Last Sunday the Conference of the Independent Labour Party at
Manchester was temporarily brought to a standstill by the interruptions of suffragettes. The more earnestly Mr. Keir Hardie avowed that he would have nothing to do with a Franchise Bill that did not include woman suffrage, the- more loudly the suffragettes, with a logic which is peculiarly their own, denounced him as a coward and a traitor.—We may note here that the non-militant suffragists, led by Mrs. Fawcett, have decided, with a logic which is also peculiarly their own, to oppose at elections all Liberals (who are commonly friends of woman suffrage) and to support Labour candidates wherever possible.—On Monday the suffragettes, being refused admission to the Conference at Manchester, locked the delegates in with a chain and padlock. A blacksmith was sent for to open the doors, and when Mr. Keir Hardie and Mr. Snowden came out they were pelted with polony sausages. Thus the notoriety of the suffragettes grows and the cause itself goes steadily backwards.
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