you keep on spending your money and your lives on a slow,
laborious, clumsy State method, or would you use the votes you have
won to complete your campaign on behalf of suffrage for all women in
the nation?  Would you be content to keep a standing army of women,
told off for the special work of educating men in the meaning of democracy;
would you raise and spend millions of dollars in the process; would
you give up every other thing in life you hold dear in order to keep
State campaigns going for another possible quarter of a century?  Would
you do this and see the women of other countries leaving you behind, or
would you make "a hard pull, a long pull and a pull altogether" and
finish the task at once?  You know you would choose the latter.  We
make the same choice.
Do you realize that in no other country in the world with democratic
tendencies is suffrage so completely denied as in a considerable number of
our own States?  There are 13 black States where no suffrage for women 
exists, and 14 others where suffrage for women is more limited than in
many foreign countries.
Do you realize that no class of men in our own or in any other land
have been compelled to ask their inferiors for the ballot?
Do you realize that when you ask women to take their cause to State
referendum you compel them to do this; that you drive women of education,
refinement, achievement, to beg men who cannot read for their political 
freedom?
Do you that such anomalies as a College President asking her
19

janitor to give her a vote are overstraining the patience and driving 
women to desperation?
Do you realize that women in increasing numbers indignantly resent 
the long delay in their enfranchisement?
Your party platforms have pledged woman suffrage. Then why not 
be honest, frank friends of our cause, adopt it in reality as your own, 
make it a party program and "fight with us"? As a party measure–a 
measure of all parties–why not put the amendment through Congress 
and the Legislatures? We shall all be better friends, we shall have a 
happier nation, we women will be free to support loyally the party of our 
choice and we shall be far prouder of our history.
"There is one thing mightier than kings and armies"–aye, than 
Congresses and political parties–"the power of an idea when its time 
has come to move." The time for woman suffrage has come. The 
woman's hour has struck. If parties prefer to postpone action longer 
and thus do battle with this idea, they challenge the inevitable. The idea 
will not perish; the party which opposes it may. Every delay, every 
trick, every political dishonesty from now on will antagonize the women 
of the land more and more, and when the party or parties which have so 
delayed woman suffrage finally let it come, their sincerity will be doubted 
and their appeal to the new voters will be met with suspicion. This is 
the psychology of the situation. Can you afford the risk? Think it over.

We know you will meet opposition. There are a few "woman 
haters" left, a few "old males of the tribe," as Vance Thompson calls 
them, whose duty they believe it to be to keep women in the places they 
have carefully picked out for them. Trietschke, made world famous by 
war literature, said some years ago: "Germany, which knows all about 
Germany and France, knows far better what is good for Alsace-Lorraine 
than that miserable people can possibly know." A few American 
Trietschkes we have who know better than women what is good for 
them. There are women, too, with "slave souls" and "clinging vines" 
for backbones. There are female dolls and male dandies. But the world 
does not wait for such as these, nor does Liberty pause to heed the 
plaint of men and women with a grouch. She does not wait for those 
who have a special interest to serve, nor a selfish reason for depriving 
other people of freedom. Holding her torch aloft, Liberty is pointing the
 way onward and upward and saying to America, "Come."
To you the supporters of our cause, in Senate and House, and the

20
number is large, the suffragists of the nation express their grateful 
thanks. This address is not meant for you. We are more truly appreciative 
of all you have done than any words can express. We ask you to
 make a last, hard fight for the amendment during the present session. 
Since last we asked for a vote on this amendment your position has 
been fortified by the addition to suffrage territory of Great Britain, 
Canada and New York.
Some of you have been too indifferent to give more than casual 
attention to this question. It is worthy of your immediate consideration–
a question big enough to engage the attention of our Allies in war time, 
is too big a question for you to neglect.
Some of you have grown old in party service. Are you willing 
that those who take your places by and by shall blame you for having 
failed to keep pace with the world and thus having lost for them a party 
advantage? Is there any real gain for you, for your party, for the nation 
by delay? Do you want to drive the progressive men and women out of 
your party?
Some of you hold to the doctrine of State's rights, as applying 
to woman suffrage. Adherence to that theory will keep the United 
States far behind all other democratic nations in action upon this 
question. A theory which prevents a nation from keeping up with the 
trend of world progress cannot be justified.
Gentlemen, we hereby petition you, our only designated representatives, 
to redress our grievances by the immediate passage of the Federal 
Suffrage Amendment and to use your influence to secure its ratification 
in your own state, in order that the women of our nation may be endowed 
with political freedom before the next presidential election, and that 
our nation may resume its world leadership in democracy.
Woman suffrage is coming–you know it. Will you, Honorable 
Senators and Members of the House of Representatives, help or 
hinder it?
21

WOMEN'S WAR SERVICE
IN 
GREAT BRITAIN
"Short of actually bearing arms in the field, there is hardly a service
which has contributed, or is contributing, to the maintenance of our
cause in which women have not been at least as active and as efficient as
men, and wherever we turn we see them doing, with zeal and success, and
without any detriment to the prerogatives of their sex, work which three
years ago would have been regarded as falling exclusively within the
province of men.  This is not a merely sentimental argument, though it
appeals to our feelings as well as our judgment.  But what I confess
moves me still more in this matter is the problem of reconstruction when
the war is over.  The questions which will then necessarily arise in regard to
to women's labor and women's functions and activities in the new ordering
of things--for, do not doubt it, the old order will be changed--are
questions in regard to which I, for my part, feel it impossible, consistently
either with justice or with expediency, to withhold from women the
power and the right of making their voice directly heard."--MR. ASQUITH,
March 28, 1917.
"I have been all my life a consistent opponent of the extension of the
franchise to women.  * * *  I would vote for the recommendations 
of this Conference, wholly from beginning to end, much though I dislike
some of them, rather than raise my voice today against the granting
of recognition to the women who have not only, as the Prime Minister
said, suffered and died for their country in many of the fields of war,
but, let there be no mistake, without whose heroism, self-denial, skill,
physical strength and endurance this country could never have successfully
faced the crisis through which we are passing."--MR. WALTER
LONG, March 28, 1917.
EARL OF DERBY.
July 13, 1916.  Queen's Hall, Y. W. C. A. Meeting.
Women are now part and parcel of our great army.  Without them it
22

would be impossible for progress to be made, but with them I believe that
victory can be assured.
RT. HON. HERBERT SAMUEL, M. P.
September, 1915.  Coventry.
The man or woman who makes the shell or fuse is as valuable in this
campaign as the man who fires the shell.
MR. F. KELLAWAY (Parliamentary Secretary to Ministry of Munitions),
January, 1917.
In a sense it is true that our armies in the field have been saved by the 
efforts of our women.  There are at present in national factories and
controlled establishments close on half a million women working day and
night, who are as really protecting the sanctity of their homes and the
national honor as are the men who, with incomparable bravery, storm the
German positions.  * * *
Our women have come forward voluntarily, and will come forward
in greater numbers as soon as they realize the national need.  If we succeed,
as we shall succeed, in overwhelming the mass of material which 
Germany will have prepared, it will be because the women in this kingdom
have shown themselves willing to work for the cause for which their
men are prepared to die.
BARON GAINFORD OF HEADLAM (RT. HON. J. A. PEASE, M. P.)
July 3, 1916.  Annual statement to House of Commons re Telephone
Service.
In connection with Zeppelin raids, the work of the women who have
come forward voluntarily to do duty at night deserves, I think, very high
praise.  Hundreds of women have thus come forward.  When Zeppelin
raids have been anticipated, and sometimes when they have been going
on, these women have come out of their homes, and even when bombs 
were dropping, gone to their positions in the various exchanges.  They
have played an important part in an organized scheme of air-raid warnings, 
and in gallantry and self-sacrifice they have set a good example to 
the whole country.
LORD SYDENHAM.
July 13, 1916.  At the Queen's Hall Meeting (Y. W. C. A.)
He expressed the opinion that the great advance of our splendid army
23

could not have been accomplished but for the untiring labors of the
women.
RT. HON. E. S. MONTAGU, M. P.
August 15, 1916.  In Report on Munitions.
Now I want to say a word about women.  Women of every station,
with or without previous experience of the difficulties, or of the strain
and monotony of munition work, have proved themselves able to undertake 
work which before the war was regarded as solely the province of
men and often of skilled men alone.
Indeed, it is not too much to say that our armies have been saved and
victory assured largely by the women in the munition factories.  * * *
There are, I believe, some 500 different munition processes, upon which
women are now engaged, two-thirds of which have never been performed 
by a woman previous to twelve months ago.  I do not want to elaborate
this point, because it is well known to the House, but I ask the House to 
consider this, together with the work done by women in hospitals, in
agriculture, in transport trades, and in every type of clerical occupation,
and I would respectfully submit, when the time and opportunity offer, it
will be opportune to ask, Where is the man now who would deny to
woman the civil rights which she has earned by hard work?
VISCOUNT FRENCH.
October 28, 1916.  Town Hall, Leeds.
I believe when the history of this war comes to be written the work
of the women of England will furnish some of its most brilliant pages.
RT. HON. W. F. MASSEY.
November 7, 1916.  Guildhall
A nation whose women could rise to an occasion like this would 
always play a prominent part among the nations of the world.
SIR THOMAS BARLOW.
March 14, 1917.  At Institute of Public Health.
Women had wonderful powers of endurance, especially in monotonous
work.
24

RT. HON. SIR E. CARSON, K. C., M. P.
March 17, 1917.  At Albert Hall Meeting.
I should like to be permitted to express on behalf of the Board of
Admiralty our sense of deep obligation to the women who have come forward 
to help us in various ways at this time of national stress.  Before
the war no women were employed in our central offices in London.  We
now avail ourselves of the services of nearly 2,000.  In the Royal Dockyards
and naval establishments at home there were about 450 women employed 
before the war.  There are now about 7,000.  In the private engineering 
shops before the war there were, of course, many women employed;
but the number since the war has increased manifold.  In the
private shipyards before the war there were probably few, if any, women
employed; there are now many thousands.  I could not easily overstate
their devotion to their work.  Their physical endurance is, in my opinion,
beyond the expectation even of those who rightly understand the spirit
which inspires them.  I shall be glad if you will allow me this opportunity
of making this statement, and to say that undoubtedly we shall
want many more women as the work of dilution and substitution in the
Royal Dockyards and naval establishments and in the private engineering
shops and shipyards proceeds.
MR. NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN.
April, 1917.  Interview with Mr. Edward Marshall.
Before the war there was great restlessness among the younger generation
of British women.  They were not satisfied with idleness, yet they
found most occupations barred to them.  Now, through the medium of
National Service, they have had their opportunity, and to it they have
responded in a manner astonishing even to those who thought most highly
of their abilities and capacities.  There never has been a doubt of their 
keen patriotism, but their mental adaptability and even their physical
strength have proved to be surprising.
A veritable revolution has begun in this way, yet it is apparent that
the entrance of Englishwomen into spheres hitherto reserved exclusively
for men has but started.  Where it will end depends to some extent upon
how long the war lasts but we men are beginning to feel convinced that
the wonderful things which women already have done are but samples of
their capabilities.
25

LORD FABER.
May 1, 1917.  Presiding at a meeting on Women's Suffrage, Philosophical
Hall, Leeds.
Women had shown, as was always known, that they had brain and
intelligence, and that they were able to do very much work that had
hitherto been done by men.  At Beckett's Bank, in Park Row, before
there were no women; since the war thirty-two members out of a staff of
sixty had joined the army and their places had been filled by women, who 
did all kinds of work in the bank, and did it extremely well.  At the
offices of the Yorkshire Post, of which he had been chairman for about
thirty years, women were helping in office work, and he was confident
women could do almost everything in the office.  On the London and
North Western Railway, of which he was a director, women were employed
in various capacities; in fact, the railways of this country could
not be run if the women had not come forward.

26

CATT, Carrie Chapman       SPEECH, ARTICLE, BOOK FILE     Speech, Feb. 14, 1920

Feb. 14 1920
This is for you.
[?]. L. W.
NEW YORK LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS
151 EAST 5Oth ST., NEW YORK, N. Y.
ADDRESS
of
CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT
before
LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS
Congress Hotel
Chicago, Illinois
February Fourteenth
Nineteen Twenty

1 MRS. CATT: I am going to ask your indulgence, if you
are willing to make a few feeble remarks on the subject of the 
League of Women Voters.  I am going to ask Mrs. Brooks to take 
the Chair while I do it.
I am very tired.  I always get tired on the second
day of a convention, and then I get cross, and then I get sweeter
as the convention goes on, so there is hope ahead.  I can
only express some ideas, and do so only in a feeble way.
Bismarck one time said it was impossible to estimate
the stupidity of the human race.  I don't think those are the
exact words; however, that is the idea.  Now, we are all stupid,
and we are so stupid in the first place that we can't express
an idea so that other people will get that idea as we see it and
feel it.
In the other place, we are so stupid that we can't understand
other people's ideas.  The result is that there is always 
a confusion about every idea that is at all.
Now, there is some confusion and some misunderstanding
about the League of Women Voters.  You have the right as the
convention of the League of Women Voters to interpret its meaning
in any way that you like, and we must abide by your interpretation.
What I am going to say is not at all a speech for you 
to quote and say that this is what the League of Women Voters is, 
because this is only my own views about it.
I want to treat two subjects at the same time, if I may.

2 We have certain opposition to the League of Women Voters.  That
opposition is pretty largely political.  The people who are interested
in enrolling large numbers in political parties have
expressed here and there rather cutting criticisms of the League
of Women Voters.  They have represented it according to their
own way of looking at it, but quite a different way from the
one in which we who are interested in it believe the League of
Women Voters to be.
They seem to think that it is going to keep women out
of the political parties.  Now, good friends, we have come to
a turn of the road.  For about sixty years we have been appealing
to political parties to give us the vote for there was no
possible way of ever getting that vote until the political parties
were willing that we should have it.  I don't think we have 
ever won the vote in a single state, even by a state referendum,
where one or both of the political parties have not really, in
their machines, given their consent that it should go through,
so powerful are they.
Well, then, is it our intention to remain on the outside
of those political parties as we have been doing for sixty years
and to be applicants for their favor as we always have been?  Are
we going to petition them as we always have done?  Well, if so,
what was the use of getting the vote?  (Applause)
It certainly was never any idea of the League of Women
Voters that we voters should remain out of the parties and appeal

3 to them for their help, for the things that we wanted to do.
The only way to get things in this country is to get them on
the inside of the political party.  (Applause)  More and more
the political parties become the power through which things are
accomplished because you cannot even get a congressional action
or a legislative action unless the political parties represented
there are in one sense willing, so powerful are they.
Now, it is not a question of whether they ought to be 
powerful or ought not to be powerful.  It is the trend of the
present political development and they are powerful and instead
of appealing to them for the things you want, it is better to 
get on the inside and get the things you want.  (Applause)
Recently we have had the observation in the western
states that we never had before.  It was an amazing thing to us 
that the western governors did not call their special sessions 
immediately after the passing of the Federal Amendment.  Now,
those governors were all suffragists, their states were all for
suffrage, and they took on a peculiar "states rights" attitude.
They said "Why, everybody knows how we stand.  What is the use 
of our ratifying?  Let's wait and see if the suffragists can 
get enough other states and then we will make up the last twelve."
And they couldn't see it any other way because there
were always the little local questions that stood in the way.
To my mind, that is not important.  What was important was that 
there were no women that could bring about those special sessions

4 sessions until a good deal of time had elapsed, and that made us
ask the reason why, and we found although the women had been
voting for many years in some of those states, and they had enrolled
in political parties, their positions were pretty largely 
those of a ladies' auxiliary.  (Laughter and applause)
The old suffrage associations had gone to pieces.  There 
was no common body which could stand for a special session and
bring political influence to bear.  There were organizations.
There was a federation of clubs which helped tremendously in
several states, but it isn't an organization that is designed 
for that kind of thing and it doesn't have the machinery with 
which to work politically.  There was no organization.  The
republicans within a republican state or the democrats within
a democratic state did not have the means or the machinery with
which to pull themselves together until somebody else did it for 
them, and to say to their governor of their own party, "You ought
to call this special session for us."
Within the parties they were an auxiliary.  They had 
nothing on the inside.
Now, that may happen in the future and especially will
it happen if the women do not go into the political parties with
the intention of being something more than a me-too inside those
parties.  (Applause)
As I read the signs of the present political progress
of women within the parties, you are going to have within those

5 parties, a continuation of the old familiar strife and it is
just this: We have been engaging for sixty odd years in the
effort to try to persuade men to believe and have confidence in
the capacities of women.  Now, because you get the vote, it
doesn't mean that every man who is an election or a ward or a
county chairmen has suddenly become convinced that women can do
things as well as men.  You have got to begin and convert those
men to the new idea.
They may even say it is all right for women to vote, 
but when it comes to administrative work within the party, that 
is the man's business.  We will hear the old claim again and
you have got to prove your capacity to the men in those parties
where you go, (Applause) and on the other hand, you are going 
to find the mass of women as they always have been, hesitant
and timid and doubting themselves, and content to stand back
and not use the powers and the brains and the conscience that
they have.
They are going to be inclined to think that everything 
that they find to their hands that the men have planned for them
is all right, and so again the same old-facts.  You have go
to stimulate those women to self-respect.  You have got to lead
them on to see that they are not emancipated until they are as
independent within the party as the men are, which isn't saying
much.  (Laughter and applause)
You can't carry on that struggle on the outside.  You

6 can only do it on the inside.  For thirty years and a little
more, I have worked with you in the first lap of this struggle
for women's emancipation.  I do not wish to advise what I cannot 
follow, and I cannot follow in this new struggle that you are going
to make.  Younger and fresher women must do that work, and
because I cannot advise, because I cannot follow, I only wish
to tell you that the battle is there, and that we are not going
to be such quitters as to stay on the outside and let all the
reactionaries have their way on the inside.  (Applause)
Within every party and probably in every state there
is an instant struggle between the progressive elements and the
reactionary elements within our party and there is the platform,
the conduct of the party.  The candidates, very likely are a 
sort of a compromise between these two extremes.  Sometimes the
progressive get the best of it; sometimes the reactionaries do.
Now, when you go into those parties, you will find progressive
elements there and you should make your connections,
provided you are a progressive, with that element within your
party, and you will not find it all easy sailing.  You will be
disillusioned.  You will discover that having the vote isn't
bringing the millennium in one election.
Perhaps when you enter the party you will find yourself 
in a sort of political penumbra where most of the men are.  They 
will be glad to see you and you will be flattered and you will
think how nice it is, and perhaps if you stay there long enough

7 going to dinners, hearing grand speeches, going to the big political
meetings, you will think how charming it is to be a partisan;
but perhaps if you stay, long enough and move around enough, 
and keep your eyes wide enough open, you will discover a little
denser thing, which is the numbra of the political party.  You 
won't be so welcome there.
Those are the people who are planning the platform and
picking out the candidates, doing the real work that you and
the men sanction at the polls.  You won't be so welcome there,
but there is the place to go.  (Applause)
And if you stay there long enough and are active enough,
you will see the real thing in the center, with the door locked 
tight, and you will have a hard, long fight before you get inside
of the real thing that moves the wheels of your party.
Nevertheless it is an interesting struggle and there is one thig
about it that I want to warn you about.  It is the only thing I 
fear about the League of Women Voters.
You must go into those parties.  They are going to
carry your legislation into law and you must be in those parties,
You must move right up to the center of things and get your influence
there, but there is one terrible, terrible enemy.  I 
don't know what else to call it but an incubus.  That is a nice
word.  (I don't know what it means.)  It lies across your pathway,
and that is what we ordinarily call partisanship.
Now, there are two kinds of partisanship.  One is the

8 kind that reasons out that this platform has more things in it
that you belief in than any other and that this party has more 
capability of putting those things into practice than any other.
Therefore, you say, "I will line myself up with that party."
That is one kind.  That is the kind of partisanship that has
led the world onward ever since there were political parties.
(Applause)
There is another kind and that is the kind to be afraid 
of, a kind of partisanship which makes you a republican or a
democrat because you were brought up in those parties and your
grandfather and your father were in them.  You don't know the
antecedents of your party, but you know it is all right.  You
don't know what is your platform.
We have turned in the world's road.  It is a new world
and we don't know what is in those platforms.  It is all right,
whatever is in those platforms or whatever is left out, you are
for it.
Now, that is the kind of partisanship to be afraid of.
Now, there is the kind of partisanship that leads you to know,
if you are a republican, that leads you to believe that all wisdom
and virtue is with the republican party, and if you are a 
democrat leads you to believe that all wisdom and virtue is with 
the democratic party.  It is the kind of thing that blinds
the sight and paralyzes the judgment of anybody who has that
kind of politics.  (Prolonged applause)

9 Partisanship is a brand-new emotion to some of our 
people and they are working it pretty hard, (laughter) and I
find within our own body that women who have worked side by side, who
never knew what the political affiliations of each other were,
now are beginning to look a little askance at each other as if 
the other had some kind of an epidemic that they never dreamed
of before.  (Laughter)
Now, in the League of Women Voters we have this anomaly:
We are going to be a semi-political organization.  We want political
things.  We want legislation.  We are going to educate
for citizenship.  In that body we have got to be non-partisan 
and all partisan.  Democrats from Alabama and republicans from
New Hampshire must be friends and work together for the same
things.  (Applause)
Yet those republicans of New Hampshire have got to get 
inside the republican party in New Hampshire and the democrats
of Alabama, in spite of some recent events, must get inside of
the democratic party.  (Laughter and applause)
You must convert your respective parties to have confidence
in you, confidence in your platform and confidence in the
League of Women Voters.
Now I want to warn you that there is only about one
man in twenty-five that will be big enough to understand that
you, a republican, can work with you, a democrat, in a non-partisan 
party and be loyal to your respective parties.  (Applause)

10
I want to tell you that there is where the danger comes. They are going to criticize you. They are going to discourage you, and if you are timid, you may give way and begin to be suspicious yourself. I want to tell you that the suffragists of this country, in the last half century, more than any group of people in this land, have kept the flag flying of the principles of the Declaration of Independence, the principles of the Constitution, and have held them before the people of this country. (Applause)
I hope that the League of Women Voters -- though it won't be in the Constitution and it won't be in the by-laws-nevertheless I hope that it will so do its work that it will teach this nation that there is something higher than the kind of partisanship that is standpat no matter what happens. (Applause)
More, there is another danger. You know we suffragists have had a very in-growing time these last five or six years. The controversy has virtually been over. There there was a thrill in our campaign when we could go out and fight the real enemies of the cause who had doubts about it. They have been calling us names. 
There has been an in-growing conservatism. When one of my dear friends the other day called me a Tory, I thought perhaps we had been growing conservative. 
Now, the danger is that the League of Women Voters is going to be too timid and too conservative. If you are going to 

11
trail behind the democratic and republican parties about five years, and your program is going to be about that much behind that of the political parties, you might as well quite before you begin. (Applause)
If the League of Women Voters hasn't the vision to see what is coming and ought to come, and be five years ahead of the political party, I don't think it is work it. (Applause)
Now, to sail between the Scylla of partisanship, which will tear from us some of our members and which is sure to bring criticism upon us from the outside, not knowing what really is the motive, and the Charybdis of the temptation to be too conservative on the other side, the League of Women Voters must sail through to glorious success or wreck upon the rocks. 
I have confidence in the conscientious purpose and the high moral outlook of this body, and I believe that it is coming to glorious success. (Applause)
...The audience rose and applauded enthusiastically...

NEW YORK LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS
151 EAST 50TH ST. NEW YORK, N.Y.

CATT, CArrie ChApMAN     SPEECH, ARTICLE, BOOK FILE     Speech, Sep. 15, 1920

NEW YORK LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS
151 EAST 50th ST., NEW YORK, N.Y.

Mrs. Catt's talk to workers, September 15th, 1920
I have urged all women to become a member of a party because it is within a party
that work gets done, yet I have not been able to follow my own advice.  I am at
present occupying a position in the tree tops, looking down and I admire neither one.
We have two classes of women with whom to work.  We have the independent women
and the women who have never learned to vote at all.  There are perhaps many women
who will not vote without being induced to vote by argument.  These women are the
ones from whom we will draw and are probably our best field of endeavor and the other
is the independent women who are willing to scratch their ticket.  Consequently, in
mobilizing our material you will understan that I have in mind, not how to work with
the Democratic women, but the kind of argument to give to the Republican or independent
women.  I think that the best way to approach this in order not to waste time is to
take up the arguments that the Republican women would offer against scratching our ticket,
because that is the first thing you have got to do in approaching these women.  Next, 
proceed with the reasons why we should vote against Wadsworth. Third, answer Wadsworth's own defence of himself.  This covers the whole situation. Last, to vote for Wadsworth is irregular and disloyal since he won his nomination before the Primary.  The Republican organization of New York is conducting the campaign for Wadsworth.  Of course you all know what the organization is.  The mass of Republicans outside have nothing to do with it any more than you or I.  He is appealling to the Republicans to be regular.  That means both man and women.  If we feel that he is not the person whom we should endorse, there are thousands of men who have suffered this same sort of condition.  This Republican organization is itself irregular, in designating an entire ticket in advance of the Primary in July.  It was called for the purpose of forming a platform.   In order that no slip in the Wadsworth nomination should take place, several women, perhaps some in this room, were refused an appointment because they refused to vote for Wadsworth.  That is the first important thing to say--that the machine dominated by Barnes is irregular.  By voting for Wadsworth, you endorse irregular methods, which are undemocratic and un-American.  By voting against Wadsworth, we vote in favor of regularity.  The Republicans try to justify their irregular methods by saying that the Democratic method's were just  as crooked. It is not the attitude of Republican women to chastise the Party.
     Candidates in the Primary are put forward by groups or leaders. They  put in the petition necessary, or a person might come forward and say "I am an independent candidate".  They should have allowed them to have been selected at the Primary yesterday.  They were back in the old days.  they have no right to do any other way.  They repudiated the law. 
     I come to the argument that to vote against Wadsworth might put a Democrat in the Senate and thus gain the Senate for the opposing party.  Ever since the Civil War, there has been a contesy in every Presidential Election over the possession of the Senate.  A party makes a platform.  It is in favor of certain things.  Now if the Senate and House are of a different party, they they do not stand or the things that the President has in his platform.  Consequently both parties strive to get a majority in Congress.  The reason is that no human being  before the votes are counted an tell which party will get in.  In 1916 there were two days when Mr. Hughes seemed to be President.  Then it was found that Mr. Wilson was elected. There are likely to be difficulties again.  One can never tell. 
     Whichever candidate carries a state he usually caries an entire ticket, unless there are some special causes which lead voters to scratch the ticket.  The Senate of 1916 was of the same party as the President.  The Democrats said they must have a Democratic Denate.  The same plea was made by the Republicans, so that they would have a Senate of the same party as Hughes.  In California that argument was used so much that the Republican women very largely voted for Johnson because they wanted Hughes to have a Republican Senate.  They did not approve of Johnson, yet they voted for him and he was elected.  At the time Hughes was in California, it was arranged that Johnson  stay in the same hotel as Hughes, but that Hughes should not meet him at all.  The friends of Johnson worked hard, but knifed Hughes.  This story spread over the whole country.  It seemed tricial.  I will tell you in the privacy of this room, men are trivial.  The Republicans defeated the Hughes faction, yet elected Johnson.  Consequently there was one Senator Wilson did not have. 
     It would be well to remember that in New York in the 1918 Election, the Republicans won the entire State ticket with the exception of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor, and they laid the blame upon the women because he was not a Suffragist.  But he was knifed by the men. 
     In each election unless there are vacancies, there are 32 United States Senators to be elected.  Among the 64 who do not come up for reelection, there are 30 Democrats and 34 Republicans (Hold overs). There are 32 to be elected.  In order to get one-half of the Senate, which is considered a working majority, the Democrats must elect 19; the Republicans, 15. 
    There are Democrats elected in certain states which are absolutely  impossible to change.  You will see when you read the names that you cannot get the Republican Senators out of them:  Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina.  Thus we have eight Democratic Senators to start off with.  There is no contest over them. 
     The republicans have a list where they are sure of election:  Iowa, Kansas, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington.  That makes six.  Consequently when you have again subtracted certain Democrats, the Democrats have to scratch for ten to get their majority and the Republicans, nine. 
     The Democrats have eight Senators that are certain.  That leaves eleven to vote for.  The Republicans have six certain, and nine to vote for.  You may take these four and subtract from the eleven that are certain.  This leaven seven that you have got to get.  Now the Republicans have three states that are probable.  One is California. Also South Dakota and Utah.  In Utah, Mr. Smoot (Republican) is up to succeed himself.  They say that the division is quite aside from religion, but the President of the Mormon Church is a Democrat so the Republicans are a little anxious.  Mr. Smoot is one of the few in the Senate who is 100% in attendance.  He never has been peired.  He is stand-pat and conservative.  Utah is certain.  There is South Dakota.  Not quite Certain of California.  The Republicans think they will carry California.  If you lose in one place, you will gain in another. 
     In Oregon the Republicans are claiming the Senator.  Mr. Chamberlain, a Democrat, has been elected in a Republican State for a good many years.  I give that to the Democrats although the Republicans claim it.  Oregon to the Democrats;  Idaho to the Democrats.  The reason for that is that last year the Non-Partisan League in Idaho stood between the Democrats and Republicans.  Republicans are sure to get New Hampshire and Connecticut.  Of course women suffragists are a good deal stirred up over Mr. Brandegee.  I hear that Cummings is not going into the race unless the women are for him.  Thus we have New Hampshire, Connecticut and Illinois.  That makes them require now only three.  Now we have left Ohio and New York.  There are opportunities in these states I have mentioned to gain one or two Republicans if the whole country should switch Republican.  If the Republicans carry Indiana and Ohio for the President they will carry in a Republican Senator. 
     I omit Missouri and Kentucky.  Kentucky went Republican in the last election.  They did not quite carry the whole legislature, but elected a Governor.  The present Senator, Mr. Beckham, is up for reelection and is a Democrat.  He may be elected but the Republicans expect to carry the Senate there. 

I do not mention Wisconsin. They have scrap over Lenroot anda candidate LaFollette put up. The Democrats think that with such a scrap they will get in. I would say the Republicans would get in. 
In Missouri the Republicans expect to elect Mr. Spencer. The Democrats are expecting to get a Democratic Senator. Out of these three states the Republicans are certain to get at least two. That gives a majority with one to spare. New York is not counted at all. If the country goes Republican, the Senate will be Republican. Almost invariably the Senate goes with the President. Not until 1918 was it changed. Taking it state by state, the Republicans will come pretty near carrying the country. They are sure to carry the Senate. We can out Wadsworth without risking the loss of the Senate to the Republicans. 
Four. People say that the attitude of the Suffragists toward Wadsworth is spitefulness. His attitude upon the question of woman Suffrage was symptomatic of the mental processes at which he arrives at all conclusions. Miss Young in the Citizen says that the cause is bigger. That he refused to represent the voters of this state. New York voters cannot cast their own votes in Washington. They have to be represented by their Senators and Congressmen. Wadsworth votes his own way, not the state's way. The human mind reacts in the same way every time. Just as a sewing is built to sew and a washing machine is built to wash. You cannot make a sewing machine wash, nor a washing maching sew. Wadsworth's mind reacts in the same way every time. He is opposed by instinct to all things that are not now in existence. All people [think] like to think they have reasons for this. He tries to back up his instinct by argument. He may be depended upon without exception to oppose everything that does not now exist. If you will go into his record, you will find that he has failed consistently to vote for reforms that go under the head of welfare. For example. Take Wilson's mind. You will find that his mind comes back to everything in the same way. His is a slow mind. He is slow in coming to a decision, but is over stubborn in defence of that idea. Take Taft. He approaches the thing in a judicial way. He sees both sides and gets on both sides. He says Women Suffrage is coming, but it is not time for it. Always a "but". Take Roosevelt. His is a fitful, moody temperament. He would say women Suffrage is coming, here you lummaxes, net out of the way of. There were these three presidents of ours and that is the way their minds worked. Wadsworths' mind works differently. He says Women Suffrage is not coming; it is preposterous. Thus those who want progress will vote to remove him from the middle of the road. 
(Shows picture of Wadsworth) He has a high forehead, which shows that he has intellect. That he will be interested in something if it interests him. His mouth shows that he has egotism. His eyes are brazen. His chin is weak to the point of craftiness. His hand writing is that of a bookkeeper, small, cramped and indicates a narrow vision.
Answer to the argument that we are working against him for revenge. Wadsworth's records on the Suffrage is the same kind of record he has made on every kind of reform and always will make because his mind can work in no other way. We want to defeat Wadsworth because his conduct is offensive. This is the only way to move things forward. 
Walker is no better than Wadsworth. But is better to have a change of incompetence. A change of candidates in the only cure for bad nominations. No excuse serves as apology for election to office of a inefficient legislator. There are salaried officers who may [do the work of] have the work done by lieutenants of clears, but when a legislator is out of line with popular sentiment, nothing can e done but to remove him. If we have an incompetent Secretary of State, the clerks are men who have been there for years and so all of the work, and it does not so much affect the public, as a legislator. 
Tammany will aid Wadsworth if Murphy and Barnes are in league. It is not the first time that has happened. We are rather willing to believe that sort of thing. 
The only thing to do in my mind is to smoke them out. That is to ask all Tammeny chiefs you know and Republican chiefs if that is true, and whether the Republicans are supporting Walker. 
This I have heard. That opposing candidates in power will make women unpopular. They will have to appeal to women to stand by their party for some other reason. 
About Wadsworth's popularity with the men. Wadsworth is a gentlemen. He is a graduate of Yale. He has a good many qualities that seem to be superior. For that reason he is one of the most dangerous elements in politics. He seems good. He is not a bad man. He is a suitable guest at a dinner party. But he does not represent that people. Men do like him and we must make them see that his mind works in groove of reaction. He is likeRoot. Root represents the interests. He has made his reputation by serving the interests and not the people. If the parties stand pat as they do in Tennessee why we would never move for a hundred thousand years. (Some one asked what should be said, when people say they will vote for him because he is an Elk and so are they. Say there are other groups that are opposing him. 
Another reason for working against him. I do not know whether this appeals to you or not, but it does to me. The Empire State [? the largest representation] is the largest and richest. It should be a leader among the states. Our senator ought to be a leader in that body and if any man tells you Dr. Wadsworth is a leader in the United States Senate, you may tell him that is absolutely false. He is not a leader and will never be a leader. There are no two ways of looking at that. I want to touch upon a very delicate thing. I advise you to be delicate. We have had an example of the Senate's action over the Treaty of Peach for a whole year and whatever side anybody may be on concerning that Treaty of Peace, there can be but one conclusion in reference to what the Senate did. They made a mess of it. They wanted to amend it and they could not. Every newspaper in this country states that it was due to lack of leaders. Wadsworth was no smaller than some other men in that Senate, but if had been a leader we would have gotten somewhere. Walker will not be a leader, but I think every state in the Union should take their Senators out and send them home. I do not say that we should have ratified the Treaty, but some disposition should have been made with it. The action of the Senate has been a disgrace before the World. We are We are not responsible for Lodge or Reed, but we are responsible for Wadsworth. I think we should have a big man in the Senate. Nevertheless, we want to turn out the present man. That is a powerful reason for putting out Wadsworth. 
Ours is a representative Government, although I am sorry to say that our people do not realize it. Our legislators represent us. Therefore when a legislator is up for reelection I should ask myself, will he vote for laws in the future which I want. The State of New York will endorse Wadsworth's record if they elect him. Wadsworth has never supported any class of laws the women want. He has always opposed all kinds of labor legislation, which organized labor has demended. Intelligent labor is against him. He opposed all Prohibition measures except the Volstead Act. The first time the Volstead Act was passed the President vetoed it. It was passed the second time and they passed it over his veto. Wadsworth voted for it when he could punch the President, but not any other time. 
He has opposed every form of welfare legislation of every kind. Consequently he is opposed by all reformers. He supported a big navy in Peace times and is opposed by anti-militarists. He opposed the confirmation of Brandies' elevation to the Supreme Court. The Jews of Massachusetts voted out Senator Weeks, who did the same thing. The Jews of New York could do the same thing. Brandies was opposed ostensibly because he was a reformer, but the real reason was that a Jew had never occupied such a position. I have heard it said in 1915 that the Jews will control New York. One in every four person in New York is a Jew. Brandies was an able and distinguished man. That Wadsworth does not represent the people is the thing I have tried to bring out here. 

-5-
The reason of reasons why Wadsworth should be opposed by every self-respecting 
American is that he has always voted with the interests. Special interests, machines,
and politics are almost always corrupt. Legislation attempts to control its policies
and methods. I happen to have lived in the state which made the first attack upon
the Railroads. It was something about long and short hauls and the two Railroads
which went through the town took off one-half the trains there so but one passenger
train stopped a day. This boycott was put upon the people by the Railroads because
the legislators put down their freight rates. Since that time there has been a 
Railroad lobby in every legislature in this country. The brewers and Railroads employ
intelligent workers as lobbyists in every legislature and and in the National Capitol. 
The packers who supply our meat have strong lobbyists in Washington. The textile factories
which supply our cottons and woolens are among those in certain states controlling
these lobbies. In each state they oppose Suffrage because it controls labor. One
reason for this is that it leaves more and more money for dividends and another is 
love of power. Take the Armours and Cudahys: they are rivals, but will work together.
It is the same motive the Kaiser had for wanting to control the world.

How much they have done to bribe legislators we shall never know, because [for]
they are so cleverly concealed we cannot detect them. One Railroad said they had
spent a million dollars to get control. They have a method of retaining the best 
lawyers in the state and they retain them for general business. In Tennessee the
lawyers retained by the L. and N. Railroad were all opposed to ratification and
were all on the job. They are expert strategists, unscrupulous and in many cases
use bribery. Machine politics is the official management in many cases. 

Tammany is the Democratic official machine. Barnes is outside. He controls and largely 
influences the Republican machine. Roosevelt smashed the Barnes machine. The minute
Roosevelt died, Barnes crawled back and put up Wadsworth. So we have had a condition
for thirty years of Railroad vs. people; Manufacturers vs. people; Coal mines vs. 
people; packers vs. people; etc. Senator Wadsworth has voted with the interests
and against the people. No charge can be substantiated that he has ever accepted
a bribe. He has avoided that with care. He has never failed to vote on the side
of the interests which give bribes. If Mr. Wadsworth is elected he would control
1/96 of the laws to be made in the next six years. The record on which this claim 
is based will come to you a little later. (We have complete record of the packers
in the National Healquarters).

The entire nation knows more or less of the brazenness of the Wadsworth Anti-Suffrage 
record. In fact he is only known outside of New York on that account.
Men and women all over the country are looking to see what the women will do.
Quotation from Philadelphia paper, Portland Oregonian, Fort Worth Record.
**************
Wadsworth's candidacy was launched on Lincoln's Birthday, 1919. The American 
Issue referred to it as a "Beer Orgy", conducted by Barnes.

There are two or three things about his Suffrage record which perhaps you do
not know. Wadsworth after having worked against Suffrage here in the state of New
York, then worked against it in the house to prevent its submission. When the Suffrage
movement was born, Mrs. Mackay was anxious to help us. She was high up in society
and had influence. She was anxious to know how to get the vote and when we explained
she said Wadsworth was her counsin and she would go up and get his vote. She went
up and came back the most crestfallen person. Wadsworth was able singlehanded and
alone to keep us from getting the vote as long as he was speaker. In the campaigg
of 1915 he presided as Speaker. After New York carried, every Senator changed their
votes when the states went for it. Wadsworth did not as you know and worked and voted
against it upon all occasions. In the 56th Congress we lacked only one vote,
Wadsworth is responsible for our losing it in that Congress. 

-6-
Senator Gay of Louisiana was Suffragist but wanted States Rights. Democrats tried
to find another form of amendment. We were all in a state of fever, but finally there
was an amendment which we were willing to accept. Mr. Gay would vote for the amendment
in that form. Therefore, he had the 3/4 in the Senate. Then we went to the
House to find out whether they would accept it. It was hard work and had to be done
in the last few days. Finally we had 2/3 in the Senate and 2/3 in the House. Only
two days and nights remained. 2/3 in both houses and to secure the right to get the
report of the Committee on the floor, it required unanimous consent, so Mr. Jones, Chairman, 
was on hand every minute of this two days, and every once in a while would get up
and ask. Senator Weeks and Senator Wadsworth each other. They would always rise
say "I object." Wadsworth stayed up the whole of one night to make that objection.
So by that kind of filibuster Wadsworth and Weeks were able to prevent 2/3 majority
of Congress from submitting that objection. No other men was responsible except
these two. Massachusetts voted Weeks out. Had it been submitted it would have become
a law in 1919, as 42 were in session and 38 were pledged to ratify. He was opposed
to Suffrage, we will forgive him that, but we cannot forgive him for that thing which
kept it back for many years. After the Amendment was submitted he was asked [?]
a Republican going to vote for the Federal Amendment. He said the Republican Party is
split on the subject. A reporter from the World interviewed him and asked him if
as a representative of New York State, he was a U.S. Senator and did not think it should
be forced on Ohio, so would vote against it. Quotation from Mail. Asks if Wadsworth
represents Ohio or New York, or does he represent anything but his own stupid self?

Afternoon Session.
Mrs. Wright of Kansas City, was a delegate or at any rate went to San Francisco
and before the Committee of the Democratic National Convention she was allowed to make
this same speech condemning Reed as one of the Big Four. After she got through Carter 
Glass said that after hearing Mrs. Wright he felt like apologizing to the women of the 
 Nation for the attitude he had taken. It has taken him a long time to see the light. 
Cordell Hull of Kentucky came to [Kentucky] Nashville and stayed all the way through. I 
never worked with anyone who was so anxious as he was. All these do it for a good 
reason, not because they believe in the justice of it. There are some exceptions.
Mr. Wadsworth was nominated for reelection by Mr. Barnes at the luncheon
on Lincoln's Birthday, 1919. The Lincoln's Birthday, 1920 luncheon was given at the 
Astor. It might have been given to remove the stigma of the one given in 1919. There
were 1200 men and women. His own people sent out the publication
in the papers makes many comments on Prohibition. Quotation for the World, In 
September, 1919, Mr. Kildreth wrote him a letter and asked him how he stood. This was 
long after New York had ratified. I have not time to read you his entire answer.
(Quotation from letter)
(Quotation from World Sept 19, 1919.)
Much has been said about Mr? Wadsowrth's efforts in other states and just what 
he did and he has said himself that he never lifted a finger. I have read his letter to
Anit-Suffragists. He wishes them every success. Whatever he may actually have done
has been done privately. I do not know just how far a man is responsible for his wife, 
or how far a woman in responsible for her husband. There is a paper called the Woman 
Patriot. (Shows paper) Of course very little can go in a paper of that size. This 
is published weekly at 726-14th Street N.W. Washington. Mrs. Wadsworth is President, 
No editor is given on this paper. There are some contributing editors, Henry Watterson, 
Octave Thanet, Rossiter Johnson, and Henry Holt. At one time Mrs. Bronson edited
it but now her name is gone. Mrs. Wadsworth does not edit it, but her name is at the head 
of the Company. Now for instance. I am President of the Citizen and I rarely she what 
goes into it before the paper appears, but the corporation would be the one that would 
be responsible or sued and I would have to defend this suit. So that Mrs. Wadsworth is 
legally responsible. (Quotation from it) (Quotation from Tribune of August 21st.)
Another quotation comparing Carter Glass to Benedict Arnold)
(Reads poem.)
What did Wadswoth do not for the outside station? What he did in the long ago I do
not pretend to know, but he did frank leaflets to the states that had campaings by the 
thousand. He sent them to Oklahoma and Michigan. Mr. Catron of New Mexico wrote the meanest
speech that was ever written. He probably did not write it himself. But it was read 
into the Congressional Record by Mr. Catron. After he was gone, it was again read into 
the Record by Martine of New Jersey. After Mr. Martine retired, Reed then read it into 
the Record. This was franked by Wadsworth. The way this done is as fellows: You pay
for the printing of it at an astounding low rate. They are badly printed but we find
that they are largely read by rural people. You do not have to pay anything for the
postage. You can have them delivered in some central place. In the printers Department
in Washington they keep on file a record of everything that goes out and who orders it.
We asked a friend to get this information for us, the things that were sent out by
Mr. Wadsworth. He sent it to me with his own word that his was sent out by Wadsworth, 
also the envelope ordered by Wadsworth. He sent then to Michigan in 1918. Wadsworth
did go to speak against the Federal Amendment in both Texas and Boston but it was
before it was submitted. Wadsworth may not have talked publicly against it agter it
was submitted. 
His record has been made out by himself. He says he has introduced or passed 

-2-
a phenominal number of bills- about fifty. During the war the Senators are on a 
number of Committees that do not exist in Peace times and they do work very hard.
Wadsworth was in charge of the Military Affairs Committee. That is the one thing
he is interested. He was interested himself in this and is well informed in Miltary
affairs. He has done everything for the development of the Army. If a bill was to
be passed it was reported to Wadsworth and he would see that it was introduced. There
is in the Senate a bill preparing room, where experts are employed all the time. If
you want to pass a bill, you have to go there and say "I want to pass a bill. Then
they draw it up. All the bills Mr. Wadsworth boasts about pertain to military affairs.
Most of them are of the smallest possible worth. Wadsworth has written a letter to all
the Republicans of the state. He does not say much of anything. On Suffrage he says
it is States Rights. You remember that we had a war in this nation to settle the
question of States Rights. The Republicans were on the nation. Wadsworth
is on the side of the Democrats on that question. When he opposes this thing he
opposes the United States Constitution, which provides for Amendments by the process we
have given. 
Senator Wadsworth in his letter printed in the Tribune last winter says that
he passed child labor bills, while the facts are no child labor bills of any sort
were passed prior to 1913. This was three years after Wadsworth left the Assembly.
He also claims the eight hour law. This was during his term as speaker. The fact
is the only eight hour law passed in this state is one which applies to the work
on the State Buildings. To work performed by private contractors on state construction.
Wadsworth did not do that. It was done by Rook of New York City, a labor man. Years
before Wadsworth entered the teeth of the eight hour law were put in by Roosevelt. This
was in 1899.
(Quotes from Sealchlight, Washington) The Railroad bill is especially offensive to
labor people. Strikes become unlawful. He voted for that. This is opposed by the
labor people because the Railroads can bring pressure on the men. He was for the
Shields Water Power bill. There was a time when Railroad bonds were the best investment
you could get. They have very largely given way to bonds for various kinds of
lighting companies. Electric power is therefore very much used. This comes from
Niagara Falls, dams, etc. Consequently water power anywhere oh lands which a few years
ago were rejected have assumed commercial interest. William Kent, (California, Democrat)
remained in Washington after he left Congress to fight this group. I state without
fear of contridiction that this is a dangerous group. Gifford Pinchot fought them for
years. Wadsworth voted for the bills to use the water power.
The League of Nations is decidedly a controversial matter and I advise you to 
merely take the stand that he was not anywhere on it. Was not big enough.
Vote on self-determination. There was a movement to make the Phillipines free
after a certain time, provided that the Phillipine Goverment should be Republican in 
form. Wadsworth voted no in the Senate. I told you this morning about Brandels.
Here is another case. George Rubley was nominated as a member of the Federal
Trade Commission. Both political party reactionaries of of the Senate took this man
out. Wadsworth voted against his confirmation. (Quotes from Searchligh)
Wadsworth was absent 81 times. 245 times present. That is not so bad as some.
He says he was in Europe one time when the Child Labor bills came up and another time was
unavoidably detained. Why was he never detained when Suffrage came up to be voted on?
He never makes sacrifices when the welfare bills come up but was always there if
curtailing the number. 
He always protects the interests against the people. In reference to his
military record, I was mistaken when I said he resigned when the war came on. He
resigned when there was a threat of war with Mexico. The commander of his company
told me that he himself asked Wadsworth not to resign from the Senate. That it would

-3-
be very much more important for him to serve in the Senate than on the Border. Said
he could do more for the Country in the Senate. Has he [made a single] introduced a
single good measure in the Senate?Not one. Has he made a speech which tipped the
scale in favor of one? No. It is not quite fair to say that he did not do anything
for the War. Many of the bills were necessary for the War. So far he has never
carried through one single measure for the benefit of the people. He has always voted
as the Railroads, machines, brewers, manufacturers, etc. wanted the votes cast.

Do not repeat this. the truth of the matter is that Mr. Wadsworth is rather
a negative than a positive record. Now Mr. Reed has a positive record. He broke
into everything. He is clever. Wadsworth is not smart enough to take a positive
attitude. He was too clever or too stupid whichever you want to call it, to endorse
these interests. He does not work actively for the interests, but they know that they
have him as a sympathetic member of the Senate. Wadsworth was not paid for what he
did, but could be depended to vote upon the side of the packers when anything came up.
He is always against the people and for the interests. His instincts go that way, But
there is not one awful thing that he has done to bring him out as a bold endorser. A
bolder man like Reed could come out and swing something for the interests and get away
with it. Wadsworth recognizes his own character and does not do this. He is a small
man, never has been a leader and this makes him a menace in the political life. There is
a story which may be of use if properly told. Many years ago in the State of Kansas
there was a Populist Party which had fused with the Democrats against the Republicans.
They were very strong. There was a very bitter contest. There was a Republican
Congressman who was the greatest orator in the entire state. He was having a hard time
against the fused parties. He called a great rally about two weeks before the campaign
had a barbecue so that all the people would come and have roast meat, as they had to drive
long distances to attend the rally. They had it in a great tent. It was a wonderful
meeting and [he said he] his campaign manager said to him when he sat down "Well Charlie you have won.
This speech has done it." He replied "Well I believe I have." At the moment a woman
in a sunbonnet rose and in a very squeaky voice said "Mr. Chairman". Nobody paid any
attention to her, but she persisted until finally everybody became quiet and she pointed
her finger at the Congressmen and said "Charlie Smith you have made us a fine speeck
today. We all like your speech. But do you know that you never told us a single
think that you have done for us. What have you ever done for us. You have not done 
a think and you cannot deny it." This transformed everyone in the audience so that
he did not get the election.

Wadsworth has never done anything for the people. You get a great many people
to see that he is not so fine a candidate as some people think he is. The labor
and farmer groups say he has never done anything for them. But the movement against
him is not organized. It is easier to vote the straight ticket than it is to scratch. 
It takes more brains to scratch. (Quotation from Searchlight)

(Someone asked the question about Young Roosevelt's saying that "Wadsworth was
too valuable a man to defeat.") Of course Wadsworth has taken the sponsorship
for military training. He believes in enlarging the army and navy. Now Mr. Roosevelt 
probably partakes of his father's leanings. That is not really an issue in this
campaign. Mrs. Reed said that before the war the money paid out for pensions, and maintenance
of the army was greater than was paid out for all other purposes put together. 
When we had a Citizens Conference in Chicago she repeated this. The League of Women
Voters endorsed a bill to make an appropriation for the purpose of eliminating illiteracy.
Objection to is was made that it cost too much money. I regret that I cannot give you
figures. But the educational bill which cost too much money only cost 1/3 what universal 
military training would cost. This is not an issue and it is best not to emphasize
this too much. Roosevelt is emphasizing the one thing that Wadsworth is good for. I 
have no doubt that Wadsworth is a very good member of the Military Affairs Committee. 
But we are not preparing for War. We were not a military nation before 1914. 
(Mrs. Catt read some poens)

-4-
There was a very interesting case of public psychology in the case of Senator
Thurston of Nebraska. He was an eloquent man. That was about all there was to
him. He was not a bad man. You will remember just before the Spanish War, Hearst
paid the expenses of a group of Senators and Congressmen to Cuba. They were to
give a report about conditions there. Senator Thurston took his wife. Her expenses
were paid too. She was taken ill and died in Cuba. They brought her remains to
North Carolina. When her coffin was put in the grave, he jumped down into the grave
and begged them to bury him too. This story went all over the country, and people
who had never heard of him before heard of him then. Congress was convened. They
had a debate of what they found in Cuba and the result was that we went into the War. Senator Thurston made a very manly oration about it. Time passed on. Senator Thurston
asked a lady to go to the theatre with him. She had a white rose which she presented
to him. He went home and wrote an ode to a white rose. I cannot quote it. But
everybody who writes a poem always shows it to somebody. This person gave it to the
Washington Post. As you know Washington has no secrets. There is a man out in
Missouri who can write verses just as other people write prose. Mr. Thurston was a
candidate for reelection at the moment he took the lady to the theatre and it is not too
much to say that he was the most popular man in Nebraska. He was very popular throughout
the United States. This man on the Lincoln paper began writing odes to the ode. 
One was an ode to my old hat. He wrote an ode about everything you can imagine. There
was not one other thing done, but when the legislature men there was not one man who
dared to vote for Thurston. Poetry appeals to lots of people. I am sure that we
could play this same game with Wadsworth. If you have any poems or know of anyone
who could write a good one, Please let us have them.

Miss Hay then said that the papers will print letters. The Tribune and the
Post both will print letters. Mrs. Haskell will write the letters if you will sign them.
She then adjourned the meeting.

Mrs. Slade. 
 
              We can win this fight against Wadsworth if we have taken in what are. Catt says 
and we can go out and make the people realize it.  In order to do this we have to 
spread money, we have to have Railroad fares, writing, etc. We have to have funds. 
If you know anybody who seriously cares to make the fight for Democracy today. I 
know woman who want to come into this matter and fight. It foes not matter whether 
the money comes from New York or not. This is a tremendous question.

               The cry that they are putting up against us is that Wadsworth is not voting 
the way we wanted him to and we want to get back at him. It is subtle and as nasty '
as the German slime. It sticks everywhere. It is the way Wadsworth attacks everything.  
A man who knows Wadsworth came up in the country and asked why I was against 
Wadsworth. I said because he belongs in the middle ages. Have we the right really- 
the great Empire State- to send much a Senator to Washington? Of course we have not.
 We have got hold of something we have no right to keep to ourselves. Those of us 
who have seen the light ought to be like little bends of early Christians who have 
no right to keep the truth to ourselves. When we were talking of asking Mrs. Catt 
to come here and give us the material for our campaign, Hiss Hay said she thought
 we ought to say something about his attitude to General Food. It happened that I 
saw General Food immediately after the Convention. The night after the Convention
 I happened to run into a great many of the Wood following. They all said exactly the 
same thing to me. They happened to be old supporters of Wadsworth. They all said 
the same thing- that Wood had been knifed. Wadsworth said he could not be his 
leader because of his great responsibility as heed of the New York delegation. He 
did not say he intended to leave a strict party can. He never polled his delegation 
because he did not want to let it go so hard that he could not control his delegation 
in the end. The man did not have nerve enough to get up. 

        Take this case of Roosevelt. It is pitiful. He is unconsciously trading on 
his father's name. He has a great deal of enthusiam and only sees his military 
training. He and his Aunt are trying to make up believe that Roosevelt would 
eat his words. I was so shocked when I heard Mrs. Robinson say that if her brother 
were living he would approve of Wadsworth. Roosevelt said: There has hardly 
ever been a man in public life who so openly championed the right of big business 
to do wrong." Suppose Lincoln's son said his father won against emancipation. 
There is one other point I would like to take up. It does not seem important 
which side you and I are on, we have the right because we send him to Washington 
and I do not think we ought to send a man there who is not capable of forming opinions 
until after an event. Do you believe there is a country in the whole world where 
they have not heard what has been going on in Washington. Do you think it is impossible
 for the Senator from New York to know what is going on. A letter was 
written to him "How do you stand on this socialist question?" A man I know got an 
answer. It was just before the final decision was reached at Albany. The answer 
read "Have not yet had time to make up my mind." This from the Senior Senator from 
New York State. Then he went on to say that in any case we could all feel prefectly 
sure it was in such splendid hands whatever decision was reached. 


Mrs. Tiffany:
           I have heard a great deal about Wadsworth on Long Island. I feel we must not
 be too vindictive. I think if we make some concession, acknowledge that he is a 
gentleman, acknowledge that he is a scholar, it would be much better. Our opponents
 are anxious to say we are too sweeping. Wadsworth is against all the legislation 
women stand for. Therefoor we ought to oppose him. I believe we will go further 
I believe psychologically it is better to be more generous.

CATT, CArrie ChApMAN     SPEECH, ARTICLE, BOOK FILE     Speech, 1920

One Thousand and Thirty-eight

The Woman Citizen

From Mrs. Catt's Last Speech for Ratification, Made at Wilmington, Delaware

[Photo caption] Mrs. Catt. Leader of the victorious struggle for woman 
suffrage by federal enactment. After thirty years of ceaseless work for suffrage.

FOR sixty years the educational work for the enfranchisement
of women went forward without a pause. Victories were 
won here and there and sentiment increased everywhere. When 
a quarter of a million women voted in the city of Chicago in 
1914, this sentiment  throughout the country seemed to double
 over night. It gathered in groups, it became outspoken, it asked 
that something be done. When in 1916 the two big political 
parties came out squarely for woman suffrage, a sharp turn in 
the onward march of the movement was taken and every signboard 
along the way pointed to certain victory not far ahead. 
When a year later (1917) the great state of New York by a 
majority of over one hundred
thousand gave a vote to 
women, the final victory was practically won.

The inconsistencies and 
anomalies of the situation 
began to work upon the imagination 
of our people. A 
woman, for instance, might
 move from Delaware to New 
York or California or many 
another state, and there she 
could not only vote, but she
 might be elected to the 
Assembly and help make laws 
for the state. She might even
 be elected to Congress and 
help make laws for the nation, 
and then she might return 
to Delaware where she 
would be denied the right to 
vote for a dog-catcher. An
American woman has just 
been elected to the British 
House of Commons and was 
elected by her blunt common
sense and American humor, 
but should she decide to return
to old home in Virginia, 
she would not be 
trusted to vote for a school 
director under the present
law. Kansas City is two 
cities, one in Kansas, one in 
Missouri, with the big 
Missouri River flowing between. 
On the Kansas side 
the women are voting, enrolled
 with the parties, serving as election officials and keeping 
things clean. On the Missouri side women hold precisely the
 same political status as that accorded to idiots and criminals. 
These anomalies and many more have made people laugh 
at the absurdity - laugh, think and draw conclusions. They 
saw that a continuation of this condition was states rights 
gone mad.

Moreover, the Republican and Democratic Parties, in thirty 
states where women have the right to vote for president in any 
event, are urging women to organize, speak, work and raise 
money for them because therein women are voters, but in eighteen

other states where they are not voters the women are holding these
 same parties blamable for their disfranchisement. The leaders 
have seen clearly that this is an impossible condition. As Lincoln 
said, "the nation cannot exist as half slave and half free," so 
now all intelligent people see that it cannot pose as a friend and 
sponsor of woman suffrage in New York and be its enemy
 in Delaware. 

All these absurdities have been fermenting in the minds of the 
nation and bringing conventions which are sound and unshakable.

So it happened that when Congress on June 4th, 1919 submitted 
a Federal Suffrage Amendment, it found the nation glad to 
receive it.

From the very first day 
when Governor Henry T. 
Allen of Kansas, Republican 
and Dry, and Governor Alfred
Smith of New York, Democrat 
and Wet, responded to 
our telegraphed appeal for a 
special session with a prompt 
call which brought ratification 
in six days after the submission, 
all through the months 
Governors, legislators, the 
chairmen and national committees 
of of the two big parties 
have given such frank, sincere 
and generous aid to the campaign 
of ratification that the 
amendment has broken all 
records.

The Twelfth Amendment 
made the shortest time of any
 yet added to the Constitution. 
It went through in nine 
months and thirteen days, but 
there were only 17 states then 
and 13 had ratified. Our 
amendment had been in the 
process of ratification just 
nine months and thirteen days 
yesterday and had been ratified 
by 34 states. But the 
really significant part of the 
story is that 25 of these ratifications 
took place in special sessions. 

On the whole, the ratifications
have moved forward in 
splendid triumphal procession. Men have stood by the amendment 
heroically and many incidents of courage , nobility of purpose 
and proud scorn of political enemies, have won the gratitude 
of the women of the nation. 

The opponents are not all convinced and it is natural and 
normal that they should have concentrated their frantic efforts 
on the last two or three states. There are women who do not 
want to vote and men who are determined that women shall not 
vote, even if all wanted to. But there are men who not only do 
not want to vote but do not vote. That does not prevent men 
who want to vote from possessing the rights. The vote is a

March 28, 1920
One Thousand and Thirty-seven

A Suffragist Paul Revere
(From some future Chronicle.)
Listen, my daughters, and you shall hear
Of the ride of another Paul Revere;
Of Jesse A. Bloch, a Virginian bold,
Quite as brave as the Revere of old
   *    *    *    *    *    *    *
Although far away, at the Golden Gate, 
He had heard the call from his native state,
And hurried home, this senator brave----
His vote alone could suffrage save;
So he bad the trainmen make all haste,
Through hamlet, town and prairie waste;
By night and by day he eastward sped
O'er the road that to Charleston led,
Where the legislature, you will note,
Call the suffrage amendment up for vote;
Nor stopped by the way, no e'en to dine,
For he must be there that night at nine.
And he vowed he's fail them not, or die,
For the message read:  "It will be a tie
Unless you come ere it be too late
And make West Virginia a suffrage state."
The train sped on, by night and by day,
Fright'ning the folk 'long the right of way;
Onward and onward, into the night,
'Till the light of Charleston came into site.  
   *    *    *    *    *    *    *
And Senator Bloch, with cravat awry,
Rushed into the statehouse and voted "aye!"
                                  ---Columbus, O, Daily Dispatch.  
N.B.  His cravat was not awry.
No cravat could have been straighter----see picture.  

SENATOR JESS A. BLOCH AND MRS. BLOCH
The man who rushed from the Pacific Coast to save ratification
in West Virginia and the Lady who made him do it.  At Chicago
the Senator was given his choice of finishing the journey to 
Charleston by airplane of by train.  He chose the airplane.  She
chose the train.  He came by train.  

CAPTAIN
VICTOR
HEINTZ,
WHOSE
INGENIOUS
FORESIGHT
GAVE
SENATOR
BLOCH
the CHOICE
between
REACHING
WEST
VIRGINIA
by 
AIRPLANE
or by TRAIN

MR. V. L. HIGHLAND,
NATIONAL
REPUBLICAN
COMMITTEEMAN
from WEST
VIRGINIA.
He met
SENATOR BLOCH
in Chicago, and
forwarded the 
ARRANGEMENTS
to get him to
CHARLESTON in
TIME to VOTE
for RATIFICATION

March 27, 1920
liberty extended.  If on election day a man desires to go fishing,
instead of voting, he is no patriot, but he is within his rights.
The vote is therefore no burden, no oppression--one may use
it or not use it.  But the denial of the vote is an oppression for
there are those who desire to exercise their citizen's right to a 
share in the government which they support with their taxes.  
     The opponents of woman suffrage no longer argue the unfitness 
of women to vote, the neglect of home and children, etc.
etc., as was their rule before the amendment was submitted.
Now their cry is states rights, states rights, and their former
arguments have given way to throwing mud and calling suffragists
bad names.  But all these experiences are the symptoms of a lost
cause.  The men of America will see to it that Canada on the
North and Great Britain across the sea, and many other nations
which have already enfranchised their women, shall not long 
carry the leadership in our own national specialty, self-government
---a nation of the people by the people and for the people.

The Woman Citizen
or the Polls
of the vote for the whole city ticket this spring simply because 
the necessary machinery has not been provided to take care of 
their votes. Of course the ratification of the amendment will 
create the special emergency for which the Governor has been 
waiting. Hartford women expect to vote the full city ticket this 
spring. I for one, am anxious to vote for mayor."
Mrs. Thomas B. Chapman, vice-president of the Hartford 
Equal Suffrage Association says, "It is most unfortunate that 
men prominent in the Republican party have created such a 
prejudice among women that they have jeopardized election returns. 
Personally I joined the Republican party because I believe 
in its policies and I should vote for men who represent that party 
but indignation is certain among those women who have borne 
the brunt of the fight for suffrage and who have suffered the 
ignominy put upon them. It is my belief that a special session

CATT, Carrie Chapman   SPEECH, ARTICLE, BOOK FILE    Speech:  June 12, 1921

Property of Clara M Hyde

                          BACCALAUREATE ADDRESS
                                             by
                        MRS. CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT
                                          at the
          UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING, JUNE 12th, 1921


        PRESIDENT NELSON:  I need not make at this time a long
introduction of the speaker of the afternoon.  In fact, all that is
necessary to say that we are so fortunate as to have for the Baccalaureate 
speaker Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt of New York City.  I am
glad to present Mrs. Catt.

        MRS. CATT:  Mr. President, the Board of Trustees of the
University of Wyoming, and citizens of the State:
         In the beginning a Baccalaureate address was a sermon, and
so, not to depart too far from the form, I have taken a text, and my
text is from that wonderful Book of Proverbs, Chapter Twenty-nine,
and Verse Eighteen -- "Where there is no vision, the people perish."
        I am going to interpret that text to mean that where the
people have no vision, the nation perishes, and if I forget to allude
 to my text again, you will know what I tried to say, and it
won't be the first time a preacher forgot to come back to his text.
       Ever since the first graduating class, the elders have
been giving the graduation advice, and I predict that however long
there may be graduates the elders will continue to give them advice,
and the graduates will continue to pay small heed.  This relation
between the old and the young is natural and quite normal.  Each
incoming generation seems to issue a sort of challenge to the outgoing 
generation, as though it said, "What a pitiful botch of


                                                    - 2 - 

things you have made:  Just watch us!".   And the outgoing generation, 
sensing that unspoken challenge, wants to rise to the defense
of its own record.  It wants to tell why there have been so
many lost battles in the great conflict for civilization.  It wants
to tell the younger, oncoming generation what hazards there were
that might have been avoided, and so this irrepressible conflict
between the oldsters and the youngsters is bound to continue until 
the end.  I doubt if any young man or woman can comprehend the
sincere yearning with which the college oldster wants to pass on
to the college youngster some of the principles and the motives
of human conduct which he thinks he has extracted from his own conflict 
in life.  The college youth, straining at the leash which
has held him so long during the business of preparedness for life,
has no patience to learn more rules of the game.  He has perfect
confidence that he is going to know how to act right when once he
has a chance, and he only needs to try.  And so the elders are
always hoping that some one will heed, and they will continue to
advise, and the college youth will continue to spurn the counsel.
And so the generations come and they go.
              But even so, I shall follow the universal trend and give
you some advice.  I beg you, the Class of 1921, to be patient,
for you know that the youth of today are to be the elders of tomorrow, 
and in twenty, thirty, forty or fifty years from today, you 
yourselves will be giving addresses to graduating classes not yet
born.  You will then have had your fling at life.  You will have
had your success and your failures, and with your soul afire
with the desire to pass on to them your lessons gained by experience 
you will find yourself forming your address in the same old

-3-

inevitable terms of advice. It cannot be helped. It comes with
growing age. Why not?

In this month of June there are thousands of young men
and women in these United States who are stepping out of the unworldly
sphere of the college to find places in the great worldly
world. Edmund Burke said that civilization is a contrast between
the dead, the living, and the unborn. The living have inherited
from all of the generations that have gone ahead the accumulated
results of their efforts toward the development of the human race.
They have died to guard that which was most sacred in that civilization
and to add something to it, with the full realization that
they must pass that duty on to you, and you must pass it on to the
unborn. You now must guard that heritage, and you must support
the best and make it better.

No generation ever came into this duty to find upon the
political work-table so many hard, unfinished jobs as yours, so I
know that you must realize this responsibility. I never have
known how long a generation is -- what period of time it covers --
but let us say thirty years. Then the graduates from, let us say,
1910 to 1940 -- the graduates of a generation -- are bound to be the
directors of the destiny of this nation. For another generation --
let us say from 1940 to 1970 -- you cannot escape it -- these gradutes
will then sit in the halls of Congress, in the forty-eight
Legislatures; they will wear judges' robes; they will compose the
faculties of the colleges; they will edit the great magazine and
newspapers; they will lead the great movements of the time; they
will direct the political parties. In fact, all there is that
goes to making civilization they will be a part of, and probably

-4-

leading these things. As they think and as they act, so will the
nation be.

But there is something more. Doctor Henry Herbert
Goddard, who is now the chief of the Ohio Bureau of Juvenile Research,
and who served as a member of the committee on psychological
examination of recruits in the United States Army, made a remarkable
statement to the Convention of Charities and Corrections
last year. Had almost any other man made that statement it might
have done to have scorned it, but Doctor Goddard is so eminent an
authority upon such matters that any statement he might make merits
respect. I cannot quote his words but, said he, ten per cent, or
thereabouts, of all the population of this country makes up the
class of the superman. That class is high above the average. It
contains those at the top who are of the highest intelligence, and
down toward the lower levels it merges into the next per cent --
those able to unravel complicated propositions; those able to see
into the very heart of a problem; those able to understand the
meaning of social and political movements. It thinks, it knows,
and it acts more or less independently. The next twenty per cent
are able to understand the intricacies of a situation when those
intricacies have been carefully and clearly explained, but are not
able to figure or work them out for themselves. And the next
seventy per cent includes at one extreme all of the feeble-minded,
and at the top those who possess only the capacity to go through the
elementary grades of the public school and to enter the high school.
This seventy per cent think, act, and conform their lives merely in
imitation of what others think and do. Perhaps these per cents may
not in the end prove to be dependable. Nevertheless, one who has
studied in the least along these lines realizes that they do

- 5 -

approach the truth, and for the moment they will serve the purpose.
 I would not claim, because I do not know, that all college graduates 
belong to the ten per cent. I believe they do. I hope they do. 
But I don't know. I am sure there are supermen who have never 
seen the inside of a college. Nevertheless, that ten per cent must 
contain a very large per cent -- practically all -- of college 
graduates. College graduates ought to realize the responsibility 
to that favored few. If again we take a generation of graduates, 
there is a small fraction in that ten per cent who for a generation 
are to do the thinking for this nation, and upon the clearness of 
their vision and the clarity with which they are able to make their 
vision seen by others, and the moral earnestness in which they are 
able to defend their ideals, will depend absolutely the rate of 
progress our nation makes onward. Realizing that, who would dare 
not to remind college graduates that they are not as other men and 
women? Untold influences have combined to point out to them a 
destiny far higher than comes to most. 
                    One man who loves to figure declares that each and every 
one of us, counting twenty generations behind us -- he evidently 
grew weary and went no farther book -- he said we had, each of us, 
a million grandfathers and a million grandmothers in those twenty 
generations. Oliver Wendell Holmes used to say that if you want 
to make the most of yourself, choose carefully your grandfather 
and grandmother -- while here are two millions of them. Each 
generation had contributed something to the makeup of each and every 
one of you. There was something in that combination that threw 
you into the ten per cent. You had nothing to do with it. You 
were born there. And there was something in your environment


                                                          - 6 -

whatever it was, which urged you to college. You could not help 
it. You must go. And when you were here you were trained by 
men and women who are themselves the choicest product of the best 
educational system any country ever had, and when you go forth 
you become citizens of a nation which has advanced far beyond most 
in world and political liberty, and in the application of the 
principles of democracy and in the solution of those difficult 
problems which are now so sadly vexing the world. 
               There was a time when the elders would have congratulated 
you upon your graduation and would have urged you to live contented 
lives, but that was when the world did not know as much as it knows 
now. It knows more and it expects more, and there is a responsibility
 which reads upon the college graduate which was not recognized 
twenty, thirty or forty years ago. Why is there that responsibility? 
Because of the fact that we have had the greatest war in all history. 
Bishop Dean of Saint Paul's said the thing not long ago which, I 
believe, the elders of many, many nations have also been thinking. 
Said he, "I cannot say that my generation has been a particularly 
happy one. It has not been altogether a successful nor a victorious 
one. I confess that I look forward with the direct anxiety 
to the journey through life which my own children must make." Why? 
Because war inevitably brings in its trail moral unrest and crime. 
All wars have been followed by this unstable financial condition 
and all these other disturbances -- a high cost of living, very 
irritating; an oppressive taxation, even more irritating. All 
those things have come, but there is something more, far more 
serious than any of these. Always at one extreme there is some 
group of unconstructive, ill-considered radicalism, threatening 
revolution, and at the other a very much frightened conservatism --

- 7 - 

and these two combined together to produce reaction in thought and 
inevitable pessimism in political action. It took this country 
thirty years to pass through that period of frightened reaction 
after the Civil War, and no man knows how long it will take to 
recover from the awful aftermath of the great war. There was one 
thing the world learned, and that was that a single man possessed 
of great power could throw the world into such wild confusion that 
no living man was superman enough, nor any group of men were powerful 
enough, to put it to order. The other day in Washington two 
very great Republicans, and for reasons obvious I will not give 
their names, were conversing with each other over this particular 
fact, and one said to the other, "The truth is, our party has no 
man big enough for the mighty tasks that are now demanded of our 
nation," and the other agreed with him. They were very much depressed 
and then they remembered something and the thought cheered 
them, and they said, "Well, after all, the Democrats have no bigger 
men than we."

It is these things that the elders have been thinking and 
realizing, that they would like to pass on to you. They know how 
many unfinished tasks -- hard ones -- they are giving you, and they 
would like to make it easier for you, if they could -- to take you 
by the hand, as it were, and help to take you onward. It is not 
that they have less confidence in you, but they believe if they could 
only equip you with all that they have learned as they have journeyed 
through life you would be able to lift higher the flag of 
progress and to carry it further.

Now, I am going to give you one piece of advice and one 
fact. I have no idea that I shall succeed any better than all the 
other elders in giving you advice, but I am hoping that you may

- 8 -

remember my fact. I beg of you, when you leave this wonderful 
University of Wyoming, that you will go forth determined to be men 
and women of vision. Now, vision is not a wild dream which comes 
in the night as the result of indigestion; it is not a wild fancy 
that is born of a disordered brain, although there are those who 
have charged both. It is first of all based upon earned, sincere 
and thorough conviction of that vision, and is based upon a thorough 
understanding of the cause for which you have the vision. And with 
that understanding there is also the knowledge of the evolutionary 
processes that would lead that cause onward. It is standing upon 
absolute knowledge and looking into the future along a certain 
trail the world is bound to follow -- that is conviction -- so to 
find it there must be study.

Each of you young people who go out into the world have 
a special bent, somehow, somewhere. There is not a single department 
of our development that is not at this moment in need of leaders 
and workers of great moral earnestness. You will find a place 
anywhere. I would not ask you to be reformers -- that means giving 
your whole life to it -- and all I am asking you is this: wherever 
you go, take your conviction with you all the time.

There is a law of evolution - you have learned much of 
that during your life in college. There are some who regard it 
like the law of gravitation and that it works while you sleep, but 
I want to tell you that evolution requires evolvers -- men and women 
of vision who are willing to live and to die for their cause. So 
I ask you to be an evolver, each of you, along the line where your 
conviction is strongest. Learn to think things through, to take 
into consideration all the facts, and especially the opinions of 
those who do not agree with you; and of all things, make the large

- 9 -

things look large and the little things small.  The greatest
secret in getting at the truth is to learn how to knock off from a
proposition all the detail which has nothing to do with the
proposition.  When you have learned that one lesson in life you
will travel along the line of your convictions five hundred times as fast.
         You, the sons and daughters of Wyoming, you have the
immortal example of your state to follow.  When, fifty-two years
ago, the young territory granted the vote to women, it stood alone
-- alone in all the world.  In 1869 I was a young child studying 
geography, and I remember my map with that great yellow splotch
which included Wyoming, and it was called the Great American
Desert.  The granting of votes to women in some unknown state in
that great desert had little influence on the outside world.  What
good thing could come out of a desert? But time brought influence
to Wyoming, and then the world jeered at her.  I am sure there must
have been men who went as delegates to political conventions and as
delegates to Congress, who had hard tasks in defending the attitude
of the state.  To my mind it was a wonderful thing that Wyoming 
took a stand -- but that was not one iota compared with the 
fact that she never failed to stand fast.  I do not know in all
those years of a single instance when she faltered.  The world
jeered and still she stood.  I remember long years ago, for an
example, when I appeared in the City of Boston.  A man who was
interviewed by the Boston Herald, always an opposer of woman's
suffrage said, and the paper so quoted him, "the Honorable Mr. So-and-So, 
from Cheyenne, Wyoming, declares woman suffrage is a failure", 
and the article said that in Wyoming, although the woman had 
the vote, they never used it; that in Wyoming there were such 


                                            - 10 -
quarrels in the family because the women voted that there was no peace or 
harmony; and so it went on.  It appeared in the morning press.
Boston was very smug in those days -- there were few who dreamed
that the time would ever come when that smug city of Massachusetts
would give women the vote.  Followers of suffrage hastened a telegram 
to Cheyenne saying that this Honorable Mr. So-and-So had declared 
that woman suffrage was a failure in Wyoming.  By noon of
that day they had an answer back, and the answer was that the
Honorable Mr. So-and-So was a horse thief who was convicted by a 
jury half of whom were women.  You never knew the effect of
that little incident here or perhaps you never heard of it -- but
it rang all around the world, and the name of Wyoming went with it,
and the world learned that there was a place where women voted.  And
the ridicule was on the other side.  I could tell you many such
instances where Wyoming stood fast, but the most crucial was when
you were admitted to statehood.  Congress will never, never, never 
take a step forward unless the constituents at home compel it to --
never forget that fact -- and Congress said to Mr. Carey, the
delegate from this State and the father of your Governor, "We will
never admit Wyoming with woman suffrage in the Constitution," and
Mr. Carey wired home and asked what he should do.  Wyoming stood 
fast and he arose in the House and said, "Wyoming bids me to say 
to you that she will stay out of the Union a hundred years if she
cannot come in with woman suffrage."  And she had her statehood and
she stood fast.  And by and by, there were other states that caught
that vision and they enfranchised their women.  It took a long time,
but by and by, following her immortal example, the whole nation 
became a unit and saw that same vision.  Nations far away caught 
the vision, too, until now so many of them have enfranchised women

-11-
that the list of lands wherein women vote numbers twenty-eight and
is longer than the list of countries where they do not vote.  That
number will soon by twenty-nine within a few months.  The British
Government has given to India legislative councils with the right
of free government, including the right to extend suffrage to women,
and three of those legislative councils, representing states or
provinces, have had their sitting, the last of those representing
Madras, and they have enfranchised their women.
I remember as though it were but yesterday, an interview 
I had in the city of Calcutta with an Indian philosopher.  He was
clad, if such may be described, in a single strip of white 
cloth wound around his loins, for that is the dress of the Indian
in that overheated country.  He was shirtless, with a bare body,
and he sat upon a table bow-legged.  Were you to see such a man,
were you to see him any place but in India, you would think he should
be sent to the lock-up.  He addressed me in perfect English, and in
his first sentence he quoted Emerson, and in the next he inquired
about Wyoming.  There are few people in other lands who know the
names of our states -- forty-eight is a good many to learn -- but 
millions of them know about Wyoming.  Many, many a press dispatch
has gone the world 'round coupled with the name of Wyoming, and
many times we have appealed to your high officials for information
which we in turn have passed on, the last being only last week when
the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the French Government applied to 
us for the history and the status of woman suffrage in the United
States.
Following Wyoming, stand fast, when you have found your
cause and your vision.  The world may howl at you; it may jeer at
you; it may even mob you -- such things have happened -- but in the

-12-
end the world will surrender to you, and all the way through while
the mob is jeering and howling at you, you know that you are right
and that it will surrender.  And that is your support.  If I could 
give you young people something to remember your graduation other than
you will have, if I could present you an immortal gift, it would be
to give you three quotations in some form that you could possess
them wherever you live most of the time -- if you are in the 
office, upon your desk; if you are at home, in the room where you
stay most.  where you would see them every day, until each and
every one was burned into your understanding, that you would live
them all of the time.
The first comes from one of our old-time statesmen,
Alexander Hamilton, much more appropriate now than when he said it.
Said he, "We, the people, are the state.  If laws fail to protect,
it is we who fail.  If injustice dwells in this land, it is we who
should hang our heads in shame."  For at least a generation that
responsibility is to be yours; you cannot escape it.
And the next comes from the one who is usually called the
greatest American -- Abraham Lincoln.  It is expressed  in that
rough and ready English which was his characteristic -- "I do the
best I know how -- the very best I can -- and I intend to keep on
doing it until the end.  If the end brings me out all right, what 
is said against me won't amount to anything.  If the end brings
me out wrong then ten angels swearing that I was right would make
no difference."
And the third is from that great French philosopher who
always put his thoughts in far finer English than most -- Victor
Hugo.  "Abuses existed.  I combatted them.  Tyrannies existed.  I
destroyed them.  Rights and principles existed.  I proclaimed and


-13-
confessed them."  If, when you have passed your generation of
guardianship, you can say this thing of Victor Hugo, then you may 
know that you have lived a successful life.
And the fact that I would give you is only a simple thing.
It is that you can do nothing alone.  It is only in combination with
others that things may be accomplished, in a nation dependent
upon popular opinion.  A simgle vote means nothing -- a block of
votes means much.  Therefore you must learn to work with others.
I believe that it is the hardest lesson that any human being ever
has to learn.  Two people in a home have trouble enough to keep
peace, and when it is tried to bring the majority of the hundred
million of our population to a common understanding, that proposition
is well-nigh overwhelming.  It is means that every ideal must
be sacrificed for principle.  You must concede; you must compromise;
you must ever respect the opinions of others.  Stand together.  It
is said, here in America, that all things come through political
parties.  Political parties are necessarily timid, there are too
many people in them, and political parties do not take stands for
great causes until something or somebody tells them to -- commands 
within the party or out of the party which make the demand overwhelming.
When it is considered necessary that the political
party move, then it does move -- then it takes action.  And it is in
that cause you have to serve.
I beg of you, young people, that you do not conduct
yourselves like the seventy per cent of the twenty per cent, unless you
belong there -- and if you do, then don't try to represent yourselves
in the group of the ten per centers and think you can fool the
world into thinking you belong to the ten per cent.  It cannot be
done.  You are ten percenters, and you cannot escape the responsibility
of that conviction or circumstance that put you there.  You

-14-
may fill your life with money making.  I don't know whether the
women will come to that or not, but men do.  You may fill your life
with money making and the world may call you successful for the
dollars that you have accumulated, but if you have not compelled
your community to move forward along constructive lines of progress,
no matter how many dollars you may have or what other success the
world may have given you, your life is a failure, for you have not
fulfilled your duty to all of those grandfathers and grandmothers,
to your University, to your State, and to the responsibility which
was yours.
Only remember, it is not so hard a task that is yours,
for the man of vision finds in that vision a buoyant, exhilarating
support -- an insatiable source of courage -- that comes from no
other source in life.  Great duties are these, because you are
coming into the responsibilities of where is the most crucial times
the world has yet had -- the most difficult period.  There are 
great joys, also for it will be a joy to solve those unsolvable
problems.  There will be great battles to be fought, and you will
win great victories.  Only remember, your class, the ten percent,
that it is for you, for at least thirty years, to carry forward the
flag of progress.  Hold it high and carry it far!
To the right that needs assistance;
To the wrongs that need resistance;
Give yourself!

[*1921*]

The University of Wyoming
Department of Philosophy and Psychology
Laramie, Wyoming

The University of Wyoming Honors Mrs. Catt.

Among the ceremonial observances of the Commencement Season
just passed was one of historic interest. On Sunday, June 12, the
University of Wyoming, departing from a long policy of conservatism,
bestowed upon Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, its first honorary L.L.D.
degree, in recognition of her services in the cause of equal suffrage
for men and women, a cause which Wyoming as the pioneer suffrage
state had long sponsored.

The Faculty resolution which issued in the granting of this
degree read as follows: "Resolved: That in view of the fact that
Wyoming was the first state to grant the vote to women, in commemoration
of the final ratification of the Federal Suffrage Amendment,
the Faculty of its State University recommends to the Board of
Trustees the conferring of an L.L.D. upon the President of the
National American Woman Suffrage Association, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt."

The appropriateness of the act is apparent. In the person of
Mrs. Catt, Wyoming memorializes the heroic women who for more than
half a century have captained one of the great campaigns of modern
democracy.

Mrs. Catt, the leader of the triumphal moment, is one whom any
University would honor itself in honoring. A magnificent orator -
she has spoken in almost every nation of the world; internationally
famous, President of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance; an
untiring patriot, serving on the Council of National Defense during
the war period and now acting on the committee for Chinese
Relief; a gracious and beautiful woman. Her claim to distinction

-2-

is unexcelled.

The University of Wyoming lies on the crest of the continent,
a mile and a half above sea level, on the spacious Laramie plains,
circled by mountains and hills. Westward the azure peaks of the
Medicine Bow Range lift silver brows to the upper blue; southward
the mountains of Colorado cut the horizon; eastward stretch the
tinted hills; one brown bluff bearing the great white W.

The history of the University of Wyoming has been one with that
of the pioneer, - the arduous sowing of seed, many failures to reap,
slow fruition. Instead of harvesting memories, its eyes rest steadfastly
on the future.

Yet it has its traditions. In the town that nestles at its
feet convened the first woman jury of the world; here Billy Nye
presided over the destinies of his famous Boomerang. The Overland
Trail skirts its borders. A few miles off, a pyramid of granite on
the highest point in the Rockies commemorates the great triumph
in engineering science that linked the Atlantic coast with the
golden slopes of the Pacific.

Here as elsewhere is felt the throbbing pulse of the present era.
Taps and Reveille have sounded over the prairies from a campus
student army training corps. Over the plains hums almost daily the
stupendous aeroplanes.

Here one beautiful Memorial Day, Theodora Roosevelt came galloping
across the prairies to speak in the great out-of-doors to the 
accompaniment of the carolling meadow-lark.

In the shadow of the University's walls sleeps Dr. Agnes Wergeland,
a great Norwegian woman of a famous family of Norway, who gave
richly of her wisdom and personality to the college she loved so

-3-

dearly.
The quiet Sunday afternoon when Mrs. Catt preached the Baccalaureate sermon to the class of '21 and then was invested with the colors of the state of Wyoming will long remain another gracious memory.
After the battle, celebration of victory - to nerve the spirit for other battles.
(Signed) June E. Downey


Baccalaureate Service
University Auditorium
Sunday, June 12th, 1921, at 4:00 p. m.

PROGRAM
March …………………………………..Hollaender
Miss Everingham
Hymn-"Come Thou Almighty King" ………….De Giardini
Congregation

Come, Thou almighty King,
Help us Thy name to sing,
Help us to praise!
Father all-glorious,
O'er all victorious,
Come and reign over us,
Ancient of days!

Come, Thou incarnate Word,
Gird on Thy mighty sword,
Our prayer attend!
Come, and They people bless,
And give Thy word success:
Spirit of holiness,
On us descend!

Come, Holy Comforter,
They sacred witness bear,
In this glad hour!
Thou, who almighty art,
Now rule in ev'ry heart,
And ne'er from us depart,
Spirit of pow'r!

Prayer ………………….Very Rev. David W. Thornberry
Dean of St. Matthew's Cathedral
Duet-"Love Divine, All Love Excelling …………….Smart
Miss Thompson and Mr. Knapp
Baccalaureate Address …………..Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt
Double Quartet-"Send Out Thy Light" …………...Gounod
Miss Thompson, Mrs. Gottschalk,
Mrs. Wood, Mrs. Kennedy
Messrs. Stouffer, Condit, Stone, Knapp
Hymn-"Battle Hymn of the Republic" ……………..Howe
Congregation

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.
He has loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible, swift sword!
His Truth is marching on.

CHORUS
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on!

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; 
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat.
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant my feet!
Our God is marching on!-Chorus.

Benediction ………………………...Dean Thornberry

BACCALAUREATE ADDRESS
by
MRS. CARRIE CHAPMENT CATT
at the
UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING, JUNE 12th, 1921

     PRESIDENT NELSON:  I need not make at this time a long
introduction of the speaker of the afternoon.  In fact, all that is
necessary is to say that we are so fortunate as to have for the Baccalaureate
speaker Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt of New York City.  I am
glad to present Mrs. Catt.  

     MRS. CATT:  Mr. President, the Board of Trustees of the
University of Wyoming, and citizens of the State:
     In the beginning of a Baccalaurate address was a sermon, and
so, not to depart too far from the form, I have taken a text, and my
text is from the wonderful Book of Proverbs, Chapter Twenty-nine,
and Verse Eighteen - "Where there is no vision, the people perish".
     I am going to interpret that text to mean that where the
people have no vision, the nation perishes, and if I forget to allude
to my text again, you will know what I tried to say, and it
won't be the first time a preacher forgot to come back to his text.  
     Ever since the first graduating class, the elders have
been giving [the] graduates advice, and I predict that [however] so long 
[where ] as there are graduates the elders will continue to give them advice,
and the graduates will continue to pay small heed.  This relation
between the old and the young is [?] quite normal.  Each


incoming generation seems to issue [a sort] of challenge to the out-
going generation as though it said, "What a pitiful botch of
things you have made!  Just watch us! ".  And the outgoing generation,
sensing that unspoken challenge, wants to rise to the defense
of its own record.  It wants to tell why there have been so
many lost battles in the great conflict for civilization.  It wants
to tell the younger, oncoming generation what hazards there were and what 
pitfalls [that] might have been avoided.  [So this irrepressible conflict
between the oldsters and the youngers is bound to continue until
the end.]  I doubt if any young man or woman can comprehend the
sincere yearning with which the college oldster [wants] longs to pass on
to the college youngster some of the principles and [the] motives
of human [???] but the college youth, straining at the leash which 
has held him so long to [during] the business of preparedness for life,
has no patience to learn more rules of the game.  He has perfect
confidence that he is going to know how to act [right] when once he 
has a chance, and he only needs to try.  
[always hoping that someone will heed, and so they will continue to
advise, and the college youth will continue to spurn the counsel.
And so the generations come and his guidances go.]
     But even so, I shall follow the universal trend and give
you [some[ advise.  I beg you, the Class of 1921, to be patient,
for you know that the youth of today are to be the elders of tomorrow,
and in twenty, thirty, forty or fifty years from today, you
yourselves will be giving addresses to graduate classes yet unborn
 [not yet born].  You will then have had your flight at life, you will have

So this irrepressible conflict between the oldsters and the
youngsters is bound to continue to the end.  
[so] The elders go on advising and youngers go on spurning the counsel and spurning the counters and the guidances come and the guidances go [??]

had your successes and your failures, and with your soul afire
with the desire to pass on to them your lessons gained by experience
you will find yourself [forming] framing your address in the same old
inevitable terms of advice.  [It cannot be helped.] And why not?  [It comes with
growing age.  Why not?]
     Thousands of young men and women in this month of June
are stepping out of the colleges to find place in the great
world.  In the Words of Edmund Burke - "Civilization is a contract
between the dead, the living and the unborn."  The elders
of this day inherited the combination of efforts of all the 
dead.  They have guarded that which is most sacred and have
builded something new.  The must now pass it on to you, and
it will be your task to uphold the bent and make it better.  It
will be your task to solve the many problems left unsolved, for
[never was there] no generation [which] ever found more unfinished jobs 
upon the political work table than will [done to you] yours.  
     [No generation ever came into this duty to find upon the
political work-table so many hard, unfinished jobs as yours, so I 
know that you must realize this responsibility.]  I never have 
known how long a generation is  - - what period of time a generation covers --
but let us say thirty years. Then the graduates from, let us say,
1910 to 1940 -- the graduates of a generation are [bound] [?] to be the
directors of the destiny of this nation. For a later [another} generation --
let us say from 1940 to 1970 -- they cannot escape it, These graduates
will then sit in the halls of Congress, in the forty-eight
Legislatures; they will wear judges' robes; they will compose the
faculties of the colleges, they will edit the great magazines and
newspapers; they will lead the great movement of the time; they
will direct the political parties.  In fact, they will control all the factors which make civilization.  





[goes to make civilization they will be a part of, and probably
leading these things.  As they think and as they act, so will the
nation be.]
     But there is something more [Doctor] Henry Herbert
    Dr. Henry Herbert Coddard, who is now head of the 
bureau of Juvenile Research in Ohio, and who was a member of
the committee of Psychological examination of recruits in the
United States Army, made a remarkable statement to the Convention
of Charities and Corrections not long ago.  Had it been
made by almost any other man the statement might have been
scorned - but however remarkable any statement of Dr. Goddard's
may be, his eminence and authority are such that it compels
the world to respect it.  Said he:  "Ten per cent of our population
belongs to the class of superman.  Its intelligence ranks
high above the average.  It is capable of unraveling a complicated
proposition, of seeing directly into the heart of a problem,
of comprehending the direction of social and political
movements.  It knows, it thinks, and it acts independently.  
Twenty per cent of the population is capable of understanding
the intricacies of a situation when presented, although incapable
of analyzing it without assistance.  The remaining seventy 
per cent includes one extreme, the feeble minded, and the other,
those who possess no further capacity than ability to finish the 
elementary grades of the public school and to enter the high school. 
This seventy percent think, set, and conform their lives merely in
imitation of what others think and do.  Perhaps these percents may
not in the end prove to be dependable.  Nevertheless, one who has

grades of the public school and to enter the high school.  Now
not all college graduates are necessarily supermen, and not all
supermen have ever seen the inside of a college.  Nevertheless,
a considerable portion of the ten per cent are doubtless in the
list of college graduates, and in that small fraction, which
would be included in the graduates of thirty years, we find
those will keep the civilization of the world moving onward
for a whole generation.  Upon the greatness of their vision,
the clarity with which they compel other to see, and the courage
with which they defend their ideals, will depend the rate of
our national progress.  The nation will be what they make it.  
     Realizing this portentious and somewhat amazing fact, how 
can any elder fail to warn the college graduates that they are
not as other men and women.  Untold [other] influences have combined to
point out for them a high destiny.  One man has figured out
that for twenty generations each one of us had one million
grand-fathers and one million grand-mothers.  Each one of these 
men and women have contributed something to the make-up of our 
individual character.  [????]  Something in that combination sent you 
to college.  The environment which surrounded you urged you to 
college.  Here you have had the training of men and women who
are themselves the choicest product of the best educational
system any nation ever had.  You go from here to take your place
as citizens in a land far ahead of most in religious and political
freedom - in the application of the principles of democracy and
in the solution of those great problems which now so sorely vex
the world.  
     Time was when graduates would be congratulated upon so
happy a condition, and advised to live good and honest lives,
but that was long ago.  The world knows more now and it expects
more.  A very great Englishmen, Bishop Inge, the Dean of St.





[whatever it was, which urged you to college.  You could not help
it.  You must go.  And when you were here you were trained by
men and women who are themselves the choicest product of the best
education system any country ever had, and when you go forth
you become citizens of a nation which has advanced far beyond most. ]

Paul's recently said a thing which most elders of many nations
have been thinking:  
     "I have not view the generation of which I have been a 
part as a particularly easy or victorious one, but I confess
that I look forward with great anxiety to the journey through
life which my children will have to make, [and why?}.  Because
after every war there is a moral unrest and crime, disturbed
financial and business conditions, high costs of living, and
oppressive taxation, but what is sadder than all, there is 
an ill considered [???] radicalism and a corresponding narrow conservatism
which results in creating a general reaction in
thought and pessimism in political [conduct] action. The greater the
war, the heavier the weight of the wars aftermath.  You, the
youth of today, are they who must lead through this sleugh of
despond to higher planes and do it without allow the flag
or progress to drop or falter.  [???] in its trail moral unrest and crime.  
     All wars have been followed by this unstable financial condition
and all these other disturbances - a high cost of living, very
irritating; and oppressive taxation, even more irritating.  All
those things have come, but there is something more, far more
serious than any of these.  Always at one extreme there is some
group of unconstructive, ill-considered radicalism, threatening
revolution, and at the other a very much frightened conservatism--

and these two combined together produce reaction in thought and
inevitable pessimism to [????].
The world needs leaders [of great 
moral courage] as it never needed them before.  The great war
revealed [the] sad fact - a man endowed with great power could
produce a confusion which no living man was superman enough,
nor was any combination of living men powerful enough to bring
to order.  
[??????]
The other day in Washington two
very great Republicans, and for reasons obvious I will not give 
their names, were conversing with each other over this particular
fact, and one said to the other, "The truth is, our party has no
man big enough for the mighty tasks that are now demanded of our
nation, and the other agreed with him.  They were very much depressed
and then they remembered something and the thought cheered
them, and they said, "well, after all, the Democrats have no bigger
men then we."
It is these things that the elders are [have been thinking and] realizing, [that they would like to pass on to you.]  They know how
many unfinished tasks--hard ones---they are leaving for [giving] you, and they
would like to make it easier for you, if they could--to take you
by the hand, as it were, and lead [help to take] you onward.  it is not
that they have less confidence in you, but they believe if they could
only equip you with all that they have learned as they have journeyed
through life you would be able to life higher the flag of
progress and to carry it further.  

[Now, I am going to give you one piece of advice and one
fact.  I have no idea that I shall succeed any better than all the
other elders in giving you advice, but I am hoping that you may
remember my fact.  [I bet of you} When you leave this wonderful





Following the example of all elders I want to give one
bit of advice, and I want to leave with you one fact which I
have learned as the result of my life's experience. I do not
expect you to accept the advice, but I hope that you may remember
the fact. The advice is that when you go forth from
the Wyoming University you shall go with the determination to
become men and women of vision.

Vision is not a wild dream which comes in the night from
indigestion; nor is it the idle fantasy of a discordant mind,
although these charges have both been made.

Each of you young people [who go out into the world] has [have] 
a special [bent, somehow, somewhere. There is not a single department
of our national development that is not at this moment in need of leaders
and workers of great moral earnestness. You will find a place
anywhere] 
inclination. You will find your vision here and whatever it is the world needs you [?] [?][?] [?] 
I do [would] not ask you to be reformers -- that means giving
your entire [whole] life to a task [it] -- [and] all I am asking you is this: wherever
you go, whatever you do, take your vision [conviction] with you [all the time].

There is a law of evolution - you have learned much of
that during your life in college. [There are] Some regard it as similar to
[like] the law of gravitation and think that it works while they [you]sleep, but
I want to tell you that evolution requires evolvers -- men and women
of vision who are willing to live and to die for their cause. So
I ask each of you to be an evolver, [each of you,] along the line where your
conviction is strongest and your vision clearest. Learn to think things through, to take
into consideration all the facts, and especially the opinions of
those who do not agree with you [and of all things] and when you have found your vision stand fast. Make the large
things look large and the little things small. [The greatest
secret in getting at the truth is to learn how to knock off from a

proposition all the detail which has nothing to do with the
proposition. When you have learned that one lesson in life you
will travel along the line of your convictions five hundred times
as fast.]

You, the sons and daughters of Wyoming, [you] have the 
immortal example of your state to follow. When, fifty-two years
ago, the young territory granted the vote to women, it stood alone
-- alone in all the world. In 1869 I was a young child studying
geography, and I remember my map with that [great] enormous yellow splotch
which included Wyoming, and it was called the Great American
Desert. The granting of votes to women in some unknown state in
that great desert had little influence on the outside world. What
good thing could come out of a desert? But time brought influence
to Wyoming, and then the world jeered at her. I am sure [there must have been]
that for many years men who went as delegates to political conventions and as
delegates to Congress [who] must have had a difficult task to defend the action
of the state. To my mind it was a wonderful thing that Wyoming
took [that] her stand so long ago, but [that was not one iota compared with the 
fact] the really heroic thing was that she never failed to stand fast. I do not know in all
those years of  single instance when she faltered. The world
jeered, and still she stood. I remember long years ago, for an
example, when a man appeared in the City of Boston[. A man who] and was
interviewed by the Boston Herald, always an opposer of woman's
suffrage. The paper [so] quoted him, "the Honorable Mr. So-and-So
from Cheyenne, Wyoming, declaring woman suffrage [is] a failure,
and the article[, and]. The article said that in Wyoming, although the women had
the vote, they never used it; that in Wyoming there were such quarrels
in the family because the women [voted] did use the vote that there was no
harmony; and so [it went] on. It appeared in the morning press.
[Boston was very smug in those days.] There were few in Boston who dreamed

that the time would ever come when the smug state of Massachusetts would give women the vote. [Followers of] A suffragess hastened a telegram to Cheyenne [saying] asking [that] who this Honorable Mr. So-and-So [had declared that womens suffrage was a failure in Wyoming.] was and if he spoke for Wyoming. By noon of that day [they] she had an answer [back], and the answer was that the Honorable Mr. So-and-So [was] had been a horse thief who [was] had been convicted by a jury half of whom were women. [You never knew of the effect of that little incident here--] Perhaps you never heard of [?] but it rang all around the world, [and] accompanied by the name of Wyoming. [went with it, and] The world learned there was a place where women voted. And the ridicule was on their side. I could tell you many such instances where Wyoming stood fast, but the most crucial was when [you] the state was admitted to statehood. Congress [will] never, [never, never] takes a step forward [unless the] until its constitutents at home [compel] [?] it [to-- never forget that fact]-- and Congress said to Mr. Carey, the delegate from this State and the father of your Governor, "We will never admit Wyoming with woman suffrage in the Constitution," and Mr. Carey wired home [and asked what he should do.] for instructions. Here was a g[?????????????], Wyoming stood fast. [and] He arose in the House and said, "Wyoming bids me to say to you that she will stay out of the Union a hundred years if she cannot come in with women suffrage'. Her [?] [and she had] Then Congress granted her statehood [and] because she stood fast. [and by] By and by, there were other states that caught [?] that vision and [they] enfranchised their women. [It took a long time, but by and by] Still following her immortal example, the whole nation in time became a unit [and saw] seeing that same vision. Nations far away caught the vision, to, until now so many of them have enfranchised women that the list of lands wherein women vote numbers twenty-eight and is longer than the list of countries where they do not vote. [Margin note: Do not cut out?] That number will seem to be twenty-nine within a few months. The British Government has given to India legislative councils with the right 


of free government, including the right to extend suffrage to women, and three of those legislative councils, representing states or provinces, have had their sitting, the last of those [representing] being Madras, and they have enfranchised their women. 
     I remember as though it were but yesterday, an interview I had in the city of Calcutta with an Indian philosopher. He was clad, if such it may be described, in a single strip of white cloth wound about his loins, for that is the dress of the Indian in that overheated country. He was shirtless, with a bare body, and he sat upon a table bow-legged. Were you to see such a man, in [were you to see him] nay place but [in] India, you would [think he should] expect him to be sent to the lock-up. He addressed me in perfect English, and in his first sentence [he] quoted Emerson, and in the next he inquired about Wyoming. There are few people in other lands who know the names of our states--forty-eight is a good many to learn--but millions of them know about Wyoming. Many, many a press dispatch has gone the world around coupled with the name of Wyoming, and many times we have appealed to your high officials for information which we in turn have passed on, the last being only last week when the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the French Government applied to us for the history and the status of woman suffrage in the United States. 
   Follow[ing] Wyoming; stand fast, when you have found your cause and your vision. The world may howl at you; it may jeer at you; it may even mob you--such things have happened-- but in the end the world will surrender to you, and all the way through while the mob is jeering and howling at you, you will know that you are right and that it will surrender. And that is your support. your problem, your daily encouragement. [If I could give you young people something to remember your graduation other thatn] you will have, If I could present you an immortal gift, it would be

to give you three quotations in some form that you would never forget
them.
The first is from our old-time statesmen,
Alexander Hamilton, and is much more appropriate now than when he said it.
Said he, "We, the people, are the state. If laws fail to protect,
it is we who fail. If injustice dwells in this land, it is we who
should hang our heads in shame." For at least a generation that
responsibility is to be yours; you cannot escape it. Remember it.
The next is from the man usually called the
greatest American--Abraham Lincoln. It is expressed in that
rough and ready English which was his characteristic--"I do the
best I know how--the very best I can--and I intend to keep on
doing it until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what
is said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings
me out wrong then ten angels swearing that I was right would make
no difference." A [? ] daily guide for men and women of vision.
The third is from that great French philosopher who
put his thoughts in far finer phrasing that most--Victor
Huge. "Abuses existed. I combatted them. Tyrannies existed. I
destroyed them. Rights and principles existed. I proclaimed and
confessed them." If, when you have passed your generation of
guardianship, you too can say this thing, you may
know that you have lived a great life on service to the human race.
And the fact that I would give you is only a simple thing.
It is that you can do nothing alone. It is only in combination with
others that things may be accomplished, in a nation dependent
upon popular opinion. A single vote means nothing--a block of
votes means much. Therefore you must learn to work with others.
I believe that it is the hardest lesson that any human being every
has to learn. Two people in a home have trouble enough to keep
peace, and when it is necessary to bring the majority of the hundred
millions of our population to a common understanding, the task
is well-nigh impossible. It means that 
you must concede; you must compromise;
you must ever respect the opinions of others. Stand together. It
is said, here in America, that all things come through political
parties. Political parties are necessarily timid, there are too
many people in them, and political parties do not take stands for
great causes until some block of voters
within the party or out of the party which a demand [? works own safely and?]
to be overlooked. When it is considered necessary that the political 
party move, then it does move--then it takes action. You may find
your vision [?]or without the party.
I beg of you, young people, that you do not conduct
yourselves like the seventy percent or the twenty percent, unless you 
belong there--to the ten percent.
You are ten percenters, and you cannot escape the responsibility
of the circumstances that put you there.You
may fill your life with money making. I don't know whether the
women will every make that their aim, but men do.
The world may call you successful for the
dollars that you have accumulated, but if you have not compelled
your community to move forward along constructive lines of progress,

no matter how many dollars you may have or what other success the world may accord you, your life is a failure, for you have not fulfilled your obligation to all those grandfathers and grandmothers, to your University, to your State, and to the destiny which was yours.
You, who from the very nature of things have been appointed as guardians of American civilization for a generation, I beg you to fit yourselves for your task. Do not survey politics, for progress is politics, and politics is progress, down in the valley where the fogs are densest, climb up to the political hilltops where in the sunlight there is a broader view, and there learn to understand the soul of things. Do no conduct yourselves like the seventy per cent, nor yet the twenty per cent unless you belong there, and if you do, do not think that by wrapping yourself in the garb of conceit you will fool anyone into believing that you belong to the ten per cent. Great duties await you-great joys are coming to you - great battles will you fight; great victories will you win, so live your life that at the end you do not regret that you have only learned how to fight when life is closing. Be men and women of vision; be evolvers; help the great Divine law to lend us nearer the millinium.
To the wrongs that need resistance,
To the right that needs assistance-
To the future in the distance,
Give yourselves.


President Nelson: Certain outstanding events in the life of individuals, families, institutions, states and nations serve as milestones on their several pathways. Their respective histories are merely a continuing narration of the events as they have occurred, with such interpretations of causes and results as may contribute to an adequate understanding of those relationships that have been dominant.
Among the events as they successively occur in these various life histories there are a few that are so different as to sharply interrupt or differentiate the general trend. These outstanding occurrences are the markers separating world history into eras, national life into epochs, and institutional life into developmental periods. 
No matter what interpretation we may place upon the intervening periods or epochs, the sum total of the influences of these constitute the product that is being evolved while the markers determine the general direction of the evolutionary path. Evolutionary forces rarely act in the same direction or even in the same plane of life but the resultant of all of them constitutes destiny.
A new era in world history began with the discovery of America. A new epoch in government when the thirteen colonies challenged the world with the Declaration of Independence and followed it up with the Constitution, upon which the ideals of which human liberty continues to rest and in which all succeeding democracies have found their inspiration.
The first outstanding marker in international life is the world war. In it this nation acknowledged for the first time that its responsibilities are founded in human brotherhood and not in a governmental policy. Political boundaries or intervening

oceans no longer delimit the operation of the Golden Rule. Hearts
touch across the seas. The new day of which we hope, though
clouds hang thick over its dawn, has come. Recorded human history
is brief; in fact, it is as of yesterday. Tomorrow shall be 
different. World peace must come, else the evolutionary processes
through which the Infinite One is building for the eternities must
reverse themselves in God's economy. Right knows no ultimate
defeat.

To our Nation has been given in largest measure the supreme
distinction of working out some of the successive steps in the attainment
of human liberty and equality. Some of the epochs have been
ushered in by bloody conflicts, markers abruptly separating periods
of time but not breaking the continuity of the forces that are working
out our destiny. At other times these forces have operated to
secure results no less significant though ushered in by less spectacular
and distressing signs.

Our Revolutionary war introduced the idea of the right of
self-determination, by any people, with respect to the form of government
under which they will live. It established the ideal of
political freedom, and individual responsibility thereto but it enfranchised
less than half of the race.

It took another great war, as a marker, to usher in the
epoch in which we live - - the epoch in which is being worked out
the liberation of the individual. As a by-product of the great
struggle to maintain the Union inviolate came the abolition of involuntary
servitude. Slavery in its most repulsive form passed
away when Lincoln attached his name to the Emancipation Proclamation
but the fight for individual freedom was not yet complete.

Men and women were still on different planes. Equality before the
law and political partnership had not been attained. The nation
could not endure half slave and half free; no more could the finest
form of the enlightened state be reared from a social fabric half
enfranchised and half submerged.

There were not wanting, however, those who sensed the injustice
of a franchise based upon anything less than the absolute
equality of the individual.

The campaign of education that has achieved the stupendous
evolution represented by the nineteenth Amendment called into service
some master minds. Time will not permit even the roll call of these
but one needs must mention the outstanding ones who, in less than a
century, have set the hands on the clock of progress farther forward
than others had done in all the centuries that had gone before.

Profound conviction and a noble purpose to achieve kept
them true to their ideals when it was no light thing to face the public
indifference and more often bantering derision.

In this noble company stand those illustrious ones, Lucretia
Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Julia Ward Howe, Anna
Howard Shaw, and Carrie Chapman Catt. Neither eulogy nor academic
honors can add luster to their names, but any recognition of their
greatness cannot fail to add distinction to that state or that institution
that thus calls attention to their contribution to human progress.

As proof of this one needs but to name the questions which
they championed, that have now been settled for all time and settled
right. Among these are the Abolition of Slavery; Coeducation;
equality of rights on the platform, in the pulpit, in the professions,
in industry. They gave themselves heart and soul to all questions
(including the prohibition of the liquor traffic) that promised to
uplift humanity or to break the fetters of ignorance and tradition.
As the climax of the series in the social and political reforms that

have been achieved, we have equal suffrage as a national policy. 
This amendment is a marker not only in our national life but in the
life of the world. To our guest and speaker has come the distinction
of being the Commander in Chief during the recent years that
brought this momentous struggle for social and political freedom
to a glorious finality and reality. Wyoming, in which for more
than half a century Woman's right to the ballot has not been questioned,
congratulates [her?]. The University, upon whose seal the
word "Equality" has been inscribed for more than a third of a century
congratulates her. Today's ceremonies are significant in the
light of the history of women's emancipation that has already been
written and more significant in the prophecy that this state and this
nation shall, with God's blessing, be the inspiration for the further
spread of justice throughout the world.

In view of the fact that, to Wyoming falls the distinction
of having been the first of the commonwealths to grant unrestricted
suffrage to women and, in view of the further fact that in the thirty
years of constitutional equality the state has never wavered in its
loyalty to this principle of freedom, it seems fitting that it should
claim for itself the distinction of being also the first to place the
laurel wreath, its highest academic distinction, upon the brow of the
chief living exponent of equal suffrage.

The School system of this state -- of any state -- is
the main instrumentality through which it expresses its academic
will. As naturally as the elementary schools lead into the high
school, just so naturally do the high schools lead into the various
colleges of the University. In similar fashion, it is the prerogative
of the State's degree granting institution to open the door into
international academic life.

The University of Wyoming is relatively young. From its
foundation to the present moment, it has been conservative in the use

of its degree granting power. Never has it been swayed by expediency
in the exercise of this legitimate function. Hitherto it has
been announced no degrees except those granted "in course" and then
only upon the complete fulfillment of rigid scholastic requirements.
Moved by no temporary advantage, it has sought to lay its educational
foundations broad and deep. Its policy has been to put world
values into the seal of its approval.

Awaiting the time of its youthful strength it has until
now refrained from offering the Doctor's degree either in course,
or as an earned distinction in public life. 

The University's history is separated into longer or shorter
periods of time, each ushered in by some noteworthy event that
serves as a marker from which to reckon time and progress.

Today we are entering a new development period. The
first granting of the Doctor's degree sharply detaches us from the
past. We are to become attached to the future through the new
policy of putting into full effect the powers conferred by the state.
From now on, in common with other universities, we doubtless will
continue to recognize supreme achievement in the great fields of
human service by the honorary Doctor's degree. The hour has come
in which the University may honor itself and shed luster upon its
state. Carrie Chapman Catt, student, teacher, superintendent, --
typical American education -- lawyer, statesman, reformer and
patriot; lecturer in this and many other lands; organizer of the
forces for political equality and justice; delegate to international
congresses; incomparable leader of the National Women's Suffrage
Associations:- the Faculty of the University of Wyoming, recognizing
you as singularly worthy to receive the honorary degree of Doctor
of Laws has recommended you to the Board of Trustees and the Board
has awarded to you this degree. In token thereof, by virtue of the 

authority delegated to me by the Board of Trustees, I present to 
you this diploma sealed with the seal of the University and signed
by the President of the Board and by the President of the University.
As further evidence of the distinction to which you have
attained, the Secretary of the Faculty will now invest you with
the Doctor's Hood.  Keep this hood as an evidence of our confidence
and good will.  The brown and yellow symbolize maturity and unalloyed
values.  On behalf of the University, I bid you God speed
in further achievement for your sex and for the race.
MRS. CATT:  I thank the Faculty and the Board of Trustees
of the University of Wyoming.  There are no words I could find to 
express my appreciation and gratitude of the very great honor you 
have bestowed upon me.  I realize that you have done this thing
because, in a sense, I stand as the symbol for the great causes that
Wyoming has served, and on behalf of my cause I am doubly grateful.

FRED C. LEBHART
SHORTHAND REPORTER
LARAMIE, WYOMING

BACCALAUREATE ADDRESS
by
MRS. CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT
at the
UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING, JUNE 12th, 1921

PRESIDENT NELSON: I need not make at this time a long
introduction of the speaker of the afternoon. In fact, all that is 
necessary is to say that we are so fortunate as to have for the 
Baccalaureate speaker Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt of New York City. I
am glad to present Mrs. Catt.

Mrs. Catt: Mr. President, the Board of Trustees of the
University of Wyoming, and citizens of the State:
In the beginning a Baccalaureate address was a sermon,
and so, not to depart too far from the form, I have taken a text,
and my text is from that wonderful Book of Proverbs, Chapter
Twenty-nine, and Verse Eighteen -- "Where there is no vision, the 
people perish".

I am going to interpret that text to mean that where the 
people have no vision, the nation perishes, and if I forget to al-
lude to my text again, you will know what I tried to say, and it
won't be the first time a preacher forgot to come back to his text.

Ever since the first graduating class, the elders have 
been giving graduates advice, and I predict that so long as there 
are graduates the elders will continue to give them advice, although
the graduates will continue to pay small heed. This relation
between the old and the young is quite normal. Each incoming
generation seems to issue a challenge to the outgoing generation,
as though it said, "What a pitiful botch of things you have made!
Just watch us!". And the outgoing generation, sensing that un-
spoken challenge, wants to rise to the defense of its own record.
It wants to tell why there have been so many lost battles in the
great conflict for civilization. It wants to tell the younger,
oncoming generation what hazards there were and what pitfalls
might have been avoided. I doubt if any young man or woman can
comprehend the sincere yearning with which the college oldster
longs to pass on to the college youngster some of the principles
and motives of human conduct which he thinks he has extracted
from his own conflict in life, but college youth, straining at
the leash which has held him so long to the business of prepared-
ness for life, has no patience to learn more rules of the game.
He has perfect confidence that he is going to know how to act
when once he has a chance, and he only longs for the opportunity
to try. So this irrepressible conflict between the oldsters and the
youngsters is bound to continue to the end. The elders will go on ad-
vising and youth will goes on spurning the counsel and the generations
will come and the generations will go.

But even so, I shall follow the universal trend and give
you a bit of advice. I beg you, the Class of 1921, to be patient, for you
know that the youths of today are to be the elders of tomorrow,
and in twenty, thirty, forty or fifty years from today, you your-
selves will be giving addresses to graduating classes as yet unborn.
You will then have had your fling at life, you will have had your

2

successes and your failures, and with your soul afire with the desire to pass on to them the lessons gained by experience you will find yourself framing your address in the same old inevitable terms of advice. And why not?
Thousands of young men and women in this month of June are stepping out of the colleges to find place in the great world. In the words of Edmund Burke - "Civilization is a contract between the dead, the living and the unborn." The elders of this day inherited the combination of efforts of all the dead. They have guarded that which is most sacred and have builded something new. They must now pass the ? on to you, and it will be your task to uphold the best ? and make the whole better. It will be your task to solve the many problems left unsolved, and no generation ever found more unfinished jobs upon the political work table than will yours.
I never have known what period of time a generation covers -- but let us say thirty years. Then the graduates from, let us say 1910 to 1940 -- the graduates of a generation -- are certain to be the directors of the destiny of this nation for a later generation -- let us say from 1040 to 1970 -- they cannot escape it. These graduates will then sit in the halls of Congress, in the forty-eight Legislatures; they will wear judges' robes; they will compose the faculties of colleges; they will edit the great magazines and newspapers; they will lead the great movements of the time; they will direct the political parties. In truth, they will control all the factors which make civilization.
But there is something more. Dr. Henry Herbert Goddard, who is now head of the bureau of Juvenile Research in 
-3-
Ohio, and who was a member of the committee of Psychological examination of recruits in the United States Army, made a remarkable statement to the Convention of Charities and Corrections not long ago. Had it been made by almost any other man the statement might have been scorned - but however remarkable any statement of Dr. Goddard's may be, his eminence and authority are such that it compels the world to respect it. Said he: "Ten per cent of our population belongs to the class of supermen. Its intelligence ranks high above the average. It is capable of unraveling a complicated proposition,-of seeing directly into the heart of a problem, of comprehending the direction of social and political movements. It knows, it thinks, and it acts independently. Twenty per cent of the population is capable of understanding the intricacies of a situation when presented, although incapable of analysing it without assistance. The remaining seventy per cent includes at one extreme, the feeble minded, and at the other, those who possess no further capacity than ability to finish the grades of the public school and to enter the high school. Now not all the college graduates are necessarily supermen, and not all supermen have ever seen the inside of a college. Nevertheless, a considerable portion of the ten per cent are doubtless in the list of college graduates, and in that small fraction, which would be included in the graduates of thirty years, we find those who will keep the civilization of the world moving onward for a whole generation. Upon the breadth of their vision, the clarity with which they compel others to see, and the courage with which they defend their ideals, will depend the rate of our national progress. The nation will be what they make it.
-4-

Realizing this portentious and somewhat amazing fact,
how can any elder fail to warn the college graduates that they
are not as other men and women? Untold influences have combined to
point out for them a higher destiny.
One man has figured out that for twenty generations each
one of us had one million grand-fathers and one million grand-mothers. 
Each one of these men and women have contributed something
to the make-up of our individual character. There was
something in that combination which threw you into the ten per
cent. You had nothing to do with it. You were born there.
Something in that combination also sent you to college. The environment
which surrounded you [?] urged you to college. Here you have had
the training of men and women who are themselves the choicest
product of the best educational system any nation ever had. You
go from here to take your place as citizens in a land far ahead of
most in religious and political freedom,- in the application of
the principles of democracy and in the solution of those great
problems which now so sorely vex the world.
Time was when graduates would be congratulated upon so
happy a condition, and merely advised to live good and hones lives,
but that was long ago. The world knows more now and it expects
more. A very great Englishman, Bishop Inge, the Dean of St.
Paul's, recently said a thing which most elders of many nations
have been thinking:
"I have not viewed the generation of which I have been
a part as a particularly easy or victorious one, but I confess
that I look forward with great anxiety to the journey through
life which my children will have to make." Why? Because after 
every war there is oral unrest and crime, disturbed financial
-5-

and business conditions, high costs of living and oppressive taxation,
but what is sadder than all, there is an ill considered 
radicalism threatening revolution and a corresponding much frightened
conservatism which result in creating a general reaction in
thought and pessimism in political action. It took thirty years
for our nation to pass through that period of reaction after the
Civil War. The greater the war, the more complex [the heavier the weight of] the
war's aftermath. You, the youth of today, are they who must
lead through this slough of despond to higher planes and do it
without allowing the flag of progress to drop of falter.
The world needs leaders as it never needed them before.
The great war revealed a sad fact -- a man endowed with great
power could produce a confusion which no living man was superman
enough, nor was any combination of living men powerful enough to
bring to order. The other day in Washington two very great
Republicans, and for reasons obvious I will not give their names,
were conversing with each other over this particular fact, and
one said to the other, "The truth is, our party has no men [man] big
enough for the mighty tasks that are now demanded of our nation," 
and the other agreed with him. They were very much depressed
and then they remembered something and the thought cheered them,
and they said, "Well, after all, the Democrats have no bigger
men then we."
It is these incapacity of the present generation to deal with the problems of the times [things] that the elders are realizing. They
know how many unfinished tasks -- hard ones -- they are leaving
for you, and they would like to make it easier for you, if they
could -- to take you by the hand, as it were, and lead you onward.
Most earnestly do they pray that you will be ore ably fitted for
your tasks than they have been for yours. It is not that they
-6-

have less confidence in you, but they believe if they could only 
equip you with all that they have learned as they have journeyed 
through life you would be able to lift higher the flag of progress 
and to carry it further.

Following the example of all elders I want to give one 
bit of advice, and I want to leave with you one fact which I have 
learned as the result of my life's experience. I do not 
expect you to accept the advice, but I hope that you may 
remember the fact.

The advice is that when you go forth from [the Wyoming University] Ohio State College 
you [shall[ will go with the determination to become men and 
women of vision. Vision is not a wild dream which comes in the
night from indigestion; nor is it the idle fantasy of a discordant 
mind, although these charges have both been made. It is 
first an earnest, sincere conviction based upon a thorough understanding 
of the cause which produces the vision. Second, there 
is knowledge of the evolutionary processes that will certainly 
lead that cause onward. Standing solidly upon absolute knowledge 
and looking into the future along a trail the world is bound to 
follow, one sees the realization of a wrong righted - that is 
vision.

Each of you has a special inclination. You will find 
your vision there and whatever it is, the world needs you in its 
service. I do not ask you to be reformers -- that means giving 
your entire life to a task. All I am asking you is this: wherever 
you go, whatever you do, take your vision with you.

There is a law of evolution - you have learned much of 
that during your life in college. Some regard it as similar to 
the law of gravitation and think that it works while they sleep,
-7-


but I want to tell you that evolution requires evolvers -- men and 
women of vision who are willing to life and to die for their cause. 
So I ask each of you to be an evolver along the line where your 
conviction is strongest and your vision clearest. Learn to think 
things through, to take into consideration all the facts, and 
especially the opinions of those who do not agree with you. Make 
the large things look large and the little things small, and when 
you have found your vision, stand fast.

[You, the sons and daughters of Wyoming, have the immortal
example of your state to follow. When, fifty-two years ago, the
young territory granted the vote to women, it stood alone -- alone
in all the world. In 1869 I was a young child studying geography,
and I remember my map with that enormous yellow splotch which included
Wyoming, and it was called the Great American Desert. The
granting of votes to women in some unknown state in that great
desert had little influence on the outside world. What good
thing could come out of a desert? But time brought influence to
Wyoming, and then the world jeered at her. I am sure that for
many years men who went as delegates to political conventions and
as delegates to Congress, must have had a difficult task to defend
the action of the state. To my mind it was a wonderful thing
that Wyoming took her stand so long ago -- but the really heroic
thing was that she never failed to stand fast. I do not know in
all those years of a single instance when she faltered. The world
jeered, and still she stood.]

[I remember long years ago, for an example, when a man
appeared in the City of Boston and was interviewed by the Boston
Herald, always an opposer of woman's suffrage. The paper quoted
him, "the Honorable Mr. So-and-So from Cheyenne, Wyoming," declaring]
-8-

[declaring woman suffrage a failure. The article said that in Wyoming,
although the women had the vote, they never used it; that
in Wyoming there were such quarrels in the family because the
women did use the vote that there was no harmony; and so on.
It appeared in the morning press. There were few in Boston who
dreamed that the time would ever come when smug state of
Massachusetts would give women the vote. A suffragist, however,
hastened a telegram to Cheyenne asking who this Honorable Mr.
So-and-So was and if he spoke for Wyoming. By noon that day
she had an answer, and the answer was that the Honorable Mr. So-
and-So had been a horse thief who had been convicted by a jury
half of whom were women. Perhaps you never heard of that little
incident--but it rang all around the world accompanied by the
name of Wyoming. The world learned there was a place where women
voted. And the ridicule was on the other side.
I could tell you many such instances where Wyoming
stood fast, but the most crucial was when the State was admitted
 to statehood. Congress never takes a step forward until its
constituents at home demand it, and Congress said to Mr. Carey,
the delegate from this State and the father of your Governor,
"We will never admit Wyoming with woman suffrage in the Constitution,"
and Mr. Carey wired home for instruction. Here was a
gigantic temptation to shirk but Wyoming stood fast. He arose
late in the House and said, "Wyoming bids me to say to you that
she will stay out of the Union a hundred years if she cannot come
in with woman suffrage in her Constitution." Then Congress granted
her statehood because she stood fast. By and by, there were other
states that caught Wyoming's vision and enfranchised their women.
Still, following her immortal example, the whole nation in time]
[*9*]

[became a unit seeing that same vision. Nations far away caught
the vision, too, until now so many of them have enfranchised their
women that the list of lands wherein women vote numbers twenty-
eight and is longer than the list of countries where they do not
vote. That number will be twenty-nine within a few months. The
British Government has given to India legislative councils with
the right of free government, including the right to extend suffrage
to women, and three of those legislative councils, representing
states or provinces, have had their sittings, the last
of those being Madras, and they have enfranchised their women.
I remember as though it were but yesterday, an interview
I had in the City of Calcutta with an Indian Philosopher.
He was clad, if such it may be described, in a single strip of
white cloth wound about his loins, for that is the dress of the
Indian in that overheated country. He was shirtless, with a bare
body, and he sat upon a table bow-legged. Were you to see such
a man in any place but India, you would expect him to be sent to
the lock-up. He addressed me in perfect English, and in his
first sentence quoted Emerson, and in the next he inquired about
Wyoming. There are few people in other lands who know the names
of our states--forty-eight is a good many to learn--but
millions of them know about Wyoming. Many, many a press dispatch
has gone the world around coupled with the name of Wyoming, and
many time s we have appealed to your high officials for information 
which we in turn have passed on, the last being only last week
when the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the French Government
applied to us for the history and the status of woman suffrage in 
the United States.]
[*10*]

Stand fast, when you have found your cause and your vision. The world may howl at you; it may jeer at you; it may even mob you -- such things have happened -- but in the end the world will surrender to you, and all the way through while the mob is jeering and howling at you, you will know that you are right and that it will surrender. And that is your support, your protection, your daily encouragement. If I knew how to present you an immortal gift, it would be to give you three quotations in a form that you would never forget. They would prove a daily guide for men and women of vision.
The first is from an old-time statesman, Alexander Hamilton, and is much more appropriate now than when he said it. Said he, "We, the people, are the state. If laws fail to protect, it is we who fail. If injustice dwells in this land, it is we who should hang our heads in shame." For at least a generation that responsibility is to be yours; you cannot escape it. Remember it.
The next is from the man usually called the greatest American - Abraham Lincoln. It is expressed in that rough and ready English which was his characteristic -- "I do the best I know how -- the very best I can -- and I intend to keep on doing it until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong then ten angels swearing that I was right would make no difference."
The third is from that great French philosopher who put his thoughts in far finer phrasing than most -- Victor Hugo. "Abuses existed. I combatted them. Tyrannies existed. I destroyed them. Rights and principles existed. I proclaimed and confessed them." If, when you have passed your generation of guardianship, you too can say this thing, you may know that you
-11-
have lived a great life of service to the human race.
And the fact that I would give you in only a simple thing. It is that as an evolver you can do nothing alone. It is only in combination with others that progress may be accomplished, in a nation dependent upon popular opinion. A single vote means nothing -- a block of votes means much. Therefore you must learn to work with others. I believe that it is the hardest lesson that any human being ever has to learn. Two people in a home have trouble enough to keep peace, and when it is necessary to bring the majority of the hundred millions of our population to a common understanding, the task is well nigh impossible. It means that you must concede; you must compromise; you must ever respect the opinions of others. Stand together.
It is said, here in America, that all things come through political parties and therefore progress comes through serving them. Political parties are necessarily timid, there are too many people in them, and political parties do not take stands for great causes until some block of votes within the party or out of the party make a demand too strong to be overlooked. When it is considered necessary to its own safety and permanence that the political party move, then it does move -- but only then. You may find your vision and your leadership within or without the party,- their is need up both.
I beg of you, that you do not conduct yourselves like the seventy per cent or the twenty per cent, unless you belong there. You are ten percenters, and you cannot escape the responsibility of the circumstances that put you there that fact lays a responsibility at your feet. You may fill your life with money making. I don't know whether women will make that their aim, but men do. The world may call you successful for the dollars that you have accumulated, but
-12-

if you have not compelled your community to look forward along constructive lines of progress, no matter how many dollars you may have or what other success the world may accord you, your life is a failure, for you have not fulfilled your obligation to all those grandfathers and grandmothers, to your college, to your State, and to the destiny which was yours. You, who from the very nature of things have been appointed as guardians of American civilization for a generation, I beg you to fit your selves for your task. Do not survey politics, (for progress is politics, and politics is progress) down in the valley where the fogs are densest - climb up to the political hilltops where in the sunlight there is a broader view, and there learn to understand the would of things. Great duties await you - great joys are coming to you - great battles will you fight; great victories will you win, so live your life that at the end you do not regret that you have only learned how to fight when life is closing. Be men and women of vision; be evolvers; help the great Divine law to lend us nearer the millinium.
To the wrongs that need resistance,
To the right that needs assistance,
To the future in the distance,
Give yourselves.
-13-

The International Woman Suffrage News, July, 1923.
                                 How Rome Welcomed The Congress

                                              JVS SVFFRAGII

                                           THE INTERNATIONAL
                                         WOMAN SVFFRAGE NEWS

The Monthly Organ of the International Woman Svffrage Alliance

Volume 17.       No.9.            PRICE 6d.                       JULY, 1923.
                                    Annual Subscription, 6/.
 
                                              CONTENTS
                                                            PAGE                                                                       PAGE
A Message from our New President     145        Reunion pour la Societe des Nations       153
How Rome welcomed the Congress     146        Fiji                                                             153
Mrs. Chapman Catt's Address               147        Great Britain                                              154
       Part I                                               147        Hungary                                                    155
       Part II                                              157        Popular Government in Rajkot                 156
Signor Mussolini's Speech                    149        Roumania                                                  156
Officers of the Alliance                         149        Tasmania                                                    156
Government Delegates                         149        France                                                        158
Resolutions adopted at the Rome Congress   150      British Rome Congress Fund             159

      A MESSAGE FROM OUR NEW PRESIDENT.
The necessity for a presidential election at Rome
must have caused most of us a real pang, as we
realized the Alliance was entering
on a new epoch of work.
  With the usual brilliance of
women we have turned the
crisis to account and have now
two presidents, one, our founder
and honorary president, who will
continue to embody for us all the
glamour and romance of our
early work as pioneers. It was
a period of desperately hard
struggles and of tiny bands of
remarkable women in all coun-
tries, and in many an astounding
development of women's organi-
zation which has proved in itself
a remarkable education, and of
thrilling success which have
enfranchised the women of twenty-
five countries, Success has been
as wayward, according to our
critics, as la donna e mobile.
For success came sometimes in
the night, with war and revo-
lution, sometimes, long wooed, it
only followed painstaking and
self-sacrificing organization which
penetrated, if not every home, at
least every street and every
hamlet. All this we cherish and remember in Mrs.
Chapman Catt.
(Portrait of Mrs. Corbett Ashby)

What of our new work-a-day President? She must
stand, I think, for the sober middle-age of the Alliance.
We are out of the romantic
pioneer stage and must set to
work to occupy and settle and
develop the new lands we have
won. Not that our middle age
will be dull, far from it. We
welcome to-day the gain of the
municipal suffrage and eligibility
of the Italian women as the fore-
taste of our elation when we shall
hear that the first Latin country
has completely enfranchised its
women. In Brazil, France and
Italy Woman's Suffrage Bills have
passed the First Chamber, and we
watch with interest the friendly
rivalry of the Latin New and Old
Worlds.
     With a new President the res-
ponsibility on each member of the
Board, on each National Presi-
dent, and on each individual is
greater. True, in one sense, our
task is easier because we have
now in the world a permanent
international authority, the
League of Nations, whom we can
help and who in turn can assist
us. First, we are to stand for
peace, and peace must rest on understanding, and com-
mon work for a single aim gives us this understanding.

146        THE INTERNATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE NEWS.    JULY, 1923

Secondly, the machinery of the League enables us to work simultaneously in all countries, for instance, work on the nationality of married women is much simplified. To get such a change through many legislatures piecemeal would cause suffering and confusion, leaving many women without nationality, but a draft convention, approved by the Assembly of the League, can be ratified quickly by individual Governments.  Slavery and child marriage can be fought everywhere at once, and drugs and traffic in women can only be attacked efficiently on an international scale.
        My message to the unenfranchised women is: "Concentrate on the vote. Take part in other work, social, educational, civic, seize every opportunity to prove that women are capable and public-spirited, but do all this other work as a means to getting the vote, realizing that until women are full citizens much of their work is wasted in trying to cure the victims of evil instead of attacking its roots."
         To the enfranchised women I would say: "We fought for and won the vote that we might be full and equal citizens of our countries, and we should therefore join with men in converted action on all great national problems, but we must never forget that much of our strength will be wasted if we merely double men's efforts; we must for some time remember we are also specialist and experts with special work to do, and our work as humans must not be at the sacrifice of our work as women. As long as there is any discrimination against women in our civil codes, as long as in theory or practice (even 'health' practice) there is inequality, as long as a double standard of morality exists or any industrial disabilities we must consider their removal our special charge."
        Life is service and to us, the women of the twentieth century, life and service undreamt of have opened. 
                                                                      MARGERY I. CORBETT ASHBY. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                     HOW ROME WELCOMED THE 
                                                 GREAT CONGRESS  

BEFORE the great Congress opened representatives from forty-three countries had gathered in the Eternal City to take part in it. They had come from every corner of the globe- from China, Japan, India, Palestine, Egypt, Newfoundland, New Zealand, North and South America, and from most of the countries of Europe. Among the delegates were women Members of Parliaments, doctors of medicine and of science, lawyers, solicitors, writers, teachers, singers, musicians, and women engaged in trade and commerce. 
     Every creed, every race, every class and every profession were represented at the Congress.
     Thirteen Governments had sent official delegates, the Secretariat of the League of Nations was represented by Dame Rachel Crowdy, and the International Labour Office by Signor Cabrini.
     The Congress was formally opened by Signor Mussolini and Signor Cremonesi, Lord Mayor of Rome. No one who had the privilege of being present at that opening meeting is ever likely to forget it. The vast hall with its gay flags and flowers, the brilliant gathering, the babel of every known tongue, the enthusiastic applause which broke out on all sides as Signor Mussolini passed up the hall accompanied by Mrs. Chapman Catt, Signor Cremonesi, the Officers of the Alliance and the Italian Committee. The interest awakened by this dramatic opening was maintained throughout the Congress. 

     The Press table was always crowded; the evening meetings thrown open to the public were thronged with eager men and women, anxious to hear what this World Congress of Women had come to tell them. 
       On one evening it was the Government delegates who addressed the meeting ; on another women Members of Parliaments ; on another women of all the Continents, when delegates from East, West, North and South told us something of their hopes and aspirations and achievements. Whatever the programme, there was a crowded and an enthusiastic audience, in which there was a large percentage of men, both old and young. 
     Looking back, perhaps the feature of the Congress which is most fixed in one's memory is the fact that this gathering of women, whose outlook on life was so varied, achieved the triumph of working in harmony and of coming to an agreement on questions of the highest importance. Elsewhere in this issue we publish the long list of resolutions adopted at the Congress. 
     Diversity of opinion there was (how dull the world would be without it), but a diversity expressed with cordiality and a real desire to understand the other person's point of view. There was argument enough to satisfy the most ardent fighter, but in essentials there was an amazing unanimity. When we say that the woman's movement is universal it is not mere rhetoric. 
       It was a week of strenuous work, and yet some hours were snatched for pleasure. The Italian Committee had provided a charming entertainment at the Palazzo dell'Esposizione; the Italian Government gave a reception for the Congress in the beautiful Farnese Gardens on the Palatine Hill ; the Municipality entertained delegates at the Capitol ; the Lyceum Club gave a tea for the Congress. All the art galleries of Rome were thrown open free, and by the courtesy of His Holiness the galleries of the Vatican were also open free to delegates. 
         Nothing, indeed, could surpass the cordial welcome given to the Congress by the Italian Government, the Press and the Italian people. 
          On the morning of the last day all the delegates walked in procession from the Palazzo dell'Esposizione to the Home Office, where they were received by Signor Mussolini. It was Rome's first experience of a Suffrage procession, and splendidly did the people play up to it. The crowds that gathered in the streets, the people who flocked to the windows, may have been a little surprised, perhaps a little puzzled ; but there was never a discourteous remark or unfriendly glance. It was a great day for Suffrage. The beautiful banner of the Alliance and the Italian flag led the way, followed by Mrs. Chapman Catt and Mrs. Corbett Ashby, the Board of Officers, Government delegates, Members of Parliament, the enfranchised countries in alphabetical order, the unenfranchised countries in alphabetical order. The leaders conferred with Signor Mussolini, who again promised that Italian women should be given the vote by gradual stages, and then the whole procession filed before him. 
      One was struck by the friendliness and accessibility of Signor Mussolini and his colleagues.
       The closing hours of the Congress were saddened by the farewell of Mrs. Chapman Catt. In an eloquent and moving speech, the retiring President gave a word of warning to those who succeed her. She warned her hearers not to be too afraid of giving offence, and too anxious to placate everyone at the expense of principle. 
       "Never do anything," she said, "that you would be unwilling to bear before the whole world." Then there need be no fear for the future of the Alliance. 
       The Congress presented to Mrs. Chapman Catt an album in Roman leather, containing the names of all the delegates-- a sign of the wonderful growth of the Alliance to which she has given so much care and devotion. 
                                                                                          L. DE ALBERTI


JULY, 1923     THE INTERNATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE NEWS.     147
              
              ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT, CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT
                  TO THE NINTH CONGRESS OF THE INTERNATIONAL
                                    WOMAN SUFFRAGE ALLIANCE
                                     ------------------------------------------
                                        Rome, Italy, May 14, 1923
                                     ------------------------------------------
                                                      PART I.

THE International Woman Suffrage Alliance is indeed grateful to the Government of Italy and to its citizens for the cordial welcome we have received. Our Congress represents the world's movement among women, which demands the repeal of antiquated so-called "woman laws" and customs, and the substitution therefore of a modern civilized recognition of the fact that a woman is a human being- a female human with the same brain and conscience, strength or weakness, aspiration or indifference, as a male human. Our movement is old. The oldest of us is too young to have been part of its beginning. Then, we know the brave women souls who led the way were not greeted as are we to-day. For them were ridicule and abuse, mobs and fusillades of decayed vegetables and eggs. But because they were right, and dared to brave the scorn of a hostile world, kings, premiers, presidents and mayors to-day do honour to our case. 
         We do not come to Rome in this year of 1923 to hold our Ninth Congress as timid suppliants for small favours. Our Congress represents women of forty nations, and there are only sixty nations in the world. In other words women of two-thirds of the nations of the world are represented in this gathering. Of these the delegates of twenty-five nations are voters on equal terms with men, and among them are Members of Parliaments and Councillors of great cities. The delegates from two countries are voters in their municipalities. The delegates in this Congress who are still pleading for the vote represent fifteen nations only. The majority of us are enfranchised. We, too, are a part of the collective rules of nations. 
          Your Excellency, Signor Mussolini, you are the most talked-of man in all the world to-day. To millions of men you are a great hero, and all the world knows that you are afraid of nothing--not even public opinion when it is wrong. Men tell us that you stand for order, for unity, for patriotism, for a better and a higher civilization in the world. These are our ideals too. We stand for educated men and women, for schools for every child, for work and good wages for all, for better homes, for more tender and scientific care of children, that they may grow up to build a better order of things. We stand for the abolition of those old codes of law which, all the world around, kept women in perpetual tutelage and allowed them no independent individuality. These codes have made many men cruel masters and women timid and shrinking dependents. "Male and female create He them," says Genesis, "and gave them dominion over the earth." Alas, the male took all the dominion to themselves, and we stand for getting back our half of it. We stand, too, for the principle of self-government and for votes for men and women on equal terms. 
       We make no political intrigues. We shall not disturb the peace of Italy. We have, however, asked all the civilized Governments of the world to endorse our plea and our programme. We ask this Government to do so, with a new and very special emphasis, for Italy, the proud equal of the great nations of the world, is now in the minority on the woman question, and we dare to hope that it will be your Government, most honored, most excellent Signor Mussolini, that will lead this land of ancient renown into the modern majority.
          Men and nations are not thinking the same thoughts about women as before the war. It is an entirely new and different world for women. The thirty-two nations engaging in the greatest of world wars, in addition to the obvious first cause, alleged many other reasons for their action. These were objects which they hoped to achieve through victory, and nations held the worthy the waste of wealth an men. In the list of these causes and aims no nation included the civil rights and political liberty of women. Not a general under any flag thought of the degraded status of women throughout the world when he led his men into the thick of slaughter. Not a man in any army preparing to offer his life for his country, dreamed that he might be making the supreme sacrifice to right the wrongs of women. Not a weeping father or mother, watching their loved son go forth to marching music and flying colours, perhaps never to return, had a vision that women's place in their own nation and the world bore relation to the patriotism that inspired their common service. Woman, too, was declared a "war power," and great men of great nations generously acknowledged her as a determining factor in that reserve behind the ranks which made possible the army at the front ; yet these women at home, giving their all and counting no service too great, thought no word of rights of self or sex. Nevertheless, when time has stabilized Governments and finance, when commerce, trade and business have resumed their old-time activity, when the restless, unhappy present has given way to peace and order, and great men ask each other the puzzling question ; "What good did the world get out of the war?" the answer most obvious will be : "The greatest thing that came out of the war was the emancipation of women." No one aimed to secure it or expected it as a result of war, no one fought for it, yet it came. How did it happen? It happened because the years of struggle, sacrifice, agitation, education and organization had made this movement ripe for victory. 
     Very many years ago Victor Hugo declared the nineteenth century to be " the Century of Woman." When, however, that century closed the emancipation of women was so far from being achieved that the prediction seemed an error. Yet during the years of that century the leading nations of the world had conceded the righteousness of the woman's demand for education, the primary preparation for individual liberty. Indeed, one distinguished man declared that the vote for women became inevitable at the moment when it was conceded that they should be permitted to learn the alphabet. When the year 1900 closed the nineteenth century primary and high schools were very generally established for girls, and the doors of colleges and universities were not only opened to them, but women composed a large part of the teaching force of the schools to many nations. Women had advanced from an illiterate to an intelligent sex within a century. The right of women to enter the professions was conceded, and after a period of struggle, often rendered bitterly difficult by the opposition of reaction, women in 1900 were practising their professions with freedom and profit in many countries. Women also were everywhere writing for newspapers and magazines, speaking from platforms and leading movements for the betterment of human society. The law, too, which denied married women the right to their property, persons, wages and children, had been repealed or modified in many lands, and public opinion, controlling customs and conventions, granted a liberty of action to women at the close of the century unknown and undreamt of at the beginning. Although the emancipation of woman was nowhere complete, we now know that the nineteenth century was, in truth, the "Century of Woman," for no factor of advancing civilization during

                                  

148   THE INTERNATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE NEWS.    JULY, 1923.

that century showed such rapid evolution as the status
of woman. So much of the woman's programme had 
been conceded in that century that the remainder
became inevitable. The momentum gathered in the
nineteenth century drove the movement forward into
the twentieth with continually accelerating numbers of
advocates and diversity of method. The end was in
clear sight when the war began.'

The vote has been the climax of the struggle of every
class for liberty, and naturally the grant of this privilege
was longest delayed and most grudgingly given. When,
however, the Alliance met in Geneva in 1920, in its first
after-war Congress, it celebrated twenty-two new
national suffrage victories. The constitutional barriers
holding fast against the logical demands of women for
political liberty had been swept away by the wave of
liberal emotions which overspread the world during the
first months after the war. Nations wherein the
organized demand had been slight, and others where there 
had been none at all, yielded to that influence. The
nations where the organized movement was oldest
granted the vote to women as an act of delayed justice;
the new republics of Eastern Europe adopted it as a
matter of course, and to others it came by revolution.

We who had laboured long in the thick of the struggle
were also caught in the emotion of the moment, and
when we celebrated the amazing list of woman suffrage
victories at our Congress of 1920 we were no more able
to comprehend the exact status of the entire movement
than were the workers at the close of the nineteenth
century. In 1900 the final victories seemed further
away than they were; and in 1920 the whole world
campaign seemed more nearly complete than it was.
Some could conceive no methods for useful further work,
and others, thinking our task quite finished, proposed to
dissolve the Alliance. Now that we have had three
years in which to survey the movement as a whole, it 
becomes our duty to ask again, Where does it stand?

There are six continents. In Australia all women
vote. In Europe from points above the Arctic Circle
down to a line bordering Jugo-Slavia, Italy, Switzerland
and France, all women vote, and, in my judgment,
woman suffrage is securely and permanently established.
In North America, from the northernmost tip of Alaska
to the border of Mexico, all women vote. In Asia the
ancient Indian civilization with modern democratic
aspirations has shamed more youthful nations in
generous justice to its women, and has granted the vote
in several provinces. Not only do we welcome delegates
for the second time from that far-away mystical country,
but we receive a new auxiliary from Burmah, where
tax-paying women have voted on equal terms with men
for forty years. Palestine, too, the storm centre of
age-long struggle, sends us a delegate. In Africa most
British colonies have already extended the vote to
women, while South Africa alone, among them all,
hesitates. We are especially proud to welcome to this
Congress delegates from that wonderland of Egypt. In
ancient days there were Egyptian queens and women
military leaders of great renown; why not heroines
to-day, bearing aloft the standard of civil and political
equality for modern Egyptian woman? Bravo, women
of Egypt!

Of all the continents South America is the only one
where no woman votes, yet it is a continent of republics,
many of which have celebrated their centenary of
independence. Here the Napoleonic code in strictest
form operates from Panama to Cape Horn, with the
exception of Uruguay. Here not only does the restraint
imposed by the law upon the married woman, concerning
the control of her property, wages, person, and children,
render her well-nigh helpless if her husband chooses to
play the master, but a stern public opinion, far less
liberal than that of Europe, restricts her ordinary
freedom of action to an unbelievable degree. Your
President, accompanied by Miss Manus, of Holland,
Miss Babcock and Mrs. van Lennep, of New York, has
spent four months in making a survey of conditions there.
were able, in the time at our disposal, to visit six

only of the eleven republics, but these included the
countries of largest population, most stable government,
and those of acknowledged progressiveness. In every
one we found the woman movement growing and spreading,
a liberal sympathy expressed by Presidents of the
Republics and by many members of the Congresses. 
Organization lags far behind the general sentiment, and
education for women, which must everywhere be
regarded as the primary qualification for improved
status, offers neither the facilities nor the stimulus found
in Europe.

In every country visited we found a suffrage
movement, although usually small and timid, but an
unmistakable beginning. These countries of South
America look to Europe for leadership. The republics
along the east coast, Brazil, Argentine and Uruguay,
place great emphasis upon the example of France, and
so long as France does not enfranchise its women
South America will make no haste to do so. An immigration
so enormous has gone to Argentine from Italy
that it has even modified the Spanish language, and so
long as Italy delays the enfranchisement of her women
her sons, the voters of another land, will see no need
for urgent action. The women leaders of many movements
there are of French or Italian birth, and feel
keenly the effect of the hesitancy of their home lands
to catch step with the rest of the world. Spanish
America and Southern Europe are bound together by
many common ties. Their nationalities and their
languages are closely related, their religion is the same,
they love the same kind of poetry, literature, music
and art, their educational system has followed the same
models, and even politics, although it has taken its
form from the North, draws its inspirations and methods
chiefly from the South. They think and build ideals
along the same lines.

The Woman Suffrage movement has won its victory
in all the northern countries; not one now holds out
against the logic of its demand. The Southern lands,
France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece,
Bulgaria and Spanish and Portuguese America, compel
the movement to pause. Over the ramparts of southern
conservatism the Alliance extends the hand of friendship.
It must continue to cry to the women of all these
nations: Awake, Arise, Take Courage. Already their
women have so far heard and answered that I believe
I speak strictly within the truth when I say that every
independent nation in the world with a stable government
has now its Woman Suffrage Society. The movement
has begun, even where it has not travelled far.
Startling though it may seem, our suffrage movement
has in truth girdled the earth and spread from Arctic
North to Antarctic South. It now counts among its
auxiliaries those whose members represent the five
great races of the world, Caucasian, Mongolian, Malay,
Polynesian and Indian. Its membership embraces the
five great religions: Christian, Hebrew, Buddhist,
Confucian and Mohammedan. No such organized
movement among men has yet come into the world.
It is something new: a phenomenon - this arising,
uniting and marching forward together of a sex. We
are an army, but our only weapon is an appeal for
justice. We go forward with confidence, for no government
can long withstand our plea. Time, however,
must pass before the movement comes to its final
victory, and education, work and sacrifice must do
their part. Meanwhile it needs the encouragement and
inspiration of our common union, the morale aroused
by the fact that the women of all nations, races and
religions are united together in the demand for the
abrogation of outworn bondage and the demand for
individual freedom.

We thank your Excellency, Signor Mussolini, and
you, the Royal Commissioner and Mayor of the most
wonderful of the world's cities, Rome the Eternal, and
you, women of Italy, for your warm greetings. We
shall be happy in your city, and we shall make great
plans. All over Italy are the ruined relics of ancient
days. We shall ask you, fair Italy, to make another
ruin, a destruction of all the "woman laws," which

JULY, 1923.   THE INTERNATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE NEWS.   149

deny to women the half of the world's dominion God
gave them.

The motto of our Alliance, adopted twenty years ago,
came from ancient Rome, and no wiser guidance for
human action has any sage spoken through the centuries:
"In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all
things charity."

So, we differ in many things, in race, religion and
politics; but we are a unit in our demand for a woman's
share in all privileges, opportunities and responsibilities
the world has to offer.

Rome old and hoary, with memories of by-gone greatness,
we greet you with admiration and with reverence;
Rome young and modern, we ask that we may march
with you in a great world army of men and women whose
aim is only to create a happier life for all nations and
peoples of earth.

(Continued on page 157.)

SPEECH OF SIGNOR MUSSOLINI.
Rome Congress, May 12-19.

THE Fascista Government, over which I have the
honour of presiding, wishes to express to you its
great pleasure at your having chosen Rome as the seat of
your Congress, and welcomes you in the most cordial
and warmest way.

The problems of your Congress are most important
from a political, economic, and social point of view.
We may say, indeed, that they concern all the life and
activity of women. The principal object of this international
gathering is once more to call the attention of
Governments and of public opinion to the necessity of
granting to women a larger participation in the political
activities of nations by means of the vote.

All possible consequences must be considered, but
I can state that the Italian public spirit and the tendency
of our policy offer no preconceived opposition to
the enfranchisement of women. As far as I am concerned,
I feel authorized to declare that the Fascista
Government, if nothing unforeseen happens, will undertake
to grant to several categories of women the right
to vote, starting from the administrative vote.

I believe that none of you will be surprised by this
prudent policy in regard to the matter of elections,
especially as it is accompanied by the most optimistic
anticipations. In fact, I believe that by granting
women the right to vote, first in municipal and next in
political elections, no disastrous effects will ensue, as
is predicted by some pessimists. But very probably
it will have beneficial consequences, because woman will
bring to the exercise of this new right her fundamental
qualities of foresight, balance, and wisdom. I wish to
remark, nevertheless, that the vote cannot end, and does
not end, in fact, the political activity of citizens. In
many other ways, and by different means, one may
influence the course of events and the development of
political situations, for elections are but a more or less
noisy and insignificant episode. Outside of the electoral
problems there are many other problems whose solution
affects women and their domestic and social position.
You have then done well in putting these problems on
your agenda.

I wish to state that everything which attempts to raise
the moral position of women will have the cordial
support of the Fascista Government. Recently this
Government approved the Washington Convention
concerning night-work of women and of young persons,
and by this act it has placed itself in the first rank
among civilized nations. It has also been one of the
first to accept the resolutions passed by numerous
International Congresses, and has adopted the law
against the traffic in women and children, thus giving
the legal protection to women which is a duty among
civilized people, and which for a long time has been
demanded by all who have studied this problem.

And now let my thoughts pass on from these different
questions to all the mothers, to all the women, who have

suffered in silence and dignity the sacrifices and the
sorrows of the Great War - to all the women, even those
who are not represented here, who have powerfully contributed
during that period to ensure the stability of
national life. Let my thoughts go to all the other
women who every day give to humanity the precious
contribution of their ceaseless work in the schools, in
the workshops, in the homes, in the hospitals, and in the
fields.

I wish you, ladies, to carry to all your countries, even
to the most distant, my greetings, and I trust this Congress
will mean an essential advancement of the status
of women, and a new step forward in the history of
civilized nations.

[Since the Congress, Signor Mussolini has already
brought in his Electoral Reform Bill, which has passed
the Chamber.]

OFFICERS OF THE ALLIANCE,
Elected at the Ninth Congress, Rome,
May 12-19, 1923.

Hon. President: Mrs. Chapman Catt, 404, Riverside
Drive, New York, U.S.A. President: Mrs. Corbett
Ashby, 33, Upper Richmond Road, London, S.W. 15,
England. First Vice-President: Mme. de Witt Schlumberger,
14, Rue Pierre de Serbie, Paris, France. Second
Vice-President: Frau A. Lindemann, Koln, Marienburg,
Wolfegang Mullerstr., 20, Germany. Third Vice-President:
Dr. M. Ancona, 8, Via Morigi, Milano 8, Italy.
Fourth Vice-President: Mrs. Gifford Pinchot, Executive
Mansion, Harrisburg, Pa., U.S.A. Corresponding
Secretary: Miss E. Gourd, Pregny, Geneva, Switzerland.
Recording Secretary: Mme. Theodoropoulos, Rue Deligeorgi
11a, Athens, Greece. Treasurer: Miss Frances
Sterling, Homewood, Hartfield, Sussex. Committee:
Frau Schreiber-Krieger, Ahornalle 50, Charlottenburg,
Berlin, Germany; Frau Julie Arenholt, St. Kongensgade
23, Copenhagen K., Denmark; Dr. Paulina Luisi, chez
M. Fould, 30 Rue du Faubourg, Poissonniere, Paris,
France.

GOVERNMENT DELEGATES
Appointed to attend the Rome Congress.

BRAZIL. - Miss Bertha Lutz.
CHILE. - Sigra C. Lenetayer, care of Unione Feminsta
Nacional.
CZECHO-SLOVAKIA. - Miss Maria Tumova.
ESTHONIA. - Mr. Herman Hellatt, Esthonian Legation,
Rome.
FINLAND. - Miss Annie Furuhjelm, M.P.
GERMANY. - Mrs. Avra S. Theodoropoulos.
ITALY. - Prof. Regina Terruzzi.
NORWAY. - Frau Helga Helgesen.
POLAND. - Dr. Adelaide Cabette.
SWEDEN. - Mme. Frigga Carlberg.
JUGO-SLAVIA. - Mme. Prof. Petkovitch-Masimovitch.

League of Nations Secretariat. - Dame Rachel Crowdy.
International Labour Office. - M. Cabrini.

DELEGATES.

The full list of delegates will be published in the
International Woman Suffrage Alliance Report of the
Ninth Congress.

The Report will also contain amendments to the
Constitution, reports from auxiliaries, etc.

148   THE INTERNATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE NEWS.    JULY, 1923.

that century showed such rapid evolution as the status
of woman. So much of the woman's programme had 
been conceded in that century that the remainder
became inevitable. The momentum gathered in the
nineteenth century drove the movement forward into
the twentieth with continually accelerating numbers of
advocates and diversity of method. The end was in
clear sight when the war began.'

The vote has been the climax of the struggle of every
class for liberty, and naturally the grant of this privilege
was longest delayed and most grudgingly given. When,
however, the Alliance met in Geneva in 1920, in its first
after-war Congress, it celebrated twenty-two new
national suffrage victories. The constitutional barriers
holding fast against the logical demands of women for
political liberty had been swept away by the wave of
liberal emotions which overspread the world during the
first months after the war. Nations wherein the
organized demand had been slight, and others where there 
had been none at all, yielded to that influence. The
nations where the organized movement was oldest
granted the vote to women as an act of delayed justice;
the new republics of Eastern Europe adopted it as a
matter of course, and to others it came by revolution.

We who had laboured long in the thick of the struggle
were also caught in the emotion of the moment, and
when we celebrated the amazing list of woman suffrage
victories at our Congress of 1920 we were no more able
to comprehend the exact status of the entire movement
than were the workers at the close of the nineteenth
century. In 1900 the final victories seemed further
away than they were; and in 1920 the whole world
campaign seemed more nearly complete than it was.
Some could conceive no methods for useful further work,
and others, thinking our task quite finished, proposed to
dissolve the Alliance. Now that we have had three
years in which to survey the movement as a whole, it 
becomes our duty to ask again, Where does it stand?

There are six continents. In Australia all women
vote. In Europe from points above the Arctic Circle
down to a line bordering Jugo-Slavia, Italy, Switzerland
and France, all women vote, and, in my judgment,
woman suffrage is securely and permanently established.
In North America, from the northernmost tip of Alaska
to the border of Mexico, all women vote. In Asia the
ancient Indian civilization with modern democratic
aspirations has shamed more youthful nations in
generous justice to its women, and has granted the vote
in several provinces. Not only do we welcome delegates
for the second time from that far-away mystical country,
but we receive a new auxiliary from Burmah, where
tax-paying women have voted on equal terms with men
for forty years. Palestine, too, the storm centre of
age-long struggle, sends us a delegate. In Africa most
British colonies have already extended the vote to
women, while South Africa alone, among them all,
hesitates. We are especially proud to welcome to this
Congress delegates from that wonderland of Egypt. In
ancient days there were Egyptian queens and women
military leaders of great renown; why not heroines
to-day, bearing aloft the standard of civil and political
equality for modern Egyptian woman? Bravo, women
of Egypt!

Of all the continents South America is the only one
where no woman votes, yet it is a continent of republics,
many of which have celebrated their centenary of
independence. Here the Napoleonic code in strictest
form operates from Panama to Cape Horn, with the
exception of Uruguay. Here not only does the restraint
imposed by the law upon the married woman, concerning
the control of her property, wages, person, and children,
render her well-nigh helpless if her husband chooses to
play the master, but a stern public opinion, far less
liberal than that of Europe, restricts her ordinary
freedom of action to an unbelievable degree. Your
President, accompanied by Miss Manus, of Holland,
Miss Babcock and Mrs. van Lennep, of New York, has
spent four months in making a survey of conditions there.
were able, in the time at our disposal, to visit six

only of the eleven republics, but these included the
countries of largest population, most stable government,
and those of acknowledged progressiveness. In every
one we found the woman movement growing and spreading,
a liberal sympathy expressed by Presidents of the
Republics and by many members of the Congresses. 
Organization lags far behind the general sentiment, and
education for women, which must everywhere be
regarded as the primary qualification for improved
status, offers neither the facilities nor the stimulus found
in Europe.

In every country visited we found a suffrage
movement, although usually small and timid, but an
unmistakable beginning. These countries of South
America look to Europe for leadership. The republics
along the east coast, Brazil, Argentine and Uruguay,
place great emphasis upon the example of France, and
so long as France does not enfranchise its women
South America will make no haste to do so. An immigration
so enormous has gone to Argentine from Italy
that it has even modified the Spanish language, and so
long as Italy delays the enfranchisement of her women
her sons, the voters of another land, will see no need
for urgent action. The women leaders of many movements
there are of French or Italian birth, and feel
keenly the effect of the hesitancy of their home lands
to catch step with the rest of the world. Spanish
America and Southern Europe are bound together by
many common ties. Their nationalities and their
languages are closely related, their religion is the same,
they love the same kind of poetry, literature, music
and art, their educational system has followed the same
models, and even politics, although it has taken its
form from the North, draws its inspirations and methods
chiefly from the South. They think and build ideals
along the same lines.

The Woman Suffrage movement has won its victory
in all the northern countries; not one now holds out
against the logic of its demand. The Southern lands,
France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece,
Bulgaria and Spanish and Portuguese America, compel
the movement to pause. Over the ramparts of southern
conservatism the Alliance extends the hand of friendship.
It must continue to cry to the women of all these
nations: Awake, Arise, Take Courage. Already their
women have so far heard and answered that I believe
I speak strictly within the truth when I say that every
independent nation in the world with a stable government
has now its Woman Suffrage Society. The movement
has begun, even where it has not travelled far.
Startling though it may seem, our suffrage movement
has in truth girdled the earth and spread from Arctic
North to Antarctic South. It now counts among its
auxiliaries those whose members represent the five
great races of the world, Caucasian, Mongolian, Malay,
Polynesian and Indian. Its membership embraces the
five great religions: Christian, Hebrew, Buddhist,
Confucian and Mohammedan. No such organized
movement among men has yet come into the world.
It is something new: a phenomenon - this arising,
uniting and marching forward together of a sex. We
are an army, but our only weapon is an appeal for
justice. We go forward with confidence, for no government
can long withstand our plea. Time, however,
must pass before the movement comes to its final
victory, and education, work and sacrifice must do
their part. Meanwhile it needs the encouragement and
inspiration of our common union, the morale aroused
by the fact that the women of all nations, races and
religions are united together in the demand for the
abrogation of outworn bondage and the demand for
individual freedom.

We thank your Excellency, Signor Mussolini, and
you, the Royal Commissioner and Mayor of the most
wonderful of the world's cities, Rome the Eternal, and
you, women of Italy, for your warm greetings. We
shall be happy in your city, and we shall make great
plans. All over Italy are the ruined relics of ancient
days. We shall ask you, fair Italy, to make another
ruin, a destruction of all the "woman laws," which

JULY, 1923.   THE INTERNATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE NEWS.   149

deny to women the half of the world's dominion God
gave them.

The motto of our Alliance, adopted twenty years ago,
came from ancient Rome, and no wiser guidance for
human action has any sage spoken through the centuries:
"In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all
things charity."

So, we differ in many things, in race, religion and
politics; but we are a unit in our demand for a woman's
share in all privileges, opportunities and responsibilities
the world has to offer.

Rome old and hoary, with memories of by-gone greatness,
we greet you with admiration and with reverence;
Rome young and modern, we ask that we may march
with you in a great world army of men and women whose
aim is only to create a happier life for all nations and
peoples of earth.

(Continued on page 157.)

SPEECH OF SIGNOR MUSSOLINI.
Rome Congress, May 12-19.

THE Fascista Government, over which I have the
honour of presiding, wishes to express to you its
great pleasure at your having chosen Rome as the seat of
your Congress, and welcomes you in the most cordial
and warmest way.

The problems of your Congress are most important
from a political, economic, and social point of view.
We may say, indeed, that they concern all the life and
activity of women. The principal object of this international
gathering is once more to call the attention of
Governments and of public opinion to the necessity of
granting to women a larger participation in the political
activities of nations by means of the vote.

All possible consequences must be considered, but
I can state that the Italian public spirit and the tendency
of our policy offer no preconceived opposition to
the enfranchisement of women. As far as I am concerned,
I feel authorized to declare that the Fascista
Government, if nothing unforeseen happens, will undertake
to grant to several categories of women the right
to vote, starting from the administrative vote.

I believe that none of you will be surprised by this
prudent policy in regard to the matter of elections,
especially as it is accompanied by the most optimistic
anticipations. In fact, I believe that by granting
women the right to vote, first in municipal and next in
political elections, no disastrous effects will ensue, as
is predicted by some pessimists. But very probably
it will have beneficial consequences, because woman will
bring to the exercise of this new right her fundamental
qualities of foresight, balance, and wisdom. I wish to
remark, nevertheless, that the vote cannot end, and does
not end, in fact, the political activity of citizens. In
many other ways, and by different means, one may
influence the course of events and the development of
political situations, for elections are but a more or less
noisy and insignificant episode. Outside of the electoral
problems there are many other problems whose solution
affects women and their domestic and social position.
You have then done well in putting these problems on
your agenda.

I wish to state that everything which attempts to raise
the moral position of women will have the cordial
support of the Fascista Government. Recently this
Government approved the Washington Convention
concerning night-work of women and of young persons,
and by this act it has placed itself in the first rank
among civilized nations. It has also been one of the
first to accept the resolutions passed by numerous
International Congresses, and has adopted the law
against the traffic in women and children, thus giving
the legal protection to women which is a duty among
civilized people, and which for a long time has been
demanded by all who have studied this problem.

And now let my thoughts pass on from these different
questions to all the mothers, to all the women, who have

suffered in silence and dignity the sacrifices and the
sorrows of the Great War - to all the women, even those
who are not represented here, who have powerfully contributed
during that period to ensure the stability of
national life. Let my thoughts go to all the other
women who every day give to humanity the precious
contribution of their ceaseless work in the schools, in
the workshops, in the homes, in the hospitals, and in the
fields.

I wish you, ladies, to carry to all your countries, even
to the most distant, my greetings, and I trust this Congress
will mean an essential advancement of the status
of women, and a new step forward in the history of
civilized nations.

[Since the Congress, Signor Mussolini has already
brought in his Electoral Reform Bill, which has passed
the Chamber.]

OFFICERS OF THE ALLIANCE,
Elected at the Ninth Congress, Rome,
May 12-19, 1923.

Hon. President: Mrs. Chapman Catt, 404, Riverside
Drive, New York, U.S.A. President: Mrs. Corbett
Ashby, 33, Upper Richmond Road, London, S.W. 15,
England. First Vice-President: Mme. de Witt Schlumberger,
14, Rue Pierre de Serbie, Paris, France. Second
Vice-President: Frau A. Lindemann, Koln, Marienburg,
Wolfegang Mullerstr., 20, Germany. Third Vice-President:
Dr. M. Ancona, 8, Via Morigi, Milano 8, Italy.
Fourth Vice-President: Mrs. Gifford Pinchot, Executive
Mansion, Harrisburg, Pa., U.S.A. Corresponding
Secretary: Miss E. Gourd, Pregny, Geneva, Switzerland.
Recording Secretary: Mme. Theodoropoulos, Rue Deligeorgi
11a, Athens, Greece. Treasurer: Miss Frances
Sterling, Homewood, Hartfield, Sussex. Committee:
Frau Schreiber-Krieger, Ahornalle 50, Charlottenburg,
Berlin, Germany; Frau Julie Arenholt, St. Kongensgade
23, Copenhagen K., Denmark; Dr. Paulina Luisi, chez
M. Fould, 30 Rue du Faubourg, Poissonniere, Paris,
France.

GOVERNMENT DELEGATES
Appointed to attend the Rome Congress.

BRAZIL. - Miss Bertha Lutz.
CHILE. - Sigra C. Lenetayer, care of Unione Feminsta
Nacional.
CZECHO-SLOVAKIA. - Miss Maria Tumova.
ESTHONIA. - Mr. Herman Hellatt, Esthonian Legation,
Rome.
FINLAND. - Miss Annie Furuhjelm, M.P.
GERMANY. - Mrs. Avra S. Theodoropoulos.
ITALY. - Prof. Regina Terruzzi.
NORWAY. - Frau Helga Helgesen.
POLAND. - Dr. Adelaide Cabette.
SWEDEN. - Mme. Frigga Carlberg.
JUGO-SLAVIA. - Mme. Prof. Petkovitch-Masimovitch.

League of Nations Secretariat. - Dame Rachel Crowdy.
International Labour Office. - M. Cabrini.

DELEGATES.

The full list of delegates will be published in the
International Woman Suffrage Alliance Report of the
Ninth Congress.

The Report will also contain amendments to the
Constitution, reports from auxiliaries, etc.


150     THE INTERNATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE NEWS.     JULY, 1923.

RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED AT THE ROME CONGRESS.

I.--WOMAN SUFFRAGE.

I. Whereas women are now enfranchised on equal 
terms with men in twenty-five nations, with unquestioned 
advantage to the men, the women and the nations 
concerned, therefore be it
Resolved: That we, the delegates of forty-three nations 
met in the Ninth Congress of the International Woman 
Suffrage Alliance in Rome, Italy, May 11 to 19, 1923, 
instruct our official Board to inform all unenfranchised 
self-governing States of this fact, and to urge the 
enfranchisement of these women in order that "governments 
of people" may everywhere include all the people.

II.--INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS.

Whereas this Congress recognizes that all progress 
towards greater freedom and security for women, and, 
in particular, that progress advocated in the resolutions 
of this Congress, depend on an ordered political life and 
stabilized economic conditions, and
Whereas this Congress is of opinion that it is idle for 
a body of earnest and enlightened women to outline a 
programme of world-wide cultural and humanitarian 
progress without considering the present situation of 
the world, be it
Resolved: That this Congress affirms it to be the duty 
of the women of all the nations to work for friendly 
international relations ; to demand the substitution of 
judicial methods for those of force ; and to promote the 
conception of human solidarity as superior to racial, or 
national solidarity, and further
That this Congress urges the women here represented 
to do their utmost in supporting their Governments in 
all measures tending to bring about economic reconstruction 
of the world and the reconciliation of the 
nations.

III. --LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

Believing that the League of Nations will have no 
real value if it does not include all the nations, the 
I.W.S.A. expresses its desire that the League of Nations 
should secure in the shortest possible time the adhesion 
of all those countries of the world that are not yet 
members.

IV. - EQUAL PAY AND RIGHT TO WORK.

That this Congress, realizing that economic necessities
and the desire and right of women to work and secure for
themselves the means of life has made them important
and irreplaceable factors in production; and believing
that it is essential that all avenues of work should be
open to women, and that the sole consideration in regard
to work should be the physical and intellectual suitability
of the workers, declares
(1) That education for professions and trades should
be equally available for women as for men.
(2) That all professions and all posts in the Civil
Service in all its functions, administrative, judicial and
executive, should be open to women as to men, and that
advancement to all higher posts should be equally open
for both sexes.
(3) That women should receive the same pay as men
for the same work, and that the only interpretation of
the expression "Equal Pay for Equal Work" which is
acceptable to the Alliance is that men and women shall
be paid at the same rate, whether this be computed by
time or by piece, in the same occupation or grade.
(4) That the right to work of all be recognized, and no
obstacle placed in the way of married women who desire
to work; that no special regulations for women's work,
different from regulations for men, should be imposed
contrary to the wishes of the women concerned; that

laws relative to women as mothers should be so framed
as not to handicap them in their economic position,
and that all future labour regulations should tend
towards equality for men and women.

V. -- MORAL QUESTIONS.

1. Considering the harm that has come to the human
race through irresponsibility in sex relations, through
ignorance of the gravity of venereal diseases and
through the absence of a high stand of morality
accepted as necessary and possible to both sexes:
The Congress resolves that in all countries instruction,
both moral and biological, should be given to teachers
of all grades and by them transmitted to all adolescents
of both sexes, in a manner both idealistic and sufficiently
precise to enable them to understand the duty and 
necessity of chastity.  It is the absolute duty of
educators, whether parents or teachers in schools, not to
maintain silence, but to give instruction to adolescents
upon the terrible dangers which accompany infractions
of the moral law, as well as their responsibility towards
the family and society.  Their duty is not only to lay
down the principles of morality, but to give the biological
reasons for these principles.
The Congress further recommends that:
(a) Sex-education be included in the programme of
Normal Schools.
(b) That Governments and popular associations
organize lectures on sex-education for parents, with due
regard to their educational status.
(c) That an intensive campaign of education against
popular prejudices in regard to venereal diseases be
undertaken in all countries.
2. Considering the appalling danger of infection to 
the other partner when a person marries before being
entirely cured of a venereal disease, especially in the
frequent case of a young woman whose future children
would be contaminated as well as herself:
The Congress recommends:
*That information on venereal diseases and their
dangers be made available to the general public, so that
they be ignored by no one.
3 (a) The Congress believes that venereal disease should
be recognized as a Public Health problem, and calls on
the women of all countries to watch all legislation and
administration on the subject in order to secure that
women and men should be dealt with impartially, and
that in no case shall Public Health laws be administered
in such a manner as to admit the regulation of prostitution
in any way.
(b) The Congress disapproves of the principle of
official distribution of prophylactic packets; a method
which it considers deplorable from the moral point of
view.
4. (a) With reference to the proposal made to the
League of Nations, by M. Sokal, to prevent the employment
of foreign women in licensed houses, the Congress
approves the action of the Assembly in referring the
question of the exploitation of foreign women to the
Advisory Committee.
The Congress believes that the more Regulation is
discussed the more it will be condemned.  It rejoices
that it has been discussed at the League of Nations;
approves the action of the Council in circulating to the
nations the Report of the Advisory Committee for
information only and not for action, and urges on the
Advisory Committee further study with a view to the
complete abolition of the system of State Regulation
of Prostitution.
(b) The Congress believes that united action on the
part of women is essential to the abolition of the Regulation
of Prostitution and the suppression of Traffic in
Women and Children, and urges women and women's
associations all over the world to work for this on
national and international lines.
------------------------
See note, page 158.

JULY, 1923           THE INTERNATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE NEWS.     151

VI.--NATIONALITY OF MARRIED WOMEN.

I. MARRIED WOMEN'S NATIONALITY RIGHTS.
That this Congress declares that a married woman
should be given the same right as a man to retain or to
change her nationality.

2. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF GOVERNMENTS.
That this Congress declares that to obviate the hardships
arising from conflicts between the laws on the 
nationality of married women in different countries, it
is essential to deal with the question internationally.
The Congress therefore urges upon the auxiliaries 
of the Alliance to approach their Governments recommending 
the calling of a Conference of all the Governments
of the world to adopt a convention on the 
nationality of married women embodying this principle.

3. PROVISIONAL DRAFT AS BASIS FOR CRITICISM.
That the I.W.S.A., having drawn up an international
convention which embodies the principle that
a married woman should be given the same right
as a man to retain or to change her nationality, accepts
it as a provisional draft ; and resolves to submit it to
Governments, associations and individuals, and to 
invite from them criticism and suggestions ; and further 
recommends the National Auxiliaries and Government
Delegates to submit it to their respective Governments.

4. REAPPOINTMENT OF COMMITTEE.
That the Committee on the Nationality of Married
Women be reappointed to give effect to these resolutions.
That it shall include, as hitherto, one representative 
appointed by each affiliated country and one each 
from the International Council of Women and the 
Women's International League of Peace and Freedom.
That it be authorized to co-opt as consultative technical
advisers, jurists or others with special legal knowledge ; 
and that it shall meet simultaneously with and in the 
same place as the International Conference of Governments.

VII. -- ECONOMIC STATUS OF WIVES, MOTHERS
AND CHILDREN, LEGITIMATE AND ILLEGITIMATE.

1. RIGHTS OF WIVES AND LEGITIMATE CHILDREN.
(a) This Congress believes that married women who
are bringing up the children, who are the future citizens
of the States, are doing work of as great importance to 
the community as those men and women who are
producing material wealth or giving remunerated services
of hand and brain.
(b) This Congress therefore declares that such improvements
in the laws of the various countries should
be made as will secure to the married woman a real
economic security and independence.
(c) This Congress notes with interest the spread in 
European countries, such as Belgium, Czecho-Slovakia,
France and Germany, and also in Australia, of the 
system of granting wage earners, alike men and women,
allowances for their dependent children, either paid by
employers individually, or by associations of employers
for the payment of family allowances, or by the State.
The Congress is, however, of the opinion that the
allowance shall be paid to the mother as the actual
guardian of the child.
The Congress resolves to appoint a Committee for the 
study of the system of family allowances.
This Congress declares :--
(d) That a husband and wife shall each have complete 
control of their earnings, income, and property, except, 
that in view of her care of the home and children, a wife
shall have a right to a certain proportion of the husband's 
income, and that where a husband is wholly or partially
incapable of self-support, he shall have a right to a 
certain proportion of his wife's income.
(e) That where the husband refuses to allow his wife
the share of his income to which she is entitled, the
Court may order a certain proportion of his wages or
other income to be paid to her direct.
(f) That the law which in many countries permits a 
husband to disinherit his wife and child for no cause shall
be amended so that the wife and children shall have
claim to a reasonable proportion of the husband's estate
at death.

2. RIGHTS OF WIDOWS AND FATHERLESS CHILDREN.
(a) This Congress declares that necessitous widows
with dependent children should receive adequate
pensions from the State or Municipalities for themselves
and their children ; these pensions to be granted
not as charity, but as a recognition of the value to the
State of the mother's care of the child.
(b) In countries whose economic conditions make it 
impossible to secure pensions for widowed mothers with
dependent children entirely out of State funds, the
money shall be provided partly by a system of State insurance.

3. RIGHTS OF UNMARRIED MOTHERS AND ILLEGITIMATE
CHILDREN.
This Congress declares: --
(a) That la recherche de la Paternite should be 
permitted and that court proceedings to establish
paternity and to secure support may be taken at any
time before or after the birth of the child. The proceedings
may be taken by the mother or State or other 
guardian of the child or by the child after it has reached
its majority.
(b) That the expense of confinement shall be borne
by the father, or, in default of the father, by the State, 
if the mother is without sufficient means. 
(c) That the amount granted to the mother shall be
in accordance with the economic status of the father,
so that the child may enjoy as nearly as possible the
same conditions for moral, physical and intellectual
development as the child born in wedlock.
(d) That the Alliance through its Auxiliaries should
bring pressure to bear upon the Governments to secure
an international arrangement by which sums due to
wives and mothers under order of the Court can be
claimed from men who have gone abroad or are outside
the jurisdiction of the Court.

VIII. -- SLAVERY.

Since any form of Slavery tends to press more hardly
on women than on men, the I.W.S.A. urges the Assembly 
of the League of Nations, which is shortly to consider
the question of Slavery, to set up a Commission of 
Investigation, consisting of men and women, to inquire
into the various forms of slavery and quasi-slavery
which exist in the world to-day, and to include in the 
terms of reference of the Commission the need for
inquiry into the selling and giving of women and grils
for any purpose whatever, including the selling or giving
of women or girls into marriage without their consent. 
It further urges the League of Nations immediately to
make representations for the abolition of the Slavery
recognized in certain mandatory territories.
The Congress further urges upon the Governments to 
bring this resolution before the League of Nations.

IX. -- CHILD MARRIAGE.

This Congress considers child marriage one of the
great obstacles to the physical and intellectual development
of woman in the countries where it prevails, and
in view of the fact that the League of Nations is
charged with definite responsibilities in the mandated
countries, this Congress requests that the Mandates 
Commission of the League of Nations be asked to

152 - THE INTERNATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE NEWS. - July, 1923
consider the question of Child Marriage with special
reference to the age of consent, which, in the opinion of
the Congress, should be fixed at 16 and preferably 18
years.

X. - DANGEROUS DRUGS.
The Congress, being of opinion that the present
excessive world-wide use of narcotics constitutes a grave
danger to the human race, and is therefore a matter of
vital importance to the women of the world, recommends
to its Auxiliaries:--
(1) To make a careful study of the matters especially
in those countries where the cultivation of the poppy
and the manufacture of dangerous drugs is excessive.
(2) To urge their National Governments:
(a) To limit within their own countries the use of
dangerous drugs to the amounts required for medical
and scientific purposes;
(b) To support the League of Nations in its effort to
exterminate, by means of international co-operation
and action, the illicit traffic in opium and dangerous
drugs.

XI. WOMEN MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT.
Resolved:  That the Conference of Enfranchised
Women recommend to the Congress that a Committee
be appointed by the new Board, the members to
include representatives of Great Britain, Germany,
Holland, the Scandinavian nations, the United States
of America, and any others directly interested, for the
purpose of considering methods of securing more women
in the Parliaments of their respective countries.

XII. - RELATIONS WITH INTERNATIONAL
COUNCIL OF WOMEN.
That the I.W.S.A. resolves to add to its constitution
a provision giving the I.C.W. the right to three voting
representatives to its Convention, and the Congress
hopes that the I.C.W. will make provision in its constitution
for giving three voting delegates to the I.W.S.A.
in its quinquennial and other full Councils.  This is to be
done in such a way that each Society can describe the
arrangement as it likes.

XIII. - CIVIL CODES.
That the enfranchised and unenfranchised women
resolve to unite to secure the repeal of the last vestige
of those outworn codes of law that for many centuries
have placed women in an inferior status.

XIV. - ORGANIZATION.
That this Congress urges its Auxiliaries in all countries
to do all in their power to federate the Societies in their
own country which work for the objects of the Alliance.

XV. - WOMEN INSPECTORS.
Since the International Labour Bureau of the League
of Nations during its Conference to be held this autumn
will discuss the question of Labour Inspection as one
of the items on its programme, 
This Congress therefore calls upon the International
Labour Bureau to place the question of the inclusion of
women among the inspecting staffs for industrial workers
in the orders of the day of the Conference, and to secure
evidence from those countries in which inspection by
women is now in successful operation.
This Congress of the I.W.S.A. further urges the
Conference of the Labour Bureau to accept the principle
of women inspectors, to report in its favour, and to make
representations to the associated countries to secure
their appointment.

XVI. - EGYPT.
That the Congress deplores the fact that the Government
of Egypt has taken away from their girls and
women the right, which they have had for many years,
to enter for the primary, secondary and higher examinations,
and declares that the equal right of young men
and women to share in all the educational opportunities
of the country is an essential sign of progress and
civilization.

XVII. - VOTES OF THANKS.
Miss Macmillan moved the following votes of thanks,
which were unanimously and enthusiastically carried:--
To His Excellency Signor Mussolini for acting as
Honorary President of the Congress, and for his encouraging
speech and reception of the deputation from the
Congress; and to the Italian Government for the
delightful hospitality extended to the Congress on the
historic Hill of the Palatine.
To the Municipality of Rome for its generosity in
lending the Palazzo dell'Esposizione as the seat of the
Congress, and in giving the delegates the delight of a
charming social function set among the wonders and
beauties of the Capitol.
To His Holiness the Pope for the message of sympathy
with the main object of the Alliance, and for the much
appreciated kindness of throwing open the galleries of
the Vatican to the delegates.
To the Minister of the Fine Arts for the no less appreciated
freedom to visit all the Galleries and Museums
controlled by the State, and to the State Railways of
Italy for the concession generously granted on railway
fares, which had helped to secure the presence of so
representative a gathering.
To the Lyceum Club for its graceful gesture in opening
its doors to delegates and for its memorable reception.
To the Press of Italy and of the World for the full and
appreciative reports of the Congress, as also to the
photographers and cinematograph operators, who have
made it possible for delegates to obtain vivid and
permanent records of a great Congress, while helping to
bring it nearer to those who were not present.
To Signora Alice Schiavoni Bosio and her Committee
of Arrangements, who have been working hard for many
weeks for the comfort and success of the Congress; and
also to the artist who helped and the choir who charmed
us with their singing.
To Signora Benedettini and the Giornale della Donna
for the splendid publicity given to the Congress, joined
with a recognition of the vital importance of that paper
to the feminist movement in Italy.
To Mrs. Fawcett for her valiant and successful work
in helping to raise the considerable sum of over £800 in
Great Britain; to Mrs. McCormick for her work as
Treasurer of the Alliance, coupled with regret for her
resignation; and to Mrs. Abbott for her brilliant editing
of Jus Suffragii, and for all of the work she has done for
the Alliance, again joined to the great regret of the
Congress in losing those services.
To Mrs. Bompas and Miss Gordon for their indefatigable
work in the Secretariat and the Press room; to
Miss Wright and her troop of pages for their cheerful
work during the long hours of standing; to Miss
Steinmann and her fellow-helpers in the Information and
Travel Bureau; to Signor Spasiano and his staff of
typists, who never said "it is too late," but worked
equally willingly and efficiently at all hours; to the
Caretakers of the Hall for their helpfulness and wonderful
alacrity in the never-ending task of "clearing up."
And finally to the Public of Italy with their ever-smiling faces.

HOMAGE TO THE DEAD.
On hearing that the Italian Delegation, on returning
from the deputation to the President of the Council, had
gone to lay flowers on the tomb of the Unknown Soldier,
the Congress rose in silent homage to the soldiers of all
countries who laid down their lives, as they believed,
for the cause of humanity.


July, 1923.        THE INTERNATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE NEWS.
RÉUNION POUR LA SOCIÉTÉ DES NATIONS.
Voeu proposé par la France aux déléguées présentes de l'Alliance Internationale pour le
Suffrage des Femmes.

Les déléguées de l'A.I.S.F., présentes à la réunion du
16 mai 1923, votent la résolution suivante :
Ce qui a fait jusqu'ici la force de l'Alliance Internationale
pour le Suffrage des Femmes, et ce qui a rendu 
possible son immense tâche, c'est l'union des femmes de
tous les pays. Il faut non seulement que cette union continue,
mais qu'elle se développe et s'intensifie de plus en
plus. Il faut que les femmes deviennent de plus en plus
conscientes non seulement de leur rôle et de leurs devoirs
nationaux, mais de l'immense action et des devoirs
internationaux spéciaux qu'elles sont maintenant
appelées a remplir, si elles veulent être à la hauteur de
leur véritable tâche.

Les femmes affranchies ont dans le monde beaucoup
plus de force et d'influence que les autres, c'est pour-quoi
leur appui est indispensable aux femmes des pays
non affranchis pour obtenir le suffrage. Aucune d'elles
ne doit se sentir libre dans le tond de son âme tant que
d'autres femmes ne sont pas affranchies.

L'horizon de l'avenir, si sombre et si douloureux qu'il
soit au point de vue politique, s'éclaire merveilleusement
pour nous d'une compréhension toujours plus nette des
devoirs internationaux des femmes. Deux immenses
tâches se dressent devant nous, l'une est l'obtention
graduelle du droit de suffrage pour toutes les femmes, et
de leur égalité civique et morale avec les hommes ;
l'autre est l'union et la collaboration toujours plus
étroite des femmes de tous les pays en faveur de la paix.
Cette paix ne pourra être assurée que par une Société
des Nations solidement établie et comprenant toutes
les nations. La premiere partie de notre tache doit être
accomplie pour rendre la seconde possible.

A notre douloureuse époque où la politique des hommes
n'a pas toujours été une politique d'union, il faut que
nous, femmes, nous prouvions, par une alliance étroite et
par un effort de compréhension mutuelle des femmes,
notre volonté d'entente et de paix.

Les femmes sont aussi patriotes que les hommes, et
nous ne sommes certes pas ce qu'on a appelé des "défaitistes."

Chacune se doit à son pays d'abord, et les femmes sans
patriotisme n'inspirent aucune confiance, mais il nous
faut chacune comprendre le patriotisme des femmes d'autres
pays, et surtout nous rappeler que pour prouver son
amour à son pays, il n'est pas nécessaire de haïr les pays
des autres femmes.

Il nous faut répéter que la haine n'est pas une religion,
mais un sentiment diabolique de destruction, et que nous
voulons substituer dans le monde l'esprit d'amour à
l'esprit de haine. Il ne faut pas admettre que la haine
soit considérée comme étant nécessairement le corollaire
d'un patriotisme national. Il y a un patriotisme national
et un patriotisme international d'amour de l'humanité.
Cet idéal et cette mentalité, qui exigent un effort de conscience
et de courage moral, doivent être plus faciles à
atteindre par les femmes que par les hommes, et cela
parce qu'un lourd passé de luttes sanglantes ne pèse pas
sur nous comme sur eux.

Tout en nous joignant passionnément aux préoccupations
de nos maris, de nos fils et de nos frères, nous
n'avons pourtant pas pris comme eux, depuis le commencement
des siècles l'habitude de nous battre les un contre
les autres, et de croire que donner des coups est la
seule manière de régler les difficultés entre les peuples.
Les luttes fratricides que notre civilisation réprouve et
condamne entre particuliers, elle l'admet entre les nations
avec une absence complète de logique.

C'est cette mentalité que nous voulons absolument
changer.

Les femmes ont été jusqu'ici les victimes expiatoires
des guerres, et le sang versé sur les champs de bataille
par les hommes n'est pas autre chose, en définitive, que
notre propre sang et que le lait dont nous avons nourri

nos chers enfants. C'est le sang des femmes qu'on répand
pendant la guerre. Nous avons une horreur instinctive,
aussi bien qu'une horreur raisonnée des guerres, et c'est
pourquoi nous, mères, qui donnons la vie, nous sommes
fermement et définitivement décidées à nous unir pour
que nos enfants ne se donnent plus la mort.

Ce qui a surtout manqué dans le gouvernement du
monde par les hommes seuls, et ce que nous voulons y
apporter aujourd'hui par la puissance du suffrage des
femmes, c'est l'intervention du coeur des femmes. On
a souvent plaisanté sur notre sensibilité, sans savoir
reconnaître que c'est justement notre coeur et notre amour
dont ils ont besoin, aussi bien dans la grande famille
mondiale que dans chaque famille créée par l'homme et
la femme.

Notre idéal n'est pas un rêve, mais une réalité possible
à atteindre, malgré ses immenses difficultés, si les femmes
comprennent leur mission, si elles y apportent leur ferme
volonté, en n'oubliant jamais que l'union des femmes est
la base nécessaire de cette mission.

Ce n'est donc pas tournées vers le passé, mais les yeux
fixés sur l'avenir, que les femmes doivent marcher. Ce
n'est pas à des ennemies d'hier, mais à des collaboratrices
d'aujourd'hui et de demain que nous sommes prêtes
à tendre loyalement la main. C'est avec elles que
nous voulons, toutes ensemble, bâtir la paix du monde,
et dans ce but agir de toutes les manières, mais surtout
en soutenant de toutes nos forces une Société des Nations
forte et bien constituée.
                                         M. DE WITT-SCHLUMBERGER.
 Mercredi, 16 Mai 1923.

                           -----------------------

FIJI.
Committee to deal with the Social and Moral
Conditions of Indian Women in Fiji.
(Communicated by Mrs. Jamieson Williams.)

It is not widely known that this Committee, consisting
of fifty or more societies in Australasia, including
the National Council of Women and other leading bodies,
is operating in unostentatious and humanitarian efforts
for the welfare of the Indian women in Fiji, and came
into being as the result of reports from the Rev. C. F.
Andrews, M.A., in November, 1917, regarding the moral
conditions, especially of Indian women and children, in
Fiji.

Endeavours were made by individual societies to obtain
information in order to improve conditions said to
exist, culminating in the calling together by the Australiasian
League of Honour (since gone out of existence)
representatives from many organizations, at which
meeting this committee was formed in May, 1918.

It was decided to send Miss Garnham, of the London
Missionary Society, Calcutta, then visiting Sydney,
possessed of wide knowledge of Indian life, to investigate
conditions in the Indian community, Fiji, who was
given every facility and treated with the utmost courtesy
by the Government, the Colonial Sugar Refining Company
(chief employers of labour in Fiji), as well as the 
various planters and missionaries.

As a result of Miss Garnham's report to the committee,
upon her return to Australia, it was decided to ask the
Government of Fiji for certain reforms, viz., an adjustment
of the sex ratio, improvement in housing accommodation
on plantations, medical and nursing arrangements,
extension of educational and religious facilities,
and a course of action necessary for the general improvement
of conditions affecting Indians in Fiji. This
petition led to an appointment by the Government of a
Select Committee of the Legislative Council to inquire
into a report upon the steps that might be taken to
deal with these matters.

154   THE INTERNATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE NEWS.   JULY, 1923.

On one point alone the Fijian Government recognized
the human spirit of the activities of these Women's
Societies, by the appointment, in January, 1921, of a
medical woman, Dr. Mildred Staley, of vast experience
among Indian women, to the Colonial Hospital, Suva, who,
after two years' strenuous and devoted work among the
Indian women and children of Fiji, has recently been
dismissed, owing, it is stated, to financial stringency and
the urgent necessity for retrenchments in medical and
other establishments. This matter is exercising the
minds of the women's organizations throughout the
world at the present moment. Although occurring in a
remote corner such as Fiji, it has become an international
matter, for not only have the Australasian Committee
cabled to the Fijian Government and Colonial Office,
urging the continuance of this appointment on the
grounds of its absolute necessity, but representations have
been made to the Colonial Office (by which the appointment
of Dr. Staley was originally made, on the recommendation
of the Fijian Government, through this
Australasian Committee's endorsement of Dr. Staley's
fitness for the position) from the British Overseas
Committee of the International Woman's Suffrage
Alliance.

This world-wide organization has cabled and written
to the Government of Fiji and asked for deputations at
the Colonial Office, urging continuance of this appointment,
drafted leading questions, asked in the House of
Commons by Mrs. Wintringham, M.P., and Viscountess
Astor, which Mr. Ormsby-Gore, the Under-Secretary of
State for the Colonies, has answered, to the effect that
"although final recommendations had not yet been received,
owing to financial reasons, the Secretary of
State would not be justified in urging the continuance of
any particular appointment against the wishes of the
Colonial Government, but that he should be glad to
receive further evidence on the point of Viscountess
Astor's question, as to whether it would not be a waste,
instead of an economy, to dismiss Dr. Staley?" It
being pointed out by the I.W.S. Alliance that the
petition of the Indian women of Suva to the Governor
of Fiji in itself justified the necessity for the continuance
of the appointment.

The Australasian Committee has, since receiving this
information, again urged the Colonial Office for a recommendation
to be sent to the Fijian Government that
retrenchments in establishments other than the medical
be made, thereby maintaining the standard of British
justice in its regard for the welfare particularly of
Indian subjects in Fiji.

This band of Australasian women, which has merged
itself into a great body of women throughout the
British Dominions, is unique in the history of
women's organizations, for it is governed by no rules
or regulations, there is no annual subscription, but an
appeal to the co-operating societies when funds
are necessary, meets with immediate response, the Committee
being guided by a Central Committee in Sydney,
with the co-operation of the Interstate and other bodies.
Moreover, it represents the first combined co-operative
effort on the part of the Australasian women in any
one humanitarian cause, and stands as a monument of
love with hands of understanding and sympathy outstretched
from the women of a young vast continent to
the sisters of a mightier part of the British Empire, by
reason of its age and traditions.

At the moment this dismissal of a medical woman
from the Colonial Hospital, Suva, and the principle lying
behind the question is considered of sufficient importance
to send forward a delegate representing the Australasian
Committee to the Congress of the International
Woman Suffrage Alliance to be held in Rome,
May 12, 1923, in order to discuss the matter in all its
bearings.

In connection with this agitation for continuing
Dr. Staley in her appointment, the Secretary of the
I.W.S.A. has received from the Colonial Secretary Fiji,
a copy of the reply sent to the Indian women's petition.
It is as follows: -

COLONIAL SECRETARY'S OFFICE,
SUVA, FIJI.
November 25, 1923.

MADAM, - The letter of the 30th October from certain
Indian ladies resident in Fiji, expressing their thanks to the
Governor for action taken in providing certain facilities
for medical treatment, and praying that thoroughly 
trained Indian midwives may be given to them, has been
laid before His Excellency.

2. The Governor has directed me to reply that the
question of medical treatment of Indians is one which
has constantly engaged His Excellency's attention and
that recognition is given to the fact that the training of
Indian women in midwifery would form an important
part of any scheme which may ultimately be decided upon.

3. His Excellency trusts that it may be possible during
the coming year to make some provision in the estimates
for improving medical facilities to Indians in the Colony.
It is, however, well known that the finances of the Colony
are at present depressed, and that the Government has
been faced with the unpleasant duty of reducing rather
than increasing its establishment. It is therefore impossible
to undertake schemes of an extensive nature
at the present time, and all Departments, including the
Medical, will be called upon to suffer a reduction of
staff.

4. His Excellency notes that amongst the signatories
to the letter occurs the name of Mrs. E. I. Prasad,
trained nurse and diploma holder. If this lady, in collaboration
with others, wishes to put forward a scheme
for the training of Indian midwives, such scheme will be
considered by the Government, and will be examined
by the Medical Department as to the practicability of its
adoption, at such time as the finances of the Colony will
admit of such a course. - I am, Madam, your obedient
servant, 

(Signed) T. E. FELL,
Colonial Secretary.

[It is scarcely necessary to say that the agitation for
the appointment of a medical woman to Fiji will be
continued. The matter is also being taken up by
women's organizations in India.]

GREAT BRITAIN.

THE event of the last few weeks has been the election
of Mrs. Hilton Philipson, M.P. for Berwick.
Mrs. Philipson was returned by the splendid majority
of 6,142 votes.

National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship.

The great meetings at Rome have aroused much
interest in this country, and speakers on the Congress
are in great demand. The National Union is proud to
think that the new President, Mrs. Corbett Ashby, is
and has been for many years closely identified with it
at different periods as Secretary, Speaker, Member of
its Executive Committee, and in recent years Vice-
Chairman. Delegates to the National Council who have
cause to know the charm and courtesy with which she
presides over large gatherings, can have no doubt that
the new President will carry on the work of the Alliance
in the spirit of its great founder. The many admirers
of Mrs. Catt in the National union are rejoiced to hear
that her connection with the Alliance still continues to
be very close, though she is freed from the heavy
responsibilities of office. The National Union also
welcomes Miss Frances Sterling, another worker long
associated with its work, as a new member of the Board.
It is difficult for friends of the Alliance in this country
to imagine a Board without Fru Wicksell, of Sweden, or
our own Chrystal Macmillan, who have both resigned
after many years of devoted work. The other retiring
members, Madame Girardet-Vielle, already known to
London gatherings, and Mrs. Eleanor Rathbone, our
own President, will be much missed.

JULY, 1923.   THE INTERNATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE NEWS.   155

Some Signs of Progress.

Readers of this column will remember that the General
Election served as a sort of giant extinguisher of all our
hopes for Bills, many of which were in a very promising
position. Some progress has, however, already been
made in the new House of Commons. The large
majority on the occasion of the third reading of the
Matrimonial Causes Bill, drafted and promoted by the
N.U.S.E.C., was an indication of a real advance in public
opinion on the principle of an equal standard of morals
for both sexes. This Bill did not deal with the extension
of facilities for divorce; as The Times newspaper
stated, "Its simplicity was its salvation." One issue
and one issue alone was dealt with - the amendment of
the present Divorce Laws, to enable a woman to divorce
her husband for adultery alone - in other words to make
the grounds for divorce the same for men and women.
The Bill now proceeds to the House or Lords, and
political prophets combine in predicting that it will find
a place on the Statute Book before long.

Two other private members' bills, in whose fortunes
the National Union is deeply interested, passed their 
third reading last week - the Legitimacy Bill and the
Bastardy Bill. Both of these affect the position of the
unmarried mother and the illegitimate child. The first
legitimizes the child on the subsequent marriage of its
parents, but a weakening amendment was added which
excluded from the benefits of the Bill any person whose
father or mother was married to a third person at the
time of birth. The Bastardy Bill deals with the conditions
of payment of affiliation orders, and a fierce fight
waged round an amendment proposed by the National
Union, with the approval of the Home Office, that
imprisonment for debt incurred under such orders should
not be wiped out by imprisonment. This amendment
was dropped, but the Government promised that both
the above-mentioned points would favourable
consideration when the Bills come before the House of
Lords.

ELIZABETH MACADAM.

The Women's Freedom League.

Mrs. Schofield Coates, J.P. (Hon. Organizing Secretary)
and Miss F. A. Underwood (General Secretary) were our
delegates to the International Woman Suffrage Congress
at Rome, Mrs. Yates and Mrs. Spiller being our alternate
delegates. It is a great satisfaction to us that the Women's
Freedom League is now, under the new constitution, able
to affiliate independently of the Aliance.

The activities of the Women's Freedom League are at
present chiefly directed towards arousing public opinion
in favour of Mr. Foot's Bill, the object of which is to 
secure for women the Parliamentary vote at the same
age and on the same terms as men.

With regard to prisons and asylums administration,
which is now practically entirely in the hands of men in
this country, we are urging that women should be
appointed Prison Commissioners; that a medical woman
inspector as well as women inspectors of prisons should be
appointed; and that there should be women governors,
women deputy governors and women medical officers
in all women's prisons and women's sections of prisons.

In connection with the new Mental Treatment Bill
now before Parliament, the Women's Freedom League is
urging that, as the proportion of women mental patients
to men mental patients is computed to be ten to seven
in Great Britain, there should be at least an equal
number of women with men on all Asylums Visiting
Committees, and that the number of women inspectors
(there is no such woman inspector at present) under the
Board of Control should be equal to the number of men
inspectors. 

From July 19 to August 21 we are running a
Clyde Coast open-air campaign, organized by Miss Alix
M. Clark, the headquarters of which will be at Rothesay,
where meetings will be held each week-day evening at
the pier-head, and meetings in the daytime at Dunoon,
Millport and Largs. The subject of the equality of the
sexes will be discussed in all its aspects at these meetings.

F.A. UNDERWOOD.

HUNGARY.

THE heart of any feminist may rejoice upon perusal of
yesterday's Vilag and some other papers published
in Hungary which gave favourable news of our cause.

Lectures on Feminism.

One report was on the lecture on "Feminism in
Literature" by Prof. Balassa, given before a numerous
audience and followed by a lively discussion. This was
the last lecture of the season and of a course, which 
embraced an excellent lecture by Prof. Beke, who spoke
of "Women in Natural Science," appreciating the
scientific work of women from ancient times up to date.
Before this, Dr. Margaret Revesz, specialist for nervous
diseases of children, spoke of the "Changes in a girl
during her development," giving the audience advice
concerning moral education and the choice of trades
and professions. On another occasion Dr. Hankinson
gave us his interesting recollections of the women's
struggle for suffrage in England, of his work in the internment
camps in England during the war and his recent
welfare work in Hungary. Last but not least we
remember gratefully the very interesting lectures of
Miss Emily Leaf on the "Fight the Famine Council,"
and of Dr. Frederic Ayusawa on "Women's Work for
Peace in Japan."

Women to be Admitted Again to the Medical
Faculty of Budapest University.

Another column of yesterday's paper contained the
good news that the Minister of Education received a
deputation from the Feminists' Society, women doctors
and members of Parliament of different political parties,
being led and interpreted by Monsignore Giesswein,
Prelate of the Pope and staunch promoter of the women's
cause. The Minister assured the deputation that he will
endeavour to make the University change its recent
attitude towards women students, and expressed his
hopes that in the next term, to begin next autumn, women
will find no obstacles to being registered in the Medical
Faculty of the Budapest University.

The Woman's Vote in Municipal and Country
Councils.

Another column reports a brilliant speech by Count
Albert Apponyi, made at a discussion of the so-called
Reform Bill of the Government concerning municipal
and country administration. Regarding the suffrage
for municipal and country councils, he emphasized his
strong opposition to the exclusion of women, either from
the right to vote or from being elected. The Feminists'
Society will certainly have to fight against any such
reactionary measure.

A Brilliant Speech by Our Sole Woman Member
in Parliament.

Owing to a disastrous accident in a button and comb
factory in Budapest, where fifteen labourers, men,
women, and children were instantly killed and two
grievously wounded, Anna Kethly, M.P., of the Social
Democratic Party, in a heartfelt and forcible speech,
asked the Minister whether he means to order a rigid
examination of the guilty parties in this catastrophe
and whether he will in future take measures to prevent
similar misfortunes. We are very glad and proud to
have such an able, courageous and good woman in
Parliament, who never misses an opportunity to defend
a good cause and principally the interests of women and
children. She is highly esteemed by members of all parties.

Our Official Organ "A No"

could be published but once since last February, and
as we have not the necessary sum in hand, we had to
renounce its further publication. This is a real grief
to us, As A No is the only means to communicate with
many of our members, especially in the country.

Our Annual General Meeting and the Rome
Congress.

On April 27 will be held our annual general meeting,
at which our statutes will be altered according to a
ministerial order. This will be one last occasion to make
propaganda for the Rome Congress.

April.

EUGENIE MISROLCEY MELLER.

136  THE INTERNATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE NEWS.  July, 1923.

POPULAR GOVERNMENT IN RAJKOT.
Universal Franchise.
Mrs. Jinarajadasa sends us the following good news: - Rajkot, April 1. - With a view to introduce popular government in the Rajkot State, a House of Representatives, with 90 elected members, has been created with a non-official elected President.  The subjects of the State have been given universal franchise for electing their representatives.  Two ladies have been elected to the new assembly, and Mo. Liladhar A. Mehta has been elected President by ballot.

ROUMANIA.
Within the last few weeks a new law has been passed in Roumania giving equal civil rights to men and women, which means that marital authority is now abolished.  The sixth article specifies that political rights may be conferred upon women by an ordinary law passed by a two-thirds majority.  Women have also been admitted to the Bar.  Bravo, Roumania!

TASMANIA.
News of the Woman's Movement.
You ask for information as to the Woman's Movement in Tasmania, and I will gladly tell you all I can (although, perhaps, I should say that I am English, and have only been here just three years).  Until the last few years I think I can say there was no Woman's Movement in Tasmania.  There was one organization, the Woman's Health Association, which was formed more than thirty years ago, and has taken an active interest in all matters of public health.  From this, or, rather, certain members of this association, about five years ago, formed a Woman's Association for Criminal Law Reform, which has been very active, and kept itself much before the public.  A petition was signed by our 6,000 women asking for the Criminal Law to be reformed, and was presented to Parliament.  As a result, these alterations have been brought about: -
(1) In case of criminal assault, the man cannot plead that he believed the girl to be over the age of consent, i.e., 16.
(2) A prosecution for assault can now be brought, up to twelve months after the assault.  Preciously the time limit was three months.
(3) The Courts are now cleared in criminal assault cases.
(4) Indeterminate sentences, i.e., irresponsible persons can be detained for an indefinite time.
Other organizations arising from the Woman's Health Association are the Bush Nursing Association, Women's Association for Film Censorship (which brought about a Government Censor Board), and the Child Welfare Association.  Coming to more recent events, of which I can speak with personal knowledge, early this year this League was formed, owing to a Bill passing (most unexpectedly) both Houses of Parliament, enabling women to stand for elections for the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council; the first our Lower House, the second the Upper.  An election took place in June, and we ran one candidate, a vice-president of the League, a Mrs. Waterworth, one of the most prominent women here in the Woman's Movement.  She did not get in, but had a most successful campaign, with crowed meetings, and we feel that much good has been done by putting our aims before the public.  We have the Proportional Representation system of voting in this State, the first English-speaking country to introduce this method.
Women have been voters in Australia for many years, but they have done little to make their influence felt in politics until quite recently.  We have had the right to stand for election for the Federal Parliament ever since the Commonwealth Government was formed, but no woman has yet been elected.
Returning to the Association for Criminal Law Reform, we have just recently been successful in persuading the Attorney-General to appoint women Justices of the Peace, and we are now working for the appointment of women on juries.
Another mater we have recently been keenly interested in is the right of any woman who is giving evidence to have a woman friend or relative in the Court with her when the Court is cleared by the judge's order.  A Bill has just lately been passed giving effect to this, and also the the right of an accredited association (such as the C.L.R. Association) to send two representatives to be present at such cases.
Lately a case has caused much comment and discussion - the marriage of a girl 12 to a man of 40.  Some of us have made inquiries, and discover that there is no law here in Tasmania as to the marriageable age of minors, but (as in all such eventualities) the English law holds good.  This seems to be a very difficult matter - I mean the age at which minors can marry.  Twelve seems to be ridiculously young.  Has this matter come to your notice, and have you any information as to the marriageable age of minors in other countries?  Twelve for a girl and fourteen for a boy (with the parents' consent) does seem to savour of Oriental customs!
In some ways we are very much behind the movement in England.  Tasmania is a small place, and Hobart, the largest town, has a population of only 50,000 people.  As in all small towns, there is a weight of reaction and conservatism to battle against, or, perhaps, I should be more correct to say that there are very few progressive people to be found in such a town.
E. M. Giblin.

NEW AUXILIARIES TO THE ALLIANCE.
1. Palestine . . Palestinian Jewish Women's Rights Association.
2. Newfoundland  N.F. Women's Franchise League.
3. India . . Women's Indian Association.
4. Lithuania . . L'Association des Femmes (Catholiques).
5. Ireland . . Central Committee of the Women of Ireland.
6. Jamaica . . Women's Social Service Association.
7. Brazil . . Allianca Brasileira pelo Suffragio Feminino.
8. Japan . . Women's Suffrage Association of Japan.
9. New Zealand Auxiliary Committee of New Zealand.
10. Egypt . . L'Union Feministe Egyptienne pour le Suffrage des Femmes
11. Poland . . L'Organisation Nationale des Femmes Polonaises.
12. Ukraine . . Comite Ukrainienne des Droits de la Femme.
13. Sweden . . (Second Society) The Fredrika Bremer Forbund.
*14. Germany . . Allgemeiner Deutscher Frauenverein.
*15. U.S.A. . . National League of Women Voters.
*16. Australia . . Australian Federation of Women's Societies.
*17. Sweden . . The Swedish Committee for International Suffrage Work.
*The above were considered as immediate successors of the old Auxiliaries and admitted without vote.

July, 1923  THE INTERNATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE NEWS.  157
MRS. CHAPMAN CATT'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
PART II. (Concluded from page 149.)

You will remember that in 1920 there were delegates of our first post-war Congress who thought that the time had come to dissolve the Alliance.  I was in doubt myself, as many of you were, concerning the wisdom of continuing the Alliance long.  It seemed then that all that portion of the world which was self-governing and where the woman movement was well founded had either enfranchised its women or would do so soon.  Three years have passed during which we have all been able to make observations.  Your president, accompanied by Miss Manus, spent seven months in making a survey of the conditions in Central Europe and South America.
The opinion had been published abroad that woman suffrage brought about in Central Europe by revolution might be swept away should counter-revolution ever result from unsettled conditions there.  We interviewed the Presidents of Republics, leaders of political parties, women members of parliaments and leaders of the Woman's Movement.  The conclusion was reached that woman suffrage is nowhere more firmly established than in Central Europe.  The only exception is Hungary, and even there belief in Woman Suffrage is far more firmly rooted than before the war.  I believe that women are nowhere in the world performing more intelligent and helpful political service than in Central Europe, and that no men are more sympathetically appreciative of the work of women than the men of those countries.
Indeed we were deeply impressed by the exalted position and respect given to women, and, I venture to predict, that, come what will, Woman Suffrage is as unalterably established in that part of the world as is man suffrage.
South American women are restless under the bondage imposed by law and custom, and they long for the spirit and they enjoyment of the freedom they find in other countries, yet the movement is vague in its aim, and the women as a whole have no clear idea what wrongs are fundamental and which are superficial; they do not realize as yet that a single legal restriction often imposes a group of grievances.  It will take time for the movement there to become stabilized with a constructive programme.  The movement has passed through this stage in every land, and the women in South America have an advantage no other women have had.  Women of other countries were forced to make precedents and prove them good to a doubting public.  These precedents - the right to education, to organize, to speak in public, to lead movements, to control property, to do business and to vote - now as firmly established in many lands as Gibraltar itself, serve the movement in South America as examples and give to the women of those Republics the privilege of putting an unanswerable query to state and society, namely: - 
"If women of half of the world enjoy freedom of personal action, control property and wages, vote and sit in Parliaments, why are we denied these rights?  Are we inferior to the women of other lands or are our men less generous?"  Since in the long run nations are logical, we may expect that the inability of men to answer these questions will bring unexpected rapidity of progress.  A group of women in every country visited are agitating the Woman Suffrage question.  The leaders in their isolation often reminded me of snowcapped peaks rising to grand heights above the common mass.  I predict they will not long stand alone.  We welcome Brazil as a new auxiliary in the Congress, and I am sure we shall have many more from South America and Central America when the next Congress meets.  Next week, in Mexico City, the first Mexican Congress of Women will meet.  Organizations are forming in other Central American countries.  These women need the moral support of the Alliance.
When we ask, as we must, the duty of this day and hour, I venture an opinion.  To my mind the experience of the last three years should remove all thought of dissolution of the Alliance.  I believe it was never needed so much as now.  The opportunities for useful service to the woman's cause which lie ahead are likely to prove quite as important as those already passed, and the Alliance, instead of dissolving, should grow more assertive, larger, stronger.
In 1920 we thought mainly of the needs of Southern Europe, but it is clear that organizations and campaigns are certain to arise in the twenty Republics of South and Central America in the near future.  The new organizations in India, Japan, China, Egypt and Palestine need the inspiration of the comradeship we have given each other.  The Alliance must surely heed these world-wide calls to duty, and provide the centre through which sympathy and encouragement may be given such movements.
To my mind the development of our movement during the past three years clearly points to four distinct but closely related questions, which should receive the chief consideration of this Congress.
(I) How many enfranchised and unenfranchised women unite to secure the repeal of the last vestige of those outworn codes of law that for many centuries placed women in the same status as that of children, feeble-minded and insane?  Here and there these laws have been repealed, but parts remain in some lands which treat the married woman as a child in civil matters, while granting her the status of an adult in political matters.  An effort to remove these inconsistencies should call forth no opposition; but the task demands intelligent and earnest attention.  In the so-called Latin countries it is time that a vigorous onslaught was made against the degrading, insulting, abominable code which denies to women the dignity of an adult human being.  There should be no serious objection anywhere to such a campaign.  The old barriers of prejudice and custom are breaking fast.  Women are sitting in the City and County Councils of all the Norther European nations, from Iceland to the Italian border.  They are serving in considerable numbers in the Parliaments of Europe, and in the Legislatures and Congress of the United States.  Within the past two years evidence of the acknowledgment of the new status of women come from all parts of the world.  Japan has given women the right to attend political meetings and they have improved the opportunity afforded by organizing a national suffrage association.  Denmark records a law granting equal pay for equal work in Government service.  Australia, where women have long voted, has extended eligibility to sit in some of the State Parliaments, a right hitherto illogically denied.  Within that period Germany, Belgium, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Argentine, Peru and India have admitted women to the practice of law, and Germany has appointed women to judgeships.  The Governments of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Roumania, France, Great Britain, Uruguay, Australia and Siam have appointed women representatives to the Assembly, the Commissions and Conferences of the League of Nations.  The United States and Bulgaria have appointed women to the Diplomatic Service, and lastly, the United States has granted married women the right to their own nationality.  In the light of these facts, it is clear that the correction of these old-time injustices should be readily made in all countries if the demand for the action is sufficiently strong.  "Those who would be free must strike the blow."  Let us then in this Congress of 1923 plan a world-wide campaign for the emancipation of women from the bondage of the international but intolerable civil codes.
We should earnestly invite the women of Mohammedan, Buddhist and Confucian countries to join in this campaign.  Why should they languish in the bondage of tradition when Christian and Jewish women are striking for freedom?

158 THE INTERNATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE NEWS. JULY, 1923.

Let us organize the campaign well, and carry it to
the remotest quarters of the globe ; carry it with such
energy and spirit that there will be no pause until the
women of the entire civilized world have been raised to
the dignity of adult, sane, intelligent citizens.

Arise, women of the world ; revolt, and together
demand the abolition of the contemptible degradations
of past centuries. I recommend that this campaign
shall be the first charge upon the new Board.

(2) How may the enfranchised women within the
Alliance most effectually aid the unenfranchised women
of self-governing countries to get their vote? This is
but a continuation of the original object which brought 
the Alliance into existence twenty years ago, but the
present status of the movement offers new obstacles
to be overcome and calls for new plans. The problem
has now been reduced to the single question, How may
women of the North lands aid the women of the South 
lands? This Congress will have failed of its primary
object if it adjourns with this problem still unsolved.
I recommend that a special Campaign Committee be
established to undertake this work, and that a Congress
be held in 1924 of delegates from the unenfranchised
countries of Europe to consider methods of further work.

(3) How may the Alliance aid women voters to a full
realization of the dignity and duty which belong to their
new status? Very many of them, trained by the
environment of their entire lives, still think and move
in the earlier status. They are enfranchised but not 
emancipated. They are timid, self-distrusting and
hover on the outer fringe of politics like timorous
butterflies. Once they were bound by stern and unjust
laws, now they are restrained by their own tradition-
warped minds. All students of human nature expected
this temporary stage of development. It is no disappointment.
It is well to remember that every land
has unenfranchised men who wander through politics
in the same dazed and uncomprehending condition of
mind. By degrees men and women will respond to the
new liberty and eventually will accept their full duty.
How that process may be accelerated is the problem we 
must consider. I recommend that this Congress shall
urge our auxiliaries in the enfranchised countries to
conduct experimental propaganda with this end in
view, such as schools for citizens, lecture courses and
Press appeals to women voters, and that each shall
report at our next Congress concerning the character 
of work attempted and its result.

(4) How may women voters most effectually serve
the common good of their nation and the world? To
be sure, men voters have never conferred upon that
subject. When voters really and seriously comprehend
that they are the rulers of nations, this will be a vastly
different and infinitely better world. It is not too early
to begin.
I recommend that those auxiliaries whose countries
have not given to women a generous share of parliamentary
seats shall be urged to consider means of
placing more women in parliament, in order that they
may serve the needs of women voters, and that, collectively,
women voters be urged to interest themselves in
this matter, further recommend that a Committee be
appointed to consider how more women members may
be secured, and that it shall include representatives of
Great Britain, United States of America, the Scandinavian
countries and any other countries where 
constitutional or political obstacles present difficulties.
If the Alliance in its wisdom finds a strong and
constructive policy to be applied simultaneously throughout
the world to each of these four problems, the
youngest delegate among you may live to celebrate the 
final emancipation of a sex. Any one of these problems
is worthy of our best, and collectively they call for better
organization and for greater consecration than women
have yet given to public causes.
In closing this address, I beg the privilege of a personal
word. For twenty-one years I have served this organization
as an officer ; from 1902 until 1904, as organizing
secretary of a tentative association ; and from 1904 to 
1923, as President of the Alliance. I want to take this

public opportunity to thank the British officers,
Mrs. Fawcett, Mrs. Coit and Miss Macmillan, for having
assumed much of my official duty while I was held fast
by the American campaign. I gratefully acknowledge
my obligation to them, and my deep appreciation of
their willingness to do additional work in order that I
might be relieved for service elsewhere. I want also to
thank our many workers of the past twenty years,
most of whom are not here, for their co-operation and
generous helpfulness. Together we have worked,
watched and waited. Together we have seen more
than our dreams realized, and have been blessed
beyond the lot of ordinary humans in the fulfilment of
so much of our hope.
To the auxiliaries of France and Italy, let me express
my especial sympathy. Your two countries compose
an undoubted link between the North and the South.
To the North they are bound by political connections ;
to the South by tradition. They are the lands that
should next enfranchise their women. When they do,
all the North lands will rejoice that they have taken
stand with them, and the South lands will acknowledge
that a new precedent has been set which they cannot
ignore.
Stand fast, take courage and do not be too modest in
your demand. Macaulay said (I quote from memory
only), "When men are turbulent it is held that they do
not deserve liberty, and when they are quiet they do 
not want it." A happy medium should be your policy.
It is my privilege, after so long an official term, to
retire from the Board at this Congress. A field of
service for the Alliance lies ahead as useful to the world
as that through which we have passed, and I therefore
entreat you one and all to give to the officers elected
here your continued and loyal co-operation. I urge
that there shall be no break in our work together, for 
"in union there is strength." It is my most earnest
prayer that the Alliance will march on with no pause
and not a faltering step, until the cause which brought
it into existence twenty years ago has been won in every 
civilized land. I do not say farewell, for I am not
leaving the Alliance, I am merely being released from the
obligation of office to become a soldier in the ranks in
which I am proud to have been permitted to serve, ever
so humbly, a cause so great and so righteous, and I am
prouder still to have had the privilege of serving as
President an Alliance of such noble, fearless, far-seeing
women as compose our membership.
No cause in all the world is nobler than ours ; our
movement still calls for confidence and courage, for
vision and faith to follow it. It is my prayer that the
Alliance will never fail in any of these qualities. May
we continue marching together to the end.

LATE NEWS.
FRANCE.
LA Fédération des Associations Françaises pour la
Société des Nations vient de nommer Mme M
L. Puech, secrétaire générale de la Section Féminine pour
La Société des Nations parmi les trois membres de son
Conseil. Mme Puech représentera la Fédération au
prochain Congrès de l’Union des Associations pour la
Société des Nations à Vienne.
On nous signale une autre victoire féministe : Mlle
Condat est la première agrégée de médicine et a été
reçue pour professer à la Faculté de médecine de Toulouse.

NOTE.
As we go to press we hear from the Chairman of the
Morals Committee that she is strongly of opinion that
the following clause was passed by the Congress and
should have been included in the Resolutions, p. 150 :--
"3. (a) Concerning the fight against venereal diseases
the Congress believes above all in the voluntary system ;
diffusion of information on venereal diseases ; facilities
for treatment of all persons in numerous appropriate
centres."

JULY, 1923. THE INTERNATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE NEWS. 159

BALANCE SHEET OF THE BRITISH ROME CONGRESS FUND
AND
LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS

RECEIPTS

Donations                                                 £791 s.19 d.2
Proceeds of entertainments                     £80 s.11 d.9

£872 s.10 d.11

DISBURSEMENTS
Printing and Stationery                               £17 s.3 d.6
Salaries                                                         £6 s.5 d.10
Petty Cash and Rent                                      £42 s.15 d.0
Bedford College : Dance Expenses                £26 s.10 d.0
Transferred for Congress Expenses               £779 s.16 d.7

£872 s.10 d.11

DONATIONS

DONORS.                              AMOUNTS.
Miss Janie Allan                       £2 s.2 d.0
Miss M. Gray Allen                  £5 s.0 d.0
American Tea, per Mrs. Saul 
Solomon                                 £12 s.0 d.0
Dr. Ancona                              £1 s.0 d.0  
Dame Adelaide Anderson       £1 s.5 d.0
Lady Anderson                        £2 s.2 d.0
Sir Alan Anderson                   £10 s.10 d.0
Anonymous                            £0 s.10 d.0
Anonymous                            £1 s.0 d.0
Anonymous                            £1 s.0 d.0
Anonymous                            £0 s.2 d.6
Anon., per Miss Joan Sterling £0 s.5 d.0
Mrs. Anstruther                       £5 s.0 d.0
Viscountess Astor, M.P.          £25 s.0 d.0
Mrs. Auerbach                        £5 s.0 d.0
Mrs. Edward Bage                  £0 s.10 d.0
Lady Frances Balfour              £1 s.0 d.0
Miss Katherine Bathurst         £0 s.5 d.0
Miss C. Baumann                   £2 s.0 d.0
Miss J. M. Beaumont             £0 s.5 d.0
Mrs. Becker                           £0 s.10 d.0
Lady Beilby                           £25 s.0 d.0
Mrs. Peter Bennett               £1 s.0 d.0
Miss Bensusan                     £1 s.1 d.0
Mrs. Berenson                      £5 s.0 d.0
Mrs. Berman                        £0 s.10 d.0
Mrs. F. Bertram                    £0 s.5 d.0
Mrs. Best                              £0 s.5 d.0
Mrs. White Birch                  £1 s.0 d.0
Mrs. Blamire, C.B.E.              £10 s.0 d.0
Mrs. Bliss                             £0 s.5 d.0
Mrs. F. H. Brace                    £1 s.1 d.0
Miss G. Bradford                  £2 s.0 d.0
Sybil Countess Brassey        £2 s.0 d.0
Bristol S.E.C.                         £1 s.1 d.0
Per Mrs. Sadd Brown (Drawing-
room Meeting)                     £2 s.16 d.0
Per Mrs. Sadd Brown            £1 s.5 d.0
Miss A. Leigh Browne           £2 s.0 d.0
Mrs. Buchanan                        £0 s.10 d.0
Miss Bury                                £0 s.10 d.0
Lady Busk                               £2 s.2 d.0
Mrs. Haver Butler                    £1 s.0 d.0
Mrs. George Cadbury             £2 s.0 d.0
Catholic Women's Suffrage
Society                                    £5 s.0 d.0
Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Chapman  £1 s.0 d.0
Mrs. R. F. Cholmely                 £5 s.0 d.0
Mrs. Clark                                £1 s.0 d.0
Miss S. Clegg                          £25 s.0 d.0
(2nd Donation)                       £25 s.0 d.0
Miss B. A. Clough                   £2 s.2 d.0
Mrs. A. S. Coates                     £1 s.1 d.0
Mrs. Stanton Coit (200,000 m.) £1 s.0 d.6
Miss A. Collins                         £0 s.5 d.0
-----------
Carried forward                      £205 s.6 d.0

DONORS.                                 AMOUNTS.
Brought forward                      £205 s.6 d.0
Miss Compton                          £1 s.1 d.0
Adrian Corbett, Esq.                  £2 s.2 d.0
Mrs. Corbett                              £20 s.0 d.0
Mrs. Corbett Ashby                   £2 s.2 d.0
Miss S. R. Courtauld                  £25 s.0 d.0
Lady Courtney                           £3 s.0 d.0
Viscountess Cowdray                £25 s.0 d.0
Mrs. Cowell                               £2 s.2 d.0
Mrs. M. Crosfield                      £1 s.1 d.0
Miss E. M. Cruttwell                  £0 s.2 d.6
Mrs. T. W. Currie                       £0 s.5 d.0
Miss Evelyn Deakin                   £1 s.1 d.0
Mrs. Dexter                               £1 s.0 d.0
Miss M. E. Dimock                    £1 s.0 d.0
Miss Dowman                          £2 s.2 d.0
Miss A. M. Dowson                  £1 s.0 d.0
Miss E. M. C. Druce                  £5 s.0 d.0
Dumbarton Women's Citizen
Association                              £1 s.1 d.0
Miss A. P. Dumbleton              £0 s.6 d.8
Dr. E. L. Walker Dunbar            £1 s.1 d.0
Miss K. Lauder Eaton               £1 s.0 d.0
Edinburgh W. I. L.                     £1 s.0 d.0
Mrs. Edwards                            £1 s.0 d.0
Miss Embleton                         £1 s.1 d.0
The Lady Emmott                     £1 s.1 d.0
Mrs. R. Faridoonji                     £1 s.0 d.0
Mrs. M. G. Fawcett                   £25 s.0 d.0
(2nd Donation)                        £25 s.0 d.0
Miss Philippa Fawcett               £25 s.0 d.0
Miss E. Finke                             £1 s.0 d.0
Miss Nancy Fleming                 £0 s.5 d.0
Mrs. Flugel                                £5 s.0 d.0
Miss I. O. Ford                          £1 s.1 d.0
The Hon. Mrs. Franklin             £2 s.2 d.0
Mrs. Freeman                           £0 s.10 d.0
Mrs. Freeth                               £0 s.5 d.0
Miss S. M. Fry                           £1 s.0 d.0
Miss M. Furner                         £0 s.10 d.0
Mrs. Fyffe                                 £1 s.0 d.0
Mrs. Garrett                             £5 s.0 d.0
Miss Garrett                             £25 s.0 d.0
G. H. Garrett, Esq.                     £5 s.0 d.0
The late S. Garrett, Esq.            £10 s.0 d.0
Lady Gibb                                £2 s.2 d.0
Viscountess Gladstone             £1 s.0 d.0
Mrs. Arnold Glover                   £3 s.3 d.0
Miss M. W. Godwin                   £2 s.2 d.0
Mrs. G. O. Gooch                       £0 s.10 d.0
Miss F. E. Goodey                      £1 s.0 d.0
Mrs. Ogilvie Gordon                  £2 s.0 d.0
Miss Graves                              £1 s.1 d.0
Mrs. W. A. Greenlees                £1 s.0 d.0
Miss E. Gulland                         £2 s.0 d.0
-------------
Carried forward                       £456 s.6 d.2

DONORS.                                  AMOUNTS.

Brought forward                        £456 s.6 d.2
Miss Guthrie                               £1 s.0 d.0
Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan  £1 s.1 d.0
Miss F. C. Gwyther                      £0 s.4 d.0
Rt. Hon. Viscount Haldane         £5 s.0 d.0
Miss H. B. de R. Hanson              £0 s.10 d.0
Miss E. J. Harley                          £1 s.1 d.0
Mrs. Hess                                    £1 s.0 d.0
Mrs. Hicks                                  £0 s.10 d.0
Miss Hoc                                    £25 s.0 d.0
Miss Mabel Holland                   £2 s.10 d.0
Miss E. Hulme                            £1 s.1 d.0
Miss B. L. Hutchins                     £1 s.0 d.0
"H. M. P."                                   £5 s.0 d.0
Miss F. J. Jackson                       £0 s.5 d.0
J. Jacoby, Esq.                            £1 s.0 d.0
Miss Johnson                            £0 s.5 d.0
Miss Kilgour                              £0 s.10 d.0
Dr. E. Knight                              £5 s.0 d.0
Dr. Elsie L. Kyle                          £0 s.5 d.0
Mrs. Lamb                                 £2 s.2 d.0
Miss M. Laudcastle                   £0 s.2 d.6
Miss Laughton                          £0 s.5 d.0
Mrs. Laurie                                £2 s.2 d.0
Miss E. M. Leaf                          £1 s.0 d.0
Mrs. Cowan Lees                      £1 s.1 d.0
Dame Sarah Lees                      £10 s.0 d.0
The Misses Leitte                      £4 s.4 d.0
Lady Lockyer                            £1 s.0 d.0
Miss A. Lucas                            £3 s.3 d.0
Mrs. Lupton                              £1 s.0 d.0
Mrs. Lyon                                  £1 s.1 d.0
The late Lady Constance Lytton£0 s.2 d.6
Miss Macadam                         £2 s.0 d.0
Miss M. A. Macdonald              £0 s.10 d.0
Mrs. Maclehose                        £1 s.1 d.0
Miss C. Macmillan                     £0 s.10 d.0
Mrs. and the Misses Mahler      £5 s.5 d.0
Dr. Martindale                           £1 s.1 d.0
Mme. Martinez Sierra                £5 s.0 d.0
Mrs. How Martyn                       £2 s.2 d.0
Miss Bertha Mason                    £1 s.1 d.0
Miss Mathieson                         £1 s.0 d.0
Mrs. Matthews                          £0 s.10 d.0
Miss F. de G. Merrifield              £0 s.10 d.6
Miss Ellen McKee                       £3 s.0 d.0
Miss Edith Miller                        £1 s.1 d.0
Minerva Club Meeting               £3 s.2 d.9
Miss Molkno                              £0 s.5 d.0
Lady Scott Moncrieff                 £0 s.10 d.0
Miss E. S. Montgomery              £2 s.10 d.0
William Morison, Esq.                 £0 s.2 d.0
Mrs Napier                                 £1 s.0 d.0
N. C. W., Harrogate                    £2 s.2 d.0
Miss Nettlefold                          £0 s.10 d.6
Miss Norton                              £5 s.0 d.0
----------------------
Carried forward                         £575 s.4 d.11

160                                    THE INTERNATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE NEWS.

                                                            DONATIONS--continued
   DONORS                     AMOUNTS
                                         £   s.   d.
Brought forward           575   4   11
Mrs. Notcutt                    0   10   0
Miss E. M. Osborne         0   10   0
Mrs. Overton                   2    2    0
Miss Edith Palliser           1    1    0
Lady Parsons                   5    5    0
Mrs. Parsons                   0    10    0
Miss Rose Paul                1    1    0
Miss E. Pease                   1    0    0
Mrs. Pennington            25    0    0
Miss E. Picton-Tuberville,
   O.B.E.                            1    0    0
Miss R. Pierce                  0   10   0
Mrs. G. T. Pilcher             5    0    0
Sol Plaatje, Esq.               0    4    3
The Countess of Portsmouth  1    1    0
Miss Eileen Power           0    10    0
Mrs. Radford                   1     0     0
Mrs. Raleigh                    1     1     0
Miss Raleigh                    0    10    0
Dr. Mabel Ramsay           0    10    0
Miss Eleanor Rathbone   10    0    0
   (2nd Donation)             5    0    0
Miss B. E. Rawlings          10    0    0
Miss Pember Reeves        1    1    0
Mrs. Russell Reid              0    5    0
Mrs. Florence Rendall       0    10    6
Mrs. Bruce Richmond       2    0    0
Miss C. J. Robinson           1    1    0
Mrs. Bernard Roth             5    0    0
Mrs. Roskill                       1    0    0
Miss F. E. Rowe                 1    0    0
Miss A. Maude Royden    10    0   0
     Carried forward         £670  7  8

   DONORS                     AMOUNTS
                                         £   s.   d.
Brought forward           670   7   8
Mrs. Rabagliati                 1    1    0
Miss A. W. Russell            3    0    0
Miss Sainsbury                 0    5    0
Dame Louise Gilbert Samuel       1    1    0
Mrs. Sylvester Samuel                 1    0    0
Miss M. Sylvester Samuel            1    0    0
Mrs. Cobden Sanderson              1    0    0
Miss E. Sanderson                        1    0    0
Miss A. D. Scott                            0   10   0
Miss I. P. Scott                              0   10   0
The Countess of Selborne           1    0    0
Miss Shaw                                    0   10   0
The Hon. Lady Shelley-Rolls        5    0    0
Miss May Sinclair                         5    0    0
Dr. Bertha Skeat                           0    5    0
Miss Slaen                                    1    0    0
Miss Sloane                                  2    2    0
Mrs. Binns Smith                          1    1    0
The Misses Smith                         0    5    0
Mrs. Smithson                              2    0    0
Miss M. A. Snodgrass                   2    2    0
Mrs. G. M. Solomon                      1   1    0
Miss D. D. Solomon                      1    1    0
Miss Sotheran                              2    0    0
Miss B. Sotheran                           5    0    0
Mrs. Soulsby                                 0   10   0
Miss Spens                                    0    2    6
Mrs. Spicer                                    1    1    0
Miss H. Spicer                               2    2    0
Miss F. M. Sterling                         5    0    0
Miss E. Stirlings                             0    2    6
     Carried forward         £719  19  8

   DONORS                     AMOUNTS
                                         £   s.   d.
Brought forward           719   19   8
Miss Tabor                        0    5    0
Mrs. Tangye                      2    0    0
Mrs. Herbai A. Tata           3    3    0
Miss Dorothy Tata            2    0    0
Mrs. Taylor                      10    0    0
Mrs. Coombe Tennant     1    1   0
Lady Terrington               1    1    0
Mrs. G. Carslake Thompson    3    0    0
The Misses Thompson            0   10   0
Miss Todhunter                       0    2    6
Miss Tovey                              5    0    0
   (2nd Donation)                    1    0    0
Mrs. Turner                             0    5    0
  "Two Friends"                       1    1    0
Miss F. A. Underwood             0   10   0
Miss M. E. Verrall                    1    0   0
Miss Susan Villiers                  5    0   0
Dr. Jane Walker                      10   0   0
Miss F. E. Walrond                   0   10    0
Mrs. John Walter                     0   10    0
Miss Helen Ward                     0    5    0
Mrs. Watts                               5    5    0
Miss C. Wickham                     1    0    0
The Hon. Mrs. Wilkinson         0    5    0
Aneurin Williams, Esq.             3    3    0
Mrs. Theodore Williams          5    0    0
Mrs. Wilmhurst                        3    0    0
Mrs. Wilson                              2    2   0
Mrs. Wilson                              1    0    0
Miss Wray                                1    1    0
Lady Wright                             2    0    0
           Total                       £791  19  2

Officers of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, elected at the Ninth Congress, Rome, May 12-19, 1923.
                       President:    Mrs. Corbett Ashby, 33    Upper Richmond Road, London, S.W. 15, England.
                                Hon. President: Mrs. Chapman Catt, 404, Riverside Drive, New York, U.S.A.

First Vice-President: Mme. De Witt Schlumberger, 14. Rue Pierre De Serbie, Paris, France.
Second Vice-President: Frau A. Lindemann, Koln, Marienburg. Wolfgang Mullerstr, 20, Germany.
Third Vice-President: Dr. M. Ancona, 8, Via Morigi, Milano 8, Italy
Fourth Vice-President: Mrs. Gifford Pinchot, Executive Mansion, Harrisburg, Pa., U.S.A.
Corresponding Secretary: Miss E. Gourd, Pregny, Geneva, Switzerland.
Recording Secretary- Mme. Theodoropoulos, Rue Deligeorgi IIa, Athens, Greece.
Treasurer: Miss Frances Sterling, Homewood, Hartfield, Sussex.
Committee: Frau Julie Arenholt, St. Kongensgade 23. Copenhagen K., Denmark; Dr. Paulina Luisi, chez M. Fould,
       30 Rue du Faubourg, Poissonniere, Paris, France.
Affiliated Countries:---Aregentine, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Czecho-Slovakia, China, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France.
  Germany, Great Britain and British Dominions Overseas-viz, Australia, Canada, Ireland, India, Jamaica, Newfoundland, New 
  Zealand, South Africa---Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, 
  Roumania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United States of America, Uruguay.

                                                  By-law of the I. W. S. A. Constitution
" The International Woman Suffrage Alliance, by mutual consent of its auxiliaries, stands pledged to preserve absolute
neutrality on all questions that are strictly national"
Headquarters and EDITORIAL OFFICES of the I. W. S. NEWS: II, ADAM STREET, ADELPHI, LONDON, W.C.
Telegrams: "Vocorajito."    Telephone: Regent 4255.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S FRANCHISE CLUB, LTD.,
        FOR MEN AND WOMEN
President- The Right Hon. THE EARL OF LYTTON
Deputy-President- THE LADY FRANCES BALFOUR, L.L.D. LITT.
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Catt. Carrie Chapman 
Speech, Article, Book File
Speed: ca. 1923

The final triumph of of woman suffrage in the United Stated was achieved by the united influence of three separate and distinct movements, each dating its uncertain beginning far back in the centuries.  1. The democratic movement which eventually came to mean that governments are only just when they draw their authority from the "consent of the governed."  2. The woman movement, a universal rebellion against the tutelage and restraint imposed by the law and custom of all nations.
Memories usually are short.  A well known man who had been an active, loyal helper in the suffrage campaign during its last five years, was advocating recently his favorite cause before a small group of men and women and said with impressive earnestness: "Now if we who believe in this idea would combine in an energetic campaign, we would win as easily and quickly as did the women suffragists."  The speaker was noticeably disconcerted at the somewhat derisive smiles of the women present.  Nor was he any more convinced of the truth than is the average citizen when informed that the campaign was organized, officered, dues paying and supporting a clearly definite program for exactly seventy-two years before the final victory came.
There was no rise of the woman suffrage movement in the usual sense of that expression; instead it "emerged" from the broader woman movement, but it did so through the deliberate design of certain bold spirits, already leaders in the woman's agitation, who called a convention and organized it in 1848.  From that date there was no significant change in the aim and no pause in campaign activities except during the Civil War.  The campaign, grown stronger each year at length became so insistent in its appeals that the general public took notice of it and imagined it had sprung "full armed, officered and organized upon the public stage.
The idea prevailed also that before the "rise" of the suffrage movement women had been content with their status in the world.  On the contrary there has been no time in written history when there were not women making protest.  The "rights of women" was the subject of many an official conference of barbaric men; the theme of many a church council in early Christian centuries and in more modern times there has scarcely been a parliament, congress or legislature that has not considered some phase of the "woman question".  It is certain that men were moved to discuss the rights and privileges of women because they were rebellious; not when they were quiet and content.
When written history dawned the status assigned to women among peoples most rapidly advancing was one of enormous but scantly recognized economic importance to home and nation, but with civil and social rights so restricted that no peg was left upon which to hang a shred of self-respect.  Century followed century; civil law, church dogma, traditional customs, combined to rigidly enforce the belief that males possessed the inalienable right to govern home, church and state; and equally that females followed the duty to

-3-
obey, to submit, to be silent, and to ask humbly when and if they
desired aught.

Page 3 Substitute for second paragraph
*[paragraph]
It was inevitable that the woman sex would one day rebel and struggle
to regain a rational individuality. The first definite movement in
that direction arose in Greece and lasted for more than two centuries.
The names of Sappho, the immortal poet, and Aspasia, wife of Pericles,
stateswoman, became best known from this period.

the movement disappeared.
   The revolt sprung up again in Rome and although it still
made the quest of learning its chief aim, it took on a bolder and more
political character. When, in 215 B.V., women were forbidden by law
certain forms of dress and personal luxury as one of the economies
of the second Punie War, they [the women] arose en mass [over the impertinence]
and conducted an agitation of astonishing fury. They flocked into
Rome from country and town until the Forum and its approaches were
filled. Cato {the Elder} no more infuriated than many another {but
more eloquent,] delivered one of his greatest most famous orations: "if, Romans,

every individual among us had made it a rule to maintain the prerogative
and authority of a husband with respect to his own wife, we should
have less trouble with the whole sex. Now, our privileges, overpowered
at home by female contumacy, are even here in the Forum spurned and
trodden under foot; and because we are unable to withstand each

-4-
separately, we now dread their collective action." Despite [?als] [Nevertheless,] the
law was repealed, and the revolt continued [for another] one hundred and
fifty years later when a Civil War of high costs led to the proposal of a
special tax to be imposed upon women's property, [Again] the women again
gathered and thronged the Forum [day after day]. Hortensia, daughter
of the famous orator Hortensius, made the women's plea and warned the consuls
that every woman of them would gallantly defend the nation against
outside enemies, but "for civil wars may we never contribute nor ever
assist you against each other." Again the women won, the greater
part of the proposal being withdrawn. [Rome, too, tottered to her
downfall and the woman's revolt was submerged with all the other movements.]
   [Meanwhile,] Christianity [had] come into the world and [had]
overspread Western Europe. It accepted [everywhere] the ancient opinion 
about women and contributed the interesting additional view that the
[their] subjection [of women] was by order of God's will and since women had
brought sin into the world, they should be willing to spend their time
in penitence and obedience to the more virtuous sex. [The Christian
Fathers vied with each other in vituperations of woman.] [paragraph] Despite
this new and thunderously voiced opposition, the women movement arose
again [and this time to stay, as part of the Italian Renaissance in

Page 4  in place of sentence marked with star.

[*215
150
165*]

The movement was never disappeared [lest] after this date. The Renaissance departed 
but the woman movement kept steadily on.





Page 5    Substitute for second paragraph which is carried forward to
Page 6.

   The Renaissance and the Woman movement budded, flowered and
fruited in Italy long before they spread to France, Spain and Portugal and to
the North. A possible four hundred years would cover the entire period. A
similar expression of the new woman's freedom was common to all. As
learning was the main object of the woman movement and was also the chief
spirit of the Renaissance, the doors of education are recorded to have
swung open in all these countries without much ado. Women were students in the classrooms and
professors in the faculties of universities in Italy, France and Spain.
In all the countries there were women scholars, authors and poets; queens
distinguished for their learning [as well as for their military achievements.]
Many women were pronounced prodigies of learning. They spoke
many languages, quoted poetry and philosophy, and often discussed politics
There were women novelists and poets; the most renowned , the Italian, Vittoria
Colonna, (1490-1547) still accounted by Italians one of their great poets. Women
ventured into the professions too and there were women doctors in all
these countries. Modern science is scornful of European medicine at this
date, but at least it may be said that women are reputed to have lost no
more patients than did men. Women lawyers also appeared and from Italy [out of this pariod?]
came the real or fancied Portia.
   The widespreading belief that education should no longer be
denied to girls was the permanent result of the [during the] Renaissance woman movement
The chief opportunity for education that remained was within the convents of the
Catholic Church. Very many such institutions were established by notable
women with great sacrifice for the sole purpose of offering education to
girls.

-5-
telling shot at its enemies whenever the political weather was fair
enough to allow it.
   The movement may have been begun in Italy by Christine de
Pisan (1363-1429) of Venice, a voluminous writer who espoused the
principles of feminism in remarkable completeness and impressive terms.
   The spirit of the Renaissance was love of beauty and culture.
Education, learning, poetry, literature and art were the things men
began to honor. As learning was the main object of the woman movement,
the doors of education are recorded as having swung open without much 
ado. In homes of the cultured, equal education for boys and girls
became the rule. It is said that a jeweled bauble could suffice no
longer to buy a daughter's love and loyalty; nothing but lessons in
Latin could do that. Here and there women were pronounced prodigies
of learning. Women spoke many languages, quoted poetry and philosophy,
and even discussed politics. There were women novelists and poets;
the most renowned, Vittoria Colonna, (1490-1547) still accounted by Italians one
of their great poets. There was no question of woman's rights or
female emancipation, says one author, because the thing itself was a 
matter of course. Apparently, education was as fashionable for girls
as bobbed hair is now. The highest compliment to the great women of
the day was that they had "the mind and courage of men." Women
students sat in university class rooms and women instructors taught in
the universities of Padua, Ferrara and Bologna. One famous instructor
in mathematics was [is] alleged to be so beautiful that in order not to
distract the attention of her male students gave her lectures behind
a veil. Here, too, developed the real or fancied Portia. About the
time Columbus was "discovering America" with the aid of the jewels of
a Renaissance Queen of spain, Isabella of Castile, women had achieved

Foot note
The Renaissance in Italy. Burckhardt.



-6-
so conspicuous a position that a book of biographies of great women
was published in Italy (De Claris Mulieribus Soccacio), the list
beginning with Eve, including Pope Joan, and ending with Queen Johanna
of Naples. Women of distinction were numerous and many other biographies
were published during this period.
   The Renaissance and the woman movement budded, flowered and
fruited long before they spread to France, Spain, Portugal and to the
North. An expression of the woman movement, similar to that in Italy,
was common throughout the Latin countries. Women were also professors
of university faculties and students in the class rooms. There were
scholars, authors and poets; queens distinguished for their learning
and for their military achievements. In France there were women
soldiers, mobilized her and there to perform special duties. Women
ventured into the professions too, and there were many women doctors
in all these countries. Modern science is scornful of European
medicine at this date, but at least it may be said that the women are
reputed to have lost no more patients than did the men.
The most permanent results of the Renaissance movement were the increase
of schools for girls and the widespreading conversion of public opinion 
to the belief that education should not be [ought no longer to be] denied to girls.
The increase of education in the Latin countries was largely inside the
Catholic Church. In France there was one Ursuline school for girls in
the middle of the sixteenth century; one hundred years later there
were three hundred and ten., There may have been other motives which
impelled the spread of the Ursuline order, but certainly the desire to
teach girls was one of them. Many stories of heroic sacrifice are
told of these early efforts for feminine instruction. A Mlle. Saintonge,
for example, who was stoned by the children of a town in France because
she wished to found a girls' school. Not dismayed, she moved into a

-7-
garret, although she had no money for food, clothes or rent, and there
taught five little girls whose parents were so bold as to believe in
her. Ten years afterwards the fruits of her devotion permitted her to
lead a procession through the same streets in honor of the opening of
a convent and school it contained. Mother Superiors were often renowned 
for scholarship, literary talent and rare administrative ability,
as well as piety, and more than one declared a gentle rebellion against
unacceptable edicts of the Church. The greatest of all These Mother
Superiors was probably Saint Theresa. [That she was a woman of sound
philosophy is indicated in an address to the Mother Superiors of other
convents in which she said "When there is ignorance and piety do not
forget that the piety may evaporate and ignorance only remain." Modern
women owe much to the Spartan character and clear vision of many of
these religious heroines who continued lives of self abnegation after
the monasteries had become rich and many monks forgetful of their vows.
   From the 4th century to modern times the growing Church power
set itself against any change in the position of women and became 
actively hostile against the woman movement.]  As early as 1377 the
[Church power because] Faculty of the University of Bologna, where women had taught and studied,
led the way with the following decree: "And, whereas, woman is the
foundation of sin, the weapon of the devil, the cause of man's banishment
from Paradise, and, whereas, for these reasons all association with her
is to be diligently avoided. Therefore do we interdict and expressly
forbid that anyone presume to introduce in the said college any woman
whatsoever, however honorable she may be, and if anyone should perpetuate
such an act, he shall be severely punished."
   Eventually all the universities closed their doors however.
   [A hundred years later when Martin Luther was four years old
(1487), Pope Innocent 8th issued a Bull in which he quoted the following:
"The Holy Chrisostrom declared "woman to be an unavoidable punishment,


a necessary evil, a natural temptation, a desirable affliction, a constantly flowing source of evil, a wicked work of nature covered with a shiny varnish.  Already had the first woman entered into a sort of compact with the devil - will not then her daughters do it also?  Since she was formed of a crooked rib, her entire spirit, her real nature has been distorted and inclined more toward sin than virtue."
Martin Luther (1483-1546) and the Reformation differed from the Catholic leaders in most things, but they held common views about a personal devil and both agreed that women were on much more intimate terms with him than were men.  While the Catholic Fathers were still quoting Tertullian (2nd and 3rd Centuries) "Woman, thou are the gate of Hell".  John Calvin (1509-1569) expressed his view: "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world (meaning women) to confound the wise (meaning men) and base things of the world and things that are despised (meaning women) to bring to naught those that are great and of high worth (meaning men).
Thus the theory that men were divinely appointed to rule and women to obey had been accentuated by Catholic and Protestant churches; one or the other of these churches largely controlled European governments from the 4th Century to modern times and governments made and enforced law; therefore the woman movement was driven to struggle against a seemingly impregnable barrier.
To return to the early woman movement in Italy; there was probably more controversy than the usual writers have noticed.  The church was closing universities, but women still protested Marie de Romieu issued (1580) a challenge to critics under the head "A brief discourse showing that the excellence of women surpasses that of men", and the Venetian Lucrezia Marinella followed with another entitled "The Nobility and the Excellence of Women and the Failures and Vices of Men."  She enumerated twelve virtues in which women excelled and thirty vices in which men were notorious.
By 1600 the movement was strong in Western Europe and both advocacy and opposition stiffened.  Many women published their views.  Anna Marie can Schurman (1607-1678) wrote a book in Latin to prove that women were capable of the higher learning and discussed "rights of women" in Greek with Bathsua Makin once governess to Queen Elizabeth.
With the passing of the Renaissance, the woman movement weakened in the Latin countries, but came into its own in the Anglo-Saxon North.  With the outbreak of the French Revolution abstract learning as a cultural aim gave way to discussion of the "Rights of Man".  Mayy Wollstonecraft grafted the woman's rights and the man's rights movement together.  In a spirited plea under the title "Vindication of the Rights of Man" (1790), she espoused the principles of democracy emerging from the chaos of the French Revolution and in 1792 she made another appeal called "Vindication of the Rights of Women".  The chief value of these books at this date is the indication of the startling prejudice of the public mind in England in the days of the Revolution.  She was dubbed a "shameless blasphemous woman" and one of the Walpoles called her "that hyena in petticoats."  Just why it occurred to so many men to compare women to hyenas who were merely asking for education should be a refreshing theme for psychologists.  From that date the woman's rights movement in Great Britain became an established conflict and was going strong when the American Revolution took place.
The movement was ablaze in all Western Europe when Columbus discovered the Western Continent with the aid of the jewels of a Renaissance Queen, Isabella of Castile.
Colonists, coming to America brought the controversy with them and probably debated the theological aspects of the woman movement on the Mayflower.  Every ship brought women rebels and also "divinely appointed"

Page 10  Substitute for star.
In the midst of it Boston yielded to the demand for the higher education
for girls and in 1826 opened, amid a veritable storm of disapproval, the
first high school for girls in the United States, probably in the world.
Boston had led the movement for educational opportunity and from 1789
to 1842 girls were allowed to attend the public schools during summer
months when boys vacated seats to work on the farms.  The timid school
board, however, yielded after eighteen months to the opposition and
closed the high school for girls (1828), not because it had been a 
failure, but rather because every seat had been taken and not a girl had
been frightened away.

Page 10   Substitution for last paragraph.
An unexpected stimulus to the woman movement appeared in the
early years of the last century. Agitation on behalf of the abolition
of slavery, alcohol, and war, each a separate movement, was stirring
the people.  Women interested in these causes insisted upon their
right to attend public meetings, to join organizations, to sit in
conventions and to speak when they had anything on their minds. Their
insistence called forth an opposition which had few arguments, but much
temper and voluminous quotations from the Bible.

-10-
watchers to see that the limits of women's sphere were not moved outward
by a hair's breadth.  They had scarcely erected their log cabins
and planted their gardens before the colonists were lined up on opposing
sides for the first battle - "schools for the shes"  The taxpayers were
nearly a unit against it.  [Of course] The girls won, but [not promptly,
for] the battle raged two hundred years. Meanwhile, an overlapping
battle of words began which lasted for a hundred years [?]. "Shall girls
study geography?" The Colonists, having survived the Revolution,
another and more terrible battle followed sharp upon the surrender [?]:
"Shall girls be permitted to
study that indelicate, indecent, immoral thing called Physiology?"
The conflict so violently shook the foundation of the Republic that
the Fathers fairly suffered with mal de mer. [*]  In Boston from 1789
to 1842 during the summer months when boys vacated seats to work on
farms, girls were allowed to attend public schools. 
The "hub of learning" yielded to the demand for
the higher education and opened, amid a veritable storm of disapproval, in 1826,
the first high school for
girls in the United States, probably in the world.  The timid school
board closed it eighteen months later in surrender to the opposition,
but not because it had been a failure, since every seat had been taken and 
not a girl had been frightened away. No other high school was
opened until 1852.  The opposition firmly contended that girls were
incapable of learning, but were afraid to put their theory to the test.
In 1853 Oberlin College was opened to admit boys and girls, black and 
white, on equal terms.  It was the first college in the college in the world to admit
women since the universities of the Renaissance [? by the church].
[*Sub] In the early years of the last century the agitation preliminary
to coming campaigns on behalf of the abolition of slavery, 
alcohol and war were stirring the people women insisted upon their
right to attend public meetings, to be members of organizations, to sit
in conventions and to speak when these causes were concerned.  Their







-11-
[insistence called forth an opposition which had few arguments but much temper.] 
A genuinely frightened alarm at the manner in which 
the masculine strong minded women were "attempting to drive men from 
their God ordained sphere." possessed the country.  Editors advised, 
preachers sermonized, and on street corners and around tea tables 
men and women gossiped.  [In about] After forty or fifty years the results of these excited years might have been gathered in the brief comment that interest in all the 
movements had been compounded several times over and the number of women 
rebels enormously increased.
Meanwhile women had been seeking reforms of the civil code 
which robbed them of property, wages, guardianship of children, and 
other precious rights. They observed that some [of their] grievances 
were [social and] restrictions [were] built by custom only, while others 
were in the law and could only be corrected by legislation. They concluded that the vote was 
a necessary tool with which to clean the code of [all] discriminatory 
laws and to prevent the enactment of new ones.
This was a calmly thought out plan when Lucretia Mott, 
standing fast by the principle of "truth for authority; not authority 
for truth", and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who, with her little scissors, 
had tried to find the laws about women and cut them out of her 
father's law books in her girlhood, called a convention at Seneca Falls, 
New York, in 1848. They drew up a program on a table in the parlor 
of Mrs. Sarah McClintock which is now in the Smithsonian Institution.  
That program demanded the vote, civil equality and equal rights to 
opportunity in all things. Under the organization that grew out of 
the convention they placed those reforms that [must] could only be secured through 
legislation. Thus the woman suffrage movement was organized with 
carefully planned intent.  Mrs. John Stewart Mill wrote an account 
of one of the early conventions and women in England speedily organized

-12-
for the same purpose. During seventy-two years in this country the campaign 
moved on ever faster and faster. Women were born into it,
served and passed. It was irresistible from the first and grew
more so day by day. Yet the history of those seventy-two years of
ceaseless campaigning will always be chiefly of interest as a record
of the superstition, ignorance, tyranny, church hostility, bigotry
[of new voters], warfare of certain vested interests which combined to
form[ed] the astounding resistance of the opposition.
The spirit of democracy which seems always to prevail for
a brief period after a war, sponsored the movement for a time, and [led to the] enfranchised [ment of] men and women 
in many European countries in 1918, 1919, and 1920. So far did this
wave of liberal tendency extend that the United States, in which the
organized woman suffrage movement began, did not complete its ratification
of the federal woman suffrage amendment (August 26,1920) until
after [the] twenty-six other nations had given the vote to their women.
When the ship that brought the first returning fighting men from France
let down its gangplank in New York, a soldier ran down ahead of the
rest and shouted: "Have you got it?" "Got What?" queried the women
serving coffee and doughnuts. "Why the vote, of course" the soldier
boy ejaculated "The women of Germany have it; you should be ashamed if
they have beaten you to it." In truth, when the last hard fought
battle was being waged for woman suffrage in the United States
(August 1920), Germany was already preparing for an election that seated
thirty-six women as members of the imperial Reichstag and forty-five
as members of the Prussian Parliament. Five years before these
parliaments were considered by general opinion the most militaristic,
autocratic parliaments in the entire world. Germany inadvertently
shamed the last opposition outpost in the United Stated into surrender.

13 oct

The Vote won, some women as - has I been worth the trouble it cost?  Some men ask what has it done? What change has it wrought? Is the new way better than the old?

The first and chief effect of the triumph of woman suffrage is one the general public has probably not noticed, or is so, has not comprehended. A vast army has been demobilized. What became of the army? Every woman discharged from the suffrage campaign merrily stepped back into the ranks of the broader woman movement from which she and her predecessors emerged some seventy-five years ago with the difficult object of eliminating one discrimination against women. Having achieved the aim of that endeavor, by notable sacrifice and effort, they return and carry on. After all, it was merely an incident in the greater movement.  What is the woman movement and what is the aim?  It is a revolt against artificial limitations which restrain the rights of women in attempts to attain the highest development. [?]...occasional checks and pauses, this movement has been going forward without a break for six hundred years.  Like the flow of a river which finds itself checked by a slide of ice and digs a new bed around it and then proceeds upon its way, the woman movement concentrated its chief efforts for a time in digging around a huge political obstacle; having finished that task, it flows on. 

What will bring the revolt to a close?  Women have freedom of education, but restricted opportunities to use it.  Women have the vote, but the old complexes rise to forbid freedom of action within the political parties.  The restraint of a still unconvinced public opinion holds all along the line.  Nothing but time and triumph in many small skirmishes can correct these conditions and nothing but absolute equality of opportunity will satisfy women of the woman movement. 

A complete list of object yet to be attained might have been enumerated had world affairs remained where they were when the woman suffrage campaign began.  Alas, the world is no longer here.  The new industrialization has reached into the home and taken from it every [?] invented and manufactured by women through thousands of years and has carried them into factories; women, following their own creations have gone after.  A "woman in industry" problem has therefore arisen. High rents, high cost of food and clothing are threatening the maintenance of the home and the whole human race is alarmed because they see it slipping.  Hotels, restaurants, the delicatessen and the tin can have become conspicuous factors in the adjustment still in a disturbing state of confusion.  Garden spots, once important family reserves, have given way to sites of apartment.  Why a garden when the family insist upon eating lettuce and strawberries in January and oranges and turnips in August?  The cost of births, measles and whooping cough, milk and little shoes, sickness and funerals, have reduced or eliminated the one time precious family.  To the somewhat simple one time problem of equality of opportunity women are unexpectedly faced with a host of new problems in which nothing concerning the status of their own future is secure.  The aim of the woman movement in the midst of these upsetting problems is the determination to find in the new order a satisfactory destiny not one assigned to them by men and [?] women afflicted

16
with [the] superiority and inferiority complex[es]. 
     The direct results of the enfranchisement of women in its brief trial may be enumerated as follows:
   1. The vote has been used in all the states to secure the removal of discriminations against women under the law; to prevent the passing of other proposed discriminations and to improve the legislation which concerns women and children. 
   2. Women vote in numbers surprisingly approaching that of men voters. Examination indicates it is not true that women, more than men, are neglecting their political opportunities of expressing their opinions at the polls. Both are negligent because, at the moment, politics are uninteresting. 
   3. The testimony is [probably unanimous] general that the presence of women at the polls in the capacity of voters and election officials has so altered the character of Election Day that it has become a peaceful and dignified function. 
   4. The service of women in high positions to which they have been appointed by the federal, state and local governments, included as members of legislatures [and as] [??} state, country and local officials, has been satisfactorily intelligent and in accord wit the public good. 
   5. Civilization has always been lopsided, being strong and well developed in the direction in which men's [interests] ambitions are keenest and lamentably weak in the direction in which men are not [interested] engaged and where women's interests are strong. A careful investigation of the results of woman suffrage reveals that they are most active and most successful in efforts to adjust [these] this abnormal [conditions] development of civilization. In the field of health, the care of maternity, [of] children, old people, and dependents, an enormous number of women have been called into service and are building strong, constructive programs of public welfare [which may make for greater health, happiness and virtue.]
17
   6. The woman movement seems definitely to have affected the question of political party platforms and to point to the probabl[y]e policy yet to come-that pledges made by parties must be kept. 

F6
310
 14
1240
310
4340

Catt, Carrie Chapman Speech, Article, Book File Speech, July 28, 1925

Mrs. Catt's remarks at Helene Gardener's Funeral Washington D.C. 
1925, July 28

The hardest task that any human being is called upon to 
perform is to stand by the side of a friend truly loved and pronounce 
that last, long bood-bye (sp). Ever since there has been a language written 
among men, the record has been preserved among all races that men have 
laid away their dead with tender care, and always in the belief and the 
expectation that they would live again. More, through the reports of 
men who have dug up buried cities and opened forgotten tombs, we know 
that for thousands of years before there was any written language, 
however crude, men also laid away their dead in the belief that they 
would live on. They buried with them food, implements, clothing, 
and the things that have given them joy in this world in order that they 
might use them in the next. For thousands of years men have been 
thinking these things, and, in our day, the knowledge of the past 
which accumulated, is enormous and yet the mystery of why we are 
here and why we go, from whence we come and whither we go, is all unsolved. 
There are those who think they know, some through the revealed 
word of God; some who claim they have spoken with souls who have returned, 
and yet, after all, the testimony is too inadequate for serious 
people to believe that anybody positively knows.

This mystery concerning the future of mankind has made 
most humans afraid to die. I suppose it is the most terrible fear 
that any human being ever endures and it is well-night universal. but 
Helen Gardener was not afraid to die. She was an exception, as I believe, 
to most of mankind, and in the fact that she was not afraid to 
die, there was a demonstration of what has been to me her most amazing characteristic.

2
A few weeks ago I had a guest in my house. She was very 
orthodox. She believed in hell. She believed in all we have been 
taught concerning it, and she was taken ill, not very ill, but she spent 
a day in bed. She suffered a terrifying fear of what might come to her. 
It was at that moment I had a letter from Helen Gardener.  In my reply I 
told her the story of my guest and said "I am sure you are not afraid to 
die".  I added, "It seems to me that it is the most orthodox---those who 
think they know the most about what is coming---who are most afraid."  She 
wrote again and she said, "No, I am not afraid to die, I never was; I have 
lived my life as well as I could day by day, and base my future upon my 
past. Whenever I am called, I am ready, and I always have been ready. 
Whatever comes, I will accept."  No fear did she have. Why should one 
have fear for her?  Helen Gardener was, to my mind, one of the most all 
around courageous human beings I have ever known, and I believe her to 
have been one of the most courageous of our time.

Everyone seems to be afraid of something, and most people are 
afraid of a great many things. They are afraid of lightning, bugs, 
burglars, disease, accidents.  As an Irish woman said, "Those that don't 
have big things to worry them, let the little ones    .".

Everybody worries, and I have known strong and healthy men, 
veritable human lions, who could go into battle and give their lives without 
a tremor, so strong was their physical courage, yet they would turn and 
flee before a new idea.  So afraid of public opinion were they, that at 
first threat of opposition, they flew to cover. On the other hand, I have 
known men who have had enormous moral courage; men willing to stand for a 
cause though all the world was against them. Yet these men have lacked 
physical courage. I knew one such man who never would go above a second 
flight of stairs, because he was afraid of heights. I knew another who 
never dared to cross the seas. I knew another who never would go, willingly,

                                                            -3-

above the second floor because he was afraid of fire.  Yet these were men
of very exceptional moral courage, men that have won the respect of the
whole community in which they lived for their daring espousal of unpopular
truths.

               One cannot imagine Helen Gardener being afraid of anything, neither
of mice nor caterpillars nor burglars, and I am sure that whatever might 
have come in her life, she would have known exactly what to do and would
have bravely done it.  Had she lived in the long ago, she might have been 
a queen, and as much, fearlessly would she have led her armies, just as
great generals have done.  Had she lived in the future, she would have stood
for whatever was then a question of that time.  As it was, she lived in
this century, and so she gave herself to what was, during her time, the
most controversial of subjects, and that was the so-called emancipation of
women.
               It is impossible for you to comprehend today what the resistence
to a college education for girls was in her early life.  One popular
reason, first advanced by college professors and passed on to the man in 
the street was that the brains of women were smaller than those of men.  All
the rest of us women answered that charge with the plea "Give us a chance;
let us try.  Let us see whether you are right or not."  But it was not 
so with Helen Gardener.  I can just imagine her in that youthful spirit
saying, as we heard her do so many times in later year, "Let us see about 
that?"  She set about examining and experimenting and studying, to find
out whether that charge was really based upon fact or not, and she carried 
to the task an open and a scientific mind.  Just when she gave her conclusions 
to the world - that the whole theory was based upon insufficient
evidence, a professor, let me call him a professor of brains, died, and it
was found that his brain measured and weighed less than that of any woman 
that he had ever examined.

                                              -4-

               It is not often that any victory, quite so complete, ever
comes, and that argument, that obstacle, in the way of girls, wholly disappeared.
You, who are younger, never had set that obstacle; you found
the doors open and not it is a forgotten episode; yet it was Helen Gardener
who blazed that trail.
               Mrs. Park has spoken of none of Mrs. Gardener's earlier
novels.  Long before I met her in person, and I have known her for some
thirty years, I had read those books.  It is so long ago that I would not
now dare to comment upon their literary value, but what I do know is that
they appeared at a time when it required great moral courage to write and
to publish them.  People read them behind closed doors and were hesitant
about telling their neighbors what they had been reading and thinking about.
It was at a time when the whole world accepted a double standard of morals
and when it was not an uncommon thing for the entire family, aided by the
community, through a conspiracy of silence, to marry off a rake to an
innocent young girl, who was kept ignorant of her fate.
               It was in that time that Helen Gardener wrote her novels,
"Is this your son, my lord?"  "Is this your daughter" and what she said
stirred consciences underneath the surface from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
I was amazed when I first saw her to discover how young she was.  I marveled 
that she dared to shock society in order to make it think.  It was that
kind of courage that marked her life all the way along.  Always did she lead.
               I have been thinking of late of that great man who has just
passed, and who is to be buried in Arlington too.  It is a man's world
and he had a leadership among men, and yet when I have reviewed his life - 
for I knew Mr. Bryan quite well and admired his great power, his sincerity, 
his marvelous oratory -it seems to me that every cause he espoused, he
adopted after someone else had blamed the trail.  He then took his place


                                                              -5-
with bold and confident courage and he often assumed leadership.  Helen
Gardener blazed her own trails, and when she found the things were moving
irresistibly as she had wished, she moved on and blazed another.  I do not
think that those who knew her in the latter years of her life realized how 
masterful she had been, for she was over modest about all of her achievements
and said little about them.  Her courage was so unusual, in either
man or woman, that to me she will always be an un precedented character,
one of the truly great.
               Every person, whether man or woman, ought to be born with an
instinct to obey the ten commandments, and yet crime rages.  When we
review those commandments, one by one, we find the most fundamental ones
are violated by our best friends.  When I say Helen Gardener had an
instinct to obey those ten commandments, you may think it is something that
one might say about anybody.  Oh, no!  I have known so few people in my
life who tell the truth!  It is not because they mean to lie.  It is because
there is deficiency in memory, a faulty operation of the mind, something
not quite alert, that makes them untruthful.  Helen Gardener was
absolutely truthful.  For that reason, I place her at a climax of our
race.  She lived where we all ought to be an are not.
               She was modest, as I have said.  No great place, perhaps,
will be given to her, but those of us who have known her well, who have 
known her courage, her morality, her truthfulness, recognize that here was
a majestic character.
               In Jerusalem there is a curious ceremony that takes place on
Easter Day in the Cathedral claiming the tomb of Christ.  On this day the
great church is crowded with people, and each carrying an unlighted candle.
At a given time, holy fire is said to pour forth from a tiny window in the
tomb.  The priests who stand nearest light their candles there and turn

                                                  -6-

to light the candles of those who are nearest them, and these turn and
light the candles of their neighbors, until all the candles in the church 
have been lighted by this holy fire.  The whole audience then go outside
where other crowds are waiting with many men on horseback.  Everyone
carries a candle.  When the candles are all alight, the men travel home,
on foot, on horseback, and probably now by automobiles, in order to light
a fire upon the home altars from the holy spirit of the cathedral and it
is said altars as far away as Russia, Armenia and Greece are lighted from
that holy flame at Jerusalem.
               We may make a figure of that ceremony.  Such a character
as that of Helen Gardener was like the holy fire, lighting the candles
of those less brave, less strong, less intelligent, less truthful, and
they in turn lighted those about, and so far do such influences extend,
that it is impossible to estimate the good which such a man or woman does
in this world.  She was not a fundamentalist.  She was a liberal, but
always tolerant, always progressive.  What she gave to the world, no
one may know.  But those of us who were privileged to light our candles
at her altar do know that now we must carry on.  A Great Soul, a White
Soul, has passed.


1928 July 28
C [Gardeux?] Funeral Sp
Park speech in [CT?] 9/5/25

CATT, Carrie Chapman       Speech, Aug. 26, 1925

National League of Women Voters,               Release August 26th,1925
1010 Grand Central Terminal Building          Four o'clock
New York, N.Y. 
                                                   RADIO ADDRESS
                                                          made by
                                               Carrie Chapman Catt
                                                   August 26, 1925

              Five years ago today the women of the United States, one and all, became voters. Through the ratification of the nineteenth amendment, the process prescribed by the Federal constitution was completed and from the status of political nonentities women were promoted to that of responsible citizens. From that moment women, equally with me, became accountable for all action of our government, local, state and nation. They became equal arbiters of all political policies, problems and propaganda - inescapably equal creators of the destiny of a great nation. For five years women have been legal voters, but there have, as yet, been only four elections and in most states only two general elections. Yet there have been many who, in somewhat dictatatorial tones, are demanding an accounting. "What have you women achieved?" they ask, and answer "You have only doubled the vote." "What good has woman suffrage wrought? None, it has changed nothing." "Women are losing their womanliness, children are unguarded and men 'reduced' to an equality with women" are fast losing their masculine virility. In fact, the country is started "to the dogs" and now that women have the vote, nothing can stay its arrival at that dire destiny."
       Well, women of America, what say we? The first achievement of woman suffrage is one no anti-suffragist can comprehend. The enfranchisement of women freed the minds and the energies of thousands of women for other tasks. No reactionary can ever understand the moral urge which transforms an ordinary citizen into a crusader who can neither rest nor pause until his ideal is achieved. That urge had made hundreds women clear their lives of all impediments to continual action. They were minute women on perpetual duty. Behind them were thousands who served much but not all the time, and behind those were millions who served some. Had all the leaders and most consecrated workers in 1920 been packed into a great ship and 

Radio address- C.C.C.                                                                               2
dumped at sea, it would have checked the movement a bit, but another staff of leaders and workers would have emerged shortly and the movement would have gone forward at full swing. Had shipload after shipload been sunk at sea, the process would have been repeated for the obligation rested upon the women as a whole and the urge would have borne them on to the end, whatever the date. We, and all the millions who would have taken our places had there been delay, are mustered out of that service, liberated from a daily driving task. For us, this is the first and the most cheerful fact to celebrate. 
        What have we women suffragists, freed from our former task, done with our time and energies these past five years? Apparently the non-observer has not noticed, but we still "carry on". When a cause, great or small, is caught out of the clouds and crystalized into law, it never follows that the minority who have opposed it are either convinced or satisfied. Those people continue to say that all the things they predicted are true. They continue to hate the cause and those who espoused it. Most politicians were reluctant converts to woman suffrage and returned to their former attitude of resistance. More, people have a way of thinking "in water tight compartments," and granting the vote did not mean to many an old time party leader that women would have, in consequence, a say about nominations, party policies or platforms, and he "stands pat" to see that they confine their political liberty to voting the ticket and platform which has been picked out by a few of the party elect in a hotel bedroom. This is no more acceptable to the woman of spirit and intelligence than it is to the man similarly equipped. Liberated from one struggle, a large number of women find themselves brought in conflict with the same opponents as before who now prevent the normal operation of woman suffrage. 
        If there is any reason for discouragement because women voters in two general elections have not proved sufficiently omnipotent to move the affairs of this nation forward a quarter of a century, it may be found in this fact. The minority, stubbornly unconvertible, resisting, obstructing, is still here. Most of these men and women will never change their minds. They can't. There is nothing exceptional

Radio Address 000                                                                                   3
exceptional in this fact, it has been true of all movement. The cause must wait for its real test till majority and minority pass on. Those who come after accept an established fact as such, the resistance gradually disappears and cooperation to make the cause an effective factor in civilization comes. Meantime, the chief business of all progressive women is to carry forward education for equal rights and opportunities in politics, in industry, in social reform, in the church, in business, in education, in the arts and the sciences. That we are now in this second reason for rejoicing today. But there are gratifying, concrete results already. 
          Women who are a credit to our claims are serving in high places. As legislators, Congresswomen, judges, administration officials and chiefs of important bureaus, Federal and State. Election Day has been literally transformed in most states by the presence of women as election officials and voters. The insistence by long headed women that party platform pledges shall be kept is in a satisfactory stage of agitation. Corrupt or incompetent rings or cliques here and there have been broken up, sometimes by the initiative and always by the aid of women. Nowhere has any unexpected obstacle appeared and everywhere resistance is receding. There has been no change in woman, none in man - both have merely acquired a different and a fairer, less biased viewpoint toward life and its problems. We women should be very happy to live in this period when we are privileged to see the spirit of all things grow more smiling toward us. There is nothing in sight to worry about.
        Meanwhile let us work toward the fulfillment of those old ideals, yet not forget that time is passing and that we are now accountable. Let us overlook the criticisms, doubts and worries of the unconverted trusting to time to take care of them and let us do the duty of this day.       
        I pray you, women of America, look backward over the ages and observe the status of your sex. Once, without a question, women were the equals of men, but while mankind was yet in a primitive stage, women were gradually reduced to a subjection and tutelage from which 

Radio Address 000                                                                                       4
they very painfully struggled up to the present. They were robbed of property, wages, inheritance, education, freedom of thought or speech and rights over their children. What wrought this tragic change? War. If you are unfamiliar with that long, curious and brutal history, I commend its study to you and I predict that you will find it the most amazing and engaging revelation of your lifetime. What kept women in a continual state of subjection century after century? War. What was the most potent argument the opposition advanced against the liberation of women? That war would always be, and that women could not fight and therefore must not vote. For a few months after the close of the Great War, the spirit of generosity, usual at such moments, was in control and under its influence the women of half the world were enfranchised. Then the door closed and a state of pessimism, disorder, conflicting opinions, frayed tempers, nervous anxiety, possessed the world. Not much movement      forward can be forced during such a time and it will last for years, gradually tapering off into normality. These are symptoms of after war psychology as unfailing as a rash with the measles. It is no wonder that human character and human institutions have evolved so slowly. Progress is periodically stopped first by war and then by the reaction of the peace that follows.
       Just now the cost of living is higher than at any time in our history. Taxes are higher than this nation has ever paid. "Terrifying crime" is more prevalent than it has ever been and over and under is all a nervous sense of premonition of something dreadful about to befall us. These are super-conditions which must be borne in addition to all the burdens that normally come to a people. They are merely the normal and the inevitable aftermath of war. It is not good sense, therefore, to attack first of all the cause of causes of distress instead of attempting to treat the effects. Get rid of war and progress will eventually proceed to amble onward without a continual shout of whoa from the war makers. We may even dream that in time men and women will obey the ten commandments by instinct and live up to the Sermon on the Mount. 
      How can war be abolished? The way will not be easy, but when

Radio Address 000                                                                                        5
the brain reserve of the world puts itself to the task it can and will be done. A minority now all the world around believe it can be done and are determined that it shall be done. Another and probably a larger minority is as certain that it can never be accomplished and is determined to block every effort of the other minority. Between the two stand for the great majority, thinking, heeding, caring nothing except for the episodes of daily life. In which of the three groups are you standing? I have enlisted in the smaller minority. I want to stand up and be counted there. Some day that minority will be the big majority. Already the movement has attained that virility, that certainty of being right, that unconquerable spirit, that marks all movements scheduled to win. The day of triumph may be afar off; the struggle may be harsh; another way may intervene. Yet for better or worse, for whatever may come, men and women have enlisted as minute men ready on call for any duty, just as we women were five years ago. Suppose, after an absence, you returned to your home to find it had been raided by burglars, the contents of your bureau drawers and trunks and ice box dumped upon the floors and an openwater faucet rapidly reducing the whole to a hopeless ruin. What would you do first? All but the feeble minded would turn off the faucet as the first step toward order. War is an open faucet dumping upon the work tables of the world's citizens continual new and ever more disturbing tasks. Why not turn it off and save ourselves all that extra work? That is good, hard, common sense, isn't it?
       How shall we proceed? That happens to be an easy question at this particular moment. Let your two senators know that you and your societies, communities, churches and friends want this country to become a member of the World Court. It will come up for discussion in the United States Senate December 17th.
     There are six chief reasons why I am for the World Court. 
1. It is obviously the easiest step at this moment to take permanent peace because the President and the platforms of both political parties are for it. Most of the press and almost all important of these is the National Bar Association. When 

Radio Address-000                                                                                     6
[?]
great lawyers agree upon an idea within their sphere of activity there cannot be much that is wrong with it. All the forces in the country in which I have most confidence are for the Court and so I join with them.
2. I am for the Court because it is almost a replica of an institution with which we are all acquainted and whose values as an influence for the peaceful settlement of disputes we all know- the Supreme Court of the United States. 
3. It is an American idea. Nearly a century ago such a Court was proposed by Americans in Europe as a machinery for the prevention of war and the agitation in its behalf has been unceasing. A World Court has been the hope of our presidents and our parties for the past twenty-five years. It is now an established fact with forty-eight nation members. Why are we not in it then? Solely because it was finally set up by the League of Nations instead of the United States. Did you ever know man or woman, boy or girl, to start something and then withdraw in sulks when someone else took the lead away? What you thought about that person is what nations, great and small, are thinking about us. Are we not moral minded enough to come out of the sulks? Those who are affrighted by the connection of Court to League have no cause for anxiety other than their own overwrought imaginations, because the Hughes, Harding-Coolidge reservations disconnect the Court from the League so far as this nation is concerned. 
4. This nation, without membership in the Court, may, if it chooses, avail itself of its services and bring a case before it, but there is something humiliatingly pusillanimous in the richest nation on earth accepting benefits by charity while forty-eight poorer ones pay the bill for keeping up the Court. I do not approve of charity for rich beggars. 
5. The only harm the World Court could possibly do would be to give an occasional wrong decision. As it is certain to be composed of the very best legal minds in the world, this is not likely to happen, but even so, the good it will achieve cannot fail to be

Radio address - 000                          7
enormous.  There it will stand through coming centuries, a conservative
institution which invites by its existence and world
confidence, all the peoples of earth to strip their troubles of
hate, spite and suspicion and had over the bare cause of disagreement
to this court of calm minded, learned, impartial, great men.
Surely in loose terms, the secret of the way to perennial peace
must be in the substitution of Courts for battlefields as arbiters
of dispute. In time, the habit of going to court instead of to
war will be established.  Let us start the habit.
6.  The world has reason to fear that this nation intends to hold
itself aloof from the efforts to arrive at a means for establishing
permanent peace. A membership in the World Court would establish
confidence that we mean to help not hinder.  Do you
recall that when Pershing arrived with those first troops in Paris,
he visited the grave of Lafayette and placing a wreath upon it,
he said, while an audience waited for a speech, "Lafayette, we
are here." Do you remember how those simple words "rang around
the world" heartening the Allied? The burdens of sixty odd war-weary
nations will be lightened when Uncle Sam says: Men and
women, we've joined too. Let me repeat my reasons for the World
Court:
1. Membership is an easy first step toward peace.
2. It is an institution with which we are acquainted.
3. The World Court is an American idea and proposal.
4. The richest nation in the world should help pay the bills of this
first real World Court.
5. It will contribute enormously toward world peace.
6. It will give evidence to the world that this nation means to cooperate
with other nations to gain peace.
Let us turn off the faucet of war, spilling its filth and messiness
over our political work tables, women of America, and as you
turn, thank God every minute that you have the ballot to use as a
wrench if the turning is hard.


THE NEWS AND CRITIC, LACONIA, N.H. WEDNE

                                                   RADIO ADDRESS
                                                    -----------------------
                                                          made by
                                               Carrie Chapman Catt
                                                   August 26, 1925
                                                  ---------------------------
              Five years ago today the women of the United States, one and all, became voters. Through the ratification of the nineteenth amendment, the process prescribed by the Federal constitution was completed and from the status of political nonentities women were promoted to that of responsible citizens. From that moment women, equally with me, became accountable for all action of our government, local, state and nation. They became equal arbiters of all political policies, problems and propaganda - inescapably equal creators of the destiny of a great nation. For five years women have been legal voters, but there have, as yet, been only four elections and in most states only two general elections. Yet there have been many who, in somewhat dictatatorial tones, are demanding an accounting. "What have you women achieved?" they ask, and answer "You have only doubled the vote." "What good has woman suffrage wrought? None, it has changed nothing." "Women are losing their womanliness, children are unguarded and men 'reduced' to an equality with women" are fast losing their masculine virility. In fact, the country is started "to the dogs" and now that women have the vote, nothing can stay its arrival at that dire destiny."
       Well, women of America, what say we? The first achievement of woman suffrage is one no anti-suffragist can comprehend. The enfranchisement of women freed the minds and the energies of thousands of women for other tasks. No reactionary can ever understand the moral urge which transforms an ordinary citizen into a crusader who can neither rest nor pause until his ideal is achieved. That urge had made hundreds women clear their lives of all impediments to continual action. They were minute women on perpetual duty. Behind them were thousands who served much but not all the time, and behind those were millions who served some. Had all the leaders and most consecrated workers in 1920 been packed into a great ship and dumped at sea, it would have checked the movement a bit, but another staff of leaders and workers would have emerged shortly and the movement would have gone forward at full swing. Had shipload after shipload been sunk at sea, the process would have been repeated for the obligation rested upon the women as a whole and the urge would have borne them on to the end, whatever the date. We, and all the millions who would have taken our places had there been delay, are mustered out of that service, liberated from a daily driving task. For us, this is the first and the most cheerful fact to celebrate. 
        What have we women suffragists, freed from our former task, done with our time and energies these past five years? Apparently the non-observer has not noticed, but we still "carry on". When a cause, great or small, is caught out of the clouds and crystalized into law, it never follows that the minority who have opposed it are either convinced or satisfied. Those people continue to say that all the things they predicted are true. They continue to hate the cause and those who espoused it. Most politicians were reluctant converts to woman suffrage and returned to their former attitude of resistance. More, people have a way of thinking "in water tight compartments," and granting the vote did not mean to many an old time party leader that women would have, in consequence, a say about nominations, party policies or platforms, and he "stands pat" to see that they confine their political liberty to voting the ticket and platform which has been picked out by a few of the party elect in a hotel bedroom. This is no more acceptable to the woman of spirit and intelligence than it is to the man similarly equipped. Liberated from one struggle, a large number of women find themselves brought in conflict with the same opponents as before who now prevent the normal operation of woman suffrage. 
        If there is any reason for discouragement because women voters in two general elections have not proved sufficiently omnipotent to move the affairs of this nation formed a quarter of a century, it may be found in this fact. The minority, stubbornly unconvertible, resisting, obstructing, is still here. Most of these men and women will never change their minds. They can't. There is nothing exceptional in this fact, it has been true of all movement. The cause must wait for its real test till majority and minority pass on. Those who come after accept an established fact as such, the resistance gradually disappears and cooperation to make the cause an effective factor in civilization comes. Meantime, the chief business of all women should be very happy to live in this period when we are privileged to see the spirit of all things grow more smiling toward us. There is nothing in sight to worry about.
        Meanwhile let us work toward the fulfillment of those old ideals, yet not forget that time is passing and that we are now accountable. Let us overlook the criticisms, doubts and worries of the unconverted trusting to time to take care of them and let us do the duty of this day.       
        I pray you, women of America, look backward over the ages and observe the status of your sex. Once, without a question, women were the equals of men, but while mankind was yet in a primitive stage, women were gradually reduced to a subjection and tutelage from which they very painfully struggled up to the present. They were robbed of property, wages, inheritance, education, freedom of thought or speech and rights over their children. What wrought this tragic change? War. If you are unfamiliar with that long, curious and brutal history, I commend its study to you and I predict that you will find it the most amazing and engaging revelation of your lifetime. What kept women in a continual state of subjection century after century? War. What was the most potent argument the opposition advanced against the liberation of women? That war would always be, and that women could not fight and therefore must not vote. For a few months after the close of the Great War, the spirit of generosity, usual at such moments, was in control and under its influence the women of half the world were enfranchised. Then the door closed and a state of pessimism, disorder, conflicting opinions, frayed tempers, nervous anxiety, possessed the world. Not much movement  forward can be forced during such a time and it will last for years, gradually tapering off into normality. These are symptoms of after war psychology as unfailing as a rash with the measles. It is no wonder that human character and human institutions have evolved so slowly. Progress is periodically stopped first by war and then by the reaction of the peace that follows.
       Just now the cost of living is higher than at any time in our history. Taxes are higher than this nation has ever paid. "Terrifying crime" is more prevalent than it has ever been and over and under is all a nervous sense of premonition of something dreadful about to befall us. These are super-conditions which must be borne in addition to all the burdens that normally come to a people. They are merely the normal and the inevitable aftermath of war. It is not good sense, therefore, to attack first of all the cause of causes of distress instead of attempting to treat the effects. Get rid of war and progress will eventually proceed to amble onward without a continual about of whoa from the war makers. We may even dream that in time men and women will obey the ten commandments by instinct and live up to the Sermon on the Mount.  How can war be abolished? The way will not be easy, but when the brain reserve of the world puts itself to the task it can and will be done. A minority now all the world around believe it can be done and are determined that it shall be done. Another and probably a larger minority is as certain that it can never be accomplished and is determined to block every effort of the other minority. Between the two stand for the great majority, thinking, heeding, caring nothing except for the episodes of daily life. In which of the three groups are you standing? I have enlisted in the smaller minority. I want to stand up and be counted there. Some day that minority will be the big majority. Already the movement has attained that virility, that certainty of being right, that unconquerable spirit, that marks all movements scheduled to win. The day of triumph may be afar off; the struggle may be harsh; another way may intervene. Yet for better or worse, for whatever may come, men and women have enlisted as minute men ready on call for any duty, just as we women were five years ago. Suppose, after an absence, you returned to your home to find it had been raided by burglars, the contents of your bureau drawers and trunks and ice box dumped upon the floors and an open water faucet rapidly reducing the whole to a hopeless ruin. What would you do first? All but the feeble minded would turn off the faucet as the first step toward order. War is an open faucet dumping upon the work tables of the world's citizens continual new and ever more disturbing tasks. Why not turn it off and save ourselves all that extra work? That is good, hard, common sense, isn't it?
       How shall we proceed? That happens to be an easy question at this particular moment. Let your two senators know that you and your societies, communities, churches and friends want this country to become a member of the World Court. It will come up for discussion in the United States Senate December 17th.
     There are six chief reasons why I am for the World Court. 
Why are we not in it then? Solely because it was finally set up by the League of Nations instead of the United States. Did you ever know man or woman, boy or girl, to start something and then withdraw in sulks when someone else took the lead away? What you thought about that person is what nations, great and small, are thinking about us. Are we not moral minded enough to come out of the sulks? Those who are affrighted by the connection of Court to League have no cause for anxiety other than their own overwrought imaginations, because the Hughes, Harding-Coolidge reservations disconnect the Court from the League so far as this nation is concerned. 
4. This nation, without membership in the Court, may, if it chooses, avail itself of its services and bring a case before it, but there is something humiliatingly pusillanimous in the richest nation on earth accepting benefits by charity while forty-eight poorer ones pay the bill for keeping up the Court. I do not approve of charity for rich beggars. 
5. The only harm the World Court could possibly do would be to give an occasional wrong decision. As it is certain to be composed of the very best legal minds in the world, this is not likely to happen, but even so, the good it will achieve cannot fail to be enormous. There it will stand through coming centuries, a conservative institution which invites by its existence and world confidence, all the peoples of earth to strip their troubles of hate, spite and suspicion and hand over the bare cause of disagreement to this court of calm minded, learned, impartial, great men. Surely in loose terms, the secret of the way to perennial peace must be in the substitution of Courts for battlefields as arbiters of dispute. In time, the habit of going to court instead of to war will be established. Let us start the habit. 
6. The world has reason to fear that this nation intends to hold itself aloof from the efforts to arrive at a means for establishing permanent peace. A membership in the World Court would establish confidence that we mean to help not hinder. Do you recall that when Pershing arrived with those first troops in Paris, he visited the grave of Lafayette and placing a wreath upon it, he said, while an audience waited for a speech, "Lafayette, we are here." Do you remember how those simple words "rang around the world" heartening the Allies? The burdens of sixty odd war-weary nations will be lightened when Uncle Sam says: "Men and women, we've joined too." Let me repeat my reasons for the World Court.
1. Membership is an easy first step toward peace.
2. It is an institution with which we are acquainted.
3. The World Court is an American idea and proposal.
4. The richest nation in the world should pay the bills of this first real World Court.
5. It will contribute enormously toward world peace.
6. It will give evidence to the world

which transforms an ordinary citizen into a crusader who can neither rest nor pause until his ideal is achieved. That urge had made hundreds women clear their lives of all impediments to continual action. They were minute women on perpetual duty. Behind them were thousands who served much but not all the time, and behind those were millions who served some. Had all the leaders and most consecrated workers in 1920 been packed into a great ship and dumped at sea, it would have checked the movement a bit, but another staff of leaders and workers would have emerged shortly and the movement would have gone forward at full swing. Had shipload after shipload been sunk at sea, the process would have been repeated for the obligation rested upon the women as a whole and the urge would have borne them on to the end, whatever the date. We, and all the millions who would have taken our places had there been delay, are mustered out of that service, liberated from a daily driving task. For us, this is the first and the most cheerful fact to celebrate. 
        What have we women suffragists, freed from our former task, done with our time and energies these past five years? Apparently the non-observer has not noticed, but we still "carry on". When a cause, great or small, is caught out of the clouds and crystalized into law, it never follows that the minority who have opposed it are either convinced or satisfied. Those people continue to say that all the things they predicted are true. They continue to hate the cause and those who espoused it. Most politicians were reluctant converts to woman suffrage and returned to their former attitude of resistance. More, people have a way of thinking "in water tight compartments," and granting the vote did not mean to many an old time party leader that women would have, in consequence, a say about nominations, party policies or platforms, and he "stands pat" to see that they confine their political liberty to voting the ticket and platform which has been picked out by a few of the party elect in a hotel bedroom. This is no more acceptable to the woman of spirit and intelligence than it is to the man similarly equipped. Liberated from one struggle, a large number of women find themselves brought in conflict with the same opponents as before who now prevent the normal operation of woman suffrage. 
   If there is any reason for discouragement because women voters in two general elections have not proved sufficiently omnipotent to move the affairs of this nation formed a quarter of a century, it may be found in this fact. The minority, stubbornly unconvertible, resisting, obstructing, is still here. Most of these men and women will never change their minds. They can't. There is nothing exceptional in this fact, it has been true of all movement. The cause must wait for its real test till majority and minority pass on. Those who come after accept an established fact as such, the resistance gradually disappears and cooperation to make the cause an effective factor in civilization comes. Meantime, the chief business of all progressive women is to carry forward education for equal rights and opportunities in politics, in industry, in social reform, in the church, in business, in education, in the arts and the sciences. That we are now in this second stage and our education going strong, is the second reason for rejoicing today. But there are gratifying, concrete results already. 
         Women who are a credit to our claims are serving in high places. As legislators, Congresswomen, judges, administration officials and chiefs of important bureau, Federal and State. Election Day has been literally transformed in most states by the presence of women as election officials and voters. The insistence by long headed women that party platform pledges shall be kept is in a satisfactory stage of agitation. Corrupt or incompetent rings or cliques here and there have been broken up, sometimes by the initiative and always by the aid of women. Nowhere has any unexpected obstacle appeared and everywhere resistance is receding. There has been no change in woman, none in man - both have merely acquired a different and a fairer, less biased viewpoint toward life and its problems. We 

to normality. These are symptoms of after war psychology as unfailing as a rash with the measles. It is no wonder that human character and human institutions have evolved so slowly. Progress is periodically stopped first by war and then by the reaction of the peace that follows.
       Just now the cost of living is higher than at any time in our history. Taxes are higher than this nation has ever paid. "Terrifying crime" is more prevalent than it has ever been and over and under is all a nervous sense of premonition of something dreadful about to befall us. These are super-conditions which must be borne in addition to all the burdens that normally come to a people. They are merely the normal and the inevitable aftermath of war. It is not good sense, therefore, to attack first of all the cause of causes of distress instead of attempting to treat the effects. Get rid of war and progress will eventually proceed to amble onward without a continual about of whoa from the war makers. We may even dream that in time men and women will obey the ten commandments by instinct and live up to the Sermon on the Mount. 
          How can war be abolished? The way will not be easy, but when the brain reserve of the world puts itself to the task it can and will be done. A minority now all the world around believe it can be done and are determined that it shall be done. Another and probably a larger minority is as certain that it can never be accomplished and is determined to block every effort of the other minority. Between the two stand for the great majority, thinking, heeding, caring nothing except for the episodes of daily life. In which of the three groups are you standing? I have enlisted in the smaller minority. I want to stand up and be counted there. Some day that minority will be the big majority. Already the movement has attained that virility, that certainty of being right, that unconquerable spirit, that marks all movements scheduled to win. The day of triumph may be afar off; the struggle may be harsh; another way may intervene. Yet for better or worse, for whatever may come, men and women have enlisted as minute men ready on call for any duty, just as we women were five years ago. Suppose, after an absence, you returned to your home to find it had been raided by burglars, the contents of your bureau drawers and trunks and ice box dumped upon the floors and an open water faucet rapidly reducing the whole to a hopeless ruin. What would you do first? All but the feeble minded would turn off the faucet as the first step toward order. War is an open faucet dumping upon the work tables of the world's citizens continual new and ever more disturbing tasks. Why not turn it off and save ourselves all that extra work? That is good, hard, common sense, isn't it?
       How shall we proceed? That happens to be an easy question at this particular moment. Let your two senators know that you and your societies, communities, churches and friends want this country to become a member of the World Court. It will come up for discussion in the United States Senate December 17th.
     There are six chief reasons why I am for the World Court. 
1. It is obviously the easiest step at this moment to take permanent peace because the President and the platforms of both political parties are for it. Most of the press and almost all important of these is the National Bar Association. When great lawyers agree upon an idea within their sphere of activity there cannot be much that is wrong with it. All the forces in the country in which I have most confidence are for the Court and so I join with them.
2. I am for the Court because it is almost a replica of an institution with which we are all acquainted and whose values as an influence for the peaceful settlement of disputes we all know- the Supreme Court of the United States. 
3. It is an American idea. Nearly a century ago such a Court was proposed by Americans in Europe as a machinery for the prevention of war and the agitation in its behalf has been unceasing. A World Court has been the hope of our presidents and our parties for the past twenty-five years. It is now an established fact with forty-eight nation members. Why are not in it then? Solely because it was finally set up by the League of Nations instead of the United States. Did you ever know man or woman, boy or girl, to start something and then withdraw in sulks when someone else took the lead away? What you thought about that person is what nations, great and small, are thinking about us. Are we not moral minded enough to come out of the sulks? Those who are affrighted by the connection of Court to League have no cause for anxiety other than their own overwrought imaginations, because the Hughes, Harding-Coolidge reservations disconnect the Court from the League so far as this nation is concerned. 
4. This nation, without membership in the Court, may, if it chooses, avail itself of its services and bring a case before it, but there is something humiliatingly pusillanimous in the richest nation on earth accepting benefits by charity while forty-eight poorer ones pay the bill for keeping up the Court. I do not approve of charity for rich beggars. 
5. The only harm the World Court could possibly do would be to give an occasional wrong decision. As it is certain to be composed of the very best legal minds in the world, this is not likely to happen, but even so, the good it will achieve cannot fail to be

enormous.  There it will stand through coming centuries, a conservative
institution which invites by its existence and world
confidence, all the peoples of earth to strip their troubles of
hate, spite and suspicion and had over the bare cause of disagreement
to this court of calm minded, learned, impartial, great men.
Surely in loose terms, the secret of the way to perennial peace
must be in the substitution of Courts for battlefields as arbiters
of dispute. In time, the habit of going to court instead of to
war will be established.  Let us start the habit.
6.  The world has reason to fear that this nation intends to hold
itself aloof from the efforts to arrive at a means for establishing
permanent peace. A membership in the World Court would establish
confidence that we mean to help not hinder.  Do you
recall that when Pershing arrived with those first troops in Paris,
he visited the grave of Lafayette and placing a wreath upon it,
he said, while an audience waited for a speech, "Lafayette, we
are here." Do you remember how those simple words "rang around
the world" heartening the Allied? The burdens of sixty odd war-weary
nations will be lightened when Uncle Sam says: Men and
women, we've joined too. Let me repeat my reasons for the World
Court:
1. Membership is an easy first step toward peace.
2. It is an institution with which we are acquainted.
3. The World Court is an American idea and proposal.
4. The richest nation in the world should help pay the bills of this
first real World Court.
5. It will contribute enormously toward world peace.
6. It will give evidence to the world that this nation means to cooperate
with other nations to gain peace.
Let us turn off the faucet of war, spilling its filth and messiness
over our political work tables, women of America, and as you
turn, thank God every minute that you have the ballot to use as a
wrench if the turning is hard.
                                           ---------------------------
                                         BASE BALL SATURDAY
        The Twilight League base ball games Saturday resulted as follows: The Gas and Electric team defeated DeMolay 11 to 6 and Lakeport won from the All Stars to 7 to 3 to wit.
Gas and Electric                                                                  3 0 3 0 0 0 6---11
DeMolay                                                                                0 0 0 2 1 0 3---6
         Two base hit: Nault. Three-base hit: McGrath. Stolen bases: McGrath, Lord, F. Tilton. Double Play: Lord and McIntyre. Hits: Off Minkler 5, off Clark 10. Base on balls: Off Minkler 2, off Clark 0. Struck out: By Minkler 7, by Clark 3. Umpires: Guay and Morrissette. Time, 1.45. 
Lakeport                                                                                       3 2 1 0 0---7
All Stars                                                                                         0 2 0 0 1---3
Young. Sacrifice hits: Clark. Double plays: Clark, Beauchaine. Hits: Off Hughes 7; Clement 5. Base on balls: Hughes, Clement. Hit by pitched ball: Grant. Struck out: by Hughes

Catt, Carrie Chapman Speech, Article, Book File Speech: Aug. 26, 1926

Speech delivered August 26, 1926 
at the 
Sesquicentennial, Philadelphia.

   At eight o'clock in the morning, six years ago today, the then Secretary 
of State, Bainbridge Colby, signed the Proclamation that made the woman of 
this country voters. At that moment women were promoted to political equality 
with men voters at home and with women voters in 26 countries that had ante-dated 
this one in the grant of suffrage to woman. Why did the Secretary 
rise so early in the morning on the 26th of August 1920? Because there had 
been in this country for fifty years and invisible enemy that had literally 
by hook or by crook brought, intimidated [and] or controlled a balance of power in 
most legislatures, Congresses, political and constitutional conventions, and 
thus balked the normal progress of woman suffrage in the United States. That power in the  
hour of our final victory knew no more that it could do unless perchance it might be 
able to restrain the Secretary from affixing his signature to the Proclamation:

Page 2
so an injunction was threatened, based upon some mysterious technicality that 
it [claimed] alleged had been violated in the ratifications. The ratifications had 
been clean, honest, open and aboveboard. They had been a long overdue 
response to our claims. We knew they could withstand any test, but we wanted 
the women to vote in the presidential election in November. We could brook 
no further delay. There were good friends in Tennessee and they were hastening 
the proof of the ratification of that 36th State by the quickest method to 
Washington. There were good friends in the Secretary's offfice and one man 
sat up all night waiting for the certificate and when it arrived, he called 
the Secretary who came post haste to his office in order to sign his name to 
the document long in readiness.  And that is the reason the Secretary rise so early. The injunction was never served. There 
were events thereafter, law suits, threats and loud talk, but the seventy-five 
years old campaign came to an end that day.

Page 3
   We might rejoice on this 6th anniversary of our political liberty. We might review the history of that campaign 
that covered three generations. We might laugh over some of its humors and 
weep over some of its pathos, but another question thrusts itself forward.
Why did 26 countries ante-date the enfranchisement of American women? Here
the movement was born. Here the largest organization was mobilized and the
greatest sacrifices borne. Here to deny to half the people the right of self-government 
in the land which boasted that it was a government of the people,
was an insult the women of no other country received. In every land there
was the same character of opposition - the same normal doubts, caution and
fears that are stirred into life by any new idea, but ours was the only
country where, in addition to this natural opposition, there was an unnatural
enemy. It was small in numbers, but mighty in wealth and influence. It
made great contributions to political parties, local, state and national, 
and received in return the assurances of reciprocity from those in control. 

Page 4
Its way was to make certain that a balance of power in any body it wished to
control was thoroughly obedient to its will. The rule by which it worked 
was that it was cheaper to buy a man or two in a committee which would not 
report than to buy one house of a legislature and if the Committee would report 
nevertheless, it was cheaper to buy one house than two. It did not need
many men in a Legislature in addition to the natural opposition to prevent a 
bill from passing or going to a referendum.
   The enemy did more. It allied itself with every growing city, 
country or state political machine of any party and became the most powerful 
influence to build it into a controlling force. Wherever there was a willing 
man with the qualities of leadership, it boosted him until he became a boss.
It furnished him with the loyal service of its leaders and employees. It 
organized the entire underworld to do his bidding so long as he remained 
obedient to its will. There was no trick too unscrupulous, no deceit too
dastardly for it to use. It worked in dark and in secret.

Page 5
It drew graft and tribute from the underworld and spent it to prostitute 
to its uses the right of the people to honest government.  To the public it was invisible; it pulled 
strings no one saw; it bought weak men in dark corners; it formed conspiracies and covered up every track, but its presence was known to suffragists for two 
generations.  They had seen votes bought at the polls and had heard the confession 
of legislators that they were forced to yield to its threats.  They 
had seen troops of drunks, criminals and paupers organized to do its will at 
elections.  They had seen behave men quake before its power, and constitutional conventions, composed of the great mean of a state, surrender before it.  
Two territories are known  to have been definitely lost by its bribery. 
             That power was the liquor traffic.  The entire truth will never
be known, but when the Texas brewers were put under investigation by that 
State in 1915, when the Pennsylvania brewers were investigated by a Federal 
Court in 1916, and the National Brewers Association, accused of German 

Page 6
propaganda, were investigated by the government in 1918, some definite facts 
were learned.  Perhaps only one should the explore report. It consent everyone caller service (?) Although their political organization was formed to fight 
prohibition, they had used it for more than two generations to obstruct women 
suffrage, not because they had primarily objected to woman suffrage per se, 
but because women might vote for prohibition. Altho they confessed that no 
minutes were kept of meetings and that stubs of check books were destroyed, 
there was ample evidence to show that their funds had been enormous and that 
they took the entire credit to themselves for having defeated woman suffrage 
in legislatures and at the polls. Confessions were found humbly apologizing to their higher ups when 
here and there a suffrage victory had come. It was explained that they 
were busy and has miscalculated the possibilities. Thus a state now and 
then was won when the dictator was not "on the job" using his own parlance. 
For their purposes every local or state boss of all parties and all his machine was enlisted. 
Bosses come and bosses go - some as powerful within their territory as any king 

Page 7
but never was there a boss who did not bow to the superior power of the 
liquor interests. As they allied themselves with the bosses in the cities, 
so they allied themselves with the lobbies of other financial interests in 
the legislature. Railroad lobbies, race track lobbies, gambling lobbies, 
manufacturers lobbies, made combinations for the common advantage. We saw 
these combined operations many times, but they all came with full force and 
brazen effrontery to Delaware, West Virginia and Tennessee, as the number 
of ratifications neared the 36th. They made men by setting them up in 
business, loaning them money or putting them in well paid positions. 
They broke men by putting them out of positions and ruining their business. 
For two generations this nation has had a skeleton in its closet. Our 
proudest boast upon election platforms had been that here there are no kings 
nor emporers - here the majority of the people rule. In fact, until the 
18th Amendment was adopted, there had been no majority rule since the Civil 
War. I have known intelligent men who deny that their party ever bought a 

Page 8
vote, but I have had the honest confessions of Republican and Democratic Chairmen who have told me humiliating story and made a dishonorable combination fact (?), yet I know full well that should I give 
one of those names to the public, the man would declare me a liar rather than publicly admit 
to his party's shame. The conviction of decent men, when in posts of political 
leadership, that they must yield to this nefarious system in order to win party
victories, has given it countenance and continuation. The reason that persuades there is your party is honest when there [melvicious] It is time to speak the truth; the whole truth. 
The semblance of freedom has been maintained only because the dictator 
has kept hands off all matters that did not threaten interference with his 
profits. When the 18th Amendment was proclaimed, this political power was momentarily broken. Men in high places were free once more. Parties began 
to function normally again and in that period women came into their own. 
Their crown of sovereignty, at least 25 years overdue, had been hidden away 
with the skeleton in the nation's cupboard. It was now taken out, rubbed up, 
and put upon their heads. This is the story that explains why the women of 
26 countries reached the goal before we arrived.

Page 9
Six years have passed, and now a Pennsylvania statesman has said that women do not possess as much influence as they had when the vote came to them. He is right, but he has only noticed half the truth. The other half is that men likewise influence less than they had six years ago. There is no reaction against women nor woman suffrage. Whoever says there is, mistakes a flyspeck for a mountain. Probably many unconverted in 1920 are still in that blind state - that means absolutely nothing. another generation will take their places.
The truth is that the old power is creeping back. It has no intention to allow political parties to function normally, nor the voice of the people to be the will of the nation, so long as parties and people do not obey its orders. It is hoping to reign over us again. Just as a young man retires to a dark corner and takes a bootleg drink from a hip flask, thus renouncing self-mastery- the divinest gift to the human race, just as that poison steals

Page 10
away from his brains, his conscience and his morality so do those persons who together contend for the legitimacy of his act, seek to rob voters of their self-mastery and parties of their conscience and honor.
The situation is exceedingly difficult and delicate. The rank and file of the Republican and Democratic parties are decent, orderly, patriotic citizens. These parties have some difference of opinion, but far wider differences of tradition. It is a painful process for a Republican to vote for a Democratic ticket or A Democrat to vote a Republican ticket. This is not so much a strain of principle as of tradition. This steadfast party loyalty becomes a dependable asset for any conspirators who seek control of the party. Those who have studied our politics say that 75% of the voters of both parties vote merely as their father did. Nothing will shake them from their adherence. If tricky manipulation can manage to keep the other 25% quiet, they know they can depend upon the 75%.

Page 11
The conspirators have no such loyalty to party. They are not Republicans. They are not Democrats. They are both or neither as will best suit their purposes. While the party is 75% stable, no matter what happens, these compose a super power to hoodwink the 25% and thus control the entire party.
The contest just now is over the  prohibition amendment. It was a foregone conclusion when that amendment was adopted that the struggle would go on and that its opponents would naturally expect to repeal it. they have now started a definite campaign to that end. This they have a perfect right to do. Any American who does not approve any part of the constitution has a citizen's right to agitate, educate and organize for a change. The struggle between prohibitionists and anti-prohibitionists is normal and legitimate. The question is - Shall the constitution stand as it is or shall a part be repealed? The repeal necessitates the election of 2/3 of

Page 12
the Congress favorable to re-submission. The question, therefore, is again an open or a subrosa issue in every nomination and election and the same old struggle to control political parties, their platforms and leaders is lilting forward with full force. It is only the blind who do not see it.
I used to feel sorry for the anti-suffragists who merely did not want to vote. Their fight, quite apart from their wishes and probably without their knowledge, was fought for them by the underworld. I feel equally sorry for a conscientious anti-prohibitionist. His fight, too, is conducted by that same underworld. There were, doubtless, virtuous producers and sellers, but they were lost in machinations of the group that knew no motive but greed and whose ambition was to control the nation. 
Regardless of all questions of policy involved in prohibition, one fact must not be overlooked and that is that the old situation is likely to be repeated for those who control movement opposing prohibition are they, who for many years, bribed

Page 13
legislatures and stole elections in an indescribably shameless manner. 
Prohibition may not be the ideal manner of dealing with the drink question, (an acknowledged torment to decent society for six thousand years), but it is 
better to deal with it by a method not ideal, than to barter away the birthright 
of our people.
The personal liberty of a man to take a drink that will not harm 
him or others appeals to reason; but the value of that liberty fades into 
nothingness when one understands that to grant it, the country must be turned 
over to political thieves and knaves and political parties again become subservient to their [?].
There are two questions involved in the present political situation and this confuses the issue.
One is - will the 18th Amendment be repealed? If so, will the same old system return, [or if not not] what other form of 
control of the traffic will be substituted and how shall it be brought about? That is a question of policy 
which should be one of vital interest to all intelligent citizens. 
After giving a life-time to secure for women a share in self-government, 

Page 14
I am far more aroused over the second question - Shall the liquor forces 
return to control politics? Will the people notice that there is such an 
issue? Will they try to understand it and think it through? Or will they 
agree, go to the polls and vote for men who have been nominated through forms of bribery, for parties whose leaders have surrendered and for platforms that 
have been written by usurpers? [Or] Will they, like silly sheep, go through the 
form of carrying out a citizen's duty, while in reality, surrendering all the 
authority in that act?
The situation is hard for voters and for officials. The Republicans 
are in power. The administration of Mr. Coolidge will continue at least 
two years more. Naturally Mr. Coolidge wants a Republican Congress. If he 
would have a policy which to him is vital, it will have a better chance with 
Republicans than Democrats. Mr. Coolidge is dry. a Wet candidate for the 
Senate has been nominated in Pennsylvania, Illinois and will be in New York,

Page 15
our three largest states. They are men who are obedient to the will of the 
invisible dictator. As a Republican, Mr. Coolidge will want them elected; 
as a dry, he will want them defeated. This situation would be precisely 
the same if Mr. Coolidge were a Democrat. These candidates serve a superpower 
above the party, but a president must accept what he can get. It is 
the duty of voters to control the situation, they are the only acknowledged 
[?] sovereign. They should insist on rulership of an honest majority, but the only organization for political action is the party. The enemy makes his 
campaign for control of politics not upon the voters who are many, but 
upon the party leaders who are few, and the party, as a whole, does not know 
when it has been sold? Opinion is now split within each party, as to the 
merits of prohibition, and to drive the party intact with two horses, each 
pulling in a different direction, is no easy task. Where there is a 
18th Amendment repeal candidate for Senator, there will be, if possible, 

Page 16
a dry or a moderate candidate for Governor, thus carrying the wet Senator 
to Washington by the aid of dry votes and where he is always ready to abolish prohibition. By this neat trick drys are persuaded to vote wet. the 75%, some wet, some dry, 
will vote straight no matter who is on the ticket or what is in the 
platform. The problem for the politician is - how far can the 25% be 
fooled? Or, if they see to much, how may their understanding be 
bewildered? This is politics as it is.
At this stage a statesman arises to say that women have already 
lost their influence. Well, just how much influence has he? Can he and 
his party select its own candidates by an untrammilled  majority vote? No. 
Can he and his party write a platform that represents a majority vote? No. 
If he is elected to high office, can he carry out his loftiest ideals? No. 
Can he even represent the best and highest aspirations of his party? No. 
He is but a leaf on the political shore blown hither and yon by the breath 
of a concentrated, organized, unscrupulous group whose only vision is dollars.

Page 17
[I?] [hates?] self government

It hates woman suffrage, - it hates man suffrage -it will hate the statesman 
if he does not do its will, and if he does, he [can] may enjoy its sincerest 
contempt. He is no more self-governing than we. The truth is "we the 
people" not we the women, are being put aside by the same invisible hand 
that stayed the coming of the vote to women.

Clemenceau the Grand old of man of France has written a book and in it he [declares] admits that the 
people undoubtedly possess the right to govern themselves, but he asks, can 
they do it? Well, can they? Will they? Will they rise in their might 
and defeat the attempt of our one time dictator to again seize the reins 
of government? The danger lies not alone with the liquor interests, [but] for 
in the offing one may see other giant powers that with temptation would 
come to do the same things.

There has never been a clearer example of what men without 
principle, but supplied with money, can do to a self-governing people 

Page 17 1/2

than the campaign against the Child Labor Amendment. Their attitude is - 
We want dollars and those who oppose us in getting dollars our way shall 
nevertheless be made to vote our way. How did they do that? By the 
distribution of poison propaganda, lies, false slogans, innuendos.

[Poison] Lying propaganda in an election is what poison gas is in a war - effective 
but uncivilized.

Archeologists have been busy digging up dead cities this last 
generation, and in Ninevah, the capital of Assyria, a nation dead these

Page 18

thousands of years, they found a tablet. Printing did not come for 
thousands of years after Ninevah fell, but here was a tablet of clay with 
Cuneiform characters and [when they were able,] they translated it thus

Men are perverse and understand nothing
Men, all who are named with name, what do they know?
Do they good, or do they evil, they understand nothing.

They tell us that this bit of wisdom is at least 6,000 years old. It was 
the probable comment of some aspiring but forgotten king or philospher. 
The people, what a mighty distance in evolution have they traveled in the 
intervening Millenniums. They have climbed upward [and h? u? c?] in each century.  
They have written Magna Chartas, Declarations of Independence and bills 
of rights. Always there were dreams of liberty in their souls, always 
visions of freedom before their eyes, but the dreams were always vague and the 
vision misty. Still they drive forward to better things and still we do 
declaim:

Page 18 1/2

The people, alas, what do they understand? The people, alack, what do they 
know? Oh, what will the people do?

Since the Great War men and women have been warning us that no 
political, economic, or social reform, can be successfully carried out 
unless it is preceded by much more education of the people in order that 
they may understand. We need no more education to rebel against political 
conspiracies. The proof is that such intrigues are conducted in secret. 
Things are not done in secret unless those who do them know that they are 
criminal or near criminal acts. What needs to be done is to tell the 
people what some of us already know. It is not more education 
that we require; it is more moral 
courage.

Page 19
The average citizen wants a clean and honest government, but he wants it without bother to himself. I fear we are all a bit lazy. I knew a man who never failed to go to church on Sunday and likewise never failed to go to sleep. I once chided him with this habit. He replied "Well, you see when Dr. Smith begins a sermon, I know I can trust him to preach a good one." So some trustful people never fail to vote, but never really know who they are voting for or what it is all about. They trust their party between elections absolutely. The grafters, the conspirators, the would be dictators, always know what they want and stand close together serving that desire and obeying a single will. That is why they have controlled and why they may again. Those who want freedom of votes, honest elections, and honest politics, have no selfish purpose to unite them. There are no rewards, no money in hand, no positions of trust to be attained. Their

Page 20
aim is indefinite, a bit obscure and a scattered sentiment is easily overcome by an organized one. It has been said that the common politician knows the weaknesses of the people and tries to profit by them. The statesman knows the strength of the people and tries to lead to it. How little do we do to help the statesman or near statesman if, by chance, one arises to lead on to the strength of the people? How indifferent are we when the political conspirators are profiting by the weaknesses of the people? How unorganized, how leaderless, how aimless are we, the people, who want decency in government?
It is plain enough what we should do. Where there is need for one, there is always a path. Where there is a will, there is a way. The way is rough, unpleasant, thorny, but it leads unmistakably to the place we want to go.

Page 21
Punish your own party whenever it deserts the principle of self-government and allows money or vested interests or any promises than the will of the people to control its platform and nominations. Do not hesitate to votes against it. Has it a boss ruled machine owing allegiance to some invisible power? If so, vote against it. Is it wet and dry on the same platform and ticket? Vote against it. A single vote cannot achieve much. Suppose there were captains within each party who would organize a bloc of 100, these to vote against their own party when and if it sells its honor to grafters. Suppose there were hundreds of these hundreds - Republicans voting Democratic - Democrats voting Republican - as the case might be, or throwing votes away on a minor party. Suppose there were crusades for decency - campaigns to make voters understand the immorality and the danger of parties controlled by some power other than an honest expression of opinion. Suppose such defections continued year after year whenever parties repudiated their platforms and

Page 22
nominated truculent devotees of mammon. It might produce a period of agony, but in ten years there would be clean parties which men and women would be proud to serve. Parties with platforms clear enough to be understood - parties with men, with statesmen in leadership.
Shall we the people control the nation and our parties or shall a vested interest control them and we the people affirm the control by voting for platform and ticket that interest has dictated? The interests will fight for that control. They will live and die for it. And control they will unless we, too, organize and fight back. That is the path to decency and honor. There, Mr. Penn statesman of the doubting mind, is a chance for you to make a glorified campaign for a return in Pennsylvania of the lost influence of men and women.

Page 23

Six years; six years to observe the infirmities of American politics, you have had, women of America. Will you allow any power whatsoever to steal from you the significance of the vote you struggled so long to win? My suggestion is probably impractical. The only thing certainly right about it is the proposal of rebellion. No wrong was every righted by obedience to those who have sponsored that wrong. Wrong was ever righted by rebellion against those who stand for that wrong. Think it over, pray, think again. Keep on thinking. You will find a way. When you have it, arise, put aside your ease, your soft indulgencies. There is work for you. The primaries need reforming, the parties need renovating and all politics need disinfecting. Is it true that you women have no influence as regulators, as standpetters? Then try the path of rebellion and blaze a new trail to decency and honor for your party and your nation. You can have influence if you will.  Yee, a hundred fold more influence than the Pennsylvania statesman has now. But you can only win through rebellion. The times call for the fighting spirit of the Magna Charta and the Declaration of Independence. You will have influence whenever you are ready to fight for it.  When that time comes, you women will not fight alone. There will be plenty of splendid, big souled American men to fight by your side. Do not forget that they are many the men who bore the humiliation of being so-called rubber stamps before you were enfranchised. 

Handwritten: Here is no [] of the need of rebellion nor of the final [] when and if one is started on a clear high preoccupied platform. Nor is here [] that the 

COME:
“It’s great to be out where the fight is strong
To be where the heaviest troops belong
And to fight there for man and God.”

Handwritten: [] will curse you when it is in []. Never fear, they will call you blessed where it [] the men and [] who [] shall be the second [] at this cemetery. 

Speech delivered August 26, 1926
at the
Sesquicentennial, Philadelphia
by
Carrie Chapman Catt

At eight o'clock in the morning, six years ago today, the then Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby, signed the Proclamation that made the women of this country voters.  At that moment women were promoted to political equality with men voters at home and with women voters in 26 countries that had antedated this one in the grant of suffrage to women.  Why did the Secretary rise so early in the morning on the 26th of August, 1916?  Because there had been in this country for fifty years an invisible enemy that had literally by hook or crook bought, intimidated and controlled a balance of power in most legislatures, Congresses, political and constitutional conventions, and thus balked the normal progress of woman suffrage in the United States.  That power in the hour of our final victory knew no more that it could do unless it might be able to restrain the Secretary from affixing his signature to the Proclamation, so an injunction was threatened, based upon some mysterious technicality that it claimed had been violated in the ratification.  There were good friends in Tennessee and they were hastening the proof of the ratification of that 36th State by the quickest method to Washington.  There were good friends in the the Secretary's office and one man sat up all night waiting for the certificate and when it arrived, he called the Secretary who came post haste to his office in order to sign his name to the document long in readiness.  The injunction was never served.  That power was the liquor traffic.  
Six years have passed and a Pennsylvania statesman has declared that women do not possess as much influence as they had when the vote came to them.  He is right, but he has only noticed half the truth.  The other half is that men, likewise, have not as much influence as they had six years ago.  There is no reaction against women nor woman suffrage.  Whoever says there is, mistakes a flyspeck for a mountain.  Probably many unconverted in 1920 are still in that blind state - that means absolutely nothing.  Another generation will take the places.

Page 2

The truth is that the old power is creeping back.  It has no intention to allow political parties to function normally, nor the voice of the people to be the will of the nation, so long as parties and people do not obey its orders.  It is hoping to reign over us again.  Just as a young man retires to a dark corner and takes a bootleg drink from a hip flask, thus renouncing self-mastery, the divinest gift to the human race, just as that poison steals away his brains his conscience and his morality, so do those persons who together contend for the legitmacy of his act, seek to rob voters of their self-mastery and parties of their conscience and honor.
Those who claim to know  contend that 75% of all partisans vote as they do for no other reason than that their fathers voted that way.  If tricky manipulators can manage to keep the other 25% quiet, they know they can depend upon the 75%.
The conspirators have no such loyalty to party.  They are not Republicans They are not Democrats.  They are both or neither as will best suit their purposes.  While the party is 75% stable, no matter what happens these compose a super-power to hoodwink the 25% and thus control the entire party.
The contest just now is over the prohibition amendment.  It was a foregone conclusion when that amendment was adopted that the struggle would go on and that its opponents would naturally expect to repeal it.  They have now started a definite campaign to that end.  This they have a perfect right to do.  Any American who does not approve any part of the constitution has a citizen's right to agitate, educate and organize for a change.  The struggle between prohibitionists and anti-prohibitionists is normal and legitimate.  The question is - Shall the constitution stand as it is or shall a part be repealed?  The repeal necessitates the the election of 2/3 of the Congress favorable to re-submission.  The question, therefore, is again an open or a subrosa issue in every nomination and election and the same old struggle to control political parties, their platforms and leaders is lilting forward with full force.  It is only the blind who do not see it.

Page 3

Regardless of all questions of policy involved in prohibition, one fact must not be overlooked and that is, that those who control the movement opposing prohibition are they, who, for many years, bribed legislatures and stole elections in an indescribably shameless manner.

The personal liberty of a man to take a drink that will not harm him or others appeals to reason; but the value of that liberty fades into nothingness when one understands that to grant it, the country must be turned over to political thieves and knaves.

There are two questions involved in the present political situation. One is - will the same old system return? After giving a lifetime to secure for women a share in self government, I am far more aroused over the second question - Shall the liquor forces return to control politics? Will the people notice that there is such an issue? Will they try to understand it and think it through? Or will they, like silly sheep, go through the form of carrying out a citizen's duty, while in reality, surrendering all the authority in that act.

The situation is hard for voters and for officials. The Republicans are in power. Naturally Mr. Coolidge wants a Republican Congress. If he should have a policy which to him is vital, it will have a better chance with Republicans than Democrats. Mr. Coolidge is dry. A wet candidate for the Senate has been nominated in Pennsylvania, Illinois and will be in New York, our three largest states. As a Republican, Mr. Coolidge will want them elected as a dry, he will want them defeated. This situation would be precisely the same if Mr. Coolidge were a Democrat. Opinion is split within each party as to the merits of prohibition and to drive the party intact with two horses, each pulling in a different direction, is no easy task. Where there is a wet 18th Amendment appeal candidate for Senator, there will be, if possible, a dry or a moderate candidate for Governor, thus carrying the wet Senator to Washington by the aid of dry votes. The 75% some wet, some dry, will vote straight no matter who is on the ticket or what is in the platform.

Page 4
The problem for the politician is - how far can the 25% be fooled? Or, if they see too much, how can their understanding be bewildered? This is politics as it is.

The average citizen wants a clean and honest government, but he wants it without bother to himself. I knew a man who never failed to go to church every Sunday and likewise never failed to go to sleep. I once chided him with this habit. He replied "Well, you see when Dr. Smith begins a sermon, I know I can trust him to preach a good one." So some people never fail to vote, but never really know who they are voting for or what is it all about. The grafters, the conspirators, the would be dictator always know what they want and stand close together serving that desire and obeying a single will. That is why they have controlled and why they may again. How unorganized, how leaderless, how aimless are we, the people, who want decency in government. It is plain enough what we should do. Where there is need for one, there is always a path. Where there is a will, there is a way. The way is rough, unpleasant, thorny, but it leads unmistakably to the place we want to go.

No wrong has ever righted by obedience to those who have sponsored that wrong. Wrong was ever righted by rebellion against those who stand for that wrong. Think it over. Keep on thinking. You will find a way. When you have it, arise, put aside your ease, your soft indulgencies. There is work for you. The primaries need reforming, the parties need renovating and all politics needs disinfection. Is it true that you women have no influence as regulars, as standpatters? Then try the path of rebellion and blaze a new trail to decency and honor for your party and the nation. You can influence if you will. Yes, a hundred fold more influence than the Pennsylvania statesman has now. It will call for the spirit of the MagnaCharta and the Declaration of Independence, but you can have it when you are ready to claim it provided you have the rebellious spirit. When that time comes, you will not fight alone. There will be plenty of splendid big-souled American men to fight by your side.

CATT, CArrie ChApMAN     SPEECH, ARTICLE, BOOK FILE     Speech, Oct. 1928

[*Speech delivered by Mrs. Catt
over radio Oct. 1928 noted*]
Have you registered, fellow citizens? If not, why not? Perhaps
you are among women who suffer from "inferiority complex" and 
think one vote will make no difference, therefore why bother to register and
cast it? I've met such women, and mentoo.I know of a woman's political
club, a party club, in a big city. Every woman in it is a partisan,
yet when this campaign started, it was discovered that only 35% of
the membership had ever registered and voted! They were members 
because they liked the teas and bridges, but the did not vote because
it was too much trouble. Isn't that enough to make a kangaroo laugh?
  Do not hasten to say that women never did want to vote anyway
until I tell you another. There is an organization of Christian
Citizenship in this country composed of church people, mostly men.
In the same city where this curious club of partisan women live there
is a branch of this association and it was also discovered that about
the same percentage of it members had registered and voted.
  It is laughable to think of party women counting themselves
in at a party bridge but counting themselves out on election day; but
women have not had the vote very long and may not know better.
Men have had the vote for some generations and when some of them join
a League for Christian Citizenship, perhaps to pray for good government,

Page 2
but don't vote for it, the situation ceases to be comic and  becomes
tragic. It is behaviorism that only a psychologist could explain
and even he would be nonplussed.
  A few countries have tried making voting compulsory. I hope
we will not be driven to that.
  Listen: one hundred pennies make a dollar and ten million
pennies make $100,000. What is a penny? It is so insignificant, it
is scarcely worth stooping to pick up when dropped, but$100,000 will 
build a school house or a library or an old folks' home. It can save
minds from despair and bodies from torture and will keep on working
for at least two generations; that is, if the pennies stay together.
Now suppose one silly penny said "I'm no good" and rolled itself away.
Then 100 pennies caught the infection and a dollar disappeared and all
the pennies, getting an attack of "inferiority complex", sunk off into
the gutter and hid themselves in the slime. What becomes of the good deeds the$100,000 might have done?
  The people are the only rulers of this country and they
elect those who do the actual work of carrying on the very big
business which this country now represents. Suppose, one by one,
the voters got tired of themselves and play ball when the voting is

Page 3
going on. Who is left to do the electing? We might always depend 
upon a small group of patriots, men and women, ready to vote or to 
die for the honor of their country and the honesty of its government. 
There is another class that would stand fast - the grafters - men who 
steal from every appropriation made, to pay the cost of public welfare. 
They are a modern variety of thief, slick, shifty and conscienceless. 
Now, if all the patriots were in one party and all the thieves in the 
other, and if we know that the patriots outnumbered the grafters, we, 
lazy boned, idle minded, "let-George-do-it" citizens might fly kites 
while these two groups fought their annual battle. Alas, some of the 
patriots and some of the thieves are Republications and some are Democrats. 
More, some of the patriots look so much like grafters and some of the 
grafters look so much like patriots, that they are not easily identified 
in advance. We, the voters, can only sponsor the saints and fight the 
thieves in our own party as best we may, waving meanwhile, the best 
principles and the highest ideals of our government in the face of our 
fellow partisans. The parties will climb higher just as fast as the 
voters who compose them see straight and act more courageously. 
Truth and courage only spread and grow when there are energetic campaigners 
behind them.

Page 3 1/2
When I was a child, I learned the importance of a single 
vote. It happened more than fifty years ago. My small town in Iowa 
had a referendum on local option. I had no interest in it until it 
was over. Then it was revealed that local option had carried by a 
majority of one. It was not difficult to discover who that one was. 
An old man, practically bed-ridden and 94 years old, had wanted so 
desperately to vote on the question that four neighbors carried him 
in a chair to the polling place. Ha had been unable to walk for 
some years and voting had been a by-gone task, but he was the happiest 
man in that town when he learned that his vote had carried the town 
and he lived a year longer to boast of it. Yet, if the votes on the 
two sides had not been piled up to make the tie, his vote could not 
have [helped much] made a majority, so after all, every vote in the election had [meant much] counted. 
That case was never forgotten in that town. The story has 
a moral, too, for never after that fateful day was an open saloon tolerated 
there. It may be that that one vote [of an old man] was worth more to this nation 
than all the ninety-five years of [that man's] his life. How do you know 
but that your vote on November 6th may make a great decision for 
this nation?

Page 4
Is there one woman within the sound of my voice 
who is"disillusioned"? I meet them sometimes. Well, go and bury 
your disillusionment in the backyard and start over again. There is 
nothing wrong with the human race nor with the part of it that lives 
in the United States except that it lacks intelligence and morals. 
Do not let that discourage anyone. It has more of both of these 
qualities than it had in our grandfathers day and if we all do our 
political best instead of shirking our duty, intelligent understanding and [deeeney
will grow by] broad-minded thinking will grow by metes and bounds before 
another generation takes the helm.
Are you going to miss the greatest event that has ever 
happened? [in the world?] More citizens are going to the polls on 
November 6th than have ever voted before in any country 
in the world on one day. So far as they are able to translate them into party 
tickets, they are going to put their hopes and their prayers, their 
beliefs and their aspirations, into the ballot box and have them 
counted. The wishes of millions of people will emerge from that 
ballot box in the form of one elected set of officers and one platform 
sponsored. The individual voter is insignificant, but, all together, 
we, the American voters, are going to do the biggest thing yet done in 

Page 5
self government. You cannot vote and be a part of this great event 
if you do not register. There will not be another presidential 
election for four years and some of us will not be here then. This 
is the appointed time for you to accept your citizen's privilege 
and join in the nation's great demonstration. 
No election makes a final decision upon questions, but a 
movement, an idea, a trend of thought, may be started in an election, 
or given a push forward, or checked. Any and all elections may prove 
crucial to the nation. 
How long do you think women were working that you might 
have the opportunity to register and vote this year? About 125 years, 
and for seventy years the campaign was intensive, growing more so every 
year, with an organized army back of it that kept it's camp fires eternally 
burning, an army equipped with certain conviction that come what may, women 
would vote one day. What some of you may not realize is that no 
election brought you the vote. It came as the final outcome of hundreds 
of contests in legislatures, congresses, and at the polls. Women in 
plenty died that you might have the vote; women by thousands lived every 
hour of their working lives with the thought of you - the women of their
future-before them. How those women sacrificed, saving the pennies to 
give the cause a printing fund, and how they labored to get a meeting

Page 6
together. I was a late-comer in the movement, but even I have swept
out the church or the school house, lighted the kerosene lamps, introduced
the speaker, held the babies, and passed the contribution box. The
movement began in candle light and passing though whale oil, keresene
and gas, came out resplendent with electric lights. It began before
stenography and typewriters, [before the] telephones or automobiles had
been dreamt of. It used them all to bring the century long movement
to its triumphant end. I remember one woman who walked fifty miles
to a meeting, and walked back to start a suffrage club. All of the
first women walked, or went on horseback, the last drove their own motor
cars. In the name of the millions of women who lived, labored and died
that you might have the vote; in the memory of the millions who followed
an ideal that where the people rule, women are people and must be counted
in, I implore you to register this year. Let us come to our citizens
duty 100% strong ¶ It takes time, fellow citizens, to get an idea
adopted, so do not think the world is going to pass into perpetual
perfection after November 6th, but let me tell you that sitting on a 
watch tower with a mental telescope in hand to discover which way the
trend of ideas is moving, is about the most thrilling occupation any
citizen ever had. It has some advantages over other indulgencies. 

Page 7
It isn't taxed, nor will you pay for gas to keep it going. It is
the cheapest, the funniest, and the most engaging occupation I know.
Just try it.
Fellow citizen, on November 6th please answer "here" when
your turn comes.

Transcribed and reviewed by volunteers participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.