East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1915-01-22
BY Rev. Mabel Irwin

BY Rev. Mabel Irwin
."If any would not work. neither
should he eat"
In the laws that govern human la
Dor and life dependent upon labor,
there - no discrimination OF sex. To
live off the labor OF another-giving
no exchange value-is TO live off
another's life. This II Is that consti-
tutes parasitism, and applies to the
rich as well as the poor. to the wo-
man as well as the man.
There appears to be a concerted ef-
fort on the part OF the ultra-femini-
SITS OF today to make both the unmar-
ried girl and the married wife feel
that to be dependent for support up
on father or husband is to play the
part Of parasite. Their present po-
sition In the home is assailed as be-
ing unworthy of the enlightened new
woman. Specious arguments are us
ed to convince them that failure to
do productive work in the economic
world. similar to that done by father
and husband. is to fail to be self-sup-
porting. which failure places woman
in the position OF a social parasite.
The modern wife. therefore, is ex-
horted to 60 with her husband into
productive work, leaving her home, II
need be, to do this. and her children,
II need be. to the care OF professional
mothers. who, she Is told are better
fitted to care for them than is she.
In this plan the husband and wife
are to share and share alike the
household expenses. including the care
of the children, the remaining mon
eys earned by each to be used for In
dividual and personal needs.
They plead that the wife, realizing
the dignity that comes to the wage
Garner, will then command from her
husband that respect which is ac-
corded an economic equal, and which
she fails to receive under present con.
ditions.
They urge that in this way woman
by a single step. may leave the ranks
of the parasitic class and become for
the first time--a self-supporting hu-
man being.
II Is beginning to be very clear to
the thoughtful mind that the wife and
mother should cease to be regarded as
pensloner upon the bounty of her
husband. or as a child unable to earn
her right to live. That the remedy
for such conditions can only be found
by the destruction of the family as an
economic unit is not so clear. Many
are seeing that deeper solution than
the one indicated must be found.
If It is the family, and not the in
dividual. that is the true social unit
then in matters economic there must
be found a solution making for mu-
tual interdependence rather than OF
independence before the question VIII
be satisfactorily answered.
II, as we are told. the man Is not
without the woman. or the woman
without the man." in things spiritual
and moral then the same rule must
hold good in the material and eco
nomIc relation of man to woman In
the family life.
Ruskin has said that "home Is
wherever a good woman lays her
head" This is true, and more: Wom-
an not only makes the home; she Is
the home itself-the literal home Of
the unborn race. Before any of the
sons of men come TO the waiting
arms OF mother-love she has been to
them food and shelter and clothing
for days and weeks and months--a
home Of living, breathing flesh and
blood and bone-a tabernacle not
made with hands"
Because woman is the home in
very literal sense, the supreme place
for her highest self-expression must
always be in the home. And this,