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^ 127 ••••••••• 53 • Remarks by SBA to the Meeting of the Cuban Hospital Relief Association in Rochester Editorial note: The Cuban Hospital Relief Association of Monroe County called a mass meeting at Cook Opera House for the evening of 21 February 1897. SBA was given a seat on the stage; the mayor presided; local Republicans criticized Democratic foreign policy with respect to Cuba’s war of independence from Spain; and members of the Cuban Revolutionary Party, or Junta, described Spanish atrocities and Cuba’s importance to the United States. Ostensibly about raising money for relief, the meeting resolved to protest the Red Cross for its inaction in Cuba.When SBA responded to calls for a speech,she echoed the mayor, who drew parallels between the American Revolution and Cuba’s war. Dr. Fidel A. Pierra, speaking after the mayor, thought the tyranny of Spain over Cuba far exceeded anything American colonists faced in the eighteenth century; he stressed his countrymen’s dream of a “free and independent” Cuba. (LaFeber, New Empire, 284–300; Patricia E. Fisler, “Rochester and the Spanish-American War,” Rochester History 13 [April 1951]: 1–24; Elizabeth Brown Pryor, Clara Barton, Professional Angel [Philadelphia, 1987], 296–303; Lillian Guerra, The Myth of José Martí: Conflicting Nationalisms in Early Twentieth-Century Cuba [Chapel Hill, N.C., 2005], 62–82.) [21 February 1897] At the conclusion of Major Benton’s 1 remarks Miss Susan B. Anthony, who was seated on the platform, was called upon by the audience, which would not cease its applause until she had made a few remarks. Miss Anthony finally advanced to the speaker’s table and said: “I want to say to you that from the report of the first outrage in Cuba down to the present time,there has never been a moment but that its people have had my sympathy. Never since I began to know the meaning of the word ‘freedom’ has anything taken such a hold upon me as this struggle for freedom in Cuba. My name stands for freedom, for liberty for women. Where all men are free all women are not, and I want to say that when you achieve your independence and frame your constitution you will not forget the women who have struggled with and for you, as did our Revolutionary 21 february 1897 128 & fathers the women who struggled by their sides. The men of only four out of the forty-five states of our republic have granted liberty to the women. “I can never sit in a meeting like this without bearing testimony to the cowardice of the men of this nation in refusing to grant freedom to women. I believe in freedom and equality for every human being under every flag, and I hope it will not only come to the men people but to the women people.” Y Rochester Union and Advertiser, 22 February 1897. 1. George Alden Benton (1848–1921) of nearby Spencerport was the Monroe County Surrogate. After graduation from Cornell and Columbia universities, he had a long and distinguished career as a lawyer and judge.It was his activism in the Republican Lincoln Club that brought him to the stage on this occasion. (Fitch, Encyclopedia of Biography of New York, 3:128–29; Cornell Alumni News 24 [29 September 1921]: 6; New York Times, 11 September 1921.) ••••••••• 54 • SBA to Rachel Foster Avery Rochester, February 26, 1897 My dear Rachel: I am just in receipt of a telegram from South Dakota saying that the Legislature has passed the amendment resolution, so now we shall have to turn in and help that State all we possibly can. 1 I also have a letter from Senator Stratton of California, saying he is confident the Legislature will pass the resolution for resubmission. 2 That will make two States; then the women are sure it is going to be submitted in Washington 3 and Montana. 4 I have written Mrs. Catt that I feel it will be a great mistake to spend money for organization or agitation in the States that she has named; that since we have settled upon trying to secure the submission of an amendment in Iowa,we will stick to that,and besides help S.Dakota and other States that shall have amendments pending. 5 All our experience proves that it is very difficult to make convention campaigns or organization campaigns pay expenses in States where no amendment is pending, because we cannot make the people feel any necessity for...

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