The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-03-26

change in the attitude Of the en-
lightphed toward that knotty prob
lem q woman's proper place in the
scheme Of things is shown by the
great interest which has been
aroused In this country by the 6hen-
pard-TOwner bill, and BY many
state measures which have been
passed pensip4ing and otherwise
caring for motherhood.
This change ID based upon the
discovery that woman's entrance
into industry has greatly reduced
her value as a m9ther, that there
are only few kinds ofvork vom-
en- can safely do, and that poverty
and factory work h-tween them are
costing thousands Of lives Of vom-
end babies every rear.
The. feminists Of q quarter Of .
century. ago demanded loudly that
woman should have complete eco
nomic independence I'VE demand
all labor for our province" wrote
Olive Schreiner, one Of the most
eloquent and influential Of the early
femipists. And then the war came
along and women got Just what
Olive demanded. Most Of them had
never heard Of feminism and had
not personally demanded anything.
They got all labor for their prov
ince because all the men were at
the front. OF course, even before
the war, the number of women in
industry was great and growing
The reason for their presence in
the factories was not that they had
been inspired by visions of eco
nomic independence but that it was
becoming increasingly hard to find
husands who could support them
A little group of women at the TOP
demanded economic independence
They got it by going into the arts
and professions and to some extent
into business. At these occupa.
tons they were remarkably sue
cessful. They won places in the
working world without sacrificing
either their feminine charm or theil
right to motherhood. But it does
seem as if these leaders of the fem.
mist movement did not fully realize
that only q very few women can &C
into arts and professions, that fol
the great majority of them wori
means eight hours day in fac.
tory with very little hope of pro.
gress. The great bulk of women
have gone to work because they haG
to, and the results have often beer
injury to their own health and tina,
of their children.
Back to the Home.
This fact the feminists them.
selves have but lately realised. Sew
eral recent intelligent books or
feminism set forth the new view
point in a very convincing way
That long discarded and much ridi
culed motto: "Woman's place i.
in the home" seems to have beer
hauled out of the attic, busted off
subjected to a few revisions ant
qualifications, and placed on thu
wall aagin.
At least these recent writers
seem to have reached the cOnclus.
ion that women should be protect
ed from all sorts of work which il
any way Injuries her usefulness az
mother, and they are forced tt
admit that many kinds of industrial
work are in that class. They agree
that the woman Ut brains SHOULD
follow a profession if she chooses
and that women in the arts ant
professions have as good chance
as men. They admit that ever,
woman should be given every op
portunity to fit herself for any kline
of work her health will stand. Blu
they see that motherhood is hel
most important function, from hel
own viewpoint in most cases, AMI
from that of the state in all cases
The trouble is that woman is nov
! in industry by the million. For tn,
most part she is not there b!
choice. She is there because sh,
has to be in order to eat. There
fore merely to establish the con
, clusiOn that she should come on