The Woman's Journal, vol. 43, no. 8, February 24, 1912, p. 64

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A WOMAN'S RESOLVE ——— By Asnes Florida Chalmers Resolved: To know a little more of law each day; To seek communal interests, and to pray For faithfulness to every civic need; To exercise my franchise as my creed; To work, and watch, and pray for public good, And freely give all to earth's brotherhood.

Grand Rapids, Mich. ICELAND'S WOMEN GAIN THE SUFFRAGE

How They Have Used Their Votes t. Relieve a Chronic Fuel Famine

“The Awakening of Iceland" is the title of an interesting article by Prof. Jerome Hall Raymond in the Twenti eth Century Magazine. Iceland is one fifth larger than Ireland. Prof. Raymond outlines its history, its strusgles for home rule, and its rapid prosress since this was attained. Last May the Althing, or Parliament, voted for an amendment to the constitution embodying several reforms, amons others extending Parliamentary suffrage to women and to servants. Prof. Raymond continues

Women already had municipal suffrage in all the Icelandic towns, and they were also eligible to membership in all the town councils and boards of education. In the town council of Reykjavik, the capital and metropolis of Iceland, there are at present three women members, out of a total of fifteen. In the council which preceded the present one, there were four women members. There seems to be no opposition in Iceland to women voting and taking part in public affairs. Not long ago an artificial gas plant was established in Reykjavik, which now enables the people to light their houses and cook with gas. Occasicnally some man is heard to complain that this was the work of the women, who wanted the sas for their culinary operations.

When one remembers the scarcity of fuel in Iceland, one does not wonder that the women wanted the sgas. There is no coal worth mentioning in the island—only lignite, which is by no means a satisfactery fuel, and which is hardly known at all to the people at large. There is no timber to provide wood for fuel; many an Icelander has lived and died without ever seeing a tree. Peat is cut and used for fuel almost everywhere in the island—another point in which Iceland resembles Ireland. But peat is not a fuel which a progressive housewife loves. It is so undesirable that nebody will burn it alone unless absolutely compelled to do so. The imported coal is so expensive that few are able to afford it. So serious is the question of fuel in Iceland that many of the farmhouses have no stoves or fireplaces for heating at all. Doubt less this is one reason why pulmonary diseases are so common in the island For centuries this famine of fuel has been its greatest scourge; and it is one manifestation of the awakening of Iceland that the women of Reykjavik have at last secured the establishment of a gas plant, and are new able to cook the family food and light thein homes with gas. This one improve ment has made life in Reykjavik much casier and more worth while; and the complaint of the few male objectors that “the women are to blame for it has been considered a testimony to the value of women's activity in pol tics. Accordingly most Icelanders have been entirely willing to so far ther and permit women to vote in par liamentary elections also.

The provision to extend the suffrage to servants (male and female) has had more opponents. The early Icelandic colonists of a thousand years age brought with them their slaves, whom they had captured in their piratical raids in Ireland and elsewhere; and though slavery gradually disappeared in Iceland, owing to economic causes, yet the early division of the population into the two distinct classes of masters and servants has remained to this day. Until 1911, no servant, male or female, had a vote in either national or local elections.

The term “servant" has a special meaning in Iceland. It applies to all persons, men or women, who work for

JTHE WOMAN'S JOURNAL, FEBRUARY 24, 1912 ——— others under yearly contracts; and It was voted to authorize Miss such persons constitute a very large Addams to appoint a committee to proportion of the population—prob- take preliminary steps for forming a ably fully one-half. federation of all the Suffrage Associa-

With the spread of education and enlightenment, the servants of Iceland sradually became more and more un willing to be excluded from political life. Many of them emisrated to America; many others misrated to the towns and thus endeavored to escape from their class. So there came to be a “servant problem" even in Iceland. It became increasingly diffcult to set good servants on the farms; and still greater difficulties in this respect loomed in the near future. So another step toward democracy had to be taken, and the dominant political party, the “Independents," included in their program of reform the extension of the suffrage to servants, though there was considerable opposition to it from the more conservative element of the population.

To become a valid part of the Con stituticn, an amendment must be passed in exactly the same form by two successive Althings. As a general thing, all members of the Althing serve six years, and all go out of office together at the end of each six-year period. Under ordinary circumstances, the sessions of the Althing are biennial, beginning the middle of Februmy, on alternate years, and continuing two months. When an amendment to the Censtitution is adopted. however, the session of the Althing comes to an end, the terms of office of all the members cease, and there must be new elections and an extra session of the Althing the following year. So the adoption of a constituticnal amendment by the members of the Althing, unless at the end of the six-year period, is equivalent to voting them selves out of office; and they cannot be expected to indulge in such recreation very joyously or very often. It requires patrictism of a high order— or the pressure of urgent need.

In the regular course of events, this autumn and winter would have seen no session of the Althing; but as the constitutional amendment was adopted last May and the Althing dissolved in consequence, there was an election of members for a new Althing in October, 1911, and the cable announced that the amendment had been adopted a secend time. This makes it a part of the Constitution.

In adopting this amendment to its Constitution, Iceland has taken three important steps toward political dem ocracy: (1) she has enfranchised her servant class; (2) she has completed the enfranchisement of her women; and (3) she has removed a remnant of medievalism in her legislative sys tem by abolishing the royal appoint ment cf six Senators. A FAIR-MINDED PRESS

The Wisconsin papers are showing themselves fair and often friendly to woman's enfranchisement. Up to date there have been but two papers in the State that have refused to print answers to adverse articles or to correct misstatements. The other 700 or more papers are willing the subject should rest on its merits, and publish articles representing both sides.

It would be very useful to have The Woman's Journal sent regularly to all these editors. Who will make a sift for this purpose? To editors in the campaign States, we will send the Journal for half price. NOTES AND NEWS The Manitoba Grain Grewers' Convention has passed a resolution in favor of woman suffrage. .

The city of Lackawanna, N. Y., is asking to have its charter amended so as to enable women to vote on municipal improvements. A bill to this effect has passed the Lower House of the New York Legislature.

Jane Addams and Dr. Sophonisba Breckenridge had arranged a reception at the Chicago Woman's Club recently for Miss Ethel Arnold of England. Learning that her train was six hours late and that she would be unable to be present, they telephoned to Milwaukee for Sylvia Pankhurst, and in a few moments she was on her way to Chicago, where she arrived in time to speak in Miss Arnold's stead. There was an attendance of about 300, including many persons of distinction.

An Opponcnt Asks Help

A Western Anti-suffragist appeals to the Writer of this Column to Right the Wrongs being done to the Women who do not want the Burden of the Ballot—A New Viewpoint for us

ROM the Black Hills in the far West, from a would-be-suffrage State, comes a letter from an anti-suffragist who asks that I open this column to the opponents of equal suffrage and do what I can to right their “wrongs."

The most I had hoped for the stories in this column was that they might reach a few of the indifferent, a few of the uninformed, a few of the wavering, and in even a faltering way show that there is a vital connection between life, every-day life, and Votes for Women, I wanted to reach the non-suffragists. In my fondest dreams I had mever hoped to reach the antisuffrage camp. What then is my amazement to learn that these articles are not only read by an antisuffragist, but that she should be so convinced of my sincerity and fairness that she asks me to present the case for the opposition It is enough to make one pause, and try to put oneself in her place. Here is the letter “I note with interest that you desire your readers to send you the facts in any case where there is a wrong being done women and girls which they would like dealt with.

“To my mind a very grievous wrong is being done the great majority of women of our country in the attempts being made by a minority to force responsibilities upon them.

“I am a comparatively young woman. I have a husband and children. Economic conditions make it necessary for me to do some outside work to increase our income. This is a misfortune, although we are not suffering from it in this individual case. I am too busy to desire an other care. Should the rights of suffrage be obtained for me by the clamors of the restless, unhappy few who are agitating for it, duty would seem to demand that I exercise these rights. I have gone so far, in my indignation, as to say that 'I never will vote, because it will have been forced upon me and not conferred by any request of mine, not even that of a majority of women." However, I can see where I might change my mind, and that would be where an equally good man and woman should be contesting for an office. I would vote for the man.

“This wrong of compelling satisfied and fully occupied women to bear the additional responsibility and weight of participation in affairs of politics and government I deeply deplore.” This letter is, of course, valuable to us because it presents the case of the anti-suffragists so clearly and because it gives us the chance to answer in the open, as it were. Its second point of value lies in the fact that it forces us honestly to put ourselves in the position of the anti-suffragists and try to see things from their viewpoint, and this is something we need to do continually if we are going to make our cause appeal to the mass of women who do fot know of equal suffrage or who misunderstand it.

This letter is valuable also because it strikes a chord of sympathy between the anti-suffragist and the suffragist. Is there a suffragist who does not feel drawn in sympathy to this woman who is a wife and mother and is out in the world earning, and who fears equal suffrage because she thinks it will increase her burdens? In this exceedingly busy world with its manifold cares and burdens. what woman of us can blame any other who says to herself: “I already have all the responsibility I can meet. I do not know anything about politics; if I am to vote, I must understand what I am doing. I do not want any more duties, therefore I do not want to vote.”

We cannot blame her, but we do wonder that she stops there in her reasoning. All people in business occasionally find themselves too busy to eat and the busiest occasionally miss a meal simply because they are so busy. No one compels them to eat, but whether they are busy or not they do not miss many meals. Why? Because they must eat for self-preservation. Many of us have seen children so absorbed in their play that they did not want to take time to eat, or would hurry through their meals so they could have more time for play. The child does not realize that he must eat for his self-preservation. In this he is like the anti-suffragist who does not realize that she must vote for her self-protection. It is a great bother and a great expense and it takes a lot of time to eat three meals a day. But no one but the most foolhardy thinks seriously of omitting to eat because it is a burden to cat. We eat for self-preservation. No one compels us to eat.

It is very similar with voting. No one compels cither men or women to vote. They vote for self-protection, It takes a very short time once or twice a year to vote. True, it is quite a responsibility to be prepared to vote intelligently. But one does not need to set aside a great part of the year to prepare for voting; one usually learns the merits of the candidates, the pros and cons of the issues simply as a matter of course, through the daily papers, in conversation, by incidental observation. The rest of the preparation consists in a conscience and common sense.

Many elections and their results seem to indicate that both conscience and common sense were lacking. Politics determines what our laws shall be, who shall enforce them, how they shall be enforced, and it is coming to be conceded that politics lacks and needs the woman's point of view more than anything else. Suffragists believe that politics is badly in need of woman's point of view. For the good of the commonwealth they consider it their duty to take a hand in politics. They want to take a hand in politics also for their own self-protection. But if equal suffrage were granted they would not be compelled to vote; neither would the anti-suffragists be compelled to yote. The suffragists want the vote for their self-protection. If they get it, the anti-suffragists will then see that they must vote for their self-protection. But no one will be compelled to vote any more than she is compelled to eat.

Throughout this article I have been trying to be worthy of the confidence of my correspondent by seeing equal suffrage from her point of view. The best conclusion I have been able to draw, however, is that the only way to right the wrongs of the anti-suffragists is to show that their wrongs are not wrongs at all.

It was voted to authorize Miss Addams to appoint a committee to take preliminary steps for forming a federation of all the Suffrage Associations in Cook County. The registration of women is so beavy in Sacramento, Cal., that eight members of the local Woman's Counoff have been appointed deputy county registrars, to enter their names. All serve without pay.

“Everybody but ladies and vasabonds" will get the suffrage, if a bill introduced by Sir Lomer Gouin in the Parliament of Quebec goes through. The bill is described as “sweepingly revolutionary," because it would allow all male citizens, except vagabonds, to vote in Parliamentary elections.

The sreat suffrage parade in New York will be held May 4. There was some fear that there would have to be two processions, as there was a strong difference of cpinion as to whether the afternoon or the evening was the best time to march. It was feared that the working women could not get out in the day time. The parade will start at 5 P. M. Saturday, and this hour has been accepted as satisfactory by all.

The “King's Speech," which is drawn up by the Cabinet and lays out the plan of government action for the session, was read at the opening of Parliament. It contained no mention either of a woman suffrage bill or of the promised manhood suffrage bill, to which a woman suffrage amendment could be added. Instead it gave notice of a bill to amend the methods of registration—and, doubtless, to abolish plural voting. The Women's Social and Political Union announced in advance that, if the pledges made to the women were broken again, there would be a great militant demenstration, headed by Mrs. Pankhurst in person, about two weeks after the opening of Parliament.

HUMOROUS

“What is a fair-weather friend, pa?" “One who won't lend you his umbrella.'—Judge.

“He has a grudge against the plain people. “On what score?" “Says they wear so many rubbers that it forces up the price of tires.'—Louisville Courier-Journal.

Inquirer (at South Station in Boston): “Where does this train go?" Brakeman: “This train gees to New York in ten minutes." Inquirer: “Gee whiz! That's going some!"

“What is Billy Hardatit doing these days?" asked Smithers. “Oh, he's working his son's way through college," said little Binks.— Harper's Weekly.

“Tribbles said he felt like a millionaire last night." “Did he imbibe freely?" “No. He stood in front of a theatre and inhaled the fumes from sixty automobiles.'—Birmingham Age- Herald.

Miss Simpson: “Kin you cut mah initials on de ice, Mistan Johnson? Mah name's Gertrude Lisbeth Agnes May Gladys Penelope Dorothy Simpson." Mr. Johnson (dubiously): “Wall, I could do dat, Miss Simpson. but it would spoil de pond fo' skatin." —Puck.

Sunday-school Teacher: “And when the prodigal son came home, what happened, Tommy?" Tommy: “His father ran to meet him and hurt himself." Sunday-school Teacher: “Why, where did yeu get that?" Tommy: “It said his father ran and fell on his meck. I bet it would hurt you to fall on your neck!"—Judge.

Mr. Evarts told Lord Coleridge when they were at Mount Vernon the legend of Washington throwing a dollar across the Rappahannock. “But," objected Coleridge, “the Rappahannock's a broad stream." “Yes," retorted Mr. Evarts, “but a dollar went further in those days." At a dinner party this story was praised as Mr. Evarts's best. “Oh," said Mr. Evarts, modestly, “I don't say all the good things credited to me. Now what I might have said was that it was not so strange George Washington threw a dollar across a river, since he threw a sovereign across the sea.'—Philadelphia Record.

iti rel me be op ad Le is

Agnes E. Ryan.