Note 78 — Chapter XIII

Call: For the forty-fifth time in its history the National American Woman Suffrage Association summons its members together in council. By thus assembling, one more united step toward the final emancipation of the women of this country is made practicable.... To the wise and courageous, to those not fearful of the changes demanded by the vital needs of growing humanity, this Call will have two meanings: first, it will speak of loyalty to work and to comrade workers; of large undertakings worthily begun and to be worthily finished; of the stimulus of difficulty; of joy in the exercise of talents and strength; of the self-control and ability required for cooperation.

Second, it will express—like other summons of women to women throughout the ages—the need not alone for counsel and comfort but also for the preservation of all they hold most high—for that to which they gladly give their lives. It will speak of the struggle for development which individual women have made; of the opportunities they have won for each other; of the unequivocal demand for the best, to which the few have led the many....

To you who grasp the underlying meaning of this struggle; to you who know yourselves akin to those who have preceded and to those who will follow; to you who are daily making this ideal a reality, this Call is sent.

Anna Howard Shaw, President.

Jane Addams, Vice-President.

Charlotte Anita Whitney, Second Vice-President.

Mary Ware Dennett, Executive Secretary.

Susan Walker Fitzgerald, Recording Secretary.

Katharine Dexter McCormick, Treasurer.

Harriet Burton Laidlaw, } Auditors.

Louise DeKoven Bowen,