WOMEN FED "BY FORCED."

Auckland Star, Volume XL, Issue 271, 13 November 1909, Page 16

WOMEN FED "BY FORCED."

TALK WITH MRS. TUKE ON SUFFBfc GETTE TACTICS. ', (By ETHEL M. COOPER, of jfo)* (From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, October L No. 4, Clemente Inn, is not the quiet est place in the world in which to interw view a woman, and my conversation Wttlt one of the foremost leaders in the Women's Union had perforce to be-di6rt'-and to the point, owing to the constant interruptions that beset so important a person as Mrs. Tuke, the secretary at the present juncture. ■ Women's suffrage, whether we will w whether we won't, hae come <to Ik one : of the questions of the day, and ti' storm raked as a Tesult of the Suffri. gettee' behaviour at Mr. Asquith's tneefc. ing in Birmingham has brought fortli numbers of letters in the papersj and much discussion everywhere, so thativ talk with one of the principals in 4, movement wae of much interest. The time was so limited that the "interview" resolved itself mainly info a series of questions and answers. On the subject of suffragettes who ate sent to prison being treated as second* class prisoners, Mrs. Tuke is very eio. quent. "It is a disgraceful act on the patt of the Government," she said, with aiuea decision, "they are political prisonersini should undoubtedly be treated as euch." I ventured to suggest that they »ef«v put into that division because, they in* peared as disturbers of the peace. MONEY ROLLING OT. "If they are that," was the "it is a position they are forced into. They themselves are handled in a iridii rough and brutal manner—the treatment they mete out ds only what was fitifc" shown to them." Asked whether dieorderluiew on tin part of the suffragettes was not ataayt a forerunner of the co-called "brutalj.. ties," Mrsi Tuke found no answer, and passed on to a statement as to hove' money is rolling in towards the funds. "The fact that, since the beginning of this year, we have had. £50,000 subscribed must appeal to these men in. Parliament, even if they won't listen te our ideals. They have .broken theij word, those 421 men who at the last election promised to ihelp women* suffrage, and now, whatever it ends in, women all over the country are desperate, and are determined to force the Goverav menfc into giving. .vo,tes. to women!" "What is the ultimate object in the minds of Suffragettes'" I asked. "I>fc they intend to stand for Parliament ?"' "Xo one can stand, for she made answer, "unless they axe elected to do 60 by a number of people, and thea they won't get in unless they get • majority. If a man and a woman art Candida tee for the same seat, and tit ' woman is the better 'man' of the two, then there's every reason why she should get in." Which was one point I could agree with! The "Times" declares that interest .ir the womens movement has already beY gun to dwindle, through the dkgust ol many of its former supporters at tat methods now employed by suffragette*. So I asked Mrs. Take for her apiniai as to the prospects of her cause. "We grow stronger and stronger every, day, and the time is growing short no>w when we shall get what we that we are convinced." FED "BY FORCE.? The burning question of the present time—the compulsory feeding of the Trtt* men by hospital methods, when they» again, started a hunger strike—was CM. that, when discussed, roused Mis. Tuk« to a state of excited indignation. Sk« pointed with much enthusiasm to a let* ter in the "Timers," in which a doctof stigmatised the tube method of ifeedifl| as brutality when violent objection 2a offered to its use. I here interposed. "What did bhetf women intend tG be the outcome )i thffc hunger strike? The Government meiat to be severe in punishing what thej; considered a serious crime— ttoat of d* liberately trying to injure the Prime Minister and his supporters. Were thr women prepared to die of etaxvaUont" "Certainly not! They intended te force the Government to set them free as the other hunger strikers did before." It was somewhat unconvincing, sines if the prisoners Oibjected to being fed wita a tube they could have 'behaved quietly , , and so made the task lighter for themselves and the doctor and wardreSM* who had to give time to this particular method. Another hunger strike is not to be allowed, and would be no credit, to the country if it were, and that fact was made known; therefore the moee dignified attitude on the part of the women would undoubtedly have been to submit to that inevitable to which all must bow at times, and discover some nobler way in which to draw attention to their cause. It is all very well to say that "the Government thinks to batter down the last protest of the human spirit, by inflicting upon the bodies of these women the horrible outrage of tht gag and the feeding tube," a statement that at once is as ateurd as it is fcra-n* , parent. THE OUTLOOK. The gag is considered no outrage when it is used in a dentist's chair, and yet the two gags are precisely the same,, and are merely for keeping the mouth open, and the tube that is used is, ** everyone connected with a hospital knowe, a soft rubber one; the item oi news that is being circulated that persons put under this "treatment" hay« died, has been at once discredited by a London physician, who declares that such a result has been unknown. The whole outlook is distressing for •both men and women onlookers; many who were supporters of the movement have acknowledged that the latest methods employed by the suffragettes do not justify them in expecting the reasonableness and clear-headed judgment that would be necessary if these representa-. tives of the Women's Social and Politic** Union eventually became powers in W* land.