Mrs. M'Cormick Speaks.
"My idea of the object of this asso-
ciation," said Mrs. Medill McCormick, of
Chicago, chairman of
the congressional committee,
"is that we
want to
pass national legislation to give
women the ballot. Among the ways
open to us to obtain the vote are to secure the passage of the
Bristow-Mondell resolution which
is similar to the resolution drafted fifty
years ago by Susan B. Anthony and
which requires ratification by thirty-six
states to become effective; to pass the
Shafroth amendment which provides for
submitting the suffrage question to the
voters of each state through initiative
petitions and to go before the state legislatures for amendments of the state constitutions. The Shafroth amendment is
designed to assist the states to give
women the ballot by going around the
state legislatures. The more suffrage
states we have the easier it will be to
pass the Bristow-Mondell amendment."
Argument in behalf of the Shafroth
resolution was made by Mrs. Antion-
nette Funk, of Chicago, a member of the
congressional committee who appealed to
the delegates not to tie the hands of the
committee in Washington by restricting
their means of operation.
"Many suffragists seem to think that
the Shafroth amendment is a "tobog-
gan-slide' into suffrage but they are
under a misapprehension" declared Mrs.
Blatch. "One of my reasons for objecting to working for it is our funds
and workers are limited and besides we
will have to resort to the Susan B. Anthony resolution eventually to gain the vote.
I do not believe in dividing our
efforts but think we should concentrate
every energy upon the measure that will
bring us what we want. The Bristow-Mondell
amendment gives us a chance to
avoid the referendum and with the
foreign element of voters in this country, I
believe it is not well to risk our cause to
a referendum."
Sharp replies wore calleld(?) forth from
members of the congressional committee
and their supporters when Miss Mabel
Vernon of Delaware criticised the committee. "There are only a few more states
which would help the Shafroth amendment," she asserted. "Why
didn't the congressinal committee
get out in the campaign
states and help them
instead of putting their time on something that could not be accomplished in Washington?"
Shouts of "they did help" came from all
over the hall and Mrs. Funk and Mrs. Mc-
Cormick were allowed to tell of the committee's work in the recent campaign.
Mrs. Valentine of Virginia and other
southern delegates said the southern states
would not care to accept the Shafroth
amendment, but that they would more
quickly grant woman suffrage through
their state legislatures.
Mrs. Helen Hill Weed of Connecticut,
"General" Rosalie Jones of New York,
and Mrs. Francis Burns of Michigan,
were among the ardent advocates of the
Bristow-Mondell measure, while Dr. Anna
Shaw, president of the association; Mrs.
Desha Breckinridge of Kentucky; Miss;
Mary Stewart of Montana and Mrs. Grace Wilbur Trout of Chicago made vigorous
pleas for the Shafroth resolution.
When debate was closed there were a
score or more of delegates who still
wanted to express their views on the question. Mrs. Jenks' amendment to strike
out was lost by a viva voce vote and
Mrs. Brown's substitute motion for that
offered by Mrs. Blatch was adopted by
a vote of 194 to 100.
A motion offered by Mrs. Trout authorising the national board to endorse and
support a federal amendment for a national
initiative and referendum law was
defeated.
There are perhaps twenty-five million
women in the United States, something
over five million of whom are wage-
earning. There are more—far more--
wage-earning women in this country
today than there were men, women and
children in the thirteen colonies upon the day when
those fundamental statements were penned.
Women, because they are women, are taxed
without representation. They are governed without consent. They have personal and contractual, but no political rights. Those in the twentieth century, in the (missing)
Women's Suffrage
