Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 4.djvu/513

 United States officials, and by many of the most influential men and women. With it came a letter from the wife of ex-U. S. Senator Joseph M. Carey, who collected these names, saying the number was limited only by the brief space of time allowed.

"In all, more than two hundred petitions for woman suffrage from various associations were thus sent to Congress in 1900, representing millions of individuals. Many cordial responses were received from members, and promises of assistance should the question come before Congress, but there is no record of the slightest attempt by any member to bring it before that body.

"In doing this work I wrote fully a thousand letters to associations and individuals, in all of which I placed some of our best printed literature. There was a thorough stirring up of public sentiment which must have definite results in time, for it should not be forgotten that in addressing conventions we appeal to the chosen leaders of thought and work from many cities and States, and so set in motion an ever-widening circle of agitation in countless localities."

A most valuable means of educating public sentiment is the securing of a Woman's Day at Chautauqua Assemblies and State and county fairs, when good speakers present the "woman question" in its various phases, including always the need for enfranchisement. The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw and Mrs. Chapman Catt, the leading orators of the country, have addressed Chautauquas in all parts of the United States, as well as countless other large gatherings which have no connection with suffrage, being thus enabled to propagate the principle over a vast area. It can be seen from the above résumé that the ground of effort is widely extended and that the harvest is ripening, but alas, there is a constant repetition of the old, old cry, "The laborers are few." One can only repeat what has often been said, that never before were such results as can be seen on every hand in the improved conditions for women and the advanced public sentiment in favor of a full equality of rights, accomplished by so small a number of workers and under such adverse conditions. Perhaps this will continue to be said even unto the end, but their labors will know neither faltering nor cessation until the original object, as announced over fifty years ago, has been attained, viz.: the full enfranchisement of women.