E. Anthony making the first
contribution of $1,000 in memory of her aunt, Susan B. Anthony. The
Leslie Commission guaranteed $15,000 of this amount.

The Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington had
during the year set apart a division of space for mementoes of
distinguished suffragists, and Mrs. Helen H. Gardener, through whose
efforts chiefly this concession had been secured, offered the
following resolution, which was unanimously adopted: "This convention
expresses to the Directors of the Smithsonian Institution profound
appreciation of this section devoted to the great women leaders of
liberty and civilization on the same broad basis accorded to men and
believes that this shrine will be an object of the reverence and
education of all womanhood.[127]

A resolution was adopted to send congratulatory and affectionate
letters to the pioneers, Miss Emily Howland of Sherwood, N. Y.; the
Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell of Elizabeth, N. J., and Mrs.
Charlotte Pierce of Philadelphia. The Rev. Olympia Brown of Racine,
Wis., one of the few remaining pioneers, was guest of honor of the
convention and received especial attention throughout the week. A
telegram was sent to Mrs. Ida Husted Harper of New York in recognition
of her constant, untiring work on the last volumes of the History of
Woman Suffrage, still in progress. Very laudatory resolutions of
"sincere gratitude" were adopted and sent to Will H. Hays and Homer
Cummings, chairmen of the Republican and Democratic National
Committees, for their services in behalf of the Federal Suffrage
Amendment.

Five large rooms in the hotel were required for the 1,400 guests who
attended the "ratification banquet" the evening of February 14 and
there were almost as many disappointed women who could not obtain
seats. Mrs. Catt presided and the following program of sparkling
speeches was given: The Apology of New York [for re-election of U. S.
Senator Wadsworth], Mrs. F. Louis Slade; The Specials of the Middle
West, Mrs. Peter Olesen, Minnesota; Tradition vs. Justice, Mrs. Pattie
Jacobs, Alabama; By the Grace of Governors, Dr. Grace Raymond Hebard,
Wyoming; "All's Well That Ends Well," Mrs. T. T. Cotnam, Arkansas.
Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson, "cheer leader," had prepared a program of
well-known songs cleverly adapted to suffrage and set to popular airs.

The culminating feature, arranged by Mrs. Richard E. Edwards, was a
living "ratification valentine." On the stage w