The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1921-12-12
MAN IS FIFTY YEARS
BEHIND WOMEN

Woman, the lesser half Of mere
man, is today fifty years in his ad-
vance.
DR.. Henry Noble MacCracken,
president of Vassar college, recently
said so in Minneapolis.
Woman has accomplished the high
est in higher education and she has
applied her knowledge, according to
DR.. Mac Cracken, with an adaptabili-
ty and practica bility which man has
failed to employ.
And this superiority, DR.. Mac
Cracken said, is the reason why she
does not marry with the readiness
of the woman who was her predeces-
sor.
Marriage has always been up to
the man anyway" said DIR. Mac
Cracken. "It was the man and not
the woman who sought marriage.
She was useful to man in the social
order of things, and she accepted.
But the more I see of the modern
girl the more thoroughly I am con-
vinced that she is frequently glad to
accept marriage, but that it is up to
the man to insist"
And man, DIR. MacCracken said,
who is fifty years less modren and
fifty years less practical, does not
understand and retires.
But this modern woman, DR.. Mac
Cracken said, with all her poise and
expertness, isn't the least bit dan
gerous. Having gained all masculine
privilege, he said, she is refusing to
usurp. Having mastered the most
difficult in sciences, she is today
choosing those which better her
home, her children and the social,
moral and spiritual welfare of her
community.
,"You need have no fear of the
modern girl" said DR.. MacCracken.
"You may permit your daughter to
go to college without any fear that
she will come home and tell you up
on which ticket to vote.
"When your wife is made chair
man of her ward political club you
need have on qualms that your meals
will be any the less digestible or
that your linen will receive any the
less care.
"You may choose a sweetheart
with several university degrees at
tached to her name and still be as
sured that your masculine prerog-
tive will not be infringed upon nor
your authority assailed."
Tha. woman is entirely past the
dangerous stage, DR.. MacCracken
said, is evidenced by the fields of en-
deavor she has chosen.
''In New York;" he said, linen
viewed with terror the havoc they
imagined was coming with woman
suffrage. And yet the first thing that
the League of Women Voters under
took in New York was the improve
ment of sanitation in the schools.
And the women of the future
will be scientific, but it will be sci
ence that applies psychology to hand
ling the cook, physiology, dietics
and sanitation to children and social
psychology to a game of bridge.
When this woman goes to the polls it
will be with broad understanding
of the issues upon which she will
vote.
DR.. MacCracken traced the de-
velopment of this modern woman.
When Matthew Vassar first proposed
education in all phases for women
he was greeted, he said, with doubt.
"People thought" said DR.. Mac
Cracken, "that woman's fragile
brain and delicate mind was not
equal to the sciences. But women
studied Greek, Latin, Hebrew and
physics and found that their brains
did not collapse.
'Then from 1885 to 1918 women
demanded the right to apply these
sciences. They began to apply eco-
nomics political science and history
to modern life until in 1918 this
phase of their endeavor endde with