The sun., 1903-08-02
.rHE CAUSE OF WOMAN.
,,ymsPAPERs AND WOMEN TWEEN
sy.FJV'E YEARS AGO AND TO-DAY.
.,,. "Wor,an's Corner Has become a
"Boman's Page" Now. and the fhsr-
actsr Of Its Contents Is Changed C"m-
ncteh-No Woman Political Writer
,e,-Tne Range Of W0men's Work.

=, cornarinC the newspaper of twenty
s,.o or thirty wears ago with that of to-day,
'.o re,der is struck by the conspicuous
,hsence of everything relating to women.
10 . few papers the "woman's corner'-it
,ad scarcrly reached the dignity Of a
.oolrmn"-was coming into existence, but
I. ,ras strictly limited to recipes for cooking
W. designs for need!ework. Even the
srurserv" features, the countless expert
suggestions a., which are found in every paper
.rd magazine to-day, were not included.
:, was universally believed that the
smother instinct" which was supposed in
.,,o n,vsrerious way to be born with the
hshv was equal TO every emergency. The
.ditors learned after awhile that the women
,,,od N read about themselves and their
.e,scol domain, and that even the men
ware neeping in surrepttiously, so tn
,ornar eventually broadened into a page.
romen organized clubs, entered the col
,eces adopted professions and engaged in
ou,side Industrial life. To keep up with the
,rocession portion OF the allotted space
had 10 be given to these new activities, and
tho household" matter finally found itself
crowded back into its original corner The
most astonishing thing of all was that some
~ rho masculine editors actually found that
woman herself was better fitted to edit
"voman's page" than man. But these
Ins,ances were not very frequent.
Now. as the new century opens, most Of
tho large papers have discarded the sepa-
rate mage and practically thrown open the
whole paper to omnipresent woman, and she
comes very near filing the space. One
who will seal any edition of the metropoli-
tan dailies for the express purpose OF see
ing the part woman plays will be amazed to
find how few are the columns in which she
has no mention. Sometimes she figures
creditabv, sometimes the contrary, but she
ia everywhere in evidence, in the telegraphic
news, along educational lines, in the field of
snort, on the platform, in civic work and on
the editorial page. Twenty-Five years ago,
when one Of the early woman writer's made
the experiment. of conducting department
Of current events in a Saturday evening
paper, she was continually told by men that
thew read it with great interest, because
they had always wanted to know what
women thought on the questions of the day.
There is no longer any doubt on this point,
as thew express themselves freely by voice
and pen on all subjects and at all times
and places, and have their interviews and
their pictures in the papers, the same as the
masculine half of humanity The tradition
that men had a monopoly of wisdom and
understanding has been exploded.
There is one exception to the omnipres-
ence of woman. From the domain OF poll
Tics and all that it includes she is conspic-
uously absent. What are women s opinions
on the currency question, the tarif, the
trusts, Government ownership. direct rep
resentation? Whom do they favor for the
next President? Nobody knows--and
nobody cares. If the public cared it
would know, for many intelligent women
study these vital issues and have we'll
dgested ideas concerning them, but these
would be regarded as having SO little value
that they wisely refrain from expressing
them. The masses of women are better
informed on all other questions than on
those OF political nature, for the obvious
relson that on every other their opinions
are respected and they may aid in deciding
them. Therefore, in the chronicle OF
events relating to the holding OF the offices
and the administration Of the Government
the name Of woman is rarely mentioned.
W nv Is III JIluU Ill Illc NllDic ldllRt Vi lllC
work OF the world the political part of it
is the only one form which woman is ex-
cluded? Simply and solely because this
Ia the only one form which men as q body
have the power to exclude her. She would
have been barred out from all the others
il the entire mass Of men had been allowed
TO pass upon her admission. The founders
made this self-perpetuating male Govern
ment and vested in men the absolute power
tp forever from having
any share in it beyond that Of paying taxes
for it's support. Thus we see women de-
prived of all part in the administration
because they have no political power, and
deprived of political power because they
have not the suffrage, and deprived OF the
suffrage because men possess the authority
to withhold it.
Because of these conditions not only have
women's opinions on politics no value.
but the importance of their views on all
questions is greatly minimized In other
departments where they have been allowed
comparative freedom and have been able
10 demonstrate their ability, they have
acquired considerable influence, but even
this is immeasurably less than it would be
ifthey could support their ideas with action.
There must be force behind sentiment to
make it effective, but it is no longer neces-
sary that this should be physical force,
The most OF the economic advance of So
ciety must be made through legislation,
and it is this kind Of advancement in which
the women Of the new century are especially
Interested, They may temporize. but they
must ultimately face the truth, that they
never will be power seriously to be reck-
oned with until they can control legisla-
ton through the legitimate means OF the
franchise
The work that is being done by the various
organizations of women can hardly be
estimated A partial list of specific things
recently published filed half column Of
a newspaper IL ranged from campaign
for the ballot to the hanging of pictures
In the schoolroom, with everything in be-
tween that could be devised for the real or
ianced benefit of mankind.
Some Of these had originated with men,
others were new ideas of women but all
demonstrated beyond doubt that the hui
manltarian work Of the world is largely
passing into the hands of women. This
should be qualified, perhaps, by saying
that the great institutions for this purpose
are still almost wholly under the control
OF men, but in their endowment women
are now bearing share fully in proportion
70 their means, and eventually they will
nav" at least an equal part in their manage
ment
Men as a class are perfectly willing to
share labor with women, but they are yet
a long way from being ready to share con-
trol conspicuous example Of this is seen
IN the church. A writer in THE Sun re-
Gently demanded that women should he
made vestrymen, They have always
taken the burden Of church work on them
nave actually performed the duties OF
Offices Of yhiCb tbpir hIiEbn nia have horne