g aid to their less fortunate sisters.

* * * * *

Under Susan's guidance, the Workingwomen's Association continued to
hold meetings as long as she remained in New York. In its limited way,
it carried on much-needed educational work, building up self-respect
and confidence among workingwomen, stirring up "a wholesome
discontent," and preparing the way for women's unions. The public
responded. At Cooper Union, telegraphy courses were opened to women;
the New York Business School, at Susan's instigation, offered young
women scholarships in bookkeeping; and there were repeated requests
for the enrollment of women in the College of New York.

Living in the heart of this rapidly growing, sprawling city, Susan saw
much to distress her and pondered over the disturbing social
conditions, looking for a way to relieve poverty and wipe out crime
and corruption. She saw luxury, extravagance, and success for the few,
while half of the population lived in the slums in dilapidated houses
and in damp cellars, often four or five to a room. Immigrants,
continually pouring in from Europe, overtaxed the already inadequate
housing, and unfamiliar with our language and customs, were the easy
prey of corrupt politicians. Many were homeless, sleeping in the
streets and parks until the rain or cold drove them into police
stations for warmth and shelter. Susan longed to bring order and
cleanliness, good homes and good government to this overcrowded city,
and again and again she came to the conclusion that votes for women,
which meant a voice in the government, would be the most potent factor
for reform.

Yet she did not close her mind to other avenues of reform. Seeing
reflected in the life of the city the excesses, the injustice, and the
unsoundness of laissez-faire capitalism, she spoke out fearlessly in
_The Revolution_ against its abuses, such as the fortunes made out of
the low wages and long hours of labor, or the Wall Street speculation
to corner the gold market, or the efforts to take over the public
lands of the West through grants to the transcontinental railroads.
Her active mind also sought a solution of the complicated currency
problem. In fact there was no public question which she hesitated to
approach, to think out or attempt to solve. She did not keep her
struggle for woman suffrage aloof from the pressing problems of the
day. Instead she kept it abreast of the times, keenly alive to social,
p