Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1918-08-06
THE LAST THING
CIVILIZED BY MAN
A Certain Great Writer Said
The Last Thing Civilized
By Man Would Be Woman
THE PRESIDENTS STAND

IN his letter 10 Mrs. Gait, expressing
the hope that Congress viii forthwith
pass the suffrage measure before it,
Mrs. Wilson has based his recommen-
dation on the ground which IS the only
ultimately safe one for any supporter
OF that measure II is true, says the
Christian cience Monitor. that in the
later part OF his letter Mr.. Wilson de-
seended more 10 particulars, repre-
senting equal suffrage as one OF the
necessities Of the hour But before
doing this, he made the claim OF
women 10 the suffrage one simply OF
Principle, and so of abstract justice.
II is perfectly easy to discover a
hundred or a thousand specific rea-
sons why the suffrage should be grant
ed to women. II is extremely difficult
to find a single argument for refusing
it, and even when such an argument
is produced it pays no attention what
ever to Principle, but proposes not
merely TO ignore, but even to override
it, Possibly the best argument ever
advanced against suffrage was that, at
one time so dear to Mr.. Acquith, that
in the event of a war women would
lack the determination TO see the thing
through, and would permit their feel
| ings as mothers, wives, and sisters, to
get the better of them, with terrible
consequences when faced by nation.
in whose ranks women had no voice,
and which was prepared to go any
length in achieving its aims. Curious
ly enough the present war came as an
object lessen in answering Mr.. As
auith's objection And Mr. Aisquith,
recognizing that his argument had
been answered, not theoretically but
practically, withdrew his opposition TO
suffrage. and was found voting for II
in the House of Commons.
As a matter of fact the present war
/ has answered Mr.. Asquith's argument
with emphasis The worshippers OF
the Hammer-God, to quote German
| description of the Germans, have re-
! legated women to the category of the
Hausfrau. Indeed, the Gothic view OF
women, medieval in its sublime sim
1 plieity, is one of the many points in
which the German mentality appears
/ TO coincide with that of the Ottoman
/ The male worshippers, therefore, OF
the Hammer-God having decreed war
| and having decreed war in accordance
with the Won Clausewitz theory OF
"frightfulness," offers just such an H.
lustration as the ex-Prime Minister OF
England was wont to conjure up. II
was then, however, that the women OF
England showed Mr.. Asquith how en-
| tirely he was mistaken. Mrs. Pank-
| hurst at once hauled down the banner
of militancy, and hoisted, in its place
/ that of a whole-hearted support of the
war. Wherever men were required for
Mr.. Lloyd George has borne witness
to the fact that without the women OF
the United Kingdom the marvellous
munition factories of the United King
dom could never have come into being.
Whenever a further drain was made
upon the men workers. the women
took their place, whether it was on the
driving-seat of a motor lorry or the
tail-board of an omnibus. the stool of
a bank or the cow-shed of a farm.
The world knows by this time exactly
what all this has meant. The only re-
spectacle argument. because practical
ly the only genuine one, was relegated
to limbo; and the supporters of this
argument, convinced by facts as they
never could have been convinced by
talking, became supporters instead of
opponents of female suffrage.
1t is facts like this, of course, which
made President Wilson declare that
1.-The services of women during this SUI
preme crisis of the worlds history
have been of the most signal useful
ness and distinction" But it remains
equally natural and true that object
lessons which have convinced and con-
verified statesmen should have had no
effect at all on the worshippers at the
shrine of the beer bottle of the
whiskey bottle. John Barleycorn and
Robin Hop remain as consciously OPP
posed TO female suffrage as ever they
were They will, without a doubt, re-
main The Great Twin Brethren, who
will lead the fight against woman suf-
frage in the future as they have in the
past 1t may be said of them, as OF
their famous prototypes, that they are
called by many names and dwell in
many lands. They have English names
and German names, Dutch names
French names, and Russian names
They dwell in every land where. in the
euphonious language of Mr.. Kipling' s
Tommy, "a man can raise thirst
But their worshippers have way OF
concentrating themselves more partic-
ularly in the lunatic asylums and the
prisons Nobody ever thought of por-
T~----