Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-11-19
|Life'sProblems
Are Discussed
T HERE was a little group of us
talking together, when some one


mentioned the word democracy
One of the men present suddenly
woke up. AS the subsequent con-
versation was chiefly between two
men, L will call them Frank and
George respectively. 1t was George
who spoke.
Democracy! he exclaimed
There amt no such thing. No
ruling government on earth can be
called so in the full sense of the
word"
Frank looked at him in dazed
sort of a way. What is a democ-
racy, them" he asked.
What do you say it is?" George
countered.
why, government by the peo-
pie of course"
"oh, that's a dictionary defni-
tion," returned George. Would you
imply that any Government, ours
included, which maintains half its
population as privileged. class is a
democracy?"
Now, when Frank is puzzled his
tongue is temporarily paralyzed.
am afflicted in Just the opposite way:
my perpleXity is loquacious.
IT suppose there is something be-
Illlu lldI statement OF yours,
broke in, but if there is I've missed
it. Just what do you mean when
YOU speak of maintaining half the
population as a privileged class :?
That's not true of America, any way
1T certainly is" George asserted.
You ought to know that. You be-
long to it,
II belong to a privileged class :?
It's news to me-" I cried. May I
ask how"
In your capacity as a woman
of course. You are one of great
mass of the population which en-
joys exemption from the perform
snce of any public duty except that
Of paying taxes. You are, more
'>Ver, made the beneficiary of spe-
S4al legislation and at the same time
relieved of all responsibility for the
proper and efficient conduct of the
public business. If such a condi-
ton doesn't prove you one of a priv
ileged class I'd like to know what
does
"Well, whose fault is it?" I de-
manded. Il like your CHEEKY way
of berating us, as if we had made
ourselves a privileged class. I'm
sure we women have been clamor-
ing for the right to vote long enough
and the ballot implies public SER
vice"
THE right" he commented in
disgusted tone. It's a matter of
plain duty. The question of Votes
FOR Women has been made a prob
lem by discussing it as a privilege,
a prerogative, a vested interest This
has obscured and confused the mat
ter. Can't you see the hollow mock
cry of all that pretentious chatter
about democracy when fifty per
cont nf tho nann1n nf hA ITnftal
States are exempted from the public
service.
And does it make any difference
why they are immune? Whatever
the reason, the contribution of wom-
an to the common good is withheld.
SO long as that remains a fact we are
not a democracy. We are an 'anthro-
pacacy,' a government by men solely,
as that MOUTH filling word implies -
Women" said Frank, who had
found his voice at last. ARE not
fitted either emotionally or intellect
ually for public duty. Their truest
service, and the one absolutely essen
tial to the state is the service they
render in the home.'
THAT was all very we'll" observ-
ed George Wearily, when the home
was an industrial institution and be-
fore 1t had been turned into junk
by factories and canneries and sup
piled with all the readymade articles
which meet its needs to-day. But the
home in the patriarchial sense no
longer exists. There are plenty of
households where it is necessary for
women to drudge from morning till
night, but not as former generations
drudged.
The poorest home has it's labor
saving devices and houses are stead |
lily yielding to flats and apartments.
Women of every class find more
time to devote to outside interests.
"Oh, it is to laugh" he went on.
This vast nonvoting class is consid-
cred sufficiently intelligent to rear
the future citizens of the country, |
to teach them in the public schools, !
to tutor them for college, to settle |
their legal difficulties as lawyers and !
minister to their ailments as doctors. !
Women have engaged with credit in |
practically every profession, every
business and every trade, and vet
they are still told that they are un- !
fitted Intellectually and emotionally !
to perform their share of the muni- |