WANTED, A NEW WOMAN'S PARTY.
[To THE EDITOR Of THE "SPECTATOR."' SIR,—Mrs. Drummond, one of the woman's suffrage leaders, on being brought before the Police Magistrate made the following statement: "I speak for the women of England." Now, Sir, is it not about time that some active steps were taken to show to Mrs. Drummond and the world generally that her assumption is wholly unwarranted ? I have hitherto opposed the forming of an anti-suffrage party; but it seems to me that the time has come for those of us who are opposed to woman's suffrage to take steps to make the opposition positive in character,—viz., to educate poor women as to the true nature of the misleading statements made by many of the woman suffragists—one, to the effect that "there will be an end to unemployment," being responsible for large numbers of ignorant women supporting woman's suffrage—and to bind women of all classes and sentiments into a solid body ; our motto to be "Back to the home" ; our crusade to aim at a re- creation of the home with its limitless opportunities, with its wider, truer sphere for the woman's role, with its immeasurable, incomparable duties, responsibilities, and influences ; our work to be to show that all moral and social reform is in our hands. These reforms extend to such diverse evils as sweat- ing; overwork, and other bad conditions amongst shopgirls ; the over-competition suffered by the woman breadwinner, and forced upon her by the selfish well-to-do woman; the mis- education of middle-class girls, in which the most important sides of feminine education—the instruction of the crafts of the home, as well as the whole department of aesthetics —are entirely omitted ; baby-farming, almost unknown in Germany owing to the organised activity of the " Frauen-Verein" ; thp solution of the domestic worker problem ; the purifying and elevating of social intercourse; the abolition of foolish, extravagant, and inhuman "fashions" bound up with the growth and flourishing of one of the most pernicious agencies of modern times,—viz., the society and ladies' papers. Surely we have here a sufficiently wide battle- field for the most ambitious and intelligent of women ! And they are unconnected with Government and politics, and require for their elucidation and vanquishing the combined efforts and energies of all women who earnestly desire to right the wrong. Incidentally it must be shown decisively and unmistakably that our interests, far from being antago- nistic to those of the best men, are bound up with them, and that we work not to deepen differences, but to heal them; not to foment. sex prejudices, but to soften them, so that by mutual forbearance the best men and the best women will ardently desire to work for the highest welfare of each other. I am afraid, Sir, I have trespassed too long on your valuable space. My excuse must be my conviction that there are thousands of good, quiet women who feel as I do, but who are inarticulate. What woman of geniva will be our leader ? Never, it seems to me, in the whole history of mankind was there more need of one if our homes are to be recreated on a higher plane.— I am, Sir, &c., FRANCES H. Low. [We deal with this letter in another portion of our issue.— ED. Spectator.]
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