The Detroit times., 1912-03-06
Is England The Home of The
\ Brave and Land of The Free2

600 pounds damages. the judge raj
Ing that IL was not legal onence
to ask a question or make comments
while a minister is addressing a pub.
lie meeting.
But when women did exactly the
same thing as Mr.. Hawkins, they
were disgracefully man-handled, ar
rested, and sent to prison at hard
labor.
The fundamental grievance at the
root Of the English situation Is the
fact that fer so years the woman
suffrage bill has not oSen permitted
to come TO decisive vote In parlla-
ment The suffrage bill has passed
It's second reading over and over
again, latterly by very large major
| tiles, but II has never been allowed
to come up for a third reading. About
six years ago some of the women got
out OF patience. When their bill was
again blocked in parliament, they
protested from the ladies' gallery
The gallery was closed. Their male
sympathizers protested from TIE
mems gallery. 1t was closed The
| women sent delegations TO interview
the premier Then an old law was
revived which forbade any process
sion or public meeting within mile
Of the parliament building. Whether
the women went quietly In process
! sions or small groups TO present their
petition to Asquith. they were fore
ibly turned back or arrested. As their
peaceful Attempts to go INTO the house
OF parliament were stopped by force
the women decided on strategy, and
II was necessary to have thousands
of police patrol the parliament on all
sides. and and water. Moreover,
|. whenever cabinet minister spoke al
a meeting, the women were there 70
ask what they were going TO 90
about the suffrage bill" At first trey
waited until the minister was through
to ask, but as he always left withodf
answering they began to question
him during the speech-the ordinary
custom in England-and then they
were arrested, and thrown out OF tfe
meeting with great violence. Finally.
all women were excluded from all
meetings where any cabinet ministers
| were to speak Always, II was force
backed up by the police, against IN
Justice and women's wits, and every
time the women won. but at what a
! cost or suffering. After successive Sc
mands and refusals OF the cabinet 20,
consider the bill the women smashed
/, 4 few windows as a protest, the ordi-
nary political protest In England
amongst men. Then the world went
mad-"those terrible suffragettes
such undignified, unwomanly womeL.
! But the most extreme militancy or
! the women has been nothing to wat
the men OF England have done unGer
| far less provocation. They have neith-
| or killed nor seriously hurt any
body but themselves. But in ls32
when bill widening the franchise
for men was held up in parliament
] for a short time, there was wide
spread rioting and bloodshed. In
| Bristol alone the men burned the
custom house, three prisons and "
/ private dwellings In comparison. as
| Zangwill says, England has reason
| to be grateful to the women for the
| feminine mildness Of their methods.
| No fair-minded person can conceive
| OF any one man such as Premier AS
quith being permitted to treat any
representative body OF people as lie
has done. He has refused always
to receive any deputation OF women
who wanted 70 talk about suffrage.
Women stood for hours, day and night.
asking 10 interview the premier
aristocratic women, women prominent
socially: women. illustrious In the
| professions, working women, women
! OF all sorts. stood outside in all wealth
crs. more than 10000 hours, but MI.
! Asuuith brave and chiyalrous Eig-
! lish gentleman CD still refused 10
see them.
Because of this agitation and these
heroic sacrifices, because 1000 WON
en- have suffered in prison. because
OF the outrages practiced upon women
asking rzthefranchise,- a-cnmmlltea
Of 60 members of parliament organ"
| lied themselves into committee 10
| try TO get the suffrage bill brought
! TO vote. They called themselves the
cancellation committee. This com
mittee drew up a manifesto showing
that every house OF commons which
had met since 1870, had had ma
| iority for woman suffrage, and tfIat
| the reform was long overdue. Finally,
| because Of the pressure on him, Mr.
Asuuith promised the bill should 80
! 10 it's third reading this year
Mr.. Asquith has again broken his
word. and the calmness which nas
been unbroken BY the suffragelies
while waiting for Mr.. Asquith TO
make good his promise, has once
more changed to storm and Militant
methods have again begun. VINO - ~
blame? Mr.. Asquith-bigoted; preJu-
diced. and Observation-Disclosures does not
| consider women worth keeping iallh
with. who stands a very car up
holding injustice and crime against
women, or the women who for %
years. have waited patiently and an
complainingly. asking INCREASINGLY Tor
a right 10 a voice in making the laws
they must live under and obey, anu
who have been forced through tyranny
| 10 use the only means at their dis
posal-distast eful and absolutely an
iagonistic to all feminine desire or
IMPULSE as they are--to obtain the
mower which will bring justice 10