corresponding secretary; Pattie Ruffner Jacobs, first auditor;
Heloise Meyer, second auditor.

The conference ended on Saturday and on Sunday afternoon a public mass
meeting was held. Poli's Theater was filled by a representative
audience and on the platform were four members of the Cabinet:
Secretaries Baker, McAdoo, Daniels and Houston, with their wives; also
United States Senators, Representatives and many other prominent
people, including Miss Margaret Wilson, the daughter of the President.
The meeting was opened with an address by Mrs. Catt on The Impending
Crisis, expressing the hope that after the war there would arise a
truer democracy than ever known before and that the world would never
see another war. The Note to President Wilson was read by Mrs. Ida
Husted Harper and handed to Secretary of War Baker. In accepting it he
paid a tribute to the aspirations of women and expressed the belief
that at the close of the war the United States would take its place in
a concert of neutral nations and having practiced justice at home it
would have earned the right to help establish international justice.
Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton delighted the rather tense audience with her
inimitable humor and Dr. Shaw closed the meeting with one of her
strongest speeches. The addresses of Mrs. Catt and Dr. Shaw emphasized
not only the desire of women to do effective patriotic service in time
of stress but also their wish that a more civilized way than by the
waste and destructiveness of war might be found to settle
international disputes.

President Wilson immediately answered as follows:

"The Secretary of War has transmitted to me the Resolutions
presented to him at the meeting held on Sunday afternoon,
February 25, under the auspices of the National American Woman
Suffrage Association. I want to express my great and sincere
admiration of the action taken.

Cordially and sincerely yours, Woodrow Wilson."

On April 6, 1917, the United States declared that a state of war with
Germany existed. News of the severance of diplomatic relations
elicited a deep and reverberating response from the millions of
suffragists over the country. At the New York and Washington
headquarters of the National Association telephone calls and telegrams
were received all day, as State by State the suffrage organizations
proffered concerted action with the national on any program of
constructive service w