uneducated masses
from thinking as they did half a century ago; but the fact that many
serious and otherwise progressive persons content themselves with
the opinion of the uneducated shows that here we do not go deep into
subjects and allow ourselves to be carried away by the impressions
of the moment.

Suffragism is a legitimate aspiration, an ideal of our century. It
springs from the philosophy and institutions of the modern world and
from the growing difficulty of the position of woman in the struggle
for existence. It is necessary for her to protect herself and organize,
not to create rivalry and make war upon man, but to become an asset
in the social progress and protect herself from the exploitation and
iniquity of the other social groups, whose victim she would become
if she remained indifferent and took no part in the public life.

As a man of the law and a legislator, I would not think of opposing
this aspiration. I consider it as natural as the right to live
and the right of self-defence. I do not consider it premature for
the Filipino woman to demand this right, as her sisters have done,
successfully in some cases, in other parts of the world. To me it
makes no difference that the number of those now demanding it is
small and insignificant. It would even make no difference to me if the
women of our country did not demand or want it at all. Where rights
fundamentally in accordance with the spirit of our institutions and
with the ideals of our times are to be granted, I would not consult
those who are entitled to demand them, but would give them without the
asking, because it would be just and God wants justice to prevail at
all times and everywhere. I am not a judge, but a legislator, and
it is my first duty to provide for justice, not to administer it,
nor wait for some one to ask for it and some one to object to it.

It is a source of gratification to me that there is a group of women
who, voicing the aspirations of their sex, have dared to approach
our Legislature and call attention to a void in our statutes. This
indicates to me that the consciousness of that right has been born and
has revealed its existence in the Filipino woman, and more than that
I need not know. I do not have to count and classify the women who
think that way. When Rizal espoused the cause of the political rights
of our race, his companions were very few, because in the majority of
his compatriots that consciousness was lying dorm