NAWSA Subject File Congressional Union Mc Cormick, Mc Medill (Rate Honor)? NATIONAL AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION Branch of International Woman Suffrage Alliance of National Council of Women President Anna Howard Shaw Moylan, Pa. 1st Vice-President Jane Addams Hull House, Chicago, Ill. 2nd Vice-President Charlotte Anita Whitney 2121 Webster Street, Oakland, Cal. Corresponding Secretary Mary Ware Dennett 505 Fifth Avenue, New York Recording Secretary Susan W. FitzGerald 7 Greenough Ave., Jamaica Plain, Mass. Treasurer Katherine Dexter McCormick 505 Fifth Avenue, New York 1st Auditor Harriet Burton Laidlaw 6 East 66th Street, New York 2nd Auditor Louise De Koven Bowen 1430 Astor Street, Chicago, Ill. College Equal Suffrage League M. Carey Thomas, President Bryn Mawr, Pa. Telephone, 4814 Murray Hill National Press Bureau, Elinor Byrns, Chairman, 505 Fifth Avenue, New York NATIONAL AUXILIARIES: Friends Equal Rights Association Mary Bentley Thomas, President Ednor, Maryland The Equal Franchise Society Mrs. Howard Mansfield, President 535 Park Avenue, New York Dec. 30, 1913 (C.U.) Mrs. Medill McCormick Munsey Bldg., Washington, D.C. Dear Mrs. McCormick:- I am so eager to hear what has happened since we left! I wish very much we had had two hours more. I wanted to get Mrs. Gilson Gardner's point of view very much, and was unable to. I do not in the least wonder that she was reserved and was apparently biding her time to understand what our attitude was before she committed her self, but I do not doubt you got things very well planned out with her immediately, and I do hope very much it will prove to be possible to have her as Executive secretary. I meant to have said while I was there that I entirely agree with your feeling about the executive secretary, my only reason for writing to you about it before you went to Washington and also for writing to the Board about it was simply to convince people of the necessity of having a good (underlined) executive secretary. I think we are now all agreed upon that point and the only thing remaining will be for you to choose someone whose work will fit into yours most successfully. Now about Lucy Burns. When we left we were just about where we were when we began. I do hope you were able to swing her over to a reasonable point of view. It will be a tremendous shame if all her ability and devotion is side-tracked simply because of her blind adoration of Miss Paul's ideas. We still haven't her decision, so in the story we have sent to all the Suffrage papers in the country we have given the members of the Committee that have been appointed and have said nothing about those who have accepted or declined with the exception of Mrs. Catt, who gave her answer very promptly. Miss Paul's 2 answer has not come to the Board in any official way, she simply told me informally. Miss Shaw sent a vote out to the Board nominating Mrs. Helen Gardener, and there is no doubt whatever that she will be appointed, but we cannot say so until it actually happens. I am sending you by today's mail a copy of last year's annual report with the corrected list of the state officers, also a copy of "The Trend", which contains that article on the Democratic Party, of which we were speaking. The situations in the states which have more than one State Association is a delicate one in reference to the appointment of the State Congressional Chairman. These states as you will see are Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Ohio and Indiana. In some of these instances the feeling of rivalry and antagonism runs high. How do you think it would do to have you write the same letter to each State President and put it up to her strongly that there is immediate need for getting the state suffragists together on this job of securing the best possible live wire for a State Congressional Chairman, and ask the president which she would prefer, to have a conference of the officers of her organization with the officers of the other state organization and jointly appoint such a chairman, or to undertake to provide a chairman for a certain portion of the state and promise to absolutely cover the work in that section, and give the presidents a very short time in which to decide which method they would pursue? It seems to me you get quicker results if you tell them you must hear from them by a certain date and make it a nearby date. I am offering this only as a suggestion, very likely you may think up some alternative method that will bring these different organizations together more successfully and more quickly. Perhaps these hints on the situation in these states may be of some service to you. In Massachusetts there is a pretty bitter feeling on the part of the old state association, the Mass. W.S.A. toward the Political Equality Union, which was organized by Mrs. FitzGerald and of which Mabel Gillesby is president. Mrs. FitzGerald who has been the guiding spirit of the P.E.U. has established the policy of organizing in Mass. where the W.S.A. had been inactive, and they have some very good work started in the western part of the state, which perhaps might lead us to the conclusion that the division of the territory with separate Congressional chairmen might be the solution of that state. In New York there is co-operation all along the line except on the part of the W.P.U. of which Mrs. Blatch is president; all other Suffrage Societies in the state are now united in a joint Campaign Committee, Mrs. Blatch still stays on the outside. Mrs. Blatch's organization is the free lance type; it does brilliant, spasmodic, unsystematic work, is wonderfully good at pulling off great publicity "stunts," like parades, etc, has done two or three very good pieces of political work, but is quite disorderly and difficult to deal with. It is possible that the division of the territory in New York is practicable. My first inclination however would be to try the other method especially since I have heard recently that there is more of a tendency on the part of the Board pf the W. P. U. tp cp-operate than previously has been the case. In New Jersey I think co-operation between the W. S. A. and the W. P. U. is possible and my inclination there would be not to advise the division of territory. In Maryland there are there associations, the W. S. A. being the oldest and the least active and least influential, the Equal Franchise Association is more or less limited to Baltimore and more or less limited to privileged women. The most active society and the largest is the Just Government League, of which Mrs. Hoooker is president it is fairly well organized over the state, does brilliant work, and is a little difficult and uncertain to deal with. I rather think that division of the territory would be the solution in Maryland. In Ohio the feeling of the state Association toward the Equal Franchise League is chiefly in the vicinity of Cincinnati, which makes me look toward the division of the territory for Ohio. In Indiana I know less about the difference between the two association than any other of the states, but I think the livest women are in the Woman's Franchise League, of which Dr. Keller is president. I think it quite possible that the two association there could get together and co-operate on the choice of the State Chairman. There is one more state with two associations, first is Minnesota, and while there has been more or less feeling between them, I am inclined to think that there too, co-operation would be possible. I am enclosing a copy of the suggestions I made to Miss Paul last spring in regard to the appointment of the State Chairman and while I should not necessarily make just those recommendations now, you may perhaps be interested to run over the list of names, and will you kindly return it to me, since it is the only copy I have. There is certainly quite a portion of the office equipment at 1420 F. Street that should go over to your Headquarters. I am writing to Miss Paul asking her to trun over to you all material which belongs to the Congressional Committee, such as the records of the Canvas of the two Houses, copies of all the circular letters sent out by the Committee, etc., and all of last year's correspondence, which can be separated from the publicity work carried on by the Union, which of course belongs to the Congressional Union itself, also to let you know what part of the office equipment was provided by the Committee for the work before the Union was organized. We sent down from this office the Revolving Duplicator, which was used for making press bulletins and circular letters, and a certain amount of office furniture must have been bought by the Committee, desks, files, typewriters. Miss Paul's financial report, as you remember, merges the Union and the Committee work, and is undated, and therefore it is quite impossible to tell from her report what part of the office equipment belongs to the Committee. National American Woman Suffrage Association [*CU*] Branch of International Woman Suffrage Alliance and of National Council of Women President Anna Howard Shaw Moyland, Pa. 1st Vice-President Jane Addams Hull House, Chicago, Ill. 2nd Vice-President Mrs. Desha Breckinridge Lexington, KY. NATIONAL AFFILIATED SOCIETIES College Equal Suffrage League M. Carey Thomas, President Bryn Mawr, Pa. The Equal Franchise Society Mrs. Howard Mansfield, President 535 Park Avenue, New York Friends Equal Rights Association Mary Bently Thomas, President Ednor, Maryland Telephone, 4818 Murray Hill 3rd Vice-President Caroline Ruutz-Rees Greenwich, Conn. Recording Secretary Susan W. FitzGerald 7 Greenough Ave., Jamaica Plain, Mass. Corresponding Secretary Mary Ware Dennett 505 Fifth Avenue, New York Treasurer Katharine Dexter McCormick 505 Fifth Avenue, New York 1st Auditor Mrs. James Lees Laidlaw 6 East 66th Street, New York 2nd Auditor Mrs. Joseph Tilton Bowen 1430 Astor Street, Chicago, Ill. Publishing and Sales Department Press and Information Bureau 505 Fifth Avenue, New York CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE Chairman, Mrs. Medill McCormick Headquarters, Munsey Building, Washington, D.C. NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS, 505 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK Jan. 13, 1914. Mrs. Medill McCormick, 1505 City Hall Square, Bldg., Chicago, Ill. My dear Mrs. McCormick:- If only you and we could be in two places at once! I sent you a telegram and a night letter yesterday afternoon, and now I am enclosing the clippings to which I referred. Miss Shaw had a letter from Mrs. Funck in reference to the Wilson, Marshall league and the League of Democratic Women, written apparently before she was invited to speak before them. She said that she was on good terms with the suffragists in these organizations, and that there was going to be a split in the League of Democratic women because the leaders had obliged the organization to stand against the suffragists, and that the insurgents might want to join the National [Union]. I wrote urging her to encourage them to do so. In reference to her speaking and alluding to President Wilson, we agreed that it would not be wise to discuss Wilson's personal attitude on Suffrage, but to simply remind the Democratic women, that since he has claimed to be spokesman of his Party and [that] he is not free to stand for anything upon which his Party has not take organic action, [and] that the Democratic Party has already taken organic action in favor of Suffrage to the extent of over one half of the vote that elected Wilson; nobody surely can object to so simple a statement of fact as that. 2 We are receiving letters from all over the country showing the utmost confusion in people's minds, first, in regard to the newspaper story that the Congressional Headquarters had been moved to Chicago, which story is still doing its work in spite of our vigorous contradictions; second on account of the enormous circularizing which has been done by the Congressional Union in connection with the meeting at Mrs. Kent's house on Sunday the 11th, and the awfully misleading press work which Jessie Hardy Stubbs is doing; that is why I started in by wishing to hard that you could be in two spots at one time. Of course it is tremendously important to get that state organization work started along, but it is also critically necessary to keep at the top of the column in the Washington newspapers, and your being in Washington is one of the best possible ways of doing that. Last night's "sun" contained the enclosed story that [a] Mann of Illinois was about to declare in favor of Woman Suffrage, but I would not believe, even if he did declare for Suffrage, that that meant that he would help put the amendment through, it might be precisely the reverse, in which case the struggle would be made twice as difficult. The wheels have already begun to turn quickly in Brooklyn in FitzGerald's district. The woman Suffrage Party is coming up to the scratch very well. Now about the Mass meeting. I do not know how true these clippings are, which I am enclosing. We certainly do need to know at once just how the matter stands. If that proposed meeting for Jan. 25th is planned and truly and heartily backed by the D. C. Associations and can be made a worth while big affair, all right, but it would probably be not at all worth while to pull off another big meeting on February 15th. On the other hand if Mrs. Allendar, is side-stepping or wobbling, it might be possible to plan for the Feb. 15th meeting. Miss Shaw would be free to speak on Feb. 15th. The 14th is her own birthday and the 15th Miss Anthony's. There is always a sort of double celebration here in New York, which this year is scheduled for the 16th, the only day available at the Hotel where the New York suffragists want to hold the affair. We have written to both Mrs. Funck and Mrs. Allendar to see if we could find out accurately how the matter stands about the mass meeting; it is impossible to trust the newspapers. I am enclosing a copy of the last Congressional Union press bulletin. They are putting up a tremendous bluff, and alas, they are unquestionably succeeding in misleading an endless number of sincere members of the National Association who are sending their money to the Union, thinking they are supporting the National Committee. It is amazing the distance to which they sent that appeal, signed by Mrs. Kent. We had them come in from all over the country with questions, asking if it was all right, and if we approved, etc. We have almost everyday heard that Miss Paul had been taken to the hospital for three months or so, but we have also heard almost every day of her being in Washington and busy circulating things that weren't true. I shall expect within a day or so to hear from most of those people who were appointed on the Congressional Committee the day after you were here. I know you have already asked Mrs. Booth, but I am sending her just a note to make it an official appointment, and do hope very much, provided it is the thing you want most of all, that she will be free to go on to Washington and be your secretary and right-hand man. It is I think most unfortunate at this stage of the game that we are obliged in self-defence to do a lot of publicity work in order to make noise enough to offset the Congressional Union. It is not half so valuable or productive in the long run as political work and organization work, neither of which are noisy in their nature, and therefore cannot be written up as newspaper stories, in anything like such far reaching way as can events which the Congressional Union will go in for. I am very rapidly coming to the conclusion that we have just one choice left us, and a very distasteful one too, and that is to be perfectly frank in letting the suffragists and the newspapers understand the bad faith which the Union has shown, but at any rate what we need immediately is the development of that Advisory Council, so that we shall have a group of people ready to do things all the time, to get material for newspaper stories, until we reach the point when there is a lot to give the newspapers about the actual Congressional work. We had a meeting with part of the Board Sunday and yesterday, and as I telegraphed you moved along our Birmingham Board meeting and conference of the Southern suffragists either of two sets of days, March 6 and 7 or March 9 and 10. This was because Miss Shaw has so many engagements in Texas and Louisiana that she could not get up to Birmingham as early as February 26th, the date which Mrs. Jacobs suggests. Faithfully yours, Mary Ware Dennett Cor. Sec. P.S. Miss Ruutz-Rees asks if I would remind you that you promised to come to Greenwich when you come back from Chicago, and just at this time it will be an especially good thing for you to do because she will arrange to get Mrs. Hepburn and some of the other Connecticut women to go over for a Conference with you. National American Woman Suffrage Association Branch of International Woman Suffrage Alliance and of National Council of Women President Anne Howard Shaw Moylan, Pa. 1st Vice-President Jane Addams Hull House, Chicago, Ill. 2nd Vice-President Mrs. Desha Breckinridge Lexington ,Ky. 3rd Vice-President Caroline Ruutz-Rees Greenwich, Conn. Recording Secretary Susan W. FitzGerald 7 Greenough Ave., Jamaica Plain, Mass. Corresponding Secretary Mary Ware Dennett 505 Fifth Avenue, New York Treasurer Katharine Dexter McCormick 505 Fifth Avenue, New York 1st Auditor Mrs. James Lees Laidlaw 6 East 66th Street, Chicago, Ill. 2nd Auditor Mrs. Joseph Tilton Bowen 1430 Astor Street, Chicago, Ill. NATIONAL AFFILIATED SOCIETIES College Equal Suffrage League M. Carey Thomas, President Bryn Mawr, Pa. The Equal Franchise Society Mrs. Howard Mansfield, President 535 Park Avenue, New York Friends Equal Rights Association Mary Bentley Thomas, President Ednor, Maryland Telephone, 4818 Murray Hill Publishing and Sales Department Press and Information Bureau 505 Fifth Avenue, New York [*CU*] CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE Chairman, Mrs. Medill McCormick Headquarters, Munsey Building, Washington, D.C. NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS, 505 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK Jan. 14, 1914. Mrs. Medill McCormick, 1505 City Hall Square Bldg., Chicago, Ill. My dear Mrs. McCormick:- I am enclosing a list of the presidents, secretaries, and members of the Executive Council for all of the branch associations of the National. The last list I sent you did not contain the names and address of the state presidents, because I had previously sent you a corrected list of the state presidents in last year's Annual Report. I am so sorry, I think very likely you left that in Washington, not realizing that it was your one source of accurate information of up to date state presidents, but it is too bad that your letters had to be delayed on the account. I would of course have included the addresses of the state presidents in that last list of suggestions for state chairmen, if I had not felt sure that you had the list in the Annual Report. Miss Shaw took the mid-night train to Washington after her lecture engagement in Yonkers, and is coming back today. She was so distressed over the disconcerting reports we got from Washington, and the confusion of mind shown among our members by the numerous letters we are daily receiving, that she felt she must go down to Washington at once and have a conference with Mrs. Funck and see Mrs. Allendar and Mrs. Kent and some of the others and help undo the damage being done daily by the Congressional Union. It really is pretty bad. I am rushing 2 this off to you now; - more later. Faithfully yours, Mary Ware Dennett Cor. Sec. March 23, 1914. [Answered in person-] Mrs. Medill McCormick, Munsey Building, Washington, D.C. My dear Mrs. McCormick, I am sending the copy for the programs of our Campaign Rallies to the printer today, and I am having to make subjects for the speakers. I am making a wild guess at what you and Mrs. Funk would prefer to speak about and am putting you down as follows: Mrs. Medill McCormick, "Conclusions drawn from lobbying in Congress"; Mrs. Funk, "The National Amendment". Wire me if you want these changed. I can make any corrections in the proof. I am sorry you can not go over to Boston for the April first meeting, but glad Mrs. Funk can. The Board, at least a quorum, is going to meet on Tuesday, March 31st here. I hope then we can have a very thorough discussion of the situation in Congress and our plans for the future. Miss Hill, of our Press Bureau, called my attention to an article in The Survey of March 14th, which perhaps contains a suggestion for your appeal to the ministers to reach on suffrage the Sunday before Suffrage Day. It is a prayer by Catherine Waugh McCulloch, which several people have said they thought would pay to have printed and sent to the states for distribution among the ministers. I am sending it to you today. Please let us know what you think. Miss Shaw said that she should be inclined to favor it, providing it did not run the chance of offending some of the Church people; Episce- Mrs. McCormick, -2- palians, for instance, might be shocked at that type of prayer. I have no feeling, myself, on the subject. It it will help the cause, I say do it. It might perhaps be cut to advantage; otherwise, one night imagine that the Almighty would be a trifle bored before the end was reached! I have just received the following telegram from Miss Peyton of Minnesota: "Wire at once names of Governors who have made May second legal holiday for nation wide suffrage demonstration. Possibilities here good if others have done so elsewhere. Wire later when others follow. Wish to make this best demonstration Minnesota capable of. How about suffrage states?" We have not yet heard that any Governor has made May second a holiday, but of course it is to be hoped they will. I do not know how to answer your letter about the Minnesota situation, for as yet we have had no word about the State Central Committee. If it is true [that] as Mrs. Bright says that the majority of the women belonging to the State Central Committee are members of the State Association, the existence of the State Central Committee ought to offer no complications so far as the State Association is concerned. Of course, what ought to be is that the State Central Committee should be made up of representatives of all the suffrage forces in the state, and the Equal Franchise Association ought to be represented on it. If however, they will not do that, I suppose you have no other alternative than to have each of the State Associations have separate Congressional Chairmen, and divide the work and the territory between them. It will be an excellent thing if you can stop off and confer with them all when you go west. What you might do in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho in April depends some what, I think, upon whether or not our Field Secretary has been secured and put to work in the suffrage states by that time. Mrs. Orlow Black declined the appointment, and I am hoping very much to hear that your Jane Thompson in Chicago has accepted. I hope we shall know by the time of the Board meeting, and then we can discuss the situation. It is too bad about Grant Park in Chicago. I certainly hope Miss Addams and Mrs. Bowen can persuade the Commissioners to relent. The scheme you have described for the Hearst papers is admirable. We will see what can be done in New York at once. Mrs. Osborne wrote me about the McCutcheon cartoon, and we have asked her to send it to us as quickly as possible, so we could see if the Board agreed that it would be a good thing to have it used all over the country. If so, we ought surely to print it. Very much obliged indeed for your kind offer to help pay the bill. Your scheme for appointing Vice-Chairmen of the National Committee on Arrangements if first rate. Mrs. Osborne is thoroughly all right for the middle West. I think Mrs. Patty Jacobs of Alabama would really be a rather better choice for the south than Kate Gordon. Kate Gordon, just at present, does not seem to have the faculty of appealing to the imagination and the enthusiasm of the southern women. She was not a bit of a success at the recent Conference. On the other hand, Mrs. Jacobs is universally beloved and has a tremendous influ- Mrs. McCormick, -3- ence and is moreover wonderfully efficient. It is mighty hard to suggest a New York woman for an eastern chairman simply because they are all so driven with work that they groan at the thought of another job of any kind, even if it is merely honorary or for publicity purposes. However, I think perhaps a woman like Beatrice Forbes-Robertson Hale would take it. She is, of course, widely known and very popular and has an abundance of enthusiasm and is not so tied up, I think, with local work as many of the other women are. Her address is Forest Hill Gardens, Long Island. Have you thought of any one for the far west? How would Anne Martin do? She has behaved like fury in lots of ways, and has shown a lot of pro-Union spirit, but on the other hand she has definitely said she would co-operate with the National in the May Day program, and if she were tied up to it by being Vice-Chairman it might be a good thing. This suggestion may not be worth anything. Please do not be guided by it unless it appeals to you. I am so sorry I did not get your word about letting you know before Miss Shaw sent her letter to President Wilson on Woman's Independence Day. Miss Shaw asked the Press Bureau to give it to the papers so that it would appear immediately after Wilson received the letter, and so it was done. Your way would have been much better. It did not make much of a splash in the newspapers anyhow. The only word from Wilson yet is an acknowledgement from Secretary Tumulty. I asked Miss Shaw if she would be willing to sign a speech that Mrs. Funk write, and she said no. She said she knew Mrs. Funk would write a mighty good speech and she did not think it was fair for her to sign it when Mrs. Funk wrote it. I assure you I do realize very keenly what all this miserable rumpus with the Union has meant to you, Mrs. Funk, and Mrs. Booth. I think perhaps I am the one person on the board who can imagine it the most thoroughly, because perhaps I have been most closely connected with the whole inside of the problem for a year, and I have never even begun to tell any one else of the difficulties in detail. I entirely agree with you that something definite must be done in regard to the Union. I hope and pray it can be something decisive and effective and above all things brief. This long drawn out wrestling is bad for everybody concerned. That is one of the things we must talk about at the Bor Board meeting. Meanwhile, do take care of yourself and do not get any more worn out than you can possibly help, and do realise that we have unbounded admiration for the way you have held your own and kept things going under almost unprecedented difficulties. Sincerely, Mary Ware Dennett MWD RS [*Special Delivery*] [C.U.] January 8, 1914 I saw Miss Paul Yesterday, have also seen some other people, from whom I have been able to gather just about what the situation is. Miss Leupp was just in, and tells me that yesterday's Boston Transcript had an article by the National, saying in substance that she was kicked out, and that you replaced her. I have not yet been able to get a copy of the Transcript, but will, and I suggest that you send me a statement from yourself and Dr. Shaw as to the real facts: how Miss Paul came into the organization, and how she got out. I will use proper discretion in handling it, if you think well of the plan. Now my opinion is this: when Miss Paul got into this work she saw an opportunity to build up an independent organization. She put the Union to the front and chloroformed the National. It will be our business to bring it to life and I think it can be done. The newspaper people that I have seen so far comment on your good faith in this work, and upon the fact that the National is a real organization. We are moving today, and I have been somewhat busy getting office matters adjusted, but have been able to do a good deal beside, and think by the end of the week I will have a good report to make. From what I get of the situation, and from what I think I am going to be able to do, I believe it will be wise for you to leave me here for about a month. Feel certain that I can round up my special job in that time, and leave the office in good shape for Mrs. Booth to take hold of. I find that a knowledge of things political is going to be an enormous asset. Going back to the subject of Miss Paul, I saw her yesterday. She built up a nice little wall around herself, and tried her best to find out what my plans were. -2- I was as vague as a spring mist, but she is pressing me a little hard on the matter of speaking. I said generally that I would be glad to do all of the speaking I could find time for while here, but didn't allow her to pin me down to dates or times. I think the time will come shortly, if it is not here already, when we will have to take a firm stand as an entirely separate, though friendly enough,organization, but that we will not be able to preserve the fiction of working along with them for common ends. The newspapers have been insistent to find out what we hope and expect to do, and this is the idea that I have given out, feeling it to be in line with your own; that we are anxious to help develop the idea of an amendment at as early a date as possible; that we are earnestly hoping that a committee on suffrage may be appointed at this session, and that we may have an open hearing.; that we are carefully making plans for a red-hot campaign in certain congressional districts, which we do not at this time name, against certain prominent congressmen, who, being in a position to materially aide this movement have failed to do so, or who have openly blocked it. If there is anything in this plan that does not meet your approval, I wish you would tell me. Mr. Clagett was in to see me this morning, also Mr. Lowrie; the latter feels that it will be part of Underwood's plan to appoint a suffrage committee, but to carefully place upon it men who are anti. I had thought of the possibilities of this move myself. Before the week is over I hope to have seen most of the people on the list we made. Meantime let me hear from you from New York, and if you do not want to give me a statement regarding Miss Paul for public use, let me have the real facts, in particular with reference to her relationship to the National, that I may know what I am talking about. Take care of yourself. There is much work cut out for you. Mary Ware Dennett [*Cong. Union*] February 7, 1914 Miss Alice Paul, 1420 F Street, Washington, D.C. My dear Miss Paul, It is understood that you wish to present a statement to the National Board in reference to Congressional work. It has therefore been voted to allow time for that at the next Board meeting at 10 o'clock next Thursday, February 12th. The Board has a large amount of important business to transact, and therefore whatever is presented must be brief and condensed. Similar word has been sent to Miss Lucy Burns and Mrs. Lawrence Lewis. Very truly yours, (Mary Ware Dennett) MWD RS [*Cong. Union*] May 5, 1914. Miss Alice Paul, 1420 F Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. My dear Miss Paul, This is in answer to your letter of April 27th in regard to the possibility of another vote on the Bristow-Mondell amendment during this session of Congress. Of course, technically speaking, there is no reason why a bill may not be re-introduced any number of times, or reported out of Committee, during a single session of Congress, but there appear to be a good many unwritten laws in Senate procedure that are regarded by members as strict and binding. One of these is that when once a bill or resolution has been fully considered and passed upon, it should not receive consideration a second time at the same session. I understand from our Congressional Committee that on a very few occasions this rule has been relaxed, but there was a strong sentiment in the Senate against it, and in the judgment of the Congressional Committee, we could hardly hope for another vote at this session. You will understand, of course, that the National Association and the Congressional Committee stand for the Anthony Resolution first, last, and all the time, and Dr. Shaw wrote to the Congressional Committee that if the Resolution failed of passage, she thought it should be re-introduced, with which Mrs. McCormick agreed. Sincerely yours, (Mary Ware Dennett) Executive Secretary. MWD RS May 9, 1914. Mrs. Medill McCormick, Munsey Building, Washington, D.C. My dear Mrs. McCormick, Thank you very much for your letter of the 5th about the Illinois episode. Too bad that Sister Trout seems to be bent on mischief. I hope the sun will shine on the parade tomorrow. Good luck with it all. Sincerely, (Mary Ware Dennett) Executive Secretary. [*Cong. [Com].*] [*C.U.*] Oct.28,1914. My dear Mrs. McCormick: I have just read your letter of October 26th in regard to the preparation of your report for the Convention, and I was on the point of writing to you this morning any way in regard to the report of the Campaign State Committee, as well as the report of the Congressional Committee. The two would better be separately presented, don't you think so? I hope to get the copy of the final program off to the printer this morning, and alterations can be made of course when the proof is read, which will give you time to send me word, preferably by wire, in regard to the Campaign State Committee report. Miss Byrns and Mrs. McCormick have not yet finished the story of the "troubles with the Union," but I will ask Miss Byrns to have a copy for you when the work is done. Now to answer specifically your questions about Miss Paul and the Congressional Committee. No, Miss Paul was not specifically and definitely offered the chairmanship of the Committee at any time after the Convention. What did happen was this: Miss Paul was asked to come up for a conference with the National Board immediately after the Convention and, undoubtedly, if she had come, she would have been offered the chairmanship, provided she would agree to give up being President of the Congressional Union. She send Miss Burns in her place, and Miss Ruutz-Rees was appointed by the Board to have a talk with Miss Burns and present to her the outline of the plans of the Board in regard to the Congressional work and report back to the Board Ms. Medill McCormick #2 the results. So Miss Ruutz-Rees did ask Miss Burns if she thought Miss Paul would give up the Presidency of the Congressional Union and take the Chairmanship of the Congressional Committee. My recollection of Miss Ruutz-Rees' report was that Miss Burns promptly turned down the suggestion, and said she knew it was not worth while to even ask Miss Paul. She was very sure Miss Paul would not do it. The motion made by Mrs. Catt just previous to the adjournment of the Convention read as follows: "It was moved by Mrs. Catt, and seconded, that it be the request of the Convention to the Executive Committee that the Congressional Committee be continued another year, and that the Official Board and Congressional Committee cooperate so to adjust matters that all causes of embarrassment to the members of the Convention be removed." The Board, in carrying out this motion, started in with the decision that the President of the Congressional Union should not be eligible for appointment as the Chairman of the Congressional Committee. Then having received from Miss Ruutz-Rees the informal but still emphatic decision that Miss Paul would not consider giving up the Presidency of the Union, [*the Board*] offered the Chairmanship to Miss Burns. After several days of waiting, during which there was an exchange of letters and telegrams, Miss Burns declined. Then you were immediately asked to take the Chairmanship. I shall indeed be sorry not to see you at the Convention. I am not going at all, so I can not of course tell you, as you ask, on what day I shall reach Nashville. It would not I am sure be at all appropriate for me to attend the Convention under the circumstances. I should be afraid that it would precipitate a most regrettable kind of publicity in regard to the business policy of the Board and, while I feel under obligation to answer frankly the inquiries of members of the Association as to why I resigned, since it was the members who elected me, and the reasons for my resignation were not personal but were related solely to the business affairs of the Association, I would not willingly allow the discussion of these matters to get in to the newspapers, or to become widely known, for it would inevitably damage the cause. I do most emphatically hope you will go on with the Congressional work another year. The great impetus you have gotten this year would be more effective if you continue the work than if a new chairman should take it. Friend Hallinan has been having some very perturbed days over the film, and seemed distinctly relieved yesterday to get the thing settled Mrs. Medill McCormick #3 even though the final decision was a long way from what you and he hoped for when he started in. I hope you will turn up again in New York ere long. It is always a pleasure to see you, and, if you have my personal address and telephone number, perhaps you will get in touch with me, as my three days a week in the office will last only up to Convention time. It is the DEARBORNE 354 West 55th Street; telephone, Columbus 7540. Cordially yours, (Mary Ware Dennett) Mrs. Medill McCormick 1505 City Hall Square Building Chicago EDWARD KEATING 3D COLORADO DISTRICT COMMITTEE ON PENSIONS COMMITTEE ON ROADS COMMITTEE ON LABOR House of Representatives U.S. Washington, D.C HOME ADDRESS: PUEBLO, COLORADO Pueblo, Colo., June 3, 1915. Mrs. Medill McCormick, 1745 Conway Building, Chicago, Ill., My dear madam: In response to your letter of May 28th, permit me to say, during the recent congressional campaign the "Congressional Union" sent speakers into my District - Third Colorado - with instructions to do what they could to bring about my defeat; the result may be judged by the fact that I was elected in 1912, when the Congressional Union did not oppose me, by a PLURALITY, and in 1914, when the Congressional Union did not appose me, by a MAJORITY. I received about 2,000 more votes in 1914 than in 1912, despite the fact that the latter year was a presidential year. I understand that the leaders of the Congressional Union have pointed to the results in my case as an evidence of the effect of their propaganda. In order to make a showing they rather cleverly distort the facts; in 1912 I was a candidate for Congressman at Large and was elected by a Plurality of about 45,000 votes; being a candidate at large I was voted on all over the State; in January of 1913 the State Legislature re-districted Colorado for congressional purposes and I was thrown into the Third District, which includes 22 of the 62 counties EDWARD KEATING 3D COLORADO DISTRICT COMMITTEE ON PENSIONS COMMITTEE ON ROADS COMMITTEE ON LABOR House of Representatives U.S. Washington, D.C HOME ADDRESS: PUEBLO, COLORADO -2- of the State; in these counties when I was a candidate for Congressman at Large, in 1912, I received 35,268 votes; in the same counties in 1914, when I was a candidate for Congressman from the Third District, I received 37,191 votes. This in the face of the fact there was a falling off in the total vote cast of about 6,000 as compared with 1912. Under the circumstances I think I am justified in saying that the campaign conducted by the Congressional Union, so far as my District was concerned, was without appreciable result. You ask me how the men of the west have received the appeal of the Congressional Union. I think I can answer that best by relating an incident which occurred during the last campaign. One of the ladies sent to my District by the Congressional Union addressed a republican rally in my home town of Pueblo; at the conclusion of her remarks a prominent republican lawyer of this City was introduced and said: "I confess I cannot appreciate the logic of the position taken by the young lady who has just spoken; she assures us that Mr. Keating has loyally championed the cause of suffrage for women and yet she asks us to contribute to his defeat. I am a republican and will do what I can to see that Mr. Keating is retired from office but I will not do this because of anything that our eloquent young friend has said. I cannot see the force of an argument which says 'let us kill our friends that we may win our cause'." EDWARD KEATING 3D COLORADO DISTRICT COMMITTEE ON PENSIONS COMMITTEE OF ROADS COMMITTEE ON LABOR House of Representatives U. S. Washington, D. C. HOME ADDRESS: PUEBLO, COLORADO I question if our people clearly understands that the Congressional Union and the National American Womens Suffrage Association are separate organizations. Out newspapers have failed to give the matter sufficient publicity; it might be well to clear up this misunderstanding. So far as the results in the State at large are concerned I am unable to find any evidence to sustain the claim that the Congressional Union’s campaign influenced the voters. The republican candidate for Governor was elected in Colorado by about 40,000 majority. The Congressional Union concentrated its fire on the democratic candidate for senator was elected by about 3,000 majority and three of our four democratic candidates for congress were successful; the four democratic candidates for congress in this state polled about 15,000 more votes than their four republican opponents. The fact is the democrats won on national issues and lost on state issues. Trusting I have given you the information you desire, I remain, Yours sincerely, Edward Keating Dennett Mary W to Mrs Mediel Mr Cormuch 1913 Transcribed and reviewed by contributors participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.