Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 4.djvu/502

 We believe that the forces of reform this day organized will never cease to move forward until every wrong is righted, and equal rights and equal privileges securely established for all the men and women of this country.

In 1896 the Populist National Convention in St. Louis effected its great fusion with the Democrats, and the political rights of women were hopelessly lost in the shuffle. By 1900 the organization was thoroughly under Democratic control, and the expectations of women to secure their enfranchisement through this "party of the people," created to reform all abuses and abolish all unjust discriminations, vanished forever. It must be said to its credit, however, that during its brief existence women received more recognition in general than they ever had had from the old parties. They sat as delegates in its national and State conventions and served on National and State Committees; they were employed as political speakers and organizers; and they were elected and appointed to official positions. Various State and county conventions declared in favor of enfranchising women, the majority of the legislators advocated it, and there is reason to believe that in those States where an amendment to secure it was submitted, individual Populists very largely voted for it.

The Prohibition National Conventions many times have put a woman suffrage plank in their platforms, and women have served as delegates and on committees. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union forms the bulwark of this party, and, like its distinguished president, Miss Frances E. Willard, her successor, Mrs. Lillian M. N. Stevens, is an earnest advocate of the enfranchisement of women, which is also true of the vast majority of its members, so it has not been necessary for the Woman Suffrage Association to send delegates to the national conventions, although it has occasionally done so. These have frequently failed, however, to adopt a plank declaring for woman suffrage, the refusal to do so at Pittsburg in 1896 being a principal cause of the division in the ranks which took place at that time.

The Greenback party, the Labor party, the various Socialist parties, and other reform organizations of a political character have made unequivocal declarations for woman suffrage and welcomed women as delegates. Whether they would do so if