Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-12-14
SOME AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS
OF AN ENGLISH SUFFRAGIST
Militancy Misunderstood in This Country-Hated by
Nobody More Than by the NTilitantS Themselves Yet
Should be an Inspiration to Sufragists Here
By MRS. PETH1cK LAWRENCE

TO-DAY, more than ever perhaps,
i America is for the Old World the
land of hope. During my stay in this
country I have found myself again and
again formulating silently the prayer that
America will keep her eyes toward the
future and not toward the past; that she
will initiate and not initiate; lead and
not follow There is, indeed hope for
humanity II the New World can lead the
whole world out Of some Of its worst en-
tanglements AS an English suffragist l
cannot but be impressed by the way In
which American had provided against the
kind OF impasse that has brought the
womans. movement in England TO revo-
luton.
AS one who believes in the literal truth
of those words uttered by the greatest
of American statesmen, namely, that
government should be of the people, by
the people and for the people" am
naturally in a condition of chronic amaze
ment at the denial of the right of self
government to half the people on the
part of this liberty-loving nation ! am
staggered at the audacty Of the claim
made by the male half of the people to
rule the other half by the divine right
of sex. am astonished also at the ex-
traordinary labors and sacrifices exacted
from women as the price OF their ransom
from political subjection. Since man did
not seek from woman permission to be
politically free, it is on the very face
of things absurd that the fundamental
and elementary right of self-government
in a country that processes democracy
should be withheld from woman until
men by a majority have voted the abdi-
cation OF their self-assumed sex autoc
racy. 1t is in my opinion a monstrous
claim that woman suffrage should be the
only political question in this country
from which the vote OF those directly
concerned in the measure is excluded,
The statement that it is impossible TO
raise the question In the Congress of
this country and settle It there as mat
ter of elementary right appears to me to
be childish. The raison d'etre of Amer
lea and of her Constitution was the claim
that those who pay taxes have a right
TO vote in levying them, and that those
who obey laws have right to voice in
making them, and that this right Is in
altenable TO a free people. The pretense
that the demand for this right on tho
part of women, because it has been In
allegiance for over a century, is, there
fore, a new principle, and that 1t must
be subjected to every possible test and
difficulty before It Is admitted into the
Constitution is, in my opinion, unworthy |
of the splendor OF the American idea.
A Safety Valve
And yet in spite of these reservations, |
have to recognize the fact that Ameri-
can craftsmanship has provided a safety
valve against revolution by allowing to
the woman-suffrage movement in the
country a legitimate outlet in the way
of constitutional agitation. BY setting
before 1t at the end of infinite labors and |
sacrifices the hope and the possibility of |
success. It has avoided the worst errors |
of British statecraft.
Had the political conditions been the |
same in the United Kingdom as they are |
in America there would never have been
a militant suffrage mavement I'm my
country. And, by the same token, were |
political conditions in America the same |
as they are today I'm England have |
enough faith In our common ancestry and |
our common traditions OF liberty to be-
lieve that there would have been n sec |
ond American revolution on this sofia |
bloodless one like ours, / hope-in which |
American women, refusing to submit to |
political subsection, would have wrung |
from their countrymen the recognition Of |
their inallenable right OF self-Rovernment |
l fnd that an almost total misunder- |
standing with regard to the militant suf- |
frage movement In England exists I'm |
America. This Is due TO a quite natural |
ignorance OF the political situation that |
prevails in my country. There are two |
main causes Of this misrepresentation. The |
American public believes. first, that in |
the United Kingdom women are trying |
to convert men by violent action rather
than by argument and reason, and, sec |
ond, that in England the people. that is
the male people included in the electorate, |
rule.
Let me say with regard TO the first point.
that the women In Great Britain are not |
trying TO convert the men to woman suf- !
rage That has been accomplished for /
a long time. Let facts, not opinions OF L
mine. speak. over $50 public bodies OF |
men; that is, County Councils. City Coun-
ellis, London Borough Councils and Rural /
Councils, have petitioned Parliament to
give women equal suffrage with men. |
Among the City Councils are included |
all the great cities OF England, Scotland. |
ireland and Wales. Let me name a
Birmingham, Hull. |
Leeds Liverpool. Sheffield Bradford, Car |
dim, Glasgow, Edinburgh Dublin and |
Cork. These Councils have never before |
on any other political or constitutional |
question whatsoever Not single Coun- |
ell In the United Kingdom has passed a |
resolution or presented a petition in the |
opposite sense. On a small scale It is |
as though all the greater States OF Amer |
lea, not possessing themselves the right |
TO confer the franchise, had petitioned |
the Federal Government to snfranchise |
the women OF this country, and that no /
single dissenting voice had been raised, /
and the Federal Government, being the /
only power that could effect this reform, |
had turned deaf ear TO the demand. |
I could, had / space, give a number OF
collateral proofs just as convincing as the /
facts and statistics with regard 10 the |
Councils. but this one illustra- /
ton must suftice.
Party AutoerGts
Thoss to whom have told these facts
are overwhelmed with astonishment. and
they fall back upon their second misap-
prehension that England. being a demo-
eratieally governed country. the win OF
the people must necessarily prevail But
this is not SO. From one point OF view
the Government OF the United Kingdom
IS q demOcratie Government Year by /
year democratic measures are being
passed. Both the Liberal and ConserEa-
tive parties have to compete for the labor
vote. But Il cannot b suficientlv