Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 5.djvu/488

In accordance with the action of the convention, on the motion of Miss Zona Gale, the president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association appointed a committee of five consisting of Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt of New York; Mrs. Medill McCormick of Illinois; Mrs. Stanley McCormick of Massachusetts; Mrs. Antoinette Funk of Illinois and Miss Hannah J. Patterson of Pennsylvania, to confer with a similar committee from the Congressional Union on the question of cooperation in congressional action. These committees met at the New Willard on December 17, Miss Alice Paul, Miss Lucy Burns, Mrs. Lawrence Lewis, Miss Anne Martin and Mrs. Gilson Gardner being present as representatives of the Congressional Union, all but Mrs. Lewis (Penn.) of the District of Columbia.

Its representatives made two suggestions: (1) That the Congressional Union should affiliate with the National American Woman Suffrage Association. (2) That in any event frequent meetings for consultation should be held between the legislative committees of the two in order to secure more united action.

In the discussion of these suggestions it developed that at this time the Congressional Union has no election policy and that its future policy must depend on political situations. The Union declares itself to be non-partisan according to its constitution, which pledges its members to support suffrage regardless of the interests of any national political parties. At this point the report of the joint conference ends.

The committee of five representing the National American Association recommends that no affiliation shall take place because it was made quite clear that the Congressional Union does not denounce nor pledge itself not to resume what we term its anti-party policy and what they designate as their election policy; also because it is their intention, as announced by them, to organize in all States in the Union for congressional work, thus duplicating organizations already existing. Your committee further recommends that the incoming board of officers give their serious consideration to the suggestion of conferences with a view to securing more united action in the lobby work in Washington.

At the conference Mrs. Catt explained to Miss Paul that the association could not accept as an affiliated society one which was likely to defy its policy held since its foundation in 1869, which was neither to support nor oppose any political party, nor to work for or against any candidate except as to his attitude toward woman suffrage. Miss Paul would give no guarantee that the Congressional Union would observe this policy. It was thought that some way of dividing the lobby work might be found but in a short time the Union announced its program of fighting the can-