Chapter 32

[776]SeeBertillon,Note pour l'étude statistique du divorce, 464 ff., 471-73, giving Berlin statistics for 1878 which show that divorced men remarry within the first three years at about the same rate as widowers, while divorced women remarry more rapidly than widows. The results obtained from Swiss statistics are nearly the same: see the table inBertillon, "Du sort des divorcés,"Jour. de la société de statistique de Paris, June, 1884; reproduced byWillcox,The Divorce Problem, 27. On the other hand,Oettingen,Die Moralstatistik, 153-62, on the basis of statistics for Saxony (1834-49) and the Netherlands (1850-54), shows a strong tendency to remarry on the part of divorced persons of either sex, as compared with widows and widowers, the divorced women remarrying much more frequently than the men.Dike,Rep. of the Nat. Div. Ref. League(1891), 18, gives some facts for Connecticut. In 1889, 286 divorced persons were married, "135 men and 151 women, which is a little above one-third of the number divorced in the year. In 1890 there were 477 divorces granted, or 954 individuals divorced: and there were 350 divorced persons"—143 men and 207 women—"who married again." To be of much value these figures should be compared with the number of marriages of widowers and widows for the same period.[777]Bryce,Studies in Hist. and Jur., 830.[778]SeeWright,Report, 1030, 1033 ff.[779]"Wenn der andere Ehegatte durch schwere Verletzung der durch die Ehe begründeten Pflichten oder durch ehrloses oder unsittliches Verhalten eine so tiefe Zerrüttung des ehelichen Verhältnisses verschuldet hat, dass dem Ehegatten die Fortsetzung der Ehe nicht zugemuthet werden kann."—Reichsgesetzbuch, Tit. 7, § 1568. For discussion seeKohler,Das Eherecht des bürg, Gesetzbuchs, 42-46.But the statistics seem to show that the law is conservatively administered. The number of divorces is decreasing. "For the years 1891-95, inclusive, the annual average was 7,258. In 1896 there were 8,601; in 1897 there were 9,005; in 1898 there were 9,143; and in 1899 they had become 9,563. But under the new law in 1900 they dropped to 8,934, and in 1901 they were 8,037."—Dike,Report(1903), 8, 9, on the authority of the Chief of the Statistical Bureau of Berlin.The other grounds of divorce allowed by the imperial statute are adultery, attempt on the life of either spouse by the other, malicious desertion, and insanity (Geisteskrankheit) of three years' standing. Divorce for malicious desertion is decreed only after a preliminary suit for the re-establishment of marital relations and a year's delay to allow the deserter to return to conjugal duty:Reichsgesetzbuch, Tit. 7, § 1567.[780]The uniform divorce law for the Swiss cantons, which went into effect in 1876, has not tended to produce a uniform rate. In 1885, for instance, Appenzell, Outer Rhodes, "has forty-nine times as much divorce as Unterwalden o. d. W., while with all the divergences of law in this country the differences of rate are much less."—Willcox,The Divorce Problem, 59, giving a table of the decrees granted in the twenty-six cantons, 1876-85; compiled fromDie Bewegung der Bevölkerung in der Schweiz im Jahre 1885(Beilage I).[781]Dike, "Uniform Marriage and Divorce Laws,"Arena, II, 399-408, gives a valuable discussion of the two methods of procedure. See alsoBennett, "National Divorce Legislation,"Forum, II, 429-38;Stewart, "Our Mar. and Div. Laws,"Pop. Sci. Monthly, XXIII, 232, 233; andJameson, "Divorce,"North Am. Rev., CXXXVI, 325, all favoring a constitutional amendment; alsoNorth, "Uniform Mar. and Div. Laws,"ibid., CXLIV, 429-31;Lloyd,Law of Divorce, 269 ff.;Johnson,Remarks upon Uniformity of State Legislation;Snyder,Problem of Uniform Legislation, 3 ff., favoring state action. In hisGeography of Marriage, 182 ff.,Snyderfavors concert of action among the states and a prohibitory amendment restricting or defining the maximum number of causes for divorce which a state might sanction. See also the articles byStanwood and Stantonmentioned in the Bibliographical Index, IV; and consult theReports of the Conferences of the State Boards of Commissioners for Promoting Uniformity of Legislation in the U. S.[782]SeeReports of the Nat. League for the Protection of the Family(1900), 7; (1901), 8.[783]Peabody, "The Teaching of Jesus Concerning the Family," in hisJesus Christ and the Social Question, 129 ff.;Dike, "Problems of the Family,"Century, XXXIX, 392, 393;idem,Some Aspects of the Divorce Question, 177 ff.;idem,Perils of the Family;Mulford,The Nation, 276-83;Bushnell, "The Organic Unity of the Family," in hisChristian Nurture, 90-122;Henderson,Social Elements, 71 ff.;Allen, "Divorces in New England,"North Am. Rev., CXXX, 559 ff.;Potter, "The Message of Christ to the Family," in hisMessage of Christ to Manhood;Salter,The Future of the Family;Mathews, "The Family,"Am. Journal of Sociology, I, 457-72;Pearson, "The Decline of the Family," in hisNational Life and Character, 227 ff.; and the reply ofMuirhead, "Is the Family Declining?"Int. Jour, of Ethics, Oct., 1896, 33 ff.;Ross,Social Control, 405, 433. The ablest appreciation of the value of individualism is that ofMill,On Liberty(2d ed.), 100 ff.[784]Commons, "The Family," in his "Sociological View of Sovereignty," inAm. Jour. of Sociology, V, 683 ff., 688, 689. On the future of the family compareSpencer,Principles of Sociology, I, 737 ff., 788;Letourneau,L'évolution du mariage, 444 ff.;Pearson, "The Decline of the Family," in hisNational Life and Character, 255, 256;Muirhead, "Is the Family Declining?"Int. Jour. of Ethics, Oct., 1896, 53-55;Tillier,Le mariage, 283 ff., 316.[785]Cf.Peabody,Jesus Christ and the Social Question, 162-79;Muirhead,Is the Family Declining?35.[786]In the great centers of Germany, we are assured, the family of the blood-kindred has yielded to the family composed of kindred and strangers. For lack of space in the closely packed districts people are forced to live almost in common:Göhre,Drei Monate Fabrikarbeiter, 12 ff., 37 ff.Cf.Bebel,Die Frau und der Sozialismus, 123, 124; andRade,Die sittlich-religiöse Gedankenwelt unserer Industriearbeiter, 117 ff.;Stewart,Disintegration of the Families of the Workingmen;Henderson,Social Elements, 73.[787]Peabody,op. cit., 140.[788]SeeEngels,Der Ursprung der Familie, 4 ff.; and his follower,Bebel,Die Frau und der Sozialismus, 1 ff., 93 ff.[789]Muirhead,Is the Family Declining?37.[790]Carpenter,Love's Coming of Age; quoted fromMuirhead,op. cit., 37. The views of various socialists regarding woman and marriage are criticised byHertzberg,Der Beruf der Frau, 43-57.[791]Morris and Bax,Socialism: Its Growth and Outcome, 299, 300.[792]Gronlund,The Co-operative Commonwealth, 193-206.[793]Owen,Marriages of the Priesthood of the Old Immoral World, 54: "I resume the subject of marriage because it is the source of more demoralization, crime, and misery, than any other single cause, with the exception of religion and private property; and these three together form the great trinity of causes of crime and immorality among mankind." For examples of the bitter denunciations which Owen's doctrines naturally provoked see the tract ofBrindley,The Marriage System of Socialism(Chester, 1840); and that ofBowes,The 'Social Beasts'(Liverpool, 1840).[794]For examples seeMarriages of the Priesthood, 41, 43, 44, 81.[795]Owen,op. cit., 81.[796]Ibid., 86, 87, giving an extract from his six lectures delivered at Manchester in 1837.[797]Owen's book was written in 1835, just before the passage of the new civil-marriage law; and the violence of its tone may in part have been provoked by the injustice and intolerance sanctioned by the Hardwicke act of 1753, at that time in force. In 1840 he declared, as regards theformof marriage, that the law of 1836 had "exactly" met his "ideas and wishes;" and that all which he then desired was "to see another law enacted, by whichDivorces, under wise arrangements, and on principles of common sense, may be obtained equally for rich and poor."—Op. cit., 90. He himself outlines marriage and divorce laws which possess some excellent features:ibid., 88-90.[798]Robert Dale Owen, "Marriage and Placement,"Free Inquirer, May 28, 1831; and his letter to Thomas Whittemore, editor of the BostonTrumpet, May, 1831; both quoted byBesant,Marriage, 23, 24, 26, 27. TheFree Inquirerwas founded in New York city by Robert Dale Owen and Frances Wright in 1829:Johnson,Woman and the Republic, 121.[799]Bebel,Die Frau und der Sozialismus, 93 ff., 175, 176, 427 ff., 431; or the same inWalther'stranslation, 43 ff., 229 ff. CompareKarl Pearson'sdiscussion of "Socialism and Sex" in hisEthic of Free Thought, 427-46; andCaird,Morality of Marriage, 123-27.[800]A Philosophical, Historical, and Moral Essay on Old Maids, by a Friend of the Sisterhood(London, 1785). Some of the gleanings from history in the second and third volumes are not entirely devoid of permanent interest.[801]Haywood,The Female Spectator(7th ed., London, 1771). This is a fairly representative compilation of gossip and literary anecdote regarding woman, but without a trace of sociological perception.For examples of the lighter productions referred to seeAn Essay on Marriage, in a cautionary Epistle to a Young Gentleman, wherein the Artifices and Foibles of the Fair, etc. (London, 1750);The Deportment of a Married Life: Laid down in a Series of Letters ... to a Young Lady ... lately Married(2d ed., London, 1798; 3d ed., 1821);Boone,The Marriage Looking-Glass: written as a Manual for the Married and a Beacon to the Single(London, 1848);Guthrie,Wedded Love(London, 1859), a volume of sentimental verse. Some of them have a pious or theological tone:The Advantages and Disadvantages of the Married State ... under the Similitude of a Dream(5th ed., London, 1760);Conjugal Love and Duty(4th ed., Dublin and London, 1758);Reflections on Celibacy and Marriage, in Four Letters to a Friend(London, 1771);Sandeman,The Honour of Marriage opposed to all Impurities(London, 1777);Bean,The Christian Minister's Affectionate Advice to a New Married Couple(4th ed., London, 1809). Others contain valuable passages, while vividly reflecting the contemporary view regarding woman's inferior position: "Philogamus,"The Present State of Matrimony(London, 1739);The Art of Governing a Wife; with Rules for Batchelors(London, 1747).[802]Astell,An Essay in Defense of the Female Sex(London, 1696; 3d ed., 1697).Cf.herSerious Proposal to the Ladies(London, 1694; 3d ed., 1697); and herReflections upon Marriage(London, 1700; 4th ed., 1730).[803]Defoe,An Essay upon Projects(London, 1697).[804]The Hardships of the English Laws in relation to Wives(London, 1735), 4 ff.[805]"Sophia,"Woman not Inferior to Man; or, A short and modest Vindication of the natural Right of the Fair-Sex to a perfect Equality of Power, Dignity, and Esteem with the Men(London, 1739; 2d ed., 1740). This tract was answered by a "Gentleman,"Man Superior to Woman; or, a Vindication of Man's Natural Right of Sovereign Authority over the Woman(London, 1739), insisting that woman was not created at all, but is "a sort of after-produced being" who must not "presume to call in question the great duty of vassalage" to man, under penalty of the withdrawal of his heart from her power. To this "Sophia" rejoined inWoman's Superior Excellence over Man(London, 1740).[806]A new edition of this book, with an introduction byMrs. Fawcett, appeared in London in 1890.Cf.Pennell, "A Century of Women's Rights,"Fort. Rev., XLVIII, 408 ff.;Rauschenbusch-Clough,A Study of Mary Wollstonecraft and the Rights of Woman;Ostrogorski,The Rights of Women, 40;Richter,Mary Wollstonecraft die Verfechterin der "Rechte der Frau."[807]In GermanyDorothea Christine Erxleben, in herGründliche Untersuchung der Ursachen, die das weibliche Geschlecht vom Studium abhalten(Berlin, 1742);Vernünftige Gedanken vom Studiren des schönen Geschlechts(Frankfort and Leipzig, 1749); andHippel,Bürgerliche Verbesserung der Weiber(Berlin, 1792); followed by hisNachlass über weibliche Bildung(Berlin, 1801), were already beginning the agitation for woman's liberation. A remarkably clear and incisive essay in defense of woman, entitledDe l'égalité des deux sexes, appeared in Paris in 1673.Condorcet,Lettres d'un bourgeois de New Haven à un citoyen de Virginie(1787) compressed into a few sentences the basic arguments for the movement. In the same year appearedMary Wollstonecraft'sThoughts on the Education of Daughters, a forerunner of herVindicationfive years later. During the next fifty years a few earnest champions of woman's freedom came forward. First wasMary Anne Radcliffe,Female Advocate, or an attempt to recover the Rights of Women from Male Usurpation(London, 1799); followed byHannah Mather Crocker,Observations on the Real Rights of Women(Boston, 1818);William Thompson and Mrs. Wheeler,Appeal ... of Women(London, 1825), a book written in reply to a statement inJames Mill'sarticle onGovernment, and possibly influencing John Stuart Mill's later thoughts on the subject;Sarah M. Grimke,Letters on Equality of the Sexes(Boston, 1838);Lady Sydney Morgan,Woman and her Master(London, 1840);Mrs. Ellis,Woman's Rights and Duties(London, 1840). The movement took organic form in 1848, when the first convention was held at Seneca Falls, New York. This was followed in 1850 by conventions in Ohio and Massachusetts. In 1851Mrs. John Stuart Mill'spowerful article in the July number of theWestminster Reviewon the "Enfranchisement of Women" supplied the agitation with a definite program. SeeFawcett,The Woman Question in Europe, 273, note;Stanton, Anthony, and Gage,Hist. of Woman Suffrage, I, 70 ff.;Ostrogorski,Rights of Women, 54 ff.;Johnson,Woman and the Republic, 39 ff.;Wade,Women, Past and Present, 247.[808]According toHartmann,The Sexes Compared, 3, 6 ff., there is between man and woman a fundamental and irremovable distinction: The woman rules sexually and therefore "we must, by way of compensation, uphold the legal superiority of man." In establishing sexual equality the progress of culture receives a severe blow. More wonderful is the teaching ofSchopenhauer. "Women," he says, "are directly adapted to act as the nurses and educators of our childhood, for the simple reason that they themselves are childish, foolish, and short-sighted—in a word are big children all their lives, something intermediate between the child and the man, who is a man in the strict sense of the word."—On Women: inDircks'sEssays of Schopenhauer, 65; or hisSämmtliche Werke, III, 649 ff.[809]Lourbet,La femme devant la science contemporaine, 157, 161. See especiallyBebel,Die Frau und der Sozialismus, 233 ff.[810]Spencer,Justice, 186. For an elaborate discussion of woman's mental capacity seeMill,Subjection of Women, 91-146.[811]For example, seeDr. Strahan, "The Struggle of the Sexes: its Effect upon the Race,"Humanitarian, III (Nov., 1893), 349-57; replying to an article entitled "Sex Bias" in the same journal for July of that year;Edson, "Women of Today,"North Am. Rev., CLVII, 440-51; who is criticised byIchenhaeuser,Die Ausnahmestellung Deutschlands in Sachen des Frauenstudiums, 8 ff.; an article entitled "'Woman's Rights' Question Considered from a Biological Point of View,"Quart. Jour. of Sci., XV, 469-84; which is effectually disposed of byWard, "Our Better Halves,"Forum, VI, 266-75. Ward is attacked byAllen, "Woman's Place in Nature,"Forum, VII, 258-63.Romanes, "Mental Differences of Men and Women," inPop. Sci. Monthly, XXXI, 383-401, takes a conservative or intermediate position. A liberal view is held byBrooks, "The Condition of Women Zoölogically,"ibid., XV, 145 ff., 347 ff.; and byWhite, "Woman's Place in Nature,"ibid., VI, 292-301.[812]Caird,Morality of Marriage, 13, 174, 175.[813]Quoted byCaird,op. cit., 14. For a trenchant discussion of this point compareMill,Subjection of Women, 38-52, 111 ff.,passim.[814]Ward,Dynamic Sociology, I, 662.[815]Dike, "Some Aspects of the Divorce Question,"Princeton Rev., March, 1884, 180. CompareAllen, "The New England Family,"New Englander, March, 1882, 146 ff.;Crepaz,Die Gefahren der Frauen-Emancipation, 24 ff.[816]Kuczynski, "Fecundity of the Native and Foreign Born Pop. of Mass.,"Quart. Jour. of Economics, XVI, 1-36;Crum, "The Birth-Rate in Mass.,"ibid., XI, 248-65;Dumont, "Essai sur le natalité en Mass.,"Jour. de la soc. stat. de Paris, XXXVIII (1897), 332-53, 385-95; XXXIX (1898), 64-99;Molinari, "Decline of the French Population,"Jour. of the Royal Stat. Soc., LIII, 183-97;Mayo-Smith,Statistics and Sociology, 67 ff.;Ussher,Neo-Malthusianism, 137-64;Edson, "Women of Today,"North Am. Rev., CLVII, 446 ff.[817]Sometime, it is to be hoped, society may seriously take in hand the problem of restraining the propagation of criminals, dependents, and the other unfit: seeWarner,American Charities, 132, 133.[818]Willcox, "A Study of Vital Statistics," inPol. Sci. Quart., VIII, 76, 77;Ogle, "On Marriage-Rates and Marriage-Ages,"Jour. of the Royal Stat. Soc., LIII, 272 ff.;Kuczynski, "Fecundity of the Native and Foreign Born Pop. in Mass.,"Quart. Jour. of Economics, XVI, 1-36;Mayo-Smith,Statistics and Sociology, 103 ff., 124;Crum, "The Marriage Rate in Mass.,"Pub. of Am. Stat. Assoc., IV, 331 ff.;Wallace, "Human Selection,"Fort. Rev., XLVIII, 335 ff.[819]Strahan,Marriage and Disease, 245 ff., giving statistics.Cf.Edson, "The Evils of Early Marriages,"North Am. Rev., CLVIII, 230-34;Ussher,Neo-Malthusianism, 213 ff.;Wallace, "Human Selection,"Fort. Rev., XLVIII, 333 ff.;Legouvé,Hist. morale des femmes, 74-84.[820]See especially the excellent paper ofMary Roberts Smith, "Statistics of College and Non-College Women,"Pub. of the Am. Stat. Assoc., VII, 1-26, whose conclusions support the view taken in the text; andSidgwick,Health Statistics of Women Students of Cambridge and Oxford and Their Sisters(Cambridge, 1890), who reaches similar general results.Cf.Thwing, "What Becomes of College Women?"North Am. Rev., CLXI, 546-53, taking a very favorable view of the influence of higher education on woman in her domestic relations; andShinn, "The Marriage Rate of College Women,"Century, L, 946-48. Consult also the articles ofF. M. Abbott,C. S. Angstman,G. E. Gardner, andF. Franklinmentioned in the Bibliographical Index, IV; and readClara E. Collet's"Prospects of Marriage for Women,"Nineteenth Century, XXXI, 537-52.[821]Muirhead, "Is the Family Declining?"Int. Jour. of Ethics, Oct., 1896, 47-50.[822]There are many reasons why all persons do not marry. Among these is a loftier ideal of love. "Persons often live single a whole life-time because they are unable to obtain the only one in the world for whom they can ever experience a throb of pure passion.... We see then that this more diffused and elevated form of love becomes at once the greatest incentive and the greatest barrier to marriage. It differs wholly from the localized passion in beingselective. While it is less selfish, it must be called out by, and exclusively directed toward, one definite object. From this circumstance it may be called theobjectiveform of love."—Ward,Dynamic Sociology, I, 626.[823]Mrs. Mill, "Enfranchisement of Women,"Westminster Review, July 1851; orDissertations and Discussions, III, 117, 118. "While far from being expedient, we are firmly convinced, that the division of mankind into castes, one born to rule over the other, is in this case, as in all cases, an unqualified mischief; a source of perversion and demoralization, both to the favored class and to those at whose expense they are favored; producing none of the good which it is the custom to ascribe to it, and forming a bar, almost insuperable while it lasts, to any really vital improvement, either in the character or in the social condition of the human race."—Ibid., 101.Cf.Mr. Mill'smasterly discussion of the relative effects of equality and inequality in marriage, inSubjection of Women, 53-90, 146 ff.[824]"Yet coeducation wisely managed is almost indispensable to the training of noble men and women; for education in its broadest sense takes account of all the influences that go to form character. It is not wholly intellectual, but is moral and social, and can best be carried forward, under a properrégime, where young men and women are educated and trained together."—Livermore,What Shall We Do with Our Daughters?44 ff.Cf.Kuhnow,Frauenbildung und Frauenberuf, 7 ff.; and especiallyWollstonecraft,Vindication of the Rights of Woman, 361 ff., 381-413.[825]Stetson,Women and Economics, 151. On the woman labor question see the very enlightening discussion ofOlive Schreiner, "The Woman's Movement of Our Day,"Harper's Bazar, XXXVI (1902), 3-8, 103-7, 222-27; and her "Woman Question,"Cosmopolitan, XXVIII (1899-1900), 45-54, 182-92, emphasizing the danger of woman's "sex-parasitism," through her economic dependence. CompareGünther,Das Recht der Frau auf Arbeit, 6 ff.[826]The hardships which women as well as men endure under the present industrial conditions have little connection with their economic emancipation. "What some call a woman's movement for industrial liberty is not quite what it is claimed to be. It is largely an incident in the movement of property, which is seeking its own ends, caring very little for either sex or age. In order to find an easier place under the common industrial yoke that rests upon the neck of every individual, women seek more and more employments. But it is not so much womanhood as it is property that is the real impelling cause."—Dike, "Problems of the Family,"Century, XXXIX, 392.Cf.Legouvé,Hist. morale des femmes, 366-90;Graffenried, "The Condition of Wage-Earning Women,"Forum, XV, 68 ff.;Edson, "American Life and Physical Deterioration,"North Am. Rev., CLVII, 440 ff., referring to the alleged evil effects of woman's new activities;Dilke, "Industrial Position of Women,"Fort. Rev., LIV, 499 ff., discussing the condition of factory workers;Phillipps, "The Working Lady in London,"ibid., LII, 193 ff.;Bremner, "The Financial Dependence of Women,"North Am. Rev., CLVIII, 382 ff., protesting against regarding the economic "dependence of the wife as degradation;" andCollet, "Official Statistics on the Employment of Women,"Jour. of the Stat. Soc., LXI, 216-60.Mrs. Mill, "Enfranchisement of Women,"Dissertation, III, 109 ff., effectually disposes of the objection based on the alleged effects of woman's industrial competition with men.Cf.the elaborate discussion ofBebel,Die Frau und der Sozialismus, 202 ff.[827]Mary Anne Radcliffe,The Female Advocate(London, 1799). A petition of women to Louis XVI. in 1789 prays "that men may not ply the trades belonging to women, whether dressmaking, embroidery, or haberdashery. Let them leave us, at least the needle and the spindle, and we will engage not to wield the compass or the square."—Ostrogorski,The Rights of Women, 26, 27; followingLefaure,Le socialisme pendant la révolution, 122.[828]By the Custody of Infants Act, 1886: see the discussion ofCaird,Morality of Marriage, 49, 55 ff.[829]Bishop,Marriage, Div., and Sep., II, 452 ff.[830]Pearson, "The Decline of the Family," in hisNational Life and Character, 240, 234, 235. In many of the American states the wife may bring action against the seducer of her husband:Bishop,Mar., Div., and Sep., I, 568.[831]This fact is seized upon in one of the most powerful books produced in recent sociological discussion. According to Mrs. Stetson "we are the only animal species in which the female depends on the male for food, the only animal species in which the sex-relation is also an economic relation. With us an entire sex lives in a relation of economic dependence upon the other sex." The wife may toil unceasingly; but the labor which she "performs in the household is given as a part of her functional duty, not as employment." She is therefore not her husband's "business partner;" for as an intended equivalent for what she gets she contributes neither labor nor capital nor experience nor even motherhood. She contributes her sex-attractions. Sex-distinctions are therefore excessively developed; and the "sexuo-economic relation" becomes inevitable. "By the economic dependence of the human female upon the male, the balance of forces is altered. Natural selection no longer checks the action of sexual selection, but coöperates with it;" for "man, in supporting woman, has become her economic environment." Under "sexual selection the human creature is of course modified to its mate, as with all creatures. When the mate becomes also the master, when economic necessity is added to sex-attraction, we have the two great evolutionary forces acting together to the same end; namely, to develop sex-distinction in the human female. For, in her position of economic dependence in the sexual relation, sex-distinction is with her not only a means of attracting a mate, as with all creatures, but a means of getting a livelihood, as is the case with no other creature under heaven. Because of the economic dependence of the human female on her mate she is modified to sex to an excessive degree. This excessive modification she transmits to her children; and so is steadily implanted in the human constitution the morbid tendency to excess in this relation, which has acted so universally upon us in all ages, in spite of our best efforts to restrain it." While in man the immediate dominating force of sexual passion may be more conspicuous, in woman it holds more universal sway. "For the man has other powers and faculties in full use, whereby to break loose from the force of this; and the woman, specially modified to sex and denied racial activity, pours her whole life into love." Useful to the race as was this evolution originally, its influence for good has long since reached its limit. Excessive sex-energy has threatened to "destroy both individual and race." Hence woman is declining longer to be confined to her highly specialized sexual function and is demanding an equal place in the social organization. She is gaining a social consciousness:Stetson,Women and Economics, 5, 12 ff., 37 ff., 48, 122-45.Cf.Schreiner, "The Woman Question,"Cosmopolitan, XXVIII, 183 ff., on "sex-parasitism."[832]Cf.Stetson,op. cit., 156 ff. "The woman's club movement is one of the most important sociological phenomena of the century—indeed, of all centuries—marking as it does the first timid steps toward social organization of these so long unsocialized members of our race;" for "social life is absolutely conditioned upon organization."—Ibid., 164. On woman's clubs seeCroly,Hist. of the Woman's Club Movement in America;Henrotin,Attitude of Women's Clubs Toward Social Economics;Livermore,North Am. Rev., CL, 115;Anstruther,Nineteenth Century, XLV, 598-611; and a symposium inArena, VI, 362-88. The financial dependence of the wife is discussed byCooke, "Real Rights of Women,"North Am. Rev., CXLIX, 353, 354; and byIves, "Domestic Purse Strings,"Forum, X, 106-14, showing the hardships and temptations of wives dependent upon the husband for current supplies of money.[833]According toCardinal Gibbonsthere are "two species of polygamy—simultaneous and successive": "Is Divorce Wrong?" inNorth Am. Rev., CXLIX, 520.[834]The epigram of Father Yorke, of San Francisco.[835]Wilhelm v. Humboldt,Sphere and Duties of Government: cited byMill,On Liberty, 185, 186.[836]For examples seeSewell, inWestminster Review, CXLV, 182 ff., suggesting a form of private contract; andBesant,Marriage, 19, 20, who asks: "Why should not we take a leaf out of the Quakers' book, and substitute for the present legal forms of marriage a simple declaration publicly made?... but as soon as the laws are moralized, and wives are regarded as self-possessing human beings, instead of as property, then the declaration may, with advantage, seek the sanction of the law." She mentions the well-known cases of Mary Wollstonecraft, her daughter and Shelley, Richard Carlile, and that of George Henry Lewes and George Eliot. Mrs. Caird would not go so far. The state, she concludes, hes no right to interfere in the marriage contract. "How can it withdraw its interference without causing social confusion? The answer seems plain. By a gradual widening of the limitations within which individuals might be allowed to draw up their private contracts, until, finally, moral standards had risen sufficiently high to enable the state to cease from interfering in private concerns altogether."—The Morality of Marriage, 126.Donisthorpe, "The Future of Marriage,"Fort. Rev., LI, 263, recommends a system of free private contract for one year, renewable at the pleasure of the parties. He is criticised byMalmsbury,ibid., 272-82.Cf.also "Marriage and Free Thought,"ibid., L, 275 ff.

[777]Bryce,Studies in Hist. and Jur., 830.

[778]SeeWright,Report, 1030, 1033 ff.

[779]"Wenn der andere Ehegatte durch schwere Verletzung der durch die Ehe begründeten Pflichten oder durch ehrloses oder unsittliches Verhalten eine so tiefe Zerrüttung des ehelichen Verhältnisses verschuldet hat, dass dem Ehegatten die Fortsetzung der Ehe nicht zugemuthet werden kann."—Reichsgesetzbuch, Tit. 7, § 1568. For discussion seeKohler,Das Eherecht des bürg, Gesetzbuchs, 42-46.But the statistics seem to show that the law is conservatively administered. The number of divorces is decreasing. "For the years 1891-95, inclusive, the annual average was 7,258. In 1896 there were 8,601; in 1897 there were 9,005; in 1898 there were 9,143; and in 1899 they had become 9,563. But under the new law in 1900 they dropped to 8,934, and in 1901 they were 8,037."—Dike,Report(1903), 8, 9, on the authority of the Chief of the Statistical Bureau of Berlin.The other grounds of divorce allowed by the imperial statute are adultery, attempt on the life of either spouse by the other, malicious desertion, and insanity (Geisteskrankheit) of three years' standing. Divorce for malicious desertion is decreed only after a preliminary suit for the re-establishment of marital relations and a year's delay to allow the deserter to return to conjugal duty:Reichsgesetzbuch, Tit. 7, § 1567.

But the statistics seem to show that the law is conservatively administered. The number of divorces is decreasing. "For the years 1891-95, inclusive, the annual average was 7,258. In 1896 there were 8,601; in 1897 there were 9,005; in 1898 there were 9,143; and in 1899 they had become 9,563. But under the new law in 1900 they dropped to 8,934, and in 1901 they were 8,037."—Dike,Report(1903), 8, 9, on the authority of the Chief of the Statistical Bureau of Berlin.

The other grounds of divorce allowed by the imperial statute are adultery, attempt on the life of either spouse by the other, malicious desertion, and insanity (Geisteskrankheit) of three years' standing. Divorce for malicious desertion is decreed only after a preliminary suit for the re-establishment of marital relations and a year's delay to allow the deserter to return to conjugal duty:Reichsgesetzbuch, Tit. 7, § 1567.

[780]The uniform divorce law for the Swiss cantons, which went into effect in 1876, has not tended to produce a uniform rate. In 1885, for instance, Appenzell, Outer Rhodes, "has forty-nine times as much divorce as Unterwalden o. d. W., while with all the divergences of law in this country the differences of rate are much less."—Willcox,The Divorce Problem, 59, giving a table of the decrees granted in the twenty-six cantons, 1876-85; compiled fromDie Bewegung der Bevölkerung in der Schweiz im Jahre 1885(Beilage I).

[781]Dike, "Uniform Marriage and Divorce Laws,"Arena, II, 399-408, gives a valuable discussion of the two methods of procedure. See alsoBennett, "National Divorce Legislation,"Forum, II, 429-38;Stewart, "Our Mar. and Div. Laws,"Pop. Sci. Monthly, XXIII, 232, 233; andJameson, "Divorce,"North Am. Rev., CXXXVI, 325, all favoring a constitutional amendment; alsoNorth, "Uniform Mar. and Div. Laws,"ibid., CXLIV, 429-31;Lloyd,Law of Divorce, 269 ff.;Johnson,Remarks upon Uniformity of State Legislation;Snyder,Problem of Uniform Legislation, 3 ff., favoring state action. In hisGeography of Marriage, 182 ff.,Snyderfavors concert of action among the states and a prohibitory amendment restricting or defining the maximum number of causes for divorce which a state might sanction. See also the articles byStanwood and Stantonmentioned in the Bibliographical Index, IV; and consult theReports of the Conferences of the State Boards of Commissioners for Promoting Uniformity of Legislation in the U. S.

[782]SeeReports of the Nat. League for the Protection of the Family(1900), 7; (1901), 8.

[783]Peabody, "The Teaching of Jesus Concerning the Family," in hisJesus Christ and the Social Question, 129 ff.;Dike, "Problems of the Family,"Century, XXXIX, 392, 393;idem,Some Aspects of the Divorce Question, 177 ff.;idem,Perils of the Family;Mulford,The Nation, 276-83;Bushnell, "The Organic Unity of the Family," in hisChristian Nurture, 90-122;Henderson,Social Elements, 71 ff.;Allen, "Divorces in New England,"North Am. Rev., CXXX, 559 ff.;Potter, "The Message of Christ to the Family," in hisMessage of Christ to Manhood;Salter,The Future of the Family;Mathews, "The Family,"Am. Journal of Sociology, I, 457-72;Pearson, "The Decline of the Family," in hisNational Life and Character, 227 ff.; and the reply ofMuirhead, "Is the Family Declining?"Int. Jour, of Ethics, Oct., 1896, 33 ff.;Ross,Social Control, 405, 433. The ablest appreciation of the value of individualism is that ofMill,On Liberty(2d ed.), 100 ff.

[784]Commons, "The Family," in his "Sociological View of Sovereignty," inAm. Jour. of Sociology, V, 683 ff., 688, 689. On the future of the family compareSpencer,Principles of Sociology, I, 737 ff., 788;Letourneau,L'évolution du mariage, 444 ff.;Pearson, "The Decline of the Family," in hisNational Life and Character, 255, 256;Muirhead, "Is the Family Declining?"Int. Jour. of Ethics, Oct., 1896, 53-55;Tillier,Le mariage, 283 ff., 316.

[785]Cf.Peabody,Jesus Christ and the Social Question, 162-79;Muirhead,Is the Family Declining?35.

[786]In the great centers of Germany, we are assured, the family of the blood-kindred has yielded to the family composed of kindred and strangers. For lack of space in the closely packed districts people are forced to live almost in common:Göhre,Drei Monate Fabrikarbeiter, 12 ff., 37 ff.Cf.Bebel,Die Frau und der Sozialismus, 123, 124; andRade,Die sittlich-religiöse Gedankenwelt unserer Industriearbeiter, 117 ff.;Stewart,Disintegration of the Families of the Workingmen;Henderson,Social Elements, 73.

[787]Peabody,op. cit., 140.

[788]SeeEngels,Der Ursprung der Familie, 4 ff.; and his follower,Bebel,Die Frau und der Sozialismus, 1 ff., 93 ff.

[789]Muirhead,Is the Family Declining?37.

[790]Carpenter,Love's Coming of Age; quoted fromMuirhead,op. cit., 37. The views of various socialists regarding woman and marriage are criticised byHertzberg,Der Beruf der Frau, 43-57.

[791]Morris and Bax,Socialism: Its Growth and Outcome, 299, 300.

[792]Gronlund,The Co-operative Commonwealth, 193-206.

[793]Owen,Marriages of the Priesthood of the Old Immoral World, 54: "I resume the subject of marriage because it is the source of more demoralization, crime, and misery, than any other single cause, with the exception of religion and private property; and these three together form the great trinity of causes of crime and immorality among mankind." For examples of the bitter denunciations which Owen's doctrines naturally provoked see the tract ofBrindley,The Marriage System of Socialism(Chester, 1840); and that ofBowes,The 'Social Beasts'(Liverpool, 1840).

[794]For examples seeMarriages of the Priesthood, 41, 43, 44, 81.

[795]Owen,op. cit., 81.

[796]Ibid., 86, 87, giving an extract from his six lectures delivered at Manchester in 1837.

[797]Owen's book was written in 1835, just before the passage of the new civil-marriage law; and the violence of its tone may in part have been provoked by the injustice and intolerance sanctioned by the Hardwicke act of 1753, at that time in force. In 1840 he declared, as regards theformof marriage, that the law of 1836 had "exactly" met his "ideas and wishes;" and that all which he then desired was "to see another law enacted, by whichDivorces, under wise arrangements, and on principles of common sense, may be obtained equally for rich and poor."—Op. cit., 90. He himself outlines marriage and divorce laws which possess some excellent features:ibid., 88-90.

[798]Robert Dale Owen, "Marriage and Placement,"Free Inquirer, May 28, 1831; and his letter to Thomas Whittemore, editor of the BostonTrumpet, May, 1831; both quoted byBesant,Marriage, 23, 24, 26, 27. TheFree Inquirerwas founded in New York city by Robert Dale Owen and Frances Wright in 1829:Johnson,Woman and the Republic, 121.

[799]Bebel,Die Frau und der Sozialismus, 93 ff., 175, 176, 427 ff., 431; or the same inWalther'stranslation, 43 ff., 229 ff. CompareKarl Pearson'sdiscussion of "Socialism and Sex" in hisEthic of Free Thought, 427-46; andCaird,Morality of Marriage, 123-27.

[800]A Philosophical, Historical, and Moral Essay on Old Maids, by a Friend of the Sisterhood(London, 1785). Some of the gleanings from history in the second and third volumes are not entirely devoid of permanent interest.

[801]Haywood,The Female Spectator(7th ed., London, 1771). This is a fairly representative compilation of gossip and literary anecdote regarding woman, but without a trace of sociological perception.For examples of the lighter productions referred to seeAn Essay on Marriage, in a cautionary Epistle to a Young Gentleman, wherein the Artifices and Foibles of the Fair, etc. (London, 1750);The Deportment of a Married Life: Laid down in a Series of Letters ... to a Young Lady ... lately Married(2d ed., London, 1798; 3d ed., 1821);Boone,The Marriage Looking-Glass: written as a Manual for the Married and a Beacon to the Single(London, 1848);Guthrie,Wedded Love(London, 1859), a volume of sentimental verse. Some of them have a pious or theological tone:The Advantages and Disadvantages of the Married State ... under the Similitude of a Dream(5th ed., London, 1760);Conjugal Love and Duty(4th ed., Dublin and London, 1758);Reflections on Celibacy and Marriage, in Four Letters to a Friend(London, 1771);Sandeman,The Honour of Marriage opposed to all Impurities(London, 1777);Bean,The Christian Minister's Affectionate Advice to a New Married Couple(4th ed., London, 1809). Others contain valuable passages, while vividly reflecting the contemporary view regarding woman's inferior position: "Philogamus,"The Present State of Matrimony(London, 1739);The Art of Governing a Wife; with Rules for Batchelors(London, 1747).

[801]Haywood,The Female Spectator(7th ed., London, 1771). This is a fairly representative compilation of gossip and literary anecdote regarding woman, but without a trace of sociological perception.

For examples of the lighter productions referred to seeAn Essay on Marriage, in a cautionary Epistle to a Young Gentleman, wherein the Artifices and Foibles of the Fair, etc. (London, 1750);The Deportment of a Married Life: Laid down in a Series of Letters ... to a Young Lady ... lately Married(2d ed., London, 1798; 3d ed., 1821);Boone,The Marriage Looking-Glass: written as a Manual for the Married and a Beacon to the Single(London, 1848);Guthrie,Wedded Love(London, 1859), a volume of sentimental verse. Some of them have a pious or theological tone:The Advantages and Disadvantages of the Married State ... under the Similitude of a Dream(5th ed., London, 1760);Conjugal Love and Duty(4th ed., Dublin and London, 1758);Reflections on Celibacy and Marriage, in Four Letters to a Friend(London, 1771);Sandeman,The Honour of Marriage opposed to all Impurities(London, 1777);Bean,The Christian Minister's Affectionate Advice to a New Married Couple(4th ed., London, 1809). Others contain valuable passages, while vividly reflecting the contemporary view regarding woman's inferior position: "Philogamus,"The Present State of Matrimony(London, 1739);The Art of Governing a Wife; with Rules for Batchelors(London, 1747).

[802]Astell,An Essay in Defense of the Female Sex(London, 1696; 3d ed., 1697).Cf.herSerious Proposal to the Ladies(London, 1694; 3d ed., 1697); and herReflections upon Marriage(London, 1700; 4th ed., 1730).

[803]Defoe,An Essay upon Projects(London, 1697).

[804]The Hardships of the English Laws in relation to Wives(London, 1735), 4 ff.

[805]"Sophia,"Woman not Inferior to Man; or, A short and modest Vindication of the natural Right of the Fair-Sex to a perfect Equality of Power, Dignity, and Esteem with the Men(London, 1739; 2d ed., 1740). This tract was answered by a "Gentleman,"Man Superior to Woman; or, a Vindication of Man's Natural Right of Sovereign Authority over the Woman(London, 1739), insisting that woman was not created at all, but is "a sort of after-produced being" who must not "presume to call in question the great duty of vassalage" to man, under penalty of the withdrawal of his heart from her power. To this "Sophia" rejoined inWoman's Superior Excellence over Man(London, 1740).

[806]A new edition of this book, with an introduction byMrs. Fawcett, appeared in London in 1890.Cf.Pennell, "A Century of Women's Rights,"Fort. Rev., XLVIII, 408 ff.;Rauschenbusch-Clough,A Study of Mary Wollstonecraft and the Rights of Woman;Ostrogorski,The Rights of Women, 40;Richter,Mary Wollstonecraft die Verfechterin der "Rechte der Frau."

[807]In GermanyDorothea Christine Erxleben, in herGründliche Untersuchung der Ursachen, die das weibliche Geschlecht vom Studium abhalten(Berlin, 1742);Vernünftige Gedanken vom Studiren des schönen Geschlechts(Frankfort and Leipzig, 1749); andHippel,Bürgerliche Verbesserung der Weiber(Berlin, 1792); followed by hisNachlass über weibliche Bildung(Berlin, 1801), were already beginning the agitation for woman's liberation. A remarkably clear and incisive essay in defense of woman, entitledDe l'égalité des deux sexes, appeared in Paris in 1673.Condorcet,Lettres d'un bourgeois de New Haven à un citoyen de Virginie(1787) compressed into a few sentences the basic arguments for the movement. In the same year appearedMary Wollstonecraft'sThoughts on the Education of Daughters, a forerunner of herVindicationfive years later. During the next fifty years a few earnest champions of woman's freedom came forward. First wasMary Anne Radcliffe,Female Advocate, or an attempt to recover the Rights of Women from Male Usurpation(London, 1799); followed byHannah Mather Crocker,Observations on the Real Rights of Women(Boston, 1818);William Thompson and Mrs. Wheeler,Appeal ... of Women(London, 1825), a book written in reply to a statement inJames Mill'sarticle onGovernment, and possibly influencing John Stuart Mill's later thoughts on the subject;Sarah M. Grimke,Letters on Equality of the Sexes(Boston, 1838);Lady Sydney Morgan,Woman and her Master(London, 1840);Mrs. Ellis,Woman's Rights and Duties(London, 1840). The movement took organic form in 1848, when the first convention was held at Seneca Falls, New York. This was followed in 1850 by conventions in Ohio and Massachusetts. In 1851Mrs. John Stuart Mill'spowerful article in the July number of theWestminster Reviewon the "Enfranchisement of Women" supplied the agitation with a definite program. SeeFawcett,The Woman Question in Europe, 273, note;Stanton, Anthony, and Gage,Hist. of Woman Suffrage, I, 70 ff.;Ostrogorski,Rights of Women, 54 ff.;Johnson,Woman and the Republic, 39 ff.;Wade,Women, Past and Present, 247.

[808]According toHartmann,The Sexes Compared, 3, 6 ff., there is between man and woman a fundamental and irremovable distinction: The woman rules sexually and therefore "we must, by way of compensation, uphold the legal superiority of man." In establishing sexual equality the progress of culture receives a severe blow. More wonderful is the teaching ofSchopenhauer. "Women," he says, "are directly adapted to act as the nurses and educators of our childhood, for the simple reason that they themselves are childish, foolish, and short-sighted—in a word are big children all their lives, something intermediate between the child and the man, who is a man in the strict sense of the word."—On Women: inDircks'sEssays of Schopenhauer, 65; or hisSämmtliche Werke, III, 649 ff.

[809]Lourbet,La femme devant la science contemporaine, 157, 161. See especiallyBebel,Die Frau und der Sozialismus, 233 ff.

[810]Spencer,Justice, 186. For an elaborate discussion of woman's mental capacity seeMill,Subjection of Women, 91-146.

[811]For example, seeDr. Strahan, "The Struggle of the Sexes: its Effect upon the Race,"Humanitarian, III (Nov., 1893), 349-57; replying to an article entitled "Sex Bias" in the same journal for July of that year;Edson, "Women of Today,"North Am. Rev., CLVII, 440-51; who is criticised byIchenhaeuser,Die Ausnahmestellung Deutschlands in Sachen des Frauenstudiums, 8 ff.; an article entitled "'Woman's Rights' Question Considered from a Biological Point of View,"Quart. Jour. of Sci., XV, 469-84; which is effectually disposed of byWard, "Our Better Halves,"Forum, VI, 266-75. Ward is attacked byAllen, "Woman's Place in Nature,"Forum, VII, 258-63.Romanes, "Mental Differences of Men and Women," inPop. Sci. Monthly, XXXI, 383-401, takes a conservative or intermediate position. A liberal view is held byBrooks, "The Condition of Women Zoölogically,"ibid., XV, 145 ff., 347 ff.; and byWhite, "Woman's Place in Nature,"ibid., VI, 292-301.

[812]Caird,Morality of Marriage, 13, 174, 175.

[813]Quoted byCaird,op. cit., 14. For a trenchant discussion of this point compareMill,Subjection of Women, 38-52, 111 ff.,passim.

[814]Ward,Dynamic Sociology, I, 662.

[815]Dike, "Some Aspects of the Divorce Question,"Princeton Rev., March, 1884, 180. CompareAllen, "The New England Family,"New Englander, March, 1882, 146 ff.;Crepaz,Die Gefahren der Frauen-Emancipation, 24 ff.

[816]Kuczynski, "Fecundity of the Native and Foreign Born Pop. of Mass.,"Quart. Jour. of Economics, XVI, 1-36;Crum, "The Birth-Rate in Mass.,"ibid., XI, 248-65;Dumont, "Essai sur le natalité en Mass.,"Jour. de la soc. stat. de Paris, XXXVIII (1897), 332-53, 385-95; XXXIX (1898), 64-99;Molinari, "Decline of the French Population,"Jour. of the Royal Stat. Soc., LIII, 183-97;Mayo-Smith,Statistics and Sociology, 67 ff.;Ussher,Neo-Malthusianism, 137-64;Edson, "Women of Today,"North Am. Rev., CLVII, 446 ff.

[817]Sometime, it is to be hoped, society may seriously take in hand the problem of restraining the propagation of criminals, dependents, and the other unfit: seeWarner,American Charities, 132, 133.

[818]Willcox, "A Study of Vital Statistics," inPol. Sci. Quart., VIII, 76, 77;Ogle, "On Marriage-Rates and Marriage-Ages,"Jour. of the Royal Stat. Soc., LIII, 272 ff.;Kuczynski, "Fecundity of the Native and Foreign Born Pop. in Mass.,"Quart. Jour. of Economics, XVI, 1-36;Mayo-Smith,Statistics and Sociology, 103 ff., 124;Crum, "The Marriage Rate in Mass.,"Pub. of Am. Stat. Assoc., IV, 331 ff.;Wallace, "Human Selection,"Fort. Rev., XLVIII, 335 ff.

[819]Strahan,Marriage and Disease, 245 ff., giving statistics.Cf.Edson, "The Evils of Early Marriages,"North Am. Rev., CLVIII, 230-34;Ussher,Neo-Malthusianism, 213 ff.;Wallace, "Human Selection,"Fort. Rev., XLVIII, 333 ff.;Legouvé,Hist. morale des femmes, 74-84.

[820]See especially the excellent paper ofMary Roberts Smith, "Statistics of College and Non-College Women,"Pub. of the Am. Stat. Assoc., VII, 1-26, whose conclusions support the view taken in the text; andSidgwick,Health Statistics of Women Students of Cambridge and Oxford and Their Sisters(Cambridge, 1890), who reaches similar general results.Cf.Thwing, "What Becomes of College Women?"North Am. Rev., CLXI, 546-53, taking a very favorable view of the influence of higher education on woman in her domestic relations; andShinn, "The Marriage Rate of College Women,"Century, L, 946-48. Consult also the articles ofF. M. Abbott,C. S. Angstman,G. E. Gardner, andF. Franklinmentioned in the Bibliographical Index, IV; and readClara E. Collet's"Prospects of Marriage for Women,"Nineteenth Century, XXXI, 537-52.

[821]Muirhead, "Is the Family Declining?"Int. Jour. of Ethics, Oct., 1896, 47-50.

[822]There are many reasons why all persons do not marry. Among these is a loftier ideal of love. "Persons often live single a whole life-time because they are unable to obtain the only one in the world for whom they can ever experience a throb of pure passion.... We see then that this more diffused and elevated form of love becomes at once the greatest incentive and the greatest barrier to marriage. It differs wholly from the localized passion in beingselective. While it is less selfish, it must be called out by, and exclusively directed toward, one definite object. From this circumstance it may be called theobjectiveform of love."—Ward,Dynamic Sociology, I, 626.

[823]Mrs. Mill, "Enfranchisement of Women,"Westminster Review, July 1851; orDissertations and Discussions, III, 117, 118. "While far from being expedient, we are firmly convinced, that the division of mankind into castes, one born to rule over the other, is in this case, as in all cases, an unqualified mischief; a source of perversion and demoralization, both to the favored class and to those at whose expense they are favored; producing none of the good which it is the custom to ascribe to it, and forming a bar, almost insuperable while it lasts, to any really vital improvement, either in the character or in the social condition of the human race."—Ibid., 101.Cf.Mr. Mill'smasterly discussion of the relative effects of equality and inequality in marriage, inSubjection of Women, 53-90, 146 ff.

[824]"Yet coeducation wisely managed is almost indispensable to the training of noble men and women; for education in its broadest sense takes account of all the influences that go to form character. It is not wholly intellectual, but is moral and social, and can best be carried forward, under a properrégime, where young men and women are educated and trained together."—Livermore,What Shall We Do with Our Daughters?44 ff.Cf.Kuhnow,Frauenbildung und Frauenberuf, 7 ff.; and especiallyWollstonecraft,Vindication of the Rights of Woman, 361 ff., 381-413.

[825]Stetson,Women and Economics, 151. On the woman labor question see the very enlightening discussion ofOlive Schreiner, "The Woman's Movement of Our Day,"Harper's Bazar, XXXVI (1902), 3-8, 103-7, 222-27; and her "Woman Question,"Cosmopolitan, XXVIII (1899-1900), 45-54, 182-92, emphasizing the danger of woman's "sex-parasitism," through her economic dependence. CompareGünther,Das Recht der Frau auf Arbeit, 6 ff.

[826]The hardships which women as well as men endure under the present industrial conditions have little connection with their economic emancipation. "What some call a woman's movement for industrial liberty is not quite what it is claimed to be. It is largely an incident in the movement of property, which is seeking its own ends, caring very little for either sex or age. In order to find an easier place under the common industrial yoke that rests upon the neck of every individual, women seek more and more employments. But it is not so much womanhood as it is property that is the real impelling cause."—Dike, "Problems of the Family,"Century, XXXIX, 392.Cf.Legouvé,Hist. morale des femmes, 366-90;Graffenried, "The Condition of Wage-Earning Women,"Forum, XV, 68 ff.;Edson, "American Life and Physical Deterioration,"North Am. Rev., CLVII, 440 ff., referring to the alleged evil effects of woman's new activities;Dilke, "Industrial Position of Women,"Fort. Rev., LIV, 499 ff., discussing the condition of factory workers;Phillipps, "The Working Lady in London,"ibid., LII, 193 ff.;Bremner, "The Financial Dependence of Women,"North Am. Rev., CLVIII, 382 ff., protesting against regarding the economic "dependence of the wife as degradation;" andCollet, "Official Statistics on the Employment of Women,"Jour. of the Stat. Soc., LXI, 216-60.Mrs. Mill, "Enfranchisement of Women,"Dissertation, III, 109 ff., effectually disposes of the objection based on the alleged effects of woman's industrial competition with men.Cf.the elaborate discussion ofBebel,Die Frau und der Sozialismus, 202 ff.

[827]Mary Anne Radcliffe,The Female Advocate(London, 1799). A petition of women to Louis XVI. in 1789 prays "that men may not ply the trades belonging to women, whether dressmaking, embroidery, or haberdashery. Let them leave us, at least the needle and the spindle, and we will engage not to wield the compass or the square."—Ostrogorski,The Rights of Women, 26, 27; followingLefaure,Le socialisme pendant la révolution, 122.

[828]By the Custody of Infants Act, 1886: see the discussion ofCaird,Morality of Marriage, 49, 55 ff.

[829]Bishop,Marriage, Div., and Sep., II, 452 ff.

[830]Pearson, "The Decline of the Family," in hisNational Life and Character, 240, 234, 235. In many of the American states the wife may bring action against the seducer of her husband:Bishop,Mar., Div., and Sep., I, 568.

[831]This fact is seized upon in one of the most powerful books produced in recent sociological discussion. According to Mrs. Stetson "we are the only animal species in which the female depends on the male for food, the only animal species in which the sex-relation is also an economic relation. With us an entire sex lives in a relation of economic dependence upon the other sex." The wife may toil unceasingly; but the labor which she "performs in the household is given as a part of her functional duty, not as employment." She is therefore not her husband's "business partner;" for as an intended equivalent for what she gets she contributes neither labor nor capital nor experience nor even motherhood. She contributes her sex-attractions. Sex-distinctions are therefore excessively developed; and the "sexuo-economic relation" becomes inevitable. "By the economic dependence of the human female upon the male, the balance of forces is altered. Natural selection no longer checks the action of sexual selection, but coöperates with it;" for "man, in supporting woman, has become her economic environment." Under "sexual selection the human creature is of course modified to its mate, as with all creatures. When the mate becomes also the master, when economic necessity is added to sex-attraction, we have the two great evolutionary forces acting together to the same end; namely, to develop sex-distinction in the human female. For, in her position of economic dependence in the sexual relation, sex-distinction is with her not only a means of attracting a mate, as with all creatures, but a means of getting a livelihood, as is the case with no other creature under heaven. Because of the economic dependence of the human female on her mate she is modified to sex to an excessive degree. This excessive modification she transmits to her children; and so is steadily implanted in the human constitution the morbid tendency to excess in this relation, which has acted so universally upon us in all ages, in spite of our best efforts to restrain it." While in man the immediate dominating force of sexual passion may be more conspicuous, in woman it holds more universal sway. "For the man has other powers and faculties in full use, whereby to break loose from the force of this; and the woman, specially modified to sex and denied racial activity, pours her whole life into love." Useful to the race as was this evolution originally, its influence for good has long since reached its limit. Excessive sex-energy has threatened to "destroy both individual and race." Hence woman is declining longer to be confined to her highly specialized sexual function and is demanding an equal place in the social organization. She is gaining a social consciousness:Stetson,Women and Economics, 5, 12 ff., 37 ff., 48, 122-45.Cf.Schreiner, "The Woman Question,"Cosmopolitan, XXVIII, 183 ff., on "sex-parasitism."

[832]Cf.Stetson,op. cit., 156 ff. "The woman's club movement is one of the most important sociological phenomena of the century—indeed, of all centuries—marking as it does the first timid steps toward social organization of these so long unsocialized members of our race;" for "social life is absolutely conditioned upon organization."—Ibid., 164. On woman's clubs seeCroly,Hist. of the Woman's Club Movement in America;Henrotin,Attitude of Women's Clubs Toward Social Economics;Livermore,North Am. Rev., CL, 115;Anstruther,Nineteenth Century, XLV, 598-611; and a symposium inArena, VI, 362-88. The financial dependence of the wife is discussed byCooke, "Real Rights of Women,"North Am. Rev., CXLIX, 353, 354; and byIves, "Domestic Purse Strings,"Forum, X, 106-14, showing the hardships and temptations of wives dependent upon the husband for current supplies of money.

[833]According toCardinal Gibbonsthere are "two species of polygamy—simultaneous and successive": "Is Divorce Wrong?" inNorth Am. Rev., CXLIX, 520.

[834]The epigram of Father Yorke, of San Francisco.

[835]Wilhelm v. Humboldt,Sphere and Duties of Government: cited byMill,On Liberty, 185, 186.

[836]For examples seeSewell, inWestminster Review, CXLV, 182 ff., suggesting a form of private contract; andBesant,Marriage, 19, 20, who asks: "Why should not we take a leaf out of the Quakers' book, and substitute for the present legal forms of marriage a simple declaration publicly made?... but as soon as the laws are moralized, and wives are regarded as self-possessing human beings, instead of as property, then the declaration may, with advantage, seek the sanction of the law." She mentions the well-known cases of Mary Wollstonecraft, her daughter and Shelley, Richard Carlile, and that of George Henry Lewes and George Eliot. Mrs. Caird would not go so far. The state, she concludes, hes no right to interfere in the marriage contract. "How can it withdraw its interference without causing social confusion? The answer seems plain. By a gradual widening of the limitations within which individuals might be allowed to draw up their private contracts, until, finally, moral standards had risen sufficiently high to enable the state to cease from interfering in private concerns altogether."—The Morality of Marriage, 126.Donisthorpe, "The Future of Marriage,"Fort. Rev., LI, 263, recommends a system of free private contract for one year, renewable at the pleasure of the parties. He is criticised byMalmsbury,ibid., 272-82.Cf.also "Marriage and Free Thought,"ibid., L, 275 ff.

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