Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 5.djvu/452

 again this amendment is easier to ratify in the Legislatures than the Bristow-Mondell would be, because in the ratification of the latter the legislators are practically casting the final vote on the enfranchisement of the women all over the countryThe simultaneous consideration of suffrage in every State at the same time would give overwhelming accumulative impetus to the movement and would increase suffrage activity inestimably. The fact that the national Congress had taken any action whatsoever in regard to the suffrage question would stamp it as a national issue, and I very much doubt whether the Democratic and Republican parties would be able to decline to put a suffrage plank in their national platforms.

This ended Mrs. Funk's statement and Mrs. McCormick continued: "In dividing up the work of the lobby Mrs. Sherman undertook to card catalogue Congress by the same method which she used so successfully in the Illinois Legislature and a list of members was prepared who should be defeated on their record in Congress. Arthur Dunn, who had been a Washington newspaper correspondent for thirty years, was put at the head of the publicity bureau and proved to be of inestimable value because of his personal acquaintance with every member of Congress." Charles T. Hallinan, also an experienced newspaper man, had been made chairman of the press bureau and in his report to the convention told of the introduction of the latest methods of publicity work and the signal success they had achieved. A Chicago office had been opened for organization and a system established of thorough congressional district work, a detailed account of which filled half a dozen pages of the printed Minutes. Miss Lillie Glenn and Miss Lavinia Engle had been appointed field organizers and a number of States were canvassed, speeches made indoors and out in scores of counties, women's societies visited and many suffrage clubs formed. Every kind of transportation was used, from muleback to automobiles, and many hardships were encountered. The report closed with several pages of valuable suggestions for what would be a thorough political campaign if carried out. Mrs. McCormick also gave an interesting report of her chairmanship of another committee, saying:

Early in the summer of 1914 Mrs. Desha Breckinridge advanced the valuable idea of a special campaign [sic]commitee to be appointed by the National Board for the purpose of giving aid to the campaign States by establishing a speakers' bureau for their benefit and devising means for raising necessary funds, which the National