CHAPTER II.- PREPARATIONS.

INCEPTION OF THE IDEA OF THE CONGRESS-APPOINTMENT OF THE COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN PRESIDENT BONNEY, OF THE WORLD'S CONGRESS AUXILIARY, AND MRS. SEWALL, CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS, SHOWING THE GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLAN THE CHAIRMAN'S WORK ABROAD THE PRELIMINARY ADDRESS-THE FULL PROGRAMME.

TH

HE World's Congress of Representative Women was convened in the city of Chicago on the 15th day of May, 1893, under the auspices and the control of the World's Congress Auxiliary of the World's Columbian Exposition. The organization and the work of the World's Congress Auxiliary are so well known that they do not need detailed statement in this volume. The following paragraphs are taken from the official publications of the Auxiliary:

The World's Congress Auxiliary is not only the accredited representative of the World's Columbian Exposition, but also of the Government of the United States, for the following purposes:

The general object of the Auxiliary is to convene in the city of Chicago, during the Exposition season of 1893, a series of world's congresses in every department of thought. Its official announcement has been sent to foreign countries by the President of the United States, and the various governments have been invited by the Department of State to appoint delegates, in addition to those who will attend as the representatives of institutions and societies.

The chief purpose of the Auxiliary is to procure the maturest thought of the world on all the great questions of the age in a form best adapted to universal publication. Unprepared discussion or miscellaneous debate will not be desirable, but instead thereof the time at disposal after the delivery of a discourse will be given to the most eminent persons present, who will speak on the call of the presiding officer and to whom such previous notice as may be practicable will be given. The summaries of progress to be presented and the problems of the age to be stated will not be submitted to the vote of those present, but will be published for subsequent deliberate

examination by the enlightened minds of all countries; for unrestricted discussion in the forum, the pulpit, and the public press; and, finally, for the impartial judgment of that exalted public opinion which expresses the consensus of such minds.

The work of the Auxiliary has been divided into nineteen great departments, with more than one hundred divisions in which congresses are to be held. Each division has its own local committee of arrangement, and each committee has its own advisory council, composed of eminent representatives, selected from different parts of the world, who are interested in the subject to which it pertains.

The officers of this body are as follows: President, Charles C. Bonney; vice-president, Thomas B. Bryan; treasurer, Lyman J. Gage; secretaries, Benjamin Butterworth and Clarence E. Young. The officers of the Woman's Branch of the World's Congress Auxiliary are Mrs. Potter Palmer, president, and Mrs. Charles Henrotin, vice-president.

The inception of the World's Congress of Representative Women may be traced back to February, 1891, when the National Council of Women of the United States, then in session in Washington, D. C., decided to recommend to the officers of the International Council of Women that the first quinquennial session of the International Council should be held in Chicago in the summer of 1893 instead of in London as originally intended. This decision was reinforced by the very cordial invitation of Mrs. Potter Palmer, who attended the sessions of the National Council as the delegate of the Board of Lady Managers, and as president of the Woman's Branch of the World's Congress Auxiliary. In her address before the Council Mrs. Palmer said: “The Board of Lady Managers most cordially and pressingly invites this Council to hold its international meeting in Chicago at the time of the Columbian Exposition, when it will place at the service of the ladies the Assembly Room in the Woman's Building, and, should that not prove large enough, through our Congress Auxiliary, the magnificent Auditorium can be secured for the meeting of the International Council of Women."*

* Printed transactions of the National Council of Women, page 317.

This invitation was supplemented by a similar one from Mrs. Charles Henrotin, vice-president of the Woman's Branch of the World's Congress Auxiliary, who also was in attendance at the Council sessions.

In pursuance of the plan thus initiated, the American. officers of the International Council obtained the consent of the foreign officers to the proposed change from London to Chicago. The Executive Committee of the National Council of Women of the United States pledged the National Council to entertain free of expense all foreign delegates while in attendance upon the proposed meeting of the International Council.

The call for the meeting of the International Council in Chicago was promptly issued, accompanied by the pledge of entertainment above referred to, and both call and pledge were given wide publicity through the home and foreign press, and through private and official correspondence, in the early summer of 1891. The documents bear date May 31, 1891.

In due time, as the plan of the World's Congress Auxiliary developed, the officers of the National Council of Women of the United States entered into correspondence with the Hon. Charles C. Bonney, president of the World's Congress Auxiliary, requesting that the quinquennial meeting of the International Council of Women, announced for the summer of 1893, should be adopted as one of the series. of congresses organized by the Auxiliary, with the understanding that its scope should be enlarged to the greatest possible extent; that it should take the name of "The World's Congress of Representative Women;" and that it should be subject to the same rules and enjoy the same privileges as the other congresses in the series.

This formal application from the officers of the National Council of Women of the United States was made by its president, Mrs. May Wright Sewall, of Indianapolis, under date of May 29, 1892. In reply President Bonney wrote as follows, under date of June 1, 1892: "To Mrs. May Wright