mber
of elections, he may be made to suffer the punishment of
disfranchisement...." She called attention to the record that at the
last presidential election more than 7,000,000 men over twenty-one
years of age did not vote and asked: "What is to be done about it? Are
qualified women citizens to wait in patience until influences now
unseen shall sweep away the difficulties and restore the lost
enthusiasm for democracy? Or shall they attempt to determine causes,
apply remedies and clear the way for their own enfranchisement? That
is our problem. For myself, I will say I prefer not to wait. I prefer
to do my part, small as it must be, in the great task of the removal
of the obstructions which clog the wheels of the onward movement of
popular government."

The convention was especially fortunate in having among its speakers a
charming and gifted young woman, Mrs. A. Watson Lister of Melbourne,
Australia, a country whose first national Parliament had two years
before conferred on women full suffrage and eligibility to all
offices. She showed a remarkable knowledge of laws and conditions
affecting women and was thoroughly informed on every phase of the
suffrage movement. The second evening she spoke on Woman's Vote in
Australia to an audience that was not willing to have her stop, saying
in part:

Australia does lead the world in democratic government, a
government by the whole people, women as well as men, but we
realize the great debt that we owe to your brave pioneer women.
We are reaping the harvest which they planted. To us the names of
Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone and Elizabeth Cady Stanton are
household words. It seems strange to me to be asked to come here
to tell you anything about suffrage, for with us the American
woman has been supposed to know and have everything.

Australia is as large as the United States and women have
national and municipal suffrage and in four of our six States
they have State suffrage--South and West Australia, New South
Wales and Tasmania. In Victoria and Queensland they do not yet
possess it. When the six States became federated it was provided
that federal suffrage throughout Australia should be on the same
basis as State suffrage where it was the most liberal. South and
West Australia had it in full, so the women obtained it
throughout Australia in national elections. There was so little
oppo