New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-04-30
EQUALITY.
MISS ADDAMs ON THE NEED OF IT IN
MODERN DEMOCRACY

DEMOCRACY AND SOCIAL ETHICS CThe Gu
GEMS Iihra-yD BY Jane Adams limo. pp ia
go The Macmillan Company
Miss Addams's book is the product Of much
nersonsl observation. She Is well known as a
worker for social betternent at the head OF
Hull House. the Chicago social settlement ana
rhe speaks from what she has seen and ex-
,,erienced Her point Of view will not be appre-
ciated by many end her contentious, many OF
which are radical will be opposed; yet. granting
her point Of view her deductions are sane ana
full OF wide sympathy The book is suggestive
rather than conclusive. and the reader VINO
would find definite remedies for various evils
Of society Will not receive satisfaction in so
many words
The author treats Of Charitable Effort.
.FGlial Relations" Household Adjustment
industrial Amelioration." Educational Meth
ods" and political Reform" She interprets the
difficulties presented TO the modern exercise OF
charity as due to the lack Of equality which
democracy implies:
In q generation our experiences have changed.
and our views with them; but we still keep on IN
the old methods, which could be applied When
our COnsCienCes were in line with them, pu'
which are daily becoming more difficult as we
divide up into people who work with 1neiI
hands and those who do not The charity Visl,
tor belonging to the latter class is peIpleheu
by recognitions and suggestions which the slt
alton forces upon her Our democracy mas
taught to apply our moral teachne an
around. and the moralist is rapidly becoming
so sensitive that when his life does not eXera-
plify his ethical convictions he finds it difficult
TO preach.
Miss Adams believes that the present ar
arrangement OF household service. in which the
servants live in the house. is a helated surViFal
Of medieval practices out Of harmony Win
modern ideas: and that 10 this fact is due all
The difficulty OF the servant question AS all
other former household ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
weavers Journeymen, apprentices. maidens who
spun and brewed to the faniy-haVe been
dropped from the household, so should be the
cooks and the household servants:
The selfshness Of a modern mistress who in
her narrow social ethics insists that those who
minister to the comforts of her family snail
minister fl alone. that they shall not only
be celibate but shall be cut off more or less
from their natural social ties, excludes the best
working people from her service.
AS a remedy for the isolation Of household
servants Miss Adams suggests that they be
allowed 10 live with their own families or IN
cases where there no family ties the forma-
ton of residence clubs. She thinks that
changed economic conditions will result In sup
plying the family's needs not only more effect
lively but more in line with associated eHof'-
In industrial relations she still finds that lhe
advancing ideal of domestic relationship lie
change Of social adjustment, Is feSkoI4sipie AO-
many Of the Observation-Disclosures. Employers
dwell on the old individualstic qualities that
brought them success; they fail 10 be in touch
with the social ethics developed in the larger
social relationships This is especially true IN
regard to the 'philanthropic" employer, VINO
has striven to raise the social level OF his en-
ploves and has been discouraged by the recep-
ton his efforts have met. He is good TO
people and not with them, and he is pos
sessed by the fallacy OF -'ministering to social
needs from an individual impulse AND expect
ing a socialized return Of gratitude and loyalty
Educational methods are likewise behind the
spirit Of the age, and fail to meet the needs OF
the Evorkingman. The trade and industrial
schools fail equally in this respect; they beg the
question They turn out engineers chemists,
electricians; they do not admit the worhngman.
and they DO not undertake to At the great
body Of workingmen for the work they have TO
de- They ought to provide an education that
shall make that work vital and Of real
significance Summing il up. Miss Adams says:
AS the poet battles the outer world for US in
the hues of human feeling the workman
needs some TO battle his surroundings with
q human signifiCanCe-sOme who shall teach
him 10 that which will give q potency 10 his
life