The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-01-24
Frederick Haskin's Letter
Exit Motherhood.
especial cos7sspondnse 81 IA Arsusl

New York City, Jan. ga Cal
ifornia professor of zoology has re-
Gently aroused considerable indig-
nation among New York feministS
by writing a book in which he de-
clares that the new woman is a
i traitor to her race because she re-
fuses to marry and have children.
The blame for this he places large
ly upon college education which, he
asserts, tends to develop the fem
mime mentality and inspire it with
the ambition to haye-not babies
but career"
Professor Holmes-for that is the
name Of the brave gentleman-has
developed his theme in a most dis
Greet and dispassionate manner. II
/ is obvious that he is entirely sym
pathetic toward the new woman's
aims and desires, and is merely in
terested in setting forth their bio
logical significance. Nevertheless
the new women do not like It
| Nearly every day one of their re-
sentful number bursts forth in the
| readers columns" of the daily
press with a stern rebuke for the
professor, and a defense of the
feminist's noble character. The col
lege girls seem to feel particularly
insulted, and are taking great pains
to explain in elaborate detail just
why they do not marry. 1t is not,
in their judgment, because of their
own liberal education, but the lack
of it in most men.
The reasons for. this widespread
spinsterhood among intelligent,
well educated females are doubt
less many and varied, but Professor
Holmes is chiefly concerned with
its effect upon the race. His great
est alarm is over the fact that WON
en- of the lower classes continue to
produce husky offspring at a mid
Victorian rate, while those OF su-
perior stock are limiting their fam
lilies to one or two, or declining to
go in for motherhood at all.
College Women Stay Single.
| at may be said that about so per
cent of college women remain I'M
married." he writes in his recent
book. ut is apparently true that
women Of superior intellect and
force of character are those who,
whether college women or not, are
pretty apt to be selected for spin
sterhood. They are more likely TO
win positions which permit them
to enjoy the comforts and many
Injuries of life; they develop other
! interests which often detract from
the appeal of matrimony. In some
cases they lose a certain feminine
| charm, misfortune that arouses a
deep-seated, instructive recoil in
the opposite sex. There can be no
doubt that the race is losing a vast
wealth of material for motherhood
of the best and most efficient type.
Many of the women who are now
| adayS most prone to sacrifice moth
erhood to career are Just the
ones upon whom the obligation of
motherhood should rest with the
greatest weight 1t may be serious
| " doubted if the growing independ-
ence of women, despite its many
advantages, is an unmixed bless
/ ing. Thus far it has worked to
deteriorate the race in the inter
ests of social advancement, a pro-
cess which is bound to be disas-
trous in the long run
| Yet Professor Holmes evidently
| thinks that the new woman's
| treachery to the race is more in
voluntary than it is deliberate. She
| is, he shows, largely a victim of
| her own environment; merely the
product of an industrial age which
is devoted to accumulation and
guarding of property-not children.
AS many other students of the
problem have pointed out. women
are simply being absorbed by in
dustry as everything else is being
absorbed by industry, which is like
a huge sponge that will some day
absorb the race itself.
Every year an increasing num-
Der of young women enter sedent-
airy occupations in business Offices
and shops which. Professor Holmes
| thinks, contribute to their physical
debility and multiply the hardships