Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 5.djvu/674

 a conference he wrote with his own hand the following statement to be made public: "The Woman Suffrage Committee found that the President had not felt at liberty to volunteer his advice to members of Congress in this important matter but when we sought his advice he very frankly and earnestly advised us to vote for the amendment as an act of right and justice to the women of the country and of the world." This declaration had a marked effect on the Democratic members and on the party outside. On the Republican side, Colonel Roosevelt wrote a letter to Chairman Willcox of the Republican National Committee, urging that the party do everything possible for the amendment, and Mr. Willcox went more than once to Washington to labor with Re<section begin=interesting Republican leaders in the House to secure fuller party support for it. On the evening of January 9, a meeting was called in the hope of securing caucus action. It could not be had but the fol-lowing very moderate resolution was adopted: "The Republican conference of the House of Representatives recommends and advises that the Republican members support the Federal Suffrage Amendment in so far as they can do so consistently with their convictions and the attitude of their constituents"! Shortly after 12 o'clock on Jan. 10, 1918, with the galleries of the House crowded, Representative Foster (Ills.) presented the rule, which, when adopted, provided for the closing of debate at five o'clock that afternoon and even division of time between sup-porters and opponents. With Chairman Raker's consent the general debate was opened by Miss Rankin and it continued until five o'clock, when amendments were in order. One, offered by Representative Moores of Indiana, providing for ratification by convention in the several States instead of by the Legislatures, was defeated by a vote of 131 to 274. A second, by Representative Card of Ohio, limiting the time allowed for ratification by the States to seven years, was defeated by a vote of 158 to 274. Analyzed by parties and not including pairs, the vote on the joint resolution for submitting the Federal Suffrage Amendment to the Legislatures was as follows: