where no suffrage organization existed. It was originally hoped that the National Association would encourage with active support the development of this specialized suffrage work but it refused any financial assistance.
The founders undaunted pursued their own plan of financing, when suddenly through the generosity of Mrs. Oliver H. P. Belmont of New York the wheels were set in motion. Under caution that secrecy be maintained, Mrs. Belmont, a southern born woman, attracted by the practicability of the plan, endorsed it by sending a check for $10,000. Later at a meeting of the conference in Chattanooga, Tenn., she said: "I plead guilty to so strong a desire for the political emancipation of women that I am not at all particular as to how it shall be granted. I have sworn allegiance to the National Amendment for woman suffrage, while the Southern States Conference, of which I am proud to be a member, holds rigidly to the principle of State's rights. As a southerner I thoroughly understand the problems which create this attitude and if that method proves effective I shall gratefully accept the results."
In May, 1914, the headquarters were opened in New Orleans with Mrs. Ida Porter Boyer of Pennsylvania as their secretary. Within three months 1,000 southern newspapers were using the specially prepared weekly editorials and fillers sent out. In October was launched the New Southern Citizen, a monthly suffrage magazine, which made its initial trip with a distinctively southern suffrage appeal. This little arsenal of facts reached every legislator in the South prior to the sessions of the Legislatures. Special bills endorsed by suffragists or women were made the theme of weekly news articles, which called out editorials by wholesale. To illustrate: When Mississippi women were making an effort to secure an amendment to enable women to serve on public boards, an enthusiastic Mississippian wrote to the conference of the support given by local papers in their editorials—and general comments. Every word printed had been furnished—by the news bulletins from the conference headquarters.
The work of the Southern Conference would be incomplete without special mention of the valuable services of Mrs. Wesley Martin Stoner of Washington, D. C. Mrs. Stoner had been
