davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-04-25
SUNDAY MAGAZINE FOR APRIL 25, 1915

Other changes in the status of the wife
that come less in the public eye are even
more sweeping. One of these is the right
of a woman of any position land almost
every class has some position or "face" to
maintain in democratic China) to walk
about the public streets with or without
her husband Only those acquainted with
the East can realize how fundamental this
privilege is. Writers on social conditions
during the Boxer days have said that not
one Chinese woman in a thousand saw
anything of her native city even at that
recent time but the street on which her
father and afterward her husband lived.
That superstition-b breeding slavery still
exists, but examples of liberating change
are before every young girl of the present
generation.
The attendance of women at political
meetings is the last word in this revolu-
ton; but there are dozens of stages of
freedom before this is reached. To see
wives walking about the streets of a
Chinese city with their husbands, as is
possible in almost any Southern city to-
day, to see them together in the theaters,
and even i'll the restaurants, is to behold a
DTeacn OF etlQueUte tndI WOulu nave meant
insults and perhaps mobbing ten years
ago.
Against arranged marriages the revolu-
ton proceeds slowly but irresistibly. Only
the other day the President and Vice
President of the Republic exchanged
friendly amenities by betrothing a son of
thirteen to daughter of twelve in cere-
mony that might have been directed, for
all the respect it paid to modernity, by
the feudal Princes of the time of Con-
fucius. On the other hand, when the
southern ex-Premier, Tang Shao-yi, re-
Gently married a woman of his choice in
Shanghai, he submitted to a marriage pact
that no Eastern woman save a Chinese
would ever have had the temerity to pro-
pose. He not only had to promise that
one wife and one wife only would he have
now and forever, but he agreed to allot
this forceful lady periodical sum of
money that would legally be considered
her own. He also had to shave off his
long black mustache, which he had
twirled at diplomatic council boards from
Lhasa and Darjiling to Washington. d. c.
The mission schools are an excellent
standard, in this as in many other re-
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-04-25

with great surprise. why, isn't this what
foreigners do?' they asked, and they
meant it, the dear lady was convinced
after long arguments and explanations, in
all innocence.
1t is easy to see from this anecdote that
the revolution of feeling that this sudden
freedom brings to young people tied to re-
morseless etiquette their life long is an
emotion that an alien missionary, even
with our own liberal standards, finds ex-
ceedingly hard to control.
But of all the eases of rebellion against
the formal marriage | heard of when in
China the most extraordinary was that
of young girl in Hankow, twenty years
old, who advertised in a Young China
newspaper in something like this wise:
Flu Wing, having left her parents and being
lonely and unhappy, wishes to ally herself in
marriage with desirable young man. He
must be educated, of good family, proved
moral character, and not without money.
Applicants are requested to write to Miss
Flu, at the Street of the Kettle Members, near
the Shansi Bankers Guild. She will select
five, whom she will be pleased to have call on
her next Sunday afternoon at three O'Clock
at her home, there to interview each in turn
and choose her future husband. No men
over 81 need apply.
Flu YING of Shanghai.
l lam sure that the little reception on the
Street of the Kettle Members was con-
Quoted with nothing if not decorum, and
that the subsequent match was l"yally
adhered to on both sides.
This, of course, is the other side of the
picture,-the anarchy of youth when all
standards are too suddenly swept away.
Little Miss Flu. however, is but chip
whirling about in the maelstrom of reform
that is churnng the marriage relation in
China into enduring changes. In the
three categories here mentioned-in its
attack on concubinage, in its demand for
wider freedom for the wife, and the primal
demand for institutions governed by mar
riages of love-the progress that has been
made is only the beginning of spirit of
change whose advance will be as amazing
to the Chinese of our own generation as is
its present success so Incredible to the
mandarin mind of Golden Dragon days.
pALPABLE proofs of great reform are
eloquent in many other departments of
national life than those concerned with
the central issue of the condition of mar
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-04-25
The light, airy freedom of unbound feet.

The Hghf, AIRY freedom OF unbound Jeet
regiments of women soldiers, who fought
desperately with foreign weapons, and
asked and received no quarter.
Carrying on this ancient record, Miss
p. c. Sing led troop of women during
the last Revolution, appropriately CARRIED,
armed, and inspired, to camp near Nam
kin, there to await an opportunity to give
battle to the Northerners. This oppor-
tunity. to their great disappointment,
never came; but the Amazon regiment
did not end in newspaper talk. Its MEM
hers reanlisted for such dangerous duties
as spies and revolutionary agents; on
which duties happen to know that twen-
ty of them We're captured and killed in
Picking alone in the reaction of 1913.
1t is in the momentous development of
the present crisis that this tenacious and
fanatical strain of miitancy which dis
tinguishes the women of China from all
other Asiatic peoples became purposeful
and expressive of great national reform.
1t is still confined, as is the revolutionary
movement itself, to very small proper
ton of the people; but, small as it is, it is
the only element among Chinese women
can understand capacity to die for
a cause not their own.
The militant temper of Chinese women
is an old thing; but it's application to po-
litical problems and to something APP
preaching feminism is the newest and
freshest thing in the Eastern world.
TT is the alteration of the marriage re-
lation that one naturally thinks of first
as the test of the real emergence of women
in any part of the world And in the ad-
vancement of women's rights and privi-
leges in the marriage state the Chinese
nation had made great and irretraceable
steps. Take the paramount evil of con-
cubinage. The practice of having one or
more secondary wives, according to ones
ability to support them, springs ostensibly
from the necessity of having sons to pro-
pitiate the ancient shades of family ira
dition. A barren wife or wife "cursed"
with nothing but daughters feels no shame
in actually recommending and selecting
concubines to do what she cannot do.
She is their privileged superior by every
canon of Chinese law; but the code is
mans code. And Young China struck at
it with the full strength of a conscious
social revolution. The Republican SUI
preme Court denied to the concubine the
legal sanction of ages, reducing her to the
status of the kept woman of the West.
With the far-sighted justice of Chinese
reform, however, the children of present
concubines We're made equal and legiti-
mate before the law with the children of
the first wife.
With President now in power who is
the happy husband of sixteen wives, this
reform, even among sincere Republicans,
is far from completely but the tide is
flowing strongly in it's favor, and every
body of women reformers in the country
is separately and. collectively sworn to
monogamy IAN unheard of audacity hith-
crto) as one of the first demands of their
feminist bill of rights.
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-05-23
A HINT FOR INVENTORS.

A LETTER CARRIER on his way
~ through West nth street the
other day stopped at the en-
trance TO an apartment house and
gave quick glance upward. Dan
Cling on a jewel with his head almost
was a small Tin box. II swung at the
end Of string that reached UP to a
window Of the apartment house three
stories above.
The letter carrier nodded. smiled and
placed "A letter within the box, which
was quickly pulled up by girl at
the third story window. The carrier
left bunch Of letters with tho elc-
vator boy within the vest!bule. but
the letter the girl got was the quickest
delivered OF them all.
Secret love affair" repeated the
carrier after the query OF a curious
man. mot at all. Just a convenience
OF the girls SO that she would not
have to wait until the elevator man
sorted the mail or tip him after its
delivery. And do you know there's a
fortune for N" man who can arrange
something like It in fiathouses?
Take the four and five story houses
with no elevators. suppose the letter
boxes were so arranged that they
could be pulled up to the different
apartments now using them as down.
stairs receptacles for mail Do you
see what blessing II would be? Why
"A landlord could raise the rent and the
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-05-23

his voters on Tuesday. But what
over his feelings. the Giants made a
home run next day. An individuals
conviction Is not proof conclusive on
wl..1 10 settle the larger issues Of
Ia Toilette declared that Il
We Ntctly as logical 10 accept Mrs.
CraEn"r's alleged verd CT N woman
suffrage "a IL would he 10 accept
Mother Jones's verdict on suffrage of
any and all kinds
Mother Jones says votes are no
good. for either men or women" she
said. "Anti-suffragists who argue
against votes for women should. TO be
consistent. line up behind Mother
Jones and Emma Goldman. II votes
are good for men. they are good for
women. and II votes are no good. there
II nothing left but to Join the l. W.
VS. and become direct actiorlsts. And
how absurd for antl-suffragists TO try
10 make capital out Of the testimony.
quickly disproved. OF one woman voter
and refuse to he persuaded by the tes-
timony Of hundreds OF the leading men
and women IN every suffrage state
in the Union"
So much for tho abstract side ~ the
argument. II must he plain from all
this that suffragists are going to stand
or fall with woman suffrage as a prin-
ciple. not an cxpedent. Yet II IL Is
tho expedient that is to be our ideal
there is some testimony at hand to
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-05-23
ABlES, NOT BALLOTS ASSERTS NEW YORK MINISTER

| viewed more calmly and in moro
reasonable spirit
our colleges are not primarily re-
! positor.es OF information. but of in
/ spiraton. Their first business is TO
, inspire young womanhood with the
sense Of the dignity. the elevation
and tho sufflc!cncy OF the American
home, Tor the usefulness and the hap
piness OF the members thereof. I am
glad 10 say that this fact Is being in
Creasingly realized by the women's
colleges
These institutions. which now are
granting degrees OF one kind or an
other, ought to have an additional de-
gree. that OF 'Matrons + the Nation.
to which would he eligible such Of
their graduates as have demon
stratcd themselves to be excep.!onll
home makers. and this whether or not
the individual candidate for the de-
gree is the mother Of a generous Gam
. ily of children. The number does not
matter so muCh-the thing is to en-
phasiae the importance Of home maxi
ing as woman's business"
And how about the public demon
STATIONS 81 suffrage propagandistsc
The Congregational minister glanced
reflectively out Of his study window
for a moment.
DO you know" he said finally, 1.-THE
sight of prominent suffrage leader
sitting astride hor~r and riding down
the avenue. followed by a lot OF the
incest kind OF girls wearing beautiful,
sashcs across their chests-do you
know somehow. that doesn't tend to
enhance the dignity and power and
spiritual ascendency OF American
woma nhooi.
Somehow. all that sort 81 thing
fails to impress one, Tho pendulum
has swung pretty far in one direction.
II will swing back again for the rca
son that its governing power IL the
real the true, the abiding element of
genuine womanhood. Soon there
after will come adjustment and pois..
Let us hope that in the meantime tn.
WHmen will not lightly throw away
too much of that which leads to
actual advancement, actual happiness
and the fultilment of the great pur,
pose for which they were created"
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-05-23

point the moral and adorn this tale
Colorado. for instance, has declared
officially through its Senate that "ex-
perience has demonstrated that
woman suffrage is not only a lust
recognition OF the rights of all before
the law. but has proved in all re-
spects materially helpful 10 good
government among the people and to
a noticeable degree has inculcajcd a
higher respect for the majesty and
supremacy Of the law"
California, through similar action
by its Senate. has resolved that the
fornia is one OF the important factors
contributing 10 the marked political
social and industrial advancement
made by our people In recent years
and that any dispara cement of the
cause Of woman suffrage attempted
elsewhere on the ground that woman
suffrage is not satisfactory to this
state has no basis in fact. and IL sig
nally disproved by the acknowl-
edged intelligence and discrimination
shown by women voters in the settling
of our great political and industrial
problems AT the polls"
Kansas has gone on record To the
same purport. and II you would like
to know what tho Governors Of suf-
frage States think ~ woman suf-
frage 1, is easily summarized as fol-
.oN-e:
Gov. Cappcr ~ Kansas: Woman
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-05-23
ehemlah Boynton Thinks Suffrage Agitation Is Injuring
tualy-Createst Menace. He Believes Is in Uniting
College Girl as Potential Home Maker

TO do everything my husband does
And ! said to her. My dear lady. 20
ahead. won't say a word against
your ambition. Only I'll bet you'll ct
mighty tired Of SHAVING your face
every morning
II want It definitely understood"
DR.. Boynton continued. that however
mistaken some Of the women may he
In their present aims, certainly md
sincerely wish for them real and abso-
lutte freedom Of thought. As indicating
this attitude may say that our three
daughters are graduates of Wellesley.
Two OF them. at least. are suffragists:
one an active suffragist. have never
attempted to coerce them in any way,
although have endeavored to show
them the diverse OF the sufYra gist
idea as ! see IT, Now that they are
young women feel they have n right
TO decide for themselves on this as on
other matters.
I'VE have given our daughters the
, very best education We could, and they
are free to make their own choice as
to suffrage. Nevertheless we still be-
lieve-Mrs. Boynton and THAT to
thrust the responsibilities OF political
life upon womanhood. whose original
"a ,,, certain,v 4. no, hs,ro s,,,eIIad Co.,
day In fom,,,.. =, no,,,,a Au,o,-oo,
stoc,. 10 10 mn an ohs,acro IN ,ho ,,.o,,
~ ,romapbood h.sr..,y ard ~ ,ho raoo
., Tho no q, u,b,ch che to ~ ,,o,o
oons.r,ir, a,or,
AS 10 tne leeiihs men no,u ,oWaru
"oii,ah "clN!'' i" PUN, nv
.hli'A tnat mos men are si"u 10 nave
."eH WIVES ae''Ne'y i.'e'.s" III pun
~ a'i"''s ''ia' aie "'"e' ~ '''e noun.
|" Tue sieat movement ior up''lt ~
'ne iaii'iiy NE III 'h's country ~"
one vi ir'e''lse"ce couiu 'n'hN o' '''h'-
,''i"lhs 'he Tremendous power woman
noou mas eNer'eu anu ooeS exert III Il"
sueh matters as pet'erihs cohu''l "ns
III tenement observation-disclosures III eslap-
$500, ,'n, -. a.,
LI,chans ana ,ha s,oros =, othar ,,,1'i,a
ga .ar,,In,,hro ,,.,,,r,,,na o. H.
"a =, h,'r,,n,,,. 49, h,,ua,, 80
.ar -, .,.,,,ho,,o 80 an
oIan, o,,,mt,a,,ar
IN al TINS vast ana important ne'd
OF hish ueVo'ion 10 the welfare ol
society "oniah'ioou mas SHOWN horse'f
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-05-23

Mayor on April 6. 1915. Their IN
creasing appreciation of tho priv ego
Of voting is here shown;
Municipal primaries FEBRUARY. ia,t ~,
Municipal election, April. 1914 ........ isa';1
County primaries September ig't So
County elections, November t. lPii ,a1i,
Mayoralty primaries. February. 1915 . iS5',,a
Mayoraity elections, Aprl. ieij....... .fs,,;.'
California has 6l3,62G women on
titled TO register and vote In 1917
Io.4 per cent. registered as agains,
So per cent. Of men. out Of thirty.
seven counties Investigated az [, Tho
women's vote i've counties showed a
larger percentage Of women registered
than men. For tho entire state of
California the vote was 81 3 per cent
women and 1914 per cent. men OF those
registering. For the city Of Los
Angeles in 1918 the vote cast was 542
per cent women and jOo per cent
men of those registering. For san
Diego the vote was 65.2s per cent,
women and 63.4 per cent. men of those
registering
Moreover the mems vote has in-
creased in California since woman sul-
frage has been obtained In the 1914
gubernatorial election the registration
for the entire State was S3.5 per cent,
mae and SCI per cent. female. an m
crease for both. In tho 1910 gubcrnn-
torial election. before women lad tho
vote in California. the total state vote
was 393.96s. In the 1911 gubernltorial
election twomen enfranchi.cdj tho
vote was 96lS6S.
Again and again Colorado's indus
trial situation is cited by an'i-suftra-
gists to show that woman suffrage n
Colorado IL n failure. BY tho same
token man suffrage In Massachusetts
is a failure, man suffrage in Wcst
Virginia Is failure. man suffrage
in Michigan is failure. man suffrage
in Pennsylvania is failure. In every
one OF those States there have hc"n
acute industrial crises that mad a
byword of democracy. In every mo
he clash of capital and labor has 1T
trail Of innocent dead.
I, WASH, only at Ludlow that women
and children and boys and unofcnding
hystanders were shot To death Law
renee. Wheeling. Hancock. Hampstead
had each It's days Of horror. II vas
Ludlow acne that had women 20 ~
to the rescue as citizens and demand
that the horror cease. YET We never
hear OF tho failure Of manhood SUI
frage in Massachusetts West Nir-
gin!a. Pennsylvania and Michigan Wa
hear only Of the failure Of woman
suffragc u Colorado
II women must not vote IN Now
York because Colorado's record is tot
spot.ess, shall New York mon be dis
franchised because Of tho record n
the manhood suffrage states. or shall
we not all admit that Whatever the
record made by state or iudividIal,
the great principle of sclf-Suyernmcnt
must stand?
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-05-23

NoDiminution of Interest in theBallot
on the Part of Women There or
Elsewhere, Say Leaders

SOC women. Keeping calmly in mind
that there are Of voting age 1918 men
to 100 women In Denver 1t would seem
that there was nothing in this show
ing on which to base the wholesale
deduction that woman suffrage Ia a
failure.
Again, there was more excuse in
the weather conditions than showed on
the face OF the first telegraphic ad-
vices. II was quite the worst weather
in years. An almost Unprecedented
snowstorm ragged all day.
but suppose none of all this was
true and suppose Mrs Cranuer did
say that woman suffrage was a fail
ure. What OF It? II would be one
womans opinion. Many a man re-
lieves his sense OF depression when
things don't go right as he sees right
by expressing the opinion that social
and political institutions and the world
are failures. What he says is not re-
ceived with deadly seriousness as n
reliable forecast OF the end OF hope
and faith. Institutions and the world
continue at the old stands.
Ministers. their nerves frazzled by
overlong contemplation OF what they
see as the sins of their congregations,
rise up in their pu.pits and denounce
people en- masse. Yet II takes more
than a disheartened preacher TO con-
vince the public that Christianity IL a
failure. Social reformers. political re-
formers, teachers. all break out into
periodic walls of woe because the mil
lennium comes 30 slowly. Yet faith
that we shall somehow make harbor
persists. Hope persists. The ideal
persists.
There Is a lot OF hope and faith In
local suffrage circles. New York
suffragists keep their eyes on the
ideal. 1t will take more than the
opinion Of one woman voter to blur
the issue in New York.
III you are going to he a sufYrag!st
lay in a big supply Of patience" said
Mary Garrett Hay. city chairman OF
the Woman Suffrage party. when a
story like this Cranmer story comes
over the wires the first thing TO do Is
TO wait. II sometimes seems to me
that the American public makes UP its
mind too quickly. II doesn't wait to
get the verification.
I'VE are 40 agile that between the
time the story comes and the denial
follows there has been a great excite
ment over something that isn't so. In
weighing any argument that woman
suffrage is a failure 1t ought TO he
borne in mind that everything new is
failure to the ultra conservative.
Woman suffrage Is not n failure. II
is only new
Marie Jenney Howe. director in
Manhattan borough OF the Woman
Suffrage party and a wary cam
paigner accustomed to hear to-day's
story denied tomorrow. said
promptly:
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-05-23

are cult'vatinE idea, interests which
men are too largely permitting to re-
main uncared for.
Like the farm permitted to go
back for lack Of fertilization, SO the
mind OF the American man through
neglect Is becoming inferior. He is
beginning to complain bitterly about
the time taken to prepare his son for
what is called life and ls vigorously
pleading for all sorts OF short cuts
through college and professional
school in order TO expedite prcpara
;ion for what he calls the real things
of life. He secs around the corner.
but is n hlt impatient Of long look. OF
distant v!stas. He Is great hearted,
courageous souled and n pioneer low
ing spirit, this American who will not
sell himself for mess OF pottage, but
to-day he is wrestling FOR his life wi,
III" temptations OF mammon.
Now the American woman ey.-
IDENTIFY cannot he OF largest service to
her brother man by competing with
I MIN in the areas Of HIS temptation.
The very principle OF difference which
gives 10 each his and her sphere OF
efficient energy for the common veal
offers woman her great opportunity.
50 II Is idle to attempt 10 appoint with
severity the bounds OF men and
women and declare thus far and no
farther for individual liberty will GER
;Ainly manifest itself
"One cannot forget that more than
100000 women in America to-day
are connected with business. They
represent the uohlest woman h. God OF
IN" country That number will be
, increased. and So will tho diversity Of
! Wnman's employment. And one of
IN" highest privileges an honest.
'hivalr"us man has to-day IL that of
recognizing and honoring in this army
II women who work the essential
, woman.iuess which Is everywhere so
evident. Also IS this privilege for
men one Of tn" mighty tasks OF loyal
american womanhood
Equal suffrage with men would
! civ" women nothing. nothing worth
their while. nothing worth all the er-
fort being made for II, Present con
dliions Of the ballot in our country
| are sufficiently tumultuous. as any
! one can understand who follows with
reasonable Intelligence the political
/ history Of this country. To double the
| number OF voters would increase, and
| not lessen, the strain Of the situation;
and iudginG from States whore women
,, possess and exercise equal suffrage.
| things political would remain Just as
| they are now. There would he no
| change. The women would gain moth
ing.
AS To colleges for women, TO which
! have referred, | think the best OF
them are recognizing that Votes for
! Women Is not the most important cul-
I tural root to be planted deep within
| the nature OF immature young stu
| dents. There are those who perceive
| already marked change. a lessen
| ing OF emphasis in the best or wom-
! ems colleges, II growing realizat ion
| that thcrc are other inspirat,ona,
needs Just as great and possibly
greater, | think the reaction has set
/ in very widely, II reports are true
which come To me from here and
| there; and that what recently seemed
TO have taken the proportions OF a
veritablc obsession on the part OF q
multitude OF women is now being