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. Kathe Schirmacher, Germany; Miss Stepankova, Bohemia; Mrs. Lang, Austria; Miss K. Honegger represented the newly affiliated national a.s.sociation 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 friends.h.i.+p 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 a.s.sociations. 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 a.s.sociations, 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 a.s.sociation, 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 a.s.sociation. A National a.s.sociation 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 a.s.sociation 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 a.s.sociations 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 a.s.sociations were pledged to universal suffrage, some to Munic.i.p.al, 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 pa.s.sed away, prosperous, successful, triumphant years; prosperous, for we have known no quarrel or misunderstanding; successful, for the number of National a.s.sociations 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 enfranchis.e.m.e.nt 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 emanc.i.p.ating 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 a.s.sociation by women in Great Britain and said: "They are sending in a pet.i.tion to Parliament. It is well known that people by nature are opposed to new things; before education people are anti-suffragists. If a pet.i.tion 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 pet.i.tion 'opposed to the further extension of rights to women' yet known could be secured there. A pet.i.tion 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 pet.i.tion is a gain; an anti-suffrage pet.i.tion 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 a.s.sociation 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 members.h.i.+p 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 a.s.sociation for women's suffrage has been formed. Its president is Lady Knightley of Fawsley and among its vice-presidents are the d.u.c.h.ess 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 ent.i.tled 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 pa.s.sed such and such degrees and fulfilled such and such conditions were ent.i.tled 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 const.i.tutional methods to judge aright the total result of unconst.i.tutional 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 ma.s.s 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 Munic.i.p.al 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 a.s.sociation, 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 Sat.u.r.day 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 a.s.sociations 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 ma.s.s 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 s.h.i.+llings per week of sixty hours. The common remark that the suffrage movement is an amus.e.m.e.nt 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, cla.s.ses, 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 a.s.sociation, 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 a.s.sociation 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 a.s.sociation of each nation to prepare a comprehensive statement of the laws which place women at a disadvantage in regard to property, earnings, marriage, divorce, guardians.h.i.+p of children, education, industrial conditions and political rights, and to explain, when demanding their immediate enfranchis.e.m.e.nt 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 enfranchis.e.m.e.nt 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 enfranchis.e.m.e.nt 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. Kathe Schirmacher, Woman Suffrage.
On the Sunday afternoon preceding the convention the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw preached for a Men's Meeting at Whitefield's, Tottenham Court Road, the most of the large and interested audience hearing for the first time a sermon by a woman. On the Sunday following the convention she preached in the morning for the West London Ethical Society in the Kensington Town Hall and in the evening at the King's Weigh House Chapel, Duke Street, Grosvenor Square. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon the Rev. Canon Scott Holland gave a sermon in St. Paul's Cathedral, the national church, on the Religious Aspect of Women's Suffrage, with two hundred seats reserved for the delegates, and they felt a deep thrill of rejoicing at hearing within those ancient walls a strong plea for the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of women. They were invited to attend the next evening a symposium by the Shakespeare League at King's College on What Shakespeare Thought of Women.
SIXTH CONFERENCE OF THE ALLIANCE.
The Sixth Conference and Congress of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance took place in the banquet hall of the Grand Hotel, Stockholm, June 12-17, 1911. The coming of Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the Alliance, had been widely heralded. She had been received in Copenhagen with national honors by cabinet ministers and foreign legations; the American flag run up for her wherever she went and the Danish colors dipped and there was almost a public ovation. In Christiania she was met with a greeting from a former Prime Minister and an official address of welcome from the Government and was received by King Haakon. At Stockholm she was met by deputations with flowers and speeches. Dinners, receptions and concerts followed. The American and Swedish flags waved together. The whole city knew that something important was going to happen. In the midst of it all the woman suffrage bill came up for discussion in both Houses of the Parliament. The international president was escorted to the Lower House by a body of women that crowded the galleries. After a stormy debate the bill to enfranchise the women of Sweden received a majority vote. In the midst of the applause Mrs. Catt was hurried to the Upper Chamber, the stronghold of caste and conservatism. Her presence and that of the flower of Swedish womanhood did not save the bill from the usual defeat.
The congress opened with representatives from twenty-four affiliated National a.s.sociations and two Committees, those of Austria and Bohemia. The government of Norway sent as its official delegate Dr.
Kristine Bonnevie. The list of delegates filled seven printed pages, the United States, the Netherlands and Sweden having the full quota of twelve delegates and twelve alternates, Germany lacking only three of the latter, while Great Britain, France, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Hungary had twelve or more. Six were present from Russia; Bulgaria, Servia, Switzerland, South Africa, Iceland and Canada had representatives. Of fraternal delegates from other organizations there was no end--about seventy men and women--among them members of five Men's Leagues for Woman Suffrage--in the United States, Great Britain, Netherlands, Hungary and Sweden. In addition to the spoken words letters and telegrams of greeting were read from societies and individuals in twelve different countries. The distinguished guests of the occasion were Dr. Selma Lagerlof of Sweden, who had recently received the n.o.bel Literature Prize, and Miss Helena Westermarck of Finland, the eminent writer and publicist. Among prominent speakers were Mayor Carl Lindhagen and Ernest Beckman, M. P., the Rev. K. H. G.
von Scheele, Bishop of Visby, and the Rev. Dr. Samuel Fries. The ushers and pages were women students of the universities.
On the Sunday afternoon preceding the convention the precedent of all past ages was broken when Dr. Anna Howard Shaw preached in the ancient State Church of Gusta Vasa. When the Swedish women asked for the use of the church they were told that this could be granted only to a minister of the same denomination but they learned that when a minister from another country was visiting Sweden the pastor of the church might invite him to occupy his pulpit at his discretion. The pastor said he would run the risk, knowing that he might incur the displeasure of the Bishop, and Dr. Shaw, therefore, felt a double responsibility. She could not enter the pulpit, however, but spoke from a platform in front of it. It was a never to be forgotten scene.
The grand old church was crowded to the last inch of s.p.a.ce, although admission was by ticket. Facing the chancel were the thirty famous women singers of Goteborg, their cantor a woman, and the noted woman organist and composer, Elfrida Andree, who composed the music for the occasion. In the center of all was the little black-robed minister. It was said by many to be the most wonderful sermon of her life and after the service was over the pastor, with tears rolling down his cheeks, went up to her with hands outstretched and taking both of hers said: "I am the happiest man in Sweden." Sunday evening a reception was given at the Restaurant Rosenbad to the officers, presidents of national auxiliaries and Swedish Committee of Arrangements by its chairman, Mrs. Bertha Nordenson. At six o'clock excursions of many delegates had started to enjoy the long evening when the sun did not set till nearly midnight.
The official report of the first executive session Monday morning said: "Miss Janet Richards, delegate from the U. S. A., with an admirable speech, presented to the Alliance from the State which had recently given full suffrage to women a gavel bearing the inscription: "To the International W. S. A. from the Was.h.i.+ngton Equal Suffrage a.s.sociation." It was announced that National Suffrage a.s.sociations had been formed in Iceland and Servia and they were gladly accepted as auxiliaries, bringing the number up to twenty-six. The munic.i.p.ality had contributed 3,000 crowns to the congress, which proved to be the largest ever held in Stockholm. Season tickets had been sold to 1,200 persons and other hundreds bought tickets to the various meetings.
During the entire week the flags of the nations represented at the congress floated from the flagstaffs that lined the quay in front of the Grand Hotel facing the royal palace, as far as the eye could reach. All the time Mrs. Catt was in the city the American flag was run up for her as a public guest wherever she went and the Swedish colors dipped a salute.
The Congress was formally opened in the afternoon of June 12 with addresses of welcome from Miss Anna Whitlock, acting president of the National Suffrage a.s.sociation of Sweden, and the Hon. Ernest Beckman, M. P., president of the National Swedish Liberal a.s.sociation, and response from the Alliance was made by Miss Chrystal Macmillan of Great Britain, proxy for Mrs. Millicent Garrett Fawcett, its first vice-president. Miss Anna Kleman, president of the Stockholm suffrage society, then presented the beautiful white satin, gold embroidered Alliance banner, which was carried by six university students in white dresses with sashes of the Swedish colors. Mrs. Catt announced that the Alliance flag was now flying over the Grand Hotel where they were a.s.sembled. The banner was the gift of Miss Lotten von Kroemer, a pioneer suffragist of Sweden, and the flag of the resident Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific Tea Co., U. S. A. A suffrage song written by K. G.
Ossian-Nillson and the music composed by Hugo Alfven for the occasion was sung by the Women's Choir of Goteborg, after which an official delegate of the Government extended its greeting while the audience rose and the flags of the nations waved from the galleries. Mrs. Catt received an ovation as she came to the front of the platform to make her address. It filled twenty-three pages of the printed minutes and was a complete resume of the early position of women, the vast changes that had been wrought and the great work which the Alliance was doing.
Only a few quotations are possible:
In the recent debate on the bill in the Swedish Parliament a university professor said in a tone of eloquent finality: "The woman suffrage movement has reached and pa.s.sed its climax; the suffrage wave is now rapidly receding." With patronizing air, more droll than he could know, the gentleman added: "We have permitted this movement to come thus far but we shall allow it to go no farther." Thus another fly resting upon the proverbial wheel of progress commanded it to turn no more. This man engages our attention because he is a representative of a type to be found in all our lands; wise men on the wrong side of a great question, modern Joshuas who command the sun to stand still and believe that it will obey.
