ho had done their part in aiding the cause of equal suffrage.
She concluded with eloquent words of appreciation of the services of
Robert Purvis of Philadelphia, and presented the following resolutions
sent by Mrs. Stanton:

During the period of reconstruction, the popular cry was, "This
is the negro's hour," and Republicans and Abolitionists alike
insisted that woman's claim to the suffrage must be held in
abeyance until the negro was safe beyond peradventure.
Distinguished politicians, lawyers and congressmen declared that
woman as well as the negro was enfranchised by the Fourteenth
Amendment, yet reformers and politicians denounced those women
who would not keep silent, while the Republican and anti-slavery
press ignored their demands altogether. In this dark hour of
woman's struggle, forsaken by all those who once recognized her
civil and political rights, two noble men steadfastly maintained
that it was not only woman's right but her duty to push her
claims while the constitutional door was open and the rights of
citizens in a republic were under discussion; therefore,

_Resolved_, That women owe a debt of gratitude to Robert Purvis
and Parker Pillsbury for their fearless advocacy of our cause,
when to do so was considered to be treason to a great party
measure, involving life and liberty for the colored race.

_Resolved_, That in the death of men of such exalted virtue, true
to principle under the most trying circumstances, sacrificing the
ties of friendship and the respect of their compeers, they are
conspicuous as the moral heroes of the nineteenth century.

The memorial service was closed with prayer by the Rev. Anna Howard
Shaw, who voiced the gratitude for the inspiration of such lives as
these and the hope that this generation might carry the work on to its
full fruition.

* * * * *

The keynote to the speeches and action of this convention was the
status of women in our new possessions. At a preliminary meeting of
the Business Committee, held in the home of Mrs. Chapman Catt at
Bensonhurst-by-the-Sea, N. Y., Jan. 2, 1899, the following "open
letter" had been prepared and sent to every member of Congress:

TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: We respectfully
request that in the qualifications for voters in the proposed
Constitution for the