No more eminent group of women speakers ever appeared before an audience than those who spoke in the Royal Opera House of Stockholm on the second evening of the convention. Mrs. Catt presided and addresses were made by Miss Westermarck, Dr. Augspurg, Mrs. Snowden, Miss Schwimmer, Dr. Shaw and Sweden's best beloved Selma Lagerlöf. The last named moved the audience to tears during her address on Home and State by her impassioned plea for the enfranchisement of women. It was said by delegates from the various countries who had attended many of these international gatherings that this meeting surpassed all others. Another which differed from all that had gone before was the great gathering in Skansen, the magnificent park, where at 7 o'clock, from two platforms, noted speakers from ten countries addressed an audience of thousands. A dinner followed in the park house, Högenloft, with fine music, and then in the open air the visitors saw the famous national dances and processions by the young people in the picturesque costumes of the country.
Although the official languages of the Alliance were French, German and English a crowded meeting was held one evening in the People's House with the speeches in the northern tongues, understood by all the Scandinavian people. It was opened by Mayor Lindhagen, an ardent advocate of woman suffrage. At another session the Woman Question in the Russian Parliament was considered by the noted woman leader, Dr. Shiskin-Yavein; the Suffrage Outlook in Bohemia by Miss Maria Tumova, recent candidate for Parliament; the Future of South African Women by Miss Nina Boyle. A special meeting was held one afternoon in the hall of the Young Women's Christian Association. Mrs. Marie Stritt, Germany; Mme. Maria Verone, France, and Miss Macmillan were appointed to compile a pamphlet of information about woman suffrage in all lands to be used for propaganda work.
A delegate from the United States, Professor Mary Gray Peck, officially connected with its national suffrage headquarters, gave the following description in a letter to the press:
The ball room of the Grand Hotel where the meetings were held is a palatial apartment, its walls richly gilded and adorned with long mirrors between the windows, while from the ceiling hang great crystal chandeliers, which were always lighted while the congress was in session. The platform for officers and distinguished guests was placed between gilded pillars at one end of the hall, draped and canopied with the national colors of Sweden, blue and yellow, and the international suffrage colors, yellow and white. Then there is the memory of other places where the delegates assembled, the ancient State Church, with its reminder of St. Paul's in London; the splendid Academy of Music, with the heraldic banners of the nations suspended around the gallery; the Royal Opera House with its tiers of balconies and the rising of the curtain to show the beautiful stage picture of the speakers and the arch of flowers beneath which they spoke; the Moorish court in the Royal Hotel, where the reception was held, with the delightful Birgitta cantata, recalling the heroic in Swedish womanhood; the open air meeting at Skansen with the native songs and dances; the farewell in the garden at Saltsjöbaden, given by the Stockholm society; the peasant singing and the wonderful ride back to the city by late northern twilight and moonlight together.
The closing speech of the congress made by the international president at the close of the dinner at Saltsjöbaden was something indescribable. She stood on a balcony facing the sunset sky and blue sea, with pine trees forming an amphitheater in the background. It was like a triumphant recessional, with benediction for the past and challenge for the future, and when the speaker descended from the balcony and went down to the boat landing followed by the singing of the peasants, the crowd divided, leaving a wide path, and stood gazing after her as though she were too imperial to be followed by anything but music.
On the Sunday following the congress an excursion was arranged on beautiful Lake Malaren to the ancient Castle of Gripsholm, where evening dinner was served. The city council and the State railways financially assisted the Entertainment Committee. At all of the Alliance congresses the social entertainments were a marked feature. The hospitality was boundless and each country had its historic places and beautiful resorts which differed so much from those of all others as to give them an indescribable charm and interest. Following is part of the report of this one by Mrs. Anna Lindemann, secretary of the Alliance:[224]
The official entertainments were most appropriately opened by the truly international greeting which Mrs. Holmgren, one of the founders of the Swedish suffrage movement, addressed to the guests at the reception in the Grand Hotel Royal. Her words which gave a hearty welcome to the French and German-speaking guests and to our Swedish sisters in their several languages; the beautiful cantata written by Sigrid Leijonhufvud, the music composed by Alfrida Andree specially for this occasion, and last but not least the presence of the woman all of us had long known and loved before we saw her, Selma Lagerlöf, made us feel at home in Sweden at once. This feeling deepened as time went on and Wednesday evening at Skansen a new note was added. All we saw of Swedish nature and Swedish life in that beautiful open air museum, the national dances, the characteristic art of Sven Scholander and his daughter Lisa, gave us a deeper understanding of the people whose guests we were and showed us some of the roots from which it draws its strength. Another aspect also, the refined culture of modern Sweden, was the dominant note of the dinner at Hasselbacken with the heartfelt speech of the venerable Bishop Scheele of Visby.
On a background of lovely scenery this week will stand out in our memory as one long summer day with a long, long evening full of silver light.... During the carriage drive generously provided by Miss Lotten von Kraemer our hearts were gladdened by the many expressions of sympathy we met on our way, from the dear old women, who waved their handkerchiefs and their aprons, down to small girls by the side of their mothers.... Especially the day at Upsala, by invitation of its suffrage society, will not be forgotten. The warm-hearted reception, the gay flags all through the town, at once lifted up the spirit of the whole gathering, which found a charming expression in the improvised festive procession from the botanical garden to the cathedral. The presence and eloquence of the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw gave an added dignity to this as to many others of our social gatherings. Schools, hospitals, museums, exhibitions of all kinds of women's art and women's work, were visited.... [The many private invitations were referred to.] The thirty-six delegates, who accepted Mrs. Caroline Benedick-Bruce's invitation to the Island of Visby, have told us that words failed to describe this beautiful day.
Looking back on the time that lies behind us, we, the women who have come here from all over the world, thank our Swedish sisters for the inspiration their kindness and their loving reception have been to us. We thank Sweden for the splendid women it has produced. We have seen the many elements that have worked together to attain this result; we have learned to admire and respect Swedish history, Swedish culture, Swedish art; and as, besides the many other things this congress has done for us, it has most specially taught us to love the Swedish women, we can express no better wish for our future conventions than that every new country which receives us may in the same way widen our hearts by a new love.
SEVENTH CONFERENCE OF THE ALLIANCE.
The International Woman Suffrage Alliance held its Seventh Conference and Congress in Budapest June 15-21, 1913. As had been the case with all that had preceded, the place of meeting had been chosen with reference to the situation in regard to woman suffrage where the prospect for it seemed favorable and it was desired to influence public sentiment by showing that the movement for it was world-wide. When it had been announced at the congress in Stockholm that the next one would be held in the capital of Hungary it had seemed very far away and that country was not associated with representative government. It proved to be, however, one of the largest and most important of the conventions and its efforts were widespread, as the delegates stopped en route for mass meetings and public banquets in Berlin, Dresden, Prague and Vienna. Twenty-two countries were represented by 240 delegates and alternates. The full quota of 24 were present from Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Great Britain, the United States and Hungary; Finland sent 15; Denmark and Norway 11 each; Switzerland 9: Italy 8; Russia 5; Belgium and Austria, 4 each; from South Africa came 4, from Iceland, 2; from Canada, 3; from Bohemia one.
It was indeed a cosmopolitan assemblage. The government of Australia had an official delegate, Mrs. Frederick Spencer, and that of Norway two, the president of the National Suffrage Association, Mrs. F. M. Qvam, and the president of the National Council of Women, Miss Gina Krog. The Governors of California, Oregon and Washington had appointed representatives. Written or telegraphed greetings were received from nineteen countries, encircling the globe. The question of fraternal delegates reached its climax, as 163 were present from twelve countries, all wishing to offer their greetings and a large number intending to advocate the particular object of their organizations. A resolution was finally adopted that no credentials should be accepted until the society presenting them should be approved by the National Suffrage Association of its country and no fraternal delegate should speak except by invitation of the president of the Alliance and with the consent of the congress. This checked a torrent of oratory and allowed the convention to carry out its program. The Chinese Woman Suffrage Society was admitted, for which Mrs. Catt had sowed the seeds at the time of her visit to that country, and the beautifully embroidered banner they had sent was presented to the Alliance by Dr. Aletta Jacobs, president of the Netherlands Association, who had accompanied her. She said in part:
It is difficult to speak to an audience which certainly does not know the Chinese women in their own land, an audience of which only a few have had the privilege to hear from the lips of those feet-bound women what an important part they have taken in the revolution of their country and in the political reform which has resulted from it; to make you clearly understand the spirit of these Chinese women when they offered this banner to Mrs. Catt, as president of the Alliance, in gratitude for what it is doing for the uplifting of womanhood, and when they expressed their hope that it would take the Chinese women under its care. You have not been, as Mrs. Catt and I have, in the south of the country, where we saw Chinese women sitting in Parliament but from whom the vote is now taken away. You have not heard, as we did, in many towns, the Chinese women speak in crowded meetings to a mixed, enthusiastic audience with an eloquence none of us can surpass. You can not imagine how hard is the struggle for liberty which they have to make. In every town we found intelligent women with the same love for freedom as inspires us, who hunger after righteousness just as we do and who devote not only all their money but their entire life to the struggle for the improvement of the position of the women of their country.
Many of the Chinese women have already been decapitated for the truth they have told while fighting their battle for freedom and all the leaders of the woman movement know that their life is uncertain and that any day the men may find a reason to silence them when their eloquence and enthusiasm make too many converts. In translating the words which they embroidered upon this bright red satin you will learn what is going on in the minds of the new Chinese women: "The Mutual Helping Society to the International Alliance. Helping each other, all of one mind." In the name of these Chinese women I ask you to accept this banner in the same loyal spirit in which it is offered and to welcome the Chinese suffragists into our Alliance.