h of it is due to the progressiveness of the Colorado men.
They must be better than other men or they would not have enfranchised
their women. I cannot love Colorado any better than I do but I shall
always value this gavel as a precious souvenir of that wonderful
campaign."

In her report as vice-president at large the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw
said regarding her many suffrage speeches during the year: "The
manager of a bureau lately said to me: 'If you would only give up for
a time the two reforms in which you are most interested, woman
suffrage and prohibition, you could earn enough money on the regular
lecture platform in a few years to live on for the rest of your life.'
Any woman who does not live for unselfish service is a useless
cumberer of the earth. I would rather be known as an advocate of equal
suffrage and starve than to speak every night on the best-paying
platforms in the United States and ignore it."

The first evening of the convention was opened with prayer by the Rev.
Marion H. Shutter.[6] The audience was far beyond the seating capacity
of the large church and in presenting the official speakers Mrs. Catt
said: "This is a great contrast to the early days when we did not use
to be welcomed because we were not welcome. Now we are welcomed
wherever we go but not often, as here, by the representative of a
whole State." Governor Samuel R. Van Sant gave a hearty western
greeting, which, he said, he wanted to make as cordial as he could
express it and as broad as the State he lived in. He made this point
among others: "You are doing a splendid work and the reason you do not
get the ballot sooner is because you do not convert your own sex. I
know for I have been a member of the Legislature. If you wanted to
vote as much as you want other things you would go there and block the
legislators so they couldn't get to their seats." Mayor Albert A. Ames
extended the welcome of the city and declared his belief in woman
suffrage. Former Mayor William Henry Eustis ended his address in
behalf of the Commercial Club and Board of Trade by saying:
"Commercial bodies are temporary but a great movement like this is
eternal." Former Mayor James Gray, representing the press, assured
them of its cooperation and said that from a dozen to twenty women
were doing important work on the papers of the city. Mrs. Maud C.
Stockwell, president of the State Suffrage Association, welcomed them
to "the hearts of the women of Minneapolis."