The Greeley tribune., 1912-03-14
GRACE BEFORE LAWLESSNESS

GRACE BEFORE LAWLESSNESS
Editorial in the March Century
Were it not fraught with the peril
that always attends crooked think
ing, there would be something in
tensely comic in the solemn assever-
ations of the militant school of
woman suffragists concerning the
way in which they went about their
work of stone throwing and other
violence in London as means of
coercing the government into for
warding their cause, The mildest-
hammered man that ever cut
throat would have been interested
TO read the statement of an Ameri-
can sympathiZer. made at meet
ing in New York and thus reported
III the Evening Post of January 5:
when the decision was reached
, and the demonstration planned, it
Z came as reverent, prayerful, and
I deeply thoughtful resolve. There
was nothing impulsive about it. 1t
was all planned most carefully and
deliberately and there ran through
it deep spiritual note. Before the
! demonstration many of the churches
were opened that the women might
go to receive communion. Mrs.
, Pethick Lawrence. in the van of the
deputation, wore an ancient Roman
crucfiX with the mother and child
by the side of the cross, as a symbol
I that she led cause at once sacred
and devoted to women and chill
l dren.
To which Mrs. Pankhurst leader
| of this wing of the SuffragiSts. ad
{ ded this pathetic touch to the pic
/ ture of amateur martrydom;
| I'VE wanted to do ii with self
restraint. Self-restraint has always
been one of our first rules-never
! lose your temper. even when met
with insults Stones are
i time honored political weapon.
You must realize that this is a civil
war. Men consider war the justifi-
cation for the taking of human life
and the destruction of property. We
have not taken life and we have
damaged property only to an in
significant extent
The last sentences show that the
speaker has not after all, the logic
of her convictions, for 'civil war
is not matter merely of stone
( throwing. bowling down speakers
and other disorder Granted the
sincerity of these ladies, it all re-
minds one of the spoiled child in
! the nursery who thinks that the
only way to get thing is by vlo-
lence- the difference that he
does not give an aspect OF sanctity
to his stamping and screaming. II
this sort of thing is to continue, let
us have revision of the book OF
common prayer with collect TO
be recited before personal assault
upon prime minister, collect TO
precede the planting of bomb
among innocent working mem, etc
Now. the question OF whether
women should have the suffrage
which we are not discussing here
is a very different one from the
question whether all measures to
obtain it are justifiable or eXpedi-
ent To parade, to speak IN pubic
to carry banners, and to advocate
cause through the press and by
printed circulars, are methods EN-
ployed by all parties and factions.
If sometimes the advocates OF
women suffrage within the BOUNDS
OF order have exceeded the bouhus
of delicacy, it must be remempereu
that in the public forum questions
of taste must be subordinated TO
questions of right But when
comes to a violation of such funda-
mental rights OF others as that VI
free assembly, by the interruption
of meetings. or to such violence as
tbe "suffragette' wing of the move
ment has shown in London, il is
time for sober minded American
] comedian The drift ana III
nuence of such policy not only
upon the cause itself. but upon pop-
ular sentiment in country already
I criminally tolerant of lawlessness'
II may seem to many a hard say
ing. hut we fail to see any difference
in principle between the clam OF
Mrs. Pankhurst that the violent me
! thods she advocates and pracuces
are justified by the fact that she Is
engaged in holy war and that OF
! Mcnamara that his murderous Vlo,
| lence was in defense of n sacred
cause Each would tell you that
..there is no other way But Wheis
shall the appeal to violence END
Tbere are a hundred burnlus /
carses. many enlisting the conNlo-
| tion of noble men and Wohleu'
many others the fanaticism OF tuS
bolf-mad: are these to be advance
only by the unsheathed sword 49,.
the torch of wisdom TO become ~
| inverted torch of anarchy! IN tnl9
day of a general and growing atsl
for sane and peaceful adlustnel,tS
of international differences, is inc
nraot god Mars to become, after
ali our tutelary divinity?
IL must be remembered that
u,a onipion of vast number OF Not-
ars this question is one OF iarGe
axnodiency. There are two schools
If philosophy, or. rather. two atti-
tudes of mind. which chiefly deter