WOMAN SUFFRAGE AS AFFECTING THE FAMILY. 87 



I am not going to take any radical ground on the tobacco question 

 in its general aspects. Every man must judge for himself, and experi- 

 ment for himself, as to the physiological action of the weed. I have 

 simply recorded my own experiences and experiments, and the con- 

 clusions to which they have impelled me. I will not even say that I 

 shall never smoke another cigar, for temptations are often strong and 

 sudden ; but I will say that, in such an event, I should regard myself 

 as the victim of a nervous infirmity, not as one merely indulging him- 

 self in a harmless and pleasant luxury of a devil far easier to get out 

 of the bottle, to apply a Moslem legend, than to get back and cork in 

 again. 



-+*+- 



WOMAN SUFFRAGE AS AFFECTING THE FAMILY. 1 



By J. E. CAIRNES, 



PBOFESSOR OF POLITICAL ECONOMY IN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON. 



I NOW turn to a side of the question on which Mr. Smith lays very 

 great stress, and of which I am not in the least disposed to under- 

 rate the importance the extension of the suffrage to married women. 

 I do not yield to Mr. Smith, or to any one, in the firmness of my con- 

 viction that the family is at the bottom of our existing civilization, 

 and I should, for my part, regard as dearly purchased any gain in ma- 

 terial or political well-being which should introduce a jar or weakness 

 into this pivot of our social system. But I believe that to open politi- 

 cal life to women, far from being fraught with the disastrous conse- 

 quences Mr. Smith anticipates, would, taking things in their entire 

 scope, be productive of quite opposite effects. If I were asked to 

 name the principal element of weakness in the family as things now 

 stand, I should have no hesitation in pointing to the want of sufficient 

 subjects of common interest between man and woman. It is owing to 

 this that matrimonial engagements are entered into so rarely on the 

 basis of any broad intellectual sympathy, such as might furnish some 

 security for lasting affection, and so often at the bidding of impulses 

 and fancies that do not outlive the honey-moon ; and it is owing to the 

 same cause that so very large a proportion of the lives of most hus- 

 bands and wives are spent practically apart, with little or no knowl- 

 edge on the part of either of the objects or aims that engross the 

 greater portion of the other's thoughts and energies. That under such 

 circumstances the marriage-tie is, on the whole, maintained as well as 

 it is, seems rather matter for wonder ; and to argue that the intro- 

 duction of a new source of very profound common interest for husband 

 and wife must, of necessity weaken the bond, is, in my opinion, to 



1 Extracted from an article in Macmillan's Magazine for September, in reply to Gold- 

 win Smith. 



