Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-03-03
CARRIE CHAPMAN GAIT.

MRS. CARRIE NhH' VIZ
IN 1902 the National American
.,,nr,an Suffrage Association issued a
,r5ial invitation to the National sur
roe Association of Europe to send
soiegates to washington with view
no possibility of organizing an In
o,natjonal suffrage movement. AT
.Lat lime ii was found that in the
.a.ire world there were only eight ma
;one with an organized woman sur
,roge association. These were Eng
20 Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Hol-
n5 Australia, Canada and the Unit
States A few delegates came to
shing;on snd a temporary commit
oe was formed. the permanent or
4ganizaton being postponed for two
oars when, in 1904, ano ner call was
ssued for meeting in Berlin. In or
dor n ioin the new International
N,oyement. a German association was
oroanized making nine eligible to en-
.er the new alliance.
Ton Years have now passed since
.ba organization was completed, and
roorlsrly organized national associa-
.ions have beer effected and brought
ITO membership in Belgium, Bulga-
rja china. Finland, France, Hungary,
Zealand italy, Portugal. Roumania,
Rpnssia Servia, South Africa and
S"itzsrland. in addition to the nine
rsGonal associations which united to
,orn, rhe alliance in 1904. In Austria
national woman suffrage association
Is imnossible owing to the imperial
law which forbds women to form po5
iiticaI organizations. But commit
ZOOS which serve the same purpose
sre organized and at work in Austria,
Rohenia and Galicia. The total num-
nor Of nations now in the alliance
20
Meeting All Difficulties.
The founders al the beginning rec
ognized the difficulty which had beset
rany other International endeavors
Ia secure international action upon
various questions in the definition Of
nation. This difficulty was over
come bv making the arbitrary rule
81 that for the purposes of the alliance a
q country should be considered a nation
n II possessed the independent right
70 eDfranchise it's own women. In the
entire world there are only seven
constitutionallv organized independ-
s. emit nations bv that definition without
an organized woman suffrage move
ment Only four of these are in Eu-
81 rooe-Greece, Spain, Turkey and the
n Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The
a remaining three are the negro repub-
81 lie of Liberia, in Western Africa, Per-
sia and Japan. Individual members
q of the International Alliance are scat
tered al! over the world Women in
q lava. sumatra. the Philippine and
81 Hawaiian Islands. Burma, India and
a Ceylon have organized groups of suf-
81 fragists
In 1912, when perpetual darkness
sarouded the Land of the Midnight
s. Sun women wrapped in furs, above
the Polar Circle, might have been
seen gliding over snow covered roads
81 in sledges drawn by reindeer, on their
& way to suffrage meetings. from
which petitions went up TO the Par
q lament at Stockholm asking a voters
q share in the Swedish Government.
q There is something thriliingly eXait-
q ing in the fact that at the same mo-
q mcnt other women, in the nidSum-
i mer of the Southern Hemisphere, pro-
tected by fans and umbrellas, and
riding in "rickShaS were doing the
same thing under the fierce rays Of a
tropical sun; and petitions poured
i into Pretoria asking suffrage for the
women Of the Union of South Africa
from every State and city of that vast
country, From the North to the South
Pole and all the world around women
are agitating for political recognition.
Congress at Budapest.
AT the congress held in Budapest
last June women voters were present
i representing many countries. There
were women members of Parliament
from Finland; women members of the
City Council from Stockholm, Copen-
hagen Christiania and Reykjavik,
voters from Australia and New Zea-
land.
DO YOU know that the question of
votes for women is one which is COM
handing the attention of the whole
civilized world; that woman suffrage
organizations of representative men
ana women exist in q different coun-
tHes, that in this country alone there
are more than 1000 woman suffrage
organizations; that there is an In
IeTnau0nal and a National Mems
league for Woman Suffrage and
numbers Of local mems leagues; that
t'e number Of women who are ask
ing Tor the vote in this country is
arger than the number of men who
nave ever asked for anything in Its
tnlfe history; that more and larger
,eutionS asking for votes for women
nave been sent to legislative bodies
nan Tor any other one measure; that
1Ae press of this country is giving
more space to woman suffrage than
70 any other one public question; that
,'e legislatures of % States last
year entertained woman suffrage
measures, eleven of them favorably;
ana mat a bill for a woman suffrage
amendment to the United States Con-
Suultlon is now before Congress?
Inc women of New Zealand and the |
women of Australia possess all the
p'htlcal rights accorded to men The |
women Of Finland vote in all cleo |
IONS upon the same terms as men, |
s aAa since their acknowledgements in |
,'0b from sixteen to twenty five have |
D'eN elected to the different parlia-
mehts In Norway all women have
,o 5e lul! parliamentary vote, and in
lSl0 one woman sat in the Norwe-
san Parliament, and numbers OF
women are serving as members and !
'NeihdteS to city Councils. The /
omen Of Iceland have the full par
-oulentary franchise, and since 1902 |
CCle-iourth of the members of the
,olhcil Of the capital city have been
women
n Denmark and Sweden.
In Sweden women have had some |
leaSuie Of suffrage since the eigh- !
zenith century In 1852 unmarried |
rtolHeh who had to pay taxes were |
gwen eyer the municipal franchise, and in
r 'V9 lhls right was extended to all |
women. Ellrt n,-.,nro 70 O. n,IM q |