Page:The Feminist Movement - Snowden - 1912.djvu/201

 The difference in the treatment of voters and non-voters was illustrated in the case of a well-known member of the present Government, an anti-suffragist, who was asked by a deputation of working women in his constituency to support the Conciliation Bill. When he was invited to say why he was against woman suffrage, he replied, very scornfully: 'Oh, I am, because I am.' It is unthinkable that an answer like that could have been given to a deputation of working men from the same constituency; or if such an answer were to be given, it is certain the working men would know how to express their resentment when the time and the occasion offered.

There is no argument in favour of the enfranchisement of men which does not apply with equal truth to the enfranchisement of women. There is no argument against the enfranchisement of women which does not apply equally to the case of men. All the old political mottoes which were inscribed on the banners of the Chartists are the truth for women as well as men. Though the argument is not a weighty one, the claim that taxation and representation should go together applies to men and women alike. There are nearly a million women householders in the country, paying rates and taxes, who come within this definition of the voter. The magnificent Rh