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1 Carrie Chapman Catt, Mrs. Catt's International Address 1 (1908)

handle is hein.peggy/mrscat0001 and id is 1 raw text is: MRS. CATT'S INTERNATIONAL
ADDRESS.
The followin- address was delivered by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt,
President ot the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, at the Congress
in Amsterdam, June 15, 1908:

It is a suggestive coincidence that
the opening day of this Congress com-
memorates the anniversary of the
signing of the immortal Magna
Charta. That event stands out dis-
tinctly against the background of
seven centuries, as one of the most
important in the history of man. The
historian Green says of it: The
treat Charter marks the transition
from the age of traditional rights to
the age of written legislation, of Par-
liaments and statutes. It pointed as
certainly, we may add, to the coming
of popular government behind the Par-
liaments. and to the will of the ma-
jority behind the statutes. It point-
ed as unmistakably to the coming of
votes for men and women. Given the
Magna Charti, man suffrage was
bound to follow; an   iven man suf-
frage, woman suffr ge became inev-
itable.
The New Era.
The blessings of the new era, inaug-
urated by this remarkable document,
were not .enjoyed by England alone,
but have been shared, as a common
posse sion, by all the nations of the
world. Thy Magna Charta, therefore,
properly becomes the inheritance of all
mankind, and June 13, appropriately,
an international Memorial Day.
Not Yet Complete.
So sweeping have been the changes
which have taken place since the sign-
ing of the Charter that the age of the
English Barons bears little resem-
blance to our own; yet the political
evolution presaged in 1215 is not yet
complete, What celebration of the

day could be more fitting than the
openipg of a Congress which declares
for the final step it tbat evolution?
A Time of Rejoicing.
We may make it also a day of re-
joicing, for at no time since the move-
ment for the enfranchisement of wo-
men began have its advocates had so
much cause for self-congratulation as
now. The International Woman Suf-
frage Alliance met in Copenhagen
twenty-two months ago, and, in the
brief time which has elapsed since
then, the progress of our cause has
been so rapid, the gains so substantial,
the assurance of coming victory so cer-
tain, that we may imagine the noble
and brave pioneers of woman suf-
frage, the men and women who were
the torch-bearers of our movement,
gathering today in some far-off celes-
tial sphere, and singing together a
glad paean of exultation.
Norway's Victory.
In 1907 Norway granted full suffrage
rights and eligibility to women upon
exceedingly generous terms. To one
who has observed the attitude of na-
tions toward our cause, this act of the
Norwegian Parliament meant far more
than an isolated victory. Long before,
four of the United States of America,
and New Zealand and Australia, had
conferred full suffrage upon women;
but everywhere opponents persistently
refused to admit that these gains were
important. They declared these States
and nations had had no history and
gave no asaurance of a stable future;
they said they were too new, their

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