The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-04-04

elimination of sex" To initiate
men, to be Identified with men in Av.
cry sphere of activity. il the funda'
mental impulse upon which suffragisti
depend for their following-and 1t IL
| because so few women are Of this
type that the suffrage agitation has
gained 80 little ground with women
themselves. after sixty-fve years OF
the same old arguments.
becoming . Menace.
In her mad rush for identity with
man, her needless faith in her ability
to legislate away the sex differences
and characteristics which nature itself
has erected after sixty centuries of So
cial evolution, the sufYragist Is becom-
ing a menace. Apparently she desires
TO abolish womanly and manly char
acter, and substitute some compro-
mise which shall be neither man nor
woman "A creature OF her imaSina-
ton where all the feminine men and
the masculine women can meet on
common grounds Of Equality" Wom-
anly qualities are lost for a boldness
in speech and public action such az
We have never seen before; and
manly qualities, in consequence. arc
becoming less noticeable in the direct
proportion to which women adopt
masculine methods. Recognizing the
differences between men and women,
civilization has evolved a different
method of expression, different duties,
different responsibilities in their rela-
ton to each other and the State. Not
one exclusive benefit to women can be
claimed for the ballot; all her Won
derful achievements were reached
without il, through her womanly in
fuence on public opinion. and her su-
preme command over the individual
ideals she gives her children.
In her home, the school, the church
and the club, IL 1t is not deserving
civic work to battle for the ballot
woman has her own instruments for
good. Mans instruments to preserve
the safety of the State-the courts.
the police. the armies, the ijuries. and
the ballots-are in reality crude, cor
receive repair tools, necessary to
tighten, adjust. regulate and maintain
order among the rapidly moving ele-
ments in organized society. They are
rarely constructive in themselves, but
merely serve to preserve the peace
and procession of productive effort,
and are as different from the forces
and tools of woman's power as politics
are from art, invention, education and
Simpler Forms Urged.
The simplest forms to which we can
reduce necessary governmental ma
chfnery. the more efficiently and the
least extensively to the people will 1t
work. We need no duplication of
duplication Of mans work in polite,
by women, any more than we need
another and a feminine hand at the
throttle of our locomotives or at the
of our steamships. Not only
Is 1t inefficient and useless for a man
and 4 woman both to do what the
man alone can accomplish, but the
ballot box, like the engine cab and
he ships bridge, is surrounded by
'arious objects which require the con-
slant exercise of technical knowledge
he woman needs not, nor is willing
% go to the trouble to acquire. Also. |
Ike the engine cab and the shtp's
steering gear, man has found it impos-
'ible TO keep politics free from mussy
materials of CRIME and grease-things
hat leave no stain on the rough gar
nents of men. but which might soft |
orever the delicate and spotless cloak
" a woman's reputation. Let the |
women clean politics." Just as we'll |
end bevy of Whitehead housewives
o clean the coal mines-and see
whether the coal or the women change
olor.