Rabbi Emil G. Hirsch gave an able address under the title "Why Not?" a study in Prejudice and Superstition, reviewing the objections to woman suffrage and finding their origin in Orientalism, in the military ideal, in political expediency. He ended his refutation of all of them by saying: "All our American institutions will be protected and benefited when we open the doors and give women, who never should have been denied it, the right to govern themselves, to govern the country in conjunction with men and to decide the issues that affect their own interests. Men have had this right for themselves alone too long. The day will come, my sisters, when the conscience of the world will be aroused to such a degree that no one will dare question the justice of your movement."
Many greetings were received through letters, telegrams and fraternal delegates. Prof. John A. Scott, representing president A. M. Harris of Northwestern University, Evanston, brought an invitation for speakers to address the students and Miss Gordon and Miss Caroline Lexow responded. In his greeting Professor Scott said: "I believe in woman suffrage because I believe in the home.... I don't care a whit for the argument that women with property should have a vote. Property will always be represented and it does not so much matter whether the property-holding women have a vote or not but it is of immense importance to those women who work for their living. That they have no representation is a great menace to those who are nominally free but who must compete with slaves. Women are economic entities and they should be represented. Labor without representation is as wrong as taxation without representation."
E. M. Nockels, fraternal delegate from the American Federation of Labor, addressed the convention and read a letter from its president, Samuel Gompers, expressing the hope of universal suffrage for women. Mrs. Emma S. Olds brought greetings from the Ladies of the Maccabees of the World, and Mrs. Martin Barbe, the first vice-president, from the National Council of Jewish Women. A letter from Mrs. Mary Wood Swift (Calif.), president of the National Council of Women, gave its fraternal greetings. A cordial letter was read from Mrs. Mary B. Clay of Kentucky and telegrams from Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford, Dr. Frances Woods, Mrs. Ida Porter Boyer and the Canadian Woman Suffrage Association. Telegrams of appreciation were sent to Julia Ward Howe, Clara Barton, Caroline E. Merrick, Emily P. Collins, Col. T. W. Higginson, Margaret W. Campbell, Judith W. Smith, Caroline M. Severance, Emma J. Bartol, Armenia S. White, Elizabeth Smith Miller, Ellen S. Sargent, Sarah L. Willis and Charlotte L. Pierce, all old and beloved suffrage workers.
The symposium on Industrial Conditions of Women and Children, with Mrs. Henrotin presiding, occupied one afternoon. She pointed out the revolution in the work of women by its being taken from the home into the open market where they had to follow; described their handicaps, the immense importance of their labor, the business ability that many had developed, the property they had accumulated, the taxes they pay; she said if they had a voice in deciding how these taxes should be spent it would not only be a splendid thing for the city financially but morally, and urged that they should have the power of the suffrage. Graham Romeyn Taylor of Chicago paid high tribute to the work of women's organizations in all movements for civic improvement and described that of the Women's Clubs in Chicago; spoke of the Consumer's League also and declared the Women's Trade Union League most effective of all in bettering the condition of working women. He predicted close cooperation between this League and the National Suffrage Association. Miss Alice Henry of Australia spoke very effectively from her knowledge of the conditions of labor in her own country and the investigation she was making in the United States. Miss Casey, president of the Chicago Working Women's Suffrage Association, gave facts from personal knowledge showing their need of the vote. James C. Kelliher, former president of the National Letter Carriers' Association, spoke briefly and to the point. Miss Mary McDowell of Chicago made the principal address entitled The Working Women as a National Asset, in which she showed how little conception Congress and the Courts had of the legislation needed in their behalf and the sins of omission and commission that had resulted. In closing she said:
We need a body of facts so strong that the Judiciary will see the light. We need a body of facts that will teach housekeepers not to scorn these women because they can not get a cook. We need a body of facts to teach working men that this work of women is something which has come to stay. There are going to be more women earning their living in the future than in the past. These girls are pioneers in a movement that we do not yet quite understand. I do not believe that our Heavenly Father permits so large a movement as these five million women in one country earning their own living without there being in it something that is for the best.... As a means to our work we want the suffrage. We all get very tired of the woman question. I will discuss the human question with any one but I will not discuss the woman question, because I think that is past. If women are going into industry, if they are going to have their places of responsibility, then they must more and more meet the responsibility that their brothers have with whom they work. It is not fair to the working brother to let the girls come in and cut down the wages and have no sense of responsibility, no feeling of permanency. It is a very great danger. Therefore, working women should have the ballot to make them feel that they, too, are responsible citizens....
All reverence to the work that the suffragists have done! We have always honored dear Miss Anthony and we all owe gratitude to you women who have been so long in this cause making a way for the rest of us. The working women are joining your ranks because they know that they must do so.
The report of the Congressional Committee, Mrs. Catt chairman, was read by Mrs. Kelley. It said that after the excellent hearings before the committees of Congress the preceding winter had no effect it was decided to ask the cooperation of the General Federation of Women's Clubs. This was done and its Industrial Advisory Board agreed to send out a circular letter. The association's Congressional Committee prepared one which the federation's board sent to 4,000 individual clubs asking them to question the members of Congress from their districts as to their opinion of a Federal Woman Suffrage Amendment and the request was largely complied with. A resolution was adopted that the association urge concerted action among the State auxiliaries to secure the submission by Congress of a Sixteenth Amendment forbidding disfranchisement on account of sex and that they be recommended to make it a feature of their work to obtain from their Legislatures a resolution in favor of such an amendment. A telegram of greeting was sent to Mrs. Catt and she was appointed fraternal delegate to the Peace Conference in New York in April.
Hard and conscientious work was shown in the reports of the chairmen of all the committees: Legislation for Civil Rights, Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg; Peace and Arbitration, Mrs. Lucia Ames Mead; Presidential Suffrage, Henry B. Blackwell; Libraries, Mrs. Ida Porter Boyer; Literature, Miss Alice Stone Blackwell; Enrollment, Mrs. Oreola Williams Haskell; Membership, Miss Laura Clay, and others. Miss Clay urged that the organization of the political parties be taken as a model by the suffrage societies. As usual the State reports were among the most interesting features of the convention, for they gave in detail the nation-wide work that was being done for woman suffrage. At this time that of Oklahoma, Mrs. Kate L. Biggars, president, had a prominent place, as the association had been helping its women during the past year in an effort to have the convention which was framing a constitution for statehood put in a clause for woman suffrage. A corps of able national workers was there for months while the most strenuous work was done but the only result was the franchise on school matters.
The report on Oregon was read by the corresponding secretary, Miss Gordon. The campaign there for a woman suffrage amendment to the State constitution was possibly the most strenuous that had ever been made for this purpose and the National Association had given more assistance, financial and otherwise, than to any other, a number of its officers going there in person. Among them were Miss Clay and Miss Gordon, who made full reports.[55]
The report of Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, national treasurer, showed that the receipts of the association for 1906 had been $18,203 and it had expended on the Oregon campaign $18,075, a sum equal to its year's income. A portion of the money, however, was taken from the reserve fund and $8,000 had been subscribed directly for this campaign by individuals and States. The total disbursements for the year had been $25,933. The power of the association to rise above defeat and its courage and determination, so many times shown, were strikingly illustrated on this occasion when the convention voted to raise a fund of $100,000 and pledged $24,000 of this amount before it adjourned.