The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-06
THE suFFnAGErrEs.


 rt The campaign for the ballot for wo- men hasa been waged with such vio- lence in London and more recently m New York City. that it has become burning question on both sides of the Atlantic. Some of the deeds of the leaders of the movement have bsen most shocking, and have led to the Jail. In view of the fact that the question Is spreading from city to city, and will eventually reach Montgomery in some form. it is only a sfep toward prepared ness that clippings of the transaction elsewhere shall be reproduced in these columns from time to time.
 The following is from leading New York paper:
 "Are the English suffragettes really forwarding the cause of woman sui frage? Is the blood which these ar- dent martyrs are-metaphorfcally- spilling in the galleries of the House of Commons and other public places 70 prove the seed from which votes TOT women will spring? The sunragettes haven't a doubt of 1t. but there are peo- they are simply alienating their pest friends. One masculine point Of view is outlined in Black and White by, fay- mond BIathwayt, who says, In the nrst place. that he wants every one 70 un- derstand that if he had his way every woman In the British Isles would pc voting today. They are quite as well able to exercise the vote as are the majority of men," he says, solemnly. v would even propose that women should be tried by a jury of their own sex. He considers that women doctors, wo- men guardians and women county coun- cilors are almost" as necessary as are men in these varied capacities. he wants a House of Ladies' as well as House of Lords; he thinks if one were established life would thereafter De lone long. bright masculine smile." But he is dreadfully afraid that if the suf- fragettes pursue their present tactics which they appear to have every fn- tention of doing Athere will never pc any House of Ladies or votes for .wo- men. or anything of the sort.
 "The militant guffragettes," says MT. Blathwayt. tare bringing the whole we. mans cause into disrepute among all thoughtful and reasonable people raising up feelings of antagonism which are bound to result disastrousiy in the end. When they chain them selves to railings and claw constaeies and shout out things in the House of Commons. and go to Jail without q murmur for doing 1t. they are acting fin an unfeminine way. and women will never get the vote by being unteminine. No man ever sympathizes at heart with the woman who plays with or disrs- Snrds the attributes and differences of sex"
 "The man." he says. "who aped the woman, who claimed incessantlY the privileges of sex and habitually over. stepped the limits of mascuIinity, would be as distastefuI to Ahem as is the wo- man who is perpetuaily demanding Ffghts and privileges which. in the very nature of things, are the prerogatiye of the opposite sex"
 But just before this plea for womanss recognition of the difference of sex'' Mr. Blathwayt complains that suffra- gettes are making q great mistake In forgetting that John Stuart Mills arguments fov woman suffrage wer~ based on the essential equality of the sexes"
 "What would John Stuart Mil say to- day" MT. Blathwayt wonders. '@rhese women resent bitterly what they term the inability or unwIllingness of men to take them seriously, but where honor, dignity, and humor are perpet- ually conspicuous only by their absence, and where the thing that Is ridiculous or stupfdly outrageous ts constantly In evidence. 1t would be kindest end best that men did not take those who are wnoie-heartediy bent upon the destruc- tion of a noble cause in serious
 Mfr. Blathwayt instances Mrs. Sym ons's invasion of the House of Commons ian inexcusabls breach of all the or dinary laws of courtesy and honor" he calls it---as one proof that the suffra- gettes have no notion of playing the game"
 There isn't. says this critic of the suffragettes, a mean trick of which they will not be guilty. When they are brought up standing for their vio- ience. they hide behind their pettieoats and take refuge in the privilege of sex, which is so cowardly as to be beneath contempt They are only thirsting for applause and coFnmotion. says MT. Blathwayt, and if the English press would stop recording their actions, the movement would "collapse like light ming struck balloon in midair." It Is going to collapse. anyhow. by and by unless the suffragettes become lady like. Already they have gone far to drive the critic of Black and White in- to the camp of the antis, though his heart is not with the antis at all. "But when a woman ceases to be femi- nine" he says, "she becomes freak. and the hand of every man Ia against the freak"