The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-05-16
READING FOR MEN.
historical aUd scientific Works 20
Com Met. Thcir Political Education

To rms i:piTon or THE SuS-Str:
While Mrs. Norrie has expressed a wish
20 rc.i-e from the columns OF THE SUN,
IL Is TO he hopel size will not do 80
without frs, carving out her generous
intention o. prescribing a course OF
scientific and historical reading that may
enable all Of US to round OFT our polit-
icai education 10 that fuluess OF under
standing So regularly characteristic OF
woman suffrage circles. And having de-
,ected In IN, own pitiful case the unfor-
,unate effects OF lifetime OF evil as
Soc'a'iors both literary and feminine
(which ! had toped to diss" nble) Mrs.
Nurrlc's obligation OF tutelagc rises to
the u Plus one power OF compassionate
duty.
Tho general masculine ignorance Ia
far more profound. I fear. than Mrs.
Norrle ,(ls fathomed. and we need huge
volumes OF enlightenment. Not many
OF US have known. for example. that q
majority consents 10 he governed. Our
misguided impression has been that the
majority governs and that the minority
does the conserving. So restricted are
the male intellectual processes az they
properly may be so referred toy that We
have been quite unequal to the some-
what abstruse conception that tho So me
individuals who assert their will also
COUscIlt " u. anu AZ VIC DTbETcSs WIFI
the suffrage propaganda Il becomes in
creasingly clear that very few OF US
mere men who have been doing each
of us his little share OF governing. of
and or. SO TO speak. during these many
generations. have had the least notion
OF what We actually were doing or
what government really means.
And decidedly we need practical guild
ance Defeated minorities u%nhappily
do not always consent to be governed
by the expressed will OF the majority.
They rave a nasty little way sometimes
Of rioting or even rebellinR. Perhaps
Mrs. Norrie may be able to suggest
some work Of science or history or pos
sibiy even OF pure fiction that will ad-
wise us Just what to do In case a rebel
l.ous minority should happen 20 COM
prise a large working majority OF the
able bodied. rude and violent men OF
our beloved nation. and those wicked
men shov,d act real mean" about IT.
Such questions as this, I am informed.
are particularly annoying 20 adherents
Of woman suffrage 10 II I nave axceed-
ed the limits OF good form In advert
ing to his matter. permit me TO pass
on to another. The common under
standing Of persons supposedly we'll
informed respecting the origin Of our
moral Ideas appears also to need revi-
sion. Perhaps Mrs. Norrfe can Rge
some Bible or Talmud or other sacred
scripture embodying an array OF moral
principles developed by women? Or per-
chance she may be able to bring 10 our
attention some historical work that will
how women to have originated the
many further %refinements of moral con-
ception which from time to time during
succeeding centuries have enriched our
ethical code? May we no even hope
that she will reward our eagerness with
the name OF some scientific volume,
some treatise on evolution no doubt,
that will offer for our absorbed study
a complete record OF the descent of our
~species in which the female thereof has
dominated the entire development OF
human affairs in all their multifarlous
activities. and so necessarily must have
worked out In practice the ethical re-
~quirements OF a million and one situa-
tons OF life. from the time Of Pithecan-
thropus until now. OF which for the
mos; part the very existence has re-
mained unknown to the masses of the
other sex?
II Mrs. Norrle will be 30 kind as "a
do pe personally this last small favor
tmy inclinations Of study having run
that way I shall he only too glad IA
reverse. with most humble apology,
what she so fatteringly has called my
Original theories" summarized In the
statement hat the morality established
by man is the morality ingrained in the
race. FRED MErcALP.
PLAINriELp. y. j., May 10.