so-called Third parties. In 1892 they appeared for the first time at a Republican National Convention, serving as alternates from Wyoming. In 1896 women alternates were sent from Utah to the Democratic National Convention. In 1900 Mrs. W. H. Jones went as delegate from that State to the Republican, and Mrs. Elizabeth Cohen to the Democratic National Convention, and both discharged the duties of the position in a satisfactory manner. Mrs. Cohen seconded the nomination of William J. Bryan. A newspaper correspondent published a sensational story in regard to her bold and noisy behavior, but afterwards he was compelled to retract publicly every word of it and admit that it had no foundation.
Doubtless Miss Anthony has attended more political conventions to secure recognition of the cause which she represents than any other woman, and also has presented the subject to more national conventions of various associations. In early days this was because she was one of the few who had the courage to take this new and radical step, and also because she was the only one who made the suffrage the sole object of her life and was ready and willing to work for it at all times and under all circumstances. In later days her name has carried so much weight and she is so universally respected that she has been able to obtain a hearing and often a resolution where this would be difficult if not impossible for other women. However, in national and State work of this kind she has had the valuable co-operation of the ablest women of two generations. In no way can the scope and extent of these efforts be better understood than by reviewing Miss Anthony's report to the National Suffrage Convention of 1901, as chairman of the Committee on Convention Resolutions. It is especially interesting as a fair illustration of the vast amount of work which women have been doing in this direction for the past thirty years.
After stating that the names and home addresses of most of the delegates to all the national political conventions of 1900 were obtained, Miss Anthony submitted copies of four letters of which 4,000 were sent in June from the national suffrage headquarters in New York, signed by herself and the other members of the committee—Carrie Chapman Catt, Anna Howard Shaw, Ida Husted Harper and Rachel Foster Avery.
(To the Republican delegates.)
The undersigned Committee, appointed by the National-American Woman Suffrage Association, beg leave to submit to you, as delegate to the approaching Republican Convention, the enclosed Memorial.
The Republican party was organized in response to the demand for human freedom. Its platform for the last forty years has been an unswerving declaration for liberty and equality. Animated by the spirit of progress, it has continued to enlarge the voting constituency from time to time, thus acknowledging the right of the individual to self-representation. This principle was embodied in the plank adopted at the Chicago convention of 1888, and has been often reaffirmed: "We recognize the supreme and sovereign right of every lawful citizen to cast one free ballot in all public elections and have that ballot duly counted." We appeal to the Republican party to sustain its record by applying this declaration to the lawful women citizens of the United States.
You will observe that this petition does not ask you to endorse the enfranchisement of women, but simply to recommend that Congress submit this question to the decision of the various State Legislatures. In the name of American womanhood we ask you to use every means within your power to bring this matter to a discussion and affirmative vote in your convention.
(To the Democratic delegates.)
Since its inception the Democratic party has had for its rallying cry the immortal words of Thomas Jefferson, "No taxation without representation," "Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." Under this banner wage-earning men, native and foreign, were endowed with the franchise, by which means alone an individual can represent himself or consent to his government, and by this act the party was kept in power for nearly sixty years.
At the close of the eighteenth century this was a broad view for even so great a leader to take. In this closing year of the nineteenth century it would show an equally progressive spirit if his loyal followers would carry these splendid declarations to their logical conclusion and enfranchise women.
(To the Populist delegates.)
At the very first National Convention of the People's Party, held at Omaha in 1892, the preamble of their platform declared that "equal rights and privileges must be securely established for all the men and women of the country." In the majority of State conventions held since that time there has been specific recognition of equal political rights for women. By admitting women as delegates in their representative assemblies and by appointing them to State and local offices, the Populists have put into practice this fundamental principle of their organization. Therefore, in asking you to give your influence and vote in favor of this petition, we are proposing only that you shall reaffirm your previous declarations.
(To the Prohibition delegates.)
Judging from the honorable record made by your party upon this subject, we have every reason to hope that you will give your influence and your vote in favor of the petition contained herein.
In the Democratic letter was enclosed an Open Letter from Gov. Charles S. Thomas (Dem.) of Colorado, setting forth in the strongest manner the advantages of woman suffrage, and in all was placed favorable testimony from prominent men of the respective States, accompanied by the following Memorial. The latter was mailed also to every member of the Resolutions Committees, and 10,000 copies were sent to editors and otherwise circulated throughout the country.
MEMORIAL
To the National Presidential Convention of 1900.
Gentlemen: You are respectfully requested by the National-American Woman Suffrage Association to place the following plank in your platform:
Resolved, That we favor the submission by Congress, to the various State Legislatures, of an Amendment to the Federal Constitution forbidding disfranchisement of United States citizens on account of sex.
The chief contribution to human liberty made by the United States is the establishment of the right of personal representation in government. In other countries suffrage often has been called "the vested right of property," and as such has been extended to women the same as to men. Our country at length has come to recognize the principle that the elective franchise is inherent in the individual and not in his property, and this principle has become the corner-stone of our republic. Up to the beginning of the twentieth century, however, the application of this great truth has been made to but one-half the citizens.
The women of the United States are now the only disfranchised class, and sex is the one remaining disqualification. A man may be idle, corrupt, vicious, utterly without a single quality necessary for purity and stability of government, but through the exercise of the suffrage he is a vital factor. A woman may be educated, industrious, moral and law-abiding, possessed of every quality needed in a pure and stable government, but, deprived of that influence which is exerted through the ballot, she is not a factor in affairs of State. Who will claim that our government is purer, wiser, stronger and more lasting by the rigid exclusion of what men themselves term "the better half" of the people?
Every argument which enfranchises a man, enfranchises a woman. There is no escape from this logic except to declare sex the just basis of suffrage. But this position can not be maintained in view of the fact that women already have full suffrage in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho, municipal suffrage in Kansas, school suffrage in twenty-five States, a vote on tax levies in Louisiana, on bond issues in Iowa, and on minor questions in various other States. They have every franchise except the Parliamentary in England, Scotland and Ireland, the full ballot in New Zealand and South and West Australia, and some form of suffrage in every English colony. In a large number of the monarchical countries certain classes of women vote. On this fundamental question of individual sovereignty surely the United States should be a leader and not a follower. The trend of the times is clearly toward equal suffrage. It will add to the credit and future strength of any party to put itself in line with the best modern and progressive thought on this question.
In the division of the world's labor an equal share falls to woman. As property holder and wage-earner her material stake in the government is equal to that of man. As wife, as mother, as individual, her moral stake is certainly as great as his. The