Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 6.djvu/871

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
THE INTERNATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE ALLIANCE
855

resolution which was adopted without dissent: 'Resolved: That as the International Woman Suffrage Alliance stands pledged by its constitution to strict neutrality on all questions concerning national policy or tactics, its rules forbid any expression favoring or condemning 'militant' methods. Be it further resolved: That since riot, revolution and disorder have never been construed into an argument against man suffrage, we protest against the practice of the opponents of woman suffrage to interpret 'militancy' employed by the minority in one country as an excuse for withholding the vote from the women of the world." At another time Mrs. Cobden Sanderson of Great Britain, speaking as a fraternal delegate, eulogized the self-sacrifice of the "militants" as the principal factor in the movement, and Mrs. Catt, speaking from the chair, said that she would like to answer the assertion that it was only the "militant" women who were the martyrs. To the women who had made such protests had come the glory, whereas there were thousands who had given their lives to the cause whose names had never been heard. All down the centuries there had been heroines and martyrs and many of them had stood alone. She believed the movement owed a great debt to the "militant" women of Great Britain but they were only a part of it.

Mrs. Catt introduced and urged a resolution "to send from this congress a request to the Governments of all countries here represented to institute an international inquiry into the cause and extent of commercialized vice, and to ask the woman suffrage organizations in each country to petition their own Government to institute a national inquiry and to include women in the Commission." The resolution was unanimously adopted. Mrs. Catt was appointed to represent the Alliance at the approaching International White Slave Traffic Congress in London. A very able address, showing a thorough study of the question, was made by Mrs. Fawcett, who presided at the meeting held to discuss What Women Voters Have Done towards the Solution of this Problem.

The usual important reports of the progress in all the affiliated countries were presented and ordered published in the Minutes, where they filled over sixty pages. Miss Schwimmer in reporting for Hungary said: