The evening world., 1911-05-08

ing 10 all reports, the Suffrage paraue
But II IL not as a spectacle but as a
demonstration and an argument that
the suffrage leaders wish II to be re-
sarded. Considered in that aspect,
what does It proven That three thou
q n women have good feet. feet capable
OF carrying them over two miles OF
asphalt on a warm Saturday afternoon.
But are women going TO vote with
their feet. even ASSUMING that many
mon set them an example in that d.
rect.on?
Does walking two miles with brass
bands. bagplpes and other parapher-
MALTA OF the military spirit which con-
stitutes TIE strongest barrier to woman
suffrage establish intellectual fitness?
No more in women than It does In
men.
Saturdays parade cannot be taken
as a demonstration of the strength or
the woman suffrage feeling In this city.
because II grossly misrepresented It,
through under-statement. There are
thousands of women interested In OBJ
tsining thor political emancipation who
do not want to parade Fifth e
for the amusement n qualification OF
an idle mob that would gather just as
readily about a street fakir and much
more enthusiastically about a dog fght.
Doesn't Prove Fitness.
Women seek to vote as women, not
a. at Ninv vnAp AVA - orrrA tho
tumult inc the shouting Of masculine
politics can not be the best way OF
establishing feminine fitness for the
ballot.
The only force a parade can have
even to tho superficial observer IL that
OF Overwhelming numbers. And while
a demonstration as great as the 10000
Sound Money parade might Convince
a hostile legislature. 1t II doubtful
II the turning out Of 1000 women will
have any other effect titan providing
the people of New York with a free
Saturday afternoon entertainment.
! think there Is little doubt that TO
hundreds OF women who marched down
Fifth avenue in Saturdays procession
the event was little short OF the public
pillory endured for what they believed
20 be It's moral influence in favor o.
woman suffrage.
But TO see n lot OF men marching In
the hot sun to the tune OF basp!pes or
other musical instruments OF torture is
no. a very convincing argument. And
when women parade. the spectacle, Is
as iucongruous as II Is Illogical and
inept.
OF course, the first essential OF a
successful! agitator OF any cause is a
total lack OF a sense Of proportion:
optimists call It enthusiasm. And as a
rule there Is just one th!ng more thor
oughly lacking in perspective thar a
professional sufragist, and thft IL. a
professional antl-suffraglst.
But They'll Vote, Anyhow.
I think the majority OF women. sven
among the suffraslsts. know thai
woman suffrage is not going to save
the world. | think the majority or
ants VIII concede that woman suffrage
IS not going to damn the world. l MIN
the great majority of Indifferent per-
sons, and this includes nearly all Amer
lean men, know that, whether II is
right or not, expedicnt or not, women
will vote eventually In every civilized
country on the globe. The antis can't
stop Il. the suffragists are not helping
L SO very much
The relentless economic pressure that
~ sending women ont OF the home 20
worE for a living tends more and more
20 establish that similarity OF individual
function between men and m
which must bring Identical civic respon-
s,bllity,
To make woman suffrage wholly
logical, every woman should be
seif-supporting or by the rearing
OF children render Q publicly rec
ogized ana legally nxsd squivs-
lent Of s%elf-support.
To make the opposition TO wom-
an suffrage ~tenahle, the support
Of women by men, OF every adult
woman by her father, brother,
husband, or by the state when the
individual defaults. Ghould BIO
legally compelled.
Handwriting on the We'll.
The ~suifraglsts are going to win, not
through fauItleas logic, not from the
abstract righteousness OF an idea-not
with brass bands and parades-blt
through economic pressure that nay
break eventually the very women II
hrst exalts.
No one has ever disputed about the
handwr.tinG on the wall, but neither
has n ono regarded It as an exhibi-
ton Of fau.tless logic,
THE moving finger writes, and havlnf
writ,
Moves on; nor all your plety nor wit
can lure 1t back to cancel half a line,
Nor all your tears blot out a word o.
t."
In the matter OF suffrage, the nnger'
of women In factories. at typewriters
in every art and trade inc industry
have hRRun IN traca nXataa 10!