New-York tribune., 1903-11-10
AMERICA FULL OF OLD MAIDS.
Love of Money and Power Responsible for
Condition, Says Mr.. Watson.


From such sources of information as the Letters
of a Self-8Iade Merchant to His Son" Miss Van
vorst's The Woman who Tolls" some random
runinations OF Mrs. Cornwaills West Mr.. Roose-
velts race suicide lamentations and sundry say
ings Of Mr.. Merwyn a well Known American man
OF letters" H 3. Marriott Watson up the
moral mental and physical status Of American
women in the current number of The Nineteenth
Century"
He entities his article The Deleterious Effect Of
Americanization Upon Woman" and rather gives
the impression Of a contagious disease. spreading
from the United States. with Chicago as a pest
centre. throughout femininity the world around.
The American woman IS characterized as IAN
archical,' and in Mrs George Cornwallis Vests
statement that the American girl seldom loses her
heart. and never her head" the writer Of the
ing document in question sees the main source Of
this anarchy which she effects and the degeneration
which she represents"
whereas the savage woman acted as beast of
burden 10 her lord. the American man works like
a beast Of burden beside his triumphing lady"
This indeed, IS principally what II. B, Marriott
Watson complains OF and what he objects to
''anarchicaL"
Americans" he continues. have more widely de-
parted than any other nation from the conditions
suitable 10 the normal. healthy man" Then he
quotes Mr.. Merwyn TO the effect that the problem
Of civilization is train and cultivate the noisy.
sensual savage existing IN every man without
hning away the instincts Of pride pUgnacity and
haps the English, Of all races in the world, have
come the nearest to doing this" In this last
phrase apparently lies the keynote Of the whole
dcle- America is doing many things which Eng
land cannot as yet compass or con pete with In
QUestionably. therefore. America IS all wrong No
more evidence IS necessary.
American civilization IS presented to Us to-day
the type OF the new order to which effete Europe
must approximate or perish. and as such has to be
considered gravely.
r44Tr -,r-
to Paris or any Continental centre. laugh at the
easy hours and comparative indifference devoted to
business. Their idea is hustle and haste
The American national ideal recognizes one force
and one only in the world. rather makes all
other forces inferior 70 money, and mere denon-
iuators OF that great supreme and ultimate force"
Money, admits the writer, has always its
need ot worship from The world. but never before
has the cult become a State a national. religion"
As 10 the American woman the flower Of this
plutocracv. I'VE have had many opportunities Of
STUDYING her for she has undertaken to annex as
much OF Europe as practicable. and has succeeded
obvious bargain upon which such matches are
based; on the one side money on @ the other in5Q.
Of the day quite credltable thing that some PorA P
packers dollars from GFcaFo s96aIa % Buy tI, cos
Chicago dollars, never the marketable, bargain
''The age Of trade" he says. "as it exists in
n9r.an ~ ] IRE ana iil n-lam ne ar iass,ing be5i5d In
some respects indeed il is more Callous and more
selfish for those engaged in the ruin and destruc-
ton Of their fellow beings did not IN former days
classes N Sunday schools and make great and
ostentatous business OF charity
The writer gives CursOry survey OF the succeed
ing phases OF civiza atio1. concluding with the
credit for the progress Of the world to date
The character OF the American woman he IN
sists lis like that of the man. the product or this
ra0klv commercial Not only mentally ana
morally but chiefly physically. does she embody
this Iauentable retroEressiOn from the savage
from whom. after all. the dynamic force OF race
IS derived He quotes 2 result OF deplora-
bic retrogression from savagery Mrs Van Norsts
views 20 the effect that among American born
s-er.litv is greater the fecundtv less than those
OF any other nation IN the world, unless II be
France: that American women are deliberately
turning their backs natural sertrnent, and t1dr
mot alone in the rnoueyed classes but even
among factory girls. there is an increasing cold
ness and counrercialisrr Of temperament The
American woman is restless dissatisfied" Social
classes and low have drawn her toward des-
tfnv that is not moral. The factories are full Of
old maids the colleges are full Of old maids. the
bathrooms the worldly centres are fuN OF old
maids For natural obligations ara substituted the
fictitious duties Of clubs committees or organlza-
ri0-s professions. a thousand unwOmanly OCcupa-
lions The education she receives tends to render
re~r1Iiar forces and their natural expression The
new era Iof wonan) as represented in the United
states" concludes the writer OF the treatise IN
question certainly affects personally with dis
taste and rnisgvinEs II this IS 70 be the develop
n7ert OF F,uroue also Il would almost seem as II
the late Charles Pearson right in prophesytng
the Ultimate predominance OF the yellow man"