business of the association was transacted and free lectures were given. Mrs. Alice Park, as chairman, superintended the wide distribution of literature throughout the State. The association's committees on Child Labor, Education, Peace and other public questions were actively at work. The committee on Petitions to the Legislature for the submission of a woman suffrage amendment to the voters, of which Mrs. Sperry was chairman, secured 14,000 signatures. Mrs. Lowe Watson said in her report to the national convention that splendid work was being done in organization through the generous financial aid of Mrs. Keith and Mrs. Charles D. Blaney. House to house canvasses were being made and assembly district and precinct clubs formed. Mrs. Keith gave $100 a month during 1909 and 1910 to this and other headquarters work, largely financed the legislative work and frequently bore the principal expense of State conventions.[1] Space was freely granted in most of the newspapers and many were giving editorial endorsement. The College Women's Equal Suffrage Leagues were active and the subject of the universities' intercollegiate debate for the year was: Resolved that the ballot should be extended to women. Men's Auxiliary Leagues were formed in Northern and Southern California. A Votes for Women business club and a Wage Earners' club were organized in San Francisco and did important work. There were five downtown suffrage headquarters. Most of the women's clubs had introduced a civic section. Mrs. Lowe Watson lectured before labor unions, church societies, W. C. T. U.'s, "native daughters," women's clubs and suffrage clubs. The throng on Socialists' "woman's day" filled one of the largest halls in San Francisco and at the close of her address gave a unanimous standing vote for equal suffrage.
The annual suffrage convention took place Sept. 30, Oct. 1, 1910, in the Palace Hotel, San Francisco, the 40th that had been held in the State. The long program of prominent speakers, fraternal greetings, committee and club reports, showed the gathering weight and importance of the movement. J. Stitt Wilson, Mayor of Berkeley and Socialist candidate for Governor,
- ↑ Mrs. Keith was by no means a woman of wealth but it was said that during the years that led up to the campaign and in the campaign her contributions amounted to about $15,000.—Ed.
