Evening journal., 1912-05-17
ENCTICu W0MEN
LIvULESu w VUWLV
KEEP UP FIGHT
FOR THE BALLOT

Much water has run under West
minister Bridge since John Stuart Mill
entered the lists as the first champion
Of woman's suffrage in the House of
Commons. This was as long ago as
1867, when the Mrs. Pankhurst Of to-
day had scarcely learned the art Of
dressing doll. and still the will-o'-
the-wisp. Votes for Women eludes
capture
Nine years later. in 1876. the bant-
ling was crushed under the weight OF
an adverse majority Of eighty-seven,
and good many years were TO pass
before GU legislators would listen TO
such a proposal In 1897 the tide had
turned a bill comforting the suffrage
came triumphantly through the sec
ond reading in the House OF Com
mons. with majority of seventy
one: two years later. the majority had
grown to ia: and last year, when the
Cancellation bill was put 10 the test Of
a second reading, 225 NJ. Ps. marched
into the AYE" lobby while only pal
try eighty-eight said mo" TO IT,
Thus the flowing tide Is with the
ladies'. and II seems not unlikely that
before long the struggle which Mary
Wollstonecraft began more than
century ago with her "Vindication of
the Rights Of Women will be crown
ed with victory.
While our English women have been
waging their long battle. their sisters
Ia other lands have already captured
the prize. Nineteen years have gone
since the first woman registered her
vote in New Zealand; the following
year. 1894. South Australia took up
the running. and West Australia fol-
lowed in 1899.
Ten years ago the women Of New
South Wales won the trophy; and in
the same year the supreme prize OF
the Antipodes. the vote for the Fed
'eral Parliament, was awarded to wo-
men. Tasmania still withheld the
boon. but she. too. succumbed to the
inevitable In the autumn of 1903, and
Queensland has since followed suit.
In South Australia the rights Of
their sex TO equal treatment with meu
have been splendidly vindicated Laws
have been passed to protect women
against brutal husbands; to remove
the ban of illegitimacy from children
when the parents marry; to make
betting under the age OF twenty-one
Illegal TO prohibit smoking under
the age of sixteen: and TO make it
criminal TO sell opium. These. and
many others equally designed TO
strengthen the position of women and
children in the eyes OF the law.
In West Australia woman has been
put on the same footing as man in
the matter of divorce; and in New
Zealand ladies now sit by the side OF
men in the Reporters Gallery of the
House OF Representatives.
The United States are following in
the wake OF Australia. In more than
half Of them woman now enjoys a
partial suffrage; while in four-Colo-
rado. Utah, Idaho. and Wyoming she
has precisely the same franchise as
man. And throughout the whole OF
the States she is competing on equal
terms with her male rivals, taking
the same degrees in law and medicine
and filling almost every post open TO
man. from captaining steamboat 20
prospecting for gold, and acting as
Sheriff and experimenting executions.
AS near home as the Isle OF Man,
woman has enjoyed the political
franchise for more than thirty years:
and in other islands as far apart as
Jersey and Iceland she Is n mans
political equal.
Even in that most autocratic Of
empires. Russia, woman has outstrip-
ped her sister Of Britain. AZ long
ago as 1884 the women Of Finland he
ran their struggle for the franchise.
with the Baroness Gripenberg FOR
champion; and so doggedly have they
a.. l..
Rre they registering their votes for
the Diet. but they are eligible them
lo~, 1-tt nee