he president urged the
association to firmly adhere to the principles of the National
Association. Let us not ask for an amendment to the State
constitution, and thus put it in the power of ignorance and
prejudice to deny the boon we seek; while we are auxiliary to the
National let us work according to its plans. Mrs. Stearns was
unanimously reelected president, and her views heartily endorsed.

In the spring of '83, at the request of the State society, and
with the generous consent of Mr. Bixby, the editor of the _State
Temperance Review_, Mrs. Helen E. Gallinger commenced editing a
woman suffrage column in that paper. This has been a very
convenient medium of communication between the State society and
the local auxiliaries which have since been organized by Mrs. L.
May Wheeler, who was employed as lecturer and organizer,[446] in
the summer and fall of 1883. Auxiliary societies had previously
been organized by Mrs. Stearns, in St. Paul and Minneapolis. The
Kasson society, formed in 1872, also became auxiliary to the
State.

During the Northwestern Industrial Exhibition, held in
Minneapolis August, 1883, a woman suffrage headquarters was
fitted up on the fair-grounds, in a fine large tent, made
attractive by flags, banners and mottoes. The State and local
societies were represented, officers and members being there to
receive all who were in sympathy, to talk suffrage to opposers,
to pass out good leaflets, and to exhibit copies of the Woman
Suffrage History. At the annual convention this year we were
honored by the presence of Julia Ward Howe and Mrs. Marianna
Folsom of Iowa, and many of the clergymen[447] of Minneapolis.
Rev. E. S. Williams gave the address of welcome, and paid a
beautiful tribute to the self-sacrificing leaders in this holy
crusade. Mrs. Howe not only encouraged us with her able words of
cheer, but she presided at the piano while her Battle Hymn of the
Republic was sung, and seemed to give it new inspiration. In the
course of her remarks the president said:

Should congress finally adopt that long-pending amendment in
the winter of 1883-4 enfranchising women, we should still
have work to do in 1885 to secure the ratification of this
amendment by our State legislature. But should congress