demning our
work were adopted. Listen to the names of the women who were
present. Do you see that they are all Mrs. John and Mrs. George and
Mrs. William this and that? There is not a woman's first name in
the whole list, and I do not see a Miss, either. This goes to show
that the women are simply put forward by their husbands.

"Another point: These men who are stirring up the opposition would
not only deny the right of women to vote but would qualify the word
'male' as it now stands in the constitution. They say in so many
words in their resolutions that the right of suffrage is already
extended to too many men; and they pay a doubtful compliment to the
intelligence of their mothers, wives and sisters by adding that the
class of undesirable voters would be swelled by giving the ballot
to women. These are men of wealth who would confine the exercise of
the right of suffrage to their own class--in fact would make this
government an aristocracy."

These new organizations seemed to be abundantly supplied with money, but
though they were able to pay for the work of circulating petitions,
which with the suffrage advocates had to be a labor of love, they
secured only 15,000 signatures. The petitions asking for a suffrage
amendment received 332,148 individual signatures, including the 36,000
collected by the W. C. T. U. In addition to these the New York
Federation of Labor sent in a memorial representing 140,000; the Labor
Reform Conference, 70,000; several Trades Unions, 1,396; Granges,
50,000; total, 593,544. Added to these were petitions from a number of
societies, making in round numbers about 600,000. It had been
impossible, for several reasons, to make a thorough canvass, and this
was especially true of New York and Brooklyn, containing half the
population of the State; and yet there were over one-half as many
signers as there were voters in the entire State.

The Constitutional Convention assembled in Albany, May 8, and elected
Joseph H. Choate, of New York City, president. Although only a few
months previous he had expressed himself favorable to woman suffrage,
all his influence in the convention was used against it. Mr. Choate,
according to universal opinion, accepted this office with the
expectation that it would lead to his nomination as governor of the
State, and he had no intention of offending the power behind the
gubernatorial chair.