that it will not take most of the advertisements it can get, and it
cannot get most of the advertisement sit wants. In the first place.
The Woman's Journal will not accept liquor or tobacco advertisements,
or any advertisements of patent medicines, swindling schemes,
or matters of a questionable character. Every year it declines a
considerable amount of business on this score.
"But," the reader is sure to say, "what about the thousand and one
advertisements which are legitimate? There are hundreds and thousands
of advertisements of women's products for which the Journal ought to
be an excellent medium." In answer to this one might almost say that
the better the grade of advertising the harder it is to get. The
better grades of advertising require a much larger circulation than
we have and a better grade of paper on which to print their
advertisements; they naturally want their advertisements to be shown
in the most attractive manner. And there are hundreds of publications
just as good as ours which can give them the proper display.
Another difficulty we have to combat is the fact that our paper is not
well known to men; it is not advertised anywhere, it is not displayed
anywhere; they rarely see any one reading it; they cannot get it on
the newsstands, and, in short, they cannot imagine who reads it. This
is hard to combat.
Another reason given by those who refuse to advertise in the Woman's
Journal is that the advertiser or the advertising agent does not
believe in equal suffrage, or to use his own expression, he is "not a
suffragette." He is sure that no one would ever advertise in the paper
unless he believed in votes for women, and frankly, he does not want
his friends to be given a chance to tease him about "this suffragette
business."
Since the Journal is a national paper, it ought, of course, to have
national advertising, but national advertisers require at least 50,000
circulation, we are told. If the Journal's circulation were local, it
could get plenty, but local advertising, of course, does not properly
belong in a national paper, for all except the local circulation is a
waste for it.
If the present circulation of the Journal were in one State or in one
section of the country, say in the West, the Middle West, or in New
York and New England, the paper could get more advertising than it
could carry. But its circulation is scattered over the whole country,
and while this spoils it for local advertising, its circulation is not
yet large enough to enable it to get much national advertising.
To an advertising agent who has seen in a suffrage parade in New York,
Boston, Philadelphia, or Washington from 10,000 to 50,000 suffragists,
it is hard to explain why the national paper going to forty-eight
States, has less than 30,000 subscribers. He expects that the organ
of the movement has at least 75,000 subscribers. When he learns the
truth, it is impossible to talk with him further.
In a nutshell, then, what the advertising department needs is that
great body of non-subscribing suffragists to enroll as readers. Think
of that 68,000 whose names and addresses we have! If we only had them
on our lists, if they stood back of us, advertisers would be glad to
consider us.
What, then, can suffragists do for the advertising department? They
can do three things.
(1) Increase the number of readers of the paper.
(2) Read the advertisements we print and patronize every advertiser
possible, letting him know why they do so: and
(3) Unite to bring pressure to bear on advertisers so they will
advertise with us.
Imagine what would happen if twenty suffragists in each city in the
country were to call on the advertisers doing business there and urge
them to advertise in the Journal! They would simply put the Journal on
the advertiser's map!
=Prints and Reprints=
[Illustration: William Lloyd Garrison A Life-long Friend of the
Journal]
"Your editorial in this week's issue deserves a wider circulation. It
ought to go to thousands who are not yet with us. Can you reprint it
for more general distribution?" Such requests have led us from time
to time to reprint something which has appeared in the paper. If it is
reprinted soon after it is current in the paper, it can be furnished
at a cheaper rate than if the type had to be set for pamphlet or
leaflet use alone. There is usually a good demand for what we have
reprinted, particularly since we can advertise it in the Journal.
The Journal has, accordingly, printed the following which appeared
first in its columns:
_A Bubble Pricked.
The Threefold Menace.
Open Letter To Clergymen.
Liquor Against Suffrage.
Suffrage and Temperance
The Stage and Woman Suffrage.
Votes and Athletics.
Ballots and Brooms.
Suffrage in Utah.
Suffrage and Mormonism.
My Mother and the Little Girl Next Door.
Massachusetts Laws.
Suffrage and Morals.
Worth of a Vote.
Jane Addams Testifies.
A Campaign of Slander._
In addition to these, the Journal printed in 1915 200,000 postal cards
on good stock with colored ink, especially calculated to win voters.
In preparing them, every type of man from the point of view of his
business or profession was considered. Their titles are as follows and
indicate their character:
_If You Are A Working Man
Working Men--Help.
If You Are A Doctor.
If You Are A Farmer.
If You Are A Policeman.
If You Are An Educator.
If You Are A Postman.
If You Are A Business Man.
If You Are A Minister.
If You Are A Traveling Man.
If You Are A Fireman.
If You Are Interested In Political Questions.
A Statement By Judge Lindsey.
An Object Lesson.
Think On These Things.
The Meaning Of The Suffrage Map.
Arms Versus Armies.
Do Women Want To Vote?_
Suffrage literature divides into two kinds: that which must be
inexpensive and very easily read, for the voter; and that which is
designed for women who, like conservative college graduates and
many other women, will be surely impressed with a more weighty,
more obviously expensive-looking argument. We find that many want
good-looking, well-prepared, convincing literature to send to those
whom they are trying to convert. Practically all of the literature
which the Journal has printed belongs to the second class.
=The Graveyard=
[Illustration: Wendell Phillips A Staunch Friend]
Every live newspaper office has as part of its necessary equipment
What is familiarly known as "The Graveyard." Ours is a combination
of the Research and Information Departments. It contains pictures
of distinguished and leading suffragists in this country and abroad,
biographical sketches of them, quotations from them and other
suffragists, notable articles, criticisms, reviews and news of the
movement which may be useful at some later date, a large amount of
information and data and compilation of facts and figures, such as one
needs at his fingers' ends in an office which does the kind of work
that is being done in few places if anywhere else in the country. The
files in this department include also a large amount of statistics
and information regarding anti-suffrage activities, workers for the
opposition, methods, amount of money spent, sources of income, and an
index of the Journal from week to week.
Who was the first woman doctor, what college first opened its doors
to women, what was the date of the first suffrage convention, how many
times was equal suffrage submitted in Oregon before it was granted,
what States in the Union have no form of suffrage for women whatever,
who are the most distinguished men advocates of woman suffrage today,
how many believers in equal suffrage are there in this country? These
are some examples of the myriad questions that come constantly to
the Journal for answer--usually at short notice and without a stamped
envelope for reply.
Material for debates, speeches, articles for the press, chapters in
books, copy to be read into the minutes of the Congress of the United
States, refutation of anti-suffrage articles, answers to hundreds and
thousands of objections to equal suffrage, questions of how it works,
what women have achieved in science, art, literature,--to meet these
with the least waste of time and energy is the end and aim of "The
Graveyard." Practically all suffragists use it, but no one has ever
contributed a penny toward its support, and no organization has ever
made an appropriation to maintain it. It is simply another case of the
willing mother and the thoughtless daughter!
=Holding the Reins=
[Illustration: Julia Ward Howe President of the Woman's Journal
Corporation for Many Years]
In 1910 there was one woman worker besides the editor-in-chief in the
office of the Woman's Journal, and one woman who worked part time.
Mr. Henry B. Blackwell, who always gave his services to the paper, had
died in 1909. There were only four pages to the paper then, and the
total subscription list was 3,989. Bills were sent out only twice a
year, and hardly any work was being done to increase the subscription
list or any department of the paper. Office administration was then
a very simple matter--whereas now the Subscription Department alone
requires the full time of more than ten workers.
The result is that office administration now is a very different
matter. It has become a question of holding the reins of twenty-four
young people, all of whom have special work to do, but all of
whom need almost constant direction. And while there are heads of
departments who oversee the work of clerks and stenographers up to
a point, almost daily conferences and supervisions are necessary in
order to have the work go on satisfactorily. This takes an immense
amount of time and energy and initiative and planning. It is a case
of driving twenty-four in hand. Some days it sends the driver home
thoroughly wearied.
Besides the absorbing task of keeping the whole staff busy, there is
always the exhausting and important matter of mapping out the work,
laying plans for advance work, originating and initiating, and making
decisions that involve more or less risk.
Then there is the actual personal labor of helping to get the paper
to press each week, choosing from a limited supply suitable
illustrations, writing some "copy," writing heads, making up,
dictating and signing hundreds of letters each week, seeing all
callers who need to be seen, and constantly directing and overseeing
to keep matters of a thousand and one details ship-shape and accurate.
There is the question of office space, rent, subletting office room,
buying typewriters, stationery and other supplies to advantage. The
question of ventilation, health and sick leave of staff, obtaining
efficient and conscientious work and maintaining a wholesome esprit de
corps.
=Capturing the Imagination=
[Illustration: Armenia White One of the First Stockholders]
Capturing the imagination for equal suffrage or for the Woman's
Journal is another way of saying "getting so many inches or columns of
free advertising in the papers." Each week for some time we have been
watching the Journal's columns to see whether, by sending an advance
clipping from the week's paper, we could not get a certain amount of
free publicity in the daily paper. We have also experimented to some
extent to see if we could get publicity for the Journal aside from
what appears in its columns. The result has been that such stories as
the analysis of the source of income of the anti-suffragists has had
very wide publicity. It has even been published in country weeklies
and monthly magazines. In the majority of cases, the Journal has been
credited, and in this way much free advertising has been secured.
At the time of the elections, we sent a copy of Mrs. Fredrikke
Palmer's drawing called "Waiting for the Returns" with a little sketch
of the artist to a number of first class dailies. A number of these
papers used it, giving full credit to the Woman's Journal.
The Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association has a showcase on the
sidewalk in front of its headquarters where it displays pictures,
clippings, novelties and anything that may capture the interest of the
passing pedestrian. We asked to have the Journal displayed there each
week and to have special articles clipped and attractively mounted.
This has been done with benefit to both the Association and the
Journal. The suggestion might well be adopted for every suffrage
headquarters. The cost is very slight and the people whose attention
one gets in this way are not those, as a rule, who attend suffrage
meetings or are easily reached. They are the great host of
"passers-by."
A method of publicity for the Journal and the cause which has been
adopted successfully by many individuals is that of displaying a copy
of the Journal on the library table in one's home. In some cases the
front page drawings have been considered so good that requests have
been received to have extra copies struck off for use in showcases,
bulletin boards and booths.
Other suffragists adopt other methods of making the paper known to the
public. Some make a point of earning a copy to read in the street car
or train whenever possible. Anyone who tries this will find many and
many a pair of eyes diverted to the picture or the appearance of a
publication with which the onlooker is not familiar. Ardent partisans
of the Journal always mention it in reports and speeches at meetings
and even in debates. They are usually persons who have been converted
to the principle of equal suffrage by a stray copy of the Journal sent
to them by ardent friend!
=A Word In Time=
[Illustration: Margaret Foley]
Miss Margaret Foley has been doing Field Work for the Woman's Journal
since the elections in November. She has been working as an experiment
to see if Journals cannot be sold successfully at all suffrage
meetings when from three to ten minutes are devoted to calling
attention to the paper from the platform.
From the last thirteen meetings at which she sold papers and took
subscription orders she got $74.42. Many of the meetings were small
and at the larger number of them the attendance was made up mostly of
those who already subscribe for the paper. Miss Foley's work is proof
positive, if such were needed, that it pays to mention the Journal at
suffrage meetings and to have it on sale and to take subscriptions.
The results she has had can be duplicated at every suffrage meeting in
the United States where 100 or more are gathered together, and a word
spoken in time at suffrage meetings saves much of the more expensive
converting and canvassing to bring out the vote when election time
comes. One of the greatest wastes of the movement today is the failure
of those in charge of meetings to make provision for this part of
propaganda work.
Miss Foley usually speaks toward the close of a meeting. The gist of
her remarks is something like this:
"You have just heard about our cause and how wonderful it is to be
connected with it. I am sure you will want to know more about it. The
best way to get authentic information and news about Votes for Women
is to read the organ of the suffrage movement, The Woman's Journal and
Suffrage News, on sale in the corridor. The paper is only five cents a
copy and you can get a full year's subscription for $1.00. Do not fail
to get a copy from me before you go."
The Woman's Journal has many field workers who do in connection with
the regular suffrage work what Miss Foley has been doing for the
Journal as an experiment. For the vitality of the movement every
locality which holds suffrage meetings should have a Journal field
worker for every occasion. A word in time saves an endless amount of
converting.
=Our Hope Chest=
[Illustration: Thomas Wentworth Higginson For Many Years Contributing
Editor]
Other causes, other propaganda papers, have their budgets, their
war chests, their exchequers, their ways and means committees, their
financial backers of wealth and prestige, but the Woman's Journal has
had only what we may perhaps call our "Hope Chest." It was constructed
purely out of the hope that, if the paper filled a need, if it was
found worthy of the movement it represents, its finances would in
some way take care of themselves. And it is a wonderful tribute to the
believers in the cause for equal suffrage that this plan has worked
for better or worse for more than forty years.
As the financial responsibilities of the paper have grown during
the past six years, however, it has become apparent that we must not
merely publish the paper each year and hope to pay our bills but that
we must study the question of financing a growing paper with ever
growing needs of expansion and consequent growing financial risks.
Accordingly, we decided that if we must "raise money" each year in
some way or other, we must go about it in a well thought out way and
not leave such an important matter to haphazard uncertainties. We
have, therefore, formed a small Finance Department and have studied
all of the ways of raising money that are known to us, trying of
course to make out which ones are particularly adapted to our needs.
The result is that we have decided on the following course:
(1) To issue this survey of the Journal's work, and ask suffragists to
consider the value of the paper purely on its merits and contribute to
it and support it if they believe in what it is doing.
(2) To form a Central Finance Committee with a branch in each state in
the Union.
(3) To ask able women and friendly organizations in various towns
and cities throughout the country to give a ball, banquet, bazaar,
festival or other benefit or entertainment with the express purpose of
sharing the proceeds with the Woman's Journal.
Because of the vitality of the paper through the barren pioneer days,
through the days of ridicule and up into these times of great numbers,
splendid prestige and backing for the whole movement, we have faith
that our hopes are not in vain.
[Illustration: Mrs. David Hunt A Generous Supporter of the Woman's
Journal]
One proof of our faith is that we find working in the Woman's Journal
office year after year is in some ways like living in a fairy
story. We never know what is going to happen next. The day after
election--and defeat in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New
Jersey--a woman came to the Journal office bearing a check for $1,000
in her hand and saying in substance, "Here is a small check to cheer
Miss Blackwell and the Journal in the face of yesterday's defeats at
the polls." She asked not to have her name used. Hers is an example
of the way suffragists feel toward the Woman's Journal. To them it
symbolizes the cause.
FORM OF BEQUEST
* * * * *
_I hereby give and bequeath to the Proprietors of
The Woman's Journal,
published in Boston, a corporation established under the laws of
Massachusetts,
the sum of ---- dollars._
* * * * *
=Early Stockholders of the Woman's Journal=
NATHANIEL WHITE _Concord, N.H._
MRS. ARMENIA WHITE _Concord, N.H._
MRS. HARRIET M. PITMAN _Somereville, Mass._
JULIA WARD HOWE _Boston, Mass._
SAMUEL E. SEWALL _Melrose, Mass._
E.D. DRAPER _Boston, Mass._
MRS. ANNA C. LODGE _Boston, Mass._
MRS. ELIZABETH B. CHACE _Valley Falls, R.I._
MRS. LILLIE B. CHACE _Valley Falls, R.I._
T.W. HIGGINSON _Newport, R.I._
SARAH W. GRIMKE _Hyde Park, Mass._
MRS. ANGELINA G. WELD _Hyde Park, Mass._
MRS. SUSIE CRANE VOGL _Hyde Park, Mass._
MRS. MARY HEMINWAY _Boston, Mass._
WILLIAM B. STONE _W. Brookfield, Mass._
REBECCA BOWKER _No address._
JOHN GAGE _Vineland, N.J._
MRS. PORTIA GAGE _Vineland, N.J._
ALFRED H. BATCHELOUR _Boston, Mass._
CHARLOTTE A. JOY _Mendon, Mass._
SAMUEL MAY _Boston, Mass._
ALFRED WYMAN _Worcester, Mass._
CHARLES DWIGHT _Boston, Mass._
ISAAC AMES _Hacerhill, Mass._
HENRY MAYO _Boston, Mass._
AUGUSTA DAGGETT _Boston, Mass._
GEORGE B. LORINE _Salem, Mass._
CHARLES RICHARDSON _Address unknown._
A.P. WARD _Worcester, Mass._
STEPHEN S. FOSTER _Worcester, Mass._
A.S. HASKELL _Chelsea, Mass._
SARAH G. WILKINSON _Salem, Mass._
LUCY STONE _Boston, Mass._
CHARLES W. SLACK _Boston, Mass._
A.A. BURRAGE _Boston, Mass._
JOHN WHITEHEAD _Newark, N.J._
OTIS CLAPP _Boston, Mass._
T.L. NELSON _Worcester, Mass._
PHILIP C. WHEELER _Boston, Mass._
HENRY CHAPIN _Worcester, Mass._
E.S. CONVERSE _Boston, Mass._
MRS. CARRIE P. LACOSTE _Maiden, Mass._
LUCIUS W. POND _Worcester, Mass._
GEORGE W. KEENE _Lynn, Mass._
EDWARD EARLE _Worcester, Mass._
SARAH SHAW RUSSELL _Boston, Mass._
ROWLAND CONNOR _Boston, Mass._
E.D. WINSLOW _Boston, Mass.
H.B. BLACKWELL _Newark, N.J._
CAROLINE M. SEVERANCE _West Newton, Mass._
MRS. MARY MAY _Boston, Mass._
F.W.G. MAY _Dorcestoer, Mass._
HARRISON BLISS _Worcester, Mass._
JOHN W. HUTCHINSON _Lynn, Mass._
J.J. BELVILLE _Dayton, Ohio._
WILLIAM CLATLIN _Boston, Mass._
MERCY B. JACKSON _Boston, Mass._
WARREN McFRALAND _Worcester, Mass._
SARAH G. WELD _Hyde Park, Mass._
LOUISA SEWALL CABOT _Brookline, Mass._
=Stockholders of the Woman's Journal, 1916 Individuals=
JANE ADDAMS
MARY WARE ALLEN
HELEN H. BENNETT
EMMA L. BLACKWELL
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL
HOWARD L. BLACKWELL
VIRGINIA BRANNER
EMILY E. DALAND
M.A. EVANS
H.E. FLANSBURG
SUSANNA PHELPS GAGE
FRANCIS J. GARRISON
JENNY C. LAW HARDY
HARRIET O. HAWKINS
MARY E. HILTON
MARY JOHNSTON
MARTHA S. KIMBALL
FLORENCE HOPE LUSCOMB
MARY McWILLIAMS MARSH
FLORENCE E.M. MASKREY
CATHERINE M. McGINLEY
MAUD WOOD PARK
ANNETTE W. PARMELEE
AGNES E. RYAN
MARTHA SCHOFIELD
PAULINE A. SHAW
JUDITH W. SMITH
HELEN D. STEARNS
HENRY BAILEY STEVENS
GRACE L. TAYLOR
JOHN FOGG TWOMBLY
MABEL CALDWELL WILLARD
=Estates of=
MRS. SUSAN LOOK AVERY
J.J. BELVILLE
HARRISON BLISS
MRS. REBECCA BOWKER
A.A. BURRAGE
LOUISE SEWALL CABOT
WILLIAM CLAFLIN
JOHN GAGE
MRS. PORTIA GAGE
JOHN W. HUTCHINSON
MERCY B. JACKSON
MRS. CARRIE P. LACOSTE
GEORGE B. LORINO
HENRY MAYO
CHARLES RICHARDSON
A.P. WARE
CLARA E. CLEMENT WATERS
ANGELINA GRIMKE WELD
JOHN WHITEHEAD
MISS C.I. WILBY
SARAH G. WILKINSON
E.D. WINSLOW
=National, State and League Associations=
NATIONAL AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.
ALABAMA EQUAL SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.
BOSTON EQUAL SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT.
CAMBRIDGE POLITICAL EQUALITY ASSOCIATION.
CONNECTICUT WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.
ILLINOIS EQUAL SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.
IOWA EQUAL SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.
KENTUCKY EQUAL RIGHTS ASSOCIATION.
LOUISIANA STATE SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION
MAINE WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.
MASSACHUSETTS WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.
MICHIGAN EQUAL SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.
MINNESOTA WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.
MISSOURI EQUAL SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.
NEBRASKA WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.
NEVADA EQUAL FRANCHISE SOCIETY.
NEW HAMPSHIRE EQUAL SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.
NEW JERSEY WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.
NEWPORT COUNTY, R.I. WOMAN SUFFRAGE LEAGUE.
NEW YORK STATE WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.
PENNSYLVANIA WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.
ROCK COUNTY, WIS., WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.
WEST VIRGINIA EQUAL SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.
WISCONSIN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.
=The Journal Goes to 39 Foreign Countries=
Canal Zone Italy
Cuba Japan
Hawaii Java
Philippines Korea
Canada New Zealand
Australia Norway
Austria Persia
Bermuda Poland
Bohemia Roumania
China Russia
Denmark Scotland
England Asia
Finland South Africa
France South America
Germany Sweden
Holland Switzerland
Hungary Wales
Iceland Dutch East Indies
India West Indies
Ireland
[Illustration: The Anti and the Snowball--Then and Now]
=The Corporation=
The Corporation
The Woman's journal is a corporation formed under the laws of
Massachusetts. Its stockholders are interested in furthering the cause
of equal suffrage through a paper owned and managed by suffragists.
Its directors, its editor-in-chief, and its deputy treasurer receive
no salary; its stockholders receive no dividends. Those who purchase
stock do so for the sake of building up the paper to meet the needs of
the movement.
Its Purpose
Its purpose is contained in the following description which appeared
on the original title page: "A weekly newspaper devoted to the
interests of woman--to her educational, industrial, legal, and
political equality, and especially to her right of suffrage."
Annual Meeting