The History of Woman Suffrage Volume VI Part 73

There is only the nucleus of a movement for woman suffrage in j.a.pan but some of the statesmen favor it and women's societies pet.i.tion 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 j.a.panese 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 a.s.sociation entered the International Alliance. The president of the Republic, Dr. Baltaser Brum, is an ardent advocate of woman's enfranchis.e.m.e.nt and is using his best efforts for it. A bill was introduced by Dr. Aralya for the complete emanc.i.p.ation of women, which did not pa.s.s. Later one for the Munic.i.p.al 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 Const.i.tuent a.s.sembly, 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 const.i.tution made for Mexico after the last revolution gave the suffrage to all citizens without distinction of s.e.x 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 cla.s.ses 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 a.s.sociation 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 a.s.sociation.[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 a.s.sociation 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 a.s.sociation in 1905 a dominant thought with her was that there should be an international suffrage a.s.sociation. 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 a.s.sociation 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 a.s.sociation, called the meeting to order and gave a brief history of the correspondence conducted with the officers of women's a.s.sociations 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 circ.u.mstances 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 a.s.sociation 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 a.s.sociation 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 a.s.sociation 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 a.s.sociation 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 ent.i.tled to the free exercise of their individual rights and liberty.

2. The natural relation of the s.e.xes is that of inter-dependence and cooperation and the repression of the rights and liberty of one s.e.x 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 s.e.xes 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"

p.r.o.nounced 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 a.s.sociation 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. Kathe Schirmacher of Germany was appointed official interpreter; Miss Adelheid von Welczeck of Germany was made a.s.sistant 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 a.s.sociation 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 a.s.sociates and the following were accepted: Wilhelmine Sheriff Bain and Isabel Napier, New Zealand; Miss Anna Hude, Mrs. Charlotte Norrie, Mrs. Johanne Munter, 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 enfranchis.e.m.e.nt 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 const.i.tution 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 a.s.sociations and a little later became auxiliaries. All the suffrage a.s.sociations 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 a.s.sistant secretary, Dr.

Kathe 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 Const.i.tution and the Minutes be typed in Berlin and sent to the presidents of the affiliated societies and the honorary a.s.sociates. 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 a.s.signed 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 const.i.tution, 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 a.s.sociations, which said:

An especial invitation to send fraternal delegates is extended to all societies known to be in sympathy with our movement.