, 1877-04-20


The SOCIAL PRoBLEM.-A lady
correspondent Of a New York paper
in 4 very candid and deliberate man
ner presents a solution o! what she
calls our greatest moral problem
the woman question: Ifher plan be
acted upon it will end forever the
woman's rights business, female suf-
frage, the social evil, the intrusion
of women into mems sphere Of la
Dor, the ignoble army of old maids,
the exhaustive support of unmarried
sisters, and the bankruptcies and de-
faloakons caused ,3y silk and laoes
and costly evening parties required
BY ambitious mothers as ameans to
work off marriageble daughters. 1t
will, in measure stamp out Bloom
erism, doctoresses, lawyeresseS, min
isteressss, and Mary Walkers; and
so thin the crowded ranks of the pale
victims to the needle and the school
book that men cannot get their shirts
made for silpence apiece or their
children taught at Starvation wages.
All this she claims can be done by
tenderly smothering every female
child that shall be borngfor syear TO
come, and every third female child
in the years thereafter" She claims,
with quite a show of plausibility,
that 9 women dosnot disturb society
and inconrenience mankind because
they like to do so, but because they
are here and cannot help themselN es. :"
The question fof female spplusage in
population, which fills the ranks of
antique maidenhood, crowds the
young man who parts his hair in the
middle from behind the dry-goods.
counter, and compels very many of
the fairest Of the sex to become frail
and mercenary that they may not
starve, seeks solution. But the sug-
gestion 70 smother the female young.
erlings. especially to so great an .ex-
tent, seems, at the first blush, harsh
and, as it were, Objectionable. I
An eastern papers however, sug-
gests . way out Of the difficulty a
little more in consonance with the
philanthrOpic spirit Ofths age. 1t says:
ave know that under the present
system Of raising childfen.abouttwo-
fifths-of all born into the world Of
both sexes perish in the very flower
of their youth. Either because Of
being shut off from their natural ali
ment or exposed through the vanity
or folly of the mother to the incIem-
encies Of the weather half dressed,
or by being dosed with quieting
drugs, this large percentage Of tooth.
less humanity retire from active life
at an early day. Now We arise to
suggest that if the mothers of Amer
ica. would by some concert Of action,
while allowing the present course of
treatment to continue right along
towards their female offspring, Just
make an entire change in the bring
ing-up Of their mates, and treat, them
with q little more instructive feeling,
mingled with a slight modicum Of
common sense, the practical equality
of the sexes might be brought down
to working basis, and lovely wo-
man be made happy in no longer
finding herself hanging around an
overstocked market. It is true that
the mortality among the female ba-
bies would continue the same as
heretofore. Maternal vanity would
still BE gratiked by exposing their
chubby shoulders to be kissed by
chill blasts, their little colies could
still be soothed by the wept-for'Wip-.
slows, while the undertaken would
come, as of old, with his solemn vis-
age and lovely easket; and the whole
melancholy business could then as
now be charged up to the mysterious
dispensations Of an overrulng Prov
idence; and we think the desired
equilibrium would be restored with
out smothering a single baby
skSAroR MoRroN finds much to