Evening star., 1898-02-19
ProceedingsefI the National American
Association |
Miss VnLiRD'SDEAfH cuHhEErEDoH
Report Of Committee on Revision
ofi0onstitution.
NOTES Of THE SESSIONS

Al 10. o'clock. Aat the Columbia Theater.
The death of Miss Frances h. Willard and
the dispiriting weather appeared to have
had bad effect on; the delegates. There
were so few present that motion was put
ard carried providiag that the reading of
the greetings from other societies of SINH
lar character. in foreign countries be de-
ferred till later~-~ ai+~~ -s.~.-e
After the secretary Alice stone Black
well. had read her report. that Of the con-
gressional committee was read by Mrs
Ellen Powell Thompson, chairman Ths
report was IN part follows:
"The hearings given the convention be-
fore the committee of the House and Sem
ate Tuesday. the 18th, were of unusual In
terest The presentation before tn. select
committee of the Senate was from a philo-
sophical standpoint, and that before the
judiciary committee from an historical
view, each SPEAKER presenting a special
phase Of the subject. OF the Senate COM
mttse only Senators Berry. the chairman,
of Arkansas, and Mallory, of Florida were
present. but by the courtesy of thu chair
man a quorum was made by securing the
presence of Senators Cannon of Utah and
Teller of Colorado .-
'.Of the House committee fourteen OF ths
fifteen were present to listen to the history
of woman suffrage for fifty years.
"It would seem. that these arguments
must appear to any unprejudiced mind
comprehensive and conclusive. and touch
the chord of justice in the hearts Of these
men, During two years nearly every MEM
ber of Congress has been either written to
or personal interviews have been had, and
not small number have declared they
were ready to vote for the amendment
when opportunity should be given. A large
number hold the opinion that when a ma
tority of women in any one state express
the desire for suffrage the men of the
state will grant 1t.
I'VE wish also to report to you thu high
esteem very generally expressed for the
women of the national association
I'VE continue to urge strongly upon the
state Presidents their cooperation with the
congressional committee by sending me-
MORALS to Congress and by writing letters
TO their own congressman on the vital
question. To enable the members of the
District Suffrage Association to keep In
touch with this work with Congress and to
ascertain facts and furnish informa ton to
Congress when, desirable, Mrs. Clara B.
Colby has been appointed chairman of the
congre ssional committee. In this capacity
she sends the Woman's Tribune regularly
free of charge, to every senator and mem
Der. We deem 1t very important that coll
gressioIial work be pushsd during this ses-
sion. even though the press of work seems
great in that body
Invited to Visit Quaker City.
Mrs. Amanda Deyo of Philadelphia ex-
tended a second invitation to the dele
gates of the convention to visit the Qua
ker city and attend there the sessions of
the Peace Association to be held Monday
She referred touchingly to the late war;
and spoke Of 1.-The beautiful boys in blue
and the beautiful boys in gray" in a man
ner which was calculated to touch the
hearts OF the hearers. She spoke of the
great good she thought would result from
the Philade}HhiA meeting. and said she
was confident that all Of the delegates
who could would attend. Her remarks
were greeted with applause.
Mrs Richard .Anders of Boston made the
announcement of the emblem n form of
a wreath. for the funeral tomorrow of Miss
Willard. In New York, sent by the Ma
tional American Women Suffrage Associa-
tion convention, The wreath will be COM
posed of southern leaves vio1ets and lilies
of the valley. There will also be band of
yellow ribbon. the color Of the association.
The wreath will contain miniatures of the
prominent women Of the association in
cluding those of Lucretia Mott Susan B.
Anthony and others. 49,
Miss Anthony made strong plea for the
press bureau of the association. and made
an equally strong plea to have Mrs. Ida H.
Harper of New York placed at the head of
it. Mrs. Harper declared she had had won
derful success with the press in California,
and thought she could make as great
one in the east She said she would like
to make experiment of the bureau be-
fore taking it as a permanency A motion
was made and carried that Mrs. Harper be
put in charge of this work
Some discussion followed as to whether
this would not interfere with the rights
of Miss Cassidy. who has already some
thing to do with the press work of the
association. 1t was explained, however,
that the rights and duties of one would
not entire nch on those of the others. The
matter of organizing the bureau will be
in the hands of the business committee.
Mrs. Richmond Heard.
Mrs. Cora v. L. Richmond, vice president
of the National Spiritualists' Association.
was introduced to the convention as a
fraternal delegate from Chicago. Mrs.
Richmond said that the first speech Miss
Anthony ever heard delivered by a woman
was an address by Lucy Stone. The men,
ton Of her name created applause. Mrs.
Richmond said when child of eight years
she had heard Miss Stone speak and had
been entranced by her sweet voice and
persuasive manner From that time. Mrs.
Richmond said. she had been given the
idea of working for the rights of women.
In conclusion, she spoke of the risen
disciple Miss Willard. and quoted num-
ber Of lines of poetry appropriate to the oc-
casion.
Revision of the Constitution.
When she had finished the matter of the
rerort of the committee on the revision of
the constitution was taken up. Rev. Anna
Shaw stated that she. with Miss Alice
Stone Blackwell and Mrs. Harriet Taylor
Upton, had been named a subcommittee Of
the business committee to look into the
matter of arranging the change of the con-
stitution. 1t was moved and adopted that
the two-minute rule in the discussion of
the proposed gchAnges be enforced, and that
no delegate should speak but once.
the articles Twere taken up separately
Miss Clay OF, KeRtucky made a motion that
section l Of article vi Of the constitution,
which reads as follows, be made bylaw:
'"This association shall hold an annual
convention N6f sregularly elected delegates
for the eleets6n sof officers and the trans
| action of business. An annual meeting
81 all be held in Washington. D. c., during
| the first session of each Congress"
This was adopted.
Section Z 81 the constitution, reading;
ANY state &onfan suffrage association may
become auxiliary to the National American
Woman -Sufr1agetAssociation.' was changed
| to read Each estate woman suffrage asso-
ciation." 10 sd'
Mrs. Lillisr Reyereux Blake spoke in re-
| gard to haVlatkI a definite time fixed for the
holding of theronvention. She stated that
there was uNrprpvision made for the date.
general custom having made it in the mid
| die of the winter. She thought the middle
| Of winter should be abandoned in favor Of
October. The matter was postponed until
| 1t came uD- under the head of regular buSi-