Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-22

opposite. Because, so far as ideas 90.
this IS largely q man-made world. We
pretend that what men want exists.
And what men want Is money and
power. That desire is the very mar
row Of their beings. They DO not ind
life tolerable without hope or Illusion
Of its qualification. One can Judge its
strength by looking at the sad results
Of its Illustration.
II one goes to what in England Is
called 3 workhouse-a home for old
people--one finds that the old women
are not disconnected with their lot.
They are tired and battered, and now
they can rest. What is good IN the
days round "a flood Of sunshine
| through q window, q gift Of sweets or
| tobacco--they can enjoy for what Il Is
/ worth But old men are miserable.
They cannot get over the shame Of be-
ing there, Of not having money.
That shapes the thought Of the world.
Men want to think OF wealth as some
thing they Thoroughly possess, IS sona9-
thing they have mastered and have -
their disposal. They want to think Of
the economic system they have designed
| for the management OF wealth aS
| solid money box that cannot run away.
They love to think Of themselves with
full pockets, able to look down on the
other sex, pity 1t for its economic in
| feriority, and keep It handsomely. That
| is why men swagger about with their
| female belongings ON the Riviera, q
place they 90 70 when luck has lifted
them up to q position where they can
realize their dreams for q time.
But this is only dream. The eco
nofnfc system IS more like q lot OF poo
textbooks fun Of specie. The flnanciers
the streets. Sometimes history plays
tricks with them. The coins are safe
In the pocketbooks, but nystefiously
| they become valueless One cannot buy
anything in shops with them. Some
times q thief comes along and steals
them SometimeS-aS now-the poe
textbook wears out. A new customer has
to be found for the worlds wealth,
new formula has to be worked cut Tor
financial negotiations.
The thing IS infinitely variable. I
/ had my first intimation Of 1t during
the war when there was an Ouecry
| against the high profits made by q
shipping corporation in the North Of
England. I looked into history ana
found to my amusement that except
for two or three vast firms land they
have had their insolvent periods) the
average life Of q shipping corporation
was 81 years. Then looked around &C
/ other industries and saw that, except
for q handful OF very great firms, the
corporations live a life Of fux. they
endure q generation; then comes ruin
and either drastic Reorganization or
extinction.
What q basis for telling women mat
they can just sit pretty.
I look back on my own family history
and see how tides have shifted. First,
prosperity. Then, In the late sos, the
Australian bank failure. My sisters and
l. who were born during the following
10 years, were therefore brought up
with very definite knowledge that We
would have to earn our own livings.
But there were members Of the family
still high enough on the ledger 10 hope
for nice, parasitic lady daughters. They
tumbled down beside us with the South
African war and its effect on the stock
! market. We were all pulling up nicely
when 1914 came. Then another gen.
Grafton of cousins had to ind work.
And some Of those who had married
and left work had to go back TO II dur
ing the slump Of the last two years.
Mind you, do not mind them having
to work. A woman who has not had
to work at some time Of her life lacks
something for which nothing can com
penSate her. She can never acquire the
ultimate degree Of discipline, and she
has no direct contact with the world
of affairs. She misses the fun 81 an
immediate relationship with q large
part Of reality. But do object 10 men
snafaing credit for doing al the work,
or pretending that out Of an abundance
they have not got they can guarantee
an agreeable leisure to al existing
females.
But this, it may be objected, b an
unhappy consequence Of modern con-
dittons. In the past women were really
looked after and supported BY men.
But even then it cannot have been
much fun depending on men unless
one was a princess, and even then one
had the unpleasant lot OF being handed
over in state marriages at tender age
to total strangers who were frequently
disagreeable or Of being smothered by
ambitious regents II one was LEFT Q
widow with children.
And II one was not princess, but
wife or daughter Of q common man,
how could he protect anybody, unpro-
tected as he was from wars and civil
wars and robbers? It Is no use being
dependent on man who himself Is
dependent from q gibbet.
No, nothing past or present juBdfies
the airs Of protective patronage as
sumed by Mr.. Oppenheim or his sub
sequent denigrations Of women's work.
There Is no security for women un-
less they are able, when men fail TO
support them, to turn to and do q Job
Of work. What Is the good, therefore,
Of arguing whether their work Is frst-
class or not? Personally, think there
are Overwhelming difnculties in the way
OF a woInan's doing hfst-class work.
Mr.. Oppenheim INDUCES In q nice
little piece Of humbug that. balances
the name OF George Bernard Shaw and
my own. With considerable bitterness
reflect on different circumstances
which seem to make it certain that 70
will always be absurd to balance our
names, even should have o capacity
equal to his.
Mr.. Shaw has Q devoted wife who
follows him around and saves him
from the least suspicion OF worry and
trouble. I have never in my life failed
to have the cream OF my energy re-
moved before I started work by the
discharge Of some domestic response.
bility that would never have been
asked to handle had I been q man.
The twenties, when young men have
liberty to see the world and talk over
the entire contents OF the encyclopedia,
were to me q blear Of fatigue in which
was always caught away from intel.
lectual interests by household preoccuS
pations. So it must be with an infinite
number of young women from whom
some sort Of serious contribution might
otherwise be expected. Here Is . handis
cap which can be lifted only through
the ages. But why use its effects to
argue that women ought not to work?
The answer to that Is contained ia the
statement that women have to eat
Mantle providerl So inevitAblel''
The most evitable thing that ever was,
most of us would sayl And the w,nrak