s being done in organization through
the generous financial aid of Mrs. Keith and Mrs. Charles D. Blaney.
House to house canvasses were being made and assembly district and
precinct clubs formed. Mrs. Keith gave $100 a month during 1909 and
1910 to this and other headquarters work, largely financed the
legislative work and frequently bore the principal expense of State
conventions.[13] Space was freely granted in most of the newspapers
and many were giving editorial endorsement. The College Women's Equal
Suffrage Leagues were active and the subject of the universities'
intercollegiate debate for the year was: Resolved that the ballot
should be extended to women. Men's Auxiliary Leagues were formed in
Northern and Southern California. A Votes for Women business club and
a Wage Earners' club were organized in San Francisco and did important
work. There were five downtown suffrage headquarters. Most of the
women's clubs had introduced a civic section. Mrs. Lowe Watson
lectured before labor unions, church societies, W. C. T. U.'s, "native
daughters," women's clubs and suffrage clubs. The throng on
Socialists' "woman's day" filled one of the largest halls in San
Francisco and at the close of her address gave a unanimous standing
vote for equal suffrage.

The annual suffrage convention took place Sept. 30, Oct. 1, 1910, in
the Palace Hotel, San Francisco, the 40th that had been held in the
State. The long program of prominent speakers, fraternal greetings,
committee and club reports, showed the gathering weight and importance
of the movement. J. Stitt Wilson, Mayor of Berkeley and Socialist
candidate for Governor, made a most encouraging address and J. H.
Braly, an influential citizen of Pasadena, came to tell of what was
being accomplished in Southern California. The visits of the national
officers, Professor Frances Squire Potter, Mrs. Florence Kelley and
Mrs. Ella S. Stewart had greatly inspired the workers and the
favorable action of the next Legislature seemed almost certain.

For the past year California had been in the midst of a crucial
political campaign. The State government for forty years had been the
servant of a powerful political "machine" controlled by large public
service corporations. The people had tired of it and public opinion
was ripe for a change. The "progressive Republicans," as they were
called, came into power at the election of November, 1910, and Hiram
W. Johnson was elected Governor to carry ou