The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1912-01-24
~ ESTHER caIFfiN WHITE.

After all, there Is something in a
king.
The other day the King of Sweden
stated off-hand he expected to intro
duce a measure or have one intro
duced. making women eligible to seats
in the national parliament and conferr-
ing upon them equal civic privileges
with men.
There is no uncertainty here.
The thing is to be done.
The King says 30.
Whether anybody likes it or not
nd, presumably, the men don't al
tn ough men may be different in Swe-
den than in Indiana-makes no differ
ence.
No long crusade.
No campaigns waged by suffra-
gettes.
No recriminatiOns.
The King merely says-the women
are to be accorded equal civic privi-
leges with men. Officer, attend to this
please, Hand me the morning paper.
They do these things simply in mon
arches.
A limited monarchy is about the
best government that has so far been
devised nv man.
An absolute democracy Is impossi-
BILE.
So far as votes for women" are
concerned. however, this column has
always maint aimed that things will be
no better, no worse. than now, when
the entire feminine body is given the
franchise. The only reason for the
c%orEferring of this privilege-if a priv
ilege could be said to be conferred
is the ~inalienable right of every citi-
zen, no matter what the sex or social
condition, to a voice in government.
Uneducated and ignorent women
have just as much right to vote as
u~neducated and ignorant men. The
truth is that neither un%educated nor
i%gnorent men or women should vote.
An uneducahed man or woman. for
that matter, might be able to vote
more intelligen tly than his educated
brother. Because enlightenment and
intelligent compr ehension do not al
ways follow education.
The writer knows a woman who can.
o read or write, and who would be
classed as an il%literate, who yet
would be able to cast an intelligent
vote in municipal affairs. Her native
wit and ~shrewdness dress people and
measures right down to the line.
She also knows a woman with a col
lege degree who mas absolutely no con-
ception of civic affairs.
These are. Of course. the exceptions
to the rule.
But it Is we'll to recognize the *
ceptions.
The trouble with most people is that
they give no quarter to anyone outside
Of their social plane or comprehension.
That great world peopLed by 1.-The
others is Jumped in one mass and
thrown into the offing.
Why, in instance. call Names"
Why say "niggers," "dagoes,"
"shenies."
Why arrogate to yourself a certain
superiority because you have a white
skin.
Who made the earth and the full
hess thereof"
How do you know who got here
first?
Who are you, anyway?
In a few years you will be turned
over to the worms who make no dis
! tinction between black OF white, man
or woman good or bad. educated or
un%educated, yellow or red. brown or
copper.
Neither God nor the worms are
what your color may be. your race or
your previous condition of servitude.
! There is nothing SO immoral as
thinking you are better than anybody
else.
The most perfect state of civiliza-
| ton is in that attitude which sees in
itself no superiority over any human
| creature. No matter if an Indian in
his tepee or a monarch in a palace.
Why call the man in the ditch n
| temptuously-"a dago."
He Is. for that matter, just as white
as yourself.
The Italian is a Caucasion. So are
you.
And he Is very far from being in
variably a member of the Black-Hand
society or a cut-thr0at.
He is. in the main, sober, industri-
Gus. intelligent and peaceable. He
may be living in crowded and uncom-
Portable quarters in order to get
enough money to send home for his
family.
Why hurl the epithet "dago" at him
because he's different from you? No
one is any better than anyone else, m
ly different.
When you call names" Q aren't
either civilized or a Christian.
These names are . source of hu-
initiation. suffering and torture.
When you call the Negro a mig
ger,"-when you lump all under that
name without observation-disclosures
relegate yourself to the class Of the
savage and the heather.
You aren't a Christian no matter
how many churches and charitable In.
situations you may belong to. No mat
ter how learned, how elegant, how
refined, how gifted.
You can't be a Christian and call
names" ~
Your prayers will rise 40 higher
than the roof of your mouth-where