Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 6.djvu/296

282 HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE as the State association, with a non-dues-paying membership of men and women, similar to the political parties, having district leaders, precinct captains and ward chairmen, strictly non-parti- san and solely to promote woman suffrage. The first chairman was Mrs. Gertrude Halladay Leonard. A convention was held in Faneuil Hall on March 5, 1912, at which time twenty-three of the twenty-six Boston wards had been organized, also Brook- line, Cambridge, Somerville, Newton and many other cities and towns. The membership was 25,000 and by the referendum campaign in 1915 it had advanced to about 250,000. This change in the type of organization was indicative of a change in the whole suffrage movement. It was recognized that more widely diffused education on the subject was needed and that suffrage must become a political issue. The suffrage leagues were changed into political district organizations; the parlor meeting gave place to the outdoor meeting; State headquarters were moved from No. 6 Marlboro Street, a residential section, to 585 Boylston Street in a business building, and local societies were kept in touch. Every effort was made to reach labor unions and other organizations of men with speakers and educational propaganda and to carry information to the man in the street, who often had never heard of the Woman Suffrage Association. The executive board met every two weeks and later every week or oftener. Mrs. Page, its chairman, was followed in 1911 by Mrs. Marion Booth Kelley; in 1912 by Mrs. Gertrude B. Newell, and in May, 1913, Mrs. Leonard was elected and served to Octo- ber, 1917. Upon her resignation Mrs. Grace A. Johnson was chosen, who was succeeded by Mrs. Charles Sumner Bird. In 1912 a new State organization, called the Political Equality Union, was formed, with Miss Mabel Gillespie as chairman, Mrs. EitzGerald as secretary and Dr. Lily Burbank as treasurer, which made a special effort to reach the labor men and women. As the vote on the constitutional amendment approached, in order that there might be no overlapping, ten per cent, of the State was assigned as a field for the work of the Union and the rest for that of the State association. The two cooperated in legislative work. The Union disbanded in November, 1916, advising its members to join the State association.