Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1912-05-18

ways. 1t is dragging children away
from the school and the care of the
mothers TO work in factories where
their souls and bodies are ground up
into profits. In many industries the
wages paid no longer enable the head
Of the family to keep the home going.
In order to drive the wolf from the
door 1t has become necessary for the
mother to forsake her children for
the greater part OF the day, and some
times for the greater part of the night
too. and toll for bread to feed them.
Nor is this the whole of the story
by any means Cases are becoming
more numerous everk day where 1t
requires the labor of the father. moth
Ter and children to procure food and
clothing for the family with shelter
of the most wretched description. I'm
der conditions Of this sort 1t is of no
use to talk about women remaining
in the home which is her sphere. She
must leave the home and toll for food
to ward off starvation from herself
and family Women see that these
dreadful conditions have been brought
upon the world by the laws which men
have made For many thousands OF
years the government of society has
been mans affair Women have had
nothing to do with it, and she sees
that men have made a horrible mess
Of ii. Much as she desires to remain
in her own sphere, which is the home,
she sees that man is constantly work
ing to destroy that sphere 1t will
rot be long, unless conditions change
for the better, before there will be
no home for the woman to dwell in.
All the forces of modern industrial
society, as man governs it, are at
work to break down the home and
family. Woman sees this. She can
not help seeing 1t, for she is not blind
Seeing this deplorable state of
things woman naturally seeks a rem
cdy, for she knows as well as any
body that the home is her proper
sphere and she shudders to see it go
ing to destruction under the manage
ment Of social conditions by men.
She has tried every remedy under the
sun except the ballot She has wept,
prayed and begged for century after
century, and what comes of it all?
Conditions grow worse and worse all
the time The hand that rocks the
cradle has tried to make the world
lit 10 live in by her prayers and tears
and she has failed. She has appealed
to mans bOasted chivalry and the les
son she has learned from these ap-
peals is that mans chivalry counts for
nothing against dollar of profit, Man
grinds women and children together
In his industrial mill without a scru-
pie whenever he sees he can make a
penny by it. Women are tired of these
futile measures for the protection Of
the home. They are weary of weep
ing tears which do not move anybody
and putting up prayers which are not
heard. She wants a remedy which will
! work and that must be the ballot
This truth has been driven home to
the hearts Of the women of the coun-
try by the hardest and saddest exper-
ienCe.
The second proposition of our argu-
ment is that woman's principal duty
in the world is to bear and rear child.
rem, Here again women are Obliged to
see that industrial conditions are rem.
dering their duty impossible to per.
form. The misery Of modern social
conditions, as man has made them
bear so heavily upon the human race
that II is refusing to breed. Like any
other race Of animals under unfavor-
able conditions OF life, human beings
are ceasing to propagate their species
The birth rate is falling in every civ.
ilized country in the world. Among
the native born people Of the United
States, 1t is but little above the deatl
rate. Among our citizens OF foreign
parentage 1t is rapidly declining. There
is only a single explanation for this
terrible fact. II Is that the conditions
OF modern industrial life do not per.
NIT the human race to increase and
multiply as the Lord commanded. II
Is dying out. We have set profits SO
far above life that life is perishing
from the world Women see this. Just
as they see the progressive destruc-
tion Of the home. and their deepest
instincts demand a remedy for It. The
only effective remedy is the ballot.
Mans chiyalry does not count His
instructive reverence for woman does
not hinder him from exploiting Soth
woman and chltdran In o,.da, 90 fut