New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-10-26
BY Ida Hustled Harper.

The woman suffrage movement In Great
Britain is now facing the most serious
| crisis In its troubled existence or iate
wears The division in it's militant
| branch is regarded as heart-oreahlns
| tragedy by those who have suffered mar
| tyrdom In its ranks and are now ois-
! tracted by me effort to choose WHICH
leader to follow. Their feeling for MIS-
! Pankhurst and Christabel Is one almost
OF alteration. and yet they realize that
no man or woman ever gave more Valua-
bit and disinterested service to the cause
than Mr.. and Mrs. Pethick Lawrence
| people of wealth. culture and position
who were giving their lives TO philan-
thropic work, but put everything aside
| TO devote themselves exclusively TO inc
struggle for the franchise Dispatches
have spoken Of Mn Lawrence contribute
ing $500: II they had sod thrty-hve
thousand pounds they probably would not
have put the figures high enough. In
| the early days he founded and main
tanned Votes for Women" the largest
| suffrage paper published ain any country
and established the Press, which prints
| this paper and all the publications Of
| the organization. The latter has found
the twenty-seven rooms Il has been oc-
cupying in London insufficient for It's
work and has Just taken an entire new
! building. Llncolns Inn House, in Kings
way.
| 1t is too soon for the English papers
| to reach here, but the cablegrams leave
no doubt that the reason OF the division
was the refusal Of the Bawrences 20
| indorse Mrs Pankhursts programme u
more revolutionary measures even than
| have yet been employed. That these are
! exceedingly radical must be inferred
when one recalls that Mrs Lawrence
| herself took part in the recent destruc-
! tive raid on Bond street and Piccadilly,
was sent to prison and nearly lost her
life from fOrcible feeding; and that Mr..
Lawrence, as editor OF the paper, shared
this experience, although he had no part
in the demonstration. They cannot he
accused OF lack of courage, and Mr.
Lawrence announces that Votes for Wo-
men," which he retains, will continue TO
| advocate strong militant campaign
against the government
Mrs. Pankhursts Ultimatum.
In Mrs Pankhursts imprisoned speech
at Albert Hall TO an audience OF eight
or ten thousand she said: Those OF you
who can break windows. break them
Those Of YOU who can still further at
tack the sacred idol Of property 50 as
20 make the government realize that Il
IS as greatly endangered by the suffra-
gcttes as II was by the chartlsts Of old,
do 70. Henceforth women who aGreo
with me viii say 20 the government
We disregard your laws; we set the
liberty. dignity and welfare OF women
above all such considerations. We shall
continue the war and what injury Of
property accrues is not our fault but
the fault Of the government, which adj
mlts the iustlce Of our demands but re-
fuses to conccdc them without the evil
deuce afforded I'm the past that those
who asked for liberty were in earnest in
their demands
The plan Of campaign is not yet evident.
but IN an interview Mrs Pankhurst said
emphatically: we shall show every con-
sideration for human life. We leave reck-
I
government" IL Is indeed true that all
the personal injury thus far inflicted has
been done by the government or the anti
suffragsts. The one apparent exception
OF the woman who threw a Ratchet into
the carriage where Premier Asquith and
John Redmond were sitting was 30 evil
IDENTIFY a mere act OF bravado, with no In
tent 10 injuro, that the case against her
was dismissed. on the other hand, two
surrragists have died from the treatment
IN prison; many have been injured for life
by the police. and the number Is beyond
count OF the women who have been badly
hurt by ushers and men In the audience
at public meetings. In not one OF these
instances have the women been commit
ting deeds OF violence Sometimes they
have been assembling peacefully before
the House OF Parliament, sometimes In
terrupting n speaker. and sometimes try
ing 10 hold their own meetings. Never
in one instance have their assailants been
arrested or even reprimanded. and it Is
well understood by men and boys, even
the "hooligans," that they may attack
suffragsts with impunity.
The climax was reached at the recent
meeting In IA village in North Wales,
where Lloyd George was speaking. Sew
eral women called out, when are you
going TO give and instantly the mob
was upon them. They were beaten from
head 10 foot, their clothes torn TO ribbons
and punches OF hair pulled out by the
roots. one was bitten. another was blind
ed. and an attempt was made to drown
another. Tho Liverpool Courier" said:
THE realistic photographs taken OF the
scene are unprintable In decent paper.
II REQUIRED rwenty-four policemen and a
number OF plalnclothes men 20 rescue the
women alive. Afterward, IN the village
and the railway train, the assailants dis
tributed pieces OF the women's clothing
and punches OF their hair as souvenirs.
Not one arrest was made In connection
with the affair.
The press OF the United States, taken
as a whole has been far more ready to
critioise Mrs. Pankhurst's militancy than
10 condemn the brutality OF the anti-suf-
fragists in Great Britain and Ireland.
That country Is, indeed. in "a sorry
plight over the question Of woman suf-
frage II would be- more to the point TO