Imperial Valley press., 1913-05-07

ever Imperative. MISS CnrlStaDei
Pankhurst, daughter Of Mrs. Emmaline
Pankhurst. the English suffragettc
leader, made this statement In her
apartment, 8 Rue Roy, where she has
made her home since her escape from
England at the time her mother and
sister, Sylvia, were put in prison. Miss
Pankhurst is not an exile in Paris be-
cause she fears the British Jail, but
| following conference with her mother
and sister it was deemed more advan-
tageous to the cause for at least one
of the family to be safe from mOlesta-
ton from the police.
1.-The Imprisonment Of my mother
and her collapse after being tortured
with forceful feeding. said Miss Pank :
hurst, ''but adds to the glory Of our
fight. All the harm they do us but
serves to strengthen the cause. And
therein lies the real reason for our
hunger strikes When a suffragette
is arrested she refuses to eat, il this
manner protesting against the right
which the law gives men and refuses
to women. Since we are forbidden the
right to vote, we do not recognize the
law and object to knowing only its
effect. The scandal would be enormous
were one Of us to die in prison. Sym
pathy would be on our side: our cause
would benefit through protestations
which would surely follow. The gov
ernment knows this and releases us
when we grow weak from hunger.
There are those who talk Of ban
ish'ng us to st. Helena as Napoleon
was banished. This is compliment.
Napoleon was banished because he was
feared. 1t would be the same with us.
But st. Helena would not hold us:
we are too many, and we are growing
in numbers daily. Now they are urg-
ing the lynch law for US. They are
provoking crowds Of toughs to attack
us. Let them. We will win in spite
Of violence-and perhaps because OF II.
II is a ptiful spectacle, this process OF
exciting the rabble against us, and If
some of us should be killed The outrage
would help, not hinder. And our on
ward rush would not for an instant be
checked. OF course we are charged
with acting in unlady-like ways. Our
only answer to this is that Joan OF
Arc was girl. Therefore let no one
be dumbfounded when we follow the
advice given us by Sir Henry Campbell
Bannerman. When delegation or
which was member asked Sir
Henry what we ought to do to obtain
votes for women he said, Go and pes
ter the people,
"Yes, we are going to get the vote.
We are certain of that. And in the
meantime our activity is beneflting the
cause outside Of England. When the
Norwegian statesmen discussed the
question Of woman suffrage. they de-
clared:
I'VE have been bitterly criticised for
our actions in England. We expected
to be criticlsed-even by our American
sisters who are fighting along different
lines in the United States for the bal
lot. But after all, 1t is our only way.
We have been grossly tricked and de-
ceived time after time by those gov
ernment officials who are opposed 10
woman suffrage. We have been treated
like children and ridicuied as unworthy
of the ballot until we came TO realize
that this fight is one that must be won
by the most heroic of methods. Condi-
tions in England are vastly different
from conditions in America and there
fore we have to adopt vastly different
campaign in order TO get what 80 many
American women have secured through
less noisy methods. And why all this
strenuous opposition to giving US the
vote? think fair minded judge
would say, after considering all the
evidence-not a mere part OF 1t, but
all Of it-that so far not one sound
argument has been offered why we
should not be allowed to help in the
making of the laws that rule US and
that make us pay taxes on our prop
erty. Sometimes it actually amuses
me to see the futile efforts Of the
opponents Of woman suffrage to stave
off what is a certainty. Votes for wo-
men in England is as certain as death.
II is certain to come in every civilized
nation. 1t may be very slow in coming.
hut it is surely coming. so why fight
against the inevitable in this foolish
fashion?
1--WE began our campaign by merely
nreaching. We have continued it by
acts of violence-window smashing,
etc. and we haven't given out OF IDEAS
vet. By degrees we are enlarglng our
suhere of action. We shall do bigger
and bigger things. And perhaps they
will say: ;, 49,
"'Let's have done with all this.
Give them what they want