clubs, her charities and her household, make the philosophical
study necessary to show that she could do larger and more effective
work for all of these if she possessed the great power which lies in
the suffrage. Even women of much wealth who are not idle,
self-centered and indifferent to the needs of humanity, but are giving
munificently for religious, educational and philanthropic purposes,
have not been aroused in any large number to the necessity of the
suffrage, for reasons which are evident.

Reforms of every kind are inaugurated and carried forward by a
minority, and there is no reason why this one should prove an
exception. In not an instance has a majority of any class of men
demanded the franchise, and there is no precedent for expecting the
majority of women to do so. It will have to be gained for them by the
foresight, the courage and the toil of the few, just as all other
privileges have been, and they will enter into possession with the
same eagerness and unanimity as has marked their acceptance of the
others.

With this mass of prejudice, selfishness and inertia to overcome is
there any hope of future success? Yes, there is a hope which amounts
to a certainty. Nothing could be more logical than a belief that where
one hundred privileges have been opposed and then ninety-nine of them
granted, the remaining one will ultimately follow. While women still
suffer countless minor disadvantages, the fundamental rights have
largely been secured except the suffrage. This, as has been pointed
out, is most difficult to obtain because it is intrenched in
constitutional law and because it represents a more radical revolution
than all the others combined. The softening of the bitter opposition
of the early days through the general spirit of progress has been
somewhat counteracted by a modern skepticism as to the supreme merit
of a democratic government and a general disgust with the prevalent
political corruption. This will continue to react strongly against any
further extension of the suffrage until men can be made to see that a
real democracy has not as yet existed, but that the dangerous
experiment has been made of enfranchising the vast proportion of
crime, intemperance, immorality and dishonesty, and barring absolutely
from the suffrage the great proportion of temperance, morality,
religion and conscientiousness; that, in other words, the worst
elements have been put into the ballot-box and the best elements ke