The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1911-11-23
as the capitalists objection TO social

as the capitalists objection 10 social
ism.
These objections are often repeat
ed by some fogies who have found
their way into the socialist camp
Chiefly for this reason they deserve
our notice
The principle objection, whici. .is
the backbone of all others, is SUNNI
ed up in the complaint that women
are coarsened by their contact with
life outside of the home.
Behind it turks merely the old
Adam of male privilege, fearing thai
a greater life-experience will make
women more self-reliant and less
willing to swallow all the crooked
logic of the superior male mind.
This type of man is willing to
flatter, cajole. pet and champion
women, so long as they are willing
to be his playthings.
But when woman stands upon
the level of equality and attempts to
lift this sort of admirer to her own
noble plane, this champion quickly
becomes peevish. drops his mask ri
chiValry, and frowns upon her as
sternly as a plutocrat fixes the wasl
slave who points TO the Declaration
of Independence and hints that il
was meant for himself as well as
his master.
TIE answer to these inconsistent
champions of women's rights Ia be
mems fools is the emphatic Ieclara-
ZION: Contact of women with r.e,i
in public life will not coarsen clean
women, but will civilize uncican
men.
Women's influence in prbllc life
is the same as women's influ-pce in
the hoE:r. A woman's deeper va
ture is r;.t perverted by, the evpan-
son of her circle in life. 1t is rath-
cl intensified
If these chivalrous admirers of
women really mean what they say;
to women in private, they should be
willing to trust themselves to their
adored in public.
Fogies in the socialist ranks, who
still repeat the drivel of maic cox
combs, have barely forgotten their
caVe-dwellers catechism sufficiently
to stammer the word "comrade" and
make mess of it in their attempt
to realize it's meaning anon, their
own sex.
so long as comradeship meets with
such stubborn obstacles even among
advanced men. it can hardly be ex-
pected to make such Roadway among
fogles OF all sorts to the point of
heartily embracing their own women
folks
There is just one way to make
room for a better growth of this
comrade idea in the fogy mind:
Practice it and show them that they
are backnumbers.
They may have enough intelli-
gence to be --H~----- -----.- thew FIND
themselves outgrown by their wo-
men.
The socialist party offers to all
lovers of real comradeship a splen-
did opportunity to give the fogies
hearty jolt, a shaking up that will
do many of the less incurable moss
backs much good.
Take the petition of the socialist
party for woman's suffrage and Cir
culate 1t widely. The work for
petition is good, not merely for the
! losies OF both sexes. but also for
, the foe of all fogyism, the socialist
party.
Even if the majority of the women
VINO secure the franchise on equal
terms with men at first will vote the
democratic or republican ticket, their
WIDER touch with public life will in
eVitable bring greater self-reliancc.
greater freedom from prejudice.
greater Intelligence, greater person.
allty to them. All of these things
mean more. emancipation from the
thrall OF reactionary- influence
rome nowadays is for most wo-
men but Il. sugar coated name FOR
prison and hard. labor. ..
An interest in public life means
more efforts for emancipation FROM
home drudgery, more active interest
OF the children in their moth RS M b.
Tic duties, a better grade of citizens