Evening star., 1922-11-24
Miss Justice Allen Warmly Wei
coined to Supreme Bench.

When a series of extraordinary hap
! once popular play keeping guard over
the church collection basket. the
whole community was stunned and
aghast at the spectacle of "a woman
at the plate" Now the encroachments
of feminism land a woman on the
! supreme court bench of an American
Estate. and the American people not
| only take it calmly but accept the in
inovation with cordial approval. And
while most of the editors who COM
Z; ment on the election of Judge. Flor
ence T.. Allen to the Ohio supreme
court also refer to a lady in play. it
| is Portia rather than Bunty whom
Miss Allen's pioneering brings to their
minds.
The election of Judge Allen to the
supreme court bench. brought about
i"by a majority of the voters in the
fourth largest state in the United
StateS,' is, the Detroit Free Press
thinks "the most important political
honor yet bestowed upon a woman in
this country" and although. as one
writer puts it, it may have been "a
, shock at first" the Columbia Missou-
irian holds that lit should not alarm
ianyone.
it is but "a sign of the times" says
the Cincinnati Times-Star. the sort
of thing that is and is to be- This
jnew Portia lis more than a woman
advocate in the garb of man. She is
in female garb of her own right, and
she is a Judge, not an advocate The
tSt. Paul Dispatch agrees that lit is
significant of the success which fem
,inism has enjoyed that the old preju-
dices have been almost completely
destroyed, and when the voters have
Ia choice between man and woman
for an office, even when the office is
SO important and hitherto such a
stronghold of tradition as the justice
ship of the supreme court, the sole
question now is the relative fitness
of the candidate for the work. There
was a time when questions of pro-
ipriety would have overshadowed
those of Judge Aliens qualifications
for the office" Certainly the differ
fences between the sexes in politics
lis being wiped out" the Savannah
News is convinced, and while those
who used to jest about Madam Presl-
feel in their hearts that the jest may
become grim" In Miss Aliens case.
we learn from an Ohio paper, the
dayton News, very few of her fellow
fcitizens would have ventured to pre-
,dict SO distinct a triumph, especially
when it was almost generally con-
!ceded by so-called political experts
that she would be a negligible factor
in the supreme court race.
However, the Ohio State Journal
|tColumbus) contends that Miss Aliens
sex did not enter into the mater al
all. 1.-The people who know her best.
as citizen and official, believe in her.
hence the gratifying Endorsement she
received from them. 1t is or the
highest Importance in the suffrage
movement" the Columbus paper con-
tant places be fitted to serve SO well
that criticism may be prevented. So
far as Judge Aliens fitness is con-
cerned, she has had important legal
training and experience to prepare
her for the new position-five years
itionally important and successful
service as judge Of the court OF com
mon pleas" and it is the belief of the
editor that Miss Allen will make
|great Judge, not at all because she
has woman's viewpoint. but because
she has other qualities. knowledge
of the law, experience, "an inherent
sense of justice and an honest, cour-
Iageous spirit" =.
Granting, as does the Louisville
Courier Journal. that legal minds are
not confined to one sex" .t the Boston Boston
woman judge may. after all. with the
!intuitional powers of her sex, be able
to put the spirit of the law above its
letter." and, the Cincinnati Times-Star
suggests, perhaps our system Of justice
has needed a woman's touch. Shakes
peare had the omniscience of genius,
and he saw through Portals eyes the
possibility of woman's Intervention in
the hard and fast system Of law that
man had devised" Portals brief for
mercy remains 'the greatest judicial
opinion ever handed down by woman"
and it may be Judge Aliens privilege
to sound its echoes in +our modern
Jurisprudence"
The Columbus (ohio) Dispatch in
sists. however, that the supreme court
will gain by the admission of Judge
Allen mot because she will bring an
infusion of peculiarly feminine quail
ties into 1t, but because of her pos
session of just those qualities which
will make a good Judge. without re-
gard to sex.
Judge Aliens career will be closely
watched" the Jacksonville Florida
Times Union says. especially by
members Of her own sex, II for no
other reason than to prove that q
woman can be eminentlty fair, and
without prejudice. even upon the
bench Of the supreme court OF q great
state. By others, mon. of COURSE, she
win be observed as Judge To see II
~ pyn