October 18th, 1919


Hon Harvey Varnum
Jeffersonville
Vermont


My dear Senator:


By some mistake a letter I sent you some time
ago never reached you for the reason that I had been misinformed
as to your name. I sent it to Mr. Varney as I have Just been
informed by the Post Office Department.


You may have heard that we are getting up a legislative peti¬
tion to Governor Clement in the hope that he will call a special
session of the legislature in order to ratify the Federal Suffrage
Amendment before January first.


Senator Howland of Barre has consented to act as head of a
legislative committee to call upon the Governor and ask him
to state the conditions upon which he will call a special session
and we are hoping to have the signatures of a majority of the
men in both houses to be handed to him at that time. I am
enclosing a blank with the hope that you will respond to our
appeal. I tried to call upon you when in Barre this week, but
you were not then in town. Mr. Howland is to choose his own
committee and I trust that you will be willing to serve should
he ask you.


The status of ratification is such that Vermont may have to
be the thirty-sixth state to finish ratification before next
Presidential primaries. Fifteen million American women will
vote for President whether we get ratification or not, and we
feel that it would be sad to have Vermont be in the position of
holding up the women of the rest of the nation.


Hoping to hear favorably from you, I am,


Very sincerely yours,


Chairman of Ratification fot Vermont