The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-25

there are no dues. The membership com
mittee reported 5ls the membershi >
list-double the number of this time las,
year.
Mrs. Jacobs Address
Mrs. Jacobs. in her opening address,
explained the attitude of the club con-
cerning the number of its members thus:
Enrolled membership by no means reg
listers all the pro-suffrage sentiment of
this community. Many good suffragists
will not give their names because of a
feeling of obligation to do active work;
some are still too timid to anpounce pub
liely their belief. and some from pres-'
sure of business or family reasons. are
unable to enroll. Many still do not un-
derstand that we are not a club. but a
big broad organization, bound together
simply by the expression of belief that
women should have the suffrage equally
with men. apd to devise ways and means
of pfomulgatng this belief. and thai
membership is not based on any invitation
to Join forces WITH us. 1t is unfair to
assume that all those not enrolled are
opposed The fact Is. that many are sim
plv Indifferent, and it is this apathy
which is the most difficult element to
overcome Herein lies our hardest work
to make people see not only the i'm
portance, but expediency of giving the
ballot to women.
.sThe first thing necessary to us then,
seemed to be numerical strength, but
we are fast getting beyond this stage,
as we see now in Birmingham suffrage
sentiment expressed In sociological con-
ferences business mems luncneons, wom-
ems clubs. labor meetings; in letters to
the public. press. in school debates. In
1A
gather together. All this is healthy
sign for intelligent discussion of the suf-
frage question brings inevitably in its
wake conviction, and finally recruits 10
the ranks of the suffrage army Do not
infer that we no longer need and desire
new members. We do now-and we al
ways will"
Definite Appeal for Funds
In her recommendation for future
work on the part of the organization,
Mrs. Jacobs made a definite appeal for
funds with which to further the cause
of equal suffrage. She said:
There is one criticism which it
seems fair to make. You have support
ed your officers and board morally and
by active participation in any practical
work we have undertaken, but finan-
cially you have not yet learned to have
any feeling of responsibility. 1t costs
something TO distribute literature 1fee-
ly, to conduct a booth at fair to
bring lecturers here. and to do num-
ber of things which lack of funds
makes impossible and insofor handicaps
our growth and expansion. For the en-
suing year will you not, therefore,
make some sacrifice for the sake of this
| human betterment work? Can you not
contribute of your own income speci-
fled amount however small? Or it may
be, earn the money by whatever legit-
innate means your ingenuity prompts
Remember that we cannot do effective
work without financial assistance
Mrs. Jacobs further recommendations
outlined a plan of action which met
with an undoubted response, judging
from the prolonged applause which fol-
lowed her address. She said:
1T seems clear to me that our ca
.reer should be marked by three stages
First, the educational. from which We
have not yet emerged educating and
informing ourselves and the public as
to the basic principles and real mean
ing of equal suffrage Next our or
ganization period. when team work is
perfected and each committee de-
partment is inter active and co-opera-
tion with all the others; and. finally.
our actual campaign for the passage Of