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 "wet" district in Chicago, felt that he could not vote for the bill, but without his counsel it would have been still more difficult to pass it. To overcome the pitfalls, Mrs. Trout appealed to the enemies to give the women of Illinois a square deal, especially to Lee O'Neil Browne, a powerful Democratic leader. He had always opposed suffrage legislation, but he finally consented to let the bill, so far as he was concerned, be voted up or down on its merits. It was this spirit of fair play among its opponents as well as the loyalty of its friends that made possible the final victory.

Up to this time Mrs. Trout and Mrs. Booth had worked alone, but now Mrs. Trout asked Mrs. Antoinette Funk, a lawyer, of Chicago, who had done active work for the Progressive party, to come to Springfield, and she arrived on May 13. A week later Mrs. Medill McCormick came to reside in the capital and her services were immediately enlisted. She was a daughter of the late Senator Mark Hanna, who had inherited much of her father's ability in politics and was an important addition to the suffrage lobby. On May 14 the bill had its first reading and was referred to the Elections Committee. On the 2ist it was reported with a recommendation that it "do pass." The opponents were now thoroughly alarmed. Anton J. Cermak of Chicago, president of the United Societies, a powerful organization of liquor interests, directed the fight against it. Leaflets were circulated giving the "preferential" suffrage vote taken in Chicago the year before, with a list of the negative votes cast in each ward to show the Chicago members how badly it had been beaten by their constituents. The bill was called up for second reading June 3 and there was a desperate attempt to amend and if possible kill it, but it finally passed in just the form it had come over from the Senate.

The hope of the opposition now was to keep Speaker McKinley from allowing the bill to come up for third reading. He told Mrs. Trout that hundreds of men from Chicago as well as from other parts of the State had come to Springfield and begged him to prevent it from coming to a vote. The young Speaker looked haggard and worn during those days, and he asked her to let him know it if there was any suffrage sentiment in the