and focus it on Congress. Our younger women naturally can not
appreciate the vast amount of work done here in Washington by the
National Association in the last twenty-five years. The delegates
do not come here as individuals but as representatives of their
entire States.

We have had these conventions here for a quarter of a century,
and every Congress has given hearings to the ablest women we
could bring from every section. In the olden times the States
were not fully organized--they had not money enough to pay their
delegates' expenses. We begged and worked and saved the money and
the National Association paid the expenses of delegates from
Oregon and California in order that they might come and bring the
influence of their States to bear upon Congress.

Last winter we had twenty-three States represented by delegates.
Think of those twenty-three women going before the Senate
committee, each making her speech, and showing these Senators the
interest in all these States. We have educated at least a part of
three or four hundred men and their wives and daughters every two
years to return as missionaries to their respective localities. I
shall feel it a grave mistake if you vote in favor of a movable
convention. It will lessen our influence and our power; but come
what may, I shall abide by the decision of the majority.

Miss Anthony was strongly supported by Miss Shaw, Mrs. Colby, Mrs.
Louisa Southworth, Mrs. Rosa L. Segur, Mrs. Olivia B. Hall, Mrs. Jean
Brooks Greenleaf and others.

Mrs. Claudia Quigley Murphy (O.) expressed the sentiment of the other
side in saying:

It seems better to sow the seed of suffrage throughout the
country by means of our national conventions. We may give the
people mass meetings and district and State conventions and
various other things, but we can never give them anything as good
as the national convention. We must get down to the unit of our
civilization, which is the individual voter or person. We have
worked for twenty-five years here among the legislators at
Washington; we have gone to the halls of Congress and to the
Legislatures, and we have found the average legislator to be but
a reflex of the sentiment of his constituents. If we wish
representation at Washington we can send our delegation to the
halls of Congr