New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1916-11-16
conn. WARMING To
VOTES FOR WOMEN
State Suffrage Organization Has
Increase Of $3.50 in Year
SITUATION CALLED ABSURD
Mrs. Hepburn, President, Calls Atten-
ton to Status of Suffrage i'm Coun-
try Which Allows Some to Vote and
Bars Others From Polls.

New Haven, Nov. 16.-With repre-
sentat1ves from most of the eighty
TOUR suffrage leagues and clubs of the
/ state present. and delegates in at
| tendance from twelve towns where
suffrage committees instead of leagues
have been organized, the forty-sev-
enth annual state convention of the
Connecticut Woman's Suffrage asso-
citation. opened here today, and will
continue through tomorrow Much Of
! todays session was devoted to pres
entation of reports, election of Off
! GERS coming tomorrow. Mrs. Thom-
as N. Hepburn Of Hartford, president
| of the association, presided.
In her opening address Mrs. Hep
burn referred to the progress of the
movement during the year and said
! that the importance of the woman
vote in the recent election had made
the whole country "realize the alb
surdity of the present position when
women in twelve states are given the
right to choose the president while
women in the remaining states could
only look on"
The delegates were welcomed by
Mrs. Carlos F. Stoddard, president Of
the New Haven Equal Franchise
lSdS US, Tie response DoII1S IlldQe ny
Mrs. Ernest Thompson Seaton, vice
president Of the state organization.
Greatest Year in State.
The report of the secretary, Mrs.
Edward Porritt of Hartford, sum-
marizing the work of the year and the
activities of tho county charm en-,
said that there had never been year
since the organization of the associa-
ton forty-seven years ago, during
which suffrage work was $50 general,
SO widespread, or SO earnestly and &C
lively carried on throughout the state
as it has been in the year just closing.
There had been no general state cam
paign, the report said, but the work
had been carried on in each county
with the object of organizing the
whole state for woman suffrage One
aspect of the years activities, the re-
port said, was the work with the val
ious organizations in the state. The
Connecticut Federation of Women's
clubs endorsed suffrage in 1916 for the
first time Many oranges had been
visited, labor unions had received
suffrage speakers and given their en-
dorsement, chambers Of commerce
had extended invitations to speakers
for the movement, the report said,
adding:
Interest Shown On ALI Sides.
There is hardly a social organiza-
ton from the Woman's association to
the bartenders union from the con-
gress of mothers to the convention of
Elks which has not shown itself ready
to listen to our arguments"
The most important endorsement,
the report said, was that of the po-
litical parties the socialists and pro-
hibitionists adopting planks endorsing
full suffrage for women, the republic
cans giving full endorsement to the
national platform which contained a
suffrage plank and the democrats
adopting a plank favoring submission.
of the question to the voters Of the
state.
During the year the Connecticut
suffragists according to the report,
have taken an increasing interest in
the method of enfranchising women
by means of a federal amendment.
The income of the association for
the last year was reported as about
$327OOO derived from contributions
of leagues, subscriptions from indi-
vidual suffrag ists, sales and collec-
tons at meetings.
The membership in the state &C
cording to the report Of Mrs. George
H. Day, chairman of the enrolment
$3.50 since the last convention.