Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-01-14
Holds Women Now Have Power
To Win All Rights" They Ask

ethical civilization. OF course,
there are some courts that are run
az are secondhand clothing stores
They have large stocks of prece-
dents on hand. If they do not find
a suit that exactly fits they make
necessary alterations in order that
the litigant may be clad in what
they call Justice. These courts.
however. have become the excep-
ton. Tho enlightened judge Of
today Is far more interested in
having counsel tell him what he
thinks Is Justice. and why. than to
have him recall what somebody
else declared was justice a hun
dred years ago. Justice may still
be blind, but she is getting ac-
customed to negotiating the streets.
and the number of accidents she
along.
once was unfortunate enough
10 draw for a client the man in a
divorce suit begun on the charge
of cruel and inhuman treatment.
The facts were that the irate hus-
band at dinner party had soberly
announced that his wife was SO
devoid OF brains that she did not
have sense enough to boil cold
water properly. 1t was not a jest
ing remark. but a deliberate in
suit. Paving around in the re-
ports seeking for presidents that
would disclose that no reason for
a divorce existed. ! ran across a
New England case of the year
1910. A Presbyterian elder had
insisted that his wife, who was a
Methodist, attend his church. Upon
her refusal he tied her up with a
halter, placed her in the back of a
wagon. drove to the Presbyterian
Church. unloaded her by force and
compelled her to sit through a
sermon on foreordination. In the
suit for divorce upon the ground
of cruel and inhuman treatment
the New England court decided in
substance that, though II was un-
doubtedly the law that a man
reasonable bounds. the elder had
gone bit too far. The court try
ing my case believed that my
client had gone too far likewise
Let the women of the land get
it into their heads that the Con-
stitution is not Procrustean bed,
but rather an elastic instrument
that will fit the common sense and
common morals of the time. With
no change whatever in the consti-
tuition of the state the supreme
court OF Indiana in 1918 held con-
had declared unconstitutional in
1856.
If IL be true as intimated by the
pronouncement that woman is the
governed half of society and even
il there be any vicious system in
the making and the law-deter-
mining bodies OF our land. IT will
not be necessary to force rectffca-
ton Of the evil by legislation.
Woman has the ballot now. II she
who desired and she who did not de-
sire suffrage will do what that
so-called right. which has been
granted. imposes as a duty upon
observation-disclosures devote her
self to study OF the laws which gov
ern and control her at the present
time-he will realize new laws are
not needed. No right-thinking
man ever doubted that woman was
his equal: not few of US believed
her his superior. She may be able
to accomplish limitless good in the
way of public service. but there
cannot pass. She may think like a
man and talk like a man and act
like man. but she cannot become
a man. If she is willing to recoe-
nize that two sexes still exist even
though rights are equal and that
the duties of suffrage and citizen
ship rest alike upon both sexes,
problems which now vex her will
soon solve themselves.
The question, is this man.made
law or woman-made law? ought
never to arise in public discussion.
Whatever the law inquiry concern
ing 1t should be directed only along
the line whether II Is abreast of
the civilization, judgment and con-
science of the age in which we
live. To arraign sex against sex in
the consideration of public Ques-
tons will prove wholly dangerous.
IT will be sorry world IL all wom-
en- think one way and all men an
other. The consideration OF public
questions must be bisexual. The
preparation for the discharge cf
the duties of the franchise must
not be left TO sexual interpreta-
ton.
Copyright, 1922, by Thomas r. Marshall,