New-York tribune., 1900-05-27
PETTICOAT INFLUENCE.
THE GREAT POWER FOR GOOD THAT IT
uAc ryEPCIS51D ON MODERN STATES ,

HAS EXERCISED ON MODERN STATES. d
1.-THE woman whom Thou gavest to be with
me- she gave me of the tree and 1 did eat" 1t
was thus that Adam endeavored to excuse him
self in the eyes of the Almighty for having
tasted the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowl-
edge, and this Biblical story, which has its
counterpart in the sacred writings of almost
every existing creed and form of belief, is
called to mind by the articles which
being published in England ascribing all the
mistakes and disasters that characterized the
early stages of the South African to petit
coat influence. From time immemorial there
has always been a certain degree of association
between Mars and Venus But one is tempted
to ask whether there is not just trife too much
of the old Adam in holding women responsible
for every weakness that has been laid bare in
the military system of Great Britain since the
outbreak of the conflict with the Transvaal
The general public in this country have no
idea of the extent to which the fair in the
United Kingdom are being assailed just at the
present moment, and important London
PAPER, which is popularly believed to be owned
by Cecil Rhodes, and to be inspired by its former
editor, George Wyndham, now Under Secretary
OF State for War, goes far to state editOri-
ally that the denuncatiOn by John Knox of the
"mOnstrous regiment of women " was by far
the happiest utterance'' cf that vigorous divine.
The paper goes to add that in the same way
the women of his day barrier to the
regeneration of his country. petticoat influence
to-day is not only responsible for every defect
of the British War Department and of the Eng
lsh Army, but likewise an obstruction to its i'm
provement-an obstruction which demands i'm
mediate removal. Finally this article concludes
by the solemn declaration that there has never
been a moment when feminine influence
more greatly dominant at the War Office in
Pail Mall than at present.
Yet petticoat influence nothing new,
is the British army the only where it is
dominant. and there is something peculiarly dis
respectful, not to say disloyal in thus denounc-
ing the role which woman is asserted to play in
the military affairs of Great Britain when it is
borne in mind that Queen Victoria has for more
than sixty years past figured at the head of the
roster of the English army as its chief. Petit
coat influence. in fact. predomnates all the
world over and although it is constantly being
denounced, sometimes by those who have been
yanquished thereby and on other occasions by
weak vessels who endeavor to saddle it with the
burden of their own mistakes, yet it always sub
sists as it has subssted from the beginning of
the world, and is stronger than ever at the close
of the nineteenth century
TWO GREATEST EMPIRES UNDER WOMEN
The two greatest empires comprising between
them some seven hundred million human beings
are subject to the powerful, and assuredly pre-
dominant influence of two aged women, one of
them Queen Victoria, who has exercised that in
huence for more than sixty years while the
other is the Dowager Empress of China who for
at least four decades has ruled the so-caled
Middle Kingdom with rod of iron. No one will
dream Of questioning the extent of the influence
exercised by these two old women. and while
the progress of Great and Greater Britain un-
der the beneficent rule of Queen Victoria has
been altogether phenomenal, China is certainly
no worse off to-day. but, on the contrary is in a