Members of the large legislative committee met weekly during the session of 1910 at the State headquarters in New York to assist in promoting the work. All the workers as usual contributed their services. Mrs. Crossett and Miss Mills remained in Albany. A notable meeting was held there at Harmanus-Bleecker Hall, with excellent speakers. The boxes were filled with prominent women, who had invited many of the State officials as guests; seats were sent to all the members of the Legislature, most of whom were present, and the house with a capacity of 2,000 was crowded. Mrs. Clarence Mackay defrayed most of the expenses. On January 22 Governor Charles E. Hughes granted a hearing to George Foster Peabody, Oswald Garrison Villard, Mrs. Ella H. Boole, Mrs. Villard, Mrs. Crossett, Mrs. Frederick R. Hazard and Miss Anne F. Miller, who urged him to recommend the submission of an amendment. He seemed much impressed by the statements made but they had no effect. The hearing on March g broke all records. The Assembly Chamber was filled to the utmost and surging crowds outside tried to get in. Members of both Houses stood for hours listening to the speeches. Jesse R. Phillips, chairman of the Assembly Judiciary Committee, presided. The suffrage speakers were headed by the eminent lawyer, Samuel Untermeyer. The antisuffragists had a long list, including Mrs. Henry M. Stimson, wife of a New York Baptist minister, and Mrs. William P. Northrup of Buffalo. Both Judiciary Committees refused to let the resolution come before the two Houses, admitting that it would be carried if they did.
The most thorough preparation was made for the session of 1911 by all the suffrage societies. The Assembly committee refused to report and on May 10 Representative Spielberg, who had charge, moved to request it to do so. The vote was 38 in favor
of the College Equal Suffrage League; Mary E. Dreier, president of the Women’s Trade Union League; Anna Mercy, president of the East Side Equal Rights League; Ella A. Boole, president State W. C. T. U.; George Foster Peabody, president, and Max Eastman, secretary of the Men’s League for Woman Suffrage; Ida Husted Harper, chairman National Press Bureau; Mrs. William C, Story, president State Federation of Women’s Clubs; Lucy P. Allen, president of the Washington county and Lucy P. Watson, president of the Utica Political Equality Clubs; Mrs. William C. Gannett, president of the Susan B. Anthony Memorial Association; Alice Lewisohn, noted for her social work in New York, Dr. Charles F. Aked, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise and William M. Ivins.
