sition or discussion, it was regarded so completely as an
accepted fact and foregone conclusion, that most women did not
even know the measure had passed. It was not an experiment, as
our men had seen its working in South and West Australia for
years and also in New Zealand, which is the most democratic and
best governed country in the world.

In Australia women are eligible to all offices, even that of
Prime Minister. At the last elections five stood for Parliament.
Miss Vida Goldstein was a candidate in Victoria. Although both
our large newspapers ignored her meetings she got 51,000 votes,
while the man highest got about 100,000. Not one of the five
women came out at the bottom of the poll....

After we had worked for years with members of Parliament for
various reforms without avail because we had no votes, you can
not imagine the difference the vote makes. When we held meetings
to advocate public measures that women wanted, we used to have to
go out into the highways and hedges and compel the members of
Parliament to come in; now the difficulty is to keep them out. I
have seen seven Senators at one small meeting. A prominent man
who, by an oversight, was not invited to the one held to welcome
Miss Goldstein on her return from the United States was decidedly
offended. Chivalry has not been destroyed but increased. On the
platform at one of our meetings the secretary happened to drop
her pencil and I saw the Premier and several members of
Parliament scrambling to pick it up. A woman is never allowed to
stand in a street car in Australia....

A good deal of light was shed on the inside history of the organized
anti-suffrage movement, which if turned on in other countries would
disclose a similar situation. "Our Anti-Suffrage Association," she
said, "died three months after it was born. It was formed by two of
our leading manufacturers, who hid behind their daughters. They had
plenty of money, took a large office on a main street, employed
several paid secretaries and spent more in three months than we had
done in all our years of work. They paid little boys and girls to
circulate their petition and got many signatures under false
pretences.... Much was made of their petition though it was not half
as large as ours. The daughters of these manufacturers drove up in
their carriages to their fathe