Today -100: August 4, 1913: Of the fruit of an unnatural task

There’s rioting in Cawnpore, India, when British authorities demolish part of a mosque for road improvements.

The National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage issues a statement of its objects. “We, more than any other organization, believe in woman’s rights. We are fighting for woman’s rights. First in the catalogue of woman’s rights is the right of exemption. By that we mean exemption from active politics and all that it involves. ... by virtue of it woman is able to do her half of the world’s work. Deprived of this exemption, woman becomes an incongruity. Called upon to do double duty, she will face the failure which is the fruit of an unnatural task.” It insists that the “franchise is not a right, nor a privilege. It is a duty, a stern duty imposed by the State upon that class of persons thought by the State to be best equipped to perform it.”

Suffragettes interrupt services at St Paul’s in London to chant “Save Emmeline Pankhurst. Spare her, spare her, etc.”

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