In 1909 at the annual meeting Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates, who had recently come to the State, was elected president. This year was marked by distinctive propaganda through the efforts of Mrs. Oliver H. P. Belmont of New York. The lectures given at Marble Palace, her home in Newport, by Dr. Shaw and Professor Charles Zueblin interested a new and influential class and gave a substantial impetus to suffrage work throughout the State. Increasing calls to discuss the question before clubs, granges, church societies and other organizations were an encouraging sign of a popular awakening to its importance.
In 1910 a debate on woman suffrage between Brown University and Williams College was won by the former in the affirmative. Mrs. Anne M. Jewett, who had served acceptably as recording secretary for ten years, resigned. Miss Mary M. Angell was elected at the annual meeting and gave a like term of years of devoted service. Mrs. Dewing was made honorary president. In 1911 a lecture on Woman's Ballot by Professor Henry S. Nash of Harvard University, well known as a lecturer, before the Providence Biblical Institute, greatly strengthened the cause among conservative people. Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst gave a lecture under the auspices of the State association and the College League. This year the first anti-suffrage society was organized by a group of wealthy and prominent women, among whom were Mrs. Charles Warren Lippitt, Mrs. Rowland Hazard, Miss Louise Hoppin, Mrs. Herbert Maine and Mrs. Henry T. Fowler. Miss Yates and Mrs. Lippitt were invited to hold a debate before the Jewish Women's Council.
In January, 1912, the College League and the State association opened headquarters in Butler Exchange at Providence and engaged Miss Louise Hall as organizer. President M. Carey Thomas of Bryn Mawr College spoke under the auspices of the State Collegiate Alumnae on the Need of Woman's Ballot and made a strong impression on this conservative university city. From May the College League assumed the office duties and the State association carried on the field work. This year a booth was secured at the Food Fair of the Retail Grocers' Association, where thousands of new members were enrolled, tens of thousands of leaflets were distributed and much publicity work was done. The "suffrage map" was in evidence, showing the many States that had been won, an irrefutable argument against the emanations of the anti-suffrage booth. At no other time and place could so many classes of persons be reached. The arduous work involved was carried on by Miss Alice F. Porter, Miss Nettie E. Bauer, Mrs. George E. Dunbar, Miss Enid Peirce, Miss Althea L. Hall, Miss Margaretha Dwight, Mrs. Caroline Dowell, Miss Ethel Parks and a score more of like unselfish workers.[158] At the annual meeting in October Mrs. Homer, who had been the efficient corresponding secretary for six years, declined re-election and Mrs. Sara L. Fittz was elected to the office, which position she retained until the end. She served also as chairman of the Publicity Committee and was always in demand as a speaker. Miss Hall went to assist in the Ohio campaign, accompanied by Mrs. Camilla Von Klenze, president of the College League. In April Dr. Shaw addressed a large audience at Infantry Hall. In the summer suffrage headquarters were established on Franklin Street, Newport, mainly through the energy of Mrs. Belmont, a member of the Newport League, and meetings were held here every afternoon during this and other seasons.
In 1913 the work of the year opened with a lecture by Miss Mary Johnston, the novelist, on Woman in Politics and one by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt on the White Slave Traffic. Mrs. Catt also addressed a meeting in the interests of the Woman Suffrage Party, which had been organized under the leadership of Mrs. Sara M. Algeo. The State association and the College League being dues-paying organizations there was an open field for the non-dues-paying Suffrage Party formed along political lines. Nearly all the members of the older associations joined it and at the same time continued to maintain their own lines of propaganda. Miss Yates, the State president, was invited by the municipal government to deliver the Fourth of July address at City Hall, Providence. Dr. Valeria H. Parker addressed the annual convention on Women as Civil Guardians.
In 1914 a series of lectures on the Modern Woman of Various Countries was given by the State association which called out large audiences. The three organizations united in a celebration of "suffrage week" in May, closing with a meeting in the Casino at Roger Williams Park with Rabbi Stephen S. Wise as the principal speaker. Miss Yates, after serving five years, was obliged on account of other demands on her time to decline reelection and was made honorary president. No president being elected at the annual meeting, Agnes M. (Mrs. Barton P.) Jenks was chosen later by the Executive Committee to fill the vacancy and afterwards was elected and held the office until May, 1918. In December representatives of the three organizations met and formed a Cooperative Council to secure economy of effort and increased efficiency. The work of the College League had been of distinctive value in Providence, the seat of Brown University with its Woman's College. During the years of its independent existence it had been well served by its presidents, Miss Garvin, Mrs. Von Klenze, Mrs. Algeo and Miss Helen Emerson. It presented speakers of national reputation; published special leaflets, notably What Rhode Island Women Ought to Know; conducted study clubs and gave generous cooperation in the undertakings of the other organizations.
During the winter of 1915 a special series of lectures was given for the council on political and economic subjects by professors of the University. The joint endeavors of the three organizations this winter proving successful they amalgamated under the name of the Rhode Island Equal Suffrage Association and the annual meeting was changed from fall to spring. Most of the officers of the State association were retained. Others were Miss Emerson and Mrs. Carl Barus, vice-presidents; Mrs. John A. Cross, treasurer; Mrs. Barton A. Ballou, Mrs. Gerald A. Cooper and Mrs. Gilbert C. Carpenter, auditors; Mrs. Dunbar and Mrs. Helen Dougherty, chairman and secretary of the Woman Suffrage Party. In accordance with the plan of the National Association, the State's members of Congress, U. S. Senators LeBaron B. Colt and Henry F. Lippitt; Representatives Walter R. Stiness, George F. O'Shaughnessy and Ambrose Kennedy, were interviewed on the Federal Amendment with encouraging results. Weekly suffrage teas were established at headquarters during the winter, followed by addresses on current topics. The association was especially indebted to Mrs. Ballou, Mrs. Edward M. Harris and Miss Sarah J. Eddy for the hospitality of their homes that combined on many occasions social pleasure with excellent opportunity to present the suffrage cause.
On February 17, 1916, a luncheon and conference at the Narragansett Hotel were held in honor of Mrs. Catt, now national president. A mass meeting was held in March in Sayles Hall, where Mrs. Glendower Evans of Boston and Professor Louis J. Johnston of Harvard spoke in the interest of the Federal Amendment. In April a "suffrage shop" was opened in Providence in charge of Miss Mary B. Anthony, which proved an active center of propaganda. Rhode Island was represented in the suffrage parades during the national political conventions in Chicago and St. Louis in 1916 by Miss Yates. On election night in November a public reception was held at suffrage headquarters, where a private wire had been installed to give the returns and large numbers were present.
In 1917 Miss Yates conducted a suffrage school weekly at headquarters during February and March. The major activities of the year were given to legislative work. The granting of Presidential suffrage to women by the Legislature was celebrated at the annual meeting, at which Governor R. Livingston Beeckman, representatives of the political parties of the State and Mrs. Nettie Rogers Shuler, national corresponding secretary, were the principal speakers. An invitation was accepted from Thomas W. Bicknell, one of the staunchest suffragists, to unite with the Citizens' Historical Association, of which he was president, in a joint celebration of the Declaration of Independence by Rhode Island on May 4, 1776, and the passage of the Presidential suffrage bill in April, 1917, and Miss Yates was chosen as speaker for the State association. Miss Elizabeth M. Barr was elected treasurer in 1917 and served until 1920. Miss Barr's predecessors were Miss Mary K. Wood, Mrs. Jewett, Mrs. Ballou, Mrs. Helen N. B. Janes, Mrs. Porter, Mrs. Cross, and Mrs. George W. Parks.
During the winter of 1918, a civics course was conducted by Miss Anthony covering local and national government, Mayor Joseph H. Gainer of Providence and other city officers speaking in the course. Miss Anthony was elected State president at the annual meeting in June and brought to the office experience in public work and wide social influence that were of special value in the closing years of the association. Mrs. Jenks was made honorary president. On December 11 the 50th anniversary of the association was celebrated. An interesting historical review of the first meeting was given by Arnold Buffum Chace, who had acted as secretary on that occasion and whose mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Buffum Chace, was president of the association for thirty years. The Rev. Mrs. Spencer, also a charter member, recounted the early struggles of the pioneers. Miss Yates and Mrs. Jenks gave interesting accounts of the early and later work. Mrs. Catt and Miss Blackwell were guests of honor and brought inspiring messages. This year both the Democratic and Republican parties put suffrage planks in their State platforms and sent resolutions to Congress urging the Rhode Island Senators to support the Federal Amendment.
The suffragists responded to every demand of the Government for war service. Mrs. Walter A. Peck, honorary vice-president, was State chairman of the Woman's Committee of the Liberty Loan. Miss Emerson, first vice-president, served in France with the Bryn Mawr unit. Miss Bauer, second vice-president, was a member of the executive board of the Red Cross. Miss Fittz, corresponding secretary, and Miss Yates, honorary president, received government certificates as speakers with the "four-minute men."