The treasurer, Mrs. Stanton Coit, made a detailed and acceptable report and said that, with new headquarters, a paid secretary, an enlarged newspaper and many publications, 2,000 pounds would be necessary for the next two years. Pledges were made for 2,510 pounds ($12,350)[226].
Mrs. Catt having served as president nine years earnestly desired to retire in favor of a woman from another country but at a meeting of the presidents of all the auxiliaries she was unanimously and strongly urged to reconsider her wish. She reluctantly did so and was elected by acclamation. The delegates decided that the ten persons receiving the highest number of votes should constitute the officers of the Alliance and the board itself should apportion their special offices. Mrs. Fawcett, Mrs. Coit, Miss Furuhjelm, Miss Bergman and Mrs. Lindemann were re-elected. The five new officers selected were Mrs. DeWitt Schlumberger, France; Miss Schwimmer, Hungary; Miss Macmillan, Great Britain; Mrs. Stritt, Germany; Mrs. Katharine Dexter McCormick, United States.
The persistent requests that the Board should and should not endorse the "militant" movement in Great Britain, which had assumed serious proportions, caused it to recommend the following resolution which was adopted without dissent: "Resolved: That as the International Woman Suffrage Alliance stands pledged by its constitution to strict neutrality on all questions concerning national policy or tactics, its rules forbid any expression favoring or condemning 'militant' methods. Be it further resolved: That since riot, revolution and disorder have never been construed into an argument against man suffrage, we protest against the practice of the opponents of woman suffrage to interpret 'militancy' employed by the minority in one country as an excuse for withholding the vote from the women of the world." At another time Mrs. Cobden Sanderson of Great Britain, speaking as a fraternal delegate, eulogized the self-sacrifice of the "militants" as the principal factor in the movement, and Mrs. Catt, speaking from the chair, said that she would like to answer the assertion that it was only the "militant" women who were the martyrs. To the women who had made such protests had come the glory, whereas there were thousands who had given their lives to the cause whose names had never been heard. All down the centuries there had been heroines and martyrs and many of them had stood alone. She believed the movement owed a great debt to the "militant" women of Great Britain but they were only a part of it.
Mrs. Catt introduced and urged a resolution "to send from this congress a request to the Governments of all countries here represented to institute an international inquiry into the cause and extent of commercialized vice, and to ask the woman suffrage organizations in each country to petition their own Government to institute a national inquiry and to include women in the Commission." The resolution was unanimously adopted. Mrs. Catt was appointed to represent the Alliance at the approaching International White Slave Traffic Congress in London. A very able address, showing a thorough study of the question, was made by Mrs. Fawcett, who presided at the meeting held to discuss What Women Voters Have Done towards the Solution of this Problem.
The usual important reports of the progress in all the affiliated countries were presented and ordered published in the Minutes, where they filled over sixty pages. Miss Schwimmer in reporting for Hungary said:
At the time of the founding of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance there was nothing even approaching a feminist movement in Hungary, yet the recent Reform Bill which has just passed the two Houses includes a long and thorough explanation of the usefulness and need of woman suffrage and apologies on the part of the Government for not being able (owing to the present precarious political situation) to grant it. The marked inclination of the Government in favor of woman suffrage and the discussion which took place in the House afterwards, together with the fact that an amendment to include woman suffrage received more votes than any other moved, has given the whole question such an importance that it is no longer a matter of discussion as to whether our claims are justified or not, but only when shall they be granted?
The work accomplished by us since the Stockholm Congress has been in the main, as before, educational; propaganda by meetings, lectures at all seasons and in all places; the distribution of an immense quantity of leaflets and other printed matter and lectures by famous foreign suffragists. The most valuable and effective part of our work was that we took advantage of the meetings arranged by the coalition opposition parties, which include the Social Democratic and the Bourgeois-Radicals. They held hundreds in all parts of Hungary, many attended by six or eight thousand people, and in one in Budapest gathered an audience of 15,000. We tried to get a speaker of ours on every program. In spite of the militant opposition of the Social Democratic party and Radical leaders, we succeeded nearly every time in getting the floor, where we presented amendments to their resolutions, which, when the chairman was honest enough to put them to be voted on, were always enthusiastically carried.... About sixty societies for various purposes have declared their position by taking part officially in several of our public demonstrations.
A list was given of distinguished men who had become converted to woman suffrage. Men took a more prominent part in this convention than in any which had preceded, due principally to the very active Hungarian Men's League for Woman Suffrage, which included a number well known in political and intellectual life. The International Alliance of Men's Leagues conducted an afternoon session in the Pester Lloyd hall with the Hon. Georg de Lukacs of Hungary, its president, in the chair. What can Men Do to Help the Movement for Woman Suffrage? was discussed by Dr. C. V. Drysdale, Great Britain; Major C. V. Mansfeldt, Netherlands, and Dr. Andre de Maday, Hungary. On Thursday evening this International League held a mass meeting in the Academy of Music with rousing speeches for woman suffrage by Hermann Bahr, Austria; M. Du Breuil de St. Germain, France; Major Mansfeldt; Keir Hardie, Great Britain; Senator Mechelin, Finland; Dr. Vazsonyi, M. P., Hungary; Professor Wicksell, Sweden; Professor Gustav Szaszy-Schwartz, Hungary.
A crowded mass meeting addressed by women took place one evening in the Academy of Music, with Mrs. Catt presiding. Mrs. Stritt, president of the National Suffrage Association of Germany, spoke on Woman Suffrage and Eugenics; Mme. Maria Verone, a well known lawyer of Paris, made her impassioned address in French, and Dr. Gulli Petrini of Sweden spoke in French on Woman Suffrage and Democracy; Miss Schwimmer inspired the audience with Hungarian oratory; Miss Jane Addams of the United States gave a forceful address on Why the Modern Woman Needs the Ballot, and Dr. Shaw closed the meeting with an eloquent interpretation of the demand of women for the vote. One afternoon from 4 to 6 o'clock was devoted to a Young People's Meeting, addressed by delegates from eight countries. A forenoon was given to the discussion of the always vital question, What Relation Should Suffrage Organizations Bear toward Political Parties, led by Mrs. Anna B. Wicksell, Sweden, and Miss Courtney, Great Britain. A large audience heard one evening the Benefits of Woman Suffrage related by those who had been sent as official delegates from Governments that had given the vote to women, Mrs. Qvam, Miss Krog and Mrs. Spencer, and in supplementary speeches by Mrs. Jenny Forselius, member of Parliament from Finland; Miss A. Maude Royden, Great Britain; Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, United States, whose topic was New Mothers of a New World. A resumé of all these addresses was made in Hungarian by Vilma Glücklich. During the convention much of the interpreting in English, French and German was done by Mrs. Maud Nathan of the United States, who also made an address in the three languages.
On the last day it seemed almost as if the men had taken possession of the congress, for they had secured the convention hall for the afternoon meeting, but the women did not like to discourage such exceptional interest. Woman Suffrage and Men's Economic, Ethical and Political Interest in it was discussed by Professor Emanuel Beke, Hungary; Dr. Emil von Hoffmansthal, Austria; Frederick Nathan and Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, United States. Vigorous speeches were made by Malcolm Mitchell, Great Britain; Leo Gassman, Germany; the Rev. Benno Haypal, and Alexander Patay, Hungary. The hall was restored to the women at 5 o'clock for their final program under the general topic, How may women still bound by ancient custom, tradition and prejudice be awakened to a realization that these new times demand new duties and responsibilities? How to Reach the Home Woman, Mrs. Gisela Urban, Austria; Mrs. Irma V. Szirmay, Mrs. von Fürth, Hungary; How to Reach the Church Woman, Mme. Jane Brigode, Belgium, Mme. Girardet-Vielle, Switzerland; How to Reach the Society Woman, Miss Royden, Mme. Schlumberger; How to Reach the Woman of Higher Education, Mrs. Crystal Eastman Benedict, United States; How to Reach the Wage-earning Woman, Miss Isabella O. Ford, Mrs. Clinny Dryer, Great Britain; How to Reach the Woman Social Worker, Miss Addams.
At the last business session the convention placed on record its appreciation of the unsurpassed hospitality shown by the Hungarians. The delegates from this country expressed the pleasure it had been to welcome the women of all nations and the inspiration that had been received. The president, Mrs. Catt, asked them to part with the intention of coming to the next conference, each with a victory in her own country to celebrate.