The Washington herald., 1918-02-10
Susan B. Anthony Lauded
AS Liberator Of Women
AS Suffrage Draws Near
Ninety-eighth Anniversary
of Her Birth Falls on
February IS. and viii
Be Commemorated with
Enthusiasm This Year.

after forty years the amendment to
the national convention, first proposed
by Susan B. Anthony. has at last
passed the Lower House Of Congress
and Is expected soon to pass the Sem
ate. And this viii make It possible
for all the State legislatures to ratify
IN time for women to vote In the na-
tional elections in 1870.
Moreover, this Is a time when the
name Of Susan B. Anthony Is always
on the lips and In the minds Of Amer
lean suffragists. February Is It the
ninety-eighth anniversary Of her birth,
and that anniversary has for years
been commemorated all over the coun-
try.
As the suffrage historian, Mrs. Ida
Hustled Harper. tells US, every girl
who now enjoys a college education,
every woman who has the chance Of
sphere she chooses; every wife who IS
protected by law in the possession of
her person and her property; every
mother who is blessed with the GUS
tody Of and control Of her own child
removes these sacred privileges to
Susan B. Anthony beyond all others"
whole Being Dedicated.
And Mrs. Harper continues:
During the fifty years which have
wrought this revolution, just one wom-
an in all the world has given every
day Of her time, every dollar OF her
money, every power OF her being, to
secure this result. Never for one short
hour has the cause OF woman been
forgotten or put aside for any other
object. Never a single tie has been
formed, either Of affection or business,
which would interfere with this su-
preme purpose. Never a speech has
been given, a trip taken, visit made.
q letter written, in all this half-cen-
fury, that has not been done directly
IN the interest Of this one object.
There has been no thought Of personal
comfort, advancement or glory; the
self-abnegation, the self-sacrifice, have
been absOlute-they have been unpar-
aIleled."
Susan B. Anthony, born in Massa-
chusetts. was Of Quaker, not Puritan,
stock. To the Quaker belief in the
equality Of the sexes is due the fact
that her education and that Of her
sister was as good as was their broth
ers'
But II was through her work In the
temperance movement that she came
to realize that the right which wom-
an needs above every other, the one
indeed which would secure to her all
others, is the right OF suffrage"
To her work for woman's rights Miss
Anthony brought all the vigor which
characterized everything she did. For
more than 80 years she gave without
measure Of her zeal and strength, at
first as head OF the finance commit
tee OF the National Woman Suffrage
Association, and after lS72 as its pres
ident, until she laid down the gavel in
1900. Even then she did not cease
her labors, but continued them al
most until the day OF her death,
March Is, 1896, when she was So years
old.
Working woman's Champion.
It would be impossible to give a
complete list Of the laws discrimi-
mating against women which Miss
Anthony strove to have changed. She
was the first to champion the cause
OF the working woman; she investi-
lived and worked, and she taught
them how to organize among them
selves. Equal property rights for
women and equal guardianship of the
children were two more of the re-
forms to which she consecrated her
self.
Through the influence Of Miss An
thony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
who worked together in long years of
af1ectionate intimacy in the cause Of
women, a convention was called. to
meet in Albany on February IA, 1854,
to secure legislation for these pur-
poses In behalf of joint guardian
ship for father and mother and the
right Of married women to the dis
posal Of their individual earnings, and
IN behalf OF equal suffrage for the
sexes, Miss Anthony circulated two pc
titions in New York State that year.
In 1855 she made a tour through
New York State in the interests of
woman suffrage. arranging for meet
fngs and speaking in every county.
In 1868, in connection with Mrs. STAN
ton and other women. Miss Anthony
was Instrumental in forming the Ma
tional Women's Loyal League, and Sc
curing names to the gigantic petition
presented to Congress by Charles
Sumner, February 9, 1864, asking for
the emancipation Of all slaves in the
United States.
Campaign I'm Kansas.
Two months Of the autumn Of 1867.
Miss Anthony spent in Kansas, travel
ing through the State in all kinds Of
weather, and speaking continuously
Tor equal suffrage. In 1852 she spoke
In nearly every country in Nebraska,
urging women's right to vote. In 1855,
which was the fortieth anniversary
OF the first woman's rights conven-
uon, she devised and carried out a
plan for an international congress Of
women, that the progress made by
women as a class might be brought
TO the attention Of the world. The
achievements OF this congress are too
wei known to dwell upon here.
In South Dakota In 1890, Miss An
thony labored for six months for the
political recognition of women in the
State constitution, then about to be
adopted. January 13, of the same
year, she secured the presentation to
Congress OF a petition asking for the
appointment OF women on the board
OF manager Of the Columbian EXPOSE
ton, to be held in Chicago, In 1893,
which resulted in the creation of a
separate board OF lady managers,
whose fne work Is 80 well known over
the civilized world.
Returning to Kansas In 1894 to con-
tinue the campaign for equal suffrage
in that State, Miss Anthony went
from there to New York, speaking in
every county in the State In behalf OF
the elimination Of the word male"
from tha organic law Tr feoe -