Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-07-05
WOMAN AND wOMAN's CAUSE.

WOMAN AND wOMAN's CAUSE.
The District Woman Suffrage Associa-
ton aud its Work.
| AN AUXILIARY TO THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
SOME OF THE THINGS IT HAS AccoNPLsHEp-
THE PURSUIT OF cULTURE--yoY OVER WYOMING
WHAT Is DONE AT THE MEETINGS.
n RS ELIZABETH CAD1 STANTON
INN and Mrs, Lueretia Mott, the latter now
4IM deceased, were the women who called
tn FIR first convention 10 Of women eve. held
Falls, N Y, forty-two years ago In the decla-
ration of rights presented at this convention by
these women suffrage was not included. There
we're the rights of education. property, children
and all that sort of thing. But once in the con-
vention Mrs. Stanton offered a suffrage resolu-
ton and Frederick Douglas and she spoke for it
and carried it through Although the suffrage
resolution was carried UNANIMOUSLY through the
Seneca Falls convention its announcement
to the world was followed next day by an ava
lanche of ridicule from all over the country
that swept more than half OF the subscribers
to the declaration of rights from the rolls.
And the woman movement might at that time
nave subsidized had not Susan b. Anthony, who
has always been called the Napoleon OF the
movement, begun attending the meetings OF
the sufragists at Rochester.
| THE EARLY WORK.
The indomitable will of the young school
teacher in that year of ls4s gave the supreme
impulse and impetus to the suffrage cause ut
the very beginning of its public presentation.
| ridicule, which the pioneers learned soon not
to mind They besieged their legislatures, and
| New York was the first state to pass a wonlan's
property bill. The suffragists now began
holding conventions all over the coun-
try. Mrs. Stanton tells US that she
wrote the speeches and Miss Anthony fred
them off. The woman suffrage movement
grew with the progress Of the anti-slavery
societies. Women who heard the pleas of VIM.
Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips for
equal human rights saw that the argument ap-
pied to women not less than slaves. About
! that time Hiram Powers statue OF the Greek
Slave was on exhibition in Boston, and the
fettered hands and half-averted face of that
| beautiful marble was to many a moving type
OF the condition of womankinds Mrs Lucy
Stone began at this time lecturing in Boston,
having filled the pulpit of her brothers church
III Oberlin, Ohio while a student in that college
| town.
| AFTER MANY YEARS.
| The years have rolled on; war has devastated
the country since then and there have been
| sAhiSo Va Slcdt hSltatlOu. through al crises
the women kept their purpose clearly defined
before the people and their shibboleth was un-
mistakabe in its meaning. At this day the
pioneers profess themselves, all along the line,
as satisfied with the position they have won,
but they applaud the younger disciples who
must now take up, the affairs of the
campaign in their determination to press
firmly forward. These new disciples
| have developed theories of their own
In consonance always with the constitution
! OF the National Woman Suffrage Association.
The women may well be proud of their per-
feet organization. First there il the Inter-
! national Association of Women, that held a
! council here two years ego. 1t comprises all
the working societies Of women in the world
Whatever their purpose or field-temperance.
suffrage or labor-and Mrs. Fawcett wife of
| the blind historian and statesman Of London,
Is the president The National American Wo-
mans Suffrage Association, of which Mrs.
Stanton Is the president and Miss Anthony the
vice president. Is the result OF the union Of
| the two suffrage societies, the National and
American. and then there is the National As
| ISOLATION of Women, of which Miss Willard is
president and Miss Anthony vice president.
| that includes the working women's societies of
| America and that meets every three years. 1t
| VIII hold the next meeting in this city lext
year.
| THE WASHINGTON SOCIETY.
| The National Woman Suffrage Association
has all the suffrage societies in all the cities
| and towns OF the country for its auxiliaries,
and two OF the officers of the national society
| reside in this city-Mrs. Jane H. Spofford, the
| treasurer, and Mrs. Eliza Ward, auditor. The
Washington society being thus closely related
to the national one has given most Of
society has never been regularly incorporated
and Is without charter. constitution or bylaws
and it has no published records. Its first presi-
dent was Mrs. VIM A. Denison. who sti, re-
sides in the city, but is now something of an
invalid. Mrs. Sophronia Snow held the posi-
ton for some time and Dr. Edison (who was one
OF those in attendance on President Garfield
during his last illness) is now the acting presi-
dent Mrs. Mary s. Lockwood, author Of The
Artistic Homes of Washington" is the treas
urer and Miss Fanny Edwards and Mrs. H. B.
Sperry are the secretaries.
THE MEETINGS
are held on the second Thursday of each
month at the Riggs House. and the annual
meeting Is held in January. There are two
| hundred members of the local association.
The members work quietly but most effec-
lively, and accomplish much good for woman
kind In practical way. They have secured
| the appointment Of matrons to take charge Of
the unfortunate women brought to the police
I stations, and they hope soon to secure them
! for the jails. They have not accomplished
enough, by any means, but enough has been
done to prove the worth these
women are to the public service,
and great burden has rolled from
the minds OF many women in knowing that
| women who are arrested will now fall into the
hands of women, who will deal gently with
them The sufragists are also pursuing the
matter OF prison reform, and they reach also
| the hospitals and insane asylums in their search
for wrongs to be rlghted. In all these matters
they work harmoniously with the members of
the W. C.TU.
INTERESTED IN q rNERAL CULTURE
They are also interested in the subject of
self culture. Mrs. Lockwood has been az
pointed the chairman of a committee to ar
range course of study. They have selected
X. Z. Clements work upon "Civil Govern
ment' as book for that purpose.
- THE WYOMING VICTORY,
Mrs. Edison and others feel strongly that
some demonstration of joy should be made by
the women Of the association at the admission
OF Wyoming as state, which is regarded by
the suffragists a signal victory OF their prin-
ciples. They expected the Dakotas to come
into the Union upon the same terms
Miss Anthony, with corps Of able
workers, is in this far western field
working for the advancement Of woman. She
realizes that there is hope of woman gaining
political equality in South Dakota, and is
therefore, giving her time and energy unre,
servedly to the education of the people upon
that subject. Certainly she is dividing with