The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-09-03
William Arsn White in the Emporia
 Gazette.o

twilliam Ar.n White in the Emporia
 6'HH position of f. women ,.s ln England gland
 (V is curious. It is "a mans coun-
 try, In the courts women de- fendants are at disadvantage. In the reports of lawsuits, wherein women ap- pear as witnesses one reads of all sorts of slights and insults being put upon them apparently without public resent- ment A woman who gets into court hg- ures not as Miss or Mrs, but by her last name. She is Jones or Smith or Robin son-and nothing more. A man up for indirectly causing the death of giri who committed suicide rather than race her shame. is commended by the court for telling a straightforward story, though. in his story he confesses that he urged her to marry his friend and save herself. In our country, the court would publicly regret that 1t could not put that young man in jail. woman servants in England are often called oy their last names, without Miss or Mrs. prefix, and woman servants are requiret to do work that puts them upon terms or familiarity with men that would make Emporia girls scream and quit their job The thousand little gallantries that Amer ioan men show toward women are oaoiy done, if done at all, in England. Yet the women speak during political cam paigns and do a mans share of the politi- cal skirmishing before every election. but' on the other hand, when women ask for votes, they are hooted. They leave the sacred precincts of the home to hustle men to the polls and show the men how to vote. but the idea that they should vote themselves, or even consider voting, seems absurd to the men, and the jaiis or London are full of women who have been disturbing the peace of England by their clamors for the ballot.
 These women are the suffragettes. They may be seen every day. one at each pillar of each gate of the iron fence around Parliament House, with police man guarding her. These suffragettes are posted in squads to Hay for MT. Asquith-the prime minister. They de- sire to present their petition of rights to him. He avoids them. The petition IS not presented, so the matter does not come before parliament They tried to get the king to take the matter up, but he side-stepped and every once in a while these women will create some sort of disturbance to get the matter before the people-just as an actress has her diamonds stolen-so that the cause al- ways will be advertised.
 Eventually the women will wear the men out, and get their rights. But in the meantime, they have one right which American women have not It Is the right to go into saloons and drink. We saw motherly looking old women in black silk, with purple flowers on their decent black bonnets, sitting demurely in the saloons, drinking gin, and as uncon- cerned as Mrs. Nation and Mrs. Harris sitting in Buchanan's candy kitchen, eating ice cream! We saw young girls nuttering into the saloons as uncon- csrned as Ethel Stone and Mary Mo- Gown would be dropping into Rora- baugn's to buy shoestr.ngs. And, besides these fine old women and those pretty sweet-faced girls, we saw sodder, wretched hags, dirty and bedraggled- hopeless as the dishwater of stale sin, slipping in with their eoppsrs in their grimy hands, to get the necessary nip to sustain them in their days toll. Within | the past few months law has been passed, forbidding children under 1l years of age from going into saloons and | the worst thing we saw in England-or l in all Europe-was children by the dozen little boys and girls in their babyhood,