New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-01-31
WOMEN ENGLAND'S HOPE
They Alone Can Save lettering
Nation, Says Mrs. Irwin.
BATTLEFIELD OF WORLD
Mrs. Pankhurst Has Govern
ment on Hip and 1t Daren't
Arrest Her."

The militant suffragettes are the hope
Of England to-day. II Is the women, and
the women only, who can save the Brit
ish government from ruin II is common
talk over there that the nation IS in
perilous way. II may he too late now
even for women To save It. since the Home
Rule bill. the insurance bill and the others
have pulled away more Of the supports
Of tho totterinE hulk, but there probably
is hope IL women get the vote at once"
This is tine conviction Of the Rev. Mabel
NJ Irwin. Universalist minister. suffraGist
AMI eugcncist. who recently returned
from fiftccn months visit To the women
OF England. II seems far cry from
window smashing 10 saving England but
Mrs. Irwin SAYS il is the same thing.
ut Is the mother instinct working in
those women she insisted. 'Thoy know
their country Is tottering. They are
bound 10 save IT, They know the men
can't do anything They look around and
see London the centre of the white
slave traffic of the world. Fifty-three
young girls disappeared in three months
I'm London. The mother instinct outraged
cries aloud that this thing be stopped.
The English women know they can
do it. They understand politics like an
open book. To the muddle OF present
politics the women would bring not only
practical knowledge, but that mother IN
stinct which secs beneath men and meas
ures and feels the heart Of the country
beating there
And the Englishmen know this. but
they won't give in. They have despised
women for so many centuries that they
can't let them conquer now. IL is simply
OUTRAGED pridc-stubtornness on their
part Because they didn't submit in the
beginning when women first asked for
the vote they won't submit now.
They'll have 10. Of course. and that
very soon. believe. This chaos can't
continue. II the women haven't been sat
isded within two years | believe they VIII
b. when the present government goes out.
THEY'LL certainly win then, because no
other government would dare begin IT'S
term with the women against them
you see. the women have got tn win.
They outnumbcr the men by one and one
half million. There aren't prisons enough
in England TO hold them. or policemen to
arrest them. They aren't afraid OF death.
Tbev have the spirit OF the early CHRIS
tian MARTYRS. The Romans were ahead
al first. when they could cast the con-
vorts into prison. but when they began 10
beg for martyrdom in the flames, there
was nothing for their prosecutors 10 90
but To give it up and turn CHRISTIAN 80
will IL he i'm England.
Mrs. Pankhurst has the government on
the hin already. They daren't arrest her
They know she would die I'm prison. she
has defied them too. to arrest her whiie
the instigator Of the strike riots remains
al large. If anything happened to MIS-
pankhurst. the women would rise up 10y
tons of thousands 10 carry on her work
They cannot be stopped.
"Tbe regular suffrage propaganda is
going quietly on. meantime. Mrs. rank
hurst and her followers are merry sup
,l,inp the fireworks They attract the at
,o,,ior or the world, and the staid. sober,
Solemn business Of the cause goes OH
while ;he hubbub reigns, but there would
no no work to do il the militants weren
soaring old JOnn buIl H'a' - ou' Va no
sleepy old wits.
."Thcv are not fighting for England
oIonc either. 1t is tho battlefield OF the
world to-day. The men OF the other ma
,ions have their eye on England. On.
vos il is very we'll 10 say American
mon are so nice and chvalrous and gen
tie toward women. SO they are. I'm not
douying that az all, but all the same,
deem down in their hearts there is
foeIinp Of which they themselves are
auit. unconscious. but it's there all the
same-,hc fear of women. They won't
dare let the American woman reach the
poiut of desperation the English women
have. They'll shrug their shoulders and
say. OH well better votes than broken
Windows The Englishman stamps his
foot and saws. Better anything than
women voting.
Mrs Irwin was one OF the speakers at
the recent eugenics congress in London.
and lectured i'm all the great cities Of
Britain during her fifteen months stay.
ebc WAS one of the first three women
Graduates of Tufts College. and Is known
hv her books on the woman question as
VOL as bv her lectures for the Society of
Sanitary and Moral ProphylaXis