Daily Kennebec journal., 1910-04-06

With an early and permanent eain5 ,5
power the family becomes rsafes ehanee for
children to bind it together anq iesS
tion in every way. -, fro,,
The divorce is not itself the EVIL iroHi
which America suffers. 1t Is st,ral on,y
family, a patent medicine to give give reaae. hast
for an internal social pain Inc pest
way to treat this problem Is TO cons,,uess c,i.s
a healthy normal family. with am ASSURE ,,a ),
high moral standard. AS the MONIES az
improved by the stronger income t
the better educated mothers the luealS
and spirit of the home life will permeate
society and help to lower the fearful
record of the American divorce courts.
Some fault may be found with some
courts. but if this We're the main cauSe
of the phenomenon it would be easiE
dealt with Unfortunately the cause 1es
deeper down in the life of society ana
the family, and the only permanent
remedy is to make both mors norInal
and healthy s'7
DOMESTIC SCIENCE.
One of the most vital needs in this
matter of divorce and race suicide IS
proper education Of girls, directing their
studies and ideal toward the home, ana
creating strong sentiment for the family
life. The preparation of the woman II
of fully as much Importance as the earn
ing power of the men, but 1t can be more
easily acquired after marriage.
What has been said concerning the re-
lation of the industrial education of boys
to- the social problem of the day may
also be said of the general influence of
domestic science studies on the same
problems. The school should aim to ac-
complish two great results in the lives
and CD body of ideals and sentiments
for home making. By no means should
the school try to do the work of the
home in training girls for housew work.
ties. The school can create ideals and
standards, build up public sentiment and
influence, induce parents to attend to
their chldren's needs.
Every movement or influence that i'm
proves the home materially or spiritually
is a preventive of divorce, just the same
as every effort made to develop healthy
body is preventive of patent medicine.
OF course the social influences behind
divorce are very numerous, and indus
trial education constitutes only one of
the needed reforms. But marriage laws,
careless and idealless courts, the econ
extreme individualism of the American
Anglo-SaXon constitute causes which
cannot be nullifed by any one method.
But of all possibilities that of a recti-
fled and normal family by education of
the next generation seems most promis-
ing and essential.
THE SOCIAL EVIL.
directly related to the problem of pros
titution in it's modern form in our great
cities. The evil has developed sickening
proportions in recent years although it
is extremely difficult to compare the eX-
tent of the practice today with any other
period.
Prostitution has existed in all ages
and as far as we can see it always will
exist to a greater or less extent. accord
ing to the conditions of civilization, but
it is especially prevalent in our day, be-
cause of the great bachelor and rowing
population which is cut away from fam
lily and social responsibility.
A civilization which creates such a
bachelor population leaves also an equal
number of spinsters, and under such con-
dtions social vice will run riot
The estimation of the number of
women in New York or Chicago that live
exclusively by this sin run all the way
from 10000 to $4,000 in each city, either
number being sufficiently startling. The
estimates for several of the greatest
European capitols run far above these
numbers
We. do not know from scientific inves-
tlgation very. much about the causes
ands of young women into social vice in
the United States, but as far as special
inquiries have been made they lead to
very clear conclusions.
A few years ago the Massachusetts
Bureau of Statistics and Labor reported
the investigation of 1856 inmates of the
brothels Of few of our large American
cites, with regard to their occupation
or means of living before entering such
a life. Two thousand three hundred and
ninety-one of these, Or g. per cent of
the whole number, reported themselves
as having no occupation or as having
been engaged in the simplest unSkiled
labor
The probabilities are that the propor-
tion is much larger than the investiga-
tioh reports, for these people naturally
to civ rIx
spectacle standing, and many would
probably represent themselves as having
been engaged In honorable occupations
whether it agreed with the facts or not
commission mpresses this important
fact upon ms. that ideness, the lack of
training for special skilled occupation,
and the lack of regular habits of work
constitute a broad way which thousands
of young women travel to a life of shame
and early death.
Domestic science in the schools sup
plemented by trade schools i'm connection
with industry, where ideals and indus
try are both taught would probably save
thousands of girls for bright, produc-
tive lives.
prostitution must be permanently over
come, not entirely by drastic prohbitory
or unitive legislation. but by the build
moralization of society. Any method
which will decrease the bachelor popu-
lation or build up stronger sentiment and
better preparation for home making will
permanently and naturally reduce this
evil
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION
l have spoken principally of the in
f1uences of industrial education on our
moral and social problems, but agrcul-
tural education would have tendencies to
correct social evils practically in the
same way. In some respects agricultural
education Is more fundamental for Maine
IMAM any other because this State must
soil. Wy
We don't want the educational system
or pennsylvania or Massachusetts, but
one specialized and adapted to the pecu-
liar conditions of Maine life and re-
sources. Industrial schools, at present,
should be built up in few of the CEN
tres of population and gradually ex-
tended as the demands of the people
arise; but agricultural education must
permeate the whole system throughout
the State and build up a body of ideals
for the country life and methods of get
ting a profitable living A prosperous
intelligent and happy rural population
purifes the source from which the city
people come and acts as a wholesome
check on the immortalities of urban life
The countryside Is the foundation of
the nations physical. mental and ,nort al