its own way and degree, and, except in the
case of one, the National Woman's Party, there was no antagonism among
them, as all were consecrated to a common cause, and followed similar
methods.

THE FEDERAL SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.

This association was organized on March 3rd and 10th, 1892, in the
lecture room of the Sherman House, Chicago, with the following
officers: President, the Hon. M. B. Castle, Sandwich, Ills.;
vice-president, the Rev. Olympia Brown, Racine, Wis.; secretary, Mrs.
A. J. Loomis, Chicago; treasurer, Mrs. S. M. C. Perkins, Cleveland, O.
Judge Charles B. Waite of Chicago; Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker of
Hartford, Conn.; Mrs. Lucinda H. Stone of Kalamazoo, Mich., and Mrs.
Lucia E. Blount of Washington, D. C., with many other prominent people
assisted. The object was to secure the passage of a Law by
Congress authorizing women to vote for members of the House of
Representatives, according to Sections 2 and 4, Article I of the
Federal Constitution, which gives Congress authority to change the
regulations made by the States for the election of these members. The
way for this organization had been prepared by articles in the _Forum_
and the _Arena_ by Judge Francis Minor of St. Louis, presenting the
arguments for this law. He quoted James Madison, who said at the time
Virginia adopted the National Constitution that "the power was given
to Congress to change the regulations made by the States in order to
protect the people. Should the people at any time be deprived of the
right of suffrage for any cause it was deemed proper that it should be
remedied by the general government." At the first meeting a memorial
was adopted asking Congress to enact this law, which later was
presented by Representative Clarence D. Clark of Wyoming. The officers
of the association were instructed to present a memorial to the
Republican national convention in Minneapolis that summer asking that
a plank approving this Federal suffrage be inserted in the platform.
The Rev. Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Perkins attended the convention, where
they were treated with marked courtesy and given prominent seats. They
secured a hearing and the presentation of the memorial in the
Committee on Resolutions. The papers of Minneapolis printed it in
full, which was something unusual at that time when woman suffrage was
scarcely recognized by the press. At the Columbian Exposition in 1893
a section in the Political Congress was assigned to the Federal
A