Union of Defenders of Women's Rights. There can be no doubt that the work of the International Alliance will in time prove a great help and stimulus to the cause of women's enfranchisement in every land.
The policy to be pursued in every country must of necessity vary with its political conditions, but the arguments against Women's Suffrage that have to be combated and the prejudices encountered are precisely the same. Those countries which already possess the franchise can furnish facts to prove that the prophecies of evil results following on the enfranchisement of women have been falsified. Inaccurate statements circulated by opponents in the press can be readily met and corrected by the organisations keeping each other in close touch with the actual facts of the progress of the movement. The position of the movement in different European countries offers some features of general interest. Finland has been granted the franchise by the sanction of the Czar, the representative of autocratic government, and the first European monarch to recognise the claims of his women-subjects. The countries where the cause of women has made the least progress are the republics of France and Switzerland. In Italy, where the agitation has only been started in recent years, the appeal of women has already been carried to the practical stage. In the new world the English colonies have granted full political rights to women, while America, which was the first to formulate the claim of self-government for all, still denies political rights to its women.
