120 FROM AN EASY CHAIR 



excelling one another in diverse qualities and capacities. 

 Without this complementary division of fitness and 

 quality our life would be a monotone robbed of the 

 infinite variety which characterises humanity. What 

 Mr. Gladstone estimated as being less by one-third in 

 women than in men is power work-value whether 

 physical or intellectual. I think Mr. Gladstone's estimate 

 must be admitted as true. 



But I do not for a moment say that when this inferior 

 intellectual and physical capacity of woman is admitted 

 the question is settled as to whether women should vote 

 for the election of representatives to carry on the affairs 

 of the country. The affairs of the country ! They are, 

 in the first place, the protection of person and property 

 by the law, which must be upheld by force if necessary ; 

 then defence against foreign aggression, also a matter of 

 force ; and, further, the education and training not only 

 of children but of the ripe youth of the country a 

 matter of intellect which also has a weighty influence in 

 the making of wise laws. Then there is the devising 

 of weapons and means of defence by land and by sea, 

 as well as the discovery and application of knowledge 

 in regard to disease, both of mind and body, for the 

 benefit of the community. And there will soon be 

 a good deal more ! 



It does not necessarily follow, because women cannot 

 themselves do some of these things at all, and for the 

 others are less able than men, that they should not give 

 a vote in electing the men who are to attend to them. 

 The only question is, Would it make life better for 

 both women and men were they allowed to do so ? 



The argument that the paying of taxes on men's 

 property qualifies men to give a vote, and therefore 

 the paying of taxes on women's property should, ipso 

 facto, entitle women to give a vote, is fallacious, because 

 the paying of taxes is not the reason or determining 

 cause of men having a vote, but only a subsidiary test 



