Los Angeles herald., 1909-03-19
SUFFRAGE

| A woman is not person, according
to the house of lords, the ultimate
court of appeal in Great Britain, which
recently dismissed the appeal of the
women graduates of the Scottish uni
versities from the judgment of the
| Scottish courts on the ground that
they were not entitled to vote in the
election of those members of parlia-
ment who represent the universities.
| Two women graduates, Miss Macmil-
Ian and Miss Simson. appeared in per-
son to argue the appeal. In dismissing
the appeal the lord chancellor, Lord
Loreburn, declared that no authentic
and plain case of a woman giving
vote had been brought before them
from ancient records. The disability
of women had always been taken for
granted. 1t was notorious that this
right of voting had been confined to
men, that was the constant tradition
| and practice from the earliest times
down to his day.
This decision has brought swarm
of indignant letters from women to
every newspaper Office in the United
Kingdom what" they ask, "are we
! if we are not persons? Dictionaries
describe. a person as "a living, self
conscious being, as distinct from an
animal, thing or place. The riddle
is evidently too much for even news
| paper editors.
That the national laws of other
countries are sadly in need of revis-
ion was shown by an experience of a
French woman the other day who was
travelling from Brussels to Paris. AT
the Franco-Belgian frontier she was
asked whether she had anything to de-
clare, and promptly responded that she
mot TAKING
her word for it, came upon box half
full of cigarettes. and declared that
duty must be paid for them.
Madame X replied that as the cigar
cites were for her own use and the box
broken, regulations permitted fumeurs
(smokers) to take these in without
duty.
"Ah." replied the customs man, "the
regulations apply only to fumeurs, not
fumeuseS" (woman SmOkerS).
The fumeuses were not persons rec
ognized by law. Argument was futile
the officer was immovable and the fine
was paid.
America is not a half bad place for
women, anyway. 1t is here where
woman's emancipation was Graded,
and in the country where women first
proved to the world that their sphere
was not limited to the four walls of
the home.
A bill providing for full suffrage
passed the senate of the state of
Washington February % by vote of
80 to 9. The measure had previously
passed the house by a vote of 70 to Is.
The International Woman Suffrage
alliance will meet in London, England,
April 26 to May /. The officers are:
President Mrs. Carrie Chapman Gait,
New York city; first vice president,
DIR. Anita Augsburg, Hamburg. Ger
many; second vice president. Mrs. Mil
licent Garrett Fawcett, London, Eng
land; secretary, Mrs. Rachel Foster
Avery. Swarthmore, Pa; first assistant
secretary, Dr. Katie Schumacher,
Rotterdam, Holland; treasurer, Mrs.
Stanton-Coit, London, England.
The National American Woman suf-
frage association will hold it's forty
first annual convention in Seattle,
Wash, July 1 to Z. Womans day at
the Alaska YukonPacific exposition
will be observed during convention
week.
In the legislatures of the following
states woman suffrage measures have
been, or will be, considered during the
present session: California, Connecti-
cut, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas. Maine,
Massachusetts,, Minnesota. Nebraska,
New Hampshire, new I OTk, OIlO, Ok-
lahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island,
South Dakota, Washington and Wis
consin.
Before the adoption of the universal
suffrage measure by the Swedish par
lament February 1S, which secures
voting rights to all inhabitants over
"a years of age, women in that coun-
try. were already voting on the same
terms as men in all elections except
for members of the second chamber of
the riksdag.
The Women's National Anti-Suf-
frage league of England will hold a
monster meeting at the Queens hall
in London on March 26. Mrs. Hum
phrey Ward will be in the chair, and
among the speakers will be Lord Gro
mer, Austen Chamberlain and Sir Ed
ward Clark.
Everything in the movement to give
women the suffrage appeals to my
reverence and sense of justice" says
William Dean Howells. fThere is no
other hope for men but in their civic
help"
Delegates from twenty-one countries
are to attend the suffragist congress in
London the last week in April.