Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 5.djvu/321

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NATIONAL AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1910
289

Through the effort of the District Equal Suffrage Association the spacious Belasco Theater had been secured for the Sunday afternoon meeting. Dr. Shaw presided and Rabbi Abram Simon offered prayer.[1] A large audience listened to forceful addresses by Miss Beatrice Forbes Robertson, Miss Laura Clay, Miss Harriet May Mills, Mrs. Ella S. Stewart and Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, In the evening the officers of the association received the delegates, speakers and members of the convention in the parlors of the Arlington.

One of the most valuable reports given at the convention was that of Mrs. Lucia Ames Mead, chairman of the Standing Committee on Peace and Arbitration. The events of a few years later caused the delegates to remember with renewed interest the extended work and fervent appeals of Mrs. Mead and her associates for settling the world's disputes by peaceful methods. On this occasion she made a special plea to those who were working for the enfranchisement of women.

Professor Potter, Mr. Blackwell's successor as chairman of the committee, presented a set of strong resolutions, international as well as national in character, which were adopted without discussion.

A subject which received much attention was the offer of Miss Blackwell to make the Woman's Journal the official organ of the association. It needed the help of the paper and since the death of her father she needed some one to share the responsibility of its publication. Miss Clay, Mrs. McCulloch, Mrs. Dennett and Miss Mary Garrett of Baltimore were appointed to plan the business details. An agreement was made for one year, Miss Blackwell to continue as editor without salary but the association to employ a business manager and such other help as she required.

A noteworthy program marked the last evening of the convention, which opened with a powerful address by Raymond Robins on The Worker, the Law and the Courts. It was to be followed by a consideration of Scientific Propaganda in Practical Politics, with the Literature discussed by Mrs. Hartshorne but she was ill

  1. Washington ministers who opened various sessions with prayer were the Reverends U. G. B. Pierce, Samuel H. Woodrow, John Van Schaick and William I, McKenney.