e; sixty-five wholly opposed. The remainder did not
reply, although stamps were enclosed. This committee also arranged for
the printing, purchasing and distributing of 23,000 copies of the
Senate and House hearings. The report concluded: "The time has come
when women wanting legislation must proceed exactly as men do who want
it. No man procures an office for himself or a friend, nor does any
man or association get an Act passed, unless the claim is persistently
pressed, not only upon the members of the committee in charge of it
but upon his friends and acquaintances in Congress. There is no use in
supposing the justice or right of a question, without persistent work,
is going to bring about a reform."[96]

Mrs. Colby, chairman of the Committee on Federal Suffrage, appointed
to urge the legal right of women to vote for Representatives under the
U. S. Constitution, reported that she had sent a copy of Francis
Minor's argument to every member of the Judiciary Committee of the
House of Representatives, with a personal letter asking for an
opinion, and that not one replied. Petitions were sent from twenty
States, including suffrage associations, temperance societies,
granges, etc. Letters asking an opinion were written to nineteen
Senators who were considered friendly to the enfranchisement of women,
and only one answered, Joseph N. Dolph of Oregon. Miss Sara Winthrop
Smith (Conn.) opened the discussion.[97]

The motion of Miss Alice Stone Blackwell to amend the constitution so
that it would not be obligatory to hold every annual convention in
Washington, was amended by Mrs. Avery to the effect that "the annual
delegate convention shall be held in Washington during the first
session of each Congress, in order to influence national legislation;
the meeting of the alternate conventions to be left an open question."
Miss Anthony was greatly opposed to holding any of the national
meetings outside of Washington, and in a forcible speech she said:

The sole object, it seems to me, of this organization is to bring
the combined influence of all the States upon Congress to secure
national legislation. The very moment you change the purpose of
this great body from National to State work you have defeated its
object. It is the business of the States to do the district work;
to create public sentiment; to make a national organization
possible; and then to bring their united power to the capital