ing to men: extend your hand to woman, clasp her spotless hand in a handshake of equal to equal, be sincere of intention toward her, and acknowledge her rights complete and undiminished.

He was followed by Mr. Said Akl, who said in his prophetic voice and his deep manner of speech: "It is a disgrace that the woman question should be posed at all. In any event, I feel that woman is taking her rights. But this victory lays a heavy burden upon her shoulders, the burden of civilization. Will she, one won-ders, prove worthy of the level to which she will rise? Will she lead man in Lebanon and teach him what he has not learned? What is asked of woman in Lebanon is to perform a deed like that performed by Elissa and Joan of

Arc — namely, to ward off the danger encircling Lebanon, the danger of a state squatting like an octopus upon its flanks, whose aim is to destroy it and blot out its glorious heritage. Thus woman will have the honor of raising men from the level of zero to the level of the limitless." He closed his words by calling out: "Give me a hundred women of the breed of Elissa and Joan of Arc, and with them I will conquer the world and change the face of history."

Then the floor was given to the deputy Mr. Jean Skaff, who stated his opinion with complete frankness, setting out the differences existing among the various women of Lebanon and the difficulty of imprisoning them all within one crucible

of real equality. He praised the continuous and mighty work being done by the women's asso-ciations in Lebanon, considered the results they have reached encouraging in every way, and held that woman should proceed by degrees in obtaining her political rights, passing through preparatory stages — such as giving her the right of municipal suffrage first, then parliamentary suffrage second, and the right of representation last; and we have in the advanced countries decisive proof that woman in politics is an element of good.

The closing address fell to the lawyer Obeid

Issa, who set the woman question in its scientific place and studied it in the light of the comprehensive human problem.