NO SHORT CUT TO UTOPIA

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 26, 1 February 1926, Page 4

NO SHORT CUT TO UTOPIA

The disillusionment of Mrs. Panthurst does not meatf that all women, or even a majority, are disappointed with, the results of their enfranchisement; In all forward movements there are enthusiasts who expect the miraculous. They believe in it, and it is the fire of their enthusiasm that gives them the power of leadership. But that same enthusiasm often leads them to overestimate the results of the reform they advocate, or to misjudge the way in which the reform will operate. It is so with Mrs. Paiikhurst and the votes for women. The' revolutionary change which she hoped for has not come ; but it would be a grave mistake.on (•hut aucormt Mi pronounce, the rct'oriii a, failure or to uiideircstkuate

its effects. New Zealand has had women's suffrage for about thirtythree years, and it has certainly not been without results. But if one were asked at the present time to state those resirlts specifically and exactly, a correct answer would be most difficult to frame, because the effect has been not rer volutionary but gradual. A widening of outlook, rather than a change of policy, has been the principal effect. The disillusionment which Mrs. Pankhurst acknowledges awaits also the apostles of other reformations. Some have already experienced it. Labour politicians, promising an immediate and drastic reorganisation of Society, have found that a majority of votes in the Legislature is not sufficient to assure this. Possessed of the political authority, they have realised that, power entails responsibility and that they must hasten forward slowly. "We thought votes were going to bring Utopia," says Mrs. Pankhurst, "but we left human nature out of the question." Some Labour leaders have already been compelled to make a similar acknowledgment. Others still cling to their hope' of the millennium. They have yet to learn that it is easier to promise much than to perform a tithe of it.