mits one of two things, either that he is a party
to this corruption, or that he is unable to prevent it--and in either
case something should be done. Politics are not inherently vicious.
The office of lawmaker should be the highest in the land, equaled in
honor only by that of the minister of the gospel. In the old days, the
two were combined with very good effect; but they seem to have drifted
apart in more recent years.

If politics are too corrupt for women, they are too corrupt for men;
for men and women are one--indissolubly joined together for good or
ill. Many men have tried to put all their religion and virtue in their
wife's name, but it does not work very well. When social conditions
are corrupt women cannot escape by shutting their eyes, and taking no
interest. It would be far better to give them a chance to clean them
up.

What would you think of a man who would say to his wife: "This house to
which I am bringing you to live is very dirty and unsanitary, but I
will not allow you--the dear wife whom I have sworn to protect--to
touch it. It is too dirty for your precious little white hands! You
must stay upstairs, dear. Of course the odor from below may come up to
you, but use your smelling salts and think no evil. I do not hope to
ever be able to clean it up, but certainly you must never think of
trying."

Do you think any woman would stand for that? She would say: "John, you
are all right in your way, but there are some places where your brain
skids. Perhaps you had better stay downtown today for lunch. But on
your way down please call at the grocer's, and send me a scrubbing
brush and a package of Dutch Cleanser, and some chloride of lime, and
now hurry." Women have cleaned up things since time began; and if
women ever get into politics there will be a cleaning-out of
pigeon-holes and forgotten corners, on which the dust of years has
fallen, and the sound of the political carpet-beater will be heard in
the land.

There is another hardy perennial that constantly lifts its head above
the earth, persistently refusing to be ploughed under, and that is that
if women were ever given a chance to participate in outside affairs,
that family quarrels would result; that men and their wives who have
traveled the way of life together, side by side, for years, and come
safely through religious discussions, and discussions relating to "his"
people and "her" people, would angrily rend each other over pol