ring and
State and national candidates were canvassed as to their views on
woman suffrage.

When the convention of 1917 was held in Columbia in October there were
twenty-five leagues in the State with a membership of about 3,000. The
Federal Suffrage Amendment, the Prohibition Amendment, Food
Administration as outlined by Mr. Hoover and a Minimum Wage for Women
were endorsed. Protests were made against any attempt to lower
educational standards or to weaken the laws safeguarding women and
children. The Legislative Committee reported that before the
Legislature convened its members had been completely canvassed as to
their views on woman suffrage; these were classified and only a few
were tagged impossible. A "suffrage school" was held in Columbia in
December under the auspices of the National Association with one
hundred pupils. During the year woman suffrage had been endorsed by
the State Federation of Labor, Federation of Women's Clubs and Woman's
Christian Temperance Union.

In May, 1918, Mrs. Cathcart was appointed by U. S. Senator Tillman as
associate committeewoman on the Democratic National Committee. When
the State Democratic convention was held in Columbia that month the
committeewoman and the committee decided that this was the opportunity
for the Democratic party to substantiate its pledge. Senator Neils
Christensen was asked to introduce a resolution requesting the party
to permit women to vote in the Democratic Primaries in August,
provided the 36th State had ratified the Federal Amendment. The
resolution was debated in committee and rejected by a vote of 18 to
14. The convention adopted the unfavorable report by a vote of 249 to
58. The women were not only rejected but through the spokesman for the
opposing faction, U. S. Senator Christie Benet of Columbia, they were
dubbed as paid propagandists. This the women denied through the press
and called on him to prove his accusation, which was never done. The
State suffrage convention was held in October and Mrs. Lynch and Mrs.
Cathcart were re-elected. At this convention the league declared
itself in favor of the Federal Suffrage Amendment as a war measure.

The State convention of 1919 was held in Columbia in January, Mrs.
Julian B. Salley of Aiken presiding. Resolutions on the death of Dr.
Anna Howard Shaw, also resolutions endorsing the Treaty of Peace and
the League of Nations were read by Mrs. Cathcart and adopted. Mrs.
Lynch, whose resignation was acc