WHERE WOMEN VOTE 



493 



themselves such efficient social and politi- 

 cal workers, he felt that it would be an 

 advantage to the church if they should 

 be made eligible to many church offices. 



The experience of three years of 

 woman suffrage in Finland has proved, 

 I think, beyond doubt that the emancipa- 

 tion of women is not a thing to be feared 

 or dreaded, but merely a natural step in 

 the evolution of modern society. 



When the suffrage was extended to 

 the women they responded with interest 

 and enthusiasm, and have shown them- 

 selves capable of serving on all the vari- 

 ous legislative committees. They have 

 not disturbed the political balance of 

 power, but have maintained it precisely 

 as before, uniting as women only for the 

 furtherance of social and legal reforms 

 of importance to women, but also of very 

 vital importance to the welfare and pros- 

 perity of the community at large. 



Families have not been broken up by 

 the woman's vote ; rather have they 

 tended to become more united by a strong 

 bond of common interest. Instead of 

 lessening the interest that women take in 

 the education and the welfare of their 

 children, the suffrage has greatly intensi- 

 fied that interest by making it possible 

 for them to regulate and, in some degree 

 at least, to improve the schools to which 

 their children are sent and the different 

 branches of work which they later under- 

 take. 



Experience has shown, too, that when 

 the doors are opened, not all women 

 rush madly into political life, but only 

 those who are specially qualified for it ; 

 that for the vast majority of women the 

 duties of the franchise consist in little 

 more than casting their ballots, and that 

 even the women who participate actively 

 in political life devote no more time to 

 it than they devoted previously to their 

 extra domestic occupations or profess- 

 ions — that is, that even the small number 

 of women who actually sit in Parliament 

 need not neglect their homes unduly. But 

 last and most important of all, it has 

 shown that the cause that women have 

 most at heart is the care and welfare of 

 children. 



NOTES ON FINLAND 



DESPITE the obvious dissimilarity 

 between Finland and the United 

 States, the two countries have, neverthe- 

 less, many points in common, for Fin- 

 land stands in much the same position in 

 relation to Sweden as the United States 

 does in relation to England, from the 

 point of view of language, of social in- 

 stitutions, and the position of its women. 



The Swedish language, brought over 

 by the Swedes who early settled along 

 the coast, became the language of culture 

 in Finland, and the written language is 

 still identical with the written language 

 of Sweden, but in Sweden it is spoken 

 as English is in England — with a rhyth- 

 mic cadence and a rising inflection. In 

 Finland Swedish is spoken as English is 

 in America, less formally and with more 

 variation in emphasis. In Finland, also, 

 certain words in common use have 

 changed their connotation, just as certain 

 English words have in America. 



But whereas in America the English 

 language is the common language among 

 all classes of the population, and serves 

 as a bond of union which all foreigners- 

 coming to the country are anxious ta 

 share, in Finland now the Swedish lan- 

 guage has become a great stumbling- 

 block. 



Formerly the Swedes were in almost 

 absolute control of the social and political 

 life of the country, and the language of 

 the Finnish peasants of the interior had, 

 in the early days, little influence on the 

 general life of the country. 



Within the last few years, however, 

 Finland has passed through a marvel- 

 ously rapid process of evolution. Many 

 Finns of pure Finnish stock have become 

 doctors and lawyers. Senators and college 

 professors ; the Finnish peasants have 

 gained political equality and they are now 

 demanding equal educational advantages, 

 so that now the question of language 

 has become a question of vital impor- 

 tance. 



The current belief in America seems 

 to be that the life of the country, polit- 

 ically, socially, and intellectually, is some- 

 thing quite distinct and individual, neither 



