Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 6.djvu/868

 852 HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE this territory, there would be enough left uncovered to equal the kingdom of Italy in size. Mrs. Catt spoke of the trip of Dr. Jacobs and herself around the world and said: "We held public meetings in many of the towns and cities of four continents, of four large islands and on the ships of three oceans and had representatives of all the great races and nationalities in our audiences. We are now in touch with the most advanced development of the woman's movement in Egypt, Palestine, India, Burmah, China, Japan, Java and the Philippine and Hawaiian Islands, and also in Turkey and Persia, which we did not visit/ 1 In telling of the momentous changes taking place in the East she said: "Behind the purdah in India, in the harems of Mo- hammedanism, behind veils and barred doors and closed sedan chairs there has been rebellion in the hearts of women all down the centuries. . . . We spoke with many women all over the East who had never heard of a 'woman's movement,' yet isolated and alone they had thought out the entire program of woman's emancipation, not excluding the vote. . . ." She reviewed at length the position of women in Persia, in India and in Asia, the influence of the various religions and the signs of progress, pay- ing a tribute to Mrs. Annie Besant, to the teachings of theosophy and especially to those of the Bahais. The terrible conditions for wage-earning women, the child labor and the nearly unrestricted white slave traffic in the far East were feelingly described and the address, which had been heard with almost breathless interest, concluded : The women of the western world are escaping from the thraldom of the centuries. . . . Their liberation is certain; a little more effort, a little more enlightenment and it will come. Out of the richness of our own freedom must we give aid to these sisters of ours in Asia. When I review the slow, tragic struggle upward of the women of the West I am overwhelmed with the awfulness of the task these Eastern women have assumed. They must follow the vision in their souls as we have done and as other women before us have done. My heart yearns to give them aid and comfort. I would that we could strengthen them for the coming struggle. I would that we could put a protecting arm around these heroic women and save them from the cruel blows they are certain to receive. Alas! we can only help them to help themselves. Every Western victory