ability to speak, a peculiar responsibility and an obligation to
assume every right necessary to carry out that responsibility. It
is incumbent upon her to secure the power to move in the most
direct way upon the obstacles which lie in her path in the
controlling of conditions.... It is to the housekeeper that I
want to call your attention, rather than to the working woman.
She has to decide how she will use her time, energy and money to
promote the life, health, comfort and welfare of her family. The
little group must live in a house. If she resides in a city, it
is a matter of concern what shall be the structure of it, whether
made of material endangering the household or not; if in an
apartment house, she is concerned in the regulations under which
such houses are built and controlled, in the fire escapes, the
sort of gas, the dimensions of the apartments, the order of the
rooms, the plumbing, etc.

It is obvious that today no woman can be a competent housekeeper
unless she has an intelligent knowledge of these subjects. She
must exercise a control over the ordinances and have something to
say about the men who make these ordinances and who enforce them.
She has not the power she needs as a housekeeper unless she feels
that the officials of the city are as much responsible to her,
although they are not chosen by her alone, as are the domestic
servants whom she does select. Her collective responsibility is
just as great as her individual responsibility.... Women cannot
stop either at the bottom or the top by asking for Municipal
suffrage. If woman is going to be a complete housekeeper she must
be a member of a political group and that leads to the demand for
Municipal, State and Federal suffrage.

Miss Kate M. Gordon (La.) told of the remarkable work the women of New
Orleans had been able to do with their taxpayers' right to vote on
matters of special taxation. "If the women of one part of the country
more than another need the suffrage," she declared, "it is those of
the South." The Chicago _Tribune_ commented: "As Miss Gordon sat down
all the women clapped, many waved handkerchiefs and the applause
continued several minutes." Mrs. Lilla Day Monroe described the
excellent effects of the Municipal suffrage enjoyed by all women in
Kansas, the only State where it existed in full.