n
innocent--it suited his purpose.

If any person doubts that the society of the present day has been made
by men, and for men's advantage, let them look for a minute at the laws
which govern society. Society allows a man all privilege, all license,
all liberty, where women are concerned. He may lie to women, deceive
them--"all's fair in love and war"--he may break many a heart, and
blast many a fair name; that merely throws a glamour around him. "He's
a devil with women," they say, and it is no disadvantage in the
business or political world--where man dominates. But if a man is
dishonest in business or neglects to pay his gambling bills, he is down
and out. These are crimes against men--and therefore serious. This is
also a sore thought!

Then when men speak of these things, they throw the blame on women
themselves, showing thereby that the Garden of Eden story of Adam and
Eve and the apple, whether it be historically true or not, is true to
life. Quite Adam-like, they throw the blame on women, and say: "Women
like the man with a past. Women like to be lied to. Women do not
expect any man to be absolutely faithful to them, if he is pleasant.
The man who has the reputation of having been wild has a better chance
with women than the less attractive but absolutely moral man." What a
glorious thing it will be when men cease to speak for us, and cease to
tell us what we think, and let us speak for ourselves!

Since women's sphere of manual labor has so narrowed by economic
conditions and has not widened correspondingly in other directions,
many women have become parasites on the earnings of their male
relatives. Marriage has become a straight "clothes and board"
proposition to the detriment of marriage and the race. Her economic
dependence has so influenced the attitude of some women toward men,
that it is the old man with the money who can support her in idleness
who appeals to her far more than the handsome, clean-limbed young man
who is poor, and with whom she would have to work. The softening,
paralyzing effects of ease and comfort are showing themselves on our
women. You cannot expect the woman who has had her meals always bought
for her, and her clothes always paid for by some man, to retain a sense
of independence. "What did I marry you for?" cried a woman
indignantly, when her husband grumbled about the size of her millinery
bill. No wonder men have come to regard marriage as an expensive
advent