Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1910-10-21
TAFT'S MARRIAGE THEORIES.
BY LIE +. VERNON.

You may not have noticed it. but
it is not the less fact that marriage
has once more become popular sub
lect of discussion. To some extent,
it has always been popular subject,
OF courSe-indeed, to simple-minded
folk, who are necessarily a very i'm
portant section of the community,
the good fashioned institution re-
mains to-day us popular topic as
it was in the less sophisticated days
days of our grandfathers. But in
other circles we have certainly heard
less of marriage and more of sex
problems, of one kind and another,
during the past few years than ever
we did before, and | am of those who
think that we are none the better for
it. Wherefore, | personally thank
President Taft for giving the mar
riage controversy flip. For it is
the great and gigantic Bill" Taft
who has set the ball a-rolling. and he
has done so in such a manner that
marriage, as the basis of discussion,
has suddenly become quite fashion
able. don't mean, of course, that
! marriage was ever really unfashion-
able-that the huge majority Of wo-
men and q somewhat smaller ma
jority of men ever looked upon mar
riage as thing to be avoided. True,
our shrieking Woman's Fights SIS
ters profess to believe that the mar
riage tie is degrading form of bond
age. True, also, that a number of
otherwise quite "girly' girls who
nowadays talk vaguely about their
careers" and the realization of
self" is very much larger than it was
! a decade ago. But | don't regard
these as more than merely incidents.
The realization" type of damsel.
like the ebullient ladies who smack
policemen and chemically assault
ballot boxes, are only the froth
thrown up by the tide, as it were.
They don't really matter.
That, however, is another story.
Let us return to President Taft, who
is reported as saying that his great
ambition was to see every woman SO
situated in the world that she need
not marry if she did not want to.
The which is not a particularly
ignoble ambition, obviously. Wheth-
err even so puissant parsonage as
President Taft is powerful enough
to realize. it is quite q different mat
ter, however. Personally. l don't
think he is.
But the mighty and rotund Taft
means to begin at home. In later
speech he declared that he had made
up his mind to leave nothing to his
sons but "a good education, pride
in themselves, and a good character.
With his daughter it will be differ
ent, l intend to scrape together as
much as l can for her. SO that she
shall marry when she chooses to
marry. and not when circumstances
force her to do So" Which. also, is
not an ignoble ambition, and is much
more easy of attainment. For Mr..
Taft can control the disposition of
his wealth and, so far as that takes
him, the future of his sons and his
d aughter. But can he control the
multitude OF silent forces which com.
bine to make and mar marriages all
the world over? Hardly. Yet that
does not make MIR. -Taft's proposition
any the less interesting. ~
| 1t is complex subject, and must
be dealt with carefully. In the first
place, we arc asked to assume that
there are considerable number OF
women who do not want to marry.
1t seems to me that this is too large
an assumption. ] believe that the
number of women. who deliberately
prefer some other profession than the
profession OF marriage is compara-
lively insignificant, and l believe
this in spite of the cant about Ca
reers,"' and in spite of the misap-
piled energy of the hunger strikers.
And | am supported in this faith by
the recent declaration of United
States Senator that marriage is the
noblest and most interesting OF all
professions" and by the still more
recent expression of an opinion given
by prominent, leading operatic act
ress, who puts it thus pithily:- Il
think every actress ought to look on
marriage as the best of all engage
ments, and the part of a wife as the
finest part she can play
have chosen my witnesses care
fully, you will observe, and with per-
feet impartiality. Wherefore we
will assume, if you please, that the
first part OF the problem is disposed
Of-that the number of women who
do not want to marry is so small
that we need not consider it. Come
we now to different and much lar
ger class, the class composed of wo-
men who marry the men they do not
want to marry. The woman of this