In 1895 this society prepared a list of all the real and personal property owned by women within the city limits, which amounted to $153,757,566 real and $35,734,133 personal. These figures comprise 20 per cent. of the total city tax, and all of it is without representation.
With the hope of arousing suffrage sentiment, classes were formed under the auspices of the State association to study political science; Mrs. Susan S. Fessenden of Massachusetts was employed to organize clubs in the State; requests were sent to all the clergymen of Philadelphia to preach a sermon or give an address on Woman Suffrage; and prizes of $5, $10 and $15 were offered for the three best essays on Political Equality for Women, fifty-six being received.
A Yellow Ribbon Bazar was held in Philadelphia in 1895, the net proceeds amounting to over $1,000. Miss Mary G. Hay, Miss Yates and Miss Gregg were then employed as organizers, and were very successful in forming clubs. There are now sixteen active county societies.[1]
Legislative Action and Laws: In 1885 Miss Matilda Hindman was sent to Harrisburg to urge the Legislature to submit an amendment to the voters striking out the word "male" from the suffrage clause of the State constitution. As a preliminary, 249 letters were sent to members asking their views on the subject; 89 replies were received, 53 non-committal, 20 favorable, 16 unfavorable. Miss Hindman and eleven other women appeared before a Joint Committe of Senate and House to presenarguments in favor of submitting the amendment. A bill for this purpose passed the House, but was lost in the Senate by a vote of 13 ayes, 19 noes. This was the first concerted action of the Pennsylvania suffragists to influence legislation for women. A legacy of $1,390 from Mrs. Mary H. Newbold aided their efforts to secure the bill.
Political conditions have been such that it has been considered
- ↑ Among the men and women who have been especially helpful to the cause of woman suffrage since 1884, besides those already mentioned, are Robert Purvis, John M. Broomall, Edward M. Davis; Drs. Hannah E. Longshore, Jane V. Myers, Jane K. Garver; Mesdames Rachel Foster Avery, Emma J. Bartol, Eliza Sproat Turner, Elizabeth B. Passmore, J. L. Koethen, Jr., Helen Mosher James, Charlotte L. Peirce, Ellen C. H. Ogden, Mary E. Mumford, Elizabeth Smith, J. M. Harsh, J. W. Scheel, H. C. Perkins, Hanna M. Harlan: Misses Julia T, Foster, M. Adeline Thomson, Susan G. Appleton, Julia A. Myers, L. M. Mather, Lucy E. Anthony.
