Social Science and Woman Suffrage. 81 



Why sliould women attempt to cany along eveiytliing? 

 Men cannot do it. Tlae advocates of woman suifrage often 

 attempt to ridicule woman because of her ignorance of politics 

 and related subjects. They attempt to constrain her to de- 

 mand suffrage, to save the point of their lampoons. 



But why may not women let a department go as well as 

 men ? Why may there not be some departments that they 

 may not care to assume just because they are women ? 



In this age we are making our great strides in progress be- 

 cause we are respecting the principle of the division of labor. 

 Is it inconceivable that that principle should sometimes fall 

 between woman and man as it does between woman and wo- 

 man and man and man ? A genius cannot prosecute every- 

 thing in these days. It was no disgrace to Senator Carpenter, 

 to say, as he did the other day, that he knew nothing of chem- 

 istry. A professional man cannot cover the ground of all the 

 outside knowledge there is in the world. Nay, even a man 

 cannot carry all that was once reckoned as belonging to his 

 own profession or handicraft. 



We are gaining success in our civilization just because we 

 are specializing so much. 



One of the foremost lawyers in Boston recently remarked 

 that he hardly knew the meaning of facts in admiralty. He 

 had devoted himself largely to the law of patents. " The dog 

 that ran after two hares caught neither," is the expression of 

 some very old wisdom. But oj^portunities for its application 

 are multij^lying every day in the increasing complexity of civ- 

 ilization. Suppose woman is ignorant of politics ! It is just 

 possible that it may not be worth her while to know much 

 about it. It is possible she can put her mind and energies to 

 some other matter to better advantage to herself and society. 



We do not believe there can be any very serious conviction 

 among women that they need suffrage for their political or le- 

 gal protection. Certainly the legislation of this country for the 

 past generation has been swift to enact every well defined wish 



