wives were in
suffrage were brazenly warned that the brewing deposits would be
withdrawn from banks, that patronage would be taken away from
merchants and tradespeople--even doctors were threatened with the
loss of their clientele if their wives continued actively in the
campaign. The result was a paralysis of action among many women
who would naturally have been leaders and supporters of the work.
Mrs. Draper Smith was doing all that was humanly possible under
the circumstances to stem the tide of opposition, but money for
publicity and organizing and many speakers seemed to be a
necessity. Upon my report to Mrs. McCormick all extra aid
possible was given.

My trip to South Dakota was interesting in the extreme. It and
North Dakota are agricultural States, the cities are small and
far apart, the villages are scattered over vast areas. By far the
larger percentage of population dwells in the country on farms
and ranches. The two Dakotas are almost pioneer States even now,
but they present the highest degree of educational advantage and
of general literacy perhaps in the whole United States. Their
laws are generally good and for that reason there appears to be
much apathy on the part of both men and women regarding suffrage.
The States are prosperous and the people have not felt to any
extent the pinch of wrong political conditions. The great problem
was to reach the people and make them think, as when they think
at all upon the subject they are apt to think right. I am
convinced that whatever the vote against the suffrage amendment
may have been in North Dakota it was the result of indifference
and lack of special information and not to any extent real
opposition.

I believed from what I could learn in South Dakota the liquor
interests were making their last fight for State control and
about the time I arrived Mrs. Pyle had ascertained that a large
amount of money was being used to subsidize the State press, and
simultaneously the literary efforts of the anti-suffragists,
which have appeared throughout the press during the last year,
came out in the leading papers, and anti-suffrage ladies at $100
a week and expenses appeared on the platform of the principal
towns and cities. During my campaign there I spoke wherever
possible out-