“ Booth went to Springfield and from then attended the sessions regularly. She sat in the galleries of the Senate and House and soon learned to recognize each member and rounded up and checked off friendly legislators.
The Progressives had a large representation and had made plans to introduce as a party measure a carefully drafted Woman Suffrage bill. Mrs. Trout and Mrs. Booth suggested to the leaders that it would be far better to let the State association sponsor this measure than to have it presented by any political party. ”

“ No politicians believed the suffragists had the slightest chance of success. From April 7 Mrs. Trout. went down every week. The women had the strong support of the Chicago press and editorials were published whenever they were especially needed during the six months' struggle. After considerable educational work the Springfield newspapers also became friendly and published suffrage editorials at opportune times. The papers were refolded so that these editorials, blue penciled, came on the outside, and placed on the desks of the legislators. ”

“ Stewart was continued as president. The association co-operated with the National American Suffrage Association in requesting the National Republican Committee, which met in Chicago, to incorporate a woman suffrage plank in its platform. An active educational campaign was started to appeal again for Municipal suffrage for women in another charter which was being prepared. This time the charter convention acceded to the request of the women, but the whole was defeated at Springfield. ”

“ R. M. Reed, legislative chairman of the Illinois Federation of Women's Clubs; they appointed two workers in each congressional district and nearly every woman's society in the State had constitutional convention programs. In the spring of 1918 Governor Lowden appointed Judge Orrin N. Carter, of the Supreme Court, chairman of a state-wide committee that worked in co-operation with the statewide committee of women. The annual suffrage convention was held in the latter part of October, 1918, in Chicago, and Mrs. Trout was re-elected. ”

“ Illinois interested in human liberty. The very day the bill passed the House a committee of anti-suffrage legislators called upon Governor Dunne to urge him to veto it and tried to influence Attorney General Patrick J. Lucey to declare it unconstitutional, which would give him an excuse. Mrs. McCormick immediately went to Chicago and secured opinions from able lawyers that the bill was constitutional, and he stood out against all opposition and signed it on June 26. ”

“ She began at once to strengthen the State organization for the legislative campaign of 1913. There were still Senatorial districts in which there were no suffrage societies, and, as the time was short, competent women were immediately appointed in such districts to see that their legislators were interviewed and to make ready to have letters and telegrams sent to them at Springfield. ”

“ Booth to Springfield taking the bill which she herself had drafted and which she insisted upon having substituted. Out of deference to her long years of service her bill was taken instead of the Progressives'. It named the officers for which women should be allowed to vote instead of being worded like the Progressive draft, which said: "Women shall be allowed to vote for all officers and upon all propositions submitted except where the Constitution provides that the elector shall be a male citizen." ”

“ All such women may also vote for the following township officers: supervisor, town clerk, assessor, collector and highway commissioner, and may also participate and vote in all annual and special town meetings in the township in which such election district shall be.
Separate ballot boxes and ballots shall be provided.... As soon as the Legislature convened in 1913 a struggle developed over the Speakership, and there was a long and bitter deadlock before William McKinley, a young Democrat from Chicago, was finally elected. ”

“ A case was brought against the Election Commissioners of Chicago for allowing women to vote on certain questions, decided in their favor by the lower courts, appealed and brought before the Supreme Court of Illinois. A meeting of the board of the State Equal Suffrage Association was called at once, which voted to raise a defense fund and fight the case to a finish, The chairman of the committee was Mrs. ”

“ Nearly 15,000 women, representing all parties, creeds and classes, marched down Michigan Boulevard and hundreds of thousands of people lined both sides for over two miles. Captain Charles W. Kayser of Wheaton planned the procession with military skill. ”

“ They frequently conferred with Judge Isaiah T. Greenacre, counsel for the Teachers' Federation, and Joel F. Longnecker, a young lawyer active in the Progressive party, both of whom donated their services. ”