October 22nd,1919

Hon .Frank G. Howland
Barre
Vermont

My dear Senator Howland:-

It is evident from your letter just
received, that I have not made myself entirely clear regard-
the position of the Vermont Equal Suffrage Association in
relation to a special session of the legislature.

You will remember that at our first interview the Asso¬
ciation through me as Chairman of Ratification, asked you to
head a legislative committee to call upon Governor Clement in
the near future and ask him to state his conditions upon which
he would call such session. You said you would like the
privilege of selecting your own committee but would like to
have me send you a list of names of men whom I knew to be fav¬
orable to special session and to ratification. We were of
course only too glad to have you select your own committee and
I sent you list requested on September 30th.

As Governor Clement stated in his public announcement
some weeks ago that his chief objection to the session was
the matter of expense to the State, we have endeavored to get
as many legislators as possible to sign the petition for
special session and to vote to go at no expense to the State.
This of course means that they forego mileage and per diem.

If the Governor does not make expense one of his ob¬
jections to session we shall not have to make further effort
to cover same; if on the other hand he does make that object¬
ion, we have machinery to put in motion whereby the expenses
of those men unable to pay their own, will be paid from a fund
which we expect to provide.

Mr. Hopkins of Burlington is mistaken when he says that
I asked him to serve on your committee. I merely told him,
as I have some others, that you were to select your own com¬
mittee and that there might be a possibility of his being sum¬
moned by’you to serve. May I ask if you purpose to call
upon the Governor soon to get his conditions? We had hoped
the session might be called, as I remarked in ny last letter,
before the roads are impassible.

Yours most respectfully,