The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-07-08
Mrs. Johnston Is Kansas Suf-
fragette Leader.
WHY is She GOING?
Why Pick Raging battle-ground
of Suffrage for Vacation?
She Says She's Going in Peace
and to Look On.

Kansas last November, is going to
England this week In fact, the wife
of the Kansas chief justice will leave
Wednesday for London. Now when a
noted American suffragette sails for
England the first thought is that she is
going to aid her sisters in the fight for
freedom. Headlines in daily papers the
day before Mrs. Johnson leaves report
as follows: "Arsonettes Busy" They
state in big black type: "Suffragettes
of Suffrag ettes to Burn London I'm
earthed by Police
Topeka people who first heard of Mrs.
Johnston's impending trip were afraid
she was going to get in the thickest of
the fray. But this is not the case, Any
way Mrs. Johnston says it is not.
Maybe she will try to persuade Mrs.
Pankhurst. that modern Boadicea, to
adopt the methods that Won the Kan
sas fight. Mrs. Johnston's answers to
suffrage arguments are calculated to
turn away wrath. But in any event the
stark, straight news item that Mrs.
Johnston. Kansas suffra gette leader, is
going to London where the suffrage
/ fight is fiercest, is on the bulletin of the
days news. Why the American suf-
frage leader should pick the raging
} London battle ground for her quiet
! summer vacation days is quite a Ques-
| ton to answer. but she has And she
says she is going with gentle peace in
her right hand.
When Sylvia Pankhurst, daughter of
the London militant, came to America
she was welcomed with flying flags and
military bands playing, Lord Save the
Suffra gettes." She was wined, dined,
feted and interviewed. Her journey
from New ork to Topeka was blaze
of glory and yellow banners. She
scattered Votes for Women pamph-
let's from the Atlantic to the Pacific
She charmed her hearers and reiter-
ated. Really, my deah ladies, we must
have the vote
Will Mrs. Johnston's advent in Lon
don be the inostentatious arrival of
pleasure-seeking American-or will she
be welcomed with the glory due a sue
cessful suffragette? Will she be met at
the pier by an English journalist, mon
ocle in eye. pencil in hand-"My dear
madam, tell US how you do it in Kan
sas?"
Will she be persuaded to mount a
stump in Trafalgar Square and con-
vince the Lendoners with the argu-
ments that convinced all Kansas year
ago? VIII she be prevailed upon to COM
tribute to the suffrage 'Torch''-the
paper that was suppressed in London
and is now published and mailed from
Paris to the loyal crew beyond the
chalk cliffs of Dover?
VIII She Emulate Miss Emerson?
Or will Mrs. Johnston's visit be a
repetition of the Emerson episode-wi1l
the enthusiasm and incendiarism of the
English suffragettes prove so contag-
ious that the Topeka woman will fight |
and bleed and be cast into prison for |
their sake?
Chief Justice and Mrs Johnston
leave Topeka Wedn esday, July 9. for
Boston, where they sail on the Sem |
brio, A White Star liner. landing at /
Queenstown, and will spend two
months in the British Isles. Mrs /
English suffragettes try to obtain what |
Kansas women have already accom-
pIished.
I'm just going for big vacation"
explained Justice Johnston, who is one
of the most delightful men in Kansas.
Used to say I wouldn't cross the Big
Pond till I could wade across it
grew older. wiser, and changed my
mind
Mrs. Johnston says she is not ex-
pecting to take active part in the
whirlwind campaign for equal rights
in the worlds metropolis.
Il have no intention of shouldering
a gun, tucking a bomb under my arm
or assisting the militants in any way
whatsoever" Mrs. Johnston declared.
but she admitted, Il want to see
how they do it. We understand Lon
don is a rather warm place-we think
we can stand it. I'm going to observe.
When 1 come back to the United States
I'm going to tell Kansas women what
English suffragists do and how they
do it
Mrs. Johnston's report will be inter-
esting-exciting in fact. Several To- /
peka parties have been obliged to leave
London this summer owing to the I'M
easiness and insecurity in the sections
paroled by the belligerdnt suffragettes-
Kansas has what England hasn't.
The methods employed by the two par
ties are as widely separated as the
seven seas.
How They Do It.
If an English suffragette wants to
convert mere man to the cause, she |
cocks a choleric eve in his direction, /
art treasures, burns his house, explodes
his garage and strides to prison for
his sake. There she denies herself
food for the love of the cause and has
milk daintily pumped into her stom-
ach by an irate physician. She is re-
leased at last, paints Votes for Wom-
en- on a flamboyant banner, bran
dishes it in the face of an astonished
clergyman. smashes his glasses. puts
out his eye, and returns to Jail among
the plaudits of her followers.
That's not the Kansas way-the gods
be praised. Women of the Sunfiower
state won the ballot by clever cam
paigning, honeyed arguments and !,
equal rights-England doesn't
The variety which Mrs. Johnston ex-
poets to observe will be spicy. English i
and Kansas ideas are separated by
more than the miles of blue sea ard
red land shown in Grams Atlas of the i
World
Mrs Johnston has converted hun
dreds of Kansans and shown them the /
way they should CO.
Don't believe in equal suffrage" OBJ
jected crusty old gentleman
But" began Mrs Johnston. Her