force it upon the people of the State, demands the
unqualified opposition of every citizen who respects the laws of
society and the well-being and good name of our young commonwealth.

On motion, the executive committee were instructed to open a
campaign based upon the foregoing resolutions; and an Anti-Female
Suffrage Committee appointed of one member from each county.

At the beginning of the campaign, Republican leaders and newspapers
were in favor of woman suffrage, but when it was feared that its
advocacy would hazard the chances of negro suffrage, they repudiated
the amendment. While it was by no means certain that all women when
enfranchised would vote the Republican ticket, there was no doubt
whatever that the negroes would, and so it was party expediency to
sacrifice the women. Notwithstanding the opposition of both Republican
and Democratic politicians, the woman suffrage advocates had large and
friendly audiences and the amendment would have been carried beyond a
doubt, if it had had the continued sanction of Republican leaders. In
October, stung by the reproaches of the women, a number of influential
Republicans from different parts of the country[44] sent out an appeal
which was published in the newspapers of Kansas, but this was wholly
offset by the active opposition of the State Committee.

The hardships of a campaign in the early days of Kansas scarcely can be
described. Much of the travelling had to be done in wagons, fording
streams, crossing the treeless prairies, losing the faintly outlined
road in the darkness of night, sleeping in cabins, drinking poor water
and subsisting on bacon, soda-raised bread, canned meats and
vegetables, dried fruits and coffee without cream or milk, sweetened
with sorghum. The nights offered the greatest trial, owing to a species
of insect supposed to breed in the cotton wood trees. In one of her
letters home Miss Anthony says: "It is now 10 A. M. and Mrs. Stanton is
trying to sleep, as we have not slept a wink for several nights, but
even in broad daylight our tormentors are so active that it is
impossible. We find them in our bonnets, and this morning I think we
picked a thousand out of the ruffles of our dresses. I can assure you
that my avoirdupois is being rapidly reduced. It is a nightly battle
with the infernals.... Twenty-five years hence it will be delightful to
live in this beautiful State, but now, alas, its women especially see
hard times