The principal address was made by the Rev. Jenkin Lloyd Jones of Chicago, a devoted friend, with whose courageous and independent spirit Miss Anthony had been in deep sympathy.[52] Tributes were paid to other devoted adherents to the cause who had died during the year and Henry B. Blackwell in closing his own said: "The workers pass on but the work remains." Dr. Shaw took up the words, making them the text of a beautiful memorial address, calling the long list one by one, beginning with the Anthony sisters and Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker and naming among the other veteran workers: Rosa L. Segur, Ohio; Emily B. Ketcham, Michigan; the Hon. H. S. Greenleaf, Professor Henry A. Ward, Eliza Thayer, Emogene Dewey and Mrs. James Sargent, New York; Virginia Durant Young, South Carolina; Ellen Powell Thompson, District of Columbia; Laura Moore, Vermont; Mrs. Henry W. Blair and Mrs. Oliver Branch, New Hampshire; Susan W. Lippincott, New Jersey, and many others.
The all-pervading spirit of the convention was that of carrying forward Miss Anthony's work. The board of officers was re-elected almost unanimously except that Dr. Jeffreys Myers, who wished to retire as second auditor, was replaced by Mrs. Mary S. Sperry of San Francisco. Mrs. Avery, for twenty-one years corresponding secretary, had returned from a long sojourn in Europe and the desire was so strong to have her on the board again that the office of second vice-president was created. At Mrs. Florence Kelley's insistence she was allowed to yield the first vice-presidency to Mrs. Avery and take the second place as having less responsibility.
The report of the headquarters secretary, Miss Elizabeth J. Hauser, told of the sending out of 19,000 letters and 182,264 pieces of literature within the year. It gave the names of many eminent men and women who were contributors to this literature, much of which first appeared in prominent magazines and newspapers, and spoke of the excellent propaganda work of The Public, edited by Louis F. Post. It emphasized the important accession of the North American Review and the Harper publications, which had come under the management of Colonel George Harvey. The report told of the bequest of Miss Anthony to the National American Association of all the remaining bound volumes of the History of Woman Suffrage, which had been sent to the headquarters and weighed ten tons.[53] Fifty sets had been sold during the year. Files of the Reports of the national conventions from 1900 to 1906 inclusive had been placed in one hundred of the largest libraries in the United States. The association arranged with Mrs. Harper for the exclusive sale of the Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony. The convention voted that Progress, edited by Mrs. Upton, should be changed to a weekly and enlarged, and every suffrage club was urged to subscribe for Jus Suffragii, the official paper of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance. Thousands of copies of new and valuable literature had been sold. After the press work was turned over to the headquarters 1,200 copies of articles of national interest were supplied each week to the fifty-eight State chairmen of the press committee from July to January and 28,875 copies of 118 news items and 50 special articles were sent to prominent newspapers.
The important work with organizations and their conventions was not neglected and during the past year they were asked specifically for a resolution calling on Congress to submit a Federal Woman Suffrage Amendment, with the following result:
The American Federation of Labor at its annual meeting in Minneapolis covered this request in a series of carefully worded resolutions. Other important organizations which gave official endorsement within the year are the World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union, National Purity Conference, National Free Baptist Woman's Missionary Society, Spiritualists of the United States and Canada, Ladies of the Modern Maccabees, International Brotherhood of Bookbinders, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Patrons of Husbandry, National Grange, and the United Mine Workers of America. To these we may add the fourteen other national organizations reported in previous years which have received fraternal delegates from our association or given formal endorsement, making a total of twenty-five large associations which responded favorably to our "convention resolutions" requests.
For the first time the General Federation of Women's Clubs invited our president to take part in the program at the Biennial. Resolutions have been reported to headquarters from the State W. C. T. U.'s of seven States; the Letter Carriers' Associations of Illinois, Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania; the State Granges of thirteen States; the State Federations of Labor of fifteen States. The Prohibitionists of eight States have had woman suffrage in their party platforms; the Socialists always declare for it and in California the Democrats, the Independence League and the Union Labor parties incorporated planks in their State platforms. The State Teachers' Associations of California and Illinois, the Sons of Temperance of Connecticut and Illinois, the Good Templars of Maine, the Congress of Mothers and the Federations of Women's Clubs of Illinois and New Hampshire are among other organizations which have acted favorably on some phase of the woman suffrage question.[54]
Saturday afternoon was devoted entirely to social affairs. They began with a luncheon given at Hull House by Miss Jane Addams to officers, delegates and alternates, after which the activities of this remarkable institution were explained. Systematic sight-seeing was carried out, groups of the guests being personally conducted to the Field Columbian Museum, the Art Museum, the big department stores and other points of interest. One group went to Chicago University, where Dr. Shaw addressed the students of the Women's Union and the College Girls' Suffrage Club. Afterwards they were entertained by the Dean of Women, Miss Marian Talbot. In the evening the Chicago Woman's Club gave a large reception, its president, Mrs. Blackwelder, and the chairman of the Social Committee, Miss Clara Dixon, being assisted in receiving by the officers of the association. Its handsome club rooms in the Fine Arts Building were placed at the service of the delegates throughout the convention.
Ministers of Chicago who opened the sessions with prayers were Dr. J. A. Rondthaler of the Normal Park Presbyterian Church; Dr. Austin K. de Blois of the First Baptist Church, and the Rev. Jean F. Loba of the First Congregational Church, Evanston. A number of pulpits in the city were filled by officers and delegates Sunday morning. The Studebaker Theater was taken for the regular service of the convention in the afternoon in order to accommodate the large audience. The Rev. Kate Hughes of Chicago offered prayer. Dr. Shaw presided and read a message from Miss Mary S. Anthony dictated a few days before her death, when Miss Shaw asked her what word she would like to send to the convention. It said in part:
Until we, a so-called Christian nation, put into practice those principles of justice which we claim are the foundation of our national greatness, we cannot hope to inspire confidence in the people of the world in our lofty pretensions of freedom and fair play for all. The wrong which today outranks all others is the disfranchisement of the mothers of the race. So long as this injustice toward women continues, just so long will men fail to recognize justice in its application to each other. This one question puts all else into the background and until we can establish equality between men and women we shall never realize the full development of which manhood and womanhood are capable. Because I believe this so thoroughly I have given the best of myself and the best work of my life to help obtain political freedom for women, knowing that upon this rests the hope not only of the freedom of men but of the onward civilization of the world. I therefore urge upon the delegates and members of the National Association not to lose courage, no matter what befalls, but to work on in hope and faith, knowing well that the time of the coming of woman's political liberty depends largely upon the zeal and unwearying service of those who believe in its justice.
The Rev. Herbert S. Bigelow of Cincinnati in a strong address showed the Value of the Ballot. Miss Addams told with much feeling of the recent campaign for the Municipal franchise, the objections they had to meet, the character of the opposition and how hard it was for women to be patient.