THE SUFFRACETTE MOVEMENT.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1936, 19 December 1913, Page 4

THE SUFFRACETTE MOVEMENT.

>Sir, May I bo permitted to present another asjicct of tho militant suffrage movement in Great Britain, to that winch appeared in your leading columns yesterday morning. In the course of the article it wa.s said that if it liad hot been for tho campaign of lawlessness for which the militant- Suffragettes have been responsible it is possible Liat t<ie women of tho United Kingdom would liavo obtained the Parliamentary franchise by now. Those who are at all intimate with the question and aro in possession of facts carefully suppressed by the newspapers at Homo (and few are out. hero) know that it is this very campaign of lawlessness that has brought the franchise nearer to tho women than it hud vet hc-en, for tho fen son that it made people think about tho question as never beforo. It was brought to their very doors. As a result they have bemmito realise that a movement with such tremendous driving force behind it, a movement that will stop at nothing savo the taking of life to achieve its object, must havo somo overwhelming reason for its existence, nnd 'so direetly or indirectly tim mili* tants havo been the Cause of thousands of people, ■■men' and women, becoming adherents. •• This has been born'o out by the large number of suffrage societies, militant or otherwise, that have eonto 'i.nto-.;bping,in recent times. • In- vain one tries to see in- what- way women have taken advantage of their sex in- escaping punishment"for ■ their outbreaks. People who have followed the course of the campaign, hitter opponents though they havo been, have been filled, with admiration for tho courage and unyielding determination with which these woman havo under-: gone imprispnmeut, torture, tough handling; and all manner of horrors and indecencies in prison, -and it is to he remembered that many of them are women of whom any country may bo proud to own Thev are soine -of tho cleverest, most highly educat-nil, and most philanthropic wmnou of the day, and whilo they aro to be found there is nothing to bo feared in .the way of national deeadonee.

Is is to then- credit that, the clergy of England have protested against the barbarism, and torture of forcible reeding. It is a relief that they can ha galvanised hits; life over something. No more extreme measure for punishment of the weaker sex—or the stronger —could l>o meted out than that of forcible feeding, and as yon frankly admit ■it is not oi.it of humanity that tho victims aro fed, but out of alarm for the outcry that would fallow should thoy slur Co to d-eath, Far that reason tho' personal liberty of the subject is infringed in the cruellest manner. ' If the Suffragettes aro prepared to die. that is their own affair ; There is mi need for British Government to bo hypocritical in tho matter.

As to tho sense of chivalry which men fei'l for women, romombqring tho reception in tho English House of Common:! which the Bill for. tho Suppression of tho White Slave Traffic met with, one wonders wildly whore it went to on that occasion. Out of a House containing approximately 670 members, 20 voted for tho Bill, and it was only because the Liberal women threatened to withdraw their support and help that a chance canio over their attitude, and tho Bill was' iitiaily passed. A chivalry that is paid to one section of women at tho unspeakable degradation of another Is ,not to.be tolerated.

Those who talk of peaceful. propaganda do not- realise bow 'heart-sick [ British women are at the apathy that is manifested in women's matters. : There arc too many vested interests that would be attacked ouee tlio franchise was obtained. Every peaceful measure has been tried, and generations have come and gone, whilo on' every hand _ children are being born into indescribable surroundings, working women are sweated, shop gir's aro forced on tho streets because they do not get a living: wage, and a woman iu the eyes of th<> Jaw ran hardly call Iter soul her own. Small wonder that women grow desperate and with tho long strain of sueli- a desperate battle tho clearest judgment might easily go astray.

Tho Bishop of .Winchester asks for a truco of God. In 1910 the militants declared a truce, with fatal results. The famous Conciliation Bill was betrayed and led into the desert of Parliamentary procedure from which it never emerged. To mo It is truer womanliness, if -mistaken, to fight for tho uplifting in women than .to stultify oneself iu futile pretty pleadings, orderly and lawful though tlioy may be. Asking your indulgence for trespassing on your space,—l am, etc., FF/UIXA. Wellington, December 19, 1013.