The record-union., 1896-05-30
SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.
Women Who Want the Ballot Meet In
Council.
They Listen to Addresses From Miss
Mills, Miss Yates and Mrs.
Purnell.

The convention of the State Woman's
Suffrage Association convened yester-
day at p. m in the Assembly Chamber
at the State Capitol, nearly fifty dele
gates being present, four of them be-
ing men. About half that number of
spectators We're present around the edge
of the chamber. The number was
doubled, however, before the session
ended
The convention opened with the sing
ing of the Battle Hymn of the Repub-
llc," which was followed by prayer by
Rev. A. ]. Sturtevant
Mrs. E. B. Purnell introduced Miss
Harriet May Mills of New York who,
she said would be the manager of the
convention. Miss Mills made few
predatory remarks, and called on all
to help sing a second song of the suf-
frage repertoire.
Mrs. E. B. Purnell next delivered the
address of welcome. She welcomed
Miss Mills and her coadjutorS and all
those who were present, either as dele
gates or spectators, and whether FOR
or against the movement. Reforms
can never be successful, she said until
those who had first been opposed to
them had been converted. Every re-
former lives ahead of his time. If he
were not he would rot be a reformer,
and the burden is one that his nature
will not allow him to lay down. The
Pilgrim Fathers were reformers, who
carried a burden that we would proba-
bly, shrink from carrying.
Miss Mills thanked Mrs. Purnell for
her cordial welcome. She gave sketch
of the plan of campaign by which the
speakers selected for the work We're en-
abled to go into each county of the
State and address the people on the
subject. She found in her travels that
there was a great deal of ignorance in
this State on the subject of woman SUI
frage.
All the great statesmen from the ear
liest ages, she claimed, have been ad-
vocates of this movement She repu-
dated the idea that the women did not
wish to vote, and said that she was
satisfied that the majority of women
would do so, if they had chance.
When the National Convention was
held in Washington the same assertion
was made when the women appeared
before a Congressional Committee.
1t is said that the laws Of this State
protect the women better than it does
the men. If that be so, women should
have vote so as to give the men fair
show. She thought that the laws of
this State We're really better for the
women than if they had been making
them for themselves for the past hun
dreds of years. Still, the women are
bere-feeling that the ballot is their
right-to demand it.
Her address was largely argumenta-
tive, running along the usual line OF
argument concerning taxation without
representation.
Then came a paper on Does the Bus
mess Woman Need the Ballot?' read
by Mrs. Mary G.. Dunn. She claimed
that the extension of the franchise to
women would be a benefit both to her
and the State. If the people wish to
elect women to office, why should they
not hold it, Woman is possessed OF
business ability and her employment
in business offices has been of great
benefit The fact that she works for a
lower salary than man shows that she
needs acknowledgements to lift her to
equality with him. She believed that
| the vices of our large cities would never
he conquered till woman has the ballot
Mrs. Purnell spoke of the nineteenth
century woman, who, she claimed, was
the evolution of the laws passed by
men for many generations past. She
was the wise woman described by Solo,
mon but she knows no more the use
OF the distaff and the spindle, because
machinery has taken their place. Left
by this with less to do at home, she
has sought more and more for work
outside the home.
Miss Mills explained that the con-
vention was held here at this time be-
cause the speakers who were travelling
through the State were near here at
this time and although they were
sorry that the convention should be
held on Decoration Day, they could
not allow the campaign plans to be in
terfered with by that fact.
Miss Elizabeth w Yates of Maine
addressed the convention and congratu-
lated it on the apparent advancement
of the cause she advocated in this
State 1t is a good thing, she said, for
something to say as to whether they
come back to another session. Women
who have in the past been opposed to
the suffrage are coming more and more
| to realize its necessity to them, for
their own protection and benefit. Their
rights and privileges have been much
extended of late years and many of the
| old proverbs regarding them have been
| shattered.
w. Fl. V. Raymond spoke next, say
| ing that he had come because a lady
| had asked him to, and he generally
complied in such cases, when a COM
| pliance did not run counter to his con-
Victions. He could not say anything
that had not been said for the past
| forty years. 1t was all comprised in tht
words Taxation without representa-
tion is tyranny"
| Why does not woman vote if she
wants to? Men say they want to take
care of her; she is too good; she can be
trusted as a wife or mother, but they
want to keep her from the danger line
When driven to the wall they simply
say, I'VE won't let her" No set OF
men, he said, can .1et her. but they
can hinder her. He did not want to be
counted among the men who want to
hinder woman from doing what she
| wants to.
1t all, to his mind, resolves itself into
| the question of whether the mass o
men and women wish to hinder indi-
1 vidual women who wish to vote from
doing so.
A recess was taken till 8 p. m.