240 The Ideal State 



endeavour to reach women voters and show them what 

 is now in their power quite apart from any extension of 

 the franchise. The Committee will support qualified 

 women candidates of anti-suffrage opinions who, 

 speaking generally, are accepted by the recognised 

 municipal or local associations ; and, if necessary, will 

 contribute to the election expenses of such candidates. 

 Whether for the county and borough councils, the 

 rural and urban district councils, or the boards of 

 guardians, the Committee is ready to give help as far 

 as it can. 



As Mrs. Ward points out in a letter to " The Times," 

 the prejudice against women candidates for these local 

 bodies is unfortunately great, owing largely to the 

 violent agitation of the extreme suffragists, and there- 

 fore the Committee ask for anti-suffrage candidates, 

 carefully selected by an anti-suffrage committee, in 

 order to overcome this prejudice. She addresses an 

 appeal to " public-spirited women who are anxious 

 to serve their locality and their country, while believing 

 with us that the suffrage agitation is in reality an un- 

 patriotic agitation, the success of which would weaken 

 and hamper the English State, to come forward and co- 

 operate with us. . . . We appeal to all those who 

 sympathise with this positive side of the anti-suffrage 

 movement, who believe, not in an identity, but in an 

 honourable division of public functions between the 

 men and women of this nation to support our com- 

 mittee, to contribute to our funds, and help our work." 

 This is the expression of opinion of one of the ablest 

 and most cultured women in Britain at the present day, 

 but who is not puffed up with vain conceit, and is 

 thereby able to take a sane view of the relations of the 

 sexes and their particular endowments, especially in 

 regard to the legislative faculty. So fully does she 

 recognise this that she has no doubt as to the danger 



