Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-11-03
MRS. PANKHURST
HEARD IN CHICAGO
Suffragette in Auditorium Ad-
dress Says Women Are
Driven to Violence.
SHE DEFENDS MILITANCY
Declares the Battle for the Ballot Is
With the View of Banishing
Vice.

militant suffragists in England yes
terday to $500 applauding Chicagoans
at the Auditorium theatre, and added
approximately $4,000 to the war fund"
to carry on the battle.
1t was the militant leaders first pub
lie address before women who have
the right to vote. She was officially
welcomed to Illinois by Lieutenant
Governor O'Hara, who termed her "the
great general of humanity" Then he
stepped aside and Mrs. Harriette Tay-
lor Treadwell, president of the Chicago
Political Equality league, introduced
the speaker.
For two hours Mrs. Pankhurst told
all the why's and wherefores of the
militancy of her English followers,
summing it up as a necessity and the
only way in which English women can
win their rights from the English gov
ernment.
The speaker hailed Chicago as the
first great city to recognize the hor-
ors of the social evil and to try to
stamp it out. She said that vice con-
ditions had in part necessitated the
fighting methods of militant suffragets.
She voiced her right to come to the
United States as an oppressed foreign
er, seeking aid.
NO DEMONSTRATION.
Banners of many woman suffrage So
cieties hung from the balconies of the
! theatre and in the boxes and upon the
stage practically all of Chicago's wo-
man suffrage leaders listened to the
| address. There was no scramGiinS
| for seats, as at Mrs. Pankhurst's New
York lecture, and no demonstration eX'
cept applause. Following the example
Of Lieutenant Governor O'Hara, the
entire audience stood as the militant
! leader entered the theatre.
In boxes near the stage were Miss
Jane Addams, Mrs. Joseph T. Bowen,
Mrs Grace Wilbur Trout, Mrs. Ray
mond Robbins and Mrs L. Bracket
Bishop. Each was accompanied by
friends Mrs. Antoinette Funk and
Mrs. Frank Funk occupied a box to-
gether. The Socialist Women's league
had another. Miss Agnes Nestor and
other officers of the Woman's Trade
Union league sat near them. Miss
| Edith Abbott and Miss Sophonisba
Breckenridge were present.
CITY OFFICIALS ATTEND.
Alderman Merriam was there, as
well as many other city officials. And
| in the back of a distant box was Ray
mond Hitchcock, the actor and a group
of friends.
Mrs. Pankhurst confined the great
er part of her remarks to discussion
of the social evil and asserted that its
existence more than anything else de-
manded the enfranchisement of wo.
men. At one point she leaned forward
and cried:
"You men lack moral courage. You
have solved the great industrial prob
lens of the world but when it comes
to dealing with humanity you must ad
nit that you have failed"
The audience applauded
Following her lecture, Mrs. Pank
hurst offered to. answer questions
Only once she evaded a direct answer
She was asked if militant methods had
not endangered the lives of jockeys at
the English derby. Her answer was
that the jockey who fell was only
slightly injured.
Throughout her address Mrs. Pank
hurst repeatedly said that human lives
were never threatened by women mill
tant warriors"
FIGHT IL on POLITICIANS.
I'VE have gone through the stages
of persuasion and argument in Eng
land, said Mrs. Pankhurst. THE fght
is not with the men of the country
for they are with us. 1t is against E
handful of politicians who will no
give us equal suffrage until they are
compelled. We are going to compe
them. Our women must either be kill
ed or enfranchised. We are teachinl
the men II the world that women, lik.
men, can revolt
I'm our militant army nineteenth
have been enlisted from those VIII,
realize the horror of the social evil
They are men and women who hav,
enlisted because they feel # their dut,
to battle for those who are less for
tunate
The age of the great conspiracy o
4 silence is ended. All al once medica
men began telling us Of this scourg
Of vice. Chicago led the way by pub
fishing its vice report Immediatel
vice commissions were organize
r throughout the world
: Despite criticism an increasln
| number OF women have come to baf
r tle against vice for the future OF tn
e race. The men, in the end, will than
e US. 1t is impossible to calculate III
: blessed outcome.
d We have laws dealing with more
ohenses against women and chiIdrei
:. But the penalties are inadequate fo
r the guilty. In England the girl Is !.
o gally marriageable at the age of /.
It Think what that means to the whit
lslavers. 1t took women 30 years :