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MRS. JOHN BALCH

Katharine Torbert Balch, wife of John Balch; Treasurer of the Summer Industrial School of Milton; member of the Executive Committee of the Milton Branch of the Civil Service Reform Association; director of the Ely Club of New York City; member of the Executive Committee of the special Preparedness Committee appointed by Governor Walsh; President of the Massachusetts Women's Anti-Suffrage Association.

J. A. H.

In reply to oft-repeated calumnies about the membership and affiliations of the Anti-Suffrage Association, I offer a plain statement of facts which can be verified.

36,761 Massachusetts women, twenty-one years of age or over, are to-day registered members of the Massachusetts Women's Anti-Suffrage Association. They are not confined to one section of the state, but are found distributed among no less than 443 cities, towns, and villages. Each year the organization increases; and each year the members of the 137 state branches draw closer together in their opposition to suffrage and their striving for the true progress of woman and of civilization.

These women are not of only one class or type. An examination of our enrollment reveals among our members not only the very large group of homemakers, but also authors, doctors, lawyers, teachers, librarians, newspaper-writers, stenographers, social service workers, cooks, housemaids, nurses, milliners, insurance agents, restaurant-keepers, clerks, shopkeepers, private secretaries, dressmakers, seamstresses, etc., etc. During the recent campaign, the co-operation, devotion, and self-sacrifice of this body of women was inspiring. From the wage-earner who endured systematic nagging, if not persecution, from suffragists, to the woman of wealth who gave of her vitality to the breaking point, daily came the evidences of immovable faith in the righteousness of their cause.

Many of our leaders are prominent in public welfare activities. The late Mrs. Charles D. Homans, one of the founders of our organization, was an active and important member of the Massachusetts Prison Commission. Mrs. James M. Codman, our beloved ex-President, has served twenty years on the State Board of Charities, was one of the first women overseers of the poor ever elected in this state, and has long been one of the managers of a large private hospital. Miss Mary S. Ames, a former President, is a member of the Executive Council (New England section) of the National Civic Federation, Chairman of the Committee on Practical Training for Girls, a Trustee of the Boston Home for Incurables, one of the managers of the Women's Free Hospital, a director of the Brook House Home for Working Girls, a member of the Easton Agricultural Vocational Training Committee, a Trustee of Unity Church (Easton), and a member of the Advisory Board of the Belgian Relief Committee. Mrs. Henry P. Kidder, of our Executive Board, is President of the Woman's Educational Association. Mrs. Robert S. Bradley, also of our Executive Board, is Chairman of the Sanitation Department of the Women's Municipal League, and has led in the fight for exterminating the typhoid fly. Were I to continue to enumerate the characteristic activities of our anti-suffrage women, I could fill pages with the record of their participation in philanthropy, education, and all good works. The brief notes prefixed to the essays in this book give additional evidence to the same effect.