aiting only to
drive the foe from her soil to give her women political liberty.

Such an array of victories gives us faith to believe that our own
Government will soon follow the example of other allied nations
and will also pledge votes to its women citizens as an earnest of
its sincerity that in truth we do fight for democracy. This is
our first national convention since our country entered the war.
We are faced with new problems and new issues and the nation is
realizing its dependence upon women as never before. It must be
made to realize also that, willingly as women are now serving,
they can serve still more efficiently when they shall have
received the full measure of citizenship. These facts must be
urged upon Congress and our Government must be convinced that the
time has come for the enfranchisement of women by means of an
amendment to the Federal Constitution.

Men and women who believe that the great question of world
democracy includes government of the people, by the people and
for the people in our country, are invited to attend our
convention and counsel with us on ways and means to attain this
object at the earliest possible moment.[107]

On account of the large rush of soldiers to the eastern coast and the
many other problems of transportation travelling had become very hard
and expensive but so greatly had the interest in suffrage increased
among women that nearly 600 delegates were present, the highest number
that had ever attended one of the conventions. They came through
weather below zero, snowstorms and washouts; trains from the far West
were thirty-six hours late; delegates from the South were in two
railroad wrecks. It was one of the coldest Decembers ever known and
the eastern part of the country had never before faced such a coal
famine, from various reasons. Washington was inundated with people,
the vast number who had suddenly been called into the service of the
Government, the soldiers and the members of their families who had
come to be with them to the last, and this city of only a few hundred
thousand inhabitants had neither sleeping nor eating accommodations
for all of them. The suffrage convention had been called before these
conditions were fully known and because of the necessity of bringing
pressure at once on Congress. The national suffrage headquarters were
now occupying a large priv