New-York tribune., 1912-01-21
Ill.
London, January 8.

=. california has been much discussed
:. England, I asked some questions
.hout it while in America, But 1 sup
,ose I asked the wrong people, for few
..,h whom talked seemed to think the
latter very important. Once or twice
~. answer was, why should they not
,.vs the voter" If suggested that the
..,,a pertinent question would be. why
.bould they?" I was set down as unre-
Generate, and prayers were offered up
,or my conversion. found, moreover.
. belief prevailing among vote-wanting
vomen tina. in England the militant
snSragists were winning, and that,
,bsnks 20 them, the nine or ten millions
~ Englishwomen would soon have their
rights"
This was no new belief. It was cher
,sbed by the little group of fashionable
uornen in New York who embarked upon
q suffrage crusade Of their own two or
three years ago. a friend wrote me at
the time that they based their move
nnent upon that theory. l answered that
their theory was an illusion, in that the
women who broke windows and mobbed
the Prime Minister and assaulted the
polIce were compromising the cause they
meant TO support; that they were post
poning the possibility Of woman suffrage
for a generation or more. and that SIM
liar tactics in America would probably
have a similar effect. If they wanted 20
start a suffrage campaign. nothing
would be gained by basing II on the de-
lusion that the cause in England had
been advanced by the proceedings Of the
extremists.
Presently received a circular or pro-
spectus Of this new movement, with. l
think. a copy OF the constitution of the
Equal Suffrage Association. and formal
invitation 70 become a member Of 1t. All
these documents, instead Of being just
printed, as usual, were elegantly en-
graved, as II they had been invitations
10 dinner. had to decline this proposal,
explaining that ! could not join an asso-
citation for enlarging the suffrage be-
cause I thought too many people had
votes already. This view was disap-
proved Of. but is nevertheless the opinion
Of a great many Americans who think
seriously on such subjects and are con-
yinced that political rights were granted
TO the negroes too hastily, and are grant
ed too carelessly to some classes of tmmi-
grants, and that the privilege OF natu-
ralization IS systematically abused. At
any rate, my answer was resented and
a friendship Of years came to an end
There can be no greater loss than the
loss Of friendship unless it be the sur
render of q conviction. But feelings ran
high, at that time. was told that New
York society was at once divided into
two camps; that intimacies were broken
up, and that women who wanted the vote
would not dine with the women who did
not want it, but were content with the
power and influence they had; believing
II 10 be greater and more useful than
the right 10 drop ballot into the ballot
box for Tammany TO play tricks with.
But when I asked last November
whether these animosities still existed
was told that II they had ever existed at
all II was only between few women who
had other grounds Of quarrel. The feud,
if there were one, seemed TO have died
out, and the suffrage fanatics had grown
more tolerant. could not discover
whether the zeal of these suffragists had
grown cold or whether for the moment
other topics had come TO the front. Nor
did II appear that these charming cham
pions Of social disorder were unduly
elated by the success Of their California
sisters. california" remarked New
York lady, sententiously, lis long way
off," But in England New York also
seems q long way off, and the English
do not always remember that ii is as far
from New York to San Francisco as
from London to New York. Some Of the
English sutfrag!sts cried out with Joy
that they had won great victory IN
California, and proclaimed in the papers
that il was an omen Of their early tri-
umph on this side the Atlantic.
The value Of the victory, as so often
happens, was in proportion 10 its re-
moteness. These zealots do not perceive
that to argue from California to Great
? Britain is Of no avail. The dragging CT
women into politics is cause for which
American precedents have often been ip-
voked. But the English do not discrim-
mate, nor stop to consider that the five
or six American states which have
adopted woman suffrage are all on the
Pacific Coa.- or on the Pacific Slope. In
all Of these states, government, so far as
the States themselves are concerned, az
in an experimental state. They have
embarked on other political adventures
In the same spirit Of easy confidence
The English need reminding that So
loose Is tn organic structure OF those
Pacific societies that one or another
part OF the fabric may be disturbed
without much impalring the cohesive en-
ergy Of the whole. 1t is idle to draw
anaiogies between communities still IN
the cradle and a country like England
OF which the institutions are the deiib-
crate growth OF centuries. The fallacy
Is evident enough to those Of the Eng
llsh who really apply their minds to
these questions. For an exposure OF the
errors underlying the citation Of these
American excursions into unchartcd
seas need only refer to Mrs. Humphry
Wards impregnable letters to THE
Times"
The truth is that in England the suf-
fragIsts are much more likely TO wrecE