A fourth time that year the determination of women to secure the
passage of the amendment was demonstrated. In December, the
opening week of the new Congress, the annual convention of the
National American Woman Suffrage Asso-

{26}

ciation was held in Washington. Miss Lucy Burns, vice chairman of
its Congressional Committee and also of the Congressional Union,
was applauded to the echo by the whole convention when she said:

"The National American Woman Suffrage Association is assembled in
Washington to ask the Democratic Party to enfranchise the women
of America.

"Rarely in the history of the country has a party been more
powerful than the Democratic Party is to-day. It controls the
Executive Office, the Senate and more than two-thirds of the
members of the House of Representatives. It is in a position to
give us effective and immediate help.

"We ask the Democrats to take action now. Those who hold power
are responsible to the country for the use of it. They are
responsible not only for what they do, but for what they do not
do. Inaction establishes just as clear a record as does a policy
of open hostility.

"We have in our hands to-day not only the weapon of a just cause;
we have the support of ten enfranchised states comprising one-
fifth of the United States Senate, one-seventh of the House of