556 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



gtlitoT^s %KbXt. 



WOMEN AND POLITICS. 



THE Monthly has lately given 

 place to two articles on the sub- 

 ject of the demand which is now being 

 made by some women on behalf of 

 their sex to be allowed to participate 

 in political life on a footing of per- 

 fect equality with men. One of our 

 contributors has tried to show cause 

 why the demand should not be 

 granted, taking the ground that the 

 change would be injurious to society 

 as a whole and particularly injuri- 

 ous to the female sex. The other 

 treats the arguments of the first with 

 scorn, and, if we are not mistaken, 

 betrays not a little of that "antago- 

 nism of the sexes " which neverthe- 

 less she declares to be " un natural and 

 vicious." The question is one which 

 ought to be discussed with complete 

 dispassionateness; and we think that 

 on this score there was no fault to 

 find with the earlier of the two con- 

 tributions, that by Mr. George F. 

 Talbot, in our May number. 



Our second contributor, Miss Alice 

 B. Tweedy, disclaims the idea that 

 " woman suffrage is proposed as a 

 panacea for social evils, or that it 

 w^ill usher in a millennial condition. 

 Man," she adds, " would be dis- 

 franchised if such requirement was 

 made of his vote." The retort is 

 sharp, but is it logical ? Miss 

 Tweedy's main contention is that a 

 suffrage restricted to men is funda- 

 mentally insufficient for the best 

 social results ; and yet she does not 

 want that complete system of voting 

 which she advocates judged by any 

 higher standard than the present in- 

 complete system. If, however, wom- 

 an suffrage is not "proposed as a 

 panacea for social evils," what is ex- 

 pected of it ? Our contributor says 



that "stringent laws are needed to 

 prevent various evils, and to make 

 certain offenses punishable" ; add- 

 ing that " women are quick to rec- 

 ognize vicious tendencies that men 

 with a greed for money-getting often 

 overlook." "Men with a greed for 

 money-getting" is a phrase which 

 suggests reflections. What is the 

 chief cause of the greed which men 

 display for money ? We do not think 

 we are far wrong in saying that it is 

 the social ambition of the women of 

 their families. It is women far more 

 than men who establish social ideals ; 

 and, so far as there is a scramble for 

 money, it is their scramble, to say 

 the least, quite as much as the 

 men's. 



This, however, is a side issue: the 

 contention that concerns us is that 

 laws are wanted to make certain 

 offenses punishable that are not 

 punishable now ; and that women, 

 being quicker than men to recognize 

 vicious tendencies, would get such 

 laws passed if they only had the 

 suffrage. This is a case in which a 

 few examples would be very service- 

 able. The proposed laws are either 

 such as would recommend themselves 

 to the approval and support of men, 

 or they are such as would not so 

 recommend themselves. If they are 

 of the former kind, they can get 

 passed now ; if they are of the latter 

 kind, it is presuming upon an easy 

 compliance worthy of the immortal 

 Captain Reece, R. N., to ask men to 

 make a constitutional change foi' the 

 express purpose of defeating their 

 own views and principles. Our con- 

 tributor acknowledges that in this 

 country " most of the laws (that were 

 unjust to women) have been re- 

 pealed, that many others are a dead 



