James G. Cutler, who welcomed the delegates, spoke very highly of his “esteemed fellow citizen, Susan B. Anthony” and pre- sented her with a large bouquet of American Beauty roses. Mrs. Crossett in her annual address compared the convention held at Rochester in 1890, when there were but seven local clubs in the State, with this one representing 100 local and 31 county clubs. Elnora M. Babcock, press chairman, reported 500 papers in the State using articles favorable to woman suffrage.
The convention for 1906 met at Syracuse in the (Samuel J.) May Memorial Church. Miss Anthony had passed away the preceding March. Over the entrance door of the church was a large banner with the last words of the beloved leader, “Failure is Impossible.” The afternoon meeting closed with tributes of reverence and appreciation by Mrs. Osborne, Anne Fitzhugh Miller, Marie Jenney Howe, Mrs. Crossett, Miss Mills and Dr. Shaw. Large audiences gathered for the evening meetings, among the speakers being Mrs. Florence Kelley, Mrs. Henry Villard and Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery. Dr. Shaw and Mrs. Avery spoke in the University Chapel to the students.
The convention of 1907, which met in Geneva, received a warm welcome; stores displayed the suffrage colors in their windows and many citizens hung flags over their doorways. The gracious presence of Mrs. Elizabeth Smith Miller and her daughter Anne, president of the Geneva Political Equality Club, the largest in the State, made the convention especially memorable. The delegates were invited to Lochland, the Miller home on the lake, one afternoon where a memorial service was held on the big porch, the place of many suffrage meetings, in memory of Mary S. Anthony, who had died the preceding Iebruary. Affec- tionate tributes were paid... The convention was welcomed by Mayor Arthur P. Rose, City Attorney W. Smith O’Brien, Miss Miller and Mrs. Charlotte A. Baldridge, county president. Speakers were President Langdon C. Stewardson of Hobart
2 Mary Anthony left to Mrs. Crosectt, Miss Mills and Isabel Howland $1,000 to be used for State work as they thought best. The interest for three years was given as prize money for the best essays in the colleges of the State. When the headquarters were
opened in New York City some of the money helped to furnish them and the rest was put in the State work the following year.
