n securing its
objects. No other means could be so effective in convincing women that
politics, which they have heretofore believed did not directly concern
them, in reality touches them at every point. They are learning that
the mere personal influence which usually was sufficient to gain their
ends in the household, society and the church--the three spheres of
action to which they were confined in the past--must be supplemented
by political influence now that they have entered the field of public
work. Women have been so long flattered by the power which they have
possessed over men in social life that they are surprised and
bewildered to discover that this is wholly ineffectual when brought to
bear upon men in legislative assemblies. They find that it is not
sufficient to have personal attractions or family position--not even
to be a good wife, mother and worker in church and charities--they
must be also constituents. This is a new word which was not in the
lexicon of woman in past generations. They investigate and they see
that whatever may be the private opinion of these legislators, their
public acts are governed by their constituents, and women alone of all
classes in the community are not constituents.

This knowledge could come to the average woman only through
experience, and that which as an individual she might not get in ages
she is gaining rapidly through organization. A summary of the
preceding list shows about 2,000,000 women enrolled in the various
associations. The number which may be duplicated by a membership in
several, is probably balanced by the number in those which do not
state the membership. This list includes only national associations
and it is reasonable to assume that not more than one-half of the
local societies are auxiliary to national bodies. This is known
positively to be the case in the General Federation of Clubs, which
includes less than half of those in the different States. It would be
a decided underestimate to say that 4,000,000 women in the United
States are members of one or more organizations, and it is clearly
evident that this number is increasing. The scope of these
associations is constantly broadening as women themselves are emerging
from their narrow environment and seeing the needs of the world in
wider perspective. They are slowly but certainly learning to devote
their time and energy to larger objects, and they are awakening to a
perception, above all else, of the