A thorough analysis was made of the present status of woman suffrage throughout the world and in summing up the speaker said: "Although from Occident to Orient, from Lapland to sunny Italy and from Canada to South Africa the agitation for woman suffrage has known no pause, yet, after all, the storm center of the movement has been located in England. In other lands there have been steps in evolution; in England there has been a revolution. There have been no guns nor powder nor bloodshed but there have been all other evidences of war.... Yet the older and more conservative body of workers have been no less remarkable. With a forbearance we may all do well to imitate, they quadrupled their own activities. Every class, including ladies of the nobility, working girls, housewives and professional women, has engaged in the campaign and not a man, woman or child has been permitted to plead ignorance concerning the meaning of woman suffrage."
Mrs. Catt reviewed at length the "militant" movement in Great Britain, showing how it had awakened interest in votes for women in all quarters of the globe, and recalled the struggle of the barons in wresting the Magna Charta from King John. She then passed to the United States and to the persistent charge that its experiment in universal male suffrage had been a failure, to which she replied: "Although the United States has gathered a population which represents every race; although among its people are the followers of every religion and the subjects of every form of government; although there has been the dead weight of a large ignorant vote, yet the little settlement, which 150 years ago rested upon the eastern shores of the Atlantic a mere colonial possession, has steadily climbed upward until today it occupies a proud position of equality among the greatest governments of the world.... The fact that woman suffrage must come through a referendum to the votes of all men has postponed it but man suffrage in the United States is as firmly fixed as the Rock of Gibraltar...."
In an eloquent peroration Mrs. Catt said: "Within our Alliance we must try to develop so lofty a spirit of internationalism, a spirit so clarified from all personalities and ambitions and national antagonisms that its purity and grandeur will furnish new inspiration to all workers in our cause. We must strike a note in this meeting so full of sisterly sympathy, of faith in womanhood, of exultant hope, a note so impelling, that it will be heard by the women of all lands and will call them forth to join our world's army."
The business sessions opened with all the officers present; over one hundred delegates and alternates from the now sixteen auxiliary countries; delegates sent by their governments and fraternal delegates from the International Council of Women, ten National Councils, seven non-affiliated national associations for woman suffrage and eleven national organizations in sympathy with it. Mrs. Catt introduced Mrs. Henry Dobson, sent by the Commonwealth of Australia; Miss Gina Krog, sent by the government of Norway; Dr. Romania Penrose, Mrs. Helen L. Grenfell and Mrs. Harriet Q. Sheik, appointed by the Governors of Utah, Colorado and Wyoming, U. S. A.
The following countries had their full quota of six delegates: Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, United States, and nearly all had six alternates. Russia had five delegates; Finland, Switzerland and South Africa two each; Italy, Bulgaria, Australia and Canada one each. Miss Chrystal Macmillan of Scotland represented the International Council of Women; Dr. C. V. Drysdale, the Men's League for Women's Enfranchisement of Great Britain; Mrs. Marie Lang, the Austrian Committee for Woman Suffrage; Miss Franciska Plaminkova and Miss Marie Stepankova, the Czechish Woman Suffrage Committee of Bohemia; Mrs. Alice M. Steele, New Zealand—the last three countries not yet affiliated. All kinds of organizations sent fraternal delegates, from the Union of Ethical Societies in London, whose delegate was Stanton Coit, their leader, to the Society of Peasant Women in Balmazujvaros, Hungary.
This was doubtless in many respects the most remarkable and important gathering of women ever assembled up to that time. English, French and German were adopted as the official languages. The wise and sympathetic management of Mrs. Catt convinced those of all nations that impartiality and justice would prevail without exception; a common bond united them; they learned that in all countries the obstacles to woman suffrage were the same and that in all women were oppressed by the inequality of the laws and by their disenfranchisement, and they understood the influence which could be exerted through an international movement. There were occasional misunderstandings on account of the varied parliamentary procedure in different countries and because of the necessity for interpreting much that took place but on the whole the delegates were satisfied. They had intense admiration for the great executive ability of their president and showed their confidence in her again and again.
Switzerland, Bulgaria and South Africa having announced through their delegates that their suffrage societies had united in national associations and desired to become affiliated, they were enthusiastically accepted. Mrs. Stanton Coit of London, the new treasurer, paid a tribute to her predecessor, Miss Rodger Cunliffe, who had died since the last conference. Mrs. Pedersen-Dan reported that 8,677 badges had been sold. Many interesting discussions took place during the morning and afternoon sessions of which one of the most valuable was on the methods of work for the suffrage pursued in the various countries. These methods included debates in schools and colleges, distribution of literature, petitions to the Parliament, circulating libraries, courses of lectures, house-to-house canvassing, protests against paying taxes, mass meetings to show the need of a vote in matters of public welfare. In nearly all countries the suffragists were taking political action, questioning candidates by letter and in person and in some places working for or against them. This was especially the case in Great Britain and Miss Frances Sterling and Miss Isabella O. Ford told of the successful work at by-elections, of having thousands of postal cards sent to candidates by their constituents, of appealing to the workingmen. A report of the speech of Miss Margaret Ashton, a member of the city council of Manchester, quoted her as saying that, though the president of a large body of Liberal women, she had decided that it was useless to work further for her party unless it would enfranchise women. Women had worked sixty years for this party and now, if they will gain their own liberty, they must refuse to lift hand or foot for it until it enfranchises them.
Mrs. Rutgers Hoitsema of the Netherlands told of the efforts made to have woman suffrage put in its new constitution; of winning six of the seven members of the Government Commission and of the request of the Prime Minister for favorable printed arguments. Miss Annie Furuhjelm said in her report for Finland: "We got our suffrage through a revolution, so we can not be an example for other lands as to methods. We can say, however, that we used all methods in our work. In 1904 we had a great public meeting for woman suffrage. We organized a 'strike' against the conscription for the Russian Army and we found the mothers interested in saving their sons. The Social Democrats had woman suffrage in their platform before 1905 but the leading men of Finland would not have helped the women to the suffrage if the women had not shown that they understood the public questions of the day and taken an active part in resistance to an unlawful régime." She told of the election of nineteen women to Parliament in 1907. Mrs. Zeneide Mirovitch said in her touching report: "The women of Russia have not been able to work as those in other countries do, for their members are often in danger of imprisonment or death. They have lecturers who travel about to hold meetings; they publish a review of the work of their Union; members of it have started clubs which carry on general work for women's betterment. They have sold very cheaply 10,000 suffrage pamphlets; they have a committee in St. Petersburg which watches the acts of the Douma and when a law is proposed which concerns women and yet fails to consider them, this committee reminds the members of their needs. It protests against the massacres and outrages when women are assaulted and tortured. Now during the reaction the Union is not permitted to work in any way."
Mrs. Dora Montefiore of England spoke in favor of "militant" methods. An invitation to send fraternal delegates had been declined by Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst for the Women's Social and Political Union of Great Britain, who said they had more important work to do. It had been accepted by Mrs. Despard, president of the Womens' Freedom League, who came with seven delegates. She explained that its methods consisted only of trying to enter the House of Commons, holding meetings near by, heckling Government candidates, refusing to pay taxes, chalking pavements, etc. Mrs. Cobden Sanderson and Mrs. Billington Greig made vigorous, convincing speeches and all were enthusiastically received. The congress adopted a resolution of "protest against the action of any government which classes the women suffragists imprisoned for agitation for the vote as common law-breakers instead of political offenders." It also expressed its "sympathy for the Russian women in their struggle demanding so much sacrifice and its profound respect for the women who under great trial do not hesitate to stand for their rights." A message was received with applause during one session that "the Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church has resolved unanimously to give a vote to women on the questions that have until now been submitted only to the men of the congregation."
The evening meetings were largely given up to addresses and at the one where Woman Suffrage in Practice was considered Mrs. Madge Donohue of Australia, spoke on An Experiment Justified; Mrs. Steele, New Zealand, Fifteen Years of Woman Suffrage; Miss Furuhjelm, A True Democracy. At another evening session Miss Fredrikke Mörck gave the Results of Woman Suffrage in Norway. In a symposium, Why Should Representative Governments Enfranchise Women? the speakers were Miss Ashton, Mrs. Minna Cauer, Germany; Miss Janka Grossman, Hungary; Mrs. Theo. Haver, Netherlands; Mrs. Louise Keilhau, Norway; Mrs. Frigga Carlberg, Sweden; Mrs. Olga Golovine, Russia; Mrs. A. Girardet, Switzerland; Miss Macmillan, Great Britain. Here as at nearly all of the public meetings Dr. Anna Howard Shaw made the closing speech, for if she was not on the program the audience called for her. Mrs. Münter gave an address on the Legal Position of Danish Women; Dr. Elizabeth Altmann Gottheiner, Germany, Does the Working Woman Need the Ballot? Mrs. Miriam Brown, Canada, Ideal Womanhood; others were made by Miss Rosika Schwimmer, Hungary, and Miss Stirling, Great Britain. An afternoon meeting for young people was addressed by Mrs. Millicent Garrett Fawcett, chairman; Mrs. Ann M. Holmgren, Sweden; Dr. Anita Augspurg, Mrs. Mirovitch; Miss Rendell, Great Britain; Miss Schwimmer; Mrs. Ella S. Stewart, United States.