s instead of at
once entering fully upon our social and political life. We have to move
quickly and anticipate the aspirations of the feminine masses, which
are as yet vague, in order to save us the agitation which otherwise
is sure to come and the justice of which will have to be recognized.

When we are told that our social condition is such that we are not
ready for female suffrage, and that our women are not sufficiently
educated to exercise political rights, I feel like asking whether
we said the same thing when we imported and implanted in our country
the democratic institutions that are the base and foundation of our
present society. Our traditional education was diametrically opposed to
a popular system of government, yet we adopted that form of government,
because we considered it better than the other, more suited to our
interests and to the ideals of the century, and did not worry about
whether or not we were sufficiently educated and prepared for it.

It is more than twenty years now that the free public school has opened
its doors to the women, and education has extended its benefits to them
in the same proportion as to the men. Many of the women educated in
these schools are now wives or mothers, and yet you still ask whether
the Filipina has attained to the maturity necessary for her investment
with political rights. I am sure there is no idea of requiring them
all to be doctors or bachelors of art before we grant them the right
of suffrage.

A political education can not be acquired except by education, just
as you can not learn how to swim except by swimming. The argument
that the Filipina is not sufficiently prepared is a justification of
the attitude of a country which never finds its colonies sufficiently
prepared or educated to exercise the right of sovereignty themselves.

The other day, when I made a flight in a seaplane for the sake of the
experience, I felt--I frankly admit it--some apprehension, a certain
fear of the unknown, but after the first few moments were happily
past, I felt perfectly comfortable and enjoyed the flight through
space and the view of the magnificent landscape far below me. Ah,
it is beautiful to cleave the air like a swallow and to ride upon
the clouds and the winds of heaven, looking down upon the cities and
human dwellings spread like a relief map upon the crystal sheet of the
waters, to traverse enormous distances in a few minutes almost without
noticing it, and to