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 ents, would exercise the franchise, I should be in favor of it. At present there is considerable doubt upon that point. In certain of the States which have tried it woman suffrage has not been a failure. It has not made, I think, any substantial difference in politics. I think it is perhaps possible to say that its adoption has shown an improvement in the body politic, but it has been tested only in those States where population is sparse and where the problem of entrusting such power to women in the concentrated population of large cities is not presented. For this reason, if you will permit me to say so, my impression is that the task before you in securing what you think ought to be granted in respect to the political rights of women is not in convincing men but it is in convincing the majority of your own class of the wisdom of extending the suffrage to them and of their duty to exercise it.

Now that is my confession of faith, I am glad to welcome you here. I am glad to welcome an intelligent body of women, earnest in the discussion of politics, earnest in the question of good government and earnest and high-minded in the cause they are pursuing, even if I disagree with them, not in principle but in the application of it to the present situation. More than this I ought not to say and I hope you will not deem me ungracious in saying as much as I have said, but I came here at the invitation of your committee with the understanding as to what I might say and that I should not subscribe to all the principles that you are here to advocate. I congratulate you on coming to Washington, this most beautiful of cities, to hold your convention. I trust that it may result in everything that you hope for and I am sure that the coming together of honest, intelligent and earnest women like these cannot but be productive of good.

Some persons thought that the hissing was done by one or more delegates from the equal suffrage States because of the aspersion cast on the class of women who were likely to vote. Others believed there was no hissing but that it was merely an exclamation of "hush" because of the noise caused by the moving of loose chairs, many in the back part of the room standing up on them to get a better view. It was, however, a matter of great concern and regret on the part of the national officers, who met early the next morning and framed the following resolution:

the President of the United States in welcoming the Forty-second Annual Convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association has taken the historic position of being the first incumbent of his office to recognize officially our determination to secure a complete democracy, thereby testifying his conviction as to its power and growth, and