Evening star., 1936-08-23

Commemorative Issue Due Wednesday Will Pay Honor Woman
Whose Fight for Emancipation Of Her Sex Was One of
the Greatest Stories of the Nineteenth Century.

my in Canajoharie, N. Y. With her
increased income she was able to in
dulge her fondness for fine clothes and
parties. The townspeople were proud
of their efficient, attractive teacher
and became alarmed lest some bache-
lor take her from them. Susan, how
ever, showed little interest in beaux
Neither several proposals nor friends
matchmaking seem to have moved her
at all.
Within few years the school room
lost its charms. Miss Anthony be-
came restless and eager to devote
her growing energies to contemporary
reforms. She abandoned teaching and
returned to her familys farm at
Rochester, the rallying place for lib
erals. There abolitionists, temperance
leaders and proponents of equal rights
met at "Susan's tiptop Sunday din
uers."
SUSAN became active in the tenn
perance movement and was sent
as delegate to the Sons of Temper
ance Convention in 1854. When she
attempted to join the discussion the
chairman announced that "the sisters
were there not to be heard but to
listen and learn" Bitterly Inundated
the jealous young woman left the
hall Immediately.
That incident marked the beginning
of her public life. She organized the
New York Woman's Temperance So
ciety, first of its kind. Soon the vio-
lent prejudice she met everywhere
against feminine participation in
even this movement convinced Miss
Anthony that women could work ef-
fectively against slavery and liquor
abuses only when they had obtained
equal political and economic rights.
Thenceforth she devoted all her ef-
forts to this end in cooperation with
Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady
Stanton.
For several years Miss Anthony
canvassed New York State, spreading
her revolutionary ideas, organizing So
cieties and annually holding a Wom-
ans Rights Convention. Like every
advocate of change she met bitter
opposition. Hen" and ''unseXed
monster" were her usual titles. To-
matoes and rotten eggs often greeted
her speeches.
Susan was slowly developing the tol-
erance and sanity which distinguished
her among reformers. Despite her
chn 60
allow that movement to be closely al
lied with women's rights lest she an
tagonize masculine voters. One OF
her few tactical mistakes was adop-
tion of the comfortable bloomer cos
tune popular among her co-workers.
She abandoned it when she found
that it distracted her audiences from
her words.
In 1856, when the slavery contro-
versy reached fever pitch, abolitionists
enlisted Miss Anthony's aid. She
| campaigned under the banner. "No
Union With SHAREHOLDERS" and con-
Quoted 'tempestuous conventions
throughout New York. From Buffalo
to Albany these meetings were mobbed
amid jeers and the flashing of knives
Even when angry crowds burned her
| in effigy Susan refused to give up tbs
meetings.
During the Civil War the intrepid
lady urged immediate emancipation
of the Negro. Her Women's Loyal
League sent thousands of petitions ta
Congress to write emancipation into
the Constitution. A few months later
the thirteenth amendment granting II
was passed.
MISS ANTHONY was one Of the
NA first advocates of Negro suffrag,
after the war. She had naturally ex.
pected that her abolitionist friendi
in return would champion enfran.
chisement of women. To her dismay
even stanch Supporters like Horace
Greeley told her, This is the Negrot
hour; woman's will come later" The
fourteenth and fifteenth amendments
making Negroes citizens and voter
were passed, but with the specific des'|
ignation male"
| This first differentiation Of sex BY
the Constitution was bitter blow tt|
the women's leader. With renewed
determination she began her concen1
trated 30-year struggle to get Fedora
recognition Of womens rights and
helped organize the National Woma1
Suffrage Association to obtain sucl|
an amendment. She Travelled In all
most every State in the Union, organt
izing and circulating petitions. Sh{
plead her cause before cowboys AM
ranchers and in fashionable Newpor
hotels. She worked tirelessly with
out vacation or salary, never losin
courage. With Mrs. Stanton, Susa
published the Revolution. The ne
periodical, with its terse motto. ME
their rights and nothing more
women-their rights and nothin
less" caused q Nationwide sensatiol
| Miss Anthony was the only woma
who devoted her entire time to III
suffrage cause. On every possible od
casion she presented her case befoI
Congress and Legislatures. The daun
less advocate Travelled in zero weathd
lOontinued on sixth Page