Evening star., 1938-03-20
Family Remains Refuge
In Crashing of Old Ways
Threatened by Economic and Social Change, 1t.
Preservation Is Vital Problem
of the Future.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

BY THOMAS r. HENRY.
THE family. mans oldest and most
basic institution, now Is confronted
BY revolutionary changes which
may threaten its very existence
1s 1t worth preserving?
Most emphatically yes, says DR.. Joseph
K. Folsom. He is the professor Of sociology
At Vassar College, who presented his views
before recent conference of sociologists
here on the conservation Of human re-
sources.
True, 1t has lost half the functions for
which it originally was established. It
stands In the way Of the ideal Of the ant
hill, toward which many social philosophers
believe the human race should strive for
its own good The idea that 1t is a natural
organism, ordained in the very scheme
Of things, probably is not so valid as most
folks might suppose.
But even as the historical functions Of
the family group disappear or decline in
importance, Prof. Folsom believes, new
functions are arising which make its
preservation more important than ever.
It is, he stresses, the final refuge Of the
individual. The home, occupied by
number Of close-blood relatives, remains
the place where a fellow can strut his
stuff. where he can be a big duck in
small puddle, where he is valued for him.
self alone and not for his services to So
ciety, where he can stand on his own feet,
is allowed to express his own individuality
and can maintain the dignity Of an inde-
pendent human being. The home is
kingdom which never will become Com
munistic or Fascist or industrialized.
Decline Has Been Gradual.
The economic decline has gone further,
Prof. Folsom pointed out. than most folks
realize It has all happened. step by step.
within the last couple Of generations.
The home used to be the place where
clothing was made for the whole family.
It was q major job for the women to pro-
duce the dresses and shirts and pants
for themselves, the men folks and the
children. Our grandmothers were seldom
to be seen without needles Of some sort
In their hands. Now this is ridiculously
uneconomicaL The factory. the bargain
rendered the practice obsolete.
Even the function of mending clothes
darning stockings, turning the collars on
shirts. etc.-is passing from the home.
Lass and less is the home even the place
where clothes are cleaned. The laundry
can do It cheaper and probably better.
Nor Is the home any longer the place
where food is produced or even prepared.
More than q generation ago the family
garden. the family COW, the family pig
and the family chickens were becoming
extinct With about everything . human
being wants to eat puchasable in cans
cooking itself seems to be passing as
home occupation. Our grandmothers could
hardly have imagined q day when bread
would not be made in the home. Now
homemade bread is . luxury.
Schools Occupy Children.
For . century the development of the
public school system has been taking the
care Of the child away from the home.
Nursery schools are giving great impetus
to the change. The age-old function Of
the mother as the home doctor is even
more thing Of the past.
But there Is perhaps an even greater
revolution efiecting the status of the FAM
ily. It used to be a very stable institution,
- members all earning their livings from
the same source and hence with common
occupational interests. Now every member
Of the group may have an entirely different
sort of Job, which Is effected by entirely
different conditions.
In the past the family was rather
strictly localized. Folks very seldom got
away from home. Now the members Of
one family actually may very seldom see
same household do not take their vaca-
tons in the same places and are advised
by psychiatrists not to do SO.
In only one respect has the family's i'm
portance increased as an economic unit
q 4 center Of entertainment. This is q
major consequence of the radio. It tends
to keep the whole family group at home
evenings.
New Needs Have Arisen.
But q the old needs to which the family
catered have declined new ones have arisen
Society has become vastly more mobile
than ever before In its history. Folks no
longer, generally speaking, remain in the
same neighborhood for generation after
generation, clustered about the same old
village church and village churchyard until
they become almost parts Of the country
side. They drift over the world. The roots
Of the American people are being torn
out of the soil. even II 1t is only the sterile
soil Of the city street. Boys and girls
move to new neighborhoods and completely
lose contact with the old acquaintances
Whole families pick themselves up bodily
from New England and settle in California.
In all this turmoil the family, wherever
It Is and even II 1t Is scattered In 1 dozen
States, Is something to which the individ-
ual can remain rooted. It gives him .
point Of orientation in . very topsy-turvy
world.
But, DR.. Folsom stresses; there Is an
even greater value for the family. More
and more this u becoming q machine
wo1d Men, women and children are just