Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 6.djvu/586

57 HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE Walter R. Stiness, George F. O'Shaughnessy and Ambrose Kennedy, were interviewed on the Federal Amendment with encouraging results. Weekly suffrage teas were established at headquarters during the winter, followed by addresses on current topics. The association was especially indebted to Mrs. Ballou, Mrs. Edward M. Harris and Miss Sarah J. Eddy for the hospitality of their homes that combined on many occasions social pleasure with excellent opportunity to present the suffrage cause. On February 17, 1916, a luncheon and conference at the Nar- ragansett Hotel were held in honor of Mrs. Catt, now national president. A mass meeting was held in March in Sayles Hall, where Mrs. Glendower Evans of Boston and Professor Louis J. Johnston of Harvard spoke in the interest of the Federal Amend- ment. In April a "suffrage shop" was opened in Providence in charge of Miss Mary B. Anthony, which proved an active center of propaganda. Rhode Island was represented in the suffrage parades during the national political conventions in Chicago and St. Louis in 1916 by Miss Yates. On election night in November a public reception was held at suffrage headquarters, where a private wire had been installed to give the returns and large numbers were present. In 1917 Miss Yates conducted a suffrage school weekly at headquarters during February and March. The major activities of the year were given to legislative work. The granting of Presidential suffrage to women by the Legislature was celebrated at the annual meeting, at which Governor R. Livingston Beeck- man, representatives of the political parties of the State and Mrs. Nettie Rogers Shuler, national corresponding secretary, were the principal speakers. An invitation was accepted from Thomas W. Bicknell, one of the staunchest suffragists, to unite with the Citizens* Historical Association, of which he was president, in a joint celebration of the Declaration of Independence by Rhode Island on May 4, 1776, and the passage of the Presidential suf- frage bill in April, 1917, and Miss Yates was chosen as speaker for the State association. Miss Elizabeth M. Barr was elected treasurer in 1917 and served until 1920. Miss Barr's predecessors were Miss Mary K. Wood, Mrs. Jewett, Mrs. Ballou, Mrs. Helen N. B. Janes, Mrs. Porter, Mrs. Cross, and Mrs. George W. Parks.