"POLITICIANS IN PETTICOATS" 181 



that surround their Fatherland, strenuously under- 

 taking munition work, tilling the land, bringing in 

 the harvest, studying economy in their homes. All 

 this is fine work that they have carried on since the 

 outbreak of war and, owing to the strong leadership 

 given them and the detailed plans of their excep- 

 tional Government organisation, they have merely 

 to obey orders and carry out, with industry, what 

 they are told to do. We cannot fail to confess our 

 admiration for this regulated and well-ordered 

 effort of our enemy, but is there not all the same a 

 lack in them of higher, nobler influences ? Surely, 

 if the women of Germany had during past and 

 present years been allowed to hold a more inde- 

 pendent existence, had they been permitted scope 

 for initiative, they would never have permitted their 

 gentle, human thoughts and opinions to become 

 submerged in a mere war machine. Had they 

 possessed a higher influence and been capable of 

 expressing it strongly, this war would not have 

 taken place or, even if sheer necessity had brought 

 it about, it could only have been carried on within 

 those strictly defined rules that a civilised and 

 highly-cultivated people alone creates. 



If we want proof of how much diplomatic negotia- 

 tions may be influenced by women, we have only to 

 turn to Bismarck's Memoirs, where we find irrita- 

 tion expressed at the mild measures so continually 

 thrust upon this exceptionally strong man, owing 

 to views that were urged by those whom he called 

 " politicians in petticoats." Again, whilst the Siege 

 of Paris was in progress in 1870, when it became 

 dangerously protracted as regards eventual success 



