o see the abject degradation
of their present position; which will force them to break their
yoke of bondage, and give them faith in themselves; which will make
them proclaim their allegiance to woman first; which will enable
them to see that man can no more feel, speak or act for woman than
could the old slaveholder for his slave. The fact is, women are in
chains, and their servitude is all the more debasing because they
do not realize it. O, to compel them to see and feel, and to give
them the courage and conscience to speak and act for their own
freedom, though they face the scorn and contempt of all the world
for doing it!

Not another woman possessed this strong grasp of the whole situation,
this deep comprehension of the abject condition of women, the more
hopeless because of their own failure to feel or resent it.

During the summer Miss Anthony attended the National Labor Congress in
Philadelphia. A great strike of bookbinders had been in progress in New
York and she had advised the women to take the vacant places. They were
denied admission to all labor unions and their only chance of securing
work was when the men and their employers disagreed. This gave a
pretext for those who were opposed to a representation of women in
labor conventions, and a bitter fight was made upon accepting her as a
delegate. Charges of every description were preferred against her which
she refuted in a spirited manner, but her credentials were finally
rejected. The newspapers took up the fight on both sides, the
opposition to Miss Anthony being led by the New York Star, always
abusive where the question of woman's rights was concerned. During this
controversy the Utica Herald contained a disgraceful editorial, saying:

Who does not feel sympathy for Susan Anthony? She has striven long
and earnestly to become a man. She has met with some rebuffs, but
has never succumbed. She has never done any good in the world, but
then she doesn't think so. She is sweet in the eyes of her own
mirror, but her advanced age and maiden name deny that she has been
so in the eyes of others. Boldly she marched, and well, into the
presence of 200 horrid male delegates of the Labor Congress, and
took somebody's seat.... Susan felt very much like a grizzly bear
unable to get at its tormentor. She had gone to the length of her
chain and couldn't get her claws into any one's hair.