WOMEN AT WORK

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 83, 5 October 1914, Page 9

WOMEN AT WORK

CLOSING THE RANKS. SUFFRAGETTES CONCILIATED. ' (Fr.OU Ot/K OWN CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON, 20th August. One of the steps taken to conciliate all classes of the nation and to present a united front to the enemy was the release by His Majesty of all suffragist prisoners now in custody. In announcing the fact in. the Commons, Mr. M'Kennasaid : — "I have advised His Majesty to remit the remainder of the sentences of all persons now undergoing terms of imprisonment for crimes connected with the suffrage agitation. This course has been taken without solicitation on their part and without requiring any undertaking from them. I have also advised His Majesty to remit the sentences of all persons convicted of assaults and other offences in connection with recent strikes. His Majesty is confident that the prisoners of both classes will respond to the feelings- of their countrymen and countrywomen in this time of emergency, and that they may be trusted not to stain the causes they have at heart by any further cri,me or disorder. ' , THE WOMEN'S RESPONSE. The reply of the women to thia act of clemency was immediate. The W.S.P.U. decided, in view of the grave crisis in which t*he counti'y is involved, to suspend hostilities and activities for the time being, and most of the leading figures in the Suffragette world are already making themselves prominent in the various branches of women's work which war inevitably opens the way for. Miss Nina Boyle, head of the political and militant department of the Women's Freedom League, has written to the Home Secretary thanking the i King for his act/of conciliation, and adding ; " His Majesty's actipn. has given strength to the natural desire of my league to give all the public service in its power at this time of ceyere national strain." Tho first _ fruits of the new women's movement is the formation of a Women's i Emergency Corps, in- which -Miss Lena AshwelL. Miss Gertrude Kingston, and Miss Decima Moore are the leading spirits. This corps is preparing a i-01l of women — 2000 enrolled in a couple of days — who are specially qualified to assist in a dozen different ways. They engage to drive motors, to ride or drive horses, to take charge of horsea and stables, to take care of creches and kindergartens, to cook, to sew, to act aa clerks, distributing stores, interpret, and do various other services. The ranka are open to all women, all classes, and even anti-suffragists. The National Union of Women Suffrage Societies is also making a register for the mobilisation of 60,000 women for national service. Their work will be chiefly social, for the relief of distress, due to the war, The great problem of to-day is not to find willing helpers — for everybody in the country js keenly anxious to do something — but to direct the vast mas» of voluntary work into useful channels and to prevent overlapping.