The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1913-10-29
Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst
Gives Interview to Pal
ladium Reporter.
UPHOLDS MILITANCY
Expects to Be Imprisoned
Upon Return to Brit
ish Soil.
BY STAFF CORRESPONDENT.


DAYTON, Ohio, Oct. 29.-"The
statement that | have advised the
women of the country to use militant
methods in fighting their battles for
suffrage is incorrect" said Mrs. En-
incline Pankhurst, the famous English
suffraget leader to a Palladium repre-
sentative who called upon her at the
Algonquin hotel yesterday evening.
Il never have attempted to dictate
the methods that shall be used in Wag-
ing the battle for suffrage in this
country. That is a matter for the
American women to decide. | am will
ing to rely upon their judgment as to
the best methods to be pursued here.
"The women of England have no al
tentative save violence. They have
been unsuccessful in the use of every
other weapon. l counsel violence in the
fight for the vote as long as this vio-
lence is directed against property.
hold our rights to the ballot superior
to property rights, but not superior to
human life. English suffragets never
have been rightfully accused of the
destruction of life. Either the govern
ment must give us our right to vote or
1t must kill us.
Our Ancestors Guilty.
Am l guilty of moral turpitude? If
breaking windows is sign of moral
turpitude, | am guilty, but so also are
your ancestors, young man, who threw
tea overheard into Boston harbor."
Do you expect to be cast into pris-
on upon your return to your original
battlefeld?" asked the reporter.
Eyes, just as soon as | land on Eng
lish soil | presume they will seize me
and east me into Holloway prison.
have already been there five times this
year and presume there will be further
punishment for me to suffer before we
shall have won the great fight in which
we have engaged"
"Well, l have been a suffragist all
my life, substantially. This was
brought about by reading, thus form
ing some comprehension of the disad-
vantages to which women were sub
jected. AS to becoming militant
suffraget, this was impelled largely by
the fact that my daughters repeated
declaration that she did not want to
wait her life out before being given
the right of suffrage. There is no spec
ial incident, however that caused me
to take UP the work in which l am
now engaged"
Pleads For Rights.
"Why should English women vote?"
she was asked.
Because English women pay taxes
and obey the laws. They ought to vote,
and so ought all women, because they
are human beings"
1--WE are not anarchists" continued
Mrs. Pankhurst. 1--WE want to end the
present anarchy and wish to come in
side the constitution. Human life is
sacred and l have always, while sup
porting militancy, stopped at the
threshold of human life. In this we
differ from other revolutionaries
Either the government must give
women life or it must kill the women" "
Adverting to another question pro-
pounded to her, Mrs. Pankhurst said
: with respect to sexual hygiene:
Il consider suffrage and sexual hy-
giene closely allied | believe further
that every woman who contemplates
marriage should know what men are
and do. Marriage is not only the most
intimate relationship but the most vi
tai to the race.
Defends Babies.
after all, | believe men would not
be such monsters to impose suffering
on unborn babes if this knowledge
were properly diffused."
Before an audience that packed and
Jahiheu Mehioiid NAH Ill the evening
Mrs. Pankhurst told an interestins
story of the fight that the women OF
England have made for the ballot
Buoyant in spirit over the cordial re-
ception rendered her in Ohio, Mrs
Pankhurst was in better spirits than
she had been at any time since leav.
ing her home, according to her secre-
tary.
Il am especially impressed with the
courage displayed by the American
suffragets," she said. "and the excel
lent progress they have made. They
are no longer made the brunt of the
joke of the country They are now ta.
ken seriously and their arguments, in,
stead of being answered by ridicule
and sarcasm, now result in legislation
along the line of progress