Dear Friend:
I am impelled to say that I have come back from Europe, after special opportunities of observing the work of women, with the firm conviction that the International Council of Women is the most important body of women in the Old World, and owes that high position to the faithful and efficient development of the "Council idea" born in the U.S.A. in 1888.
That "Council Idea" is the massing in one loose but organic organization the official representatives of all national bodies of women in each nation and the union of those National Councils is one International body. This ties the special interests of each association of women in the fields of reform, philanthropy, protection and care of children, education and professional work, to each other form of interest and work, and all to a common demand for broad and frank discussion as to what they all may attempt together in concerted action.
It is well known that the Council of Women of the U.S.A. lacks that commanding influence in the organizations that constitute its membership which distinguishes the Council of other nations. This is in part due to the great strength and influence of several of the societies in our membership, the leaders of which feel they must reserve working power for their own special organizations.
The long and devoted service of Mrs. Moore, our unselfish and beloved President, now draws to an end. Prolonged beyond custom by the need for her heroic help in the delayed hospitality to the International Council, the fulfilment of that great effort leaves the National Council in this country to face its own crisis -- concerns as it could not do before.
This means that we must face first of all the question, Shall we live or die?
Shall we set a date for a glorious funeral, in which we shall "strew violets" over the graves of dead leaders (and of dead hopes) and bravely pass over our purpose and our achievement to one of the strong daughters of the Council? Or shall we develop at this Detroit meeting a method by which we shall keep the Council as an organization and make it serve the United States, and through the United States the world of organized womanhood, -- as was the ideal of its founders?
One reason why it would seem best to preserve the Council and to reorganize and make stronger its life and work, is that only through the Council of the United States, as at present organized by its membership of National Societies, can the women of America keep step with the women of other lands. The Constitution of the International Council, rigidly obeyed by the Councils of the Old World, determines that only through the required form of National Association of National Societies shall we have representation in its deliberations and activities. If we gave up our Council we should give up all hope for American women to get a place in the many-sided [organized] work of the women of the World. We should, also, by the same token lose the chance to stand with the women of other countries at the [doorways] of the great Commissions of the League of Nations which deal with the protection of women and children, with the help toward the abolition of traffic in dangerous drugs, and with the many-sided educational propaganda and work of those Commissions; for it is in and through the International Council of Women and its child, the "Save the Children" movement, and its twin effort in the educational fields, that we get out best chance to help at Geneva. [page 2]
It seems therefore that we should miss a great new opportunity, far greater than opened to women in 1888, if we allowed the Council to die; but it would be better for it to end its life with heroic if pathetic confession of incapacity to do what its Founders hoped it might, than to "peter out," to "live longer at a poor dying rate" or to have the name for a great use of millions of organized women in our country when the Council, as it is now functioning, makes so little impression upon its member-societies.
We meet therefore for the most important of decisions, let us face it with humility and courage.
I was honored by being called as a younger women to confer with Susan B. Anthony and France Willard in the making of the plans for the initial meeting. I worked with their lieutenants May Wright Sewall, Anna Howard Shaw and Rachel Foster Avery, in the early days of the Council movement. I have been close to the Executive Board, either as an officer or as a trusted helper ever since the beginning, and should it seem best to end the Council, as now too ambitious a scheme for our great country, or because other agencies take the place of what it was organized to do, no one could feel it more as a loss of old hopes than I. But I have seen more than one organization live too long and fail to see the need for its translation into other forms of service.
If we can't be what we should be, the leading agency for the United States and the world for the consolidation and effective use of women in social service,then let us be willing to give place to our daughters; even if we thereby lose all chance to help them connect fully with the work of women in other nations.
This leads to the statement of a few essentials which have been clearly in my mind and in that of other old friends of the Council for at least five years, and only waited for public statement for the crisis we are now facing.
1st. It has been apparent for a long time that no national organization can do first-class work without an accessible and well known headquarters and an adequate paid staff of workers. It is as clear to many of us that the National Council of Women in our country can have such staff and such headquarters in but one of two places if its work is to be worthy of its aims and of its claims in the "Council idea." Those two places are Washington, D.C. and New York City. The first preferred, provided the President can live and work there; the second a good choice because near Washington and the acknowledged central point of approach from Europe and of influence throughout the country. Both these places, and these alone, can furnish the background for the constant intercourse with the Headquarters staff of the member-societies of most importance, and alone furnish the impressive setting required.
2nd. This narrows our choice of a leader in the President's office to those who live or can live in either of these places, and also limits our choice to someone with private means to make an efficient center of work, or else who is endowed, or can get financial aid of large amount.
The difficulties, therefore, are so great that it seems likely this Detriot meeting may not be able to come to wise and adequate conclusions. I therefore urge that a Committee on Organization be appointed to look over the whole field, interview at annual and special meetings the representatives of the most important of the member-societies, get light upon all the problems involved, and report at a special meeting in 1926. [page 3]
For this interim year, any loyal and competent member of the Council might serve as President if it were clearly understood that she was only a stop-gap until the real organization were entered upon, but in such a case the occupancy would be as "Acting President" for the year, and the real power would be lodged in the Committee on Organization. Nothing should be done, I am convinced, at this Detroit meeting to prevent radical changes if such should be felt wise at the meeting of 1926. The coming Exposition and Memorial meeting at Philadephia be there; not as divided groups in "sectarian" bodies, but as one great band of workers. I can see a great chance for the Council, revivified and made more effective, to add a "Woman's Congress" of great importance at Philadelphia Sesquicentennial.
But not as a "show," or a publicity stunt, or a claim, but as a reality!
I close with offering the following resolutions: --
Whereas, Mrs. Moore and her associates on the Board of Officers, in particular the first Vice President, Mrs. Harris, and the Corresponding Secretary and Treasurer, have long served the Council with unselfish devotion and constant labor under great difficulties of distance of residence from each other and in face of poverty of resource and lack of competent assistance, this Biennial Meeting of the Council of Women of the United States extends to them the heartiest thanks and most profound appreciation. No other body of women of equal importance has had for so long a time the able and heroic volunteer service of such a group of officers.
Whereas, the entertainment of the International Council, delayed on account of the Great War, and carried through under the Presidency of Mrs. Moore with such courage and success, marks a natural period for the retirement of the present Board of Officers, and whereas circumstances connected with the phenomenal growth of some of the member societies of the Council and other social conditions make the future policy of the Council a matter for serious consideration at this time: --
1st. Therefore, RESOLVED, that a Committee on Organization be appointed at this meeting to study how the Council idea may best function under present conditions in the United States; to interview the leaders of the various organizations listed in membership; and to draw up recommendations for presentation at a special meeting of the Council to be called in 1926.
2nd. RESOLVED, that this Committee on Organization be composed of one member, preferably the President or Secretary, from each of the following societies: The W.C.T.U., the League of Women Voters (formerly the National American Woman Suffrage Assn.), the Women's Relief Corps, the National Council of Jewish Women, the National Association of Colored Women, and the Ladies of the Maccabees, as representing the associations which were members of the Council in 1900: -- and a member each from the Federation of Women's Clubs, the Y.W.C.A., the National Association of University Women, and the National Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher Associations, as representing later additions to the Council membership; -- with an additional Member-at-Large to be named from the floor, who shall act as Chairman of the Committee.
3rd. RESOLVED, that this Committee on Organization shall have power to select one or more experts in research, to draw up questionnaires for approval of the Committee, from which may be drawn answers which will show the value or lack of value to the member societies of the Council as it is, or as it might be, to prepare statistical statements and draw up recommendations which, if approved by the Organization Committee, may be presented at the special meeting of 1926. [page 4]
4th. RESOLVED, that all historical data, national reports and records of international relationships be placed at the service of the Committee of Organization and that in particular former plans for organization which failed of realization through lack of a paid staff and headquarters, be placed in their hands for study.
5th. RESOLVED, that all choice of general officers at this Detriot Biennial be provisional and to hold for one year only, or until the plans for the Organization Committee are received and acted upon.
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