nced that he would come and would remain throughout the evening.
Undoubtedly he never before faced such an audience. The greatest care
had been taken to exclude all but delegates and invited guests and
from the stage of the theater to the back stretched tier after tier
of white-robed women, while the boxes were filled with prominent
people, mostly women. As he came from the street to the stage with
Mrs. Wilson, also gowned in white, he passed through a lane of
suffragists, one from each State, designated by banners, with broad
sashes of blue and gold across their breasts. He was accompanied by
Private Secretary Tumulty and several distinguished men and the entire
stage behind the decorations of palms and other plants was surrounded
by a cordon of the secret service. Forty-three large newspapers
throughout the country were represented at the reporters' table.

The President had asked to speak last and he listened with much
interest to a program of noted public workers as follows: Why Women
Need the Vote. The Call of the Working Woman for the Protection of the
Woman's Vote--Mrs. Raymond Robins, president of National Women's
Trades Union League. Mothers in Politics--Miss Julia Lathrop, chief of
National Children's Bureau. A Necessary Safeguard to Public
Morals--Dr. Katharine Bement Davis, Chief of Parole Commission, New
York City. Working Children--Dr. Owen R. Lovejoy, general secretary of
National Child Labor Committee. Each speaker emphasized the necessity
for the enfranchisement of women as a means for the nation's highest
welfare. Mrs. Catt was in the chair and introduced the President, who
said with much earnestness and sincerity:

Madam President, Ladies of the Association: I have found it a
real privilege to be here tonight and to listen to the addresses
which you have heard. Though you may not all of you believe it, I
would a great deal rather hear somebody else speak than speak
myself, but I would feel that I was omitting a duty if I did not
address you tonight and say some of the things that have been in
my thoughts as I realized the approach of this evening and the
duty that would fall upon me.

The astonishing thing about the movement which you represent is
not that it has grown so slowly but that it has grown so rapidly.
No doubt for those who have been a long time in the struggle,
like your honored president, it seems a long and arduous path