The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1896-04-11
THE WOMAN IN OFFICE.

THE WOMAN IN OFFICE.
The Baltimore Sun of Tuesday contained
a sensible article under the above captain
in which it makes logical plea in behalf
of Mrs. Anna LETTERS, whom Governor
Lowndes has appointed State Librarian,
and whose ineligibility to the office, the
present incumbent is endeavorng to
establish upon purely technical grounds
While it may be no especial compli-
ment to Mrs. LETTERS to say, that her
appointment is in the opinion Of the WING
the best one made by the present State
Administration, yet it is worth while to
say, that the appointment should be sus-
tanned by public sentiment, because it is
an eminently proper one, and has been
made upon its merits.
Why woman equally with a man
should not have the opportunity to aspire
to positions the duties of which she is
physically capable of performing, is only
denied by those who cherish antiguated
preiudices, out OF keeping with the spirit
and civilization of the age we live in.
| The San answers so well and so forcibly
the technical and legal objections to Mrs.
Jeffers appointment that we cannot forbear
republishing this portion of its article. "lt
is not merely a chivalrous sentiment that is
involved in Mrs. Jeffers' appointment 1t
involves principle of justice and ques
ton of legal equality in which every woman
in Maryland and in the country at large is
interested. One of the contentious OF h,l
opponents, it is understood, is, that the
constitution does not recognize the right
Of women to hold State offices, and that
the common law restrictions which rendered
her ineligible are still in force in Maryland
1t is true that the constitution in it's pro-
visions concerning the State librarian refers
to that official as Che, but as this is not
an elective Office and does not presuppose
political qualifications in the incumbent,
there is no good reason why the generally
prevailing rule of legal Interpretation with
respect to the use of the masculine pronoun
should not apply to the present case. One
of the rules of interpretation governing the
meaning of such words in our State code
is that 1.-The masculine includes all genders
except where such construction would he
absurd or unreasonable" 1t is very clear
that as far as our statutory laws are con-
cerned the masculine is intended to include
everybody, from the most diffident old
bachelor to the most pronounced and ad
vanced wearer of bloomers and short hair
While this rule of construction might not
be considered binding in judicial determin-
alton of the meaning of the constitution, it
ought not to be without weight as a COM
mon sense proposition and as throwing
light upon the constitutional intent and
meaning, especially as this statutory prin-
ciple of Interpretation was in force before
the adoption of the present fundamental
law and may be supposed to have been in
the minds OF the trainers Of the latter. Ger
t.nly to make the masculine embrace the
feminine (Which is as common in fact as in
law would not be "absurd or reasonable
in regard to the Office of State librarian
On the contrary, it would be in every way
reasonable and wise. Nothing could be
more unreasonable and absurd" in fact,
than to interpret this section of the con-
stitution in such way as to bar out of this
office those who in many respects are best
qualified to perform its duties The com
mon law may have prohibited women from
holding public offices such as this, but it
also permitted husbands to beat their wives
with stick no larger than their thumbs.
Even if there were no statutory provisions
on the subject in this State, no Maryland
court would now undertake to uphold this
ancient privilege of the English husband,
and our courts, if the question should come
before them, should not permit the survival
OF principal as to non-political offices
which is almost as much relic of barbar-
ism as the wife-heating prerogative. So
narrow a construction as is suggested in
this case is utterly at variance with the
liberalty OF the aye and the general adj
vance in civilization.