The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1900-08-02
How Would the Men Like 1t?

How Would the Men Like 1t:
A few days ago the supreme court of
Tennessee decided that woman shall
not practice law in that state. The ap-
plicant possessed all the necessary quail
flcations and had opened an Office in
Memphis. There is nothing unusual
about this decision. Supreme courts
have been deciding thus for the past 80
years, and the only way in which wom-
en- have been able to follow this profess
sion has been by carrying the question
before state legislatures and securing a
special law; and in order for them to
appear before the supreme court of the
United States an act of congress was
necessary
These cases are cited merely to en-
phasize the point that women cannot
take one forward step except by permits
sion of men. After a young man has
prepared himself for his vocation in life
he starts in with an even chance of win
ming success. The young woman can
@Yf 1f avor II she ddessrees a
study law, or medicine or pharmacy, or
theology, or even to take college course
to become teacher she can do so only
through the consent of the men who
form the governing boards. After she
Is fitted for it she cannot practice law
or medicine except by permission Of
legislatures composed Of men. She can
not enter the pulpit except by consent Of
synods and conferences of men. The
masculine trustees of the universities
and common schools decide whether she
shall teach. She enters the hospitals
as nurse only by permission of the men
who have control. She can not sit on
The board of any institution, charitable
Or penal, or serve as matron of Jail or
station house, unless men choose to al
low it. She can not act as court sCenu-
grapher or notary public until men have
granted her leave to do so. Her right to
all government positions Is decided by
male tribunal. In all industrial occu-
pations where she has forced her way
men make her feel that she is an inter-
loper On their domain.
It Is an intolerable situation. Men
themselves would rather die than have
the conditions reversed and be wholly
dependent upon the sufferance of women
The cruel injustice of it, which has been
almost more than women could bear, is
strongly intensified now that the whole
IF {~,Io
been opened afresh.
After the revolutionary fathers estab-
lished the principal of individual SOW
ereignty, it's application to the mascu-
line half of humanity was accepted
without further controversy for more
than century. The events Of the past
two years, however, have reopened the
subject, and the nation is beginning to
inquire just how far this principle ex-
tends. But in all this clash and clamor
regarding the inherent right of these
foreign peoples to govern themselves,
demanded by one party, conceded by the
other, neither recognizes in the slightest
degree that this same right is inherent
In the women of our own country. Every
argument for the granting of this prin-
ciple to these ignorant, half-barbaric
men, applies with thousand-fold more
force to the educated, self-reliant, law
abiding women of our own United States
And yet, although the political platforms
vie with each other in promising self
representation, self-government to Gu
ban, Porto Rican and Filipino men, it
was not possible to get one line in
either favoring the right of the Ameri-
can woman to represent herself in gov
ernment
When this right is at last conceded. as
ultimately 1t must and will be- then all
these other determinations in the pro-
fessions, the industries, etc., will pass
away and be forgotten.
IDA Hustled HARPER.
The Earmarks of an Exquisite Girl.
An exquisite young woman is she
whose dress and hair and skin indicate
She most scrupulous attention to the
daily toilet. We have learned that bath
ing and rubbing and care for personal
cleanliness, the nicely which distin-