The Fighting Argument

The right to vote and the right to hold property both originally depended on the ability to üght. A few days ago at a meeting oí the opponents of equal sutTrage held In New York, the statement was once more made that nomen should not be allowed to vote beeause they could not flght This argument has been used ïnan.y times and refuted inany times, but, like other fallacies, t dies hard. It is a survival from the days fighting was the most honorable calling in hfe, when it was the inain business for uoblemeu and even for kings. That it sliould still survive in our own peaceful and industrial age, when the effort of civilized mankind is to prevent wars, whether public or private, is one of those anomalies wnich can only be explained by the fact that we are all of us, more or less, inconsistent. If the ability to fight is to be the test of the ability to vote, Uien the ballot should be given only to inen within the flffhting age, namely frora 18 to 40 or 45 years. This would deprive us of the wise comiséis of the men over 45 years of age, a deprivation whieh we could 11 afford. The idea tliat the ballot cannot be given to wonien, beoause tliey are not fighters is a survival of feudalisin, of a military age and cast of thoiight Hut in feudal times, the rig-ht to hold property also depended upon the ability to fight for it. The feudal lords held their estates direetly froin the Kinfj, and, in heu of rent, they did military service. íf anjrüüe new bliottlrf ttuetepf, to ssy that wüüjcn fcoüld act lioid propBrty because they Cotila nol flght, Har briüg a band of ñghütig followerS into thfe Held, ereryone woilld say "What anticiuated rubblsh is tliis? Everyone's property is defended by the pólice and iu case of need by the army." And yet those who pride ihemselves upon their logic, logic, solemnly tell us Uiat women must not rote becanse the vote, in a by-crone military age, depended upon the ability to fight. So slowly, and so hard do oíd ideáis, that have long ago lost their forcé and meauing1, die out of the thoughts of men.