Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 4.djvu/510

 convention assembled at 1900, and representing fully  members, respect fully ask for the prompt passage by your Honorable Body of a Sixteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution, to be submitted to the Legislatures of the several States for ratification, prohibiting the disfranchisement of United States citizens on account of sex.

President. Secretary.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Fifty-sixth Congress of the United States:

, The trend of civilization is plainly in the direction of equal rights for women, and

, Woman suffrage is no longer an experiment, but has been clearly demonstrated to be beneficial to society; therefore,

Resolved, That we, on behalf of [as above], do respectfully petition your Honorable Body not to insert the word "male" in the suffrage clause of whatever form of government you shall recommend to Hawaii, Cuba, Porto Rico or any other newly-acquired possessions. We ask this in the name of justice and equality for all citizens of a republic founded on the consent of the governed.

"A number of large associations adopted these and returned them to me duly engrossed on their official paper, signed by the president and secretary and with their seal affixed; and I forwarded all to the Senators and Representatives whom I thought most likely to present them to Congress in a way to make an impression.

"The General Federation of Labor at Detroit was the first to respond. I was invited to address its annual convention and, after I had spoken, the four hundred delegates passed a resolution of thanks to me, adopted the above petition for the Sixteenth Amendment by a rising vote, and ordered their officers to sign it in the name of their one million constituents.

"The National Building Trades Council at Milwaukee had an able discussion in its annual meeting, based on my letter, and adopted both petitions. This body has half a million members.

"The Bricklayers' and Masons' International Union of America was held in Rochester, and invited me to address the delegates. They received me with enthusiasm, passed strong woman suffrage resolutions and signed both petitions. Afterwards a stenographic report of my speech, covering two full pages of their official organ, The Bricklayer and Mason, was