The Washington herald., 1914-09-27
WILSON ABLE TO
HELP SUFFRAGE
He Could Name Committee to
Present Arguments for 1t to
Foreign Countries.
MIGHT MEET AT HAGUE
Great Works of Art Insignificant Com
pared to Women's Rights. Which
Are Not Given.
MIGHT MEET AT HAGUE
By CLARA BEwICK COLBY.

1t is impossible to write of the woman
suffrage movement in England, even If
the object is to give an historicN narra-
tive, without dealing first with the war
situation. The woman's side of it gets
scant mention in the daily dispatches
Since the last letter was penned Mmc.
Rosika Schwimmer. of Hungary, has
been in Washington bearing as Mrs.
Cats aide, the message Of the twenty
six nations composing the International
Woman Suffrage Alliance. 1t is a pa
thetic situation: the women of the world
looking to the United States to save
them from their own powerless or fren-
Zied countries.
Why should not our President inaugu-
rate a standing peace committee in one
of the neutral countries through which
overtures should be made to all Pre-
ferably, it would seem to me, this should
be at the Hague, and at the peace palace
where the machinery already exists for
international representation.
Nine. Schwimmer. as a pacifist wholly
opposed TO war, thinks all existing peace
societies and peace machinery are OBJ
solete, and that we must build again
from the beginning on the basis Of not
trying to humanize and Civilize war,
which has proven itself wholly unre-
sponsible to humane and civilized con-
siderations and therefore to be dealt
ever, that may be, something should be
done in response to the international
manifesto and appeal of women. The
headquarters of the alliance are in Lon
don. but England being one of the coun-
tries IN the struggle, the lead cannot
be taken from this point.
Forty-five of the nations of the world
participated in the second Hague con-
ference. They unanimously agreed to
favor mediation, commissions of inquiry
and arbitration. Seven of these nations
are now in a state Of war. Thirty-eight
are still neutral, but these are the
smaller powers with the exception OF
the United States and Italy and the lat
ter cannot act as she is involved in the
triple alliance 1t is therefore for the
United States TO stand at the head of
these lesser states, and unite them in an
effort to appeal to the warning nations
= for cessation OF hostilities.
Works of Art InsiEnihcant.
The world is now crying out in protest
against the destruction Of works of art;
the Pope has uttered his appeal, and
even Germany has felt moved to issue
orders for the protection of these world
treasures. But no vaulted cathedral eF
stored tapestry, or painted glass into
which medieval workers put their lives
and their conscience can equal in value
sands Of years Of evolution. the object of
a mothers love and sacrifice Is there
a mother who would not rather have all
the cathedrals that were ever built de-
stroyed than her son slaughtered and
her daughter mutilated. Mrs Browning
had the mother speak for all mothers
when she said. What to me were !
Italy free, if I've not a SOM" Yet who |
has made a protest against the slaughter
of humanity comparable to that which |
the devastation has brought forth.
The suffering in England among wom-
en- thrown out of employment by the
cessation of industries caused by the
war, or by the taking away of their sup |
porters which the English suffrage wom- !
en- are endeavoring to relieve, suggests /
that the next move is to demand that /
a weekly stipend for the family Of the |
soldier shall be part of the regular war |
budget
On that Sunday. with which the last |
chapter closed, when Mr.. Lansbury and |
others were speaking in Trafalgar |
Square, toward the close of the meet
ing there suddenly appeared between the
Hons Sylvia Pankhurst-like Mr.. Lans-
bury, out under the Cat and Mouse Act
A banner at the same time requested the /
workers of Bow and Bromley to follow
her to Downing street This was a warn
ing to the police who sent word at once
to the station. and when Sylvia and her
got nearly down to the street
where the premier lives they found Il
barricade OF police.
EndesVoring to push their way through