New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-05-13
ON THE EVE OF CHANGE.

This factor the writer finds hints at, for
her views are put forth tentatively in the wind
Of discovery, which at times sweeps over the
field Of human wheat and bows all heads before
1t. In many things she finds signs that the
English speaking Protestant countries are on the
eve of such an influencing, and that its tendency
Will be toward more conservative ideals
Are not the divided counsels and apparent
collapse of the Liberal party the growth OF i'm
perialtsm, with its twOfold consequences OF COM
mercial expansion and nilitarism. among such
signs?" she asks us not the revolt from ma
terialism. the unaggressive, even friendly, atti-
tude adopted by the younger physicists and
biologists toward mental and spiritual phenom-
eDa sign? In truth, it is hardly too much to
assert that most of the beliefs in which we OF
the older generation were brought up have been
q good deal discredted by experience and. hav
ing been given suffciency Of rope, seem rather
effectually in process Of hanging themselves,
or, to put it more justly and more gratefully,
having served their turn and done their APP
pointed work, are in process Of dying. Let US
bury them not without tears, for they too. had
their days of ehulgence and golden hope, such
as, whether justified by the event or not, re-
main precious asset in human history. Is the
woman's movement among these2 This one
wonders a little and asks though conscious it
would be premature to attempt definite
swer. Whether negative or athrmauVe as yet
the next ten years will decide in this as in much
else Of vital interest to the humanist."
AMERICAN WOMAN CRITICISED.
Incidentally the influence of American wom-
en- upon European society is commented upon
"Is it not they" asks the writer. who in
their republican simplicity have reduced our
many and complex needs to two only-posses-
sion Of wealth and opportunity Of amusement?
The American woman is a somewhat gitterng
creature. In her natural environment and un-
der the stimulus of the American climate she
doubtless is, she rather loudly claims to be-
the very blossom and crown of things femi-
nine but here, in the Old World, not only
are surrounding conditions very different. but
we women made of slower, heavier, yet
more passionate and dangerously inf1ammable
stuff and it is not possible for to go the
lengths she does in certain directions-take dress
and frtations, as examples-without definite
and highly undesirable results. It follows that
Notwithstanding her brightness and, rule
her virtue, the influence of the American
woman, not only in England but on the CONT
neut has been extremely harmful. 1t has made
for frivolity for extravaganza for selfshness
It has tended toward the decay of fine manners
toward lack Of reverence and reticenCe. and
in increasing Impotence of restraint. It has
brought the interviewer-that enemy of the
dignities of private life It has taught us to
spell society with a capital letter It has also
taught us the art of self-advertisement in all
It's branches It has gone far to indoctrinate us
with the hardly grace begetting belief that
everything in life really worth having be
bought for hard cash, and that it is the pri-
mary duty a self-respecting woman owes her
self TO be in position to buy"