fairs. I am, sir, with the warmest wishes
for the prosperity of Kansas,

Yours very truly, J. STUART MILL.

To S. N. Wood, Topeka, Kansas, U. S. A.

Rev. Olympia Brown came to Kansas the 1st of July, and made an
effective and extensive canvass of the State, often holding three
meetings a day. Other speakers, both from home and abroad, were
vigorously engaged in the work, and the friends of the movement
believed, not without cause, that Kansas would be the first State
to grant suffrage to women. Had the election been held in May
while the tide of public opinion ran so high in their favor,
there is little doubt that both resolutions would have been
carried unanimously. To explain the causes that led to the defeat
of both propositions, I quote from a letter of Hon. S. N. Wood,
in reply to questions addressed him as to certain facts of the
campaign. He writes: "About May 2d, C. V. Eskridge of Emporia
wrote a very scurrilous article against woman suffrage. It filled
three columns of _The News_. In it he denounced the lady
speakers in the most abusive manner, ridiculing them with
insulting epithets. About the middle of May F. H. Drenning,
Chairman of the Republican State Committee, called a meeting of
that committee to make arrangements to canvass the State for
negro suffrage. The committee met and published an address in
favor of manhood suffrage, and said nothing as to woman suffrage.
Shortly afterwards the same committee summoned C. V. Eskridge, T.
C. Sears, P. B. Plumb, I. D. Snoddy, B. F. Simpson, J. B. Scott,
H. N. Bent, Jas. G. Blunt, A. Akin, and G. W. Crawford--all
opposed to woman suffrage--to make a canvass for negro suffrage.
They were instructed that "they would be allowed to express their
own sentiments on other questions." This meant that these men
would favor negro suffrage, but would oppose woman suffrage. This
at once antagonized the two questions, and we all felt that the
death blow had been struck at both."

Early in September, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony
came to the State to assist in the canvass; and certainly if
indefatigable labor and eloquent addresses could have repaired
the mischief done by the State Republican Committee, the cause
would yet have triumphed. At all pl