YOUNG OXFORD AND WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 402, 11 January 1909, Page 3

YOUNG OXFORD AND WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE.

Perhaps the most famous debating club in the Empire is that of the Oxford Under- < graduates' 'Union. The list of men afterwards' prominent •in publio affairs who there ' made therr maiden speeches and won distinction on the floor is a long and.-brilliant oiie, but naturally no woman's ''name has e;|er appeared among them. Oxford owes much to women in the way of benefactions; one "of its proudest, i memories -is'that Elizabeth visited the University and was feted by the undergraduates, and to this day they treasure her,' royal barge-; and, coming to. less regal ;matters, it-is even: whispered that they are very proud of their'resident woman novelist, Mrs. t lthoda Broughtonj but very stern is Oxford still where women in general are concerned. He —it is reasonable to speak of the stiff o'd University as he—cherishes his privileges, and will not share, so one >can understand what the excitement must have'been when on Friday, November 20, a woman was allowed to speak in the weekly debate. The subject was the enfranchisement' of women, and the speaker was well worthy of the honour conferred upon her. Mrs. Fawcett is one of the most cultured women in England. ■ r t There was a record attendance of members, senior as well as junior. Sitting accommodation was quite inadequate, though the hall provides for 1100, and practically every foot of "the .carpet or matting with which tho floor of the house is covered was occupied, j also the steps of the presidential 'throne. Even then the doorway was thronged with men who could not get inside, and a contingent of about thirty went up to a background in the gallery reserved for/visitors, chiefly ladies. Mrs. Fawcett'walked into the hall behind the president, Mr. M. H. Richmond, of New College, and was followed by the other officers. She sat until her time came to speak on the right of the 'dais. , \ • ■, ' The question for debate, "That in the opinion of this house the time has come when the' Government ,should be urged to remove the electoral disabilities of women," was moved by Mr, R. A. Knox, of Balliol, a son of tho Bishop of Manchester, and the debate seems to havo been enlivened with the well-known jokes as arguments. It was'nearly ten o'clock before Mrs. Faw<Sett was called upon, and, with • only an occasional, glance at her notes, spoke -for rather more than forty minutes s in clear, well- \ modulated'tones, whioh were audible all over the House. After thanking the previous speakers for the kind things they had said ot her, she - proceeded to explain that though there were 1 many different suffrage societies, including a recently-formed Conservative As'aociation for Women's Suffrage, they all wanted the same thing, the vote on the same terms as it was or might be granted to men. She said we were governed by 'catchwords; there, was, for instance, the physical • force argument. The policeman at the door had been used by one speaker as. an argument against the motion when in fact he was an argument for it. He was paid by the citizens to enforce the law, and women paid for this as well as men, though not directly in so great a degree, but 'it was an illustration of the fact that menj though they Toted for the makers ,of the laws, did not go about enforcing them; they hired their physical force, and women could and did ■do that as well as men. If the franohiso were granted to women it would only'increase the voting power of tho nation by adding one and a half millions to the seven and a half millions already existent men roters, which need not alarm the most timid of the male sex. She represented the Na-_ tional Union of Women's Suffrage Societies," which prefers to work on constitutional methods, and appeals, not to violence, but to reason and commonsense. She then reviewed the change in the status of women in the last half-century, the social, industrial, , and educational advance which had been made, Five and a half millions were working as wage-earners, nou for the fun of the thing, bu,t through stern economic necessity; in fact, they were earning one-fifth of all 'the wages that were earned. , By their contributions to the funds of trade unions they help to support Members of Parliament, but they could not vote for them. A woman could be a mayor, and by virtue of that office was returning officer, but she could not record a Parliamentary vote. She spoke of 'the admission of women tovOxford and to the medical profession, recalling the times when the chivalrous male students of Edinburgh threw stones at the pioneer women' students,,and in a Parliamentay election the women, supposed not to know enough about politics te be able to vote, were called upon at once to.teach men how te vote. Sd far from the giving the Parliamentary vote being revolutionary, it would promote peace and, the general >well-beins of the whole community. Statesmen of all shades of political thought, from Lord Beaconsfield and Lord Salisbury to Mr. Haldane and- Mr. LloydGeorge, had spoken in favour of it, but they did nothing. She mentioned that Victoria, the only State of Australia where women had not the franchise, had just obtained it, and that it had also been granted hi .-■'■; Norway.- vThe thing: was: going 'to vbeaccomi.';, plished;.. theyv; could'riot, stop: 'it, but -they .'.■'.'-• , ;;iM^t. ; g'ni"de-4t, , 'and.'if.:'thex;-''di.a'i''-let , thern: ■■':': guide it iir ,a course .which -was jiist'. arid :.'. ■Tea'soriabl6;.;let; them -help_ women .to get :it ,;, in:a;:wiiy;;worthy/ of 'th'eiiv'couritry and; of ;'■-.-- .the'fflseiyes: : :.;'As;:sb6n; - as ;Mrs. Fawcett. had i' finishedjhei;:speech,: which with ; : .. vooifero'us applause,- ■ the division was .taken, ; and .after v tbe;; tellers had made;, their calcu-' ; lations the president announced .that the ; -votes ,'weroj 329 for.' the'-.■■■;.motion ■and.36o ; '"■ ' against, so : that .'lt -was : . lost ;by a. majority :"; of v3li.;. The :result : ;was great " .cheers and' cpunterrcheers; aridVhissesV"- : . "• : ; ... ; iiifrratitnde'.it is to be sighing for -the mis-;tral-driven-: shores of the Gulf, of Lyons, and ■ the.tiring journey, when v 6 have at our very '.:■■' doors;a Riviera of-'pur own;--"Hearth' : :and: ;; -Horhe. , ''\-f''-.-:;^:>^'";'::;;: : ' : - v -:;6 : :^- : ':V; ■•:■'••:■■■ .Few'motorists, aro to be.found in prisons. . Whj;,. then; ..this habit: • which | so : many' .of .',.::■ them. contracted,'of niniiing like: fright- ;'•■■'.: eßcd rabbits', fromi the scone of.an .■>: : ;:;"Snn,?' -. ■',- >^v'-;'^.i;{'';.\':; ! .' 7 ■ ■: '.'Throw:physic to. the dogs" is a courso.iiat: ' ..miftht.wiselyibe 'i.pu'rsned by : Bbeumatic sub-. .Ejects, - who" irijriije .themselves, by taking. noi- : ; . trums whici; profess! to relieve /every kind of! ■ •!, ill.'•; -The oily;method',of Cure! for Bheuinatism,; ■:. ;•;-.Lumbago, jCWnt,/ and Sciatica, is to clear.the .Wood .of/uric; acid,: and EHEDMO. Las'. ■JureJ: . .- thousands ; 'of ,sufferers! ■ .:' All■'•: Chemists ; and^ ■"' :.;■.;.:,- ,!- ; . :,i, !:- .In-spite : of what "pessimists ,say,,,l ;:< . ;.. ':. -'■"■. . .Science'holds all disease's at bay,; i. .. -:.-.■ , ■■'■•:;....; And jiiine>jte'ntlis of! our ills: ; .: : . : -' : ;-...'■-,'■.-■ ! Can -be! treated! by pills, _. ; ~-;.';;. .■:!- '; ' ! ; L'axd-Tonic?iS'.leading the way.'.. :; . : ; :}[. : XASO-TONIC PILLS, lOJd: andls. 6d. ", 19