New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-12-28
By Ida Hustled Harper.

Ever since women began asking Tot
voice in the government they have been
told that they were in no way htted TOT
this high responsibility. They had not the
poise and self-control essential for those
who make the laws in Congress and state
legislatures; they were too prone 10 quar-
rel among themselves; they were not
serious and dignifed enough for con-
spcuous position; they had not the physl-
cal strength necessary for public HE, ana
especially they did not possess the mental
capacity for dealing with great national
and state affairs This last Indictment
has been particularly emphasized by the
anti-suffragists of Great Britain through
their two most prominent leaders. Mrs.
Humphry Ward and Miss Violet Asquith'
the latter now on a visit to this country.
They have declared repeatedly IN answer
to the suffragsts who have pointed ou'
the excellent work done by women with
their municipal vote and in municipal
offices during the last forty years: 20
yes the minds OF women are equal TO
dealing with local affairs but not with
those of a national character ana Lord
CurzOn and all the other lords ana ladltS
who make up the British Anti-Sunrase
Association have added their stamp OF
approval
II has not been pleasant all these years
for self-respecting women to hear such
charges. and of late they have been max
Of
capacity for governing. OF his great self
control and his official dignity. In the
British Parliament for instance. where
one would expect To see the finest Hover
OF these eminent qualities. only feW
weeks ago occurred an actual riot Which
reached such proportions that the Speaker
was obliged TO adjourn the session. In
the course of it the Prime Minister was
branded as a traitor and pelted with balls
Of paper: the First Lord Of the Admiralty
was struck with a heavy book, ana a
general fist fight was. with difficulty, pre-
vented members OF the Cabinet were
/ called rats and apes told that they
would sell their souls for money and as
( they left the chamber were followed by
/ cries 81 swine" John Dillon was quoted
as saving that "the language was as dis
graceful as could be heard in the lowest
slums of London, and the scene WAS more
! like an explosion of drunken rowdyism
than the proceedings Of delberauVe
assembly"
| 1t was. however. an act OF the Oldest
representative assembly in the world. and
similar one was prevented the next day
| by the intervention of the King. Within
the last week there has been another er-
| plosion. and the vice-admiral OF the navy
| and the First Lord of the Admiralty
| "reviled each other 10 the utmost limit
| allowed in Parliament to quote the cable
dispatches. Back stairs methods,
brides and threats gross insinua-
| TONS" "skulking in the background
''scurrilous attacks" were d few OF the
choice epithets applied by these distin-
guished gentlement TO each other. So
! common are such incidents that they
scarcely called forth criticism in the Eng
/ hsh press. and yet it goes into Mysteries
| over the mild militancy Of few suf-
| fragists inspired by the example of those
superior beings divinely ordained to gov
ern themselves and women also.
| Uproar disorder and calling names car
| ried to such an extent as to require i'm
mediate adjournment are by no means un-
common in the German parliament, com
posed Of men proverbialy self-controlled
and Unconditional while the outbreaks in
the French and Italian parliaments are
| too frequent 10 be recorded. Last spring
n member OF the Hungarian parliament
| fired three shots at the Speaker because
he opposed universal suffrage for men.
When IL reassembled this fall the oppO-
sition came armed with bugles, motor
| horns COW bells and whistles, and kept
| M a din the entire afternoon. The police
were called: a hundred members tore
| the desks from the floors and barricaded
themselves: one fell in faint and many
were badly injured. The next day the
session was held under the guard OF two
hundred policemen. There was far less
! comment in either the British or the
American press over these riotous pro-
cecdings than over the breaking OF a
window by a suffragette, because in the
latter case woman was attempting
| something which nature never intended
that she should do. while in the former
men were simply demonstrating their in
herent capacity for governing with wis
dom and self-restraint!
uE.. M.n of tbs tInited Statss