Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-06-28

! Suffrage Associations affiliated with the
alliance. In Finland. where the womer
have the complete franchise, the people
are now in the midst of their second gen
eral election campaign. In which the
women are taking quite as much interest,"
as the men and doing their share of the
work. Thousands of them are attending
the political meetings coming from the
| most remote districts for this purpose.
They accept the suffrage as a matter OF
/ course. because they have received 1t al
the same time as the men. and say. AT
last we are counted as human beings.
but they are only just beginning to real
iZe the immense power it places In their
i hands.
FinIand's Bills for Woman.
The bills introduced by women at the
recent parliament were mostly for tenn
perance. morality raising the age OF
consent from twelve to fifteen and of
marriage from fifteen to seventeen; for
reforming the marriage laws. which now
make the wife SO completely the pos
| session of the husband that she cannot
get passport to visit in neiShborlng
country without his written consent. and
| for changing the most unjust property
| laws. which place the wife entirely at
| the mercy of the husband. Many of the
women themselves protest against any
| alteration of these laws but this Is not
surprising. Women did exactly the same
thing in New York fifty years ago when
Miss Anthony attempted to have the same
kind of laws changed. 1t takes time to
eradicate the effects of generations of
subsection. The bill prohibiting the liquor
| traffic, which was passed with the help
of the women members, has not yet been
approved by the car.
| The women of Norway were enfran-
| chiSed in 1907 after four years of vlgor-
Gus effort on their part. Their suffrage
association is over twenty years old, and.
as their present electoral rights carry
with them a slight property qualification,
which is not imposed on men. they still
maintain their organization in order to
secure the removal of this by parliament.
The first election is now approaching in
| which women will vote for members of
| this body and they are holding many
| large meetings to discuss candidates and
measures The present parliament con-
| tains seventy-six liberals and ten So
| cialists, all of whom voted for the woman
| suffrage bill. which received also ten
| votes from the conservatives. The Nor
wegian women are emphatic IN the opin-
| ion that women striving for the suffrage
must not pin their faith to one party,
but must have support In all of them.
Norway's Representative.
The government of Norway sends as its
official representative to the congress
Miss Gina Krog, pioneer of the woman
suffrage movement in that country. One
of the leading newspapers Of Christiania
sent bright young reporter to inter-
view Mrs. Chapman Gait, president of
the alliance. AS he took his departure
she said. II hope you'll some day be
prime minister" Quick as a flash came
the answer, IF ever l am, there will be
women in my cabinet"
| Sweden. which is much less progressive
than Norway in all respects, has only
during the past year extended the suf-
frage to any considerable number of men:
| This was done with the consent of the old
king. who. after the enforced separation
from Norway, was DESTROYS of doing what
he could to improve the status Of his
people. He was friendly to the idea of
woman suffrage, but did not want to
jeopardze the chances Of the man suf-
| frage bill. The new king made some
slight reference to the subject in his
| speech opening parliament, but the prime
| minister opposed. All suffrage bills for
| session. Woman suffrage has been made
| a part of the program of the labor party
and the Lindhagen group, both strong po-
litical bodies. The women are excellently
! organized. their 127 suffrage societies OF
over 10000 members spreading from
Lapland to the sound" Last year they
presented q petition Of 142 12S names.
The question is Endorsed by the liberal
and social democratic parties and will
be made an issue at the general election
next autumn. having now a good pros
pect Of success.
Monarchies and Republics Con-
trasted.
The women of Denmark give glowing
accounts of their great banquet to cele-
brate the granting of municipal suffrage
| last month. 1t was held in the magnifi-
cent town hall of Copenhagen and at
tended by cabinet ministers, members OF
parliament. the mayor and city council
| Tors, university professors and members
of the clergy. The president of the Suf-
| frage Association proposed a toast to the
king, thanking him for signing the bill
1t was conveyed to the palace and before
the dinner ended his private secretary
| brought an acknowledgment which said
| His majesty, the king sends to the
men and women gathered at the fes-
| tivity in honor of the new suffrage law
his heartfelt return greeting and thanks
adding the wish that this important re-
form shall work for the success and hap
piness of our country"
The government of Australia has sen-
an official representative to this Amster.
dam congress. Mrs. Henry Dobson OF
| Tasmania Her husband is an influen
tial member of the national parliament
and has accepted an invitation to address.
the congress on the practical working OF
| woman suffrage In Australia. The officia
reports from here and from New Tea
land. with unimpeachable facts and fig
ures as to the large percentage Of womer
| who vote and the effect on legislation
the state, the family and the develop
ment of character in women themselves
| answer cOnclusively all the objection:
| usually made to woman suffrage and re-
flute absolutely the adverse statements a.
to those countries which occa sionally fine
| their way into print unsupported excep
by their authors, and these are cnerall,
| anonymous. Signed testimony Is in
cluded In these reports from governors
prime ministers. supreme court judges
| members of parliament. editors-all de
claring in favor of the franchise fo
women with unanimity that would
hardly be possible for any other measure
The Difficult English Language.
The delegates who come from countrie.
where neither English. German no.
French is spoken and are obliged t.
make their speeche5 and remarks in on,
of these languages often refer pathetic
ally to their great disadvantage, which
those of these favored nations fully ap
preCiate and sympathize with It is
however. impossible not to smile at tn,
quaint form some of their expressions
take. and which would be much worse OIL
our part If we attempted to translate ou
ideas into their language. II think w,
will not quarrel. for we are all cultivate,
people, and we will avoid explosive mat
ter" said one. Another wrote: II hav
waited to speak to Mrs. c. and at last
have met her in the telephone" An,
another: DO not tax your brain; 1t il
the most dangerous of ALL" Among othe
expressions were these: "The joy 70
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