“ The idea originated with Rosalie Gardiner Jones, who began by making a tour of Long Island, her summer home, in a little cart drawn by one horse and decorated with suffrage flags and banners, stopping at every village and town, giving out literature and talking to the crowds that gathered. "If you once win the hearts of the rural people you have them forever. That is why I decided to organize a pilgrimage from New York City to Albany before the opening of the legislative session, when it was hoped a woman suffrage amendment would be submitted to the voters," she said. ”

“ Whitehouse said in reviewing the causes of the failure of the first campaign, "We worked like amateurs." Such a charge could not be brought in the second, for the suffragists became an army of seasoned veterans, quick to understand and to obey orders, giving suffrage precedence over everything else except patriotic work. The amendment as adopted gave complete suffrage to women on the same terms as exercised by men and provided that 'a citizen by marriage shall have been an inhabitant of the United States for five years." ”

“ The story of the growth of the woman suffrage movement in Greater New York is one of the most interesting chapters in the history of this cause, for while it advanced slowly for many years, it rose in 1915 and 1917 to a height never attained elsewhere and culminated in two campaigns that in number of adherents and comprehensive work were never equaled. ”

“ The vital problem for the suffragists was how to organize and unite all the friendly forces.
While the State Suffrage Association was the one which was organized most extensively there were other important societies. For some years the Women's Political Union, Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch president, had carried on an effective campaign. The Woman Suffrage Party, a large group, existed principally in New York City, organized by assembly districts. The Men's League for Woman Suffrage comprised a considerable number of influential men, now under the presidency of James Lees Laidlaw. ”

“ Horace White of Syracuse, who throughout his long years in the State Senate had constantly opposed the amendment, report in his capacity as chairman of the Resolutions Committee that the Republican party favored a speedy referendum on woman suffrage. Many dramatic features of propaganda characterized these years, which marked the awakening of the women of the entire State and brought into the ranks many wide-awake, independent young women, who wanted to use aggressive and spectacular methods, and these the older workers did not discourage. ”

“ The lack of space prevents naming the hundreds of women who gave unceasing service through these years when faith and courage were required and there were no victories as a reward. In all the cities of the State the local women arranged courses of lectures with prominent speakers and kept suffrage continually before the people through the press and in other ways. By this quiet, persistent work of comparatively few women the foundation was laid for the majorities in the many "up-State" counties when the amendment came to a vote. ”

“ The legislature of New York meets annually and from 1854 to 1917 a woman suffrage measure was presented only to be rejected, with two exceptions. The first was in 1880, when the Legislature undertook to give women the right to vote at school meetings, but the law was ineffective and this great privilege was confined to women in villages and country districts. The charters of a number of third class cities granted School suffrage to women and some of them included the right to vote on special appropriations for those who paid taxes. ”

“ Mass meetings which formerly were crowded were now so poorly attended that many had to be abandoned.
In order to help the chances of the amendment President Wilson on October 25 received a delegation of one hundred of the most prominent women of the Party, headed by Mrs. Whitehouse. He expressed his appreciation of the war work of women and his thorough belief that they should have the suffrage, praising the New York campaign and saying: "I am very glad to add my voice to those which are urging the people of your State to set a great example by voting for woman suffrage. ”

“ When the complete returns came in it was found that suffrage had lost up-State by 1,510 votes and that it was New York City which carried the amendment by its majority of 103,863, which reduced by 1,510 left a total majority of 102,353.
There were some evidences of fraud but the change of sentiment in favor of suffrage was State-wide, and every county showed a gain. The cities gave a better vote than the rural communities. The greatest overturn was in Buffalo which changed an adverse majority of 10,822 in 1915 to a favorable one of 4,560 in 1917! ”

“ The Senate Judiciary Committee constantly postponed action. At last 500 women came to the Capitol on March 14 to urge immediate action and the resolution was adopted in the Assembly that day by 109 ayes to 30 noes.
The Senate Committee had promised that it would report that same day, and at 2 p. m. it went into executive session and the suffrage leaders camped outside the door. That evening a suffrage ball was to take place in Madison Square Garden, New York City, which they were to open, and the last train that would reach there in time left Albany at 6 o'clock. ”

“ From 1910 to 1917 the Men's League for Woman Suffrage was an influential factor in the movement in New York. It was believed to be the first of the kind and the idea was said to have originated with Max Eastman, a young professor in Columbia University, but in a sketch of the league by him in The Trend in 1913 he said that in 1909, when he went to consult Oswald Garrison Villard, editor of the New York Evening Post, he found that Mr. Villard had received a letter from Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, asking him to organize such a league ”

“ From New York City to Albany there was left a trail of propaganda among the many thousands of people who stopped at the cross roads and villages to listen to the first word which had ever reached them concerning woman suffrage, and many joined in and marched for a few miles. The newspapers far and wide were filled with pictures and stories. The march continued for thirteen days, through sun and rain and snow over a distance of 170 miles, including detours for special propaganda, and five pilgrims walked into Albany at 4 p. ”

“ We know that we have gained over half a million voters in the State, that we have many new workers, have learned valuable lessons and with the knowledge obtained and undiminished courage we are again in the field of action." In December and January the usual district and borough conventions for the election of officers and then the city convention were held. At the latter the resolution adopted showed a change from the oldtime pleading: We demand the re-submission of the woman suffrage amendment in 1917. ”

“ The leading features of the campaign of 1917 were the war work and the enrolling of women. In 1916 when Mrs. Catt started a canvass to obtain a million signatures of women to a petition to answer the argument, "Women do not want to vote," the City Party took as its share the securing of 514,555 in Greater New York. This accomplished, the signatures mounted on big placards were placed on exhibition at Party headquarters, now in East 38th Street, and a little ceremony was arranged during which Mayor John Purroy Mitchel and other prominent men made commendatory speeches. ”

“ Over 11,000,000 pieces of literature, 7 million posters and nearly 200,000 suffrage novelties were used, in addition to the 5,000,000 pieces used in New York City. The Industrial Section, under Miss Mary E. Dreier, president of the Women's Trade Union League, made effective appeals to organized labor. A series of letters setting forth the conditions under which women work and their relation to the vote were distributed at factory doors as men left for home during the last fifteen weeks of the campaign. Organizers and speakers from their own ranks, men and women, spoke at trade union. ”

“ He gave valuable and continuous service to the league until just before the campaign of 1917, when the pressure of business required his time and he became vice-president and George Creel ably filled the office of secretary during that strenuous period.
In 1910 the league took part in the first big suffrage parade and no act of men during the whole history of woman suffrage required more courage than that of the 87 who marched up Fifth Avenue on that occasion, jeered by the crowds that lined the sidewalks. ”

“ For many months women in every county went from door to door, preaching suffrage, asking wives to talk to their husbands about it and leaving literature. The effect of this personal education was undoubtedly great and the petition influenced public opinion.
The propaganda carried on by the Educational section under Mrs. Howard Mansfield was enormous, including training schools, travelling libraries and 8,000 sets of correspondence courses sent out. Women were trained in watchers' schools for work at the polls and 15,000 leaflets of instructions were furnished. ”

“ Women from labor unions spoke at conventions of the State Suffrage Association, which had a Committee on Industrial Work. The Western New York Federation of Women's Clubs, under the leadership of Mrs. Nettie Rogers Shuler of Buffalo, its president, was the first federation to admit suffrage clubs and a suffrage resolution was passed at its convention in 1909, at which time it had 35,000 members. ”

“ From April to August the suffrage campaign was almost entirely suspended while its leaders took a prominent part in war activities. It was only about three months before election that the suffrage issue again became dominant. The amendment must come before the voters at the November election. With the United States engaged in a World War for democracy it seemed impossible to allow democracy to be defeated at home, and therefore it was decided that the suffrage campaign must be carried on. ”

“ The rear was brought up by scores of motor cars gaily decorated with Chinese lanterns and after darkness fell the avenue was a solid mass of moving colored lights. There seemed no end to the women who were determined to win the vote and a multitude of men seemed to be ready to grant it. ”

“ The spectacular activities of the campaign caught and held public attention. Various classes of men were complimented by giving them "suffrage days." The appeal to the firemen took the form of an automobile demonstration, open air speaking along the line of march of their annual parade and a ten dollar gold piece given to one of their number who made a daring rescue of a yellow-sashed dummy—a suffrage lady. A circular letter was sent to 800 firemen requesting their help for all suffragists. "Barbers' Day" produced ten columns of copy in leading New York dailies. ”

“ The week before election in New York, Buffalo, Rochester and other large cities Marathon speeches were made continuously throughout the twenty-four hours, with listening crowds even during the small hours of the night. Suffrage speeches were given in moving picture shows and vaudeville theaters and a suffrage motion picture play was produced. Flying squadrons of trained workers would go into a city, make a canvass, hold street meetings, attract public attention and stimulate newspaper activity. ”

“ The fighting spirits of the leaders then rose high. Speeches were made by Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, Mrs. Catt, Miss Hay, Dr. Katherine Bement Davis, Mrs. Laidlaw and others, and, though many workers wept openly, the gathering took on the character of an embattled host ready for the next conflict. After midnight many of the women joined a group from the State headquarters and in a public square held an outdoor rally which they called the beginning of the new campaign. ”

“ They went to the Republican convention at Saratoga Springs, carrying their literature and the printed resolution which they wished the committee to put in the platform: "We believe that the question of woman suffrage has reached such a degree of importance that the Legislature should submit an amendment for it to the voters of the State." ”

“ The campaign was launched at a meeting in Aeolian Hall, March 29, where the addresses of Mrs. Catt and Miss Hay aroused true campaign fervor, the former saying: "Some foreign countries have given the franchise to women for their war work; we ask it that our women may feel they have been recognized as assets of the nation before it calls on them for war work."
The suffragists offered their services to the Government, even before it declared war; the State Party to the Governor, the City Party to the Mayor. ”

“ The big headquarters soon were thronged with women; magazines, syndicates and the daily press had articles and pictures; mass meetings and parades followed and thousands of women entered the suffrage ranks. At the end of two years the State association was sufficiently well financed to maintain its headquarters, which remained in New York until its work was finished Mrs. Belmont never lost her interest in the cause and continued to make large contributions. ”

“ Those who were best informed attributed the victory to many causes—to the support of voters in all the parties; to the help of the labor unions; to recognition of women's war work; to the example set by European countries in enfranchising their women; to the endorsement of prominent men and strong organizations. ”