ll upon William H. Bright, who sponsored the bill in the
Legislature of Wyoming which gave the first equal suffrage ever
granted anywhere to women. In answering the demand of the audience for
a speech he told how Mrs. Esther Morris had come from New York State
to Wyoming in 1867 and how she and his wife had persuaded him to
prepare the bill, which was passed by a Democratic Legislature and
signed by a Republican Governor. In response to a general request Miss
Anthony told the story, of which audiences never seemed to tire, of
that historic occasion when she broke all precedents by addressing a
Teachers' Convention in 1853. This interesting session closed with the
singing of Auld Lang Syne led by the venerable John Hutchinson.
During a morning session Miss Gordon made her report as corresponding
secretary, saying that although it covered only the seven months since
the last convention it showed that 6,500 letters had been sent out
from the headquarters during this period. In 1895, when Mrs. Catt
became chairman of the Organization Committee, she had established
headquarters for her work in one little room in the New York _World_
building, that was really an annex of her husband's offices, and
begun the publication of a Bulletin, which was the organ of the
committee. In 1897 it became the organ of the National Association and
had now expanded into a quarterly paper called _Progress_, which was
edited by Alice Stone Blackwell, Ellis Meredith and Laura Gregg. A
preliminary edition of 100,000 had been sent out from the
headquarters, the expense borne by Boston women, and later 16,000
copies of the October and 20,000 of the January editions had gone to
the 14,000 newspapers of the country, to members of Congress and
others. A monthly series of Political Equality Leaflets was also
commenced and a Course of Study for Clubs and individuals was
established for which a dozen or more books were published. These two
valuable features were carried on without any expense to the
association, as they paid for themselves.
Miss Gordon described the National Conference held in Charleston, S.
C., February 3-4, at the invitation of the board of the Inter-State
and West Indian Exposition; told of the conference in Baltimore[19]
and said of the one in Buffalo: "The far-reaching effect and impetus
given to the woman's movement by the Congress of Women held in
connection with the Chicago Exposition, determined the Business
Committee's accept
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