Much pleasure was expressed at the report of Mrs. Staatsministerinde Qvam, president of the National Woman Suffrage Association of Norway, who said in beginning: "Since we met in Copenhagen taxpaying women in Norway have obtained full suffrage and eligibility to office by a vote of 96 to 23 in the Parliament. About 300,000 women have become entitled to vote. It is calculated that 200,000 are yet excluded, although the tax is very small.... The object of our association is suffrage for women on the same terms as for men. The men have universal suffrage. We therefore will continue our work until the women have gained this same right." Miss Eline Hansen gave an interesting report of winning the Municipal franchise in Denmark.
Woman Suffrage from a Christian Point of View was presented one afternoon by Mrs. Beelaerts von Blokland, chairman; Countess Anna von Hogendorp and Mr. Hugenholtz, all of the Netherlands; Mrs. Blauenfeldt, Denmark; Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch, United States. An address sent by Lady Frances Balfour was read by Mrs. C. H. Corbett, Great Britain; one sent by Mrs. Aline Hoffmann, Switzerland, was read by Miss Johanna W. A. Naber, Netherlands; one sent by Mme. Mangeret, France, was read by Mrs. Heineken-Daum, Netherlands. Greetings were given from the National Councils of Women of Germany and The Netherlands by their presidents, Mrs. Marie Stritt and Miss Elizabeth Baelde; from Great Britain, France, Belgium, Norway and Sweden by fraternal delegates, Mrs. Fawcett, Miss Cecile Cahen, Miss Ida La Fontaine, Miss Thea Holst, Dr. Lydia Wahlstrom; from national organizations by Mrs. Elna Munck, Denmark; Dr. Phil. Käthe Schirmacher, Germany; Miss Stepankova, Bohemia; Mrs. Lang, Austria; Miss K. Honegger represented the newly affiliated national association of Switzerland and Dr. Pateff and Miss Jenny Bojilowa that of Bulgaria. Most valuable reports were read from all the affiliated countries containing accounts of their political conditions and the status of the movement for woman suffrage, which were printed in the Minutes, filling over fifty pages.
The Resolutions Committee, Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, Miss Ashton and Mrs. van Loenen de Bores, reported strong resolutions, which were fully discussed and adopted. The last one was as follows: "Resolved, that the plain duty of women at the present hour is to secure the support and cooperation of all the forces favorable to woman suffrage, without question as to their political or religious affiliations; to avoid any entanglement with outside matters; to ask for the franchise on the same terms as it is now or may be exercised by men, leaving any required extension to be decided by men and women together when both have equal voice, vote and power."
The conference accepted with appreciation the cordial invitation of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies of Great Britain, extended through its president, Mrs. Fawcett, to hold its next meeting in London. At the public session on the last evening Mrs. van Itallie van Embden, Netherlands, spoke on the subject, Does the Wife, Mother and Homekeeper Need the Ballot? Mrs. Anna Kalmanovitch, Russia, on The Final Aim of the Woman Movement;, addresses were made by Mrs. Emilia Mariana, Italy; Mrs. Mirovitch, Dr. Wahlstrom and Dr. Shaw. Mrs. Catt gave the final words of farewell and the delegates parted in friendship to meet again as comrades in a great cause.
FIRST QUINQUENNIAL OF THE ALLIANCE.
The first Quinquennial and the Fifth Conference of the Alliance met in St. James Hall, London, April 26-May 1, 1909, with the president, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, in the chair. A cordial address of greeting was made at the first morning session by Mrs. Millicent Garrett Fawcett, president of the National Union of Women's suffrage Societies, the hostess of the guests from many nations. Preceding chapters have given an idea of the wide scope and the general character of these international meetings and the names of those who earliest represented their countries and their associations. Here at the end of the first five years the list of delegates and alternates filled four and a half printed pages and seventy-three fraternal delegates were present from forty-one different organizations; in addition there were speakers on the program who were not on these lists.
Among the organizations sending fraternal representatives, men and women of distinction, were International and National Councils of Women, Actresses', Artists' and Writers' Leagues, Women's Federation of the British Liberal Party, Conservative and Unionist Women's Franchise Associations, Men's Suffrage Leagues, Independent Labour Party, International Women's Socialist Bureau, Ethical Societies, Women's Trade Unions, Industrial Suffrage Societies, Women's National Press Association, Women's Agricultural Clubs, Fabian Society, National Committee against the White Slave Traffic—the list is almost endless. Naturally all wanted to be heard and how to permit this and leave any time for the regular proceedings of the convention became a serious question. The United States, Great Britain, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden sent their full quota of six delegates and six alternates. Five were present from Finland, six from Hungary and five from South Africa. The Government of Norway had sent as its official delegate Mrs. Staatsministerinde F. M. Qvam, president of the National Woman Suffrage Association. A National Association had now been formed in France and its secretary, Madame Jane Misme, brought its request for affiliation. A similar request was presented by Mlle. Daugotte, delegate from a new association in Belgium, and both were unanimously and joyfully welcomed.
At the first evening session the speakers were Mrs. Qvam, Miss Annie Furuhjelm, Finland; Mrs. Isabel May, New Zealand; Armitage Rigby, Isle of Man, all testifying to the good effects of woman suffrage in their respective countries, and Mrs. Catt delivered her president's address, a thorough review of the work of the Alliance. She said in part:
On a June day in 1904 the delegated representatives of seven National Woman Suffrage Associations met in a little hall in Berlin to discuss the practicability of completing a proposed International Union. At that date there were in all the world only ten countries in which woman suffrage organizations could be found. Those of you who were present will well remember the uncertainty and misgivings which characterized our deliberations. The doubting delegates questioned whether the times were yet ripe for this radical step; already over-taxed by the campaigns in their respective countries they questioned whether the possible benefits which might arise from international connection might not be over-balanced by the burden it would impose. There were delegates also who asked whether it was within the bounds of possibilities that suffragists could work together in harmony when they not only would represent differences of race and character but widely different stages of development of the movement itself. There were even more serious problems to be considered. Some of our associations were pledged to universal suffrage, some to Municipal, some to suffrage based upon a property or educational qualification. How could such differences, each defended as it was by intense conviction, be united in a common platform?... Yet despite all these obstacles, which at that time seemed to many well nigh insurmountable, our International Alliance was founded "for better or worse" and I think I may add "till death do us part."
Five years have passed away, prosperous, successful, triumphant years; prosperous, for we have known no quarrel or misunderstanding; successful, for the number of National Associations in our Alliance has more than doubled; triumphant, because the gains to our cause within the past five years are more significant in effect and meaning than all which had come in the years preceding. Indeed, when we look back over that little stretch of time and observe the mighty changes which have come within our movement; when we hear the reports of the awakening of men and women to the justice of our cause all the way around the world, I am sure that there is no pessimist among us who does not realize that at last the tide of woman's enfranchisement is coming in.
Mrs. Catt described the influence the Alliance had had in these changes and said: "We have been baptised in that spirit of the 20th century which the world calls Internationalism; it is a sentiment like love or religion or patriotism, which is to be experienced rather than defined in words. Under the influence of this new spirit we realize that we are not enlisted for the work of our own countries alone but that before us stretches the task of emancipating the women of the civilized world...." The brilliant Congress of Women held in Russia in spite of its reactionary government was described, and the women of Finland were urged not to be discouraged because the iron rule of Russia was again threatening their recently gained liberty. The progress in other European countries was sketched and the address then dealt unsparingly with the situation in Great Britain, where the women for years had organized and worked for the candidates of the political parties, and continued: