Is there no other way of securing votes for women than
by the hysterical and criminal pranks our British sisters have been
playing? And will those irritating acts actually forward their cause,
or tend to bring about a revulsion of feeling? Did the crimes of the
Jesuits make the Church triumphant? Not in the long run. Immediate
gains may often be won by unpleasant methods, as in the case of the
Titanic. But when the struggle is bound to be a long one, as in the
case of woman's suffrage and industrial justice, methods which (not
to beg the question) would ordinarily be criminal are seldom in the
end advantageous. The McNamara case hurt the I. W. W. sorely. Suffrage
legislation has possibly been retarded in Britain. And in both cases
there are probably more efficacious, as well as less harmful, ways
of attaining the desired end.
(3) It is strictly true that THE end, human welfare, justifies any
means necessary to attain it. Whatever pain must be caused to bring
about the greatest possible human happiness is thereby exempt from
reprobation. Whatever conduct is necessary for that supreme end BECOMES
morality, or virtue; for that is precisely what morality IS. For
example, it is undoubtedly necessary at times to murder, to steal,
and to lie for the sake of human welfare; in such cases these acts
are universally approved. Only, we give the acts in such cases new
names, that the words "murder," etc, may retain their air of
reprobation.
Pages:
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124