easy decision and she came to it only
because she was unwilling to do less for the cause than Mrs. Stanton
or Lucy Stone. Comfortable as the new dress was, it always attracted
unfavorable attention and added fuel to the fire of an unfriendly
press. This fire soon scorched her at the World's Temperance
convention in New York, where women delegates faced the determined
animosity of the clergy, who held the balance of power and quoted the
Bible to prove that women were defying the will of God when they took
part in public meetings. Obliged to withdraw, the women held meetings
of their own in the Broadway Tabernacle, over which Susan presided
with a poise and confidence undreamed of a few months before. A
success in every way, they were nevertheless described by the press as
a battle of the sexes, a free-for-all struggle in which shrill-voiced
women in the bloomer costume were supported by a few "male Betties."
The New York _Sun_ spoke of Susan's "ungainly form rigged out in the
bloomer costume and provoking the thoughtless to laughter and ridicule
by her very motions on the platform."[38] Untruth was piled upon
untruth until dignified ladylike Susan with her earnest pleasing
appearance was caricatured into everything a woman should not be. Less
courageous temperance women now began to wonder whether they ought to
associate with such a strong-minded woman as Susan B. Anthony.

There were rumblings of discontent when the Woman's State Temperance
Society met in Rochester for its next annual convention in June 1853,
and Susan and Mrs. Stanton were roundly criticized because they did
not confine themselves to the subject of temperance and talked too
much about woman's rights. Not only was Mrs. Stanton defeated for the
presidency but the by-laws were amended to make men eligible as
officers. Men had been barred when the first by-laws were drafted by
Susan and Mrs. Stanton because they wished to make the society a
proving ground for women and were convinced that men holding office
would take over the management, and women, less experienced, would
yield to their wishes.

This now proved to be the case, as the men began to do all the
talking, calling for a new name for the society and insisting that all
discussion of woman's rights be ruled out. In the face of this clear
indication of a determined new policy which few of the women wished to
resist, Susan refused re-election as secretary and both she and Mrs.
Stanton resigned.