A few days before, he had received a letter from President Wilson, in favor of the creation of a Suffrage Committee. For a long time now, the President had not been saying anything about the State by State method of winning Suffrage, but this was the first time that he had shown a specific interest in the Federal Suffrage Amendment. The meeting was open to the public, and the room was crowded. The members of the National American Woman Suffrage Association spoke; a group of Congressmen from the Suffrage States, and the following members of the Woman’s Party: Anne Martin, Maud Younger, Mrs. Richard Wainwright, Mabel Vernon. Mrs. Richard Wainwright said: One of the members of the Commission from England said: “We came to America that America may not make the mistakes that we have! One of the mistakes that England is now trying to rectify is not giving justice to her women. I should like the Congress of the United States to remember what Wyoming said when asked to join the nation: ‘We do not come in without our women.’” Miss Younger said in part: We regard this, however (the formation of a Suffrage Committee in the House), Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the Committee, as only one step toward our goal. We will not be satisfied with this alone. It will not in any way take the place of the passage of the Amendment. Nor are we interested in any mere record vote which might come from the Suffrage Committee. We are working only for the passage of the Amendment at the earliest possible date.... We ask for this measure now in war time, because the sufferings of war fall heavily upon women. In case of an invading army the greatest barbarities, the greatest cruelties, fall upon the women. In this war, as never before, the burdens are borne by women. Secretary Redfield said yesterday that three armies are necessary to the prosecution of this war, the army in the field, the army on the farm, and the army in the factories. In these two armies at home the women are taking an increasingly large part and the efficiency of their work depends largely upon the conditions under which they do this work. In England the output of munitions was not satisfactory. The government appointed a commission to investigate. They found that the trouble lay in the conditions under which the women worked, with the overlong hours. They could not get the best results under such conditions. In America today there is an effort to break down the protective legislation that through the years has been built up around women and children. And so for efficiency in the war as well as for the protection of the women, we urge Suffrage upon you now.