Page:The case for women's suffrage.djvu/25

 temperate in other questions, so vehement in this. The denial of citizen rights to women is more than a mistake in detail; it is a blasphemy against the spirit of democracy, the unpardonable sin. It is painful that the fabric of the new democracy must needs be raised up slowly; it will be intolerable if we do not build aright, according to a human, not merely a masculine conception of politics. Before we proceed further in the work of constructive democracy, it is essential we should get the foundations right, that we should supply women with the only weapon that can secure the attention of politicians. This would secure one thing at least, that whether the forward march of humanity be swift or slow, at least men and women will advance with equal steps towards their common destiny.