Wisconsin Women's History

W.H. Mallory, President Dr. J.A. Mc Klveen, Vice Pres. F.I. Stuart, Secretary. F.R. Crocker, Treasurer.

Lucas County Immigration Bureau

Directors L.H. Mallory, D.I. Storie, C.E. Penick, J.A. Brown, O.A. Bartholomew, F.R. Crocker, J.A. McKlveen.

Chariton, Iowa. November 4, 1890.

Clara B. Colby Beatrice, Neb.

My Dear Madam, Yours received. I recognize the apparent form of the points you make. Yet I apprehend that no very decided advances will be made on the road to Equal Freedom, until the vast army of crusaders shall be in mental condition to move forward as one body on rational lines. True, for educational purposes, it may be best, and possibly necessary, for specialists to prosecute their respective portions of the work to the comparatively total disregard of other perhaps equally meritorious portions; and you may here and there gain recognition for your sex in matters political, but to me it seems that interests and truths are so interwoven and interdependent in the economy of the universe that no really essential and permanent strides can be brought about without a concerted movement all long the line. I suspect that when you get all your desire for woman, you will get it with the assistance of and by cooperation with, various special schools of thought with which you would

not now wish to be regarded as having anything in common. You know you are right on your specialty You are not so clear that other nominal reforms are founded in reason. You may regard them as unpopular, iconoclastic, or what not. You see merit in some of them; others are so far removed from your accustomed sphere of operations that they do not commend themselves as within rational or practical, etc., etc. So on, ad infinitum, other special school regard the woman suffragists. Well, those founded in reason and truth will, and must sooner or later, meet upon common ground.

I am quite in line with my friend Mr. B.O. Flower, editor of "The Arena", on these subjects, and regard him as one of the most capable and safe thinkers in this country. And I follow very largely the philosophy of Mr. Herbert Spencer from whom I have had a number of personal letters in the past on these subjects, and one this morning. I do not disparage your work; far from it. [None?] had occasion to mention your excellent paper in letters to the editor of an eastern publication for which I do some writing. But to me it appears of much more importance that the people shall think rightly on several subjects than that they shall vote rightly on one. Free trade is undoubtedly sound in principle; yet it is not so clear that the adoption of free trade, outwith at the same time so changing statutes as to secure to all equal access to nature's bounties, would bring about the grand results claimed by its special champions. Woman suffrage is undoubtedly correct in principle; yet while I should not demand it as a condition precedent I should very much like to feel assured that 10 or 30,000,000 women voters would not continue or increase (through ignorance upon those questions) several existing statutory oppressions that menace the perpetuity of free institutions. It is of more importance that women shall vote rightly than that they shall vote. This, not as an argument against woman suffrage (I believe that they are more likely to vote rightly than men), but against specializing reforms. respectfully, F.O. Stuart

M. Harman, Editor and Publisher. C.L. Swartz, Assistant.

LUCIFER, THE LIGHT-BEARER. $1.25 Per Year. Publishers and Book Sellers. Circulars of Reform Books Sent Free.

Valley Falls, Kas. 11-11-90

Mrs Clara B. Colby Beatrice Nebraska

Dear Madame,

Did I acknowledge the receipt of your very kind & sisterly letter received by me during my imprisonment at Lansing? I fully intended to do so, but have been so crowded with work since my release that I fear I have neglected my duty in this respect, as I have in many other instances of like nature.

The receipt of the letter in question was a most agreeable surprise to me. I knew that you had often spoken out quite plainly in the "Tribune"

in favor of free speech & free press, & against the invasive methods of Anthony Comstock et al. but I was not expecting you to take so decided a stand in favor of the prosecuted editor of the proscribed Lucifer. I especially refer now to what you said in your paper. Your lecture at Topeka some four years ago was one of the finest I ever heard from the rostrum, but still I supposed you would feel the necessity of keeping the "Tribune" clear of all implication of sympathy with a sheet so unpopular as is ours or with methods of discussion so unfashionable & so outre, as the Frenchman would say.

M. Harman, Editor and Publisher. C.L. Swartz, Assistant.

LUCIFER, THE LIGHT-BEARER. $1.25 Per Year. Publishers and Book Sellers. Circulars of Reform Books Sent Free.

Valley Falls, Kas.

2

You will, I hope, pardon my seeming neglect & want of due appreciation when I tell you that not until today did I see a copy of what you said editorially in the Tribune soon after my release, & now I would not have had the pleasure of reading it had it not been for the reprint of said editorial in the National Liberator, Boston, for November.

I dont know how or why it is but I have seen but very few copies of the Tribune since my release. It may have been coming regularly but I do not open near all the exchanges &

Radical Club, 9 St. Marks Pl., New York. Vera Sassulitsch Aid Committee.

Sub-Committee on Subscriptions: Mrs. Marguerite Moore, 258 W. 15th Str. Mrs. Hugh O. Pentecost, Newark, N.J. Miss Alice Donlevy, 23 E. 14th Str. Mrs. James Redpath, Hotel Gladstone, N.Y. Miss Leubscher, 4 Warren Str. Mr. T.B. Wakeman, 93 Nassau Str. Mr. Augustus A. Levey, 20 Nassau Str. Henry F. Reed, Treasurer, 135 Waverly Pl. Moses Oppenheimer, Secr., 9 St. Marks Pl.

(All communications should be addressed to the Secretary, c.o. Radical Club, 9 St. Marks Pl, N.Y.

An appeal that should leave no freedom-loving heart untouched, reaches us from across the sea. Vera Sassulitsh, the Russian heroine of liberty, is seriously ill and destitute in her exile. Her physicians advise her a sojourn on the seashore in a sunny climate, but the unselfish and indefatiguable worker for the cause of the Russian people is too poor to bear the expense, and her friends in Europe are equally poor. We now ask generous Americans to come to the rescue, by subscribing, according to their means, on behalf of the noblest of Russian soldiers of Liberty.

Dec. 27. 1890

Editor Womans Tribune, Washington D.C.

It may be gratifying to many of your readers to learn that there is yet hope of Vera Sassultish recovery from her illness, according to a letter that arrived in this City a few days ago from P. Axelrod in Zurich, another Russian exile and a personal friend and political co operator of Vera Sassulitsh.

After thanking the liberal-minded Americans for the active interest shown on behalf of Vera Mr. Axelrod continues as follows: "Regarding the importance of V. Sassulitsh for our movement let me say that it goes far beyond her heroic and epoch making act. V. Sassulitsh is one of the noblest characters in our movement, and I dare say, in the revolutionary movement of all civilized countries. Her whole being is filled with the struggle for liberty in Russia as well as with her Labor movement in general, and only reluctantly and from a sense of duty does she look out for her much impaired state of health. The friends of our movement must try all the more, therefore, to cure her from her illness and to restore her health. It is the merit of our American friends to have contributed materially to that end."

Our Committee has forwarded the first installment of our collection, amounting to $60, and has now again about $25 on hand with expectation of raising some more so as to give to the brave Russian woman the means whereby she may visit at ease and free from care. Money is also being raised by other committees.

Yours very respectfully Moses Oppenheimer Secy. V. P.A.C.

Radical Club, 9 St. Marks Pl., New York. Vera Sassulitsch Aid Committee.

Sub-Committee on Subscriptions: Mrs. Marguerite Moore, 258 W. 15th Str. Mrs. Hugh O. Pentecost, Newark, N.J. Miss Alice Donlevy, 23 E. 14th Str. Mrs. James Redpath, Hotel Gladstone, N.Y. Miss Leubscher, 4 Warren Str. Mr. T.B. Wakeman, 93 Nassau Str. Mr. Augustus A. Levey, 20 Nassau Str. Henry F. Reed, Treasurer, 135 Waverly Pl. Moses Oppenheimer, Secr., 9 St. Marks Pl.

(All communications should be addressed to the Secretary, c.o. Radical Club, 9 St. Marks Pl, N.Y.

An appeal that should leave no freedom-loving heart untouched, reaches us from across the sea. Vera Sassulitsh, the Russian heroine of liberty, is seriously ill and destitute in her exile. Her physicians advise her a sojourn on the seashore in a sunny climate, but the unselfish and indefatiguable worker for the cause of the Russian people is too poor to bear the expense, and her friends in Europe are equally poor. We now ask generous Americans to come to the rescue, by subscribing, according to their means, on behalf of the noblest of Russian soldiers of Liberty.

Dec. 13. 1890

Dear Madam: Your favor of the 10th inst. with enclosure of $5.00 from Mrs. W. Gass, Virginia, has been received, and the money transferred to Vera Sassulitsch Fund. Allow me to express, in the name of the Committee, our sincere gratitude for your kind notice as well as for the good result if achieved. Your would oblige us if you would convey our hearty thanks to the generous donor.

We have also received a number of sample copies of your ably conducted paper of Nov. 22, containing the notice regarding poor Vera, and distributed them among the ladies of our Club.

Vera Sassulitsch is suffering from consumption. She is not in Russia now, nor has she been for the last 12 years, since she went into exile to escape transportation to Liberia, by favor of administrative order, after her acquittal by a jury. She is at present in the sunny South of Europe, on the sea-shore, for her health. We advance the money to her through a reliable address in London, England.

If you choose to send your bright paper to our Club regularly I think many of our members will appreciate your kindness.

Yours very respectfully Moses Oppenheimer Secy. V.S.A.C.

Clara Berwick Colby Beatrice, Neb.

FIFTY-FIRST CONGRESS.

L. E. PAYSON, Ill., Chairman. E. J. Turner, Kans. W. S. Holman, Ind.

L. F. Watson, Pa. W. J. Stone, Mo.

D. S. Hall, Minn. Thos. C. McRae, Ark.

J. F. Lacey, Iowa. T. R. Stockdale, Miss.

J. J. DeHaven, Cal. John Quinn, N. Y.

J. A. Pickler, S. D. J. M. Carey, Wyo.

Hosea Townsend, Colo.

Committee on Public Lands,

House of Representatives U. S.,

Washington, D. C., April 15, 1890.

Mrs. Clara B. Colby,

Care Woman's Tribune,

Washington, D.C.

Dear Madame:

I have received your letter. I shall be glad to cooperate with Governor Warren in the matter of procuring the appointment of a Woman as one of the Commissioners of Wyoming at the Quadro Centennial. As a matter of policy I do not want to agitate the political question affecting Womans' Rights until I have procured the passage of the bill through the Senate for the admission of Wyoming as a State. I have tried to keep this question down, or not to give it undue prominence, knowing as I do the prejudices of many against Woman Suffrage, and the honest opposition of others. In the pressing of Wyoming's claims, I have treated the question of Woman's Rights in Wyoming as a fixed and settled matter. That it excites no comment in Wyoming for the reason that she has exercised these rights as wisely as the most enthusiastic advocate had anticipated. I believe that you will understand what I mean. I hope that the State question will be settled within the next 30 days by

DICTATED TO STENOGRAPHER

United States Senate,

WASHINGTON, D. C., July 2nd 1890.

Mrs. Clara B. Colby,

Beatrice, Neb.

Dear Mrs. Colby:-

Your favor of the 28th ult is received. I agree with you, that it would be all most an outrageous thing for Congress to adjourn without recognizing in some substantial manner, the great good done for the country during the dark days of the rebellion, by Anna Ella Carroll. I have frequently called the bill up for consideration in the Committee on Military Affairs, but I regret to say that a majority of the Committee do not seem to be in favor of the passage of the bill. You are perhaps not aware of the fact, that at different times, $2000 or thereabouts was paid to Miss. Carroll, and at a former Congress, an adverse report was made upon her bill by Senator Cockrell of Missouri. If I had pressed the bill at any time, the result would have been, that I would have been compelled to make an adverse report, and this I do not desire to do. I am holding it in the hope, that before we adjourn, I can induce the Committee and the Senate to believe that decent justice requires a more substantial recognition of [illegible]this worthy and deserving woman. The bill does not seem to have any more favor in the House than it does in the Senate, and I confess that I greatly

May you be blessed by the poor little Indian waif with much love Your Friend Laura de F. Gordon

Assembly Chamber, Twenty-Ninth Session

Sacramento, Feb. 13th , 1891

Dear Mrs. Colby I have tried for weeks to get time & opportunity both, to send you a report of some of our work in Cala. but will jot this hasty note in the midst of confusion in the Senate Chamber, during recess to tell you that we are making fine progress. The bill to appoint women Notaries Public has passed the Assembly & is on 3rd reading file in the Senate, with good prospects of its passage. The bill to enfranchise women, No. 300 in the House and 254 in the Senate has been reported back from the respective Committees, with a unanimous