oman Suffrage Club of colored women had been
organized in St. Paul with Mrs. W. T. Francis president. The clubs of
St. Paul and Minneapolis, at the request of the National Association,
had joined in the nation-wide demonstration May 2 with mass meetings
in each city, a street meeting and parade in St. Paul at noon and a
joint parade in Minneapolis in the afternoon with 2,000 men and women
in line.

In October, 1915, the convention took place in St. Paul. Up to this
time headquarters had been maintained free of charge in Minneapolis,
at first in the office of Drs. Cora Smith Eaton and Margaret Koch and
for many years in the office of Drs. Ethel E. and Annah Hurd. This
year they were opened in the Essex Building of that city and a paid
secretary installed. Organization by districts was arranged for. In
conformity with plans sent out from the National Association,
quarterly conferences were held in different sections of the State.
"Organization day" on February 15, Miss Anthony's birthday, was
celebrated in fifteen legislative districts with meetings and
pageants. During the national convention in Washington this year
deputations of suffragists from Minnesota called on the State's two
Senators and ten Representatives asking them to promote the Federal
Suffrage Amendment. To assist the campaign the services of the State
organizer, Mrs. Maria McMahon, were given to New York for September
and October; Mrs. David F. Simpson and Miss Florence Monahan
contributed their services as speakers and $400 were sent to the New
Jersey campaign.[94]

In October, 1916, at the convention in Minneapolis, a delightful
feature was a banquet of 500 covers at the Hotel Radisson, where
President George E. Vincent of the State University made his maiden
speech for woman suffrage. Mrs. Simpson presided. There were favorable
reports from officers, committee chairmen and organizers. At the
request of the National Association deputations had called upon the
State delegates to the national Republican and Democratic conventions
urging them to work for suffrage planks in their party platforms.
Twenty-five Minnesota women marched in the parade in Chicago at the
time of the Republican National Convention and many went to the
National Democratic Convention in St. Louis on a "suffrage barge,"
holding meetings on the boat and at a number of stopping places. In
May the Mississippi Valley Suffrage Conference was entertained in
Minneapolis and a mass meeting