OTHER COUNTRIES IN EUROPE.

At the meeting of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance in Geneva in 1920 the president, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, called attention in her address to the fact that Greece and Spain in Europe, Argentina and Uruguay in South America and the island of Cuba had made enough progress in organization for woman suffrage within a few years to be accepted as auxiliaries.

GREECE. While the Peace Treaty was being framed at Paris in 1919 Premier Venizelos received a deputation of leading suffragists from many countries, expressed his sympathy with the movement and gave them the names of women in Athens with whom to take up the question of organization. On Jan. 23, 1920, he stated to the Parliament in Greece that the Government was prepared to give the suffrage to women as soon as they to some extent requested it. This was followed in March by the forming in Athens of a League for the Rights of Women and later by branches in Crete, Thessaly and Corfu. A petition for political and civic rights, in which other societies of women joined, was sent to the Parliament. The Lyceum Club, one of the oldest and most influential in Greece, arranged a great congress of women to meet in October to consider measures for the advancement of women along all lines, including that of suffrage. Then the Venizelos Government was overthrown by a plebiscite, the King returned and the congress was deferred until April, 1921. At that time a hundred societies of women sent delegates. It was opened by Premier Gounaris and the King and Queen were present. Woman suffrage was the leading feature and several Cabinet Ministers announced the intention of the Government to confer it. Queen Sophia decorated Madame Parron, president of the congress, and thanked her for devoting her life to the progress of Greek women. There have been the usual delays but the women will probably be enfranchised in the not distant future.

SPAIN. The women of Spain labor under great disadvantages in trying to obtain the franchise, as the Catholic church, which is all-powerful, is not in favor of it. The King and Queen are friendly and a number of the statesmen are ready to assist. The Cabinet in 1919 proposed a bill which would give a vote to all women over 23 years old and it was placed on the program of the Republican party. There are eight or ten suffrage societies in different cities united in a Supreme Feminist Council, which holds congresses and has presented to the Parliament petitions signed by thousands of women asking for complete political and legal equality. It is an auxiliary of the International Alliance.

There have been attempts to organize for woman suffrage in Portugal. Travellers in various districts of Turkey report that in some of them women are permitted to vote and hold office.

Before the outbreak of the War there was some suffrage among the property owning women in the Jewish colonization of Palestine. After it was taken by General Allenby the Jewish Provisional Assembly called to arrange for a National Constituent Assembly provided that women as well as men should vote for it. There was opposition from the orthodox but the liberal element prevailed. They vote and belong to the political organizations and also have their own, which work for the improvement of the civil and legal position of women. They have united in a national organization and become auxiliary to the International Woman Suffrage Alliance. Women have been elected to city councils and even to the National Assembly.

When Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt visited China in 1912 she found that women had taken part in the revolution and not only had voted for the new Parliament but had been elected to it. These privileges were afterwards taken away but they organized societies to get them again. Mrs. Catt kept in touch with these societies and in 1913 they were accepted as auxiliary to the Alliance. They are still keeping up the struggle for political rights.

There is only the nucleus of a movement for woman suffrage in Japan but some of the statesmen favor it and women's societies petition for it. Under the auspices of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union a beginning has been made toward organization. Women are not allowed to attend political meetings and their position is very restricted but this year (1921) they have done a great deal of public work for peace. The Japanese Government is progressing rapidly and the results will eventually be seen in an improved status of women.

SOUTH AMERICA. Women occupy an advanced position in Argentina in education, in business and in organized work. They have had during the past twenty years an excellent training through the National Council of Women and they have exercised much influence in public affairs. They were slow in entering the movement for woman suffrage but by 1920 they were sufficiently organized under the presidency of Dr. Alicia Moreau, to send a representative to the congress of the International Alliance in Geneva in June and be received as an auxiliary. Large meetings have been held in Buenos Aires. There is much favorable sentiment in the Parliament, where bills have been introduced.

The woman suffrage movement is well advanced in Uruguay under the presidency of Dr. Paulina Luisi, who attended the Geneva congress, where her association entered the International Alliance. The president of the Republic, Dr. Baltaser Brum, is an ardent advocate of woman's enfranchisement and is using his best efforts for it. A bill was introduced by Dr. Aralya for the complete emancipation of women, which did not pass. Later one for the Municipal franchise was presented by Deputy Alfco Brum, brother of the president, which it is believed will ultimately be accepted. There is a suffrage society in Chili, one in Paraguay and one in Brazil, where the Senate in 1920 defeated a bill.

The Central American Constituent Assembly, the legislative body of the new Federation of Central American States, has approved woman suffrage. There is to be a Pan American Suffrage Congress of Women in the United States in 1922, which doubtless will give a great impetus to the cause in the Central and South American countries.

MEXICO. The constitution made for Mexico after the last revolution gave the suffrage to all citizens without distinction of sex and women have voted in Yucatan but the elections throughout the country have not been settled enough for them to exercise their right. There are suffrage societies among the different classes of women and the wage-earners are especially insistent on having a voice in the Government. The President is quoted as having said that the time when women will vote is near at hand.

FOOTNOTES:

[220] The History is indebted for the material in this division to Miss Annie Furuhjelm of Helsingfors, member of Parliament, vice-president of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance and president of the Woman's Alliance Union of Finland formed in 1892.



CHAPTER LIV.

THE INTERNATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE ALLIANCE.

An international association of the groups of women in various countries who were working to obtain the suffrage was for many years the strong desire of Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Miss Susan B. Anthony, two leaders of the movement in the United States. When, however, in the early eighties the first steps were taken they found that Great Britain was the only one with organizations for this purpose. They visited there in 1883-4 and found so much sympathy with the idea that a committee was appointed to cooperate with one in the United States in arranging for an International Woman Suffrage Association.[221] It was decided as a first step to hold an International Suffrage Convention but after a correspondence which extended through several years, because of the difficulty of getting in touch with women in the different countries who were interested, it was considered advisable to broaden the scope of the undertaking and call an International Congress of Women engaged in all kinds of work for the general welfare. This was held in Washington, D. C., in March, 1888, under the auspices of the National Suffrage Association and was the largest convention of women which had ever taken place up to that time. It resulted in a permanent International Council of Women, which in a few years established a Standing Committee on Suffrage and Rights of Citizenship with Dr. Anna Howard Shaw as chairman. The National Councils in all countries formed auxiliary committees and made woman suffrage a part of their program and it had a prominent place at the National and International Congresses. The woman suffrage leaders in the United States did not abandon the idea of an affiliation of the societies which were forming in many lands for the specific purpose of obtaining the franchise but no further steps toward it were taken.

From the time Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt became officially connected with the National Association in 1905 a dominant thought with her was that there should be an international suffrage association. Miss Anthony resigned the presidency in 1900 and Mrs. Catt became her successor. She presented her idea to Miss Anthony, who told her of the early efforts and encouraged her to apply her great organizing ability to the undertaking, feeling that she was fitted for it above all others. Mrs. Catt at once began the preliminary work and after two years of correspondence the officers of the National American Woman Suffrage Association issued an invitation for an International Conference to be held in Washington, D. C., at the time of its annual convention in February, 1902. This conference took place and was attended by delegates from many countries. A part of their interesting and valuable addresses before the convention and committees of Congress will be found in Chapter II of Volume V. The official proceedings of the conference are condensed from the Minutes as follows:

Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, called the meeting to order and gave a brief history of the correspondence conducted with the officers of women's associations of various kinds concerning an International Woman Suffrage Conference. She reported that ten countries would be represented by delegates—England, Australia, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Russia, Turkey, Chile and the United States. She expressed regret that unforseen circumstances at the last moment prevented the attendance of the Canadian delegation but stated that James L. Hughes, Inspector of Public Schools in Toronto, would attend and report on the position of women in Canada.

The United States association had appointed four delegates and it had been hoped that each country would send four but no country had sent more than one. The meeting was asked to select a chairman and on motion of Mrs. Fenwick Miller, seconded by Mrs. Drewson, Miss Susan B. Anthony was unanimously chosen and took the chair. Miss Vida Goldstein was elected recording secretary.

The following delegates responded to the roll call: Mrs. Florence Miller, England; Miss Vida Goldstein, Australia; Mrs. Sofja Levovna Friedland, Russia; Mrs. Gudrun Drewson, Norway; Miss Florence Fensham, Turkey; Miss Susan B. Anthony, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery, United States. Mrs. Catt announced that a delegate from Germany, Miss Antonie Stolle; one from Chile, Miss Carolina Huidobro, and one from Sweden, Mrs. Emmy Evald, would arrive later. A committee of five was appointed to consider a plan for international cooperation—Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Avery, Miss Stolle, Mrs. Drewson, Miss Goldstein. At another session its recommendations were read and adopted as follows:

1. That it is desirable to form an International Woman Suffrage Committee for the purpose of acting as a central bureau for the collection, exchange and dissemination of information concerning the methods of suffrage work and the general status of women in the various countries having representation on the committee.

2. That the delegates to the conference be instructed to ask their respective societies to appoint three representatives to act on such a committee.

3. That in the event of societies declining to cooperate, the delegates be authorized to form a separate International Committee in their respective countries.

4. That the secretary of the International Committee be instructed to communicate with known suffragists in countries not represented in this conference and to recommend cooperation with the international organization....

The delegates were unanimously of the opinion that the above temporary form of organization would result in most satisfactory international cooperation. It was held that each nation should be given free opportunity to aid in the forming of the permanent organization and that the present needs would be best served by a temporary International Committee. It was agreed that the next International Woman Suffrage Conference should be called in Berlin in 1904, in connection with the Quinquennial Meeting of the International Council of Women, and that meantime each nation should be asked to consider this movement and send delegates fully instructed as to the best form of a permanent international organization.

Miss Anthony was elected permanent chairman; Mrs. Catt, secretary; Mrs. Fenwick Miller, treasurer. Mrs. Catt moved that as an International Association was not yet permanently organized, each country should be asked to contribute something toward the general working expenses of printing, postage, etc., but the financial obligation should be left to its own discretion. It was decided that the plan of organization adopted by the conference be read to the convention of the National Suffrage Association then in session. To make the conference still more international in character a vice-chairman representing Germany was added and the appointment was left to the German societies. It was arranged that the committee should hold office till the meeting in Berlin. It was moved by Mrs. Friedland, seconded by Miss Fensham, that the foreign delegates accord their warmest thanks to the National American Suffrage Association for inviting them to the International Conference and for the many kindnesses shown them.

Mrs. Catt had sent out a list of twenty-eight questions to most of the countries and she reported that answers had been received from thirty-two. These questions covered property rights of women, occupations, wages, education, guardianship of children, divorce, office holding, suffrage and other legal and civil rights. The full and comprehensive answers, some of them from Consuls and other government representatives, were published in the official report of the conference and formed an invaluable collection of facts and statistics such as had never before been made. They gave a striking object lesson in the strong necessity for women to have a voice in the laws and the governments under which they live.

It had been suggested by Mrs. Catt that this conference should consider issuing a Declaration of Principles, expressing briefly the demand for independence and individuality which women are making today. Mrs. Fenwick Miller warmly supported the suggestion and a committee of three was appointed to draw it up—Mrs. Avery, Mrs. Evald and Miss Fensham. As finally submitted, discussed and accepted it formed the platform of the international organization and was adopted at each meeting for some years afterwards. It was called a Declaration of Principles and read as follows:

1. Men and women are born equally free and independent members of the human race, equally endowed with intelligence and ability and equally entitled to the free exercise of their individual rights and liberty.

2. The natural relation of the sexes is that of inter-dependence and cooperation and the repression of the rights and liberty of one sex inevitably works injury to the other and hence to the whole race.

3. In all lands those laws, creeds and customs which have tended to restrict women to a position of dependence, to discourage their education, to impede the development of their natural gifts and to subordinate their individuality have been based upon false theories and have produced an artificial and unjust relation of the sexes in modern society.

4. Self-government in the home and the State is the inalienable right of every normal adult and the refusal of this right to women has resulted in social, legal and economic injustice to them and has also intensified the existing economic disturbances throughout the world.

5. Governments which impose taxes and laws upon their women citizens without giving them the right of consent or dissent which is granted to men citizens exercise a tyranny inconsistent with just government.

6. The ballot is the only legal and permanent means of defending the right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" pronounced inalienable by the American Declaration of Independence and accepted as inalienable by all civilized nations. In any representative form of government, therefore, women should be vested with all the political rights and privileges of electors.

ORGANIZATION OF THE ALLIANCE.

The International Woman Suffrage Committee, which had been formed at a conference in Washington, D. C., in February, 1902, and adjourned to meet in Berlin in June, 1904, was called to order on June 3, in the Prince Albert Hotel by the chairman, Miss Susan B. Anthony, who was warmly greeted by the women of all countries. The following report of this and subsequent meetings is condensed from the Minutes:

The program arranged by the officers was adopted as the order of business. Dr. jur. Anita Augsburg of the German Suffrage Association delivered a cordial address of welcome and Miss Anthony, in behalf of the visiting delegates, responded. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt presented a gavel from the women of Wyoming, who have enjoyed the right of full suffrage longer than any other women in the world.

Dr. phil. Kaethe Schirmacher of Germany was appointed official interpreter; Miss Adelheid von Welczeck of Germany was made assistant secretary and was also appointed on the committee on credentials with Dr. Aletta Jacobs of Holland and Miss Edith Palliser of England. The roll call of nations showed delegates from the United States, Great Britain, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Hungary, New Zealand and Germany.

Guests and delegates from countries where no organization was affiliated with the International Committee were given the privileges of the conference except the vote. The Declaration of Principles was read and Dr. Schirmacher and Mlle. Camille Vidart of Switzerland were appointed to translate it into German and French for discussion. Dr. Augspurg read telegrams of greeting and good will from the French delegates, who were prevented from attending the conference.

It was agreed that the name of the new association be the International Woman Suffrage Alliance and a motion by Dr. Anna Howard Shaw (U. S. A.) that Miss Anthony be declared its first member was carried amid cheers. It was moved by Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg of Philadelphia and unanimously carried that Miss Mary S. Anthony be the second member. It was voted that those delegates at the first conference in Washington who were not now present be invited to stand also as charter members of the permanent Alliance. The opportunity was then given for the affiliation of honorary associates and the following were accepted: Wilhelmine Sheriff Bain and Isabel Napier, New Zealand; Miss Anna Hude, Mrs. Charlotte Norrie, Mrs. Johanne Muenter, Copenhagen; Mrs. Friederike von Mekler Traunwies, Austria; Leopold Katscher, Hungary; Mme. Chaponniere-Chaix, Mlle. Vidart, Switzerland.

The object of the Alliance was declared to be "to secure the enfranchisement of the women of all nations and to unite the friends of woman suffrage throughout the world in organized cooperation and fraternal helpfulness," and a constitution was adopted. The roll of nations was called and the delegates from Great Britain, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden and the United States pledged affiliation. Mrs. Catt made the pledge for Australia. Delegates from Denmark and Norway asked for time to present the matter to their associations and a little later became auxiliaries. All the suffrage associations in existence that could be called national except that of Canada—eight altogether—joined the Alliance. Mesdames Minna Cauer, Germany; Agda Montelius, Sweden; Charlotte Norrie, Denmark; Mrs. Blankenburg, Dr. Jacobs and Miss Palliser were appointed to consider designs for an international badge.

Miss Anthony announced that as she had reached the age of 84 she could not stand as candidate for the presidency and it was unanimously voted that she be made honorary president. The following officers were elected: President, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, New York; first vice-president, Dr. jur. Anita Augspurg, Hamburg; second vice-president, Mrs. Millicent Garrett Fawcett, London; secretary, Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery, Philadelphia; first assistant secretary, Dr. Kaethe Schirmacher, Paris (address temporarily); second, Miss Johanna A. W. Naber, Amsterdam; treasurer, Miss Rodger Cunliffe, London. (Later Miss Naber resigned and Miss Martina G. Kramers of Rotterdam was appointed.)

The Executive Committee of the new Alliance met June 6 at the Palast Hotel. It was arranged that fifty copies of the Declaration of Principles, the Constitution and the Minutes be typed in Berlin and sent to the presidents of the affiliated societies and the honorary associates. It was decided to postpone application for auxiliaryship to the International Council of Women for at least two years. Correspondence with the countries requiring special information was assigned as follows: "To Mrs. Catt, Australia; to Dr. Augspurg, Norway and Austria; to Dr. Schirmacher, Italy and France; to Miss Naber, Switzerland and Belgium. It was decided that the Alliance should meet every five years for the election of officers, revision of the constitution, etc., but that during this period executive meetings and congresses might be held.[222]

THIRD CONFERENCE OF THE ALLIANCE.

The first Executive Meeting and Third Conference of the Alliance was held at Copenhagen Aug. 7-11, 1906, in the Concert Palais, in response to a Call from the president, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, and secretary, Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery, to the affiliated National Woman Suffrage Associations, which said:

An especial invitation to send fraternal delegates is extended to all societies known to be in sympathy with our movement. Individuals of whatever race, nativity or creed, who believe in the right of the woman citizen to protect her interests in society by the ballot, are invited to be present. The enfranchisement of women is emphatically a world movement. The unanswerable logic upon which the movement is based and the opposition which everywhere appears to combat that logic with its array of traditions and prejudices are the same in all lands. The evolution of the movement must proceed along the same lines among all peoples. In union there is strength. Let international cooperation, organization and work be our watchwords.

Two years of careful preparation, extended correspondence and close attention to endless details by the president and officers of the Alliance had brought to Copenhagen a congress of women prepared to inaugurate a world movement for woman suffrage. Excellent arrangements had been made by the Danish Association through four committees: Finance, Miss Eline Hansen; Information, Miss Julie Laurberg; Press, Miss Sophie Alberti; Entertainment, Mrs. Johanne Muenter. The music was in charge of Miss Bernberg. The entire expenses of the convention, rent of hall, handsome decorations, silk badges, etc., were met by the finance committee. The elaborate souvenir programs contained many views of the city which were made by Miss Laurberg's camera. The remarkable work of the press before and during the congress was due to Miss Alberti's judicious and skilful management. The entertainments under the capable direction of Mrs. Muenter included a beautiful dinner given by a committee of Danish ladies at the famous pleasure resort Marienlyst; a reception by the directors at Rosenberg Castle; an afternoon tea by the officers of the widely-known Women's Reading Club of 3,200 members, of which Miss Alberti, a founder, was the president; a reception and banquet by the Municipal Council in the magnificent City Hall and a farewell supper by the Danish Suffrage Association at Skydebanen, preceded by an interesting program of recitations and costume dances. There were many private dinners, luncheons and excursions to the beautiful and historic environs.

Two more national suffrage associations had united with the Alliance—those of Hungary and Canada. Australia was ready to enter. France had sent a delegate, Madame Maria Martin, and expected to form a national association within a year. Professor Teresa Labriola was present to promise the affiliation of Italy in another year. Six highly educated, progressive delegates from Russia represented the Union of Defenders of Woman's Rights, composed of 79 societies and 10,000 members, which applied for auxiliaryship. Fraternal delegates were present from the International Council of Women and the National Councils of Norway, Sweden, France, the United States and Australia; from the International Council of Nurses and from organizations of women in Finland and Iceland. Telegrams of greeting were received from societies and individuals in twenty-five different cities of Europe. About one hundred delegates and alternates from twelve countries were present.

Several sessions were filled to overflowing with these greetings and the reports from the various countries of the progress made by women in the contest for their civil, legal and political rights. As published in the Minutes, filling 55 pages, these reports formed a remarkable and significant chapter in the world's history. Mrs. Catt was in the chair on the first afternoon and a cordial welcome was extended by the presidents of five Danish organizations of women: Miss Alberti, Mrs. Louise Hansen, Mrs. Louise Norlund, Mrs. Jutta Bojsen Moller and Miss Henni Forchhammer for the National Council of Women. Dr. jur. Anita Augspurg of Germany, the first vice-president, responded for the Alliance. She was followed by Mrs. Catt, who, in her president's address, after describing in full the forming of the Alliance, gave a comprehensive report of the progress toward organizing suffrage associations in the various countries during the past two years and the growth and future prospects of the international movement. She touched a responsive chord in every heart when she said:

Since we last met our cause has sustained a signal loss in the death of our honorary president, Susan B. Anthony. She has been the inspirer of our movement in many lands and we may justly say that her labors belonged to all the world. She passed in the ripeness of years and with a life behind her which counted not a wasted moment nor a selfish thought. When one thinks of her it must be with the belief that she was born and lived to perform an especial mission. All who knew her well mourn her and long will they miss her wise counsel, her hearty cheerfulness and her splendid optimism. There has been no important national suffrage meeting in the United States for half a century and no international meeting of significance at any time in which she has not been a conspicuous figure. This is the first to meet without her. We must hope that her spirit will be with us and inspire our deliberations with the same lofty purpose and noble energy which governed all her labors.

Mrs. Catt reviewed the movement for woman suffrage, declaring that the most ambitious should be satisfied with the general progress, and said in conclusion:

We have been like an army climbing slowly and laboriously up a steep and rocky mountain. We have looked upward and have seen uncertain stretches of time and effort between us and the longed for summit. We have not been discouraged for behind us lay fifty years of marvelous achievement. We have known that we should reach that goal but we have also known that there was no way to do it but to plod on patiently, step by step. Yet suddenly, almost without warning, we see upon that summit another army. How came it there? It has neither descended from heaven nor made the long, hard journey, yet there above us all the women of Finland stand today. Each wears the royal crown of the sovereignty of the self-governing citizen. Two years ago these women would not have been permitted by the law to organize a woman suffrage association. A year later they did organize a woman suffrage committee and before it is yet a year old its work is done! The act giving full suffrage and eligibility to all offices has been bestowed upon them by the four Chambers of Parliament and the Czar has approved the measure! Metaphorically a glad shout of joy has gone up from the whole body of suffragists the world over.

Mrs. Catt presided at every public and every business meeting and hers was the guiding spirit and the controlling hand. By her ability and fairness she won the entire confidence of the delegates from twelve countries and launched successfully this organization which many had believed impossible because of the differences in language, temperament and methods.

Throughout the meetings twenty-minute addresses were made by prominent women of the different countries, some of them reports of the organized work, others on subjects of special interest to women, among them The Ideal Woman, Miss Eline Hansen; What Woman Suffrage Is Not, Dr. Schirmacher; Women Jurors of Norway, Miss Moerck; Woman's Horizon, Mrs. Flora MacDonald Denison, Canada; The Silent Foe, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw; What Are Women to Do?, Dr. Jacobs; Our Victory, Miss Annie Furuhjelm, Finland; Why the Working Woman Needs the Ballot, Mrs. Andrea Brachmann, Denmark; Why the Women of Australia Asked for and Received the Suffrage, sent by Miss Vida Goldstein and read by Mrs. Madge Donohoe.

Others besides the officers and those above mentioned who spoke during the convention were Cand. phil. Helena Berg, Elizabeth Grundtvig, Stampe Fedderson, Denmark: Briet Asmundsson, Iceland; Mrs. F. M. Qvam, Cand. phil. Mathilde Eriksen, Gina Krog and Mrs. L. Keilhau, Norway; Dr. Ellen Sandelin, Anna Whitlock, Gertrud Adelborg, Huldah Lundin, Ann Margret Holmgren, Frigga Carlberg, Anna B. Wicksell, and Jenny Wallerstedt, Sweden; Baroness Gripenberg, Dr. Meikki Friberg, Finland; Zeniede Mirovitch, Elizabeth Goncharow, Olga Wolkenstein, Anne Kalmanovitch, Russia; Rosika Schwimmer, Vilma Gluecklich, Bertha Engel, Hungary; Lida Gustave Heymann, Adelheid von Welczeck, Regina Ruben, Germany; Mrs. Rutgers Hoitsema, Mrs. van Loenen de Bordes, Netherlands; Millicent Garrett Fawcett, Lady Steel, Dora Montefiore, Mrs. Broadley Reid, Great Britain; Miss Lucy E. Anthony, United States; Mrs. Henry Dobson, Australia.

One afternoon session was devoted to memorial services for Miss Anthony, with the principal address by Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, her biographer, and beautiful tributes by delegates of seven European countries and Canada expressing the debt of gratitude which all women owed to the great pioneer. Mrs. Harper briefly sketched the subordinate position of women when Miss Anthony began her great work for their emancipation in 1851; told of her efforts for temperance and the abolition of slavery; her part in forming the International Council of Women; her publication of the History of Woman Suffrage and the many other activities of her long life. She described the advanced position of women at present and closed by saying:

No one who makes a careful study of the great movement for the emancipation of woman can fail to recognize in Miss Anthony its supreme leader. After her death last March more than a thousand editorials appeared in the principal newspapers of the country and practically every one of them accorded her this distinction. She was the only one who gave to this cause her whole life, consecrating to its service every hour of her time and every power of her being. Other women did what they could; came into the work for awhile and dropped out; had the divided interests of family and social relations; turned their attention to reforms which promised speedier rewards; surrendered to the forces of persecution. With Miss Anthony the cause of woman took the place of husband, children, society; it was her work and her relaxation, her politics and her religion. "I know only woman and her disfranchised," was her creed.... May we, her daughters, receive as a blessed inheritance something of her indomitable will, splendid courage, limitless patience, perseverance, optimism, faith!

Dr. Shaw closed the meeting with an eloquent unwritten peroration which told of her last hours with Miss Anthony as the great soul was about to take its flight and ended: "The object of her life was to awaken in women the consciousness of the need of freedom and the courage to demand it, not as an end but as a means of creating higher ideals for humanity."

A resolution was adopted rejoicing in the granting of full suffrage and eligibility to sit in the Parliament to the women of Finland the preceding May. The delegates from Norway received a message from the Prime Minister that it was the intention of the Parliament to enlarge the Municipal franchise which women had possessed since 1901.

Designs for a permanent badge were submitted by several countries and the majority vote was in favor of the one designed by Mrs. Pedersen-Dan of Denmark, the figure of a woman holding the scales of justice with a rising sun in the background and the Latin words Jus Suffragii. It was decided to publish a monthly paper under the name of Jus Suffragii and in the English language. Afterwards Miss Martina G. Kramers was appointed editor and the paper was issued from Rotterdam. The invitation was accepted to hold an executive meeting and conference in Amsterdam in 1908, as a new constitution was about to be made for The Netherlands and there would be a strong effort to have it include woman suffrage.

Mrs. Catt's closing words to the delegates were to encourage agitation, education and organization in their countries. "The enfranchisement of women is as certain to come as the sun is sure to rise tomorrow," she said. "The time must depend on political conditions and the energy and intelligence with which our movement is conducted." Thus ended happily and auspiciously the first Congress of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance.

FOURTH CONFERENCE OF THE ALLIANCE.

The Executive Meeting and Fourth Conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance was held in Amsterdam, June 15-20, 1908, in the spacious and handsome Concert Hall, in response to the Call of Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president, and Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery, secretary. No one who was present can ever forget this meeting in the most fascinating of countries, with every detail of its six days' sessions carefully planned and nothing left undone for the comfort and entertainment of the visitors who had come from most of the countries of Europe, from Canada, the United States and far-away Australia and New Zealand. The following account is condensed from the very full report of the recording secretary, Miss Martina G. Kramers:

The arrangements for the congress were made by a Central Committee, of which Dr. Aletta Jacobs, president of the Vereeniging voor Vrouwenkiesrecht, the organization which had invited the Alliance to Amsterdam, was chairman. Mrs. W. Drucker was chairman of the Finance Committee, Mrs. Van Buuren Huys, secretary, and Miss Rosa Manus gave much assistance. The Press Committee, Miss Johanna W. A. Naber, chairman, did excellent work in conjunction with a committee from the Amsterdam press association.... That the accounts throughout the world were so complete is due to this painstaking, able committee's assistance to the correspondents from far and wide.

The Committee on Local Arrangements, Mrs. van Loenen de Bordes, chairman, performed well many duties, issued a dainty booklet, bound in green and gold, which contained the program interspersed with views of Amsterdam, and provided handsome silk flags to mark the seats of each delegation, which were presented to the Alliance. A Bureau of Information was presided over by young women who were able to answer all questions in many languages. The back of the great stage was draped with the flags of the twenty nations represented, those of Norway, Finland and Australia being conspicuously placed in the center, that especial honor might be done the full suffrage countries. The front of the stage was a mass of flowers and plants, a magnificent bust of Queen Wilhelmina occupying a conspicuous place.

The Committee on Reception, chairman, Mrs. Gompertz Jitta, and that on Entertainments, chairman, Mrs. Schoeffer-Bunge, provided many pleasures. Chief among these was the musical reception on the first afternoon. A grand welcome song with a military band playing the accompaniment was sung by four hundred voices; a variety of children's songs followed and the program was closed by a cantata called Old Holland's New Time, which had been prepared especially for the congress. All the music had been composed by Catherine Van Rennes, who was also the conductor. The congress opened with a large reception given by the Dutch Women's Suffrage Association at Maison Couturier, with a greeting by Mrs. Gompertz-Jitta. It had as a unique feature a little play written by Betsy van der Starp of The Hague. The gods and goddesses with much feeling discussed the appeal of Woman, who had asked their help in her effort to secure more rights on Earth.... On Tuesday afternoon a reception was given by Burgomaster and Mrs. van Leeuwen at their beautiful home, where refreshments were served in a shaded garden and the hospitable and democratic freedom was greatly enjoyed. On the same afternoon the Amsterdam branch of the National Association took the foreign visitors for a delightful excursion on the Amstel River. On Wednesday afternoon Dr. Jacobs had a most enjoyable tea in the Pavilloen van het Vondelpark. Mrs. Gompertz-Jitta opened her own luxurious home for tea on Friday. A house filled with a rare art collection, a fine garden and a charming hostess gave an afternoon long to be remembered. A farewell dinner on Saturday night was held in the great Concert Hall. A gay assembly, a good dinner, the national airs of all countries played by a fine band, furnished abundant enjoyment and aroused enthusiasm to the utmost. The climax came when a band of young men and women, dressed in the quaint and picturesque costumes of the Dutch peasantry, to rollicking music executed several peasant dances on the platform and around the big room.

The day following at an early hour several car loads of suffragists set forth for Rotterdam and near the station two steamers took their cargo of happy people for a trip on the River Maas. They went as far as Dordrecht, where opportunity was given to see this quaint town. Luncheon had been served on the steamers and at Rotterdam the guests proceeded to the Zoological Garden, which many people pronounce the finest in the world. At 6:30 dinner was served in a large, fine restaurant, followed by animated speeches until train time. It had been a rare day, full of interest, for which the Congress was indebted to the Rotterdam branch of the National Association and to Mrs. van den Bergh-Willing, who supplied one of the steamers and invited over a hundred of the delegates as her guests for the day. The next day was spent under the direction of The Hague branch. An afternoon tea with music was given at the Palace Hotel, Scheveningen, the famous seaside resort, and later a dinner was served at the Kurhaus, followed by a fine concert arranged in honor of the guests. Later came a special display of fireworks with a closing piece which triumphantly flashed the words "Jus Suffragii" across the sky.

Mrs. Catt was in the chair at the first afternoon session and Dr. Jacobs welcomed the conference in an address given in perfect English during which she said: "When so strong and energetic a body of earnest women meets to deliberate on this greatest of modern world problems the impression can not fail to be a powerful one, for the vision must arise of the beauty and glory of future womanhood, of women who have obtained proper place and power in the community, which shall enable them to infuse their love, their moral perceptions, their sense of justice into the governments of the world. We believe the moment has now come to show our country the seriousness and extent of our movement and its determination to gain political equality for women in every civilized land. With the greatest appreciation we see among our visitors many high officials, who have not hesitated to answer our invitation favorably and to give us through their presence a proof of sympathy with the work we do. We wish to welcome these gentlemen first of all." Naming one country after another Dr. Jacobs mentioned the particular achievement of each during the past two years and extended a special welcome, saying: "May your presence here contribute to augment the public interest in the movement for women's enfranchisement in our country."

The address of the international president, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, was a masterly effort and should be reproduced in full. In beginning it she referred to the suggestive coincidence that the opening day of the Congress commemorated the anniversary of the signing of the immortal Magna Charta and said: "At no time since the movement for the enfranchisement of women began have its advocates had so much cause for self-congratulation as now. The Alliance met in Copenhagen twenty-two months ago and in the brief time since then the progress of our cause has been so rapid, the gains so substantial, the assurance of coming victory so certain that we may imagine the noble and brave pioneers of woman suffrage, the men and women who were the torch-bearers of our movement, gathering today in some far-off celestial sphere and singing together a glad paean of exultation." Mrs. Catt referred to the granting of full suffrage and eligibility to women by Norway in 1907 and continued:

Within the past two years appeals for woman suffrage have been presented to the Parliaments of eighteen European governments; the United States Congress and the Legislatures of twenty-nine States; the Parliaments of Canada and Victoria and the Legislature of the Philippines—fifty-one independent legislative bodies. The appeals were made for the first time, I believe, in twelve of the European countries. In Spain and the Philippines bills were introduced by friends of the cause quite unknown to national or international officers. This activity has not been barren of results and the delegates of six countries come to this congress vested with larger political rights than they possessed at the time of the Copenhagen meeting, namely, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, England and Germany. Each of the five Scandinavian lands has won something. Norwegian women come with full suffrage rights; Finnish delegates come as representatives of the only nation which has elected women to seats in its Parliament; Sweden and Iceland have gained a step in eligibility and our Icelandic delegate of two years ago is now a member of the city council of Reykjavik, the capital. The women of Denmark, next to those of Norway, have made the largest gain, as Municipal suffrage with liberal qualifications has been bestowed upon them. English women have secured eligibility to become Mayors and members of town and county councils. Germany has revised its law and women are now free to join political associations and to organize woman suffrage societies. The German association affiliated with the Alliance is now a federation of State bodies. In Sweden within two years the membership in the organization has doubled and the 63 local organizations reported at Copenhagen have become 127. A petition of 142,128 names has been presented to Parliament; deputations have waited upon the Government and been granted hearings.

A thorough analysis was made of the present status of woman suffrage throughout the world and in summing up the speaker said: "Although from Occident to Orient, from Lapland to sunny Italy and from Canada to South Africa the agitation for woman suffrage has known no pause, yet, after all, the storm center of the movement has been located in England. In other lands there have been steps in evolution; in England there has been a revolution. There have been no guns nor powder nor bloodshed but there have been all other evidences of war.... Yet the older and more conservative body of workers have been no less remarkable. With a forbearance we may all do well to imitate, they quadrupled their own activities. Every class, including ladies of the nobility, working girls, housewives and professional women, has engaged in the campaign and not a man, woman or child has been permitted to plead ignorance concerning the meaning of woman suffrage."

Mrs. Catt reviewed at length the "militant" movement in Great Britain, showing how it had awakened interest in votes for women in all quarters of the globe, and recalled the struggle of the barons in wresting the Magna Charta from King John. She then passed to the United States and to the persistent charge that its experiment in universal male suffrage had been a failure, to which she replied: "Although the United States has gathered a population which represents every race; although among its people are the followers of every religion and the subjects of every form of government; although there has been the dead weight of a large ignorant vote, yet the little settlement, which 150 years ago rested upon the eastern shores of the Atlantic a mere colonial possession, has steadily climbed upward until today it occupies a proud position of equality among the greatest governments of the world.... The fact that woman suffrage must come through a referendum to the votes of all men has postponed it but man suffrage in the United States is as firmly fixed as the Rock of Gibraltar...."

In an eloquent peroration Mrs. Catt said: "Within our Alliance we must try to develop so lofty a spirit of internationalism, a spirit so clarified from all personalities and ambitions and national antagonisms that its purity and grandeur will furnish new inspiration to all workers in our cause. We must strike a note in this meeting so full of sisterly sympathy, of faith in womanhood, of exultant hope, a note so impelling, that it will be heard by the women of all lands and will call them forth to join our world's army."

The business sessions opened with all the officers present; over one hundred delegates and alternates from the now sixteen auxiliary countries; delegates sent by their governments and fraternal delegates from the International Council of Women, ten National Councils, seven non-affiliated national associations for woman suffrage and eleven national organizations in sympathy with it. Mrs. Catt introduced Mrs. Henry Dobson, sent by the Commonwealth of Australia; Miss Gina Krog, sent by the government of Norway; Dr. Romania Penrose, Mrs. Helen L. Grenfell and Mrs. Harriet Q. Sheik, appointed by the Governors of Utah, Colorado and Wyoming, U. S. A.

The following countries had their full quota of six delegates: Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, United States, and nearly all had six alternates. Russia had five delegates; Finland, Switzerland and South Africa two each; Italy, Bulgaria, Australia and Canada one each. Miss Chrystal Macmillan of Scotland represented the International Council of Women; Dr. C. V. Drysdale, the Men's League for Women's Enfranchisement of Great Britain; Mrs. Marie Lang, the Austrian Committee for Woman Suffrage; Miss Franciska Plaminkova and Miss Marie Stepankova, the Czechish Woman Suffrage Committee of Bohemia; Mrs. Alice M. Steele, New Zealand—the last three countries not yet affiliated. All kinds of organizations sent fraternal delegates, from the Union of Ethical Societies in London, whose delegate was Stanton Coit, their leader, to the Society of Peasant Women in Balmazujvaros, Hungary.

This was doubtless in many respects the most remarkable and important gathering of women ever assembled up to that time. English, French and German were adopted as the official languages. The wise and sympathetic management of Mrs. Catt convinced those of all nations that impartiality and justice would prevail without exception; a common bond united them; they learned that in all countries the obstacles to woman suffrage were the same and that in all women were oppressed by the inequality of the laws and by their disenfranchisement, and they understood the influence which could be exerted through an international movement. There were occasional misunderstandings on account of the varied parliamentary procedure in different countries and because of the necessity for interpreting much that took place but on the whole the delegates were satisfied. They had intense admiration for the great executive ability of their president and showed their confidence in her again and again.

Switzerland, Bulgaria and South Africa having announced through their delegates that their suffrage societies had united in national associations and desired to become affiliated, they were enthusiastically accepted. Mrs. Stanton Coit of London, the new treasurer, paid a tribute to her predecessor, Miss Rodger Cunliffe, who had died since the last conference. Mrs. Pedersen-Dan reported that 8,677 badges had been sold. Many interesting discussions took place during the morning and afternoon sessions of which one of the most valuable was on the methods of work for the suffrage pursued in the various countries. These methods included debates in schools and colleges, distribution of literature, petitions to the Parliament, circulating libraries, courses of lectures, house-to-house canvassing, protests against paying taxes, mass meetings to show the need of a vote in matters of public welfare. In nearly all countries the suffragists were taking political action, questioning candidates by letter and in person and in some places working for or against them. This was especially the case in Great Britain and Miss Frances Sterling and Miss Isabella O. Ford told of the successful work at by-elections, of having thousands of postal cards sent to candidates by their constituents, of appealing to the workingmen. A report of the speech of Miss Margaret Ashton, a member of the city council of Manchester, quoted her as saying that, though the president of a large body of Liberal women, she had decided that it was useless to work further for her party unless it would enfranchise women. Women had worked sixty years for this party and now, if they will gain their own liberty, they must refuse to lift hand or foot for it until it enfranchises them.

Mrs. Rutgers Hoitsema of the Netherlands told of the efforts made to have woman suffrage put in its new constitution; of winning six of the seven members of the Government Commission and of the request of the Prime Minister for favorable printed arguments. Miss Annie Furuhjelm said in her report for Finland: "We got our suffrage through a revolution, so we can not be an example for other lands as to methods. We can say, however, that we used all methods in our work. In 1904 we had a great public meeting for woman suffrage. We organized a 'strike' against the conscription for the Russian Army and we found the mothers interested in saving their sons. The Social Democrats had woman suffrage in their platform before 1905 but the leading men of Finland would not have helped the women to the suffrage if the women had not shown that they understood the public questions of the day and taken an active part in resistance to an unlawful regime." She told of the election of nineteen women to Parliament in 1907. Mrs. Zeneide Mirovitch said in her touching report: "The women of Russia have not been able to work as those in other countries do, for their members are often in danger of imprisonment or death. They have lecturers who travel about to hold meetings; they publish a review of the work of their Union; members of it have started clubs which carry on general work for women's betterment. They have sold very cheaply 10,000 suffrage pamphlets; they have a committee in St. Petersburg which watches the acts of the Douma and when a law is proposed which concerns women and yet fails to consider them, this committee reminds the members of their needs. It protests against the massacres and outrages when women are assaulted and tortured. Now during the reaction the Union is not permitted to work in any way."

Mrs. Dora Montefiore of England spoke in favor of "militant" methods. An invitation to send fraternal delegates had been declined by Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst for the Women's Social and Political Union of Great Britain, who said they had more important work to do. It had been accepted by Mrs. Despard, president of the Womens' Freedom League, who came with seven delegates. She explained that its methods consisted only of trying to enter the House of Commons, holding meetings near by, heckling Government candidates, refusing to pay taxes, chalking pavements, etc. Mrs. Cobden Sanderson and Mrs. Billington Greig made vigorous, convincing speeches and all were enthusiastically received. The congress adopted a resolution of "protest against the action of any government which classes the women suffragists imprisoned for agitation for the vote as common law-breakers instead of political offenders." It also expressed its "sympathy for the Russian women in their struggle demanding so much sacrifice and its profound respect for the women who under great trial do not hesitate to stand for their rights." A message was received with applause during one session that "the Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church has resolved unanimously to give a vote to women on the questions that have until now been submitted only to the men of the congregation."

The evening meetings were largely given up to addresses and at the one where Woman Suffrage in Practice was considered Mrs. Madge Donohue of Australia, spoke on An Experiment Justified; Mrs. Steele, New Zealand, Fifteen Years of Woman Suffrage; Miss Furuhjelm, A True Democracy. At another evening session Miss Fredrikke Moerck gave the Results of Woman Suffrage in Norway. In a symposium, Why Should Representative Governments Enfranchise Women? the speakers were Miss Ashton, Mrs. Minna Cauer, Germany; Miss Janka Grossman, Hungary; Mrs. Theo. Haver, Netherlands; Mrs. Louise Keilhau, Norway; Mrs. Frigga Carlberg, Sweden; Mrs. Olga Golovine, Russia; Mrs. A. Girardet, Switzerland; Miss Macmillan, Great Britain. Here as at nearly all of the public meetings Dr. Anna Howard Shaw made the closing speech, for if she was not on the program the audience called for her. Mrs. Muenter gave an address on the Legal Position of Danish Women; Dr. Elizabeth Altmann Gottheiner, Germany, Does the Working Woman Need the Ballot? Mrs. Miriam Brown, Canada, Ideal Womanhood; others were made by Miss Rosika Schwimmer, Hungary, and Miss Stirling, Great Britain. An afternoon meeting for young people was addressed by Mrs. Millicent Garrett Fawcett, chairman; Mrs. Ann M. Holmgren, Sweden; Dr. Anita Augspurg, Mrs. Mirovitch; Miss Rendell, Great Britain; Miss Schwimmer; Mrs. Ella S. Stewart, United States.

Much pleasure was expressed at the report of Mrs. Staatsministerinde Qvam, president of the National Woman Suffrage Association of Norway, who said in beginning: "Since we met in Copenhagen taxpaying women in Norway have obtained full suffrage and eligibility to office by a vote of 96 to 23 in the Parliament. About 300,000 women have become entitled to vote. It is calculated that 200,000 are yet excluded, although the tax is very small.... The object of our association is suffrage for women on the same terms as for men. The men have universal suffrage. We therefore will continue our work until the women have gained this same right." Miss Eline Hansen gave an interesting report of winning the Municipal franchise in Denmark.

Woman Suffrage from a Christian Point of View was presented one afternoon by Mrs. Beelaerts von Blokland, chairman; Countess Anna von Hogendorp and Mr. Hugenholtz, all of the Netherlands; Mrs. Blauenfeldt, Denmark; Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch, United States. An address sent by Lady Frances Balfour was read by Mrs. C. H. Corbett, Great Britain; one sent by Mrs. Aline Hoffmann, Switzerland, was read by Miss Johanna W. A. Naber, Netherlands; one sent by Mme. Mangeret, France, was read by Mrs. Heineken-Daum, Netherlands. Greetings were given from the National Councils of Women of Germany and The Netherlands by their presidents, Mrs. Marie Stritt and Miss Elizabeth Baelde; from Great Britain, France, Belgium, Norway and Sweden by fraternal delegates, Mrs. Fawcett, Miss Cecile Cahen, Miss Ida La Fontaine, Miss Thea Holst, Dr. Lydia Wahlstrom; from national organizations by Mrs. Elna Munck, Denmark; Dr. Phil. Kaethe Schirmacher, Germany; Miss Stepankova, Bohemia; Mrs. Lang, Austria; Miss K. Honegger represented the newly affiliated national association of Switzerland and Dr. Pateff and Miss Jenny Bojilowa that of Bulgaria. Most valuable reports were read from all the affiliated countries containing accounts of their political conditions and the status of the movement for woman suffrage, which were printed in the Minutes, filling over fifty pages.

The Resolutions Committee, Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, Miss Ashton and Mrs. van Loenen de Bores, reported strong resolutions, which were fully discussed and adopted. The last one was as follows: "Resolved, that the plain duty of women at the present hour is to secure the support and cooperation of all the forces favorable to woman suffrage, without question as to their political or religious affiliations; to avoid any entanglement with outside matters; to ask for the franchise on the same terms as it is now or may be exercised by men, leaving any required extension to be decided by men and women together when both have equal voice, vote and power."

The conference accepted with appreciation the cordial invitation of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies of Great Britain, extended through its president, Mrs. Fawcett, to hold its next meeting in London. At the public session on the last evening Mrs. van Itallie van Embden, Netherlands, spoke on the subject, Does the Wife, Mother and Homekeeper Need the Ballot? Mrs. Anna Kalmanovitch, Russia, on The Final Aim of the Woman Movement;, addresses were made by Mrs. Emilia Mariana, Italy; Mrs. Mirovitch, Dr. Wahlstrom and Dr. Shaw. Mrs. Catt gave the final words of farewell and the delegates parted in friendship to meet again as comrades in a great cause.

FIRST QUINQUENNIAL OF THE ALLIANCE.

The first Quinquennial and the Fifth Conference of the Alliance met in St. James Hall, London, April 26-May 1, 1909, with the president, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, in the chair. A cordial address of greeting was made at the first morning session by Mrs. Millicent Garrett Fawcett, president of the National Union of Women's suffrage Societies, the hostess of the guests from many nations. Preceding chapters have given an idea of the wide scope and the general character of these international meetings and the names of those who earliest represented their countries and their associations. Here at the end of the first five years the list of delegates and alternates filled four and a half printed pages and seventy-three fraternal delegates were present from forty-one different organizations; in addition there were speakers on the program who were not on these lists.

Among the organizations sending fraternal representatives, men and women of distinction, were International and National Councils of Women, Actresses', Artists' and Writers' Leagues, Women's Federation of the British Liberal Party, Conservative and Unionist Women's Franchise Associations, Men's Suffrage Leagues, Independent Labour Party, International Women's Socialist Bureau, Ethical Societies, Women's Trade Unions, Industrial Suffrage Societies, Women's National Press Association, Women's Agricultural Clubs, Fabian Society, National Committee against the White Slave Traffic—the list is almost endless. Naturally all wanted to be heard and how to permit this and leave any time for the regular proceedings of the convention became a serious question. The United States, Great Britain, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden sent their full quota of six delegates and six alternates. Five were present from Finland, six from Hungary and five from South Africa. The Government of Norway had sent as its official delegate Mrs. Staatsministerinde F. M. Qvam, president of the National Woman Suffrage Association. A National Association had now been formed in France and its secretary, Madame Jane Misme, brought its request for affiliation. A similar request was presented by Mlle. Daugotte, delegate from a new association in Belgium, and both were unanimously and joyfully welcomed.

At the first evening session the speakers were Mrs. Qvam, Miss Annie Furuhjelm, Finland; Mrs. Isabel May, New Zealand; Armitage Rigby, Isle of Man, all testifying to the good effects of woman suffrage in their respective countries, and Mrs. Catt delivered her president's address, a thorough review of the work of the Alliance. She said in part:

On a June day in 1904 the delegated representatives of seven National Woman Suffrage Associations met in a little hall in Berlin to discuss the practicability of completing a proposed International Union. At that date there were in all the world only ten countries in which woman suffrage organizations could be found. Those of you who were present will well remember the uncertainty and misgivings which characterized our deliberations. The doubting delegates questioned whether the times were yet ripe for this radical step; already over-taxed by the campaigns in their respective countries they questioned whether the possible benefits which might arise from international connection might not be over-balanced by the burden it would impose. There were delegates also who asked whether it was within the bounds of possibilities that suffragists could work together in harmony when they not only would represent differences of race and character but widely different stages of development of the movement itself. There were even more serious problems to be considered. Some of our associations were pledged to universal suffrage, some to Municipal, some to suffrage based upon a property or educational qualification. How could such differences, each defended as it was by intense conviction, be united in a common platform?... Yet despite all these obstacles, which at that time seemed to many well nigh insurmountable, our International Alliance was founded "for better or worse" and I think I may add "till death do us part."

Five years have passed away, prosperous, successful, triumphant years; prosperous, for we have known no quarrel or misunderstanding; successful, for the number of National Associations in our Alliance has more than doubled; triumphant, because the gains to our cause within the past five years are more significant in effect and meaning than all which had come in the years preceding. Indeed, when we look back over that little stretch of time and observe the mighty changes which have come within our movement; when we hear the reports of the awakening of men and women to the justice of our cause all the way around the world, I am sure that there is no pessimist among us who does not realize that at last the tide of woman's enfranchisement is coming in.

Mrs. Catt described the influence the Alliance had had in these changes and said: "We have been baptised in that spirit of the 20th century which the world calls Internationalism; it is a sentiment like love or religion or patriotism, which is to be experienced rather than defined in words. Under the influence of this new spirit we realize that we are not enlisted for the work of our own countries alone but that before us stretches the task of emancipating the women of the civilized world...." The brilliant Congress of Women held in Russia in spite of its reactionary government was described, and the women of Finland were urged not to be discouraged because the iron rule of Russia was again threatening their recently gained liberty. The progress in other European countries was sketched and the address then dealt unsparingly with the situation in Great Britain, where the women for years had organized and worked for the candidates of the political parties, and continued:

If the women of England have time enough to solicit votes for the men of their party and intelligence enough to train men to vote; if they do not neglect their homes and families when their political parties direct them to act as catspaws to pull the political chestnuts out of the fire and to put them into the Conservative and Liberal baskets, the world wants to know how these political parties are going to escape from the logic of the situation when these same women ask some of the chestnuts for themselves. Again, this nation was presided over for sixty years by a woman, and she was accounted worthy to present an annual Parliamentary Address in which she pointed out the duty of the members of Parliament. Now the outside world wants to know how that Parliament can consistently say that other British women are not even worthy to cast a vote to elect that body. There is still another reason why the world is watching England. The British Colonies have enfranchised women; how is the Home Government to explain the phenomenon of women, enfranchised in Australia, then disfranchised in England; enfranchised in New Zealand and disfranchised when they return to the mother country?

She called attention to the forming of the Anti-Suffrage Association by women in Great Britain and said: "They are sending in a petition to Parliament. It is well known that people by nature are opposed to new things; before education people are anti-suffragists. If a petition opposed to woman suffrage should be presented to the Hottentots, the Afghanistans, the tribes of Thibet or to the interior of Turkey, every individual would sign it and the longest petition 'opposed to the further extension of rights to women' yet known could be secured there. A petition for suffrage, however, carries a very different meaning; every name represents a convert, a victory, an education of the understanding, an answer to an appeal for justice. A woman suffrage petition is a gain; an anti-suffrage petition merely shows how much more must be gained. One is positive, the other negative. Wait a little and you will find that England, and other countries as well, will perceive the real truth, that the anti-suffrage women are the most inconsistent products of all the ages."

The flaying did not stop here but Mrs. Catt called attention to the fact that this convention celebrated the birthday of Mary Wollstonecraft, referred to the position of women in her time and said:

There have been women who have crucified their very souls and the lineal ancestors of the present-day "antis" with withering scorn and criticism opposed every step. Yet some of those modern anti-suffragists possess a college degree, an opportunity which other women won for them in the face of universal ridicule; they own property which is theirs today as the effect of laws which other women labored for a quarter of a century to secure; they stand upon public platforms where free speech for women was won for them by other women amid the jeers of howling mobs; they use the right of organization which was established as the result of many a heartache and many a brave endeavor when the world condemned it as a threat against all moral order. They accept with satisfaction every political right which has been accorded by their Government; they even accept public office. They take all as their birthright; and yet, endowed with this power of education, of property, of organization, of free speech, of partial political rights, they turn upon the last logical effort in the movement which has given them so much and with supreme self-satisfaction say: "Thus far shalt thou come and no farther." It takes no logic to perceive the inconsistency of such a position....

The changed position of women in the world of labor was sketched; the old divisions were obliterated; a great army of women were now competing with men in the open market and there were found not only women but little children. Everywhere was cruel injustice to women, barred out from the higher places, working for half the pay of men in others, and discriminated against even by the labor unions. "They are utterly at the mercy of selfish employers, of hard economic conditions and unfair legislation," she said. "The only logical conclusion is to give votes to working women that they may defend their own wages, hours and conditions. We have worked to gain the suffrage because the principle is just. We must work for it now because this great army of wage-earning women are crying to us for help, immediate help.... You and I must know no sleep or rest or hesitation so long as a single civilized land has failed to recognize equal rights for men and women, in the workshop and the factory, at the ballot box and in the Parliament, in the home and in the church."

Here as at all meetings of the Alliance one of the most valuable features was the reports from the various countries, reaching almost from "the Arctic Circle to the equator," of the progress in the movement for suffrage, juster laws for women, better industrial conditions. Printed in fifty-seven pages of the Minutes they formed a storehouse of information nowhere else to be found. As the struggle of the "militants" in Great Britain was attracting world-wide attention to the exclusion of the many years of persistent work by the original association in educating not only women themselves but also public opinion to see the necessity for woman suffrage, the report of its president, Mrs. Fawcett, had a special interest:

The year which has just closed is the most strenuous and active we have ever known since women's suffrage has been before the country. The number of societies which combine to form the National Union has more than doubled. The membership in several societies has more than doubled and in others has largely increased; in one important society it has been multiplied by five. The number of meetings held throughout the year in connection with the National Union alone has been unprecedented, an average of at least four a day. The experience gained at bye-elections confirms the Union in their view that by far the most effective work can be done by acting strictly on non-party lines and supporting that candidate whose record and declarations on the subject of suffrage are the most satisfactory....

At the beginning of last November Mrs. Garrett Anderson, M.D., was elected Mayor of Aldeburgh; Miss Dove, M.A., the head mistress of Wycombe Abbey School, came within two votes of being chosen Mayor of the borough of High Wycombe. Several women at the same time were elected as borough councillors, among whom we may mention our colleague, Miss Margaret Ashton, the president of the Manchester and North of England Society for Women's Suffrage. A large Conservative and Unionist Association for women's suffrage has been formed. Its president is Lady Knightley of Fawsley and among its vice-presidents are the Duchess of Sutherland, the Countess of Meath, Viscountess Middleton, Lady Robert Cecil, Miss Alice Balfour, etc.

In December a weighty and closely reasoned statement of the case for women's suffrage was presented to the Prime Minister by the Registered Medical Women of the United Kingdom. The committee were able to inform Mr. Asquith that out of 553 all but 15 support the extension of the Parliamentary franchise to women. The case for women's suffrage was argued before the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords in November last with great ability by Miss Chrystal Macmillan, M.A., B.Sc. The case was raised on the plea of women graduates of the Scottish Universities that they were entitled to vote in the election for the members of Parliament representing the universities. The word used in the Scottish University Act was "persons"—all "persons" having passed such and such degrees and fulfilled such and such conditions were entitled to vote in such elections. The case had been heard before two Scottish Courts and adverse decisions had been given. The House of Lords was appealed to as the highest Court and it confirmed the decisions of the lower courts that the word "persons" does not include women when it refers to privileges granted by the State.

Mrs. Fawcett spoke of the work of the Union year after year for the suffrage bill in Parliament; of the enrollment during the present year of over 300 men eminent in literature, science, the arts, law, public offices, churches, education, commerce, etc.; of its great procession and the demonstration in Albert Hall. She said of the other organization, which was yet in its early stages of aggressiveness: "Opinions greatly differ in suffrage circles as to the effect produced on the cause by what are known as 'militant' tactics. It is difficult for one who is completely identified with constitutional methods to judge aright the total result of unconstitutional forms of agitation. That the 'militants' have been courageous and self-sacraficing no one denies. That they have provoked discussion and aroused attention is equally obvious and from these our cause always stands to gain. On the other hand many of us feel a profound conviction, which experience only strengthens, that women are adopting a mistaken course in appealing to violence. Our business as women asking for justice is not to rely upon physical force but in the eternal principles of right and justice. Law abiding methods alienate no one while methods of violence and disorder create anti-suffragists by the hundreds."

To this convention, as to the one of the preceding year in Amsterdam, Mrs. Pankhurst refused to send any representatives of the Women's Social and Political Union. A mass meeting under its auspices was held in Albert Hall one evening and many of the delegates accepted an official invitation to attend.

At an afternoon session ten minute addresses were made by Mrs. Betsy Kjelsberg of Norway on Six Years' Experience in Municipal Work; by Mrs. Madge Donohoe for Australia, The Latest Victory; by Dr. phil. Gulli Petrini of Sweden, Suffrage Work on Both Sides of the Polar Circle; by Mrs. Rutgers-Hoitsema, A Curious Football Game in Holland; others by Mrs. Zeneide Mirovitch, Russia; Miss Theo. Daugaard, Denmark; Mlle. Daugotte, Belgium; Mme. Auberlet, France; Mrs. Saul Solomon, South Africa. The Dutch Men's League for Women Suffrage was represented by E. J. van Straaten, LL.D. and F. F. W. Kehrer-Gorinchens; the British by Herbert Jacobs and Dr. C. W. Drysdale. Mrs. Anna M. Haslam, fraternal delegate from the Irish Women's Suffrage Association, and her husband, Thomas J., the oldest delegates, were most cordially received. The Bohemian delegate, Marie Tumova, could not be present because making a campaign for election to the Diet.

The delegates had a strenuous time trying to attend the business meetings, listen to the excellent programs of prominent speakers, go to the enjoyable social affairs and make the visits and excursions to the many historical places in and around London which most of them had always longed to see. The Executive Committee of the National Union, Mrs. Fawcett, chairman, served as Reception Committee; its treasurer, Miss Bertha Mason, expended the large fund subscribed for the use of the convention; the Press Committee managed the newspapers through Miss Compton Burnett; Mrs. Anstruther, Rutland House, Portland Gardens, had the exacting but pleasant duties of chairman of the Hospitality Committee.

A delightful reception on Sunday evening, April 25, at the Lyceum Club, introduced the pleasures of the week, which ended with a handsome reception given by the Men's League for Women's Suffrage on Saturday evening. There was a brilliant official dinner at Prince's Restaurant and there were teas and concerts and dramatic entertainments. To most of the delegates the weeks were the richest in experience ever known, with the specially conducted visits to famous universities and schools; cathedrals and abbeys; galleries and palaces; courts and gardens—every spot filled with historic associations for English speaking people and with intense interest for those of other countries. For delegates concerned with civic and social work there was the keenest enjoyment in the specialized and extensive developments along many lines. The Minutes of the convention thus describe one of its leading events:

The mass meeting at the Royal Albert Hall under the auspices of the London Society for Women's Suffrage afforded the delegates a most impressive display of the earnestness of the British suffragists. A procession of women engaged in various trades and professions, carrying the emblems of their work, marched from Eaton Square to the hall. It was a wonderful inspiration to the brave bands of pioneers from other lands to see the long procession march with fluttering flags and swinging lanterns along the darkening streets, greeted now with sympathy, now with jeers. As it entered the hall and trade after trade, profession after profession filed past the platform on which were seated women of all nations, the enthusiasm reached its height. It would be impossible to give a list of the groups but especially notable were the chain makers from Cradley Heath, who toil for about four shillings per week of sixty hours. The common remark that the suffrage movement is an amusement for rich women was once for all disproved as the factory workers and cotton operatives in their distinctive dress swung into the vast arena. The group of women doctors in their gorgeous robes were loudly cheered, as were the nurses and mid-wives who followed, while teachers of all branches of the profession closed the long line. There were notable speeches but the real effect of the meeting lay in the wonderful gathering itself, women of all nations, classes, creeds and occupations united for a common purpose, together with men, filling one of the largest halls in Europe. Mrs. Fawcett, LL.D., presided and the speakers were Ramsey McDonald, M.P., Mrs. Catt, Dr. Shaw, Miss Frances Sterling and Mrs. Philip Snowden.

Twice during the convention it came in touch with royalty in an interesting way. At the official dinner Mrs. Qvam, delegate from the Norwegian Government and president of the National Suffrage Association, brought greetings and wishes for the success of the congress from Queen Maud of Norway, a daughter of King Edward and Queen Alexandra, to which an appreciative response was sent. At a morning session the birth of a daughter to the Queen of the Netherlands was announced and at the request of Dr. Aletta Jacobs, president of the National Suffrage Association of that country, a telegram of congratulations from the Alliance was sent.

There was much discussion over the motion that all organizations auxiliary to the Alliance must have woman suffrage as their sole object. It was finally decided in the affirmative and a flood of societies of every description was excluded. The number of delegates permitted to each country was increased from six to twelve, with twelve alternates. A resolution was adopted urging the National Suffrage Association of each nation to prepare a comprehensive statement of the laws which place women at a disadvantage in regard to property, earnings, marriage, divorce, guardianship of children, education, industrial conditions and political rights, and to explain, when demanding their immediate enfranchisement from their respective Parliaments, that they consider these injustices can be effectively removed only through joint political action by men and women. This was introduced at the request of Lady McLaren, who had prepared such a charter for Great Britain. Many beautiful designs for a flag and banner had been submitted and it was found that the one selected was the work of Miss Branting of Sweden. The international hymn chosen from a number which were submitted was written by Mrs. Theodora Flower Mills.

As this was the quinquennial meeting officers were elected. Mrs. Catt was unanimously re-elected and the following received large majorities: Mrs. Fawcett, first, and Miss Furuhjelm, second vice-presidents; Miss Martina Kramers, Netherlands; Mrs. Anna Lindemann, Germany; Miss Signe Bergman, Sweden, first, second and third secretaries; Mrs. Stanton Coit, treasurer. As the time of holding the regular session of the Alliance was changed from five to four years they were elected to hold office until 1913. Mrs. Catt welcomed the new officers and warmly thanked the retiring officers for their valuable services. The invitation to hold the congress of 1911 in Stockholm, if the political conditions were favorable, was accepted with pleasure.

The Resolutions presented by the committee—Miss Frances Sterling, Great Britain; Mrs. E. R. Mirrlees, South Africa; Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, United States—and adopted, summarized the gains of the past few years in Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Germany, Netherlands, Bohemia, Cape Colony and the Transvaal and said: "This Congress, remembering the lessons of history, urges the National Societies not to be betrayed into postponing their claim for the enfranchisement of women for any other object, whether it be the further extension of the suffrage to men or the success of some political party." At the last meeting of the delegates Mrs. Catt thanked them for their hearty cooperation with their president; she urged them to demand the suffrage upon the broadest basis, namely, that the government may rest equally on the will of both men and women, and said the Alliance would wield great influence if they remained united and they would secure the enfranchisement of the women of the world for all future generations. A public meeting in St. James Hall was held on the last evening with Mrs. Catt in the chair and addresses of the highest order were made by Miss Margaret Ashton, Men and Women; the Rev. Ivory Cripps, the Nation's Need of Women; Miss Rosika Schwimmer, The Hungarian Outlook; H. Y. Stanger, M.P., The Prospect of Franchise Reform; Dr. Kaethe Schirmacher, Woman Suffrage.