Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 6.djvu/467

NEW YORK 451 from Men's Suffrage Leagues walked with them. Half a million people lined the streets, orderly and respectful. In 1912 representatives of the association attended the State conventions of all the parties and extended hearings were granted by the Resolutions Committees. Their treatment was in great contrast to that of earlier days when they could scarcely obtain five or ten minutes before a committee. This year every party declared for woman suffrage in its platform. It was a gratifica- tion to sit in the great convention hall at Saratoga and hear the Hon. Horace White of Syracuse, who throughout his long years in the State Senate had constantly opposed the amendment, report in his capacity as chairman of the Resolutions Committee that the Republican party favored a speedy referendum on woman suf- frage. Many dramatic features of propaganda characterized these years, which marked the awakening of the women of the entire State and brought into the ranks many wide-awake, inde- pendent young women, who wanted to use aggressive and spectacular methods, and these the older workers did not dis- courage. Those that attracted the most attention were the suffrage "hikes," in which Miss Rosalie Jones, a girl of wealth and position, was the leading spirit. She sent a picturesque account of these "hikes," which has had to be condensed for lack of space. The idea originated with Rosalie Gardiner Jones, who began by making a tour of Long Island, her summer home, in a little cart drawn by one horse and decorated with suffrage flags and banners, stopping at every village and town, giving out literature and talking to the crowds that gathered. "If you once win the hearts of the rural people you have them forever. That is why I decided to organize a pilgrimage from New York City to Albany before the opening of the legislative session, when it was hoped a woman suf- amendment would he submitted to the voters," she said, -s Jones recruited a small army of brave and devoted members, hich she was the "General" and Miss Ida Craft of Brooklyn the "Colonel" and the three others who walked every step to the end of the journey were Miss Lavinia Dock "little Doc Dock" a trained mir-e. department editor of the American Journal of Nursintj and author of The History of Nursing; Miss Sybil Wilbur of Bost< -.-ipher of Mary I'.aker Kddy, and Miss Katharine Stiles vn. They carried a message to Governor William Sr. X the earnest hope that his administration might be distin- guished by the speedy passage of the woman suffrage amendment.