Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-03-27
Es.!
JLITERATURE AND LIFE j
( y 9


The best reply we have seen to Pres
idents Roosevelt and Eliot on the race
suicidal matter. is from IAN Old Maid
who in y letter to the Argonaut, says:
"The man-professio or otherwise
who on a small income marries ana
raises a family in genteel misery. Is
a fool The man who marries woman
for her money is Il Scoundrel. ne MAJ.
who marries for Il cook ana servant is
level headed. but undressing. ne
girl who marres a clerk or employe
on a mere pittance is ignorant, and to
be pitied The rich old woman VINO
marries nice young man is 1901.
The rich old man who marries young
girl is a knave. The woman who sells
herself for money, is TO be desplsed.
The working woman who nnarries Tue
workingman to be his servant, de-
serves her fate. Marriage Is desirapie
only when the man and woman afe IN
telligent, devoted to each otner, ready
to bear in common life's troubles ana
share its pleasures, when the man is
money maker and valiant, ana the
woman good housekeeper.
Unfortunately such conditions are
rare. There is more hell than heaven
in marriage: the divorce courts prove
the statement 1t is the men ana
women who think before they leap
even tho they afterwards ma IL IS 100
late to leap. who are the wise ores.
Men and women do not deliberately re-
main single: those who do not marry
have been forced by circumstances 10
abstain from the joys of home HE. Inc
majority of single people are as deserV-
ing of esteem as the married ones.
Well matched couples. able to bring up
their children properly, are very small
minority. In conclusion l will say that
the married woman whose standing
nermits her to raise children and who
deliberately avoids motherhood, is
freak of nature and unworthy OF re-
spect."
We believe that the married woman
whose standing permits her TO DRINK up
children and who without suHcleh.
reason deliberately avoids motherhooo'
is not only freak of nature put
more mythical than real. Ii she is q
reality, then she is not a lover OF emit
dren and by that fact alone is morally
unified to rear children. There are
hundreds of women who, we believe,
decline to bear children for good and
sufficient reason not known to the
world. Women who love children and
would gladly bear, them were 1T not
for the fear of transmitting to their
offspring, some faint (moral or physl-
caD Of the parent: women who would
gladly bear children were 1t not 10
the mother a matter Of life and death;
women who would gladly bear children
were their nervous system not so
frail that every child means to them
an increased chance of the mad house.
Who has not known cases of this sort
among personal friends-not to mem
ton the many other causes. any one OF
which is sufficient to justify the fear
of motherhood? Nor are such cases as
rare as one would like to believe, as
MANY physicians could testify were 1t
not q violation of professional ethics.
This question of bringing into the
world children who are bound to suf-
fer for the sins of the parents, De
comes to the thoughtful, altruistic
woman of the twentieth century, ser
ious thing Nay, marriage itself IS
delicate and sacred matter to be set
tied according to the heart and con-
science of every individual without
fear of public censure or criticism.
No one has the right to sit in judgment
on another because that other con-
scientiously declines to take step
which others may think expedient for
the race.
There are many cogent arguments
in favor of small families urged by
prominent thinkers-Pres. Eliot and
Roosevelt to the contrary notwith-
standing.
Ida Hustled Harper, in the North
American Review, contributes some
sensible ideas to the discussion. She
says:
"The responsibility of every parent
is twofold; first, to the child; second,
to society. The childs absolute right
is to have fair start. Society's abso-
lutte right is to have in every new mem
Der a help and not hindrance. Both
the child and society are at the mercy
of parents. If parents produce children
with proper physical, mental and moral
endowments, and if they are able to
give their children the care and train
ing necessary for the development of
these qualities, then are they entitled
to the gratitude of both the children
and society. but if they fail in either re-
spect, they commit crime against
both"
Mrs. Harper traces the connection
between large families. poverty and
crime and many will agree with her
contention that quality and not guam
tity in family, is the need of today.
Speaking of the excess of child popu-
lation, she says: "Over one fourth of
our entire population is composed of
children of school age. and there is not
a large city in the United States which
has sufficient accommodations to give
full days tuition to all who desire
it At the usual rate of increase. the
next census will record a population of
100, 100000. This is all the area of our
country and the condition of our indus
tries require" She then argues that
If our present over production could
only cease for generation or two, all
the vexed social and industrial prob
lens of the country would settle them
selves, and we would have the most
moral and prosperous nation on earth.
Appropos to this subject, Marie Cor
ELI, in recent magazine article. de.
plores the Decay of Home Life in Eng
draws q qrievOuS niCture