The Woman's Tribune

Negotiations for Union between the American and National Woman Suffrage Associations.

Miss Susan B. Anthony, being at work in Indiana during November, 1887, received the following letter:

Office of American Woman Suffrage Association.
3 Park Street, Boston, Nov. 7, 1887

"Dear Miss Anthony.—I enclose to you the certified vote of the American Woman Suffrage Association, at the late meeting in Philadelphia, in regard to a union of the National and American Associations. I shall be glad to have this accomplished.

Will you let me know your movements, and when you can most conveniently meet me to consider the matter?

Yours sincerely,
Lucy Stone."

The inclosure referred to is as follows:

Office of American Woman Suffrage Association.
3 Park Street, Boston, Nov. 7, 1887.

At the nineteenth annual meeting of the American Woman Suffrage Association, held in Philadelphia, October 31, November 1 and 2, 1887 the following resolutions, recommended and reported by the Business Committee, was unanimously adopted:

WHEREAS, the woman suffragists of the United States were united until 1868 in the American Equal Rights Association; and whereas the causes of the subsequent separation into the National and American Woman Suffrage Societies have since been largely removed by the adoption of common principles and methods; therefore

Resolved, That Mrs. Lucy Stone be appointed a committee of one from the American Woman Suffrage Association, to confer with Miss Susan B. Anthony, of the National Woman Suffrage Association, and, if on conference it seems desirable, that she be authorized and empowered to appoint a committee of this association to meet a similar committee appointed by the National Woman Suffrage Association, to consider a satisfactory basis of union, and refer it back to the Executive Committees of both associations for final action.

I hereby certify to the accuracy of the above as printed.

HENRY B. BLACKWELL
Corresponding Secretary American W. S. A.

After some correspondence, in the course of which Mrs. Stone stated that it would not be easily possible for her to come even as far as Philadelphia to hold the proposed conference, Miss Anthony arranged to go to Boston and meet Mrs. Stone at the Woman's Journal office, 3 Park street.

Accordingly, Miss Anthony, accompanied by Miss Rachel Foster, and Mrs. Stone, accompanied by Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, met December 21, 1887, and conferred upon the basis of the proposed union.

December 23rd. Mrs. Stone sent Miss Anthony (being still in Boston) the following letter:

Boston, December 23, 1887.

"Dear Miss Anthony.—In thinking over the points raised at our informal conference, it seems to me that the substantial outcome is this: The committees appointed by us respectively, if we conclude to appoint them, must each agree upon a common name, a common constitution, and a common list of officers for the first year. A subsequent acceptance of these by each association will thereafter constitute the two societies one society.

If you think that there is a fair probability of coming to an agreement I will proceed to appoint my committee; but the selection will be a matter requiring care and thought, and I must take a week or two about it.

As the formal overtures for union have come from the American Woman Suffrage Association, it will be appropriate that our committee should draw up the plan for union "which appears to them the most feasible, and forward to Miss Foster to be submitted to your committee. The chief points will probably be those we spoke of on Wednesday, of which Alice will write out a statement for Miss Foster, so that your committee may be thinking them over in advance. Then your committee will suggest such modifications as they may think needful; and, if a mutually satisfactory result can be reached, the name, constitution, and list of officers will go to the Executive Committee of each association for final action."

Yours truly,
Lucy Stone.

Miss Blackwell accordingly wrote out Mrs. Stone's suggestions, as talked over at the informal conference, and sent them, in the form of a letter as given below, to Miss Foster.

Office of American Woman Suffrage Association,
3 Park Street, Boston. Dec. 25, 1887

"Dear Miss Foster.—The arrangement between Miss Anthony and my mother was this, as expressed in the letter I read to Miss Anthony Friday morning, to which she took no exception: The committee appointed by herself and Mrs. Stone shall each agree upon a common name, a common constitution, and a common list of officers for the first year; and the subsequent acceptance of these by each association will thereafter constitute the two societies one society.

At the conference between Miss Anthony and my mother on Wednesday afternoon, Miss Anthony said she preferred not to make any proposition herself at that time, but to listen first to what our side had to suggest.

My mother then read a series of points that she had jotted down, as what she would like and should consider feasible. These suggestions are all purely informal, and may be added to or subtracted from by the committee into whose hands the whole matter will be put. They were substantially as follows, though a few have been a little more fully elaborated since, and over two were not mentioned on Wednesday, but were talked over between Miss Anthony and my father on Friday morning. I thought you would probably prefer to have them all together, as your reason for wanting them written out was to give your committee a general idea of what our committee was likely to propose, and let them be thinking it over in advance. And we should be glad if Miss Anthony would send us a similar informal list of the things she would like and would consider feasible.

1. Name, either of the following: The United Woman Suffrage Societies, National American Woman Suffrage Association, American Equal Suffrage Association. (Mrs. Stone liked the first mentioned best, and Miss Anthony the second. I think there would be no objections to the second.)

2. Object, to secure suffrage to the women of the United States.

3. A delegate basis, such as may be mutually agreed upon.

4. Duly accredited state delegates alone to be entitled to vote at business meetings.

5. Presidents of State societies to be ex-officio Vice Presidents of the National American, and chairmen of the state executive committees to be ex-officio members of the National American Executive Committee.

6. Men and women to be eligible to office and membership on equal terms.

7. After a mutually satisfactory constitution has been agreed upon, it shall not be altered except after full notice to all members (through the woman suffrage papers or otherwise) of the exact change proposed.

8. A provision like that of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union, by which no department of the National work is binding on the states or on individuals.

9. Each state to have supreme control of its own state work, and the National American to have supreme control of the National work.

10. Headquarters at Boston, also at Washington while Congress is in session.

11. All woman suffrage papers to be treated upon an equal footing, and no discrimination made for or against any one of them.

12. Where there are two state societies in the same state, that they be requested to unite; and if they fail to do so, that the original state society be the one recognized by the National American.

13. Since many members of the National society regard Mrs. Stone as the cause of the division, and many members of the American regard Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony as the cause of it, Mrs. Stone suggested that it would greatly promote a harmonious union for these three ladies—Mrs. Stanton, Miss Anthony, and herself—to agree in advance that they would none of them take the presidency of the united association.

Miss Anthony, in the conference of December 21, mentioned the names of seven ladies of whom she thought as members of the Conference Committee of the National Woman Suffrage Association.

Early in January she sent to Miss Foster the following formal announcement of the appointment:

The committee of the National Woman Suffrage Association to sit in council with that of the seven appointed by Lucy Stone, of the American Woman Suffrage Association, shall be

Chairman, May Wright Sewall, Ind.
Harriette R. Shattuck, Mass.
Rev. Olympia Brown, Wis.
Helen M. Gougar, Ind.
Laura M. Johns, Kansas,
Clara B. Colby, Nebraska,
Secretary, Rachael G. Foster, Penn.

and I hope each and all will sink personalities and exalt principles, seeking only the best good for woman's enfranchisement, and that, surely, will come through the union of all friends of woman suffrage into one grand National Association that shall enable them to present a solid front to the enemy! And this great Association must be based on the principle of a genuine democracy, which shall give to each of its members a voice in all its deliberations, either in person or through representatives chosen by them, and to a constitution thus based I am sure each and every one of my seven chosen ones will contribute her aid.

Hoping that a genuine democratic consolidation of all our forces will be the result of this overture from Lucy Stone and her society, I am,

Very sincerely
Susan B. Anthony.

January 18. Miss Foster received from Miss Blackwell the list of names of the Conference Committee appointed by Mrs. Stone:

Chairman, Julia Ward Howe, Mass.
Hon. Dudley Foulke, Ind.
Margaret W. Campbell, Ia.
Rev. Anna H. Shaw, Mich.
Dr. Mary F. Thomas, Ind.
H. M. Tracy Cutler, Ill.
Secretary, Henry B. Blackwell, Mass.

Miss Anthony, in response to a request made just after the conference of December 21, for her suggestions as to bases of union to be given to the two Conference Committees, wrote to Miss Foster, December 24, from Rochester, N. Y.:

"I can not think of any stipulation I wish to make the basis of union of all suffrage friends save that we unite, and, after that, discuss all measures and means—officers and newspapers—and cheerfully accept and abide by the rule of the majority. I do not wish to exact any pledges from Lucy Stone and her adherents, nor can I give any for Mrs. Stone and her followers. When united we must trust to the good sense of each and all of us, just as each has trusted during the existence of the division."

"As Greeley said about resuming specie payment, 'the way to unite is to unite,' and trust the consequences."

This message was included in the Secretary's letter to each member of the National Woman Suffrage Association Committee, and communicated to Miss Blackwell.

The first idea of the members of the National Conference Committee was that the subject could be considered and a decision reached by letter. A correspondence was therefore undertaken by the Secretary of the committee, which lasted from January 7 to March 1. It was decided however, about February 1, that a meeting of the Conference Committee would be necessary, and this was appointed to be held in Washington, Tuesday, March 27.

The Secretary of the American Conference Committee was notified of this, and requested, if convenient, to arrange for a joint meeting of the committees in Washington, March 30.

March 23, the Secretary of the National Committee, being then in Washington, received from the Secretary of the American Committee the following note, a duplicate, with enclosures, having been sent to each member of the National Committee:

Office of Mass. Woman Suffrage Association.
3 Park Street, Boston, Mch. 22, 1888.

"Dear Friend.—In behalf of the Conference Committee on the part of the American Woman Suffrage Association, I have the honor to submit for your consideration the enclosed suggestions for a common name, common constitution, and common board of officers. We propose to meet in Washington on the 26th instant, and to confer with your committee at the earliest convenient date, not later than the 28th. The storms have delayed the receipt of answers from members of our committee until this date."

Yours respectfully,
Henry B. Blackwell
For Committee.

SUGGESTED CONSTITUTION.

NATIONAL AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.

1. The name of this Society shall be the (Union Woman Suffrage Association, or the) National American Woman Suffrage Association.

2. The object of this Association shall be to secure suffrage to the women of the United States, by appropriate National and State legislation.

3. The general officers of this Association shall be a President, ten Vice-Presidents at large, Chairman of Executive Committee, a Corresponding Secretary, a Foreign Corresponding Secretary, a Recording Secretary, and a Treasurer. The President of each Auxiliary State or Territorial Woman Suffrage Association shall be ex officio Vice-President of the general Woman Suffrage Association. The general officers, with the Vice-Presidents from the States, heads of departments, and National Organizers and Lecturers, shall constitute the Executive Committee, of whom fifteen members actually assembled shall constitute a quorum; but three-fifths may act by correspondence in response to a circular addressed to every member of the Executive Committee no less than fifteen days beforehand by the President, Chairman of Executive Committee, and Corresponding Secretary.

Superintendents of departments and National Organizers and Lecturers shall be proposed by the Executive Committee and elected at the annual meeting.

4. The annual meeting shall consist of the Executive Committee, auxiliary State and Territorial Corresponding Secretaries and Treasurers, National Superintendents of departments, National Organizers and Lecturers, one delegate at large from each auxiliary State or Territorial Society, and one additional delegate for every five hundred paying members. The District of Columbia shall be represented on the same basis as a Territory.

5. Any State or Territorial Woman Suffrage Association may become auxiliary to the general Woman Suffrage Association, by subscribing to this Constitution.

6. The annual meeting, at which the officers shall be elected, shall be held at such time and place as may be determined by the Executive Committee of the general Woman Suffrage Association.

7. Each auxiliary State Association shall pay annually to the general treasury ten cents per member of the State Association.

8. This Constitution may be altered or amended by a two-thirds vote of all the delegates present at any annual meeting and entitled to vote, provided the proposed amendment has been submitted in writing at the previous annual meeting; and it shall be the duty of the Recording Secretary to enter such proposed amendment in full on the minutes, for publication.

9. Any person may become a member of the general Association by subscribing to the Constitution and paying the sum of one dollar, from which the general Association shall refund to his or her State and local Treasurer (if any) the amount of their respective dues. If there is no State or local Society where the person comes from, then the general Society shall keep all the money.

10. All woman suffrage papers, shall be treated by the general Association upon an equal footing, and no discrimination made for or against any one of them.

11. This Society shall have a headquarters for Congressional work at Washington during the session of Congress.
Congress, a headquarters at Chicago for a lecture bureau, and a headquarters at Boston for suffrage literature.

12. No distinction on account of sex shall ever be made in membership or eligibility to office in this Societies.

BY-LAWS.

Duties of Officers.

1. The President may, through the Corresponding Secretary, call special meetings of the Executive Committee, when he or she may deem it necessary, or at the written request of ten members of the Executive Committee, the topics to be considered at such meeting to be stated in the call: at least fifteen days' notice to be mailed to each member of the Executive Committee; and shall perform all other duties usual to such office.

2. The Corresponding Secretary shall perform all the duties usual to such office, and shall also send to each State Corresponding Secretary, at least two months before the general annual meeting, a blank for his or her report for the current year, from which the Secretary of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, shall collate his or her own report to the annual meeting.

3. The Recording Secretary shall attend all meetings of the Association, and of the Executive Committee, and keep a correct record of the same; shall apprise members of committees of their appointment, and officers of the Society of their election; at the first session of each annual meeting shall read in their order the minutes of the Executive Committee since the last annual meeting, and shall perform all other usual duties.

4. The Foreign Corresponding Secretary shall conduct the foreign correspondence.

5. The Treasurer shall keep accurate account of all receipts and disbursements, and present a detailed report thereof at each annual meeting; and shall pay no bill except on an order signed by the President and Recording Secretary. The fiscal year shall end two weeks before the annual meeting, and the books shall then be closed. At the annual meeting, the Treasurer shall give the Corresponding Secretary the number of delegates to which each State is entitled, according to the amount of dues paid; and shall perform all other usual duties.

6. The Superintendents shall originate, advise, and direct plans of work relating to their several departments; correspond and co-operate with state superintendents, and report to annual meeting work accomplished and proposed. They shall furnish an itemized account of their receipts and expenditures.

7. The officers, with the exception of Vice-Presidents of states, shall be elected by ballot, on the morning of the last day but one of the annual meeting.

8. Each delegation may fill its quota by visiting members from its own state. If any state president is absent, said state may be represented on the Executive Committee by a member of its delegation, chosen by said delegation.

9. Tellers shall be appointed by the annual meeting and the members of same shall proceed to vote by ballot.

10. The Executive Committee may fill any vacancies occurring in the interim of annual meetings.

11. The following committees shall be chosen on the first day of the annual meeting: Credentials, Finance, Business, Resolutions. The last shall consist of one delegate from each state chosen by its delegation.

12. The Executive Committee, superintendents, and organizers and lecturers, shall meet in joint session, previous to the annual meeting, to prepare a plan of work to be submitted to said meeting.

13. An Auditing Committee and a Committee on Railroad Rates shall be appointed by the general officers in the interim of the annual meetings.

14. The Committee on Credentials shall approve such as are signed by President and secretary of state or territorial societies represented; and shall report to the convention setting forth the whole number of delegates present.

15. The Finance Committee shall consist of three or more.

16. The Business Committee shall consist of three, chosen by the Executive Committee from their own number. They shall, in conference with the local committee of the city where the annual meeting is held, provide speakers for all public services outside of the business meetings.

17. All documents and announcements from the general officers shall be sent to the state societies through their respective Presidents or Corresponding Secretaries.

18. No new department of work shall be created, except on recommendation of the Executive Committee and vote of the annual meeting. Co-operation with any department shall be discretionary in each State;

19. These By-laws may be amended by a two-thirds vote of the members present at any annual meeting and entitled to vote therein.

SUGGESTED OFFICERS.

President, Mary A. Livermore.

Vice-Presidents at Large, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, Mrs. May Wright Sewall, Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace, Mrs. Margaret W. Campbell, Susan B. Anthony, Hon. Wm. Dudley Foulke, Mrs. H. M. Tracy Cutler, Dr. Mary F. Thomas, Mrs. A. S. Duniway,

Corresponding Secretary, Miss Rachel Foster.

Foreign Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe.

Recording Secretary, Henry B. Blackwell.

Treasurer, Mrs. Jane H. Spofford.

Chairman Executive Committee, Mrs. Laura M. Johns.

SUPERINTENDENTS OF DEPARTMENTS.

"Political Study," Mrs. Harriette R. Shattuck; "Literature and Press Work," Miss Alice Stone Blackwell; "Work Among Foreign Population," Clara Neymann; "Entertainments, Dramatics and Bazaars," Cora Scott Pond; "Lecture Bureau," Ida H. Roby; "National Enrollment," Clara B. Colby; "Petitions and Legislative Work," Prof. W. H. Carruth.

NATIONAL ORGANIZERS AND LECTURERS.

Mrs. Helen M. Gougar, Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake, Miss Mary F. Eastman, Mrs. Adelaide A. Claflin, Mrs. Ada C. Bowles, Rev. Anna H. Shaw, Mrs. Mary E. Haggart, Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon, Rev. Olympia Brown.

March 27th, at 3 p. m., the Conference Committee of the National Woman Suffrage Association met at the Riggs House. Mrs. Sewall, Mrs. Johns, Mrs. Shattuck, Mrs. Colby, and Miss Foster being present. The absent members, Mesdames Brown and Gougar, having expressed their opinions by letter to the Secretary upon the thirteen suggestions first offered to the committee, their letters were read. As a result of its meeting, the following letter was sent to the secretary of the American Committee.

WASHINGTON, March 28, 1888.

Mr. Henry B. Blackwell, Secretary, &c.:

"Dear Sir.—The committee of Conference appointed by Miss Anthony to consider the proposition for a basis of union offered by the American Woman Suffrage Association to the National Woman Suffrage Association held a meeting yesterday, and we are instructed to inform your committee that the action then taken was such as must be referred to the Executive Committee of the National Woman Suffrage Association before being offered for the consideration of the joint Conference Committee. Our committee will meet with yours if you so desire, but at present we have nothing to offer for its consideration."

May Wright Sewall, Chairman

Rachel G. Foster, Secretary.

At an executive session of the Twentieth Annual Convention of the National Woman Suffrage Association, Washington D. C., April 3, 1888, the Chairman of the Conference Committee of the National Woman Suffrage Association presented her report, the Secretary having read to the meeting the full account of the correspondence done on behalf of the committee, the Constitution, By-laws, and list of officers presented to our committee by the American Committee, and the letter to Mr. Blackwell of March 28. After discussion, a motion was passed that the Society appoint an Advisory Committee of eight to act with the Conference Committee and report to the Association, a reply to be sent to the committee of the American Woman Suffrage Association. The nominations were made from the floor, the committee being formed from the following persons:

Isabella Beecher Hooker, Chairman.

Matilda Joslyn Gage,

Mary B. Clay,

Sarah M. Perkins,

Lillie Devereux Blake

Mary F. Eastman,

Clara Neymann,

Elizabeth Boynton Harbert.

The joint committee held a meeting the evening of April 3, adjourning to meet at one o'clock, April 4, when the report of a sub-committee was accepted. This report was then presented by the Chairman, Mrs. Hooker, to the executive meeting then in session at the Universalist church.

REPORT OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE OF THE NATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION ON UNION WITH THE AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.

APRIL 4, 1888.

Mr. Henry B. Blackwell

Sec'y. of Com. of the American W. S. A.

Dear Sir.—The Committee of Conference on the National Woman Suffrage Association, appointed to consider overtures from the American Woman Suffrage Association towards the union of both Societies, having made a statement of their views to the Executive Committee of the National Woman Suffrage Association, asked advice, before making a formal reply to the communications received from the American Woman Suffrage Association.

The Executive Committee immediately appointed a committee of eight to meet the Conference Committee for consultation, and this joint committee, after due deliberation, do now report:

That, since the Conference Committee, on the part of the National Woman Suffrage Association, found it impossible to consider the constitution, by-laws, and list of officers presented by the Conference Committee of the American Woman Suffrage Association, inasmuch as constitutions, by-laws and lists of officers for an organization, that does not exist, are beyond the powers of a committee from an existing organization, and this action of the Conference Committee being approved by the joint committee, this committee do now further report:

That, they rejoice in the desire for union now manifested by the American Woman Suffrage Association, and wish, cordially to unite with them in measures which shall bring the constituencies of both parties into fraternal relations and harmonious plan of work. To this end they propose that the officers of both Societies shall unite in calling a joint convention to consider the terms of union, which convention shall be empowered to proceed to the formation of a new constitution and the election of officers for the first year: this convention to be composed of officers from both Societies and of regularly accredited delegates from the membership of both, based on the bona fide paid-up membership of each Association—one vote to be allowed for every twenty-five members as they appear on the Treasurer's books of each Society at this date, April 4, 1888, the books to be submitted to the officers who unite in calling the convention. The action of this convention shall be final, both Societies agreeing to abide by its decision and make its proceedings their own.

May Wright Sewall,

Chairman Conference Committee.

Rachel G. Foster,

Harriette R. Shattuck,

Laura M. Johns,

Helen M. Gougar,

Olympia Brown,

Clara B. Colby.

Isabella Beecher Hooker,

Chairman Advisory Committee.

Matilda Joslyn Gage,

Mary B. Clay,

Sarah M. Perkins,

Lillie Devereux Blake,

Mary F. Eastman,

Clara Neymann,

Elizabeth Boynton Harbert

This report was unanimously approved by the National Woman Suffrage Association in Executive Session, Washington, D. C., April 4th, 1888, and a copy immediately mailed to Mr. Blackwell

The above proposition, therefore, is now in the hands of the Conference Committee of the American Woman Suffrage Association for consideration.

April 20, 1888.

Rachel G. Foster, Secretary.

In answer to the proposition of the National W. S. A. to hold a joint convention of the two societies, including the officers and delegates pro rata, the American Conference Committee submit the following reply:

MAY 2nd, 1888.

To the Conference Committee of the National Suffrage Association, and the Advisory Committee:

Dear Friends: Your communication of April 4th has been carefully considered. In this you decline the proposal of the American W. S. A. (that conference committees from the two associations should agree upon terms of union, to be afterward ratified by each association separately), on the ground that to consider a constitution and officers for an organization that does not exist is "beyond the powers of a committee from an existing organization." To this we reply:

1. It is not beyond the power of a National Conference Committee to recommend to the National W. S. A. the adoption of a given name, constitution and board of officers for the first year, nor beyond the power of the National W. S. A. to adopt these.

2. It is not beyond the power of an American Conference Committee to recommend to the American W. S. A. the adoption of a similar name, constitution and board of officers for the first year, nor beyond the power of the American W. S. A. to adopt them.

3. The adoption by each association of the same name, constitution, and board of officers for the first year, would thereafter constitute the two societies one society.

You propose instead that the terms of union to be decided upon by a joint convention to be called by the officers of both associations on a specified basis of representation.

Neither the American Conference Committee nor the officers of the American Woman Suffrage Association have authority to call a convention of their society on a basis of representation different from that prescribed by its constitution, nor to pledge the society in advance to adopt as its own the action of such a convention held jointly with the delegates of another society.

The American Conference Committee is limited, by the terms of the vote authorizing its appointment, to the method of procedure indicated in the Philadelphia resolutions, viz: to agree with a similar committee appointed by the National Woman Suffrage Association upon terms of union which shall afterwards be reported back by each committee to its respective association for acceptance or rejection. To save time, as the next meeting of the American W. S. A. would not occur for a year, the same vote authorized the American Executive Committee, on behalf of the Association, to accept or reject such terms of union as should have been previously agreed upon by the Conference Committees. Our powers are limited to this.

We desire a union, and are ready to negotiate for one in the way indicated by the American W. S. A., but we have no authority to do so in any other way. This was fully explained in the preliminary correspondence with Miss Foster.

The only desirable union is one whose terms are mutually satisfactory to both parties, and the only way to ensure this is to have the terms accepted by each association separately. The two Conference Committees should meet, talk over the points of difference frankly, and agree upon a mutually satisfactory adjustment, such as they could reasonably expect would be ratified by their respective associations. With a fair amount of concession on both sides, we believe that such an adjustment could be reached. Hence we regret your rejection of the American Woman Suffrage Association's proposed method of effecting a union, since your action, unless it be modified, necessarily puts an end to the negotiation for the present year.

William Dudley Foulke, Chairman,

H. M. Tracy Cutler,

Margaret W. Campbell,

Mary F. Thomas,

Anna H. Shaw,

Henry B. Blackwell.

(Mrs. Julia Ward Howe is absent in California.)