The Washington herald., 1914-06-21

MAKE A F[JSS!'
MILTANTS DID
Sufragettes Were Told to
Agitate IN 1906, Then
They Kept 1t Up.
WAITED FOR 5000 HOURS
In 1909 DeputahOn Watched for As
quith Throughout Session
of Parliament
WAITED FOR 5000 HOURS
By cLAnA BEwICk COLBY,

BY CLARA BEWiCh COLBY.
Anciently women in England. who were
freeholders, could yit in Parliament and
vote for its members. In the rolls Of
Queen Mary there are notices of the
presence of women in Parliament As
the property rights began to take definite
shape other than those connected with
service TO the feudaI lord it was the
property which had the vote and not the
person. AS the law did not recognizs
the separate existence Of woman after
she married, il came about that only
the feme-soIe had this right, and that IL
she married the right of the freehold
was transferred to the husband. But
this right was duly recognized. and in
all the records and commentaries there
is nothing that denies il In 1873 Sir
William Lee gave the decision for the
Judges of the Kings Bench that fems-
sole il she was freeholder had right
10 vote for members of Parliament
In 1SS2. the word male" was inserted
before the word person in the reform
hill which gave the first extension of
the franchise in England. While. women
may not have made any great effort to
vote before as soon as IL was prohibited
they very naturally desired TO remove
that prohibition. and spasmodic efforts
were made TO have the rights OF women
recognized These eliminated in Lord
Brougham's Act OF 1850 which ruled that
in English law the word man" shall
always include woman" unless the CON
trary is expressly stated.
amendment Was Lost.
To make it more clear that it meant
TO protect the rights of women John
Stuart Mill in 1861 moved to amend by
inserting people" instead of man.
This amendment was lost. In the fol-
lowing year test case was made and
while il was ably argued that women
were legal voters il was decided against
them There was nothing then to do
but to let their ancient claim lie in abey-
anee and try To get their rights by new
acts.
The first gain was in 1869 when John
Stuart Mills bill to give unmarried wom-
en- and widows with certain property
qualifications the municipal vote in Eng
land became law. Six years later this
vote was given to the women of Scotland,
later TO the cities of Ireland and from
time to time to the women of every
British colony. 4
The County Council vote, and sundry
other franchises have been extended TO /
English women so that for many years
they have practically participated in
government, lacking only the Parliamen-
been introduced in Parliament which I
have been debated on twenty occasions. T.
and twelve of these bills have passed
second reading. This is the stage in a
hill which indicates the wishes OF the
representative of the country; beyond
this a bill cannot go without permission
of the government Several times IL has
occurred that a favorable day having |
been obtained by the womau's franchise !!
bill the government has arbitrarily taken
the day or the bill or resolution has been j
crowded out or talked out.
More than a million petitions of women
have been presented to Parliament for
the Parliamentary franchise. An appeal
was signed in 1896 BY $1,000 women and
at another time 67.OOO7 working women
asked for it.
Resorted to Other Means.
This was in 1906 and the disregard. of |
this petition was the prime reason which
led Annie kenney, leader among the
factory women of Manchester, to con-
clude that something else beside petit
time Christabel Pankhurst of Manches-
ter. graduated in law, but was not al
lowed TO be admitted to the bar. She
and Miss Kenney decided to interview
Mr.. Balfour. then prime minister, and
ask him what could be done to secure
action on the Suurage Dill.
He had always favored woman suf-
frage and in a friendly way he replied
You must make a fuss" Then began
the questioning of cabinet ministers.
Shortly after this interview the Liberal
party had come into power and il was
towards the Liberal government that ef-
forts were now directed.
Sir Henry CampbeI-Bannerman the
prime minister was asked the same
question that Mr.. BaIfour had been asked
and he virtually made the same reply,
You must agitate." So the women be-
gan sgitating on his doorstep. A depu-
tation insisted on seeing him and were
arrested for persistently pulling his door
bell. His term OF office was short. and
he was succeeded by Mr.. Asquith in
April, 1905. He has always been an un-
compromising enemy Of women's politi-
cal freedom. His attention was called
10 the fact that 42O members of the
Parliament had been elected with
pledge in their platform to vote for
woman suffrage. This was a good work
ing majority; most of them were Liber-
ais and all OF them had been helped to
secure their seats by the political ac-
tivities of the women belonging TO the
several parties.
Mot Great Demand"
Mr. Asquith said he was not convinced ;
that there was any great demand for IL
in the country, and IL was this that led
up to the great professions of that year.
In June procession of 15.O0o women was
MAYORS WALNUT OIL
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