UNION OF ASSOCIATIONS--INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL.
1888.
A preceding chapter described the forming in 1869 of the American Woman
Suffrage Association at Cleveland, O., the overtures for union by the
National Association the next year, and their rejection. No further
efforts were made and each body continued to work in its own way. At the
annual meeting of the American Association in Philadelphia, October 31,
1887, the following resolution from the business committee was
unanimously adopted:
WHEREAS, The woman suffragists of the United States were all united
until 1868 in the American Equal Rights Association; and _whereas_,
The causes of the subsequent separation into the National and
American Woman Suffrage Societies have since been largely removed
by the adoption of common principles and methods; therefore
_Resolved_, That Mrs. Lucy Stone be appointed a committee of one
from the American Woman Suffrage Association to confer with Miss
Susan B. Anthony of the National and, if on conference it seems
desirable, that she be authorized and empowered to appoint a
committee of this association to meet a similar committee appointed
by the National to consider a satisfactory basis of union, and
refer it back to the executive committee of both associations for
final action.
HENRY B. BLACKWELL,
_Corresponding Secretary, A. W. S. A_.
After conferring with the officers of the National Association, Miss
Anthony informed Mrs. Stone that she would meet her in Philadelphia any
time until December 9, and after that in Washington. She replied that
she was not able to travel even so far as Philadelphia and, after some
correspondence, Miss Anthony agreed to go to Boston. On the afternoon
of December 21, 1887, accompanied by Rachel Foster, corresponding
secretary of the National, she met Mrs. Stone and Alice Stone Blackwell,
at No. 3 Park street, Boston, and held an extended conference in regard
to the proposed union. Two days later Mrs. Stone sent to Miss Anthony,
who was still in that city, the following:
In thinking over the points raised at our informal conference, it
seems to me that the substantial outcome is this: The committees
appointed by us respectively, if we conclude to appoint them, must
each agree upon a common name, a common constitution and a common
list of officers for the first year. A subsequent acceptance of
these by each association will thereafter constitute the two
societies one society. If you think there is a fair probability of
coming to an agreement I will proceed to appoint my committee.
As the formal overtures for union have come from the American
Association, it will be appropriate that our committee should draw
up the plan for union which appears to them the most feasible, and
forward it to Miss Foster, to be submitted to yours. Then your
committee will suggest such modifications as they may think
needful; and, if a mutually satisfactory result can be reached, the
name, constitution and list of officers will go to the executive
committee of each association for final action.
Christmas Day Miss Blackwell sent to Miss Foster a comprehensive plan
for a union of the two societies, closing as follows: "Since many
members of the National society regard Mrs. Stone as the cause of the
division, and many members of the American regard Mrs. Stanton and Miss
Anthony as the cause of it, Mrs. Stone suggested that it would greatly
promote a harmonious union, for those three ladies to agree in advance
that none of them would take the presidency of the united association."
Early in January this formal announcement and letter were sent to Miss
Foster:
The committee of the National to sit in counsel with that of the
seven appointed by Lucy Stone, of the American, shall be: May
Wright Sewall, _Chairman_, Harriette R. Shattuck, Olympia Brown,
Helen M. Gougar, Laura M. Johns, Clara B. Colby, Rachel G. Foster,
_Secretary_.[36]
I hope all will sink personalities and exalt principles, seeking
only the best good for woman's enfranchisement, and that surely
will come through the union of all the friends of woman suffrage
into one great and grand national association which shall enable
them to present a solid front to the enemy. This must be based on
the principle of a genuine democracy, which shall give to each of
its members a voice in all its deliberations, either in person or
through representatives chosen by them, and to a constitution thus
based I am sure each of my seven chosen ones will contribute her
aid. Hoping that a consolidation of all our forces will be the
result of this overture from Lucy Stone and her society, I am, very
sincerely,
SUSAN B. ANTHONY.
On January 18, Miss Foster received from Miss Blackwell the list of the
conference committee appointed by Mrs. Stone: Julia Ward Howe,
_Chairman_, Wm. Dudley Foulke, Margaret W. Campbell, Anna H. Shaw, Mary
F. Thomas, H. M. Tracy Cutler, Henry B. Blackwell, _Secretary_.
Miss Anthony again wrote Miss Foster: "I can not think of any
stipulation I wish to make the basis of union save that we _unite_, and
after that discuss all measures and ways and means, officers and
newspapers, and cheerfully accept and abide by the rule of the majority.
I do not wish to exact any pledges from Lucy Stone and her adherents,
nor can I give any for Mrs. Stanton and her followers. When united we
must trust to the good sense of each, just as we have trusted during the
existence of the division. As Greeley said about resuming specie
payment, '_the way to unite is to unite_' and trust the consequences."
It is not essential for the completeness of this work to reproduce in
detail the official proceedings, which extended through two years and
caused Miss Anthony often to write, "I shall be glad when this
frittering away of time on mere forms is past." A basis of agreement
finally was reached, and the union was practically completed at the
National Convention which met in Washington, January 21, 1889. A
committee of thirteen was selected to confer with the committee from the
American. This consisted of Miss Anthony and Mesdames Hooker, Minor,
Duniway, Johns, Sewall, Perkins, Colby, Spofford, Brown, Blake, Gougar
and Foster Avery. The Woman's Tribune thus described the result:
At the business session, January 24, 1889, they reported in
substance as follows:
_Name, etc._--The association to be called the National-American W.
S. A. The annual convention to be held at Washington.
_Chronology._--The next annual meeting of the joint society to
be--as it would be for the National--the twenty-second annual
Washington convention.
_Work._--To be for National and State legislation protecting women
in the exercise of their right to vote.
_Representation._--As provided in the new National constitution.
Where two associations exist in one State and will not unite, both
are to be accepted as auxiliary societies.
An earnest debate followed. Miss Anthony threw her influence
strongly in favor of union and carried many with her, even those
who openly expressed themselves that their judgment would be to
continue the two societies. The vote was then taken on union,
thirty voting for, eleven against.
Miss Alice Stone Blackwell and Rev. Anna H. Shaw were present on
behalf of the American Association, accepted the deviations from
the propositions as presented by that association, and felt
reasonably certain that it would endorse their action.
[Illustration: Autograph: "Yours for equal rights, Alice Stone
Blackwell."]
No one person contributed so much toward effecting the union of these
two societies as Alice Stone Blackwell. On February 17, 1890, both
bodies met in Washington and it was decided that the official boards of
the two should form the voting force until the joint temporary
organization was completed. Councils were held in the great parlor and
dining-room of the Riggs House. Both Miss Anthony and Mrs. Stanton had
been willing, from the beginning of negotiations, to accept the
proposition of the Americans that neither one of them, nor Lucy Stone,
should take the presidency of the united association, but from the
Nationals in every part of the country came a cry of dissent. Letters
poured in declaring that Miss Anthony and Mrs. Stanton had borne the
brunt of the battle for forty years, that they had not once lowered the
flag or made the question of woman suffrage subservient to any other,
that they were the head and heart of the movement, and that for them to
be deposed was out of the question.[37] It soon became evident that
unless this point were conceded all hope of union would have to be
banished. While most of the delegates agreed that, in respect to
seniority in years and work and also in consideration of her commanding
ability, Mrs. Stanton should be president, there were many who thought
that, because of her advanced age and the fact that she spent most of
her time abroad, it would be better to elect Miss Anthony. The latter
was distracted by such a thought and at the final meeting of National
delegates preliminary to the joint convention, with all the earnestness
of her strong nature and in a voice vibrating with emotion, she said:
I appeal to every woman who has any affection for the old National
or for me not to vote for Susan B. Anthony for president. I stand
in a delicate position. I have letters which accuse me of having
favored the union solely for personal and selfish considerations,
and of trying to put Mrs. Stanton out. Now what I have to say is,
don't vote for any human being but Mrs. Stanton. There are other
reasons why I wish her elected, but I have these personal ones:
When the division was made twenty years ago, it was because our
platform was too broad, because Mrs. Stanton was too radical; a
more conservative organization was wanted. If we Nationals divide
now and Mrs. Stanton is deposed from the presidency, we virtually
degrade her. If you have any love for our old association, which,
from the beginning, has stood like a rock in regard to creeds and
politics, demanding that every woman should be allowed to come upon
our platform to plead for her freedom--if you have any faith in
that grand principle--vote for Mrs. Stanton....
The National always has allowed the utmost liberty. Anything and
everything which stood in the way of progress was likely to get
knocked off our platform. I want every one who claims to be a
National to continue to stand for this principle. We have come now
to another turning-point and, if it is necessary, I will fight
forty years more to make our platform free for the Christian to
stand upon whether she be a Catholic and counts her beads, or a
Protestant of the straitest orthodox creed, just as I have fought
for the rights of the infidels the last forty years. These are the
principles I want you to maintain, that our platform may be kept as
broad as the universe, that upon it may stand the representatives
of all creeds and no creeds--Jew or Christian, Protestant or
Catholic, Gentile or Mormon, pagan or atheist.
At the joint executive session after the union was formally declared to
be consummated, the vote was: For president, Mrs. Stanton, 131; Miss
Anthony, 90; for vice-president-at-large, Miss Anthony, 213. Lucy Stone
was unanimously elected chairman of the executive committee; Rachel
Foster Avery, corresponding secretary; Alice Stone Blackwell, recording
secretary;[38] Jane H. Spofford, treasurer; Eliza T. Ward and Rev.
Frederick W. Hinckley, auditors. This uniting of the two associations
was begun in 1887 and finished in 1890, in the most thoroughly official
manner, according to the most highly approved parliamentary methods, and
the final result was satisfactory to a large majority of the members of
both societies, who since that time have worked together in unbroken
harmony.
The action of the American Association was almost unanimous, but the
members of the National were widely divided. Letters of protest were
received from many States, and several of its members attempted to form
new organizations. The executive sessions in Washington were the most
stormy in the history of the association, and only the unsurpassed
parliamentary knowledge of the chairman, May Wright Sewall, aided by the
firm co-operation of Miss Anthony, could have harmonized the opposing
elements and secured a majority vote in favor of the union. There had
been no time during the twenty years' division when Miss Anthony was not
ready to sink all personal feeling and unite the two societies for the
sake of promoting the cause which she placed before all else in the
world; and from the first prospect of combining the forces, she used
every effort toward its accomplishment. It was a source of especial
gratification that this was practically assured by the winter of 1888,
when the International Council of Women met in Washington, as it enabled
the American Association to accept the invitation and send
representatives to this great convocation--which will now be considered.
[Illustration: Zerelda G. Wallace (Signed: "To my Dear friend Susan B.
Anthony with love & severence, Zerelda G. Wallace")]
It had long been the dream of Miss Anthony and Mrs. Stanton to form
an International Suffrage Association for purposes of mutual helpfulness
and the strength of co-operation. During 1883, when in Great Britain,
they discussed this subject with the women there and, as a result, a
large committee of correspondence had been established to promote the
forming of such an association. After a time it was judged expedient to
enlarge its scope and make it an International Council, which should
represent every department of woman's work. This was called to meet at
Washington in 1888, the fortieth anniversary of the first organized
demand for the rights of women, the convention at Seneca Falls, and
active preparations had been in progress for more than a year. It was
decided at the suffrage convention held the previous winter that the
National Association should assume the entire responsibility for this
International Council and should invite the participation of all
organizations of women in the trades, professions, reforms, etc.
Mrs. Stanton and Mrs. Spofford were in Europe and this herculean task
was borne principally by Miss Anthony, May Wright Sewall and Rachel
Foster.[39] Miss Anthony stayed in Washington for two months preceding
the council, perfecting the last arrangements. The amount of labor,
time, thought and anxiety involved in this year of preparation can not
be estimated. Nothing to compare with it ever had been attempted by
women. Not the least part of the undertaking was the raising of the
$13,000 which were needed to defray expenses, all secured by personal
letters of appeal and admission fees, and disbursed with careful economy
and judgment. The intention was to give the suffrage association the
same prominence as other organizations and no more. An entry in Miss
Anthony's diary says: "I have just received proof of the 'call' for the
council and struck out the paragraph saying, 'no one would be committed
to suffrage who should attend.' I can't allow any such apologetic
invitation as that! There is no need to say anything about it." To her
old friend Antoinette Brown Blackwell, who asked if only those women
ministers who had been regularly ordained were to be heard, Miss Anthony
wrote:
I have felt all along that we ought to give a chance for the
expression of the highest and deepest religious thought of those
not ordained of men. Your wish to give the result of your research
opens the way for us to make the last day--Easter Sunday--voice the
new, the purer, the better worship of the living God. We'll have a
real symposium of woman's gospel. It is not fair to give only the
church-ordained women an opportunity to present their religious
thoughts, and now it shall be fixed so that the laity may have the
same. I don't want a controversy or a lot of negations, but shall
tell each one to give her strongest affirmation. This forever
saying a thing is false and failing to present the truth, is to me
a foolish waste of time, when almost everybody feels the old forms,
creeds and rituals to be only the mint, anise and cumin.
So, my dear, I am very, very glad that you and Lucy are both to be
on our platform, and we are to stand together again after these
twenty years. But none of the past! Let us rejoice in the good of
the present, and hope for more and more in the future.
In response to her letter asking him to take part on Pioneer Day,
Frederick Douglass wrote:
I certainly shall, if I live and am well. The cause of woman
suffrage has under it a truth as eternal as the universe of
thought, and must triumph if this planet endures. I have been
calling up to my mind's eye that first convention in the small
Wesleyan Methodist church at Seneca Falls, where Mrs. Stanton, Mrs.
Mott and those other brave souls began a systematic and determined
agitation for a larger measure of liberty for woman, and how great
that little meeting now appears! It seems only yesterday since it
took place, and yet forty years have passed away and what a
revolution on this subject have we seen in the sentiment of the
American people and, in fact, of the civilized world! Who could
have thought that humble, modest, maiden convention, holding its
little white apron up to its face and wiping away the tear of
sympathy with woman in her hardships and the sigh of her soul for a
larger measure of freedom, would have become the mother of an
International Council of Women, right here in the capital of this
nation?
Maria Mitchell, who was in feeble health (and died the next year) in
expressing her regrets said: "I am taking a rest. I have worked more
than a half-century and, like stronger people, have become tired. I am
meaning to build my small observatory and keep up a sort of apology for
study--because I am too old to dare do nothing. I wish I felt able to
take the journey and hear what others have to say and are ready to do.
The world moves, and I have full faith it will continue to move and to
move, for better and better, even when we have put aside the armor."
[Illustration: Autograph: "The world moves and I have full faith it will
continue to move and to move, for better and better, even when we have
put aside the armor. Sincerely yours, Maria Mitchell."]
During the winter, Mrs. Stanton had written Miss Anthony: "We have
jogged along pretty well for forty years or more. Perhaps mid the wreck
of thrones and the undoing of so many friendships, sects, parties and
families, you and I deserve some credit for sticking together through
all adverse winds, with so few ripples on the surface. When I get back
to America I intend to cling to you closer than ever. I am thoroughly
rested now and full of fight and fire, ready to travel and speak from
Maine to Florida. Tell our suffrage daughters to brace up and get ready
for a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together when I come
back."
What then were her amazement, anger and grief to receive another letter
from Mrs. Stanton a short time before the council, saying that a voyage
across the Atlantic so filled her with dread that she had about decided
not to undertake it! A fortieth anniversary of the Seneca Falls
convention without the woman who called it! And this when she had
counted on Mrs. Stanton to make the greatest speech of the whole meeting
and cover the National Association with immortal glory! She says in her
journal: "I am ablaze and dare not write tonight." The next entry: "I
wrote the most terrific letter to Mrs. Stanton; it will start every
white hair on her head." And then the following day the little book
records: "Well, I made my own heart ache all night, awake or asleep, by
my terrible arraignment, whether it touches her feelings or not." Ten
days later she writes: "Received a cablegram from Mrs. Stanton, 'I am
coming,' so she has my letter. My mind is so relieved, I feel as if I
were treading on air."
On Mrs. Stanton's arrival a few days before the convention, Miss Anthony
learned, to her consternation, that she had prepared no speech for the
occasion! She shut her up in a room at the Riggs House with pen and
paper, kept a guard at the door, permitted no one to see her, and when
the time arrived she was ready with her usual magnificent address.
The council opened Sunday, March 25, in Albaugh's new opera house, with
religious services conducted entirely by women, Revs. Phebe A. Hanaford,
Ada C. Bowles, Antoinette Blackwell, Amanda Deyo, and a matchless sermon
by Rev. Anna H. Shaw, "The Heavenly Vision." It would be wholly
impossible to enter into a detailed account of this council, the
greatest woman's convention ever held.[40] Although twenty-five cents
admission was charged, and fifty cents for reserved seats, the opera
house was crowded during the eight days and evenings, and seats were at
a premium. Miss Anthony presided over eight of the sixteen sessions.
While every speaker was allowed the widest latitude, there was not at
any time the slightest friction. Letters were read from celebrated
people in most of the countries of Europe and all parts of America. At
the pioneer's meeting were eight men and thirty-six women who had been
connected with the movement for woman suffrage forty years.[41]
Among the social courtesies extended to this distinguished body of
women, were a reception at the White House by President and Mrs.
Cleveland; handsome entertainments by Senator and Mrs. Leland Stanford,
and Senator and Mrs. T. W. Palmer; a reception at the Riggs House; many
smaller parties, dinners and luncheons; and numerous social gatherings
of women doctors, lawyers, etc. At all of the large functions Miss
Anthony, Mrs. Stanton and Lucy Stone stood at the left hand of the
hostess, while the other officials and the foreign delegates were also
in the "receiving line." At the White House Miss Anthony made the
presentations to the President. As every newspaper in the country had
complimentary notices of this council and the prominent ladies connected
with it, it is scarcely possible to discriminate. The Baltimore Sun
said:
The council began its deliberations in the finest humor with
everybody, particularly with that prime favorite, Susan B. Anthony.
This lady daily grows upon all present; the woman suffragists love
her for her good works, the audience for her brightness and wit,
and the multitude of press representatives for her frank, plain,
open, business-like way of doing everything connected with the
council. Miss Anthony when in repose looks worn with the conflict
she has waged, though when she goes into action her angular face
loses its tired look and becomes all animation. Her word is the
parliamentary law of the meeting. Whatever she says is done without
murmur or dissent. The women of the council are saved any
parliamentary discussions such as arise in the meetings of men;
they acknowledge that she is an autocrat. All are agreed that no
better system than the absolute control of Susan B. Anthony can be
devised.
The New York World commented:
If ever there was a gay-hearted, good-natured woman it is certainly
Miss Anthony. From the beginning of this council it is she who has
kept the fun barometer away up. The gray-headed friends of her
youth are all "girls" to her, and she is a girl among them.
Parliamentary rules have been by no means so severe as to keep
even the regular proceedings free from her lively interpolation and
comment. When Miss Anthony has felt the public pulse or looked at
her watch and seen that a speech has gone far enough, she says
under her breath, "Your time's about up, my dear." If the speaker
continues, the next thing is, "I guess you'll have to stop now;
it's more than ten minutes." When this fails, she usually begins to
hang gently on the orator's skirt, and if pluckings and pullings
fail, she then subsides with a quizzical smile, or stands erect and
uncompromising by the speaker's side. There is none of the rude
beating of the gavel, nor any paraphrase of "The gentleman's time
is up," which marks the stiff proceedings of men "in congress
assembled." To an unprejudiced eye this free-and-easy method of
procedure might lack symmetry and dignity, but there is not the
slightest doubt that Miss Anthony has been as wise as a serpent
while being as gentle as a dove.
When Frances E. Willard rose to address the council, she laid her hand
tenderly on Miss Anthony's shoulder and said: "I remember when I was
dreadfully afraid of Susan, and Lucy too; but now I love and honor them,
and I can not put into words my sense of what it means to me to have the
blessing of these women who have made it possible for more timid ones
like myself to come forward and take our part in the world's work. If
they had not blazed the trees and pioneered the way, we should not have
dared to come. If there is one single drop of chivalric blood in woman's
veins, it ought to bring a tinge of pride to the face that Susan B.
Anthony, Lucy Stone, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Julia Ward Howe and these
other grand women, our leaders and our foremothers, are here for us to
greet; that they, who heard so much that was not agreeable, may hear an
occasional pleasant word while they are alive." Very few of the speakers
failed to express their deep feeling of personal obligation and the
indebtedness of all women to the early labors of Miss Anthony and the
other pioneers.
In her letter to the Union Signal, Miss Willard gave this bit of
description: "The central figure of the council was Susan B. Anthony, in
her black dress and pretty red silk shawl, with her gray-brown hair
smoothly combed over a regal head, worthy of any statesman. Her mingled
good-nature and firmness, her unselfish purpose and keen perception of
the right thing to do, endeared her alike to those whom she admonished
and those whom she praised. In her sixty-ninth year, dear 'Susan B.'
seems not over fifty-five. She has a wonderful constitution, and the
prodigies of work she has accomplished have forever put to rout the
ignorant notion that women lack physical endurance."
In the year of preliminary work for this great council, the thought came
many times to May Wright Sewall that it ought to result in something
more than one brief convention, and she conceived the idea of a
permanent International and also a permanent National Council of Women.
During the week in Washington she presented her plan to a large number
of the leaders who regarded it with approval. Miss Anthony, chairman of
the meeting, by request, appointed a committee of fifteen who reported
in favor of permanent councils, and Miss Willard presented an outline of
constitutions. After a number of meetings of the delegates the councils
were officially formed, March 31, 1888, "to include the organized
working forces of the world's womanhood," in the belief that "such a
federation will increase the world's sum total of womanly courage,
efficiency and esprit de corps, widen the horizon, correct the tendency
of an exaggerated impression of one's own work as compared with that of
others, and put the wisdom and experience of each at the service of
all." A simple form of constitution was adopted, and it was decided that
the National Council should meet once in three years and the
International once in five.[42]
Immediately upon the close of the council, the National Suffrage
Association held its twentieth annual convention and, as many of the
delegates remained, the meetings were nearly as crowded as those of the
council had been. A local paper remarked "that it seemed as if the
Washington people could never hear enough about woman suffrage." A fine
address by Caroline E. Merrick was an especial feature, as it presented
the question from the standpoint of a southern woman. The Senate
committee granted a hearing, the speakers being presented by Miss
Anthony. Mrs. Stanton made the principal address, a grand plea for human
equality, and the grave and dignified committee gave her a round of
applause. She was followed by Frances E. Willard and Julia Ward Howe;
Laura Ormiston Chant and Alice Scatcherd, England; Isabelle Bogelot,
France; Sophia Magelsson Groth, Norway; Alli Trygg, Finland; Bessie
Starr Keefer, Canada.
Miss Anthony received many pleasant letters after the council; among
them one from her friend Mrs. Samuel E. Sewall, of Boston, in which she
said: "We want to congratulate you upon the very satisfactory and
gratifying result of the council. I hear from the delegates on all sides
most enthusiastic accounts of the whole affair, and of your wonderful
powers and energy. Mr. Blackwell is loud in your praise. All this might
be expected from the delegates, but what pleases me still more is the
respectful tone of nearly all the newspapers. Even the sneering Nation
has admitted an article in praise of the council." In all Miss Anthony's
own letters there was not the slightest reference to any feeling of
fatigue or desire for rest, but she seemed only to be stimulated to
greater energy. It was impossible for her to respond to half the
invitations which came from all parts of the country, but usually she
selected the places where she felt herself most needed, without any
regard to her own pleasure or comfort. She did, however, accept a
cordial invitation to attend the annual Boston Suffrage Festival, and
was royally entertained for several days.
On the afternoon of June 9, Central Music Hall, Chicago, was packed with
an audience of representative men and women. Frances E. Willard
presided,[43] prayer was offered by Rev. Florence Kollock, and Mrs.
Ormiston Chant gave a wonderfully electric address on the "Moral
Relations of Men and Women to Each Other." She was followed by Dr. Kate
Bushnell in a thrilling talk on "Legislation as it Deals with Social
Purity." Miss Anthony closed the program with a ringing speech showing
the need of the ballot in the hands of women to remedy such evils as had
been depicted by the other speakers. No abstract can give an idea of her
magnetic force when profoundly stirred by such recitals as had been made
at this meeting.
A few days afterwards a largely-attended reception was given by the
Woman's Club of Chicago to Miss Anthony, Isabella Beecher Hooker and
Baroness Gripenberg, of Finland.
In the summer of 1888, the National Association as usual sent delegates
to each of the presidential conventions, asking for a suffrage plank,
and as usual they were ignored by Republicans and Democrats. Miss
Anthony and Mrs. Hooker had headquarters in the parlors of Mrs. Celia
Whipple Wallace, at the Sherman House, Chicago, during the Republican
convention in June. They issued an open letter citing the record of the
party in regard to women, and asking for recognition, but received no
consideration. In the Woman's Tribune, Miss Anthony made this forcible
statement:
Had the best representative suffrage women of every State in the
Union been in Chicago, established in national headquarters,
working with the men of their State delegations, as well as with
the resolution committee, I have not a doubt that the Republican
platform would have contained a splendid plank, pledging the party
to this broad and true interpretation of the Constitution. Every
other reform had its scores and hundreds of representatives here,
pleading for the incorporation of its principles in the platform
and working for the nomination of the men who would best voice
their plans. Women never will be heard and heeded until they make
themselves a power, irresistible in numbers and strength, moral,
intellectual and financial, in all the formative gatherings of the
parties they would influence. Therefore, I now beg of our women not
to lose another opportunity to be present at every political
convention during this summer, to urge the adoption of woman
suffrage resolutions and the nomination of men pledged to support
them. "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty" for women as well
as for men.
From Chicago Miss Anthony went directly to Indianapolis and, with Mrs.
Sewall, called at the Harrison residence. She says: "We met a most
cordial reception and while the general did not declare himself in favor
of woman's enfranchisement, he expressed great respect for those who
are seeking it." The two ladies then addressed an open letter to General
Harrison, urging that in accepting the nomination he would interpret as
including women that plank in the Republican platform which declared:
"We recognize the supreme and sovereign right of every lawful citizen to
cast one free ballot in all public elections and to have that ballot
duly counted;"[44] but this reasonable request was politely ignored.
Sarah Knox Goodrich and Ellen Clark Sargent, of California, sent the
following telegram to their fellow-citizen, Morris M. Estee, chairman of
the National Republican Convention: "Please ascertain, for many
interested women, if the clause in the platform concerning the sovereign
right of every lawful citizen to a free ballot, includes the women of
the United States." To this Mr. Estee telegraphed reply, "I do not think
the platform is so construed here." This ended the battle of 1888, as
far as women were concerned, and those who might have been the ablest
advocates which any political party could put upon its platform were
relegated to silence during the campaign.
On August 7, Miss Anthony and Mrs. Stanton spoke at Byron Center, and
were entertained by Mrs. Newton Green. Miss Anthony addressed a large
audience at Jamestown on the 10th and was the guest of Mrs. Reuben E.
Fenton. During part of the summer, for a little recreation, she took
hold of the great heterogeneous mass of bills and receipts of the
National W. S. A. for the past four years and compiled them into a neat,
accurate financial report of seventeen pages, in which every dollar
received and disbursed during that time was acknowledged and accounted
for, without any "sundries" or other makeshifts for the sake of
accuracy. As the total amount reached nearly $18,000, a large part of
which had been received in sums of one or two dollars, the labor
involved may be appreciated. Miss Anthony did this, as she did many
other disagreeable things, not because they were officially her duty,
but because they ought to be done and there was no one else ready to
undertake them. She always was restive under red tape regulations. For
many years she was forced to take the lead in all departments of the
suffrage work and when they finally became systematized, with a head at
each, she sometimes grew impatient at delay and usurped the functions of
others without intending any breach of official etiquette. And so when
this financial statement was completed, she published it without waiting
for money or authority, and wrote to the national treasurer, Mrs.
Spofford, who had recently returned from Europe:
Andrew Jackson-like, I decided to assume the responsibility of
sending to each member of the association a copy of the Council
Report with one of the National's financial statement. I am writing
a personal letter to all, explaining our double keeping of our
pledge and asking them to return contributions, if they are able,
for this permanent and nice report. I do not know what results in
cash will come of it to the National, but I do know that the
poorest and hardest-working women who pinched out their dollars to
send, think that we promised them therefor this book-report of the
council. So all in all I decided, against Miss Foster, Mrs. Stanton
and your own dear self, to give each the report, leaving her to do
as she feels most comfortable about sending to the treasurer
payment in return.
A few days later she writes: "I mailed 800 letters yesterday, and we
have sent over 1,500 Reports, with 800 more promised." Could any pen
give an adequate idea of the amount of work accomplished by that
tireless brain and those never-resting hands?
Miss Anthony spoke on Woman's Day, October 12, at the Centennial
Celebration in Columbus, O. A newspaper correspondent drew this contrast
between her address and those of the women of the W. C. T. U.:
Each prayer started heavenward was weighted with
politics--political prohibition. When the eloquent speakers of the
afternoon dealt a stinging blow under the belt to one of the
leading political parties, the applause was tremendous, cheers and
"amens" mingling in a sacrilegious chorus of approval. On the other
hand, when Miss Anthony made her calm, strong and really logical
argument in favor of woman suffrage, giving each party, so far as
related to action of States, just praise or censure, she was
received coldly. It did not seem to count for anything that she had
been a pioneer in the cause of temperance. That white record was
stained because she cast their idol down--she showed that
prohibition had failed in Kansas in the large cities, whether under
a Democratic or a Republican governor, or under St. John, the
Prohibition governor; in every administration it was a failure,
because even there women had only a restricted vote, and public
sentiment without the ballot counted for naught. There were no
little graves in her speech, no weeping willows by winding streams
where lay broken hearts in tombs unmarked. It was a simple
statement of the cause a brave woman had at heart.
She attended the State conventions at Ames, Ia., and at Emporia, Kan.,
where she was the guest of Senator and Mrs. Kellogg. From there she went
to Leavenworth, and later to Omaha for the Nebraska convention. She then
engaged for the fall and winter with the Slayton Lecture Bureau at $60 a
night, and began again the tiresome round throughout the Western States.
In this autumn of 1888, Miss Anthony received a severe shock in the
announcement of the approaching marriage of Rachel Foster to Cyrus
Miller Avery, of Chicago. He had attended the International Council the
preceding spring with his mother, Rosa Miller Avery, known prominently
in suffrage and other public work in Illinois. Here he had seen Miss
Foster in her youth and beauty, carrying a large part of the
responsibility connected with that important gathering, and had fallen
in love with her at first sight. During her long life Miss Anthony had
seen one young girl after another take up the work of woman's
regeneration, fit herself for it, grow into a power, then marry, give it
all up and drop out of sight. "I would not object to marriage," she
wrote, "if it were not that women throw away every plan and purpose of
their own life, to conform to the plans and purposes of the man's life.
I wonder if it is woman's real, true nature always to abnegate self."
Miss Foster had developed unusual ability and for a number of years had
been Miss Anthony's mainstay in the suffrage work, and had grown very
close into her heart; it is not surprising, therefore, that she learned
of the coming marriage with dismay. She accepted the situation as
gracefully as possible, however, and, although too far away to attend
the wedding, sent most cordial wishes for the happiness of the
newly-married.[45]
The year 1888 brought to Miss Anthony many honors, but it brought also
the usual quota of the bereavements which come with every passing year
when one nears threescore and ten. Her cherished friend, Dr. Clemence
Lozier, had passed away; Edward M. Davis, whose faithful friendship
never had failed, was no more; A. Bronson Alcott and his daughter Louisa
had gone to test the truth of the new philosophy; and other dear ones
had dropped out of the narrowing circle. But as a partial compensation,
there had come into her life some new friends who were destined, if not
to fill the place of those who were gone, to make another for themselves
in her affections and her labors quite as helpful and important. Chief
among these was Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, who, from the time of the
International Council, gave her deepest love and truest allegiance.
Until then she had not been near enough Miss Anthony to realize the
nobility and grandeur of her character, but thenceforth she accorded to
her all the devotion and reverence of her own strong and beautiful
nature. In a letter written after she had returned to her home in
Boston, she said: "From my heart I pray that I may always be worthy your
love and confidence. To know you is a blessing; to be trusted by you is
worth far more than my efforts for our work have cost me."
FOOTNOTES:
[36] To these afterwards were added from the executive committee,
Isabella Beecher Hooker, _Chairman_, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Mary B. Clay,
Sarah M. Perkins, Lillie Devereux Blake, Mary F. Eastman, Clara Neymann,
Elizabeth Boynton Harbert.
[37] Many letters are on file making these declarations. It is not
practicable to quote them here, but a place may be made for an extract
from that of Zerelda G. Wallace to Miss Anthony: "While they do not
under-estimate the work of any of the pioneers, the hearts of the women
all over the country are turning to you. They feel that they are yours,
and you are theirs. The suffrage women look to you with as much loyalty
and affection as the temperance women to Miss Willard. There are
thousands of them who would rally around you with an enthusiasm which no
one else can inspire. You will do me the credit to believe that I speak
solely for the good of the work to which you have given your life."
[38] Mrs. Avery and Miss Blackwell have continued ever since to fill
these positions most acceptably to the association.
[39] The magnitude of the work of the council may be better appreciated
by the mention of a few figures in this connection. There were printed
and distributed by mail 10,000 calls and 10,000 appeals; sketches were
prepared of the lives and work of speakers and delegates and circulated
by a press committee of over ninety persons in many States; March 10,
the first edition (5,000) of the sixteen-page program was issued; this
was followed by five other editions of 5,000 each and a final seventh
edition of 7,000. About 4,000 letters were written. Including those
concerning railroad rates, not less than 10,000 more circulars of
various kinds were printed and distributed. A low estimate of the number
of pages thus issued gives 672,000. During the week of the council and
the week of the convention of the National W. S. A. the Woman's Tribune
was published by Mrs. Colby eight times (four days sixteen pages, four
days twelve pages), the daily edition averaging 12,500.
An international convention of men, held in Washington the same year,
cost in round numbers $50,000.--Official Report.
[40] One session each was given to Education, Philanthropy, Temperance,
Industries, Professions, Organizations, Legal Conditions, Social Purity,
Political Conditions, etc., which were discussed by the women most
prominent in the several departments. Fifty-three different national
organizations of women were represented by eighty speakers and
forty-nine delegates from England, France, Norway, Denmark, Finland,
India, Canada and the United States.
[41] The fine stenographic reports of this council were made by Mary F.
Seymour and a corps of women assistants. The official proceedings, with
speeches in full, may be obtained of the corresponding secretary of the
National-American W. S. A.
[42] National Council: _President_, Frances E. Willard;
_vice-president-at-large_, Susan B. Anthony; _corresponding secretary_,
May Wright Sewall; _recording secretary_, Mary F. Eastman; _treasurer_,
M. Louise Thomas.
[43] This meeting was arranged by Dr. Frances Dickinson, who had
persuaded Miss Anthony to make the journey to Chicago in order to
preside over it. On the way to the hall she was detained at a drawbridge
and Miss Willard kindly took her place.
[44] See Appendix for full text of letter.
[45] Mrs. Foster Avery has proved an exception to the rule and, during
the ten years since her marriage, has performed as much work, to say the
least, as any of the younger generation of women, besides contributing
thousands of dollars.