Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1912-05-25
By l. T. Martin.

By l. T. Martin.
The question of woman suffrage has
swept like a destructive flood over
the country-oyer the world. The old
customs which have for centuries held
the activities of women under benefit
cent restraint, have crumbled under
the disintegrating influence Of modern
thought, and the social and political
world is being swept from its moor
ings by the deluge.
This flood tide will subside, doubt
less, in time; will exhaust itself, and
like similar floods, leave tragic trail
to mark its passage, Whether you
accept evolution as cyclic, involving
retrogression as well as progression,
or whether you believe it to be eter-
nally progressive, we ask you to con-
slider that, in either case, evolution Is
the unseen and little understood move
ment of obscure forces, which ex-
presses itself in changes which are
apparent to all in the external world.
That two kinds of change are to be
recognized-one the quiet and newt
able change of evolution, the result
of the uncomfortable movement of un-
seen forces, and the other, the noisy
and destructive change, which resSlts
from collision of the natural forces,
with an external, artificial and super
ficial application Of force, which we
call revolution.
The one may be illustrated by the
slow and steady adjustment of living
organisms to environment, which has
developed and specialized the organs
and their functions until, as in the
case of men, we have an organism de-
veloped to point Of efficiency at
which 1t can dominate its environ
ment. Education, accumulated knowl-
edge of the relation of things may be
said to be the cause of evolution. In
politics, natural evolution, II we
must Judge by the past, seems to be
from the family-the clan-the small
states to the federation of states.
Sometimes by the way Of empire,
sometimes by that of the republic apd
usually returning through tyranny,
by retrogressive steps, to the destruc-
tion of the nation.
The other mode of change may be
illustrated by such interference with
natural law as Darwin's experiment
in producing hybrids, or what is more
to our purpose, such a change in po-
lltical institutions as that of the revolt
against monarchical institutions In
England in the seventeenth century,
the artiflciality Of which was proved
by the reaction. in favor Of monarchy,
by the speedy restoration of the Stu
arts. Still more illuminating, is the
French Revolution, which illustrates
in one instance many phases OF
change.
The feudal institutions had crum-
bled, the needs of the people for a
new code, a new set Of laws, was Bit
ter. The natural evolution followed
the natural lines of slow attempts at
readiustment under the pressure OF
necessity, resulting in that great ex-
preston of the spirit of the Times" ="
the constitutional assembly.
Here was an orderly unfolding OF
the newly acquired knowledge of hui
man needs, but the spirit of revolution
asserted itself, in the interference Of
the impatient populace, which culmln-
ated in the terrible ihsurrectlon OF
the women (the men not acting swiftly
enough ON the fateful fifth day OF
October. The women decided that they
would put their shoulders to the
wheels, by the roaring loom Of Time.
Lafayette and many other thoughtful
and brave men labored through years
to open safe channel for the stream
Of progress; first the restless popu-
lace and at last, the women, tearing
with relentless taIons at the restrain
ing dykes. The flood Of unreason
swept nation down to destruction.
For more than a hundred years,
France has tried 10 rebuild what she
destroyed.
We are today In the midst Of a rev.
olution as great in importance as that
OF the eighteenth century Because
It is a bloodless revolution, many do