the privilege of the stronger sex, ceases to cripple the weaker and enriches a nobler life with the fruits of free co-operation.
I feel actual compassion with the shortsightedness that does not foresee all this. But we must not allow our activity to flag on this account any more than we must allow ourselves to be overcome with indignation at the vulgarity we meet. The honor of the feminine sex, yes, of the entire human race is at stake, and it is of vital importance what part the German women play in its redemption. Even if we should never be able to make use of the rights for which we fight, merely to attain them is worth the struggle of a lifetime. As I have already intimated, the most immediate issue to be decided is whether we are human beings; it is necessary to establish a new, comprehensive conception of humanity; it is necessary to legally establish the abstract truth that we are sovereign members of the human race, as well as the men, equipped with the right of selfdetermination and self-government; that one-half of this human race is not born and destined to be under the tutelage of a foreign will, and used like children, or even like animals. If we have once attained to the recognition of our sovereign human dignity, all practical reform will become a matter of course. With this recognition we have reached the turning point, and that part of humanity, to whom we must be an example here in America, will enter upon the path of true, universal humanity. The
