On account of the large rush of soldiers to the eastern coast and the many other problems of transportation travelling had become very hard and expensive but so greatly had the interest in suffrage increased among women that nearly 600 delegates were present, the highest number that had ever attended one of the conventions. 'They came through weather below zero, snowstorms and washouts; trains from the far West were thirty-six hours late; delegates from the South were in two railroad wrecks. It was one of the coldest Decembers ever known and the eastern part of the country had never before faced such a coal famine, from various reasons. Washington was inundated with people, the vast number who had suddenly been called into the service of the Government, the soldiers and the members of their families who had come to be with them to the last, and this city of only a few hundred thousand inhabitants had neither sleeping nor eating accommodations for all of them. The suffrage convention had been called before these conditions were fully known and because of the necessity of bringing pressure at once on Congress. The national suffrage headquarters were now occupying a large private house and the officers were cared for there but the delegates were obliged to scatter over the city wherever they could find shelter, were always cold and some of the time not far from hungry and prices were double what was expected. Notwithstanding all these drawbacks the convention program was carried out and a large amount of valuable work accomplished, tried and loyal suffragists being accustomed to hardships and self-sacrifice.
The victory in New York State the preceding month had marked the beginning of the end and the universal enfranchisement of women seemed almost in sight. Even the intense excite-
- ↑ Signed: Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, honorary president; Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president; Mrs. Walter McNab Miller, Mrs. Stanley McCormick and Miss Esther G. Ogden, vice-presidents; Mrs, Frank J. Shuler, corresponding secretary; Mrs. Thomas Jefferson Smith, recording secretary; Mrs. Henry Wade Rogers, treasurer; Mrs. Pattie Ruffner Jacobs, auditor; Mrs. Maud Wood Park, chairman Congressional Committee; Miss Rose Young, chairman of Press; Mrs. Arthur L. Livermore, chairman of Literature.
