Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-05-14

MADAME SElGt kIED devotion ana sacrl-
flee OF the women Of the nation to the cause
OF France during the war. The bill
will come up for discussion and vote with
the approval and favorable consideration
of the French Commission for Universal
Suffrage, comprising forty members OF both
houses of Parliament, who have given 1t
their joint official and individual personal
approval
Details surrounding these facts were dis
closed to your correspondent In a joint In
tervew with Mesdames Schlumberger and
Selgfreid, presidents. respectively, Of the
French Union for Suffrage for Women and
the National Council of French Women.
This in substance is what they said
I'VE are about to experience very pres
entity. in late June or early July, a success
in seeking votes for women that will be
unique in the world history of this reform"
said Madame Schlumberger Under re.
strcted conditions our sex is to receive the
vote and our nation to be the first in Europe
to grant this justice to its women.
80 far as the world generally is con-
cerued. this information will be as lightning
from a clear sky. For aside from those di-
rectly interested, the question of suffrage
for the women Of France has been a sealed
book to other nations. Twenty years ago
in France II was the butt of jest and rid
icule and a favorite theme with cartoonists
Ten years ago it had here and there a
partisan among men in and out of official
life and virtually none among women. save
the perhaps 10000 members of our two
sympathy with the project had increased
perhaps 10 per cent among French people
of both sexes. Eighteen months after the
wars beginning both the nation and the
world had fully recognized the patriotism
and devotion displayed by the women Of
France, and suffrage for our sex found its
partisans doubled. although strong ma
jority against votes for women remained.
Spontaneous Tribute to Women
Now. thirty-odd months after the be-
ginning of hostilites and, as 1t were. spon-
taneously following a great wave of admira-
tion, gratitude and appreciation due to
the role played by women in these try.
ing times. suffrage for French women. with.
out a fight, won it's first victory, and 4. nds
In favor Of making 1t In some form a law
of the nation. From this sentiment has
come the concrete proposition that Is to
become law. A canvass OF members in
both houses of Parliament denotes that the
bill about to be presented by Alexander
Varenne. Deputy from Havre awaits only
legalized formality to become incorporated
in the laws Of France. 1t proposes, and
we have accepted. as the entering wedge
that the vote shall be given to women of
twenty-esht years of age and over and
in matters OF municipal election only in
gratitude for the services rendered the
nation by its women during the war
We frankly want universal suffrage
without restriction upon the basis Of tus-
tice and equity, as it has been granted to
the women of certain States In America
but we are willing and glad TO take in
restricted form at the outset n feminine
right to vote, believing it will only be a
question Of time, and little time relatively
at that, when the women Of France will be
as free to vote upon all matters as are the
women Of Washington or California, in the
United States"
r
ganlzation working for suffrage?" was
asked.
For about ten years" replied Madame
Schlumberger, eighty active groups of
Suffrage for Women Societies have existed
in France, to which women In all walks
OF life were attached. We have worked
quietly and persistently within our own
land. SO much so that, aside from official
relation with the international association
In the United States, little has been heard
Of our efforts beyond our frontiers. We
were working upon lines that we felt would
end in success, but we realized that sue
cess was far off. Now, through the war.
It Is coming to us in a modified form We
welcome 1t In the gratitude II expresses.
as well as in partial justice to a Just
cause"
Justice of Equal Rights
THE president of our Suffrage Union" i"
here said Madame Seigfried, has stated
in substance the satisfying condition thar
is to come. And / may add that this ca
lamity of horrible war has been a school
and university to those of both sexes in
France who could not or would not before
see equal right for men and women in
more than one point Of view.
"All such people. and indeed the world
at large. have noted the splendid courage
and herolsm with which the women Of
France have uncomplainingly. supported
moral and physical suffering during nearly
three terrible years, given their lives in
some instances. toled like men In factories
foundries and mills, farmed the soil IN the
absence Of dear ones at the front, conse-
Grated themselves, In q word. to France ana
her high cause. 1t has thus been made tIear
to many who were previously biased or in.
different that the cause of women ia eouaI
with that Of men and that the women ~
France are demonstrating 1t In work eitbsr
with the hand or the head These ara ths
true reasons we are to be permitted To vote
upon municipal matters.
We sunrasettes Of France stand. Of
course. for everything that suffra rists ~.
world over stand for; We want 70 sSollss |