The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-02-08

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| Washington in 1889, land
| they tell US we are no nearer a vote
| than we were when we began. Yes, we
are. We are exactly twenty-one years
| nearer it than we were when we be-
gan And thereat much applause fol-
| lowed. On the same principle the wo-
| men of the United States are now thir-
I ty-four years nearer to suffrage than
they were when they began their meet
ings at the national capital, for the con-
| vention at Washington this February IS
| the thirty-fourth of the National Amer
lean Woman Suffrage association.
| The ladies have been busy preparing
| to make this convention the most i'm
| portant in the organizations history.
| They planned that it should partake
| largely of an international character,
| and delegates from all the civilized ma
lions who were invited to attend &C
| cepted. Belgium, now the hotbed OF
! agitation for full suffrage for both men
and women, sends representatives to
report on the progress making there.
Belgium is unique in one respect, and
it is that her advocates of woman suf-
frage are largely men. The political
Liberal party there has declared Off
ciaIIy that so soon as full manhood suf-
frage is established complete citizens
rights for women shall also be taken in
hand and no pause made till they are
wrested from the conservatism OF the
centuries. Fat little Holland, with its
pretty and popular young queen, also
sends delegates to the American repub-
lies congress for the equal rights of the
sexes.
The convention continues in session
from Feb. II to Feb. Is, inclusive. The
internatio woman suffrage confer
ence, at which foreign speakers might
exploit themselves without being inter
fered with by the native article, has
one whole day allotted to it by the pro-
gramme committee
The suffrage societies of Great Brit
ain send as their representative Mrs.
Florence Fenwick Miller. OF Canadian
delegates there is a considerable list,
and a prominent male citizen of Toron-
to is one of them. He is James l..
Hughes. public school inspector for To-
ronto. He is distinguished both in Can
ada and the United States as an edu-
cational writer and speaker. He has
been engaged many years in reform
work along educational lines. and his
Investigations and experience have
made him favorable to female enfran-
chisement.
Canada also sends to the gathering
two practicing women physicians. DR..
Amelia Yeomans comes from Manito-
ba, and the fact that she makes the
winter journey from Winnipeg to
Washington to attend the convention
sufficiently attests her enthusiasm for
the cause. The other Canadian woman
physician is DIR. Amelia Stowe Cullen,
whose mother before her was a med
ical woman, the first in Canada. Dr.
Cullen was appointed some years ago
demonstration of anatomy. then a pro-
fessor, in the Woman's Medical college,
of Toronto. From New Brunswick
comes Miss Mabel Peters.
From faraway Australia have sailed
strong women to meet this gathering of
the faithful. In Australia the demand
for woman suffrage is more general
and enthusiastic than in the United
States, and it is worth noting how this
has grown out of the needs of the time
In Australia the most earnest advo-
Gates of feminine rights are country wo-
men, or, as they are called there, bush
women" The better class of farm wo-
men there are more thoughtful and
more intelligent as to public questions
than the average city woman.
The Australian bushwoman knows
what it is to live alone with her chill
dren or perhaps without anybody at all
at the home while the men of her FAM
lily are away herding and driving.
Hanging over her is always the dread
that the rabbit pest will descend in A
night and destroy her crops for next
year. or perhaps the dirt roads are in
such wretched condition that she can
not get food supplies from the towns
because the slow moving horse and bull
lock trains are begged on the track
These deprivations press upon her and
enter her heart of hearts. Does not she
as well as her husband need railways
to convey provisions and clothing into