Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 6.djvu/499

NEW YORK 483 one of 4,560 in 1917! The saloons of this city displayed plac- ards, "Vote No on Woman Suffrage," some putting them on the outside of the building. Albany, in spite of the fight against the amendment made by the Barnes "machine," although lost, registered a gain of nearly fifty per cent. Rochester, which was lost, was dominated by George W. Aldrich, the Republican leader, and Monroe and adjoining counties were also influenced ly their newspapers, which nearly all were anti-suffrage. In Livingston county, the home of Senator James W. Wadsworth, Jr., and his wife, who was president of the National Anti-Suf- frage Association, his influence was so strong and his financial hold on the county so powerful that even men who were in sympathy with woman suffrage were afraid to vote for it. This influence materially reduced the favorable vote in adjoining counties. There were several bitter local "wet" and "dry" fights that were very bad for the suffrage vote. The Republican Governor, Charles S. Whitman, spoke for the amendment. Herbert Parsons, the Republican National Committeeman for New York, and many individual Republicans gave valuable help but the "machine" all over the State did every- thing possible to defeat the amendment. A week before election, when their object was clearly apparent, the chairman of the Re- publican State Committee was requested by the women to write an official letter to its members reminding them of the endorse- ment given by the Republican party at its State convention. 1 It- refused to write it except as an individual and not as State chairman. In Rochester an anti-suffrage poster was kept on display in Republican headquarters. Among prominent members of the party who used their influence in opposition were Elihu Root, Henry L. Stimson and George Wickersham. The two great figures of the suffrage movement, Mrs. Catt and Dr. Shaw, gave royally to the campaign. Even after Mrs. Catt became president of the National Association, she remained on the State Board of Directors and was a constant help and ration. Dr. Shaw contributed many weeks of speech making to the first campaign and almost as many to the second, although me in 1917 was much occupied as chairman of the Woman's Division of the National Council of Defense. It would be