State Central Committee: Mrs. Sargent, Miss Anthony, Mrs. Swift, Mrs. Sperry, Mrs. Blinn, with Mary G. Hay, chairman.
[173] Later Mrs. Ida Crouch Hazlitt of Colorado, Mrs. Laura M. Riddell of San Diego and other State women were added to the organizing force.
[174] Dr. Elizabeth Sargent was chairman of the Committee on Petitions for Northern and Mrs. Alice Moore McComas for Southern California. As the names had to be collected in the winter months preceding the spring campaign, the distances to be covered were long and the labor was the free offering of busy women, it is surprising that the list was so large. It by no means represented the suffrage sentiment in the State.
[175] Alameda had sent in the largest petition for woman suffrage of any county in the State, and San Joaquin afterwards gave a big majority vote for the amendment.
[176] A number of young women who were engaged the greater part of every day in teaching, stenography, bookkeeping, etc., gave every hour that could be spared to the work at headquarters, a free will offering. Among those who deserve special mention are Misses Mary, Louise and Sarah Donnelly, Mary Gorham, Clara Schlingheyde, Effie Scott Vance, Evelyn Grove, Mrs. N. W. Palmer, Winifred and Marguerite Warner and Carrie A. Whelan. Mrs. Lelia S. Martin also contributed five months' time.
[177] Los Angeles County gave a majority of 4,600 in favor of the amendment.
[178] Many personal incidents and anecdotes of this campaign will be found in the Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, Chap. XLVII.
[179] This portion of the chapter was prepared by Mrs. Alice Moore McComas, former president of the Los Angeles Woman Suffrage Association and chairman of the Southern California press committee during the amendment campaign of 1896. A considerable amount of space is given because it presents so admirable an example of the manner in which the work in such a campaign should be done.
[180] The first paper to establish a Suffrage Column was the Los Angeles Express, in 1887, H. Z. Osborne, editor. This was conducted by Mrs. McComas for three years.
[181] Among the many were Gertrude Foster, the young California actress, who added attraction to many programs with her brilliant readings, and Jessie, daughter of Superior Judge Waldo York, who won the prize of $75 offered by Dr. Ella Whipple Marsh, superintendent of franchise of the Southern California W. C. T. U., for the best essay on woman suffrage, one hundred young people of both sexes competing. An oratorical contest for young college men—original orations on woman suffrage—resulted in a $20 prize to Edwin Hahn of Pomona College, five young men participating. Clare, daughter of Judge C. C. McComas, gave highly-appreciated recitations on the woman question, and Miss Nina Cuthbert, the young teacher of elocution, delighted many audiences with her readings and wonderful imitations.