On June 29, 30, 1894, a general meeting of Colorado suffragists was held in Denver and a reorganization of the State association effected. The reason for its continuance was the desire to help other States in their efforts to win the franchise, and a feeling of loyalty to the National Association, to which in common with all other women those of Colorado owed so much.
In May 1895, Miss Susan B. Anthony, president of the National Association, and the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president at large, on their way to California, addressed a large and delighted audience in the Broadway Theater, and a reception was given them by the Woman's Club.
In 1896 the Colorado E. S. A. raised the funds to send Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford to aid in the Idaho amendment campaign.
During the Biennial of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, held in Denver in June, 1898, the E. S. A. celebrated the Jubilee Anniversary of the first Woman's Rights Convention at Seneca Falls, N. Y., by a meeting in the Auditorium and a reception in the parlors of the Central Christian Church, with addresses by eminent local and visiting speakers. In these rooms, for the entire week, this organization and the Civic Federation kept open house, and in a flag-draped booth gave an illustration of the Australian system of voting.[192]
In January, 1899, Denver entertained Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, and Miss Mary G. Hay, secretary, as they were passing through the State. Mrs. A. L. Welch gave a reception in their honor, at which ex-Gov. Charles S. Thomas and Gov. Alva Adams spoke enthusiastically of the results of equal suffrage, followed by Mrs. Chapman Catt in an interesting address. The occasion was especially happy because that day the Legislature had almost unanimously passed a joint resolution as follows:
Whereas, Equal suffrage has been in operation in Colorado for five years, during which time women have exercised the privilege as generally as men, with the result that better candidates have been selected for office, methods of election have been purified, the character of legislation improved, civic intelligence increased and womanhood developed to greater usefulness by political responsibility; therefore,
Resolved, by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring, That in view of these results the enfranchisement of women in every State and Territory of the American Union is hereby recommended as a measure tending to the advancement of a higher and better social order.
That an authenticated copy of these resolutions be forwarded by the Governor of the State to the Legislature of every State and Territory, and the press be requested to call public attention to them.[193]
This year Mrs. Katherine A. G. Patterson, who had been president of the State E. S. A. for three years, retired and was succeeded by Mrs. Welch, who was followed in 1900 by Mrs. Amy K. Cornwall, and in 1901 by Prof. Theodosia G. Ammons.
One of the uncongenial tasks of the officers of the association has been the answering of the many attacks made in Eastern papers on the position of women in Colorado, though this becomes far less trying when it is remembered that in most States public opinion on the question of woman suffrage is still in its formative stage. So soon do we become accustomed to a new thing, if it is in the order of nature, that the women of Colorado have almost ceased to realize that they possess an uncommon privilege. It seems as much a matter of course that women should vote as that they should enjoy the right of free speech or the protection of the habeas corpus act. It is seldom defended, for the same reason that it is no longer thought necessary to defend the Copernican vs. the Ptolemaic theory. One aim of the association is to arouse a more altruistic spirit, and another so to unite women that they will stand together for a good cause irrespective of party. There is at present a strong legislative committee which has been studying the statutes from a non-partisan standpoint, with a view to influencing needful legislation.[194]
Before the autumn of 1893 there were many clubs in Denver, mostly of a literary nature, each formed of women of a certain rank in life, with similar tastes and pursuits. Some had a membership so limited as to render them very difficult of access, but in their way all were good. Perhaps the only truly democratic association, if those of the churches were excepted, where the rich and the poor met together on a plane so perfectly level that only mental or moral height in the individual produced any difference, was the equal suffrage club. Whether related to it or not, this new ideal of club life followed closely after the gaining of political equality.
The Woman's Club of Denver was organized April 21, 1894, with 225 charter members, and now has nearly 1,000. It contains many women of wealth and high social standing, many quiet housekeepers without the slightest aspirations toward fashionable life, and many women who earn their daily bread by some trade or profession. What the public school is supposed to do for our youth in helping us to become a homogeneous nation, the modern woman's club is doing for those of maturer years. The North Side Woman's Club of Denver is second to the Woman's Club only in size and time of organization. The Colorado Federation of Women's Clubs was formed April 5, 1895, with a charter membership of thirty-seven. It now is composed of over 100 clubs, containing about 4,000 individuals.