East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1913-07-17

Gently, attacking militancy with his
best Limehouse vocabulary and attrib-
utng the failure Of the woman suf-
frage movement in England solely to
the organized lunacy" Of the Wo-
mans Social and Political Union he
probably figured that he would draw
some fire. If so, ne guessed right.
It comes in the form of a broad-side
from Paris Writing from her place
Of temporary exile, the daughter Of
the suffragette leader Christabel
Pankhurst, LII. b., thus replies to the
chancellor of the exchequer:
Mr.. Lloyd George gave to his ar
ticle the title. Votes for Women and
Organized Lunacy" 1t is as though
one had said, Cromwell. the idiot, "
1 or That fool, Hampden." The in
ventor of that title convicts himself
of commonplace and ignoble thinking.
1t is by such men that we are govern
ed. Alas, our poor country!
The practitioners of militancy," he
says, seem to think that they can
terrorize and pinprick parliament in
to giving them the vote" Well, the
suffragettes not only think" they
know that parliament never grants re-
lied into granting reform. They also
| know that parliament neer grants re-
! forms unless it is terroriZed. The
men terroriZed parliament into Civ
| ing them emancipation. The Nation
alists (by their votes in the house of
commons are terrorizing parliament
| into proceeding with the home rule
l. T.. ha p1x-
argument that parliament under
standsl Mr.. Lloyd George is well
aware of that fact as many of his
| speeches in his earlier career give
proof He it was who said, "The
kingdom of politics is like the king
! dom of heaven; it suffereth violence
and the violent take it by force"
Then he says, Until they learn
something of the people they are
/ dealing with, their cause, as far as
/ the house of commons is concerned. is
: simply and utterly damned" That is
| real funny The suffragettes we can
assure Mr.. Lloyd George, have moth
| ing more to learn about members of
| parliament They konw these gentry
only too well. and militancy is the re-
! suit of that knowledge. I'VE are a
| flabby lot" one member OF parlia-
ment was once honest enough to say
/ of himself and his colleagues. A
! flabby lot indeed, and unprincipled
! and treacherous. If there are any in
! the house of commons who do not
! deserve to be so described, they have
/ only to try to exculpate themselves
I 70 n
/ win a better reputation.
I Mr.. Lloyd George incriminates him.
| self and the government in the fol-
lowing most significant words: III
they had accepted Mr.. Asquith'
! pledge of two years ago. and thanked
him for it and helped him to redeem
it. woman suffrage would by now be
! an accomplished fact" What is this
but an admission that the government
was jointly responsible for the speak
er's ruling-responsible for the tor
| pedoing of the woman's amendment
| to the franchise reform bill. This tor
pedoing was( by Lloyd Georges own
showing, not a surprise to the gov
! ernment and not an act of which they
| had no previous knowledge. 1t was
! the result of an arrangement between
/ the government and the speaker. II
| Mr.. Lloyd George does not mean that
| what does he mean? OF course. the
woman's amendments woul1 have
been defeated. because the national
! lists and subservient party men were
ready to defeat them, but the division
! lists would have been an awkward
one. and so the government, in col
fusion with the speaker, torpedoed the
amendments They cannot now deny
that in view of what Mr.. Lloyd
George has said.
Mr.. Lloyd George concludes his ar
ticle by saying: "Only a new move
ment altogether can now bring women
to the goal of political emancipation
and it will have to be a sane, hard
headed practical movement as full OF
liveliness as you please, but absolute
ly divorced from stones. bombs and
torches We know not how the anti
militant suffragists will like the ac'
cusation here implied that they are
neither sane, hard-headed, practical
nor lively. AS for the mflitants, they
treat his advice and criticism with the
contempt they merit. Sane. indeed
The militants are far too sane to bt
deluded by Lloyd-Georgian fallacies
!, Hard headed The militants are too
hard headed to follow this will-o'
the-wisp of a man. Practical Th'
militants are great deal too practi
cal to listen to fairy tales on the max
ing of omelettes without breakin!
eggs.
Lively, forsooth! Yes. the militant
are lively. because they recognize tina
a merry heart and a sense of humo
are needed to enable them to hol(
their own against the savagery of MI
Lloyd Georges government.
Yet it is not by mere common
sense and cheerful spirit-valuabl
things as these are-that the grea
cause can be carried to victory.
utterly damned is the woman
cause" says Mr.. Lloyd George. Ut
terly damned indeed, We're it not 70
the high courage and martial virtue
of women whose very names som
men are not worthy to speak. Utter
ly damned this cause of ours and no
to be redeemed except by the low
that is stronger than death and steel
women to meet death in the name O
, liberty
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