Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1895-07-27
WOMAN'S POSITION.
WHAT 1T WAS BY NATURE AND WHAT
MAN HAS MADE 1T.

many ARC Dfiven Into occupations That
Were Once Only For Men-somc Very
Plain Talk.
The reiteration of any statement, how
ever important or timely, becomes mo-
notonous, but SO long as mischicvous
ideas are promulgated they must be met
and discredited, though it be seventy
times seven and more. Otherwise the
world would remain eternally in error
1t will be admitted, even by the most
radical Of the so called woman's rights
advocates. that, in conformity to her
peculiar physical organization, the fe-
male Of the human race has been espe-
cially created to perform q specific work
in the domestic economy. This is, COM
prehensively stated, to bear children and
maintain the home On the other hand,
it was manifestly intended that the
male of the human race should cherish
and protect her, assuming the severer
physical labor which must be performed
and shielding her from every danger
that might threaten the health, happi-
ness and perpetuation Of the species. In
the original plan one duty was not re-
garded subordinate or inferior to the
other. Nature had simply divided the
burden of existence, assigning to one the
active part of providing food and shell
ter, and to the other the more important
part in the reproduction of the species
to strip it of all its sentimentality and
state it plainly.
But in this, as in all things else, the
majority Of men have subverted the
law Of nature and have promulgated the
theory that they. the actual earners of
wealth, owe little to women who mere
~ raise children and preside over the
home which they, the men, have found
ed, and which they alone work to sus-
tain. This assigns maternity and home
keeping to an inferior position and places
the mother and the head of the house.
hold in the attitude of dependent, who
must be content with whatever the hus.
band and father sees fit to give her, dis
regarding common justice and that
which is her rightful due-the absolute
and equal division of all that accrues
through his work and her economy.
The increasing love of luxury among
men, the comfort which club life pro-
yides, with emigration from thickly
populated centers to remote fields of in
dustry, have reduced the number of mar
riageable men in many states. This,
with the unwillingness of the few to
accept the dependence of the nature de-
scribed above, has also largely increased
the number of unmarried women who
choose to, or are forced to, provide for
themselves. Whether they belong to ono
class or the other, it remains none the
less certain that whatever income they
are to have they must acquire by their
own efforts. They have no other alter
native, unless they are willing to accept
the distasteful charity of wealthy friends
or relatives, or join the army of the lost,
whose brief season of ease and luxury
almost inevitably ends in the prison,
the almshouse or the potter's field.
And yet, again and again, and still
again, solemn exhortations are sounded
from the pulpit warning woman" from
deserving the home, her proper sphere,
to join the feverish multitudes who
crowd the marts and highways of the
world Women themselves, weak, fool
ish and unthinking, selfishly satisfied
with their own seclusion, echo tho sense
less and cruel command.
For it is cruel, as heartless as the sug-
gestion of the pampered French queen
whose subjects, starving for bread, were
advised "to put chicken in the pot"
The wife of q famous Union general
some time ago deplored the exodus Of
woman from the home into business and
the professions. In all her life she had
never known want or the lack of a thing
she desired. After the death of her hus-
band friends and the government, in
consideration Of his service, provided
for her SO that she might enjoy the same
comfort to the end of her days. Not q
dollar of the generous income was the
result Of her own personal effort, and
but for the bounty of the country she
might have learned something Of the
stress which forces other women to seek
an honest livelihood for themselves.
The situation has passed beyond the
power of any human being to alter it.
Instead of decreasing, no matter what
the result may be, the exodus will con-
tinue. Those women who have braved
the world have tested through experience
the sweets of independence and the salts
faction which comes from being able to
do work and do it well, which not only
provides living for the present, but in
dependence in old age. Poverty, help
lessness-bread and board that are bit
terly grudged-have hurried many wo-
man to her grave whose old age, had she
been able to benefit by the new condi-
lions Of today, would have been serene
and unclouded.
There is no fear that women will
cease to marry and to aid in founding
homes, but the skilled workwoman of
the twentieth century will be able to de-
mand that equality in matters of domes-
tic authority and finance which her ig-
norant sister dared not ask, hampered by
the limitations of her sex, aggravated by
her ignorance. A new era has dawned
Neither prejudice, nor conservatism, nor
the combined hostility of church and
state can order the sun to stand still
THO lox, - v,,;~ao1os, -, Ala. -