The Maui news. [volume] (Wailuku, Maui, H.I.) 1900-current, 1919-03-14
A Woman On Woman Suffrage

Marriage, says Stevenson in Virgin
ibus Puerisque, works no miracles,
and neither does the ballot. The case
for woman suffrage is not based on
the argument of eXpediency. 1t does
not show in States where women have
the ballot that life is either much bet
ter or much worse than in States
where they do not. Men and women
have the same qualities of character,
differently manifested. Men are BRAY
er than women in some respects,
more cowardly in others; men endure
some %fatigues and efforts better, 9th
ers not so well; men are constantly
shocked by the immodesty of women
in particulars where few women sus-
pect 1t; women are perpetuallv of
Tended by the grossness of men.
These are the accents and modula-
ions that give life its tone and SAVIOR,
but at bottom human nature is the
same in both sexes. The same light
shines through all of us, though the
panes of glass may be differently
tinted; and we can all see to read by
it, whatever the color of the rays.
Governor McCarthy's recent
sweeping assertion that All the wo-
men of the Territory are intelligent,
writes Mrs. Helen T. Dranga to The
Tribune, was no doubt intended to
be taken with a pinch of salt, but 1
doubt whether it would overtaX the
women much to measure up to the
brilliant standard displayed by the
male voters who were examined as
prospective jurors during the recent
term of the Fifth Circuit Court" We
doubt it, too But Mrs. Dranga's let
ter is so interesting that it deserves
to be extended in full. She writes:
Women have been classed polite
ally with lunatics, criminals and in
fants for so many generations that it
may take some of us a day or two to
get used to the novel sensation of be-
ing considered a whole dog" as it
were, instead of the tip of a lions
tail.
There is no getting away from the
fact hat the self-appointed lords of
creation have made a mess of things.
Now, women are going to be given
the inestimable privilege of cleaning
up the political messes as well as all
other varieties of messes to which we
are all so well accustomed.
l would like to remind some of the
pessimistic ones that suffrage
is long past the experimental stage.
Those who scott and jeer are simply
showing themselves to be half a
century or so behind the times.
In a recent letter, DR.. Anna Howard
Shaw declared that ome make bet
ter citizens than men. Be that as it
may, we have yet to hear of any wo-
man suffrage community going back
on its decision. 1t has proved an un-
qualified success wherever tried, and
will doubtless be the same in the Ter
ritory of Hawaii.
By no means all students agree
with Mrs. Dranga that equal suffrage
has proved an unqualified success"
wherever tried. 1t could not even be
said that universal male suffrage vas
by any means an unqualified success.
On the contrary, the qualifications are
numerous and deep. Democracy is
still in the experimental stage. We
believe in it, we all work for it, but
the belief Is based on mans innate
sense of justice and his faith in hui
man nature, rather than in anything
history a show. There have been
many democracies, history is buried
with their ruins, but we believe on
the whole that the virtues of demo
cracy outweigh it's evils, just as we
prize the jury system, in spite of the
absurdities juries are constantly per-
, petrating. Few things in life or poll
tics are unqualified"
No, the case for m suffrage is
based neither on belief nor proof that
this will be a better world when wo-
men vote, but on something surer and
deeper. Men realize that women de-
serve the ballot. Whether they make
the world better or worse, it is theirs
to live in, and they should have a
voice in the shaping of it. The Ma
tional Suffrage amendment will pass
shortly. The Territorial Legislature
almost certainly will honor the suff-
rage pledges Of both parties. The
outlook is hat in less than a genera
ton women will vote in all the ma
lions of Europe. AS Mrs. Dranga
says, those who scott and jeer are
simply showing themselves to be half
a century or so behind the times. But
in the meanwhile, it is permitted to
poke a little fun at the ladies-if n
is brave, and prepared to apologize on
the spot.-Hilo Tribune.