ed of the exacting duties of the presidency so that I may
be free to engage in campaign work, since each year brings its
quota of campaign States. Therefore, after careful consideration,
I have decided not to stand for re-election to the office of
president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. I
have deferred making this announcement until the campaigns were
ended, but now that it is time to consider the work for the
coming year, I feel it my duty to do so.

The president's address of Dr. Shaw had long been the leading feature
of the conventions but this year it was heard with deeper interest
than ever before, if this were possible. Because every word was
significant she had written it and as it afterwards appeared in
pamphlet form it filled fourteen closely printed pages. It was a
masterly treatment of woman suffrage in its relation to many of the
great problems of the day and it seems a sacrilege to attempt to
convey by detached quotations an idea of its power and beauty. A large
part of it will be found in the Appendix to this chapter. She set
forth in the strongest possible words the necessity of a Federal
Amendment but said:

There is not a single reason given upon which to base a hope for
congressional action that does not rest upon the power and
influence to be derived from the equal suffrage States, which
power was secured by the slow but effective method of winning
State by State. If all our past and present successes in Congress
are due to the influence of enfranchised States, is it not safe
to assume that the future power must come from the same source
until it is sufficiently strong to insure a reasonable prospect
of national legislation? To transform this hope into fulfillment
we must follow several lines of campaign, each of which is
essential to success: 1. By continuing the appeal which for
thirty-seven years without cessation the National Association
has made upon Congress to submit to the State Legislatures an
amendment enfranchising women and by using every just means
within our power to secure action upon it. 2. By Congressional
District organization, such as has been set in motion by our
National Congressional Committee and which has proved so
successful during the past year. 3. By the organization of
enfranchised women, who, through direct political act