Women's Agricultural Clubs, Fabian Society, National Committee against the White Slave Traffic—the list is almost endless. Naturally all wanted to be heard and how to permit this and leave any time for the regular proceedings of the convention became a serious question. The United States, Great Britain, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden sent their full quota of six delegates and six alternates. Five were present from Finland, six from Hungary and five from South Africa. The Government of Norway had sent as its official delegate Mrs. Staatsministerinde F. M. Qvam, president of the National Woman Suffrage Association. A National Association had now been formed in France and its secretary, Madame Jane Misme, brought its request for affiliation. A similar request was presented by Mlle. Daugotte, delegate from a new association in Belgium, and both were unanimously and joyfully welcomed.
At the first evening session the speakers were Mrs. Qvam, Miss Annie Furuhjelm, Finland; Mrs. Isabel May, New Zealand; Armitage Rigby, Isle of Man, all testifying to the good effects of woman suffrage in their respective countries, and Mrs. Catt delivered her president's address, a thorough review of the work of the Alliance. She said in part:
On a June day in 1904 the delegated representatives of seven National Woman Suffrage Associations met in a little hall in Berlin to discuss the practicability of completing a proposed International Union. At that date there were in all the world only ten countries in which woman suffrage organizations could be found. Those of you who were present will well remember the uncertainty and misgivings which characterized our deliberations. The doubting delegates questioned whether the times were yet ripe for this radical step; already over-taxed by the campaigns in their respective countries they questioned whether the possible benefits which might arise from international connection might not be over-balanced by the burden it would impose. There were delegates also who asked whether it was within the bounds of possibilities that suffragists could work together in harmony when they not only would represent differences of race and character but widely different stages of development of the movement itself. There were even more serious problems to be considered. Some of our associations were pledged to universal suffrage, some to Municipal, some to suffrage based upon a property or educational qualification. How could such differences, each defended as it was by intense conviction, be united in a common platform? ... Yet despite all these obstacles, which
