New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-12-15
Survived
Stupidity the Fam
ilv viii Survive
Intelligence, Says
Mr.. Lippmann.
Bv CLARA GRUENNG sTILLMAN.

TTHE real crux Of modern feminism
is not "Shall women have equal
rights" but "What are they GO
ing to do with all the rights from which
they cannot possibly escape?" accord
ing Walter Lippmann, editor of THE
New Republic" and author of two i'm
,or+ant books on current problems.
MANY forces, notably the withdrawal of
Industries from the home, have pro-
dueed the seif-conscious modern woman
who not only wants 10 live her own
life. but is more and more forced to
do so. II is when she begins to decide
What form that life shall take that her
real problems begin.
And no wonder it U.s." he said to me
as we sat in his Office, discussing this
absorbing problem. 1--WE are all Of US
in a chaotic period of transition from
small world of authority to a great
world of many freedoms. Woman's
world has been the smallest of all. Au-
thority has weighed upon her most
heavily. so her transition is all the
more difficult. She has no precedents
10 20 BY. not even bad ones. Every step
she makes has to be newly created.
Housekeeping and baby rearing are the
two most primitive arts in the world,
the last occupations to be submitted to
l.. hoxyn inv
ed almost nothing to tighten their
labor. They have been essentially
creatures of routine. Now they are
suddenly confronted with the necessity
Of inventing an entirely new way OF
living.
Argument Is Futile?
so. you see, it is perfectly futile to
argue whether they can or they can't;
they must. They are caught IN the
midst of vast changes to which they
are forced to adjust themselves. But
lust how they will do it, what use they
will make of the freedom that is being
IMPOSED upon them, that no one can
foresee by referring to the past"
What do you consider the greatest
obstacle women have to contend with!
The bewilderment in their own
souls. They have to learn to choose, to
make decisions, TO make mistakes, IN
stead of gracefully submitting to guild
apee as heretofore. They have to Gre
ate a substitute for the authority they
have overthrow. That is why there Is
such a conflict of ideals among the
awakening women themselves.
Take. for instance, the cry for
single standard Of morality. To the
Psnkhursts and those who think as
thew do. il means that men should
adopt women's standard; to many other
people il means just the reverse. SO
fsminism is attacked both for being too
moral and too immoral There is
an immense vacillation between
more rigid Puritanism and the idolatry
Of freedom"
do you believe, then, that the move
ment is likely to result either in the
termination Of men or the mascuiiza-
ton Of women, as so many anthem
inists fear? ?" ] asked.
Il think neither Of those suggestions
corresponds to any psychological real
ity. The first impulse Of emancipation
seems 70 be that woman should model
her career on mans. But she cannot
do this, for the simple reason that her
attitude toward love and children is
different from his. She cannot so
change her nature as to become an
amateur male. Nevertheless, you will
lind many feminists urging women to
enter business and industry as solu-
ton Of their problems. They consider
Il great victory every time woman
fills a position or enters a career which
has previously been open only to men.
Now. while | am fully in sympathy
with woman's demand for economic in
dependence, I believe that she finds al
most; no real independence in the In
dusirial world to-day. Millions OF
.omen, of course, are drawn into 1t
against their will, but there is still a
good number who go into 1t volunta-
rily because they feel their self-respect
demands il. But the women who argue
for the necessity Of making ones liv-
INK are almost all upper class women
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