The Dominion. MONDAY, JUNE 8, 1914. JELLY-BACKED JUSTICE

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2170, 8 June 1914, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, JUNE 8, 1914. JELLY-BACKED JUSTICE

The wild doings of the militant Suffragettes in England now appear to be developing & kind of hysteria, which is not very far removed from insanity, among women of a certain type of mind. Wc aye told that their gatherings are characterised by emotional outbursts membSing a Wckli revival meeting, the speeches being punctuated by groans and hisses, and frenzied cheering. Tlie militant phase of the agitation seems to b» carried on by twp classes. The first consists of women who arc- in search of notoriety, and who find in the Suffragette movement aii opportunity for keeping thneisolves in the public eye which no other occupation is likely to give them. They havealso experienced the fascination which the exercise of power gives, and having tasted of i'm joy of leadership they arc anxious to" keep the battle going at,all costs. The other class, is made up of misguided enthusiasts thirsting tor the glory of martyrdom. The notoriety Iwntcrs play upon the excited fcciiiigs of i'heir weaker sisters who arc vying with each other in_ air infsano campaign of wreck and riot. In a- cablegram which appears in another column it is stated that the movement fs now very different from its origins! form. At first volunteers did the work, but now the struggle is kept going by well-paid women who in many case's have given up other employment in order to join the militants because the agitation business pays better. It is easy to imagine how this thirst for gain, added to a desire;for notoricty, can create a very extraordinary situation when it has at its disposal a number of women of hysterical temperament 'who are only too ready to be used as pawns m the game. Excited women who have temporarily lost Ihe if mental balance will stop at nothing when they are goaded on by those who know the art of playing upon human passions, Herein, lies a veri' serious danger. One of these Suffragette outrages may before long 'result, in the loss of innocent lives, and if a disaster of: that sort should occur reprisals of a regrettable character msy bo expected. It would bu •?, shocking t.hinp if anything in the nature of Lynch law should ever occur in Britain, but if the law of the Sand is

net strong enough to' protect life

nod ' property an outraged public may be driven in sheer desperation to take the matter in to-their owi? hands. Suffragettes have already been severely handled, on more than we occasion, and it is to he hoped that the authorities will find some more effective means of dealing with these reckless women, for unless adequate punishment is mated out to the law-breakers in a regular man' ner, summary justice of an irregular character may be resorted to by those who have been injured. There can be no doubt that up to tile present the attempts of the authorities in Britain to deal with the Suffragette outrages have been deplorably weak, and this must tend to lessen respect for the law iteelf. It is, of course, difficult to deal with this kind of disorder, and probably it is feared that severe msastires would not he tolerated by public opinion; but it is sow generally recognised that leniency has simply enemiragcd the militants to indulge in still more outrageous conduct, and if the law should bs strictly enforced and the perpetrators of iheso crimes firmly punished there is no need to

ba afraid that the general public will waste much sympathy upon those, who suffer fQr their own deliberate misdeeds. Hitherto British legal methods have been regarded as a model bv other countries,. but for* cignfits arc now -amazed at the open aftd persistent manner in which the kw is_bd.ni? flouted by an organised mob of willnl women. A New York paper protests against the "mushy and sentimental chivalry" with which the authorities are dealing with the matter, and dosei'ibfts the ] methods _ adopted _as " jelly-backed and futile," Similar opinions are i expressed by Canadian newspapers.; It is undoubtedly astonishing thai I people should be allowed to go about j the country burniflg churches and I houses, slashing pictures, dts'tarbintr pvabtic meetings, assaulting peaceful citizens, and endangering life. Those who «v.re responsible for the administration of the law seem affair! to inflict adequate punishment because the evil-doers happen to be women and threaten to starve themselves when they are sent to prison. A good many people are coining to the conclusion that such women oughtBot to bo deprived of the right 'to starve. It seems, however, Mist it woald be illegal to allow them to j stove themselves, and Br, Mebcier, j in a letter to the London Times. \ suggests that they should ]jc made I outlaws. They Would thus he d«- ! prived of all civil rights; no* will i made by them would stand; they! could neither rent dwellings nor '• esart wnt for them; they could not I enforce payment for any debt; if their property were damaged they j Could neither obtain: co-mpensntion ] nor punish jfcho offender. Such a ] method of dealing with offenders fnay not-he- practicable in these clays, bttt the meresHggs'siMn of it by «: man of Bfi. MEftetEii's standing indicates haw resentful the general ■

public is growing at the ineffectiveness of the_ attempts so far made to graj-jple with the situation. Tli« militant SiiffragGfe aro only a handful whcn # compared with ' the. whole population, and the vast majority of the women of the United '.Kingdom for whose rights they profess to- be fighting have no sympathy whatever with their lawless doingi Ti'ic sensible Suffragists are only too w-ell. aw-avo that the camßftigVi of destruction and violence has alienated many friends and indefinitely postponed the crrtntbfr of the franchise, The British Parliament is not going to be seared into .passing a Suffrage Bill, and until Ui» weapon of outrage and intimidation' has been laid- aside women's suffrage is not likely to become part of the political machinery of Great Britain.