New-York tribune., 1919-09-23
End of Druid gerry
In House Urged to
Set Mothers Free
Doctors Told That Parents
Would Love Children
More if Not Obliged to
See So Much of Them

Hot meals sent to the home. service
ny the hour from expert cleaners, pro-
1esslonal laundry service and traine
assistants to care for babies and Young
cnlidren-these are the four funda.
mental devices for conserving the tim
and strength of women demanded by
the reconstruction era, as outlined bv
Charlotte Perkins Gilman before the
convention of women doctors at the
Young Women's Christian Association
yesterday.
The women began the second weeI,
OF their convention by plunging brave
" into the complicated problem CT tn
woman with children and her relation
with outside industrial and sociaI>or-
carnations. Mrs. Gilman laid the en-
phasis on eliminating household drudg-
cry SO the woman might do outside
work, while Mrs. Irene Osgood An
drews spoke for maternity insurance
by which the state would pay the WON
en- to.stay at home and care for her
children. From these two divergent
points Of view the discussion ranged to
every allied topic on earth, to the evil
dent bewilderment of some Of the wom-
en- from abroad.
Assails Substitute Mothers
French doctor took issue with Mrs.
Gilman on the subject of trained nurs-
cry assistants.
"Can professional lovo 100 chill
dren as a mother loves her one ?" she
demanded.
NO; and a doctor does not love a
child as mother loves it," retored Mrs.
Gilman, "but q doctor can cure q sick
child and mother love cannot. When
you have toothache you don't cry.
oh. / want my mother. She loves mo
better than the dentist does
"M others love- their children better
than dieticians would, but look what
mother love feeds to children. ? In the
Southwest it is saleratus biscuits. anu
IN the North it is pie. You would be
sick at neart If You saw what the
mothers of this city feed their children.
Besides, there is nothing to pre-
vent a mother loving her child, even if
she does employ labor saving devices in
the care of it. Indeed. mothers would
love their children great deal more
Il they did not see quite so much Of
them"
Mrs. Gilman then dwelt on the fact
that so per cent os woman energy is
wasted in inefficient kitchens. and that
woman talent goes to waste because of
the tradition that women must confine
their interests to home and children.
Ten Million Cannot Marry
"Tcn million women in Europe have
no choice about going cut of the home, >
she said in closing. "Ten million men
are dead and ten million women cannot
marry. Therefore, these women must
turn their energies to public aacirs,
an let us hope that society will give
them an opportunity for the large and
inspired social work for which they
are inherently capable, and Of which
the world is so desperately in need to-
day"
Mrs. Andrews stated that mothers did
not 90 out OF the home to cultivate
their talents, but because the children
needed shoes and bread. II q study of
fifty working mothers made by the
Women's City Club, she said, only two
confessed 20 leaving the home for pin
money" Il is in homes where tho
mother is obliged to work that the
greatest mum Der of babies die, she
added, and insisted that IN motherhood
must be recognized as distinct ser-
vice to the community, and we must
formulate some means of making the
profession safe, healthful and dig
ujfpt "