xt70rx937t9n_419 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt70rx937t9n/data/mets.xml https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt70rx937t9n/data/46m4.dao.xml unknown 13.63 Cubic Feet 34 boxes, 2 folders, 3 items In safe - drawer 3 archival material 46m4 English University of Kentucky The physical rights to the materials in this collection are held by the University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.  Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Laura Clay papers Temperance. Women -- Political activity -- Kentucky. Women's rights -- Kentucky. Women's rights -- United States -- History. Women -- Suffrage -- Kentucky. Women -- Suffrage -- United States. Common Cause text Common Cause 2020 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt70rx937t9n/data/46m4/Box_31/Folder_2/Multipage18488.pdf 1910 1910 1910 section false xt70rx937t9n_419 xt70rx937t9n , Tm; COMMON CA USE, JULY 7. 1910 4 _ ' _ V >
4 - Red, White and Green!
Pass the Bill !

The Common Cause.

The Organ. of the Women’s Movement for Reform.

VOL. II. No. 65. E°§§2$§§§£ JULY 7, 1910.

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WOMAN AT THE OPEN DOOR.
“Mr. Asquith has left the door ajar, and he knows it.

'—~='and its. hinges are way with prejudice and cant We must use a]
Queen’s Hall, June 28, 1910.)

It is for us to throw ourselves aoamst the door—a hemfy door
1 our strength and afi our sense.”-—(Mrs. Fachtt,

 

  

198 ‘ THE COMMON CAUSE.

i The News of the Week.

Democratic Methods.

The policy of the National Union of \Vomen’s Suffrage
Societies is meeting its reward. That policy has been
based upon a firm belief in representation and education.
To educate the electors, that they may understand the
justice and urgency of women’s need for the vote, equally
with,——nay even more than men ; to induce the electors
to put pressure upon Members of Parliament; to induce
Members and Candidates to pledge themselves publicly
to our cause; to help our friends to get into the House
and to try to .keep our enemies out ,- these have been the
methods of the National Union, and we have steadily
pursued them. Ever since 1867 propaganda has been
carried on, and about five years ago a determined effort
was made to bring the question more vividly before the
electors. At the General Election of 1906 a large number
of promises were made, but subsequent events proved that
there had not yet been propaganda enough, that many
of the pledges were not public enough, and that the ele0~
tors were not yet awake to the urgency and intensity of
the women’s demand. Since then the National Union
has intervened in every by-election, and at the General
Election of 1910 secured the favourable mention of
lVome-n’s Suffrage in 255 election addresses and pledges
from over 400 sitting Members. In addition to this, the
Electors’ Petition, work-ed partially in about one—third
of the constituencies, revealed an enormous amount of
support for the enfranchisement of women ratepayers,

the number of signatures being over 290,000. It is all

this hard work which has filled the House of Commons
with a majority of Suffragists, and which will make them
feel that, in voting for the women and in pressing for
further facilities they will indeed be voicing the electors,
—~will, in truth, be acting democratically,

Progress of the Bill.

Lord Robert Cecil not only spoke at the reception of
the Conservative and Unionist \Vomen’s Franchise Asso-
ciation last week, but wrote. a. letter to the. “ Times ” on
the 30th, in which he said that if Mr. Shackleton’s Bill
were taken on an early day (which it will be), and the
House pass the second reading, the Bill will " automati-
cally go to a Grand Committee. , The only further stages
in the House itself would be those of reportand third
reading, and it has yet to be prov-ed that time could not
be found to dispose of those stages before the holidays.

. Whatever opinion may be held 011 the subject,
the Suffrage is a question of first importance. If the Bill
is defeated or amended by the Legislature after debate,
no one has any right to complain.- But if the Bill is
stifled by the exercise of Parliamentary “ tactics ” on the
part of his Majesty’s Ministers, that is a substitution of
the will of the Cabinet for the will of the House of Com-
mons, and is as unconstitutional as it is provocative to
those who feel deeply on the subject.”

It is stated that Lord Hugh Cecil is also prepared to
vote for the Bill, and Mr. Arthur Balfour and Mr.
Lyt-tleton are other distinguished ConservativeSuffragists.

 

While there’s Life there’s Hope.

\Vith the promise of an autumn session, the possibility
of the drawing out of suspense is increased. The _Bill,
when it has passed its second reading, will then. be
referred to Committee, and it is for our friends to see that
it is a Grand Committee, and not a Committee of the
whole House, for that means death. Then, with the
granting of the small amount of time necessary for the
further stages, the ”Bill should be sent up to the Lords
‘ before the summer recess. But politicians are slow with
non—party questions,‘ and they may choose to drag out
the stages into the autumn session. If there is time then
it- is no great matter; but woe be-tide them should they
tell us then that there is no time! For there is time
now; as our readers will see, under Parliamentary News,
the House is rising early, night after night. Members
of Parliament “have no work to do,” and it would be
a kindness to give them employment, ’

JULY 7, 1910.

More Support for the Bill.’

Speaking at a Labour demonstration in Blackburn on
the 25th, Mr. Shackleton, M.P., said that “despite all
that had been said by the Prime Minister and others, he
knew of no good or sufficient reason why the Bill shtiuld
not become law this session.”

Resolution for Trafalgar Square.

The following resolution will be put on the 9th:—
“ That this meeting calls upon all Members of Parlia-
ment to vote for the Second Reading of Mr. Shackleton’s
Bill, and to secure its passing through all its stages in
the House of Commons this session.”

Among the speakers will be Mrs, Allan Bright, Mrs.
Cooper, Miss I.- 0. Ford, Mrs. Philip Snowden, Miss
Sterling, Mrs. Ayres Purdie, Miss Chrystal Macmillan,
Dr. Elsie Inglis, Miss lVlargaret Robertson, and, it is
hoped. Dr. Anna Shaw.

The Divorce Commission.

Mrs. E. T. Swanwick gave evidence before the Divorce
Commission last week. She held that the civil contract of
marriage should be concerned only to encourage mono-
gamy in the interests of the children and of family life.
“Then, therefore, infidelity on the part of either or both
of the partners could not be followed by divorce, the
law actually encouraged polygamy. She advocated com—
pulsory civil marriage and the extension of the facilities
for divorce, believing that this would work in the direc—
tion of a decrease of immorality. The double standard
was unjust and immoral; it was injurious to motherhood,

and constituted a danger to single women. Mrs. Swan-

wick put in a plea for the representation of women on
juries and the magisterial bench, and said that until
women were allowed to practise as lawyers and“ more
opportunities were given to women to practise as doctors,
women generally were at a great disadvantage. The
whole tendency of modern law and administration was to
put married women more and more at the mercy of their
husbands by taking away their means of earning. Mar—
riage and motherhood were held to be the chief end of
women’s existence; yet the one might- be defiled and the
other imperill-ed with impunity under the present law.
She deprecated the consideration of divorce as a
“ punishment ”,' she was thinking of the race.

Dr. Massie and his late Constituents.

Speaking at Bristol last Friday, Mrs. Snowden referred
to Dr. Massie’s boast that his late conStituents did not
care about \Vomen’s Suffrage. The working men of
Swindon had, she said, invited her, through their Trades
Council, to speak to them, and over 2,000 of them had
greeted with ringing cheers her scathing criticisms of Dr.
Massie’s anti-sulfragism.

The Anti-Suffragists.

A great effort is being made by the Anti-Suffrage
Leagues tow“ pack ” (in their own naive language) a
meeting in the Queen’s Hall on the 11th. They have a
difficult task to perform, for, true to their well—known
methods, they call it a public meeting, and then refuse
to sell tickets, to any but their supporters. They even
postulate that tickets given away by them should not be
transferred. . .

In the House an Anti-Suffrage Committee has been
formed, whose whippis Mr. Arnold Ward; it is said that
they have found among the Unionists 99 unfavourable
to the Bill, 64 favourable, and 29 doubtful. "What price

that? Lord Cromer has been congratulating Mr. '7

Asquith on his “moral courage.” One wonders how Mr.
Asqulth enjoys it. Sir F. Banbury took the. chair at a

. recent Anti-Suffrage meeting of Members. We wish

them joy of their-distinguished lead-er,

 

 

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JULY 7, 1910.

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Contents. . Pm

News of the Week ................................... 198
The Present Situation ................................ 199
[he Open Door ...................................... 199
A Democratic Measure ................................ 200
In Parliament ........ ‘ ................................ 201
Memorial of Members of Parliament ................ 201
National Union of VVomon’s Suffrage Societies:—

Parliamentary Situation ........................ 205

Treasurer's Notes ................................ 20-1

Bristol Council .................................. 204
Men's. League .......................................... 206
Foreign News .: ........................................ 207
An Ode ............................... ~ ................ £208
ltevieWS ........... . .................................... 208
Correspondence ........................................ 209
Reports of Societies .............. ' .................... 210
Forthcoming Meetings ................................ 211

 

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The Present Situation.

It Shows an immense advance in the Suffrage cause that
the Government has consented to give two days of Govcrn~
ment time for the debate on the second reading of Mr.
Shackleton’s Bill. ‘

But let there be no shouting until we are out of
the wood. The enemies of XVomen’S Suffrage in
Parliament will do their best to strangle the Bill
on the second reading. They will persuade such
Liberals as are easily led astray, that they must-'Opposc
the Bill because it is “ undemocratic ”,' and in the same
breath they will persuade weak-kneed Conservatives that
they should oppose the Bill because it is “ democratic.”

Every nerve, every fibre of our strength will be needed
to make the debate and divisibn on the second reading
what they ought to be. I repeat what I said at the
Council meeting, that our policy is to concentrate on one
thing at a time. \Vo have got the early day for which
last week we were pressing. \Vc- must now set our whole
strength to the task of bringing about a good division on
the second reading and a further good division in favour
of sending the Bill to a Grand Committee and not to a
Committee of the whole House, A Committee of the-
who-le House was the grave of Mr. Stanger’sBill. We
will have no. more of that.

The autumn session is another advantage to us, for that
takes away the last shred of the excuse of want of time.
The growing conviction that the General Election cannot
be postponed beyond next- January is another point in our
favour. Members of all parties will think twice before
they take a course which will thoroughly disalfect many
of the most active and strenuous of their women sup-
porters, and give an enormous encouragement to the
winning 0f VVOIHBH’S Suffrage candidates. The National
Union demonstration in the support of Mr, Shackleton’s
Bill, which is to be held in Trafalgar Square next- Satur-

THE COMMON CAUSE. 199

day, at 3 o’clock, will Show what the National Union
can do in’ the way of a single week’s work. I" urge our
members in all the Societies to put everything on one
side and join the demonstration, and thus open the eyes
of the blind and the ears of the deaf to the needs Of unre-
presented womanhood. '

MILLICENT GARRETT FAWCETT.

v

The Open Door.

The Prime Minister’s statement of the proposed order
of business, made on the afternoon of the 30th, caused
the most tremendous relief. It had seemed to many of
us incredible that? a Liberal Prime Minister should
actually slam the door in the: face of a majority of his
own party and, of his own initiative, put a veto on his
own House, while endeavouring to stir up feeling in the
country against the veto of the» Upper House. We had
his statement on the 23rd that “ the Government recog-
nize that the House ought to have opportunities, if that
Is their deliberate desire, for effectively dealing with the
whole question,” and we took it that. this really meant
something. On the other hand, there was the further
statement that they could not “ afford further facilities
to the Bill this session,” and that the second reading
would not be taken at an early date. Suffragists all
knew that, unless there. was to be an autumn session
(which, as far as the lifetime of a Bill is concerned,
counts as part of the same session), there would certainly
iot be time for the remaining stages of the Bill if the
second reading were not taken soon. Further, they
knew that only by the granting of “ further facilities ”—~
that is to say, Government time-—could the Bill pass its
remaining stages. Therefore the one thing needful was
to press for an early date and for further facilities.

The Conciliation Committee addressed themselves
whole-hcartcdly to this task, and, with the enthusiastic
aid of the Suffrage Societies, secured the signatures of
196 Members. of Parliament to a Memorial to the Prime
Minister. We give elsewhere the names of the
Memorialists, and we would urge that not only the Con-
ciliation Committee, but these 196 gentlemen deserve
the warm thanks of Suffragists for this efiort. It may
seem a small thing to some women that men should ask
merely that a few days should be given by Parliament to
the consideration Of a question for which women have
worked for forty years. But we must remember that in
the complexity of interests and the cross-currents of
political parties, any question which tends to cut across
parties may seem to weaken the causes which the electors
and therefore the-I Members have. at heart. We know,
of course, that nothing could more surely sap the con-
fidence and the enthusiasm Of a party whose watchword
is Reform, than the suspicion that, after all, the leaders

I of the party did not care about ideals or principles in

the very least, and we know that it would rend the party
from top to bottom if the foundations were to crumble,
as indeed they will, should the my of the women be
smothered. But the meaner sort Of politician is not far-
sighted , he has no real faith in human nature; he thinks
great causes can be won or lost by chicanery and wire—
pulling and dishonesty. The “ Spectator ” apparently
thinks that such men are in the majority and that their
counsels will prevail. We hope, and We have good cause
to hope, that this is not so. We know that, even if such
counsels did prevail for a time, they could not per—
manently defeat our great and irresistible march. They
could delay it ; they could cause waste of effort, agony of
mind, bitterness of spirit; they could emphas1ze the sense
of loneliness which comes over women when they find. men
who cannot see the beauty of their vision of equality—
men who would make freedom a privilege for one half of
the race, not a condition necessary for the full develop-
ment of the whole. Stupid, 'cruel, tyrannous 'chIldren
we women held such men to be. VVero we to flunk they
were actually in the majority? We knew they were not.
W ere the majority of right-minded men to be, then, so
feeble and uncertain that they would allow themselves to
be muzzled and overridden by a reactionary minorlty?
We hoped not. These 196 Mcn'ibers have shown Mr.

 

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200 . _ THE. COMMON VCAUSE.

Asquith that besides all the men who are pledged to vote
for us in the House, there is a very considerable section
who regard further delays as unstatesmanlike, and who
desire a speedy settlement. .

The situation now is that the debate on the second
reading will take place on the 11th and pessibly 12th
July, and the vote then registered will determine the
further fate of the Bill. \Ve of the National Union have
no fear ; we have worked so hard and so steadily to fill
the House with our friends; we have so educated the
electors to support us; we have so built from the bottom
up, in honesty of purpose and moderation of_ argument,
in faith, in hope and in charity, that we submit our cause
with joy to the free arbitration of the House. \Ve
have always felt that men would, when they once under—
stood, be glad to give us freedom with both hands, and
with all our hearts we wish it to be so. '

In previous debates, held as they always have been in
the fragments of time allotted to private Members, the
best gift a friend could give us was that of a silent vote,
lest in his ardour he should help the enemy to “ talk
out ” the Bill. The Anti-Suffragists made most of the
speeches, and by the nature of them did, perhaps, the
best service to the women’s cause. Now the question is
no longer “academic.” A. vote will be taken, and a
vote that will matter enormously. We have had a
majority of 179 for the Bill “ on the same terms as
men.” But that, said our enemies, was merely academic.
\Vhat will this vote be? Enough, we hope and believe,
to make the necessary further stages a certainty.

For there is to be an autumn session, This is the
best of news for us. If the House rises too soon to accom-
plish the Committee, Report, and Third Reading before
the recess, there will be time between November and
Christmas to complete these stages. It is'for us to see
that they are completed. How?

There is no motto more. useful for every—day life than
“ It’s dogged as does it.” Enthusiasm is good, fire is
needed to keep us going, but steady, wise and continuous
work is what tells in the long run. \Ve are now seeing
the value of organization and decentralization. A net--
work of Societies all over the country, composed largely
of people of weight and standing in their own district,
can put that sort of pressure upon Members which must
and should count for much. ‘N e can now, also, keep
the whole country informed of what does actually happen
and of its meaning; we rely no longer on a Press mainly
interested in keeping us and our demand in the back—
ground. Silence must kill a great popular movement.
\Ve must see to it that every stage in this struggle is
thoroughly explained to the country. Politicians and
newspapersmay say the question has not been “ before
the country ”; the people know better. \Vomen have
put it before the country as no other question has ever
been put and women will see to it that the country shall
follow every step of the fight and shall not be deceived.

We do not fear the light. The more the people know
of our demand, the more they are with us. The country
watches with intense interest the issue of the vote to be
taken next week in the House. A tremendous muster of

”Members is expected. Then, ours will be the duty of

carrying on the propaganda in the country so that
further stages may be a necessity and this great demo—
cratic struggle may be brought to a peaceful and
triumphant conclusion.

 

A-A
V'v

A Democratic Measure.

_ The question of the enfranchisement of women has at
last entered the sphere of practical politics—so much is
conceded even by its opponents. The second reading of
the Bill to enfranchise women occupiers is fixed for July

, 11th and 12th, and we begin to ask ourselves what prac-

tical objections can be. raised against it. The text of the
Bill is given elsewhere. ,

It will be seen at once that whereas a man may claim
to be placed on the register in respect of property,
occupation, residence, lodging, service or University
qualification, under this Bill women may claim in respect
of occupation only.

JULY 7, 1910-

An “. occupier ” is a person who uses his or, her
premises as a dwelling-house or as a place of business, and
for the. purposes of voting "the clear yearly value must be
not less than £10. Joint occupation qualifies for the

Parliamentary vote except in the case of husband and ‘

wife. . ~

It is worthy of note that the only objection made to
the Bill by those who profess to support the principle of
\Vomen’s Suffrage is that it is not sufficiently “demo-
Cratic.” \Ve may, therefore, assume that this question
will be raised in the debate on the 11th and 12th, in 'so
far as the time is not occupied by Anti-Suffragist
speeches, with whose tenour we are so familiar that we
will not comment on them here. The question as to
whether this Bill is, or is not, “ democratic ” is, on the
contrary, extremely interesting; to answer it, it is neces—
sary to understand exactly what is meant by the word,
and it is obvious from the utterances of various poli-
ticians that they believe it to mean very different things.

We suggest the following amongst some of the
meanings :—

To be democratic is :—

(1) To vote with the party of the person using the
word.

(2) To act in accordance with the supposed wishes of
the working classes.

(3) To act in accordance with the wishes of persons
with small incomes.

(4) To carry out the wishes of the present electorate;
and ‘

(5) (This is the meaning assigned to the word by the
dictionary) To insist on equal rights and privileges for
all.

Now it is quite clear that when Mr. Asquith talks
about being democratic he is not using the word in the
dictionary sense, as he has never even pretended to insist
on equal rights and privileges for all. As far as we
can gather, he means rather that he is concerned about
the wishes of persons with small incomes and with the
wishes of the present electorate.

In respect of both these classes, the present Bill is
calculated to satisfy him and others who use the word
democratic in the same sense. The large majority of
the women enfranchised will undoubtedly be persons with
small incomes; and though it is easier to appreciate the
inconvenience of a small income than the saving grace
it bestows upon its possessor, we submit that if a small
income is a qualification for the vote, then the women
householders will stand the test. V

011 this point we have definite statistical evidence.
It has been quoted before, but it is worth while to quote
it again ; and in this connection it may be mentioned in
passing that one of the merits of this Bill is that the
status of the women it proposes to enfranchise can be
determined pretty "exactly.

Miss Clara Collett has made an exhaustive inquiry
into the social status of the women occupiers in London,
which she summarises as follows:—

Occupied in trade or business .................. 51 per cent.
Housew1ves only, without servants ....... 38 ,, ,,
,, ,, with one servant ......... 5 , ,, ,,
,, ,, With 2 or more servants 6 ,, ,,
100

An inquiry has also been made by the I.L.P. as to
the number of women belonging to the working classes
on the municipal register in fifty towns, and their returns
show that the percentage of working women voters is
82'5. This proves pretty conclusively that not only are
the majority of women occupiers persOns with small
incomes, but that considerably more than half of them
belong to the working class, and so a measure which
would enfranchise them is found to satisfy yet another
interpretation of the word “ democratic.”

To take another and very widespread use of the word—-
“ to act in accordance with the wishes of the present
electorate ” ; in this sense it would be impossible to frame
a VVomen’s Suffrage Bill of a more democratic nature
than this one. These members of [the National Union

 

 

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JULY ’1', 1910.

of Women’s Suffrage Societies who stood outside polling
stations day after day last January asking electors to sign
their petition know very well that the electors of this
country are willing that women who pay rates and taxes
should be enfranchised, but the majority are still opposed
to Adult Suffrage. If our legislators thinkit would be
good for them to thrust Adult Suffrage upon them, that is
quite another question, and Women Sufi‘ragists are ready
to meet them on that ground, too. But the fact remains
that if it is democratic to maintain that the will of the
electorate shall prevail, then the proper course for the
democrat with respect to \Vomen’s Suffrage is quite
clear. '

There remains lastly the small number of persons who
do genuinely believe that to be democratic is “ to insist
upon equal rights and privileges for all,” and who object
to this Bill because all women are not included in its
scope. We would ask them whether it is not more truly
democratic to take at least one step towards the exten—
sion of those rights and privileges (especially towards
their extension to a whole sex which has been deprived
of political rights) rather than to sacrifice a present gain
to a very uncertain hope of something better in the “ dim

and speculative future.”
K. D. COURTNEY.

 

A‘~
V'v

In Parliament.

The Accession Declaration Bill.
This Bill to amend the wording of the Declaration

'made by a new Sovereign upon his accession, was brought

in and read a first time on the» 28th. The new Declara-
tion is to safeguard the Protestant succession, but to leave
out the qualifications of the Roman Catholic religion as
“ blasphemous ” and “ idolatrous.” In the course of the
debate Mr. Belloc suggest-ed that “unless a Catholic
member for a Protestant constituency voiced Catholic
opinion in these matters, that opinion would not be repre—
sented at all.” Strange, how he can see that Catholics
need a. Catholic to voice their opinion and yet cannot
see that women need women! That he and other
Catholics feel insulted when they are classed wit-h
blasphemers and idolators, and have“? not the intelligence
to understand that women feel insulted when they are
classed with criminals, children, and lunatics.

Women's Suffrage.

On the 29th Mr. Ellis (Rushclifi'e) asked the Prim-e
Minister whether, having regard to his acknowledgment
on the 23rd inst. with respect to the Parliamentary ‘Fran-
chise (Women) Bill that the circumstances are excep—
tional, he would fix a reasonably early date for its second
reading. -

To this Mr, Asquith replied that he would deal with
the matter in his usual statement next day, and he made
no reply to the facetious knight, Sir G. D. Rees, who
asked whether the right hon. gentleman would consider
the suggestion that the Greek Kalends would be an
appropriate date.

Next day Mr. Asquith made his promised statement,
in the course of which he said :——“ The Government have
thought it their duty, as we are now at the end of June,
to make a careful survey of the work which has to be
got through before the prorogation and the time available
for it,‘the necessary business of course being increased in
volume by the demise'of the Crown. \Ve find that if the
House were to sit on continuously there is no prosPect
of its accomplishing its task at the earliest before the end
of August. In these circumstances, and in view of the
fact that with the interval of the General Election the
'House has been sitting for the best part of eighteen
months, we have come to the conclusion that the best
course will be to adjourn at. the end of July, or at the
latest the first week in August, until a date some time in
November. There are certain measures, such, for
instance, as the Regency Bill, the Civil List Bill, the

' Census Bills, and. the Judicature Bill, which must be dis-

posed of. before weadjourn. Others, such as the later
stages of the Budget, possibly thelater stages of the
Accession Declaration Bill, the Bill for the removal of the

THE COMMON _ CAUSE. 201

pauper disqualification for old—age pensions, and the
Naval Prize Bill, we should propose to take after the
adjournment. ” >
And he concluded with these words :—“ I may perhaps
state, for the convenience of the House, that we propose
to give Monday, July 11, and, if the promoters desire it,
Tuesday, July 12, to the second reading of the Parlia-

mentary Franchise (Women) Bill. (Laughter and

cheers)”
The Time of the House.

The House rose on the 27th June at 11.5 p.m. ; on the
28th at 7.40 p.m. ; on the 29th at 11.10 p.m. ,2 on the 30th
at 10.10 p.m.; and on the lst July at 3.45 p.m.

A-A

Members’ Memorial to the Prime
Minister. /

Last week a memorial was drawn up by the Concilia—
tion Committee, calling upon Mr. Asquith to grant
facilities for Mr. Shackleton’s Bill. This memorial was
successful in impressing Mr. Asquith with the import-
ance which the House attributed to the Bill, and led to
his reply on the 30th. The text was as follows: “ The
undersigned members of the House of Commons, believ—
ing that the present session offers a unique opportunity
for the passage of a Women’s Suffrage measure, beg to
record their desire that facilities be granted to Mr.
Shackleton’s Bill.”

It was signed by 196 gentlemen; 30 out of 40 of the
Labour party signed it, with Mr. Barnes at their head.
The chairman of the Welsh group, Sir Alfred Thomas,
and several distinguished members of the Irish party also

signed. The full list is as follows :—

Abraham, W. (“Mabon”) (Lab, Glamorgan, Rhonddu
Valley); Abraham, \V. (N., Dublin, Harbour); Adam,
Major W. A. (0., VVoolwich); Addison, Christopher,
M.D., F.R.C.S. (L., Shoreditch, Hoxton); Ainsworth,
John Stirling (L., Argyllshire); Alden, Percy (Lab,
Middlesex, Tottenham); Arbuthnot, Gerald A. (0., Burnley);
Atherley-J ones, L. (L., Durham, North-‘Vest); Attenborough,
Walter A. (0., Bedford); Baker, J. Allen (L., Finsbury, East);
Barclay, Sir Thomas (L., Blackburn); Barlow, Sir John
Emmott, Bart. (L., Somerset, Frome); Barnes, George Nicoll
(Lab, Glasgow, Blackfriars); Barrie, Hugh T. (0., London—
derry, North); Barton, William (L., Oldham); Bathurst,
Charles (0., Wilts, S.—W'ilton); Bentham, George Jackson
(L., Lines, VV.—Gainsborough); Bethell, Sir John Henry (L.,
Essex, Romford); Boland, John P. (N ., Kerry, South);
Bowerman, C.VV.. (Lab, Deptford); Brace, \Villiam (Lab,
Glamorganshire, 8.); Brady, Patrick J. (N., Dublin, St.
Stephen’s Green); Brigg, Sir John (L., Yorkshire, W.R.,
Kelghley); Bull, Sir \Villiam (0., Hammersmith); Burt1 Rt.
Hon. Thomas (L., Morpeth); Buxton, Charles Roden (L.,
Devon, Mid——Ashburton); Buxton, Noel E. (L., Norfolk,
North); Cameron, Robert (L., Durham, Houghton-le-Spring);
Carr—Gomm, Hubert William Culling (L. , Southwark, Bother-
h'ithe)