Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 6.djvu/217

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KANSAS
203

meeting was held. The usual resolution urging the delegation in Congress to use all honorable means to put through the Federal Suffrage Amendment was passed.

In 1916 the convention was held in Memorial Hall, Topeka, and the name Equal Suffrage Association was restored. Governor Capper commended the women for their good influence on legislation. Mrs. Catt, president of the National Association, reviewed its activities, and urged Kansas women to work for the Federal Amendment and go to the national political conventions. Money was raised for the Iowa campaign. There had been several attempts to organize a "militant" suffrage society in Kansas under the name of the Congressional Union and a number of men and women had been innocently led into it. A "question box" conducted by Mrs. Catt did much to clarify the situation, making it plain that there was no chance of united work by the two organizations as they were diametrically opposed in methods. She addressed the Commercial Club at a noon luncheon and many business men testified to the good results of woman suffrage. Mrs. W. Y. Morgan was elected president. The Kansas members of Congress, all of whom were in favor of the Federal Amendment, were continuously urged to press for its submission. About fifty Kansas women marched in the great suffrage parade in Chicago at the time of the Republican national convention in June.

The convention met in Topeka June 21, 1917, and Mrs. Morgan declining re-election, Mrs. Charles H. Brooks of Wichita was made president. The annual meeting of 1918 was held in Wichita June 12. The money had been raised to send two envoys to the Southern States and then on to Washington, Mrs. Henry Ware Allen and Mrs. Yaggy, both of charming personality and belonging to the Democratic party, to obtain the help of Congressmen from the South, and it is gratifying to remember that the Securing of the last necessary votes in the House in January might be attributed to the efforts of these two women. It was voted to send money and speakers to help in the Oklahoma campaign, where the liquor interests were making a strong fight against the amendment. Mrs. Brooks' excellent work soon brought results. It was hard to raise money for anything except