El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-04-16

spectacular campaign ever wag
ed by women in demanding the
right to vote is that now in progress
in the United Kingdom Of Great Brit
ain and Ireland. In England the right
to vote never has been granted to men
because they are men. but has been re-
stricted always to property owners and
, property users, enfranchised by virtue
of their property relations.
Until 1892 only the property owners
were given the franchise. and this they
exercised only in the manner directed
by the larger property owners. The re-
form measures Instituted in 1882 great
ly extended the privilege of suffrage
but the property qualification still was
retained. At the time of the reform
bill agitation a demand was made that
citizenship and not property holding be
made the measure of the qualification
OF an elector. 1t was urged further
that women, as we'll men, be ad
mitted to the suffrage.
Manhood suffrage was regarded then
as the quintesence of dangerous radi-
calism, and those persons who went
so far as to agitate equal suffrage for
all citizens without regard to sex were
looked upon as half crazy fanatics
and thoroughly impractical doctrin-
aires
Restricted Suffrage.
Even today a demand for manhood
suffrage in England is regarded by
large portion of the British public as
a socialistic threat 20 destroy the Brit
fsh constitution and TO enslave those
iSritons who are wont proudly to sing
that they never will be slaves. A
property owner has vote in every
constituency where he happens to own
property. a lodger has vote If he
supports the institution Of private
property by the annual contribution Of
stipulated sum in payment for his
lodging. But no Englishman has a right
TO vote simply because he is an En-
glishman
There is a general demand in the
Liberal party for reforms which would
abolish property qualifications and set
up universal manhood suffrage on the
basis of adult citizenship. This move
ment is resisted by the Conservative
party, which not only is the special
guardian of property interests but al
so Is the direct beneficiary of the sys-
tenn of plural voting which obtains
under the present law. ''One man,
one vote" is Liberal cry which good
conservative class with socialistic
slogans.
Another element of the British pub
lie demands equal adult suffrage based
upon citizenship This represents the
extreme democratic school of British
thought. and takes its notions concern
ing the suffrage directly from the po-
litico-economic legacy of John Stuart
Mill.
The Earl OF Lytton, Israel Zangwiu,
Henry W Nevinson and others of their
flk represent this section. Lloyd George
Herbert Gladstone and John Burns
once subscribed their names to docu-
ments declaring in favor of this equal
adult suffrage. bat that was before
any one of them had dared to dream
that he might one day be a minister
in his majesty's government
Militant Suffragettcs.
But by far the greatest agitation with
respect to the suffrage in Great Brit
ain is the result of the campaign con-
Quoted by the National Woman's So
cial and Political Union. This is the
official title Of that organization whose
members are known throughout, the
world as the militant suffrag ettes.
In England, as well as In America,
the women at first objected TO the word
"suffragette', and insisted that they be
called "suffragists.', While everyone
was willing TO respect the prejudices of
the estimable ladies interested in this
movement, il was quite impossible for
them or for anyone else to blot out of
existence the word -suffragette',. which
they. themselves, ushered into the En-
glish language, and it is now general
ly accepted.
The British National Women's So
cial and Political Union formally ex-
presses its whole purpose in one SEN
tence which is emblazoned on every
one of the millions Of pieces of litera-
ture annually sent forth from headquar-
tiers OF the society in London That
sentence is: We demand the vote on
the same terms as it is or may be grant
ed to men,
By means of this statement of aims
and purposes, the Union manages 10
avoid a clash between those who be-
lieve that the suffrage should be grant
ed in respect of property relations. and
those who hold that adult citizenship
alone should be the test for qualifying
an elector- This general and inclusive
doctrine which demands political equal
ity with men. whatever may be the male
status in the constitution. is ordinarily
in the battle cry of the or
ganization. Votes for Women
Feminist Revolution.
The agitation long since has devel-
oped into an actual feminist revolution !
In which determined women deIiber- |
ately have defied. with force the gov
eminent. which has been Indifferent and
unresponsive to their demands The |
adoption Of the socalled militant tao
tics by the British suffragettes was !