The battle was now fairly begun and it grew hotter with every passing week for the next five months. A few days after the last convention the women held a mass meeting in Metropolitan Temple to ratify the planks. The great hall was crowded to the doors and hundreds stood during all the long exercises. As the ladies who had been to the conventions came upon the stage, the building fairly rang with applause. The Republican, Populist, Prohibition, Democratic and Socialist-Labor parties were represented by prominent men who made strong suffrage speeches. Congressman James G. Maguire spoke for those individual Democrats who believed in woman suffrage, among whom he was always a staunch advocate. Miss Anthony was cheered to the echo and it seemed as if the audience could not get enough of her bright, pithy remarks, as she introduced the different speakers.
The suffrage advocates, elated with their victory in three conventions, opened headquarters in the large new Parrott building and swung their banner across the street.[120] Five rooms were filled with busy workers directed by Mary G. Hay, chairman of the State central committee, while the other members took turns in receiving the reporters, the people on business and the throngs of visitors from all parts of the State. To follow this campaign in detail, to name all of those most prominently connected with it, would be obviously impracticable. It would be utterly impossible to mention individually the hundreds of women who thoroughly canvassed their own precincts and deserve a full share of the credit for the large vote cast. A number of competent California women took up the organization of the different counties. Every woman in the State who could address an audience found her place and work. Mrs. Alice Moore McComas and Rev. Mila Tupper Maynard headed the list of Southern California speakers. Miss Sarah M. Severance spoke under the auspices of the W. C. T. U. Mrs. Naomi Anderson represented the colored women. Rev. Anna Shaw spoke every night during the campaign, except the one month when she returned East to fill engagements. She paid the salary of her secretary and donated her services to the headquarters for five months. Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates, of Maine, made about one hundred speeches. The last two months Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, national organizer, gave several addresses each day. There were very few men who worked as hard during that campaign as did scores of the women, each according to her ability.
No description could give an adequate idea of the amount of labor performed by Miss Anthony during those eight months. There was scarcely a day, including Sundays, that she did not make from one to three speeches, often having a long journey between them. She addressed great political rallies of thousands of people; church conventions of every denomination; Spiritualist and Freethinkers' gatherings; Salvation Army meetings; African societies; Socialists; all kinds of labor organizations; granges; Army and Navy Leagues; Soldiers' Homes and military encampments; women's clubs and men's clubs; Y. M. C. A.'s and W. C. T. U.'s. She spoke at farmers' picnics on the mountaintops, and Bethel Missions in the cellars of San Francisco; at parlor meetings in the most elegant homes; and in pool-rooms where there was printed on the blackboard, "Welcome to Susan B. Anthony."
She was in constant demand for social functions, where her presence gave an opportunity for a discussion of the all-absorbing question. One of the handsomest of these was a breakfast of two hundred covers, given by the Century Club in the "maple room" of the Palace Hotel, where were gathered the leading women of San Francisco and other cities in the State. Miss Anthony sat at the right hand of the president and responded to the toast, "Those who break bread with us." The club privileges were extended to her and, at the close of the campaign, she was made an honorary member. This club was composed largely of conservative women, but its president, Mrs. Mary Wood Swift, was one of the most prominent of the suffrage advocates. She addressed the Woman's Press Association, the Laurel Hall Club, the Forum, Sorosis, Association of Collegiate Alumnæ and most of the other women's organizations of San Francisco. An invitation to luncheon was received from Mrs. Stanford signed, "Your sincere friend and believer in woman suffrage," and a very pleasant day was spent in her lovely home at Menlo Park.
A breakfast was given in her honor by the Ebell Club of Oakland, Mrs. G. W. Bunnell, president. She rode in a beautifully decorated carriage at the great Fabiola Fête, or floral festival, held annually in this city. Many social courtesies were extended in the towns around the bay, among them being dinner parties by Senator and Mrs. Fred Stratton, Mr. and Mrs. A. A. Moore, Mrs. Henry Vrooman, Mr. and Mrs. F. M. Smith, Mrs. Emma Shafter Howard, Mr. and Mrs. F. C. Havens, Mrs. Alice H. Wellman, of Oakland; Judge and Mrs. J. A. Waymire, of Alameda; Mr. and Mrs. William A. Keith, of Berkeley. All this would have been very enjoyable but for the fact that most of these occasions included a speech, and she was usually obliged to come from just having spoken, or to rush away to keep another engagement. One unique experience was a complimentary trip tendered, through Mrs. Lovell White, by the proprietors of the new Mill Valley and Mount Tamalpais Scenic Railway, to Miss Anthony and a large number of guests. From the top of this high peak, which overlooks the Golden Gate, they enjoyed a view that for beauty and grandeur is not surpassed in the world.
Miss Anthony visited also various towns throughout the central part of the State and along the coast, speaking in wigwams, halls, churches, schoolhouses and the open air, taking trains at all hours, travelling through heat and dust, wind and cold; and there was never a word of complaint during all the long campaign. She was always ready to go, always on time, always full of cheer and hope.
The first week in June she went to Portland to attend the Woman's Congress, Abigail Scott Duniway, president. Its officers were among the prominent women of the city, and she was royally received. She spoke a number of times during the nine sessions and was handsomely treated by the press. Sarah B. Cooper joined her here, on her way home from the National Federation of Clubs at Louisville, Ky. A number of receptions were given in their honor, among them one by the Woman's Club. There was an elaborate luncheon at "the Curtis;" and a reception was tendered by the managers of the Woman's Union. No effort was spared to make their visit in everyday delightful. Miss Anthony lectured in the opera house at Seattle under the auspices of the Woman's Century Club, and a reception was given by her hostess, Mrs. Kate Turner Holmes. Many inducements were offered for her to extend the visit, but she was desirous of returning to the field of work in California at the earliest possible moment and was absent only nine days.
Miss Anthony was invited by both Republican and Populist managers to address their ratification meetings in San Francisco, and received an ovation from the great audiences representing the two parties. One wing of the Democrats held their ratification meeting after night in the open air and of course she was not invited to speak, but the other wing extended a cordial invitation and she addressed them in Metropolitan Temple, receiving an enthusiastic greeting. The suffrage women themselves held a second mass meeting September 10, according to the Call, "amid a mighty outburst of popular enthusiasm, the like of which has seldom if ever been seen at a political meeting held in this city." Here again the part taken by prominent men from all political parties demonstrated the non-partisan character of the woman's campaign. This was Mrs. Catt's first appearance before a California audience and the papers said: "As she and the other ladies delivered their clear-cut, logical speeches, cheers rent the air and handkerchiefs and hats were waved with overmastering enthusiasm."
And so the months went by, with their cares and pleasures, their hopes and fears, their elation and depression. In her letters to her sister, Miss Anthony wrote: "Sometimes I have a homesick hour and feel as if I must leave all and rush back to my own hearthstone, but then I pull myself together and resolve to go through to the end." A similar campaign was in progress in Idaho and Mrs. Catt was there in August at the request of that State board, to represent the national association. They were very anxious that Miss Anthony should come also, but to their many letters she replied:
I should love dearly to go to Boise at once, as you request, and I should have been in Idaho during the last two months had it been possible for one human being to be in two places at the same time.... I learn that the men who believe in suffrage in your State, object to an open demand for party endorsement, but prefer a "still hunt." I have seen this tried before, but our opponents always can make a stiller hunt. Our only hope of success lies in open, free and full discussions through the newspapers and political party speakers.... Won't it be a magnificent feather in our cap if we get both California and Idaho into the fold this year? How beautiful the blue field will look with two more stars—five little gold stars! Remember that the woman suffrage stars are gold, not silver. Not that I think gold is better than silver, but it is a different color from the forty-five on the regular flag.[121]