Journals or for information which the Journal workers could give, whether from New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, or Pennsylvania, the call has been answered promptly; we have not said,—when the amendments were to be voted on at a definite time,—"You must wait until we have raised the money to pay for what you ask." We are proceeding in the same way with the campaign states of 1916. What else can we do when the need is so great?

The following illustration shows the extent of our propaganda work, measured in papers, for 1915. It does not show what has been done in the way of furnishing information and argument, refutation and data, material and articles for the press or for special articles, debates, and speeches.

This chart shows the free propaganda use of the Journal as compared with the paid circulation. The black lines show the paid circulation of the Journal per month, that is, the number of papers paid for by the subscriber or by the single copy. The gray extension of the lines shows the number of papers furnished by the Journal, for which the recipient did not pay. The reader can here see at a glance what a large part of our work does not bring any financial returns.

[Illustration: The Journal as Propaganda]

If a diagram could be shown of the number of letters we have answered during the year, the amount of time it has taken, and the number of writers who do not even send a postage stamp to carry information back to them, and the consequent deficit the paper incurs in this way alone, the result would shock the average suffragist into a new attitude toward the paper, which she has called upon as freely and thoughtlessly as a girl in her teens calls upon the time and resources of the mother who has always stood near and ready to meet her every need "without money and without price."

At this point, I want again to call attention to the fact that the Woman's Journal is, with one exception, the only suffrage paper in existence which does not have some organization back of it which helps to meet its financial responsibilities. Although it has always been the organ of the movement, it has stood alone for the most part, depending on the devotion of a few to make up any sum that might be needed to meet the lack of organized suffragists to support it as part of their suffrage work.

It is, of course, easy to see how this has come about. In the beginning the number of suffragists was so small that there was little organization. The movement was carried on by a few and a few supported the paper. Times have changed, however, and all of the other branches of suffrage work are being carried on by organizations with the body of believers meeting the expense of running the work.

There has, however, always been this difference between the expense of maintaining the Journal and supporting the work of the suffrage organization: The Journal has been published every week for over forty-six years; it has never missed an issue, and its expenses have gone on. In other words, it has always been in campaign, while for the most part during those forty-six years the organizations have had comparatively little expense, they have not usually maintained a headquarters, have had few or no meetings, and have had few and short campaigns. Now, because the Journal has survived the times of no organizations, the times of few and weak organizations, it is thoughtlessly expected to go on as it has since 1870, paying its bills as best it might. In the meantime, its work has increased so that it is large enough to be unwieldy without being self-supporting. (Self-support cannot come until its paid circulation is about 50,000.)

We are, therefore, face to face with the fact that, while all suffragists are agreed as to the merits of the paper and the need it fills, very few have considered its problems, few have helped to carry its burdens, and no organization today makes itself responsible for any of the paper's expenses.

With the advancing movement's heavy demands on the paper, however, the time for a change has come. The paper's support in the future ought to be borne by the body of organized suffragists rather than by the devotion and sacrifice of the few. Lucy Stone and Henry B. Blackwell died in harness. Alice Stone Blackwell, their daughter, is no longer young, and ought not to suffer from overwork and worry in connection with the struggle to keep the paper going.

So much for the past. What shall be the story of the future? The paper has been almost inevitably in debt. Its present bills and loans must be met. It will doubtless be possible to raise money to meet them from individuals as in the past, although that is an uphill and rather thankless task. But it does seem as if those who labor early and late in the office, often single-handed, ought not to have to go out to raise money to meet a deficit they were obliged to incur purely in order to serve the woman's movement.

What is the solution? I want to propose a definite, practical, constructive solution,—one that will not only lift the paper to self-support almost at once, but will strengthen the whole movement in the very things that Mrs. Chapman Catt and all others know is most needed,—education and organization of women. What I want to propose is that as suffragists we show what our present power is; that we show the strength of our present organization; that as leaders and workers, organizers and speakers, we get behind our paper and push it with all our might; that, so far as is humanly possible, we enroll as regular readers every member of our respective organizations; that we give our paper a backing as much to be reckoned with as the so-called women's publications that are so conspicuous on the news-stands. It can be done. We have the power.

Doing it is bound to mean more education and more organization. For the Journal fills its readers with zeal for the cause; it makes them want to work for it; and it makes them well informed, efficient workers. By taking this one step we have the power to put the entire movement on a new footing!

But how is the paper to be put into the hands of all suffragists? They are many and to send them a well-edited, well-printed paper will be expensive. How are bills and loans already incurred to be met? By gifts and legacies from individuals as in the past—in the uphill, undignified way? Or by getting all readers of the Journal, all believers in it as an educator, to join themselves into a mighty army to enroll as subscribers for the Journal every possible member of a suffrage organization?

Until the second way shall be in operation long enough—say, two years—to have a chance to work out successfully, there is absolutely no question but that the needs of the situation must be met in the first way. But must it be done by begging—in humiliation undeserved—or will those who are able consider it a privilege, an opportunity, to take the burden from the backs that are bent and sore from carrying it?

* * * * * In the Balance

If this were the crucial moment in a campaign and you saw that votes for a suffrage amendment were in the balance, you would give of the best that you have, with all the fervency of your heart. But campaigns are not won in a day. They are won only by constant and untiring advance work. The Woman's Journal does a big share of this advance work. The Journal is always in campaign. The Journal needs your help now and it needs it given as freely as if a critical Election Day were only six weeks off. The campaigns of this year and the next few years are in the balance now. A privilege, an opportunity for furthering a great world movement, waits on those who are able.