Grand Forks daily herald. (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1914-1916, 1914-11-02
The Power of SEX.

of the rights and employment Of
women should be treated without re-
gard to sex. It should rather be said
that those who consider it regard
less of sex do not consider it at all.
1t will not do to exclude from the
problem the chief factor in 1t, and
deal with women as IL they were
smaller and weaker men. Yet these
have been the tactics Of the agitators
for female suffrage.
Whatever liberty the best civiliza-
tion may accord to women. they must
always be subject to restrictions un-
known to the other sex, and they can
never dispense with the protecting in
fluences which society throws about
them. Without a radical change In
human nature. of which the world has
never given the faintest sign. women
cannot be equally emancipated. 1t is
not a question of custom. habit or
public opinion; but of an all-pervad-
ing force, always formidable in the
vast number of ME in whom 1t is not
controlled by higher forces. A wom-
an is subject, also. to many other re-
strictions. more or less stringent. nee
essary to the maintenance Of self-re-
spect and the respect Of others. and
wv PAASAk46 AACA CIV " Aoau q DO
compared to men. in the active work
Of the world. All this Is mere truism.
but the plainest truism may be ig-
nored In the interest of a theory or a
cause"
Again, everybody knows that the
physical and mental constitution OF
woman Is more delicate than in the
other sex: and. We may add. the rela-
lions between mind and body are more
intimate and subtle. =.
1t is these and other inherent con-
ditions. Joined to the e%ngrossing ma
ture Of a woman's special functions,
that have determined through all
time her relative position. What we
have just said-and we might have
said much more-is meant as a remin-
der that her greatest limitations are
make them, and they cannot unmake
them. Through them, God and Ma.
ture have ordained that those subject
TO them shall not be forced to join in
the harsh conflicts of the world mill
tant. 1t is folly to ignore them or
try to counteract them by. political
and social quackery. They set at
naught legislatures and peoples.
The Cruelty of Woman Suffrage.
The frequent low state of health
among American ON is a fact as
SesiuCAlA0OAo a. ~ u uSplOld Olcs
n In this condition of things, what do
Sertains women demand for the good
ut their, sex? To add to the excite
4lents that r wasting them other
and greater ,excitements, and to cares
jtoo much Tor. their strength other and
greater cares Because they cannot
do their own work. to require them to
add to it. the work of men. and
launch them into the turmoil where
the most robust sometimes fail. 1t is
much as II a man in a state Of ner-
vous exhaustion were told by his ply
stefan to enter at once for a foot race
or a boxing match.
Power Should Go With Responsibility.
To hold the man responsible and
just nor rational. The man is the nat
ural head Of the family, and is re-
sponsible for its maintenance and or
der. Hence he ought to control the
social and, business agencies which are
essential to the successful discharge of
the trust imposed upon him. II he
is deprived Of any part of this con-
troll. he should be freed also in the
same measure from the responsible
ties attached to it.
Political Dangers Of Woman Suffrage.
One Of the chief dangers of popular
y 10 SAldL VI llCOIlSlQ6TdL6
and rash legislation. In impatience
to be rid of one evil. Interior conse-
auences are apt to be forgotten. In
the haste to redress one wrong, a
wrong door may be opened to many.
This danger would be increased inn
m~easureably If the almost impulsive
and excttable half of humanity had
an equal voice in the making Of laws,
and in the administration of them.
In politics. the virtues Of women
would sometimes be as dangerous as
their faults.
II the better class of women flatter
themselves that they can control the
others. they are doomed to disap-
,pointment. They will be outvoted in
their VI kitchens, without reckoning
the agglomerations of poverty. isnor-
ance and vice, that form q startling
proportion of y city populations. It
Y here that the male vote alone
threatens U system with it's darkest
pertls. The female vote would enor-
mously increase the evil, for 1t Is often
more numerous, always more impul-
plFe and less subject to reason, and
almost devoid Of the sense Of respon-
sfbility. Here the bad politician
would find his richest resources. He
could not reach the better class of fe.
male voters, but the rest would be
ready to his hand. Three-fourths Of
them, when not urged by some press
ing need or contagious passion, would
be moved, not by principles, but by
personal predictions.
The Female Politician.
1t 10 not woman's virtues that would
prominent or influential in the
political arena. They would shun It
BY an invtncible repulsion; and the
opposite sex Qualities would be drawn
into It. Tho Warrington lobby has
Hyen US some means of judging what
We may expect from the woman lin
side politics." II politics are to be
purified by artfulness, effrontery. In
stability, q pushing ~self-assertipn,
and q glib tongue, then We may look
for regeneration; for the typical fe-
male politician will be richly endow-
ed with all. these gifts. :.
Thus ACQUIRED for the conflict, she
may fairly hope to have the better of
her masculine antagonist. "A woman
has the. ~inalienable right of attacking
without being attacked In, turn. She
may strike, but must not be struck,
literally or .figuratively.
It may b. said that the advocates Of
suffrage do not look to politi-
ca1 women for the purifying Of poll.
hcs, but to the votes Of the sex It
large. Tho two, however, cannot be
It should be remembered
that the question Ii. not for q limited
and select female suffrage. but Of !
universal one.