The famous bibliographer, William Oldys, wrote early in the 18th century: "The labour and patience, the judgment and penetration, which are required to make a good index are only known to those who have gone through this most painful but least-praised part of a publication." Lord Campbell said, a century later, in his preface to The Lives of Chief Justices: "I proposed to bring a Bill into Parliament to deprive an author, who publishes a book without an index, of the privilege of copyright."

If an index were deemed so valuable in those periods of comparative leisure, one as complete as possible is surely an absolute necessity in these days when time is at the highest premium, but the maker is under obligation to study conciseness in order that the index may not be as long as the book. It has seemed practicable to reduce very greatly the length of this one without impairing its efficiency by asking the reader to bear in mind a few simple facts as to the arrangement of the History.

Chapters II-XXI are devoted exclusively to the conventions of the National Suffrage Association and the consequent hearings, reports and discussions in Congress; the story of each year is complete in its chapter and the date is in the running title on the right hand page. The work of the American Association before the two societies united is complete in Chapter XXII. These chapters contain the argument.

Chapters XXV-LXXII comprise the full history of the work in the States and Territories, one chapter given to each and all alphabetically arranged with name in running title on the right hand page. Each State is subdivided and the heads denoted by capital letters, as follows: Organization, Legislative Action, Laws, Suffrage, Office Holding, Occupation, Education.

The other chapters are clearly designated in the Table of Contents, and practically all the information which the book contains on each subject will be found in its respective chapter. The greatest problem has been the indexing of the many speeches so as to convey an idea of their subject-matter, as a number of them cover a variety of topics, and it has been possible to indicate only the principal points. The editors trust, however, that the systematic arrangement of the volume and the full Table of Contents will enable the reader to obtain the desired information without difficulty.