The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1922-03-03


mot vet appear t. see the dawn of
different day, but the day is ncv-
ertheless at hand. /; IS strikingly
apparent that more and more mod
en fcminism is Withdrawing the
hest Of women from marriage and
motherhood. In one sense, we do
not need 20 fear this larger career
of woman any more than we need to
dread modern machinery. Both
bring their problems and in the ned
may mean tightening the burden
and increasing the efficiency Of
production and of the home.
welcome woman's place with man IN
the new order, and the strategic
work which she alone can DO to un-
tangle the web of exploitation, IN
Justice, and burden in which modern
industry and civilization have Ell
mesned women and children and
whole immigrant populations. But
kif the economic independence OF wo-
men means their permanent place
in the labor market, then / say it
! is a menace to the home and an
outrage on civilization.
"Charlotte Perkins Gilman, whose
brain is as brilliant as scintillating
ice and about as cold, dreams
wonderful picture of the golden age
with no dishes to wash, floors to
sweep, clothes to mend, babies to
clean, onions to weep over, or pep
pers to sneeze over. Socialized kit
chens and laundries will do the
work, with comparatively employed
porters, seamstresses, nurses, and
teachers. But any system of cooper
ative living and efficiency engineer
| ing whcih fails to reckon with wo-
mans instructive mother love and
home brooding is doomed 10 fail
ure. You can understand Davld's
| cry for water from the well, but you
can hardly picture q man who was
| born in Broadway signing and say
ing: %, that someone would give me
to drink of the Croton water in the
faucet of the bathroom behind the
door, in Apartment K, on the sew
enth hoorn And what will it be if
life finally has no more poetry left
| than to leave to the memory: %,
that some one would give me to
drink Of the cooperative soup made
in the cooperative kitchen, and
brought me by my cooperative
nurse, and fed me by my cooperative
governess on directions by my CO.
operative mother
Carried to the extreme of some
of it's votaries, economic independ-
ence has sinister bearing on the
very foundation of the family"
Of course, it is to the financial in
tcrest of certain classes of employ
ers TO engage the services Of wo-
men rather than those of men. They
Get labor more cheaply thereby. 1t
i is not strange that they declaim, IN
season and out of season, in favor
| of what they call 'the economic IN
fdependence of women" But who
soever among men or women is de-
ceived thereby is not wise. These
selfish worshipers Of mammon are
getting gain by pulling. down the
homes of the country. They draw
women away from motherhood and
drive men into unemployment and
5idleness. Their gains are soceity's
losses.
Under such conditions children
are not desired and their very birth
discouraged, if not absolutely pro-
hibited. Race. suicide is rooted in
these conditions.
Life III apartments, instead Of in
the sweet and sacred privacies OF
real homes, is popularized, if not
compelled.
What must be the future of our
country if these conditions continue?
What type of life will prevail in the
next generation. if a next genera
ton is no: made nearly, or quite, IN
possible?
Strong. noble, elevated manhood
and womanhood can not arise 'from
such conditions. We might as well
expect to grow great forests IN hot
houses.
! While these conditions obtain
quite Independent of the church and
apart from educational institutions,
both the churches and the schools
are falling into methods that pro-
mote the impairment Of home life.