{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_47244/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_47244","id":"gutenberg_47244","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/47244","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Gender & Sexuality Studies","Category: History - Modern (1750+)","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Politics","Category: Sociology","Socialism","Women -- Social and moral questions","Women and socialism"],"text":"[Transcriber\u2019s Notes:\n\nThis e-text is a translation of August Bebel\u2019s \u201cDie Frau und der\nSozialismus\u201d.\n\nTable column headings that have been supplied by the transcriber\nare enclosed in [square brackets].\n\nBold text is denoted by ~tilde~, italic text by _underscores_, and\ngesperrt (spaced-out text) by #pound signs#.]\n\n\n\n\n\n\n WOMAN AND SOCIALISM\n\n BY\n\n AUGUST BEBEL\n\n\n Jubilee [Decor: 50th] Edition\n\n\n AUTHORIZED TRANSLATION BY\n META L. STERN (HEBE)\n\n\n SOCIALIST LITERATURE CO.\n 15 Spruce Street, New York\n 1910\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Copyright, 1910\n by the\n SOCIALIST LITERATURE COMPANY\n New York\n\n\n\n\n [Printer\u2019s Logo]\n The Co-Operative Press, 15 Spruce St., New York\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n Page\n\n Introduction 3\n\n WOMAN IN THE PAST.\n\n Chapter I.--_The Position of Woman in Primeval Society_ 9\n 1. Chief Epochs of Primeval History 9\n 2. Family Forms 14\n 3. The Matriarchate 20\n\n Chapter II.--_Conflict between Matriarchate and\n Patriarchate_ 28\n 1. Rise of the Patriarchate 28\n 2. Traces of the Matriarchate in Greek Myths and\n Dramas 34\n 3. Legitimate Wives and Courtesans in Athens 37\n 4. Remnants of the Matriarchate in the Customs of\n Various Nations 44\n 5. Rise of the State--Dissolution of the Gens in Rome 50\n\n Chapter III.--_Christianity_ 56\n\n Chapter IV.--_Woman in the Mediaeval Age_ 63\n 1. The Position of Women among the Germans 63\n 2. Feudalism and the Right of the First Night 66\n 3. The Rise of Cities--Monastic Affairs--Prostitution 69\n 4. Knighthood and the Veneration of Women 75\n\n Chapter V.--_The Reformation_ 78\n 1. Luther 78\n 2. Results of the Reformation--The Thirty Years\u2019 War 83\n\n Chapter VI.--_The Eighteenth Century_ 88\n 1. Court Life in Germany 88\n 2. Commercialism and the New Marriage Laws 90\n 3. The French Revolution and the Rise of Industry 93\n\n WOMAN AT THE PRESENT DAY.\n\n Chapter VII.--_Woman as a Sex Being_ 96\n 1. The Sexual Impulse 96\n 2. Celibacy and the Frequency of Suicide 100\n\n Chapter VIII.--_Modern Marriage_ 104\n 1. Marriage as a Profession 104\n 2. Decline of the Birthrate 106\n 3. Mercenary Marriage and the Matrimonial Market 110\n\n Chapter IX.--_Disruption of the Family_ 116\n 1. Increase of Divorce 116\n 2. Bourgeois and Proletarian Marriage 124\n\n Chapter X.--_Marriage as a Means of Support_ 132\n 1. Decline of the Marriage Rate 132\n 2. Infanticide and Abortion 135\n 3. Education for Marriage 140\n 4. The Misery of Present Day Marriages 147\n\n Chapter XI.--_The Chances of Matrimony_ 153\n 1. The Numerical Proportion of the Sexes 153\n 2. Obstacles to Marriage--The Excess of Women 164\n\n Chapter XII.--_Prostitution a Necessary Social Institution\n of Bourgeois Society_ 174\n 1. Prostitution and Society 174\n 2. Prostitution and the State 178\n 3. The White Slave Trade 188\n 4. The Increase of Prostitution--Illegitimate\n Motherhood 193\n 5. Crimes Against Morality and Sexual Diseases 204\n\n Chapter XIII.--_Woman in Industry_ 209\n 1. Development and Extension of Female Labor 209\n 2. Factory Work of Married Women--Sweatshop Labor and\n Dangerous Occupations 222\n\n Chapter XIV.--_The Struggle of Women for Education_ 233\n 1. The Revolution in Domestic Life 233\n 2. The Intellectual Abilities of Women 239\n 3. Differences in Physical and Mental Qualities of Man\n and Woman 245\n 4. Darwinism and the Condition of Society 253\n 5. Woman and the Learned Professions 258\n\n Chapter XV.--_The Legal Status of Women_ 272\n 1. The Struggle for Equality Before the Law 272\n 2. The Struggle for Political Equality 280\n\n THE STATE AND SOCIETY.\n\n Chapter XVI.--_The Class-State and the Modern Proletariat_ 307\n 1. Our Public Life 307\n 2. Aggravation of Social Extremes 315\n\n Chapter XVII.--_The Process of Concentration in\n Capitalistic Industry_ 319\n 1. The Displacement of Agriculture by Industry 319\n 2. Increasing Pauperization--Preponderance of Large\n Industrial Establishments 323\n 3. Concentration of Wealth 333\n\n Chapter XVIII.--_Crisis and Competition_ 338\n 1. Causes and Effects of the Crises 338\n 2. Intermediate Trade and the Increased Cost of Living 343\n\n Chapter XIX.--_The Revolution in Agriculture_ 347\n 1. Transatlantic Competition and Desertion of the\n Country 347\n 2. Peasants and Great Landowners 349\n 3. The Contrast Between City and Country 358\n\n THE SOCIALIZATION OF SOCIETY.\n\n Chapter XX.--_The Social Revolution_ 363\n 1. The Transformation of Society 363\n 2. Expropriation of the Expropriators 366\n\n Chapter XXI.--_Fundamental Laws of Socialistic Society_ 370\n 1. Duty to Work of All Able-bodied Persons 370\n 2. Harmony of Interests 375\n 3. Organization of Labor 380\n 4. The Growth of the Productivity of Labor 383\n 5. Removal of the Contrast between Mental and Manual\n Work 392\n 6. Increase of Consumption 396\n 7. Equal Duty to Work for All 399\n 8. Abolition of Trade--Transformation of Traffic 405\n\n Chapter XXII.--_Socialism and Agriculture_ 407\n 1. Abolition of the Private Ownership of Land 407\n 2. The Amelioration of Land 409\n 3. Changed Methods of Farming 414\n 4. Agriculture on a Large and Small Scale--Electric\n Appliances 415\n 5. Vine-Culture of the Future 424\n 6. Measures to Prevent Exhaustion of the Soil 427\n 7. Removal of the Contrast between City and Country 431\n\n Chapter XXIII.--_Abolition of the State_ 434\n\n Chapter XXIV.--_The Future of Religion_ 437\n\n Chapter XXV.--_The Socialist System of Education_ 440\n\n Chapter XXVI.--_Literature and Art in Socialistic Society_ 451\n\n Chapter XXVII.--_Free Development of Individuality_ 455\n 1. Freedom from Care 455\n 2. Changes in the Methods of Nutrition 457\n 3. The Communistic Kitchen 461\n 4. Transformation of Domestic Life 463\n\n Chapter XXVIII.--_Woman in the Future_ 466\n\n Chapter XXIX.--_Internationality_ 473\n\n Chapter XXX.--_The Question of Population and Socialism_ 478\n 1. Fear of Over-Population 478\n 2. Production of Over-Population 481\n 3. Poverty and Fecundity 484\n 4. Lack of Human Beings and Abundance of Food 487\n 5. Social Conditions and Reproductive Ability 494\n\n Conclusion 500\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIntroduction.\n\n\nWe are living in an age of great social transformations that are\nsteadily progressing. In all strata of society we perceive an\nunsettled state of mind and an increasing restlessness, denoting a\nmarked tendency toward profound and radical changes. Many questions\nhave arisen and are being discussed with growing interest in ever\nwidening circles. One of the most important of these questions and\none that is constantly coming into greater prominence, is the _woman\nquestion_.\n\nThe woman question deals with the position that woman should hold in\nour social organism, and seeks to determine how she can best develop\nher powers and her abilities, in order to become a useful member\nof human society, endowed with equal rights and serving society\naccording to her best capacity. From our point of view this question\ncoincides with that other question: In what manner should society\nbe organized to abolish oppression, exploitation, misery and need,\nand to bring about the physical and mental welfare of individuals\nand of society as a whole? To us then, the woman question is only\none phase of the general social question that at present occupies\nall intelligent minds; its final solution can only be attained by\nremoving social extremes and the evils which are a result of such\nextremes.\n\nNevertheless, the woman question demands our special consideration.\nWhat the position of woman has been in ancient society, what her\nposition is to-day and what it will be in the coming social order,\nare questions that deeply concern at least one half of humanity.\nIndeed, in Europe they concern a majority of organized society,\nbecause women constitute a majority of the population. Moreover,\nthe prevailing conceptions concerning the development of woman\u2019s\nsocial position during successive stages of history are so faulty,\nthat enlightenment on this subject has become a necessity. Ignorance\nconcerning the position of woman, chiefly accounts for the prejudice\nthat the woman\u2019s movement has to contend with among all classes of\npeople, by no means least among the women themselves. Many even\nventure to assert that there is no woman question at all, since\nwoman\u2019s position has always been the same and will remain the same\nin the future, because nature has destined her to be a wife and a\nmother and to confine her activities to the home. Everything that is\nbeyond the four narrow walls of her home and is not closely connected\nwith her domestic duties, is not supposed to concern her.\n\nIn the woman question then we find two contending parties, just as in\nthe labor question, which relates to the position of the workingman\nin human society. Those who wish to maintain everything as it is,\nare quick to relegate woman to her so-called \u201cnatural profession,\u201d\nbelieving that they have thereby settled the whole matter. They do\nnot recognize that millions of women are not placed in a position\nenabling them to fulfill their natural function of wifehood and\nmotherhood, owing to reasons that we shall discuss at length later\non. They furthermore do not recognize that to millions of other women\ntheir \u201cnatural profession\u201d is a failure, because to them marriage has\nbecome a yoke and a condition of slavery, and they are obliged to\ndrag on their lives in misery and despair. But these wiseacres are no\nmore concerned by these facts than by the fact that in various trades\nand professions millions of women are exploited far beyond their\nstrength, and must slave away their lives for a meagre subsistence.\nThey remain deaf and blind to these disagreeable truths, as they remain\ndeaf and blind to the misery of the proletariat, consoling themselves\nand others by the false assertion that it has always been thus and\nwill always continue to be so. That woman is entitled, as well as\nman, to enjoy all the achievements of civilization, to lighten her\nburdens, to improve her condition, and to develop all her physical\nand mental qualities, they refuse to admit. When, furthermore, told\nthat woman--to enjoy full physical and mental freedom--should also\nbe economically independent, should no longer depend for subsistence\nupon the good will and favor of the other sex, the limit of their\npatience will be reached. Indignantly they will pour forth a bitter\nendictment of the \u201cmadness of the age\u201d and its \u201ccrazy attempts at\nemancipation.\u201d These are the old ladies of both sexes who cannot\novercome the narrow circle of their prejudices. They are the human\nowls that dwell wherever darkness prevails, and cry out in terror\nwhenever a ray of light is cast into their agreeable gloom.\n\nOthers do not remain quite as blind to the eloquent facts. They\nconfess that at no time woman\u2019s position has been so unsatisfactory\nin comparison to general social progress, as it is at present. They\nrecognize that it is necessary to investigate how the condition of\nthe self-supporting woman can be improved; but in the case of married\nwomen they believe the social problem to be solved. They favor the\nadmission of unmarried women only into a limited number of trades\nand professions. Others again are more advanced and insist that\ncompetition between the sexes should not be limited to the inferior\ntrades and professions, but should be extended to all higher branches\nof learning and the arts and sciences as well. They demand equal\neducational opportunities and that women should be admitted to all\ninstitutions of learning, including the universities. They also\nfavor the appointment of women to government positions, pointing out\nthe results already achieved by women in such positions, especially\nin the United States. A few are even coming forward to demand equal\npolitical rights for women. Woman, they argue, is a human being and\na member of organized society as well as man, and the very fact that\nmen have until now framed and administered the laws to suit their\nown purposes and to hold woman in subjugation, proves the necessity\nof woman\u2019s participation in public affairs.\n\nIt is noteworthy that all these various endeavors do not go beyond\nthe scope of the present social order. The question is not propounded\nwhether any of these proposed reforms will accomplish a decisive and\nessential improvement in the condition of women. According to the\nconceptions of bourgeois, or capitalistic society, the civic equality\nof men and women is deemed an ultimate solution of the woman question.\nPeople are either unconscious of the fact, or deceive themselves in\nregard to it, that the admission of women to trades and industries\nis already practically accomplished and is being strongly favored\nby the ruling classes in their own interest. But under prevailing\nconditions woman\u2019s invasion of industry has the detrimental effect\nof increasing competition on the labor market, and the result is a\nreduction in wages for both male and female workers. It is clear\nthen, that this cannot be a satisfactory solution.\n\nMen who favor these endeavors of women within the scope of present\nsociety, as well as the bourgeois women who are active in the\nmovement, consider complete civic equality of women the ultimate\ngoal. These men and women then differ radically from those who, in\ntheir narrow-mindedness, oppose the movement. They differ radically\nfrom those men who are actuated by petty motives of selfishness\nand fear of competition, and therefore try to prevent women from\nobtaining higher education and from gaining admission to the better\npaid professions. But there is no difference of class between them,\nsuch as exists between the worker and the capitalist.\n\nIf the bourgeois suffragists would achieve their aim and would bring\nabout equal rights for men and women, they would still fail to\nabolish that sex slavery which marriage, in its present form, is to\ncountless numbers of women; they would fail to abolish prostitution;\nthey would fail to abolish the economic dependence of wives. To the\ngreat majority of women it also remains a matter of indifference\nwhether a few thousand members of their sex, belonging to the more\nfavored classes of society, obtain higher learning and enter some\nlearned profession, or hold a public office. The general condition\nof the sex as a whole is not altered thereby.\n\nThe female sex as such has a double yoke to bear. Firstly, women\nsuffer as a result of their social dependence upon men, and the\ninferior position alloted to them in society; formal equality before\nthe law alleviates this condition, but does not remedy it. Secondly,\nwomen suffer as a result of their economic dependence, which is the\nlot of women in general, and especially of the proletarian women,\nas it is of the proletarian men.\n\nWe see, then, that all women, regardless of their social position,\nrepresent that sex which during the evolution of society has been\noppressed and wronged by the other sex, and therefore it is to the\ncommon interest of all women to remove their disabilities by changing\nthe laws and institutions of the present state and social order.\nBut a great majority of women is furthermore deeply and personally\nconcerned in a complete reorganization of the present state and social\norder which has for its purpose the abolition of wage-slavery, which\nat present weighs most heavily upon the women of the proletariat, as\nalso the abolition of sex-slavery, which is closely connected with\nour industrial conditions and our system of private ownership.\n\nThe women who are active in the bourgeois suffrage movement, do not\nrecognize the necessity of so complete a transformation. Influenced\nby their privileged social position, they consider the more radical\naims of the proletarian woman\u2019s movement dangerous doctrines that\nmust be opposed. The class antagonism that exists between the\ncapitalist and working class and that is increasing with the growth\nof industrial problems, also clearly manifests itself then within the\nwoman\u2019s movement. Still these sister-women, though antagonistic to\neach other on class lines, have a great many more points in common\nthan the men engaged in the class struggle, and though they march\nin separate armies they may strike a united blow. This is true in\nregard to all endeavors pertaining to equal rights of woman under\nthe present social order; that is, her right to enter any trade\nor profession adapted to her strength and ability, and her right\nto civic and political equality. These are, as we shall see, very\nimportant and very far-reaching aims. Besides striving for these\naims, it is in the particular interest of proletarian women to work\nhand in hand with proletarian men for such measures and institutions\nthat tend to protect the working woman from physical and mental\ndegeneration, and to preserve her health and strength for a normal\nfulfillment of her maternal functions. Furthermore, it is the duty of\nthe proletarian woman to join the men of her class in the struggle\nfor a thorough-going transformation of society, to bring about an\norder that by its social institutions will enable both sexes to\nenjoy complete economic and intellectual independence.\n\nOur goal then is, not only to achieve equality of men and women under\nthe present social order, which constitutes the sole aim of the\nbourgeois woman\u2019s movement, but to go far beyond this, and to remove\nall barriers that make one human being dependent upon another, which\nincludes the dependence of one sex upon the other. _This_ solution\nof the woman question is identical with the solution of the social\nquestion. They who seek a complete solution of the woman question\nmust, therefore, join hands with those who have inscribed upon their\nbanner the solution of the social question in the interest of all\nmankind--the Socialists.\n\nThe Socialist Party is the only one that has made the full equality of\nwomen, their liberation from every form of dependence and oppression,\nan integral part of its program; not for reasons of propaganda, but\nfrom necessity. _For there can be no liberation of mankind without\nsocial independence and equality of the sexes._\n\nAll Socialists will probably agree with the fundamental principles\nherein expressed. But the same cannot be said in regard to the\nmanner in which we picture the realization of our ultimate aims,\nthat is, in regard to the particular form that institutions should\ntake to bring about that desired independence and equality for all.\nAs soon as we forsake the firm foundation of reality, and begin\nto depict the future, there is a wide field for speculation. A\ndifference of opinion immediately arises as to what is probable or\nimprobable. Whatever, therefore, is stated in this book concerning\nfuture probabilities, must be regarded as the personal opinion\nof the author, and eventual attacks must be directed against his\nperson, because he assumes full responsibility for his statements.\nAttacks, that are honestly meant and are objective in character,\nwill be welcome; those that distort the contents of this book or are\nfounded upon an untruthful interpretation of their meaning, will be\nignored. It remains to be said, that in the following chapters all\nconclusions should be drawn which become necessary for us to draw,\nas a result of our investigation of facts. To be unprejudiced is\nthe first requirement for a recognition of the truth, and only by\nexpressing without reserve that which is and that which is to be,\ncan we attain our ends.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWoman in the Past.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nThe Position of Woman in Primeval Society.\n\n\n1.--Chief Epochs of Primeval History.\n\nIt is the common lot of woman and worker to be oppressed. The forms\nof oppression have differed in successive ages and in various\ncountries, but the oppression itself remained. During the course of\nhistoric development the oppressed ones have frequently recognized\ntheir oppression, and this recognition has led to an amelioration\nof their condition; but it remained for our day to recognize the\nfundamental causes of this oppression, both in regard to the woman\nand in regard to the worker. It was necessary to understand the true\nnature of society and the laws governing social evolution, before\nan effective movement could develop for the purpose of abolishing\nconditions that had come to be regarded as unjust. But the extent\nand profoundness of such a movement depend upon the amount of\ninsight prevailing among those strata of society affected by the\nunjust conditions, as also upon the freedom of action possessed by\nthem. In both respects woman, owing to custom, education and lack of\nfreedom, is less advanced than the worker. Moreover, conditions that\nhave prevailed for generations finally become a habit, and heredity\nas well as education make them appear \u201cnatural\u201d to both parties\nconcerned. That explains why women accept their inferior position\nas a matter of course, and do not recognize that it is an unworthy\none, and that they should strive to obtain equal rights with men,\nand to become equally qualified members of society.\n\nBut whatever similarities exist between the position of woman and\nthat of the workingman, woman has one precedence over the workingman.\n~She is the first human being which came into servitude.~ Women\nwere slaves before men.\n\nAll social dependence and oppression is rooted in the economic\ndependence of the oppressed upon the oppressor. Woman--so we are\ntaught by the history of human development--has been in this position\nsince an early stage.\n\nOur understanding of this development is comparatively recent. Just\nas the myth of the creation of the world, as taught by the Bible,\ncould not be maintained in face of innumerable and indisputable\nfacts founded upon modern, scientific investigation, it also became\nimpossible to maintain the myth of the creation and development of\nman. Not all phases of the history of evolution have as yet been\nelucidated. Difference of opinion still exists among scientists in\nregard to one or another of the natural phenomena and their relation to\neach other; but, on the whole, clearness and a general consension of\nopinion prevails. It is certain that man has not made his appearance\nupon the earth as a civilized being--as the Bible asserts of the\nfirst human pair--but that in the long course of ages he gradually\nevolved from a mere animal condition, and that he passed through\nvarious stages during which his social relations as well as the\nrelations between man and woman experienced many transformations.\n\nThe convenient assertion that is resorted to daily by ignorant or\ndishonest people, both in regard to the relation between man and\nwoman as also in regard to the relation between the rich and the\npoor--the assertion that it has always been thus and will always\ncontinue to be so--is utterly false, superficial and contrary to\nthe truth in every respect.\n\nA cursory description of the relations of the sexes since primeval\ndays is of special importance for the purpose of this book. For it\nseeks to prove that, if in the past progress of human development,\nthese relations have been transformed as a result of the changing\nmethods of production and distribution, it is obvious that a further\nchange in the methods of production and distribution must again\nlead to a new transformation in the relation of the sexes. Nothing\nis eternal, either in nature or in human life; change is the only\neternal factor.\n\nAs far as we can look backward along the line of human evolution,\nwe see the horde[1] representing the first human community. Only\nwhen the horde increased in numbers to such an extent that it became\ndifficult to obtain the necessary means of subsistence, which\noriginally consisted of roots, seeds and fruit, a disbanding of the\nmembers resulted, and new dwelling places were sought for.\n\nWe have no written records of this almost animal-like stage, but\nstudies of the various stages of civilization among extinct and\nliving savages prove that such a stage has at one time existed. Man\nhas not stepped into life as a highly civilized being, upon a command\nfrom the Creator, but has passed through a long, infinitely slow\nprocess of evolution, and in the ups and downs of wavering periods\nof development, and in a constant process of differentiation, in all\nclimes and in all quarters of the globe, has passed through many\nstages until finally climbing the height of his present civilization.\n\nAnd while in some parts of the globe great nations represent the most\nadvanced stage of civilization, we find other peoples in various\nplaces representing varied stages of development. These present to us\na vivid picture of our own past, and point out to us along which roads\nhumanity has traveled in its long course of evolution. If we shall\nat some time succeed in establishing general and definite aspects\naccording to which sociological investigations shall be conducted,\nan abundance of facts will result, destined to cast a new light upon\nthe relations of men in the past and the present. Events will then\nseem comprehensible and natural, that at present are quite beyond\nour comprehension, and that superficial critics frequently condemn\nas irrational, sometimes even as immoral. Scientific researches,\ncommenced by Backofen, and since continued by a considerable number\nof learned men as Taylor, MacLennon, Lubbock and others, have\ngradually lifted the veil from the earliest history of our race.\nThese investigations were elaborated by Morgan\u2019s able book, and to\nthis again Frederick Engels has added a number of historic facts,\neconomic and political in character. Recently these researches have\nbeen partly confirmed and partly corrected by Cunow.[2]\n\nThe clear and vivid descriptions given by Frederick Engels in his\nsplendid work, that is founded upon Morgan\u2019s investigations, have\ncast a flood of light upon many factors in the histories of peoples\nrepresenting various stages of development; factors that until that\ntime had seemed irrational and incomprehensible. They have enabled\nus to obtain an insight into the gradual upbuilding of the social\nstructure. As a result of such insight we perceive that our former\nconceptions in regard to marriage, family and state, have been\nfounded upon utterly false premises. But whatever has been proven\nconcerning marriage, family and state, is equally true in regard\nto the position of woman, which, in the various stages of social\ndevelopment, has differed radically from what is supposed to be\nwoman\u2019s \u201ceternal\u201d position.\n\nMorgan divides the history of mankind--and this division is also\nadopted by Engels--into three chief epochs: savagery, barbarism and\ncivilization. Each of the two earlier periods he subdivides into a\nlower, a medium and a higher stage, because these stages differ in\nregard to fundamental improvements in the method of obtaining the\nmeans of subsistence. Those changes which occur from time to time\nin the social systems of nations as a result of improved methods of\nproduction, Morgan considers one of the chief characteristics in\nthe progress of civilization, which is quite in keeping with the\nmaterialistic conception of history as laid down by Karl Marx and\nFrederick Engels. Thus the lowest stage in the period of savagery\nrepresents the childhood of mankind. During this stage men still\nwere tree-dwellers, and fruit and roots constituted their chief\nnourishment; but even then articulated language began to take form.\nThe medium stage of savagery begins with the consumption of small\nanimals such as fish, crabs, etc., for food, and with the discovery\nof fire. Men begin to manufacture weapons, clubs and spears made of\nwood and stone, and this means the inception of the hunt and probably\nalso of war among neighboring hordes, who contended with one another\nfor the sources of nourishment and the most desirable dwelling places\nand hunting grounds. At this stage also cannibalism appears, which is\nstill met with among some tribes in Africa, Australia and Polynesia.\nThe higher stage of savagery is characterized by the invention of\nthe bow and arrow; the invention of the art of weaving; the making\nof mats and baskets from bast and reeds, and the manufacture of\nstone implements.\n\nAs the beginning of the lowest stage of barbarism, Morgan denotes the\ninvention of pottery. Man learns the domestication of wild animals\nwith the resultant production of meat and milk, and thereby obtains\nthe use of hides, horns and furs for the most varied purposes. Hand\nin hand with the domestication of animals, agriculture begins to\ndevelop. In the western part of the world corn is cultivated; in the\neastern part, almost all kinds of grain, with the exception of corn,\nis grown. During the medium stage of barbarism we find an increasing\ndomestication of useful animals in the East, and in the West we\nfind an improved cultivation of nourishing plants with the aid of\nartificial irrigation. The use of stones and sun-dried bricks for\nbuilding purposes is also originated at this time. Domestication\nand breeding favor the formation of herds and flocks and lead to a\npastoral life, and the necessity of producing larger quantities of\nnourishment for both men and animals leads to increased agriculture.\nThe result is a more sedentary mode of life with an accompanying\nincrease in provisions and greater diversity of same, and gradually\ncannibalism disappears.\n\nThe higher stage of barbarism has been reached with the smelting of\niron ore and the invention of alphabetical writing. The invention of\nthe iron plough gives a new impetus to agriculture; the iron axe and\nspade and hoe make it easier to clear the forest and to cultivate the\nsoil. With the forging of iron a number of new activities set in,\ngiving life a different shape. Iron tools simplify the building of\nhouses, ships and wagons. The malleation of metals furthermore leads\nto mechanical art, to an improvement in the manufacture of arms,\nand to the building of walled cities. Architecture is developed,\nand mythology, poetry and history are conserved and disseminated by\nmeans of alphabetical writing.\n\nThe Oriental countries and those situated about the Mediterranean\nSea--Egypt, Greece and Italy--are the ones in which this mode of\nlife was especially developed, and here the foundation was laid to\nlater social transformations that have had a decisive influence upon\nthe development of civilization in Europe and, in fact, in all the\ncountries of the globe.\n\n[1] \u201cThe theory of natural rights and the doctrine of the social\ncontract, which places an isolated human being at the beginnings of\nhuman development, is an invention utterly foreign to reality, and is\ntherefore worthless for the theoretical analysis of human institutions\nas it is for a knowledge of history. Man should, on the contrary,\nbe classed with gregarious animals; that is, with those species\nwhose individuals are combined into permanent groups.\u201d--(Edw. Meyer:\n\u201cThe Origin of the State, in Its Relation to Tribal and National\nAssociation.\u201d 1907.)\n\n[2] Backofen\u2019s book was published in 1861. It was entitled, \u201cThe\nMatriarchate; Studies of the Gynocratic Customs of the Old World in\nTheir Religious and Legal Aspects.\u201d Publishers, Krais & Hoffmann,\nStuttgart. Morgan\u2019s fundamental work, \u201cAncient Society, or Researches\nin the Lines of Human Progress from Savagery Through Barbarism\nto Civilization,\u201d was published in 1877 by Henry Holt & Co. \u201cThe\nOrigin of the Family,\u201d by Frederick Engels, founded upon Morgan\u2019s\ninvestigations, was published by J. H. W. Dietz, Stuttgart, as\nwas also \u201cRelationship Organizations of the Australian Negro; a\nContribution to the History of the Family,\u201d by Henry Cunow, which\nappeared in 1894.\n\n\n2.--Family Forms.\n\nThe periods of savagery and barbarism were characterized by singular\nsocial and sex relations, that differ considerably from those of\nlater times.\n\nBackofen and Morgan have thoroughly investigated these relations.\nBackofen carried on his investigations by a profound study of ancient\nwritings, with the purpose of gaining an understanding of various\nphenomena presented in mythology and ancient history, that impress\nus strangely and yet show similarity with facts and occurrences of\nlater days, even down to the present time. Morgan carried on his\ninvestigations by spending decades of his life among the Iroquois\nIndians in the State of New York, whereby he made new and unexpected\nobservations of the modes of family life and system of relationship\nprevailing among them, and these observations served as a basis to\nplace similar observations, made elsewhere, in the proper light.\n\nBackofen and Morgan discovered, independently from one another, that\nin primeval society the relations of the sexes differed vastly from\nthose prevalent during historic times and among modern, civilized\nnations. Morgan discovered, furthermore, as a result of his long\nsojourn among the Iroquois of North America, and his comparative\nstudies to which these observations led him, that all existing\nprimitive peoples have family relations and systems of relationship\nthat differ markedly from our own, but which must have prevailed\ngenerally among all peoples at a remote period of civilization.\n\nAt the time when Morgan lived among the Iroquois, he found that among\nthem existed a monogamous marriage, easily dissolved by either side,\ntermed by him the \u201cpairing family.\u201d But he also found that the terms\nof relationship as father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister,\nalthough there could be no doubt in our minds as to whom such terms\nshould apply, were not used in their ordinary sense. The Iroquois\naddresses as sons and daughters not only his own children, but also\nthose of all his brothers, and these--his brothers\u2019 children--call\nhim father. On the other hand, the Iroquois woman does not only\ncall her own children sons and daughters, but also those of all\nher sisters, and again all her sisters\u2019 children call her mother.\nBut the children of her brothers she calls nephews and nieces, and\nthese call her aunt. Children of brothers call one another brothers\nand sisters, and so do children of sisters. But the children of a\nwoman and her brother call each other cousins. The curious fact then\npresents itself that the terms of relationship are not determined\nby the actual degrees of relationship, but the sex of the relative.\n\nThis system of kinship is not only fully accepted by all American\nIndians as well as by the aborigines of India, the Dravidian tribes\nof Deckan and the Gaura tribes of Hindostan, but similar systems must\nhave existed everywhere primarily, as has been proven by investigations\nthat were undertaken since those of Backofen. When these established\nfacts shall be taken as a basis for further investigations among\nliving savage or barbaric tribes, similar to the investigations made\nby Backofen among various peoples of the ancient world, by Morgan\namong the Iroquois and by Cunow among the Australian Negroes, it will\nbe shown that social and sex relations constituted the foundation\nfor the development of all nations of the world.\n\nMorgan\u2019s investigations have revealed still other interesting facts.\nWhile the \u201cpairing family\u201d of the Iroquois is in contradiction to\nthe terms of relationship employed by them, it was shown that in the\nSandwich Islands (Hawaii) there existed up to the first half of the\nnineteenth century a family form which actually corresponded to that\nsystem of kinship that among the Iroquois existed only in name. But\nthe Hawaiian system of kinship again did not agree with the family\nform prevailing there at the time, but pointed to another form of the\nfamily, still more remote, and no longer in existence. There all the\nchildren of brothers and sisters, without exception, were regarded\nas brothers and sisters, and were considered the common children,\nnot only of their mother\u2019s and her sisters\u2019 or their father\u2019s and\nhis brothers\u2019, but of all the brothers and sisters of both their\nparents.\n\nThe Hawaiian system of kinship then corresponded to a degree of\ndevelopment that was still lower than the prevailing family form. We\nare thus confronted by the peculiar fact, that in Hawaii as among\nthe North American Indians, two different systems of kinship were\nemployed that no longer corresponded to existing conditions, but\nhad been superseded by a higher form. Morgan expresses himself on\nthis phenomenon in the following manner: \u201cThe family is the active\nelement; it is never stationary, but progresses from a lower to a\nhigher form in the same measure in which society develops from a\nlower to a higher stage. But the systems of kinship are passive. Only\nin long intervals they register the progress made by the family in\ncourse of time, and only then are they radically changed when the\nfamily has done so.\u201d\n\nThe prevalent conception that the present family form has existed\nsince times immemorial and must continue to exist lest our entire\ncivilization be endangered--a conception that is vehemently defended\nby the upholders of things as they are--has been proven faulty and\nuntenable by the researches of these scientists. The study of primeval\nhistory leaves no doubt as to the entirely different relation of the\nsexes at an early period of human development from their present\nrelation, and when viewed in the light of our present-day conceptions,\nthey seem a monstrosity, a mire of immorality. But as each stage\nin social development has its own methods of production, thus each\nstage also has its own code of morals, ~which is only a reflection\nof its social conditions~. Morals are determined by custom, and\ncustoms correspond to the innermost nature, that is, to the social\nnecessities of any given period.\n\nMorgan arrives at the conclusion that in the lowest stage of savagery\nunrestricted sexual intercourse existed within the tribe, so that\nall the women belonged to all the men and all the men belonged to\nall the women; that is, a condition of promiscuity. All men practice\npolygamy, and all women practice polyandry; there is a common ownership\nof wives and husbands as also a common ownership of the children.\nStrabo relates (66 B. C.) that among the Arabs brothers have sexual\nintercourse with their sisters and sons with their mothers. Incest\nwas originally a requirement to make it possible for human beings\nto multiply. This explanation must especially be resorted to if we\naccept the biblical story of the origin of man. The Bible contains\na contradiction in regard to this delicate subject. It relates that\nCain, having killed his brother Abel, fled from the presence of the\nLord and lived in the land of Nod. There Cain knew his wife and she\nconceived and bore a son unto him.\n\nBut whence came his wife? Cain\u2019s parents were the first man and woman.\nAccording to the Hebrew tradition, two sisters were born to Cain\nand Abel, with whom they begot children. The Christian translators\nof the Bible appear to have suppressed this unpleasant fact. That\npromiscuity prevailed in a prehistoric stage, that the primeval horde\nwas characterized by unrestricted sexual intercourse, is also shown\nin the Indian myth that Brama wedded his own daughter Saravasti. The\nsame myth is met with among the Egyptians and in the Norse \u201cEdda.\u201d\nThe Egyptian god Ammon was the husband of his mother and boasted of\nthe fact, and Odin, according to the \u201cEdda\u201d was the husband of his\nown daughter Frigga.[3] Dr. Adolf Bastian relates: \u201cIn Swaganwara\nthe daughters of the Rajah enjoyed the privilege of freely choosing\ntheir husbands. Four brothers who settled in Kapilapur made Priya,\nthe eldest of their five sisters, queen mother and ~married the\nothers~.\u201d[4]\n\nMorgan assumes that from the state of general promiscuity, a higher\nform of sexual relation gradually developed, the consanguine family.\nHere the marriage groups are arranged by generations; all the\ngrandfathers and grandmothers within a certain family are mutually\nhusbands and wives; their children constitute another cycle of\nhusbands and wives, and again the children of these when they have\nattained the proper age. In differentiation then from the promiscuity\nprevailing at the lowest stage, we here find one generation excluded\nfrom sexual intercourse with another generation. But brothers and\nsisters and cousins of the first, second and more remote grades are\nall brothers and sisters and also husbands and wives. This family\nform corresponds to the system of kinship that during the first half\nof the last century still existed in Hawaii in name but no longer in\nfact. According to the American and Indian system of kinship, brother\nand sister can never be father and mother to the same child, but\naccording to the Hawaiian system they may. The consanguine family\nalso prevailed at the time of Herodotus among the Massagetes. Of\nthese he wrote: \u201cEvery man marries a woman but all are permitted to\nhave intercourse with her.\u201d[5] Similar conditions Backofen proves\nto have existed among the Lycians, Etruscans, Cretans, Athenians,\nLesbians and Egyptians.\n\nAccording to Morgan, the consanguine family is succeeded by a third,\nhigher form of family relations, which he calls the \u201cPunaluan\nfamily\u201d--\u201cpunaluan\u201d meaning \u201cdear companion.\u201d\n\nMorgan\u2019s conception that the consanguine family, founded upon the\nformation of marriage classes according to generations, which preceded\nthe Punaluan family, was the original form of family life, is opposed\nby Cunow in his book referred to above. Cunow does not consider the\nconsanguine family the most primitive form of sexual intercourse\ndiscovered, but deems it an intermediary stage leading to the true\ngentile organization, in which stage the generic classification in\nstrata of different ages belonging to the so-called consanguine\nfamily, runs parallel for a while with the gentile order.[6] Cunow\nsays, furthermore: The class division--every man and every woman\nbearing the name of their class and their totem--does not prevent\nsexual intercourse among relations on collateral lines, but it does\nprevent it among relations of preceding and succeeding lines, parents\nand children, aunts and nephews, uncles and nieces. Terms as uncle,\naunt, etc., denote entire groups.\n\nCunow furnishes proof in regard to the points in which he differs\nfrom Morgan. But though he differs from Morgan in many respects, he\nclearly defends him against the attacks of Westermarck and others.\nHe says: \u201cAlthough some of Morgan\u2019s theories may be proven to be\nincorrect, and others partly so, to him still is due the credit of\nhaving been the first to discover the identity existing between\nthe totem-groups of the North American Indians and the gentile\norganizations of the Romans. He, furthermore, was the first to show\nthat our present family form and system of relationship is the outcome\nof a lengthy process of evolution. We, therefore, are indebted to\nhim for having made further research possible, for having laid the\nfoundation upon which we may continue to build.\u201d In the introduction\nto his book he also states explicitly that his work is partly a\nsupplement to Morgan\u2019s book on ancient society.\n\nWestermarck and Starcke, to whom Dr. Ziegler especially refers,\nwill have to accept the fact that the origin and evolution of the\nfamily are not in keeping with their bourgeois prejudices. Cunow\u2019s\nrefutations should enlighten the most fanatical opponents of Morgan\nas to the value of their opposition.\n\n[3] Dr. Ziegler, professor of zoology at the university of Freiburg,\nridicules the idea of attaching any historical importance to myths.\nThis conception only proves the biased judgment of the scientist. The\nmyths contain a profound meaning, for they have sprung from the soul\nof the people and are founded upon ancient customs and traditions\nthat have gradually disappeared but continue to survive in the myths\nglorified by the halo of religion. If facts are met with that explain\nthe myth, there is good ground for attaching historical importance\nto the same.\n\n[4] Dr. Adolf Bastian, \u201cTravels in Singapore, Batavia, Manila and\nJapan.\u201d\n\n[5] Backofen: \u201cThe Matriarchate.\u201d\n\n[6] In the gentile order each gens has its totem, as lizard, opossum,\nemu, wolf, bear, etc., from which the gens derives its name. The\ntotem animal is held sacred, and members of the gens may not kill\nit or eat its flesh. The significance of the totem was similar to\nthat of the patron saint among the medieval guilds.\n\n\n3.--The Matriarchate.\n\nAccording to Morgan, the Punaluan family begins with the exclusion\nof brothers and sisters on the mother\u2019s side. Wherever a woman has\nseveral husbands, it becomes impossible to determine paternity.\nPaternity becomes a mere fiction. Even at present, with the\ninstitution of monogamous marriage, paternity--as Goethe said in\nhis \u201cApprenticeship,\u201d \u201cdepends upon good faith.\u201d But if paternity\nis dubious in monogamous marriage even, it is surely beyond the\npossibility of determination where polyandry prevails. Only descent\nfrom the mother can be shown clearly and undeniably; therefore,\nchildren, during the term of the matriarchate, were termed \u201cspurii,\u201d\nseed. As all social transformations are consummated infinitely slow\nupon a low stage of development, thus also the transition from the\nconsanguine family to the Punaluan family must have extended through\na great length of time, and many retrogressions must undoubtedly\nhave occurred that could still be perceived in later days. The\nimmediate, external cause for the development of the Punaluan family\nmay have the necessity of dividing the greatly increased group for\nthe purpose of finding new soil for agricultural purposes and for\nthe grazing of herds. But it is also probable that with increasing\ndevelopment, people gradually came to understand the harmfulness and\nthe impropriety of sexual intercourse between brother and sister\nand close relatives, and that this recognition led to a different\narrangement of marriage relations. That this was the case is shown by\na pretty legend that, as Cunow tells us, was related to Gason among\nthe Dieyeris, a tribe of Southern Australia. This legend describes\nthe origin of the \u201cMurdu,\u201d the gentile organization, in the following\nmanner:\n\n\u201cAfter the creation fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and other\nclosely related persons married indiscriminately among themselves,\nuntil the evil consequences of such marriages were clearly seen.\nThereupon the leaders held a council to consider what could be done,\nand finally they begged Muramura, the great spirit, to bid them what\nto do. Muramura bade them divide the tribe into many branches and\nto name these after animals and inanimate objects to distinguish\nthem from one another; for instance, Mouse, Emu, Lizzard, Rain, etc.\nThe members of each group should not be permitted to marry among\nthemselves, but should choose their mates from another group. Thus\nthe son of an Emu should not marry the daughter of an Emu, but he\nmight marry the daughter of a Mouse, a Lizard, a Rain, or any other\nfamily.\u201d This tradition is more plausible than the biblical one, and\nshows the origin of gentile organization in the simplest manner.\n\nPaul Lafargue showed in an article published in the German periodical,\n\u201cNeue Zeit,\u201d that names like Adam and Eva did not originally denote\nindividual persons, but were the names of gentes in which the Jews\nwere constituted in prehistoric days. By his argumentation Lafargue\nelucidates a number of otherwise obscure and contradictory points\nin the first book of Moses. In the same periodical M. Beer calls\nattention to the fact that among the Jews a superstition still prevails\naccording to which a man\u2019s mother and his fiancee must not have the\nsame name, lest misfortune, disease and death be brought upon the\nfamily. This is a further proof of the correctness of Lafargue\u2019s\nconception. Gentile organization prohibited marriage between persons\nbelonging to the same gens. According to the gentile conception,\nthen, the fact that a man\u2019s mother and his fiancee had the same name,\nproved their belonging to the same gens. Of course, present-day Jews\nare ignorant of the connection existing between their superstition\nand the ancient gentile organization which prohibited such marriages.\nThese prohibitory laws had the purpose of avoiding the evils resulting\nfrom close intermarriage, and though gentile organization among the\nJews has gone out of existence thousands of years ago, we still see\ntraces of the ancient tradition preserved. Early experiences in the\nbreeding of animals may have led to a recognition of the dangers of\ninbreeding.\n\nHow far such experiences had been developed may be seen from the\nfirst book of Moses, chapter 30, 32 stanza, where it is told how\nJacob cheated his father-in-law Laban by providing for the birth of\nspotted lambs and goats that were to be his, according to Laban\u2019s\npromise. Thus ancient Israelites were applying Darwin\u2019s theories in\npractice long before Darwin\u2019s time.\n\nSince we are discussing conditions that existed among the ancient\nJews, it will be well to quote a few further facts which prove that\nin antiquity maternal law actually prevailed among them. Although in\nthe first book of Moses, 3, 16, is written in regard to woman: \u201cAnd\nthy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee,\u201d\nin the first book of Moses, 2, 24, we find the lines: \u201cTherefore\nshall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave\nunto his wife and they shall be one flesh.\u201d The same wording is\nrepeated in Matthew, 19, 5; Mark, 10, 7, and in the epistle to the\nEphesians, 5, 31. This command then is rooted in maternal law, for\nwhich interpreters of the Bible had no explanation and, therefore,\npresented it incorrectly.\n\nMaternal law is likewise shown to have existed in the fourth book\nof Moses, 32, 41. There it is said that Jair had a father of the\ntribe of Juda, but his mother came from the tribe of Manasseh, and\nJair is explicitly called the son of Manasseh and became heir to\nthat tribe. In Nehemiah, 7, 63, we find still another example of\nmaternal law among the ancient Jews. There the children of a priest\nwho married one of the daughters of Barzillai, a Jewish clan, are\ncalled the children of Barzillai. They are, accordingly, not called\nby their father\u2019s but by their mother\u2019s name.\n\nIn the Punaluan family, according to Morgan, one or more series of\nsisters of one family group married one or more series of brothers of\nanother family group. A number of sisters or cousins of the first,\nsecond and more remote degrees were the common wives of their common\nhusbands, who were not permitted to be their brothers. A number of\nbrothers or cousins of various degrees were the common husbands of\ntheir common wives, who were not permitted to be their sisters.\nAs inbreeding was thereby prohibited, this new form of marriage\nwas favorable to higher and more rapid development, and gave those\ntribes that had adopted this family form an advantage over those\nwho maintained the old form of sex relations.\n\nThe following system of kinship resulted from the Punaluan family:\nThe children of my mother\u2019s sisters are her children, and the\nchildren of my father\u2019s brothers are his children, and all are my\nbrothers and sisters. But the children of my mother\u2019s brothers are\nher nephews and nieces and the children of my father\u2019s sisters are\nhis nephews and nieces, and all are my cousins. The husbands of my\nmother\u2019s sisters are still her husbands and the wives of my father\u2019s\nbrothers are still his wives, but the sisters of my father and the\nbrothers of my mother are excluded from the family group, and their\nchildren are my cousins.[7]\n\nWith increasing civilization sexual intercourse among brothers and\nsisters is put under the ban, and this is gradually extended to all\ncollateral relatives on the mother\u2019s side. A new consanguine family,\nthe gens, is evolved that originally consists of natural and remote\nsisters and their children, together with their natural or remote\nbrothers on the mother\u2019s side. The gens has a common ancestress to\nwhom the groups of female generations trace their descent. The men\ndo not belong to the gens of their wives, but to the gens of their\nsisters. But the children of these men belong to the gens of their\nmothers, because descent is traced from the mother. The mother is\nconsidered the head of the family. Thus the matriarchate was evolved\nthat for a long time constituted the foundation of family relations\nand inheritance. While the maternal law prevailed, women had a\nvoice and vote in the councils of the gens, they helped to elect\nthe sachems and leaders and to depose them. When Hannibal formed\nan alliance with the Gauls against the Romans, he decided that in\ncase disputes should arise among the allies, the Gallic matrons\nshould be intrusted with the mission of arbitrating; so great was\nhis confidence in their impartiality.\n\nOf the Lycians who recognized maternal law Herodotus tells us: \u201cTheir\ncustoms are partly Cretan and partly Carian. But they have one custom\nthat distinguishes them from all other nations in the world. If you\nask a Lycian who he is, he will tell you his name, his mother\u2019s\nname, and so on in the line of female descent. Moreover, when a free\nwoman marries a slave, her children remain free citizens. But if a\nman marries a foreign woman or takes unto himself a concubine, his\nchildren are deprived of all civic rights, even though he be the\nmost eminent man in the state.\u201d\n\nAt that time \u201cmatrimonium\u201d was spoken of instead of \u201cpatrimonium,\u201d\n\u201cmater familias\u201d was said instead of \u201cpater familias,\u201d and one\u2019s\nnative country was referred to as the motherland. Just as the earlier\nfamily forms, the gens was founded on the common ownership of\nproperty, that is, it was a communistic form of society. Woman was\nthe leader and ruler in this kinship organization and was highly\nrespected, her opinion counting for much in the household as well\nas in the affairs of the tribe. She is peacemaker and judge, and\ndischarges the duties of religious worship as priestess.\n\nThe frequent appearance of queens and women rulers in antiquity,\nand the power wielded by them even when their sons were the actual\nrulers, which was the case in Egypt, for instance, was an outcome\nof the matriarchate. During that period mythological characters\nare chiefly feminine, as seen from the goddesses Astarte, Demeter,\nCeres, Latona, Isis, Frigga, Freya, Gerda, and many others. Woman is\ninvulnerable; matricide is deemed the most dreadful crime that calls\nupon all men for vengeance. It is the common duty of all the men of\nthe tribe, to avenge an injury inflicted upon any member of their\nkinship by a member of any other tribe. Defense of the women incites\nthe men to highest bravery. Thus the influence of the matriarchate\nwas perceived in all social relations of the ancient peoples, among\nthe Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Greeks before\nthe heroic age, the Italic tribes before the founding of Rome, the\nScythians, the Gauls, the Iberians, the Cantabrians, the Germans,\nand others. At that time woman held a position in society as she\nhas never held since. Tacitus says in his \u201cGermania\u201d: \u201cThe Germans\nbelieve that within every woman dwells something holy and prophetic;\ntherefore they honor woman\u2019s opinion and follow her advice.\u201d Diodorus,\nwho lived at the time of C\u00e6sar, was quite indignant over the position\nof women in Egypt. He had heard that in Egypt not sons but daughters\nsupported their aged parents. He therefore spoke disparagingly of\nthe hen-pecked men at the Nile, who granted rights and privileges\nto the weaker sex that seemed outrageous to a Greek or a Roman.\n\nUnder maternal law comparatively peaceful conditions prevailed.\nSocial relations were simple and narrow and the mode of life was a\nprimitive one. The various tribes kept aloof from one another and\nrespected each other\u2019s domain. If one tribe was attacked by another\nthe men took up arms for defense and were ably supported by the\nwomen. According to Herodotus, the women of the Scythians took part\nin battles; virgins--so he claims--were not permitted to marry until\nthey had slain an enemy. Taken all in all, the physical and mental\ndifferences between man and woman were not nearly as great in primeval\ndays as they are at present. Among almost all savage and barbarian\ntribes, the differences in the size and weight of brains taken\nfrom male and female individuals, are smaller than among civilized\nnations. Also the women of these tribes are not inferior to the men in\nphysical strength and skill. Proof of this is furnished not only by\nthe writers of antiquity in regard to peoples living under maternal\nlaw, but also by the Amazon regiments of the Ashantis and the King of\nDahome in Western Africa, that excel in ferocity and courage. What\nTacitus relates in regard to the women of the ancient Germans, and\nC\u00e6sar\u2019s opinion of the women of the Iberians and the Scots, furnish\nadditional proof. Columbus was attacked near Santa Cruz by a troop\nof Indians in a small sloop in which the women fought as bravely as\nthe men. This conception is furthermore confirmed by Havelock Ellis:\n\u201cAmong the Andombies on the Congo, according to Mr. H. H. Johnstone,\nthe women, though working very hard as carriers and as laborers in\ngeneral, lead an entirely happy existence; they are often stronger\nthan the men and more finely developed, some of them, he tells us,\nhaving really splendid figures. And Parke, speaking of the Manyuema\nof the Arruwimi in the same region, says that they are fine animals\nand the women very handsome; they carry loads as heavy as those of\nthe men and do it quite as well. In North America again an Indian\nchief said to Hearne: Women were made for labor; one of them can\ncarry or haul as much as two men can do. Schellong, who has carefully\nstudied the Papuans in the German protectorate of New Guinea from\nthe anthropological point of view, considers that the women are more\nstrongly built than the men. In Central Australia again, the men\noccasionally beat the women through jealousy, but on such occasions\nit is by no means rare for the woman, single-handed, to beat the\nman severely. At Cuba, the women fought beside the men and enjoyed\ngreat independence. Among some races of India, the Pueblos of\nNorth America, the Patagonians, the women are as large as the men.\nSo among the Afghans, with whom the women in certain tribes enjoy\na considerable amount of power. Even among the Arabs and Druses it\nhas been noted that the women are nearly as large as the men. And\namong Russians the sexes are more alike than among the English or\nFrench.\u201d[8]\n\nIn the gens women sometimes ruled with severity, and woe to the man\nwho was too lazy or too clumsy to contribute his share to the common\nsustenance. He was cast out and was obliged either to return to his\nown gens, where he was not likely to be received kindly, or to gain\nadmission into another gens where he was judged less harshly.\n\nThat this form of matrimony has been maintained by the natives of\nCentral Africa to this very day was experienced by Livingstone, to his\ngreat surprise, as related by him in his book, \u201cMissionary Travels\nand Researches in Southern Africa.\u201d At the Zambesi he encountered the\nBalonda, a strong and handsome Negro tribe, engaged in agricultural\npursuits, and was soon able to confirm the reports made to him by\nPortugiese, which he had at first declined to believe, that the\nwomen held a superior position among them. They are members of the\ntribal council. When a young man marries, he must migrate from his\nvillage into the one in which his wife resides. He must at the same\ntime pledge himself to provide his mother-in-law with kindling wood\nfor lifetime. The woman, in turn, must provide her husband\u2019s food.\nAlthough minor quarrels between man and wife occasionally occurred,\nLivingstone found that the men did not rebel against female supremacy.\nBut he found, on the other hand, that when men had insulted their\nwives, they were severely punished--by their stomachs. The man--so\nLivingstone relates--comes home to eat, but is sent from one woman\nto another and is not given anything. Tired and hungry, he finally\nclimbs upon a tree in the most populous part of the village and\nexclaims, with a woe-begone voice: \u201cHark, hark! I thought I had\nmarried women, but they are witches! I am a bachelor; I have not a\nsingle wife! Is that just and fair to a lord like myself?!\u201d\n\n[7] Frederick Engels: \u201cOrigin of the Family.\u201d\n\n[8] Havelock Ellis: \u201cMan and Woman.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nConflict between Matriarchate and Patriarchate.\n\n\n1.--Rise of the Patriarchate.\n\nWith the increase in population a number of sister gentes arose\nthat again brought forth several daughter gentes. The mother gens\nwas distinguished from these as the phratry. A number of phratries\nconstituted the tribe. So strong was this social organization that\nit still constituted the unit of military organization in the states\nof antiquity, when the old gentile constitution had already been\nabandoned. The tribe was subdivided into several branches, all having\na common constitution and in each of which the old gens could be\nrecognized. But as the gentile constitution prohibited intermarriage\namong remote relatives even on the mother\u2019s side, it undermined its\nown existence. A social and economic development made the relation\nof the various gentes to one another more and more complicated, the\ninterdict of marriage between certain groups became untenable and\nceased to be observed. While production of the necessities of life was\nat its lowest stage of development, and destined to satisfy only the\nsimplest demands, the activities of men and women were essentially\nthe same. But with increasing division of labor there resulted not\nonly a diversity of occupations, but a diversity of possessions as\nwell. Fishing, hunting, cattle-breeding and agriculture, and the\nmanufacture of tools and implements, necessitated special knowledge,\nand these became the special province of the men. Man took the lead\nalong these lines of development and accordingly became master and\nowner of these new sources of wealth.\n\nIncreasing population and the desire for an extensive ownership of\nland for agricultural and pastoral purposes, led to struggles and\nbattles over the possession of such land; it also led to a demand\nfor labor-power. An increase in labor-power meant greater wealth in\nproduce and flock. To procure such labor-power the rape of women was\nat first resorted to, and then the enslavement of vanquished men,\nwho had formerly been killed. Thus two new elements were introduced\ninto the old gentile constitution that were incompatible with its\nvery nature.\n\nStill another factor came into play. The division of labor and\nthe growing demand for tools, implements, weapons, etc., led to a\ndevelopment of handicraft along distinct lines apart from agriculture.\nA special class of craftsmen arose, whose interests in regard to the\nownership and inheritance of property diverged considerably from\nthose of the agricultural class.\n\nAs long as descent was traced from female lineage, members of the gens\nbecame heirs to their deceased relatives on the mother\u2019s side. All\nproperty remained within the gens. Under the changed conditions the\nfather had become owner of flocks and slaves, weapons and produce, but\nbeing a member of his mother\u2019s gens he could not will his property\nto his children, but had to leave same to his brothers and sisters\nor to his sisters\u2019 children. His own children were disinherited. A\nstrong desire for changing this state of affairs therefore began\nto manifest itself, and it was changed accordingly. Polygamy and\npolyandry gave way to the pairing family. A certain man lived with\na certain woman, and the children born from this relation were\ntheir children. These pairing families developed gradually, being\nhampered by the marriage interdicts of the gentile constitution, but\nfavored by the above enumerated economic causes. The old household\ncommunities were not in keeping with the idea of private property.\nClass and occupation became determining factors in the choice of a\nplace of residence. An increased production of commodities gave rise\nto commerce among neighboring and more widely separated nations and\nnecessitated the development of finance. Man was the one to conduct\nand control this development. His private interests, therefore,\nwere no longer harmonious to the old gentile organization; on the\ncontrary, they were frequently diametrically opposed to it. Therefore\nthis organization became of less and less importance, and finally\nall that remained of the gens was the conducting of a number of\nreligious rites within the family group. The economic significance\nwas lost and the final dissolution of the gentile constitution only\nremained a question of time.\n\nWith the breaking up of the old gentile organization the power and\ninfluence of woman rapidly declined. The matriarchate disappeared\nand the patriarchate took its place. Man, being an owner of private\nproperty, had an interest in having legitimate children to whom he\ncould will his property, and ~he, therefore, forced upon woman the\nprohibition of intercourse with other men~.\n\nBut for himself he reserved the right of maintaining as many concubines\nas his means would permit beside his legitimate wife or wives, and\ntheir offspring were regarded as legitimate children. The Bible\nfurnishes important evidence on this subject in two instances. In\nthe first book of Moses, 16, 1 and 2, it says: \u201cSarai, Abram\u2019s wife,\nbore him no children; and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose\nname was Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram: Behold now, the Lord\nhath restrained me from bearing; I pray thee, go in unto my maid;\nit may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to\nthe voice of Sarai.\u201d The second noteworthy evidence is found in the\nfirst book of Moses, 30, 1; it reads as follows: \u201cAnd when Rachel\nsaw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and\nsaid unto Jacob: Give me children or else I die. And Jacob\u2019s anger\nwas kindled against Rachel and he said: Am I in God\u2019s stead who\nhas withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? And she said: Behold\nmy maid, Billah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees\nthat I may also have children by her. And she gave him Billah, her\nhandmaid, to wife, and Jacob went in unto her.\u201d\n\nThus Jacob was not only married to two sisters, the daughters of\nLaban, but both also gave him their handmaids to wives, a custom\nthat was not immoral according to the moral conceptions of the time.\nHis two chief wives he had married by purchase, having served their\nfather Laban seven years for each of them. At that time it was the\ngeneral custom among the Jews to purchase wives, but besides they\ncarried on a widespread robbery of women from nations conquered by\nthem. Thus, for instance, the Benjamites robbed the daughters of\nShiloh. The captured woman became a slave, a concubine. But she could\nbe raised to the position of a legitimate wife, upon fulfillment of\nthe following command: She had to cut her hair and nails and exchange\nthe garments in which she was captured with others given to her by\nher captors. Thereupon she had to mourn for her father and mother\nduring an entire month, her mourning being destined to signify that\nher people were dead to her. These regulations having been complied\nwith, she could enter into wedlock. The greatest number of women were\nowned by King Solomon, who, according to the first book of Kings,\nchapter 11, had no less than 700 wives and 300 concubines.\n\nAs soon as the patriarchate, that is, paternal descent, was established\nin the gentile organization of the Jews, the daughters were excluded\nfrom inheritance. Later this rule was modified in cases when a father\nleft no sons. This is shown in the fourth book of Moses, 27, 2\u20138.\nThere it is told that when Zelophehad died without leaving sons,\nhis daughters complained bitterly that they should be excluded from\ntheir father\u2019s inheritance that was to pass to the tribe of Joseph.\nMoses decides that in this case the daughters should be heirs to\ntheir father. But when, according to an old custom, they decide to\nchoose husbands from another tribe, the tribe of Joseph complain that\nthereby they are losing an heritage. Thereupon Moses decides that the\nheiresses may choose freely, but that they must make their choice\nfrom among the men in their father\u2019s tribe. So it was in behalf of\nproperty that the old marriage laws were annulled. As a matter of\nfact, in the days of the old Testament, i. e., in historical times,\nthe patriarchal system was prevalent among the Jews, and the clan\nand tribal organization were founded on descent in the male line, as\nwas the case with the Romans. According to this system the daughters\nwere excluded from inheritance. Thus we read in the first book of\nMoses, 31, 14 and 15, the complaint of Lea and Rachel, daughters\nof Laban: \u201cIs there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our\nfather\u2019s house? Are we not counted of him strangers? For he hath\nsold us and hath quite devoured also our money.\u201d\n\nAmong the ancient Jews, as among all other nations where the\nmatriarchate was succeeded by the patriarchate, women were utterly\ndevoid of rights. Marriage was a purchase of the woman. Absolute\nchastity was demanded of her; but not so of the man, who moreover\nwas entitled to have several wives. If the man had cause to believe\nthat the woman had lost her virginity prior to marriage, he was not\nonly entitled to cast her off, she might also be stoned to death.\nThe same punishment was meted out to the adulteress; but the man was\nsubjected to the same punishment only then when he committed adultery\nwith a Jewish matron. According to the first book of Moses, 24,\n1\u20134, a man was entitled to cast off a woman he had just married\nif she found no favor in his eyes, even though his displeasure be\nonly a whim. Then he might write her a bill of divorcement, give it\nin her hand and send her out of his house. A further proof of the\ndegraded position of woman among the Jews may be gathered from the\nfact that to this day women attend services in the synagogue in a\nspace separated from the men, and are not included in the prayer.[9]\nAccording to the Jewish conception, woman is not a member of the\ncongregation; in religion and politics she is a mere cipher. When\nten men are assembled they may hold services, but women are not\npermitted to do so, no matter how many of them are assembled.\n\nIn Athens, Solon decreed that a widow should marry her nearest\nrelation on her father\u2019s side, even if both belong to the same gens,\nalthough such marriages were forbidden by an earlier law. Solon\nlikewise decreed that a person holding property need not will it to\nhis gens but might, in case he were childless, will it to whomsoever\nhe pleased. We see, then, that man, instead of ruling his property,\nis being ruled by it.\n\nWith the established rule of private property the subjugation of\nwoman by man was accomplished. As a result of this subjugation, woman\ncame to be regarded as an inferior being and to be despised. ~The\nmatriarchate implied communism and equality of all. The rise of the\npatriarchate implied the rule of private property and the subjugation\nand enslavement of woman.~ The conservative Aristophanes recognized\nthis truth in his comedy, \u201cThe Popular Assembly of Women,\u201d for he has\nthe women introduce communism as soon as they have gained control\nof the state, and then proceeds to caricature communism grossly in\norder to discredit the women.\n\nIt is difficult to show how the details of this great transformation\nwere accomplished. This ~first great revolution~ that took place\nin human society was not accomplished simultaneously among all the\ncivilized nations of antiquity, and has probably not developed\neverywhere along the same lines. Among the tribes of Greece, the\nnew order of things attained validity primarily in Athens.\n\nFrederick Engels holds the opinion that this great transformation\nwas brought about peaceably, and that, all preliminary conditions\nmaking such a change desirable being given, a mere vote on the matter\nin the gentes sufficed to put the patriarchal system in place of\nthe matriarchal system. Backofen, on the other hand, believes--his\nopinion founded on ancient writers--that the women vehemently opposed\nthis social transformation. He considers many myths of the Amazon\nkingdoms that are met with in the histories of Oriental countries,\nin South America and China, proofs of the struggle and opposition\nof women against the new order.\n\nWith the rise of male supremacy the women were deprived of their\nformer position in the community. They were excluded from the council\nand lost their determining influence. Men compelled women to be\nfaithful in marriage without recognizing a similar duty on their\npart. When a woman is faithless, she commits the worst deception\nto which a citizen of the new order can fall a victim; she brings\nanother man\u2019s children into his house to become the heirs of his\nproperty. That is why among all the ancient peoples adultery, when\ncommitted by a woman, was punishable by death or slavery.\n\n[9] In the oldest quarter of Prague is an old synagogue, built during\nthe sixth century, the oldest synagogue in Germany. Upon descending\nabout seven steps into the dusky chamber, the visitor beholds a row\nof small loop-holes on the opposite wall leading into an utterly dark\nroom. Upon inquiry we are told by the guide that this is the woman\u2019s\nroom, where the women attended services. Modern synagogues are less\ngloomy, but the separation of men and women is still maintained.\n\n\n2.--Traces of the Matriarchate in Greek Myths and Dramas.\n\nAlthough the women were thus deprived of their former influential\nposition, the customs connected with the ancient cults continued\nto dominate the minds for centuries; only their deeper meaning was\ngradually lost, and it remained for the present time to investigate\nthem. Thus it was customary in Greece that women appealed for\nadvice and help to the goddesses only. The annual celebration of\nthe Thesmophoria clearly derived its origin from matriarchal times.\nEven in later days Greek women still celebrated this festival in\nhonor of Demeter, which lasted for five days, and in which no man\nwas allowed to participate. A festival of the same character was\nheld annually in Rome in honor of Ceres. Demeter and Ceres were the\ngoddesses of fecundity. In Germany, similar festivals were observed\nup to the Christian middle ages. These were consecrated to Frigga,\nthe ancient German goddess of fecundity, and here also men were\nexcluded from participation.\n\nIn Athens, the matriarchate had to make way to the patriarchate at\nan early period, but apparently not without strong opposition on the\npart of the women. The tragedy of the transformation is pathetically\npresented in the \u201cEumenides\u201d by Aeschylus. The following is a synopsis\nof the story: Agamemnon, King of Mycenae, husband of Klytaemnestra,\non his expedition to Troy, sacrifices his daughter Iphigeneia, in\nobedience to a command of the oracle. The mother is enraged over the\nsacrifice of her child that, in accordance with natural law, does not\nbelong to her husband, and during Agamemnon\u2019s absence she accepts\nAeghistus as her husband, thereby not committing any objectionable act\naccording to the ancient laws. When Agamemnon returns to Mycenae,\nafter an absence of many years, he is murdered by Aeghistus, whom\nKlytaemnestra has incited to this deed. Orestes, son of Agamemnon and\nKlytaemnestra, upon a command from Apollo and Minerva, avenges his\nfather\u2019s death by killing his mother and Aeghistus. The Eumenides,\nrepresenting the old maternal law, prosecute Orestes for the murder\nof his mother. Apollo and Minerva--the latter, according to the\nmyth, not having been born by a mother, since she sprang from the\nhead of Zeus in full armor--defend Orestes, for they represent the\nnew paternal law. The case is brought before the areopagus and the\nfollowing dialogue ensues in which the two conflicting views are\nexpressed:\n\n Eumenides: The prophet (Apollo) bade thee then become a matricide?\n\n Orestes: Aye; and I never yet my destiny regretted.\n\n Eumenides: When judgment will be given thou wilt not speak thus.\n\n Orestes: Perhaps. But from his grave my father will send aid.\n\n Eumenides: What hopest from the dead thou, who hast killed thy\n _mother_?\n\n Orestes: She had been guilty of a double, bloody crime.\n\n Eumenides: How so? Explain unto the judges what you mean.\n\n Orestes: She killed her husband and she thereby killed my father.\n\n Eumenides: Her crime she expiated now, but you still live.\n\n Orestes: Why did you fail to prosecute her while she lived?\n\n Eumenides: _She was no blood relation to the man she killed._\n\n Orestes: But I, so you assert, am of my mother\u2019s blood.\n\n Eumenides: Did she, thou bloody one, not bear thee \u2019neath her\n heart? Wouldst thou thy mother\u2019s sacred blood deny?\n\nThe Eumenides accordingly do not recognize the right of the father\nand husband. They proclaim maternal law. That Klytaemnestra caused\nthe murder of her husband seems unimportant to them, for he was a\nstranger to her. But they demand punishment of the matricide, for by\nkilling his mother, Orestes committed the most unpardonable crime that\ncould be committed under the dominance of the gentile organization.\nApollo, on the other hand, holds the opposite point of view. Upon a\ncommand from Zeus he has induced Orestes to murder his own mother\nto avenge the patricide, and before the judges he thus defends the\ndeed:\n\n Then say I, listen ye unto my word of justice:\n The mother is not procreatrix to her child;\n She only the awakened life doth keep and bear.\n The father is the procreator; she but keeps\n The forfeit for her friend, unless a god destroy it\n I will submit a proof that cannot be denied.\n For one can have a father, yet no mother have.\n Minerva, daughter of the great Olympian Zeus,\n Within the darkness of a mother\u2019s womb ne\u2019er rested,\n And yet no goddess e\u2019er gave birth to fairer offspring.\n\nAccording to Apollo, then, procreation gives the father a superior\nright, while the view that had prevailed until then proclaimed the\nmother, who gives life to the child by her own blood, the child\u2019s\nsole possessor, and deemed the child\u2019s father a mere stranger to\nher. Therefore, the Eumenides reply to the views of Apollo:\n\n Thou overthrowest forces of remotest days....\n Thou, the young god, wouldst us, the ancient ones, dethrone.\n\nThe judges prepare to pronounce their verdict; half of them favor\nthe old law and the other half favor the new, giving an equal number\nof votes to both sides. There Minerva seizes a ballot from the altar\nand casting it into the urn she exclaims:\n\n Mine is the right to utter final judgment here,\n And for Orestes I cast in the urn this stone;\n For unto me no mother was who gave me birth,\n Therefore with all my heart all manly things I praise\n Excepting marriage. For I am my father\u2019s quite.\n Less criminal I deem the murder of this woman,\n Because her husband she has killed, the home\u2019s maintainer.\n Though even be the vote, Orestes is victorious.\n\nAnother myth depicts the fall of the matriarchate in the following\nmanner: During the rule of Cecrops, a double miracle occurred.\nSimultaneously an olive-tree sprang from the earth at one place, and\na well at another. The frightened king sent a messenger to Delphi to\nquestion the oracle concerning the meaning of these miracles. The reply\nwas: The olive-tree represents Minerva, the water represents Neptune,\nand the citizens may decide after whom of the two deities they choose\nto name their city. Cecrops summoned the popular assembly, in which\nboth men and women were entitled to vote. The men voted for Neptune,\nand the women for Minerva, and since the women had a majority of one\nvote, Minerva was victorious. Thereupon Neptune became infuriated\nand let the sea flood the lands of the Athenians. To appease the\nfury of the god, the Athenians then inflicted threefold punishment\nupon their women. They were to be disfranchised, their children were\nno longer to bear their mother\u2019s name, and they themselves should\nno longer be called Athenians.[10]\n\nThus the new order was established. The father became the head of\nthe family. The patriarchate conquered the matriarchate.\n\n[10] Backofen: \u201cThe Matriarchate.\u201d\n\n\n3.--Legitimate Wives and Courtesans in Athens.\n\nJust as the transition from the matriarchate to the patriarchate was\naccomplished in Athens, it was accomplished elsewhere as soon as a\nsimilar degree of development had been attained. Woman was restricted\nto her home and isolated in special rooms, known as \u201cgynacontis,\u201d in\nwhich she dwelt. She even was excluded from social intercourse with\nthe men who visited the house; in fact, this was the special object\nof her isolation. In the Odyssee we find this change in customs\nexpressed. Thus Telemachus forbids his mother to be present among\nher suitors, and utters this command:\n\n But go now to the home, and attend to thy household affairs;\n To the spinning wheel and the loom, and bid thy maids be assiduous\n At the task that to them were allotted. To speak is the privilege of men,\n And mine is especially this privilege, for I am the lord of the\n house![11]\n\nThis was the prevailing conception in Greece at the time. Even widows\nwere subjected to the rulership of their nearest male relatives, and\nwere not even free to choose a husband. Weary of the long waiting\nimposed upon them by the clever Penelope, the suitors send to\nTelemachus their spokesman, Antonioos, who thus voices their demand:\n\n See now, the suitors inform thee that thou in thy heart mayest know it\n And that all the Ach\u00e6ans may of the fact be informed.\n Send thy mother hence, and command her to take as her husband\n Whom she chooses to take, and whom her father selects.[12]\n\nAt this period woman\u2019s freedom has come to an end. When she leaves\nthe house she must veil her face--not to waken the desires of some\nother man. In the Oriental countries where sexual passions are\nstronger, as a result of the hot climate, this method of isolation\nis still carried to the extreme. Among the ancients, Athens served\nas a pattern of the new order. The woman shares the man\u2019s bed, but\nnot his table. She does not address him by his name, but calls him\nmaster; she is his servant. She was not allowed to appear in public\nanywhere, and when walking upon the streets was always veiled and\nplainly dressed. When she committed adultery she was, according to\nSolon\u2019s law, condemned to pay for her sin either with her life, or\nwith her liberty. Her husband was entitled to sell her as a slave.\n\nThe position of Greek women of those days is powerfully expressed\nin Medea\u2019s lamentation:\n\n \u201cOf all creatures that have soul and life\n _We women are indeed the very poorest_.\n By our dowery we\u2019re obliged to purchase\n A husband--and what then is far worse still,\n _Henceforward our body is his own_.\n Great is the danger; will his nature be\n Evil or good? Divorce is to the woman\n A deep disgrace. _Yet she may not say nay_\n Unto the man who was betrothed to her.\n And when she comes to lands with unknown customs,\n She has to learn--for no one teaches her--\n To understand the nature of her husband.\n And when we have succeeded in all this,\n And our loved one gladly with us dwells,\n Then our lot is fair. But otherwise\n I\u2019d rather far be dead.--Not so the man.\n If in his home he is not satisfied,\n He finds _outside the home_ what pleases him,\n With friends and with companions of his age;\n But we must always seek to please but _one_.\n They say that we in peace and safety dwell,\n While they must go forth to the battlefield.\n Mistaken thought! _I rather thrice would fight,\n Than only once give birth unto a child!_\u201d\n\nVery different was the man\u2019s lot. While the man compelled the woman\nto abstain absolutely from relations with other men, for the purpose\nof insuring the legitimacy of his heirs, he was not inclined to\nabstain from relations with other women. Courtesanship developed.\nWomen noted for their beauty and intellect, usually foreigners,\npreferred a free life in the most intimate association with men to\nthe slavery of marriage. Nor was their life deemed a loathsome one.\nThe name and the fame of these courtesans who associated with the\nforemost men of Greece and took part in their intellectual discussions\nand in their banquets, have come down to us through history, while\nthe names of the legitimate wives are lost and forgotten. One of\nthese was Aspasia, the friend of the famous Pericles, who later\nmade her his wife. Phryne had intimate relations with Hyperides,\nand served Praxiteles, one of the foremost sculptors of Greece, as\na model for his statue of Venus. Danae was the mistress of Epicure,\nArch\u00e6anassa was Plato\u2019s. Lais of Corynth, Gnethanea and others\nwere equally famous courtesans. Every one of the famous Greeks had\nintercourse with these courtesans. It was part and parcel of their\nlife. The great orator Demosthenes in his oration against Neaera thus\ncharacterized the sexual relations of Athenian men: \u201cWe marry women\nto have legitimate children and to have faithful guardians of our\nhomes, we maintain concubines for our daily service and comfort, and\ncourtesans for the enjoyment of love.\u201d The wife was only destined\nto bear offspring and, like a faithful dog, to guard her master\u2019s\nhouse. But the master himself lived to suit his pleasure. In many\ncases it is so still.\n\nTo satisfy the demand for mercenary women, especially among the younger\nmen, prostitution developed, an institution that had not been known\nduring the dominance of the matriarchate. Prostitution differs from\nfree sexual intercourse by the fact that the woman yields her body\nin return for material gain, be it to one man or to a number of men.\nProstitution exists wherever a woman makes the selling of her charms\na trade. Solon, who formulated the new laws for Athens and is famed\nas the founder of these laws, introduced the public brothel, the\n\u201cdeikterion.\u201d He decreed that the price should be the same to all\nvisitors. According to Philemon this was one obolus, about 6 cents\nin American money. The \u201cdeikterion\u201d was a place of absolute safety,\nlike the temples in Greece and Rome and the Christian churches in\nthe middle ages. It was under the immediate protection of the public\nauthorities. Until about 150 B. C. the temple in Jerusalem was the\ngeneral rallying-point of the prostitutes.\n\nFor the boon bestowed upon Athenian men by his founding of the\n\u201cdeikterion,\u201d one of Solon\u2019s contemporaries thus sings his praise:\n\u201cSolon, be praised! For thou didst purchase public women for the\nwelfare of the city, to preserve the morals of the city that is\nfull of strong, young men, who, without thy wise institution, would\nindulge in the annoying pursuit of the better class women.\u201d We will\nsee that in our own day exactly the same arguments are being advanced\nto justify the existence of prostitution and its maintenance as an\ninstitution sanctioned by the state. Thus the state laws approved\nof deeds committed by men as being their natural right, while the\nsame deeds were branded as criminal and despicable when committed by\nwomen. It is a well-known fact that even to-day there are a great\nmany men who prefer the company of a pretty offendress to the company\nof their wife and who, nevertheless, enjoy the reputation of being\n\u201cpillars of society\u201d and guardians of those sacred institutions, the\nfamily and the home. To be sure, the Greek women frequently seem to\nhave taken vengeance upon their husbands for their oppression. If\nprostitution is the complement of monogamic marriage on the one hand,\nadultery of wives and cuckoldom of husbands are its complements on\nthe other. Among the Greek dramatists, Euripides seems to have been\nthe most pronounced woman-hater, since in his dramas he preferably\nholds up the women to ridicule and scorn. What accusations he hurls\nat them can best be seen from a passage in \u201cThe Thesmophoria\u201d by\nAristophanes,[13] where a Greek woman assails him in the following\nmanner:\n\n With what calumny doth he (Euripides) not vilify us women?\n When e\u2019er hath silent been the slanderer\u2019s tongue?\n Where there\u2019s an audience, tragedy and chorus,\n We are described as man-mad traitoresses,\n Fond of the cup, deceitful, talkative.\n We\u2019re wholly bad, to men a tribulation.\n Therefore, when from the play our husbands come,[14]\n They look distrustfully at us and search about\n If somewhere not a lover is concealed,\n And henceforth we no longer are permitted\n To do what harmlessly we did before.\n Such wicked things he tells the men about us,\n That when a woman only makes a garland,\n They think she is in love; or when at home\n She works about and dropping something, breaks it,\n The husband promptly asks: \u201cFor whom this broken glass?\n Quite evidently for the guest from Corinth.\u201d\n\nIt is not surprising that the eloquent Greek woman thus serves\nthe defamer of her sex. But Euripides could hardly have made such\naccusations nor would they have found belief among the men, had it\nnot been well known that they were justified. Judging by the final\nsentences of the above quoted harangue it seems that the custom,\nwell known in Germany and other countries, whereby the master of\nthe house honors his guest by placing his own wife or daughter at\nthe guest\u2019s disposal, did not prevail in Greece. Of this custom,\nthat was still observed in Holland in the fifteenth century, Murner\nsays: \u201cIt is the custom in the Netherlands that whosoever hath a\ndear guest, unto him he giveth his wife in good faith.\u201d[15]\n\nThe increasing class struggle in the Greek states and the deplorable\nconditions that existed in many of these small communities led Plato\nto an investigation of the best constitution of the state and its\ninstitutions. In his \u201cState,\u201d that he conceives as an ideal one, he\ndemands that among the highest class of citizens, the guardians,\nwomen should hold a position of absolute equality. Like the men,\nthey should take part in military exercises and should perform all\ncivic duties, only should the lighter tasks be alloted to them on\naccount of the weakness of their sex. He holds that the natural\nabilities are the same with both sexes, that woman is only weaker\nthan man. He further demands that the women should belong to all the\nmen in common as should also the children, so that no father might\nknow his child nor a child its father.[16]\n\nThe views of Aristoteles are more in keeping with the bourgeois\nconceptions. According to his \u201cPolitics,\u201d every woman should have\nthe right of freely choosing her husband. She should be subservient\nto him, yet she should have the privilege of giving him good advice.\nThucydides expresses a view that meets with the approval of all\nPhilistines. He says: \u201cTo that wife is due the highest praise of\nwhom one speaks neither well nor ill outside of her home.\u201d\n\nWhile such views prevailed women were bound to sink lower and lower\nin the esteem of men. A fear of excess of population even led men\nto avoid intimate intercourse with women. An unnatural satisfaction\nof sexual desires was the result. The Greek states consisted mainly\nof cities having very limited landed property, and it therefore was\nimpossible to maintain the population at their accustomed nourishment\nbeyond a given number. This fear of excess of population caused\nAristotle to advice the men to shun their wives and to indulge in\nsodomy instead. Before him Socrates had already extolled sodomy\nas a mark of superior culture. Finally the foremost men of Greece\nindulged in this unnatural passion. The esteem of woman sank to\nits lowest level. Bawdy houses containing male prostitutes were\nmaintained, beside those containing female prostitutes. It was in\nsuch a social atmosphere that Thucydides could say of woman that\nshe was worse than the sea raging in storm, worse than the fire\u2019s\nfierce glow and the mountain torrent\u2019s rushing stream. \u201cIf it is a\ngod who invented woman, whoever he be, let him know that he is the\nnefarious originator of the greatest evil.\u201d\n\nWhile the men of Greece practiced sodomy, the women drifted into the\nopposite extreme, indulging in the love of their own sex. This was\nespecially the case among the inhabitants of the island of Lesbos,\nwherefore this aberration was called Lesbian love and is still called\nso, since it is by no means extinct but continues to exist among us.\nThe chief representative of this \u201clove\u201d was the celebrated poetess\nSapho, \u201cthe Lesbian nightinggale,\u201d who lived about 600 B. C. Her\npassion is fervently expressed in her Ode to Venus:\n\n \u201cThou who rulest all, upon flowers enthroned,\n Daughter of Zeus born of foam, o thou artful one,\n Hark to my call!\n Not in anguish and bitter suffering, O goddess,\n Let me perish!--\u201d\n\nStill more passionate is the sensuality expressed in the ode to the\nbeautiful Athis.\n\nWhile in Athens and other Greek states the patriarchal system\nprevailed, in Sparta, Athens\u2019 greatest rival, we still find the\nmatriarchate, a condition which had become entirely foreign to most\nGreeks. Tradition has it that one day a Greek asked a Spartan how\nthe crime of adultery was punished in Sparta; whereupon the Spartan\nreplied: \u201cStranger, there are no adulterers in our midst.\u201d \u201cBut if\nthere should be one?\u201d quoth the stranger. \u201cThen,\u201d said the Spartan\nmockingly, \u201chis penalty would be to give an ox, so tall that he could\nstretch his neck across the Taygetus and drink from the Eurotas.\u201d\nUpon the astonished query of the stranger how an ox could be so\ntall, the Spartan laughingly replied: \u201cHow can there be an adulterer\nin Sparta?!\u201d The dignified self-consciousness of the Spartan women\nfinds expression in the reply given to a stranger by the wife of\nLeonidas. The stranger said to her: \u201cYou Lacedemonian women are the\nonly ones who rule over men.\u201d To this she replied: \u201cAnd we are the\nonly women who bring forth men.\u201d\n\nThe freedom enjoyed by women during the matriarchate heightened\ntheir beauty and increased their pride, their dignity and their\nself-reliance. There is a uniformity of opinion among ancient\nwriters that these attributes were highly developed in women during\nthe matriarchal period. The condition of servitude that followed\nnaturally had a deteriorating influence. The change is manifested\neven in the difference of dress that marks the two periods. The dress\nof the Doric woman hung loosely from her shoulders, leaving her arms\nand the lower part of her legs uncovered. It is the dress worn by\nDiana as she is represented in our museums, a free and daring figure.\nBut the Ionic dress covers the figure completely and restrains the\nmotions. The manner in which women dress was and is to this day a\nproof of their dependence and a cause of their helplessness to a far\ngreater extent than is generally assumed. The style of dress worn\nby women to this day makes them clumsy and gives them a feeling of\nweakness that is expressed in their carriage and their character.\nThe Spartan custom of permitting girls to go about naked until\nmaturity--a custom that was made possible by the climate of the\ncountry--had the effect, so an ancient writer tells us, of teaching\nthem simplicity of taste and regard for the care of their bodies.\nAccording to the views of the time, this custom did not shock the\nsense of decency or arouse physical passions. The girls also took\npart in all physical exercises just like the boys. Thus a strong,\nself-respecting race was reared, conscious of their worth, as is\nshown in the reply given to the stranger by the wife of Leonidas.\n\n[11] Homer\u2019s \u201cOdyssee.\u201d\n\n[12] Homer\u2019s \u201cOdyssee.\u201d\n\n[13] \u201cComedies by Aristophanes.\u201d\n\n[14] The theatre, to which Greek women were not admitted.\n\n[15] \u201cGerman History of Manners and Civilization,\u201d by Johann Scherr.\nSudermann deals with the same subject in his drama, \u201cHonor.\u201d\n\n[16] Plato: \u201cThe State.\u201d\n\n\n4.--Remnants of the Matriarchate in the Customs of Various Nations.\n\nCertain customs are closely linked with the vanished matriarchate\nthat modern writers have erroneously termed \u201cprostitution.\u201d In\nBabylon, for instance, it was a religious duty for young girls\nupon reaching maturity to go to the temple of Mylitta and there\nyield to some man, making a sacrifice of their virginity. Similar\ncustoms were observed in the Serapis of Memphis, in honor of the\ngoddess Anaitis in Armenia, in Tyrus and Sydon in honor of Astarte\nor Venus. The Egyptian festivals of Isis were accompanied by the\nsame religious rites. This sacrifice of virginity was deemed an\natonement to the goddess for the exclusiveness of surrender to one\nman in marriage. \u201cFor woman is not endowed with all the beauties\nnature has bestowed upon her, to fade in the arms of a single man.\nThe law of substance condemns all restrictions, hates all fetters,\nand considers exclusiveness a crime against its divinity.\u201d[17] The\ncontinued good will of the goddess must be purchased by this sacrifice\nof virginity to a stranger. In conformity with this conception the\nLibyan maidens earned their dowery by their surrender. According\nto the matriarchate they enjoyed sexual liberty before marriage,\nand the men, far from taking offense at this pursuit, in choosing\na wife gave preference to the girl who had been most desired. The\nsame condition existed among the Thracians at the time of Herodotus.\n\u201cThey do not guard the maidens, but give them complete freedom to\nhave relations with whomever they choose. But the married women\nare closely guarded. They buy them from their parents for a large\nportion.\u201d The Hierodules in the temple of Venus in Corynth were far\nfamed. There more than a thousand girls were assembled, constituting\nthe chief attraction for Greek men. Of the daughter of King Cheops\nof Egypt the legend relates, that she had a pyramid built from the\nproceeds obtained by the abandonment of her charms.\n\nWe still find similar conditions in existence in the Marquesas\nIslands, in the Philippines and Polynesia, and, according to Waitz,\namong various African tribes. Another custom, which was maintained\non the Balearic Islands up to recent times and that expressed the\nright of all men to every woman, was that in the bridal night all\nthe men related to the bride, were admitted to her successively in\naccordance with their ages. The groom came last. Among other peoples\nthis custom has been changed to that effect, that one man representing\nthe others, the high priest or chieftain of the tribe, exercises this\nprivilege with the bride. The Claimars in Malabar engage putamares\n(priests) to deflour their wives. It is the duty of the chief priest\n(namburi) to render this service to the king (zamorin) upon his\nmarriage, and the king pays for it with fifty pieces of gold.[18]\nIn India and on various islands of the Pacific either the priests or\nthe tribal chiefs (kings) perform this office.[19] It is the same\nin Senegambia, where the tribal chief practices the defloration\nof virgins as one of his official duties and receives presents in\nreturn. Among other peoples the defloration of the virgin--sometimes\neven of female babies--is accomplished by idols constructed for\nthis purpose. We may assume that the \u201cjus primae noctis\u201d (right of\nthe first night), which was in practice in Europe until far into\nthe middle ages, derived its origin from the same tradition. The\nlandlord, considering himself master over his serfs, practiced the\nright of the tribal chief that had come down to him. We will return\nto this subject later on.\n\nRemnants of the matriarchate are also seen in a peculiar custom\nof South American tribes, that has likewise been met with among\nthe Basques, a people that have preserved many ancient customs and\npractices. Here the father takes to his bed, instead of the mother,\nafter the birth of a child, feigns being in labor-pain, and lets the\nwoman care for him. The custom designates that the father recognizes\nthe newly born child as his own. The same custom is said to exist\namong several tribes of mountaineers in China, and it existed until\na recent date in Corsica.\n\nIn the records of German colonies submitted to parliament (during\nits session 1904\u201305) there is a report of the South-West-African\nregion that contains the following passage: \u201cThe tribal chief in a\nHerero village cannot decide upon the slightest matter without the\nadvice of his council, and not only the men but generally ~the women\nalso~ give their advice.\u201d In the report of the Marshall Islands it\nsays: \u201cRulership over all the islands of the Marshall groups was\nnever concentrated upon a single chief.... ~but as there is no female\nmember of this class (The Irody) living, and the child inherits\nnobility and station from the mother only, The Irodies will become\nextinct with the death of their chiefs~.\u201d The manner of expression\nand description used by the informants shows how utterly foreign the\nconditions they describe are to them and that they fail to understand\nthem.[20]\n\nDr. Henry Weislocky, who for many years lived among the Gypsies\nof Transylvania and finally was adopted into one of their tribes,\nreports,[21] that two of the four tribes in whose midst he lived,\nthe Ashani and the Ishale, observed maternal law. If the migratory\nGipsy marries, he enters the clan of his wife, and to her belong\nall the furnishings of the Gipsy household. Whatever wealth she has\nbelongs to her and to her clan, the man is a stranger. In accordance\nwith maternal law the children also remain in their mother\u2019s clan.\nEven in modern Germany remnants of the matriarchate survive. The\n\u201cWestdeutsche Rundschau\u201d (published in Westphalia) reports in the\nissue of June 10, 1902, that in the parish of Haltern the laws of\ninheritance were still subject to the old maternal law of the gentes.\nThe children inherit from their mother. Until now all attempts at\nreforming this antiquated custom had failed.\n\nHow little the present family form and monogamic marriage can be\nregarded as eternal or exceedingly ancient, can furthermore be gathered\nfrom the wide-spread existence of marriage by purchase, marriage by\nrape, polygamy and polyandry. In Greece, too, woman became an article\nof purchase. As soon as she entered the house of her lord and master\nshe ceased to exist for her family. This was symbolically expressed\nby burning before her husband\u2019s house the gaily decorated carriage\nthat had brought her there. Among the Ostiaks in Siberia the father\nstill sells his daughter and bargains with the envoys of the groom\nover the sum that is to be paid. Among several African tribes the\ncustom still exists--as in Jacob\u2019s day--that a man wooing a maiden\nenters the service of his prospective mother-in-law. Marriage by\npurchase still exists in our very midst, in fact, in bourgeois society\nit is more generally established than at any other time. The money\nmarriages, so prevalent among our propertied classes, are nothing\nmore than marriage by purchase. As a symbol of the purchase whereby\nthe woman becomes the man\u2019s property, the bridal gift, which it is\ncustomary for the man to give his fiancee, may also be regarded.\n\nBeside marriage by purchase we find marriage by rape. Robbery of\nwomen was practiced not only by the ancient Jews, but practically\nby all nations of antiquity. The best-known historical example is\nthe rape of the Sabines, by the Romans. Robbery of women became the\ncustom quite naturally wherever women were scarce or where polygamy\nexisted, as everywhere in the Orient. There especially this custom\nwas wide-spread during the duration of the Arabian realm from the\nseventh to the twelfth century before Christ.\n\nIn a symbolical way marriage by rape is still practised among the\nAraucanians in the southern part of Chile. While the would-be\nbridegroom\u2019s friends bargain with the girl\u2019s father, the man himself\nslinks about the house and tries to catch the girl. As soon as he has\ngrasped her he lifts her on his horse and carries her away toward\nthe forest. Thereupon men, women and children set up a loud clamor\nand try to prevent the flight. But as soon as the man has succeeded\nin reaching the shelter of the forest the woman is considered his\nwife. This is the case even if the robbery was perpetrated against\nthe parents\u2019 will. Similar customs are met with among Australian\ntribes.\n\nAmong civilized nations the custom of wedding journeys still serves\nas a reminder of the ancient rape of women; the bride is abducted\nfrom her paternal hearth. In the same way the exchange of wedding\nrings is a symbol of the old submissiveness of woman and her being\nchained to the man. This custom originated in Rome. The bride received\nan iron ring from her husband to signify that she was chained to\nhim. Later on this ring was made of gold, and much later still the\nexchange of rings was introduced to signify the mutual bond.\n\nPolygamy has existed and still exists among the Orientals; but owing\nto the limited number of women that are at a man\u2019s disposal, and\nowing to the expense of their maintenance, it is at present practised\nonly by the privileged and propertied classes. The counter-part of\npolygamy is polyandry. This is found especially among the mountaineers\nof Thibet, the Garras living at the boundary of India and China,\nthe Baigas in Godwana, the Nairs in the southernmost part of India,\nand also among the Eskimos and Aleuts. Descent is determined on the\nmother\u2019s side--as must needs be the case--and the children belong to\nher. The woman\u2019s husbands usually are brothers. If an oldest brother\nmarries, the other brothers thereby become husbands to his wife. But\nshe has the right to take other husbands beside these. The men also\nare entitled to several wives. From what conditions polyandry sprang\nis as yet unexplained. As the tribes practising polyandry without\nexception live either in mountainous regions of a high altitude or in\nthe frigid zone, polyandry may perhaps be explained by a phenomenon\nthat Tarnowsky has pointed out.[22] Tarnowsky was told by reliable\ntravelers that a lengthy sojourn on high altitudes greatly diminishes\nsexual desire, which reawakens with renewed vigor upon descending.\nThis diminution of sexual desire, so Tarnowsky believes, might\nexplain the slow increase in population in mountainous regions, and\nby becoming hereditary might be one of the symptoms of degeneration\nleading to perversity.\n\nContinuous living in high altitudes or in frigid zones might in the\nsame manner signify that polyandry did not make extraordinary demands\non women. Women themselves are influenced accordingly by their\nnature, since among Eskimo girls menstruation, as a rule, does not\nset in until the nineteenth year, while in the torrid zone it sets\nin with the ninth or tenth year, and in the temperate zone between\nthe fourteenth and sixteenth year. It is generally known that hot\ncountries have a stimulating effect upon sexual desire; that is why\npolygamy is especially prevalent in hot countries. In the same way\ncold lands, and high altitudes having a similar climate, may have\na restrictive influence. It is also a matter of experience that\nconception is less frequent when a woman has cohabitation with several\nmen. The increase in population is, therefore, weak where polyandry\nexists, and is adapted to the difficulty of obtaining food in cold\nclimes and high altitudes. This goes to show that even in regard to\nthis strange custom of polyandry, the relations of the sexes are in\nthe last instance determined by the methods of production. It still\nremains to be investigated whether the frequent killing of female\ninfants is practised among the tribes living in mountainous regions\nor in the frigid zone, as has been reported of Mongolian tribes\nliving in the mountainous regions of China.\n\n[17] Backofen: \u201cThe Matriarchate.\u201d\n\n[18] K. Kautsky: \u201cOrigin of Marriage and the Family.\u201d Kosmos, 1883.\n\n[19] Mantagazza: \u201cLove in Human Society.\u201d\n\n[20] Similar conditions are still met with in Camerun and in other\nparts of Western Africa. A German naval surgeon who studied the\nland and people from his own observations sends us the following\ninformation: \u201cAmong a great many tribes the right of inheritance is\nfounded on maternity. Paternity is a matter of indifference, only\nchildren of the same mother consider one another brothers and sisters.\nA man does not will his property to his own children, but to his\nsisters\u2019 children, his nephews and nieces, who can be shown to be\nhis nearest blood relations. A chief of the Way tribe explained to\nme in broken English: \u2018My sister and I surely are blood relations,\nfor we are children of the same mother. My sister again surely is\nthe blood relation of her son. So her son is my heir, and when I\ndie he will be king of my town.\u2019 \u2018And your father?\u2019 I asked. \u2018I do\nnot know what that is, my father,\u2019 he replied. When I then went on\nto ask him whether he had no children of his own, he was convulsed\nwith laughter and replied that with them not men but only women had\nchildren. I can assure you,\u201d our informant goes on to say, \u201cthat even\nthe heir of King Bell in Camerun is not his son, but his nephew. The\nchildren of Bell, many of whom are being trained in German cities,\nare but the children of his wives, while their fathers are unknown.\nOne of them I might lay claim to myself.\u201d--How are the people who\ndeny the existence of maternal law impressed by this description of\npresent-day conditions?! Our informant is a keen observer who goes\nto the bottom of things. But few who live among these savages do\nso. Therefore we are given such false descriptions of the alleged\n\u201cimmorality\u201d of the natives.\n\n[21] H. v. Weislocky: \u201cSketches of the Life of the Transylvanian\nGypsies.\u201d\n\n[22] Tarnowsky: \u201cPathological Phenomena of Sexual Desire.\u201d\n\n\n5.--Rise of the State.--Dissolution of the Gens in Rome.\n\nAfter the dissolution of the matriarchal gens, the patriarchal gens\ntook its place with considerably diminished functions. The chief\nfunction of the patriarchal gens was the strict observation of\ncommon religious and funeral rites and mutual aid and protection.\nIt entailed the right, and sometimes the duty, to marry within\nthe gens; the latter being the case especially in regard to rich\nheiresses and orphans. The gens also controlled all the remaining\ncommon property.\n\nWith the rise of private property and the right of inheritance\nconnected with it, class distinctions and class antagonism came\ninto existence. In the course of time the propertied members made\ncommon cause against the propertyless ones. The former sought to\ngain control of the administrative positions and to make them\nhereditary. Finance had become a necessity and entailed conditions\nof indebtedness that had previously been unknown. Struggles against\nexternal enemies, internal conflicts of interest, and the varied\ninterests and relations created by agriculture, industry and trade,\nnecessitated a complicated system of laws and the formation of public\nbodies destined to keep the social machine in orderly motion and\nto settle disputes. The same was true concerning the relations of\nmasters and slaves, debtors and creditors. Thus a power was needed\nto control all these relations, to conduct, regulate, arbitrate,\nprotect and punish. ~The state came into existence as a necessary\nproduct of the new social order based on conflicting interests.~\nIts direction naturally was assumed by those who had the greatest\ninterest in its founding and who, thanks to their social power,\nwere most influential: ~the propertied classes~. Thus aristocracy\nof wealth and democracy opposed one another, even where complete\nequality of political rights was maintained.\n\nDuring the old matriarchal system no written law existed. Conditions\nwere simple and custom was hallowed. In the new, far more complicated\norder, written law became one of the urgent necessities and special\nofficials were needed for its administration. But as the legal\nrelations became more and more complicated, a special class of\npersons arose, devoted exclusively to the study of law and having a\nspecial interest in still further complicating them. The jurists,\nthe lawyers, came into existence, and owing to the importance of the\nlaw to the body social, they soon became one of the most influential\nestates. The new civic jurisprudence in the course of time found\nits most classic expression in the Roman state, that explains the\ninfluence exerted by Roman law down to the present time.\n\nWe see then that the state organization is the natural outcome of a\nsociety divided into a great variety of occupations and having varied,\nfrequently opposing and contending, interests. An inevitable result\nwas oppression of the weaker members. This truth was recognized by\nthe Nabataeans, an Arabian tribe, who, according to Diodorus, issued\nthe command neither to sow nor to plant, to drink no wine, and to\nbuild no houses, but to live in tents, for if they did all these\nthings they might be ~compelled to obey by a superior power~ (the\nstate). Among the Rechabites, the descendants of the father-in-law\nof Moses, we find similar decrees.[23] In fact, Mosaic law is framed\nin a manner destined to prevent ~the Jews from developing beyond\nthe stage of an agricultural society, because their lawmakers\nfeared that it might bring about the downfall of their democratic,\ncommunistic organization~. For the same reasons the \u201choly land\u201d\nwas selected in a territory that was bounded on the one side by a\nmountain range which was difficult of access, the Libanon, and on\nthe other, especially in the East and South, by barren lands and a\ndesert, making isolation possible. For the same reasons, moreover,\nthe Jews were kept at a distance from the sea, which is favorable to\ncommerce, colonization and the acquirement of wealth. For the same\nreasons there were strict laws forbidding mingling and intermarriage\nwith other nations; and the poor laws, the agrarian laws, the year of\njubilee, all were institutions destined to prevent the acquirement\nof great fortunes by individuals. The Jews were to be prevented\nfrom becoming a state-forming nation. That is why the old gentile\nconstitution founded on tribal organization was maintained by them\nuntil their dissolution, and has left its traces among them even\nto-day.\n\nApparently the Latin tribes who participated in the foundation of Rome\nhad already superseded the matriarchal development. As previously\nstated, they robbed the women who were wanting among them from the\ntribe of the Sabines and called themselves Quirites after these. At a\nmuch later date the Roman citizens in the popular assembly were still\naddressed as Quirites. \u201cPopulus Romanus\u201d designated the free population\nof Rome generally; but \u201cpopulus Romanus quiritium\u201d designated Roman\ncitizenship by descent. The Roman gens was patriarchal; the children\ninherited from their natural parent. In case there were no children\nthe property fell to relatives on the man\u2019s side, and if these were\nwanting, it fell to the gens. By marriage the woman lost all rights\nof inheritance to her father\u2019s property and that of her father\u2019s\nbrothers. She withdrew from her gens, and thus neither she nor her\nchildren could inherit from her father or his brothers. Otherwise\nthe hereditary portion would have been lost to the paternal gens.\nThe division into gentes and phratries for centuries remained the\nfoundation of military organization and the enactment of civic\nrights. But with the decay of the patriarchal gentes and the decline\nof their significance, conditions became more favorable to Roman\nwomen. They not only obtained the right of inheritance, they also\nobtained the right to control their own fortunes; they accordingly\nheld a far more favorable position than their Greek sisters. This\nfreer position gradually won by them, gave the elder Cato--born\n234 B. C.--cause for the following complaint: \u201cIf the head of each\nfamily, following the example of his ancestors, would seek to\nmaintain his wife in proper submissiveness, the entire sex would\nnot give so much trouble publicly.\u201d When a few tribunes in the year\n195 B. C., moved to repeal a law enacted previously, for the purpose\nof restricting the luxury of women in dress and personal adornment,\nhe stormed: \u201cIf each of us had maintained his manly authority with\nhis own wife, we would have less bother here with all the women.\nOur power that has been shattered in the home, now is being broken\nand trampled upon in the forum too by the unruliness of women, and\nbecause we are incapable of resisting them individually, we fear\nthem all together. Our ancestors decided that women should not even\nattend to their private affairs without the control of a guardian,\nthat they should be subject to their fathers, brothers, husbands.\nBut we submit to it that they take possession of the republic and\ninterfere with the popular assembly. If you give free reign to the\nimperious natures of these unruly creatures, do not imagine that\nthey will recognize any limits of their tyranny. The truth is that\nthey desire freedom, nay, dissoluteness, in all things, and when\nthey have begun to be our equals, they will soon be our superiors.\u201d\n\nAt the time Cato delivered this speech the father was guardian to\nhis daughter during his lifetime, even when she was married, unless\nhe appointed another guardian. When the father died the nearest\nmale relative assumed the guardianship. The guardian had the right\nto transfer this guardianship to whomever and whenever he pleased.\nOriginally then the Roman woman had no will of her own before the law.\n\nThe forms of marriage ceremonies were varied and underwent many\nchanges in the course of the centuries. The most ceremonious marriage\nceremony was performed by the high priest in the presence of at\nleast ten witnesses, whereupon the bridal pair ate a cake made of\nflour, salt and water as a symbol of their union. This ceremony has\na strong resemblance to the eating of the sacramental wafer at the\ncelebration of the Lord\u2019s Supper. A second form of marriage was\nmerely by taking possession. If a woman had lived with her chosen\nhusband under the same roof for one year, with the consent of her\nfather or guardian, the marriage was legalized. A third form was\na sort of mutual purchase. The man and woman exchanged some coins\nand promised to be husband and wife. At the time of Cicero[24]\nfree divorce to both partners in the marriage contract was already\nestablished, and it was even denied that an announcement of the\ndivorce was necessary. But the \u201clex Julia de adulteriis\u201d prescribed\nthat a divorce must be solemnly announced. This law was caused by\nthe frequent occurrence that women, having committed adultery and\nthen having been called to account, claimed to have divorced their\nhusbands. Justinian (The Christian)[25] prohibited divorce, except\nwhen both parties wished to enter a monastery. But his successor,\nJustinian II., found it necessary to introduce it again.\n\nAs Rome grew in wealth and power, vice and licentiousness of the\nworst kind replaced the moral austerity of its early days. Rome\nbecame the center from which lewdness, debauchery and sensual finesse\nspread over the entire civilized world of that period. Especially\nduring the time of the emperors, and frequently encouraged by the\nemperors themselves, the debauchery assumed forms that could only\nhave been inspired by insanity. Men and women vied with each other\nin immorality. The number of public brothels increased rapidly, and\nbesides the \u201cGreek love\u201d (sodomy) was practised more and more by the\nmen. At one time the number of male prostitutes in Rome was greater\nthan the number of female prostitutes.\n\nThe courtesans appeared in great pomp, surrounded by their admirers,\non the streets and the promenade, in the circus and theater, sometimes\nreclining on couches carried by Negroes, holding a mirror in their\nhand, decked with jewels, partly nude, fanned by slaves, surrounded\nby a swarm of boys, eunuchs and flute-players, with grotesque dwarfs\nbringing up the rear.\n\nThese debaucheries assumed such dimensions in the Roman empire, that\nthey threatened its very existence. The bad example set by men, was\nfollowed by women. There were women, so Seneca[26] reports, who did\nnot count years by the consuls, as was customary, but by the number\nof their husbands. Adultery was general, and in order to escape the\nsevere penalties attached to it, women had themselves registered as\nprostitutes. Even some of the most aristocratic ladies of Rome were\namong these.\n\nBesides these debaucheries, civil wars and the system of the latifundia\ncaused such a marked decline of the marriage and birth-rate, that\nthe number of Roman citizens and patricians was greatly diminished.\nIn the year 16 B. C. Augustus enacted the so-called Julian law;[27]\nthat placed a penalty upon the unmarried state of Roman citizens\nand patricians, and rewarded them for having children. Whoever had\nchildren was deemed of higher station than childless or unmarried\npersons. Unmarried persons could not inherit property from anyone\nexcept their nearest relatives. People who had no children could\nonly claim half of an inheritance, the other half was turned over to\nthe state. Women who had been convicted of adultery, were compelled\nto give a part of their dowery to their deceived husbands. This\nprovision caused some men to marry with a desire for adultery on the\npart of their wives. That caused Plutarch to remark: \u201cRomans do not\nmarry to have heirs, but to become heirs.\u201d Later on the Julian law\nwas still increased in severity. Tiberius issued an edict that no\nwoman whose grandfather, father or husband had been or was a Roman\nknight, might prostitute herself. Married women, who had their names\nentered in the lists of prostitutes, should be banished from Italy.\nFor the men, of course, no such punishments existed. As Juvenal\nreports, husband-murder by poison was a frequent occurrence in Rome\nof his day.\n\n[23] \u201cMosaic Law,\u201d by John David Michaelis.\n\n[24] Born 106 B. C.\n\n[25] From 527 to 565 A. D.\n\n[26] Seneca lived from 2 to 65 A. D.\n\n[27] Augustus, the adopted son of Caesar, was by adoption a member\nof the Gens Julia, from which the Julian law derived its name.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nChristianity.\n\n\nWhile in the Roman empire the marriage and birthrate were permitted\nto decline more and more, the Jews maintained far different customs.\nThe Jewess was not entitled to choose her own husband; he was chosen\nfor her by her father. But she regarded marriage as a duty which she\nfaithfully performed. The Talmud advises: \u201cWhen thy daughter has\nattained maturity, set one of thy slaves free and betroth her to\nhim.\u201d The Jews likewise faithfully obeyed the commandment of their\nGod: \u201cBe fruitful and multiply.\u201d Accordingly the Jews have steadily\nincreased in spite of persecution and oppression; they are staunch\nopponents of Malthusianism. Tacitus said of them: \u201cThey firmly hold\ntogether and readily assist one another, but are hostile and full\nof hatred against all others. They never eat or sleep with enemies,\nand though very much inclined to sensual passion, they refrain from\npairing with foreign women. Yet they are eager to increase their\ntribe. To destroy their offspring is a sin to them; and the souls\nof those who have been killed in battle or executed, they consider\nimmortal. Therefore they combine love for propagation with a contempt\nfor death.\u201d But Tacitus hated and despised the Jews because they,\nregardless of their paternal creed, eagerly accumulated wealth. He\ncalls them \u201cthe meanest people,\u201d \u201can ugly nation.\u201d\n\nUnder Roman rule, the Jews became more and more closely linked with\none another, and during the long time of suffering they were doomed\nto endure from this time on through the entire middle ages, that\nintimate family life developed among them, which still is regarded\nas a sort of model by bourgeois society. In Roman society meanwhile,\nthat process of decay and dissolution took place that brought the\nempire to an end. The debauchery bordering on madness was opposed\nby the opposite extreme, rigorous self-denial. Asceticism now\nassumed religious forms, as the debaucheries had previously done.\nEccentric fanaticism made propaganda for it. The boundless luxury\nand extravagance of the ruling classes was in striking contrast with\nthe want and misery of the millions and millions of people who were\nbrought to Italy into servitude by the conquering Romans from all\nthe countries of the world known at that time. Among these there\nalso were ever so many women, torn from their homes, their parents,\ntheir husbands and children, who were most deeply afflicted by their\nmisfortune and longed for liberation. Many Roman women who were\nthoroughly disgusted by what was going on about them, were in a\nsimilar mental state. Any change in their position seemed desirable.\nA profound longing for change, for redemption, manifested itself in\nwide circles, and the Redeemer seemed to approach. The conquest\nof the Jewish realm and Jerusalem by the Romans, resulted in the\ndestruction of national independence, and brought forth idealists\namong the ascetics of that country who predicted the coming of a\nnew kingdom with freedom and happiness for all.\n\nChrist came and Christianity developed. It personified opposition\nagainst the beastly materialism that prevailed among the rich and\nmighty ones in the Roman empire; it represented rebellion against\nthe oppression and disdain of the masses. But since it sprang from\nJudaism that knew woman only as an oppressed being, and since it\nwas biased by the biblical conception that she is the source of all\nevil, it preached the disdain of woman; it preached abstinence and\ndestruction of the flesh, that was sinning so much at the time, and\nwith ambiguous expressions pointed to a coming kingdom--conceived\nby some as a celestial, by others as an earthly kingdom--that would\nbring universal peace and justice. In the mire of the Roman realm,\nthe seeds of these doctrines were planted in fertile soil. Woman,\nhoping for liberation and redemption from her position like all the\nother unfortunates, gladly and eagerly embraced the new faith. Until\nthis day no great and important movement has taken place in all the\nworld in which women did not figure as heroines and martyrs. They\nwho praise Christianity as a great achievement of civilization,\nshould not forget that to woman it owed many of its victories. Her\neagerness to make converts played an important part both in the\nRoman empire and among the barbarian peoples of the middle ages.\nThrough her efforts those in power often were converted. Thus, for\ninstance, it was Chlotilde who induced Chlodwig, King of the Franks,\nto embrace Christianity. It was Bertha, Queen of Kent, and Gisela,\nQueen of Hungary, who introduced Christianity in their countries. The\nconversion of many prominent men was due to the influence of women.\nBut Christianity rewarded woman poorly. Its doctrines contain the\nsame disdain of woman that is met with in all the religions of the\nOrient. It commands her to be an obedient servant to man, and even\nto-day women must promise obedience to their husbands before the\nmarriage altar. Let us hear how the Bible and Christianity speak\nof woman and marriage.\n\nThe ten commandments of the old testament are addressed exclusively to\nthe man. In the ninth commandment the woman is mentioned together with\nthe domestic servants and domestic animals. The man is warned not to\ncovet his neighbor\u2019s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant,\nnor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is his neighbor\u2019s. Woman\nthen is an object, a piece of property, that man should not desire\nif in someone else\u2019s possession. Jesus, who belonged to a sect that\nmaintained rigorous asceticism and practised voluntary emasculation,\nwhen asked by his disciples whether it were well to marry, replied:\nAll men cannot receive this saying save they to whom it is given.\nFor there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother\u2019s\nwomb; and there are some eunuchs which were made eunuchs of men; and\nthere be eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom\nof heaven\u2019s sake.\n\nAccording to this, then, emasculation is agreeable to God, and\nrenunciation of love and marriage is a worthy deed. St. Paul, who\nmay be called the founder of Christianity even more so than Jesus\nhimself, St. Paul, who removed this creed from the narrow Jewish\nsectarianism and gave it its international character, writes to the\nCorynthians: Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me:\nit is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid\nfornication, let every man have his own wife and let every woman\nhave her own husband.\n\n\u201cMatrimony is a degraded station; to marry is good, not to marry is\nbetter.\u201d \u201cWalk in the spirit and resist the temptations of the flesh.\u201d\n\u201cThe flesh conspires against the spirit and the spirit conspires\nagainst the flesh.\u201d They, whom Christ has won, have crucified their\nflesh with all its passions and desires.------\n\nHe was true to his own views and refrained from marriage. This hatred\nof flesh is ~the hatred of woman, but also the fear of woman~, who\nis represented as man\u2019s seducer. In this spirit the apostles and\nfathers of the church preached; in this same spirit the church\nused its influence during the entire middle ages, by establishing\nmonasteries and introducing celibacy of priests, and it is still\nusing its influence in the same direction.\n\nAccording to Christianity woman is ~impure~. She is the seducer who\nbrought sin into the world and wrought man\u2019s destruction. Therefore\nthe apostles and fathers of the church regarded marriage as a\nnecessary evil, as prostitution is regarded at present. Tertullian\nexclaims: \u201cWoman, you ought to go about clad in mourning and rags,\nyour eyes filled with tears of remorse, to make us forget that you\nhave been mankind\u2019s destruction. Woman, you are the gate to hell!\u201d\nAnd: \u201cCelibacy must be chose, even though the human race should\nperish.\u201d Hieronymus says: \u201cMatrimony is always a vice, all that can\nbe done is to excuse it and to sanctify it; therefore it was made\na religious sacrament.\u201d Origines declares: \u201cMatrimony is impure\nand unholy; a means of sensual passion.\u201d To escape the temptation\nhe emasculated himself. Augustin teaches: \u201cThe married people will\nshine in heaven like radiant stars, while their parents (their\nprocreators) will be like dark stars.\u201d Eusebius and Hieronymus are\nagreed that the teaching of the Bible: \u201cBe fruitful and multiply,\u201d\nis no longer suited to the times, and does not concern Christians.\nHundreds of similar sayings by the most influential teachers of\nthe church might be quoted, to prove that they all taught in the\nsame spirit. By their continuous teaching and preaching they have\ndisseminated those unnatural views about everything pertaining to\nsex and the sex relation, which after all is a ~law of nature, and\nthe fulfillment of which is one of the most important duties in the\nplan of life~. Modern society is still suffering from the effects\nof these doctrines, and is but slowly recovering from them.\n\nSt. Peter exclaims with energy: \u201cWives, obey your husbands!\u201d St. Paul\nwrites to the Ephesians: \u201cThe husband is the head of the wife, as\nChrist also is the head of the church.\u201d And to the Corinthians:\n\u201cThe man is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of\nthe man.\u201d\n\nAccording to this any fool of a man may deem himself better than\nthe most excellent woman, and as a matter of fact it has been so\nin practice until this day. Against the higher education of women\nSt. Paul also raises his voice. In the first Epistle to Timothy 2, 11,\netc., he says: \u201cLet a woman learn in quietness with all subjection.\nBut I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man,\nbut to be in quietness\u201d; and in the Epistle to the Corinthians, 14,\n34 and 35: \u201cLet the women keep silence in the churches; for it is\nnot permitted unto them to speak. But let them be in subjection as\nalso saith the law. And if they would learn anything let them ask\ntheir own husbands at home; for it is shameful for a woman to speak\nin the church.\u201d St. Thomas of Aquino (1227 to 1274) says: \u201cWoman\nis a rapidly growing weed, an imperfect being. Her body attains\nmaturity more rapidly only because it is of less value, and nature is\nengaged less in her making. Women are born to be eternally maintained\nunder the yoke of their lords and masters, endowed by nature with\nsuperiority in every respect, and therefore destined to rule.\u201d\n\nSuch doctrines are not characteristic of Christianity only. As\nChristianity is a mixture of Judaism and Greek philosophy, and as\nboth are rooted in the more ancient civilizations of India, Babylon\nand Egypt, the inferior position alloted to woman by Christianity was\ncommon to all the civilized nations of antiquity after the passing\nof the matriarchate. In the Indian book of laws of Manu we find the\nfollowing: \u201cThe cause of dishonor is woman; the cause of hostility is\nwoman; the cause of worldly things is woman; therefore woman should\nbe shunned.\u201d Beside the degradation of woman, the fear of woman is\nrepeatedly naively expressed. Thus it is further stated in Manu:\n\u201cWomen are ever inclined by nature to seduce men; therefore a man\nshould never, even in the company of his closest female relative,\nsit in a lonely spot.\u201d The Indian conception, the old testament,\nand the Christian conception, all unite in declaring woman the\nseducer. Every condition of oppression entails the degradation of\nthe oppressed. The oppression of woman has been maintained until\nthis day; but among the Oriental peoples, whose social development\nhas been retarded, it has been maintained more rigorously than among\nthe Christian nations. Yet the factor that made for improvement in\nthe position of women among Christian nations was not Christianity\nitself, but ~the civilization of the Western countries attained in\nthe struggles against the Christian conception~.\n\nChristianity is not the cause that woman\u2019s position is superior\nto-day to what it had been at the time of the origin of Christianity.\nOnly reluctantly has it been compelled to abandon its true attitude\ntoward woman. They who are enthusiastic over the \u201credeeming mission\nof Christianity,\u201d of course, hold a different view. They claim that\nChristianity has liberated woman from her former degraded position,\nand they base this claim especially upon the cult of the Holy Virgin,\nwhich they consider a token of respect for woman. The Catholic\nChurch which maintains this cult, might hardly share this opinion.\nThe above-quoted sayings of the saints and the fathers of the church\nwhich could easily be multiplied, all express hostility to woman\nand marriage. The Council at Macon during the sixth century, which\nindulged in serious discussion as to whether woman had a soul, and\nfinally decided in her favor by a majority of one, also disproves the\nclaim that Christianity was favorable to women. The introduction of\ncelibacy of priests by Gregory VII,[28] the purpose of which was to\ncreate a power by having an unmarried priesthood that would not be\nwithdrawn from the service of the church by any family interests, was\nmade possible only by that fundamental view of the church, that all\ndesires of the flesh are sinful. Many reformers, especially Calvin\nand the Scotch ministers, have raved so vehemently against the \u201clust\nof the flesh,\u201d that they left no doubt in regard to the hostile\nattitude of Christianity toward women.[29] By introducing the cult of\nthe Virgin Mary, the Catholic Church, with wise calculation, merely\nput this cult in place of the cult of the ancient goddesses, that\nexisted among all the peoples who were converted to Christianity at\nthat time. Mary replaced Cybel, Mylitta, Aphrodite and Venus among\nthe Southern nations, and Freia, Frigga and others among the German\ntribes. She was only endowed with a Christian, spiritual idealism.\n\n[28] Among others the parish priests of the Diocese of Mayence thus\nprotested against this ordinance: \u201cYou bishops and abbots possess\ngreat riches, elegant hunting outfits and enjoy royal banquets; we\npoor, simple priests have but a wife for our comfort. Abstinence\nmay be a virtue, but it is forsooth severe and hard.\u201d--Yves Guyot,\n\u201cLes Th\u00e9ories sociales du Christianisme.\u201d\n\n[29] A great many instances in evidence of this are furnished by\nBuckle in his \u201cHistory of Civilization in England.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nWoman in the Mediaeval Age.\n\n\n1.--The Position of Women among the Germans.\n\nThe robust, physically healthy, coarse but unsophisticated peoples\nthat during the first centuries after Christ came from the North and\nEast, flooding like mighty ocean waves the enervated Roman empire in\nwhich Christianity had gradually come into power, vehemently resisted\nthe ascetic teachings of the Christian preachers, who were obliged to\nmake allowances for these healthy natures. The Romans were surprised\nto find that the customs of these peoples differed considerably from\ntheir own. Tacitus takes note of this fact in regard to the Germans,\nof whom he thus expresses his approval: \u201cTheir marriage laws are\nsevere and none of their customs are more laudable than this one, for\nthey are practically the only barbarians who content themselves with\none wife. Among this numerous people one rarely hears of adultery,\nand when it does occur, it is promptly punished, the men themselves\nbeing permitted to inflict the punishment. Naked, her hair clipped,\nthus the man drives the adulteress out of the village before the\neyes of her relatives, for a sin against virtue is not condoned.\nThere nobody laughs over vice and to seduce and being seduced are\nnot considered a sign of good breeding. The youths marry late;\ntherefore they maintain their strength. The maidens, too, are not\nmarried off hastily, and they are of the same stature as the men,\nand present the same healthful glow of youth. Of equal age, equally\nstrong, they wed, and the strength of the parents is transmitted to\nthe children.\u201d\n\nEvidently Tacitus depicted the matrimonial relations of the ancient\nGermans in a somewhat too rosy hue, to set them before the Romans as\nan example. They indeed severely punished the woman who committed\nadultery, but the punishment was not inflicted upon the man who\ncommitted adultery. At the time of Tacitus, the gens still flourished\namong the Germans. Tacitus, being accustomed to the more advanced\nRoman conditions that made the old gentile organization and its\nfoundations seem strange and incomprehensible to him, wonderingly\nrelates that among the Germans a mother\u2019s brother regards his nephew\nas a son, and that some considered the bond of blood relation between\nan uncle on the mother\u2019s side and his nephew as being even more\nsacred than the bond between father and son. For this reason, so he\nfurthermore relates, when hostages were asked for, it was considered\na stronger security when a man gave his sister\u2019s son instead of his\nown. Upon this subject Engels remarks: \u201cWhen the member of a gens\ngave his own son as a hostage and he was sacrificed by a breach of\nthe agreement, it was the father\u2019s own concern. But if his sister\u2019s\nson had been sacrificed a sacred gentile right had been violated.\nThe nearest gentile relation by duty bound to protect the boy or\nyouth, had caused his death. He should either not have pledged him,\nor should have kept his agreement.\u201d[30] Engels shows that in other\nrespects among the Germans at the time of Tacitus, the matriarchate\nhad already been replaced by the patriarchate. The children inherited\nfrom their father. In the absence of children, brothers and uncles on\nboth the father\u2019s and mother\u2019s side were the lawful heirs. That the\nmother\u2019s brother was admitted to a share in the inheritance, although\ninheritance was determined by descent on the father\u2019s side, can be\nexplained by the fact that the old law had but recently disappeared.\nMemories of the old law also caused that profound respect of the\nGerman for the female sex, which so greatly surprised Tacitus. He\nalso observed that the courage of the men was kindled to the utmost\nby the women. The thought of seeing their women led into captivity\nand servitude was most terrible to the ancient Germans and impelled\nthem to the utmost resistance. But the women also were animated by\na spirit that greatly impressed the Romans. When Marius would not\npermit the captured Teuton women to become priestesses of Vesta (the\ngoddess of virgin chastity) they committed suicide.\n\nAt the time of Tacitus the Germans possessed fixed abodes. There was\nan annual division of the soil, which was determined by lot, and\nthe wood, the streams and the pasture-ground were considered common\nproperty. Their mode of life was extremely simple; their wealth\nconsisted mainly of cattle; coarse woolen cloaks or the hides of\nanimals constituted their clothing. Women and some men of rank wore\nlinen under-garments. Metal tools and weapons were manufactured only\nby those tribes who lived in too remote parts for the importation of\nRoman products of industry. In minor matters decisions were rendered\nby the council of chiefs; in more important matters by the popular\nassembly. Originally the chiefs were elected, though usually from\none particular family. But the transition to the patriarchal system\nfavored the heredity of the position, and finally led to the formation\nof a hereditary nobility that later on developed into kingship. As\nin Greece and Rome, the German gens perished by the rise of private\nproperty, the development of industry and commerce, and intermarriage\nwith members of foreign tribes and nations. The gens was replaced\nby the mark community, a democratic organization of free peasants\nthat constituted a firm bulwark against the encroachments of church\nand nobility for many centuries, and did not quite disappear even\nthen when the feudal state had come into power and the free peasants\nhad been forced into a condition of servitude. The mark community\nwas represented by the heads of the families. Wives, daughters and\ndaughters-in-law were excluded from the council. The times had passed\nin which women conducted the affairs of the tribe--an incident\nwhich greatly amazed Tacitus, and which he describes with remarks\nof scorn. In the fifth century the Salic law repealed the right of\ninheritance of women to patrimonial estates.\n\nEvery male member of the mark community was entitled, upon marriage,\nto share in the common soil. Usually grandparents, parents and\nchildren lived under one roof in a household community, and so it\nfrequently occurred that for the purpose of obtaining an additional\nshare, a son who had not yet attained the marriageable age was joined\nin wedlock with some maiden of marriageable age by proxy, the father\nacting as husband in place of the son.[31] Newly married couples\nwere given a cartload of beachwood and wood to build a log cabin.\nUpon the birth of a daughter, parents also received one cartload\nof wood; upon the birth of a son they received two. The female sex\naccordingly was considered worth only half as much as the male sex.\n\nThe marriage ceremony was simple. Religious rites were unknown. A\nmutual agreement was sufficient, and as soon as the couple had entered\nthe nuptial bed, the marriage was contracted. Only in the ninth\ncentury that custom arose according to which a religious ceremony\nwas necessary to legalize a marriage, and as late as the sixteenth\ncentury, marriage was made a sacrament of the Catholic Church by a\ndecision of the council of Trent.\n\n[30] Engels: \u201cOrigin of the Family.\u201d\n\n[31] The same custom was met with in Russia during the rule of Mir.\n\n\n2.--Feudalism and the Right of the First Night.\n\nWith the rise of the feudal state the position of a great many\ncommoners became considerably worse. The victorious leaders of the\narmy abused their power by taking possession of large tracts of land.\nThey considered themselves entitled to the common property, and did\nnot hesitate to distribute it among their followers, slaves, serfs or\nfreed men, either for temporary use or with the right of inheritance.\nThereby they created for themselves a court and military nobility,\ndevoted to them in all things. The establishment of a large realm\nof the Franks destroyed the last traces of gentile organization.\nThe council of the chiefs was replaced by the leaders of the army\nand the newly created nobility.\n\nGradually the great mass of the commoners were driven into a condition\nof exhaustion and pauperism, as a result of the continuous wars of\nconquest and the disputes of their rulers, for which they had to bear\nthe heaviest burdens. They could no longer serve in the militia.\nIn their place the lords and noblemen recruited vassals, and the\npeasants placed themselves and their possessions under the protection\nof a worldly or spiritual lord--for the church had succeeded in\nbecoming a great power within a few centuries--in return for which\nthey paid rent and taxes. Thus the free farms were transformed into\nleased property, and as time went by new duties were constantly\nimposed. Having once come into this dependent position, it was not\nlong before the peasants were deprived of their personal liberty as\nwell. Bondage and serfdom expanded more and more. The feudal lord\nheld almost unrestricted sway over his serfs. His was the right to\ncompel any man who had attained the eighteenth and any girl who had\nattained the fourteenth year, to become married. He could prescribe\nto both men and women whom they were to marry, even in the case of\nwidows and widowers. As lord of his subjects, he considered himself\nentitled to sexual intercourse with his female serfs, and his power\nwas expressed in the \u201cjus primae noctis\u201d (the right of the first\nnight). This right might also be practiced by his representative\n(major domo) unless the right were waived upon payment of a tax. The\nterms \u201cbed-tribute,\u201d \u201cvirgin\u2019s tribute,\u201d etc., betray the nature of\nthese taxes.\n\nIt has frequently been denied that this right of the first night\nexisted. The knowledge of its existence is uncomfortable to some\npeople, because it was still practiced at a time that they like to\nrepresent as a model for virtuousness and piety. We have already shown\nthat this right of the first night was a custom which had its origin\nin the time of the matriarchate. When the old gentile organization\ndisappeared, the custom of surrendering the bride in the bridal\nnight to the members of her kinship was still maintained. But in the\ncourse of time the right was restricted and finally practiced only\nby the chief or priest. It was transferred upon the feudal lord as\na result of his power over the people who lived upon the land owned\nby him, and he might practice this right if he so chose, or waive\nit in return for a payment in kind or in money. How real was this\nright of the first night may be seen by the following passage from\na tale by Jacob Grimm: \u201cThe groom shall invite the manager of the\nestate to the wedding and he shall also invite the manager\u2019s wife.\nThe manager shall bring a cartload of wood to the wedding, and his\nwife shall bring a quarter of a roasted pig. When the wedding is\nover, the groom shall let the manager lie with his wife for the first\nnight, or he shall redeem her with five shillings and six pence.\u201d\n\nSugenheim[32] holds the opinion that the right of the first night\nwas given to the feudal lord because his serfs, in order to marry,\nneeded his consent. In B\u00e9arn this practice led to the custom that all\nfirst-born children of marriages in which the \u201cjus primae noctis\u201d\nhad been practiced, were regarded as of free estate. Later on this\nright was generally redeemable by the payment of a tax. According\nto Sugenheim, the bishops of Amiens stubbornly maintained this tax\nuntil the beginning of the fifteenth century. In Scotland the right\nof the first night was declared redeemable by payment of a tax by\nKing Malcolm III at the close of the eleventh century. In Germany it\nexisted much longer. According to the records of the Swabian monastery\nAdelberg of the year 1496, the serfs living in the community of\nBoertlingen, could redeem the right if the groom gave a bag of salt\nand the bride gave 1 lb 7 shillings in a dish \u201clarge enough that she\nmight sit in it.\u201d In other localities the brides might redeem it by\ngiving the feudal lord so much butter or cheese \u201cas was the size of\ntheir seat.\u201d Elsewhere they had to give a dainty leather chair \u201cin\nwhich they just fitted.\u201d According to a description of the Bavarian\njudge of the court of appeals, Mr. Welsh, a tax for redeeming the jus\nprimae noctis still existed in Bavaria in the eighteenth century.\nEngels furthermore reports that among the Scots and Welsh the jus\nprimae noctis was maintained thruout the middle age, but since here\nthe gentile organization continued to exist, it was not the feudal\nlord or his representative who practiced this right, but the chieftain\nof the clan, and by him it was practiced as representative of all\nthe husbands unless a tribute was paid.\n\nSo there can be no doubt as to the existence of the right of the\nfirst night, not only in medieval days, but even down to modern\ntimes, and that it held a place in the feudal code of laws. In Poland\nnoblemen arrogated the right to deflour any maiden who chanced to\nplease them, and if someone protested against this usage, they\ncondemned him to receive one hundred blows with a cane. Land-lords\nand their employees still consider the sacrifice of virginal honor\nto their lust a matter of course, not only in Germany, but in the\nentire southern and south eastern portion of Europe, as is asserted\nby those who are acquainted with the land and the people.\n\nDuring feudalism it was in the interest of the feudal lord that\nhis serfs should become married, for the children became his serfs\nalso, adding to the number of his workers and increasing his income.\nTherefore both worldly and spiritual masters encouraged marriage\namong their subjects. The question assumed a different aspect tho\nas far as the church was concerned, when an unmarried person was\nlikely to will his property to the church. But this only applied to\nfree men of low estate, whose conditions grew steadily worse as a\nresult of the conditions described herein, and who gave over their\npossessions to the church to seek protection and peace within the\nwalls of the monasteries. Others again placed themselves under the\nprotection of the church by paying a tax or by rendering services.\nBut in this way the fate they had sought to escape frequently befell\ntheir descendants; they gradually came into bondage or were made\nnovices for the monasteries.\n\n[32] History of the abolition of serfdom in Europe until the middle\nof the nineteenth century.\n\n\n3.--The Rise of Cities.--Monastic Affairs.--Prostitution.\n\nThe cities which had begun to flourish with the eleventh century,\nfavored the increase of population in their own interest by\nfacilitating residence and marriage. They became places of refuge\nto the rural population seeking to escape unbearable oppression,\nand to fugitive serfs. But at a later day these conditions changed\nagain. As soon as the cities had obtained power, and a class of\nmechanics in comfortable circumstances had come into existence,\na feeling of hostility manifested itself against new-comers who\ntried to settle down as mechanics, since they were regarded as\nundesirable competitors. Barriers were erected against the new-comers;\nheavy taxes were levied upon them if they would obtain the right\nof residence and become qualified as master-workmen. Trades were\nlimited to a certain number of master-workmen and their journeymen,\nthereby forcing thousands into a condition of servitude, celibacy\nand vagabondage. When during the sixteenth century the cities began\nto decline,--owing to conditions that will be discussed later\non,--it was quite in keeping with the narrow views of the time that\nresidence and the right to independently practice a trade were made\nstill more difficult. The tyranny of the feudal lords constantly\nincreased, until many of their subjects preferred to abandon their\nmiserable lives for the freer life of beggar, tramp or robber, the\nlatter being favored by the large forests and the poor condition of\nthe highways, or, making the most of the numerous warfares of the\ntime, they became mercenary soldiers, selling their services wherever\nthe pay was highest and the booty most promising. Male and female\nrabble flooded the country, becoming a public nuisance. The church\nhelped to increase the general depravity. The forced celibacy of the\nclergy alone led to sexual debauchery, and this was still heightened\nby the constant association with Italy and Rome.\n\nRome was not only the capital of Christianity, being the residence\nof the popes, it was also, true to its traditions under the heathen\nemperors, a new Babel, the European high-school of immorality, and\nthe papal court was its most distinguished center. The Roman empire\nat its dissolution had left to Christian Europe all its vices. These\nwere cultivated in Rome and from there penetrated into Germany,\nfavored by association of the clergy with Rome. The numerous\nclergy, consisting to a great extent of men whose sexual desires\nwere increased to the utmost by a lazy and luxurious life, and whom\nenforced celibacy drove to illegitimate or unnatural satisfaction\nof their desires, transmitted this immorality to all strata of\nsociety. The clergy became a pestilential danger to the virtue of\nwomen in cities and villages. Monasteries and nunneries,--and there\nwere countless numbers of them,--frequently differed from public\nbrothels only inasmuch as life within them was still more licentious\nand dissolute. Crimes, especially infanticide, were frequently\ncommitted there with impunity, because only those were permitted to\npass judgment who were more often than not connected with the crimes.\nSometimes peasants tried to protect their wives and daughters from\nbeing seduced by clergymen, by refusing to accept as pastor any one\nwho would not consent to keeping a concubine. This circumstance led\na bishop of Constance to impose a concubine tax upon the clergy of\nhis diocese. Such conditions explain the historically authenticated\nfact, that during the medi\u00e6val age described by one writer of romance\nas a pious and virtuous age, for instance in 1414, at the council\nof Constance, no less than 1500 prostitutes were present.\n\nBut these conditions by no means made their appearance only at the\ndecline of the middle age. They appeared at an early date and gave\ncause for constant complaints and ordinances. Thus Charlemagne issued\nan ordinance in the year 802, in which it says: \u201cthe nunneries shall\nbe closely guarded. The nuns shall not roam about but shall be\ncarefully watched, neither shall they live in discord and quarrels\nwith one another, and under no circumstances shall they disobey\ntheir mothers superior. Where they have monastic rules they shall\nabsolutely abide by them. They shall not be given to covetousness,\ndrunkenness and prostitution, but shall lead a just and temperate\nlife. Neither shall any man enter their convent except to attend\nmass, and then he shall immediately depart again.\u201d Another ordinance\nof the year 869 declared: \u201cif priests keep ~several~ wives or shed\nthe blood of Christians or heathens, or break the canonical law, they\nshall be divested of their priesthood because they are worse than\nthe laity.\u201d The fact that in those days the priests were forbidden\nto have several wives, shows that in the ninth century polygamy\nwas not rare. Indeed there were no laws forbidding it. Even later,\nat the time of the minnesingers, during the twelfth and thirteenth\ncenturies, it was not considered objectionable to have several wives.\nIn a poem by Albrecht of Johansdorf in the collection \u201cLove-songs\u2019\nSpringtime,\u201d we find the following stanza:[33]\n\nParticularly detrimental to the moral condition of the age were the\ncrusades, that kept tens of thousands of men away from their homes\nfor years, and led them to become acquainted with customs in the\nEastern Roman empire that had until then been unknown in Western\nEurope. The position of women became especially unfavorable, not\nonly as a result of the many hindrances to marriage and permanent\nresidence, but also because their numbers by far exceeded the male\npopulation. The chief cause of this was the numerous wars and the fact\nthat commercial traveling in those days was a dangerous undertaking.\nMoreover the death rate among men was higher than among women, as a\nresult of their intemperate living, which was especially manifested\nduring the plague that frequently ravaged the population in the\nmiddle age. Thus there were 32 plague years in the period from 1326\nto 1400; 41 from 1400 to 1500, and 30 from 1500 to 1600.[34]\n\nHosts of women roamed about on the highways as musicians, dancers,\nmagicians, in the company of wandering scholastics and priests, and\nflooded the markets and fairs. They formed special divisions in the\ntroops of foot-soldiers where they were organized in guilds according\nto the spirit of the age, and were assigned to the different ranks\naccording to age and beauty. By severe penalty they were forbidden\nto yield to any man outside of the prescribed circle. In the camp\nthey had to help the baggage-carriers to gather in hay, straw and\nwood, to fill up holes and ditches and to clean the camp. During\nsieges it was their task to fill up the ditches with brushwood,\nbranches and tufts of grass to facilitate the attack; they helped to\nplace the guns in position and to drag them along when they became\nstuck in the muddy roads.[35] To give some relief to these numerous\nhelpless women, so called beguinages, that were maintained by the\nmunicipality, were erected in many cities from the middle of the\nthirteenth century on. Here the women were given homes and were\nencouraged to lead decent lives. But neither their institutions nor\nthe nunneries could shelter all those who sought help and protection.\n\nThe hindrances to marriage, the journeys of noblemen and other worldly\nand spiritual lords who came into the cities with their hosts of\nknights and attendants, the young men within the cities and, last\nbut not least, the married men who were not troubled much by moral\nscruples but believed that variety was the spice of life,--all these\ncreated a demand for prostitutes in the medieval towns. As every trade\nin those days was organized into guilds and submitted to definite\nregulations, so also was prostitution. In all the larger cities\nbrothels were maintained that were municipal, state or church property\nand whose profits went to fill these respective treasuries. The women\nin these houses had a senior-mistress elected by themselves, whose\nduty it was to maintain order and who was especially charged with the\ntask of seeing to it that no competitors outside of the guild harmed\nthe legitimate trade. If such competitors were caught, they had to\npay a legal fine. Thus the inhabitants of a brothel in Nuremberg\ncomplained to the magistrate about the competition of women who were\nnot members of their guild: \u201cthat other keepers also maintain women\nwho go upon the streets at night and harbour married men and others,\nand who ply their trade in a much coarser way, and that such were a\ndisgrace and should not be permitted in this praiseworthy town.\u201d[36]\nThe brothels enjoyed special protection; breach of the peace in their\nvicinity was punished more severely than elsewhere. This female guild\nwas also entitled to appear at festivals and in processions in which\nit was customary for all the guilds to participate. They were even\nsometimes invited as guests to princely and official banquets. The\nbrothels were considered desirable \u201cfor the protection of married\nwomen and the honor of virgins.\u201d This was the same argument which\nwas resorted to in order to justify the maintenance of brothels by\nthe state in Athens. Nevertheless barbarous persecutions of the\nprostitutes were met with, that came from the same men whose demand\nand whose money maintained the prostitutes. Thus Charlemagne decreed\nthat a prostitute should be brought nude upon the market place and\nbe flogged there. He himself, the \u201cmost Christian\u201d king and emperor\nhad no less than six wives simultaneously. His daughters, evidently\nfollowing their father\u2019s example, were not models of virtue either.\nTheir mode of life gave him many unpleasant hours, and they brought\nseveral illegitimate children into his house. Alkuin, a friend and\nadvisor to Charlemagne, warned his pupils of \u201cthe crowned doves who\nfly thru the Palatinate at night,\u201d meaning the emperor\u2019s daughters.\n\nThe same communities that officially organized and protected the\nbrothels and granted all sorts of privileges to the prostitutes\ninflicted the hardest and most cruel punishments upon a poor forsaken\ngirl who had gone wrong. The infanticide who, driven to despair, had\nkilled her own offspring was subjected to cruel death, while no one\nbothered about the unscrupulous seducer. Perhaps he sat among the\njudges who pronounced the death sentence on the unfortunate victim.\nThe same is possible still.[37] Adultery of wives was also severely\npunished; to be put in the pillory was the least she might expect.\nBut adultery of husbands was concealed by the cloak of Christian\nforbearance.\n\nIn Wuerzburg it was customary for the brothel-keeper to take an oath\nbefore the magistrate, pledging faith and allegiance to the city and\nthat he would diligently enlist women. Similar oaths were taken in\nNuremberg, Ulm, Leipsic, Cologne, Frankfort, and others. In Ulm the\nbrothels were abolished in 1537; but in 1551, the guilds moved to\nreinstate them \u201cto avoid a worse state of affairs.\u201d When strangers\nof note visited a city, prostitutes were placed at their disposal\nat the city\u2019s expense. When King Ladislaus entered Vienna in 1452,\nthe magistrate sent a committee of public prostitutes to meet him,\nclad in transparant gauze that disclosed their beautiful shapes.\nEmperor Charles V, upon entering Antwerp, was also received by a\ncommittee of nude girls, a historic scene that Hans Makart depicted\nin a large painting which is now on exhibition in the museum at\nHamburg. Such occurrences created no scandal in those days.\n\n[33]\n\n Would he not be fickle\n Who would choose to have a second wife\n Beside his virtuous one? Speak, Sir, would you?--\n Let it to men be granted but to women not!\n\n[34] Dr. Charles Buecher: \u201cThe Woman Question in Medi\u00e6val Times.\u201d\n\n[35] Dr. Charles Buecher: \u201cThe Woman Question in Medieval Times.\u201d\n\n[36] Joh. Scherr, History of the German Woman, 4th ed. Leipsic, 1879.\n\n[37] Leon Richter in \u201cLa femme libre\u201d reports a case where a servant\ngirl was convicted of infanticide by the father of her child, a pious\nlawyer, who was a member of the court. After the girl\u2019s conviction\nit became known that the lawyer himself was the murderer and that\nshe was innocent.\n\n\n4.--Knighthood and the Veneration of Women.\n\nPhantastic writers of romance and scheming persons have endeavored\nto depict the medi\u00e6val age as an especially virtuous one, and as\none imbued with a profound veneration of women. The time of the\nminnesingers, from the twelfth to the fourteenth century, is dwelt\nupon to furnish proof to this assertion. The poetic courtship of\nthe knights, that was first introduced by the Moriscos in Spain, is\nsupposed to prove that women were highly honored at that time. But\nlet a few facts be remembered. Firstly, the knights only constituted\na very small portion of the population, and in the same way their\nladies constituted a small portion of the women. Secondly, only a\nvery limited number of the knights practiced this knightly courtship;\nand thirdly, the true nature of this custom has been considerably\nmisunderstood or distorted. The time when knighthood was in flower,\nwas the age of the rule of brute force in Germany; it was the age\nin which all bonds of law and order were broken, and the knights\npracticed extortion, plundering and highway-robbery without restraint.\nSuch an age of brute force is not one in which mild and poetic\nsentiments predominate. On the contrary. This age was destined\nto shatter the respect for the female sex that might still have\nremained. The knights, in the country as well as in the towns, were\nmostly coarse, brutal fellows, whose chief passion, besides warfare\nand excessive drinking, was the unrestricted satisfaction of their\nsexual desires. The chroniclers of that time tell of incessant acts\nof violence and ravishment committed by the nobility of town and\ncountry, who controlled the municipal governments throughout the\nthirteenth, fourteenth and into the fifteenth centuries. Because\nthe knights conducted the courts in the towns, and the feudal lords\npassed judgment in the rural districts, the injured persons rarely\nobtained redress of their grievances. It is a great exaggeration\nthen to assume that their customs of courtship caused the ancient\nnobility to treat women with special respect and to regard them as\nsuperior beings.\n\nA small minority of the knights seem to have been enthusiastic over\nfeminine beauty, but their enthusiasm was by no means platonic but\npursued very material aims. Even that clown among the romantic\nadmirers \u201cof lovely women,\u201d Ulrick of Lichtenstein of ridiculous\nmemory, was a platonic lover only so long as he was compelled to\nbe. In the main, this romantic worship of woman was nothing but\ndeification of the mistress at the expense of the legitimate wife;\nit was nothing but courtesanship, as it has existed in Greece at the\ntime of Pericles, transplanted into medieval Christianity. The mutual\nseduction of wives was frequently practiced among the knights also,\nas it is still practiced in certain circles of our bourgeoisie.\n\nThe open manifestation of sensuality, characteristic of that age,\nconstituted a frank recognition of the fact that the natural desires\nimplanted in every healthy, adult human being rightfully seek\nsatisfaction. In that respect it expressed a victory of healthy\nnature over the ascetic teachings of Christianity. But on the other\nhand it must again be emphasized, that this recognition came into\nconsideration for the one sex only, while the other sex was treated\non the assumption that it could not and dare not have the same\nimpulses. The slightest transgression by women of the moral laws\nlaid down for them by men, was punished with unmerciful severity.\nWomen, as a result of constant oppression and a singular education,\nhave become so accustomed to the conception of their rulers, that\nthey still consider this condition quite natural. Were there not\nalso millions of slaves who considered slavery a natural condition\nand who would never have liberated themselves had not the liberators\nsprung from the slave owning class? When Prussian peasants were to\nbe emancipated from serfdom, they petitioned the government not to\nemancipate them, \u201cfor who should provide for them when they were aged\nor ill?\u201d And do we not meet with the same situation in the modern\nlabor movement? How many workingmen still permit their exploiters\nto influence them and lead them at will!\n\nThe oppressed needs some one to animate and inspire him, because he\nlacks the initiative for independence. It was thus in the present\nday movement of the proletariat, and it is the same in the struggle\nfor the emancipation of women. Even the bourgeoisie, that enjoyed a\nrelatively more favorable position in its struggle for independence,\nfound its leaders and spokesmen among the nobility and clergy.\n\nWhatever the shortcomings of the middle ages may have been, it\npossessed a healthy sensuality which sprang from the strong, buoyant\nnature of the people, and which Christianity could not suppress.\nThe hypocritical prudery and concealed lasciviousness of our day,\nthat fears to call a spade a spade and to speak of natural things\nin a natural way, was foreign to that age. Neither was it familiar\nwith that piquant ambiguity to which we resort in speaking of what\nwe dare not name, because to be prudish and unnatural has become\ncustomary with us, and which is all the more dangerous because such\nlanguage allures, but does not satisfy, allows us to surmise but does\nnot express clearly. Our social conversations, our novels and our\ntheaters abound with these piquant ambiguities, and their effect is\nmanifested. This spiritualism of the rou\u00e9, concealed by religious\nspiritualism, has a powerful influence.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nThe Reformation.\n\n\n1.--Luther.\n\nThe healthy sensuality of the middle ages found its classic exponent\nin Luther. We are here not so much concerned with the religious\nreformer, but with Luther, the man. In regard to all human relations,\nLuther\u2019s strong, unsophisticated nature clearly manifested itself,\nand caused him to express freely and without reserve his desire for\nlove and enjoyment. His position as a former Roman clergyman had\nopened his eyes and had taught him from experience how contrary to\nall the laws of nature were the lives of monks and nuns. Therefore\nhe roundly condemned the celibacy of priests and monks. Luther\nsays: \u201cUnless specially endowed by a rare, divine grace, a woman\ncan no more dispense with a man, than she can dispense with food,\ndrink, sleep and other natural needs. In the same way a man cannot\ndo without a woman. The cause is that the desire to propagate the\nrace is as deeply implanted by nature as the desire for food and\ndrink. Therefore God has given unto the human body limbs, veins,\ncirculation and all that serves this end. He who opposes this, and\nwill not let nature take her course, what does he do but seek to\nprevent nature from being nature, fire from burning, water from\nmoistening, human beings from eating, drinking and sleeping?\u201d In his\nsermon on marriage, he says: \u201cJust as it is not within my power not\nto be a man, so it is not in thy power to do without a man, for it\nis not free will or advice but a natural necessity that every man\nmust have a woman and that every woman must have a man.\u201d But Luther\ndoes not only express himself so strongly in favor of marriage and\nthe necessity of sexual relations, he also expresses himself as\nopposed to it that the church and marriage should have anything in\ncommon. He says in regard to this: \u201cKnow that marriage is something\nextrinsic as any other worldly action. As I may eat, drink, sleep,\nwalk, ride and deal with any heathen, Jew, Turk or heretic, ~so to\none of these I may also become and remain married. Do not observe\nthe laws of fools that forbid such marriages.~... Heathens are men\nand women, well and wisely created by God, just as well as St. Peter\nand St. Paul and St. Luke, not to speak of any false and wanton\nChristian.\u201d Luther furthermore, like other reformers, opposed all\nrestrictions to marriage, and favored permitting divorcees to marry,\nwhich was opposed by the church. He says: \u201cin regard to matters of\nmarriage and divorce among us I say, ~let the jurists dispose of\nthem, and let them be subject to worldly rule, since matrimony is a\nworldly, extrinsic thing~.\u201d In accordance with this view, it was not\nuntil the end of the seventeenth century that a religious ceremony\nwas considered essential to a legal marriage among Protestants. Until\nthen the so called conscience marriage sufficed, that is, a marriage\nfounded upon the mutual agreement to regard one another as husband and\nwife and to live in matrimonial relations with one another. According\nto German law such marriages were legal. Luther even went so far as\nto adjudge to the unsatisfied party in a marriage contract--even if\nthe party were the woman--the right to seek satisfaction outside\nof marriage, \u201cin order to do justice to nature that can not be\nresisted.\u201d[38] In this matter Luther sets forth opinions that would\nrouse many of our present day respectable men and women, who always\npoint to Luther in their pious zeal, to vehement indignation. In\nhis treatise \u201con married life,\u201d II, 146, Jena 1522, he says: \u201cif a\nhealthy woman is joined in wedlock to an impotent man and could not\nnor would for her honor\u2019s sake openly choose another, she should\nspeak to her husband thus: See, my dear husband, thou hast deceived\nme and my young body and endangered my honor and salvation, before\nGod there is no honor between us. Suffer that I maintain a secret\nmarriage with thy brother or closest friend while thou remainest my\nhusband in name. That thy property may not fall heir to strangers;\nwillingly be deceived by me as you have unwillingly deceived me.\u201d It\nshould be the husband\u2019s duty, Luther goes on to say, to consent to\nsuch arrangement. \u201cIf he will not she has the right to abandon him\nand go into another country and marry another man. In the same way\nif a woman will not perform her conjugal duty, the man has the right\nto seek another woman; only he should first tell his wife.\u201d[39] We\nsee, the opinions set forth by the great reformer are very radical\nand even immoral, when viewed in the light of our age, abounding\nwith prudery and hypocrisy. But Luther only expressed the popular\nconceptions of his age. The following is told by Jacob Grimm: \u201cIf\na man cannot satisfy his wedded wife, let him take her gently upon\nhis back and carry her to his neighbors. There let him set her down\nsoftly, without anger or rudeness but upon mutual agreement, and\nlet him appeal to his neighbors to help his wife in her need. If\nthey will not or can not, then let him send her to the nearest fair.\nThere shall she appear, becomingly dressed and adorned, wearing a\ngold embroidered veil as a token that she may be wooed. If after\nall she returns from the fair still unsatisfied, then may the devil\nhelp her!\u201d\n\nThe peasant of the middle age primarily sought marriage for the\npurpose of having heirs, and if he was unable to beget them himself,\nbeing a practical man, he left this pleasure to another without\nhaving particular moral scruples about it. The main object was to\nattain his purpose. We repeat: Man does not control his property,\nhe is controlled by it.\n\nThe above quotations from the writings and sermons of Luther are of\nspecial importance because the views in regard to marriage expressed\nin them are diametrically opposed to those maintained by the church\nto-day. Luther and the other reformers went still further in matters\npertaining to marriage but, it must be admitted, for opportunistic\nreasons, in order to please such sovereigns whose lasting support\nand good will they sought to win and to maintain. The landgrave of\nHessia, Philip I, who was in sympathy with the reformation, had a\nlegal wife, but fell in love with another woman who refused to yield\nto his entreaties unless he would marry her. It was a delicate\ncase. To become divorced from his wife without good and sufficient\nreason would imply a great scandal; to be married to two women\nsimultaneously was a shocking occurrence with a Christian sovereign of\nthe newer era, bound to create a still greater scandal. Nevertheless\namorous Philip chose the latter alternative. It only was necessary\nto determine that this step was not in opposition to the teachings\nof the Bible, and to obtain the consent of the reformers, especially\nLuther and Melanchton. The landgrave then opened negotiations with\nButzer, who consented to the plan and promised to win Luther and\nMelanchton. Butzer explained his view by pointing out that to have\nseveral wives simultaneously was not in conflict with the gospel,\nsince Paul, who had mentioned many who shall not inherit the kingdom\nof God, had said nothing about those who have two wives. Paul had\ndecreed that a bishop and his servants should not have more than one\nwife. If it had been necessary that no man should have more than one\nwife, he would have stated this and would have forbidden polygamy.\nLuther and Melanchton declared themselves in accordance with these\nviews and consented to the double marriage, after the landgrave\u2019s\nwife had also given her consent under the condition \u201cthat he should\nperform his conjugal duty toward her even more than heretofore.\u201d[40]\nLuther had been previously troubled by the question whether bigamy\nwas permissible when asked to give his consent to the double marriage\nof Henry VIII of England. That can be seen from a letter which he\nwrote to the Saxon chancellor Brink in January 1524. In this letter\nhe wrote that on principle he, Luther, could not object to bigamy\nsince it was not in conflict with the Holy Scripture,[41] but that\nhe considered it offensive when occurring among Christians, for\nthere were some things from which Christians should refrain even\nif they were not forbidden. After the marriage of the landgrave,\nwhich actually took place during March 1540, he wrote (April 10) in\nreply to a letter of appreciation from him: \u201cI am glad that Your\nGrace is pleased by the advice we have given; but we should prefer\nto have secrecy maintained. Otherwise the coarse peasants, seeking\nto follow the example set by the landgrave, might present the same\nor even better causes, which would give us no end of trouble.\u201d\n\nMelanchton probably had fewer scruples in giving his consent to the\ndouble marriage of the landgrave, for he had previously written to\nHenry VIII, that every sovereign was entitled to introduce polygamy\nin his realm. But the double marriage of the landgrave caused so much\nunpleasant notoriety in his country, that in 1541 he had a pamphlet\ndistributed in which polygamy was defended on the ground that it was\nnot in opposition to the Holy Scripture. But conceptions had been\ngreatly modified since the ninth or twelfth century when polygamy\nwas accepted without averse criticism. The double marriage of the\nlandgrave of Hessia was however not the only one that gave offense\nto wide circles. Such princely double marriages were repeated both\nin the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as will be shown.\n\nWhen Luther declared the satisfaction of sensual desire to be a law\nof nature, he only expressed what his contemporaries thought and what\nthe men claimed as their privilege. By the reformation, which did\naway with the celibacy of the clergy and abolished the monasteries\nin the Protestant countries, he gave to hundreds of thousands of\nmen and women the possibility to seek legitimate satisfaction of\ntheir natural desires. Hundreds of thousands of others, of course,\nremained excluded from this possibility by the existing forms of\nproperty and the laws founded upon them.\n\nThe reformation was the protest of the rising bourgeoisie against\nthe constraint of feudal conditions in church, state and society.\nThis rising bourgeoisie struggled for liberation from the narrow\nbonds of the guild, the court and the papal anathema; it strove for\ncentralization of the powers of the state, simplification of the\nextravagant church affairs, and the abolition of the numerous abodes\nof idle persons, the monasteries.\n\nLuther represented these endeavors of the bourgeoisie upon the\nreligious field. When he stood for the freedom of marriage, it was\nthe bourgeois marriage that was realized only in our day by the civil\nmarriage laws, and the freedom of migration and freedom of choice\nin trade and domicile. We will see to what extent the position of\nwoman was modified by these changes. During the reformation this\nchange of development had not yet been reached. While on the one\nhand the reformation made marriage possible for many people, on the\nother hand free sexual intercourse was subjected to the most bitter\npersecution. While the Catholic clergy had maintained a certain\ntolerance toward sexual excess, the Protestant clergy, having been\nprovided for itself, declaimed against it with redoubled zeal.\nWar was waged against the public brothels that were declared to\nbe the devil\u2019s dens. Prostitutes were persecuted as daughters of\nSatan, and every woman who had \u201cfallen\u201d was considered a paragon of\nwickedness and was subjected to relentless persecution. The merry,\nlife loving townsman of the middle ages became a bigoted, austere,\nsombre philistine, who lived miserly that his later day bourgeois\ndescendants might live all the more extravagantly. The honorable\ncitizen with his stiff cravat, his narrow intellectual horizon, his\nsevere but hypocritical morality, became the prototype of society.\nLegitimate wives who had not favored the sensuality tolerated by\nthe Catholicism of the middle ages, were generally better pleased\nby the Puritan spirit of Protestantism. But other causes that had\nan unfavorable influence on conditions in Germany generally, also\ninfluenced the position of women unfavorably.\n\n[38] Dr. Carl Hagen--Germany\u2019s Literary and Religious Conditions\nduring the Reformation.\n\n[39] Dr. Carl Hagen.\n\n[40] John Janssen--History of the German People.\n\n[41] This is true and can be explained from the fact that the Bible had\nits origin at a time when polygamy prevailed both among the Eastern\nand Western people; but in the sixteenth century it nevertheless\nwas in direct opposition to custom.\n\n\n2.--Results of the Reformation.--The Thirty Years\u2019 War.\n\nTransformations in the conditions of production, exchange and finance,\nthat were brought about especially by the discovery of America, and\nthe discovery of the passage to India, resulted in a great social\nreaction for Germany. Germany ceased to be the center of European\ncommerce. The German trades and manufactures declined. At the same\ntime the religious reformation had destroyed the political unity of\nthe nation. Under the cloak of the reformation, the German princes\nsought to emancipate themselves from imperial rule. On the other\nhand, these princes oppressed the nobility and favored the cities\nto serve their own ends. Some of the cities voluntarily placed\nthemselves under the rule of the princes, driven to this step by\nconditions that were steadily growing worse. The bourgeoisie upon\nseeing their income threatened, tried to make the restrictions that\nwere intended to guard them against undesirable competition more and\nmore rigorous, and the princes willingly conceded their demands. The\nossification of conditions increased, but the general impoverishment\nincreased likewise.\n\nAnother result of the reformation were the religious struggles and\npersecutions--used by the princes to serve their own political and\neconomic ends--that raged in Germany with some interruptions for\nover a century, and finally ended with its complete exhaustion at\nthe end of the Thirty Years\u2019 War. Germany had become a vast field of\ncorpses and ruins. Entire countries and provinces had been devastated,\nhundreds of cities and thousands of villages partly or completely\ndestroyed, and many of them had been wiped from the surface of the\nearth forever. In many places the population had been reduced to a\nthird, a fourth, a fifth, even an eighth or a tenth of its original\nnumber. Such was the case in Nuremberg, and in the entire Franconian\nprovince. In this utmost need, in order to increase the population\nin the depopulated towns and villages, the unusual measure was\noccasionally resorted to of permitting one man to have two wives. Men\nhad been decimated by the wars, but there was a superabundance of\nwomen. On the 14th of February 1650, the Franconian district council\nat Nuremberg decreed that \u201cmen under 60 should not be admitted into\nmonasteries\u201d; it furthermore decreed that \u201cthose clergymen who were\nnot members of an order should become married.\u201d Moreover, \u201cevery\nman should be permitted to wed two wives, but the men should be\nfrequently reminded and exhorted from the pulpits to employ good\njudgment and discretion, that a married man who ventured to maintain\ntwo wives should not only provide well for both of them, but should\nalso endeavor to avoid ill feeling between them.\u201d So even the pulpits\nwere employed to make propaganda for the double marriage and to lay\ndown rules of conduct for the men.\n\nCommerce and industry almost came to a standstill during this long\nperiod; in many instances they were almost completely destroyed and\npicked up but very gradually. A large portion of the population had\nbecome demoralized and brutalized and disaccustomed to all regular\nwork. During the wars, troops of mercenary soldiers had crossed\nGermany from one end to the other, plundering, destroying, ravishing\nand murdering, a terror alike to friend and foe. After the wars\ncountless numbers of beggars, robbers and vagabonds maintained the\npopulation in constant terror and made commerce and all traffic\ndifficult or impossible. To the female sex especially it was a time\nof great suffering. In this period of dissoluteness the contempt\nof woman had increased to the utmost, and the general condition of\nunemployment weighed most heavily upon her shoulders. Like the male\nvagabonds, thousands of women populated the highways and forests\nand filled the alms-houses and prisons. All these sufferings were\nstill increased by the forcible expulsion of numerous peasant\nfamilies by the greedy nobility. Since the reformation the nobility\nhad become more and more subjected to princely rule, and by holding\ncourt and military positions their dependence on the princes had\nconstantly increased. Now they tried to reimburse themselves for\nthe losses sustained through the princes by robbing the peasants.\nTo the princes, on the other hand, the reformation offered the\ndesired excuse to acquire the property of the church, which they\nproceeded to do on a large scale. Prince August of Saxony, for\ninstance, had, at the end of the sixteenth century, acquired no\nless than 300 ecclesiastical estates.[42] His brothers and cousins,\nthe other Protestant sovereigns, above all those of the House of\nHohenzollern, did likewise. The nobility followed their example by\nappropriating the remaining communal property, and by driving both\nfree peasants and serfs from hearth and home and taking possession of\ntheir estates. The unsuccessful peasant revolts during the sixteenth\ncentury gave them the desired pretext for such action, and after the\nattempt had once succeeded, new pretexts were constantly found to\ncontinue this forcible method. Various schemes and distortions of\njustice were resorted to, made easy by the Roman law which had been\nestablished in Germany in the meantime, to increase the property of\nthe nobility by forcing the peasants to sell theirs at lowest prices,\nor by simply expropriating them. Entire villages and the farms of\nentire districts were usurped in this manner. To quote just a few\nexamples: Of 12,543 knightly peasant estates which still existed\nin the province of Mecklenburg during the Thirty Years\u2019 War, only\n1,213 remained in the year 1848. In the province of Pomerania 12,000\nfarms were abandoned since 1628. The transformations in the methods\nof farming that took place during the seventeenth century gave a\nfurther impulse to the nobility to expropriate the peasants and to\ntransform the last remnants of communal property into their private\nestates. The rotation of crops had been introduced, which provided\nfor changes in the cultivation of the soil in definite periods of\ntime. Tilled land was occasionally transformed into pasture which\nfavored cattle-breeding and made it possible to diminish the number\nof workers.\n\nIn the cities conditions were not much better than in the country.\nFormerly women had been permitted to acquire the title of\nmaster-workman and to employ journeymen and apprentices without any\nopposition from the male craftsmen. They were even compelled to join\nthe guilds to force them to meet the same conditions of competition.\nSo there were independent women workers among the linen-weavers, the\ncloth-weavers, the carpet-weavers and tailors. There were female\ngold-smiths, girdle-makers, harness-makers, etc. We find women employed\nas furriers in Frankfort and the Silesian cities; as bakers in the\ncities along the Rhine; as girdle-makers and embroiders of coats\nof arms in Cologne and Strassburg; as harness-makers in Bremen; as\ncloth-shearers in Frankfort as tanners in Nuremberg; as gold-smiths\nin Cologne.[43] But as the circumstances of the craftsmen grew more\nand more unfavorable, a sentiment of ill will against the female\ncompetitors arose. In France, women were excluded from the trades\nat the close of the fourteenth century; in Germany, not until the\nclose of the seventeenth century. At first they were forbidden to\nbecome master-workmen--with the exception of widows--later on they\nwere also excluded from becoming assistants. Protestantism, by\nabolishing the ostentatious Catholic cult, had seriously injured or\nentirely destroyed a number of artistic crafts, and these were the\nvery crafts in which many women had been employed. The confiscation\nand secularization of church property resulted in a decline of\ncharitable work, and widows and orphans were the main sufferers.\n\nThe general economic decline that manifested itself during the\nsixteenth century, as a result of all the enumerated causes, and\nlasted through the seventeenth century, caused the marriage laws\nto become more and more severe. Journeymen and people employed in\nmenial service (men and maid servants) were prohibited entirely\nfrom marrying, unless they could prove that there was no danger of\ntheir future families becoming a burden to the community in which\nthey lived. Marriages contracted in opposition to the legal premises\nwere punished frequently severely, sometimes barbarously. According\nto Bavarian law, for instance, the penalties were imprisonment and\npublic flogging. Illegal marriages, that became more frequent as\nthe marriage laws became more severe, were subjected to especially\nviolent persecution. All minds were ruled by the prevailing fear of\nover-population, and to diminish the numbers of beggars and vagabonds,\nthe various rulers enacted one law upon another, and each was more\nsevere than the preceding one.\n\n[42] John Janssen--History of the German People.\n\n[43] Dr. Carl Buecher--The Woman Question in the Middle Age.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nThe Eighteenth Century.\n\n\n1.--Court Life in Germany.\n\nFollowing the example set by Louis XIV. of France, most of the\nprincely courts, that were very numerous in Germany in those days,\nindulged in an extravagance of outward display, especially in the\nmaintenance of concubines, that were in no relation to the size and\nproductiveness of their small domains. The history of the courts of\nthe eighteenth century constitutes one of the ugliest chapters of\nhistory. One ruler tried to excel the other in hollow conceit, mad\nextravagance and costly military sport. But it was especially in the\naffairs with their courtesans that the wildest excesses were indulged\nin. It is hard to tell which of the many German courts excelled in\nthis extravagant mode of living that had a corrupting influence on\npublic life. It was one to-day and another to-morrow. None of the\nGerman states were spared this disgrace. The nobility imitated the\nsovereigns and in the capitals the bourgeoisie imitated the nobility.\nIf the daughter of a bourgeois family was fortunate enough to please\none of the gentlemen of the court or His Serene Highness himself, in\nnineteen cases out of twenty she considered herself highly favored,\nand the family willingly consented to her becoming a princely or royal\nconcubine. Among the families of the nobility the same was the case if\none of their daughters found favor with the sovereign. Wide circles\nwere dominated by an utter lack of character and modesty. It was\nworst of all in the two chief cities of Germany, Vienna and Berlin.\nAlthough during a great part of the century Vienna was ruled by Maria\nTheresa, known for her moral austerity, she was powerless against\nthe doings of the rich, profligate nobility and an eagerly imitative\nbourgeoisie. By establishing purity commissions, that resulted in an\nextensive system of espionage, she caused much bitterness and made\nherself ridiculous. The results amounted to nothing. In frivolous\nVienna during the second half of the eighteenth century, proverbs\nwere circulated like the following: \u201cone should love one\u2019s neighbor\nlike meself; that means, one should love one\u2019s neighbor\u2019s wife like\none\u2019s own\u201d; or, \u201cIf the wife turns to the right the husband may turn\nto the left; if she takes to herself a man servant, let him take a\nlady friend.\u201d How frivolously marriage and adultery were viewed at\nthat time, may be seen from a letter written by the poet Christian\nvon Kleist to his friend Gleim in 1751. It contains the following\npassage: \u201cI suppose you heard of the adventure of the landgrave\nHenry. He has sent his wife to his country seat and intends to get a\nseparation from her because he found her with the Prince of Holstein.\nThe margrave would have acted more wisely if he had kept the affair\nsecret instead of causing all Berlin and half of the world to speak\nof him. Besides, ~one should not judge a natural occurrence so\nseverely~, especially one who is not over virtuous himself. Disgust\nis bound to result in matrimony, and by their acquaintance with other\namiable persons ~all men and women are induced to be faithless. How\ncan we be punished for something we have been forced to do?~\u201d In\n1772 the British ambassador, Lord Malmesbury, wrote the following\nin regard to conditions in Berlin: \u201cmoral depravity prevails among\nboth sexes of all classes. To this is added a general insufficiency\nof means, due partly to the heavy taxes imposed by the king, and\npartly to the love of luxury introduced by his grandfather. The men\nlead a dissolute life notwithstanding their limited means, and the\nwomen are shameless harlots. They deliver themselves up to the one\nable to pay the highest price; modesty and true love are foreign to\nthem.\u201d\n\nThe worst conditions existed in Berlin during the rule of Frederick\nWilliam II. from 1786 to 1797. He set his people the worst possible\nexample. His court chaplain, Zoellner, even degraded himself by\nmarrying the king to his courtesan, Julie von Voss, although he had\nanother wife; and when she died soon after in childbirth, Zoellner\nagain consented to marry the king to another one of his courtesans,\nthe Countess Sophie von Doenhoff. Other rulers had set an equally bad\nexample at the beginning of the century. In July, 1706, Duke Louis of\nWurtemberg married, as an additional wife, his courtesan, Gravenitz,\nthe \u201ccorrupter of the country,\u201d as she is still called in Wurtemberg.\nHis cousin, Duke Leopold, still excelled him in profligacy, for he\nhad three wives simultaneously, two of which were sisters. Of his\nthirteen children he joined two in marriage. The doings of these\nsovereigns caused much comment among their subjects, but that was all.\nThe marriage of the Duke of Wurtemberg with Graevenitz was annulled\nby imperial intervention. But she entered into a mock marriage with\na profligate count, and thereupon remained for twenty years more\nthe duke\u2019s concubine and the \u201ccorrupter of the country.\u201d\n\n\n2.--Commercialism and the New Marriage Laws.\n\nThe increasing power of sovereigns and the formation of larger states\nhad led to the institution of standing armies. These standing armies\nand the extravagant mode of life indulged in at most of the courts,\ncould not be maintained without heavy taxation, and to make such\ntaxation possible a large, taxable population was required. Therefore\ngovernments from the eighteenth century on, especially those of the\nlarger states, adopted measures for increasing the population and\nfor heightening the taxability of the inhabitants. The foundation\nfor such measures had been established by the social and economic\ntransformations referred to above, i. e., the discovery of America,\nthe discovery of the passage to India, and the circumnavigation\nof Africa. This transformation first manifested itself in Western\nEurope, but later in Germany also. The newly opened thoroughfare\nhad created new commercial relations of an extent undreamt of until\nthen. Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands and England were the first\nto profit by the transformation; but France and eventually Germany\nalso were benefited by it. Of all these countries Germany was most\nretarded in development, as a result of the numerous religious wars\nand its political disunity. The establishment of a world market and\nthe constant opening of new markets for the products of European\nindustry, not only revolutionized the methods of production, but\nalso revolutionized the views, sentiments and conceptions of the\nEuropean nations and their governments. The former mode of production,\ndestined to supply only the daily needs of a given center and its\nimmediate vicinity, was superseded by manufacture on a large scale,\nwhich implies the employment of a large number of workers and an\nincreased division of labor. The merchants possessing large financial\nresources and broadness of perception, became the leaders along these\nnew lines of industry that partly replaced and partly abolished the\nold handicrafts and put an end to their guild organization. Thereby a\nperiod had been ushered in which made it possible for woman to resume\nher industrial activity. The textile industries; cloth manufactury\nand the manufacture of laces opened up to her new fields of activity.\nAt the close of the eighteenth century we already find 100,000 women\nand 80,000 children employed in the textile and printing trades of\nEngland and Scotland, unfortunately under conditions, both in regard\nto wages and hours of work, that were simply appalling. Similar\nconditions prevailed in France at the same time, where also tens of\nthousands of women were employed in various manufactures.\n\nThis economic development demanded more people, and as the population\nhad been greatly diminished by the wars of conquest in Europe\nduring the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and by\nthe expeditions of discovery beyond the seas, the more advanced\ngovernments found it necessary to facilitate marriage and the right\nof settling. Spain, that by its imperialistic policy had become\ngreatly depopulated, was obliged as early as 1623 to pass a law\nexempting from taxes for a number of years all persons who became\nmarried between the ages of 18 and 25. Poor persons were even given\na dowry from public funds. Parents who had six or more male children\nwere entirely exempt from taxes. Spain also encouraged immigration\nand colonization.\n\nKing Louis XIV. of France, who had decimated his people by his\nnumerous wars, found it necessary to counteract this devastation\nby exempting from taxes for from four to five years all taxpayers,\nwho constituted a great majority of the population, if they became\nmarried before the twentieth or twenty-first year of age. Complete\nexemption from taxes was, furthermore, guaranteed to all who had ten\nliving children, provided that none of these had become a priest, a\nmonk or a nun. Noblemen having the same number of children, provided\nthat none of them had become priests, monks or nuns, received an\nannual pension of from 1,000 to 2,000 livres. Citizens not subject\nto taxation under the same conditions received one-half of this\namount. Marshal Maurice of Saxony even advised Louis XV. not to permit\nmarriages to be contracted for a longer period than five years.\n\nIn Prussia, by laws enacted in the years 1688, 1721, 1726 and\n1736, and by various government measures, endeavors were made to\nencourage immigration; especially were the immigrants welcomed who\nhad been subjected to religious persecution in France and Austria.\nThe theories in regard to population maintained by Frederick the\nGreat were expressed with brutal frankness in a letter written by\nhim to Voltaire on the 26th of August 1741. He wrote: \u201cI consider\nmen as a herd of deer in the deer park of some great lord, having\nno other task but to populate the park.\u201d By his wars he certainly\nmade it necessary to have his deer park repopulated. In Austria,\nWurtemberg and Brunswick immigration was also encouraged and there,\nas in Prussia, emigration was forbidden. Furthermore, in the course\nof the eighteenth century, England and France removed all obstacles\nto marriage and settlement, and other nations followed their example.\nDuring three-fourths of the eighteenth century political economists\nas well as the governments considered a large population the greatest\ngood fortune to the state. Only at the close of the eighteenth and\nthe beginning of the nineteenth century a reversion of opinion took\nplace. This was due to economic crises and to warlike and revolutionary\nevents, that continued during the first half of the nineteenth century,\nespecially in Germany and Austria. The age at which marriage was\npermitted was raised again, and proofs were required showing that the\ncontracting parties were assured of a certain amount of wealth or a\nsecure income, and could maintain a given standard of living. To\nthe destitute, marriage was made impossible, and the municipalities\nwere given a great influence in determining under what conditions\nmarriages might be contracted. Occasionally peasants were even\nforbidden to build their little homes, or compelled to tear them\ndown when they had been built without princely permission. Only in\nPrussia and Saxony the marriage laws remained comparatively liberal.\nSince human nature will not be suppressed, the result of all these\nhindrances to marriage was, that in spite of all the harassing and\npersecution, illicit relations greatly increased, and that in some\nGerman states the number of illegal children was almost as great as\nthat of the legal ones. Such was the fruit of a paternal government\nthat prided itself on its Christian morality.\n\n\n3.--The French Revolution and the Rise of Industry.\n\nIn those days the married woman of the middle class lived in severe\ndomestic retirement. The number of her domestic duties was so large,\nthat it was necessary for the conscientious housewife to be at her\npost from morning till night, and frequently she could accomplish\nall her tasks only with the aid of her daughters. It was necessary\nto perform not only those daily domestic tasks that are still\nperformed by the present-day housekeeper, but also many others from\nwhich modern woman has been freed by the industrial development.\nShe had to spin, weave and bleach, cut and sew all the garments,\nmanufacture tallow-candles and soap, and brew the beer. She was\nindeed a perfect Cinderella and her only relaxation was going to\nchurch on Sunday. Marriages were contracted only within the same\nsocial circle. A severe and ridiculous caste feeling dominated all\nsocial relations. The daughters were educated in the same spirit\nand were maintained in close domestic confinement. Their education\nwas insignificant, and their intellectual horizon did not extend\nbeyond the commonplace domestic relations. To this was added an empty\nsuperficial formality, that was supposed to make up for the lack of\nintellect and education, making woman\u2019s life a sheer treadmill. The\nspirit of the reformation had degenerated into the worst kind of\npedantry; the most natural human desires and the joy of life were\ncrushed beneath a mass of apparently dignified, but soul-killing\nrules of behavior. Emptiness and narrow-mindedness dominated the\nmiddle class, and the lower classes lived under a leaden pressure\nand in wretched conditions.\n\nThen came the French revolution. It swept away the old political and\nsocial order in France, and also wafted a breath of its spirit to\nGermany, that could not long be resisted. French rule especially had\na revolutionizing effect upon Germany; it swept away what was old\nand decrepit or, at least hastened its destruction. Though strenuous\nefforts were made during the reactionary period after 1815 to turn\nthe course of development backward, the new conceptions had become\ntoo powerful and were victorious in the end.\n\nGuild privileges, lack of personal freedom, market privileges and\nproscription were gradually laid on the shelf in the more advanced\nstates. New mechanical inventions and improvements, especially the\ninvention of the steam engine, and the resultant cheapening of\ncommodities, provided employment for the masses, including also the\nwomen. Capitalistic industry was born. Factories, railroads and\nsteamboats were built, mines and foundries, the manufacture of glass\nand china, the textile industry in its various branches, manufacture\nof tools and machinery, the building trades, etc., rapidly developed.\nUniversities and polytechnical institutes provided the intellectual\nforces required by this evolution. The new class that had come\ninto existence, the capitalist class, the bourgeoisie, supported\nby all those who favored progress, insisted upon the abolition of\nconditions that had become untenable. What had been shaken by the\nrevolution from below during the movement of 1848 and 1849, was\nfinally abolished by the revolution from above in 1866. Political\nunity, according to the desire of the bourgeoisie, was established,\nand this was followed by the final overthrow of all the remaining\neconomic and social barriers. Freedom of trade, right of settlement\nand emigration, and the repeal of laws restricting marriage followed,\ncreating those conditions that capitalism needed for its development.\nBesides the workingman, woman was the one to profit chiefly by this\nnew development, since it opened up to her new avenues and brought\nher greater freedom.\n\nEven before the new order had been introduced by the transformations\nof the year 1866, several German states had removed a number of\nthe old, rigid barriers, which caused pedantic reactionaries to\npredict the destruction of decency and morality. In 1863 the Bishop\nof Mayence, von Ketteler, lamented that \u201cto abolish the existing\nbarriers to marriage meant the destruction of marriage itself, since\nnow married couples were enabled to leave each other at will.\u201d This\nlament contains the unintentional confession that in modern marriages\nthe moral bonds are so weak, that man and wife can be kept together\nonly by force.\n\nSince marriages now were contracted much more frequently than before\nthis period, a rapid increase of population resulted. This fact, and\nthe fact that the new, rapidly developing industrial system created\nsocial problems that had not previously existed, caused the fear of\nover-population to spring up again, as it did in former periods. It\nwill be shown what this fear of over-population amounts to; we will\ntest its true value.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWoman at the Present Day.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nWoman as a Sex Being.\n\n\n1.--The Sexual Impulse.\n\nIn present-day bourgeois society woman holds the second place. Man\nleads; she follows. The present relation is diametrically opposite\nto that which prevailed during the matriarchal period. The evolution\nfrom primitive communism to the rule of private property has primarily\nbrought about this transformation.\n\nPlato thanked the gods for eight favors they had bestowed upon him.\nThe first was that he had been born a free-man instead of a slave,\nand the second was that he had been born a man instead of a woman. A\nsimilar thought is expressed in the morning prayer of the Jews. They\npray: \u201cBe thou praised God our Lord and Lord of the earth, ~who hast\nnot created me a woman~.\u201d In the prayer uttered by the Jewish women\nthe corresponding passage is worded: \u201c~Who hast created me according\nto thy will.~\u201d The contrast in the respective positions of the sexes\ncould not be more forcibly expressed than in this utterance of Plato\nand the prayer of the Jews. Man is the real human being according\nto numerous passages in the Bible, and both the English and French\nlanguages furnish proofs of this conception, since the word \u201cman\u201d\ndenotes both male and human being. When speaking of the people we\nusually think of men only. Woman is a factor of slight importance,\nand man is her master. Men generally consider this state of affairs\nquite proper, and the majority of women still accept it as a divine\nordinance. In this prevailing conception the present position of\nwoman is reflected.\n\nRegardless of the question whether woman is oppressed as a proletarian,\nwe must recognize that in this world of private property she is\noppressed as a sex being. On all sides she is hemmed in by restrictions\nand obstacles unknown to the man. Many things a man may do she is\nprohibited from doing; many social rights and privileges enjoyed by\nhim, are considered a fault or a crime in her case. She suffers both\nsocially and as a sex being. It is hard to say in which respect she\nsuffers more, and therefore it only seems natural that many women\nwish they had been born men instead of having been born women.\n\nOf all the natural desires that are a part of human life, beside the\ndesire for food in order to live, the sexual desire is strongest. The\nimpulse of race preservation is the most powerful expression of the\n\u201cwill to live.\u201d This impulse is deeply implanted in every normally\ndeveloped human being, and upon attaining maturity its satisfaction\nis essential to physical and mental welfare. Luther was right when\nhe said: \u201cHe who would thwart the natural impulse, seeks to prevent\nnature from being nature, fire from burning, water from moistening,\nman from eating and drinking and sleeping.\u201d These words ought to\nbe engraved above the portals of our churches in which the \u201csinful\nflesh\u201d is so vehemently denounced. No physician or physiologist\ncould more accurately express the necessity of satisfying the human\ndesire for love.\n\nIf the human organism is to develop normally and healthfully it is\nessential that no portion of the human body should be neglected, and\nthat no natural impulse should be denied its normal satisfaction.\nEvery organ should perform the functions which it has been destined\nby nature to perform, unless the whole organism is to suffer. The\nlaws of the physical development of man must be studied and observed\nas well as the laws of mental development. The mental activity of a\nhuman being depends upon the physiological condition of his organs.\nPhysical and mental vigor are closely linked. An injury to one has\na detrimental effect upon the other. The so-called animal instincts\nare not inferior to mental requirements. Both are products of the\nsame organism and are mutually interdependent. This applies to both\nman and woman. Hence it follows that knowledge of the nature of\nthe sexual organs is as necessary as that of all other organs, and\nthat the same attention should be bestowed upon their care. We ought\nto know that organs and impulses implanted in every human being\nconstitute a very important part of our existence, that they as a\nmatter of fact ~predominate~ during certain periods of life, and\nthat therefore they must not be objects of secrecy, false shame and\ncomplete ignorance. It follows furthermore that among both men and\nwomen knowledge of the physiology and anatomy of the various organs\nand their functions should be as widely diffused as any other branch\nof human knowledge. Endowed with an exact knowledge of his physical\nnature, man would take a different view of many circumstances. This\nknowledge would lead to the removal of many evils that society at\npresent passes by silently, in solemn awe, but that nevertheless\nclaim consideration in almost every family. In regard to all other\nmatters knowledge is considered ~a~ virtue; it is regarded as the\nloftiest, most desirable human aim. But we decry knowledge pertaining\nto ~those~ matters that are most closely linked with our own \u201cego\u201d\nand are at the bottom of all social development.\n\nKant says: \u201cMan and woman together form the full and complete human\nbeing; one sex supplements the other.\u201d Schopenhauer says: \u201cThe\nsexual impulse is the most complete expression of the will to live,\nit is the concentration of will\u201d; and long before these Buddha thus\nexpressed himself: \u201cThe sexual impulse is sharper than the prod by\nmeans of which wild elephants are tamed; it is hotter than flames;\nit is like an arrow driven into the soul of man.\u201d\n\nSuch being the intensity of sexual impulse, it is not to be wondered\nat that with both men and women sexual abstinence frequently leads\nto serious disorders of the nervous system, and in some cases even\nto insanity and suicide. Of course, not all natures manifest an\nequally strong sexual impulse. It can also be restrained to a great\nextent by education and self-control, especially by avoiding the\nstimulant of lewd conversation and literature, alcoholism, etc. It\nis held that the sexual impulse is weaker among women than among\nmen, and that sometimes women even feel revulsion against sexual\ncontact. But these constitute a small minority whose physiological\nand psychological dispositions are peculiarly constituted.\n\nWe may say that the manner in which the natural desires of the sexes\nare expressed, both in their organic and physical development, in\nform and in character, marks the degree of perfection of a human\nbeing, be it man or woman. Each sex has attained its own highest\ndevelopment. \u201cAmong civilized human beings,\u201d says Klenke in his\nessay on \u201cWoman as a Wife,\u201d \u201csexual intercourse is controlled by\nmoral principles dictated by common sense. But nothing could ever\nfully subdue the instinct of race preservation, implanted by nature\nin both sexes. Wherever healthy male or female individuals failed\nto fulfill this ~duty~, it was ~not of their own free will~, though\nthey may deceive themselves into believing it, ~but was a result of\nsocial hindrances and restrictions~. These hindrances have impeded\nthe laws of nature, have stunted the organs, and have transformed\nthe whole organism into an atrophied type both in appearance and\nin character and have caused nervous disorders that bring about\nabnormal, pathological conditions of body and mind. The man becomes\neffeminate; the woman becomes masculine in form and character, because\nthe sexual contrast has not been realized; because such particular\nhuman being remained one-sided, failing to attain his own integration,\nthe full height of his existence.\u201d Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell says in\nher essay on \u201cThe Moral Education of the Young in Relation to Sex\u201d:\n\u201cSexual impulse exists as an inevitable condition of life and the\nfoundation of society. It is the greatest power in human nature....\nWhile undeveloped it is not an object of the thoughts, but it remains\nnevertheless the ~central force of life~. This inevitable impulse is\nthe natural guardian against all possibility of destruction.\u201d[44]\nPractical Luther has positive advice to offer. He advises: \u201cLet him\nwho has no desire for chastity look about him for work and turn to\nmatrimony; a boy at the latest when he is twenty, a girl when she is\nfifteen or eighteen years of age. Then they are healthy and skillful\nand trust to God to provide for them and their children. God gives\nthem the children and he will provide for them.\u201d Unfortunately our\nsocial conditions make it impossible to follow Luther\u2019s good advice,\nand neither the Christian state nor Christian society believes in\ntrusting to God to provide for the children.\n\nScience, the views of the philosophers, and Luther\u2019s sound common\nsense, all are agreed that man is entitled to normal satisfaction of\nthose desires that are part and parcel of his very life. If social\ninstitutions or prejudices make this impossible, his development\nis hampered thereby. The results are well known to our physicians,\nand can be met with in hospitals, insane asylums, prisons, and in\nthousands of disrupted families. In a book published in Leipsic we\nfind the following thought expressed: \u201cSexual impulse is neither\nmoral nor immoral; it is simply natural like hunger and thirst.\nNature knows nothing of morality.\u201d But organized society is very\nfar from recognizing the truth of this sentence.\n\n[44] E. Blackwell, \u201cEssays in Medical Sociology.\u201d Page 177. London,\n1906.\n\n\n2.--Celibacy and the Frequency of Suicide.\n\nAmong physicians and physiologists it is generally assumed that even\nan imperfect marriage is preferable to celibacy, and this assumption\nis substantiated by experience. It is a striking fact that the rate\nof mortality is lower among married than among unmarried people\n(comparing about 1,000 married persons 30 years old with 1,000\nunmarried persons of the same age). The difference is especially\nmarked in the case of men. During some periods of life the rate of\nmortality among unmarried men is almost twice as great as that among\nmarried men. Mortality is likewise very great among men who have\nbecome widowers while still young.[45]\n\nIt is furthermore claimed that the number of suicides are increased\nby unsound sexual relations. In all countries suicides are much more\nfrequent among men than among women. The following table shows the\nratio in various European countries:\n\n Among 100,000 Ratio of\n During --suicides.-- female to\n the years. Male. Female. male suicides.\n\n Germany 1899\u20131902 33.0 8.4 25.5\n Austria 1898\u20131901 25.4 7.0 27.6\n Switzerland 1896\u20131903 33.3 6.4 19.2\n Italy 1893\u20131901 9.8 2.4 24.5\n France 1888\u20131892 35.5 9.7 27.3\n Netherlands 1901\u20131902 9.3 3.0 32.3\n England 1891\u20131900 13.7 4.4 32.1\n Scotland 1891\u20131900 9.0 3.2 35.6\n Ireland 1901 2.3 1.2 52.2\n Norway 1891\u20131900 10.0 2.5 25.\n Sweden 1891\u20131900 21.1 8.6 40.8\n Finland 1891\u20131900 7.8 1.8 21.1\n European Russia 1885\u20131894 4.9 1.6 32.7\n\nDuring the years 1898 to 1907 we find the following ratio of suicides\nin the German Empire:\n\n Year. Total. Male. Female.\n\n 1898 10,835 8,544 2,291\n 1899 10,761 8,460 2,301\n 1900 11,393 8,987 2,406\n 1902 12,336 9,765 2,571\n 1904 12,468 9,704 2,764\n 1907 12,777 9,753 3,024\n\nFor each 100 male suicides there were female suicides: During 1898,\n26.8; during 1899, 27.2; during 1900, 26.8; during 1904, 28.5;\nduring 1907, 31. But during the period of life from the fifteenth to\nthe thirtieth year, the rate of suicide is higher among women than\namong men.\n\nThe following table shows the ratio between the 15th and 20th, and\nbetween the 21st and 30th year:\n\n During 15th to 20th year. 21st to 30th year.\n the years. Male. Female. Male. Female.\n\n Prussia 1896\u20131900 5.3 10.7 16. 20.2\n Denmark 1896\u20131900 4.6 8.3 12.4 14.8\n Switzerland 1884\u20131899 3.3 6.7 16.1 21.\n France 1887\u20131891 3.5 8.2 10.9 14.[46]\n\nThe following table shows the ratio of male and female suicides in\nSaxony between the 21st and 30th year:\n\n Men. Women.\n\n 1854\u20131868 14.95 18.64\n 1868\u20131880 14.71 18.79\n 1881\u20131888 15.3 22.3\n\nWe find an increased number of suicides among widowed and divorced\npersons also. In Saxony among divorced men the rate of suicide is\nseven times as high, among divorced women three times as high, as\nthe average rate of suicide among men and women. Also suicide is\nmore frequent among those widowed or divorced men and women who\nare childless. Among the unmarried women who are driven to suicide\nbetween the 21st and 30th year, there are many who have been betrayed\nin love or have \u201cgone wrong.\u201d Statistics show that an increase of\nillegal births is generally accompanied by an increase of female\nsuicides. The rate of female suicides between the 16th and 21st year\nis exceptionally high, which also points to the conclusion that\nungratified sexual impulse, love-sorrow, secret pregnancy or the\ndeceit of men constitute frequent causes.\n\nIn regard to the position of woman as a sex being, we find the\nfollowing thought expressed by Professor Krafft-Ebing[47]: \u201cOne source\nof lunacy among women that should not be underrated, is their social\nposition. Woman is by nature more desirous of love than man, at least\nin the ideal sense, and she has no honorable means of gratifying this\ndesire except marriage (Mandsley). Marriage is, furthermore, her only\nmeans of livelihood. Through countless generations her character has\nbeen developed in this direction. Even the little girl is mother\nto her doll. Modern life with its increased demands is constantly\ndiminishing the prospects of satisfaction through marriage. This is\nespecially true of the upper classes where marriages are contracted\nless frequently and later in life.\n\n\u201cWhile man owing to his greater physical and intellectual force and\nhis free social position, readily obtains satisfaction of his sexual\nimpulse, or at least finds an equivalent in some life\u2019s work that\nrequires all his strength, these paths are barred to the unmarried\nwomen of the upper classes. This leads, consciously or unconsciously,\nto dissatisfaction with one\u2019s self and the world and to morbid\nbrooding. For some time compensation is sought in religion, but in\nvain. The religious fanaticism, with or without masturbation, leads to\na number of nervous disorders that frequently culminate in hysteria\nor insanity. This explains the fact that unmarried women fall victims\nto insanity most frequently between the 25th and 35th year of life.\nIt is that period when the bloom of youth fades and hope fades with\nit; while among men insanity most frequently occurs between the 35th\nand 50th year, the period during which the struggle for existence\nmakes its greatest demands upon their strength.\n\n\u201cIt is not a mere coincidence that with the decline in the marriage\nrate the question of the emancipation of women is becoming more and\nmore urgent. I regard it as a signal of distress showing that woman\u2019s\nposition in modern society is steadily becoming more unbearable. It\nis a just demand that woman should be given an equivalent for that\nwhich has been assigned to her by nature and of which she is being\ndeprived by modern social conditions.\u201d\n\nIn speaking of the effect of ungratified sexual impulse on unmarried\nwomen, Dr. H. Ploss says: \u201cIt is a noteworthy fact, of interest\nnot only to the physician but to the anthropologist as well, that\nan infallible remedy exists whereby the process of fading bloom,\nso manifest in old maids, cannot only be arrested, but the already\nvanished bloom of youth can even be reinstated, partly at least,\nif not in its entire charm. Unfortunately our social conditions\nrarely permit its application. This remedy is a regular, orderly,\nsexual intercourse. We can often observe that when an elderly girl\nis still fortunate enough to attain matrimony, a marked change in\nher appearance takes place shortly after her marriage. Her shape\nobtains its former roundness, the roses return to her cheeks, and\nher eyes regain their former brightness. Marriage then is a real\nfountain of youth to the ~female sex~. Thus nature has its fixed\nlaws that inexorably demand obedience, and every unnatural mode of\nlife, every attempt to adapt the organism to conditions of life\nthat are not in keeping with the laws of nature, inevitably leaves\nmarked traces of degeneration. This is true of both the animal and\nthe human organism.\u201d\n\nThe question now presents itself: Does society fulfill the demands\nfor a rational mode of life, especially in the woman\u2019s case? If it\ndoes not, we are confronted by a second question: Can society fulfill\nthem? If this question also must be answered in the negative, a\nthird question ensues: How can they be fulfilled?\n\n[45] Dr. G. Schnapper-Arndt: \u201cSocial Statistics,\u201d Leipsic, 1908.\n\n[46] H. Krose, \u201cCauses of the Frequency of Suicide.\u201d Freiburg, 1906.\n\n[47] Text-book of Psychiatry--Stuttgart 1883.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nModern Marriage.\n\n\n1.--Marriage as a Profession.\n\n\u201cMarriage and the family are the foundations of the state. Whoever,\ntherefore, attacks marriage and the family, is attacking society and\nthe state and undermining both.\u201d Thus exclaim the defenders of the\npresent order. Monogamic marriage as has been sufficiently shown,\nis the outcome of the system of gain and property that has been\nestablished by bourgeois society, and therefore undoubtedly forms\none of its basic principles. But whether it is adapted to natural\nneeds and to a healthy development of human society is a different\nquestion. We will show that this marriage, which depends upon the\nbourgeois system of property, is a more or less forced relation,\nhaving many disadvantages, and frequently fulfilling its purpose only\ninsufficiently or not at all. We will, furthermore, show that it is\na social institution which is and remains inattainable to millions\nof persons, instead of being a free union founded on love, the only\nunion suited to nature\u2019s purposes.\n\nJohn Stuart Mill says in regard to modern marriage: \u201cMarriage is the\nonly real bondage recognized by law.\u201d According to Kant\u2019s conception\nman and woman together constitute the perfect human being. Upon\na normal union of the sexes the healthy development of mankind\ndepends. Satisfaction of the sexual impulse is essential to the sound\nphysical and mental development of both man and woman. But man has\ngone beyond the animal stage, and so is not contented by the mere\nphysical satisfaction of his sexual impulse. He requires intellectual\nattraction as well, and the existence of a certain harmony between\nhimself and the person with whom he enters into union. Where such\nintellectual harmony fails to exist, the sexual intercourse is\npurely mechanical and thereby becomes immoral. Men and women of\nrefinement demand a mutual attraction that extends beyond their\nsexual relations, ~and that shall have an ennobling effect upon the\nnew beings which may spring from their union~.[48] The fact that\nsuch a standard of ideals fails to exist in countless present-day\nmarriages caused Varnhagen von Ense to write: \u201cWhatever we saw about\nus both of marriages already contracted, and of marriages about to be\ncontracted, was not likely to implant in us a good opinion of such\nunions. On the contrary; the entire institution which is supposed\nto be founded on mutual love and respect and is instead founded on\nanything but that, seemed coarse and despicable to us, and we fully\nagreed with Friedrich Schlegel, whose opinion on this subject we\nfound expressed in the fragments of \u2018Atheneum\u2019: Almost all marriages\nare concubinages; they are at best remote approaches to the true\nmarriage, which should be a blending of two persons into one.\u201d This\nis quite in keeping with the views of Kant.\n\nThe joy in having progeny and the responsibility toward same makes\nthe relation of love existing between two persons one of longer\nduration. A couple desirous of entering marriage should therefore\ncarefully consider whether their respective traits of character are\nsuited to their union. The answer to this grave question ought to\nbe unbiased. But that is only possible by the exclusion of every\nother interest that has no direct bearing on the purpose of the\nunion, satisfaction of the sexual impulse and propagation of one\u2019s\nown personality by means of propagation of the race, guided by a\ncertain measure of insight that controls blind passion. As these\nconditions fail to be observed in a tremendous number of cases in\npresent-day society, it is evident that modern marriage frequently\nfails to fulfill its true object and that we are not justified in\nregarding it as an ideal institution.\n\n~How many marriages are contracted on an entirely different basis\nthan the one described above~ cannot be demonstrated. The parties\nconcerned like to have their marriage appear different from what\nit really is. Here a condition of hypocrisy presents itself, such\nas no previous social period has known in a similar degree. The\nstate, the political representative of society, has no inclination\nto institute investigations that would cast an unfavorable light\nupon society. The state itself marries its officials and servants\naccording to maxims ~that cannot be measured by the standard that\nshould constitute the foundation of true marriage~.\n\n[48] \u201cThe sentiments and feelings with which husband and wife approach\none another undoubtedly have a decisive influence upon the effects\nof sexual intercourse and transmit certain traits of character upon\nthe being that is coming into existence.\u201d Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell.\n\u201cThe Moral Education of the Young in Relation to Sex.\u201d--See also\nGoethe\u2019s \u201cAffinity,\u201d where he distinctly shows the effects of the\nfeelings that prompt two human beings to intimate intercourse.\n\n\n2.--Decline of the Birthrate.\n\nMarriage, in order to realize the purpose of nature, should be a\nunion founded on mutual love. But this motive is rarely met with\nunalloyed under present conditions. To the great majority of women,\nmarriage is a means of livelihood that they must obtain at any cost.\nOn the other hand, a great many men regard marriage from a purely\ncommercial point of view, weighing and considering its material\nadvantages and disadvantages. Even those marriages that are not based\non selfish, sordid motives, are frequently marred and broken up by\nthe harsh realities of life. Only rarely those hopes are realized\nthat were held by a man and woman prior to their marriage. That is\nonly natural. For in order to lead a contented married life not\nonly mutual love and respect are required, but ~economic security~\nas well; that is, a certain measure of the necessities and comforts\nof life in order to satisfy the needs of man and wife and their\nchildren. Material cares and the cruel struggle for existence are\ndestructive to marital contentment and happiness. But these material\ncares increase with the increasing number of offspring; in other\nwords, ~the better marriage fulfills its natural object, the greater\nbecome these cares~. The peasant, for instance, takes pleasure in\nevery new calf that his cow brings forth, he cheerfully counts his\nsuckling pigs and relates the good news of their arrival to his\nneighbors. But he looks somber when a new baby is added to the number\nof children that he feels able to support without care--not a large\nnumber, forsooth--and he looks doubly somber if the newly-born babe\nhas the ill fortune of being a girl.\n\nWe may say then that both marriages and births are controlled by\neconomic conditions. This is especially evident in France where\nagriculture is carried on by a division of the land into small lots,\nthe products of which are not sufficient to support a large family.\nThe famous, or notorious, French system of having no more than two\nchildren, a system that has developed into a social institution in\nFrance, is the result. In many provinces the population is accordingly\nalmost stationary, while in others there has been a marked decline.\nThe same results that the methods of farming have produced in the\nrural districts, have been produced in the cities by industry. In\nfact, the birthrate is declining even more rapidly in the cities.\n\nThe number of births is constantly decreasing in France, in spite of\nthe fact that the number of marriages is increasing. This is true\nnot only of France, but of the majority of civilized countries. This\nfact points to a development produced by our social conditions that\nshould make the ruling classes think. In 1881, 937,057 children were\nborn in France; in 1906, 806,847, and in 1907, only 773,969. In 1907,\n163,088 fewer children were born than in 1881. It is a noteworthy\nfact that the number of illegitimate births did not decrease. There\nwere 70,079 of these in 1881; during the period from 1881 to 1890\nthey attained their highest figure, 75,754, and in 1906 there still\nwere 70,866. The decline of the birthrate then was confined entirely\nto the legitimate births. During the entire century a decline of\nthe birthrate was noticeable. The following table shows the number\nof births for every thousand inhabitants of France during more than\na century:\n\n 1801\u20131810 332\n 1811\u20131820 316\n 1821\u20131830 308\n 1831\u20131840 290\n 1841\u20131850 273\n 1851\u20131860 262\n 1861\u20131870 261\n 1881\u20131890 239\n 1891\u20131900 221\n 1905 206\n 1906 206\n 1907 197\n\nThis represents a decline of 135 births for every thousand inhabitants\nfrom 1801 to 1907. It is natural that this symptom is a cause of\nmuch concern to French statesmen and economists. But the problem is\nnot confined to France. Since a long time the same phenomenon may\nbe observed in Germany, especially in Saxony, where the decline of\nthe birthrate has been even more rapid. In Germany there were the\nfollowing number of births for every thousand inhabitants:\n\n 1875 423\n 1880 391\n 1885 385\n 1890 370\n 1895 373\n 1900 368\n 1905 340\n 1906 341\n 1907 332\n\nThe majority of the other European countries present a similar\ncondition, as the following table shows:\n\n For every 1,000 inhabitants.\n ----------------------------------------\n 1871 1881 1891 1901\n to 1880 to 1890 to 1900 to 1905 1907\n\n England & Wales 35.4 32.5 29.9 28.1 26.3\n Scotland 34.9 32.3 30.2 28.9 27.\n Ireland 26.5 23.4 23. 23.2 23.2\n Sweden 30.5 29.1 27.2 26.1 25.5\n Italy 36.9 37.8 34.9 32.6 31.5\n Austria 39. 37.9 37.1 35.8 35.\n Hungary 44.3 44.0 40.6 37.2 36.\n Belgium 32.3 30.2 39. 27.7 25.7\n Switzerland 30.8 28.1 28.1 28.1 26.8\n Netherlands 36.2 34.2 32.5 31.5 30.\n\nThe decline of the birthrate then is a general one, and though France\nand Ireland show the lowest figures, the decline is most rapid in\nEngland, Germany and Scotland. We meet with the same phenomenon in\nthe United States and Australia. The fact presents itself still more\nstrikingly if we proceed to compare the number of births with the\nnumber of married women between the 15th and 49th year of age:\n\nLEGITIMATE CHILDREN BORN TO 1,000 MARRIED WOMEN BETWEEN THE FIFTEENTH\nAND FORTY-NINTH YEAR.\n\n ==================+==========================\n | DECADES\n +--------------------------\n | 1876 1886 1896\n | to 1885 to 1895 to 1905\n ------------------+--------------------------\n England and Wales | 250 259 203\n Scotland | 271 255 235\n Ireland | 250 245 264\n Denmark | 244 235 217\n Norway | 262 259 246\n Sweden | 240 231 219\n Finland | 259 246 244\n Austria | 246 250 242\n Hungary | 234 235 216\n Switzerland | 239 230 225\n German Empire | 268 258 243\n Prussia | 273 265 250\n Bavaria | 276 263 259\n Saxony | 267 250 216\n Wurtemberg | 288 259 262\n Baden | 266 248 251\n Netherlands | 293 286 272\n Belgium | 264 236 213\n France | 167 150 132\n Italy | 248 249 232\n ------------------+--------------------------\n\nThe above enumerated facts go to prove that the birth of a human\nbeing, \u201cGod\u2019s image,\u201d as religious persons say, is, on an average,\nestimated below the value of a newly-born domestic animal.\n\nIn many respects our views differ but slightly from those of barbarian\npeople. Among the latter, newly-born children were often killed. This\nfate especially befell the girls. Among some living savages the same\ncustom still prevails. We do not kill the girls; we are too civilized\nfor that, but frequently we treat them as parias. Man, being the\nstronger, everywhere represses woman in the struggle for existence,\nand if she still persists in the struggle, she is often persecuted\nby the stronger sex as an undesirable competitor. Men of the upper\nclasses are especially bitter against female competition. Among\nworkingmen the demand to exclude women from the trades is voiced only\nrarely. When a resolution formulating such a demand was presented\nat a congress of French workingmen in 1876, it was voted down by\na large majority. Since that time the conviction that the working\nwoman is a fellow being entitled to equal rights and privileges, has\ngrown among the class-conscious workingmen of all countries. The\nresolutions passed by international workingmen\u2019s congresses prove\nthis. The class-conscious workingman knows that present industrial\nconditions compel woman to enter into competition with man. He also\nknows, that an attempt to exclude woman from industry would be as\nfutile as an attempt to forbid the use of machinery. Therefore he\nendeavors to instruct woman in regard to her position in society ~and\nto enlist her aid in the struggle for freedom of the proletariat\nagainst capitalism~.\n\n\n3.--Mercenary Marriage and the Matrimonial Market.\n\nModern society has undoubtedly advanced beyond any previous stage of\ndevelopment, but our conceptions concerning the relation of the sexes\nhas in many respects remained unchanged. In 1876 Prof. L. v. Stein\npublished a book on \u201cWoman in the Field of Political Economy,\u201d that\nis not suited to its title, since it merely draws a very poetically\ntinted picture of marriage. But this picture clearly shows the\nsubmissive position of woman in her relation to the \u201clion,\u201d man.\nStein writes: \u201cMan desires a being who not only loves him but also\nunderstands him. He seeks one who is not only devoted to him, but\nwhose soft hand smoothes the wrinkles on his forehead; who brings\ninto his life peace, calm, order, gentle self-control, and all the\nmany little comforts of life to which he returns daily. He needs\nsome one to enhance all these things with the inexpressible charm\nof womanliness, imparting warmth and joy to his home.\u201d\n\nBeneath this apparent praise of woman lurks her degradation and the\negotism of man. The professor depicts woman as a dainty creature,\nendowed nevertheless with the needful knowledge of arithmetic to keep\nthe household accounts well balanced, caressing like a gentle spring\nbreeze the master of the house, the ruling lion, and with her soft\nhand smoothing the wrinkles from his forehead, that perhaps have\nappeared there from brooding over his own stupidity. The professor\ndepicts woman and marriage such as barely one among a hundred actually\nexist.\n\nAbout the many thousand unhappy marriages, about the great number\nof women to whom it is never given to attain marriage, and about\nthe millions of women who must slave beside their husbands from\nmorning till night to earn their daily bread, he seems to see and\nknow nothing whatever. All these marriages are stripped of poetry\nby the harsh reality of life, more quickly than a careless hand\nstrips the colored dust from a butterfly\u2019s wing. One glance at those\ncountless women sufferers would have greatly marred the professor\u2019s\npoetically tinted picture. The women he observes only constitute a\nsmall minority, and it is doubtful whether they represent an advanced\ntype.\n\nThere is a frequently quoted saying, that the degree of civilization\nattained by a nation may be measured by the position of its women. We\nuphold the justice of this saying. But upon applying this standard we\nfind that our highly lauded civilization does not amount to much. In\nhis book on the \u201cSubjection of Women\u201d--the title shows the conception\nof the position of woman held by the author--John Stuart Mill says:\n\u201cMen have become more domesticated. Increasing civilization has put\nmore fetters on man in regard to woman.\u201d That is true to some extent\nwherever an honest marriage relation exists between husband and wife.\nBut to a considerably large minority it does not apply. Intelligent\nmen will recognize, that it is to their own advantage, if women are\ndrawn out into the world from their narrow domestic sphere, and are\ngiven an opportunity to become acquainted with the great problems\nof the day. The \u201cfetters\u201d that are thereby placed on him, are not\nhard to bear. On the other hand, the question arises whether modern\nlife has not brought new factors into the matrimonial relation that\nare more apt to destroy marriage than any previously known.\n\nMarriage has become an object of material calculation in a marked\ndegree. The man who wishes to marry, in seeking to obtain a wife, also\nseeks to obtain property. That was the chief reason why daughters,\nwho were at first excluded from the right of inheritance when the\npatriarchal system came into power, were at an early period reinstated\nto this right. But never before was the marriage market as openly and\ncynically displayed as to-day; never before was marriage regarded in\nthe same degree as a simple speculation, a mere financial transaction.\nAt present match-making is frequently carried on so shamelessly, that\nthe often-repeated phrase about the \u201csanctity of marriage\u201d becomes a\nfarce. Still, for this fact, as for all others, an explanation can be\nfound. At no previous time was it so difficult for the great majority\nof people to accumulate a modest fortune, as it is at present, and\nat no previous time was the striving for a decent livelihood and the\nenjoyment of life so general. Those who do not attain the aim they\nhave set for themselves feel their disappointment all the more keenly,\nbecause all believe to have the same right to enjoyment. No formal\ndifference of class or caste exists. Everyone hopes to attain some\naim that seems attainable in accordance with his station in life.\nBut many are called and few are chosen. In order that one may live\nin comfort, twenty others must live in want; and in order that one\nmay revel in luxury, hundreds or thousands must dwell in poverty.\nBut everyone is eager to be one of the favored few, and accordingly\nresorts to all means that are likely to lead him to his goal. One\nof the simplest and most accessible means of attaining a privileged\nsocial position is a mercenary marriage. In this way the desire for\nmoney, on the one side, and the desire for social rank and title,\non the other, obtain mutual satisfaction among the upper classes\nof society. Here marriage is degraded to a business transaction.\nIt becomes a conventional union that both sides respect outwardly,\nwhile secretly both all too often follow their own inclinations.[49]\n\nIn every large city there are certain places where upon definite\ndays members of the upper classes come together, chiefly for the\npurpose of match-making. Rightly have these reunions been called the\n\u201cmatrimonial market\u201d; for just as on the stock market, speculation\nand barter dominate, and not infrequently fraud and deception enter\ninto the dealings. Here we find officers of the army, over head and\nears in debt, but possessing some ancient title of nobility; rou\u00e9s,\nweakened by a life of debauchery, who seek a wife to nurse them and\nhope to mend their shattered health in marriage; manufacturers,\nmerchants and bankers, who are at the verge of bankruptcy, sometimes\nat the verge of imprisonment and who wish to be saved, and public\nofficials who have prospects of promotion, but are in need of money;\nhere they come as customers and conclude the marriage bargain. In\nthese marriages it frequently is deemed quite immaterial whether\nthe future wife is young or old, pretty or ugly, well-built or\ndeformed, educated or ignorant, pious or frivolous, a Christian\nor a Jewess, provided that she has money. Money redeems all faults\nand compensates for the lack of anything else. According to the\nGerman law, procurers are severely punished by imprisonment. But\nwhen parents or guardians barter their children or relatives to\nsome unloved man or woman for life, for the sake of wealth, social\nposition or some other advantage, no public prosecutor may interfere,\nand yet a crime has been committed. There are many well-organized\nmatrimonial agencies, and any number of procurers and procuresses\nwho are searching candidates for the \u201csacred wedded state.\u201d These\ntransactions are especially profitable when performed in the interest\nof members of the upper classes. In 1878 a procuress was tried in\nVienna who had been accused of being an accomplice in murder, and\nwas finally sentenced to fifteen years\u2019 imprisonment. Among other\nthings the trial revealed that the former French ambassador to\nVienna, Count Banneville, had paid this woman 22,000 guilders for\nprocuring a wife for him. Other members of the aristocracy were also\ninvolved in this trial. For years the authorities had permitted this\nwoman to ply her criminal trade unmolested. In the capital of the\nGerman Empire similar occurrences were reported. They are met with\nwherever there are persons seeking to contract mercenary marriages.\nDuring the last few decades the daughters and heiresses of American\nmillionaires have become special objects of desire to the pauperized\nEuropean nobility. These American women, on the other hand, have\nexchanged their millions for the rank and title that are unknown\nin their own country. A number of communications, published in the\nGerman press during the fall of 1889, contained some characteristic\ninformation on this subject. According to this a German nobleman\nliving in California had offered his services as a match-maker by\nadvertising in German and Austrian papers. The offers he received\nin return clearly show the conceptions prevailing in the circles\nconcerned, in regard to the sanctity of marriage and its ethical side.\nTwo Prussian army officers, members of an ancient nobility, sought\nhis services, and frankly stated as the reason of their doing so, the\nfact, that together they owed over 15,000 dollars. In their letter\nto the procurer they literally wrote: \u201cIt is self-understood that we\ncannot pay anything in advance. You will receive your remuneration\nimmediately after the wedding journey. Only recommend ladies to us\nwhose families are in no wise objectionable. We would also consider\nit very desirable to meet ladies who are particularly good-looking.\nIf required, we will give your agent our photographs, who can also\ngive us further details, show us the ladies\u2019 photographs, etc. We\nregard this whole transaction as an affair of ~honor~ (!) and expect\nthe same of you. We expect an early reply through your agent on this\nside.\n\n \u201cBaron v. M........\n \u201cBaron v. W........\n \u201cBerlin, Frederick St. 107, Dec. 15, 1889.\u201d\n\nA young German nobleman, Hans v. H...... wrote from London that he\nwere five foot ten, of ancient nobility, and employed in diplomatic\nservice. He confessed that his fortune had been greatly diminished\nby unsuccessful betting at the races, and that he was therefore\ncompelled to seek a rich wife. \u201cI am prepared,\u201d he wrote, \u201cto come to\nthe United States immediately.\u201d The German-American nobleman asserted\nthat besides a number of counts, barons, etc., he had counted among\nhis customers three princes and sixteen dukes. Some men who were not\nthe proud possessors of a title bargained for American heiresses\nlikewise. An architect, Max W. from Leipsic, asked for a fianc\u00e9e who\nmust be rich, beautiful and cultured. A young manufacturer, Robert D.,\nfrom Kehl on the Rhine, wrote that he would content himself with a\nfianc\u00e9e owning 100,000 dollars, and promised in advance that he would\nmake her happy. But we need not look far to find further instances\nof this sort. We need but glance at the matrimonial advertisements\nin many of our capitalistic papers to recognize them as the outward\nsigns of degrading views. The prostitute who plies her trade as a\nresult of bitter need is morally superior to these marriage seekers.\nThe editor of a Socialist paper who should venture to publish such\nadvertisements would be expelled from his party. The capitalistic\npress does not hesitate to publish such advertisements, because they\npay. But that does not prevent this same press from railing against\nthe Socialistic principles as being destructive of marriage. No age\nhas been more hypocritical than ours. Most of these newspapers are\nnothing more or less than matrimonial agencies. One might fill entire\npages with clippings taken from leading newspapers on a single day.\nSometimes the interesting fact is revealed, that even ministers are\nsought in this way and that ministers also resort to this method\nto seek wives. Sometimes the applicants even consent to overlook a\nmoral blemish, provided that the girl is rich. The moral degradation\nof certain strata of society could not be more vividly exposed than\nby this sort of marriage.\n\n[49] For the sake of completeness we must also mention marriage for\npolitical reasons as contracted in the highest circles. In these\nmarriages the right is also silently conceded to the man to follow\nhis own inclinations outside of his marriage. There was a time when\nrulers considered it good form, a sort of royal attribute, to have\nat least one mistress. Thus, according to Sherr, King Frederick\nWilliam I. of Prussia, otherwise noted for his temperate life,\nmaintained an intimate relation with the wife of a general. It is\nwell known that King August of Poland and Saxony had almost 300\nillegitimate children, and that King Victor Emanuel of Italy left 32\nillegitimate children. In the picturesquely situated little capital\nof a German principality there still stood not many years ago about\na dozen beautiful villas that had been erected by the ruler for his\nabdicated mistresses. One might write volumes on this subject; in\nfact, an extensive collection of books exists that deal mainly with\nthese piquant occurrences. In view of these facts it is indeed very\nnecessary that sycophantical historians should strive to present the\nvarious fathers and mothers of their countries as models of domestic\nvirtue, as faithful husbands and devoted mothers. The augurs are not\nyet extinct, they fatten, as in the days of Rome, upon the ignorance\nof the masses.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nDisruption of the Family.\n\n\n1.--Increase of Divorce.\n\nThe part played by church and state in this sort of \u201csacred marriage\u201d\nis not a worthy one. The state official or the officiating clergyman\nwhose task it is to perform the marriage ceremony, never pauses to\nconsider by what methods the couple he is about to join in wedlock\nhave been brought together. It may be quite evident, that the two\nare in no wise mated either in regard to their ages or in regard to\nphysical and mental qualities; the bride may, for instance, be twenty\nand the groom seventy, or vice versa; the bride may be beautiful and\nfull of vitality, the groom may be old, cross and inflicted with\ninfirmities, it makes no difference to the representative of state\nand church. The marriage is consecrated, and the consecration is\nmost solemn in character where the monetary reward for this \u201choly\nfunction\u201d is most generous. But when such a marriage turns out to be\nan exceedingly unhappy one, as could have been foreseen by anybody,\nand frequently was foreseen by the unfortunate victim itself--the\nwoman generally being the victim--and when one or the other party\nthen seeks separation, both church and state place the greatest\ndifficulties in their way. Yet neither church nor state questioned\nin advance whether love and moral sentiments, or shameless, coarse\negotism brought about the union. Moral revulsion is not considered\nsufficient cause for separation; obvious proofs are demanded, proofs\nthat will degrade one or the other party in public opinion, to make\ndivorce possible. That the Catholic Church does not permit divorce\nat all, except by special permission from the pope, which is very\nhard to obtain, makes conditions particularly unfavorable among the\nCatholic population. The German code of civil law has also made\ndivorce much more difficult. Thus divorce by mutual consent, that\nhad been permitted by Prussian law, was abolished. Many divorces\nhad been granted under this law, some for more serious reasons that\nwere concealed out of regard for the guilty party. In Berlin, for\ninstance, there were 5,623 divorces from 1886 until 1892; 1,400 of\nthese, approximately 25 per cent., were granted upon mutual consent.\nIn many cases divorce is granted only then, when the party seeking\ndivorce does so within six months after discovery of the cause for\ndivorce. According to Prussian law, the time limit is one year. Take,\nfor example, that a young wife discovers soon after her marriage, that\nshe is tied to a man who is no husband to her at all. It is asking a\ngreat deal that she should determine on divorce within six months,\na step that requires a considerable amount of moral strength. To\njustify the increased difficulty in divorce, the following argument\nis advanced: \u201cOnly by making divorce increasingly difficult, can the\nadvancing disruption of the family be counteracted and the family\nbonds be strengthened.\u201d This argument is a contradiction in itself. A\ndisrupted marriage is not made bearable by forcing husband and wife\nto continue living together in spite of their inward estrangement\nand mutual aversion. A condition of this sort, maintained by law, is\nprofoundly immoral. The result is that in a large number of cases\nadultery is made a cause for divorce, since this cause cannot be\nignored by the law; neither the state nor society are improved\nby this process. It must also be regarded as a concession to the\nCatholic Church, that in many cases separation takes the place of\ndivorce which was formerly not the case according to civil law. It\nis no longer considered a cause for divorce, when through the fault\nof the one party, a marriage remains childless. The new German code\nof civil law contains the following paragraph: \u201cThe religious duties\nin regard to marriage are not touched upon in the rules laid down\nin this paragraph.\u201d This likewise is a concession to the church. It\nis merely ornamental in character, but it is characteristic of the\nspirit still prevailing in Germany at the beginning of the twentieth\ncentury. For our purposes the admission is important, that divorce\nwas made more difficult to counteract the advancing disruption of\nthe family.\n\nHuman beings then remain chained to one another for lifetime against\ntheir will. One party becomes a slave to the other and is forced in\nfulfillment of \u201cmatrimonial duties,\u201d to endure intimate embraces\nthat perhaps seem more loathsome than harsh words and ill treatment.\nRightly Mantegazza says: \u201cThere is no greater torture than to suffer\nthe caresses of an unloved person....\u201d[50] Is such marriage not\nworse than prostitution? Even the prostitute has a certain degree\nof liberty of withdrawing from her abominable trade, and if she is\nnot the inmate of a public brothel, she may refuse herself to a man\nshe does not wish for some reason or other. But a woman sold in\nmarriage must endure the embraces of her husband, even though she\nhave a hundred reasons to hate and despise him.\n\nIf the marriage has been contracted from the outset and by mutual\nunderstanding, as a mere marriage of convenience, matters are not\nquite as bad. Mutual obligations are considered and a bearable\nmode of life is found. Scandal is avoided, especially out of\nconsideration for the children, where such exist; and yet it must\nbe said that the children are the ones to suffer most when their\nparents lead a cold, indifferent life, devoid of love, even if it\ndoes not deteriorate into a life of open hostility. More frequently\nyet an agreement is accomplished to avoid material loss. Usually\nthe husband\u2019s misbehavior is the cause of trouble in marriage; that\nmay be seen from the divorce cases. When a man remains dissatisfied\nwith his marriage his domineering position enables him to find\ncompensation elsewhere. The woman is far less inclined to go astray,\nfirstly because physiological reasons make a transgression much more\ndangerous in her case, and secondly because when she is the one to\nbreak the marital vow, it is considered a crime that society will\nnot condone. The woman alone--be she wife, widow or maiden--has\n\u201cfallen\u201d; the man, when he commits the same sin, has, at the worst,\nbehaved with impropriety. The same action then is judged by entirely\ndifferent standards, according to whether it has been committed by\na man or by a woman, and the women themselves are often most bitter\nand unmerciful in their condemnation of a \u201cfallen\u201d sister.[51]\n\nAs a rule, women will seek divorce only in cases of flagrant infidelity\nor gross ill-treatment, because they are in a dependent position\nand are obliged to regard marriage as a means of subsistence; also\nbecause the social position of a divorced woman is not an enviable\none. She is regarded and treated more or less as a cipher. If in\nspite of all this women constitute the majority of plaintives in\ndivorce cases, this goes to prove what moral tortures they must\nendure. In France, even before the introduction of the new divorce\nlaws, by far the most proceedings for separation were instituted\nby women. Until 1884 a woman in France could sue for divorce only\nin case her husband brought the woman with whom he maintained an\nintimate relation into the domicile of his wife against her will.\nThus proceedings for separation were instituted annually by:\n\n Women. Men.\n\n 1856\u20131861 1,729 184\n 1861\u20131866 2,135 260\n 1866\u20131871 2,591 330\n 1901\u20131905 2,368 591\n\nNot only were the majority of proceedings instituted by women, the\nfigures also show that their number steadily increased. By information\ngathered from reliable sources it may be seen, that elsewhere also the\ngreater number of actions for divorce and separation are instituted\nby women, as the following table shows:[52]\n\nPERCENTAGE OF NUMBER OF PLAINTIVES.\n\n DIVORCES.\n\n During Husbands\n the years. Husbands. Wives. and wives.\n\n Austria 1893\u20131897 4.4 5.0 90.6\n Roumania 1891\u20131895 30.6 68.9 0.5\n Switzerland 1895\u20131899 26.4 45.4 8.2\n France 1895\u20131899 40.0 59.1 ..\n Baden 1895\u20131899 36.0 59.1 4.9\n England & Wales 1895\u20131899 60.4 39.6 ..\n Scotland 1898\u20131899 43.3 56.7 ..\n\n SEPARATIONS.\n\n Austria 1897\u20131899 4.9 16.6 78.5\n France 1895\u20131899 15.9 84.1 ..\n England & Wales 1895\u20131899 3.0 97.0 ..\n Scotland 1898\u20131899 .. 100. ..\n\nIn the United States, where the divorce statistics cover a period\nof forty years, we find the following ratio:\n\n 1867\u20131886. P. C. 1887\u20131906. P. C. 1906. P. C.\n\n Men 112,540 34.2 316,149 33.4 23,455 32.5\n Women 216,176 65.8 629,476 66.6 48,607 67.5\n ---------------------------------------------------\n Total 328,716 100 945,625 100 72,062 100\n\nThe above table shows that in more than two-thirds of all divorce\ncases women were the plaintiffs.[53]\n\nIn Italy we find a similar ratio. During 1887 there were 1,221 divorce\ncases; 593 of these were instituted by wives, 214 by husbands, 414\nby both husbands and wives. In 1904 there were 2,103 cases; 1,142\nby wives, 454 by husbands, and 507 by both.\n\nStatistics teach us that the majority of divorces are sought by\nwomen, and they furthermore teach us that the number of divorces is\nrapidly increasing. Since the introduction of the new divorce law\nin France in 1884, the divorces have increased from year to year,\nas follows:\n\n Years 1884. 1885. 1890. 1895. 1900. 1905. 1906. 1907.\n Divorces 1,657 4,123 6,557 7,700 7,820 10,019 10,573 10,938\n\nIn Switzerland, too, the divorce-rate is increasing. From 1886 to 1890\nthere were 882 divorces. From 1891 to 1895 there were 898 divorces;\nin 1897, 1,011; in 1898, 1,018; in 1899, 1,091; in 1905, 1,206; in\n1906, 1,343. In Austria during 1899 there were 856 divorces and 133\nseparations. In 1900 there were 1,310 divorces and 163 separations.\nIn 1905 there were 1,885 divorces and 262 separations. The number\nof divorces and separations have been doubled during a decade. In\nVienna there were 148 divorces in 1870 and 1871; they increased with\neach succeeding year until in 1878 and 1879 there were 319 cases.\nVienna being a Catholic city, divorces are not easily obtained.\nNevertheless, a Viennese judge exclaimed during the eighties: \u201cThe\ncharge of broken marriage vows is as frequent as the charge of broken\nwindows.\u201d\n\nThe following shows the increasing divorce-rate in the United States:\n\n Years 1867. 1886. 1895. 1902. 1906.\n Divorces 9,937 25,535 40,387 61,480 72,062\n\nIf the number of divorces in relation to the population had remained\nthe same in 1905 as in 1870, the exact number of divorces in 1905\nwould have been 24,000, and not 67,791, as actually was the case. The\ntotal number of divorces from 1867 to 1886 was 328,716; from 1887\nto 1906, 945,625. The United States have the highest divorce-rate.\nFor every thousand marriages there were the following number of\ndivorces: In 1870, 81; in 1880, 107; in 1890, 148; in 1900, 200.\nWhy is divorce more frequent in the United States than in any other\ncountry? Firstly, because in some of the states the divorce laws are\nless rigorous than in most of the other countries, and, secondly,\n~because women enjoy a freer, more independent position than in any\nother country of the world, and are accordingly less willing to\nsubmit to the tyranny~ of husbands.\n\nThe following shows the number of divorces in Germany from 1891 to\n1900:\n\n KEY\n Y: Years\n D: Divorces\n\n Y 1891. 1892. 1893. 1894. 1895. 1896. 1897. 1898. 1899. 1900.\n D 6,678 6,513 6,694 7,502 8,326 8,601 9,005 9,143 9,563 7,928\n\nWe see that from 1899 to 1900, the number of divorces have decreased\nby 1,635, because on the first of January, 1900, the new code of civil\nlaw went into effect which made divorce more difficult. But life is\nstronger than law. After there was a decrease in the divorce-rate\nfrom 1900 to 1902, there has been a rapid increase ever since, as\nthe following table shows:\n\n Years 1901. 1902. 1903. 1904. 1905. 1906. 1907.\n Divorces 7,964 9,069 9,933 10,868 11,147 12,180 12,489\n\nIn Saxony, too, in spite of various fluctuations, there has been a\nsteady increase, as may be seen from the following table:\n\n For each 1,000\n Years. Divorces. marriages.\n\n 1836\u20131840 356 121\n 1846\u20131850 395 121\n 1871\u20131875 581 122\n 1891\u20131895 921 138\n 1896\u20131900 1,130 151\n 1901\u20131905 1,385 168\n\nFor each thousand marriages in Prussia there were the following\nnumber of divorces: 1881 to 1885, 67.62; 1886 to 1890, 80.55; 1891\nto 1895, 86.77; 1896, 101.97; 1905, 106; 1908, 121. That is a\ntremendous increase. The increase of divorce is not a national but\nan international symptom. For each thousand marriages there were\nthe following number of divorces in:\n\n At the close\n 1876\u20131880. 1881\u20131885. 1886\u20131890. of the century.\n\n Austria .. 19.4 19.7 31.\n Hungary 31.6 30.4 30.5 58.\n Roumania 37.3 52.3 73.1 98.\n Italy 11.8 11.3 10.6 15.\n France 33.9 75.9 80.9 129.\n England & Wales 6.5 7.4 7. 10.6\n Scotland 12.3 13. 16.7 26.\n Ireland 0.6 0.4 1.1 1.\n Belgium 25.5 31.9 43. 72.\n Netherlands .. .. .. 78.\n Norway 13.9 12.1 19.3 33.\n Sweden 28.5 28.6 31.6 45.\n Finland 16.1 7.8 10.0 29.\n Switzerland 220. 200. 188. 199.9\n\nIt would be a great mistake to draw conclusions from these widely\ndiverging figures about the moral status of the various countries\nenumerated above. No one would claim, that cause for divorce is four\ntimes greater among the Swedish people than among the English people.\nThe laws must be taken into consideration that make divorce more or\nless difficult as the case may be.[54] The moral status, that is, the\ncauses making divorce appear desirable to either man or woman, are a\nsecondary consideration. But the figures show, that the divorce-rate\nis increasing more rapidly than the population; that is ~increasing~,\nin fact, ~while the marriage-rate is decreasing~. We will return\nto this phase of the question later on. Great differences of age\nbetween husband and wife play a considerable part in divorce. That\nis shown by the following table gathered from official statistics\nin Switzerland:\n\nNUMBER OF DIVORCES FOR EACH 1,000 MARRIAGES WITH SAME DIFFERENCE\nOF AGE.\n\n 1881\u20131890. 1891\u20131900.\n\n Man older; 26 years and more 271 328\n Man older; 11 to 25 years 189 198\n Man older; 1 to 10 years 193 181\n Husband and wife of same age 195 190\n Man younger; 1 to 10 years 226 226\n Man younger; 11 to 25 years 365 431\n Man younger; 26 years and more 759 870\n\nThe following statistics from Saxony during 1905 and 1906, and from\nPrussia from 1895 to 1905, show the divorce-rate in its relation to\nthe various strata of society:\n\nANNUAL DIVORCES FOR EACH 100,000 MARRIED MEN.\n\n Saxony. Prussia.\n\n Agriculture 59 34\n Industry 220 158\n Commerce 297 229\n Public service and learned professions 346 165\n\nIn Saxony divorces were most frequent among officials and professional\nmen. In Prussia they were most frequent among those employed in\ncommerce. In Saxony those employed in commerce came second; in Prussia,\nofficials and professional men. Men employed in industry come third;\n220 in Saxony, and 158 in Prussia. Those employed in agriculture\nfurnished the lowest figures. When we compare the growing number of\ndivorces in the cities with those among the rural population, we\nare led to the conclusion that the rapid development of industry,\naccompanied by an increasing instability of public life, makes the\nmarriage relation more unfavorable, and adds to the factors that\nmake for the disruption of marriage. On the other hand, the growing\ndivorce-rate shows, that the number of women are increasing who\nresolve to cast off a yoke that has become unbearable.\n\n[50] The Physiology of Love.\n\n[51] Alexander Dumas correctly says in \u201cMonsieur Alphonse\u201d: \u201cMan\nhas created two standards of morality: one for himself, and one for\nwoman, one that permits him to love all women, and another that\npermits woman as a compensation for her lost freedom, to be loved\nby but one man.\u201d See also Marguerite\u2019s self-accusation in \u201cFaust.\u201d\n\n[52] George v. Mayer: \u201cStatistics and Social Science.\u201d\n\n[53] Marriage and Divorce. 1887\u20131906. Bureau of the Census,\nBulletin 96, p. 12. Washington, D. C., 1908.\n\n[54] In England divorce is a privilege enjoyed by the rich. The cost\nof a trial is so exorbitant, that divorce becomes almost impossible\nto people of moderate means, especially as it necessitates a journey\nto London. In the whole country there is only one divorce court,\nwhich is situated in London.\n\n\n2.--Bourgeois and Proletarian Marriage.\n\nThe corruption of marriage increases at the same rate at which the\nstruggle for existence grows more severe, making matrimony more\nand more an object of mercenary speculation. As it is becoming\nincreasingly difficult to support a family, many men choose to\nrefrain from marrying, and so the declamations about it being woman\u2019s\nduty to practice her natural profession of wifehood and motherhood,\nare just so many ~meaningless phrases~. On the other hand, these\nconditions are bound to foster illegitimate relations and to increase\nthe number of prostitutes; they also increase the number of those\nwho fall victims to an unnatural satisfaction of the sexual impulse.\n\nAmong the ruling classes the wife is frequently degraded, just as she\nwas in ancient Greece, to the mere functions of bearing legitimate\nchildren, acting as housekeeper, or serving as nurse to a husband\nruined by a life of debauchery. For his amusement, or to gratify\nhis desire for love, the man maintains courtesans or mistresses who\nlive in elegance and luxury. Others who do not have the means of\nmaintaining mistresses, associate with prostitutes during marriage\nas before marriage, and a number of wives are sufficiently corrupted\nto consider such relations quite proper.[55]\n\nIn the upper and middle classes of society the chief evil in marriage\nis its mercenary character. But this evil is still heightened by\nthe mode of life that prevails among these classes. That applies\nto the women as well as to the men, since they frequently lead\nlives of idleness or devote themselves to corrupting occupations.\nThe society woman\u2019s spiritual nourishment usually consists of the\nfollowing: Reading ambiguous novels, visiting frivolous plays,\nenjoying sensuous music, resorting to intoxicating stimulants, and\nindulging in scandal-mongering. Idleness and ennui frequently entice\nher into love-intrigues, that are sought more eagerly still by the\nmen of her circles. In the mad pursuit of pleasure she rushes from\none banquet and entertainment to another, and in summer she goes to\nwatering-places and summer resorts to rest from the exertions of the\nwinter and to seek new amusement. Scandals are a daily occurrence\nwith this mode of life; men seduce and women allow themselves to be\nseduced.\n\nAmong the lower classes mercenary marriage is practically unknown.\nThe workingman generally marries for love, but nevertheless many\nharmful and destructive influences exist in the proletarian marriage\nalso. Blessed with many children, cares and worries ensue, and all\ntoo often bitter poverty prevails. Disease and death are frequent\nguests in the proletarian family, and unemployment heightens the\nmisery. Many are the factors that lessen the workingman\u2019s income and\nfrequently deprive him of that meagre income altogether. Hard times\nand industrial crises throw him out of employment; the introduction of\nnew machinery or of new methods of production, makes him superfluous;\nwars, unfavorable tariff and commercial treaties, the imposition of\nnew indirect taxes, or black-listing by his employers as a result\nof his political convictions, destroy his means of subsistence or\ngravely injure them. From time to time one or another thing occurs\nthat entails a longer or shorter period of unemployment with its\naccompanying misery and starvation. Uncertainty is the mark of his\nexistence. Such vicissitudes are productive of ill temper and bitter\nfeelings that most frequently lead to outbursts in domestic life\nwhere demands are made daily and hourly that cannot be satisfied.\nThis leads to quarrels and harsh words and eventually to a rupture\nin the marriage relation.\n\nFrequently both husband and wife must work for a living. The children\nare left to themselves or to the care of older brothers and sisters,\nwho are still in need of care and education themselves. The noon-day\nmeal, usually of the poorest quality, is devoured in utmost haste,\nprovided that the parents have time to come home for this meal. In\nthe majority of cases this is impossible, owing to the distances\nbetween homes and factories and to the brevity of the time allowed\nfor rest. Weary and worn, both parents return at night. Instead of a\ncheerful, pleasant home to come to, theirs is only a small, unsanitary\ndwelling, frequently wanting in fresh air and light and devoid of\nthe most elementary comforts. The scarcity of available lodgings\nwith all the resulting evils, is one of the darkest phases of our\nsocial system that leads to countless vices and crimes. In spite of\nall attempts at relief, the housing problem is becoming more serious\nevery year in all the larger centers of industry; and other strata of\nsociety, such as professional people, clerks, officials, teachers,\nsmall dealers, etc., are affected by it. The workingman\u2019s wife who\nreturns to her \u201chome\u201d at night exhausted from a day\u2019s hard labor,\nmust begin work anew. She must toil in feverish haste to attend to\nthe most necessary details of housekeeping. After the children have\nbeen put to bed, she still continues to mend and sew until far into\nthe night. Rest and recuperation are unknown to her. The man often\nis ignorant and the woman still more so, and the little they have to\nsay to one another is quickly said. The man goes to a saloon where\nhe at least finds some of the comforts that he lacks at home; he\ndrinks, and no matter how little he spends, he is spending too much\nfor his income. Sometimes he falls a victim to the vice of gambling,\nthat claims many victims in the upper strata of society also, and\nthen still loses more than he spends on drink. Meanwhile the woman\nis brooding at home full of grudge. She must toil like a beast of\nburden, there is no rest or recreation for her; but the man enjoys\nthe liberty that is his, just because he had the good fortune of\nhaving been born a man. Thus discord arises. If the woman is less\nconscientious; if she, too, seeks pleasure and diversion when she has\nreturned from a hard day of work, to which she is surely entitled,\nher household goes to ruin and the misery becomes greater still.\nNevertheless, we are living in \u201cthe best of worlds.\u201d\n\nThus marriage is constantly being disrupted among the proletariat\nalso. Even favorable periods of employment often have a detrimental\ninfluence, for they involve over-time work and sometimes also work on\nSunday, thereby depriving the worker of the little time he is able to\ndevote to his family. Often the distances from the workingmen\u2019s homes\nto their places of employment are so great, that they must leave at\nday-break, when the children are still soundly asleep, and do not\nreturn until late at night when they are sleeping again. Thousands\nof workingmen, especially those connected with the building trades,\nremain away from home during the entire week and only return to\ntheir families on Saturday night. How can family relations prosper\nunder such conditions?! At the same time the number of women workers\nis constantly growing, especially in the textile industries, for\nthousands of spinning-machines and power-looms are being tended by\nwomen and children, whose labor is cheap. Here matrimonial relations\nhave been reversed. While the wife and the children go to the factory,\nthe unemployed man not infrequently, remains at home performing the\ndomestic duties. \u201cIn a number of cloth factories in Chemnitz we find\nwomen who are employed there only during the winter months, because\ntheir husbands who are road-builders, masons or carpenters, earn\nlittle or nothing in winter. During the absence of the women, the\nmen attend to the housekeeping.\u201d[56] In the United States, where\ncapitalism has developed so rapidly, that all its evils are manifest\non a much larger scale than in the industrial countries of Europe,\na characteristic name has been coined for this state of affairs.\nIndustrial centers where women are mainly employed while men remain\nat home, have been called \u201cshe-towns.\u201d[57]\n\nAt present it is generally conceded that women should be admitted to\nall trades. Capitalistic society in its mad chase of profits has long\nsince recognized, that women can be more profitably exploited than\nmen, since they are by nature more pliant and meek.[58] Accordingly\nthe number of trades in which women may find employment are increasing\nwith every year. The constant improvement of machinery, the simplifying\nof the process of labor by an increased division of labor, and the\ncompetitive warfare among individual capitalists, as also among rival\nindustrial countries--all favor the steady increase of woman labor.\nThe phenomenon is common to all industrially advanced countries. As\nthe number of women in industry increases, the competition between\nthem and the male workers grows more severe. The reports of factory\ninspectors and statistical investigations prove this.\n\nThe position of women is especially unfavorable in those trades in\nwhich they predominate as, for instance, the clothing trades, and\nparticularly in those branches in which the workers perform the work\nin their own home. Investigations concerning the condition of women\nworkers in the manufacture of underwear and the clothing trades,\nwere made in Germany in 1886. This investigation showed among other\nthings that the miserable pay these workers received frequently\ndrove them to prostitution.\n\nOur Christian government, whose Christianity is sought in vain where\nit is really needful, but is met with where it is superfluous--our\nChristian government is like our Christian bourgeoisie, whose\ninterests it serves. This government finds it exceedingly difficult\nto decide upon the enactment of laws which would limit the work of\nwomen to a bearable degree and prohibit child-labor entirely. This\nsame government also fails to grant a normal work-day and sufficient\nrest on Sundays to its own employees, thereby harming their family\nrelations. Frequently men employed in the mail and railroad service\nand in prisons must work many hours overtime without receiving\nadequate remuneration.\n\nAs the rents are also far too high in comparison with the incomes of\nthe workers, they must content themselves with the poorest quarters.\nLodgers of one sex or the other, sometimes of both, are taken into\nthe workingman\u2019s home.[59] Old and young of both sexes live together\nin a small space and frequently witness the most intimate relations.\nHow modesty and decency fare under such conditions, has been shown\nby horrible facts. The increasing demoralization and brutalization\nof the young that is being discussed so much, is partly due to these\nconditions. Child-labor, too, has the worst possible influence on\nchildren, both physically and morally.\n\nThe increasing industrial activity of married women has the most\ndetrimental effect during pregnancy and at child-birth and during the\nearly babyhood of the children, when they depend upon the mother for\nnourishment. During pregnancy it may lead to a number of diseases\nthat are destructive to the unborn child and harmful to the organism\nof the woman, and bring about premature births and still-births. When\nthe child has been born, the mother is compelled to return to the\nfactory as soon as possible, lest some one else take her place. The\ninevitable result for the poor, little babes is neglect and improper\nor insufficient nourishment. They are given opiates to be kept quiet;\nand as a further result of all this, they perish in masses or grow\nup sickly and deformed. It means race degeneration. Frequently the\nchildren grow up without ever having experienced real parental love.\nThus proletarians are born, live and die; and society and the state\nmarvel at it that brutality, immorality and crime are increasing.\n\nDuring the sixties of the last century the cotton industry in\nEngland almost came to a standstill, as a result of the Civil War\nthat was being waged in the United States. Accordingly, thousands\nof working-women were unemployed, and among them physicians made\nthe astounding observation, that in spite of the existing want,\ninfant mortality was ~decreasing~. The reason was that the babies\nnow were being nursed by their mothers and more care was bestowed\non them than ever before. During the crisis of the seventies of the\nlast century similar observations were made in the United States,\nespecially in New York and Massachusetts. Unemployment enabled the\nwomen to devote more time to their children. The same fact was noted\nduring the general strike in Sweden in August and September of 1909.\nThe mortality in Stockholm and other large Swedish cities had not\nbeen as low for many years as during the weeks of this giant strike.\nOne of the eminent medical authorities of Stockholm declared that\nthe low rate of mortality and the general state of good health was\nin close connection with the great strike. He pointed out that the\nout-of-door life which was being led by the army of strikers was\nchiefly responsible for this satisfactory state of health, for no\nmatter how extensive the sanitary regulations might be, the air in\nthe factories and workshops was always more or less detrimental to\nthe health of the workers. The same medical authority pointed out,\nfurthermore, that the prohibition of the sale of intoxicating drinks\nduring the great strike, also tended to improve the state of health.\n\nDomestic industry, which is depicted so alluringly by the romancers\namong political economists, is not more favorable to the workers.\nHere man and wife both toil from dawn to darkness and the children\nare trained as helpers from their earliest childhood on. The entire\nfamily and perhaps some assistants live together in closest quarters\namong rubbish and disagreeable odors. The bedrooms are similar to the\nworkshop, usually small, dark spaces with insufficient ventilation,\ndetrimental to the health of the persons who are obliged to sleep\nin them.\n\nThe struggle for existence that is growing increasingly difficult,\nalso sometimes compels men and women to commit acts that they would\nloathe under different circumstances. It was shown in 1877 in Munich\nthat among the prostitutes entered on lists by the police, there\nwere no less than 203 wives of workingmen and mechanics. Many more\nmarried women are driven to occasional prostitution by need, without\nsubmitting to police control that deeply degrades all modesty and\nhuman dignity.\n\n[55] In his book on \u201cThe Woman Question in the Middle Ages,\u201d that I\nhave frequently quoted, Buecher laments the dissolution of marriage\nand the family. He condemns the employment of women in industry, and\ndemands that woman should return to her \u201cparticular sphere,\u201d the\nonly one where she creates \u201creal values,\u201d the home and the family.\nThe aims of the modern woman movement appear \u201camateurish\u201d to him,\nand he expresses the hope that \u201ca better way may be found.\u201d But he\nfails to point out a successful way. From his bourgeois point of\nview it would be impossible to do so. The matrimonial conditions as\nalso the position of women in general, are not the result of wilful\ncreation. They are the natural product of social evolution, and this\nsocial evolution is consummated in accordance with inherent laws.\n\n[56] Technics and Political Economy.\n\n[57] The following clipping taken from an American newspaper in\n1893 gives an adequate description of a \u201cshe-town\u201d: \u201cA singularity\nthat is met with in the factory towns of Maine, is a class of men\nwho may rightly be called housekeepers. Any one visiting some of\nthese workers\u2019 homes shortly after the noon hour, will find the\nmen, wearing an apron, washing dishes. At other hours of the day\nthey may be seen making the beds, dressing the children, scrubbing\nor cooking.... These men do the housekeeping for the simple reason\nthat their wives can earn more in the factories than they, and it is\nmore economical for them to remain at home while the women work.\u201d\n\n[58] \u201cMr. E., a manufacturer, informs me that he employs only women\nat his power-looms. He prefers married women and especially those\nwho have a family at home depending upon them. They are much more\nattentive and docile than unmarried women, and are obliged to exert\nthemselves to the utmost in order to earn the necessary means of\nsubsistence. Thus the peculiar virtues of woman\u2019s character are turned\nto her own detriment, and the gentleness and decency of her nature\nbecome a means of her enslavement.\u201d From an address by Lord Ashley\non the ten-hour bill, 1844.--Karl Marx, \u201cCapital,\u201d second edition.\n\n[59] The Prussian census of 1900 has shown that in Prussia there are\n3,467,388 persons not related to the families in whose midst they\nlive. In the entire state about one-quarter of these non-related\nmembers of the households consisted of strange boarders and lodgers;\nin the rural districts they constituted only one-seventh, but\nin the cities one-third, and in the capital, Berlin, more than\none-half.--G. v. Mayer, \u201cStatistics and Social Science.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nMarriage as a Means of Support.\n\n\n1.--Decline of the Marriage Rate.\n\nWhen we consider the conditions enumerated above, it requires no\nfurther proof to recognize that a growing number of persons do\nnot regard the wedded state as a desirable goal, but hesitate to\nenter into it. This explains the phenomenon, that in most civilized\ncountries the marriage rate is stationary or declining. It was a\nmatter of old experience, that an increase in the price of grain\nhad a detrimental effect on both the marriage and birth rates. With\nthe growing industrial development of any country the marriage and\nbirth rates are influenced more and more by the ups and downs of\nthe market. Economic crises and a lowering of the general economic\nstandard have a lasting unfavorable influence. This may be seen\nfrom the marriage statistics of various countries. According to the\nlatest census, 12,832,044 marriages were contracted in the United\nStates during the period from 1887 to 1906.\n\n 1887 483,096\n 1891 562,412\n 1892 577,870\n 1893 ~578,673~\n 1894 ~566,161~\n 1902 746,733\n 1903 786,132\n 1904 ~781,145~\n 1905 804,787\n 1906 853,232\n\nThese figures show that as a result of the crises during 1893 and\n1894, the marriage rate declined by 12,512. The same phenomenon recurs\nin 1904, during which year the marriage rate declined by 4987. The\nfollowing table shows marriage statistics gathered in France:\n\n 1873\u20131877 299,000\n 1878\u20131882 281,000\n 1883\u20131887 284,000\n 1888\u20131892 279,000\n 1893\u20131897 288,000\n 1898\u20131902 296,000\n 1903\u20131907 306,000\n\nThe marriage rate attained its highest figure, 321,238, during the year\n1873. From that time on the marriage rate declined only to increase\nagain with times of prosperity. In France the highest marriage rate\nsince 1873 was attained in 1907 when it reached 314,903. To some\nextent this increase was due to a new law that went into effect on\nJune 21, 1907, by which the legal formalities required in order\nto become married were simplified. This increase was especially\nnoticeable in the poorer districts. The following table shows the\nnumber of marriages contracted for every thousand inhabitants in\nvarious European countries:\n\n =========================================================================\n 1871 1876 1881 1886 1891 1896 1901\n COUNTRIES to to to to to to to 1907\n 1875 1880 1885 1890 1895 1900 1905\n -------------------------------------------------------------------------\n German Empire 18.84 15.68 15.40 15.68 15.88 17.83 16 16.2\n Prussia 18.88 15.86 15.92 16.32 16.40 16.86 16.2 16.4\n Bavaria 18.92 14.65 13.64 13.96 14.76 16.09 15.2 15.4\n Saxony 19.96 17.70 17.62 18.64 17.52 18.76 16.6 16.8\n Austria 18.30 15.52 15.88 15.40 15.76 16.04 15.8 15.8\n Hungary 21.51 19.30 20.24 17.72 17.92 16.05 17.2 19.6\n Italy 15.54 15.06 14.08 17.64 14.96 14.40 14.8 15.4\n Switzerland 16.06 14.90 13.80 14.00 14.72 15.59 15 15.6\n France 16.06 15.16 15.04 14.48 14.90 15.14 15.2 16\n England\n and Wales 17.08 15.34 15.14 14.70 15.16 16.14 15.6 15.8\n Scotland 14.98 11.76 13.76 18.02 13.68 14.94 14 14\n Ireland 9.72 9.04 8.66 8.66 9.48 9.87 10.4 10.2\n Belgium 15.44 13.94 13.94 14.34 15.24 16.45 16.2 16.2\n Netherlands 16.64 15.76 14.28 14.04 14.48 14.88 15 15.2\n Denmark 15.88 15.54 15.38 13.94 13.84 14.79 14.4 15.2\n Norway 14.58 14.40 13.82 12.76 12.92 13.73 12.4 11.8\n Sweden 14.04 13.20 12.84 12.20 11.45 12.04 11.8 12\n Finland 17.68 15.72 14.90 14.40 12.98 15.34 13 13.6\n European Russia\n excl. the Vistula\n province 19.62 17.62 18.06 17.94 17.08 17.80 -- --\n Bulgaria -- -- 18.04 17.24 16.07 -- -- --\n Servia 22.80 23.32 22.14 21.76 19.84 -- -- --\n -------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nThat the marriage rate rises and sinks with the rise and decline of\nnational prosperity is most strikingly noticeable in Germany. The\nlargest number of marriages (423,900), were contracted in Germany\nin 1872, the year after the close of the Franco-Prussian war. From\n1873 on, the marriage rate declined until in 1879, the year when the\ncrisis was at its worst, it attained its lowest figure (335,133).\nThen it gradually increased again until 1890, a year of prosperity,\nto sink once more in 1892 and again to increase with the years of\nreturning prosperity until with the height of prosperity the highest\nfigures were attained (476,491 in 1900, and 471,519 in 1899). The\nnext crisis brought another decline. In 1902 the number of marriages\ndid not exceed 457,208 while in 1906 and 1907 it rose up again to\n498,900 and 503,964.\n\nBut in general the statistics of most countries point to a decline\nof the marriage rate. The highest numbers attained during the\nseventies were attained only in exceptional instances at the close\nof the nineties. But not only the earnings have a strong influence\non the marriage rate, the conditions of property have so likewise.\nStatistics from the kingdom of Wurtemberg show, that with the\nincrease of large estates the number of ~married~ men between 25 and\n30 years of age decreases and the number of ~unmarried~ men between\n40 and 50 years of age increases. Small estates are favorable to\nthe marriage rate, because they enable a greater number of families\nto maintain a decent though modest livelihood, while large estates\nare, for obvious reasons, unfavorable to the marriage rate. With the\ngrowing industrial development of a country, the number of marriages\nin urban trades and professions increases. The following statistics\nfrom Sweden during the years 1901 to 1904 show the relation of\nmarriage to occupation:\n\n Agriculture per 1000 4.78\n Industry \u201c \u201c 7.17\n Commerce \u201c \u201c 7.75\n Learned professions \u201c \u201c 6.33\n\nAll these figures prove that not moral but economic causes are the\ndetermining factors. ~The number of marriages like the moral status\nof a social group depend upon its material foundation.~\n\n\n2.--Infanticide and Abortion.\n\nFear of poverty and doubts as to whether it will be possible to\nbring up the children suitable to their station in life, cause many\nwomen of ~all~ classes to commit deeds that are averse to the laws\nof nature and to the laws of organized society as well. Such deeds\ninclude the various methods to prevent conception, and when this has\noccurred nevertheless, artificial abortion. It would be a mistake\nto assume that such methods are resorted to only by frivolous,\nunscrupulous women. They are, on the contrary, frequently resorted\nto by conscientious wives, who feel that they must limit the number\nof offspring and rather submit to the dangers of abortion, than to\ndeny themselves to their husbands and thereby drive them to the\ndevious paths. Other women again take this step to conceal a \u201csin,\u201d\nor because they abhor the discomforts of pregnancy, child-birth and\nmotherhood, or because they fear that their physical beauty will\nbe impaired and that they will accordingly seem less attractive to\ntheir husbands and to men in general. These women readily obtain\nmedical and surgical aid at high prices.\n\nArtificial abortion seems to be practiced more and more. It was\nfrequently practiced among the ancients and is practiced to-day\namong both civilized nations and savages. The old Greeks practiced\nit openly, without any legal restraint. Plato regarded it as within\nthe province of the midwife, and Aristotle permitted it to married\npeople when a pregnancy that was not desired took place.[60]\nAccording to Jules Ronyer, the women of Rome practiced abortion\nfor several reasons. In the first place they wished to conceal\nthe results of their illegitimate relations; secondly they wished\nto indulge in uninterrupted excesses, and thirdly they sought to\navoid the detrimental effects of pregnancy and child-birth upon\ntheir beauty.[61] Among the romans a woman was considered old when\nshe attained the thirtieth year, and the women therefore shunned\neverything that was likely to make them age more quickly. During\nthe mediaeval ages abortions were punishable by severe penalties,\nin some instances even by capital punishment, and a free woman who\nhad practiced it became a serf.\n\nAt the present time abortions are practiced chiefly in Turkey and in\nthe United States. \u201cThe Turks do not regard a foetus as being really\nalive until after the fifth month, and have no scruple in causing its\nabortion. Even at later stages, when the operation becomes criminal,\nit is frequently practiced. In 1872 at Constantinople, more than\nthree thousand cases of abortion were brought before the courts in\na period of ten months.\u201d[62]\n\nMore frequently yet it is practiced in the United States. In all the\nlarge cities of the union institutions exist where women and girls\ncan go to bring about premature birth. Many American newspapers\ncontain advertisements of such places.[63] In some strata of American\nsociety an artificial abortion is discussed as openly as a regular\nconfinement. In Germany and other European countries it is regarded in\na different manner, and according to German law both the perpetrator\nand the accomplice may be punished by imprisonment. Abortion is\noften followed by the worst results; not infrequently it results\nin death, and in many cases it means the permanent destruction of\nhealth. \u201cDangers from the most unfavorable pregnancy and child-birth\nare less great than from artificial abortions.\u201d[64] Sterility is\nthe most frequent result. Nevertheless the practice is becoming\nmore frequent in Germany also. The following number of persons were\nconvicted of criminal abortion: From 1882 to 1886, 839; from 1897\nto 1901, 1565; from 1902 to 1906, 2236.[65] During recent years\nseveral cases of criminal abortions created a sensation, because\ndistinguished physicians and prominent society women figured in these\ncases. Judging by the advertisements in German newspapers, there\nalso is an increase of those places and institutions where married\nand unmarried women are given an opportunity to await the results\nof their wrong-doing in absolute secrecy.\n\nThe fear of a too numerous progeny in consideration of the economic\nstatus and the cost of education has caused the introduction of\npreventive measures among entire classes and nations and has gradually\ndeveloped into a regular system that threatens to become a public\ncalamity. It is a wellknown fact that almost all strata of French\nsociety abide by the custom of limiting their offspring to two\nchildren. Few civilized countries have as high a marriage rate as\nFrance; but notwithstanding this fact, in no other country the birth\nrate is as low and the increase of population as gradual. The French\nbourgeoisie, the peasantry and the working class, all abide by this\ncustom. In some parts of Germany the conditions among the peasantry\nseem to have lead to a similar state of affairs. In a picturesque\nregion in the south-western part of Germany, a certain species of\ntree, which furnishes an ingredient for an abortive remedy, is grown\non every farm. In another region the peasants have long since followed\nthe custom of limiting their offspring to two children; they do not\nwish to divide up their farms. Another noteworthy fact is the marked\nincrease in the publication and sale of literature discussing and\nrecommending means for optional sterility. Of course, these books\nare always clothed in \u201cscientific\u201d garb and invariably point to the\nthreatening danger of excess of population.\n\nBesides the prevention of conception and artificial abortion, crime\nalso plays a part. In France child exposure and infanticide have\nincreased as a direct result of French civil law, according to\nwhich it is interdicted to investigate paternity. The \u201cCode civil\u201d\nprovides that \u201cLa recherche de la paternit\u00e9 est interdite,\u201d but \u201cla\nrecherche de la maternit\u00e9 est admise.\u201d This law forbids to search for\na child\u2019s father but permits to search for its mother. With brutal\nfrankness it thus proclaims injustice to the unfortunate girl who\nhas been seduced. The men of France may, by the provision of this\nlaw, seduce as many girls and women as they please; they are freed\nfrom all responsibility and do not have to contribute anything to\nthe support of their illegitimate children. This law was framed\nunder the pretext that women must be deterred from seducing men. We\nsee, everywhere it is the poor, feeble man,--although his is the\nstrong sex,--who never seduces but always is seduced. The result\nof this paragraph of the \u201cCode civil\u201d was the framing of another\nparagraph which provides that \u201cL\u2019enfant con\u00e7u pendant le marriage a\npour p\u00e8re le mari\u201d (the husband is father to every child conceived\nduring marriage). While it is forbidden to search after a child\u2019s\nfather, deceived husbands must regard children as their own, that\nhave sprung from illicit relations their wives may have maintained.\nWe must admit that the French bourgeoisie is at least consistent.\nUntil now all attempts to repeal these obnoxious laws have failed.\nOn the other hand the French bourgeoisie seeks to atone somewhat for\nthe cruelty of preventing women, who have been deceived, from seeking\nfinancial aid from the fathers of their children, by establishing\nfoundling institutions. Thus the new-born babe is deprived not only\nof its father but of its mother as well. According to the French\nconception foundlings are orphans, and the French bourgeoisie thus\npermits its illegitimate children to be reared as \u201cchildren of the\nnation\u201d at the expense of the state. A wonderful institution!\n\nLately French methods have been copied in Germany. The new German civil\nlaw contains provisions in regard to the legal status of illegitimate\nchildren, that are in contradiction to the more humane laws that\nwere in force heretofore. One paragraph states that \u201can illegitimate\nchild and its father are not regarded as being related,\u201d while\nEmperor Joseph II had already decreed that legitimate and illegitimate\nchildren should be equal before the law. Another paragraph states\nthat \u201can illegitimate child is fatherless if its mother maintained\nrelations with several men at the time of conception.\u201d The child is\nmade to suffer for its mother\u2019s frivolousness, weakness or poverty.\nFrivolous fathers are not taken into consideration by the law. The\nlaw concerning illegitimate children furthermore provides: \u201cit is the\nmother\u2019s right and duty to care for the person of the illegitimate\nchild. The father of the illegitimate child is obliged to provide\nfor same until the completion of its sixteenth year, in accordance\nwith ~the social status of the mother~.\u201d According to former Prussian\nlaw, the seducer was obliged to provide for the child in accordance\nwith his own social status and wealth. If the woman had been seduced\nwith the promise of marriage, she was entitled to all the rights of\na divorced wife, and in those cases the illegitimate children were\nregarded as legitimate before the law. These more just and humane\nprovisions have now been dispensed with. The tendency of German\nlegislation is a retrogressive one.\n\nDuring the period from 1831 to 1880, 8568 cases of infanticide were\ntried before the French court of assizes. This number increased\nfrom 471 during the years 1831 to 1835 to 970 during the years 1876\nto 1880. During the same period 1032 cases of criminal abortion were\ntried, 100 of these during the single year 1880. It goes without\nsaying that only a small number of the artificial abortions actually\npracticed ever come to the notice of the courts. As a rule only\nsuch cases are brought to public attention that result in severe\nillness or death. The rural population furnished 75 percent of the\ninfanticides, and the urban population furnished 67 percent of\ncriminal abortions. The women residing in cities have more means at\nhand to prevent normal child-birth; therefore the cases of abortion\nwere numerous and the cases of infanticide relatively few. In the\nrural districts the inverse ratio prevails. In Germany the following\nnumber of persons were convicted of infanticide: from 1882 to 1886,\n884; from 1897 to 1901, 887; from 1902 to 1906, 745.\n\nThis is the picture presented by present day society in regard to its\nmost intimate relations. It differs considerably from that picture\nwhich is usually drawn for us by poetic visionaries, but it at least\nhas the advantage of being true. Yet the picture is incomplete; a\nfew characteristic features must still be added.\n\n[60] Elie Metchnikoff--The Nature of Man.\n\n[61] Jules Ronyer, Etudes m\u00e9dicales sur l\u2019ancienne Rome. Paris 1859.\n\n[62] Elie Metchnikoff--The Nature of Man.\n\n[63] According to an official investigation, 200 persons were counted\nin New York who made a profession of artificial abortions.\n\n[64] Edw. Reich--History of Abortion and its Dangers.\n\n[65] Criminal statistics of the German Empire for the year 1906.\n\n\n3.--Education for Marriage.\n\nAll parties are agreed that at the present time the female sex is,\non an average, mentally inferior to the male sex. Balzac, who by\nno means was an admirer of women, nevertheless declared, \u201ca woman\nwho has obtained the education of a man, indeed possesses the most\nbrilliant and fruitful qualities for establishing her own happiness\nand that of her husband.\u201d Goethe, who was well acquainted with the\ntypes of men and women of his day, uttered the following sharp remark\nin \u201cThe Years of Travelling of William Meister\u201d (Confessions of a\nfair soul): \u201cscholarly women were held up to ridicule, and educated\nwomen were not popular either, probably because it was regarded as\nimpolite to disgrace so many ignorant men.\u201d But that does not alter\nthe fact that women, as a rule, are mentally inferior to men. This\ndifference is bound to exist, ~since the mental status of woman is\nbut what man, her master, has made it~. The education of women has\nalways been pitifully neglected, even more than the education of\nthe proletariat, and even at the present time it is insufficient.\nIn our age the desire for the exchange of ideas is a growing one\namong all classes of society, and accordingly we begin to recognize\nthe neglected mental training of women as a great mistake, one from\nwhich not only women, but men also must suffer.\n\nWith men education is mainly directed upon the development of the\nintellect; it is supposed to sharpen their reasoning powers, to expand\ntheir knowledge and to strengthen their will-power. With women,\nespecially among the upper classes, education is mainly directed\nupon the development of their sentiments; it chiefly consists of\nattaining various accomplishments that only tend to heighten their\nimaginative faculty and to increase their nervous irritability, such\nas music, literature, art and poetry. That is the greatest error in\neducation that could possibly be committed. It shows that educators\nhave allowed themselves to be guided by their prejudices concerning\nthe nature of woman and her narrow sphere in life. The development\nof sentiment and imagination in women should not be artificially\nstimulated which only increases the tendency to become nervous. With\nwomen, as well as with men, the mental faculties should be developed\nand they should be acquainted with the practical facts of life. It\nwould be the greatest advantage to both sexes if women were less\nsentimental and more rational; if they displayed less nervousness and\ntimidity, and more courage and will-power; if they possessed fewer\naccomplishments, and a broader knowledge of the world and mankind\nand the natural forces of life. Until the present time the spiritual\nlife of woman and her sentiments have been stimulated to the utmost,\nwhile her intellectual development has been neglected, hampered and\nrepressed. As a result she literally suffers from spiritual and\nsentimental hypertrophy, which makes her susceptible to all sorts\nof superstitions and miracle-frauds, an easy victim of religious\nand other swindles, a willing tool of bigotry and reaction. Men in\ntheir short-sightedness frequently lament this fact; but they do\nnothing to change it, because the great majority of them are still\ndeeply entrenched in their own prejudices. As a result of this false\neducation, women generally regard the world very differently from men,\nand thereby another great source of differences and misunderstandings\nbetween the sexes is established.\n\nFor every man in present day society, participation in public life\nis one of the most essential duties; that many men still fail to\nrecognize this duty does not alter the fact. But an ever widening\ncircle of men has begun to recognize that public institutions\n~directly affect~ the private relations of each individual, and\nthat the welfare of individuals and families depends far more upon\nthe nature of public institutions than upon personal qualities and\nactions. They have begun to recognize, that even supreme efforts on\nthe part of a single individual are powerless in combatting evils\nthat are rooted in social conditions, and influence his position\naccordingly. Moreover the struggle for existence necessitates far\ngreater exertions to-day than formerly. Demands are made upon a man\nto-day, that require more and more of his time and strength. But the\nignorant, indifferent woman is usually incapable of comprehending\nhis duties and interests. We may even say that the differentiation\nbetween man and woman is greater to-day than it was formerly, when\nconditions were more petty and narrow, and therefore more within\nthe range of woman\u2019s understanding. Occupation with public affairs\nto-day claims a greater number of men than formerly. This expands\ntheir ideas, but it also estranges them from their domestic circle.\nThereby the woman feels neglected, and one more source of differences\nhas been created. Only in rare cases do men succeed in making\nthemselves understood by their wives and in convincing them. As a\nrule the man holds the opinion that his aims and interests do not\nconcern his wife, and that she is unable to understand them. He does\nnot take the trouble to instruct her. \u201cYou don\u2019t understand that,\u201d\nis the usual reply when a woman complains to her husband that he is\nneglecting her. The lack of understanding on the part of the women\nis still heightened by the lack of common sense on the part of the\nmen. Among the proletariat the relation between husband and wife is\nmore favorable, when both recognize that they must follow the same\npath, since one, and one only leads to a better future for them and\ntheir children: the complete reorganization of society that will\nmake all men and women free. As this recognition spreads among the\nwomen of the proletariat, their wedded life becomes ~idealized~\nin spite of misery and want. For now both husband and wife have a\ncommon aim to strive for, and their common struggle furnishes an\ninexhaustible source of inspiration in exchange of opinions. The\nnumber of proletarian women who have awakened to this recognition\nis growing with each year. Here a movement is expanding that will\nbe of vital importance to the future of mankind.\n\nIn other marriages the differences of education and conceptions, that\nwere overlooked in the beginning while passion was still strong, become\nmore and more noticeable with the advancing years. But as sexual\npassion decreases, it ought to be replaced by mental conformity.\nQuite disregarding the fact whether or not a man recognizes that he\nhas social and civic duties, and whether or not he fulfills these\nduties, his business or profession alone suffices to keep him in\nconstant touch with the outside world, and to create an intellectual\natmosphere about him that broadens his views. Contrary to the woman,\nhe is usually in a state of intellectual moulting; but domestic\nactivities require the woman\u2019s time and attention from morning till\nnight, and being deprived of opportunity for mental development,\nshe is apt to become dull and mentally stunted.\n\nThis domestic misery in which the majority of wives in present day\nsociety are obliged to live, has been truly pictured by Gerhard\nv. Amyntor in his book on \u201cA Commentary to the Book of Life.\u201d In\nthe chapter on \u201cFatal Stings\u201d he says: \u201cIt is not the terrible\noccurrences that no one is spared,--a husband\u2019s death, the moral\nruin of a beloved child, long, torturing illness, or the shattering\nof a fondly nourished hope,--it is none of these that undermine the\nwoman\u2019s health and strength, but the little daily recurring, body\nand soul devouring cares. How many millions of good housewives have\ncooked and scrubbed their love of life away! How many have sacrificed\ntheir rosy cheeks and their dimples in domestic service, until they\nbecame wrinkled, withered, broken mummies. The everlasting question:\n\u2018what shall I cook to-day,\u2019 the ever recurring necessity of sweeping\nand dusting and scrubbing and dish-washing, is the steadily falling\ndrop that slowly but surely wears out her body and mind. The cooking\nstove is the place where accounts are sadly balanced between income\nand expense, and where the most oppressing observations are made\nconcerning the increased cost of living and the growing difficulty\nin making both ends meet. Upon the flaming altar where the pots are\nboiling, youth and freedom from care, beauty and light-heartedness\nare being sacrificed. In the old cook whose eyes are dim and whose\nback is bent with toil, no one would recognize the blushing bride\nof yore, beautiful, merry and modestly coquettish in the finery of\nher bridal garb.--To the ancients the hearth was sacred; beside the\nhearth they erected their lares and household-gods. Let us also hold\nthe hearth sacred, where the conscientious German housewife slowly\nsacrifices her life, to keep the home comfortable, the table well\nsupplied, and the family healthy.\u201d That is the only consolation that\nbourgeois society is able to offer those women who slowly perish as\na result of the present order!\n\nThose women who enjoy a freer position as a result of their more\nfavored social circumstances, usually have a narrow, superficial\neducation that is manifested in connection with inherited, female\ncharacteristics. Most of these women are interested only in external\nappearances; dress and personal adornment are their chief concern,\nand the satisfaction of their depraved tastes and their unbridled\npassions, form their object in life. They are not interested much in\nthe children and their education; that would mean too much trouble\nand annoyance. Therefore they willingly turn over their children\nto nurses and governesses and later on to boarding-schools. At the\nmost they regard it as their duty to make silly doll-women of their\ndaughters, and superficial, extravagant dandies of their sons.\nThis class of young men, who regard idleness and extravagance as a\nprofession, furnishes the seducers of the daughters of the people.\n\nThe conditions described above have lead to a number of traits of\ncharacter peculiar to women, that are more fully developed from\ngeneration to generation. Men seem to find satisfaction in ridiculing\nthese traits, but they forget that they themselves are to blame for\nthem. The following are some of these frequently condemned female\ntraits of character: talkativeness and scandal-mongering; the\ninclination to discuss the most insignificant things at the greatest\nlength; the exaggerated interest in outward display; the love of\ndress and coquetry; envy and jealousy toward the members of her sex,\nand the tendency of being dishonest and hypocritical. These traits\nof character usually manifest themselves with the female sex at an\nearly age; they are general and only differ in degree. These traits\nhave developed under the pressure of social conditions, and they\nhave been further developed by heredity, example and education. One\nwho has been brought up unwisely is not likely to bring up others\nwisely.\n\nIn order to understand the origin and development of traits of\ncharacter common to an entire sex or to an entire people, we must\nfollow the same method that modern scientists apply to understand the\norigin and development of living beings and their characteristics.\nThe material conditions of life to a great extent imprint upon every\nliving being its traits of character. It is compelled to adapt itself\nto these existing material conditions, until the adaptation becomes\nits nature.\n\nHuman beings form no exception to that which holds true for all living\nbeings throughout nature. Man is not exempt from natural laws. Viewed\nphysiologically, he is merely the most highly developed animal. Of\ncourse, many persons refuse to admit this. Thousands of years ago\nancient peoples, although they knew nothing of modern science, held\nmore rational views in regard to many human problems, than a great\nmany of our contemporaries, and, what is more noteworthy still, their\nviews that were based on experience, were put into practice. We\npraise and admire the strength and beauty of the men and women of\nancient Greece; but we forget that it was not the climate of this\nbeautiful country that had such a favorable influence upon the nature\nand development of its population, but the educational maxims that\nwere consistently carried out by the state, and that were destined to\ncombine beauty, strength and skill with mental sharpness and vigor.\nIndeed the mental development of woman was neglected even then, but\nnot so her physical development.[66] In Sparta where physical culture\nof both sexes was most extensively practiced, boys and girls went\nabout naked until the age of puberty, and together they joined in\nphysical exercises, games and wrestling-matches. The display of the\nnude human body, the natural treatment of natural things, prevented\nthe extreme sexual irritation that is mainly caused by an artificial\nseparation of the sexes from childhood on. The body of one sex was\nno mystery to the other. No dallying with ambiguities could arise.\nNature was regarded as such. Each sex took pleasure in the beauty\nof the other.\n\nTo a natural, untrammeled relation of the sexes must mankind return;\nwe must cast aside the unsound spiritualistic conceptions concerning\nhuman affairs and create methods of education that shall bring about\na physical and mental regeneration. The prevailing conceptions in\nregard to education, especially the education of women, are still\nexceedingly reactionary. That a woman should possess such qualities\nof character as strength, courage and determination, is decried as\nunwomanly, and yet no one can deny that by means of such qualities\nshe will be better enabled to protect herself. But her physical\ndevelopment is hampered, just like her mental development. This is due\nin no small degree to the irrational mode of dress. Woman\u2019s dress not\nonly interferes with her physical development, it frequently does her\ndirect bodily harm; and yet there are few, even among physicians,\nwho dare to oppose it. Fear of displeasing the patient causes them to\nbe silent or even to flatter her follies. The modern style of dress\nprevents women from freely exercising their strength, hampers their\nphysical development, and creates a feeling of helplessness in them.\nMoreover, woman\u2019s dress endangers the health of her environment,\nfor at home and on the street she is a walking generator of dust.\n\nThe physical and intellectual development of women is furthermore\nseverely hampered by a rigorous separation of the sexes in school\nand in social intercourse, that is quite in accordance with the\nspiritualistic conceptions implanted by Christianity, and is still\nsadly prevalent among us. The woman who is given no opportunity to\ndevelop her abilities and talents, who is maintained within a narrow\nsphere of ideas, and rarely permitted to associate with members of the\nother sex, ~cannot~ rise above the commonplace and trivial. For her\nideas are centered in the occurrences of her immediate environment.\nVerbose conversations over a mere nothingness and the tendency to\ngossip are fostered by this narrow life, since the mental activities\nthat reside in every human being must find expression somewhere. Men\nare frequently grievously annoyed and driven to despair by these\nqualities which they roundly condemn, without pausing to consider\nthat they, \u201cthe lords of creation,\u201d are chiefly to blame for them.\nDuring recent years numerous attempts have been made to introduce\nmore rational conceptions of life; but they are merely a beginning,\nand until now have been confined to a very small portion of society.\n\n[66] Plato, in \u201cThe State\u201d, demands that women should be given an\neducation similar to men, and Aristoteles in \u201cPolitics\u201d declares\nas a fundamental principle of education: \u201cfirst let the body be\ndeveloped and then the mind.\u201d\n\n\n4.--The Misery of Present Day Marriages.\n\nAs a result of our social and sexual relations, woman is directed\ntoward marriage by every fibre of her existence, and naturally\nmarriage constitutes a chief topic of her conversation and thought.\nAs woman is physically weaker than man, and is subjected to him by\ncustom and law, her tongue is her chief weapon to be used against\nhim, and she naturally makes a liberal use of this weapon. In the\nsame way her much berated love of dress and personal adornment can\nbe explained, that leads to increasingly eccentric follies of fashion\nand often causes financial troubles and unpleasantness to fathers\nand husbands. To man, woman has chiefly been an object of enjoyment.\nBeing socially and economically dependent, she must regard marriage\nas a means of support, and thus becomes subservient to man, becomes\nhis property. Her position is rendered more unfavorable still by\nthe fact that the number of women usually exceeds the number of\nmen; we will return to this phase of the question later on.--This\ndisproportion increases the competition of women among themselves, all\nthe more so because, for numerous reasons, many men fail to marry.\nWoman is therefore compelled to enhance her personal charms, in order\nto compete with the members of her own sex in the struggle for the\npossession of a man. When we consider that this disproportion has\nexisted through many generations, it is not to be wondered at that\nthese characteristics have gradually assumed their present, extreme\nform. We must consider moreover that at no time the competition among\nwomen for the possession of man was as severe as it is at present,\nowing to causes, some of which have already been, and others that\nstill are to be enumerated. The increasing difficulty of obtaining\na decent livelihood also directs woman more than ever to marriage\nas a means of support.\n\nMen do not object to these conditions, since they are favorable\nto them. It flatters their vanity and serves their interest to\nplay the part of the ruler, and as all rulers they are not easily\naccessible to reason. It is all the more important therefore that\nwomen themselves should strive to bring about conditions that will\nliberate them from their present, degraded position. Women can no\nmore rely upon the aid of men, than the workers can rely upon the\naid of the bourgeoisie.\n\nWhen we furthermore consider what traits of character are developed\nby competition along other lines, how, for instance, industrial\ncompetition leads to hatred, envy and calumny, and how the competitors\nresort to the basest means, we find an explanation for the fact that\nsimilar traits of character have been developed in women by their\ncompetition for the possession of a man. It is due to this permanent\ncompetition that women, as a rule, cannot get along as well with\none another as men can; that even intimate friends are easily led\nto quarrel when the favor of a man enters into consideration. This\ncompetition also explains what may be frequently observed, that when\ntwo women meet, even though they are utter strangers to one another,\nthey regard each other in a hostile way. With a single glance they\nhave summed up each other\u2019s shortcomings in the manner and style of\ntheir clothes, and in the looks of each the verdict may be read:\n\u201cI am better dressed than you are and am better able to attract\nattention to myself.\u201d\n\nOn the other hand woman is by nature more impulsive than man. She is\nless given to reflection, is more unselfish and naive, and is more\ncontrolled by passion. These traits of character are expressed in\ntheir most beautiful form by the unselfish self-sacrifice with which\nshe serves her children and others who are near and dear to her and\ncares for them during illness. But when angered, her impassionate\nnature manifests itself in its ugliest form. Yet the fact remains that\nboth good and evil qualities are fostered, hampered or transformed,\nby the social position. The same propensity that may be harmful under\nunfavorable circumstances may, under favorable circumstances, become\na source of happiness to oneself and others. Fourier has ably shown\nthat the same human propensities may, under different circumstances,\nlead to opposite results.[67]\n\nBeside the improper mental education, the improper or insufficient\nphysical education in regard to the purposes of nature, remains to\nbe considered. All physicians are agreed that woman\u2019s education\nfor her profession of motherhood is almost entirely neglected.\n\u201cSoldiers are trained in the use of their weapons, and mechanics\nin the use of their tools. Every profession requires preliminary\nstudy. Even the monk has his noviceship. Only the woman is not\neducated for her serious maternal duties\u201d.[68] Nine tenths of all\nmaidens who are given an opportunity to marry, enter matrimony in\ncomplete ignorance of motherhood and its duties. The unpardonable\nprudery that prevents mothers from speaking to their grown daughters\nabout the important functions of sex, leaves them in a state of\ndensest ignorance concerning their duties to their husbands and to\nthemselves. The entrance into marriage means to most women entrance\ninto an utterly strange world. Their conceptions of marriage are\npurely imaginative, drawn from novels of doubtful value, and are\nusually very foreign to reality.[69] Another source of differences\nmay be found in the lack of practical knowledge of housekeeping\nthat is still quite essential in present day marriage, though women\nhave been relieved of many domestic activities that were formerly\ninevitable. Some women are deplorably ignorant of household duties\nbecause they consider themselves superior to such work and regard it\nas a task for servants only. Others, daughters of the proletariat,\nare equally ignorant, because the struggle for existence compelled\nthem to toil in the factory from morning until night, and they found\nno time to prepare for their future profession of housekeeper. It\nbecomes more and more evident that the trend of development makes\nindividual housekeeping unpractical, and that it can be maintained\nonly by an irrational sacrifice of time and money.\n\nThere is still another cause that to many men destroys the purpose\nof marriage: the physical enfeeblement of women. The food we eat,\nthe manner in which we live, the conditions of our work and the\ncharacter of our amusements, all tend to act more destructively than\nfavorably upon our physical condition. Rightly is our age termed a\nnervous age. But nervousness leads to physical degeneration. Anaemia\nand nervousness exist in an especially marked degree among women.\nThis physical degeneration is fast becoming a social calamity, and\nif it would continue to exist for several generations more, without\nour being able to procure more normal conditions of development, it\nwould ultimately lead to race destruction.[70]\n\nThe female organism requires special care in consideration of\nits special sexual functions. It requires good and sufficient\nnourishment and at certain periods it requires rest. For the great\nmajority of women such care does not exist, nor can it be obtained\nunder present-day conditions. Women have so accustomed themselves\nto self-denial that many women consider it a matrimonial duty to\ngive their husbands the best morsels and to content themselves with\ninsufficient food. It also frequently happens that the boys of a\nfamily are better nourished than the girls. It is generally assumed\nthat women can content themselves with poorer and less nourishment\nthan men. Young girls are therefore often a sad sight to professional\nauthorities on hygiene and physical culture.[71] A great number\nof our young women are weak, anaemic, and extremely nervous. The\nresults are suffering during menstruation and diseases of the sexual\norgans that sometimes make it dangerous or impossible to give birth\nto children or to nurse them. \u201cIf the degeneration of our women\ncontinues to go on in the same manner as up to the present, it will\nbecome doubtful whether civilized man may still be classified with\nthe mammals.\u201d[72] Instead of being married to a healthy, cheerful\ncompanion, a capable mother, a wife attending to her domestic duties,\nthe man is burdened with a sickly, nervous woman who cannot endure\nthe slightest draught or the least noise and requires the constant\nattendance of a physician. We need not dwell longer on this subject.\nEveryone knows of a number of such cases among his own friends and\nrelatives.\n\nExperienced physicians assert that the majority of married women,\nespecially in the cities, are in a more or less abnormal, physical\ncondition. According to the degree of the ailment and the characters\nof husband and wife, such marriages must be more or less unfortunate.\nIn accordance with public opinion they entitle the men to take\nliberties outside of their matrimonial relations, and the knowledge\nof this fact must heighten the misery of the wives. Sometimes the\nsexual requirements of husband and wife also differ widely and give\nrise to profound disharmonies, yet the much desired separation is\nnot possible.\n\nIn connection with this, the truth must not be concealed that in a\ngreat many cases ~the men are responsible for the severe physical\nsufferings that befall their wives in marriage~. As a result ~of\ntheir profligate lives, many men suffer from chronic sexual diseases\nthat they frequently treat lightly~, because they do not cause them\nmuch trouble. But during sexual intercourse with their wives, these\nfall victims to severe abdominal diseases that set in shortly after\nmarriage and frequently result in sterility. Usually the unfortunate\nwoman is ignorant of the true cause of the disease that mars her\nlife and destroys the purpose of marriage, and reproaches herself or\nis reproached for the condition that her husband has caused. Many a\nblooming young woman becomes a chronic invalid after she has barely\nentered marriage,--neither she nor her relatives are able to explain\nher condition, and the physician must maintain silence. Recent\ninvestigations have shown that childless marriages are frequently\ndue to sexual diseases of men; while formerly the lords of creation\nmaintained the convenient theory that the woman was always to blame\nwhen their marriages remained childless.[73]\n\nNumerous are the causes that prevent present day marriage from being\nwhat it ought to be. It is therefore a recommendation of doubtful\nvalue when even learned men seek to oppose the woman movement by\npointing out to woman that marriage is their true vocation. As a\nresult of our social conditions marriage has become a carricature\nforeign to its true purposes.\n\n[67] A. Bebel--\u201cCharles Fourier, His Life and His Theories.\u201d Stuttgart,\n1907. J. H. W. Dietz.\n\n[68] Irma v. Troll-Borostyani--\u201cThe Mission of our Century. A Study\nof the Woman Question.\u201d\n\n[69] In \u201cLes Femmes qui tuent et les femmes qui votent,\u201d Alexander\nDumas, jr., relates that an eminent Catholic clergyman had told\nhim that among hundred of his former female pupils who had become\nmarried, at least eighty came to him after a few months had elapsed\nand told him that marriage was a disappointment to them and that\nthey regretted having married. That seems very plausible indeed.\nThe French bourgeoisie find it compatible with their conscience to\nhave their daughters reared in convents. They are influenced by the\nassumption that an ignorant woman is more easily guided than an\nenlightened one. Conflicts and disappointments in marriage are the\ninevitable result. Laboulaye even frankly advises to maintain the\nwomen in moderate ignorance, for \u201cnotre empire est d\u00e9truit si l\u2019homme\nest reconnu.\u201d (Our rule will be destroyed if man is recognized.)\n\n[70] Softening of the brain has increased more rapidly among women\nthan among men. Among every hundred patients admitted to asylums in\nPrussia there were cases of softening of the brain:\n\n [Women] [Men]\n\n 1876\u20131879 17.0 3.7\n 1880\u20131891 17.3 5.4\n 1892\u20131894 17.7 6.8\n 1895\u20131897 18.5 7.6\n 1898\u20131901 16.2 7.5\n\n[71] Further details on this subject may be found in \u201cThe Book of\nWomen,\u201d by Mrs. H. S. Adams, M. D., Stuttgart.\n\n[72] Dr. F. B. Simon, \u201cThe Care of the Health of Women.\u201d\n\n[73] Dr. F. B. Simon discusses this subject and the analogous subject,\nwhy so many young women become ill after marriage without being able\nto account for it, at length. His book is a glaring reflection upon\nthe wrongdoings and vices of men.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nThe Chances of Matrimony.\n\n\n1.--The Numerical Proportion of the Sexes.\n\nThe usual advice to women to seek their salvation in marriage,\nthis being their true profession, is thoughtlessly approved of by\nthe vast majority of men. But it seems like mockery, that many of\nthose who give such advice and of those who applaud it, refrain\nfrom marrying themselves. Schopenhauer, the philosopher, has only\nthe conception of a philistine concerning woman and her position.\nHe says: \u201cwoman is not called upon to perform great tasks. Her\ncharacteristic is not doing but suffering. She pays her debt to life\nby the throes of child-birth, care of her child and ~submissiveness\nto her husband~. The supreme expressions of vitality and perception\nare denied her. Her life should be more tranquil and insignificant\nthan man\u2019s life. Woman is called upon to be the nurse and educator\nof childhood ~because she is childish herself~; because ~throughout\nlife she remains a big child~, a sort of intermediary stage between\nchild and man, ~the true human being~.... Girls should be reared to\nbe domestic and ~submissive~.... ~Women are the most thoroughgoing,\nincurable philistines.~\u201d\n\nThe work by Lombroso and Ferrero, \u201cWoman as a Criminal and Prostitute\u201d,\nis also written in the spirit of Schopenhauer. We have never met\nwith an equally extensive scientific book,--it consists of 590\npages,--that contains so little convincing material in regard to the\nsubject it deals with. The statistics from which the most daring\nconclusions are drawn, are very inadequate. Sometimes a dozen\ncases have sufficed the author to form a weighty opinion. It is a\nnoteworthy fact that the material contained in the book which may\nbe regarded as the most trustworthy has been furnished by a woman,\nDr. Mrs. Tarnowskaya. The influences of social conditions and social\ndevelopment are almost entirely disregarded. All phenomena are\njudged from a narrow physiological and psychological point of view\nand much ethnological information concerning various peoples--is\ninterwoven with the argumentation, without any attempt being made to\ninvestigate the nature of this information. According to the authors,\nas according to Schopenhauer, woman is a big child, an incarnate\nliar, weak in her judgment, fickle in love, incapable of any heroic\ndeed. The inferiority of woman,--so they claim,--has been proven by\na great many physical differences and characteristics. \u201cWoman\u2019s love\nis, at the bottom, nothing but a secondary character of motherhood.\nAll the sentiments of affection that bind a woman to a man are not\nderived from the sexual impulse but ~from instincts of devotion and\nsubmission acquired by adaptation~.\u201d But how these instincts were\nacquired the authors fail to examine. If they did, it would imply an\ninvestigation of the social position of woman during thousands of\nyears which has made her what she is to-day. The authors describe\nthe dependence and enslavement of woman among different nations\nand during various periods of civilization, but being blinded by a\nnarrow conception of the Darwinian theory, they trace everything to\nphysiological causes, and disregard the social and economic causes\nthat have had the strongest influence on woman\u2019s physiological and\npsychological development.\n\nAmong other things the authors discuss the vanity of woman and\nexpress the view that among people at a low stage of development\nmen are the vain sex, which may be observed even to-day on the\nHebrides, Madagascar and among the tribes about the Orinoco river,\nas also on many islands of the Polynesian Archipelago and among a\nnumber of African and South Sea Island tribes; while among nations\nof high stage of development, women are the vain sex. But why is\nthis so? The answer is simple. Among peoples at a low stage of\ndevelopment, matriarchal conditions prevail or have been abandoned\nbut recently. Here woman\u2019s position is such that she is relieved of\nthe necessity of wooing man. The man woos her, and for this purpose\nhe adorns himself, he becomes vain. Among peoples at a higher stage\nof development, especially among all civilized nations, man does not\nwoo woman, but woman woos man. It rarely occurs that woman takes the\ninitiative and literally offers herself to a man; modesty forbids\nthat. But the offer nevertheless is made by manner and dress, the\nluxury of her personal adornment and her coquetry. Such conduct is\nforced upon her by the fact that there are more women than men and\nby the social necessity of regarding marriage as a means of support\nand as the only institution by means of which she may satisfy her\nsexual impulse and obtain social recognition. Here again we find\n~purely economic and social causes~ bringing forth qualities, now\nin the man and now in the woman, that we are accustomed to regard\nas quite independent of social and economic causes. From this we\nmay draw the conclusion that when society has reached a state of\ndevelopment in which every form of dependence of one sex upon the\nother will cease, ~vanity and the follies of fashion will disappear\nas will many other vices that we deem ineradicable to-day, because\nwe believe them to be inherent in human nature~.\n\nIn regard to Schopenhauer it must be said that he, as a philosopher,\nis as biased in his judgment of women as the majority of our\nanthropologists and medical men who regard her only as a sex being,\nnever as a social being. Schopenhauer had never been married. He\nfailed to contribute his share that one more woman might fulfill\nthe purpose in life that he prescribed to women. This leads us to\nanother, no more pleasant phase of the question.\n\nIt is generally known that many women remain unmarried because they\nare given no opportunity to become married. Custom forbids the\nwoman to offer herself. She must allow herself to be chosen; she\nmay not choose. If she is not chosen she must join that great army\nof unfortunate women who have missed their purpose in life and who\nare frequently subjected to a life of poverty and want, sometimes\nmade more bitter still by ridicule. But what causes the numerical\ndisproportion of the sexes? Many are quick to reply: too many girls\nare born. The persons who make this statement are misinformed, as\nwe shall see. Others draw the conclusion that if women are in the\nmajority in most civilized countries, polygamy ought to be permitted.\nBut polygamy is not only averse to our customs, it also entails the\ndegradation of woman; although that did not prevent Schopenhauer\nfrom asserting that \u201cto the female sex in general polygamy is a\nboon.\u201d Many men do not marry because they believe that they are\nunable to support ~one~ woman and the children who are likely to\nbe born according to their station in life. Only few men are able\nto support two women, and among these, many do have two or several\nwives: one legitimate wife, and one or several illegitimate wives.\nThose privileged by wealth allow nothing to prevent them from doing\nas they choose.\n\nEven in the orient where custom and law have suffered polygamy to\nexist for thousands of years, relatively few men have more than one\nwife. We speak of the degrading influence of life in Turkish harems.\nBut we overlook the fact that only ~very few men~ belonging to the\n~ruling class~ can afford to maintain a harem, while the great mass of\nmen live in monogamic marriage. In the city of Algiers at the close\nof the sixties of the last century, there were among 18,282 marriages\nno less than 17,319 with only one wife; there were 888 marriages\nwith two wives, and only 75 with more than two. In Constantinople,\nthe capital of the Turkish empire, conditions are probably quite\nsimilar. Among the rural population in the orient the conditions\nfavoring monogamic marriage are still more striking. In the orient,\nas with us, material conditions come into consideration that compel\nthe majority of men to content themselves with one wife.[74] But if\nconditions were equally favorable to all men polygamy could still\nnot be generally maintained because there are not enough women.\n~Under normal conditions the numbers of persons of both sexes are\nalmost equal, which everywhere points to monogamic marriage.~ The\nfollowing table which has been published by Buecher in the \u201cGeneral\nStatistic Records,\u201d proves this assertion.[75]\n\n ================================================================\n Number Number Entire Number of\n of male of female population women for\n persons persons every 1000 men\n ----------------------------------------------------------------\n Europe 170,818,561 174,914,119 345,732,680 1,024\n America 41,643,389 40,540,386 82,183,775 973\n Asia 177,648,044 170,269,179 347,917,223 958\n Australia 2,197,799 1,871,821 4,069,620 852\n Africa 6,994,064 6,771,360 13,765,425 968\n -------------------------------------------------------\n 399,301,857 394,366,865 793,668,722 988\n\nThe result of this compilation may, to many people, be a surprising\none. With the exception of Europe where there are, on an average,\n1,024 female inhabitants for every 1000 male inhabitants, the male\npopulation predominates. Even if we may assume that the information\nis incomplete, especially in regard to the female sex, and that\nespecially in countries with a Mohammedan population the female\npopulation surpasses the given figures, the fact remains that,\nexcept in a few European countries, the female population nowhere\nconsiderably exceeds the male population. In the meantime the imperial\nbureau of statistics in Berlin has published a new compilation of\nthe census in European and non-European countries which includes\n883,000,000 people. \u201cWhen we take into consideration the census,\nnot included in this compilation, of Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina,\nCosta Rica, Argentine Republic, the Transvaal, Orange River Colony,\nCyprus, Formosa and Pescadores, the number of enumerated inhabitants\nof the earth attains 882,000,000 with a general average of 991 female\npersons for every 1000 male persons. For the enumerated population\nof the earth we may therefore assume an almost equal representation\nof both sexes with a slight preponderance of the male.\u201d[76]\n\nIn Europe the conditions are different. With the exception of the\ncountries of South Eastern Europe, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Servia,\nBulgaria, Rumania and Greece, the female population predominates.\nThe proportion is least unfavorable in Hungary and Italy where there\nare respectively 1,009 and 1,010 female inhabitants for every 1000\nmale inhabitants. Belgium comes next with 1013 female for every 1000\nmale inhabitants. Portugal and Norway show the most unfavorable\nproportion; next to these Great Britain with 1063 female for every\n1000 male inhabitants. France, Germany, Austria and Russia lie in the\nmiddle having for every 1000 male inhabitants respectively 1,033,\n1,032, 1,035 and 1,029 female inhabitants.[77] In Germany during the\nlast two decades each census has shown a more favorable proportion.\nOn Dec. 1, 1885, the female population exceeded the male population\nby 988,376 persons. The census of Dec. 1, 1890, still showed an\nexcess of the female population of 966,806 persons. 1895--957,401;\n1900--892,684, and according to the census of Dec. 1, 1905 the excess\nof the female population had sunken to 871,916 persons (1029 female\nfor every 1000 male inhabitants). The decline of this difference\nmay be chiefly accounted for by the decline of emigration in which\nthe male sex is mainly concerned. This may be clearly seen from\nthe proportion of the sexes in the United States, into which the\nstream of emigration is mainly directed, and where the dearth of\nwomen is almost as great as the excess of women in Germany. In 1900\nfor every 1000 men there were only 953 women. This emigration from\nGermany decreased from 220,902 persons in 1881 to 22,073 persons in\n1901 and to 19,883 persons in 1908. The fact, that more men than\nwomen emigrate, accounts in the first place then for the difference\nbetween the numbers of persons of both sexes. Italy furnishes a good\nexample; for there the male population still predominated at the\nbeginning of the forties of the last century, while at present the\nfemale population predominates, owing to the large emigration.\n\nFurthermore, more men than women meet with accidents in agriculture,\nindustry, commerce and traffic. Also more men are temporarily absent\nabroad as merchants, sailors, marines, etc. Another fact that has\nbeen statistically proven and that constitutes an important factor\nis that women on an average attain a higher age than men and that\ntherefore there are more old women than old men. According to the\ncensus of 1900 the proportion of the sexes according to age in\nGermany was the following:\n\n ======================================================================\n More More Excess\n AGE Male Female male female of female\n population\n ----------------------------------------------------------------------\n Under 10 years 6,904,732 6,871,599 33,133 -- --\n From 10 to 15 years 2,925,918 2,912,573 13,345 -- --\n \u201c 15 \u201c 21 \u201c 3,179,813 3,162,448 17,365 -- --\n \u201c 21 \u201c 30 \u201c 4,251,204 4,293,775 -- 42,571 --\n \u201c 30 \u201c 40 \u201c 3,669,656 3,731,556 -- 61,900 --\n \u201c 40 \u201c 50 \u201c 2,770,451 2,923,228 -- 152,777 --\n \u201c 50 \u201c 60 \u201c 2,053,085 2,320,273 -- 267,188 --\n \u201c 60 \u201c 70 \u201c 1,300,637 1,545,808 -- 245,171 --\n \u201c 70 years up 681,751 868,671 -- 186,920 --\n -----------------------------------------------------\n 27,737,247 28,629,931 63,845 956,527 892,684\n\nThis table shows that up to the twenty-first year the number of boys\nexceeds the number of girls.[78] This excess of boys is due to the\nfact that everywhere more boys than girls are born. The following\nnumber of boys and girls, for instance, were born in the German\nempire:\n\n During the year 1872 for 100 girls 106.2 boys\n \u201c \u201c \u201c 1884 \u201c 100 \u201c 106.2 \u201c\n \u201c \u201c \u201c 1900 \u201c 100 \u201c 106.0 \u201c\n \u201c \u201c \u201c 1905 \u201c 100 \u201c 106.3 \u201c\n \u201c \u201c \u201c 1907 \u201c 100 \u201c 106.3 \u201c\n\nBut the male sex dies younger than the female sex; especially during\ninfancy more boys than girls die. Our table shows that from the\ntwenty-first year on the female population exceeds the male. The\nfollowing figures show the death-rate of male and female inhabitants\nin Germany:\n\n During\n the years Male Female\n\n 1872\u20131875 29.5 26.3\n 1876\u20131880 27.8 24.5\n 1881\u20131885 27.3 24.2\n 1886\u20131890 25.8 23.1\n 1891\u20131895 24.6 22.1\n 1896\u20131900 22.6 20.0\n 1901\u20131905 21.0 18.8\n [79]\n\n[79] Hygienic and ethnological conditions of the German Empire.\nBerlin, 1907--During the year 1907 for every 100 female deceased\nthere were 109.3 male.\n\nThe table on page 159 furthermore shows that at the true marriageable\nage, between the twenty-first and fiftieth year the female sex exceeds\nthe male sex by 257,248 persons (in the year 1890 by 422,519) and\nbetween the fiftieth and seventieth year by 699,279 (in the year\n1890 by 566,400). In Germany as in England the number of old women\nincreases each year. A great disproportion, that constantly increases,\nis furthermore met with among widowed and divorced persons.\n\nAccording to the census of 1890 and 1900 there were the following\nnumbers of widowed persons in Germany:\n\n 1890 1900\n\n Men 774,967 809,238\n Women 2,157,870 2,352,921\n ---------- ----------\n More women than men 1,382,903 1,543,683\n\nThese widowed persons were of the following ages:\n\n 1890 1900\n Men Women Men Women\n\n 40 to 60 years 222,286 842,920 225,191 900,357\n 60 years and older 506,319 1,158,712 537,116 1,299,905\n\nThe number of divorced persons were during 1890, 25,271 men and\n49,601 women. During 1900, 31,279 men and 60,738 women. These were\nof the following ages:\n\n 1890 1900\n Men Women Men Women\n\n 40 to 60 years 13,825 24,842 16,976 30,385\n 60 years and older 4,917 7,244 5,713 8,452\n\nThese figures show us that widowed and divorced women are excluded\nfrom remarriage, even during the age best suited to marriage. For\nduring the years 1890 and 1900 there were respectively 46,362 and\n46,931 widowed men up to the fortieth year of age, while during\nthe same years there were respectively 156,235 and 152,689 widowed\nwomen. There were divorced men in 1890 and 1900 respectively 6519\nand 8590 and divorced women 17,515 and 21,901. Here the disadvantage\nof divorce to the women is proved by figures.\n\nThe following shows the proportion of unmarried persons during 1900:\n\n Men Women\n\n 15 to 40 years 6,700,352 5,824,464\n 40 to 60 years 426,388 503,406\n 60 years and older 141,416 252,134[80]\n\nAmong the unmarried persons between the fifteenth and fortieth year\nthere are, as above table shows, 875,888 more men than women, which\nappears to be very favorable to women. But men between the fifteenth\nand twenty-first year of age,--at which age there are 3,175,453\nmen to 3,064,567 women,--are, with very few exceptions, unable to\nmarry. The same may be said of men between the twenty-first and\ntwenty-fifth year of age, the great majority of whom are unable to\nsupport a family, while women of this age are all marriageable.\nWhen we furthermore consider the fact that for diverse reasons a\ngreat many men do not marry at all,--the number of unmarried men\nover 40 years were 567,804,--we find that the position of women in\nregard to marriage is a highly unfavorable one. A great many women\nthen, under present-day conditions, are compelled to deny themselves\nthe legitimate satisfaction of the sexual impulse, while men seek\nand find satisfaction in prostitution. The position of women would\nbecome a far more favorable one, as soon as a transformation of\nsocial conditions would abolish the obstacles that at present prevent\nhundreds of thousands of men from becoming married.\n\nAs already mentioned the disproportion in the numbers of the sexes\nis due to a great extent to emigration. Obligatory service in the\narmy also drives many young men, frequently the strongest, to seek\ntheir fortune abroad. According to official reports of the army,\n135,168 men were convicted of illicit emigration, and 13,055 more\ncases were being investigated. These figures include men up to the\nforty-fifth year. This illicit emigration of men from Germany causes\na considerable loss. Emigration is especially large in the years\nfollowing great wars; that was seen after 1866 and during the years\n1871 to 1874.\n\nWe furthermore have great losses of life among men by accidents. In\nPrussia during the period from 1883 to 1905 no less than 297,983\npersons were killed by accidents; of these there were, during the one\nyear 1905, 11,792 men and 2,922 women. From 1886 to 1907, 150,719\npersons were killed by accidents in industry, agriculture and state\nor municipal employment; only a small fraction of these were women.\nAnother considerable portion of persons employed in these occupations\nbecome maimed or crippled for life and therefore unable to maintain\na family. (There were 40,744 of these from 1886 to 1907.) Others\ndie young leaving their families in the neediest circumstances.\nMuch loss of life among men is also connected with navigation. From\n1882 to 1907, 2,848 sea-going vessels were sunk, entailing a loss\nof life of 4,913 members of the crew,--almost all men,--and 1,275\npassengers.\n\nOnly when the highest valuation of human life has been established,--which\nwill be the case in a Socialistic community,--will society be enabled\nto prevent a great majority of accidents on land and sea. At present\nmany persons are killed or maimed as a result of illapplied economy\nof employers. In many other cases accidents are due to excessive\nspeed or over-fatigue of workers. Human life is cheap. When one\nworkingman has been killed there are many others to take his place.\n\nEspecially in navigation many preventable accidents occur. By\nthe revelations of Plimsoll in the English parliament during the\nseventies, the fact became generally known that many owners of\nunseaworthy vessels, impelled by criminal greed, insured these\nvessels at a high rate and then sent them with their crew to almost\ncertain destruction, in order to obtain the amount of insurance.\nThese are the so-called death-ships that are not unknown in Germany\neither. Every year the marine bureaus are called upon to pronounce\ntheir verdicts in connection with a number of marine accidents, and\nthose verdicts usually show the accidents to be due to advanced age\nor overloading or improper condition of the vessel or insufficient\nequipment, or a number of these causes combined. In the cases of many\nsunken ships the causes of their sinking can never be determined,\nbecause the disasters occur in mid-ocean and no one survives to\ntell the tale. Many crimes are committed in this way. The stations\nfor saving ship-wrecked persons established at the coasts, are also\nvery insufficient because they are chiefly maintained by private\ncharity. An organized society that will regard it as its highest duty\nto provide equally for all its members, will succeed in making all\nthese accidents of extremely rare occurrence. But under the present\npredatory system, where human lives are regarded as mere ciphers\nand the sole aim is to attain the highest possible profit, a human\nlife is sometimes sacrificed in order that a dollar may be gained.\n\n[74] Throughout India polygamy exists in only a moderate form.\nAccording to the census of 1901 which includes all religions, there\nwere for every 1000 married men, 1,011 married women. According\nto this the monogamic equilibrium is not seriously interfered\nwith.--D. v. Mayer.\n\n[75] Karl Buecher, on the distribution of both sexes upon the\nearth; lecture delivered on Jan. 6, 1892, before the Geographical\nand Statistical Society of Frankfort on the Main. General Statistic\nRecords published by Dr. George v. Mayer. Vol. II. Tubingen, 1892.\n\n[76] G. v. Mayer--Dr. G. Schnapper Arndt in his book of Social\nStatistics arrives at the same conclusion. \u201cTaken all in all the\nproportion of both sexes is approximately equal.\u201d\n\n[77] According to G. Schnapper Arndt; founded on recent census\nfigures, around the close of the century.\n\n[78] According to the census of 1890, there was an excess of boys\nonly up to the tenth year of age, and according to the census of\n1895, up to the sixteenth year.\n\n[80] Statistics of the German Empire. Census of Dec. 1, 1900.\n\n\n2.--Obstacles to Marriage.--The Excess of Women.\n\nThere are still other causes that make marriage difficult or\nprevent it entirely. A considerable number of men are prevented\nfrom marrying by the state. People condemn the enforced celibacy of\nthe Catholic clergy, but they do not mention the fact that a far\ngreater number of soldiers are doomed to celibacy likewise. When\nan officer of the army wishes to marry, he not only requires the\nconsent of his superiors, he is also denied the free choice of a\nwife, since it is prescribed that he must possess a certain amount\nof wealth. In Austria a captain of the army seeking to marry, must\ngive a security of 30,000 florins if he is under thirty years of\nage, 20,000 florins if he is over thirty; minor officers must give\na security of 16,000 florins. In all cases the fianc\u00e9e of an army\nofficer must have lead an immaculate life, and her standard of living\nmust be suited to his rank. In Germany, officers of the army may\nseek permission to marry only when they can prove that they have\nan additional income. The required size of this additional income\nvaries with the different ranks. These are striking proofs of the\nmaterialistic conception of marriage maintained by the state.\n\nPublic opinion in general maintains, that men should not marry\nuntil they have attained their twenty-fourth or twenty-fifth year\nof life. This opinion is founded on the fact that few men are able\nto support a family before they have reached this age. Only persons\nwho are fortunate enough not to be obliged to win an independent\nposition,--persons of princely rank, for instance,--form an exception.\nIn their case we regard it as quite proper that a man should become\nmarried at eighteen or nineteen, and a maiden at fifteen or sixteen\nyears of age. Princes come of age when they are eighteen years old,\nand are considered competent to rule the most numerous people. Common\nmortals do not come of age until they are twenty-one years old.\n\nThis difference of opinion in regard to the age at which marriage\nis desirable, shows that only social considerations are taken into\naccount, that have no bearing upon man as a sex being. But nature\nwill not be fettered by definite social conditions and the views\nthat have sprung from these conditions. As soon as a human being\nhas attained maturity, the sexual impulse manifests itself with all\nits vigor.\n\nThe advent of puberty with the female sex differs according to the\nindividual, the climate and the mode of life. In the torrid zones it\nsets in as early as the ninth or tenth year, and sometimes one meets\nwomen of that age with their first babes in their arms; but they\nare faded when they have attained their twenty-fifth or thirtieth\nyear.[81] In the temperate zones girls usually attain puberty at\nfourteen or sixteen years of age, in some cases later still. The age\nof puberty also differs with girls living in the country from those\nliving in cities. Among the healthy, robust country girls who work\nhard, as a rule menstruation sets in later than among our poorly\nnourished, effeminate, ethereal young ladies in the cities, who suffer\nfrom over-excitement of the nerves. In the country puberty usually\ndevelopes in the normal way. In the city its normal development is an\nexception, and not infrequently it is accompanied by various symptoms\nof disease that drive physicians to despair. Often physicians are\nobliged to say that the only certain cure would be marriage. But in\nmany cases this cure cannot be applied, owing to the unsurmountable\nobstacles.\n\nAll these factors show where we must seek a change. To begin with,\nwe need a complete revolution in our educational methods. We need a\nsystem of education that takes both the physical and intellectual\nqualities into consideration. Furthermore, we need an entirely\ndifferent mode of living and working. But both cannot be brought\nabout except by a ~complete transformation of social conditions~.\n\nOur social conditions have created a profound contradiction between\nman as a sex being and man as a social being. This contradiction has\nnever been so noticeable as in the present age, and it leads to many\nevils and diseases to which women especially are subjected. In the\nfirst place the woman\u2019s organism is far more influenced by her sex\nmission than man\u2019s organism (for instance, the regular recurrence of\nmenstruation); in the second place she is confronted by the greatest\nnumber of obstacles that prevent her from satisfying her strongest\nnatural impulse in a natural way. This contradiction between natural\nimpulse and social constraint leads to anomalies, to secret vices\nand excesses that are bound to undermine even strong constitutions.\nUnnatural satisfaction is frequently aided in a most shameless\nmanner. In the advertisements of newspapers and periodicals, certain\nmanufactures are recommended in a more or less veiled manner. These\nadvertisements appeal to the wealthy classes of society, because\nthe price of the manufactures are so high that a person of moderate\nmeans could not buy them. Besides we find advertisements of obscene\npictures, entire series of photographs, and poetry and prose of a\nsimilar character, whose very titles are intended to produce sensual\nexcitement. These matters ought to claim the attention of the police\nand public prosecutors. But these gentlemen are too busy persecuting\nSocialism, \u201cthat will destroy the home and the family,\u201d to give their\nfull attention to such doings. A part of our novels influence the\nsentiments of the reading public in the same direction. It is really\nnot to be wondered at if sexual debauchery, artificially stimulated,\ngradually becomes a social disease.\n\nMany women of the wealthy classes lead an idle, self-indulgent life.\nThey stimulate their nerves by the most extraordinary means, and\nindulge in a certain enjoyment of art that creates an exaggerated\nsentimentality and heightens their nervous irritability. All this\nincreases the sensual passions and naturally leads to excesses.\nAmong poor people sexual irritability is frequently heightened by\ncertain kinds of hard work, especially such work that compels people\nto lead a sedentary life which creates congestion of the blood in\nthe abdominal organs. One of the most dangerous occupations in this\nrespect is constant work at the sewing machine, an occupation in\nwhich a great many women are employed at present. This work is so\ndetrimental to the health of women that ten to twelve hours of it daily\nwill shatter the strongest constitution in a few years. Excessive\nsexual irritability is also brought about by long hours of work in\na high temperature, for instance in sugar refineries, laundries,\nprinting establishments, etc. The same may be said of night work\nwith artificial light in overcrowded work-shops, especially where\nmembers of both sexes work together.\n\nHere again we are confronted by a number of evils that clearly show the\nunhealthful and irrational character of present-day conditions. But\nthese evils that are deeply rooted in our social conditions, cannot\nbe removed by moralizing or by resorting to palliative measures,\nsuch as social and religious quacks always have in readiness. It is\nnecessary to strike the root of the evil. The only redemption will\nbe to bring about social conditions that shall enable all persons\nto obtain a natural education, to lead a healthful mode of life and\nwork, and to find normal satisfaction of all natural and healthy\ndesires.\n\nMany obstacles do not exist for the man that do exist for the woman.\nOwing to his position of rulership, his free choice of a mate is in\nno wise hampered, except by the social considerations enumerated\nabove. But the nature of marriage as a means of support, the numerical\nsuperiority of women, and custom,--all prevent the woman from asserting\nher wishes. She is obliged to wait until someone seeks her. As a\nrule she gladly avails herself of the first opportunity of finding a\nhusband who will save her from the social disregard and indifference\nthat are the usual portion of that unfortunate being, the old maid.\nMany women look down with disdain upon those of their sisters who are\npossessed of sufficient human dignity not to sell themselves into\nthe prostitution of marriage to the first man who comes along, but\nprefer to walk on life\u2019s thorny path alone. Nevertheless the man who\nwishes to marry for love has social obstacles to consider. He must\nask himself: can I support a wife and the children who are likely\nto come, without being weighed down by financial cares? If the man\nhas an ideal conception of marriage, if he is determined to let his\nchoice be influenced by love only, this question becomes all the\nmore important. At present conditions of earning and property are\nsuch, that many men must answer this question in the negative, and\nthey accordingly prefer to remain unmarried. Many men do not acquire\nan independent position, suited to their demands, until late in\nlife, and are not able to support a wife according to her station\nin life unless she has a considerable fortune of her own. It must\nbe admitted of course, that many young men have an exaggerated idea\nof what constitutes living according to their station; but owing to\nthe false education of many women and their social habits, these\nyoung men must indeed be prepared that their wives will make demands\nupon them that will exceed their means. They frequently do not make\nthe acquaintance of the good, modest women who are simple in their\ntastes, because they are modest in their manners also and are not met\nwith in society where men have accustomed themselves to seek wives,\nwhile the women they do meet often are the kind who seek to fascinate\na man by outward appearances and to deceive him in regard to their\npersonal qualities and their material position. When this type of\nwoman has attained an age at which marriage becomes urgent, lures of\nall sorts are resorted to all the more eagerly. When such a woman has\nsucceeded in capturing a man, she has become so accustomed to outward\nshow, extravagance in dress and costly enjoyments that she wishes to\nmaintain them in her married life. Here men find themselves on the\nverge of an abyss, and many prefer to leave the flowers that bloom\nat this abyss unplucked. They prefer to pursue their path alone and\nseek entertainment and enjoyment while maintaining their freedom.\nDeception and fraud are common practices in bourgeois society. It\nis not surprising that they also play a part in the contracting of\nmarriages and entail severe suffering of both parties.\n\nStatistics show that the educated and wealthy classes as a rule\nmarry later in life than the lower classes. According to Westergaard\nthe average age of marriage in Copenhagen was: among professional\npeople, merchants, manufacturers and bankers, 32.2 years; among\nmechanics and small dealers, 31.2 years; among clerks and commercial\nemployees, 29.7 years; among waiters and domestic servants, 28, and\namong factory workers, sailors and day-laborers, 27.5 years. In\nPrussia from 1881 to 1886 the average ages at which men married were:\nminers, 27.6; factory workers, 27.7; metal workers, 28; stone-masons,\n28.2; building trades, 28.6; workers in wood, 28.7; machinists, 29;\nteaching, 29.1; agriculture, 29.6; railway service, 30; commerce,\n30.9; physicians, clergymen and officials, 31.8 to 33.4. According\nto Ansell the average age at which the well-to-do and educated\nclasses married in England from 1840 to 1871, was 29.95 years; but\nsince then it has been raised. From 1880 to 1885, the average ages\nat which men of different professions married, were as follows:\n\n years\n\n Miners 23.56\n Textile workers 23.88\n Clothing trades 24.42\n Mechanics 24.85\n Day-laborers 25.06\n Clerks 25.75\n Merchants 26.17\n Farmers 28.73\n Professional men\n and capitalists 30.72\n\nThese figures show how marriage is influenced by social position.\nThe fact that the average age of marriage in most European states\nhas been somewhat lowered during the last decades, is due to the\ngeneral growth of industrialism. This may be seen in Germany, Austria\nand Sweden where the increase of early marriages is in connection\nwith the growing number of persons employed in industry. In older\nindustrial countries, as France and England, the average age of\nmarriage has been raised. Russia forms an exception; here the rise\nin the average age of marriage is due to the abolition of communal\nproperty.\n\nThe number of men who are prevented from marrying for numerous\nreasons is constantly increasing. This applies especially to the men\nof the upper classes and the higher professions; firstly because\nthey are more pretentious, and secondly because these men are best\nenabled to find companionship and pleasure outside of marriage.\nConditions are especially unfavorable to women in places where there\nare many pensioners with their families, and few young men. There\nwe find from twenty to thirty women among hundred who are unable to\nmarry. The lack of men seeking marriage is most severely felt by\nthose women, who have been accustomed by their social position to\nrequire a certain standard of life but who have no dowery. This is\nespecially true of the young girls of those numerous families that\ndepend upon a fixed salary which leaves them socially respectable\nbut poor. These girls often become dangerous competitors to the\nworking girls who earn their living by embroidery, making underwear,\nmaking artificial flowers, hats, gloves, etc.; that is, in all those\ntrades in which the employers prefer to have the work done in the\nhomes of the workers. These ladies often work for the lowest wages\nbecause they are not obliged to earn their living entirely but only\nwish to add to the family income or to earn enough to pay for their\nclothes. Employers favor the competition of these ladies, because it\nenables them to reduce the wages of the poor proletarian workers and\nto drive them to the utmost exertion of their strength. Many wives\nof government officials, whose husbands are poorly paid and cannot\nmaintain them according to their standard of living, also employ\ntheir spare time in such sordid competition, which means increased\nexploitation among large strata of female proletarians.\n\nThe agitation carried on by the bourgeois women\u2019s clubs to elevate\nwomen\u2019s work and to gain admission for women into the higher\nprofessions, is especially destined to improve the position of women\nof the upper classes. In order to do this successfully, these clubs\nseek the patronage of ladies of high rank. In this respect the\nbourgeois women only follow the example of the bourgeois men, who\nalso seek such patronage and become interested in such endeavors\nthat only show small, never large results. In this way people waste\na tremendous amount of effort, and deceive themselves and others in\nregard to the necessity of thorough-going reform. In these circles\nno doubt is permitted to arise as to the justice and wisdom of our\npresent state and social order. The conservative nature of such\nendeavors prevent clubs of this kind from being permeated by so-called\ndestructive tendencies. At a convention of women in Berlin during\nthe spring of 1894, a minority expressed the thought that it might\nbe well if the bourgeois women would co-operate with the proletarian\nwomen, that is, the Socialist women; but with a majority of the\ndelegates this suggestion called forth a storm of protest. But the\nconservative tendencies of the bourgeois women will not accomplish\nthe liberation of womankind.\n\nHow many women are excluded from marriage owing to the causes\npreviously stated, cannot be definitely determined. The numerical\nsuperiority of women in Germany is distributed very unevenly, both\nin regard to the different countries and districts and in regard to\nage. The following table has been compiled from the census of 1900\n(Statistic of the German Empire):\n\n ==============================+======================================\n | Number of women for every 1000 men\n +--------------------------------------\n | under 15 15 to 40 40 to 60 over 60\n ------------------------------+--------------------------------------\n Berlin | 1012 1044 1191 1659\n Kingdom of Saxony | 1015 1030 1107 1360\n \u201c \u201c Bavaria to the |\n right of the Rhine | 1015 1024 1083 1163\n \u201c \u201c Bavaria to the |\n left of the Rhine | 986 997 1070 1157\n \u201c \u201c Wurtemberg | 1015 1041 1134 1179\n Baden | 1000 974 1079 1173\n Hamburg | 999 1031 1038 1454\n Province of Brandenburg | 993 1015 1089 1276\n \u201c \u201c Pomerania | 989 1035 1099 1214\n \u201c \u201c the Rhine | 991 954 1008 1120\n ------------------------------+--------------------------------------\n German Empire | 995 1008 1087 1218\n ------------------------------+--------------------------------------\n\nAt the true marriageable age, from 15 to 40 years, the numerical\nsuperiority of women in the entire German Empire is 8 for every 1,000\nmen. The number of male inhabitants between 15 and 40 years of age is\n11,100,673; the number of female inhabitants between 15 and 40 years\nof age is 11,187,779. So we have a super-abundance of 87,106 women. In\n1900 there were 11,146,833 German women of child-bearing age (18 to\n45 years). Among these only 6,432,772 (57.71 percent) were married;\n283,629 (2.54 percent) were widowed; 31,176 (0.28 percent) were\ndivorced, and 4,399,286 (39.47 percent) were single. The following\ntable shows the proportion of the sexes in other countries:\n\n =========================+======+======================================\n | In | Number of women for every 1000 men\n | the +--------------------------------------\n | year | under 15 15 to 40 40 to 60 over 60\n -------------------------+------+--------------------------------------\n Germany | 1900 | 995 1008 1087 1218\n Austria | 1890 | 1005 1046 1079 1130\n Hungary | 1900 | 998 1029 982 1033\n Servia | 1896 | 969 952 925 804\n Italy | 1881 | 963 1021 1005 980\n Switzerland | 1888 | 999 1059 1103 1148\n France | 1896 | 998 1012 1029 1108\n Louxembourg | 1900 | 992 853 988 1063\n Belgium | 1890 | 992 984 1018 1117\n Netherlands | 1899 | 986 1031 1031 1145\n Denmark | 1890 | 978 1080 1073 1179\n Sweden | 1899 | 971 1016 1146 1252\n England and Wales | 1891 | 1006 1075 1096 1227\n Scotland | 1891 | 973 1073 1165 1389\n Ireland | 1901 | 968 1037 1103 1032\n United States of America | 1900 | 979 969 989 987\n Egypt | 1897 | 943 996 943 1015\n Japan | 1891 | 978 962 951 1146\n New South Wales | 1891 | 978 827 679 665\n Queensland | 1891 | 976 698 559 611\n Tasmania | 1891 | 977 877 898 632\n New Zealand | 1891 | 979 927 661 654\n Cape of Good Hope | 1891 | 989 1008 939 1019\n -------------------------+------+--------------------------------------\n\nThis table shows that in all countries having a similar economic\nstructure, similar conditions exist in regard to the proportion of\nthe sexes. In all these countries then a great many women,--apart\nfrom all other obstacles already mentioned,--have no prospect of\nbecoming married. In England in 1901 among 1,000 women over 15 years\nonly 496.4 were married; in Scotland, 442.8; in Ireland, 370.9; in\nSweden, 468.2; in Norway, 469.9.\n\nHow do these facts impress those persons who oppose the struggle\nof women for independence and equal rights by relegating them to\nmarriage and the home? It is not due to ill will on the part of the\nwomen if so many fail to marry.\n\nBut what becomes of these victims of our social conditions? That\nnature has been sinned against is expressed in the peculiar features\nand traits of character by which old maids and ascetic old bachelors\nare distinguished from other persons in all countries and climates,\nand goes to show the strong and harmful influence resulting from the\nsuppression of natural instincts. Many forms of hysteria among women\nare due to this cause. Hysteria is also caused by dissatisfaction\nin marriage, which sometimes results in sterility.\n\nThese are the general characteristics of modern marriage and its\nresults. From them we must draw the following conclusion: Present-day\nmarriage is an institution ~that is closely connected with existing\nsocial conditions, with which it must stand and fall. But this\nmarriage is in a state of decline and dissolution as bourgeois society\nitself~. Which are the salient points that we have determined in\nregard to bourgeois marriage?\n\n1.--The birth-rate is declining although the population is increasing,\nwhich shows that the economic status of the family has deteriorated.\n\n2.--Divorces are increasing more rapidly than the population is\ngrowing, and in most cases women are the ones to seek divorce,\nalthough they suffer most in consequence of it, both economically\nand socially. This shows that the unfavorable factors in marriage\nare increasing, that marriage is in a state of dissolution.\n\n3.--The marriage-rate is declining, notwithstanding the fact that\nthe population is increasing; which proves that in the eyes of many\npersons marriage no longer accomplishes its social and moral purpose\nand is regarded as worthless or of doubtful value.\n\n4.--In almost all civilized states there is a disproportion in the\nnumber of the sexes, the female sex predominating. This is not due\nto natural causes,--since ~more~ boys than girls are born,--but to\nunfavorable social and political factors that are rooted in conditions\nof state and society.\n\n~As all these unnatural conditions that are especially harmful\nto women are established by the nature of bourgeois society and\nincrease with the duration of its existence, this society proves\nitself incompetent to abolish the evils and to liberate woman. To\naccomplish this a different social order will be necessary.~\n\n[81] Ely Metschnikoff--The Nature of Man.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nProstitution a Necessary Social Institution of Bourgeois Society.\n\n\n1.--Prostitution and Society.\n\nMarriage constitutes one phase of the sex relations of bourgeois\nsociety; prostitution constitutes the other. If men fail to find\nsatisfaction in marriage, they, as a rule, seek it with prostitution;\nand those men who for one reason or another refrain from marrying,\nseek satisfaction with prostitutes also. To those men then, who\nvoluntarily or involuntarily lead an unmarried life, and to those who\ndo not find their expectations realized in marriage, opportunities\nfor satisfaction of the sexual impulse are far more favorable than\nto women.\n\nMen have always regarded it as their \u201cjust\u201d privilege to employ\nprostitution. But they are relentless in condemning a woman who\nis not a prostitute, when she has \u201cfallen.\u201d That natural impulses\nare implanted in women as well as in men and that these manifest\nthemselves particularly strongly at certain periods of a woman\u2019s\nlife, does not alter their judgment. By means of his ruling position\nman compels woman to suppress her most powerful instincts, and makes\nchastity the condition of her social position and of marriage. Nothing\ncan prove the dependent position of woman in a more emphatic and\nrevolting way than these vastly differing conceptions in regard to\nthe satisfaction of the same natural impulse.\n\nMan is especially favored by conditions. The results of sexual\nintercourse have been assigned to the woman by nature, while man has\nthe enjoyment only without trouble or responsibility. This natural\nadvantage of men over women has fostered the unbridled lust which\ncharacterizes a great many men. But as a great many causes prevent or\nlimit the legitimate satisfaction of the sexual impulse the result\nis its illegitimate satisfaction.\n\n~Prostitution thus becomes a necessary social institution of bourgeois\nsociety, just as the police, the standing army, the church and the\ncapitalist class.~ This is no exaggeration; we can prove it. We have\nshown how prostitution was regarded as a necessary institution in\nancient society and how it was organized by the state in both Greece\nand Rome. We have also shown what views prevailed in regard to it\nduring the Christian middle ages. Even St. Augustin who was, after\nPaul, the staunchest pillar of Christianity and ardently preached\nasceticism, could not refrain from exclaiming: \u201cSuppress the public\nprostitutes and the force of passion will overturn everything.\u201d\nSt. Thomas Aquin, who is still considered the greatest authority\non theology, has expressed the same opinion more forcibly still by\nsaying: \u201cProstitution in the cities is like the cess-pool in the\npalace; if you remove the cess-pool the palace will become an unclean\nand evil smelling place.\u201d The provincial council at Milan in 1665\nheld the same view. But let us consult some modern opinions.\n\nDr. F. S. Huegel says: \u201cAdvancing civilization will gradually clothe\nprostitution in more pleasing forms, but only with the destruction of\nthe world will it come to an end!\u201d[82] That is a bold assertion, but\nwhoever cannot think beyond the form of bourgeois society, whoever\ndoes not admit that society will transform itself to attain healthful\nand natural conditions, must agree with Dr. Huegel. M. Rubner, an\nauthority on hygiene, professor at the University of Berlin, and\ndirector of the Hygienic Institute, expresses a similar opinion. He\nsays: \u201cProstitution of women has existed at all times and among all\npeoples. It is indestructable because it serves the sexual impulse\nand springs from human nature and because in many cases the tendency\nto prostitution is due to an innate vice of some women. Just as we\nfind in every population geniuses beside idiots, giants besides\ndwarfs, and other abnormities, so we also find by the chance of\nbirth abnormities which must lead to prostitution.\u201d[83]\n\nNone of the above-named conceive the thought that a different social\norder might remove the causes of prostitution, and none seek to\ninvestigate the causes. Some who take up this problem faintly recognize\nthat unfortunate social conditions, weighing heavily upon countless\nwomen, might be the chief cause why so many sell their bodies. ~But\nthey do not draw the conclusion that if this be the case, it becomes\nnecessary to bring about different social conditions.~ Among the\nfew who recognize that economic conditions form the chief cause of\nprostitution is Th. Bade.[84] He says: \u201cThe causes of the boundless\nmoral degradation from which the prostitute girls emerge are founded\non ~social~ conditions. They are especially due to the decline of\nthe middle classes, particularly the artisan class, among whom only\nvery few continue to ply their trade independently.\u201d Bade concludes\nhis observations by saying: \u201cMaterial need which has destroyed many\nmiddle class families and continues to destroy them also leads to\ntheir moral degradation, especially to that of the female sex.\u201d[85]\n\nBut prostitution is not an institution of nature that, as R. Schmoelder\nsays: \u201cWill remain a constant companion of humanity,\u201d[86] it is a\nsocial institution without which we cannot conceive bourgeois society.\n\nThe police physician of Leipsic, Dr. J. Kuehn, says: \u201cProstitution\nis not only a bearable, but a necessary evil. It protects women from\nadultery (which only men have a right to commit--the author) and guards\nvirtue (of course the virtue of women because men are not required\nto be virtuous--the author) against assault and destruction.\u201d[87]\nThese words grossly characterize the incarnate selfishness of men.\nKuehn maintains the correct position of a police physician, whose\nduty it is to guard men against unpleasant diseases by the police\nsurveillance of prostitution. Only the man is taken into consideration\nto whom celibacy is horrible and a torture, but the millions of\nwomen doomed to celibacy must content themselves. What is considered\nright in the man\u2019s case, is considered wrong, immoral and criminal\nin the woman\u2019s.\n\nAnother interesting gentleman is Dr. Fock, who regards prostitution\nas a \u201cnecessary correlation of our civilization.\u201d[88] He fears an\noverproduction of human beings if all persons should marry after\nhaving attained maturity, and therefore considers it important that\nprostitution should be regulated by the state. He considers police\nsurveillance of prostitution justifiable, and that the State should\nfurnish men with prostitutes who are free from syphilis. He declares\nhimself in favor of closest surveillance of all women who can be\nconvicted of leading a disorderly life. But can this surveillance\nbe carried out, if ladies leading a disorderly life belong to the\nupper classes? It is the old story. Dr. Fock also recommends that\na tax should be levied upon prostitutes and that they should be\nconfined to certain streets. In other words, the ~Christian state~\nshould make prostitution a source of income by state organization\nand protection of vice in the interest of men.\n\nDr. Henry Severus,[89] who also favors legal recognition of\nprostitution maintains an original point of view. He regards it\nas a useful institution, because it is a necessary correlation of\nmarriage, and that without it the free choice in marriage would be\nimpaired. According to him prostitution is a sort of safety-valve\nof bourgeois society. He claims: \u201cMuch of the poverty that leads\nto such deplorable social conditions may be traced to the fact,\nthat marriages are recklessly contracted, without questioning how\nthe necessary means of livelihood might be obtained. It is in the\ninterest of the state, that such marriages should not be contracted,\nfor the children that spring from them cannot be sufficiently provided\nfor by their parents, nor do they belong in the foundling hospital,\nbeing legitimate children, and thus become ~a peril to society~.\nProstitution,\u201d he goes on to say, \u201cprevents that the force of natural\ninstinct should lead to the contracting of marriages that result in\nan ~increase of those elements of the population~ who, owing to lack\nof education and an unfortunate childhood, ~developes sentiments\nthat are hostile to the state and become enemies of society~.\u201d So\naccording to this, state regulation of vice furnishes a protection\nand a remedy against socialism--a view that may at least lay claim\nto originality.\n\nSo we may reiterate our assertion, prostitution is a necessary social\ninstitution of bourgeois society, just as the police, the standing\narmy, the church and the capitalist class.\n\n[82] F. Huegel.--History, Statistics and Regulation of Prostitution\nin Vienna, 1865.\n\n[83] Max Rubner--Text Book of Hygiene. Leipsic, 1907.\n\n[84] Th. Bade. Procurers and public dance halls.\n\n[85] Statistics gathered by the Berlin police in 1871\u201372 concerning\nthe parentage of 2,224 enrolled prostitutes showed the following\nfigures: 1,015 equal 47.9 per cent. came from the artisan class;\n467 equal 22.0 per cent. were daughters of factory laborers; 305\nequal 14.4 per cent. of minor officials; 222 equal 10.4 per cent.\nof merchants, etc.; 37 equal 4.1 per cent. of farmers, and 26 equal\n1.2 per cent of military men. With 102 the father\u2019s profession could\nnot be determined.\n\n[86] R. Schmoelder, Punishment of fornication as a trade.\n\n[87] J. Kuehn. Prostitution in the nineteenth century from the\nstandpoint of police sanitation.\n\n[88] Dr. Fock--Prostitution in its ethical and sanitary aspect.\n\n[89] Dr. H. Severus--Prostitution and the state.\n\n\n2.--Prostitution and the State.\n\nState supervision and organization of prostitution does not exist\nin the German empire as it does in France; prostitution is merely\ntolerated. Disorderly houses are prohibited by law and procurers may\nbe severely punished. But notwithstanding these laws in many German\ncities, among others in Mayence, Magdeburg, Altona, Kiel, Nuremberg,\nWorms, Freiburg, Leipsic, Regensburg, Hamburg, Augsburg, Wuerzburg,\ndisorderly houses exist that are tolerated by the police.[90] This\nseems an incredible state of affairs and its contradiction to the\nlaws must be well known to our government officials. According to\nGerman law, persons renting an apartment to a prostitute are subject\nto punishment. On the other hand, the police are obliged to tolerate\nthousands of prostitutes and to protect them in their trade if they\nsubmit to the prescribed rules, for instance, to regular examination\nby a physician. But if the state makes concessions to prostitutes\nand supports them in the plying of their trade, it is necessary for\nthem to have a residence also; in fact, it becomes necessary to\npublic health and order that their trade should be carried on in\ndefinite quarters. What contradictions! On the one hand the state\nofficially recognizes prostitution; on the other hand it persecutes\nand punishes prostitutes and procurers. Moreover, this attitude\nof the state confirms, that to modern society, prostitution is a\nsphynx whose riddle it cannot solve. Religion and morality condemn\nprostitution, the laws punish it, and yet the state tolerates and\nprotects it. In other words, our society that prides itself on its\nmorality, its piety, its civilization and culture must suffer itself\nto be polluted by the slow poison of immorality and corruption. Still\nanother conclusion follows from these conditions: ~the Christian state\nadmits that marriage is insufficient and that the man is justified\nin seeking illegitimate satisfaction of the sexual impulse~. The\nwoman is taken into consideration by this same state only, inasmuch\nas she yields to the illegitimate satisfaction of male lust, that\nis, becomes a prostitute. The police supervision and control of\nenlisted prostitutes does not include the men who mingle with the\nprostitutes, which ought to be a matter of course if the medical\nsurveillance were to be partly effective at least, quite disregarding\nthe fact that justice demands that the law should be equally applied\nto both sexes.\n\nThis protection of the man from the woman by the state overturns\nthe nature of conditions. It appears as if men were the weaker, and\nwomen the stronger sex, as if women were the seducer, and poor, weak\nman the seduced. The myth of temptation of Adam and Eve in Paradise\ncontinues to influence our conceptions and laws and sustains the\nChristian assumption, that \u201cwoman is the great seducer, the source\nof sin.\u201d Men ought to be ashamed of the pitiable and unworthy part\nthey are playing, but it is pleasing to them to be regarded as \u201cweak\u201d\nand as \u201cvictims of seduction\u201d for ~the more they are protected the\nmore they may sin~.\n\nWherever men come together in great numbers, they do not seem to be\nable to enjoy themselves without prostitution. That was seen among\nother instances by the occurrences at the rifle match in Berlin during\nthe summer of 1890. These occurrences caused 2,300 women to sign a\npetition to the mayor of the German capital, which read as follows:\n\u201cWe beg your honor to permit our quoting what has been reported in\nregard to this festival by the press and other sources. These reports,\nwhich we read with the greatest indignation and disgust, among other\nthings thus described the entertainments provided at the festival:\n\u2018First, German Herold, greatest Caf\u00e9 Chantant of the world\u2019; hundred\nladies and forty gentlemen; besides small variety shows and rifle\nranges from which exceedingly obtrusive women molested the men;\nfurthermore free concerts, where lightly garbed waitresses boldly\nand unrestrained, with seductive smiles forced their attentions\nalike on men and youths, on college boys and fathers of families.\nBut the \u2018lady\u2019 who was almost nude and who invited them to visit\nthe booths \u2018The Secrets of Hamburg, or a Night in St. Pauli,\u2019 might\nat least have been removed by the police. But the worst, something\nthat plain men and women from the provinces can hardly accredit to\nthe far-famed capital of the empire, was the fact that the committee\non arrangements had permitted, that instead of waiters, young women\nin great numbers were engaged as waitresses and bar-maids without\npay. We German women, as mothers, wives and sisters, frequently have\noccasion to send our brothers, husbands, sons and daughters to Berlin\nin service of the fatherland, and so we beg your honor, trusting\nto your influence as chief executive of the national capital to\ninvestigate these occurrences and to prevent a repetition of these\norgies, especially at the forthcoming celebration of the victory at\nSedan.\u201d\n\nDuring all large festivals, including the national ones, when men\ncome together in great numbers, similar scenes occur.[91]\n\nThe German governments made frequent attempts to do away with the\ncontradiction that exists between the legal theories and actual\npractice in regard to prostitution. They introduced bills among\nother things, which authorized the police to assign definite places\nof residence to the prostitutes. It was admitted that prostitution\ncould not be suppressed and that it would therefore be better to\nlimit it to certain places and to control it. Such a law--on this\nall were agreed--would have reinstated the public brothels that had\nbeen officially abolished in Prussia during the forties of the last\ncentury. The introduction of these bills caused great excitement\nand aroused much protest. It was stated that the state by extending\nprotection to vice spread the opinion that prostitution was not\naverse to morality and was an officially sanctioned trade. These\nbills that met with much opposition in Parliament, have until now,\nremained unsettled. But their very introduction shows the predicament\nof the state.\n\nState regulation and control of vice not only create the belief\namong men that the state favors prostitution, it also leads them\nto believe that this regulation protects them from disease, and\nthis belief makes men more reckless and increases the employment of\nprostitution. Public brothels do not diminish sexual diseases, they\npromote them, because ~men become more reckless and careless~. To\nwhat conceptions the official protection of brothels leads may be\nseen from the term applied to the licensed prostitutes in England,\nwho were called \u201cQueen\u2019s women\u201d because they had obtained official\nrecognition through a law enacted by the queen. Experience has\ntaught, that neither the introduction of public brothels under\npolice supervision nor regular medical examination insure safety\nfrom contagion.\n\nTo an inquiry from the woman\u2019s committee of Vienna for combatting the\nstate regulation of vice Dr. Albert Eulenburg wrote as follows: \u201cIn\nregard to the question of police supervision of prostitutes I fully\nshare, as a matter of principle, the point of view set forth in your\npetition, though, of course I recognize the practical difficulty of\nits immediate application. I regard this practice which has been\nintroduced in most countries as unjust, unworthy, and moreover as\nentirely unsuited to attain the object stated with any certain degree\nof safety.\u201d On July 20, 1892, the Berlin Medical Society declared\nthat the reinstatement of public brothels would be undesirable,\nboth from a hygienic and moral point of view.\n\nThe nature of these diseases is such that in many cases it cannot\nbe recognized easily, or at once, and to attain a certain degree of\nsafety several daily examinations would be necessary. But this is\nimpossible, owing to the great number of women in question and the\nlarge expense it would entail. Where 30 to 40 prostitutes have to be\nexamined in one hour, the examination is nothing more than a farce,\nand in the same way one or two weekly examinations are entirely\ninsufficient. Dr. Blaschko[92] says: \u201cThe belief, that control of\nprostitutes furnishes protection against contagion, unfortunately\nis a widespread and detrimental error. Rather can it be asserted\nthat everyone who associates with a prostitute or a frivolous girl\nfaces a grave danger each time.\u201d\n\nThe success of these measures fails also because the men who carry\nthe germs of disease from one woman to another remain entirely free\nfrom control. A prostitute who has just been examined and found\nhealthy may become infected by a diseased man in the very same hour,\nand before the next examination takes place, or before she herself\nhas become aware of the disease, she may have infected a number\nof other visitors. The control is an imaginary one. Besides the\nobligatory examinations by male instead of female physicians deeply\ninjure the sense of modesty and help to destroy it completely. This\nstatement is confirmed by a great many physicians who perform such\nexaminations.[93] The same is admitted even in the official report\nof the Berlin police department, where it says it must be admitted\n~that official enrollment still increases the moral degradation of\nthose affected by it~.[94] ~The prostitutes do whatever they can to\nescape this control.~\n\nAnother evil result of these measures is, that it is made very\ndifficult, indeed almost impossible to prostitutes, to return to\na decent means of livelihood. ~A woman who has fallen into police\ncontrol is lost to society; as a rule she miserably perishes after\na few years.~ The fifth congress for combatting immorality, held in\nGeneva, thus expressed itself forcibly and correctly against the\nstate regulation of vice: \u201cThe obligatory medical examination of\nprostitutes is a cruel punishment to the woman, for in those who are\nsubjected to it the last remnant of modesty that may still exist in\nthe most depraved, is forcibly destroyed. The state that seeks to\nregulate prostitution by police control forgets that it owes equal\nprotection to both sexes, it degrades and demoralizes the woman.\nEvery system of official regulation of vice permits of arbitrary\npolice rule and leads to the infringement of personal safety against\narbitrary arrest and imprisonment, against which even the lowest\ncriminal is guarded. As these encroachments occur only at the expense\nof the woman, they lead to an unnatural inequality between her and\nthe man. The woman is degraded to a mere object and is no longer\ntreated as a person. ~She is excluded from the law.~\u201d\n\nHow little police and medical control avail has been strikingly shown\nin England. Before the beginning of official regulation, in the year\n1867, the number of venereal diseases in the army were, according\nto a military report, 91 per 1,000. In 1886, after the regulation\nhad been in effect for nineteen years they were 110 per 1,000. In\n1892, six years after the regulation laws had been repealed they were\nonly 79 per 1,000. Among civilians the cases of syphilis were 10 per\n1,000 during the years 1879 to 1882, that was during the years of\npublic regulation. After the abolition of public regulation, from\n1885 to 1889 they were only 8.1 per 1,000.\n\nThe prostitutes themselves were far more affected by the regulation\nlaws than the soldiers. In 1866 there were among 1,000 prostitutes,\n121 cases of disease. In 1868 after the law had been in force for\ntwo years there were 202 cases among 1,000. After that the number\ngradually decreased, but in 1874 there still were 16 cases more per\nthousand than in 1866. The death rate among prostitutes also increased\nappallingly during the reign of that law. When at the close of the\nsixties of the last century the English government attempted to\nextend the regulation laws to include all English cities, a storm of\nindignation arose among English women. They regarded the law as an\ninsult to their entire sex. The habeas corpus, they claimed, that\nfundamental law which guaranteed protection to every English citizen,\nwas to be abolished for women; every brutal police officer impelled\nby revenge or other base motives, would be permitted to attack the\nmost respectable woman if he suspected her of being a prostitute,\nwhile the licentiousness of men would not be interfered with, but\nwould on the contrary be protected and fostered by law.\n\nThe fact that English women under the leadership of Josephine Butler\nchampioned the most degraded of their sex, caused ignorant men to\nmisconstrue their intentions and to make insulting remarks about them.\nBut regardless of these attacks they opposed the extension of the\nobnoxious law with utmost energy. In newspaper articles and pamphlets\narguments in favor of it and against it were fully discussed, until\nits extension was prevented, and in 1886 is was repealed.[95]\n\nThe German police has a similar power, and sometimes cases have been\ncalled to public attention in Berlin, Leipsic, Cologne, Hannover\nand many other places, showing that abuses or \u201cmisunderstandings\u201d\neasily occur with the exercise of this power, but not much is heard\namong us of an energetic opposition to such transgressions.[96] In\nNorway, brothels were ~prohibited~ in 1888, and in the capital,\nChristiania, the obligatory registration of prostitutes and the\nmedical examination connected with it was ~abolished~. ~In January,\n1893, the same ordinance was enacted for the entire country.~ Very\ncorrectly Mrs. Guillaume-Shack says in regard to state \u201cprotection\u201d\nfor men: \u201cTo what purpose do we teach our sons to respect virtue\nand morality if the state declares vice to be a necessary evil; if\nyoung men, before they have even attained intellectual maturity,\nare given women stamped like commodities by the public authorities\nas playthings of their passions?\u201d\n\nA man inflicted with a sexual disease may indulge in unbridled\nlicentiousness and may infect any number of these unfortunate beings,\nmost of whom have been driven by seducers or by bitterest need into\nthis abominable trade. The law leaves him unmolested. But woe to the\npoor, diseased prostitute who does not immediately submit to medical\ntreatment! The garrison towns, university towns and sea port towns,\nwhere many strong, healthy men aggregate, are the chief centers of\nprostitution and its dangerous diseases, which are disseminated\nall over the land and everywhere spread suffering and destruction.\nThe moral qualification of a great number of our students is\ndescribed in the following manner in the \u201cGazette for Combatting\nPublic Immorality\u201d[97]: \u201cAmong a majority of the students the views\nconcerning moral questions are appallingly base, almost depraved.\u201d\nFrom these circles that boast about their \u201cGerman spirit\u201d and \u201cGerman\nmorals,\u201d our public officials, prosecutors and judges are obtained.\nHow bad matters must be, especially among students, may be seen from\nthe following: In the fall of 1901, a large group of professors and\nphysicians, among them leading men in their professions, published\nan appeal to German students, in which they called special attention\nto the deplorable results of sexual debauchery, and also warned the\nyoung men of excessive indulgence in alcoholic drinks, which in many\ncases have a stimulating influence on sexual debauchery. At last\npeople are beginning to recognize that the policy of silence is a\nmistaken one, and that we must call a spade a spade, if we would\ncheck an immeasurable disaster. Among other classes of society also\nthis warning should not remain unheeded.\n\nThe Biblical utterance that the sins of the fathers shall be visited\nupon their children applies in its fullest measure to the man afflicted\nwith a sexual disease; unfortunately also to his innocent wife.\n\u201cApoplectic strokes among young men and women, forms of paralysis\nof the spine and softening of the brain, various nervous diseases,\nweakening of the eye sight, inflammation of the bowels, sterility\nand general debility are frequently due to no other cause than a\nneglected case of syphilis, that has, for good reasons been kept\nsecret. As conditions are to-day ignorance and carelessness transform\nblooming daughters of the nation into weak and sickly creatures\nwho must pay with chronic diseases for the extravagances of their\nhusbands before and outside of marriage.\u201d[98] Dr. A. Blaschko says\namong other things: \u201cEpidemics like cholera, small pox, diphtheria\nand typhoid terrify the people, because the suddenness of the\nresults are clearly visible to everybody. But syphilis is regarded\nby society with an appalling indifference. And yet syphilis is far\nmore widespread and much more terrible in its effects than any of\nthe above-mentioned diseases.\u201d[99] The fact that we regard it as\n\u201cindecent\u201d to discuss such matters, accounts for this indifference.\nEven the German diet could not bring itself to provide legally for\nthe treatment of persons afflicted with sexual diseases by means of\nthe sick benefit funds, as in the case of other diseases.[100]\n\nThe poison of syphilis is the most tenacious and the hardest to\neradicate of all poisons. Many years after the disease has been\napparently cured the evil results frequently manifest themselves in\nthe wife of the diseased or in his new-born children, and countless\nsicknesses of married women and children are due to the sexual\ndiseases of husbands and fathers. In a petition addressed to the\nGerman Parliament in the fall of 1899 by the society \u201cJugendschutz\u201d\n(protection of the young) it was stated that there are about 30,000\nchildren in Germany who are blind from birth due to contagion from\ngonorrhoea, and that among 50 per cent of childless women, sterility\nis due to the same cause.[101] As a matter of fact an alarmingly\nlarge number of marriages is childless, and moreover the number of\nchildless marriages is increasing. Feeble-mindedness and idiocy among\nchildren is also not infrequently due to the same cause, and many\ninstances have shown what disasters can be caused with vaccination by\na single drop of blood inoculated with the poison of syphilis. The\ngreat number of persons suffering from a sexual disease has caused\nseveral suggestions to be made for the enactment of a national law\nproviding special treatment for persons so afflicted. But until now\nno such step was taken, probably because one feared the enormity of\nthe evil that would then become manifest. Medical authorities have\ngenerally gained the conviction, that gonorrhoea, which was formerly\nregarded as harmless, is one of the most dangerous of these diseases.\nThis disease continues to act upon the human system even after it\nhas been apparently cured. As Dr. Blaschko reported in a lecture\nin Berlin on the 20th of February, 1898, the medical examinations\nof prostitutes reveal only one-fourth, or at best one-third of the\nactual number of cases. As a matter of fact, the overwhelmingly great\nmajority of prostitutes are afflicted with this disease, while only\na small percentage of the cases are properly diagnosed. Of those in\nwhom the disease is recognized it is again only a small percentage\nwith whom a permanent cure is effected. Here society is confronted by\nan evil for which it has no remedy as yet, but which is an imminent\nperil to mankind, especially to its female half.\n\n[90] Paul Kampffmeyer--Prostitution as a social class phenomenon\nand the social and political struggle against it.\n\n[91] \u201cWhen the Farmers\u2019 Association convenes in the Circus Bush, or\nlarge conventions are being held in Berlin, there is a rise in price\nof human flesh.\u201d Satyr--Life at Night in the Friedrich Strasse,\nBerlin, 1907.\n\n[92] Handbook of Hygiene, published by Th. Weyl, M. D. Hygiene of\nProstitution and Venereal Diseases, compiled by Dr. A. Blaschko,\nBerlin.\n\n[93] \u201cAs a matter of fact the system of regulation does not\nsuccessfully fight the venereal diseases, nor even noticeably diminish\nthem. The delusive feeling of safety given to men makes them more\nreckless. The increase in the number of correlation heightens the\ndanger of contagion by at least as much as it has been diminished by\nthe removal of a few who were seriously diseased.\u201d August Forel--The\nSex Question, Munich, 1907.\n\n[94] Third report of the royal police department of Berlin for the\nyears 1881 to 1890.\n\n[95] The most reliable supporters of the women were the English\nworkingmen. In her famous publication on \u201cThe History of a Crusade,\u201d\nJosephine Butler says: \u201cWe resolved to appeal to the nation. In the\nfall of 1869 we sent personal letters to every member of Parliament\nof both houses and to many other leaders of political and religious\nparties. Of all the replies received only very few expressed\ncomplete agreement with our point of view. As we obtained so little\nencouragement from those circles whose interest we had hoped to\nwin, we turned to the working class population of the country. I am\nconscious of the fact that the working class has its faults and is\nno less devoid of egotism than other classes of the population. But\nI am firmly convinced that when the people are appealed to in the\nname of justice they almost invariably show a loyal and reliable\nconviction.\u201d\n\n[96] In 1901 it occurred in Vienna that a French lady was abused\nby the police agent, Newhofer, amidst the shouts of a mob, was\nimprisoned among prostitutes and subjected to a forcible medical\nexamination. This case led to five interpellations in the diet. In\n1902 in Hamburg and Kiel ladies were arrested as prostitutes and\nwere treated with brutality. These occurrences led to a gigantic\nmeeting of protest in Hamburg on September 8, that was attended by\nmembers of all parties.\n\n[97] August 15, 1893, Berlin.\n\n[98] The detrimental results of prostitution. Dr. Oscar Lassar,\nBerlin, 1892, August Hirschwald.\n\n[99] Treatment of sexual diseases in sick benefit fund institutions\nand hospitals, Berlin, 1890.\n\n[100] The ordinance of the insurance laws which enabled communities to\nrefuse the payment of sick benefits in cases of sexual diseases was\nrepealed by a law on May 25, 1903, that went into effect January 1,\n1904.\n\n[101] Examinations in asylums for the blind showed that the\nfollowing number of persons were blind from birth through infection:\nBerlin, 21.3; Vienna, 31; Breslau, 35.1; Budapest, 47.9; Munich,\n73.8.--Th. Weyl, Social Hygiene, Jena, 1904.\n\n\n3.--The White Slave Trade.\n\nAs the number of men increases who refrain from marriage, be it\nby choice or under the pressure of circumstances, and who seek\nillegitimate satisfaction of the sexual impulse, the temptations\nand opportunities for illegitimate satisfaction increase likewise.\nBecause immoral enterprises yield high profits many unscrupulous\npersons are engaged in them, and resort to the craftiest methods\nto attract customers. Every requirement of the patrons according\nto position and rank and means is taken into consideration. If the\npublic brothels could reveal their secrets, it would become known that\ntheir inmates, who are of lowly birth, ignorant and uneducated, but\npossessed of physical charms, have intimate relations with educated\nand cultured men who occupy prominent social positions. Here they\nfreely come and go, public officials, military men, representatives\nof the people, judges, the aristocracy of birth and finance, of\ncommerce and industry. Many of these men are regarded as upholders\nof public morality and guardians of the sanctity of marriage and the\nfamily, and some are leaders of Christian charitable undertakings\nand members of organizations \u201cto combat prostitution.\u201d In Berlin,\nthe owner of one of these establishments serving immoral purposes\neven publishes an illustrated gazette, in which the doings of his\npatrons are described. In this establishment 400 persons can be\nseated, and every evening a fashionable gathering assembles there,\namong them (so the gazette tells us) many members of the aristocracy.\nFrequently well known actresses and famed belles of the demi-monde\nare present. The merriment reaches its height when in the wee hours\nof the morning the proprietors arrange an eel-catching tournament.\nThen the fair patronesses squat about the tanks with their clothes\ntucked up and try to catch the eel, and so forth. The police is well\naware of these doings, but carefully refrains from interfering with\nthe amusements of fashionable society. The following circular, sent by\nthe management of a Berlin dancing establishment to fashionable men,\nis another shameless form of pandering. It reads: \u201cThe undersigned\nmanagement of the hunting establishment to whom you, dear sir, have\nbeen recommended as a passionate hunter, beg to call your attention\nto a newly-opened hunting ground with a splendid stock of deer and to\ninvite you to the first chase on August 26th. Special circumstances\nmake our new hunting grounds particularly convenient and pleasant:\nthey are located in the heart of the city and the game-laws are not\nenforced.\u201d Our bourgeois society is like a great masquerade in which\nall seek to deceive one another. Every one wears his official gown\nwith dignity, while inofficially he indulges his passions without\nrestraint. Yet, outwardly, all feign decency, religiousness and\nmorality. In no age was hypocrisy as widespread as in ours.\n\nThe supply of women for immoral purposes increases faster than the\ndemand. Unfavorable social conditions, poverty, seduction, and the fact\nthat many women are attracted by the outward glitter of an apparently\nfree life, help to furnish victims from all strata of society. In a\nnovel by Hans Wachenhusen[102] we find a characteristic description\nof the conditions that prevail in the German capital. The author\nthus describes the purpose of his novel: \u201cMy book especially tells\nof the victims of the female sex and their increasing depreciation\nas a result of our unnatural social conditions, partly through their\nown fault, partly through a neglected education and the love of\nluxury. It tells of the surplus of this sex that makes the lives of\nthose, who are born and grow up, more hopeless each day. I wrote\nas a public prosecutor might write, who had gathered data from the\nlife of a criminal to determine his guilt. If a novel is supposed\nto be drawn from imagination, then the following is not a novel,\nbut a faithful portrayal of life.\u201d In Berlin conditions are neither\nbetter nor worse than in other large cities. Whether orthodox\nSt. Petersburg or Catholic Rome, Christian Berlin, or heathenish\nParis, Puritan London or frivolous Vienna is more nearly like ancient\nBabylonia, it is hard to determine. Similar social conditions bring\nforth similar results. \u201cProstitution has its written and unwritten\nlaws, its resources, its various resorts from the lowliest, to the\nglittering palace, its countless degrees from the lowest to the\nmost cultured and refined. It has its special amusements and its\nspecial places of meeting, its police, its hospitals, its prisons\nand its literature.\u201d[103] \u201cWe no longer celebrate the festivals of\nOsiris, the Bacchanalia and the Indian orgies in the spring month,\nbut in Paris and other large cities in the darkness of night behind\nthe walls of public and private houses, orgies and Bacchanalia take\nplace that beggar description.\u201d[104]\n\nUnder such conditions the traffic in women assumes huge dimensions.\nIt is carried on in the midst of civilization on a large scale\nand in a well organized manner, and is but rarely detected by the\npolice. An army of male and female jobbers, agents and transporters\ncarry on the trade in as cold-blooded a manner as if they were\nbartering a commodity. Certificates are made out that contain an\nexact description and qualification of the various \u201cpieces\u201d and are\nhanded to the transporters as a bill of lading for the customer. As\nwith all merchandise, the price varies according to the quality,\nand the \u201cgoods\u201d are assorted and shipped from different places and\ncountries according to the taste and requirements of the customers.\nBy skilful manipulations the traders seek to escape the pursuit\nof the police, and sometimes large sums are employed to bribe the\nguardians of law and order. A number of such cases have been revealed\nin Paris.[105]\n\nTo Germany belongs the deplorable reputation of being a market for\nwomen to half the world. The rambling spirit, which is innate in the\nGerman people, also seems to affect a portion of the German women,\nso that they furnish a larger quota to international prostitution\nthan the women of other nations, with the exception of Austria and\nHungary. German women populate the harems of the Turks and the\npublic brothels in the interior of Siberia and as far as Bombay,\nSingapore, San Francisco and Chicago. In his book on travel \u201cFrom\nJapan, through Siberia to Germany,\u201d the author, W. Joest, says the\nfollowing about the German white-slave trade: \u201cIn our moral Germany,\npeople often grow indignant over the slave trade carried on by some\nnegra sovereign in western Africa, or over conditions in Cuba or\nBrazil, while we ought to consider the beam in our own eye. In no\nother country of the world white slaves are bartered to the same\nextent, from no other countries are such large quantities of this\nliving merchandise shipped as from Germany and Austria. The course\ntaken by these girls can be clearly traced. From Hamburg they are\nshipped to South America, Bahie, Rio de Janeiro; the greater part are\nbound for Montevideo and Buenos Ayres, while a few go through the\nStraits of the Magellan to Valparaiso. Another stream is directed over\nEngland to North America, but there competition with the domestic\nproduct is unfavorable to the trade, so the girls are shipped down\nthe Mississippi to Texas and Mexico. From New Orleans the coasts down\nto Panama are furnished. Other troops of girls are sent across the\nAlps to Italy and on to Alexandria, Suez, Bombay, even to Hongkong\nand Shanghai, Dutch India and eastern India, especially Japan are\npoor markets, because Holland will not tolerate white girls of this\nsort in its colonies, and because in Japan the native girls are far\ntoo pretty and cheap. Moreover, the trade must reckon with American\ncompetition from San Francisco. Russia is supplied by eastern Prussia,\nPomerania and Poland. The first station is Riga. Here the dealers\nfrom St. Petersburg and Moscow assort their merchandise and send it\nin great quantities to Nishny Novgorod across the Ural Mountains\nto Irbit and Krestowsky and even into the interior of Siberia. In\nTschita, for instance, I met a German girl who had been traded in\nthis way. This trade is thoroughly organized--agents and traveling\nsalesmen carry on the negotiations. ~If the foreign office of the\nGerman Empire would ask its consuls for reports on this trade\ninteresting tables might be compiled.~\u201d\n\nThat this traffic is flourishing, has been repeatedly stated by\nSocialist deputies in the German Parliament.\n\nOther centers of the white-slave trade are Galicia and Hungary, from\nwhere women are sent to Constantinople and other Turkish cities.\nEspecially many Jewesses, who are otherwise rarely met with in public\nbrothels are bartered to the Turks. The prices for the journey and\nother expenses are usually paid to the agents in advance. In order\nto deceive the public authorities, fictitious telegrams, that are\nnot likely to attract attention, are sent to the customer. Some of\nthese telegrams read: \u201cFive kegs of Hungarian wine will arrive in\nVarna to-morrow,\u201d meaning five beautiful girls; or \u201cHave shipped\nthree barrels of potatoes by S. S. Minerva.\u201d This refers to three\nless beautiful girls: \u201cCommon goods.\u201d Another telegram reads: \u201cWill\narrive next Friday per S. S. Kobra; have two bales of fine silk on\nboard.\u201d\n\n[102] \u201cWhat the street engulfs.\u201d Social novel in 3 vols., Berlin.\nA. Hoffmann & Co.\n\n[103] Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell--The Moral Education.\n\n[104] Mantegazza--L\u2019Amour Dans L\u2019Humanit\u00e8.\n\n[105] The relation of the police to prostitution is an interesting\none in more than one respect. In 1899 it was shown in a trial in\nBerlin that a police commissioner employed a prostitute to watch\nand question a student whom he suspected of being an anarchist. In\nPrague the wife of a common policeman had her license for maintaining\na disorderly house revoked because her husband had ill-treated a\nprisoner. So the police rewards its officers by giving them licenses\nfor the maintenance of disorderly houses. What lovely conditions!\n\n\n4.--The Increase of Prostitution.--Illegitimate Motherhood.\n\nIt is difficult to estimate the number of prostitutes--impossible\nto determine it exactly. The police may approximately determine the\nnumber of women for whom prostitution is the sole or chief source\nof income, but they ~can not~ determine the far greater number of\nthose who resort to prostitution as a partial support. Nevertheless\nthe numbers that have been determined are enormous. According to\nOettingen at the close of the sixties of the last century the number\nof prostitutes in London was estimated to be 80,000. In Paris on\nJanuary 1, 1906, the number of enrolled prostitutes was 6,196, but\nmore than one-third of these manage to evade police and medical\ncontrol. In 1892 there were about 60 public brothels in Paris,\nharboring from 600 to 700 prostitutes; in 1900 there were only 42.\nTheir number is constantly decreasing (In 1852 there were 217 public\nbrothels). At the same time the number of private prostitutes has\ngreatly increased. An investigation, undertaken by the municipal\ncouncil of Paris in 1889, estimated that the number of women who\nsell their bodies had reached the enormous figure of 120,000. The\nchief of police of Paris, L\u00e9frine, estimates the number of enrolled\nprostitutes at 6,000 and the number of private prostitutes at 70,000.\nDuring the years 1871 to 1903 the police inhibited 725,000 harlots\nand 150,000 were imprisoned. During the year 1906, the number of\nthose who were inhibited amounted to no less than 56,196.[106]\n\nThe following numbers of prostitutes were enrolled with the Berlin\npolice: In 1886, 3006; in 1890, 4,039; in 1893, 4,663; in 1897,\n5,098; in 1899, 4,544, and in 1905, 3,287. In 1890 six physicians\nwere employed, who performed examinations for two hours daily. Since\nthen the number of physicians has been increased to twelve, and\nsince several years a female physician has been employed to perform\nthese examinations, notwithstanding the objections of many male\nphysicians. In Berlin, as in Paris, the enrolled prostitutes only\nconstitute a small fraction of the entire number, that authorities on\nthis subject have estimated to be at least 50,000. In the single year\n1890 there were 2,022 waitresses in the caf\u00e9s of Berlin, who, with\nvery few exceptions were given to prostitution. The yearly increase\nin the number of harlots inhibited by the police also shows that\nprostitution in Berlin is growing. The numbers of those inhibited\nwere: In 1881, 10,878; in 1890, 16,605; in 1896, 26,703: in 1897,\n22,915. In the year 1907 17,018 harlots were brought to trial before\nthe magistrates, which was about 57 for each day the court was in\nsession.\n\nHow large is the number of prostitutes throughout Germany? Some claim\nthat there are about 200,000. Stroehmberg estimates the number of\nenrolled and private prostitutes in Germany to be between 75,000 and\n100,000. In 1908 Kamillo K. Schneider attempted to determine the\nexact number of enrolled prostitutes. His table for the year 1905\nincludes 79 cities. \u201cAs besides these there are other large places\nin which a considerable number of girls may be found, he believes\n15,000 to be a fairly correct estimate of the entire number. With a\npopulation of approximately 60,600,000 inhabitants that means one\nenrolled prostitute for 4,040 inhabitants.\u201d In Berlin there is one\nprostitute for 608, in Breslau for 514, in Hannover for 529, in Kiel\nfor 527, in Danzig for 487, in Cologne for 369, and in Brunswick for\n363 inhabitants. The number of enrolled prostitutes is constantly\ndecreasing.[107] According to various estimates the ratio of the\nnumber of public controlled prostitutes is to the number of private\nprostitutes, as 1 to 5, or 1 to 10. We are, accordingly dealing with\na vast army of those to whom prostitution is a means of subsistence,\nand conformably great is the number of victims claimed by disease\nand death.\n\nThat the great majority of prostitutes grows thoroughly tired of\ntheir mode of life, that it even becomes revolting to them, is an\nexperience on which all authorities are agreed. But very few of those\nwho have fallen victims to prostitution ever find an opportunity\nto escape from it. In 1899 the Hamburg branch of the British,\nContinental and General Federation undertook an investigation among\nprostitutes. Although only few answered the questions put to them,\nthese answers are quite characteristic. To the question \u201cWould you\ncontinue in this trade if you could find some other means of support?\u201d\none replied, \u201cWhat can one do when one is despised by all people?\u201d\nAnother replied, \u201cI appealed for help from the hospital\u201d; a third,\n\u201cMy friend released me by paying my debts.\u201d All suffer from the\nslavery of their liabilities to the brothel keepers. One gave the\ninformation that she owed her landlady $175. Clothes, underwear,\nfinery, everything is furnished by the keepers at fabulous prices;\nthey are also charged the highest prices for food and drink. Besides,\nthey must pay the keeper a daily sum for their room. This rent amounts\nto $1.50, $2 or $3 daily. One wrote that she was compelled to pay\nher procurer from $5 to $6 daily. No keeper will permit a girl to\ndepart unless she has paid her debts. The statements made by these\ngirls also cast an unfavorable light on the actions of the police,\nwho side more with the brothel keepers than with the helpless girls.\nIn short, we here behold in the midst of Christian civilization, the\nworst kind of slavery. In order to better maintain the interests of\ntheir trade, the brothel keepers have even founded a trade paper\nthat is international in character.\n\nThe number of prostitutes increases at the same rate at which the\nnumber of working women increases, who find employment in various\nlines of trade at starvation wages. Prostitution is fostered by\nthe industrial crises that have become inevitable in bourgeois\nsociety, and to hundreds of thousands of families mean bitter need\nand desperate poverty. A letter sent by the chief of police, Bolton,\nto a factory inspector on October 31, 1865, shows that during the\ncrisis of the English cotton industry caused by the Civil War in the\nUnited States, the number of young prostitutes increased more than\nduring the preceding twenty-five years.[108] But not only working\ngirls fall victims to prostitution. Its victims are also recruited\nfrom the \u201chigher professions.\u201d Lombroso and Ferrero quote Mac\u00e9,[109]\nwho says of Paris: \u201cThe certificate of a governess of a higher or\nlower grade is far less an assignment to a means of support than to\n~suicide, theft and prostitution~.\u201d\n\nParent-Duchatelet has at one time compiled statistics which showed\nthe following. Among 5,183 prostitutes there were 1,441 who were\ndriven to prostitution by utmost need and misery. 1,225 were orphans\nand poor. 86 had become prostitutes to support old parents, young\nbrothers and sisters, or their own children. 1,425 had been deserted\nby their lovers; 404 had been seduced by officers and soldiers and\nhad been carried off to Paris. 289 had been servant girls who were\nseduced by their employers and subsequently discharged, and 280 had\ncome into Paris to seek employment.\n\nMrs. Butler, the ardent champion of the poorest and most unfortunate\nof her sex, says: \u201cAccidental circumstances, the death of a father\nor a mother, unemployment, insufficient wages, poverty, false\npromises, seduction, the laying of snares may have driven her into her\nmisfortune.\u201d Very instructive is the information given by Karl Schneidt\nin a pamphlet on \u201cThe Misery of Waitresses in Berlin,\u201d[110] in regard\nto the causes that drive so many of them to prostitution. He says\nthat a surprisingly large number of servant girls become waitresses,\nwhich means in nearly all cases that they become prostitutes. Among\nthe answers Schneidt received to his list of questions that he\ncirculated among waitresses are the following: \u201cBecause I became\npregnant by my employer and had to support my child\u201d; \u201cbecause my\nbook of references was spoiled\u201d; \u201cbecause I could not earn enough\nby sewing and such work\u201d; \u201cbecause I had been discharged from the\nfactory and could not find other employment\u201d; \u201cbecause my father died\nand there were four younger ones at home,\u201d etc. That servant girls,\nwho have been seduced by their employers, constitute a large quota\nof the prostitutes is a well known fact. Dr. Max Taube[111] makes\nsome very incriminating statements concerning the great number of\nseductions of servant girls by employers or their sons. The upper\nclasses also furnish their quota to prostitution. Here poverty is\nnot the cause, but seduction, the inclination to lead a frivolous\nlife, the love of dress and enjoyment. A pamphlet on \u201cFallen Girls\nand Police Control\u201d[112] contains the following statement in regard\nto the prostitutes from these classes: \u201cHorror stricken many a worthy\ncitizen, minister, teacher, public official or military man learns\nthat his daughter is secretly addicted to prostitution. ~If all these\ndaughters could be named a social revolution would have to take place,\nor the public ideas concerning virtue and morality would be seriously\nimpaired.~\u201d The high class prostitutes, the smart set among them,\nare drawn from these circles. A great many actresses also owing to a\nglaring disparity between their salary and the cost of their wardrobe,\nare compelled to resort to this vile means of support.[113] The same\nis true of many other girls who are employed as salesladies and in\nsimilar positions. Many employers are so infamous that they seek\nto justify low wages by hinting at the assistance from \u201cfriends.\u201d\nSeamstresses, dressmakers, milliners, factory workers numbering\nmany thousands are subjected to the same conditions. Employers and\ntheir assistants, merchants, landed proprietors, etc., frequently\nregard it as their privilege to make female workers and employees\nsubservient to their lusts. Our pious conservatives like to point\nto the rural conditions in regard to morality as a sort of ideal\ncompared to the large cities and industrial districts. But whoever\nis acquainted with the conditions knows that they are not ideal. We\nfind this opinion confirmed by a lecture delivered by the owner of\na knightly estate in the fall of 1889, which newspapers in Saxony\nreported in the following manner:\n\n\u201cGrimma. Dr. v. Waechter, owner of a knightly estate, at a meeting\nof the diocese which was held here delivered a lecture on ~sexual\nimmorality in our rural communities~, in which local conditions were\ndepicted in no favorable light. With great frankness the lecturer\nadmitted that the ~employers~ themselves, even the ~married~ ones,\nfrequently maintained intimate relations with their female employees,\nand that the results of such relations were either atoned for by\na payment of money or were hidden from the eyes of the world by a\ncrime. Unfortunately it could not be denied, that immorality was\nintroduced into the rural districts not only by country girls who\nhad been employed in the cities as wet nurses and by boys who had\nbecome demoralized while serving in the army, but also by ~educated\nmen~, by managers of the large estates and army officers, who come\ninto the country during manoeuvres. Dr. v. Waechter claims that here\nin the country there actually are ~few girls who have attained their\nseventeenth birthday without having fallen~.\u201d The honest lecturer\nhad to pay for his love of truth by being socially ostracised by the\noffended officers. Reverend Dr. Wagner had a similar experience when\nhe ventured to say some disagreeable truths to the landed proprietors\nin his book on \u201cMorality in the Country.\u201d[114]\n\nThe majority of prostitutes are driven into their unfortunate trade\nat an age at which they cannot be regarded as competent to judge\ntheir actions. Among the women who secretly prostituted themselves\narrested in Paris from 1878 until 1887, 12,615 equal 46.7 per\ncent. were minors. Of those arrested from 1888\u20131898, 14,072 equal\n48.8 per cent. were minors. Le Pilleurs gives the following resum\u00e9\nof the prostitutes of Paris, which is as concise as it is pathetic:\n\u201cDefloured at 16, prostituted at 17, afflicted with syphilis at\n18.\u201d[115] Among 846 newly enrolled prostitutes in Berlin in 1898\nthere were 229 minors. There were:\n\n 7 at the age of 15\n 21 \u201c \u201c \u201c \u201c 16\n 33 \u201c \u201c \u201c \u201c 17\n 59 \u201c \u201c \u201c \u201c 18\n 49 \u201c \u201c \u201c \u201c 19\n 66 \u201c \u201c \u201c \u201c 20[116]\n\nIn September, 1894, a scandalous affair was revealed in Budapest,\nwhere it became known that about 400 girls not more than fifteen\nyears of age had become the victims of rich libertines. The sons of\nour \u201cpropertied and cultured classes\u201d not infrequently consider it\ntheir right to seduce the daughters of the poor and then to forsake\nthem. These confiding, inexperienced daughters of the poor, whose\nlives are often devoid of all joy and who sometimes have no friend\nor relative to protect them, easily fall victims to the art of the\nseducer, who approaches them with all the temptations of pleasure and\naffection. Bitter disappointments and despair and eventually crime\nare the results. Among 2,060,973 children born in Germany in 1907\n179,178 were illegitimate. One can imagine the amount of care and\nheart-ache that the births of these illegitimate children mean to\ntheir mothers, even if some of them are legally married later on by\nthe fathers of their children. ~Infanticide and the suicide of women\nare in a great many cases caused by the misery and need of forsaken\nwomen.~ The trials for infanticide present a sombre but instructive\npicture. In the fall of 1894 a young woman was on trial in Krems,\nAustria. Eight days after her confinement she had been discharged\nfrom the lying-in hospital in Vienna, with her infant and penniless,\nand being desperate she had killed her child. ~She was condemned to\ndeath.~ In the spring of 1899 the following was reported from the\nprovince of Posen: \u201cOn Monday last the 22-year-old working girl,\nKatherine Gorbacki, from Alexanderruh, near Neustadt was on trial\nfor murder. During the years 1897 and 1898 the defendant had been\nemployed by the Provost Merkel in Neustadt. As a result of intimate\nrelations with her employer, she gave birth to a daughter in June\nlast. The child was placed with her relatives. The provost paid $2\nfor the child\u2019s board during each of the first two months, but then\nrefused to meet any further expenses. As the girl could not meet\nthe expenses for the child\u2019s maintenance, she decided to do away\nwith it. On a Sunday during September last she smothered the child\nwith a pillow. The jury convicted her of murder in the second degree\nand admitted extenuating circumstances. The public prosecutor moved\nto inflict the maximum penalty, five years imprisonment. The judge\nsentenced her to three years in prison.\u201d\n\nThus the seduced and forsaken woman, disgraced and desperate, is\ndriven to the utmost, and kills her own offspring. Then she is\nbrought to trial and is sentenced to long periods of imprisonment,\nor even to death. But the real unscrupulous murderer is allowed to\ngo unpunished. Perhaps shortly after the tragedy he will marry a\ngirl from some good and righteous family, and will become a highly\nhonored and pious man. Many a man is held in great esteem who thus\npolluted his honor and his conscience. ~If women had a voice in the\nmaking and administration of the laws things would be different.~\nEvidently many cases of infanticide are never discovered. In July,\n1899, in Frankenthal on the Rhine a servant girl was accused of\nhaving drowned her new-born, illegitimate child in the Rhine. The\npublic prosecutor asked all police departments along the Rhine from\nLudwigshafen to the boundary of Holland to report whether within\na definite time the body of a child had been washed ashore. The\nsurprising result of this inquest was, that the police departments\nwithin the stated time reported no less than 38 bodies of infants\nthat had been fished from the Rhine, but whose mothers had not been\nfound.\n\nThe most cruel system is resorted to, as previously stated, by the\nFrench legislation, which forbids to seek the father, but instead\nmaintains foundling hospitals. The law framed at the convention of\nJune 28, 1793, reads: \u201cLa nation se charge de l\u2019\u00e9ducation physique\net morale des enfants abandonn\u00e9s. D\u00e9sormais, ils seront d\u00e9sign\u00e9s\nsous le seul nom d\u2019orphelins. Aucune autre qualification ne sera\npermis\u201d (The nation undertakes the physical and moral education of\nabandoned children. Henceforward they will be known only by the\nname of orphans. No other designation will be permitted.). That was\na very convenient method to men, for thereby they could turn over\ntheir individual obligations to the community and were spared from\nbeing publicly exposed. National orphan and foundling asylums were\nerected. In 1833 the number of orphans and foundlings amounted to\n130,945. It was estimated that every tenth child was a legitimate\none that its parents wished to get rid of. As these children were\nnot properly cared for, their mortality was very great. At that\ntime 59 per cent. died during the first year; up to the twelfth\nyear 78 per cent. died; so only 22 from 100 children attained the\ntwelfth year. At the beginning of the sixties of the last century\nthere were 175 foundling asylums; in 1861 there were admitted into\nthese 42,934 enfants trouv\u00e9s (foundlings), 26,156 enfants abandonn\u00e9s\n(abandoned children) and 9,716 orphans; together this made 78,066\nchildren who were maintained at public expense. All in all the number\nof abandoned children has not decreased during recent decades.\n\nFoundling asylums maintained by the state were also established in\nAustria and Italy. \u201cIci on fait mourir les enfants\u201d (here children\nare made to die); a monarch is said to have suggested these words\nas a suitable inscription for foundling asylums. In Austria the\nfoundling asylums are gradually disappearing. At present only eight\nremain, but at the close of the nineties of the last century these\nstill contained over 9,000 children, while more than 30,000 children\nwere placed outside of the asylums. During recent years the number\nof foundlings has greatly decreased, for in 1888 there still were\n40,865 children who were public charges in Austria; 10,466 were in\nasylums; 30,399 were placed in private care. Their maintenance cost\n1,817,372 florins. Mortality was not as great among the children\nplaced in asylums as among those privately cared for; this was\nespecially so in the province of Galicia. Here, during the year 1888\n31.25 per cent. died in asylums--far more than in the asylums of\nother countries; but of those who were privately cared for 84.21 per\ncent. died; a wholesale butchery. It seems as if Polish mismanagement\nendeavored to kill off these poor, little creatures as quickly as\npossible.\n\nIn Italy 118,531 children were admitted into asylums from 1894 to 1896.\nAnnual average: 29,633; boys: 58,901; girls: 59,630; illegitimate,\n113,141; legitimate, 5,390 (only 5 per cent.). How great the mortality\nhas been may be seen from the following table.[117]\n\n 1890\u20131892 1893\u20131896 1897\n\n Number of children admitted 91,549 109,899 26,661\n Died during first year 34,186 41,386 9,711\n Percentage 37.3 37.6 36.4\n Mortality of illegitimate\n children in Italy 25.0 27.2 23.4\n Mortality of legitimate\n children 18.0 17.5 15.9\n\nThe record was broken by the foundling asylum Santa Cosa\ndell\u2019Annunziata in Naples, where in 1896 of 853 infants 850 died. In\nthe year 1907 the foundling asylums admitted 18,896 children. During\nthe years 1902 to 1906 the mortality of these unfortunate little\nones was 37.5 per cent; that means that more than one-third of the\nchildren maintained by the state die during the first year.[118]\nIt is a generally known fact, that the rate of mortality is always\nhigher among illegitimate children than among legitimate ones.\nAccording to Prusian statistics the following number of deaths of\ninfants occurred for every 10,000 births.\n\n 1881\u20131885 1886\u20131890 1891\u20131895 1896\u20131900 1904\n\n Legitimate City 211 210 203 195 179\n Country 186 187 187 185 172\n Illegitimate City 398 395 385 374 333\n Country 319 332 336 336 306\n\n\u201cIt is a striking fact which clearly shows the connection between\nprostitution and the unfortunate condition of servant girls and menials\nemployed in the country, that of 94,779 illegitimate children born\nin 1906, 21,164 were the children of servant girls and 18,869 were\nthe children of girls otherwise employed in the country. Together\nthis made 40,033 or 42 per cent. If servants employed in the country\nand female farm hands are taken together, they constitute 30 per\ncent., while girls industrially employed constitute 14 per cent\n(13,460).\u201d[119]\n\nThe difference in the rate of mortality between legitimate and\nillegitimate children is especially marked during the first month,\nwhen the mortality of illegitimate children is on an average ~three\ntimes as great~ as that of legitimate children. Lack of care during\npregnancy and during the confinement and improper care of the\nchild after birth are the simple causes of this great mortality of\nillegitimate children. Ill treatment and neglect help to increase\nthe number of the victims. The number of still-born children is\ngreater among the illegitimate than among the legitimate also. This\nis probably chiefly due to attempts on the part of the mother to\nbring about the death of the child during pregnancy.\n\nTo this must be added the cases of infanticide that are not found\nout because the murdered child is counted among the still-born.\nBertillon claims, that to the 205 cases of infanticide recorded\nin the legal documents of France, should be added at least 1,500\nalleged still-births and 1,400 cases of intentional killing by\nstarvation.[120]\n\nThe following table shows the number of legitimate and illegitimate\nchildren in various European countries for every 100 still-births.\n\n ========================================================\n During the years Legitimate Illegitimate\n --------------------------------------------------------\n Germany 1891\u20131900 3.15 4.25\n Prussia 1900\u20131902 3.02 4.41\n Saxony 1891\u20131900 3.31 4.24\n Bavaria 1891\u20131900 2.98 3.61\n Wurtemberg 1891\u20131900 3.30 3.48\n Baden 1891\u20131900 2.62 3.35\n Austria 1895\u20131900 2.64 3.86\n Switzerland 1897\u20131903 3.40 6.14\n France 1891\u20131895 4.40 7.54\n Netherlands 1891\u20131900 4.38 8.13\n Denmark 1893\u20131894 2.40 3.20\n Sweden 1891\u20131895 2.46 3.30\n Norway 1891\u20131900 2.47 4.06\n Finland 1891\u20131900 2.54 4.43\n Italy 1891\u20131896 3.89 5.16[121]\n --------------------------------------------------------\n\nThe survivors revenge themselves on society for the ill-treatment\naccorded them by furnishing an ~unusually high~ percentage of the\ncriminals of all grades.\n\n[106] Dr. Licard de Planzoles--La Fonction Sexuelle. Paris, 1908.\n\n[107] Kamillo Karl Schneider--The Prostitute and Society--a\nSociological and Ethical Study, Leipsic, 1908.\n\n[108] Karl Marx, Capital.\n\n[109] Ibid.\n\n[110] Berlin, 1893.\n\n[111] Max Taube, M. D.--Protection of Illegitimate Children, Leipsic,\n1893, Veit & Co.\n\n[112] Berlin, 1889, Wm. Iszleib.\n\n[113] In a pamphlet on \u201cCapital and the Press,\u201d Berlin, 1891, Dr. F.\nMehring relates that a talented actress was employed at a well\nknown theatre at a monthly salary of $25, while the expenses for\nher wardrobe amounted to $250 in a single month. The difference was\nmade up by a \u201cfriend.\u201d\n\n[114] At the conference of the purity societies on September 20,\n1894, at the instance of Dr. Wagner an investigation was decided\nupon. The results of this investigation have been published in two\nvolumes, entitled: The Sexual Morality of Protestant Country People\nin the German Empire, 1895\u20131896.\n\n[115] Prof. S. Bettman--Medical Supervision of Prostitutes. Handbook\nof the social science of medicine, Jena, 1905.\n\n[116] Ibid.\n\n[117] S. Turcranji and S. Engel. The Foundling System in Italy.\nQuarterly journal of public hygiene, 1903.\n\n[118] Encyclopedia of Social Science; 3d edition, vol. iv., 1909.\nArticle: Foundling Asylums.\n\n[119] Encyclopedia of Social Science, 1909.\n\n[120] Schnapper Arndt.\n\n[121] F. Prinzing--The Causes of Still-Births. General records of\nstatistics, 1907.\n\n\n5.--Crimes Against Morality and Sexual Diseases.\n\nWe must still briefly dwell upon another evil that is often met with.\nAn excess of sexual enjoyment is far more harmful than the want\nof same. An organism abused by excesses is eventually destroyed.\nImpotence, sterility, idiocy, feeble mindedness and other diseases\nresult. Temperance in sexual intercourse is as necessary as temperance\nin eating and drinking, and other human requirements. But young men\nliving in luxury seem to find it very difficult to be temperate.\nTherefore we often find senility among young men of the upper classes.\nThe number of old and young rou\u00e9s is large, and because they are\nsatiated and dulled by excesses, they require special stimulants.\nBeside those in whom love for their own sex (sodomy) is innate, there\nare many who succumb to this perversity of the Greek age. Sodomy is\nfar more widespread than most of us imagine; the secret documents\nof many police departments might reveal appalling facts.[122]\nAmong the women, too, the perversities of ancient Greece have been\nrevived. Lesbian, or Sapphic love is, so Taxel claims, prevalent to\nan enormous degree among the fashionable ladies of Paris. In Berlin\nabout a quarter of the prostitutes indulge in this perverse passion\nand it is not unknown among the fashionable women, either.\n\nAnother unnatural satisfaction of the sexual desire are the criminal\nassaults upon children that have greatly increased during the last\ndecades. The following numbers of persons were convicted of crimes\nagainst morality in Germany: In 1895, 10,239; in 1905, 13,432; in\n1906, 13,557. Among those were 58 persons in 1902 and 72 in 1907,\nwho were convicted of criminal assaults upon children. The following\nnumber was convicted of fornication with persons under fourteen: In\n1902, 4,090; in 1906, 4,548; in 1907, 4,397. In Italy the number of\ncrimes against morality was: 1887 to 1889, 4,590; 1903, 8,461; which\nis 19.44 per cent. and 25.67 per cent. for every 100,000 inhabitants.\nThe same fact has been observed in Austria. Very correctly H. Herz\nsays: \u201cThe rapid increase in crimes against morality during the\nperiod 1880\u20131890 shows that the present economic structure with its\ndecrease in the marriage rate and its instability of employment is\nin no small degree the cause of the low standard of morality.\u201d[123]\n\nIn Germany members of the learned professions furnish about 5.6 per\ncent of the criminals; but they furnish about 13 per cent. of those\nconvicted of criminal assaults upon children. This percentage would\nbe higher still if members of those circles would not have ample\nmeans to conceal their crimes. The terrifying revelations made by\nthe \u201cPall Mall Gazette\u201d at the close of the eighties of the last\ncentury concerning the criminal abuses of children in England, have\nshown the widespread existence of frightful conditions.\n\nConcerning venereal diseases and their increase, the following table,\nshowing the number of cases treated in German hospitals, contains\nvaluable information:\n\n Gonorrhoea Syphilis\n\n 1877\u20131879 23,344 67,750\n 1880\u20131882 28,700 79,220\n 1883\u20131885 30,038 65,980\n 1886\u20131888 32,275 53,664\n 1889\u20131891 41,381 60,793\n 1892\u20131894 50,541 78,093\n 1895\u20131897 53,587 74,092\n 1898\u20131901 83,374 101,225\n 1902\u20131904 68,350 76,678\n\nIf we take the average annual number of persons afflicted we find\nthat within a period of 25 years the cases of gonorrhoea have\nincreased from 7,781 to 22,750 and those of syphilis from 22,583 to\n25,559. The population has increased only by 25 per cent. while the\ncases of gonorrhoea have increased by ~182~ per cent and those of\nsyphilis 19 per cent! We have another statistic that does not cover\nmany years, but just one single day which shows how many patients\nafflicted with venereal diseases were under medical treatment on\nApril 30, 1900. The Prusian minister of public instruction has\ncaused this investigation to be made. A list of questions was sent\nto every physician in Prussia. Although only 63.5 per cent. of these\nreplied, the investigation showed that on April 30, 1900, there were\nabout 41,000 persons in Prusia afflicted with venereal diseases.\n11,000 were newly infected with syphilis. In Berlin alone there\nwere on this day 11,600 persons afflicted with venereal diseases,\namong them 3,000 fresh cases of syphilis. For every 100,000 adult\ninhabitants, the following number were under medical treatment for\nvenereal diseases.\n\n Men. Women.\n\n In Berlin 1419 457\n \u201c 17 cities having more than 100,000 inhabitants 999 457\n \u201c 42 cities having 30,000 to 100,000 584 176\n \u201c 47 cities having less than 30,000 450 169\n \u201c other cities and rural communities 80 27\n ---------------------------------------------------------------\n In the entire German Empire 282 92\n\nThe cities mainly afflicted are those situated at harbors, college\nand garrison towns and large industrial centers (In Koenigsberg for\nevery 100,000 inhabitants, 2,152 men and 619 women are diseased;\nin Cologne 1309 men and 402 women; in Frankfort 1,505 men and 399\nwomen).\n\nOf Berlin Dr. Blaschko says: \u201cIn a large city like Berlin annually of\n1,000 young men between 20 and 30 years, almost 200, about one-fifth,\nbecome diseased with gonorrhoea and about 24 with syphilis. But the\ntime during which young men are exposed to venereal infection is\nmuch longer than one year. For some it is five years, for others\nten years and more. After five years of unmarried life then a young\nman will become diseased with gonorrhoea once and twice in ten\nyears. After five years every tenth young man, after eight to ten\nyears every fifth young man would acquire syphilis. In other words,\nof the men who marry after their thirtieth year every one would\nhave had gonorrhoea twice, and every fourth or fifth one would be\ninflicted with syphilis. These figures have been compiled by careful\ncalculation, and to us physicians who learn of so many misfortunes\nthat are concealed from the eyes of the world, they do not appear\nexaggerated.\u201d\n\nThe results of the research of April 30, 1900, are confirmed by a\ncareful study of this problem in connection with the Prussian army\ncompiled in 1907 by the surgeon-major, Dr. Schwiening.[124] It was\nshown that the various divisions of the army annually show about\nthe same number of recruits afflicted with venereal diseases. Some\ndivisions have a particularly large number of cases, especially\nthe division recruited from the province of Brandenburg. Berlin is\nmainly to blame that 2 per cent. of these recruits are diseased.\nDr. Schwiening\u2019s compilation of the percentage of diseased recruits\nfrom the various government districts clearly shows the extension\nof venereal diseases among civilians. Of 1,000 enrolled recruits\nthe following number was afflicted:\n\n 1903 1904 1905\n\n Berlin 40.9 37.2 45.2\n 27 cities having more than 100,000 inhabitants 14.9 16.7 15.8\n 26 cities having 50,000 to 100,000 inhabitants 11.6 9.6 9.5\n 33 cities having 25,000 to 50,000 inhabitants 8.2 6.8 9.1\n Cities having less than 25,000 inhabitants and\n rural communities 4.3 5.0 4.0\n State 7.6 8.1 7.8\n\nThe greatest number of diseased recruits came from Shoeneberg, having\n58.4 for every 1,000 enrolled. In large cities outside of Prussia,\nthe following numbers were recorded: Hamburg, 29.8; Leipsic, 29.4;\nDresden, 19; Chemnitz, 17.8; Munich, 16.4. According to G. v. Mayer\nthe increase of venereal diseases for every 1,000 inhabitants from\n1903 to 1904 was: Prussia, 19.6; Austria and Hungary, 60.3; France,\n27.1; Italy, 85.2; England, 125; Belgium, 28.3; the Netherlands,\n31.4; Russia, 40.5; Denmark, 45. The increase in venereal diseases is\nespecially great in the navy. In the German navy from 1905 to 1906\nthe number of cases were: On ship-board abroad, 113.6 per thousand;\nin domestic waters, 58.8; on land, 57.8. In the English navy there\nwere in 1905 121.55 cases and in 1906 121.94 cases.\n\nWe have seen that our social conditions have produced all sorts\nof vices, excesses and crimes that are constantly increasing. The\nwhole social organism is in a state of unrest by which the women are\nmost deeply affected. Women are beginning to realize this more and\nmore and to seek redress. They demand in the first place economic\nindependence. They demand that women, like men, should be admitted to\nall trades and professions according to their strength and ability.\nThey especially demand the right to practice learned professions.\nAre these endeavors justified? Can their aims be realized? Will they\nbring relief? These are the questions we must seek to answer.\n\n[122] The trials of Moltke, Lynar and Eulenburg have since revealed\na more revolting picture than one could suspect. They have shown how\nwidespread is this perversity among the higher strata of society,\nespecially among military men and in court circles.\n\n[123] Dr. Hugo Herz--Crimes and Criminals in Austria, Tuebingen,\n1908.\n\n[124] Director general of the army medical department, Dr. Chumburg,\nThe Venereal Diseases, Their Nature and Dissemination.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\nWoman in Industry.\n\n\n1.--Development and Extension of Female Labor.\n\nThe endeavor of women to earn their own living and to attain personal\nindependence is, to some extent at least, regarded as a just one by\nbourgeois society. The bourgeoisie requires an unhampered release\nof male and female labor power in order that industry may attain\nits highest degree of development. The perfection of machinery and\nthe division of labor, whereby each single function in the process\nof production requires less strength and mechanical training than\nformerly, and the growing competition, not only between individual\nmanufacturers, but also between entire manufacturing regions, states\nand countries--causes the labor power of woman to be sought more\nand more.\n\nThe special causes which lead to an increased employment of female\nlabor in a growing number of trades have been set forth in a\nprevious chapter. One reason why employers resort more and more to\nthe employment of women beside men, or instead of men, is, that\nwomen are accustomed to require less than men. Owing to their\nnature as sex beings, women are obliged to offer their labor power\ncheaper than men. They are, as a rule, more subjected to physical\nderangements that cause an interruption of their work, and owing to\nthe complication and organization of modern industry, this may lead\nto an interruption in the whole process of production. Pregnancy and\nchild-birth lengthen such periods of interruption.[125] The employer\nmakes the most of this fact and finds ~ample indemnification for\nthese occasional interruptions by the payment of considerably lower\nwages~. Moreover the woman is tied to her particular abode or its\nimmediate environment. She cannot change her abode as men are enabled\nto do in most cases. Female labor, especially the labor of married\nwomen workers appears particularly desirable to employers in still\nanother way, as may be seen from the quotation from \u201cCapital,\u201d by\nKarl Marx on page 129. As a worker the married woman is \u201cfar more\nattentive and docile\u201d than the unmarried one. Consideration for her\nchildren compels her to exert her strength to the utmost in order to\nearn what is needful for their livelihood, and she therefore quietly\nsubmits to much that the unmarried working woman would not submit to,\nfar less so the working man. As a rule working women rarely combine\nwith their fellow workers to obtain better working conditions. That\nalso enhances their value in the eyes of the employers; sometimes\nthey even are a good means to subdue rebellious male workers. Women\nmoreover are more patient, they possess greater nimbleness and a\nmore developed taste, qualities that make them better suited to many\nkinds of work than men.\n\nThese womanly virtues the virtuous capitalist appreciates fully; and\nso, with the development of industry, the field of woman\u2019s work is\nextended each year, but--and this is the decisive factor--~without\nmaterially improving her social condition~. Where female labor\npower is employed, it frequently releases male labor power. But\nthe displaced male workers must earn their living; so they offer\ntheir labor power at lower wages, and this offer again depresses\nthe wages of the female workers. The depression of wages becomes a\nscrew set in motion by the constantly revolving process of developing\nindustry, and as this process of revolution by labor-saving devices\nalso releases female workers, the supply of \u201chands\u201d is increased\nstill more. New branches of industry counteract this constant\nproduction of surplus labor power, but not sufficiently to create\nbetter conditions of labor. In the new branches of industry also,\nas for instance in the electrical, male workers are being displaced\nby female workers. In the motor factory of the General Electric\nCompany most of the machines are tended by girls. Every increase in\nwages above a certain standard causes the employer to seek further\nimprovement of his machinery, and to put the automatic machine in\nthe place of human hands and human brains. In the beginning of the\ncapitalistic era only male workers competed with one another on the\nlabor market. Now sex is arrayed against sex, and age against age.\nWomen displace men, and women in turn are displaced by young people\nand children. That is the \u201cmoral regime\u201d of modern industry.\n\nThis state of affairs would eventually become unbearable if the\nworkers, by organization in their trade unions, would not counteract\nit with all their might. To the working woman, too, it is becoming\na sheer necessity to join these industrial organizations, for as\nan individual she has still far less power of resistance than the\nworking man. Working women are beginning to recognize this necessity.\nIn Germany the following numbers were organized: in 1892, 4,355; in\n1899, 19,280; in 1900, 22,884; in 1905, 74,411; in 1907, 136,929;\nin 1908, 138,443. In 1892 women constituted only 1.8 per cent. of\nall members of trade unions; in 1908 they constituted 7.6 per cent.\nAccording to the fifth international report of the trade union movement\nthe numbers of female members were in Great Britain, 201,709; in\nFrance, 88,906; in Austria, 46,401.\n\nThe endeavors of employers to lengthen the work day in order to extract\nlarger profits from their workers is met with little resistance\nby women workers. That explains why in the textile industry, for\ninstance, in which more than half of the workers are women the\nwork day is ~longest~. It was necessary therefore that government\nprotection by limiting the hours of work should begin with this\nindustry. Women being accustomed to an endless work day by their\ndomestic activity, submit to the increased demands upon their labor\npower without offering resistance.\n\nPERSONS EMPLOYED IN GAINFUL OCCUPATIONS.\n\n KEY\n (C) COUNTRIES\n (Y) Year of Census\n Ger: German Empire\n Aus: Austria\n Hun: Hungary\n Rus: Russia\n Ita: Italy\n Swi: Switzerland\n Fra: France\n Bel: Belgium\n Net: Netherlands\n Den: Denmark\n Swe: Sweden\n Nor: Norway\n EnW: England and Wales\n Sco: Scotland\n Ire: Ireland\n GBI: Great Britain and Ireland\n USA: United States of America[126]\n\n ==========+====================================\n | Entire Population\n +------------------------------------\n (C) (Y) | Male Female Both\n ----------+------------------------------------\n Ger 1907 | 30,461,100 31,259,429 61,720,529\n Aus 1900 | 12,852,693 13,298,015 26,150,708\n Hun 1900 | 9,582,152 9,672,407 19,254,559\n Rus 1897 | 62,477,348 63,162,673 125,640,021\n Ita 1901 | 16,155,130 16,320,123 32,475,253\n Swi 1900 | 1,627,025 1,688,418 3,315,433\n Fra 1901 | 18,916,889 19,533,899 38,450,788\n Bel 1900 | 3,324,834 3,368,714 6,693,548\n Net 1899 | 2,520,603 2,583,535 5,104,138\n Den 1901 | 1,193,448 1,256,092 2,449,540\n Swe 1900 | 2,506,436 2,630,005 5,136,441\n Nor 1900 | 1,066,693 1,154,784 2,221,477\n EnW 1901 | 15,728,613 16,799,230 32,527,843\n Sco 1901 | 2,173,755 2,298,348 4,472,103\n Ire 1901 | 2,200,040 2,258,735 4,458,775\n GBI 1901 | 20,102,408 21,356,313 41,458,721\n USA 1900 | 39,059,242 37,244,145 76,303,387\n ----------+------------------------------------\n\n ==========+===================================+===================\n | | Persons gainfully\n | | employed in\n | Gainfully employed | percentage of\n | | population\n +-----------------------------------+-------------------\n (C) (Y) | Male Female Both | Male Female Both\n ----------+-----------------------------------+-------------------\n Ger 1907 | 18,599,236 9,429,881 28,092,117 | 61.1 30.4 45.5\n Aus 1900 | 8,257,294 5,850,158 14,107,452 | 64.2 44.0 53.9\n Hun 1900 | 6,162,298 2,668,697 8,830,995 | 64.3 27.6 45.9\n Rus 1897 | 25,995,237 5,276,112 31,271,349 | 41.6 8.4 24.9\n Ita 1901 | 10,998,462 5,284,064 16,272,526 | 68.0 32.4 50.1\n Swi 1900 | 1,057,187 498,760 1,556,577 | 65.0 29.5 46.9\n Fra 1901 | 12,910,565 6,804,510 19,715,075 | 68.2 34.8 51.3\n Bel 1900 | 2,123,072 948,229 3,071,301 | 63.8 28.1 45.9\n Net 1899 | 1,497,159 433,548 1,930,707 | 59.4 16.8 37.8\n Den 1901 | 752,559 353,980 1,106,539 | 63.1 28.2 45.2\n Swe 1900 | 1,422,979 551,021 1,974,000 | 56.8 21.0 38.4\n Nor 1900 | 599,057 277,613 876,670 | 56.1 24.0 39.5\n EnW 1901 | 10,156,976 4,171,751 14,328,727 | 64.6 24.8 44.1\n Sco 1901 | 1,391,188 591,624 1,982,812 | 64.0 25.8 44.3\n Ire 1901 | 1,413,943 549,874 1,963,817 | 64.3 24.3 44.0\n GBI 1901 | 12,962,107 5,313,249 18,275,356 | 64.5 24.9 44.1\n USA 1900 | 23,956,115 5,329,807 29,285,922 | 61.3 14.3 38.4\n ----------+-----------------------------------+-------------------\n\n[126] These figures include 91,219 persons of the army and navy who\nwere absent from the country while the census was taken.\n\nIn other trades, such as millinery, manufacture of artificial\nflowers, etc.,[127] they reduce their own wages and lengthen their\nown work day by taking home extra work. They frequently do not even\nnotice that thereby they become their own competitors and do not\nearn more in a sixteen hour day than they might in a well regulated\nten-hour day.\n\nThe table on page 212 shows to what extent female labor has grown\namong various civilized nations, both in relation to the other sex\nand in relation to the entire population.[128] Our table shows that\nthe number of women employed in gainful occupations constitutes a\nconsiderable percentage of the entire population. The percentage\nis largest in Austria, France and Italy. This may be partly due to\nthe manner of census-taking, as not only those female persons are\ncounted, whose principal occupation is a gainful employment, but\nalso those who perform incidental work for wages. The percentage is\nlowest in the United States. It is also important to compare the\ngrowth of the laboring population with former periods. Let us begin\nwith Germany:\n\n ==========+========================+======================\n Years | | Persons gainfully\n in which | Entire Population | employed\n census +------------------------+----------------------\n was taken | Male Female | Male Female\n ----------+------------------------+----------------------\n 1882 | 22,150,749 23,071,364 | 13,415,415 5,541,517\n 1895 | 25,409,161 26,361,123 | 15,531,841 6,578,350\n 1907 | 30,461,100 31,159,429 | 18,599,236 9,492,881\n ----------+------------------------+----------------------\n\n ==========+========================+===================\n | Persons gainfully |\n Years | employed in percentage | Of 100 persons\n in which | of population | gainfully employed\n census +------------------------+-------------------\n was taken | Male Female | Male Female\n ----------+------------------------+-------------------\n 1882 | 60.57 24.02 | 71.24 28.76\n 1895 | 61.13 24.96 | 70.25 29.75\n 1907 | 61.06 30.37 | 66.21 33.79\n ----------+------------------------+-------------------\n\nThis table shows firstly, that the number of persons gainfully\nemployed increases more rapidly than the population; secondly, that\nthe growth of female labor still exceeds this increase; thirdly, that\nthe male laboring population is relatively stationary, while the\nfemale laboring population shows a relative and absolute growth,\nand lastly, that female labor at an increasing rate displaces male\nlabor. The number of persons gainfully employed has increased from\n1882 to 1895 by 16.6 per cent.; the number of men, by 15.8 per cent.\nand 19.35 per cent.; the number of women by 18.7 per cent. from 1882\nto 1895, and by ~44.44~ per cent. from 1895 to 1907. The increase of\nthe population from 1882 to 1895 was only 19.8 per cent., and from\n1895 to 1907 only 19.34 per cent. So the entire number of persons\ngainfully employed has increased; but as the growth of the number of\nmen gainfully employed has approximately kept pace with the growth\nof the population, the number of women gainfully employed has grown\nmostly. This shows that the struggle for existence requires greater\nefforts than formerly.\n\nFrom 1882 to 1895 and from 1895 to 1907 we find the following\nincrease (+) and decrease (\u2212) among the population of Germany:\n\n From 1882 to 1895 From 1895 to 1907\n\n Female persons gainfully employed\n + 1,005,290 = 23.60 per cent + 2,979,105 = 56.59 per cent\n\n Male persons gainfully employed\n + 2,133,577 = 15.95 per cent + 3,077,382 = 19.85 per cent\n\n Female servants\n + 31,543 = 2.46 per cent \u2212 64,574 = 4.91 per cent\n\n Male servants\n \u2212 17,151 = 40.35 per cent \u2212 9,987 = 39.38 per cent\n\nThe following table shows the number of persons gainfully employed\nin various trades:\n\n KEY\n Agr: Agriculture, Forestry\n Ind: Industry and Mining\n Com: Commerce and Traffic\n Lab: Various kinds of wage labor\n Ser: Public service and learned professions\n Arm: Army and Navy\n\n ====+======================+======================+=====================\n | 1882 | 1895 | 1907\n +----------------------+----------------------+---------------------\n | Male Female | Male Female | Male Female\n ----+----------------------+----------------------+---------------------\n Agr | 5,701,587 2,534,909 | 5,539,538 2,753,154 | 5,284,271 4,598,986\n Ind | 5,269,489 1,126,976 | 6,760,102 1,521,118 | 9,152,330 2,103,924\n Com | 1,272,208 298,110 | 1,758,903 579,608 | 2,546,253 931,373\n Lab | 213,746 183,836 | 198,626 233,685 | 150,791 320,904\n Ser | 373,593 115,272 | 618,335 176,648 | 799,025 288,311\n Arm | 542,282 -- | 630,978 -- | 651,194 --\n ----+----------------------+----------------------+---------------------\n\nThe following table shows the increase and decrease in various trades:\n\n KEY\n Agr: Agriculture, Forestry\n Ind: Industry and Mining\n Com: Commerce and Traffic\n Lab: Various kinds of wage labor\n Ser: Public service and learned professions\n Arm: Army and Navy\n Tot: Total\n\n ====+==================================+=================================\n | From 1882 to 1895 | From 1895 to 1907\n +----------------------------------+---------------------------------\n | Female % Male % | Female % Male %\n ----+----------------------------------+---------------------------------\n Agr |+ 218,245 8.60 \u2212 162,049 2.80 |+1,845,832 67.04 \u2212 255,267 4.61\n Ind |+ 394,142 35.00 +1,490,613 28.30 |+ 582,806 38.31 +2,392,228 35.39\n Com |+ 281,498 98.40 + 486,695 38.30 |+ 351,765 60.69 + 787,350 44.76\n Lab |+ 50,029 27.20 \u2212 15,120 7.10 |+ 87,039 37.22 \u2212 47,835 24.08\n Ser |+ 61,376 53.25 + 154,285 33.25 |+ 111,663 -- + 180,690 --\n Arm | -- -- + 179,153 39.65 | -- -- + 20,216 --\n ----+----------------------------------+---------------------------------\n Tot |+1,005,290 23.60 +2,133,577 15.90 |+2,979,105 -- +3,077,382 --\n ----+----------------------------------+---------------------------------\n\nAmong the persons gainfully employed there were:\n\n KEY\n Ind: Independent\n Emp: Employees\n Lab: Laborers, etc., excl. servants\n Tot: Total\n\n ===+==================================+==================================\n | 1895 | 1907\n +----------------------------------+----------------------------------\n | Female % Male % | Female % Male %\n ---+----------------------------------+----------------------------------\n Ind|1,069,007 22.1 4,405,039 31.3|1,052,165 -- 4,438,123 --\n Emp| 39,418 0.81 582,407 4.1| 159,889 -- 1,130,839 --\n Lab|3,745,455 77.09 9,071,097 64.6|6,422,229 -- 11,413,892 --\n ---+----------------------------------+----------------------------------\n Tot|4,853,880=100.00 14,058,543=100.00|7,634,283=100.00 16,982,854=100.00\n ---+----------------------------------+----------------------------------\n\nThe following shows the increase and decrease of women holding\n~independent~ positions from 1895 to 1907:\n\n [1907] [1895] [%]\n\n Industry (domestic industry) 477,290 519,492 \u2212 42,202 = 8.10\n Commerce and traffic 246,641 202,616 + 44,025 = 21.77\n Agriculture 328,237 346,896 \u2212 18,659 = 9.04\n\nThe greatest number of female persons were employed in the following\ntrades:\n\n 1907. 1895.\n\n Agriculture 4,585,749 2,745,840\n Clothing and cleaning 883,184 713,021\n Commercial lines 545,177 299,829\n Textile industry 528,235 427,961\n Restaurants and caf\u00e9s 339,555 261,450\n Articles of food and luxury 248,962 140,333\n Metal works 73,039 36,210\n Stone and pottery 72,270 39,555\n Paper industry 67,322 39,222\n Wood and carving industry 48,028 30,346\n\nThe following are the trades in which more women than men are employed\nin Germany:\n\n Women. Men.\n\n Agriculture 4,217,132 2,737,768\n Textile industry 466,210 390,312\n Clothing trades 403,879 303,264\n Cleaning trades 85,684 58,035\n Restaurants and caf\u00e9s 266,930 139,002\n Domestic service 279,208 36,791\n Nursing 129,197 78,520\n\nThese figures clearly show us the prevailing state of affairs in\nGermany. Although the number of persons gainfully employed has\nincreased more rapidly than the population, the growth of female\nlabor still exceeds this increase. The employment of women is rapidly\ngrowing in all lines of industry. While the male laboring population\nis relatively stationary, the female laboring population shows a\nrelative and absolute growth. In fact the increase in female labor\nconstitutes the chief portion of the general increase of persons\ngainfully employed in the entire population. The number of female\nmembers of families supported by men rank from 70.81 per cent. in\n1895 to 63.90 per cent. in 1907. Woman has become such a powerful\nfactor in industry that the Philistine saying, the woman\u2019s place\nis in the home, seems utterly void and ridiculous. In England the\nfollowing numbers of persons were industrially employed:\n\n For every 100 persons\n gainfully employed\n Total Male Female Male Fem.\n\n 1871 11,593,466 8,270,186 3,323,280 -- --\n 1881 11,187,564 7,783,646 3,403,918 69.59 30.41\n 1891 12,751,995 8,883,254 4,016,230 68.09 31.91\n 1901 14,328,727 10,156,976 4,171,751 70.09 29.91\n\nWithin thirty years the number of men gainfully employed increased\nby 1,886,790 persons = 22.8 per cent.; the number of women gainfully\nemployed increased by 848,471 = 25.5 per cent. It is especially\nnoteworthy that during 1881, the year of a crisis, the number of men\nemparent one, since most of the wives and daughters of number of\nwomen employed increased by 80,638. The relative decrease of female\nlabor in 1901 is only an apparent one, since most of the wives\nand daughters of farmers are now counted as having no profession.\nBesides, during the last twenty years those industries have grown\nmostly in which male labor is chiefly employed, while the textile\nindustry has relatively, and since 1891, positively declined.\n\n Percentage Female\n of workers\n 1881 [1901] increase among these\n\n Stone and pottery industry 582,474 805,185 53 5,006\n Metal works and\n manufacture of machinery 812,915 1,228,504 52 61,233\n Building trades 764,911 1,128,680 47 2,485\n Textile trades 1,094,636 1,155,397 5 663,222\n\nNevertheless female labor has again increased at the expense of male\nlabor. Only the share in increase of female labor that was 12.6 per\ncent. from 1851 to 1861 and 7.6 per cent. from 1871 to 1881 was\nreduced to 1.8 per cent. from 1891 to 1901. In the year 1907 the\nfollowing numbers were counted in the textile industry: 407,360 men\n= 36.6 per cent. and 679,863 women = 63.4 per cent. In the clothing\ntrades and in commerce female labor has increased much more. But it\nis furthermore seen that older women are displaced by younger ones,\nand as women under 25 are mostly unmarried and the older ones are\nmostly married, or widowed, it is seen that women are displaced by\ngirls.\n\nThe following are trades in which more women than men are employed\nin England:\n\n Women Men\n\n Domestic service 1,690,686 124,263\n Clothing trades 711,786 414,637\n Textile trades 663,222 492,175\n Among these cotton 328,793 193,830\n wool and yarn 153,311 106,598\n hemp and jute 104,587 45,732\n silk 22,589 8,966\n embroidery 28,962 9,587\n\nIn almost all the branches women receive considerable less pay than\nmen ~for the same amount of work~. A recent inquiry showed that\nthe average weekly wage in the textile industry was 28 shillings\n1 penny for men, and only 15 shillings 5 pence for women.[129] In\nthe bicycle industry where female labor has rapidly increased as a\nresult of the introduction of machinery, women receive only from 12 to\n18 shillings per week, where men received from 30 to 40 shillings.[130]\nThe same conditions are met with in the manufacture of paper goods\nand shoes and in binderies. Women are paid especially low wages for\nthe manufacture of underwear; 10 shillings per week is considered\na good wage. \u201cAs a rule a woman earns half or one-third of a man\u2019s\nwage.\u201d[131] A similar difference in remuneration between men and\nwomen is met with in the postal service and in teaching. Only in the\ncotton industry in Lancashire both sexes working an equal length of\ntime earned almost equal wages.\n\nIn the United States we find the following development of female\nlabor:\n\n 1880 1890 1900\n\n Agriculture 594,510 678,884 977,336\n Learned professions 177,255 311,687 430,597\n Domestic and\n personal service 1,181,300 1,667,651 2,095,449\n Commerce and\n transportation 63,058 228,421 503,347\n Manufacture 631,034 1,027,928 1,312,668\n ------------------------------------------------------\n % % %\n Total, women 2,647,157 14.7 3,914,571 17.4 5,319,397 18.8\n \u201c men 14,774,942 85.3 18,821,090 82.6 23,753,836 81.2\n ------------------------------------------------------\n 17,422,099 100 22,735,661 100 29,073,233 100\n\nHere we see that the number of women gainfully employed has grown\nfrom 3,914,571 in 1890 to 5,319,397 in 1900. It has increased more\nrapidly than the population which increased from 62,622,250 persons\nin 1890 to 76,303,387 in 1900; only by 21 per cent. In the same\ninexorable way the number of employed men is decreasing, since they\nare being displaced by women. Now for 100 persons gainfully employed\nthere are 18.8 women, while in 1880 there were not more than 14.7 per\ncent. Of 312 occupations there are only 9 in which no women are\nemployed. According to the census of 1900, we even find among them 5\npilots, 45 engineers and firemen, 185 blacksmiths, 508 machinists,\n11 well-borers, 8 boilermakers. \u201cOf course these figures are not of\ngreat sociological importance, but they show that there are very\nfew occupations from which women are absolutely excluded, either by\ntheir natural capacity or by law.\u201d[132] Women are especially numerous\nin the following occupations: Servants and waitresses, 1,213,828;\ndressmaking, 338,144; farm labor, 497,886; laundresses, 332,665;\nteachers, 327,905; independent farmers, 307,788; textile workers,\n231,458; housekeepers, 147,103; salesladies, 146,265; seamstresses,\n138,724; nurses and midwives, 108,691; unqualified trades, 106,916. In\nthese 12 occupations 3,583,333 = 74.1 per cent. of all bread-earning\nwomen have been counted. Besides there are 85,086 stenographers;\n82,936 milliners; 81,000 clerks; 72,896 bookkeepers, etc., together\n19 occupations, comprising over 50,000 women = 88.8 per cent. of\nall women breadwinners. Women predominate in the following trades:\n\n For every 100 persons employed.\n\n Manufacture of underwear Women 99.4 Men 0.6\n Millinery \u201c 98.0 \u201c 2.0\n Dressmaking \u201c 96.8 \u201c 3.2\n Manufacture of collars \u201c 77.6 \u201c 22.4\n Weaving \u201c 72.8 \u201c 27.2\n Manufacture of gloves \u201c 62.6 \u201c 37.4\n Bookbinding \u201c 50.5 \u201c 49.5\n Textile trades \u201c 50.0 \u201c 50.0\n Housekeeping \u201c 94.7 \u201c 5.3\n Nursing \u201c 89.9 \u201c 10.1\n Laundry work \u201c 86.8 \u201c 13.2\n Domestic service \u201c 81.9 \u201c 18.1\n Boarding \u201c 83.4 \u201c 16.6\n Stenographers \u201c 76.7 \u201c 23.3\n Teachers \u201c 73.4 \u201c 26.6\n Music teachers \u201c 56.9 \u201c 43.1\n\nOf 4,833,630 women employed in gainful occupations aged 16 years\nand more, 3,143,712 were single, 769,477 were married, 857,005 were\nwidowed, 63,436 were divorced. The American report says: \u201cThe increase\nin the percentage of persons gainfully employed was greatest for\nthe married women, since it was by one-fourth greater in 1900 than\nin 1890. In 1890 there was only one married working woman among 22;\nin 1900 there was one among 18.\u201d The number of widowed and divorced\nwomen is very great, both relatively and actually. In 1900 among\n2,721,438 widowed women 857,005 = 31.5 were earning their living, and\namong divorced women the percentage was still greater. Of 114,935,\nthese 49 per cent. were earning their own living in 1890 and 55.3 per\ncent. in 1900. Thus more women became self-supporting each year.\nAmong the 303 occupations in which women are employed there are:\n\n 79 with less than 100 women\n 59 \u201c \u201c \u201c 100 to 500 \u201c\n 31 \u201c \u201c \u201c 500 to 1000 \u201c\n 125 \u201c more \u201c 1000 \u201c\n 63 \u201c \u201c \u201c 5000 \u201c\n\nAmong 100 persons from 16 years up we find the following wage-scale:\n\n Men Women\n\n Less than 7 dollars 18 Less than 7 dollars ~66.3~\n 7 to 9 dollars 15.4 7 to 9 dollars 19.6\n 9 to 20 dollars ~60.6~ 9 to 15 dollars 13.2\n 20 to 25 dollars 4.8 15 to 20 dollars 0.8\n More than 25 dollars 2 20 to 25 dollars 0.1\n ------ ------\n Average weekly wage $11.16 $6.17\n\nWe see that 60.6 per cent. of the men earn more than $9, while\nonly 13.2 per cent. of the women earn more than $9, and more than\ntwo-thirds (66.3 per cent.) earn less than $7.[133] The average\nweekly wage for men is $11.16; the average weekly wage for women\n$6.17, almost half of the man\u2019s wages. Among government employes\nthe difference is equally great. Among 185,874 persons engaged in\ncivil service there were 172,053 men = 92.6 per cent., and 13,821\nwomen--7.4 per cent. In the District of Columbia, the seat of the\nnational administration, the percentage of female labor amounts to\n29 per cent. And yet 47.2 per cent. of the women earn less than $720,\nwhile only 16.7 per cent. of the men earn less than $720.[134]\n\nIn France, according to the census of 1901, the laboring population\namounted to 19,715,075 persons, 12,910,565 men and 6,804,510 women.\nThey are distributed among various trades as follows:\n\n Men. Per Cent. Women. Per Cent.\n\n Agriculture 5,517,617 72 2,658,952 28\n Commerce 1,132,621 65 689,999 35\n Dom\u2019tic service 223,861 23 791,176 77\n Learned prof. 226,561 67 173,278 33\n Industry 3,695,213 63.5 2,124,642 36.5\n\n\u201cThe female laboring population amounts to one-half of the male\nlaboring population.\u201d[135] As in all other countries, fewest women\nare employed at those occupations that require greatest physical\nstrength (In mining 2.03 women for 100 men; in quarries 1.65; in\nmetallurgy, 1.06). The greatest number of women are employed in\nthe textile trades, 116 women for 100 men--in the clothing trades,\nin laundries, 1,247 women for 100 men, and in the manufacture of\nunderwear 3,286 women for 100 men.[136] It generally holds true,\nas Mme. C. Milhand states, that the greatest number of women are\nemployed in those industries where the hours of work are particularly\nlong and wages particularly low. \u201cIt is a sad fact that while the\nindustries, where the hours of labor are short, only employ a few\nthousand women, those where the hours of work are long, employs\nhundreds of thousands of them.\u201d[137] In regard to the wage scale\nE. Levasseur says that a woman\u2019s wage rarely amounts to two-thirds\nof a man\u2019s wage and more frequently only to one-half.[138]\n\n[125] A number of lists from sick-benefit funds, compiled by the\nfactory inspector Schuler, showed that female members were ill\n7.17 days annually, while male members were ill only 4.78 days\nannually. The duration of each illness was 24.8 for female members\nand 21.2 for male members. O. Schwartz, The results of the employment\nof married women in factories from the standpoint of public\nhygiene.--German quarterly gazette for public hygiene.\n\n[127] \u201cThis is especially the case in the clothing trade, but also\nin other industries such as the manufacture of toys, underwear,\ncigarettes, paper goods etc.\u201d R. Wilbrandt--Protection of working\nwomen and domestic industry.--Jena 1906.\n\n[128] Encyclopedia of Social Sciences.--H. Zahn, Statistics of\nprofessions and trades.\n\n[129] Textile Trades in 1906. London, 1909.\n\n[130] E. Cadbury, C. Matheson and C. Shaun--Women\u2019s work and wages.\nLondon, 1906.\n\n[131] E. Cadbury and F. Shaun--Sweating. London. 1907.\n\n[132] Statistics of women at work. Washington, 1908.\n\n[133] Earnings of wage-earners. Bulletin 93, page 11. Washington,\n1908.\n\n[134] Executive civil service of the United States. Washington, 1908.\n\n[135] C. Milhand--L\u2019ouvri\u00e8re en France. Paris, 1907.\n\n[136] E. Levasseur--Questions ouvri\u00e8res et industrielles en France\nsous la troisi\u00e8me r\u00e9publique. Paris, 1907.\n\n[137] C. Milhand--L\u2019ouvri\u00e8re en France. Paris, 1907.\n\n[138] E. Levasseur--Questions ouvri\u00e8res et industrielles en France\nsous la troisi\u00e8me r\u00e9publique. Paris, 1907.\n\n\n2.--Factory Work of Married Women.--Sweatshop Labor and Dangerous\nOccupations.\n\nMarried women form a large percentage of working women and their\nnumber is steadily increasing, which means a serious problem in regard\nto the family life of the working class. In 1899, German factory\ninspectors were instructed to investigate the work of married women and\nto inquire into the causes which lead them to seek employment.[139]\nThis investigation showed that 229,334 married women were employed\nin factories. Besides 1,063 married women were employed in mining\nabove the ground, as was shown by the report of the Prussian mining\nauthorities. In Baden the number of married working women increased\nfrom 10,878 in 1894 to 15,046 in 1899, which is 31.27 per cent. of\nall adult female workers. The following table shows the distribution\nof married women factory laborers among the various trades:\n\n Textile industry 111,194\n Articles of food and luxury 39,080\n Stone and pottery industry 19,475\n Clothing and cleaning trades 13,156\n Paper industry 11,049\n Metal works 10,739\n Wood and carving industry 5,635\n Polygraphic trades 4,770\n Manufacture of machinery 4,493\n Chemical industry 4,380\n Various 5,363\n -------\n Total 229,334\n\nBesides the textile industry, the manufacture of articles of food\nand luxury, especially the manufacture of tobacco, gives many\nmarried women employment. Then comes the paper industry, especially\nemployment in work shops for the assorting of rags, and employment\nin brick yards. \u201cMarried women are mainly employed in difficult\noccupations (quarries, brick yards, dyeing establishments, manufacture\nof chemicals, sugar refineries, etc.), implying hard and dirty\nwork, while young working girls under twenty-one find employment in\nporcelain factories, spinning and weaving mills, paper mills, cigar\nfactories, and in the clothing trade. The worst kinds of work, shunned\nby others, are taken up by the elder working women, especially the\nmarried ones.\u201d[140]\n\nOf the many replies in regard to the causes which lead married women to\nseek work only a few need to be mentioned. In the district of Potsdam\nthe main reason given for the factory labor of married women was,\nthat the earnings of the men were insufficient. In Berlin according\nto the reports of two inspectors 53.62 per cent. of the women who\nhelped to support their families stated, that the earnings of their\nhusbands were insufficient to support them. Similar information\nwas given by the factory inspectors for the districts of western\nPrussia, Frankfort on the Oder, Franconia, Wurtemberg, Elsatia, etc.\nThe inspector for Magdeburg gives the same cause for the majority of\nmarried working women, but also states that some married women must\nwork because their husbands are dissolute and spend all their earnings\non themselves. Others again, it was reported, worked as a matter\nof habit and because they had not been trained to be housekeepers.\nIt may be true that these causes hold good in a minority of cases;\nbut the great majority of these women work because they must. The\nfactory inspector for Alsace states as the main cause for gainful\nemployment of married women in modern industry, ~the demand for cheap\nlabor~, created by the means of transportation and by unrestricted\ncompetition. He furthermore states that manufacturers like to\nemploy married women because they are ~more reliable and steady~.\nThe factory inspector for Baden, Dr. Woerishoffer, says: \u201cThe low\nwages paid to women workers is the main cause why employers resort\nto female labor wherever it can be made use of. Ample proof of this\nassertion can be found in the fact, that wages are lowest in those\nindustries in which the greatest number of women are employed. As\nfemale labor can be employed to a great extent in these industries,\nit becomes a necessity to the working class families that the women\nshould seek employment.\u201d The factory inspector for Coblentz says:\n\u201cWomen usually are more industrious and reliable than young girls.\nYoung working girls generally have an aversion against disagreeable\nand dirty work, which is accordingly left to the more unassuming\nmarried workers. Thus, for instance, dealers in rags frequently\nemploy married women.\u201d\n\nThat the wages of working women are lower everywhere than those of\nworkingmen, even for equal work, is a well known fact. In this respect\nthe private employer does not differ from the state or community.\nWomen employed in the railroad and postal service receive less than\nmen for the same kind of work. In every community women teachers\nreceive a lower salary than men teachers. This may be explained by\nthe following causes: Women have fewer needs and are, above all,\nmore helpless; their earnings are in many cases only additional\nto the incomes of fathers or husbands, the main supporters of the\nfamilies; the character of female labor is amateurish, temporary\nand accidental; there is an immense reserve force of female workers\nwhich increases their helplessness; there is much competition from\nmiddle class women in dressmaking, millinery, flower and paper\ngoods manufactory, etc.; women are usually tied to their place of\nresidence. All these causes make the hours of work longest for women\nunless they are protected by legislation.\n\nIn a report on the wages of factory laborers in Mannheim in 1893 the\nlate Dr. Woerishoffer divides the weekly wages into three classes.[141]\nThe lowest class comprises weekly wages up to 15 marks ($3.75), the\nmiddle class from 15 to 24 marks ($3.75 to $6), and the high class\nabove 24 marks ($6). These wages were distributed among the workers\nas follows:\n\n Low class Middle class High class\n\n All the workers 29.8 per cent 49.8 per cent 20.4 per cent\n Male \u201c 20.9 \u201c ~56.2~ \u201c 22.9 \u201c\n Female \u201c ~99.2~ \u201c 0.7 \u201c 0.1 \u201c\n\nThe majority of the working women were paid starvation wages, as\nthe following table shows:\n\n A weekly\n wage of less than 5 marks ($1.25) was paid to 4.62 per cent\n \u201c from 5 to 6 \u201c ($1.25 to $1.50) \u201c \u201c \u201c 5.47 \u201c \u201c\n \u201c \u201c 6 \u201c 8 \u201c ($1.50 \u201c $2.00) \u201c \u201c \u201c 43.96 \u201c \u201c\n \u201c \u201c 8 \u201c 10 \u201c ($2.00 \u201c $2.50) \u201c \u201c \u201c 27.45 \u201c \u201c\n \u201c \u201c 10 \u201c 12 \u201c ($2.50 \u201c $3.00) \u201c \u201c \u201c 12.38 \u201c \u201c\n \u201c \u201c 12 \u201c 15 \u201c ($3.00 \u201c $3.50) \u201c \u201c \u201c 5.30 \u201c \u201c\n \u201c more than 15 \u201c ($3.75) \u201c \u201c \u201c 0.74 \u201c \u201c\n\nAn inquiry by the department of factory inspection of Berlin showed\nthat the average weekly wages of working women was 11.36 marks\n($2.82); 4.3 per cent. received less than 6 marks; 7.8 per cent.\n6 to 8 marks; 27.6 per cent. 12 to 15 marks; 11.1 per cent. 15 to\n20 marks, and 1.1 per cent. 20 to 30 marks. The majority (75.7 per\ncent) earn from 8 to 15 marks. In Karlsruhe the average weekly wages\nof all working women amounts to 10.02 marks.[142]\n\nWages are lowest in the domestic industries for both men and women,\nbut especially for women, and the hours of work are unlimited. Also\ndomestic industry frequently implies the so-called sweating system.\nA sub-contractor distributes the work among the workers and receives\nfor his remuneration a considerable amount of the wages paid by the\nemployer. How wretchedly female labor is paid in these sweated trades,\nmay be seen from the following reports on conditions in Berlin.\nFor men\u2019s colored shirts, manufacturers paid from 2 to 2\u00bd marks in\n1889. In 1893 they obtained them for 1.20 mark. A seamstress of\nmedium ability must toil from dawn to darkness to finish from 6 to\n8 shirts daily; her weekly wages amounts to from 4 to 5 marks. An\napronmaker earns 2\u00bd to 5 marks weekly, a tiemaker 5 to 6 marks,\na ~skillful~ shirt-waist maker 6 marks, a ~very skilled~ worker\non boys\u2019 suits 8 to 9 marks, a worker on coats 5 to 6 marks. An\nexperienced seamstress on fine men\u2019s shirts can earn 12 marks per\nweek if the season is good, and if she works from 5 o\u2019clock in the\nmorning until 10 o\u2019clock at night. Milliners who can copy models\nindependently earn 30 marks ~monthly~; experienced trimmers who have\nbeen working at their trade for years earn 50 to 60 marks per month\nduring the season. The season lasts five months. An umbrellamaker\nearns 6 to 7 marks weekly with a twelve-hour day. Such starvation\nwages drive working girls to prostitution, for even with the most\nmodest requirements no working girl can live in Berlin for less than\n9 to 10 marks per week.\n\nAll these facts show that the modern development of industry draws\naway women more and more from the family and the home. Marriage and\nthe family are being disrupted, and so from the standpoint of these\nfacts also it becomes absurd to relegate woman to the home and the\nfamily. Only they can resort to this argument who go through life\nblindly and fail to see the trend of development, or do not wish to\nsee it. In many branches of industry, women are employed exclusively;\nin a great many they constitute the majority of workers, and in\nmost of the remaining branches women find more or less employment.\nThe number of working women is steadily growing and new lines of\nactivity are constantly being opened to them.\n\nBy the enactment of the German factory laws of 1891 the work day of\nadult women workers in factories was limited to eleven hours, but a\nnumber of exceptions were permitted. Night work for women was also\nprohibited, but here too exceptions were made for factories that\nrun day and night, and for manufactures limited to certain seasons.\nOnly after the international convention at Bern on September 26,\n1906, determined on a night\u2019s rest of eleven hours for factory\nworkers, and after Socialists for many years energetically demanded\nthe prohibition of night work for women and the establishment of an\neight-hour day, the government and the bourgeois parties are yielding\nat last. The law of December 28, 1908, limits the hours of work for\nwomen to ten hours daily in all factories where no less than ten\nworkers are employed. On Saturdays and on days preceding holidays\nthe limit is eight hours. Women may not be employed for eight weeks\nprior to and after their confinement. Their readmission depends upon\na medical certificate stating that at least six weeks have elapsed\nsince their confinement. Women may not be employed in the manufacture\nof coke, nor for the carrying of building materials. In spite of\nthe energetic opposition of Socialists, an amendment was accepted\nthat the controlling officials may permit overtime work for 50 days\nannually. Especially noteworthy is the clause which constitutes a\nfirst interference with the exploitation by domestic industry. This\nclause determines that women and minors may not be given work to take\nhome on days when their hours of work in the factory have been as\nlong as the law permits. Regardless of its imperfections the new law\ncertainly means progress compared to the present state of affairs.\n\nBut women are not only employed in growing numbers in those\noccupations that are suited to their inferior physical strength, they\nare employed wherever the exploiters can obtain higher profits by\ntheir labor. Among such occupations are difficult and disagreeable\nas well as dangerous ones. These facts glaringly contradict that\nfantastic conception of woman as a weak and tender creature, as\ndescribed by poets and writers of novels. Facts are stubborn things,\nand we are dealing with facts only, since they prevent us from\ndrawing false conclusions and indulging in sentimental talk. But\nthese facts teach us, as has been previously stated, that women are\nemployed in the following industries: The textile trades, chemical\ntrades, metallurgy, paper industry, machine manufacture, wood work,\nmanufacture of articles of food and luxury, and mining above the\nground. In Belgium women over 21 are employed in mining underground\nalso. They are furthermore employed in the wide field of agriculture,\nhorticulture, cattle-breeding, and the numerous trades connected\nwith these occupations, and in those various trades which have long\nsince been their specific realm--dressmaking, millinery, manufacture\nof underwear, and as salesladies, clerks, teachers, kindergarten\nteachers, writers, artists of all kinds, etc. Tens of thousands of\nwomen of the poorer middle class are employed in stores and in other\ncommercial positions, and are thereby almost entirely withdrawn from\nhousekeeping and from the care of their children. Lastly, young, and\nespecially pretty women, find more and more employment as waitresses\nin restaurants and caf\u00e9s as chorus girls, dancers, etc., to the\ngreatest detriment to their morals. They are used as bait to attract\npleasure-seeking men. Horrible conditions exist in these occupations\nfrom which the white slave traders draw many of their victims.\n\nAmong the above-named occupations there are many ~dangerous ones~.\nThus danger from the effects of alkaline and sulphuric fumes exists\nto a great degree in the manufacture and cleaning of straw hats.\nBleaching is dangerous owing to the inhalation of chloral fumes.\nThere is danger of poisoning in the manufacture of colored paper, the\ncoloring of artificial flowers, the manufacture of metachromatypes,\nchemicals and poisons, the coloring of tin soldiers and other tin\ntoys, etc. Silvering of mirrors means death to the unborn children\nof pregnant workers. In Prussia about 22 per cent. of all infants\ndie during their first year of life; but among the babies of working\nwomen employed in certain dangerous occupations we find, as stated\nby Dr. Hirt, the following appalling death-rate: mirror makers,\n65 per cent.; glass cutters, 55 per cent.; workers in lead, 40 per\ncent. In 1890 it was reported that among 78 pregnant women who had\nbeen employed in the type founderies of the government district of\nWiesbaden, only 37 had normal confinements. Dr. Hirt asserts that\nthe following trades become especially dangerous to women during the\nsecond half of their pregnancy: the manufacture of colored paper and\nflowers, the finishing of Brussels laces with white lead, the making\nof metachromatypes (transfer pictures), the silvering of mirrors, the\nrubber industry, and all manufactures in which the workers inhale\npoisonous gases, such as carbonic acid, carbonic oxide, sulphide of\nhydrogen, etc. The manufacture of shoddy and phosphoric matches are\nalso dangerous occupations. The report of the factory inspector for\nBaden shows, that the average annual number of premature births\namong working women increased from 1039 during the years 1882 to\n1886 to 1,244 during the years 1887 to 1891. The number of births\nthat had to be preceded by an operation were on an average 1,118\nfrom 1882 to 1886, and 1,385 from 1887 to 1891. More serious facts\nof this sort would be revealed if similar investigations were made\nthroughout Germany. But generally the factory inspectors in framing\ntheir reports content themselves with the remark: \u201cParticular\ninjuries to women by their employment in factories have not been\nobserved.\u201d How could they observe them during their short visits\nand without consulting medical opinion? That furthermore there is\ngreat danger to life and limb, especially in the textile trades,\nthe manufacture of explosives and work at agricultural machinery\nhas been shown. Moreover a number of enumerated trades are among\nthe most difficult and strenuous, even for men; that can be seen by\na glance at the very incomplete list. It is very easy to say that\nthis or that occupation is unsuited to a woman. But what can she do\nif no other more suitable occupation is open to her? Dr. Hirt[143]\ngives the following list of occupations in which young girls ought\nnot to be employed at all on account of the danger to their health:\nManufacture of bronze colors, manufacture of emery paper, making\nof straw hats, glass cutting, lithographing, combing flax, picking\nhorse hair, plucking fustian, manufacture of tin plate, manufacture\nof shoddy and work at flax mills.\n\nIn the following trades young girls should be employed only if\nproper protection (sufficient ventilation, etc.) has been provided:\nManufacture of wall paper, porcelain, lead pencils, lead shot,\nvolatile oils, alum, prussiate of potash, bromide, quinine, soda,\nparaffine and ultramarine (poisonous), colored paper (poisonous)\ncolored wafers, metachromatypes, phosphoric matches,[144] Paris green\nand artificial flowers. Further occupations on the list are the\ncutting and assorting of rags, the assorting and cutting of tobacco\nleaves, assorting of hair for brushes, cleaning (with sulphur) of\nstraw hats, sulphurizing of India-rubber, reeling wool and silk,\ncleaning bed-feathers, coloring and printing of goods, coloring of tin\nsoldiers, packing of tobacco leaves, silvering mirrors, and cutting\nsteel pins and pens. It is certainly no pleasant sight to behold\nwomen, even pregnant women, working at the construction of railways,\ntogether with men and drawing heavily loaded carts, or helping with\nthe building of a house, mixing lime and serving as hod-carriers.\nSuch occupations strip a woman of all womanliness, just as, on the\nother hand, many modern occupations deprive men of their manliness.\nSuch are the results of social exploitation and social warfare. Our\ncorrupted social conditions turn the natural order upside down.\n\nIt is not surprising that workingmen do not relish this tremendous\nincrease of female labor in all branches of industry. It is certain\nthat the extension of the employment of women in industry disrupts the\nfamily life of the working class, that the breaking up of marriage\nand the home are a natural result, and that it leads to a terrible\nincrease of immorality, degeneration, all kinds of disease and infant\nmortality. According to the statistics of the German Empire, infant\nmortality has greatly increased in those cities that have become\ncenters of industry. As a result infant mortality is also heightened\nin the rural districts owing to the greater scarcity and increased\ncost of milk. In Germany, infant mortality is greatest in Upper\nPalatine, Upper Bavaria and Lower Bavaria, in some localities of the\ngovernment districts of Liegnitz and Breslau and in Chemnitz. In\n1907 of every 100 infants the following percentage died during the\nfirst year of life: Stadtamhof (Upper Palatinate) 40.14 per cent.;\nParsberg (Upper Palatinate) 40.06; Friedberg (Upper Bavaria) 39.28;\nKelheim (Lower Bavaria) 37.71; Munich 37.63; Glauchau (Saxony) 33.48;\nWaldenburg (Silesia) 32.49; Chemnitz, 32.49; Reichenbach (Silesia),\n32.18; Annaberg, 31.41, etc. In the majority of large manufacturing\nvillages conditions were still worse, some of which had an infant\nmortality of from 40 to 50 per cent.\n\nAnd yet this social development which is accompanied by such deplorable\nresults means ~progress~. It means progress just as freedom of trade,\nliberty of choosing one\u2019s domicile, freedom of marriage, etc., meant\nprogress, whereby capitalism was favored, but the middle class was\ndoomed. The workingmen are not inclined to support small trades\npeople and mechanics in their attempts again to limit freedom of\ntrade and the liberty of choosing one\u2019s domicile and to reinstate\nthe limitations of the guild system in order to maintain industry on\na small scale. Past conditions cannot be revived; that is equally\ntrue of the altered methods of manufacture and the altered position\nof women. But that does not preclude the necessity of protective\nlegislation to prevent an unlimited exploitation of female labor and\nthe employment in industry of children of school age. In this respect\nthe interests of the working class coincide with the interests of\nthe state and the general humane interests of an advanced stage of\ncivilization. That all parties are interested in such protective\nmeasures has frequently been shown during the last decades, for\ninstance, in Germany in 1893, when an increase of the army made it\nnecessary to reduce the required standard, because our industrial\nsystem had greatly increased the number of young men who were unfit\nfor military service.[145] Our final aim must be to remove the\ndisadvantages that have been caused by the introduction of machinery,\nthe improvement in the means of production and the modern methods\nof production, and so to organize human labor that the ~tremendous\nadvantages~ machinery gave to humanity and will continue to give\nmay be enjoyed by all members of society. It is preposterous and a\ncrying evil that human achievements which are the product of social\nlabor, should only benefit those who can acquire them by means of\ntheir power of wealth, while thousands of industrious workingmen\nand women are stricken by terror and grief when they learn of a new\nlabor saving device, which may mean to them that they have become\nsuperfluous and will be cast out.[146] What should be joyfully\nwelcomed by all thereby becomes an object of hatred to some, that\nin former decades frequently led workingmen to storm factories and\ndemolish the machinery. A similar hostile sentiment prevails to\nsome extent at present between working men and working women. This\nsentiment is unnatural. We must therefore seek to bring about a\nstate of society in which all will enjoy equal rights regardless of\nsex. That will be possible when the means of production become the\nproperty of society, when labor has attained its highest degree of\nfruitfulness by employing all scientific and technical improvements\nand advantages, and when all who are able to work shall be obliged\nto perform a certain amount of socially necessary labor, for which\nsociety in return will provide all with the necessary means for the\ndevelopment of their abilities and the enjoyment of life.\n\nWoman shall become a useful member of human society enjoying full\nequality with man. She shall be given the same opportunity to develop\nher physical and mental abilities, and by performing duties she\nshall be entitled to rights. Being man\u2019s free and equal companion\nno unworthy demands will be made upon her. The present development\nof society is tending in this direction, and the numerous and grave\nevils incidental to this development necessitate the introduction\nof a new social order.\n\n[139] Employment of married women in factories. Compiled from the\nannual reports of factory inspectors, for the year 1899 in the Home\nDepartment. Berlin, 1901.\n\n[140] \u201cIn the centers of the weaving industry the percentage of\nmarried women among factory workers rises far above the average\n26 per cent; for instance, in Saxony-Altenburg to 56 per cent, and\nin Reuss to 58 per cent.\u201d--R. Wilbrandt, The weavers at the present\ntime. Jena, 1906.\n\n[141] Woerishoffer--The social status of factory workers in Mannheim.\n\n[142] Mary Baum--Three classes of women wage-earners in industry\nand commerce of the city Karlsruhe. 1906.\n\n[143] Industrial activity of women.\n\n[144] By an international agreement between Denmark, Germany, France,\nItaly, the Netherlands and Switzerland on Sept. 26, 1906, the use\nof white phosphorus in the manufacture of matches will be forbidden\nfrom January 1, 1911. In Germany the manufacture of these goods has\nbeen prohibited since Jan. 1, 1907, and since Jan. 1, 1908, they\nmay neither be sold nor otherwise distributed. In England a similar\nlaw was enacted in 1909.\n\n[145] The following percentage of men examined were found fit for\nmilitary service: 1902, 58.5; 1903, 57.1; 1904, 56.4; 1905, 56.3;\n1906, 55.9; and 1907, 54.9. The following percentage had to be\ndischarged owing to disability after they had been enrolled: from\n1881 to 1885, 2.07 per cent; from 1891 to 1895, 2.30 per cent; from\n1901 to 1905, 2.47 per cent. W. Claassen--The decrease of military\nefficiency in the German Empire.\n\n[146] In December 1871, factory inspector A. Redgrave delivered a\nlecture at Bradford in which he said among other things: \u201cMy attention\nhas recently been called to the changed appearance in the wool mills.\nFormerly they were full of women and children; now the machines\nseem to do all the work. Upon my inquiry a manufacturer gave me the\nfollowing information: \u2018under the old system I employed 63 persons;\nafter the introduction of improved machinery I reduced my hands to\n33; and recently, as a result of further great improvements, I was\nable to reduce them from 33 to 13\u2019.\u201d Within a few years then the\nnumber of workers was reduced by almost 80 per cent while the same\namount of goods were produced.--Further interesting information on\nthis subject may be found in Capital by Karl Marx.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\nThe Struggle of Women for Education.\n\n\n1.--The Revolution in Domestic Life.\n\nAlthough the change in the position of women is obvious to all who\ngo through life with open eyes, we still continue to hear the idle\ntalk that the home and the family are woman\u2019s natural sphere. This\ncry is most loudly raised wherever women attempt to enter the learned\nprofessions to become teachers at higher institutions of learning,\nphysicians, lawyers, scientists, etc. The most ridiculous objections\nare resorted to and defended in the guise of scientific arguments. In\nthis respect, as in many others, supposedly learned men base their\narguments on science to defend what is most ridiculous and absurd.\nTheir main objection is, that women are intellectually inferior to\nmen; that in the realm of intellectual activity they cannot attain\nany noteworthy achievements. Most men are so prejudiced in regard\nto the professional abilities of women, that whoever resorts to\narguments of this sort is sure to meet with approval. As long as the\ngeneral status of culture and knowledge is as low as at present,\nnew ideas will always be met with rigorous opposition, especially\nwhen it is in the interest of the ruling classes to limit culture\nand knowledge to their own strata. Therefore new ideas are at first\nupheld only by a small minority, and this small group is subjected\nto ridicule, slander and persecution. But if the new ideas are good\nand rational, if they have sprung up as a natural consequence of\nexisting conditions, they will be disseminated, and the minority\nwill eventually become the majority. It was thus with every new idea\nin the course of human history, and the idea of obtaining woman\u2019s\ntrue and complete emancipation will meet with the same success. Were\nnot the believers in Christian faith at one time a small minority?\nWas the reformation not ushered in by a small and persecuted group?\nDid not the modern bourgeoisie contend with overwhelmingly powerful\nopponents? Nevertheless they were victorious. Or was Socialism\ndestroyed in Germany by twelve years of persecution by exceptional\nlaws? The victory of Socialism was never more certain than when it\nwas thought to be destroyed.\n\nThe assertion that housekeeping and child-rearing is woman\u2019s natural\nsphere is as intelligent as the assertion that there must always be\nkings, because there have been kings as long as there has been a\nhistory. We do not know how the first king originated, just as we do\nnot know where the first capitalist appeared. But we do know that\nmonarchy has been greatly transformed in the course of thousands of\nyears, that it is the tendency of evolution to diminish the power\nof kings more and more and that the time will come--and that time\nis not far distant--when kings will be quite superfluous. Just as\nmonarchy, so every institution of state and society is subjected\nto changes and transformations and ultimate destruction. In the\nhistorical expositions of this book we have seen, that the present\nform of marriage and the position of woman have by no means always\nbeen what they are to-day. We have seen that both are the product of\nan historical line of development that is still in progress. About\n2,350 years ago Demosthenes could assert that woman had no other\nvocation but to give birth to legitimate children and to faithfully\nguard the house. To-day this conception has been overcome. No one\ncould dare to defend this standpoint to-day without being accused of\ncontempt of women. Indeed there are some even to-day who secretly\nshare the view of the ancient Athenian, but no one would dare to\nexpress publicly what one of the foremost men of ancient Greece\nasserted freely and openly ~as a matter of course~. Herein lies the\nprogress.\n\nNow, although modern development has undermined millions of marriages,\nit has on the other hand influenced the evolution of marriage\nfavorably. Only a few decades ago it was a matter of fact in every\ncitizen\u2019s and peasant\u2019s home, that women not only sewed, knitted,\nwashed, cooked, etc., but that they also baked the bread, spun and\nweaved, and bleached, brewed beer and manufactured tallow candles\nand soap. Running water, lighting and heating by gas--not to speak\nof electricity--besides numerous other modern housefurnishings were\nunknown in those days. Antiquated conditions persist even to-day,\nbut they are exceptions. The majority of women are relieved from\nmany occupations that were inevitable formerly, because many things\ncan be made better and cheaper industrially than by the individual\nhousewife. Thus, within a few decades a great revolution has taken\nplace in our domestic life to which we pay so little heed, only\nbecause we take it for granted. People do not notice transformations\neven when they take place under their very eyes as long as they are\nnot sudden and disturb the accustomed order, but they resent new\nideas that threaten to interfere with their treading of the beaten\npath. This revolution in our domestic life that is still going\non, has considerably changed the position of woman in the family\nin still another respect. Our grandmother could not and would not\nthink of visiting theatres, concerts and places of amusement even on\nweek days. Nor would any woman in the good old days have dared to\nbother about public affairs as so many do to-day. At present women\norganize and join clubs pursuing the most varied, aims, they found\nnewspapers, subscribe to them and edit them and hold conventions.\nAs working women they organize industrially and attend the men\u2019s\nmeetings. In some localities of Germany they even possessed the\nright to elect members to courts of trade, but of this right the\nreactionary majority in the diet deprived them again in the year of\nthe Lord, 1890. Although these altered conditions have their dark\nsides too, the bright sides predominate, and not even any reactionary\nwould wish to abolish them again. The women themselves, regardless\nof the conservative character of most of them, have no inclination\neither to return to the old, patriarchal conditions.\n\nIn the United States, society is organized along bourgeois lines\nalso, but it is not burdened with old European prejudices and\nantiquated institutions, and is therefore much more inclined to\nadopt new institutions and ideas if they hold promise of advantage.\nThere, since quite some time, the position of woman is regarded\ndifferently than in Europe. Among wealthy circles women have been\nrelieved not only of baking and brewing, but of cooking as well,\nand the one kitchen of an apartment hotel replaces many individual\nkitchens. Our army officers, who are no Socialists or Communists, have\na similar method. In their casinos they form a sort of housekeeping\ncommunity, appoint a manager, whose business it is to purchase the\nfood wholesale, and to draw up the menus, and the food is cooked by\nsteam in the kitchen of the barracks. They live far more cheaply than\nthey could in a hotel, and their food is at least as good. Thousands\nof wealthy families live in boarding houses or hotels all year or\npart of the year without missing their domestic cooking. They, on\nthe contrary, regard it as a great comfort to be relieved of the\nprivate kitchen. The general aversion of rich and wealthy women\nagainst kitchen work does not seem to signify that this occupation\nis a part of woman\u2019s \u201cnatural sphere.\u201d Indeed, the fact that rich\nfamilies and large hotels employ male cooks makes it appear as if\ncooking were man\u2019s work. Let these facts be noted by men who cannot\nconceive woman except surrounded by pots and pans.\n\nNothing could be simpler than to combine a central laundry with a\ncentral kitchen--as has already been done in all large cities by\nwealthy private residents or speculators--and to make the institution\ngeneral. With the central kitchen, central heating, hot water supply,\netc., might be connected, and much troublesome work entailing a great\nwaste of time and effort would be abolished. Large hotels, many private\nhouses, hospitals, schools, barracks and other public buildings have\nthese and other modern improvements, as electric light, bathing\nestablishments, etc. The mistake is that only public institutions and\nwealthy persons profit by these improvements. If made accessible to\nall, they would save a tremendous amount of time, effort, labor and\nexpense, and would considerably heighten the general well being. In\nthe summer of 1890 German newspapers published reports of progress\nbeing made in the United States in regard to central heating and\nventilation. In these reports, among other things, the following was\nstated: \u201cExperiments that have recently been made, especially in\nNorth America, to heat entire blocks or portions of a city from one\ncentrally located place, have been successful in no small degree.\nThe construction has been so carefully planned and so practically\napplied, that the favorable results and financial advantages will\nundoubtedly lead to an extension of this system. Recently further\nexperiments have been made to provide not only the heating but also\nthe ventilation of entire districts from centrally located places.\u201d\n\nMany of these contemplated improvements have since been realized and\nfurther improved. Narrow-minded philistines shrug their shoulders\nwhen such and similar plans are discussed; and yet in Germany, too,\nwe are in the midst of a new industrial revolution, whereby the\nindividual kitchen and other housework will become as superfluous\nas labor by manual tools became superfluous by the introduction of\nmodern machinery. As late as the beginning of the nineteenth century,\neven a Napoleon could deride as a crazy idea the project of moving\na vessel by steam. People who were considered intelligent, regarded\nthe plan of building a railroad as an absurdity; they claimed that\nno one could live in a vehicle travelling at such high speed. In the\nsame manner many new ideas are dealt with to-day. If some one had\ntold our women a century ago that they should get their water from a\nfaucet in the kitchen instead of drawing it from the well, he would\nhave been accused of seeking to encourage laziness in housewives\nand servants.\n\nBut the great technical revolution along all lines is in full\nswing. Nothing can stay its progress. It is the historical mission\nof bourgeois society that has ushered in this revolution, to lead\nit to its climax, and everywhere to bring to light the germs of\ntransformation, which a society organized on a new basis will merely\nneed to generalize and to make the common property of all.\n\nThe development of our social life does not tend to lead woman back\nto the home and hearth, a state that fanatics on domesticity desire,\nand for which they clamor as the Jews in the desert clamored for\nthe lost flesh-pots of Egypt. ~It demands the release of woman from\nher narrow sphere of domestic life, and her full participation in\npublic life and the missions of civilization.~ Laveleye is right when\nhe says[147]: \u201cWith the growth of what we call civilization, the\nfeelings of piety toward family life decrease and its bonds become\nlooser and have less influence on the actions of men. This fact is so\ngeneral that it may be regarded as a law of social development.\u201d Not\nonly has the position of woman in the family changed, but also the\nposition of son and daughter in their relation to the family. They\nhave gradually obtained a degree of independence that was unheard of\nformerly. This is especially so in the United States, where young\npersons are educated to become self-reliant and independent to a far\ngreater extent than in Europe. The dark sides that are incidental\nto this form of development also are not necessarily connected with\nit, but are rooted in the social conditions of our time. Bourgeois\nsociety does not produce any new and pleasing phenomena that do\nnot have a dark side as well. As Fourier already pointed out with\nmuch perspicacity, all its progress is double-edged. Like Laveleye,\nDr. Schaeffle also recognizes the changed nature of the modern family\nas a result of social development. He says:[148] \u201cThruout history we\nfind the tendency of the family to return to its ~specific~ functions.\nThe family abandons one provisionally and temporarily maintained\nfunction after another and, inasmuch as it only filled out the gaps\nin social functions, it yields to the independent institutions of\nlaw, order, power, divine service, teaching, industry, etc., as soon\nas such institutions are developed.\u201d\n\n[147] Original Property. Chap. XX, Household Community. Leipsic,\n1879.\n\n[148] Structure and Life of the Body Social. Vol. I. Tuebingen, 1878.\n\n\n2.--The Intellectual Abilities of Women.\n\nWomen are advancing, tho at present only a small minority strives to\nadvance, and of these again only a few are fully conscious of their\naims. They not only wish to measure their strength with that of men\nindustrially and commercially, they not only wish to hold a more\nindependent position in the family, they also wish to employ their\nintellectual abilities in higher positions and in public life. They\nare met time and again with the argument that they are unfit by nature\nfor intellectual occupations. The question of the practice of learned\nprofessions only concerns a small number of women in present-day\nsociety, but it is important as a matter of principle. The majority\nof men seriously believe that women must remain subjected to them\nintellectually also and that they have no right to seek equality;\ntherefore they are vehemently opposed to the intellectual ambitions\nof women. The same men who do not object to women being employed in\ndifficult and dangerous occupations that threaten their womanliness\nand injure their maternity, would bar them from professions that\nare far less difficult and dangerous and far better suited to\ntheir physical abilities. In Germany, the lively agitation for the\nadmission of women to universities, has called forth a great number\nof opponents who especially oppose the admission of women to the\nstudy of medicine. Among these are Pochhammer, Fehling, Binder,\nHegar, and others. J. Beerenbach seeks to prove that women are not\nqualified for scientific study, by pointing out that no genius had\nas yet sprung up among women. This argument is neither valid nor\nconvincing. Geniuses do not drop from the sky; they must have an\nopportunity for development, and such opportunity women have been\nlacking, for since thousands of years they have been oppressed and\ndeprived of opportunity for intellectual development, and thereby\ntheir mental abilities have become atrophied. A considerable number\nof distinguished women exist even to-day, and if one denies the\nexistence of potential geniuses among them, that is as far from\nbeing true as the belief that there were no more geniuses among men\nthan those that were recognized as such. Every country schoolteacher\nknows how many able minds among his pupils are never developed\nbecause they lack opportunity for development. Indeed we all have in\nour day met persons in whom we recognized rare ability and who, we\nfelt, would have become a credit to the community, if circumstances\nhad been more favorable to them. The number of talents and geniuses\namong men is far greater than could be revealed until now. The same\nis true of the abilities of women that have for thousands of years\nbeen far more hampered, repressed and cramped than those of men. We\nhave no standard whereby we can measure the amount of intellectual\nstrength and ability among men and women, that would unfold if they\ncould develop under natural conditions.\n\nTo-day it is in human life as in plant life. Millions of precious\nseeds never achieve development because the ground on which they are\ncast is unfertile or is already occupied, and the young plant is thus\ndeprived of air, light and nourishment. The same laws that apply\nto nature apply to human life. If a gardener or farmer would claim\nthat a plant could not be perfected without having made an attempt\nto perfect it, his more enlightened neighbors would consider him a\nfool. They would hold the same opinion of him if he would refuse to\ninterbreed one of his female domestic animals with a male of more\nperfect breed to obtain more perfect stock.\n\nThere is no peasant to-day who is so ignorant not to recognize the\nadvantage of a rational treatment of his vegetables, fruit, and\ncattle; whether his means allow the application of advanced methods\nis another question. Only in regard to humanity even educated people\nwill not admit what they regard as an irrefutable law with the rest\nof the organic world. Yet one need not be a scientist to derive\ninstructive observations from life. How is it that peasant children\ndiffer from city children? How is it that children of the wealthier\nclasses are, as a rule, distinguishable from the children of the\npoor by facial and bodily traits and by mental qualities? It is due\nto the difference in their conditions of living and education.\n\nThe one-sidedness of training for a certain profession leaves its\nparticular imprint upon a person. As a rule a minister or a school\nteacher can easily be recognized by his bearing and the expression of\nhis face, as also a military man, even in plain clothes. A cobbler\nis easily distinguished from a tailor, a carpenter from a locksmith.\nTwin brothers who greatly resembled each other in their youth, will\nshow marked differences in a more advanced age if their occupations\nhave been very different from one another; if, for instance, one\nis a manual laborer, say a blacksmith, and the other has studied\nphilosophy. Heredity on the one hand and adaptation on the other,\nare decisive factors in human development as well as in the animal\nkingdom, and man, moreover, is the most adaptive of all creatures.\nSometimes a few years of a different mode of life and a different\noccupation suffice to alter a person completely. External changes\nare never more clearly seen than when a person is transplanted from\npoor and narrow circumstances to greatly improved ones. His past\ncan perhaps be disavowed least in his mental culture. When people\nhave attained a certain age, they frequently have no ambition for\nintellectual improvement, and often they do not need it either. A\nparvenu rarely suffers from this shortcoming. In our day money is\nthe chief asset, and people bow far more readily before the ~man\nwith a great fortune than before the man of knowledge and great\nintellectual abilities, especially if it is his ill fortune to be\npoor~. The worship of Mammon was never greater than in our day. Yet\nwe are living in the \u201cbest of worlds.\u201d\n\nOur industrial districts furnish a striking example of the influence\nof decidedly different conditions of life and education. Even\nexternally, workers and capitalists differ to such an extent as if\nthey were members of two different races. These differences were\nbrought home to us in an almost startling manner at the occasion of a\ncampaign meeting during the winter of 1877 in an industrial town of\nSaxony. The meeting, in which a discussion with a liberal professor\nwas to take place, had been so arranged that an equal number of\nboth parties were present. The front of the hall was occupied by\nour opponents, almost without exception healthy, strong, and some\nstately figures. In the rear of the hall and on the galleries were\nthe workingmen and small traders, nine-tenths of them weavers, mostly\nsmall, narrow-chested, hollow-cheeked figures whose faces bore the\nimprints of care and need. The one group represented the well-fed\nvirtue and morality of the bourgeois world, the other represented\nthe worker--bees and beasts of burden on whose labor the gentlemen\nwaxed strong. If one generation were reared under equally favorable\nconditions of life the differences would be greatly decreased and\nwould quite disappear among their progeny.\n\nIt is usually more difficult to determine the social position among\nwomen than among men. They easily accustom themselves to altered\nconditions and readily adopt more refined habits of life. Their\nadaptability is greater than that of the more clumsy man.\n\nWhat good soil, air and light are to the plant, that to man are\nhealthful social conditions, which enable him to develop his physical\nand mental qualities. The saying that \u201cman is what he eats\u201d expresses\na similar thought somewhat too narrowly. Not only what a man eats,\nbut his entire standard of life and his social environment advance\nor hamper his physical and mental development, and influence his\nfeelings, his thoughts and his actions favorably or unfavorably,\nas the case may be. We see every day that persons living in good\nfinancial circumstances go to ruin mentally and morally, because\noutside of the narrow sphere of their domestic and personal relations,\nunfavorable influences, ~social~ in character, were brought to bear\nupon them and gained such control over them that they were driven into\nevil ways. The social conditions under which we live are even more\nimportant than the conditions of family life. But when the social\nconditions of development will be the same for both sexes, when\nthere will be no restriction for either, and when the general state\nof society will be a healthful one, ~woman will rise to a height of\nperfection that we can hardly conceive to-day, because until now no\nsuch conditions have existed in human evolution~. The achievements of\nindividual women justify our highest expectations, for these tower\nabove the mass of their sex just as male geniuses tower above the\nmass of men. If we apply the standard of rulership, for instance, we\nfind that women have shown even greater talent for ruling than men.\nTo mention just a few examples: There were Isabella and Blanche of\nCastilia, Elizabeth of Hungary, Katherine Sforza, Countess of Milan\nand Imola, Elizabeth of England, Katherine of Russia, Maria Theresa,\nand others. Basing his assertion on the fact that women have ruled\nwell among all nations and in all parts of the globe, even over the\nwildest and most turbulent hordes, Burbach is led to remark that\n~according to all probability women would be better qualified for\npolitics than men~[149]. When in 1901 Queen Victoria of England died,\na large English newspaper made the suggestion to introduce female\nsuccession exclusively in England, because the history of England\nshowed that its queens ruled better than its kings.\n\nMany a great man of history would shrivel considerably if we always\nknew how much was due to his own efforts and how much he owed to\nothers. As one of the greatest geniuses of the French Revolution,\nGerman historians regard Count Mirabeau. Yet research has revealed the\nfact, that he owed the preparation of almost all his speeches to the\nwilling assistance of a few learned men who worked for him secretly\nand whose labor he skillfully made use of. On the other hand, women\nlike Sappho, Diotima, at the time of Socrates, Hypatia of Alexandria,\nMadame Roland, Mary Wollstonecraft, Olympe de Gouges, Madame de Sta\u00ebl,\nGeorge Sand, and others, merit our highest admiration. Many a male\nstar pales beside them. The influence of women as mothers of great\nmen is also well known. Women have accomplished as much as they could\naccomplish under ~exceedingly unfavorable~ circumstances, and that\nentitles us to great expectations for the future. As a matter of\nfact, women were admitted to competition with men in various realms\nof activity only during the second half of the nineteenth century.\nThe results obtained are very satisfactory.\n\nBut even should we take for granted that women, as a rule, are not\nas capable of development as men, that there are no geniuses and\nphilosophers among them, we are nevertheless led to ask whether this\nfactor was considered among men when they, according to the wording\nof the laws, were given complete equality with the geniuses and\nphilosophers. The learned men who deny the intellectual ability of\nwomen, are inclined to do the same in the case of workingmen. When\npersons of nobility pride themselves on their \u201cblue\u201d blood and their\npedigree, they smile and contemptuously shrug their shoulders; but in\nthe presence of the man of lowly birth they consider themselves an\naristocracy that have achieved their favored position, not through\ntheir more advantageous circumstances, but only by their own peculiar\ntalents. The same men, who are unprejudiced in one respect and have a\npoor opinion of persons who are not as liberal-minded as they, become\nincredibly narrow-minded and fanatical when their class interests\nor personal conceit are involved. Men of the upper classes judge\nmen of the lower classes unfavorably, and in the same way almost\nall men judge women unfavorably. The majority of men regard women\nonly as a means to their comfort and enjoyment. To regard them as\nbeings endowed with equal rights is repugnant to their prejudiced\nminds. Woman should be modest and submissive; she should confine her\ninterests to the home, and leave all other domains to the \u201clords of\ncreation.\u201d Woman should check every thought and inclination, and\nwait patiently for what her earthly providence, father or husband,\nmay decide. If she lives up to this standard she is praised for her\ngood sense, modesty and virtue, even tho she may break down under\nthe burden of physical and moral suffering. But if we speak of the\nequality of all human beings, it is preposterous to wish to exclude\nhalf of humanity.\n\nWoman has the same right as man to develop her abilities and to\nemploy them freely. She is a human being as well as man and should\nhave the freedom of disposing of her own body and mind and be her\nown master. The chance of having been born a woman, must not affect\nher human rights. To exclude woman from equal rights because she\nhas been born a woman and not a man--a fact of which both man and\nwoman are innocent--is as unfair, as to make rights and privileges\ndepend upon religious or political opinion; and it is as irrational\nas the belief that two persons are innate enemies because, by the\nchance of birth, they belong to different races or nationalities.\nSuch views are unworthy of a free human being. Progress of humanity\nconsists in removing whatever keeps one human being, one class or\none sex in slavery and dependence upon another. ~No difference is\njustified except those differences established by nature to fulfill\nits purpose. But no sex will overstep the natural limits, because\nit would thereby destroy its own purpose in nature.~\n\n[149] Dr. Havelock Ellis.--Man and Woman.\n\n\n3.--Differences in Physical and Mental Qualities of Man and Woman.\n\nOne of the chief arguments of the opponents of equal rights is, that\nwoman has a smaller brain than man and is less developed in other\nrespects, and that therefore her lasting inferiority is proven. It\nis certain that man and woman are two human beings of different\nsex, that each has different organs adapted to the sexual purpose,\nand that, owing to the fulfillment of the sexual function, a number\nof differences in their physiological and psychological conditions\nexist. These are facts that no one can nor will deny; ~but they do\nnot furnish any cause for social or political inequality between man\nand woman~. Humanity and society consist of ~both~ sexes; ~both~\nare ~indispensable~ to their maintenance and development. Even\nthe greatest man was born by a mother to whom he may owe his best\nqualities and abilities. By what right, then, can woman be denied\nequality with man?\n\nAccording to the opinion of eminent authorities, the most marked\ndifferences in physical and mental qualities between man and woman\nare the following: In regard to stature, Havelock Ellis considers\n170 centimeters the average height for men and 160 centimeters for\nwomen. According to Vierordt, it is 172 and 160, and in northern\nGermany, according to Krause, 173 and 163 centimeters. The proportion\nof man\u2019s stature to woman\u2019s is as 100 to 93. The average weight of\nadult persons is 65 kilograms for men and 54 for women. The greater\nlength of the trunk in a woman\u2019s body is a well-known difference;\nyet this difference is not as great as has been generally assumed,\nas careful measurements have shown. The legs of a woman of medium\nsize are only by 15 millimeters shorter than those of a man of medium\nsize, and Pfitzner doubts that this difference is noticeable. \u201cThe\ndifferences in the lengths of body and legs are influenced by the\nstature, and are independent of sex.\u201d But the female arm is decidedly\nshorter than the male arm (as 100 to 91.5). The male hand is broader\nand larger than the female hand, and with men the ring-finger is\nusually longer than the index, while the opposite is the case with\nwomen. By this the male hand becomes more ape-like, as the long arm\nalso is a pithecoid (ape-like) characteristic.\n\nIn regard to the size of the head, the proportion of the absolute\nheight of male and female heads may be set down as 100 to 94. But\nthe relative sizes (in proportion to the size of the body) are\n100 to 100.8. So actually woman\u2019s head is somewhat smaller, but\nin proportion to the size of her body, it is somewhat larger than\nman\u2019s. The bones of woman are smaller, finer, and more delicate in\nform and have a smoother surface, for the weaker muscles require\nless rough surface to fasten upon. The weaker muscular development\nis one of the most striking characteristics of woman. Each separate\nmuscle of a woman\u2019s body is finer, softer, and contains more water.\n(According to v. Bibra the quantity of water contained in the\nmuscles is 72.5 per cent. with man, and 74.4 per cent. with woman.)\nIn regard to the adipose membrane the opposite proportion exists;\nit is much more amply developed with woman than with man. The chest\nis relatively shorter and narrower. Other differences are directly\nconnected with the sexual purpose. The statements of various authors\nin regard to relative and absolute weight of the intestines, are very\ncontradictory. According to Vierordt the proportion of the weight of\nthe heart to the weight of the body is as 1 to 215 with men, and\nas 1 to 206 with women. According to Clendinning it is as 1 to 158\nand as 1 to 149. Taken all in all, we may assume that the female\nintestines are absolutely smaller, but relatively, in proportion to\nthe weight of the body, heavier than the male.\n\nThe blood of women shows a larger percentage of water, a smaller\nquantity of blood-globules, and a smaller quantity of hemachrome.\nWith woman the smaller size of the heart, the narrower vascular\nsystem, and probably also the larger percentage of water in the\nblood, cause a less intense assimilation of matter and an inferior\nnutrition. This may also account for the weaker jaws. \u201cIt may thus be\nexplained that even civilized man in many respects is more closely\nconnected with the animal world, especially the ape, than woman,\nthat he possesses pithecoid traits which may be seen in the shape\nof the skull and the length of the limbs.\u201d\n\nIn regard to the differences of the skull of both sexes, let it be\nstated that, according to Bartels, there is no absolute indication\nwhereby we could determine whether a skull belonged to a male or\nfemale person. Absolute comparison shows that the skulls of men are\nlarger in all dimensions. Accordingly the weight is greater, too,\nand the interior space is larger.\n\nAs a medium weight of normally developed brains of adult persons,\nGrosser states 1388 grammes for the man and 1252 grammes for the\nwoman.[150] The great majority of male brains (34 per cent.) weigh\nbetween 1250 and 1550 grammes, and the great majority of female\nbrains (91 per cent.) weigh between 1100 and 1450 grammes. But\nthese weights are not subject to direct comparison since woman is\nsmaller than man. It is, accordingly, necessary to determine the\nweight of the brain in proportion to the body. When we compare the\nweight of the brain with the weight of the body we find that with\nthe man there are 21.6 grammes of the brain for every kilogram of\nthe weight of the body, and with the woman there are 23.6 grammes.\nThis outweighing is explained by the fact that woman\u2019s stature is\nsmaller.[151]\n\nDifferent results are obtained by a comparison of equally large\nindividuals of both sexes. According to Marchand the weight of the\nfemale brain is, without exception, lighter than that of men of the\nsame size. But this method is as incorrect as a comparison with the\nsize of the body. It takes for granted what remains to be proven: a\ndirect relation between the size of the body and the weight of the\nbrain. Blakeman, Alice Lee and Karl Pearson have determined on the\nbasis of English data and measurements, that there is no noticeable\nrelative difference in the weight of the brain between man and woman;\nthat is, a man of the same age, stature and skull measurements as\nthe average woman, would not differ from her in regard to the weight\nof his brain.[152]\n\nEven Marchand points out that the smaller size of woman\u2019s brain may\nbe due to the greater fineness of her nerves. Grosser says: \u201cIndeed,\nthis has not yet been determined by means of the microscope, and\nwould be difficult to determine. But we must point to the analogy\nthat the eye-ball and the cavity of the ear are also somewhat smaller\nwith woman than with man, yet these organs are no less fine and\nserviceable. Another, perhaps the chief reason, for the lighter\nweight of the woman\u2019s brain may be found in her weaker muscular\ndevelopment.\u201d[153]\n\nInasmuch as the differences are rooted in the nature of sex, they\ncan, of course, not be altered. But to what extent these differences\nin blood and brain can be changed by a different mode of life\n(nourishment, physical and mental culture, occupation, etc.) cannot\nbe definitely determined for the time being. ~That modern woman\ndiffers from man to a greater extent than primitive woman or the woman\nof inferior races, seems to be established, and when we consider\nthe social development of woman\u2019s position among civilized nations\nduring the past 1000 or 1500 years, it seems only too obvious.~\n\nThe following shows the capacity of the female skull according to\nHavelock Ellis (assuming the capacity of the male skull to be 1000):\n\n Negro 984\n Hottentot 951\n Hindu 944\n Eskimo 931\n Dutch 913\n Russian 884\n German 838 to 897[154]\n Chinese 870\n English 860 to 862\n Parisian, 19 yrs. 858\n\n[154] According to five different authors: 838, 864, 878, 883, 897.\nFor Prussia (Kupfer), 918; for Bavaria (Rause), 893.\n\nThe conflicting statements among the Germans show that the measurements\nhave been taken among greatly differing material, both in regard to\nquality and quantity, and that therefore they are not absolutely\nreliable. But the figures clearly show one thing: that Negroes,\nHottentots and Hindu women have a considerably larger capacity of\nthe skull than the German, English and Parisian women; and yet the\nlatter are far more intelligent.\n\nA comparison of the brain-weights of well-known deceased men\nshows similar contradictions and peculiarities. According to\nProfessor Reclam, the brain of the scientist Cuvier weighed\n1830 grammes; that of Byron, 1807; that of the famous mathematician\nGauss, 1492; of the philologist Hermann, 1358; of the Parisian prefect\nHausmann, 1226. It is said that the weight of Dante\u2019s brain also was\nbelow the average weight of the male brains. Havelock Ellis gives us\nsimilar information. He reports that the brain of an unknown person,\nweighed by Bischoff, had a weight of 2222 grammes, while the brain\nof the poet Turgeniew weighed only 2012 grammes; the third largest\nbrain was that of an imbecile; the brain of a plain workingman that\nwas also examined by Bischoff, weighed 1325 grammes. The heaviest\nfemale brains weighed between 1742 and 1580 grammes; two of these\nwere taken from women who had suffered from mental derangement. On\nthe congress of German anthropologists, which was held in Dortmund\nin August, 1902, Professor Waldeyer stated that an examination\nof the skull of the philosopher Leibnitz, who died in 1716, had\nshown that its contents only measured 1450 cubic centimeters,\nwhich corresponds to a brain weight of 1300 grammes. According to\nHausemann, who examined the brains of Mommsen, Bunsen and Adolph\nv. Menzel, Mommsen\u2019s brain weighed 1429.4 grammes; it accordingly did\nnot exceed the average brainweight of an adult man. Menzel\u2019s brain\nweighed only 1298 grammes and Bunsen\u2019s less still--1295 grammes,\nbelow the average male brainweight and not much above the brainweight\nof a woman. Those are striking facts that completely overthrow\nthe old assumption that intellectual abilities could be measured\nby the capacity of the skull. After an examination of the English\ndata, Raymond Pearl comes to the following conclusion: \u201cThere are\nno proofs of a close relation between intellectual abilities and\nbrainweight.\u201d[155] The English anthropologist, W. Duckworth, says:\n\u201cThere is no proof that a heavy brainweight is accompanied by great\nintellectual ability. Neither the brainweight, nor the capacity\nof the skull, nor the circumference of the head, where they could\nbe determined, have been of any use as a measure of intellectual\nabilities.\u201d[156] Kohlbruegge, who has during recent years published\nthe results of the examinations of human brains of many races, says:\n\u201cIntelligence and brainweight are entirely independent of one another.\nEven the greater brainweight of famous men is not sufficient proof,\nsince it exceeds the general medium weight, but not that of the\nupper classes to which these men belonged. But by these statements\nI do not seek to deny that brainweight can be increased, especially\nby excessive study during youth, which may account for the heavier\nbrainweights and the greater skull capacity of the upper classes\nand of scholarly persons, especially when--as is usually the case\namong the well-to-do--excessive nourishment is added. This increase\nin weight by mental over-exertion has its dark sides also, as is\nwell known. Lunatics often have very heavy brains. The main point\nis that it cannot be proven that intelligence (something entirely\ndifferent from productiveness) has any relation to weight. It is\ntrue of the external formation also, that until now, no connection\ncould be shown between certain forms and higher mental development,\nintelligence, or genius.\u201d[157]\n\nIt is established, then, that we cannot draw conclusions from\nthe brainweight as to mental qualities, as little as we can draw\nconclusions from the size of the body as to physical strength.\nThe large mammals, such as elephant, whale, etc., have larger and\nheavier brains; yet in regard to proportional brainweight they are\nexcelled by most birds and small mammals. We have some very small\nanimals (ant, bee) that are far more intelligent than much larger\nones (for instance, sheep, cow), just as people of large stature\noften are mentally inferior to persons of small and insignificant\nappearance. According to all probability the mass of the brain is\nnot the determining factor, ~but its organization and the practice\nand use of its powers~.\n\n\u201cIn my opinion,\u201d says Professor L. Stieda, \u201cthe difference in\npsychic functions can doubtlessly be accounted for by the finer\nconstruction of the gray matter, the nerve cells, the white matter,\nthe arrangement of the blood-vessels, the construction, form, size\nand number of nerve-cells, and last but not least, their nutrition,\ntheir metabolic assimilation.\u201d[158]\n\nIf the brain is to attain the full development of its faculties,\nit must be exercised regularly, and the brain must be properly\nnourished, just as every other organ; if this is left undone, or\nif the training is a faulty one, the normal development will be\nhampered, even crippled. One faculty is developed at the expense of\nanother.\n\nThere are some anthropologists, as Manouvrier and others, who even\nseek to prove that woman is morphologically more highly developed\nthan man. That is an exaggeration. Duckworth says: \u201cWhen we compare\nthe two sexes, we find that there is no constant difference that\nlets one sex appear morphologically superior to the other.\u201d[159]\nHavelock Ellis only admits of one limitation. He believes that female\ncharacteristics show fewer variations than the male. But, in an\nanticritique, Karl Pearson has explicitly shown that this is only\na pseudo-scientific superstition.[160]\n\nNo one who is acquainted with the history of the development of woman\ncan deny, that woman has been sinned against. If Professor Bischoff\nasserts that woman was enabled to develop her brain and her\nintelligence as well as man, this assertion merely shows an incredible\ndegree of ignorance upon the subject. The description we have\ngiven in this book of the position of woman during the course of\ncivilization, makes it appear quite natural, that thousands of years\nof male rule have brought about the difference in the physical and\nmental development of the sexes.\n\nOur scientists ought to recognize that the laws of their sciences\napply fully to man also. Heredity and adaptation prevail with man as\nwith every other living creature. But if man constitutes no exception\nin nature, the law of evolution must apply to him also, whereby that\nbecomes clear what otherwise remains wrapped in darkness, and then\nbecomes an object of scientific mysticism or mystic science.\n\nThe brain formation of the sexes has developed in accordance with\ntheir different educations. Indeed during a great portion of the\npast, the word education could not be applied to woman at all.\nPhysiologists are agreed that those parts of the brain which influence\nthe intellect are situated in the fore-part of the head, while\nthose that specially influence feeling and sentiment, are situated\nin the middle part. ~The conception of beauty for man and woman has\ndeveloped accordingly.~ According to the Greek conception, which\nstill prevails, ~woman is supposed to have a low forehead, while man\nis supposed to have a high and broad forehead~. This conception of\nbeauty, which is a symptom of her degradation, has been so impressed\nupon our women, that they consider a high forehead unbeautiful and\nseek to improve upon nature by combing their hair over their forehead\nto make it appear lower.\n\n[150] The following average weights of male and female brains have\nbeen determined by the following scientists:\n\n Male brain. Female brain.\n\n Bischoff (Bavaria) 1362 1219\n Boyd (England) 1325 1183\n Marchand (Hessia) 1399 1248\n Retzius (Sweden) 1388 1252\n\n[151] \u201cMen of genius as a rule are small of stature with a massy\nbrain. These are also the chief characteristics of the child, and\ntheir general facial expression as also their temperament resemble\nthe child\u2019s.\u201d--Havelock Ellis, Man and Woman.\n\n[152] J. Blakeman, Alice Lee & K. Pearson--A Study of the biometric\nconstants of English Brainweights. Biometrica, 1905.\n\n[153] Dr. Otto Grosser--The structure of the female body in \u201cMan\nand Woman.\u201d Stuttgart, 1907.\n\n[155] Raymond Pearl--Variation or Correlation in Brainweight.\nBiometrika, vol. IV. June, 1905.\n\n[156] W. Duckworth--Morphology and Anthropology. Cambridge, 1904.\n\n[157] Kohlbruegge--Investigations of the furrows of the brain of\nhuman races. Journal of Morphology and Anthropology. Stuttgart, 1908.\n\n[158] L. Stieda--The Brain of the Philologist. Journal of Morphology\nand Anthropology, 1907.\n\n[159] Duckworth (as above).\n\n[160] K. Pearson--Variation in Man and Woman in Chances of Death.\nLondon, 1897.\n\n\n4.--Darwinism and the Condition of Society.\n\nIt has accordingly not been proven, that women are inferior to\nmen as a result of the quantity of their brain; yet the present\nintellectual status of women is not surprising. Darwin is surely\nright in saying, that if a list of the ablest men on the subjects\nof poetry, painting, sculpture, music, science and philosophy were\nplaced beside a list of the ablest women on the same subjects, the\ntwo could not compare with one another. But could it be otherwise?\n~It would be surprising if it were not so.~ Very correctly Dr. Dodel\n(Zurich)[161] says, that it would be different if for a number of\ngenerations men and women would be similarly educated. As a rule,\nwoman is physically weaker than man also, which is by no means the\ncase among many uncivilized peoples.[162] How much can be attained\nby practice and training from childhood on, may, for instance, be\nseen with ladies of the circus and female acrobats, who achieve most\nastounding things in regard to courage, daring, skill and strength.\n\nAs all these things are conditioned by the mode of life and education,\nas they are--to use a scientific term--due to \u201cbreeding,\u201d it may\nbe assumed as certain that the physical and intellectual life of\nman will lead to the best results, as soon as man will ~consciously\nand expediently influence his development~.\n\nAs plants and animals depend upon conditions of existence, as they\nare fostered by favorable and hampered by unfavorable ones, and\nas compulsory conditions force them to change their nature and\ncharacter--provided that their influence does not destroy them--thus\nit is also with man. The manner in which a human being obtains his\nmeans of subsistence not only affects his external appearance, but\nalso his feelings, his thoughts and his actions. If unfavorable\nconditions of existence--that is, unfavorable social conditions--are\nthe cause of insufficient individual development, then it follows\nthat by a change of his conditions of existence--that is, his social\ncondition--man himself will be changed. The point in question, then,\nis, so to organize social conditions that every human being will\nbe given an opportunity for the untrammelled development of his\nnature; that the laws of development and adaptation--called Darwinism\nafter Darwin--may be consciously and expediently applied to all\nhuman beings. But that will only be possible under Socialism. As a\nrational being, capable of judgment, man must so alter his social\nconditions and everything in connection with them, that equally\nfavorable conditions of existence prevail for all. Every individual\nshall be enabled to develop his talents and abilities to his own\nadvantage as well as to the advantage of society, but he must not\nhave the power to harm other individuals or society at large. His\nown advantage and the advantage of all shall coincide. Harmony of\ninterests must supercede the conflict of interests that dominate\npresent-day society.\n\nDarwinism, like every true science, is an eminently democratic\nscience.[163] If some of its representatives claim that the opposite\nis true, they fail to recognize the range of their own science. Its\nopponents, especially the clergy, who are always quick to perceive\nany advantage or disadvantage to themselves, have recognized this,\nand therefore denounce Darwinism as being Socialistic or atheistic.\nIn this respect Professor Virchow agrees with his most vehement\nopponents, for at the congress of Scientists, held in Munich in 1877,\nhe asserted in opposition to Professor ~Haeckel~: \u201cThe Darwinian\ntheory leads to Socialism.\u201d[164] Virchow tried to discredit Darwinism\nbecause Haeckel demanded, that the theory of evolution should be\nintroduced into the school curriculum. The suggestion to teach\nscience in the schools according to Darwin, and the results of modern\nscientific investigations, is vehemently opposed by all those who\nwish to maintain the present order. The revolutionary effect of these\ndoctrines is well known; therefore it is deemed ~wiser to propagate~\nthem only among the chosen few. But we contend that if the Darwinian\ntheories lead to Socialism, as Virchow claims, that is no argument\nagainst these theories, but an argument in favor of Socialism.\nMen of science should not question whether the consequences of a\nscience lead to one form of the state or another, whether one social\ncondition or another is justified by them; it is their sole duty to\ninvestigate whether the theories are in accordance with truth, ~and\nif they are, to accept them with all their consequences~. Whoever\nacts otherwise, be it for personal gain or favor or to serve class\nor party interest, commits a despicable action and is no credit to\nscience. The representatives of corporate science, especially at\nour universities, can indeed only rarely lay claim to independence\nof character. The fear of financial loss, or the fear of being\ndiscredited with the powers that be and of being thereby deprived\nof title and rank and the opportunity of advancement, causes most\nof these representatives to bow down and either to conceal their\nconviction, or to say publicly the opposite of what they believe and\nknow. At a ceremony of homage to the ruler held at the University\nof Berlin in 1870, Dubois-Reymond exclaimed: \u201cThe universities are\ninstitutions where the intellectual body-guards of the Hohenzollern\nare trained.\u201d If a Dubois-Reymond could express himself in this\nmanner, we can imagine what conceptions in regard to the object of\nscience are held by the majority of the others, who are very inferior\nto this eminent scientist.[165] Science is degraded to serve the\npurposes of the ruling powers.\n\nIt is only natural that Professor Haeckel and his adherents,\nProfessor O. Schmidt, v. Hellwald and others, remonstrate energetically\nagainst the terrible accusation that Darwinism leads to Socialism.\nThey claim that the opposite is true, that Darwinism is aristocratic,\nsince it teaches that everywhere in nature the more highly organized\nand stronger living beings suppress the inferior ones; and since,\naccording to their conception, the propertied and educated classes\nconstitute these more highly organized and stronger living beings\nin human society, they consider the rule of these classes a matter\nof course, since it is justified by the laws of nature.\n\nThese, among our evolutionists, are ignorant of the economic laws\nwhich dominate bourgeois society. Otherwise they would know that\nthe blind rule of these laws does not raise to social pre-eminence\neither the best or the ablest or the most competent, but frequently\nthe worst and the most cunning, who thereby are placed in a position\nof making the conditions of life and development most favorable\nto their progeny, without the least effort on their part. Under\nno economic system did persons, possessing good and noble human\nqualities, have so little opportunity of attaining and maintaining\nan elevated position, as under the capitalistic system. Without fear\nof exaggeration it may be said, that this state of affairs increases\nwith the development of this system. Lack of consideration for\nothers and unscrupulousness in the choice and application of means\nto attain one\u2019s end, prove far more effective than all human virtues\ncombined. Only one who is ignorant of the nature of this society or\nwho is so dominated by bourgeois prejudices that he cannot reason\nproperly or draw correct conclusions, could regard a social system\nbased upon such conditions as a society of the \u201cfittest and best.\u201d\nThe struggle for existence is always present with all organisms. It\ngoes on without any knowledge on their part of the laws and conditions\nthat shape it. This struggle for existence prevails among men also\nand among the members of each social group from which solidarity has\ndisappeared, or where it has not yet been developed. This struggle\nfor existence changes its form according to the various relations of\nmen to one another in the course of human development. It assumes\nthe character of class struggles on an ever higher scale. But these\nstruggles--and thereby man is distinguished from all other human\nbeings--lead to a growing understanding of the nature of society, and\nfinally to a recognition of the laws which determine its development.\n~Eventually man will but need to apply these laws to his social\nand political institutions and to transform them accordingly.~ The\ndifference is that man may be called a reasoning animal, but the\nanimal is not a reasoning human being. This many Darwinists fail\nto see, owing to their biased conceptions, and therefore arrive at\nfalse conclusions.[166]\n\nProfessor Haeckel and his adherents also deny that Darwinism leads to\natheism. Thus, after they have done away with the \u201ccreator\u201d by all\ntheir scientific arguments and proofs, they make desperate efforts\nto re-introduce him. To attain this purpose a new sort of individual\n\u201creligion\u201d is formed, that has been termed \u201chigher morality,\u201d\n\u201cmoral principles,\u201d etc. In 1882 at the congress of scientists\nin Eisenach, in the presence of the Grand-duke of Weimar and his\nfamily, Professor Haeckel endeavored not only to save religion but\nalso to represent his master, Darwin, as being a religious man. The\nattempt failed, as anyone can affirm who read the lecture and the\nletter from Darwin that was quoted in it. Darwin\u2019s letter expresses,\nthough in careful terms, the opposite of what Professor Haeckel\nclaimed it to express. Darwin was obliged to consider the piety of\nhis fellow-countrymen, the English, therefore he never dared to\nexpress publicly his true views in regard to religion. But he did so\nprivately, as became known shortly after the congress in Weimar, for\nhe told Dr. L. Buechner ~that he had not believed since his fortieth\nyear--since 1849--because he had not been able to obtain proofs\nto justify belief~. During the last years of his life Darwin also\nsupported an atheistic newspaper, which was published in New York.\n\n[161] The Newer History of the Creation.\n\n[162] Proofs of this may be found in the previously quoted book by\nDr. Havelock Ellis. He relates that among many savage and semi-savage\ntribes woman is not only man\u2019s equal in regard to size and strength,\nbut even his superior. Ellis is agreed with others that the differences\nof brain between the sexes have increased with the development of\ncivilization.\n\n[163] \u201cThe hall of science is the temple of democracy.\u201d Buckle--History\nof Civilization in England. Vol. II.\n\n[164] Ziegler denies that this was the sense of Virchow\u2019s remarks, but\nhis own report of Virchow\u2019s speech only confirms it. Virchow said:\n\u201cNow, just picture how the theory of evolution is conceived even\nto-day by the brain of a Socialist! (Laughter) Yes, gentlemen, that\nmay seem amusing to some of you, but it is a very serious matter, and\nI only hope the theory of evolution may not bring us such horrors\nas similar theories have brought about in our neighboring country.\nIf this theory is consistently followed out it is very hazardous,\nand you cannot have failed to observe that Socialism is in sympathy\nwith it. We should make this perfectly clear.\u201d--Well, we have done\nwhat Virchow feared, we have drawn the conclusions of the Darwinian\ntheories that Darwin himself and many of his followers either failed\nto draw or drew incorrectly, and Virchow warned against the dangers\nof these doctrines because he perceived that Socialism would draw\nand would have to draw the conclusions that are involved in them.\n\n[165] In reference to former attacks upon him, Dubois Reymond repeated\nthe sentence quoted above in February, 1883, during the commemoration\nof the birthday of Frederick the Great.\n\n[166] Enrico Ferri published a book on \u201cSocialism and Modern Science,\nDarwin--Spencer--Marx,\u201d in which he proves, especially in answer\nto Haeckel, that Darwinism and Socialism are in complete harmony\nand that it is a grave error on Haeckel\u2019s part to characterize\nDarwinism as being #aristocratic#. We do not agree with Ferri\u2019s book\nin every respect. We especially do not share his point of view in\njudging the qualities of women, which is, in the main, the point of\nLombroso and Ferrero. Ellis has shown in \u201cMan and Woman\u201d that an\nexisting difference in the qualities of man and woman does not imply\nthe inferiority of one--a confirmation of Kant\u2019s utterance, that\nonly man and woman #together# constitute the complete human being.\nNevertheless Ferri\u2019s book is a welcome one.\n\n\n5.--Woman and the Learned Professions.\n\nWomen are justified in entering into intellectual competition with\nmen, instead of waiting until it pleases the men to develop their\nintellectual faculties and to clear the path for them. The woman\u2019s\nmovement is providing for this. Already women have removed many\nbarriers and have entered the intellectual arena--in some countries\nwith marked success. The movement to obtain admission to the higher\ninstitutions of learning and to the practice of learned professions\nis, in accordance with the nature of our conditions, limited to the\ncircles of bourgeois women. The proletarian women are not directly\nconcerned since, for the time being, these studies and the resulting\npositions are closed to them. Nevertheless, this movement and its\nsuccess is an object of general interest. In the first place, it\nis a matter of principle, since it affects the general position\nof woman; in the second place, it is destined to show what women\ncan accomplish even at present, under conditions that are highly\nunfavorable to their development. Moreover, all women are interested,\nfor instance, in being able, in case of sickness, to be treated by\nphysicians of their own sex, if they so choose, since many feel that\nthey can confide with less reserve in a woman than in a man. To a\ngreat many of our women female physicians are a blessing, for the\nfact that they must turn to male physicians in the case of diseases\nor ailments connected with their sex functions, frequently prevents\nthem from seeking medical aid in time. This leads to many troubles\nand serious results, not only to the women themselves, but to their\nhusbands also. There is hardly a physician who has not had some\nexperience with this reticence of women, that may sometimes be called\nalmost criminal, and their aversion against confessing to their\nailments. That is readily understood. But it is inconceivable that\nthe men, and especially many physicians also, will not recognize\nhow justifiable it is, therefore--indeed how necessary--for women\nto study medicine.\n\nFemale physicians are no novel factor. Among most of the ancients,\nespecially among the ancient Germans, women practiced the art of\nhealing. There were female physicians and surgeons of note during the\nninth and tenth centuries in the kingdom of the Arabs, especially\nin Spain, under the rule of the Arabs (Moors), where they studied\nat the University of Cordova. The study of women at various Italian\nuniversities, as Bologna and Palermo, was also due to Moorish\ninfluence. When the \u201cheathen\u201d influence ceased in Italy, these\nstudies were prohibited. In 1377 the faculty of the University of\nBologna issued the following decree: \u201cAs woman is the source of\nsin, the devil\u2019s tool, the cause of the expulsion from paradise,\nand the cause of corruption of the old law, and as therefore every\nconversation with her should be carefully avoided, we distinctly\nforbid and interdict any one to venture to introduce any woman, no\nmatter how respectable she may be, into this college. Should some\none do so nevertheless, the rector shall punish him severely.\u201d\n\nOne good result of the study of women is, that female competition has\na very stimulating influence on the studiousness of the male students,\nwhich has left much to be wished for, as has been affirmed by various\nsources. That alone would be a great gain. It would furthermore\nconsiderably improve their habits. The drunkenness, pugnacity, and\nbeer-saloon habit of our students would become greatly checked.\nThose places from which our statesmen, judges, public attorneys,\npolice officials, ministers, representatives of the people, etc.,\nare chiefly recruited, would become more worthy of the objects for\nwhich they were founded and are being maintained. According to the\nimpartial opinions of those competent to judge, such an improvement\nis exceedingly needful.\n\nThe number of states that admit women to their high-schools and\nuniversities are rapidly increasing since a few decades. None that\nlays claim to being a civilized state can offer continued resistance\nto this demand. The United States took the lead and Russia followed,\ntwo states that are diametrically opposed to one another in every\nrespect. In the North American Union women have been admitted to\nhigh-schools and universities in all the states; in Utah since 1850;\nin Iowa since 1860; in Kansas since 1866; in Wisconsin since 1868;\nin Minnesota since 1869; in California and Missouri since 1870, and\nin Ohio, Illinois and Nebraska since 1871. Since then all the other\nstates followed. Quite in accordance with their opportunity for\nstudy, the women in the United States have achieved their positions.\nAccording to the census of 1900 there were: 7399 female physicians\nand surgeons, 5989 writers, 1041 architects, 3405 ministers, 1010\nlawyers, and 327,905 teachers.\n\nIn Europe, Switzerland took the lead in opening its universities to\nwomen. The following shows the number of male and female students\nat Swiss universities:\n\n Enrolled Total number of\n Total female women attending\n students courses\n\n 1896\u20131897 7676 1502 2757\n 1900\u20131901 8521 1904 3156\n 1905\u20131906 4181 391 728\n 1906\u20131907 5301 854 1429\n\nDuring the term 1906 to 1907 the female students were distributed\nas follows among the various faculties: law, 75; medicine, 1181;\nphilosophy, 648. According to nationality there were 172 Swiss women,\nand 1732 foreigners. The number of German women students in Switzerland\nhas decreased, since they are admitted to German universities now,\nalthough not without restrictions. During the term 1906 to 1907\nthe number of regularly enrolled female students constituted about\n30 per cent. of all the students. In England women are admitted\nto lecture at the universities, but at Oxford and Cambridge they\nare still barred from taking degrees. In France in 1905 there were\n33,168 students, among these 1922 women (774 foreigners). They were\ndistributed as follows: Law, 57; medicine, 386; sciences, 259;\nliterature, 838; miscellaneous, 382. The following are the countries\nin which women have been admitted to universities: United States,\nEngland, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Germany,\nAustria, Hungary, Italy, Switzerland, France, Turkey and Australia.\nFemale physicians are admitted to the practice of their profession\nin India, Abyssinia, Persia, Morocco, China, etc. Especially in the\nOriental countries female physicians are constantly gaining ground.\nThe restrictions that custom and religion place upon women in these\ncountries make female physicians an especially great boon.\n\nAfter long struggles and great exertions, Germany, too, has at last\ntaken a new course, though timidly at first. By a decision passed\nby the Federal Council on April 24, 1899, women have been admitted\nto examinations for the practice of medicine and dentistry, as well\nas pharmacy, upon the same terms as men. By another decision of\nthe Federal Council of July 28, 1900, German women physicians who\nstudied abroad are admitted to practice in Germany, and studies\ncommenced abroad were accredited to them. Even since 1898 some German\nuniversities, as Heidelberg and Goettingen, had opened their doors\nto women. During the term 1901 to 1902, 1270 women attending courses\nwere already enumerated in the registers of the universities. In\na number of German cities girls\u2019 high-schools and colleges were\nfounded; thus in Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, Hannover, Koenigsberg, Hamburg,\nFrankfort on the Main, Breslau, Berlin, Schoeneberg, Mannheim, etc.\nBut in the spring of 1902, the senate of the University of Berlin\nagain declined a request by female students, to be matriculated upon\npresentation of a certificate of admission from a German college. The\nopposition by very influential circles in Germany against the study of\nwomen had not yet been overcome. During March of 1902, the Prussian\nminister of public instruction delivered a speech in the Prussian\ndiet, in which he said among other things, that the girls\u2019 colleges\nare an experiment that must be declined by the ministry of public\ninstruction. He feared, so he said, that the differences between man\nand woman established by nature and developed by civilization, would\nbe impaired by the study of girls at colleges and universities, and\nthat the characteristics of the German woman ought to be maintained\nfor the welfare of the German family. That is quite in keeping with\nthe old conception. Many German professors also continue to oppose\nstudy for women, though others admit that many of the female students\nare well, some even excellently qualified, to meet the demands\nmade upon them. What some of the students, perhaps a majority of\nthem, thought in regard to the study of women, may be seen from the\nfollowing protest of the clinical students at Halle, addressed to the\nmedical students of Germany generally during March of 1902. After it\nstates that the protest has been caused by the agitation, carried on\nby the \u201cSociety for Furthering the Education of Women in Berlin,\u201d\nto admit women to the study of medicine, it goes on to say: \u201cSince\nthis question has been called to public attention, the clinical\nstudents of Halle turn to those circles to whom the decision is of\nprime importance, the clinical students and physicians at German\nuniversities. They either know the resulting unpleasantness from\npersonal experience, or can picture to ~what unwholesome situations,\ndevoid of all modesty, this common clinical instruction must lead,\nsituations that are too revolting to be described~. The medical\nfaculty of the university of Halle was one of the first to admit\nwomen to the study of medicine, and the innovation may be regarded as\na complete failure. ~Into these halls of earnest endeavor cynicism\nhas entered with the women~, and scenes frequently occur that are\nequally obnoxious to instructors, students and patients. ~Here the\nemancipation of woman becomes a calamity, conflicting with morality,\nand should be checked.~ Colleagues, who would dare, in the face of\nthese facts, to oppose our just demands? ~We demand the exclusion\nof women from clinical instruction~, because experience has taught\nus that a common clinical instruction of male and female students\nis incompatible with a thoroughgoing study of medicine, as well as\n~with the principles of decency and morality~. This question taken\nup by us is no longer a local one. Already it has been stated in\ngovernment circles, that women are to be definitely admitted to the\nstudy of medicine. You all now are equally interested in our cause,\nand therefore we appeal to you: Express your opinion on this question\nand join with us in a common protest!\u201d\n\nThis protest is a striking proof of the narrow-mindedness of the\nclinical students and also of their envy, for petty envy is at the\nbottom of most of their moral considerations. How can an institution\nthat has existed for years in other civilized countries, without\ninjuring the morals and the sense of decency of male and female\nstudents, be considered a peril to Germany? The German students are\nnot famed for their morality and ought to refrain from a moral\noutburst that seems like a jest.[167] If it is not incompatible with\ndecency and morality for female nurses to be present and to render\nassistance to the physicians during all kinds of operations upon\nmale and female patients, if it is decent and proper for dozens\nof young men to surround, for the purpose of study, the bed of a\nwoman in the throes of child-birth, and to witness operations upon\nfemale patients, then it is ridiculous to seek to exclude the female\nstudents.\n\nVery different from the reasons given by the clinical students of\nHalle, was an argument advanced against the admission of women to the\nstudy of medicine by the late Professor Bischoff. The reason he gave\nwas ~the brutality of the male students~, which he was well qualified\nto judge. But, regardless of the narrow-mindedness or envy of men,\nthe question has been decided in favor of the women. On August 18,\n1908, an edict was published, decreeing the regular enrollment of\nfemale students at the universities of Prussia, where until then\nthey had been admitted to the lectures. The only restriction is,\nthat for the purpose of immatriculation German women require the\nconsent of the minister in one case, and foreigners require it in all\ncases.[168] The entire number of women students enrolled at German\nuniversities was, during the term of 1908\u20131909, 1077, as against 377\nduring the summer of 1908, and 254 in 1906. They were distributed\namong the various universities as follows: Berlin, 400; Bonn, 69;\nBreslau, 50; Erlangen, 11; Freiburg, 67; Giessen, 23; Goettingen,\n71; Greifswald, 5; Halle, 22; Heidelberg, 109; Jena, 13; Kiel, 2;\nKoenigsberg, 17; Leipsic, 44; Marburg, 27; Munich, 134; Tuebingen,\n6; Wuerzburg, 7. Only the universities of Strassburg, Rostock and\nMuenster had no female students. The entire number of women attending\ncourses was 1787 during the summer of 1908, and 1767 during the\nterm 1908 to 1909. They were distributed as follows: Berlin, 313;\nStrassburg, 249; Breslau, 168; Munich, 131; Bonn, 120; Koenigsberg,\n116; Leipsic, 95; Giessen, 93; Goettingen, 73; Tuebingen, 67; Halle,\n54; Freiburg, 50, and in all others less than 50. Of the regularly\nenrolled women students 3 studied theology; 31, law; 334, medicine,\nand 709, philosophy.\n\nThe admission of women to the universities necessitated a thoroughgoing\nreform of girls\u2019 high-schools. According to the provisions of May 31,\n1899, a nine years\u2019 course had been set down as the rule for girls\u2019\nhigh-schools, while a ten years\u2019 course was the exception. But\ndevelopment necessitated the regular introduction of a tenth class.\nAccording to statistics there were in 1901, 213 public high-schools\nfor girls; among these 90 had a nine years\u2019 course and 54 a ten\nyears\u2019 course. In October, 1907, the number of schools having a nine\nyears\u2019 course had decreased from 90 to 69, and the number of schools\nhaving a ten years\u2019 course had increased from 54 to 132. Among the\nprivate schools for girls, too, there were, besides 110 with a nine\nyears\u2019 course, 138 with a ten years\u2019 course. It only remained to add\nthe bureaucratic seal to this actual development, and to preserve as\nmuch as possible of the \u201ccharacteristics of German women.\u201d According\nto the reform of August 18, 1908, girls\u2019 high schools shall consist\nof ten grades. To \u201ccomplete her education in regard to the future\nlife\u2019s work of a German woman,\u201d it is planned to found a lyceum with\na course from one to two years. In order to prepare young girls of\nthe upper classes for academic training, colleges are being planned,\nwhich are to be under the same management as the girls\u2019 high-schools.\n\nThereby an experiment, which the board of education still refused to\nconsider in March 1902, is now, six years later, under the pressure\nof economic development, being introduced by that same board on a\nnational scale. Let us consider the official argumentation! It reads\nas follows:\n\n\u201cThe rapid development of our civilization and the resulting changes\nin social, economic and educational conditions, have brought about\nthat, especially in the middle and upper classes, many girls remain\nunprovided for, and much ability reposing in woman, that may be\nvaluable to the community, remains unapplied. The numerical superiority\nof the female population and the increasing bachelorhood of men of\nthe upper classes, compel a large percentage of educated girls to\nrenounce their natural profession of wifehood and motherhood. It\nbecomes necessary to open professions to them that are suited to their\neducation, and to give them an opportunity to earn their living,\nnot only by teaching, but also by other professions attainable by\na university education.\u201d This almost reads like an extract from my\nbook!\n\nBe this as it may, the higher education of women can no longer be\nhalted. There are female physicians in all civilized countries of the\nworld, and even in some that are not yet regarded as civilized. The\nlate Li Hung Chang had appointed as his family physician a Chinese\nwoman doctor who practiced at the woman\u2019s hospital of her native\ntown, Futchang. The late Sonia Kowalewska, the noted mathematician,\nwas professor of mathematics at the University of Stockholm from\n1889 until her death in 1891. There are many women professors in\nthe United States, and some also in Italy, Switzerland, England\nand France. In France the famous Marie Curie, who together with\nher husband discovered radium and polonium, was, after the death\nof her husband in 1906, appointed his successor at the university.\nWe see women acting as physicians, dentists, lawyers, chemists,\nphysicists, geologists, botanists, teachers at higher institutions\nof learning, etc., and it is up to the women themselves to prove by\ntheir achievements, that they are as competent to fill the positions\nentrusted to them as men. In Switzerland, during the summer of 1899,\na majority of voters in the Canton of Zurich, favored the admission\nof women to the practice of law. The decision was passed by 21,717\nagainst 20,046 votes. In the United States women are admitted to\nthe bar in 34 states. They are also admitted in France, Holland,\nSweden, Denmark, Finland, Russia, Canada and Australia.\n\nMany men, especially learned men, are opposed to the higher education\nof women, because they believe that the sciences will become degraded\nif even women can practice them. They regard scientific study as a\nprivilege reserved for the chosen few of the male sex.\n\nUnfortunately our universities, as our entire educational system,\nstill leave much to be wished for. As the children in the public\nschools are frequently robbed of the most valuable time to cram\ntheir brains with a lot of things that are not in conformity with\nreason and scientific knowledge, as they are burdened with a lot of\nlearning that will prove useless in life and will rather hamper than\nhelp their development, thus it is also with our higher institutions\nof learning. In the preparatory schools the pupils are crammed with\na lot of useless stuff, mostly learned by rote, that absorbs most\nof their time and strength, and in the universities the same method\nis generally pursued. Besides good and useful things, many that are\nantiquated and superfluous continue to be taught. Most professors\nrepeat the same lectures term after term even down to the interspersed\njokes. To many the noble profession of teaching becomes a mere trade,\nand it does not require much intelligence on the part of the students\nto perceive this. The prevailing conceptions concerning college\nlife also prevent the young people from taking their studies too\nseriously, and some who would like to take them seriously are repulsed\nby the pedantic and uninteresting methods of many professors. It is\ngenerally admitted that students at high-schools and universities\nare becoming less studious, a fact that has caused some alarm among\nthe authorities. Alongside of this we find toadyism and patronage\nplaying an important part at our institutions of learning in this\nage, which is marked by a lack of character. To be of good family\nand to have \u201csound principles,\u201d is regarded as being of greater\nimportance than knowledge and ability. A patriot--that is, one who\nhas no convictions of his own, but takes his cue from his superiors\nand fawns upon them--is considered more than a man of character,\nwisdom and ability. When examinations come around, men of this type\ncram for a few months what is needful to attain the passing mark,\nand when the examinations have been passed successfully, and they\nhave attained an official or professional position, many of these\n\u201cscholars\u201d merely continue to work in a mechanical way. Yet they are\nvery insulted if a man, who is not a \u201cscholar\u201d, does not treat them\nwith utmost respect and fails to regard them as a superior species of\nhuman being. The majority of our professional men, lawyers, judges,\nphysicians, professors, public officials, artists, etc., ~are merely\nmechanics in their line, and their sole object is personal gain~.\nOnly the industrious man discovers later on how much superfluous\nknowledge he assimilated and how often he failed to learn that which\nhe requires most, and then begins to learn anew. During the best\npart of his life he has been bothered with much that was useless\nor harmful; he requires a second part of his life to cast what is\nuseless or harmful aside and to attain the heights of the views of\nhis time, and then only can he become a useful member of society.\nMany do not surpass the first stage, others come to a standstill\nin the second, and only few have the energy to struggle on to the\nthird.\n\nBut decorum demands that the medi\u00e6val trash and superfluous learning\nshould be maintained, and as women have been until now, and in many\ncases still are, excluded from the preparatory institutions, this fact\nfurnishes a convenient excuse for excluding them from the lecture\nhalls of the universities. In Leipsic, during the seventies, one\nof the most noted professors of medicine made the following frank\nconfession to a lady: \u201c~A classical education is not essential to\nan understanding of medicine, but it must be made a condition of\nentrance to maintain the dignity of science.~\u201d\n\nOpposition against an obligatory, classical education as being\nessential to the study of medicine, is gradually manifesting itself\nin Germany also. The tremendous advance of the sciences and their\ngreat importance to life in general, necessitates a scientific\ntraining. But the classical education, with its special preference of\nGreek and Latin, considers science unimportant and neglects it. It\ntherefore frequently happens that young students are wanting in the\nmost elementary scientific knowledge, that is of decisive importance\nfor a study like medicine. Even teachers themselves are beginning to\noppose this one-sided method of education. In other countries, for\ninstance, in Switzerland, the study of science has long since been\nheld as being of prime importance, and all who possess sufficient\npreliminary knowledge in the natural sciences and mathematics are\nadmitted to the study of medicine, even without having had a so-called\nclassical education. The same is true of Russia, the United States,\nand other countries.\n\nIn Russia, where suppression and persecution of the Jews is\nconsidered one of the maxims of government, an imperial ukase, in\n1907, prescribed that in the newly established school of medicine\nfor women, only 5 per cent. of the students might be of other than\nChristian faith. Of these only 3 per cent. might be Jewesses, and\nthe remaining 2 per cent. were to be reserved for students of Moslem\norigin. This is one of the retrogressive measures which are daily\noccurrences in Russia. The Russian government certainly had no cause\nfor such provisions, because there is quite a dearth of physicians in\nthat tremendous realm, and because the Russian women practitioners,\nregardless of their faith or origin, have been noted for the most\nunselfish devotion in the practice of their profession. Dr. Erismann,\nwho practiced in Russia for many years, delivered a lecture at the\n54th annual convention of the Medical Society in Olten, in which\nhe said: \u201cVery favorable were the experiences gathered during the\nfirst years in regard to the activity of the female physicians. From\nthe very beginning they were enabled to win the confidence of the\npeople. In the noble competition with their male colleagues they\neven carried off the laurels. It was soon observed that the female\nphysicians, on an average, treated more patients annually than the\nmale physicians, although the latter proved very efficient and\nunselfish, likewise. Female patients especially, in great numbers,\nsought aid with the women doctors.\u201d[169]\n\nOn the other hand, female competition, so much feared by men,\nespecially in regard to the practice of medicine, has not been in\nevidence. It seems that female physicians obtain a circle of patients\nfrom their own sex who apply to male physicians rarely, or only in\ncases of extreme necessity. It has, moreover, been observed that\na great many women physicians abandon their profession as soon as\nthey enter into marriage. It seems that in present-day society the\ndomestic duties of married women are so numerous, especially where\nthere are children, that many women find it impossible to have two\nprofessions simultaneously. A physician must be constantly prepared,\nby day and by night, to practice her profession, and to many that\nbecomes impossible.[170]\n\nAfter England,[171] the United States and France took lead in employing\nwomen as factory inspectors--an innovation that has become all the\nmore necessary because, as has been shown, the number of women in\nindustry is rapidly increasing, and the industries employing women,\nchiefly or exclusively, are increasing likewise--a number of German\nstates have also followed their example. Baden, Bavaria, Hessia,\nthe Kingdom of Saxony, Weimar, Wurtemberg, and others have added\nwomen assistants to their factory inspectors, and some of these have\nalready achieved much recognition by their activity. In Prussia\nthere are three women factory inspectors in Berlin, and one each\nin Duesseldorf, Breslau and Wiesbaden. This proves again how the\nprogress of Prussia has been retarded compared with other German\nstates. There is not a single woman assistant in districts like\nPotsdam (with 32,299 working women), Frankfort on the Oder (with\n31,371), Liegnitz (with 31,798), and others, where their presence is\nextremely needful. Here, too, it has been seen that working women\nconfide more readily in members of their own sex, and that female\nfactory inspectors have been able to obtain much information that was\ndenied to their male colleagues. One shortcoming of this institution\nis that the assistants frequently are not given the autonomy that\nis needful in their position, and their pay is not what it ought to\nbe, either. The new institution is being tried out carefully and\nhesitatingly.[172]\n\nIn Germany the prejudice and aversion against employing women in public\noffices is particularly strong, because so many retired military men\nannually seek appointments to all kinds of offices in the state and\nmunicipal administrations, that there is hardly any room left for\napplicants from other circles. When women are employed, nevertheless,\ntheir salary is considerably lower, whereby they immediately appear\nas being worth less than men, and whereby they also become a means\nto keep down wages and salaries.\n\nThe great variety of female ability could be observed especially well\nat the World\u2019s Fair in Chicago, in 1893. The splendid woman\u2019s building\nhad been entirely planned by female architects, and the articles\ndisplayed that had been designed and made by women exclusively,\nwere much admired for their tasty and artistic execution. In the\nrealm of invention, too, women have achieved much and will achieve\nstill more. An American trade-journal published a list of inventions\nby women; among them were: An improved spinning machine; a rotary\nloom, which produces three times as much as the usual kind; a chain\nelevator; a connecting-rod for a propeller; a fire-escape; an\napparatus for weighing wool, one of the most delicate machines that\nhave ever been invented, of immeasurable value to the wool industry;\na fire extinguisher; a process of employing petroleum as a fuel for\nsteam-engines instead of wood or coal; an improved spark-catcher for\nlocomotives; a signal for grade-crossings; a system of heating cars\nwithout fire; a lubricating felt to diminish friction (on railroads);\na typewriter; a signal-rocket for the navy; a deep-sea telescope; a\nsystem for subduing the noise of the elevated trains; a smoke-consumer;\na machine for folding paper bags, etc. Many improvements on sewing\nmachines have been made by women; for instance, an appliance for\nsewing canvas and coarse cloth; an apparatus for threading the needle\nwhile the machine is running; an improvement of machines for sewing\nleather, etc. The last-named invention was made by a woman who was\na harness-maker in New York. The deep-sea telescope, invented by\nMrs. Mather and improved by her daughter, is an invention of great\nimportance, since it makes it possible to examine the keel of the\nlargest vessel without bringing same into a dry-dock. With the aid\nof this telescope sunken wrecks may be examined from ship-board,\nobstacles to navigation and torpedoes may be located, and so forth.\n\nA machine famed in America and Europe for its complicated and ingenious\nconstruction, is one for the manufacture of paper bags. Many men,\namong them noted mechanicians, had tried in vain to construct a\nmachine of this sort. It was invented by a woman, Miss Maggie Knight.\nThe same lady has since invented a machine for the folding of paper\nbags, which performs the labor of thirty persons. She personally\nconducted the construction of this machine in Amherst, Massachusetts.\n\n[167] A statistic compiled by Blaschko gives the following information\nin regard to the extension of sexual diseases among the various\noccupations. First come the secret prostitutes with 30 per cent; then\nthe students with ~25~ per cent; merchants with 16, and workingmen\nwith 9 per cent.\n\n[168] In special cases women may be excluded from certain lectures\nwith the consent of the minister of education.\n\n[169] The organization of free clinical treatment of patients in\nthe large cities of Russia.--German Quarterly of Public Hygiene.\n\n[170] What difficulties are entailed for women who have a family\nand at the same time wish to, or have to, practice a trade or\nprofession, has been ably shown in the book by Adele Gerhard and\nHelen Simon: \u201cMaternity and Intellectual Occupations\u201d (Berlin, 1901,\nGeorge Reimer). It contains the personal experiences and opinions\nof writers, artists, singers, actresses, etc., and these opinions\nprove that society must be completely reorganized to give full play\nto the great amount of female intelligence that exists and strives\nfor expression, since it is in the interest of society itself that\nit should be given full play.\n\n[171] According to the last report for 1908, England has 16 female\nfactory inspectors, Miss A. M. Anderson and 15 assistants.\n\n[172] The first woman factory inspector was appointed in Bavaria in\n1897. From then until 1909 the number of woman factory inspectors\nrose to 26. Fourteen states had until then not appointed any.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\nThe Legal Status of Women.\n\n\n1.--The Struggle for Equality Before the Law.\n\nThe social dependence of a race, class, or sex, always finds expression\nin the laws and political conditions of the country in question.\nThe laws of a country are the formulated expression of its ruling\ninterests. ~Women, being the dependent and oppressed sex, find\ntheir legal status mapped out to them accordingly.~ Laws are both\nnegative and positive. They are negative by failing to take notice\nof the oppressed in the distribution of rights. They are positive\ninasmuch as they point out his dependent position and denote whatever\nexceptions there may be.\n\nOur common law is founded on the Roman law, which considers the human\nbeing solely in his quality as a propertied being. The old German law,\nthat dealt more favorably with women, has maintained its influence\nonly to a slight extent. In the French language, as in the English\nlanguage, human being and the male are denoted by the same word,\n\u201cl\u2019homme\u201d--man. In the same way, the French law only recognizes the\nman as a human being, and, until a few decades ago, this was true\nalso of England, where women were maintained in abject dependence.\nIt was the same in ancient Rome. There were Roman citizens and wives\nof Roman citizens, but no Roman citizenesses.\n\nIn Germany the legal status of women has been somewhat improved,\ninasmuch as the great variety of existing laws have been replaced\nby a uniform law, whereby rights enjoyed by women here and there\nhave been made general. Thereby, unmarried women were admitted to\nguardianship; women were permitted to act as witnesses, to sign\ncontracts, and to carry on a business independently. Both husband and\nwife are entitled to the common ownership of each other\u2019s property,\nunless the demands made by either party may be regarded as an abuse\nof his or her rights. If there are conflicting opinions between them\non this subject, the decision rests with the ~husband~, who also\nis entitled to determine the place of residence. If the husband\nshould abuse this right, the wife is exempt from obedience. The sole\nmanagement of the household rests with the wife. She has the so-called\npower of the keys, which empowers her, within her domestic sphere,\nto attend to her husband\u2019s affairs and to represent him. The husband\nis liable for his wife\u2019s debts. But the wife\u2019s power of the keys\nmay be restricted, or entirely abolished, by her husband. Should\nhe abuse his power, this limitation may be annulled by the courts.\nThe wife is obliged to do the housework and to perform tasks in her\nhusband\u2019s business, but only where such occupations are customary,\nin accordance with the husband\u2019s standard of living. A demand to\nestablish, as the rule, separate rights of ownership by husband\nand wife, was declined by the Diet. This can only be obtained by\nmeans of the marriage contract, which is usually neglected, and may\nlead to disagreements later on. Instead, community of management\nwas established. The husband is thereby entitled to dispose of his\nwife\u2019s property, while she is limited to her dowry. On the other\nhand, the wife has unrestricted control over whatever she may earn\nduring marriage, by personal labor or in business. The husband has no\nright to deprive the wife of her earnings or her dowry. The wife may\nalso demand security, in case she has good reason to fear that her\nproperty is endangered, which she may sometimes learn too late. She\nmay also enter a complaint to have the common ownership abolished,\nif her husband should fail to provide for her and her children. The\nhusband is liable for damage resulting from mismanagement.\n\nThe wife may be grievously wronged by the existing divorce laws. For,\nin case of divorce, the joint earnings of husband and wife belong\nto the husband, ~even if he is the guilty party~, and if most of\ntheir common property has been earned by the wife. But the woman is\nentitled to alimony, according to her station, only if it can be\nshown that she is not able to maintain her standard of living by\nmeans of her own property or earnings.\n\nPaternal control has been replaced by the joint control of both\nparents, but in case of disagreement between the parents, the decision\nrests with the father. In case of the father\u2019s death, parental\ncontrol, including the management and use of the child\u2019s property,\ndevolves on the mother. A divorced woman has no right to represent\nher children legally, or to control their property, even if the\nchildren have been awarded to her, while the father continues to\nenjoy full parental rights.\n\nIn England, until 1870, according to the common law, a husband was\nentitled to all the personal property of his wife. Only real estate\nremained her property by law, but even this the husband was entitled\nto manage and to use. The English woman was a mere cipher before the\nlaw. She could not sign any legal document, not even a will. She was\nher husband\u2019s chattel. If she committed any crime in her husband\u2019s\npresence, he was held responsible for it, since she was regarded as a\nminor. In case she damaged any one\u2019s property, the damage was viewed\nas if done by a ~domestic animal~; her husband was answerable for\nit. In 1888 Bishop J. N. Wood delivered a lecture in the chapel at\nWestminster, in which he said, among other things, that as late as\na century ago English women had not been permitted to eat at their\nhusbands\u2019 table, nor to speak until they were spoken to. As a symbol\nof his marital power, a whip hung above the bed, that the husband\nwas permitted to wield when the wife was not as docile as her lord\ndesired her to be. Only her daughters were obliged to obey her. By\nher sons she was regarded as a servant.\n\nBy the laws of 1870, 1882 and 1893, the woman is not only entitled to\nall the property brought into marriage by her, she is also entitled\nto everything she may obtain during marriage by her earnings, by\ninheritance, or by gift. This legal relation can be modified only by\nspecial agreement between husband and wife. In this respect English\nlegislation has followed the example set by the United States. By\nthe Custody of Infants\u2019 Act, of 1886, in case of the father\u2019s death,\nparental control devolves on the mother. The Intestate Estates Act,\nof 1890, still gives the man a privileged position. Both husband and\nwife are free to dispose of their property by their last will and\ntestament. But if the wife dies intestate, all her personal property\nbelongs to her husband; while, if the husband dies intestate, his\nwidow is entitled to only one-third of his personal property and\nincome on real estate; the remainder belongs to his children. Many\nremnants of the old mediaeval law remain in force that greatly impair\nthe legal status of married women. As we have seen, the divorce laws\nare still highly unfavorable to women. If a man commits adultery,\nthat alone is no ground for divorce for the woman, but only in\nconnection with cruelty, bigamy, rape, etc.[173]\n\nThe civil law is especially unfavorable to women in France, and in\nall those countries--mostly Romanic countries--that are strongly\ninfluenced by the French \u201ccode civil,\u201d or where it has been adopted\nin full, with some modifications. This is the case in Belgium, Spain,\nPortugal, Italy, Russian Poland, the Netherlands, and in most of\nthe cantons of Switzerland. There is a saying by Napoleon I. that\nis characteristic of his conception of the position of women, and\nthat still holds true; it is: \u201cOne thing is not French, a woman who\nmay do as she pleases.\u201d[174] As soon as a French woman marries she\nis placed under the guardianship of her husband. According to the\nCode Civil, she may not appear in court without the consent of her\nhusband, not even if she is connected with a lawsuit. The husband\nshall protect his wife, and the wife shall obey her husband. He\ncontrols the property brought into marriage by his wife; he may sell,\nrent, or mortgage same, without being obliged to ask her consent.\nThe result is, that women frequently live in a condition of absolute\nservitude. A man may spend his wife\u2019s earnings on drink, or on\nfrivolous women; he may gamble and run into debt, leaving his wife\nand children in want; he is even entitled to demand from an employer\nthe wages his wife has earned. Under such circumstances it is not\nto be wondered at that many women prefer to desist from marriage,\nas was frequently seen in France.\n\nIn most Romanic countries women cannot act as witnesses to legal\ndocuments, contracts, wills, etc. In France this was the case until\n1897. But they are permitted--by a strange inconsistency--to act\nas witnesses at court in all criminal cases, where their testimony\nmay perhaps lead to the execution of a human being. ~In criminal\nlaw woman is everywhere regarded as man\u2019s equal, and crimes and\ntransgressions committed by her are measured by the same standard as\nthose committed by man.~ Our law-makers seem blissfully unconscious\nof this glaring inconsistency. As a widow, a woman may make her\nwill, but in a great many states she is not admitted as a witness\nto a will, yet she may be appointed as executrix. In Italy women\nare admitted as witnesses in civil law since 1877.\n\nThe privileged position of men is especially manifest in the divorce\nlaws. According to the \u201cCode Civil,\u201d in France a man might obtain a\ndivorce if his wife committed adultery; but a woman could not obtain\nit, unless her husband had brought his concubine into their home.\nThis article has been changed by the divorce law of July 27, 1884,\nbut in French criminal law the distinction has been maintained, which\nis very characteristic of the French law-makers. If a woman has been\nconvicted of adultery she is punishable by imprisonment of from\nthree months to two years. But the man is punishable only if he has\nmaintained a concubine in his own household, as per the former article\nof the \u201cCode Civil.\u201d If found guilty, his only punishment is a fine\nof from 100 to 2000 francs. Such inequality before the law would be\nimpossible if there were women in the parliament of France. Similar\nlaws are in force in Belgium. The penalty for adultery when committed\nby a woman is the same as in France. The man goes unpunished, unless\nadultery has been committed by him in his and his wife\u2019s domicile;\nin that event he may be punished by imprisonment of from one month\nto one year. In Belgium the injustice is not quite as glaring as in\nFrance, but in both countries we find one standard of law for the\nman and another one for the woman. Under the influence of French law\nsimilar provisions have been made in Spain and Portugal. According\nto the civil law of Italy, enacted in 1865, a woman cannot obtain\na divorce on the ground of adultery, unless her husband maintains\nhis concubine in his own home, or in a place where her presence\nappears as a particular insult to the wife. In 1907, together with\nthe enactment of June 21, which has modified a number of articles\nof the Code Civil in regard to marriage, both chambers finally\nadopted the law of July 13, whereby the wife became the sole owner\nof property earned by her, or obtained by inheritance or gift. The\nhusband has been deprived of his former control over the personal\nproperty of his wife. That is the first breach in French law, and\nthereby French women have obtained the same legal status that was\nobtained for English women by the law of 1870.\n\nMuch more advanced than the \u201cCode Civil\u201d and more advanced also\nthan German civil law, is the new civil law of Switzerland that was\nadopted on December 10, 1907, and will come into force on January 1,\n1912. Until now the various cantons of Switzerland had their own\nlaws. In Geneva, Waadt, and Italian Switzerland they were partly\nfounded on the \u201cCode Civil.\u201d In Bern and Lucerne they were founded\non Austrian law, and in Schwytz, Uri, Unterwalden, etc., the old\ncommon law prevailed. Now Switzerland is to have a uniform code of\nlaws. The freedom of the wife and the children is assured. The new\nlaw provides that the wife is entitled to one-third of her husband\u2019s\nincome, even if she is only occupied as his assistant or housekeeper.\nIn regard to inheritance, also, the laws are more favorable to\nwomen than the German laws. When a man dies, his wife is not only\nentitled to one-half of his property, but also, together with the\nman\u2019s parents, to the lifelong use of the income from the other half.\nIf people owe money to a man who fails to provide for his wife and\nchildren, the judge may instruct them to pay these debts, not to the\nman himself, but to his wife. The law no longer forbids a divorced\nperson to marry the person with whom he has committed adultery. The\nproperty rights of married persons are mainly determined by the\nmarriage contract that may be drawn up by both before and during\nmarriage. Illegitimate children--in cases where the mother had been\ngiven a promise of marriage--are not only entitled to alimony from\ntheir father, as according to the new German law, but they are also\nentitled to their father\u2019s name, and thereby obtain the full rights\nof legitimate children.\n\nSwedish women are given full control over their own earnings by a\nlaw of Dec. 11, 1874. In Denmark a similar law was enacted in 1880.\nAccording to Danish law no claims may be made on a woman\u2019s property\nfor the payment of her husband\u2019s debts. The Norwegian law of 1888\nand the Finnish law of 1889 are quite similar. The married woman\nhas the same control over her property as the unmarried woman; only\nsome exceptions are provided for that are stated in the law. In\nthe Norwegian law it is clearly stated, ~that the woman becomes a\ndependent by marriage~.\n\n\u201cIn the Scandinavian countries, as elsewhere, this universal movement\nto extend the property rights of women originated in the same way as\nit did in England: through the ~gainful employment~ of married women.\nThe ruling classes were far more willing to abandon the patriarchal\nsuperiority of the common man over his working wife, than that of\nthe man from their own ranks over his propertied wife.\u201d[175]\n\nIn the law of May 27, 1908, Danish legislation advanced still another\nstep. If a husband and father fails to provide for his family, the wife\nand children may have the sum, awarded to them by the authorities,\nadvanced out of the public funds.\n\nIn most countries the father has the sole control over the children\nand the right to determine their education. Only in some countries\nthe mother is given joint control with the father in a more or less\nsubordinate way. The old Roman principle, whereby the father had\ncomplete power over his children, everywhere forms the key-note of\nlegislation.\n\nIn Russia married women have some control over their property, but as\nbread-winners they remain utterly subservient to their husbands. No\npass--which is absolutely essential for any change of residence--is\never issued to a married woman without her husband\u2019s consent. In\norder to accept a position or to practice any trade or profession,\nshe must also have her husband\u2019s permission. Divorce is made so\ndifficult, that it can be obtained only in very rare cases. The\nposition of Russian women was much more independent formerly in the\nold peasant communities, which was due to the remaining communistic\ninstitutions or to the reminiscences of these institutions. The\npeasant woman was the manager of her own estate. Communism is the\nmost favorable social condition for women. We have seen this from\nour exposition of the matriarchal period.[176]\n\nIn the United States the women have succeeded in winning almost\ncomplete equality before the law; they have also prevented the\nintroduction of English and other laws regulating prostitution.\n\n[173] A. Chapman and M. Chapman--The Status of Women under the\nEnglish Law. London, 1909.\n\n[174] L. Bridel--La puissance maritale. Lausanne, 1879.\n\n[175] Marianne Weber--Wife and Mother in the Evolution of Law.\nTubingen, 1907.\n\n[176] The correctness of this conception may be seen from the comedy\nby Aristophanes, \u201cThe Popular Assembly of Women.\u201d In this comedy\nAristophanes depicts how the Athenian state was so mismanaged that\nno one knew what to do. In the popular assembly of the citizens of\nAthens the prytanes submit the question how the state is to be saved.\nA woman, disguised as a man, moves to entrust the government to the\nwomen, and this motion is carried without resistance, \u201cbecause it was\nthe only thing not yet tried in Athens.\u201d The women proceed to steer\nthe ship of state and immediately introduce communism. Of course,\nAristophanes ridicules this condition, but the characteristic part\nof his play is, that he has the women introduce communism as the\nonly rational social organization from their point of view, as soon\nas they come into power. Aristophanes had no idea of how much truth\nwas in his jest.\n\n\n2.--The Struggle for Political Equality.\n\nThe evident inequality of women before the law has caused the more\nadvanced among them to demand political rights, in order to attain\ntheir equality by means of legislation. The same thought has also\nled the working class to direct their agitation toward the conquest\nof political power. What is right for the working class, cannot be\nwrong for the women. Being oppressed, devoid of rights and, in many\ninstances, disregarded, it is not only their right, but their duty\nto defend themselves and to adopt any method that appears good to\nthem, so that they may win an independent position. Of course these\nendeavors are opposed by the usual reactionary croakings. Let us\nsee to what extent these are justified.\n\nWomen possessing eminent intellectual abilities have influenced\npolitics at all times and among all peoples, even where they were\nnot endowed with the power of sovereigns. Even the papal court was\nnot exempt from this. If they could not exert any influence by means\nof the rights conceded to them, they did so by their intellectual\nsuperiority, even by intrigues. For many centuries their influence was\nparticularly strong at the court of France, as also at the Spanish and\nItalian courts. At the close of the seventeenth century, at the court\nof Philip V. of Spain, Marie of Tr\u00e9monille, Countess of Bracciano\nand Princess of Ursins, was the prime-minister of Spain for thirteen\nyears, and during this time very ably conducted Spanish politics. As\nthe mistresses of rulers, many women have succeeded in obtaining a\ngreat political influence; we need but mention the well-known names\nof Maintenon, the mistress of Louis XIV., and Pompadour, the mistress\nof Louis XV. The great intellectual awakening of the eighteenth\ncentury, that produced men like Montesquieu, Voltaire, d\u2019Allembert,\nHolbach, Helvetius, La Mettrie, Rousseau, and many others, did not\nfail to affect the women. This great movement, which questioned the\njustification of the fundamental principles of the state and feudal\nsociety and helped to undermine them, may have been joined by some\nwomen to follow the fashion, to satisfy their love of intrigue, or for\nother unworthy motives. But a great many women were impelled to take\npart in this movement by their profound interest and enthusiasm for\nits noble aims. Decades before the outbreak of the great revolution,\nwhich swept over France like a purifying cloud-burst, tore the old\norder asunder and cast it down, causing jubilation among the most\nadvanced minds of the age, women had thronged into the scientific\nand political clubs, where philosophical, scientific, religious,\nsocial and political problems were discussed with unwonted daring,\nand had taken part in the discussions. When at length, in July, 1789,\nthe storming of the Bastille ushered in the great revolution, women\nof the upper classes and women of the common people participated\nactively and exerted a very noticeable influence both for and against\nit. They participated excessively in both good and evil wherever an\nopportunity presented itself. The majority of historians have taken\nmore notice of the excesses of the revolution than of its great and\nnoble deeds. These excesses, by the way, were only too natural, for\nthey were the result of tremendous exasperation at the unspeakable\ncorruption, the exploitation, the imposition, the baseness and\nvillany of the ruling classes. Under the influence of these biased\ndescriptions, Schiller wrote the lines: \u201cAnd women there become hyenas\nand mock at horror and despair.\u201d And yet in those years women have\nset so many noble examples of heroism, magnanimity, and admirable\nself-sacrifice, that to write an impartial book on \u201cthe women in\nthe great revolution,\u201d would mean the erection of a noble monument\nin their honor.[177] According to Michelet, women even were the\nvan-guard of the revolution. The general poverty and want from which\nthe French people suffered under the predatory and disgraceful rule\nof the Bourbon kings, especially affected the women, as is always\nthe case under similar conditions. Being excluded from almost every\ndecent means of support, tens of thousands of them fell victims to\nprostitution. To this was added the famine of 1789, which increased\nthe suffering of women and children to the utmost. This famine led\nthem to storm the town-hall in October and to march in masses to\nVersailles, the seat of the court. It also caused a number of them\nto petition the national assembly \u201cthat the equality between man and\nwoman be reinstated, that work and employment be opened to them and\nthat they be given positions suited to their abilities.\u201d As the women\nrecognized that they needed power to win their rights, but that they\ncould attain power only by organizing and by standing together in\ngreat numbers, they organized women\u2019s clubs throughout France, some\nof which had a surprisingly large membership, and also took part\nin the men\u2019s meetings. While brilliant Madame Roland preferred to\nplay a leading political part among the \u201cstatesmen\u201d of the French\nRevolution, the Girondistes, passionate and eloquent Olympe de Gouges\ntook the leadership of the women of the people and espoused their\ncause with all the enthusiasm of her fervent temperament.\n\nWhen the assembly proclaimed \u201cthe rights of man\u201d (les droits de\nl\u2019homme), in 1793, she promptly recognized that they were only rights\nof men. In opposition to these, Olympe de Gouges, together with\nRose Lacombe and others, wrote \u201cThe rights of Women,\u201d in seventeen\narticles. On the 28 Brumaire (November 20, 1793), she defended the\nrights before the Paris Commune, with arguments that are still fully\njustified. In her argumentation the following sentence, characteristic\nof the situation, was contained: \u201cIf a woman has the right to mount\nthe scaffold she must also have the right to mount the platform.\u201d\nHer demands remained unfulfilled. But her reference to the right of\nwoman to mount a scaffold met with bloody confirmation. Her defence\nof the rights of women on the one hand, and her struggle against the\natrocities of the assembly on the other, made her appear ripe for the\nscaffold to the assembly. She was beheaded on the 3d of November, of\nthe same year. Five days later Madame Roland was beheaded, also. Both\nwent to their death heroically. Shortly before these executions, on\nOctober 17, 1793, the assembly had shown its attitude of hostility\ntoward women by deciding to suppress all the women\u2019s clubs. Later on,\nwhen the women continued to protest against the wrong perpetrated\nagainst them, they were even forbidden to attend the assembly and\nthe public meetings, and were treated as rebels.\n\nWhen monarchical Europe marched against France, and the assembly\ndeclared \u201cthe fatherland to be in danger,\u201d Parisian women offered to\ndo what was done twenty years later by enthusiastic Prussian women,\nto bear arms in defence of the fatherland, thereby hoping to prove\ntheir right to equality. But they were opposed in the commune by the\nradical Chaumette, who addressed them thus: \u201cSince when are women\npermitted to deny their sex and to make men of themselves? Since\nwhen is it customary for them to neglect the tender care of their\nhouseholds, to forsake the cradles of their children, to come into\npublic places, to speak from platforms, to enter the ranks of the\narmy, with one word, to perform those duties which nature has destined\nman to perform? Nature has said to the man: \u2018Be a man! The races, the\nhunt, agriculture, politics, all exertions are your ~privilege~.\u2019\nShe has said to the woman: \u2018Be a woman! The care of your children,\nthe details of the household, the sweet restlessness of motherhood,\nthese are your ~tasks~.\u2019 Foolish women, why do you seek to become\nmen? Are human beings not properly divided? What more do you ask? In\nthe name of Nature, remain what you are, and far from envying us our\nstormy lives, make us forget them in the midst of our families by\nletting our eyes rest upon the lovely sight of our children, happy in\nyour tender care.\u201d Undoubtedly the radical Chaumette expressed the\nopinion held by most men. It is generally considered an appropriate\ndivision of labor that men defend the country and women care for\nhearth and home. For the rest the oratorical effusion of Chaumette\nconsists of mere phrases. It is not true that man has borne the\nburdens of agriculture. From primeval days down to the present woman\nhas contributed a large share to agriculture. The exertions of the\nhunt and the races are no \u201cexertions,\u201d but a pleasure to men, and\npolitics entails dangers only for those who combat current opinions,\nwhile to others it offers at least as much pleasure as exertion.\nNothing but the egotism of man finds expression in this speech.\n\nAims similar to those pursued by the Encyclopedists and the great\nrevolution in France found expression in the United States, when,\nduring the seventies and eighties of the eighteenth century, the\ncolonists won their struggle for independence from England and\nestablished a democratic constitution. At that time, Mercy Ottis\nWarren and the wife of the second president of the United States,\nMrs. Adams, together with a few other women, favored political\nequality. It was due to their influence that the State of New Jersey\nbestowed the right of suffrage upon women, of which it deprived them\nagain in 1807. In France, even before the outbreak of the revolution,\nCondorcet, later a Girondist, published a brilliantly written essay\nin favor of woman\u2019s suffrage and the political equality of both\nsexes.\n\nInspired by the great events in the neighboring country, it was\nbrave Mary Wollstonecraft, born in 1759, who proclaimed woman\u2019s\ncause at the other side of the channel. In 1790 she wrote a book in\nopposition to Burke, one of the most vehement opponents of the French\nRevolution, in which she defended the rights of man. Soon after\nshe proceeded to demand the rights of man for her own sex. In her\nbook, published in 1792, \u201cA Vindication of the Rights of Women,\u201d she\nseverely criticised her own sex, but demanded and bravely defended\ncomplete equality for women in behalf of the common welfare. She\nmet with vehement opposition and was subjected to severe and unjust\nattacks. Heart-broken by bitter inward struggles, she died in 1797,\nmisunderstood and ridiculed by her contemporaries.\n\nAt the same time, when the first serious endeavors to obtain political\nequality for women were being made in France, England, and the United\nStates, even in Germany, which was particularly retrogressive then,\na German writer--Th. G. v. Hippel--anonymously published a book\nin Berlin, in 1792, on the \u201cCivic Improvement in the Condition of\nWomen,\u201d in which he defended the equal rights of women. At that time\na book on the civic improvement in the condition of men would have\nbeen equally justified. We must therefore doubly admire the courage\nof this man, who, in his book, ventured to draw all the logical\nconclusions from social and political sex equality and defended same\nvery ably and intelligently.\n\nSince then the demand for political rights of women has remained\ndormant for a long time; but gradually it has been taken up again\nby the woman\u2019s movement in all countries and has become realized\nin a number of states. In France the St. Simonists and Fourierists\nfavored sex equality, and, in 1848, the Fourierist Consid\u00e9rant moved\nin the constitutional committee of the French parliament to bestow\nequal political rights upon women. In 1851, Pierre Leroux repeated\nthe motion in the chamber, but likewise unsuccessfully.\n\nAt present matters have an entirely different aspect. The development\nof our social conditions and all social relations have undergone a\ntremendous transformation and have at the same time transformed\nthe position of women. In all civilized states we find hundreds\nof thousands and millions of women employed in the most varied\nprofessions, just like men, and every year the number of women\nincreases, who must rely on their own strength and ability in the\nstruggle for existence. The nature of our social and political\nconditions, therefore, can no longer remain a matter of indifference\nto women. They must be interested in questions like the following:\nWhether or not the control of domestic and foreign affairs favor\nwar; whether or not the state should annually keep hundreds of\nthousands of healthy men in the army and drive tens of thousands\nfrom the country; whether or not the necessities of life should be\nraised in price by taxes and duties at a time when the means of\nsubsistence are very scarce to a great majority, etc. Women also pay\ndirect and indirect taxes from their property and their earnings.\nThe educational system is of the greatest interest to women, for\nthe manner of education is a determining factor in the position of\ntheir sex; it is of special importance to mothers.\n\nThe hundreds of thousands and millions of women employed in hundreds\nof trades and professions are personally and vitally concerned in\nthe nature of our social legislation. Laws relating to the length\nof the work-day, night-work, child labor, wages, safety appliances\nin factories and workshops, in one word, all labor laws, as also\ninsurance laws, etc., are of the greatest interest to working\nwomen. Workingmen are only very insufficiently informed about the\nconditions existing in many branches of industry in which women\nare chiefly or exclusively employed. It is to the interest of the\nemployers to conceal existing evils that they have caused; and in\nmany instances factory inspection does not include trades in which\nwomen are exclusively employed; yet in these very branches of industry\nprotection is most needful. We need but point to the workshops in\nour large cities, where seamstresses, dressmakers, milliners, etc.,\nare crowded together. We hardly ever hear a complaint from their\nmidst, and there is no investigation of their condition. Women as\nbread-winners are also interested in the commerce and custom-laws\nand in all civil laws. There can no longer be any doubt, that it is\nas important to women as it is to men, to influence the nature of\nour conditions by means of legislation. The participation of women\nin public life would give it a new impetus and open new vistas.\n\nDemands of this sort are briefly set aside, with the reply: \u201cWomen\ndon\u2019t understand politics; most of them do not wish to have a vote\nand would not know how to use it.\u201d That is both true and false. It\nis true that until now, in Germany, at least, not very many women\nhave demanded political equality. The first German woman to proclaim\nthe rights of women, as early as the sixties of the last century,\nwas Hedwig Dohm. Recently the Socialist working women have been the\nchief supporters of woman\u2019s suffrage and have undertaken an active\nagitation for the winning of the ballot.\n\nThe argument that women have until now shown only a very moderate\ninterest in politics, does not prove anything at all. If women have\nfailed to care about politics formerly, that does not signify that\nthey ~ought~ not to care about them now. The same arguments that\nare advanced against woman suffrage were, during the first half of\nthe sixties, advanced against universal manhood suffrage. In 1863\nthe writer of this book himself was among those who ~opposed~ it.\nFour years later it made possible his election to the Diet. Tens\nof thousands experienced a similar development. Nevertheless there\nstill are many men who either fail to make use of their political\nright, or do not know how to use it. Yet that would be no reason to\ndeprive them of it. During the parliamentary elections usually from\n25 to 30 per cent. of the voters fail to vote, and among these are\nmembers of all classes. While among the 70 to 75 per cent. who do\nvote, the majority, in our opinion, vote as they ought not to vote\nif they understood their own advantage. That they do not understand\nis due to a lack of political education. But political education is\nnot obtained by withholding political rights from the masses. It is\nobtained only by the practice of political rights. Practice alone\nmakes perfect. The ruling classes have always known it to be in their\nown interest to keep the great majority of the people in political\ndependence. Therefore it has been the task of a determined, class\nconscious minority to struggle for the common good with energy and\nenthusiasm, and to arouse the masses from their indifference and\ninertia. It has been thus in all the great movements of history,\nand therefore it need not surprise or discourage us that it is the\nsame with the woman\u2019s movement. The success that has been obtained\nso far shows, that work and sacrifice are not in vain and that the\nfuture will bring victory.\n\nAs soon as women shall have obtained equal rights with men, the\nconsciousness of their duties will be awakened in them. When asked\nto vote they will begin to question \u201cwhy\u201d and \u201cfor whom.\u201d\n\nThereby a new source of interest will be established between man and\nwoman that, far from harming their mutual relation, will considerably\nimprove it. The inexperienced woman will naturally turn to the more\nexperienced man. Therefrom an exchange of ideas and mutual instruction\nwill result, a relation that until now has been very rare between man\nand woman. This will give their life a new charm. The unfortunate\ndifferences in education and conception between the sexes that\nfrequently lead to disputes, breed discord in regard to the various\nduties of the man and injure the public welfare, will be adjusted\nmore and more. A congenial and like-minded wife will support a man\nin his endeavors, instead of hindering him. If other tasks should\nprevent her from being active herself, she will encourage the man\nto do his duty. She will also be willing to sacrifice a fraction of\nthe income for a newspaper and for purposes of agitation, because\nthe newspaper will mean instruction and entertainment to her, and\nbecause she will understand that by the sacrifices for purposes of\nagitation, a more worthy human existence can be won for herself,\nher husband and her children.\n\nThus the common service of the public welfare, that is closely linked\nwith the individual welfare, will elevate both man and woman. The\nopposite of that will be attained which is claimed by short-sighted\npersons or by the enemies of equal rights, and this relation between\nthe sexes will develop and become more beautiful as improved social\nconditions will liberate both man and woman from material care and\nexcessive burdens of toil. Here, as in other cases, practice and\neducation will help along. If I do not go into the water I will never\nlearn to swim; if I do not study and practice a foreign language, I\nwill never learn to speak it. That is readily understood by everyone;\nbut many fail to understand that the same holds true of the affairs of\nthe state and society. Are our women less capable than the inferior\nNegro race that was given political equality in North America? Or\nshall a highly cultured, educated woman be entitled to fewer rights\nthan the most coarse and ignorant man, only because blind chance\nbrought the latter into the world as a male being? Has the son a\ngreater right than the mother from whom he has perhaps inherited\nhis best qualities and who made him what he is? Such \u201cjustice\u201d is\nstrange, indeed.\n\nMoreover, we are no longer risking a leap into the dark and unknown.\nNorth America, New Zealand, and Finland have paved the way. On the\neffects of woman suffrage in Wyoming, Justice Kingman, from Laramie,\nwrote to \u201cThe Woman\u2019s Journal,\u201d on November 12, 1872, as follows: \u201cIt\nis three years to-day that women were enfranchised in our territory\nand were also given the right to be elected to office, as all other\nvoters. During this time they have taken part in the elections and\nhave been elected to various offices; they have acted as jurors and\nas justices of the peace. Although there probably still are some\namong us who oppose the participation of women, on principle, I do\nnot believe any one can deny that the participation of women in our\nelections has exerted an ~educational~ influence. The elections\nbecame more quiet and orderly, and at the same time our courts were\nenabled to punish various kinds of criminals who had been allowed\nto go unpunished until then. When the territory was organized, for\ninstance, there was hardly a person who did not carry a revolver and\nmake use of same upon the slightest provocation. I do not remember\na single case where a person had been convicted of shooting by a\njury composed entirely of men; but, with two or three women among\nthe jurors, they always followed the instructions of the judge.\u201d\n\nThe prevailing sentiment in regard to woman suffrage in Wyoming,\ntwenty-five years after its introduction, was expressed in a\nproclamation by the legislature of that state to all the legislatures\nof the country. It read:\n\n \u201c~Whereas~, Wyoming was the first State to adopt woman suffrage,\n which has been in operation since 1869, and was adopted in the\n constitution of the State in 1890; during which time women have\n exercised the privilege as generally as men, with the result that\n better candidates have been elected for office, methods of election\n purified, the character of legislation improved, civic intelligence\n increased, and womanhood developed to a greater usefulness by\n political responsibility; therefore,\n\n \u201c~Resolved~, by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring,\n that, in view of these results, the enfranchisement of women in every\n State and Territory of the American Union is hereby recommended\n as a measure tending to the advancement of a higher and better\n social order.\u201d\n\nIt is certain that the enfranchisement of women has shown many\nadvantageous results for Wyoming, and not one single disadvantage.\nThat is the most splendid vindication of its introduction. The example\nset by Wyoming was followed by other states. Women were given full\nparliamentary suffrage in Colorado in 1894, in Utah in 1895, in\nIdaho in 1896. Women have municipal suffrage in Kansas, and school\nsuffrage, tax-paying suffrage, etc., in a number of other states\nin the Union. In 1899, after the innovation had been in force in\nColorado for five years, the legislature decided upon the following\nresolution, by 45 against 3 votes:\n\n \u201c~Whereas~, equal suffrage has been in operation in Colorado for\n five years, during which time women have exercised the privilege as\n generally as men, with the result that better candidates have been\n selected for office, methods of election have been purified, the\n character of legislation improved, civic intelligence increased\n and womanhood developed to greater usefulness by political\n responsibility; therefore,\n\n \u201c~Resolved~, by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring,\n that, in view of these results, the enfranchisement of women in every\n State and Territory of the American Union is hereby recommended\n as a measure tending to the advancement of a higher and better\n social order.\u201d\n\nIn a number of states the legislatures have passed woman suffrage\nbills, but these decisions were annulled by the vote of the people.\nThis was the case in Kansas, Oregon, Nebraska, Indiana, and Oklahoma.\nIn Kansas and Oklahoma this proceeding has been twice repeated, and\nin Oregon even three times. The noteworthy fact is that each time\nthe majorities against the political emancipation of women became\nsmaller.[178]\n\n\u201cThe municipal rights obtained by women are very varied, but, taken\nall in all, do not amount to much. As a matter of course, women\nenjoy the full municipal rights of citizenship in those four states\nin which they have been given national suffrage. But only one other\nstate, Kansas, has given women municipal suffrage, which also includes\nschool and tax-paying suffrage and makes them eligible to school\nboards. A limited municipal suffrage, founded upon an educational\nqualification, has been exercised by the women of Michigan since\n1893. Louisiana, Montana, Iowa, and New York give women the right to\nvote on municipal questions of taxation. The women have not obtained\nas much influence in the general administration of municipal affairs\nas they have in regard to the administration of schools. They have\nschool suffrage and are eligible to school boards in the following\nstates: Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York,\nNew Jersey, Delaware, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North and\nSouth Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, Arizona, Oregon and Washington. In\nKentucky and Oklahoma they have school suffrage, but are not eligible\nto office; in Kentucky the school suffrage is limited by certain\nrestrictions. In Maine, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Iowa\nand California, women are eligible to school boards, but only to\ncertain offices.\u201d[179]\n\nIn New Zealand, women have had full parliamentary suffrage since\n1893. They have actively participated in the parliamentary elections,\nmore actively than the men, but they are not eligible to office. Only\nmen may be elected. In 1893, of 139,915 women of voting age no less\nthan 109,461 registered; 785 for each 1000; 90,290--645 for each\n1000--took part in the elections. In 1896 108,783 (68 per cent.) of\nthe women voted; in 1902, 138,565; in 1905, 175,046.\n\nIn Tasmania, women were given municipal suffrage in 1884 and national\nsuffrage in 1903. In South Australia, women have had national suffrage\nsince 1895, in West Australia since 1900, in New South Wales since\n1902, in Queensland since 1905, in Victoria since 1908. Federated\nAustralia introduced parliamentary woman\u2019s suffrage in 1902. The\nparliamentary suffrage implies the eligibility of women to parliament,\nbut until now no woman has been elected. Women who are of age may\nvote for members of parliament and be voted for on the same terms as\nmen. The municipal administration is less democratic. The right of\nparticipation in the administration of municipal affairs is connected\nwith military service. Since 1889, tax-paying women are eligible\nto the charity-boards of town and rural communities. They may also\nbe elected as directors of charitable institutions and members of\nschool boards.\n\nThe grand general strike of October, 1905, and the victory of the\nRussian revolution made possible the restoration of the constitution\nin Finland. The working class, by bringing pressure to bear upon\nthe National Diet, succeeded in obtaining the passage of a law that\nprovided for the introduction of universal suffrage, including the\nwomen. Only such persons were excluded who received aid from public\nfunds, or who owed their personal tax to the state, 50 cents for men\nand 25 cents for women. In 1907, 19 women, and in 1908, 25 women\nwere elected to the parliament of Finland.\n\nIn Norway, women participate in the administration of schools since\n1889. In cities, the city councils may appoint them to school boards,\nand women having children of school age take part in the election of\nschool inspectors. In the rural districts all who pay school taxes,\nregardless of sex, are entitled to take part in the school meetings\nof the communities. Women may hold the office of school inspector.\nGradually women were given a voice in other municipal matters also.\nIn 1901, municipal suffrage was extended to all Norwegian women who\nhad attained their twenty-fifth year, who were Norwegian citizens,\nhaving been in the country at least five years, and who paid taxes\non an income of at least 300 crowns, in the rural districts, and\n400 crowns in the cities, or whose husbands paid the required amount\nof taxes. Women answering these requirements were also made eligible\nto municipal offices. By this law 200,000 women were enfranchised,\n30,000 of them in Christiania alone. During the first election in\nwhich the women participated, 90 women were elected as members of\ntown and city councils, and 160 as alternates. In Christiana, 6\nwomen councillors and one alternate were elected. On July 1, 1907,\nthe Norwegian women were given parliamentary suffrage, but not upon\nthe same terms as men. Parliamentary suffrage was extended to women\non the same terms on which they had been given municipal suffrage;\n250,000 proletarian women still remain excluded from political rights.\n\nIn Sweden, unmarried women take part in municipal elections since\n1862, on the same terms as men; that is, they must be of age and must\npay taxes on an income of at least 140 dollars. In 1887 only 4000\nwomen among 62,000 voted. At first, women were not eligible to any\nmunicipal office, but in 1889 a law was enacted which declared them\neligible to school boards and boards of charity. In February, 1909,\nSwedish women were declared eligible to all town and city councils.\nIn 1902 parliamentary woman suffrage was rejected by the lower\nhouse by 114 against 64 votes; in 1905 by 109 against 88 votes.\n\nIn Denmark, after many years of agitation, women were given municipal\nsuffrage in April, 1908, and were also made eligible to municipal\noffices. All those women are enfranchised who have attained their\ntwenty-fifth year and who have an annual income of at least 225 dollars\nin the cities (less in rural districts), or whose husbands pay the\nrequired amount of taxes. Moreover, servant girls are enfranchised,\nin whose case board and lodging are added to the wages they receive.\nDuring the first election in which women participated, which took\nplace in 1909, seven women were elected to the city council of\nCopenhagen. In Iceland, women have municipal suffrage and are eligible\nto municipal offices since 1907.\n\nThe struggle for woman suffrage in England has a considerable history.\nAccording to an old law, in the mediaeval ages, ladies of the manors\nhad the right of suffrage and also exercised judicial power. In the\ncourse of time they were deprived of these rights. In the election\nreform acts of 1832, the word \u201cperson\u201d had been employed, which\nincludes members of both sexes. Yet the law was construed not to\nrefer to women, and they were barred from voting wherever they made\nan attempt to do so. In the election reform bill of 1867, the word\n\u201cperson\u201d had been replaced by the word \u201cman.\u201d John Stuart Mill moved\nto reintroduce the word \u201cperson\u201d instead of \u201cman,\u201d explicitly stating\nas the object of his motion that thereby women would be given the\nsuffrage on the same terms as men. The motion was voted down by 194\nagainst 73 votes. Sixteen years later, in 1883, another attempt was\nmade in the house of commons to introduce woman suffrage. The bill\nwas rejected by a majority of only 16 votes. Another attempt failed\nin 1884, when a much larger membership of the house voted down a\nsuffrage bill by a majority of 136 votes. But the minority were not\ndiscouraged. In 1886 they succeeded in having a bill providing for\nthe introduction of parliamentary woman suffrage passed in two\nreadings. The dissolving of parliament prevented a final decision.\n\nOn November 29, 1888, Lord Salisbury delivered an address in\nEdinburgh, in which he said, among other things: \u201cI sincerely hope\nthat the day may not be distant when women will participate in\nparliamentary elections and will help to determine the course of the\ngovernment.\u201d Alfred Russell Wallace, the well-known scientist and\nfollower of Darwin, expressed himself upon the same question in the\nfollowing manner: \u201cWhen men and women shall be free to follow their\nbest impulses, when no human being shall be hampered by unnatural\nrestrictions owing to the chance of sex, when public opinion will\nbe controlled by the wisest and best and will be systematically\nimpressed upon the young, then we will find that a system of human\nselection will manifest itself that will result in a transformed\nhumanity. As long as women are compelled to regard marriage as a\nmeans whereby they may escape poverty and neglect, they are and\nremain at a disadvantage compared to men. Therefore the first step\nin the emancipation of women is to remove all the restrictions which\nprevent them from competing with men in all branches of industry and\nin all occupations. But we must advance beyond this point and permit\nwomen to exercise their ~political rights~. Many of the restrictions\nfrom which women have hitherto suffered would have been spared them\nif they had had a direct representation in parliament.\u201d\n\nOn April 27, 1892, the second reading of a bill by Sir A. Rollit\nwas again rejected by 175 against 152 votes. On February 3, 1897,\nthe house of commons passed a suffrage bill, but, owing to various\nman\u0153uvres of the opponents, the bill did not come up for the third\nreading. In 1904 the same scene was re-enacted. Of the members of\nparliament elected to the house of commons in 1906, a large majority\nhad declared themselves in favor of woman suffrage prior to their\nelection. On June 21, 1908, a grand demonstration was held in Hyde\nPark. On February 28, a bill providing that women should be given\nparliamentary suffrage on the same terms as men, had been passed by\n271 against 92 votes.[180]\n\nIn regard to municipal administration, woman suffrage in Great Britain\nis constantly expanding. In the parish councils tax-paying women have\na voice and vote as well as men. Since 1899, women in England have\nthe right to vote for town, district and county councils. In the\nrural districts all proprietors and lodgers--including the female\nones--who reside in the parish or district are entitled to vote. All\ninhabitants who are of age may be elected to the above-named bodies,\nregardless of sex. Women vote for members of school boards, and,\nsince 1870, are eligible to same on the same terms as men. But in\n1903 the reactionary English school law has deprived women of the\nright of being elected to the school board in the county of London.\nSince 1869 independent and unmarried women have the right to vote for\nthe privy councils. Two laws enacted in 1907 made unmarried women\nin England and Scotland eligible to district and county councils.\nBut a woman who may be elected as chairman of such a council, shall\nthereby not hold the office of justice of peace that is connected\nwith it. Women are also eligible to parish councils and as overseers\nof the poor. The first woman mayor was elected in Aldeburgh on\nNovember 9, 1908. In 1908 there were 1162 women on English boards\nof charity and 615 women on school boards. In Ireland, tax-paying\nwomen have had municipal suffrage since 1887, and since 1896 they\nmay vote for members of boards of charity and be elected to same.\nIn the British colony of North America, most of the provinces have\nintroduced municipal woman suffrage on similar terms as in England.\nIn the African colonies of England, municipal woman suffrage has\nlikewise been introduced.\n\nIn France the first slight progress was brought about by a law\nenacted on February 27, 1880. By this law a school board was\ncreated consisting of women school principals, school inspectors,\nand inspectors of asylums. Another law of January 23, 1898, gave\nwomen engaged in commerce the right to vote for members of courts of\ntrade, and, since November 25, 1908, women may be elected as members\nof courts of trade themselves.\n\nIn Italy women may vote for members of courts of trade and be elected\nas such since 1893. They are also eligible to boards of supervisors\nof hospitals, orphan asylums, foundling asylums, and to school boards.\n\nIn Austria women belonging to the class of great landowners may vote\nfor members of the Diet and the imperial council, either personally\nor by proxy. Taxpaying women, over 24, may vote for town and city\ncouncillors; married women exercise the suffrage indirectly through\ntheir husbands, others through some other authorized agent. All the\nwomen belonging to the class of great land-owners have the right\nto vote for members of the Diet, but, with the exception of Lower\nAustria, they do not exercise it personally. Only in the one domain\nreferred to, the law of 1896 provides that the great landowners,\nregardless of sex, must cast their vote in person. Women may also\nvote for members of courts of trade, but may not be elected to same.\n\nIn Germany women are explicitly excluded from voting for any\nlaw-making bodies. In some parts of the country women may vote for\ntown-councillors. In no city or rural community are women eligible to\nmunicipal offices. In the cities they are also excluded from the right\nto vote for any office. The exceptions to this rule are some cities\nin the Grand-duchy of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach, in the principalities\nof Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, in Bavaria,\nand the little town of Travemuende, in Lubeck.\n\nIn the Bavarian cities all women who are house-owners, and in the\ncities of Saxony-Weimar and Schwarzburg, all women citizens are given\nthe suffrage, but only in Travemuende are they permitted to exercise\nit in person.[181] In most of the rural communities where the right\nof suffrage depends upon a property or tax-paying qualification,\nwomen are included in this right. But they must vote by proxy and are\nnot eligible to any office themselves. This is the case in Prussia,\nBrunswick, Schleswig-Holstein, Saxony-Weimar, Hamburg, and Lubeck.\nIn the Kingdom of Saxony a woman may exercise the suffrage if she be\na landowner and ~unmarried~. When she becomes married, her suffrage\ndevolves upon her husband. In those states in which municipal suffrage\ndepends upon citizenship, women are generally excluded. This is the\ncase in Wurtemberg, in the Bavarian Palatinate, in Baden, Hessia,\nOldenburg, Anhalt, Gotha, and Reuss. In Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach,\nCoburg, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, women\ncan become citizens on the same terms as men, and they have the\nsuffrage, not limited by any property qualification. But here, too,\nthey are prohibited from exercising this right in person.\n\nIn those Prussian districts where a limited form of woman suffrage\nexists, the enfranchised women participate directly or indirectly in\nthe elections for members of the dietines. In the electoral groups of\ngreat landowners and the representatives of mining and manufacturing\nestablishments, the women vote for members of the dietines directly;\nbut in the rural communities they vote indirectly, since here the\ntown council does not elect the representatives themselves, but\nonly their electors. As the local dietines elect representatives to\nthe provincial diets, the small number of enfranchised women are\nenabled to exert a very modest influence on the administration of\nthe provinces.\n\nDuring recent years women have been admitted to boards of charity,\nand have been made overseers of the poor and of orphan asylums in\ngrowing numbers and with marked success. (Bavaria constitutes the only\nexception.) In some cities (in Prussia, Baden, Wurtemberg, Bavaria\nand Saxony), they have also been admitted to school boards, and in\none city (Mannheim), they have been made members of a commission for\nthe inspection of dwellings. Insurance against sickness is the only\npublic institution in connection with which women may vote and be\nvoted for. They remain excluded from voting for members of courts\nof trade.\n\nThe above-quoted instances show that suffrage in Germany and Austria\nis determined, almost without exception, not by the person, but by\nproperty. Politically, human beings are mere ciphers if they have no\nmoney and no possessions. Neither intellect nor ability, but property\nis the determining factor. It is very instructive to note this fact\nin regard to the morality and justice of the present state.\n\nWe see that a number of exceptions have already been made to the theory\nthat women are in the same class with minors and that the franchise\nmust accordingly be withheld from them. And yet people vehemently\noppose the endeavor to give women full political equality. Even\nprogressive people argue that it would be dangerous to enfranchise\nwomen because they are conservative by nature and are susceptible to\nreligious prejudices. But these arguments are true to some extent\nonly, so long as women are maintained in ignorance. Our object must\ntherefore be to educate them and to teach them where their true\ninterest lies. Incidentally it may be stated that the religious\ninfluence on elections has been overestimated. The ultramontane\nagitation was so successful in Germany only because it wisely combined\nthe religious interests with social interests. For a long time the\nultramontane chaplains vied with the Socialists in revealing social\ndeterioration. It was this that caused them to become so influential\nwith the masses. But with the end of the struggle between church and\nstate this influence gradually declines. The clergy are obliged to\nabandon their struggle against the power of the state; at the same\ntime the increasing class differences compel them to show greater\nconsideration for the Catholic bourgeoisie and the Catholic nobility\nand to be more reticent in regard to social questions. Thereby they\nlose their influence upon workingmen, especially if consideration\nfor the ruling classes compels them to favor or to tolerate actions\nand laws that are directed against the interests of the working\nclass. The same reasons will eventually also destroy the influence\nof the clergy upon women. When women learn in meetings, or from\nnewspapers, or by personal experience, where their true interests\nlie, they will emancipate themselves from clerical influence just\nas men.[182]\n\nIn Belgium, where ultramontanism still predominates among large\ncircles of the population, a number of the Catholic clergy favor\nwoman suffrage because they deem it an effective weapon against\nSocialism. In Germany, too, a number of conservative members of the\nDiet have declared themselves in favor of the woman suffrage bills\nintroduced by Socialist members and have explained their position\nby asserting that they consider woman suffrage a weapon against\nSocialism. Undoubtedly there is some truth in these opinions, taking\ninto consideration the present political ignorance of women and the\nstrong influence exerted over them by the clergy. But still this is\nno reason to disfranchise them. There are millions of workingmen,\ntoo, who vote for candidates of bourgeois and religious parties\nagainst their own class interest and thereby prove their political\nignorance, yet no one would propose to disfranchise them for this\nreason. The withholding or the rape of the franchise is not practiced\nbecause the ignorance of the masses--including the ignorance of\nwomen--is feared; for what these masses are, the ruling classes have\nmade them. It is practiced because the ruling classes fear that\nthe masses will gradually become wise and pursue their own course.\n\nUntil recently the various German states were so reactionary that\nthey even withheld from women the right of political organization.\nIn Prussia, Bavaria, Brunswick, and a number of other German states,\nthey were not permitted to form political clubs. In Prussia they\nwere not even permitted to participate in entertainments arranged\nby political clubs, as was distinctly set down by the supreme court\nin 1901. The rector of the Berlin University even went so far as to\nforbid a woman to lecture before a social science club of students.\nIn the same year the police authorities of Brunswick forbade women to\ntake part in the proceedings of the social congress of Evangelists.\nIn 1902 the Prussian secretary of state condescended to give women\nthe permission to attend the meetings of political clubs, but under\nthe condition that they had to take their seats in a part of the\nhall specially set aside for them, like the Jewish women in their\nsynagogues. Nothing could have better characterized the pettiness\nof our conditions. As late as February, 1904, Pasadowsky solemnly\ndeclared in the Diet: \u201cWomen shall keep their hands off politics.\u201d\nBut eventually this state of affairs became unbearable even to the\nbourgeois parties. The new national law on assembly and organization\nof April 19, 1908, brought the only marked improvement by establishing\nequal rights of women in regard to political organization and public\nassembly.\n\nThe right to vote must of course be combined with the right to be\nelected to office. We hear the cry: \u201cHow ridiculous it would be to\nbehold a woman on the platform of the Diet!\u201d Yet there are other\nstates where women have ascended to the platforms of parliaments, and\nwe, too, have long since become accustomed to see women on platforms\nin their meetings and conventions. In North America women appear on\nthe pulpit and in the jury-box; why not on the platform of the Diet?\nThe first woman to be elected to the Diet will know how to impress\nthe other members. When the first workingmen were elected to the\nDiet they, too, were the objects of cheap wit, and it was asserted\nthat workingmen would soon recognize the folly of electing men of\ntheir type. But the working-class representatives quickly succeeded\nin winning respect, and at present their opponents fear that there\nmay be too many of them. Frivolous jesters exclaim: \u201cBut picture a\npregnant woman on the platform of the Diet; how shocking!\u201d Yet the\nsame gentlemen consider it quite proper that pregnant women should\nbe employed at occupations which shockingly degrade their womanly\ndignity and decency and undermine their health. That man is a wretch,\nindeed, who dares to ridicule a pregnant woman. The very thought\nthat his mother was in the same condition before she gave him birth\nmust drive the blood to his cheeks in shame, and the other thought,\nthat his wife\u2019s being in the same condition may mean the fulfillment\nof his fondest hopes, must silence him.[183]\n\n~The woman who gives birth to children is serving the community\nat least as well as the man who risks his life in defence of the\ncountry.~ For she gives birth to and educates the future soldiers,\nfar too many of whom must sacrifice their lives on the battlefield.\nMoreover, every woman ~risks her life~ in becoming a mother. All\nour mothers have faced death in giving us life, and many of them\nhave perished. In Prussia, for instance, the number of deaths in\nchild-birth--including the victims of puerperal fever--by far exceeds\nthe number of deaths from typhoid. During 1905 and 1906 0.73 and\n0.62 per cent. of typhoid patients died. But among 10,000 women 2.13\nand 1.97 per cent. died in child-birth. \u201cHow would conditions have\ndeveloped,\u201d Professor Herff rightly remarks, \u201cif men were subjected\nto these sufferings to the same extent? Would not the utmost measures\nbe resorted to?\u201d[184] ~The number of women who die in child-birth, or\nare left sickly as a result of same, is far greater than the number of\nmen who die or are wounded on the battlefield.~ From 1816 to 1876, in\nPrussia alone, no less than 321,791 women fell victims of puerperal\nfever; that is an annual average of 5363. In England, from 1847 to\n1901, 213,533 women died in child-birth, and still, notwithstanding\nall hygienic measures, no less than 4000 die annually.[185]\n\nThat is a far greater number than the number of men killed in the\nvarious wars during the same time. To this tremendous number of\nwomen who die in child-birth must furthermore be added the still\ngreater number of those who become sickly as a result of child-birth\nand die young.[186] This is another reason why woman is entitled\nto full equality with man. Let these facts be especially noted by\nthose persons who advance the military service of men as an argument\nagainst the equal rights of women. Moreover, our military institutions\nenable a great many men to escape the performance of this duty.\n\nAll these superficial objections to the public activity of women would\nbe impossible if the relation of the sexes was natural, instead of\nthere being an artificially stimulated antagonism between them. From\ntheir early childhood on the sexes are separated in their education\nand their social intercourse. It is especially the antagonism we\nowe to Christianity that keeps the sexes apart and maintains one in\nignorance about the other, whereby free social intercourse, mutual\nconfidence and the ability to supplement each other\u2019s traits of\ncharacter are prevented.\n\nOne of the first and most important tasks of a rationally organized\nsociety must be to remove this detrimental discord and to restore\nthe rights of nature. We begin by making even the little children in\nschool unnatural, firstly, by separating the sexes, and secondly,\nby failing to instruct our children as to the sex nature of human\nbeings. In every fairly good school natural history is being taught\nat present. The child learns that birds lay eggs and hatch them.\nHe learns when birds mate and that both the male and female bird\nbuild the nest, hatch the eggs and feed the young. He also learns\nthat mammals bring forth their young alive. He hears of the mating\nseason and that the male animals fight one another for possession of\nthe females. Perhaps he even learns how many young one or another\nspecies of animal usually brings forth and how long the female is\npregnant. But profoundest secrecy is maintained in regard to the\norigin and development of the human being. When the child seeks to\nsatisfy its natural curiosity by questioning his parents, especially\nhis mother--he rarely ventures to question the teacher--he is told\nthe most ridiculous fairy tales that cannot satisfy his thirst for\nknowledge and that must exert an all the more harmful influence\nwhen, some day, he nevertheless learns the true nature of his\norigin. There are few children who have not learned of it by the\ntime they are twelve years old. In every small town, and especially\nin the country, even very young children have occasion to observe\nthe pairing of poultry and domestic animals at close range in the\nyards, in the streets and on pasture. They hear that the pairing of\ndomestic animals and the birth of the young is discussed without a\nsense of shame by their parents, their elder brothers and sisters\nand the servants. All this causes the child to doubt the truth of\nwhat his parents told him in regard to his own coming into the world.\nFinally the child learns the truth, but not in the manner in which\nhe ought to learn it if his education were a natural and rational\none. The fact that the child keeps his knowledge a secret leads to\nan estrangement between him and his parents, especially between him\nand his mother. The parents have accomplished the opposite of what\nthey sought to accomplish in their ignorance and short-sightedness.\nThose who recall their own childhood and the childhood of their\nplaymates know to what this may lead.\n\nAn American woman[187] tells us that in order to satisfactorily\nanswer the constant questions of her eight-year-old son as to his\norigin, and because she did not wish to tell him fairy tales, she\nrevealed to him the truth about his birth. The child, she says,\nlistened to her with utmost attention, and from the day upon which he\nhad learned how much suffering he caused his mother, he had treated\nher with unwonted tenderness and respect and had also transferred\nthese feelings to other women. The writer upholds the correct view\nthat only by means of a natural education men can be led to treat\nwomen with more respect and self-control. Every unprejudiced person\nis bound to agree with her.\n\nWhatever starting-point one may choose in the criticism of present-day\nconditions, one is bound always to reiterate the following: ~A\nthorough reorganization of our social conditions~, and thereby a\nthorough transformation in the relation of the sexes, is needful.\nWoman, in order to attain her aim more quickly, must look about\nfor allies, and she naturally finds such allies in the proletarian\nmovement. The class-conscious proletariat has long since commenced\nto storm the fortress of the state that is founded on class rule,\nwhich includes the rule of one sex over the other. The fortress must\nbe surrounded on all sides, and, by arms of all calibers, it must\nbe forced to surrender. The beleaguering army finds its officers\nand suitable arms on all sides. The social sciences, the natural\nsciences, historical research, pedagogics, hygiene and statistics\nfurnish the movement with arms and munition. Philosophy comes forward,\ntoo, and, in Mainlaender\u2019s \u201cPhilosophy of Deliverance,\u201d proclaims\nthe early realization of the \u201cideal state.\u201d\n\nThe conquest of the class-state and its transformation is made easier\nby dissension in the ranks of its defenders, who, notwithstanding\ntheir community of interests against the common enemy, fight one\nanother in the struggle for the spoils. The interest of one group is\nopposed to the interest of another. Another point in our favor is the\ngrowing mutiny in the ranks of the enemy. To a great extent their\nsoldiers are blood of our blood and flesh of our flesh, but, owing to\nignorance, they, until now, fought against us and against themselves.\nMore and more of these join our ranks. We are, furthermore, helped\nby the desertion of honest men of intellect, who were hostile to us\nat first, but whose superior knowledge and profound insight impels\nthem to rise above their narrow class interest, to follow their ideal\ndesire for justice, and to espouse the cause of the masses that are\nlonging for liberation.\n\nMany still fail to recognize that state and society are already in a\nstate of decay. Therefore an exposition of this subject also becomes\nnecessary.\n\n[177] Emma Adler--Famous Women of the French Revolution. Vienna,\n1906.\n\n[178] At present suffrage amendments are pending in Washington and\nOklahoma. (Tr.)\n\n[179] Clara Zetkin--Woman Suffrage. Berlin, 1907.\n\n[180] A similar bill, known as the \u201cconciliation bill,\u201d drawn up by\na committee consisting of members of all parties, passed its second\nreading in July 1910 by 299 against 189 votes. Prime Minister Asquith\nprevented the third reading and final vote upon the bill during that\nsession of Parliament. (Tr.)\n\n[181] Political Manual for Women. Berlin, 1909.\n\n[182] That this danger exists the clergy themselves have soon\nrecognized. Since the woman movement has grown and developed even\nin bourgeois circles, the leaders of the Catholic party recognized\nthat they could no longer oppose it, and they accordingly completely\nreversed their attitude. With that subtlety which has always\ncharacterized the servants of the church, they favor at present\nwhat they opposed until quite recently. They not only favor higher\neducation for women, they also declare themselves in favor of\nunrestricted right of assembly and organization for women. Some of\nthe more far-sighted even support woman suffrage, hoping that the\nchurch may derive the greatest gain from the introduction of same.\nIn the same way the industrial organization of women is supported\nby the Catholic clergy, even the organization of servant girls. But\nall these social endeavors are fostered, not from an innate sense\nof justice, but to prevent the women from flocking to the camp of\nreligious and political opponents.\n\n[183] \u201cHalf of the women members of Parliament in Finland are wives\nand mothers. Three of the Socialist married women members became\nmothers during their parliamentary activity without any other\ndisturbing results except that they remained away from the sessions\nfor a few weeks. Their pregnant condition was regarded as something\nnatural that was neither wonderful nor noteworthy. It may rather\nbe said that this factor was of educational value to the assembly.\nIn regard to the parliamentary activity of these women members it\nshould be noted that their parties elected them to the special\ncommittees also, which proves that they were convinced of their\nability. The committee on labor where the laws for workingmen\u2019s\nprotection, workingmen\u2019s insurance, and the new trade laws were\ndrawn up, consisted of twelve men and four women, and three women\nhad been chosen as alternates. The legislative and constitutional\ncommittees each had two women members, and for each there was one\nwoman alternate, and the women have ably maintained their place\nin these committees.\u201d--Miss Hilda Paerssinen, member of the diet\nof Finland--\u201cWoman Suffrage and the Participation of Women in the\nParliamentary Work of Finland.\u201d--Documents of Progress. July, 1909.\n\n[184] Professor Dr. Otto v. Herff--The struggle against puerperal\nfever. Leipsig, 1908.\n\n[185] W. Williams--Deaths in Child-bed. London, 1904.\n\n[186] \u201cFor every woman who dies in child-birth we must assume from\nfifteen to twenty who are more or less seriously infected with\nresulting diseases of the abdominal organs and general debility from\nwhich they frequently suffer for the remainder of their lives.\u201d\nDr. Mrs. H. B. Adams--The Book of Woman. Stuttgart, 1894.\n\n[187] Womanhood, Its Sanctities and Fidelities by Isabella\nBeecher Hooker. New York, 1874. Lee, Shepard & Dillingham.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe State and Society.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\nThe Class-State and the Modern Proletariat.\n\n\n1.--Our Public Life.\n\nThe development of society has been a very rapid one in all civilized\nstates of the world during recent decades, and any new achievement\nin any realm of human activity still hastens this development.\nThereby our social conditions have been put into a state of unrest,\nfermentation and dissolution, the like of which had never been known\nbefore. The feeling of security of the ruling classes has been\nshaken, and the institutions are losing their old stability whereby\nthey might resist the attacks that are made upon them from all\nsides. A feeling of discomfort, insecurity and dissatisfaction has\ntaken possession of all strata of society, the highest as well as\nthe lowest. The tremendous exertions made by the ruling classes to\nremove this unbearable state of affairs by patching and mending the\nbody social, prove useless because they are insufficient. They only\nincrease their sense of insecurity and heighten their discomfort and\nunrest. They have scarcely inserted one beam into the dilapidated\nstructure in the form of some legislation, when they discover a dozen\nother decayed spots that require repairs still more urgently. At\nthe same time they have constant quarrels and serious differences\nof opinion among themselves. A measure introduced by one party to\nappease the growing dissatisfaction of the masses, is condemned by\nthe other party as an unpardonable weakness and leniency that is\nbound to stimulate a desire for still greater concessions. That is\nclearly seen by the endless discussions in all parliaments, whereby\nnew laws and institutions are constantly being introduced without\nattaining any state of rest and satisfaction. Among the ruling\nclasses themselves certain extreme differences exist, some of which\nare insurmountable, and these still intensify the social conflict.\n\nThe governments--and not only those in Germany--sway to and fro like\nreeds shaken by the wind. They must lean on something, for they\ncannot exist without a support, and so they incline first toward one\nside and then toward another. There is hardly a progressive state in\nEurope in which the government can count upon a permanent majority in\nparliament. Social extremes break up the majorities; and the constant\nfluctuations of the market, especially in Germany, undermine the\nlast remnant of confidence that the ruling classes still placed in\nthemselves. To-day one party is in control and to-morrow another.\nWhat the one has constructed with much difficulty is torn down by\nthe other. The confusion increases, the dissatisfaction becomes more\nlasting, the struggles multiply and wear out more human strength in\na few months than formerly in an equal number of years. Besides,\nthe material demands, in the form of various taxes, are constantly\nincreasing, and there is no limit to the public debts.\n\nThe modern state is by its very nature a class-state. We have seen how\nit became necessary to protect private property and to regulate, by\nmeans of laws and institutions, the relations of the proprietors to one\nanother and to the non-possessors. Whatever forms the appropriation\nof property may assume in the course of historical development,\nit is established by the very nature of private property that the\ngreatest proprietors are the most powerful persons in the state and\nshape it in accordance with their interests. It is, furthermore,\nestablished by the nature of private property that an individual\ncan never obtain enough of same and employs all available means in\norder to increase it. He therefore endeavors so to shape the state\nthat it may best enable him to attain his ends. Thereby laws and\ninstitutions of the state naturally develop into class laws and\nclass institutions. But the powers of the state, and all who are\ninterested in maintaining the present order, would not be able to\nuphold it long against the mass of those who are not interested in\nits maintenance, if this mass would recognize the true nature of\nexisting conditions. This recognition must therefore be prevented at\nany cost. The masses must be maintained in ignorance concerning the\nnature of existing conditions. They must be taught that the present\norder has always existed and will always continue to exist, that\nseeking to overturn it, means to rebel against the institutions of\nGod himself. That is why religion is made to serve this purpose. The\nmore ignorant and superstitious the masses are, the more favorable\nare the circumstances to the ruling classes. To maintain them in\nignorance and superstition is in the interest of the state; that\nis, in the interest of those classes who regard the state as an\ninstitution to protect their class privileges. These are, besides\nthe propertied class, the hierarchy of church and state, who all\nunite in the common task of protecting their interests.\n\nBut, with the endeavor to win possessions and with the increased\nnumber of possessors, the general status of civilization is raised to\na higher level. The circle of those increases who seek to participate\nin the fruits of progress and who succeed in so doing to a certain\ndegree. A new class arises on a new basis. It is not regarded by\nthe ruling class as being entitled to equal rights, but is prepared\nto venture anything in order to attain equality. Finally new class\nstruggles arise and even violent revolutions, whereby the new class\nobtains recognition and power. Especially by espousing the cause\nof the mass of the oppressed and exploited, it attains the victory\nwith their aid.\n\nBut as soon as the new class has come into power it unites with\nits former enemies against its former allies, and after some time\nclass struggles begin anew. The new ruling class has meanwhile\nimprinted the entire body social with the character of its means of\nsubsistence; but as it can increase its power and its possessions\nonly by letting a part of its achievements fall to the share of\nthe class that it oppresses and exploits, it thereby heightens the\nability and understanding of that class. By so doing, the ruling\nclass furnishes the oppressed class with the weapons that shall\nachieve its own destruction. The struggle of the masses now becomes\ndirected against all class rule, in whatever form it may exist.\n\nThis last class is the modern proletariat, and its historical\nmission will be not only to achieve its own liberation, but also the\nliberation of all who are oppressed, which includes the liberation\nof woman.\n\nThe nature of the class state not only involves the political\noppression of the exploited classes, it also involves that they are\nmade to bear the heaviest burdens for the maintenance of the state.\nThat is made easy when the burdens are imposed in such a manner\nthat their true character is concealed. It is obvious that high\ndirect taxes must foster a rebellious spirit if the income of those\non whom they are imposed is a small one. Wisdom therefore bids the\nruling classes to be moderate in this respect, and to introduce a\nsystem of indirect taxation instead by placing a tax on the most\nnecessary commodities. Thereby the taxes are paid for in the price\nof the commodities in an invisible way, and the majority remain\nignorant as to the amount of taxes that they actually pay. To what\nextent the consumer is taxed on bread, salt, meat, sugar, coffee,\nbeer, oil, etc., is difficult to calculate, and most persons have no\nidea to what extent they are fleeced. These taxes weigh heaviest on\nlarge families; they are therefore the most unjust form of taxation\nimaginable. On the other hand, the possessing classes pride themselves\non the direct taxes that they pay, and by the height of these taxes\nthey measure the political rights that they enjoy and that they\nwithhold from the non-possessing classes. Moreover, the possessing\nclasses provide aid and assistance from the state for themselves by\nmeans of the tariff and other institutions that amount to millions\nof dollars annually at the expense of the masses. The masses are\nfurthermore exploited by the increased cost of living as a result\nof capitalistic organization and the formation of trusts; these the\nstate either favors by its policy or suffers to exist, and in some\ncases it even supports them by actual participation.\n\nAs long as the masses can be kept in ignorance concerning the nature\nof all these measures, they in no way endanger the state or the\nruling social order. But as soon as the exploited classes become\nconscious of their exploitation--and the growing political education\nof the masses enables them to become so--the glaring injustice of\nthese measures arouses bitterness and indignation. The last spark of\nconfidence in a sense of justice of the ruling powers is destroyed.\nThe true nature of the state that resorts to such measures, the\ntrue nature of the society that favors them, become recognized. The\nstruggle for the ultimate destruction of both is the result.\n\nIn their endeavor to do justice to the most conflicting interests,\nstate and society organize one institution upon another, but no old\none is thoroughly removed and no new one is thoroughly carried out.\nHalf measures are resorted to that fail to satisfy anyone. The new\nrequirements of civilization that have grown up among the people\nrequire some consideration, if the powers that be are not to risk\neverything. To meet these requirements even insufficiently entails a\nconsiderable expense, all the more so because there are a number of\nparasites everywhere. But alongside of these new institutions all the\nold institutions that are averse to the purposes of civilization are\nmaintained. As a result of social extremes they are even expanded and\nbecome all the more troublesome and oppressive, because increasing\nknowledge and judgment loudly proclaim them to be ~superfluous~.\nThe police department, the army, the courts, the prisons, all are\nextended and become more expensive; but thereby neither the outward\nnor the inward security is strengthened; rather the contrary takes\nplace.\n\nA highly unnatural condition has gradually developed in regard\nto the international relations of nations to one another. These\nrelations increase with the growing production of commodities, with\nthe increased exchange of commodities that is constantly made easier\nby improved methods of distribution, and by the fact that economic\nand scientific achievements are becoming the common property of all\nnations. Trade and customs treaties are made, and, with the aid of\ninternational means, expensive thoroughfares are constructed. (The\nSuez Canal, the St. Gothard Tunnel, etc.) Individual states support\nsteamship lines that help to increase the traffic between various\ncountries of the globe. The Postal Union was formed--a marked\nprogress in civilization--international congresses are held for\nvarious practical and scientific purposes; the mental products of\nthe several nations are disseminated among all the civilized nations\nof the world by translation into their respective languages, and by\nall these international activities the ideal of the ~brotherhood\nof man~ is fostered and increased. But the political and military\ncondition of Europe and the rest of the civilized world forms a\nstriking contradiction to this development. Jingoism and national\nhostilities are artificially fostered here and there. Everywhere\nthe ruling classes seek to maintain the belief that the people are\nbrimful of hostile feeling toward one another and are only waiting\nfor an opportunity to attack and destroy each other. The competitive\nstruggle of the capitalist classes of the various countries among\nthemselves, becomes international, and assumes the character of a\nstruggle of the capitalist class of one country against the capitalist\nclass of another country. This struggle, supported by the political\nblindness of the masses, causes the nations to vie with one another\nin warlike preparations the like of which the world has never seen\nbefore. This rivalry created armies of a prodigious size; it created\ntools of murder and destruction for warfare on land and sea of such\nperfection, as could be made possible only by our age of advanced\ntechnical development. This rivalry creates a development of the\nmeans of destruction that finally leads to self-destruction. The\nmaintenance of the armies and navies necessitates an immense expense\nthat grows with every year and is ultimately bound to ruin the\nwealthiest nation. During the year 1908 Germany alone spent over\n15 million marks ($3,750,000) for its army and navy, including the\nexpenses for pensions and the interest on the national debt as far\nas same had been contracted for military purposes, and this sum is\nincreasing annually. The following list, compiled by Neymarck, shows\nthe combined military expenses of the European states:\n\n 1866. 1870. 1887. 1906.\n\n Army and navy 3,000 3,000 4,500 6,725\n National debts 66,000 75,000 117,000 148,000\n Interest 2,400 3,000 5,300 6,000[188]\n\nAs shown by this list, Europe spends 6,725 million francs\n($1,362,000,000) annually for armies and navies, and 6,000 million\nfrancs ($1,215,000,000) interest on debts that have mostly been\nincurred to serve warlike purposes. A fine state of affairs, indeed!\n\nAmerica and Asia have begun to follow the example set by Europe.\nThe United States spent $967,000,000 in 1875, and $3,592,250,000 in\n1907 and 1908. In Japan the expenses for army and navy, including\nthe pensions, amounted to $51,250,000 in 1875 and to $551,000,000\nin 1908 and 1909.\n\nAs a result of these expenses objects of education and civilization are\ngrievously neglected. The expenses for external defense predominate\nand undermine the true purpose of the state. The growing armies\ncomprise the healthiest and strongest elements of the nation, and\nfor their education and training all physical and mental forces are\nemployed, as if training for wholesale murder were the most important\nmission of our age. At the same time the tools of warfare and murder\nare constantly being improved. They have attained such a degree of\nperfection in regard to speed, range, and force of destruction,\nthat they have become a terror alike to friend and foe. If this\ntremendous apparatus should be set in motion--which would imply that\nthe warring European forces would take the field with from 16 to\n20 million men--it would be seen that it has become ~uncontrollable~\nand ~indirigible~. No general can command such masses; no battlefield\nis large enough to draw them up; no administration can provide for\ntheir maintenance during any length of time. In case a battle had\ntaken place there would not be sufficient hospitals to care for the\nwounded, and to bury the dead would become almost impossible. If we\nfurthermore take into consideration what disturbances and devastations\nwould be wrought by a European war on the field of economics, we may\nsay, without fear of exaggeration: ~The next war will be the last\nwar.~ The number of failures in business would exceed all previous\nrecords. The export trade would come to a standstill and thousands\nof factories would accordingly be forced to shut down. The supply\nof provisions would run short, whereby the cost of living would be\nenormously increased. It would require millions of dollars to support\nthe families whose bread-winners had gone to war. But whence should\ncome the means to meet all these prodigious expenses? At present the\nGerman empire alone spends from eleven to twelve million dollars\ndaily to maintain its army and navy in readiness for war.\n\nThe political and military status of Europe has taken a trend of\ndevelopment that may easily end with a catastrophe by which bourgeois\nsociety will be engulfed. On the height of its development this\nsociety has created conditions which make its own existence untenable.\nItself the most revolutionary society that has hitherto existed, it\nhas furnished the means for its own destruction.\n\nIn a great many of our municipalities a desperate state of affairs\ngradually begins to prevail, since it becomes almost impossible to\nsatisfy the annually increasing demands. These demands are especially\nheavy in our rapidly growing large cities and industrial centers,\nand most of them cannot meet the demands made upon them in any other\nway than by raising the taxes and by borrowing. Schools, building\nof streets, illumination, water-works, sanitation, educational and\nwellfare work, police and administration entail constantly increasing\nexpenses. Besides, the well-to-do minority makes very heavy demands\non the community. Higher institutions of learning are demanded, the\nbuilding of museums and theatres, the laying out of fine residential\ndistricts and parks, with appropriate illumination, pavement, etc.\nThe majority of the population may object to these privileges, but\nthey are an innate part of the nature of conditions. The minority\nare in power and they use this power to satisfy their requirements\nof civilization at the expense of the community. These increased\nrequirements are justified, too, for they represent progress. Their\nonly shortcoming is that they are mainly enjoyed by the possessing\nclasses alone, while they ought to be for the common enjoyment of all.\nAnother evil is that the administrations are often expensive without\nbeing good. Not infrequently the officials are incompetent and lack\nproper understanding; while town or city councillors are generally so\nmuch engaged with the care for their private existence that they are\nunable to make the sacrifices that a thorough performance of their\nduties would require. Often public positions are used to further\nprivate interests to the detriment of the community. The tax-payers\nmust bear the consequences. A thorough and satisfactory reform of these\nconditions cannot be attained by present-day society. In whatever\nform the taxes may be levied, the dissatisfaction increases. In a\nfew decades most of the municipalities will be unable to satisfy\ntheir demands by the present form of taxation and administration.\nIn the municipalities, as in the state, the need of a thoroughgoing\ntransformation becomes manifest. In fact, the greatest demands for\npurposes of civilization are made upon them; they form the nucleus\nfrom which the social transformation will proceed as soon as the\nwill and power for such transformation exist. But how shall this\nbe attained while private interests control everything and public\ninterests are of secondary importance?\n\nThis is, briefly stated, the condition of our public life, which is\nbut a reflection of the social condition of society as a whole.\n\n[188] A. Neymarck--La Statistique international des valeurs mobili\u00e8res.\nBulletin de l\u2019institut international de statistique. Copenhagen,\n1908.\n\n\n2.--Aggravation of Social Extremes.\n\nIn present-day life the struggle for existence is becoming\nincreasingly difficult. The war of all against all is raging and is\nwaged relentlessly, often without any discrimination in the methods\nemployed. The French saying: \u201cOte-toi de la, que je m\u2019y mette\u201d (get\nout of there that I may take your place), is practiced in actual\nlife. The weak must make way for the strong. If the material force\nof money, of property, does not suffice, the meanest methods are\nresorted to that a desired aim may be attained. Lies, fraud and\ndeception, forgery and perjury, the worst crimes are committed for\nthis end. As one individual is arrayed against another in this\nwarfare, thus we find class against class, sex against sex, age\nagainst age. Advantage is the only arbiter of human relations; every\nother consideration is set aside. As soon as advantage requires it,\nthousands upon thousands of workingmen and women are cast out into the\nstreet, and become public charges or enforced vagabonds. In masses\nworkers wander from place to place through the length and breadth\nof the land, and society fears and despises them more and more as\nthe duration of their unemployment makes their external appearance\nmore shabby, and, eventually, also demoralizes their character.\nRespectable society does not know what it means to do without the\nsimplest requirements of order and cleanliness for months, to wander\nabout with an empty stomach, and to reap nothing but ill-disguised\ndisgust and contempt from those who are the upholders of this system.\nThe families of these unfortunates suffer the hardest privations and\nbecome dependent on public charity. Sometimes despair drives parents\nto awful crimes against their children and themselves, to murder and\nsuicide. Especially during hard times these deeds of despair increase\nto an appalling degree. But the ruling classes are not perturbed by\nsuch occurrences. The same editions of the daily papers that report\nsuch deeds, caused by poverty and despair, also contain reports of\nfestive revelries and glittering official pageants, as if there were\njoy and abundance everywhere.\n\nThe general need and the increasingly difficult struggle for existence\ndrive more and more women and girls into lives of degradation and\nruin. Demoralization, brutality and crime increase, while the prisons,\nthe penitentiaries and the so-called reformatories can hardly contain\nthe mass of their inmates.\n\nCrime is closely connected with social conditions. Society does not\nwish to admit this fact. Like the ostrich, that conceals its head\nin the sand not to see approaching danger, we deceive ourselves in\nregard to these conditions that should lead to self-accusation. We\ntry to persuade ourselves that it is all due to laziness, love of\npleasure and lack of piety on the part of the workingmen. This is\nself-delusion and hypocrisy of the worst kind. As social conditions\ngrow more unfavorable for a majority of the population, crimes become\nmore numerous and more severe. The struggle for existence assumes\nits most cruel and violent form and creates a condition in which\nmen regard one another as mortal enemies. Social bonds are severed\nand human beings treat each other with hostility.[189]\n\nThe ruling classes who do not see, nor wish to see, to the bottom of\nthings, seek to remedy these evils in their own way. When poverty and\nneed increase, and, as a result, demoralization and crime increase\nlikewise, the source of the evil is not sought out in order to plug\nup this source, but the products of these conditions are punished. As\nthe evils grow and the number of evil-doers increases, persecutions\nand penalties are made more severe. The belief seems to be that\nthe devil can be driven out by Satan. Even Professor Haeckel deems\nit justifiable to punish crime with severe penalties and to resort\nto capital punishment.[190] On this point he is fully agreed with\nreactionaries of all shades who otherwise are his mortal enemies.\nHaeckel holds the opinion that incorrigible criminals and wrong-doers\nshould be exterminated like weeds that rob the plants of air, light\nand the soil to grow in. If Haeckel had devoted himself partly to the\nstudy of social sciences instead of devoting himself to the natural\nsciences exclusively, he would know that these criminals could be\ntransformed into useful members of human society, if society would\noffer them the needful conditions of existence. He would know that\nthe extermination of individual criminals would no more prevent the\nperpetuation of new crimes, than weeds could be prevented from growing\nwhile their roots or their seeds remained. Man will never be able\nto prevent absolutely the formation of harmful organisms in nature.\n~But he will be able so to improve the social order that he himself\nhas created, that the conditions of existence shall be favorable to\nall, that each individual shall be enabled to develop freely, and\nshall no longer be compelled to satisfy his hunger, his desire for\npossessions, or his ambitions, at the expense of others.~[191]\n\nThey who seek to remove crime by removing its causes cannot favor\nviolent methods of repression. They cannot prevent society from\nprotecting itself in its own way against criminals whom it can, of\ncourse, not give free scope, but they demand all the more urgently\na transformation of society that would mean a removal of the causes\nof crime.\n\nThe connection between social conditions and misdemeanors and\ncrimes has frequently been shown by statisticians and political\neconomists.[192] One of the most frequent misdemeanors, that is\nregarded as a misdemeanor by our society, in spite of all its\nChristian teachings about charity--is mendicancy. In connection\nwith this subject the statistics of the Kingdom of Saxony teach\nus that the increase of the great crisis that began in Germany\nin 1890 and attained its height from 1892 to 1893, the number of\npersons punished for mendicancy increased likewise. During 1890 the\nnumber of persons punished for this misdemeanor was 8,815; during\n1891, 10,075, and during 1892, 13,120. Similar facts were observed\nin Austria, where, during 1891, 90,926 persons were convicted of\nmendicancy and vagrancy, and 98,998 persons during 1892.[193] This\nis a considerable increase.\n\nPauperization of the masses on the one hand and increasing wealth\non the other is the stamp of our period. The trend of present-day\ndevelopment may be well judged from the fact that in the United States\nfive men--John D. Rockefeller, the late Harriman, J. Pierpont Morgan,\nW. K. Vanderbilt, and G. J. Gould--in the year 1900, owned together\nover 800,000,000 dollars, and that they possessed sufficient influence\nto control the economic life of the United States and partly also\nthat of Europe. In all civilized countries the large combinations of\ncapitalists form the most noteworthy phenomenon of the recent period\nand are constantly gaining more social and political importance.\n\n[189] Plato already recognized the results of such conditions. He\nwrote: \u201cA state in which classes exist is not one single state but\ntwo. The poor form one, and the rich form the other. Both dwell\ntogether, but always way-lay one another. Finally the ruling class\nbecomes unable to wage a war, for then it depends upon the masses\nwhom, when armed, it fears more than the enemy.\u201d--Plato, The State.\nAristotle says: \u201cWidespread poverty is an evil, for it can hardly\nbe prevented that such persons become promoters of disorder.\u201d\n\n[190] Natural History of the Creation.\n\n[191] A similar thought is expressed by Plato in his \u201cState\u201d: \u201cCrimes\nare caused by ignorance, by bad education and institutions of the\nstate.\u201d Plato was better acquainted with the nature of society than\nmany of his learned followers two thousand and three hundred years\nlater. That is not very encouraging.\n\n[192] M. Sursky--New facts concerning the economic causes of crime.\n\u201cNew Era.\u201d\n\n[193] H. Herz--Crime and Criminals in Austria. The author says: \u201cThe\nprevailing economic status must be taken into consideration in the\njudgment of crime. The organization of production and consumption\nand the distribution of wealth has a marked influence on crime in\nmany ways.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\n\nThe Process of Concentration in Capitalistic Industry.\n\n\n1.--The Displacement of Agriculture by Industry.\n\nThe capitalistic system of production not only dominates the social\norganization but also the political organization. It influences and\ncontrols the thoughts and sentiments of society. Capitalism is the\nruling power. The capitalist is lord and master of the proletarian,\nwhose labor power he buys as a commodity to be applied and made\nuse of, at a price that oscillates according to supply and demand\nand the cost of production, as with every other commodity. But the\ncapitalist does not buy labor power \u201cto please God,\u201d or to render a\nservice to the workingman--as he sometimes seeks to present it--but\nto obtain surplus value by it, which he pockets in the form of\nprofit, interest and rent. This surplus value squeezed out of the\nworkingman--inasmuch as it is not spent by the employer for his\npersonal enjoyment--is crystallized into capital, and enables him\nsteadily to enlarge his plant, to improve the process of production,\nand to employ more labor power. Thereby again he becomes enabled\nto encounter his weaker competitor, as a horseman, clad in armor,\nmight encounter an unarmed pedestrian, and to destroy him.\n\nThis unequal struggle is developing more and more in all domains,\nand woman, furnishing the cheapest labor power, beside the child,\nplays an important part in this struggle. The result of these\nconditions is, that the line of demarcation becomes sharper between\na relatively small number of powerful capitalists and the great mass\nof non-possessors of capital, who depend upon the daily sale of\ntheir labor power. With this development the position of the middle\nclasses is becoming more and more unfavorable.\n\nOne line of industry after another, where until recently the small\nmanufacturers predominated, are being taken hold of by capitalistic\nenterprise. The competition of the capitalists among themselves\ncompels them constantly to seek new realms to be exploited. Capital\ngoes about \u201clike a roaring lion seeking something to devour.\u201d The\nsmall men are ruined, and if they do not succeed in finding some other\nfield of activity--which is becoming increasingly difficult--they\nsink down into the class of wage-workers. All attempts to prevent\nthe decline of handicraft and the middle class by means of laws and\ninstitutions that have been taken from the shelves of the past, prove\nuseless. They may deceive one or another for a little while in regard\nto his true position, but soon the delusion is dispelled by the\nforce of facts. The process of absorption of the small ones by the\ngreat ones is becoming clearly evident to all with the unrelenting\nforce of a natural law.\n\nIn what manner the social structure of Germany has been transformed\nduring the brief period of twenty-five years--from 1882 to 1895 and\nfrom 1895 to 1907--that may be seen by a comparison of the census\nfigures from these years, as shown by the following table:\n\n KEY\n Agr: Agriculture\n Ind: Industry\n Com: Commerce and Traffic\n Dom: Domestic service\n Pub: Public service and learned professions\n Noo: No occupation\n Tot: Total\n\n ====+====================================+=====================\n | Persons gainfully employed | Increase (+) or\n | in principal calling | decrease (\u2212)\n +------------------------------------+ since 1882\n | 1882 1895 1907 |\n ----+------------------------------------+---------------------\n Agr | 8,236,496 8,292,692 9,883,257 | + 1,646,761 = 19.89\n Ind | 6,396,465 8,281,220 11,256,254 | + 4,859,789 = 75.98\n Com | 1,570,318 2,338,511 3,477,626 | + 1,907,308 = 121.46\n Dom | 397,582 432,491 477,695 | + 74,113 = 18.63\n Pub | 1,031,147 1,425,961 1,738,530 | + 707,383 = 68.56\n Noo | 1,354,486 2,142,808 3,404,983 | + 2,050,497 = 151.40\n --+------------------------------------+---------------------\n Tot | 18,986,494 22,913,683 30,232,345 | +11,245,851 = 53.95\n ----+------------------------------------+---------------------\n\n ====+====================================+=====================\n | Persons gainfully employed | Increase (+) or\n | including their families | decrease (\u2212)\n +------------------------------------+ since 1882\n | 1882 1895 1906 |\n ----+------------------------------------+---------------------\n Agr | 19,225,455 18,501,307 17,681,176 | \u2212 1,544,279 = 18.18\n Ind | 16,058,080 20,253,241 26,386,537 | +10,328,457 = 64.25\n Com | 4,531,080 5,966,836 8,278,239 | + 3,747,159 = 82.69\n Dom | 938,294 886,807 792,748 | \u2212 145,546 = 15.57\n Pub | 2,222,982 2,835,014 3,407,126 | + 1,184,144 = 53.33\n Noo | 2,246,222 3,327,069 5,174,703 | + 2,928,481 = 130.36\n --+------------------------------------+---------------------\n Tot | 45,222,113 51,760,284 61,720,528 | +19,878,066 = 34.27\n ----+------------------------------------+---------------------\n\nThese figures show that during the twenty-five years referred to, a\nconsiderable shifting of the population and its occupations has taken\nplace. The population employed in industry, commerce and traffic\nhas increased at the expense of the agricultural population. Almost\nthe entire increase in population--6,548,171 from 1882 to 1895,\nand 9,950,245 from 1895 to 1907--has been absorbed by the former.\nAlthough the number of persons gainfully employed in industry as\ntheir principal calling has increased, this increase has not kept\npace with the general growth of the population, and the number of the\nmembers of the families of persons so employed has even decreased\nby 1,544,279 = 8 per cent.\n\nIndustry (including the building trades and mining), commerce and\ntraffic, present a different aspect. Here the number of persons\ngainfully employed and their families have considerably increased;\nin fact, they have increased more rapidly than the population. The\nnumber of persons employed in industry exceeds the number of persons\nemployed in agriculture by 1,372,997 = 15 per cent. The number of\nthe members of their families exceeds the number of the members of\nfamilies of persons employed in agriculture by 8,705,361 = 49 per\ncent. The numbers of persons employed in commerce and traffic,\ntogether with their families, show a still greater increase.\n\n~The result is that the agricultural population, which is the real\nconservative portion of the population and forms the mainstay of the\nold order of things, is being repressed more and more and overtaken\nby the population engaged in industry, commerce and traffic.~ That\nthe number of persons engaged in learned professions and their\nfamilies have increased likewise, does not alter these facts. The\nstrong increase in the number of persons having no occupation and\ntheir families is due to the growing number of persons living on\ntheir rents, including accident, invalid and old-age insurance, the\ngreater number of persons dependent on charity, students of all sorts,\nand inmates of poorhouses, hospitals, insane asylums and prisons.\n\nAnother characteristic fact is the slight increase in the number\nof persons employed in domestic service and the direct decrease in\nthe number of servants. This shows, firstly, that fewer persons can\nafford to employ domestic help; it shows furthermore that proletarian\nwomen who strive for greater independence, like this profession less\nand less.\n\nIn 1882 the number of persons engaged in agriculture as their principal\ncalling constituted 43.38 per cent. of persons gainfully employed;\nin 1895, 36.19 per cent., and in 1907 only 32.69 per cent. The\nagricultural population--including the families of those gainfully\nemployed in agriculture--in 1882 constituted 42.51 per cent. of\nthe entire population; in 1895, 35.74 per cent., and in 1907 only\n28.65 per cent. Those employed in industry as their principal calling\nconstituted, in 1882, 33.69 per cent. of the entire population; in\n1895, 36.14 per cent., and in 1907, 37.23 per cent. Including their\nfamilies, they constituted 35.51 per cent. in 1882; 39.12 in 1895,\nand 42.75 in 1907. The following figures show the percentage of\npersons employed in commerce and traffic:\n\n Persons employed. Including their families.\n\n 1882 8.27 10.02\n 1895 10.21 11.52\n 1907 11.50 13.41\n\nWe see, then, that in Germany, at present, 56.16 per cent. of the\npopulation (in Saxony even 74.5 per cent.) depend upon industry and\ncommerce, and that not more than 28.65 per cent. (in Saxony only\n10.07 per cent.) are engaged in agriculture.\n\n\n2.--Increasing Pauperization.--Preponderance of Large Industrial\nEstablishments.\n\nIt is also important to state how the population employed in gainful\noccupations is divided among independent workers, employes and\nlaborers, and what proportion of each of these is furnished by\neither sex. This information may be gathered from the table on the\nfollowing page.\n\n KEY\n Agr: Agriculture\n Ind: Industry\n Com: Commerce\n Alt: Altogether\n M : Male\n F : Female\n T : Total\n\n =====+=================================+============================\n | Independent Persons | Employees\n +---------------------------------+----------------------------\n | 1882 1895 1907 | 1882 1895 1907\n -----+---------------------------------+----------------------------\n Agr: | |\n M | 2,010,865 2,221,826 2,172,740 | 60,763 78,066 82,548\n F | 277,168 346,899 328,234 | 5,881 18,107 16,264\n --+---------------------------------+----------------------------\n T | 2,288,022 2,568,725 2,500,974 | 66,644 96,173 98,812\n | |\n Ind: | |\n M | 1,621,668 1,542,272 1,499,832 | 96,807 254,421 622,071\n F | 579,478 519,492 477,290 | 2,269 9,324 63,936\n --+---------------------------------+----------------------------\n T | 2,201,146 2,061,764 1,978,122 | 99,076 263,745 686,007\n | |\n Com: | |\n M | 550,936 640,941 765,551 | 138,387 249,920 426,220\n F | 150,572 202,616 246,641 | 3,161 11,987 79,689\n --+---------------------------------+----------------------------\n | 701,508 843,557 1,012,192 | 141,548 261,907 505,900\n | |\n Alt: | |\n M | 4,183,469 4,405,039 4,338,123 | 295,957 582,407 1,130,839\n F | 1,007,218 1,069,007 1,052,165 | 11,311 39,418 159,889\n --+---------------------------------+----------------------------\n T | 5,190,685 7,474,046 5,390,288 | 307,268 621,825 1,290,728\n -----+---------------------------------+----------------------------\n\n =====+==================================\n | Wage-workers\n +----------------------------------\n | 1882 1895 1907\n -----+----------------------------------\n Agr: |\n M | 3,629,959 3,239,646 3,028,983\n F | 2,251,860 2,388,148 4,254,488\n --+----------------------------------\n T | 5,881,819 5,627,794 7,283,471\n |\n Ind: |\n M | 3,551,014 4,963,409 7,030,427\n F | 545,228 992,302 1,562,698\n --+----------------------------------\n T | 4,096,243 5,955,711 8,593,125\n |\n Com: |\n M | 582,885 836,042 1,354,482\n F | 144,377 365,005 605,043\n --+----------------------------------\n | 727,262 1,201,047 1,959,525\n |\n Alt: |\n M | 7,763,858 9,071,097 13,694,160\n F | 2,941,455 3,745,455 4,161,961\n --+----------------------------------\n T |10,705,324 12,816,552 17,856,121\n -----+----------------------------------\n\nThis table shows that the number of persons independently engaged in\nagriculture increased by 280,692 from 1882 to 1895, an increase of\n12.5 per cent.; but that from 1895 to 1907 it decreased by 67,751,\nso that from 1882 to 1907 the number of independent persons in\nagriculture has increased by only 212,941 = 9.2 per cent. On the\nother hand the number of workingmen that had decreased by 254,025\n= 4.3 per cent., from 1882 to 1895, has, since 1895, increased by\n1,655,677 = 29.4 per cent. Upon examining this increase more closely\nwe find that it is mainly due to female members helping to support the\nfamilies. (Among the total increase of 1,990,930 are 170,532 male and\n1,820,938 female.) When we take only the rural day-laborers and help\ninto consideration, we find that the male workers have ~decreased~\nby 381,195 persons, while the female workers have increased by\n45,942 persons. Altogether this shows the considerable decrease of\n335,253 persons among agricultural laborers. In agriculture, then,\nnot only the number of independent persons, but also the number of\nhelp and day laborers has decreased. The increase in the agricultural\noccupation, compared to the previous census, is due to the greatly\nincreased assistance from members of the families, especially the\nfemale members.\n\nThe industrial occupation presents a different picture. In a term\nof 25 years the persons independently employed decreased by 234,024\n= 10.6 per cent., while the population increased by 36.48 per cent.\nMechanics, working alone or working with two assistants, have mainly\ndisappeared. The number of wage-workers has increased by 1,859,468\nfrom 1882 to 1895, and by 2,637,414 from 1895 to 1907. When we count\nonly the wage-workers proper, not including the members of their\nfamilies who assist at their work, we find that their number has\nincreased from 5,899,708 in 1895 to 8,460,338 in 1907. Three-quarters\nof all persons employed in industrial occupations are wage-workers\n(75.16 per cent.).\n\nIn commerce and trade we find the opposite ratio. Here the number of\npersons independently engaged has greatly increased, but the number\nof employes and workers has increased likewise. The number of women\nindependently engaged in commerce has increased especially; they\nchiefly are either widows who seek to make their living as small\ndealers, or married women who endeavour to increase their husbands\u2019\nincome. The number of persons independently engaged in commerce\nincreased by 310,584 = 44.3 per cent., from 1882 to 1907. But the\nnumber of employes and wage-workers has increased still more (by\n364,361 = 258.8, and by 1,232,263 = 169.4 per cent.). This shows\nhow tremendously commerce and trade have developed, particularly\nfrom 1895 to 1907. There are almost twice as many employes as prior\nto that period, and among these almost six times as many female\nemployes.\n\nDuring the period from 1882 to 1907 the entire number of persons\nindependently engaged in the three occupations increased by 5.7 per\ncent.; it did not keep pace then with the increase in population\n(36.48 per cent.). The number of employes increased by 325.4 per\ncent., and the number of wage-workers by 39.1 per cent. We must\nfurthermore take into consideration that among 5,490,288 independent\npersons, many lead an entirely proletarian existence. Among the\n2,086,368 manufactories enumerated there were no less than 994,743\nsmall producers who worked alone and 875,518 who did not employ\nover five assistants. In commerce there were, in 1907 among 709,231\nestablishments, no less than 232,780 maintained by the owners without\nassistance. There were, besides, 5240 porters, errand-boys, etc.,\nand thousands of insurance agents, book agents, etc.\n\nAnother point to be considered is that the number of independent\npersons in the three occupations does not coincide with the number\nof establishments. If a firm, for instance, has dozens of branch\nestablishments, as is frequently the case in the tobacco trade, or\nif a concern runs a number of stores, each branch is enumerated\nas an individual establishment. The same is true of industrial\nenterprises, when, for instance, a machine factory also runs an\niron foundry, a carpenter shop, etc. The figures then do not convey\nsufficient information regarding the concentration of capital on\nthe one hand and the standard of living on the other. And yet, in\nspite of all these deficiencies, the results of the latest census of\nJune 12, 1907, present a picture of the most powerful concentration\nof capital in industry, commerce and traffic. They show that, hand\nin hand with the industrialization of our entire economic system,\na concentration of all the means of production into a few hands is\nrapidly progressing.\n\nThe independent small manufacturers and traders working alone, of\nwhom there still were 1,877,872 in 1882, have become fewer again\nsince 1895. In 1895, 1,714,351 were enumerated, and in 1907 only\n1,446,286; a decrease of 431,586 = 22.9 per cent. The number of small\nproducers and dealers has rapidly decreased from census to census.\nIn 1882 it was 59.1 per cent.; 1895, 46.5, and, 1907, only 37.3 per\ncent. of all persons gainfully employed. At the same time the number\nof large manufacturing and commercial enterprises has grown from\n22.0 to 29.6, and (1907) to 37.3 per cent. From 1895 to 1907 the\nnumber of persons employed by small concerns increased by 12.2 per\ncent.; the number of those employed by concerns of medium size, by\n48.5 per cent., and the number of those employed by large concerns,\nby 75.7 per cent. Among 5,350,025 persons industrially employed\nin 1907, the by far largest group is employed by large concerns,\nwhile, in 1882, a greater number of persons were small, individual\nproducers. In the seven following branches of industry the large\nconcerns predominate, employing more than half of all persons engaged\nin these industries. Of each 100 persons the following percentage\nwere employed by large concerns:\n\n Mining 96.6 per cent.\n Machine manufacture 70.4 \u201c\n Chemical trades 69.8 \u201c\n Textile trades 67.5 \u201c\n Paper trades 58.4 \u201c\n Industry of pottery and earthenware 52.5 \u201c\n Industry of soaps, fats and oils 52.3 \u201c\n\nIn the other groups industry on a large scale already predominated\nin 1895, and everywhere its predominance has been still further\nincreased. (In the malleation of metals, 47.0; in the polygraphic\ntrades, 43.8; in traffic, 41.6, and in the building trades, 40.5 per\ncent. of all persons were employed by large concerns.) We see, then,\nthat in almost every branch development has favored industry on a\nlarge scale.\n\nThe concentration of manufacture and the concentration of capital,\nwhich are one and the same thing, take place particularly rapidly\nwherever capitalistic production obtains full control. Let us, for\ninstance, consider the brewing industry. In the German brewery-tax\ndistrict, excluding Bavaria, Wurtemberg, Baden and Alsace-Lorraine,\nthere were:\n\n Number of Producing 1000\n breweries. [Commercial] hectolitres of beer.\n\n 1873 13,561 10,927 19,655\n 1880 11,564 10,374 21,136\n 1890 8,969 8,054 32,279\n 1900 6,903 6,283 44,734\n 1905 5,995 5,602 46,264\n 1906 5,785 5,423 45,867\n 1907 5,528 5,251 46,355\n\nSo the number of breweries decreased, from 1873 to 1907, by 8033\n= 59.3 per cent.; that of breweries decreased by 5676 = 51.9 per\ncent., but the production of beer increased by 26,700,000 hectolitres\n= 135.7 per cent. This signifies a downfall of the small concerns and\na tremendous growth of the large concerns, whose productivity has been\nmultiplied. In 1873, 1450 hectolitres and in 1907 8385 hectolitres\nwere produced by each brewery. It is the same wherever capitalism\nrules.\n\nSimilar results are shown by the German coal-mining industry and other\nmining industries of the German Empire. In coal mining the number\nof concerns that amounted to an average of 623, from 1871 to 1875,\ndwindled down to 406, in 1889. But at the same time the production of\ncoal rose from 34,485,400 tons to 67,342,200 tons, and the average\nnumber of persons employed increased from 127,074 to 239,954. The\nfollowing table illustrates this process of concentration in the\nmining of mineral coal and brown coal, until 1907:\n\n Mineral Coal Brown Coal\n Number Number\n Year of Average No. Quantity of Average No. Quantity\n Concerns Employed 1000 tons Concerns Employed 1000 tons\n\n 1900 338 413,693 109,290.2 569 50,911 40,498.0\n 1905 331 493,308 121,298.6 533 54,969 52,512.1\n 1906 322 511,108 137,117.9 536 58,637 56,419.6\n 1907 313 545,330 143,185.7 535 66,462 62,546.7\n\nWe see, then, that, in the production of mineral coal since the\nseventies, the number of concerns has decreased by 49.8 per cent.,\nwhile the number of wage-workers employed has increased by 216.9 per\ncent., and the output even by 420.6 per cent. The following table\nshows the development in the entire mining industry:\n\n Year Number of Average number Quantity\n concerns employed 1000 tons\n\n 1871\u201375 3,034 277,878 51,056.0\n 1887 2,146 337,634 88,873.0\n 1889 1,962 368,896 99,414.0\n 1905 1,862 661,310 205,592.6\n 1906 1,862 688,853 229,146.1\n 1907 1,958 734,903 242,615.2\n\nHere the number of concerns has decreased by 35.5 per cent., while\nthe number of wage-workers employed increased by 164.4 per cent.,\nand the output, 374.5 per cent. The number of employers had grown\nsmaller but wealthier, and the number of proletarians had greatly\nincreased.\n\nIn the industrial districts of the Rhine and Westphalia there still\nwere 156 mines in 1907, but 34 of these controlled more than 50 per\ncent. of the output. Although the census enumerates 156 mines, the\ncoal trust, which controls the mines with but a few exceptions, had\nonly 76 members. To such extent the process of concentration has\ndeveloped. According to the reports of February, 1908, the output\nof the coal trust amounted to 77.9 million tons of coal.[194]\n\nIn 1871 there were 306 blast-furnaces, employing 23,191 laborers and\nproducing 1,563,682 tons of crude iron. In 1907, 303 blast furnaces,\nemploying 45,201 laborers, produced 12,875,200 tons. In 1871 crude\niron was produced at the rate of 5,110 tons for every blast-furnace;\nin 1907 at the rate of 42,491 tons for every blast-furnace. According\nto a list published in \u201cSteel and Iron,\u201d in March, 1896, only one\nblast-furnace in Germany was able to produce crude iron at the rate\nof 820 tons in 24 hours. But in 1907 there were 12 blast-furnaces\nthat could, within 24 hours, produce 1000 tons, and more.[194]\n\nIn 1871\u20131872, 311 factories in the beet sugar industry consumed\n2,250,918 tons of beets. In 1907\u20131908, 365 factories consumed\n13,482,750 tons. The average consumption of beets per factory was\n7,237 tons during 1871\u20131872, and 36,939 tons during 1907\u20131908. This\nmechanical revolution does not take place in industry alone, but also\nin commerce and traffic. The following table shows the development\nof German maritime trade:\n\n Year Sailing vessels Regist\u2019d tonnage Number of crew\n\n 1871 4,372 900,361 34,739\n 1901 2,272 525,140 12,922\n 1905 2,294 493,644 12,914\n 1908 2,345 433,749 12,800\n 1909 2,361 416,514 12,844\n Less than in 1871 2,011 less 483,847 less 21,895\n\nSailing vessels, then, are considerably diminishing, and among those\nstill existing the registered tonnage and the number of the crew\nis decreasing. In 1871 there were, for each sailing vessel, 205.9\nregistered tonnage and 7.9 members of the crew. In 1909 each sailing\nvessel had an average of but 176.4 registered tonnage, and only\n5.4 members of the crew German maritime trade by steam navigation\npresents a different aspect, as the following table shows:\n\n Ocean-going\n Year steamships Regist\u2019d tonnage Number of crew\n\n 1871 147 81,994 4,736\n 1901 1,390 1,347,875 36,801\n 1905 1,657 1,774,072 46,747\n 1908 1,922 2,256,783 57,995\n 1909 1,953 2,302,910 58,451\n More than in 1871 1,806 2,221,006 53,715\n\nNot only had the number of steamships greatly increased, their\ntonnage had increased more still, but, in proportion to this increase\nthe number of the crew had decreased. In 1871 a steamship had an\naverage tonnage of 558 tons and a crew of 32.1 men. In 1909 it had\nan average freight capacity of 1230 tons and a crew of only 29 men.\n\nThe rapid increase of motor power employed is another symptom of\ncapitalistic development. In the territory of the German \u201cZollverein,\u201d\naccording to Viebahn, 99,761 horse-power were used in 1861.[195]\nIn 1875, in Germany, factories employing more than five persons,\nused, 1,055,750 horse-power, and in 1895, 2,933,526 horse-power,\nalmost three times the number used in 1875. Railroads, street cars\nand steamboats are not contained in this list.\n\nThe following list shows the amount of horse-power used in Prussia:\n\n Stationary Movable boilers and\n steam engines traction engines\n\n 1879 888,000 47,000\n 1896 2,534,900 159,400\n 1900 3,461,700 229,600\n 1905 4,684,900 315,200\n 1906 4,995,700 334,400\n 1907 5,190,400 363,200\n\nSo the amount of horse-power employed in Prussia in 1907 is six\ntimes greater than in 1879. How tremendously industry has developed\nsince the census of 1895 can be seen by the fact that the number of\nstationary engines in Prussia has increased by 35 per cent. from\n1896 to 1907. The productiveness of the machines has increased by\n105 per cent. during this period. While, in 1898, 3,305 steam engines\nof 258,726 horse-power served to run dynamos, there are 6,191 of\n954,945 horse-power in 1907. That is an increase of 87 and 269 per\ncent.[196] The following figures show the increased application of\nsteam-power in the most important industries (expressed in horsepower):\n\n Industry 1879 1897 1907\n\n Mining and foundries 516,000 1,430,000 2,284,000\n Masonry and bricks 29,000 132,000 255,000\n Metallurgy 23,000 57,000 113,000\n Machines 22,000 61,000 329,000\n Textile 88,000 243,000 323,000[197]\n\nNotwithstanding this fabulous development of the productive powers\nand the immense concentration of capital, attempts are still being\nmade to deny these truths. Such an attempt was made at the eleventh\nsession of the International Institute of Statistics in Copenhagen in\nAugust, 1907, by the French economist, Ives Guyot. On the basis of\ncareless statistics, he moved to abolish the word \u201cconcentration\u201d from\nstatistics. Among others, Carl Buecher answered him as follows: \u201cAn\nabsolute increase in the number of manufactories may easily coincide\nwith a concentration of same. Wherever the census enumerates individual\nestablishments, it is unavoidable that many should be counted twice.\nA bank with 100 trust-funds is counted as 101; a brewery that has\nopened and fitted out 50 saloons, is counted as 51 establishments. The\nresults of such statistics prove nothing in regard to the phenomenon\nin question. Investigation so far shows that agriculture alone does\nnot ~seem~ to be subjected to the process of concentration. It is\nevident in mining, commerce, transportation, building trades and\ninsurance. In industry it is difficult to recognize, because every\ncivilized nation in a healthy state of development must present an\nextension of industrial production, for the following four reasons:\n1. Because occupations that were formerly domestic in character have\nbeen taken over by industry. 2. Because natural products have been\nreplaced by industrial products (wood by iron; woad, madder and indigo\nby tar-colors, etc.). 3. Because of new inventions (automobiles).\n4. Because of the possibility of exportation. For these reasons\nconcentration on a large scale takes place in industry without any\ndiminution in the number of establishments, even with an increase\nin same. Wherever industry creates commodities ready for use of a\ntypical character, the destruction of the independent small concerns\nis inevitable. The capitalistic forms of production are accordingly\nrapidly developing in the most important lines of industry. It is\nnot wise to oppose the Socialists where they are right, and they\nare undoubtedly right in their assertions in regard to increasing\nconcentration.\u201d[198]\n\nThe same aspect presented by the economic development of Germany\nis presented by all the industrial states of the world. All the\ncivilized states endeavour to become industrial states more and\nmore. They not only seek to manufacture articles of industry to\nsupply their own demand, but also to export them. Therefore we not\nonly speak of a national market, but also of the ~world market~. The\nworld market regulates the prices of countless articles of industry\nand agriculture and controls the social status of the nations. That\nindustrial realm which has attained the greatest importance in\nregard to the relations of the world market, is the North American\nUnion. Here the main impetus is given whereby the world market and\nbourgeois society are revolutionized. The census of the last three\ndecades showed the following figures:\n\nAmount of capital invested in industry.\n\n 1880 2,790,000,000 dollars\n 1890 6,525,000,000 \u201c\n 1900 9,813,000,000 \u201c\n\nValue of Industry.\n\n 1880 5,369,000,000 dollars\n 1890 9,372,000,000 \u201c\n 1900 13,000,000,000 \u201c\n\nThe United States, accordingly, is the leading industrial country of\nthe world. Its exportation of products of industry and agriculture\nincrease with each year, and the tremendous accumulations of capital\nthat are a natural result of this development seek investment beyond\nthe boundaries of the country, and influence the industry and\ntrade of Europe to a marked degree. It is no longer the individual\ncapitalist who is the motive power underlying this development. It\nis the group of captains of industry, the trust, that is bound to\ncrush the most powerful individual enterprise, wherever it chooses\nto turn its activities. What can the small man amount to in the face\nof such development, to which even the great must yield?\n\n[194] Otto Hu\u00e9--History of the development of the mining industries.\n\n[195] A. Hesse--Statistics of Trade.\n\n[196] A. Hesse--Statistics of Trades.\n\n[197] Prof. Dr. S. Reyer Kraft--Economic, Technical and Historical\nStudies in the Development of the Power of States.\n\n[198] Bulletin de l\u2019institut international de statistique. Copenhagen,\n1908.\n\n\n3.--Concentration of Wealth.\n\nIt is an economic law that, with the concentration of industry and\nits increased productivity, the number of workers employed relatively\ndecreases, while the wealth of a nation, in proportion to the entire\npopulation, becomes concentrated in fewer hands. That can be clearly\nseen by the distribution of the income in various civilized countries.\n\nOf the larger German states, Saxony possesses the oldest and best\nstatistics on the income tax. The present law is in force since 1879.\nBut it is advisable to take a later year, because during the first\nyears the assessments were, on an average, too low. The population\nof Saxony increased by 51 per cent. from 1880 to 1905. The number of\npersons assessed increased by 160 per cent. from 1882 to 1904; the\nassessed income by 23 per cent. Until the beginning of the nineties\nan income up to 300 marks per annum was exempt from taxation, after\nthat up to 400 marks. In 1882 the number of persons exempt from taxes\nwere 75,697 = 6.61 per cent.; in 1904, 205,667 = 11.03 per cent. It\nmust be noted that, in Saxony, the incomes of wives and of members\nof the family under 16 are added to the income of the husband and\nfather. The taxpayers having an income from 400 to 800 marks formed\n48 per cent. of those assessed in 1882; in 1904 only 43.81 per cent.\nA part of them had advanced into a class with a higher income. The\naverage income of the taxpayers of this class had increased by 37 per\ncent--from 421 to 582 marks--during this period, but still remained\nbehind the average of 600 marks. The taxpayers having an income from\n800 to 1250 marks formed 12 per cent. of those assessed in 1882,\nand 24.38 per cent. in 1904. But those with an income from 1250 to\n3300 marks formed 20 per cent. in 1882 and only 16.74 per cent. in\n1904. In 1863 Lassalle computed that only 4 per cent. of all incomes\nin Prussia were over 3000 marks annually. When we consider that, in\nthe meantime, rents, taxes and the cost of living have increased,\nand that the demands in regard to the standard of living have grown,\nit becomes evident that the position of the masses has relatively\nscarcely improved. The medium incomes of from 3,400 to 10,000 marks\nin 1904 formed only 3.24 per cent. of those assessed, and the incomes\nof over 10,000 marks less than 1 per cent. The number of taxpayers\nwith incomes from 12,000 to 20,000 marks, 0.80 per cent. The number\nof incomes of over 12,000 marks has increased from 4,124, in 1882,\nto 11,771, in 1904; that is, by 188 per cent. The highest income in\n1882 was 2,570,000 marks; in 1906, 5,900,600 marks. These figures\nshow the following facts: The lower incomes have increased somewhat,\nbut in many cases this increase has been more than equalized by the\nincreased cost of living. The middle classes experienced the least\nimprovement; but the number and the income of the richest people\nshow the greatest increase. Accordingly the class extremes became\nmore marked.\n\nIn his investigations of the distribution of income in Prussia from\n1892 to 1902, Professor Adolf Wagner has ascertained the following\nfacts. He divides the population of Prussia into three large groups:\nThe lower group (lowest up to 420 marks; medium, 420 to 900; highest,\n900 to 2,100); the middle group (lowest, 2,100 to 3,000; medium,\n3,000 to 6,000; highest, 6,000 to 9,500 marks); the upper group\n(lowest from 9,500 to 30,500; medium, 30,500 to 100,000, and highest\nover 100,000). The entire income is divided almost equally among\nthese three groups. The 3.51 per cent. of the upper group control\n32.1 per cent. of the entire income. The lower group, including\nthe 70.66 per cent. of those exempt from taxation, also controls\nan income of 32.9 per cent. of the entire income; and the middle\ngroup, with 25.83 per cent. controls 34.9 per cent. of the entire\nincome. If we take into consideration only those incomes that are\nsubject to taxation, we find that all those having an income from\n900 to 3000 marks, who formed 86.99 per cent. of those enumerated\nin 1892, and 88.04 per cent. in 1902, controlled over half of the\nassessable income, 51.05 per cent., in 1892, and 52.1 per cent.\nin 1902. Incomes of over 3000 marks, which formed, respectively,\n13 and 12 per cent. of those enumerated, controlled about 49 per\ncent. of the entire assessable income in 1892 and 48 per cent. in\n1902. The average income of the small taxpayers throughout Prussia\namounted to 1374 in 1892 and to 1348 in 1902; it had, accordingly,\ndiminished to 1.89 per cent. On the other hand the average income\nof the large taxpayers has increased from 8,811 marks, in 1892, to\n9,118 marks, in 1902, or by 3.48 per cent. Upon the upper group,\nwhich formed only 0.5 per cent. of all those enumerated in 1892\nand 0.63 per cent. in 1902, 15.95 percent. of the entire income\ndevolved in 1892, and 18.37 per cent. in 1902. The increase is\nslightest with the lowest and medium class of the middle group. It\nis somewhat greater with the highest class of the lower group. But\nit is greatest and increasingly great from class to class, with the\nhighest class of the middle group and with the entire upper group.\nThe greater the income of a group of those enumerated, the richer\nthey are; the more, accordingly, their number relatively increases.\nThe number of those having high and highest incomes increases, who,\non an average, also attain increasingly large incomes. In other\nwords, a growing concentration of incomes takes place, not only\namong particularly rich individuals, but among the economically\nhigh and highest group of the population, that is rapidly growing\nand yet comprises a relatively small number. \u201cThis shows that the\nmodern economic development has indeed been favorable to the entire\npopulation by increasing the income and by increasing the number of\nmembers of each economic-social class, but that the distribution\nhas been a very uneven one, the rich being mostly favored, then the\nlower classes, and the middle class least. It shows, accordingly,\nthat the social class differences, inasmuch as they depend upon the\nsize of the income, have increased.\u201d[199]\n\nThe Prussian income-tax assessments of 1908 show that there were\n104,904 taxpayers with an income of more than 9,500 marks, representing\na total income of 3,123,273,000 marks. Among these were 3,796 with\nan income of more than 100,000 marks, representing a total income\nof 934,000,000 marks; 77 were enumerated with an income of more\nthan a million. The 104,904 taxpayers, or 1.78 per cent., with an\nincome of more than 9,500 marks, represented the same total income\nas the 3,109,540 (52.9 per cent.), with an income of from 900 to\n1,350 marks.\n\nIn Austria about 24 per cent. of the assessed net income devolved\nupon approximately 12 to 13 per cent. of the taxpayers having incomes\nof from 4,000 to 12,000 crowns. If the incomes up to 12,000 crowns\nare taken together, this group comprises over 97 per cent. of the\ntaxpayers and 74 per cent. of the income. ~The remaining 3 per cent.\nof the taxpayers control 26 per cent. of the assessed income.~[200]\nThe minimum exempt from taxation is higher in Austria than in\nPrussia--1,200 crowns, or 1,014 marks. The small taxpayers having an\nincome of from 1,200 to 4,000 crowns formed 84.3 per cent. of all\ntaxpayers in 1904. The number of richest persons having an ~income\nof more than 200,000 crowns was 255 in 1898, and in 1904 it was 307,\nor 0.032 per cent. of all taxpayers~.\n\nIn Great Britain and Ireland, according to L. G. Chiozza Money,\nhalf of the national income (over 4,150,000,000 dollars) belongs to\none-ninth of the population. He divides the population into three\ngroups: The rich, with an income of more than 700 pounds sterling;\nthe wealthy, with an income of from 160 to 700 pounds sterling; and\nthe poor, with an income of less than 160 pounds sterling.\n\n Including Income in\n Class Persons families pounds sterling\n\n Rich 250,000 1,250,000 585,000,000\n Wealthy 750,000 3,750,000 245,000,000\n Poor 5,000,000 38,000,000 880,000,000\n\nAccording to these figures, more than one-third of the national income\nbelongs to one-thirtieth of the population. The investigations of\nBooth for London, and of Rowntree for York, have shown that thirty\nper cent. of the entire population lead an existence of direst\nlife-long poverty.[201]\n\nFor France, E. Levasseur compiled the following figures, on the basis\nof the statistics of inheritance: \u201cTwo-fifths of the national wealth\nare owned by 98 per cent. having less than 100,000 francs; about\none-third is owned by a small group of 1.7 per cent., and a quarter\nof the entire national wealth belongs to a wee minority--0.12 per\ncent.\u201d[202]\n\nAll these figures show how great are the numbers of the non-possessing\nmasses, and how thin the strata of the possessing classes.\n\n\u201cThe growing inequality,\u201d says G. Schmoller, \u201cis undeniable. It\ncannot be doubted that the distribution of wealth in Central Europe,\nfrom 1300 to 1900, became increasingly unequal, though of course the\ninequalities varied in the different countries. Recent development,\nwith its growing class distinctions, has greatly increased the\ninequalities in income and wealth.\u201d[203]\n\nThis capitalistic process of development and concentration, that\ntakes place in all civilized countries, combined with the prevailing\nanarchy in the methods of production, that so far was unable to\nprevent the formation of trusts, inevitably leads to overproduction\nand to an overstocking of the market. We enter upon the crisis.\n\n[199] Adolf Wagner--A contribution to the method of statistics\nof the national income and national wealth and further statistic\ninvestigations of the distribution of the national income in Prussia,\nfounded on the new income statistics, 1892\u20131902. Gazette of the\nroyal Prussian bureau of statistics, 1904.\n\n[200] F. L.--The distribution of the income in Austria. Leipzig,\n1908.\n\n[201] L. G. Chiozza Money. Riches and Poverty. London, 1908.\n\n[202] E. Levasseur.\n\n[203] G. Schmoller--Principles of Economics. Vol. II.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII.\n\nCrisis and Competition.\n\n\n1.--Causes and Effects of the Crises.\n\nThe crisis arises because no standard exists whereby the real demand\nfor a commodity may at any time be measured and ascertained. There\nis no power in bourgeois society that is enabled to regulate the\nentire production. In the first place, the consumers of a commodity\nare scattered over a wide area, and the purchasing ability of\nthe consumers, who determine the consumption, is influenced by a\nnumber of causes that no individual producer is able to control.\nMoreover, every individual producer must compete with a number of\nother producers whose productive abilities are unknown to him. Each\none seeks to defeat his competitors by every means at his command:\nby a reduction in prices, by advertising, by giving credit for\nprolonged periods, by sending out drummers, and even by cunningly\nand insidiously disparaging the products of his competitors, the\nlatter means being especially frequently resorted to during critical\ntimes. The entire realm of production accordingly depends upon the\nsubjective discretion of the individual. Every manufacturer must\ndispose of a certain quantity of goods in order to subsist. But\nhe seeks to sell a far larger quantity, for this increased sale\ndetermines not only his larger income, but also the probability of\nhis triumphing over his competitors. For a while sales are insured,\nthey even increase; this leads to more extensive enterprises and\nto increased production. But good times and favorable conditions\ntempt not only one but all manufacturers to multiply their efforts.\nProduction by far exceeds the demand. Suddenly it becomes manifest\nthat the market is over-stocked with goods. The sales slacken, the\nprices fall, production is limited. To limit production in any branch\nmeans to decrease the number of workers employed in this branch, and\na reduction in wages, whereby the workers in turn are compelled to\nlimit their consumption. The inevitable result is, that production\nand consumption in other branches slacken likewise. Small dealers of\nall kinds, shopkeepers, bakers, butchers, etc. whose chief customers\nare workingmen fail to dispose of their goods and also suffer want.\n\nThe effects of such a crisis may be seen from the statistics of the\nunemployed that were compiled by the trade-unions of Berlin at the\nclose of January, 1902. In Berlin and suburban towns there where\nover 70,000 persons who were entirely unemployed, and over 60,000\nwho were partly unemployed. On February 13, 1909, the trade-unions\nof Berlin took another census of the unemployed and found that there\nwere 106,722 unemployed persons (92,655 men and 14,067 women).[204]\nIn England there were 750,000 unemployed persons during September\n1908. These figures represent workingmen and women who were willing\nand eager to work but unable to find work. The deplorable social\nconditions of these human beings may be easily imagined!\n\nSince one industry furnishes the raw material to another and one\ndepends upon the other, the ills that befall one must affect the\nothers. The circle of those affected widens. Many obligations that\nhad been entered upon in the hope of prolonged favorable conditions\ncannot be met, and heighten the crisis that grows worse from month\nto month. A heap of accumulated goods, tools and machines becomes\nalmost worthless. The goods are frequently sold underprice and\nthis often leads to the ruin of the owners of such goods as well\nas to the ruin of dozens of others who in turn are compelled to\nsell their goods underprice also. But even during the crisis the\nmethods of production are constantly improved in order to meet the\nincreased competition, and this means again forms a cause for new\ncrises. After a crisis has lasted for years and over-production\nhas gradually been removed by selling the products underprice, by\nlimiting production and by the ruin of smaller manufacturers, society\nslowly begins to recuperate. The demand increases again, and promptly\nthe production increases also, slowly and carefully at first, but\nmore rapidly with the prolonged duration of favorable conditions.\nPeople seek to reimburse themselves for what they have lost and\nseek to secure their portions before a new crisis sets in. But as\nall manufacturers are guided by the same impulse, as they all seek\nto improve the means of production in order to excel the others,\na new catastrophe is ushered in more rapidly and with still more\ndisastrous results. Countless lives rise and fall like bubbles, and\nthis constant reciprocal action causes the awful conditions that we\nexperience during every crisis. The crises become more frequent as\nproduction and competition increase, not only among individuals, but\namong entire nations. The small battle for customers, and the great\nbattle for markets becomes increasingly severe and is bound to end\nwith enormous losses. Meanwhile goods and supplies are stored away\nin masses, but countless human beings who wish to consume but are\nunable to buy, suffer hunger and privation.\n\nThe years 1901 and 1907\u201308 have proven the correctness of this\nrepresentation. After years of business depression, during which\ncapitalistic development nevertheless continued to progress\nuninterruptedly, the upward course set in, stimulated to no slight\nextent by the changes and new equipments that the army and navy\nrequired. During this period a tremendous number of new industrial\nenterprises sprang up, and a great many others were increased and\nexpanded to attain the development made possible by their technical\nmeans and to heighten their productivity. But in the same way the\nnumber of enterprises increased that were transferred from the hands of\nindividual capitalists to capitalistic associations (stock companies),\na transformation that is always accompanied by an enlargement of the\nmanufactory. Many thousands of millions of marks represent the newly\nformed stock companies. Moreover, the capitalists of all countries\nseek to form national and international agreements. Trusts spring\nup like mushrooms from the ground. These endeavour to determine the\nprices and to regulate production on the basis of exact statistical\nresearch to avoid over-production and reduction in prices. Entire\nbranches of industry have been monopolized in this way to the advantage\nof the manufacturers and to the disadvantage of the workers and the\nconsumers. Many believed that thereby capital had obtained the means\nthat would enable it to dominate the market in all directions. But\nappearances are deceiving. The laws of capitalistic production prove\nstronger than the most cunning representatives of the system, who\nbelieved to have regulated it. The crisis came, nevertheless, and it\nwas seen again that the wisest calculation proved faulty and that\nbourgeois society cannot escape its fate.\n\nBut capitalism continues in the same manner since it cannot change\nits substance. By the way in which it is bound to act, it upsets all\nlaws of bourgeois economics. Unrestricted competition--the alpha and\nomega of bourgeois society--is supposed to place those most capable\nat the helm of all enterprises. But experience shows that as a rule\nit places those at the helm who are most shrewd and cunning and least\ntroubled by a conscience. Moreover, stock companies set aside all\nindividuality. The trust goes further still. Here not only does the\nindividual manufacturer cease to be an independent person, the stock\ncompany too becomes a mere link in a chain that is controlled by a\nboard of capitalists whose main purpose is to plunder the public. A\nhand full of monopolists become the masters of society; these dictate\nthe prices to be paid by the consumers for commodities, and to the\nworkers their wages and standard of living.\n\nThis development shows how superfluous private enterprise has become,\nand that production conducted on a national and international scale\nis the goal toward which society is bent. The only difference will\nultimately be that organized production and distribution ~will\nbenefit the entire community instead of benefiting the capitalistic\nclass only, as is the case to-day~.\n\nThe economic revolution above described, which is rapidly driving\nbourgeois society to the heights of its development, is constantly\nintensified by new, important events. While Europe is being more\nthreatened each year, both in its foreign and domestic markets, by\nthe rapidly growing North American competition, new enemies are\narising in the far East who make the economic conditions of the\nentire world still more critical.\n\nCompetition drives the capitalist around the globe, as the Communist\nManifesto expresses it. He is constantly seeking new markets, that\nis, countries and nations where he can dispose of his goods and\ncreate new demands. One side of this endeavour may be seen from the\nfact that since a few decades the various states are eagerly engaged\nin colonization. Germany was foremost among these and succeeded in\ntaking possession of large tracts of land, but these possessions are\nchiefly occupied by people of a very primitive degree of civilization\nwho have no demand worth speaking of for European products. The other\nside of this endeavour is directed toward carrying capitalistic\ncivilization to nations who have already attained a higher degree\nof civilization, but who until recently were rigorously opposed to\nmodern development. Such are the East Indians, the Japanese, and\nespecially the Chinese. These are nations that comprise more than\none third of the entire population of the earth. When once given an\nimpetus they are well able--as the Japanese have already demonstrated\nduring the war with Russia--to develop the capitalistic method\nof production quite independently, and to do so, moreover, under\nconditions that will be accompanied by disastrous results to the more\nadvanced nations. The ability and skill of these nations is well\nknown, but it is equally well known that their wants are few--due\nto a great extent to the warm climate--and that, when compelled to\ndo so, they rapidly adapt themselves to changed conditions. Here\nthe old world, including the United States, is being confronted by\na new competitor who will demonstrate to the whole world that the\ncapitalistic system is untenable. In the meanwhile, the competing\nnations, especially the United States, England and Germany, seek\nto outdo one another, and all means are resorted to in order to\nobtain the largest possible share in the control of the world\u2019s\nmarket. This leads to international politics, to interference in\nall international events of importance, and in order to interfere\nsuccessfully, the navies especially are developed and increased as\nnever before, whereby the danger of great political catastrophes is\nheightened anew. Thus the political realm grows with the realm of\neconomic competition. The contradictions grow on an international\nscale, and in all countries that have undergone a capitalistic\ndevelopment they bring forth similar phenomena and similar struggles.\nNot only the method of production but also the manner of distribution\nis responsible for these unbearable conditions.\n\n[204] Unemployment and Statistics of the Unemployed in the Winter\nof 1908 to 1909. Berlin, 1909.\n\n\n2.--Intermediate Trade and the Increased Cost of Living.\n\nIn human society all individuals are linked to one another by a\nthousand threads that become more complicated and interwoven with\nincreasing civilization. When disturbances occur they are felt by all\nmembers. Disturbances in production affect distribution and consumption\nand vice versa. A marked characteristic of capitalistic production is\nthe concentration of the means of production in increasingly large\nfactories. In distribution the opposite trait becomes manifest.\nWhoever has been driven by competition out of the ranks of independent\nproducers, in nine cases out of ten seeks to win a place as dealer\nbetween producer and consumer to obtain a living.[205] This accounts\nfor the surprising increase of persons engaged in intermediate\ntrade, dealers, small shopkeepers, hucksters, agents, jobbers, etc.\nas has been statistically proven in a previous chapter. Most of\nthese persons, among whom we find many women independently engaged\nin business, lead a precarious existence. Many, in order to subsist,\nmust cater to the basest fashions of their fellow-men. This accounts\nfor the tremendous prevalence of advertising especially in regard\nto everything in connection with the gratification of the love of\nluxury.\n\nNow it cannot be denied that in modern society the desire for the\nenjoyment of life is very noticeable, and viewed from a higher\nstandard this fact is gratifying. People begin to understand that\nin order to be human they must lead lives ~worthy of human beings~,\nand they seek to gratify this desire in the manner in which they\nconceive the enjoyment of life. In the display of wealth society\nhas become much more ~aristocratic~ than in any former period. The\ncontrast between the richest and the poorest is greater than ever.\nOn the other hand, society has become more democratic in its ideas\nand laws.[206] The masses demand greater equality, and since in\ntheir ignorance, they do not yet recognize the means to achieve true\nequality, they seek it in trying to ape those in superior social\npositions and to obtain every enjoyment within their reach. Various\nstimulants serve to gratify this desire and the results are frequently\ndetrimental. A desire that is justified in itself leads to devious\npaths in many cases; it even leads to crimes, and society punishes\nthe perpetrators without changing matters in the least.\n\nThe growing number of persons engaged in intermediate trade has\nled to many evils. Though the persons thus engaged work hard and\nare frequently burdened with care, most of them form a class of\nparasites who are unproductive and live on the products of the labor\nof others as well as the employing class. An increased cost of\nliving is the inevitable result of intermediate trade. The price of\nprovisions is thereby raised to such extent that they sometimes cost\ntwice and three times as much as is obtained by the producer.[207]\nBut if provisions can not be raised in price any more, because a\nfurther raise would limit the consumption, they are diminished in\nquantity and quality, adulteration of food and the use of incorrect\nweights and measures is resorted to. The chemist Chevalier reports\nthat among various articles of food he found the following number\nof methods of adulteration: coffee, 32; wine, 30; chocolate, 28;\nflour, 24; whiskey, 23; bread, 20; milk, 19; butter, 10; olive oil,\n9; sugar, 6, etc. A great deal of fraud is practiced in the grocery\nstores with goods that have been previously measured or weighed and\npacked. Frequently only 12 or 14 ounces are sold for a pound, and\nin this way the lower price is made up for. Workingmen and other\npersons of small means suffer most from these fraudulent methods,\nbecause they are obliged to buy on credit and must therefore hold\ntheir peace even where the fraud is perfectly evident. In the bakery\ntrade also incorrect weight is frequently resorted to. Swindle\nand fraud are inevitably linked with our social conditions, and\ncertain institutions of the state, for instance high indirect taxes\nand duties, favor swindle and fraud. The laws enacted against the\nadultery of food accomplish but little. The struggle for existence\ncompels the swindlers to resort to more cunning methods, and a\nthoroughgoing and severe control rarely exists. Serious control is\nalso made impossible because it is claimed that in order to detect\nevery adultery, an expensive and extensive organization would be\nrequired and that legitimate business would also be damaged thereby.\nBut wherever the control does interfere successfully, a considerable\nincrease in prices ensues, because the low prices were possible only\nby means of adulteration.\n\nIn order to diminish these evils from which the masses always and\neverywhere suffer most, cooperative stores have been established. In\nGermany especially army and navy stores and civil service stores have\nbeen developed to such an extent, that many commercial enterprises\nwere ruined by them. But the workingmen\u2019s cooperative stores have also\ndeveloped tremendously during the last decade and have partly even\nundertaken the manufacture of certain commodities. The cooperative\nstores in Hamburg, Leipsic, Dresden, Stuttgart, Breslau, Vienna, etc.,\nhave become model establishments and the annual sales of the German\ncooperative stores amount to hundreds of millions of marks. Since a\nfew years the German cooperative stores have central establishments\nin Hamburg where the goods are purchased wholesale on the largest\nscale; this enables the various branch stores to obtain these goods\nat the lowest possible price. These cooperative stores prove that\nthe scattering methods of intermediate trade are superfluous. That\nis their greatest advantage beside the other advantage that they\nfurnish reliable goods. The material advantages to their members\nare not very great nor do they suffice to bring about any marked\nimprovement in their social status. But the establishment of these\ncooperative stores proves the existence of a widespread recognition\nthat intermediate trade is superfluous. Society will ultimately\nachieve an organization that will do away with commerce, since the\nproducts will be turned over to the consumers without the aid of\nother intermediate agents than are required by transportation from\none place to another and by distribution. When the common purchase\nof food has been achieved, the common preparation of food on a large\nscale appears to be the next logical step. This again would lead to\na tremendous saving in labor power, space, material and many other\nexpenses.\n\n[205] \u201cThe decline of ancient handicraft is not the only cause\nthat accounts for the great increase in the small retail trade.\nThe growing industrialization and commercialization of the country\nnotwithstanding its tendency toward manufacture on a large scale\nalways furnishes new ground for small businesses. Inventions that\ncreate new branches of industry also cause the rise of new small\nestablishments for the distribution of these products. But the main\ncause of the great increase in retail trade is,--as expressed in a\nreport submitted to the government of Saxony by the Dresden chamber\nof commerce,--that trade on a small scale has become the rallying\nplace of many persons who despair of making their living in any other\nway.\u201d Paul Lange--Retail Trade and Middle Class Politics. \u201cNew Era.\u201d\n\n[206] In his first adaption of Rau\u2019s \u201cText Book of Political Economy,\u201d\nProfessor Adolf Wagner expresses a similar thought. He says: \u201cThe\nsocial struggle is the conscious contradiction between the economic\ndevelopment and the social ideal of freedom and equality as expressed\nin political life.\u201d\n\n[207] In his book on \u201cDomestic Industry in Thuringia,\u201d Dr. E. Sax\ntells us that in 1869 the production of 244\u00bd million slate pencils had\nyielded 122,000 to 200,000 florins in wages to the workingmen, but\ntheir final sale had yielded 1,200,000 florins, at least six times\nas much as the producers had received. During the summer of 1888,\n5 marks were paid for 5 hundred-weights of haddock by the wholesaler.\nBut the retailer paid 15 marks to the wholesaler, and the public\npaid the latter 125 marks. Large quantities of food moreover are\ndestroyed because the prices do not make their transportation worth\nwhile. For instance, during years when the catch of herrings has\nbeen an over abundant one, loads of them have been used as manure,\nwhile there were thousands of persons in the interior who could not\nafford to buy herrings. The same occurred in California in 1892 when\nthe crop of potatoes was too abundant. When in 1901 the price of\nsugar was very low, a trade paper seriously suggested to destroy a\ngreater part of the supplies so that the price could be raised. It\nis well known that Charles Fourier was inspired to his ideas of a\nsocial system because while he served as apprentice in a commercial\nhouse in Toulon, he had been ordered to throw a load of rice over\nboard to raise the prices. He reasoned that a society which resorts\nto such barbarous and irrational methods must be founded on a false\nbasis, and so he became a socialist.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX.\n\nThe Revolution in Agriculture.\n\n\n1.--Transatlantic Competition and Desertion of the Country.\n\nThe economic revolution in industry and trade has also largely\naffected agricultural conditions. The commercial and industrial\ncrises affect the rural population likewise. Hundreds of thousands\nof members of the families of farmers are temporarily or permanently\nemployed in industrial establishments of various kinds. This manner\nof employment constantly expands, firstly, because the great number\nof small farmers do not have enough work on their own farms to keep\nthemselves and the members of their families usefully employed, and,\nsecondly, because the large farmers find it profitable to have an\nimportant portion of the products of their soil transformed into\nindustrial commodities right on their own farms. In this manner they\nsave the heavy expense of shipping the raw material, for instance,\npotatoes and grain for the manufacture of alcohol, beets for sugar,\ncereals for flour or for brewing beer, etc. They, furthermore, are\nenabled to establish a mutual relation between agricultural and\nindustrial production and can employ the labor power on hand to better\nadvantage. The wages are lower and the workers are more willing too\nthan those in cities and industrial centers. Expenses of buildings\nand rents as well as taxes are considerably lower too, for the large\nland owners in the rural districts are both the makers and executors\nof the law; they furnish many representatives from their midst and\ncontrol the administration and police force. That is why the number\nof factories in the country increases each year. Agriculture and\nindustry are becoming more and more closely linked, and the large\nagricultural establishments mainly profit from this fact.\n\nThe capitalistic development that the large estates have undergone,\nin Germany as elsewhere, has created conditions similar to those in\nEngland and the United States. We no longer meet with those ideal\nconditions in the country that still existed a few decades ago. Modern\ncivilization has gradually taken possession of the country, too, in\nthe remotest places even. Militarism especially has unintentionally\nexercised a revolutionary influence. The great increase in the standing\narmy has made itself especially severely felt in the open country.\nA great portion of the troops for the standing army is drawn from\nthe rural population. But when the peasant\u2019s son, or day laborer or\nfarm-hand, returns to the country, after an absence of two or three\nyears, from the city and the barracks, where the atmosphere has not\nbeen an exactly moral one, he has become acquainted with many new\nideas and requirements of civilization that he seeks to satisfy\nat home as he did away from home. To make this possible his first\ndemand is for higher wages. The old modesty and contentedness have\nbeen shattered in the city. In many cases he prefers to stay away\nfrom the country altogether, and all endeavours, supported by the\nmilitary authorities, to lead him back, remain unsuccessful. Improved\nmeans of traffic and communication also tend to raise the standard\nof requirements in the country. By his associations with the city\nthe farmer becomes acquainted with the world in an entirely new and\ntempting way; he is influenced by ideas and learns of requirements of\ncivilization that have been entirely foreign to him until then. That\ncauses him to become dissatisfied with his position. The increased\ndemands made upon the population by state, county, community, etc.,\naffect the peasant as well as the rural worker and make them more\nrebellious still. To this other most important factors must be added.\n\nEuropean agriculture, and especially German agriculture, has entered\nupon a new phase of its development since the close of the seventies\nof the last century. While, until then, the nations depended upon\nthe farm products of their own agriculture, or, as England, upon that\nof the neighboring countries--France and Germany--the situation now\nbegan to change. As a result of the tremendously improved means of\ntransportation--navigation and the construction of railways in North\nAmerica--provisions began to be shipped from there to Europe and\nlowered the prices of grain, so that cultivation of the chief kinds of\ngrain in Middle and Western Europe became far less profitable, unless\nthe entire conditions of production could be changed. Moreover, the\nrealm of international grain production greatly expanded. Besides\nRussia and Roumania, who made every endeavour to increase their\nexport of grain, products from Argentine Republic, Australia, India\nand Canada appeared upon the market. In the course of development\nanother unfavorable factor was added. Influenced by the causes above\nenumerated, the small farmers and rural workers began to desert the\ncountry. They either emigrated beyond the seas or scores of them\nmoved from the country to the cities and industrial centers, so that\nlabor power in the country became scarce. The antiquated, patriarchal\nconditions, especially in Eastern Europe, the ill-treatment and\nalmost servile status of the farm-hands and servants still heightened\nthis desertion of the country. To what extent this shifting of the\npopulation has affected the rural districts from 1840 until the\ncensus of 1905, may be seen from the fact that during this period the\nPrussian provinces--East-Prussia, West Prussia, Pomerania, Posen,\nSilesia, Saxony and Hannover--lost 4,049,200 persons, and Bavaria,\nWurtemberg, Baden and Alsace-Lorraine had a loss of 2,026,500, while\nBerlin increased by migration by about 1,000,000 persons, Hamburg\nby 402,000, the Kingdom of Saxony by 326,200, the Rhine provinces\nby 343,000, and Westphalia by 246,100.[208]\n\n[208] Quarterly Gazette for Statistics of the German Empire.\n\n\n2.--Peasants and Great Landowners.\n\nAs a result of all these changes, agriculture began to suffer from\na want of capital. Accordingly the former line of development,\nwhereby the great landowner bought up the small and medium-sized\nfarmers and made them part of his property, gave way to the opposite\ntendency. But this pressure also brought about, that the clumsy\ncharacter of agricultural enterprises was gradually modified, because\npeople recognized that it would no longer do to follow the beaten\npath, but that it had become necessary to adopt new methods. The\nnational government, as well as the state governments, endeavored\nto relieve agriculture from its exigency by appropriate trade and\ntariff policies and by direct expenditures for various improvements.\nRecently the medium and great landowners are quite successful again\nwherever the farms are conducted in keeping with modern technical\ndevelopment, as may be gathered from the fact that the prices of\nfarms have greatly increased.\n\nIf agriculture is to prosper in capitalistic society, it is necessary\nthat it should be conducted by capitalistic methods. Here, as in\nindustry, it is important that human labor should be replaced or\naided by machinery and technical improvements. That this is being\ndone may be seen from the following: During the period from 1882 to\n1895 the number of steam-ploughs employed in agriculture in Germany\nhas increased from 836 to 1696, and the number of steam-threshing\nmachines has increased from 75,690 to 259,364. Compared to what might\nbe done in the way of agricultural machinery, these figures are still\nexceedingly low and prove the undeveloped state of agriculture; they\nalso prove that lack of means and the small size of the individual\nfarms have so far made the application of machinery impossible. The\nmachine, in order to be truly advantageous, requires application\non a large area of land devoted to cultivation of the same kind of\ncrop. The great number of small and medium-sized farms, the scattered\nfields and the great variety of crops have prevented a successful\napplication of machinery. The tables on page 351 show how the farming\narea is distributed in the German Empire.[209]\n\nAmong the 5,736,082 farms counted in 1907 there were no less than\n4,384,786 of less than 5 hectares = 76.8 per cent., that can furnish\nbut a poor existence to their owners, unless the soil is particularly\ngood, or unless devoted to horticulture. A great many of them could\nnot even be used in this way, since there are 2,731,055 farms among\nthem of one hectare, and less, in area.\n\n ==============+=================================+=====================\n | Number of Farms | Increase or Decrease\n +---------------------------------+---------------------\n Farms | | From 1882 From 1895\n | 1882 1895 1907 | to 1895 to 1907\n --------------+---------------------------------+---------------------\n Less than | |\n 2 hectares | 3,061,831 3,236,367 3,378,509 | +174,536 +142,142\n 2 to 5 ha. | 981,407 1,016,318 1,006,277 | + 34,911 \u2212 10,041\n 5 \u201c 20 \u201c | 926,605 998,804 1,065,539 | + 72,199 + 66,735\n 20 \u201c 100 \u201c | 281,510 281,767 262,191 | + 257 \u2212 19,576\n Over 100 \u201c | 24,991 25,061 23,566 | + 70 \u2212 1,495\n ----+---------------------------------+---------------------\n | 5,276,344 5,558,317 5,736,082 | +281,973 +177,765\n --------------+---------------------------------+---------------------\n\n ==============+====================================+=====================\n | Farming area in hectares | Increase or Decrease\n +------------------------------------+---------------------\n Farms | | From 1882 From 1895\n | 1882 1895 1907 | to 1895 to 1907\n --------------+------------------------------------+---------------------\n Less than | |\n 2 hectares | 1,825,938 1,808,444 1,731,317 | \u2212 17,494 \u2212 77,127\n 2 to 5 ha. | 3,190,203 3,285,984 3,304,872 | + 95,781 + 18,888\n 5 \u201c 20 \u201c | 9,158,398 9,721,875 10,421,565 | +568,477 +699,690\n 20 \u201c 100 \u201c | 9,908,170 9,869,837 9,322,106 | \u2212 38,333 \u2212547,731\n Over 100 \u201c | 7,786,263 7,831,801 7,055,013 | + 45,538 \u2212776,788\n ----+------------------------------------+---------------------\n | 31,868,972 32,517,941 31,834,873 | +648,969 \u2212683,068\n --------------+------------------------------------+---------------------\n\nBut even among the farms of more than 5 hectares there are many that\nyield only a poor product, notwithstanding hard and long labor, owing\nto poor soil, unfavorable climate, bad location, lack of proper means\nof transportation, etc. It may be said without exaggeration that\nfully nine-tenths of the farmers lack the means and the knowledge\nto cultivate their soil as it might be cultivated. Neither do the\nsmall peasants receive a fair price for their products, since they\ndepend upon the intermediate trader. The dealer who traverses the\ncountry on definite days or in definite seasons and usually trades\noff his merchandise to other dealers again, must obtain his profit.\nBut to gather in the many small quantities means much more trouble\nto him than to procure a large quantity from a great landowner. The\npeasants owning small and medium-sized farms therefore receive less\nfor their products than the great landowners, and if their products\nare of inferior quality, which is frequently the case owing to their\nprimitive methods, they must accept almost any price. Sometimes they\ncannot even wait for the time when their product will bring the\nhighest price. They owe money on rent, interest and taxes, they must\nrepay loans, or must settle bills with tradespeople and mechanics,\ntherefore they are obliged to sell no matter how unfavorable the time\nmay be. In order to improve their property, or to satisfy joint-heirs\nor children they have mortgaged their farms. As they have few lenders\nto choose from, the conditions are not very favorable. A high rate\nof interest and definite dates of payment weigh heavily on them. A\npoor harvest or a faulty speculation in regard to the kind of product\nthat they expected to sell at a good price often drive them to the\nverge of ruin. Sometimes the products are bought and the capital is\nloaned by one and the same person, and in that event the peasant is\nentirely in the hands of his creditor. In this manner the peasants\nof entire villages and districts are sometimes in the hands of a\nfew creditors. This is the case with the peasants who raise hops,\nwine, tobacco, and vegetables in Southern Germany, and on the Rhine,\nand with small farmers in Central Germany. The creditor fleeces the\npeasants mercilessly. He allows them to remain on their farms as\napparent owners, but as a matter of fact they no longer own them.\nFrequently the capitalistic exploiter finds this method far more\nprofitable than to cultivate the land himself, or to sell it. In\nthis manner thousands of peasants are recorded as owners of farms\nwho are virtually not the owners. As a matter of fact, many great\nlandowners, too, who managed badly or were unfortunate or took the\nproperty under unfavorable conditions, fell victims to capitalistic\nextortioners. The capitalist becomes master of the soil, and, in\norder to increase his profits, he divides up the farm into lots,\nbecause in this way he can obtain a far higher price than if he sold\nit undivided. With a number of small proprietors he furthermore has\nthe best prospect to continue his usurious trade. As is well known,\nin the city, too, those houses yield the highest rents that contain\nthe largest number of small apartments. A small number of farmers\ntake the opportunity and buy portions of the divided estate. The\ncapitalistic benefactor is willing to turn over larger portions to\nthem also upon a small payment. The remainder of the price he takes\nas mortgage at a high rate of interest, and there the difficulty\nbegins. If the small farmer is fortunate and succeeds in making his\nfarm pay he escapes; otherwise his lot will be as described above. If\nthe small farmer loses some of his cattle, that is a great misfortune\nfor him; if he has a daughter who marries, the purchase of her\noutfit increases his debts and he loses a cheap labor power; if a\nson marries, the latter demands his share of the farm, or a payment\nin money. Frequently he cannot afford even necessary improvements.\nIf his stock does not provide sufficient manure--as is often the\ncase--his soil becomes poorer in quality, because he cannot afford\nto buy manure. Sometimes he is too poor to buy good seed even; the\nuse of machinery is denied him, and a change of crop adapted to the\nchemical nature of his soil is frequently unfeasible. Neither can\nhe apply advantageous methods offered by science and experience in\nthe improvement of his stock. Lack of proper fodder, lack of proper\nstalls, lack of other necessary appliances, prevents it. So there\nare many causes that make existence difficult to the small farmer.\n\nIt is quite different with the large estates, where a comparatively\nsmall number of farms cover a large area. We see from the statistics\nthat 23,566 farms, having an area of 7,055,013 hectares of cultivated\nsoil, cover 2,019,824 hectares more than the 4,384,786 farms having an\narea of less than five hectares. But the numbers of the farms and the\nnumbers of the owners do not coincide. In 1895 there were no less than\n912,959 leased farms of all sizes, 1,694,251 farms that were partly\nowned and partly leased, and 983,917 farms that were cultivated in\ndifferent ways, as farms loaned to officials, as part of communal\nproperty, etc. On the other hand, single individuals own a number\nof agricultural estates. The greatest German landowner is the King\nof Prussia, who owns 83 estates, with an area of 98,746 hectares;\nother great German landowners are:\n\n Prince of Pless owning 75 estates of 70,170 hectares\n Prince Hohenzollern-Sigmar \u201c 24 \u201c \u201c 59,968 \u201c\n Duke of Ujest \u201c 52 \u201c \u201c 39,742 \u201c\n Prince Hohenlohe-Oehringen \u201c -- ------ 39,365 \u201c\n Prince of Ratibor \u201c 51 \u201c \u201c 33,096 \u201c\n\nIn 1895 the entailed estates in Prussia comprised an area of\n2,121,636 hectares, or 6.09 per cent. of the entire area of the land.\nThe 1045 entailed estates were owned by 939 proprietors, and their\ncommon property was by 206,600 hectares larger than the entire Kingdom\nof Wurtemberg, which covers an area of about 1,915,000 hectares. The\nlarge landowners are naturally interested in maintaining the present\nconditions. Not so the small proprietors, who would draw great\nadvantages from a rational transformation of the conditions. It is\nan innate characteristic of large ownership of land that it seeks to\nenlarge its possessions more and more, and to take possession of all\nthe farms within reach. It is so in Silesia, Lausitz, the Dukedom\nof Hessia and in other districts from which purchases of peasants\u2019\nestates on a large scale are frequently reported.\n\nIn Austria the large estates predominate far more than in Germany,\nor particularly in Prusia. Here, besides the nobility and the\nbourgeoisie, the Catholic Church has succeeded in taking possession\nof a lion\u2019s share of the soil. The expropriation of peasants is in\nfull swing in Austria also. In Styria, Tyrol, Salzburg, Upper and\nLower Austria, etc., all means are applied to drive the peasants\nfrom their native soil and to turn their farms into gentlemen\u2019s\nestates. The same scenes that were at one time enacted in Scotland\nand Ireland may now be observed in the most picturesque parts of\nAustria. Individuals, as well as societies, purchase enormous tracts\nof land, or rent what they cannot purchase, and transform them into\nhunting grounds. Trespassing on the valleys, hills and hamlets is\nprohibited by the new masters, and the stubborn proprietors of some\nestates, who refuse to comply with the demands of the gentlemen,\nare annoyed so long in various ways that they yield and sell\ntheir property. Soil that has been cultivated for ages, where for\nthousands of years many generations made a living, are transformed\ninto a wilderness where deer may roam about, and the mountains\nthat have been taken possession of by the capitalistic nobility or\nbourgeoisie are the hunting grounds of the chamois. Poverty spreads\nover entire communities because they are denied the right of driving\ntheir cattle on the Alpine pastures. And who are these persons\nwho are robbing the peasant of his property and his independence?\nBesides Rothschild and Baron Meyer-Melnhof, the Counts of Coburg\nand Meiningen, Prince Hohenlohe, the Duke of Liechtenstein, the\nCount of Braganza, the Duchess Rosenberg, the Duke of Pless, the\nCounts Schoenfeld, Festetics, Schafgotsch, Trauttmannsdorff, the\nBaron Gustaedt Hunting Club, the Count Karoly Hunting Club, the\nNoblemen\u2019s Hunting Club of Bluehnbach, etc. Everywhere the great\nlandowners are extending their property. In 1875 there were only 9\npersons in Lower Austria who owned more than 5000 yokes each, with\nan area of 89,490 hectares; in 1895 there were 24 persons who owned\nan area of 213,574 hectares. Throughout Austria the great landowners\ncontrol an area of 8,700,000 hectares, while 21,300,000 hectares\nbelong to the small landowners. The proprietors of entailed estates,\n297 families, own 1,200,000 hectares. Millions of small landowners\ncultivate 71 per cent. of the entire area, while a few thousand\ngreat landowners control more than 29 per cent. of the entire area\nof Austria. There are few land-revenue districts in which there are\nno great landed proprietors. In most of the districts there are\ntwo or several landowners who exert a determining political and\nsocial influence. Almost half of the great landowners hold property\nin several districts of the country, a number of them in several\ncrown-lands of the empire. In Lower Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, and\nSilesia there is no district without them. Only industry succeeded in\ndislodging them to some extent; for instance, in Northern Bohemia\nand at the boundary of Bohemia and Moravia. In all other parts of the\ncountry the large estates are increasing: In Upper Austria, where,\nof all crown-lands, we still find a class of peasants that is fairly\nwell off; in Goerz and Gradiaska, in Styria, Salzburg, in Galicia\nand Bukovina. They are increasing less rapidly in those countries\nthat already are the domains of the great landowners--Bohemia,\nMoravia, Silesia and Lower Austria. In Lower Austria, of the entire\nground comprising 1,982,300 hectares, 393 great landowners owned\n540,655 hectares, and the Church owned 79,181 hectares; 13 estates\ncomprise 425,079 hectares = 9 per cent. of the entire area; among\nthese, Duke Hoyos-Sprinzenstein owns 33,124 hectares. The area\nof Moravia covers 2,181,220 hectares. Of these the Church owned\n81,857 hectares, and 116 estates of more than 1000 hectares each\ncomprised a larger area than the 500,000 estates up to 10 hectares,\nthat form 92.1 per cent. of all estates. The area of Austrian Silesia\ncovers 514,677 hectares. Of these the Church owned 50,845 hectares,\nand 79 proprietors together owned 204,118 hectares. Bohemia, with an\narea of 5,194,500 hectares, has about 1,237,085 great landowners.\nThe distribution of property is characterized by an unusual number\nof estates of smallest dimensions, and by extensive large estates.\nAlmost 43 per cent. of all the estates are smaller than \u00bd hectare,\nand more than four-fifths do not exceed 5 hectares. These 703,577\nestates (81 per cent.) only cover 12.5 per cent. of the area of\nBohemia. On the other hand, 776 persons own 35.6 per cent. of the\nentire area, while they only form 0.1 per cent. of all estates. The\nunequal distribution of property is more striking still when we\nanalyze the larger class, those over 200 hectares. We then obtain\nthe following result:\n\n 380 persons own each 200 to 500 hectares together 116,143 hectares\n 141 \u201c \u201c \u201c 500 \u201c 1000 \u201c \u201c 101,748 \u201c\n 104 \u201c \u201c \u201c 1000 \u201c 2000 \u201c \u201c 150,567 \u201c\n 151 \u201c \u201c \u201c over 2000 \u201c \u201c 1,436,084 \u201c\n\nOf the last-named group, 31 persons own 5,000 to 10,000 hectares\neach; 21 persons own 10,000 to 20,000 hectares each, and the\nPrinces Mor. Lobkowitz, Ferdinand Kinsky, Karl Schwarzenberg,\nAlfred Windischgraetz, the Dukes Ernst Waldstein, Johann Harrach,\nKarl Buquoy own 20,000 to 30,000 hectares each. Clam-Gallas and\nLar. Czernin own over 30,000 each. The Prince of Lichtenstein owns\n36,189 hectares; Prince Max Egon Fuerstenberg, 39,162 hectares;\nPrince Colloredo Mannsfeld, 57,691 hectares, and the Prince of\nSchwarzenberg, 177,310 hectares = 3.4 per cent. of the entire area\nof Bohemia. The Church owns 150,395 hectares = 3 per cent. of the\narea of Bohemia.[210] These figures were compiled in 1896; since\nthen matters have grown still worse. According to the agricultural\ncensus of 1902 there were 18,437 estates (0.7 per cent. of the entire\nnumber) that covered 9,929,920 hectares, or one-third of the entire\narea. In the district of Schwaz seven Alps and in the district of Zell\nsixteen Alps that had hitherto served as pastures to the cattle, were\nshut off by the new landlords and transformed into hunting grounds.\nPasturing of cattle is prohibited along the entire Karwendel range.\nThe leading nobility of Austria and Germany, besides rich bourgeois\nparvenus, purchased areas up to 70,000 yokes, and more, in the Alpine\nregions and had them fenced in as game preserves. Entire villages,\nhundreds of farms disappear, the inhabitants are driven from their\nnative soil, and the place of human beings and of animals intended\nfor human food, is taken by deer and stags and chamois. Not a few\nof these men who have devastated entire provinces in this manner,\nafterwards speak on the needy condition of the peasants in the\nparliaments, and abuse their power to employ the aid of the state in\nthe form of taxes on grain, wood, live stock, meat, whiskey, etc.,\nat the expense of the propertyless classes.\n\nIn the most advanced industrial states it is not the love of luxury\nof the privileged classes that dislodges the small estates, as is the\ncase in Austria. Here the increasing demands of a rapidly growing\npopulation make it necessary to organize farming along capitalistic\nlines, in order to produce the required amount of food. This may be\nobserved in a country so highly developed industrially as Belgium.\nAccording to the \u201cAnnual Statistics,\u201d quoted by Emile Vandervelde\nin an article, \u201cLanded Property in Belgium During the Period from\n1834 to 1899,\u201d it says: \u201cOnly farms of less than 5 hectares, and\nespecially those of less than 2 hectares, have diminished in number.\nBut the farms of more than 10 hectares have increased to 3,789. The\nconcentration of landed property that is in keeping with modern\nindustry and cattle breeding on a large scale, may here be clearly\nobserved. Since 1880 a development has set in that takes the opposite\ncourse of the one that took place from 1866 to 1880. While, in 1880,\nthere still were 910,396 farms, only 829,625 remained in 1895; that\nmeans a decrease by 80,771 farms = 9 per cent., in fifteen years.\nAs a matter of fact, this decrease has affected only farms of less\nthan 5 hectares. On the other hand, farms of from 5 to 10 hectares\nincreased by 675; those of from 10 to 20 hectares by 2,168; from 20\nto 30 hectares by 414; from 30 to 40 hectares by 164, from 40 to\n50 hectares by 187, and those of over 50 hectares by 181.\u201d\n\n[209] Karl Kautsky--The Agrarian question and temporary results of\nthe agricultural census of June 12, 1901. Quarterly Gazette for\nStatistics of the German Empire, 1909.\n\n[210] The Propertied and Propertyless Classes in Austria.--T. W.\nTeifen. Vienna, 1906.\n\n\n3.--The Contrast Between City and Country.\n\nThe condition of the soil and its cultivation is of the greatest\nimportance to the advancement of our civilization. The existence of\nthe population primarily depends upon the soil and its products. The\nsoil cannot be increased at will; the manner of its cultivation is\ntherefore the more important. The population of Germany, which grows\nby about 870,000 persons annually, requires a considerable import\nof bread and meat, if the prices of the most necessary articles of\nfood are still to be within reach of the masses. But here we are\nconfronted by sharp-contrasting interests between the agricultural\nand industrial population. That part of the population that is\nnot engaged in agricultural pursuits, is interested in obtaining\narticles of food at low prices, since their wellfare, both as human\nbeings and as individuals engaged in industry and commerce, depends\nupon it. Every increase in the cost of articles of food leads to\na deterioration in the standard of living of a large portion of\nthe population, unless the wages of the population depending\nupon agricultural products should be raised also. But an increase\nin wages usually implies an increase in the prices of industrial\nproducts, and that may result in a decline of sales. But if wages\nremain stationary, notwithstanding the increased cost of articles of\nfood, the purchase of other commodities must be limited, and again\nindustry and commerce suffer.\n\nMatters have a different aspect for those engaged in agriculture.\nJust as persons engaged in industry, they seek to obtain the greatest\npossible advantage from their occupation, and it does not matter to\nthem from which particular product they obtain it. If the import of\nforeign grain prevents their obtaining the desired profit from the\ncultivation of grain, they devote their soil to the cultivation of\nother products that are more profitable. They cultivate beets for\nthe manufacture of sugar, and potatoes and grain for the manufacture\nof whiskey, instead of wheat and rye for bread. They devote the most\nfertile fields to the cultivation of tobacco, instead of to the\ncultivation of vegetables and fruit. Others use thousands of hectares\nof land for pastures for horses, because horses bring high prices\nfor military purposes. Moreover, great stretches of forest land,\nwhich could be employed for agricultural purposes, are reserved as\nhunting-grounds for sportsmen of rank. This is sometimes the case in\nregions where a few thousand hectares of forests might be cut down\nand transformed into fields, without any harmful results ensuing,\ndue to a decrease in humidity by the cutting down of the forest. In\nthis manner thousands of square miles of fertile soil might still be\nwon for agricultural purposes in Germany. But this transformation\nis contrary to the material interests of a part of the bureaucracy,\nthe forest- and game-keepers, as well as to the interests of the\ngreat landowners, who do not wish to give up their hunting-grounds\nand to deny themselves the pleasures of the chase. It is a matter\nof course that such clearing of forests could take place only where\nit would be truly advantageous. On the other hand, large areas of\nmountain and waste land might be planted with forests.\n\nRecently the great influence of forests on the formation of moisture\nhas been denied, as it appears, unjustly so. To what marked degree\nthe forest influences the moisture of the land, and thereby the\nfertility of the soil, is shown by some striking facts given in\nthe book by Parvus and Dr. Lehmann, \u201cStarving Russia.\u201d The authors\nassert, on the ground of their own observations, that the boundless\nand desultory devastation of forests in the most fertile provinces\nof Russia, was the chief cause of the failure of crops from which\nthese at one time fertile regions suffered severely during the last\nfew decades. Among many other facts, they pointed out that during\nthe course of time five little rivers and six lakes disappeared in\nthe government district of Stawropol; in the government district of\nBusuluk four rivers and four lakes disappeared; in the government\ndistrict of Samara six small rivers, and in the government district of\nBuguruslan two small rivers disappeared. In the government districts\nof Nikolajewsk and Novousensk four rivers are barely maintained by\nthe construction of dams. Many villages that formerly had running\nwater in their vicinity are robbed of this advantage, and in many\nplaces the depth of wells is 45 to 60 yards. As a result of this\ndearth of water the soil is hard and cracked. With the cutting down\nof the forests the springs dried up and rain became scarce.\n\nCapitalistic cultivation of the soil leads to capitalistic conditions.\nFor a number of years a portion of our farmers derived enormous\nprofits from the cultivation of beets and the manufacture of sugar\nconnected with it. The system of taxation favored the exportation\nof sugar, and in such a manner that the revenue of the taxes on\nsugar-beets and on the consumption of sugar was to a considerable\nextent employed as bounties for exportation. The reimbursement\ngranted to the sugar manufacturers per hundred-weight of sugar was\nconsiderably higher than the tax paid by them on the beets, and\nplaced them in a position to sell their sugar at low prices to\nforeign countries, at the expense of the domestic taxpayers, and to\ndevelop the cultivation of sugar-beets more and more. The advantage\ngained by the sugar manufacturers under this system of taxation\namounted to over 31 million marks annually. Hundreds of thousands of\nhectares of land that had formerly been devoted to the cultivation\nof grain, etc., were now employed to raise beets; countless factories\nwere erected, and the inevitable result was the panic. The high\nprofit obtained from the cultivation of beets also caused a rise\nin the price of property. This led to a wholesale purchase of the\nsmall farms, whose owners were tempted to sell by the high prices\nthey could obtain for their property. The soil was made to serve\nindustrial speculation, and the raising of grain and potatoes was\nrelegated to soil of inferior quality, which heightened the demand\nfor the importation of products of food. Finally the evils that\nhad arisen from the allowance on export of sugar and had gradually\nassumed an international character, compelled the governments and\nthe parliaments to abolish this system and thereby to revert to\nsomewhat more natural conditions.\n\nUnder present-day conditions the small farmers cannot attain the\nsocial status to which they are entitled as citizens of a civilized\nstate, no matter how hard they may work and how much they may deny\nthemselves. Whatever the state and society may do to uphold these\nclasses that form a considerable basis of the existing form of\nstate and society, their endeavours remain patch-work. The agrarian\ntaxes harm this portion of the agricultural population more than\nthey benefit them. Most of these farmers do not produce as much\nas they need for the maintenance of their own families. They must\npurchase part of their supplies, the means for which they obtain\nby industrial or other additional labor. A great many of our small\nfarmers are more interested in a favorable status of industry and\ncommerce than in agriculture, because their own children make their\nliving by industry or commerce, since the farm offers no employment\nand no income to them. One failure of crops increases the number of\nfarmers who are obliged to purchase agricultural products. So how\ncan agrarian taxes and prohibition of importation benefit those who\nhave little to sell and must occasionally buy much? At least 80 per\ncent. of all agricultural establishments are in this position.\n\nHow the farmer cultivates his soil is his own affair in the era of\nprivate property. He cultivates whatever seems most profitable to\nhim, regardless of the interests and requirements of society; so\n\u201claissez faire!\u201d In industry the same principle is applied. Obscene\npictures and indecent books are manufactured, and factories are\nestablished for the adulteration of food. These and many other\nactivities are harmful to society; they undermine its morals and\nheighten corruption. But they are profitable, more so than decent\npictures, scientific books and unadulterated food. The manufacturer,\neager for profits, must only succeed in escaping the notice of the\npolice, and he may ply his trade in the knowledge that society will\nenvy and respect him for the money he has made.\n\nThe mammon character of our age is most forcibly expressed by the\nstock exchange and its dealings. Products of the soil and industrial\nproducts, means of transportation, meteorological and political\nconditions, want and abundance, disasters and suffering of the masses,\npublic debts, inventions and discoveries, health or disease and death\nof influential persons, war and rumors of war often invented for\nthis purpose, all these and many other things are made the object\nof speculation and are used to exploit and cheat one another. The\nkings of capital exert the most decisive influence on the weal and\nwoe of society, and, favored by their powerful means and connections,\nthey accumulate boundless wealth. Governments and officials become\nmere puppets in their hands, who must perform while the kings of\nthe stock exchange pull the wires. The powers of the state do not\ncontrol the stock market, the stock market controls the powers of\nthe state.\n\nAll these facts, which are becoming more evident every day because\nthe evils are daily increasing, call for speedy and thoroughgoing\nreforms. But society stands helpless before these evils and keeps\ngoing about in a circle like a horse in a treadmill, a picture of\nimpotence and stupidity. They who would like to act, are still too\nweak; they who ought to act, still lack understanding; they who\nmight act, do not wish to. They rely upon their power and think,\nas Madame Pompadour expressed it: \u201cApr\u00e8s nous le d\u00e9luge!\u201d (May the\ndeluge come after we are gone!) But what if the deluge should overtake\nthem?\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Socialization of Society.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX.\n\nThe Social Revolution.\n\n\n1.--The Transformation of Society.\n\nThe tide rises and undermines the foundation of state and society.\nEvery one feels that the pillars are swaying and that only powerful\nprops can support them. But to erect such props means great sacrifices\non the part of the ruling classes, and there the difficulty lies.\nEvery proposition, the realization of which would seriously damage\nthe material interests of the ruling classes and would threaten to\nquestion their privileged position, is bitterly opposed by them and\nroundly condemned as a measure destined to overturn the present\norder of state and society. But, without questioning and ultimately\nremoving the privileges of the ruling classes, the diseased world\ncannot be cured.\n\n\u201cThe struggle for the liberation of the working class is not a struggle\nfor privileges, but one for equal rights and equal duties and for\nthe removal of all privileges.\u201d This declaration of principles is\ncontained in the Socialist platform. It follows that nothing can be\nattained by half measures and small concessions.\n\nBut the ruling classes regard their privileged position as natural\nand self-understood; they will admit of no doubt in its permanence\nand justification. So it is quite natural that they oppose and combat\nevery attempt to shatter their privileges. Even proposed measures and\nlaws that do not change their privileged position and the present\norder of society in the least, cause the greatest excitement among\nthem, if their purse-strings are loosened thereby or likely to be\nloosened. In the parliaments mountains of paper are printed with\nspeeches until the laboring mountains bring forth a ridiculous mouse.\nThe most self-understood demands of workingmen\u2019s protection are met\nwith as much opposition as if the existence of society depended upon\nit. When, after endless struggles, some concessions are won from the\nruling classes, they act as if they had sacrificed a part of their\nfortune. They show the same stubborn opposition when called upon to\nrecognize the oppressed classes on a basis of formal equality; for\ninstance, to discuss questions of labor agreements with them as with\ntheir equals.\n\nThis opposition to the simplest things and the most self-understood\ndemands confirms the old experience that no ruling class can ever\nbe convinced by ~reason~, unless the force of circumstances compels\ndiscretion and compliance. But the force of circumstances may be found\nin the growing measure of understanding created in the oppressed by\nthe development of our conditions. The class extremes are constantly\nbecoming more severe, more noticeable and more evident. The oppressed\nand exploited classes begin to recognize that existing conditions are\nuntenable; their indignation increases, and with it the imperious\ndemand to transform and humanize conditions. As this perception\ngrows and reaches ever widening circles, it finally conquers the\nvast majority of society, which is most directly interested in this\ntransformation. But to the same extent in which this perception\nof the untenableness of existing conditions and the need of their\ntransformation grows among the masses, ~the power of resistance of\nthe ruling classes declines, since their power is founded upon the\nignorance and the lack of understanding of the oppressed and exploited\nclasses~. This reciprocal action is evident, and therefore everything\nthat advances it must be welcomed. The progress of capitalism on the\none hand is balanced on the other by the growing perception that the\nexisting social order is adverse to the wellfare of the vast majority\nof the people. Although the solution and removal of social extremes\nwill require great sacrifices and many exertions, a solution will\nbe found as soon as the extremes have attained the height of their\ndevelopment, toward which they are rapidly advancing.\n\nWhat measures are to be resorted to at the various stages of\ndevelopment, depends upon circumstances. It is impossible to predict\nwhat measures will be necessitated by circumstances in particular\ninstances. No government, no prime-minister, be he the most powerful\nperson, can predict what circumstances will compel him to do a year\nhence. It is all the more impossible to predict measures that will\nbe dictated by circumstances unknown to us at present. The question\nof measures is a question of tactics to be observed in a struggle.\nThe tactics are influenced by the opponent and also by the resources\nat the command of both parties. Means that are splendid to-day may\nbe harmful to-morrow, because the circumstances that justified\ntheir employment may have changed. It is but necessary always to\nkeep our aim before us; the means for attaining same depend upon\ntime and circumstances. ~But the most effective means that time and\ncircumstances permit of should be resorted to.~ In depicting future\ndevelopments we must therefore resort to hypothetical methods; we\nmust surmise certain conditions.\n\n~Proceeding from this point of view, we surmise that, at a given\ntime, all the depicted evils will have developed to such extremes\nand will have become so evident and tangible to the great majority\nof the population, that they come to be regarded as unbearable; that\na general, irresistible demand for a thoroughgoing transformation\nwill manifest itself, and that, accordingly, the quickest help will\nbe considered the most appropriate.~\n\nAll social evils, without exception, spring from the present social\norder, which, as has been shown, is founded on capitalism, on the\ncapitalistic method of production. This method of production enables\nthe capitalist class--the owners of all the means of production,\nthe ground, mines, raw materials, tools, machines, means of\ntransportation--to exploit and oppress the masses, which leads to\ninsecurity of existence and to the degradation of the exploited\nclasses. Accordingly the most rapid and direct way would be to\ntransform capitalistic property into common, or social property by\na general expropriation. ~The production of commodities will be\nsocialized; it will become a production for and by society. Manufacture\non a large scale and the increasing productivity of social labor,\nuntil now a source of misery and oppression for the exploited classes,\nwill then become a source of well-being and harmonious development\nfor all.~\n\n\n2.--Expropriation of the Expropriators.\n\nThe transformation of all means of production into common property\nforms the new basis of society. The conditions of life and work for\nboth sexes in industry, agriculture, traffic, education, marriage,\nscience, art and social intercourse become radically different.\nHuman life is given a new purpose. Gradually the organization of\nthe state also loses ground; ~the state disappears~; it, so to say,\nabolishes itself.\n\nIn the first part of this book we have shown why the state had to\narise. It is the product of development from primitive society,\nfounded on communism, that becomes dissolved as ~private property~\ndevelops. With the rise of private property antagonistic interests\nare formed within society. Differences of class and caste arise\nthat necessarily lead to class struggles among the different groups\nand threaten the maintenance of the new order. To keep down the\nopponents of the new order and to protect the threatened proprietors,\nan organization is required that opposes such attacks and declares\nproperty to be \u201crighteous\u201d and \u201csacred.\u201d ~This organization, which\nprotects and maintains private property, becomes the state.~ By laws\nthe state secures the proprietor\u2019s right to his property, and upon\nthose who would attack the order laid down by law it turns as judge\nand avenger. By their innermost nature, then, the interests of the\nruling, possessing class, and of the powers of the state, always are\nconservative. The organization of the state only changes when the\ninterest of property demands it. Thus the state is the ~indispensable~\norganization of a society founded on class rule. As soon as class\nextremes have been removed by the abolition of private property, it\nbecomes ~unnecessary~ and ~impossible~. The state gradually ceases\nto exist with the passing away of class rule, as surely as religion\nceases to exist when belief in superior beings and occult powers is\nno longer met with. Words must have a purport; when they lose same\nthey cease to convey a meaning.\n\nHere a reader who is capitalistically minded may object and may ask\non what legal ground can society justify these overthrowing changes?\nThe legal ground will be the same that always was found, when similar\nchanges and transformations were needful: ~The common wellfare~.\nSociety, not the state, is the source of law. The state is only clerk\nto the society, whose duty it is to measure and dispense the law.\nUntil now, ruling society was always but a small minority, but this\nsmall minority acted in behalf of the entire nation and represented\nitself as being society, just as Louis XIV. represented himself as\nbeing the state: \u201cL\u2019\u00e9tat c\u2019est moi.\u201d (I am the state.) When our\nnewspapers report: \u201cThe season has begun, society is returning to\ntown;\u201d or: \u201cThe season is over, society is hastening to the country,\u201d\nthey do not mean the people, but the upper ten thousand who constitute\nsociety as they constitute the state. The masses are the \u201cplebs,\u201d\nthe vile multitude. In the same way, everything undertaken by the\nstate for society in behalf of \u201cthe common welfare,\u201d has, first\nand foremost, served the interests of the ruling classes. \u201c~Salus\nreipublicae suprema lex esto~\u201d (the welfare of the republic shall\nbe the supreme law), is the well-known legal principle laid down by\nthe ancient Romans. But who formed the Roman republic? The subjected\npeoples, the millions of slaves? No! The comparatively small number\nof Roman citizens, above all the Roman nobility, who permitted the\nslaves to support them.\n\nWhen, during the middle ages, nobility and princes robbed the communal\nproperty, they did so on the legal ground of \u201cthe common welfare,\u201d\nand in what manner they disposed of the communal property and the\nproperty of the helpless peasants, the history of the middle ages,\ndown to recent times, has amply shown. The agrarian history of the\npast thousand years is a history of uninterrupted robbery of communal\nand peasant property, practiced by the nobility and the Church in\nall civilized states of Europe. When the great French Revolution\nthen proceeded to expropriate the property of the nobility and the\nChurch, it did so \u201cin behalf of the common welfare,\u201d and the greater\npart of the eight million of property holders who form the chief\nstay of Bourgeois France, owe their existence to this expropriation.\nIn behalf of the \u201ccommon welfare,\u201d Spain took possession of much\nChurch property, and Italy confiscated it entirely, applauded by the\nmost ardent defenders of \u201csacred property.\u201d The English nobility for\ncenturies robbed the Irish and English nations of their property, and\nfrom 1804 to 1832 legally presented itself--\u201cin behalf of the common\nwelfare\u201d--with no less than 3,511,710 acres of communal property.\nWhen, after the great North American civil war, millions of slaves\nwere emancipated, who had been the lawfully acquired property of\ntheir masters, without reimbursing the latter, this was done \u201cin\nbehalf of the common welfare.\u201d Our entire bourgeois development is\nan uninterrupted process of expropriation and confiscation. In this\nprocess the mechanic is expropriated by the manufacturer, the peasant\nby the great landowner, the small dealer by the large merchant, and,\nfinally, one capitalist by another. To judge by the declamations of\nour bourgeoisie, all this is being done to serve \u201cthe common welfare,\u201d\nin the \u201cinterest of society.\u201d On the 18 Brumaire and December 2, the\nfollowers of Napoleon \u201csaved\u201d \u201csociety\u201d and \u201csociety\u201d congratulated\nthem. When society will save itself by taking back the property it\nhas created, it will perform the most noteworthy deed. ~For then\nits actions will not purpose to suppress one to the advantage of\nanother, but to obtain equality of opportunity for all and to enable\neach and every one to lead an existence worthy of a human being.~\nIt will be the grandest measure, morally, ever enacted by society.\n\nIn what forms this great process of social expropriation will be\nconsummated and under what conditions, is of course quite impossible\nto predict.\n\nIn his fourth social letter to v. Kirchmann, entitled \u201cCapital,\u201d[211]\nRodbertus says: \u201cA confiscation of all private property in land, is\nnot a chimera, but quite possible from the standpoint of political\neconomy. It would also be the most radical help for society. For\nsociety suffers from the increase of rent in land and capital. With\nthe abolition of private property in land, traffic and the progress\nof national wealth would not be interrupted for one moment.\u201d What do\nthe Agrarians say to this opinion of one who was formerly a member\nof their party?\n\nThe further course of events, after such a measure has been resorted\nto, cannot be definitely laid down. No human being is able to foresee\nhow coming generations will shape the details of their social\norganizations, and in what manner they will best succeed in satisfying\ntheir requirements. In society, as in nature, there is constant\nchange. One thing appears while another disappears; what is old and\nwasted is replaced by what is new and full of vitality. Inventions\nand discoveries along varied lines are made whose significance cannot\nbe foreseen, and when applied, such inventions and discoveries may\nrevolutionize human life and the entire social organization.\n\nIn the following, therefore, we can only discuss the development of\ngeneral principles. They may be laid down as a logical outcome of the\nprior explanations, and to some extent it is possible to overlook\nin what manner they will be carried out. Even heretofore society\ncould not be guided and directed by single individuals, although\nit sometimes appeared so. But appearances are deceiving; presuming\nto direct, we are being directed. Even heretofore society has been\nan organism that developed in accordance with definite, inherent\nlaws. In the future the guidance and direction, according to the\nwill of individuals, will be entirely out of the question. Society\nwill then be a democracy that will have unravelled the secrets of\nits nature. It will have discovered the laws of its development and\nwill consciously apply them to its further growth.\n\n[211] Berlin, 1884.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI.\n\nFundamental Laws of Socialistic Society.\n\n\n1.--Duty to Work of All Able-bodied Persons.\n\nAs soon as society has become the owner of all means of production,\nthe duty to work of all able-bodied persons, regardless of sex,\nbecomes a fundamental law of socialized society. Society cannot exist\nwithout labor. It therefore is justified in demanding that all who\nseek to satisfy their requirements, should also serve to the best\nof their physical and mental abilities in producing the commodities\nthat are needful to satisfy the requirements of all. The silly\nassertion that the Socialists wish to abolish work is an absurdity.\nLazy persons, shirkers of work, are met with in bourgeois society\n~only~. Socialism is agreed with the Bible in asserting that \u201che\nwho will not work neither shall he eat.\u201d But work shall be useful,\nproductive activity. The new society will therefore insist that\neveryone choose some definite industrial, agricultural, or other\nuseful activity, whereby he performs a certain amount of labor for\nthe satisfaction of existing requirements. ~No enjoyment without\nlabor, without labor no enjoyment.~\n\nSince all are obliged to work, all have the same interest in\nhaving three conditions of labor complied with. Firstly, that the\nwork-day shall not be too long and that the work shall not require\nover-exertion; secondly, that the work shall be varied and as agreeable\nas possible; thirdly, that it shall be as productive as possible,\nsince on this the length of the work-day and the number of obtainable\nenjoyments depend. But these three conditions again are determined\nby the number and the nature of the means of production and the\nworkers; they are furthermore determined by the required standard\nof living. Socialistic society does not establish itself in order\nto lead a proletarian existence, ~but to abolish the proletarian\nmanner of living of the great majority of people~. It seeks to grant\nto everyone the fullest measure of the comforts and joys of life,\nand so the question arises: To what extent will the requirements of\nsociety grow?\n\nIn order to determine this an administration will be necessary that\ncomprises all fields of social activity. Here our municipalities\nwill form an appropriate foundation. If they are too large to permit\nof obtaining an insight, they may be divided into districts. As in\nprimitive society, all members of the communities who are of age,\n~regardless of sex~, will participate in the elections and choose\nthe persons who are to take charge of the administration. At the\nhead of all local bodies there will be a central administration.\nThis--let it be noted--will not be a government with ruling powers,\nbut an executive board of managers. Whether this board of managers\nis to be elected by the entire population or by the local boards is\nnot essential. These questions will not be as important then as they\nare now, for election to these offices will not mean greater power\nand influence and a higher income. They will be positions of trust\nto which the fittest, ~be they men or women~, will be elected, and\nthey can be recalled or re-elected, as conditions may demand, or as\nit may seem desirable to the voters. All offices are temporary. The\npersons who hold these positions, therefore, cannot be regarded as\nofficials. Their function is not a permanent one, nor is a hierarchical\norder of advancement provided for. Viewed from this standpoint, it\nalso becomes a matter of indifference whether there will be any\nintermediate bodies between the central administration and the local\nadministrations, as provincial administrations, etc. If considered\nnecessary they will be instituted; if not, they will be omitted. All\nthat will be determined by experience. If progress in the development\nof society should make old institutions superfluous, they will be\nabolished without any ado and without any conflict, since no one is\npersonally interested in their maintenance, and new ones will be\ninstituted instead. ~This thoroughly democratic administration is\nvery different from the present.~ At the present time--what battles\nin the newspapers, what a warfare of tongues in the parliaments,\nwhat piles of documents in the government offices, to accomplish an\ninsignificant change in the administration or government!\n\nTo begin with, the main task will be to determine the existing\nforces, the number and kind of means of production, factories,\nworkshops, means of transportation, area of land, and the previous\nproductivity. Further it will be necessary to determine the supply\non hand and the number of articles and products required to supply\nthe demand in a given length of time. As at present the state and\nthe various municipalities annually determine their budgets, this\nwill in future be done for the entire social demand, and changes\nmade necessary by new or increased demands can be fully taken into\nconsideration. Statistics here become the main factor. They are the\nmost important auxiliary science in the new society, since they\nfurnish the standard whereby all social activity may be measured.\nStatistics are being used for similar purposes at present on a large\nscale. The budgets of nation, state, and municipality are founded\non a great number of statistical investigations that are annually\nundertaken by the various branches of administration. Experience of\nlong duration and a certain stability in current demands simplify\nthem. Under ~normal~ conditions every manufacturer and every merchant\nis also enabled to determine his requirements for the coming quarter\nof a year and in what manner he must arrange his production and his\npurchases. Unless excessive changes occur he can meet them readily\nand without much difficulty.\n\nThe experience that the crises are brought on by blind, anarchistic\nproduction; that is to say, because goods are produced without any\nknowledge of the stock on hand, the sales, and the demand for the\nvarious articles on the world market, has caused the captains of\nindustry in various branches--as already stated--to form trusts. The\nobject of these trusts is to determine prices on the one hand, and on\nthe other to regulate production. By the producing ability of each\nindividual concern and by the sales it is likely to make, the amount\nof goods to be produced for the coming months is determined. Failure\nto comply with these rules is punished by a fine and by proscription.\nThe manufacturers form these agreements not to benefit, but to harm\nthe public, and solely for their own advantage. Their purpose is to\nuse the power of co-operation to insure the greatest advantage for\nthemselves. By regulating production it becomes possible to exact\nthe payment of prices that can never be obtained as long as the\nindividual manufacturers compete with one another. So the manufacturer\nenriches himself at the expense of the consumer, who must pay the\nfixed price for the article that he needs; and, as the consumer is\ninjured by the trusts, so also the worker. Regulation of production\nby the manufacturers releases a number of workers and employes, and\nthese, in order to live, must underbid their fellow-workers. Moreover,\nthe social power of the trust is so great that the labor unions,\ntoo can rarely cope with them. The employers, accordingly, enjoy a\ndouble advantage; they receive higher prices and pay lower wages.\nThis regulation of production by associations of employers ~is the\nopposite of that which will take effect in Socialistic society~.\nTo-day the interest of the employers is the determining factor; in\nthe future it will be the interest of the general public. But in\nbourgeois society even the best organized trust cannot overlook and\ncompute all the factors. Competition and speculation on the world\nmarket continue to rage, in spite of the trust, and suddenly it\nbecomes manifest that the calculation is faulty, and the artificial\nstructure breaks down.\n\nLike industry, commerce also possesses far-reaching statistics. Every\nweek the large centers of commerce and seaport towns publish lists\nof the supplies on hand of kerosene, cotton, sugar, coffee, wheat,\netc. Sometimes these statistics are not exact, because the owners of\nthe goods occasionally have a personal interest in preventing the\ntruth from becoming known. But, taken all in all, these statistics\nare pretty reliable and enable those interested to judge the\nprobable aspect of the market in the near future. But here, too,\nspeculation enters into consideration that frequently deceives and\nupsets all calculations and often makes it impossible to carry on\nan honest business. Just as a general regulation of production is\nmade impossible in bourgeois society by the conflicting interests of\nthe countless private producers, so the regulation of distribution\nis made impossible by the speculative nature of commerce and by the\nconflicting interests of the great number of persons engaged in it.\nBut what has been accomplished so far gives an idea of what can be\naccomplished as soon as private interests disappear and the common\ninterest predominates. An example of this is, for instance, the\nharvest statistics compiled annually by various states, that make\nit possible to calculate the crops, the amount needful to supply\nthe domestic demand, and the probable prices.\n\nBut in a socialized society conditions will be perfectly orderly, since\nthe solidarity of society will have been established. Everything is\ncarried out, according to plans, in an orderly way, and so it will\nbe easy to determine the amounts required by the various demands.\nWhen some experience has been gained, everything will run smoothly.\nWhen the average demand for meat, bread, shoes, garments, etc., has\nbeen statistically determined, and when the output of the respective\nestablishments of production is known, ~the average daily amount of\nsocially necessary labor can be established. It, furthermore, can be\ndetermined whether more establishments of production are needed, or\nwhether some can be dispensed with as superfluous and can be fitted\nout for other purposes.~\n\nEvery individual chooses the branch of industry in which he wishes to\nbe employed. The great number of very different realms of activity\nmakes it possible to take the most varied wishes into consideration.\nIf there is an excess of workers in one branch and a lack of workers\nin another, it will be the duty of the administration to make the\nnecessary arrangements and to bring about an equalization. To organize\nproduction and to give opportunity to the various forces to be\nemployed at the right place, will be the chief task of the elected\nadministrations. As all perfect themselves in their particular tasks\nthe wheels run more smoothly. The different branches of industry\nand sub-divisions elect their managers, who must control the work.\nBut these are no slave-drivers, as overseers and foremen are\nto-day, but fellow-workers who simply practice the administrative\nfunction entrusted to them, in place of a productive one. It is not\nimpossible that at a more advanced stage of organization and with\na more perfect education of all its members, these functions will\nbecome alternating and will, in definite rotation, be overtaken by\nall persons concerned, ~regardless of sex~.\n\n\n2.--Harmony of Interests.\n\nLabor, organized on a basis of complete freedom and democratic\nequality, with one for all and all for one, will call forth a\nrivalry and a desire to create that are nowhere met with under the\npresent industrial system; and this joy of creation will enhance\nthe productivity of labor.\n\n~Since all work for one another~, they are interested in having all\nobjects well made and with as little waste of time and strength as\npossible, be it to save labor, or to gain time for the manufacture\nof new products destined to satisfy higher demands. ~This common\ninterest will cause all to seek to improve, simplify and hasten\nthe process of work. The ambition to discover and invent will be\nstimulated to the highest degree, and people will endeavour to outdo\neach other in new ideas and suggestions.~[212] So the opposite of\nwhat is claimed by the opponents of Socialism will be true. How many\ndiscoverers and inventors perish in bourgeois society! How many\nare exploited and cast aside! If intelligence and talent were to\nhold the foremost place in bourgeois society, instead of property,\n~the greater part of the employers would have to make way for their\nworkingmen, foremen, mechanics, engineers, chemists, etc.~ These\nare the men who, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, have made\nthe discoveries, inventions, and improvements that are applied by\nthe man with the full purse. How many thousands of discoverers and\ninventors have failed because they could not find a man who would\nfurnish the money to carry out their discoveries and inventions,\nand how many meritorious discoverers and inventors are crushed by\nthe social misery of daily life, is quite beyond our calculation.\nNot the persons endowed with a quick intelligence and a clear brain\nare masters of the world, but those endowed with ample means, which\ndoes not imply that a clear brain and a full purse cannot belong to\nthe same person.\n\nEveryone engaged in practical life knows with how much suspicion the\nworkingmen regard every improvement, every new invention that is\nintroduced to-day; and their suspicion is entirely justified. For, as\na rule, not the workers but the employers are the only ones to derive\nany advantage from it. The worker must fear that the new machine,\nor the improvement, will make him superfluous and turn him out into\nthe street. Instead of joyfully acclaiming a new invention that is a\ncredit to humanity and ought to be a boon to him, he curses it. Many\nan improvement in the process of production invented by workingmen has\nnever been introduced. The inventor keeps his invention to himself,\nbecause he fears that it will harm him, instead of benefiting him.\nSuch are the natural results of conflicting interests.[213]\n\nIn Socialistic society the conflict of interests will be removed.\nEveryone will develop his abilities to serve himself and will thereby\nserve society. At present, satisfaction of personal egotism and\nservice of society usually are extremes that exclude each other.\nIn the new society these extremes will not exist. ~Satisfaction of\npersonal egotism and service of society will be harmonious; they\nwill coincide.~[214]\n\nThe splendid influence of such a status of morals is obvious. The\nproductivity of labor will rapidly increase. Especially will the\nproductivity of labor grow, because the dissemination of forces\namong hundreds of thousands of tiny manufacturers with imperfect\ntools and insufficient means, will cease. It has been previously\nshown among how many small, medium-sized and large manufactories\nGerman industry is disseminated. By gathering in all the small and\nmedium-sized manufactories into manufacture on a large scale in\ngreat establishments that will be furnished with all the most modern\ntechnical improvements, a tremendous waste of effort, time, material\nof all kinds (light, heat, etc.), and space will be removed, and\nthe productivity of labor will be heightened. The difference that\nexists between the productivity of small, medium-sized and large\nmanufactories, may be illustrated by an example from the industrial\ncensus of Massachusetts of 1890. There the factories in ten chief\nbranches of industry are divided into three classes. Those that\nproduced less than 40,000 dollars\u2019 worth were placed in the lower\nclass; those that produced between 40,000 and 150,000 dollars\u2019 worth\nin the middle class, and those that produced over 150,000 dollars\u2019\nworth, in the upper class. This division presented the following\nfigures:\n\n ========================================================================\n Percentage Percentage of\n Number of of all Value of entire Value\n Establishments Establishments Production of Production\n ------------------------------------------------------------------------\n Lower class 2,042 55.2 51,660,617 9.4\n Middle class 968 26.2 106,868,635 19.5\n Upper class 686 18.6 390,817,300 71.1\n ----------------------------------------------------------------\n 3,696 100.-- 549,346,552 100.--\n ------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nTwice the number of small factories, compared to the large and\nmedium-sized ones, turned out only 9.4 per cent. of the entire\nproduction, while the large factories, which formed only 23 per cent.\nof the total number, produced almost 2\u00bd times the quantity of all\nthe others. But even the large establishments could be organized\nmuch more rationally still, so that the total production might yield\na still far greater quantity.\n\nHow much time can be gained by placing production on a rational basis?\nThat has been shown by interesting calculations made by Th. Hertzka,\nin his book on \u201cThe Laws of Social Evolution,\u201d published in 1886. He\ncalculated how much time and labor power would be needful to satisfy\nthe demands of the population of Austria, which was 22 millions\nstrong at the time. For this purpose, Hertzka investigated the\nproductivity of the large establishments in the various lines of\nindustry and based his calculations on the results. This calculation\nincludes the farming of 10\u00bd million hectares of cultivated soil and\n3 million hectares of pasturage, which should suffice to supply said\npopulation with meat and the products of agriculture. Furthermore,\nHertzka included in his calculation the building of homes, in such\na manner that every family might have their own house, with a space\nof 150 square meters, for a period of fifty years. It was found\nthat, for agriculture, building, the production of flour and sugar,\ncoal-mining, iron and machine industry, the clothing industry, and\nthe chemical industry, 615,000 workers would be needed, who would\nhave to work throughout the year for the present average number of\nhours daily. But these ~615,000~ workers formed only ~12.3 per cent.\nof the able-bodied population of Austria, not counting the women,\nnor the male inhabitants under 16 or over 50~. If the 5 million\nmen available at the time of the calculation were employed like\nthe 615,000, each of them would have to work only 36.9 days, about\nsix weeks annually, to supply the most needful requirements for\n22 million human beings. But, if we assume 300 work-days annually,\ninstead of 37, we find that, under the new organization it would be\nnecessary to work only ~1\u215c hours daily to supply the most necessary\nrequirements~.\n\nHertzka also takes the requirements of luxury of the better situated\nclasses into consideration and finds that the manufacture of such\narticles, to supply the demands of 22 million people, would require\n315,000 more workers. According to Hertzka, then, about 1 million\nworkers, 20 per cent. of the able-bodied male population of Austria,\nexcluding those under 16 and over 50, would be needed ~to supply the\nentire needs of the population~ in sixty days. If we again take the\nentire able-bodied male population into consideration, we find that\nthey would have to perform only about ~2\u00bd hours of work daily~.[215]\n\nThis calculation will not surprise anyone who is well acquainted with\nexisting conditions. If we furthermore assume that, with such a short\nwork-day, only the sick and the invalids must be excluded, while men\nover 50 might still work, and youths under 16 might be active to some\nextent, and that the women might also serve in industry, except those\nwho are engaged in child-rearing, the preparation of food, etc., we\nfind that the hours of work might be shortened still more, or that\nthe demands might be greatly increased. Nor will any one deny that\ntremendous, incalculable progress may still be made in perfecting the\nprocess of production, a factor that will create further advantages.\nOn the other hand, many requirements will be satisfied that only a\nsmall minority can satisfy to-day, and, with the higher development\nof civilization, new requirements will arise that will also have to\nbe satisfied. It must be iterated and reiterated: ~The new society\nwill not elect to lead a proletarian existence. It will demand the\nexistence of a highly civilized people for all its members from the\nfirst to the last. But it shall not only satisfy all the material\nrequirements, it shall also grant to all ample opportunity and time\nfor the study of science and art, and for recreation.~\n\n[212] \u201cThe force of rivalry that leads to supreme efforts to win\nthe praise and admiration of others, has been shown by experience\nto be a useful one wherever persons compete with one another, even\nin regard to frivolous matters and such matters from which the\npublic derives no benefit. But a rivalry as to who can best serve\nthe common welfare, is a sort of competition that Socialists do not\nrepudiate.\u201d--John Stuart Mill, \u201cPolitical Economy.\u201d Every society,\nevery organization of persons having the same aims and a common\ncause, also furnishes many examples of a nobler endeavor that leads\nto no material success but to a purely ideal one. The persons vieing\nwith each other are indeed impelled by the ambition of serving the\ncommon cause and of winning recognition. But this sort of ambition is\na virtue since it serves the common good and at the same time gives\nsatisfaction to the individual. Ambition is harmful only when it is\nsatisfied at the expense of others or to the detriment of society.\n\n[213] v. Thuenen--\u201cThe Isolated State,\u201d says: \u201cThe conflicting\ninterests are the reason why proletarians and possessors are hostile\nto one another and will remain unreconciled as long as the discord in\ntheir interests has not been removed. Not only by the wealth of the\nemployer, but also by invention in manufactory, by the building of\nroads and railways, and by the opening of new markets, the national\nincome may be greatly increased. But in our present social order the\nworkingman derives no benefit from this increase. His status remains\nthe same, and _the entire increase in income falls to the share of\nthe employers, capitalists and landlords_.\u201d This last sentence is\nan almost verbal anticipation of a declaration by Gladstone in the\nEnglish parliament, in 1884. He said: \u201cThis intoxicating growth of\nwealth and power (experienced by England during the last twenty\nyears) has been limited exclusively to the possessing classes;\u201d and\nv. Thuenen says: \u201c_in the separation of the worker from his product\nthe evil lies_.\u201d--Morelly says in his \u201cPrinciples of Legislation\u201d:\n\u201cProperty divides us into two classes, the rich and the poor. The\nformer love their property and do not care to defend the state. The\nlatter can not love their fatherland for it gives them nothing but\nmisery. But under Communism every one loves his fatherland for by\nit everyone obtains life and happiness.\u201d\n\n[214] In weighing the advantages and disadvantages of Communism,\nJohn Stuart Mill says in his \u201cPolitical Economy\u201d: \u201cNo field can be\nmore favorable to this conception (that public interest and private\ninterest are identical) than a communistic association. All the\nambition as well as the physical and mental activity, that is at\npresent directed upon the pursuit of sporadic and selfish interests,\nwould demand a different sphere of activity, and would find it in\nthe service of the common good of society.\u201d\n\n[215] In his \u201cFalse Doctrines,\u201d Eugen Richter ridicules the enormous\nshortening of the hours of work predicted by us that would result\nif all were obliged to work and if the process of production were\norganized in accordance with the highest technical development.\nHe tries to belittle the productivity of large manufacture and to\nenlarge the importance of small manufacture, in order to assert that\nit would not be possible to produce the required amount. To make\nSocialism seem impossible the upholders of the present \u201corder\u201d must\ntry to discredit the advantages of their own social system.\n\n\n3.--Organization of Labor.\n\nIn a number of other very essential points the socialistic co-operative\nsystem will differ from the bourgeois individualistic system. The\ncheap and poor goods that make up a large portion of bourgeois\nproduction, and necessarily must make up a large portion of it,\nbecause a majority of the customers can afford to purchase only\ncheap goods that wear out quickly, will be eliminated. Only the\nbest will be produced that will last long and will not have to be\nrenewed as often. The fads and follies of fashion that only favor\nextravagance and bad taste will disappear. Doubtless our wearing\napparel will be better suited to its purpose and more tasty than\nto-day--for the fashions of the last century, especially those of\nthe men, have been conspicuous by their bad taste--but new fashions\nwill no longer be introduced every few months. The present follies\nof fashion are caused, on the one hand, by the competition of women\namong themselves, and on the other by conceit and ostentation and\nthe desire to display one\u2019s wealth. Moreover, a great many persons\ndepend upon these follies of fashion to-day, and it is to their\ninterest to encourage and stimulate them. Together with the follies\nof fashion in dress, the madness of fashion in the style of dwellings\nwill disappear. Here eccentricity is rampant to-day. Styles that\nhave required centuries to become evolved among various nations--we\nare no longer satisfied with European styles, but turn to those of\nthe Japanese, Indians, Chinese, etc.--are used up in a few years and\nset aside. Persons engaged in mechanical arts hardly know what to do\nwith all the designs and models. They have barely adapted themselves\nto one style, trusting to recover their expenses, when a new style\nappears that necessitates further sacrifices of time and money and\nof physical and mental forces. In this mad rushing from one fashion\nto another and from one style to another the nervousness of our age\nis vividly reflected. No one would claim that there is any sense\nor reason in this rush and haste, or that it might be regarded as\na healthful state of society.\n\nSocialism will give greater stability to the habits of life. It\nwill make rest and enjoyment possible and will liberate us from the\npresent haste and excitement. Nervousness, the scourge of our age,\nwill disappear.\n\nWork will be made as agreeable as possible. To accomplish this, the\nplaces where production is carried on will be furnished practically\nand tastily, every means will be resorted to that danger may be\neliminated, and that evil smells, smoke, etc., and all unpleasant\nand harmful factors will be done away with. At first the new society\nwill produce with the means of production taken over from the old\nsociety. But these are insufficient. The workshops are scattered and\nare not properly constructed or furnished, and tools and machinery do\nnot come up to the demands of the great number of persons employed\nand their desire for safety and comfort. To create a great many\nlarge, light, airy, well-equipped workshops becomes an imminent\nnecessity. The arts and crafts, genius and skill, are immediately\ngiven a vast realm of activity. All branches of machine manufacture\nand the manufacture of tools, the building trades and the trades of\ninterior decoration find ample opportunity for occupation. Whatever\nthe human mind is able to invent in the way of convenient and\nagreeable buildings, appropriate ventilation, lighting and heating,\nand technical and mechanical improvements, will be instituted. To\nsave motor-power, light and heat, as well as time and labor, and\nto insure the comfort of the workers, it will become desirable to\nconcentrate the workshops in definite places. The dwellings will\nbe separated from the workshops and freed from the unpleasantness\nof industrial activity; and the unpleasantness will be diminished\nand finally abolished by all sorts of institutions and appliances.\nEven the present status of technical knowledge gives us sufficient\nmeans to deprive the dangerous occupations, like mining, the chemical\ntrades, etc., of their dangers ~entirely~. But these means are not\napplied in bourgeois society, because they entail a heavy expense\nand because no one is duty bound to do more for the protection of\nthe workingman than is absolutely necessary. The dangers of mining,\nfor instance, could be removed by working the mine in a different\nmanner, by a thorough system of ventilation, by the installation of\nelectric light, by a considerable shortening of the hours of work,\nand by a frequent change of shifts. It does not require special\ningenuity to find safety appliances that will make accidents in the\nbuilding trade next to impossible and to make this sort of work\nparticularly agreeable. For instance, ample contrivances might be\nmade to shield the workers at large buildings and at all out-of-door\nwork from the sun and the rain. In socialistic society, which will\ncontrol an abundance of labor power, it will also be a simple matter\nto have frequent relays of new workers and to concentrate certain\ntasks upon definite seasons or definite hours of the day.\n\nThe problem of abolishing dust, smoke, grime and unpleasant odors,\ncan also be solved entirely even to-day by chemistry and mechanics.\nBut it is not done, or insufficiently done, because the private\nemployers do not care to meet the heavy expense. The future places\nof production, wherever they may be, below the earth or above, will\ndiffer most favorably from the present ones. In private industry\nimproved appliances are mainly a question of money. If they pay they\nwill be established. If they do not pay, the health and life of the\nworkingman are of no concern.[216]\n\nIn socialistic society the question of profits will have ceased\nto exist. This society will recognize no other consideration ~but\nthe welfare of its members~. What is to their advantage must be\nestablished. What is likely to harm them must be refrained from. No\none will be compelled to enter into dangerous undertakings. If tasks\nare undertaken that entail dangers one may be assured that there\nwill be many volunteers, all the more so because the undertakings\nwill not serve destruction but the advancement of civilization.\n\n[216] \u201cCapital,\u201d says the \u201cQuarterly Reviewer,\u201d \u201cflees tumult and\nquarrel and is of a timid nature. That is true, but it is not the\nwhole truth. Capital abhors the absence of profits or very small\nprofits as nature abhors empty space. With appropriate profits,\ncapital becomes bold. If ten percent. are insured, it can be applied\neverywhere; 20 percent., and it becomes aggressive; 50 percent.,\npositively reckless; for 100 percent. it tramples all human laws\nunder foot; 300 percent., and there is no crime it will not risk even\nat the peril of the gallows. If tumult and quarrel bring profit, it\nwill encourage both.\u201d Karl Marx--Capital.\n\n\n4.--The Growth of the Productivity of Labor.\n\nA far-reaching appliance of motor-power, and of the most perfect\nmachines and tools, a detailed division of labor and a skillful\ncombination of the various forces, will so heighten the productivity\nof labor that the necessary quantities of all commodities can be\nproduced, notwithstanding ~a considerable shortening of the hours\nof work~. Increased production will be to the common advantage of\nall. ~The share of each individual increases with the productivity\nof labor, and the increased productivity of labor again makes it\npossible to reduce the time required for the performance of socially\nnecessary labor.~\n\nAmong the motor powers that will be applied, electricity will most\nlikely hold the foremost place. Bourgeois society everywhere presses\nit into service, and the more this is done the better it is for\ngeneral progress. The revolutionizing effect of the most powerful of\nall natural forces will only ~hasten~ the overthrow of the bourgeois\nworld and help to usher in Socialism. But only in socialistic society\nwill the force be generally applied and turned to the best advantage.\nBoth as a motor-power and as a source of light and heat it will\ncontribute largely to the improved standard of living of society.\nElectricity is distinguished from every other force by the fact that\nit exists in nature in abundance. Our streams, high and low tide of\nthe sea, wind and sunlight will furnish countless horse-powers when\nwe shall thoroughly understand how to apply them.\n\n\u201cA wealth of energy that by far exceeds all demands is furnished by\nthose parts of the surface of the earth that are so regularly subjected\nto the heat of the sun that it might be applied to regular technical\noperations. Perhaps it would not be an exaggerated precaution if a\nnation would even now secure a share in such places. The required\nareas need not even be very large; a few square miles in Northern\nAfrica would suffice for the requirements of a country like the German\nEmpire. By concentrating the heat of the sun a high temperature can\nbe produced, and thereby everything else--portable mechanical work,\ncharging of batteries, light and heat, and, by electrolysis, even\nfuel.\u201d[217] The man who opens up these vistas is not a dreamer, but\nan appointed professor at the Berlin University and president of the\nRoyal Physical and Technical Institute, a man who ranks high in the\nscientific world. At the 79th congress of the British Association in\nWinnipeg (during August, 1909), the famous English physicist, Sir S.\nThompson, said: \u201cThe day is not too far distant when our life will\nbe revolutionized by applying the rays of the sun. Man will liberate\nhimself from his dependence upon coal-and-water power, and all large\ncities will be surrounded by immense apparatus, real sunbeam traps,\ninto which the heat of the sun will be gathered, and the obtained\nenergy will be stored away in tremendous reservoirs. It is the force\nof the sun, stored away in coal, in waterfalls, in nourishment, that\nperforms all the world\u2019s work. How great is this tribute of force\nthat the sun pours down upon us becomes evident when we consider the\nfact that the warmth received by the earth when the sun is high and\nthe sky is clear, according to the researches of Langley, equals an\nenergy of 7000 horse-powers per acre. Although our engineers have\nnot yet found the way to apply this gigantic source of power, I do\nnot doubt that they will ultimately succeed in finding it. When the\nsupply of coal in the bowels of the earth has been exhausted, when\nthe water-powers will no longer suffice to meet our requirements,\nthen we will obtain from this source all the energy needed to\ncomplete the work of the world. Then the centers of industry will\nbe removed to the glowing deserts of Sahara, and the value of the\nland will be measured by how well it is suited to the erection of\nthe great \u2018sunbeam traps.\u2019\u201d[218] According to this, our anxiety that\nwe might at some time lack fuel, is removed. The inventions of the\naccumulators would make it possible to store a large quantity of\nforce away for future use at any time and place; so that, besides\nthe power furnished by sun and tide, the power furnished by the wind\nand by mountain torrents, which can be obtained only periodically,\nmight be stored and applied. So there may finally be no human task\nfor which motor power cannot be supplied if necessary. Only by the\nassistance of electricity has it become possible to employ water-power\non a large scale. According to T. Koehn, eight European states have\nthe following supply of water-power at their disposal.\n\n Per 1000\n Horse-powers inhabitants\n\n Great Britain 963,000 23.1\n Germany 1,425,900 24.5\n Switzerland 1,500,000 138\n Italy 5,500,000 150\n France 5,857,000 169\n Austria and Hungary 6,460,000 454.5\n Sweden 6,750,000 1290\n Norway 7,500,000 3409\n\nOf the German states, Baden and Bavaria control the largest amount\nof water-power. Baden alone can obtain 200,000 horse-powers at the\nUpper Rhine. Bavaria has at its disposal 300,000 horse-powers that\nhave so far not been applied, besides 100,000 that are applied.\nProfessor Rehbock estimates that the theoretical energy of the entire\namount of water flowing upon the surface of the earth amounts to eight\nthousand million horse-powers. If only the sixteenth part of this\ncould be efficiently applied, 500 millions of permanently serviceable\nhorse-powers could still be won, an amount of energy ten times as\ngreat as the energy obtained by the mining of coal during the year\n1907, approximately calculated at 1000 million tons. Although such\ncalculations are of a purely theoretical character at present, they\nstill show what achievements we may anticipate in the future from\nthe use of \u201cwhite coal.\u201d The Niagara Falls alone, which flow from\nlakes covering an area of 231,880 kilometers--about 43 per cent.\nof the entire area of Germany--might furnish more water-power than\nexists in England, Germany and Switzerland combined.[219] According\nto another calculation quoted in an official report, the United\nStates have water-power at their disposal of no less than twenty\nmillion horse-powers, which represent an equivalent of three hundred\nmillion tons of coal annually.[220] The mills that will be driven by\nmeans of this white or \u201cgreen\u201d coal, with the force of the gushing\nmountain streams and waterfalls, will have no smokestacks and no\nfire.\n\nElectricity will also make it possible to more than double the speed\nof our railroads. At the beginning of the nineties of the last\ncentury, Mr. Meems, in Baltimore, declared it to be possible to\nconstruct an electric car that would make 300 kilometers an hour, and\nProfessor Elihu Thomson, in Lynn, believed that electric motors could\nbe constructed that would make it possible to cover 260 kilometers\nin an hour. These expectations have nearly been realized. The\ntrial-rides made on the military railway Berlin-Zossen, during 1901\nand 1902, showed the possibility of speed up to 150 kilometers an\nhour. During experiments made in 1903, the Siemens car attained a\nspeed of 201 kilometers, and that of the General Electric Company,\n208 kilometers. In the succeeding years steam locomotives have also\nattained a speed of 150 kilometers an hour, and more. The present\naim is to attain 200 kilometers per hour. Already, August Sherl\nhas entered the arena with his new project of rapid transit, which\nrelegates the existing railway lines to freight service and proposes\nto connect the large cities by monorail train service, with a speed\nof 200 kilometers.[221]\n\nThe question of transforming railroad service from steam into\nelectricity is a current topic in England, Austria, Italy, and\nAmerica. Between New York and Philadelphia an electric train is to\nrun at a speed of 200 kilometers an hour.\n\nThe speed of ocean vessels will increase in the same manner. Here the\ndetermining factor is the steam turbine.[222] \u201cIt holds the foremost\nplace in technical interest at present. It seems destined to displace\nthe piston. While most engineers still regarded the steam turbine\nas a task of the future, it had become a present-day problem that\nattracted the attention of the entire world of technics by its success.\nIt remained for electrotechnics, with its rapidly running machinery\nto create a large field for the practical application of this new\npower engine. The by far greatest number of all steam-turbines in\nuse to-day serves to drive dynamos.\u201d[223] The turbine has especially\nproved its superiority over the piston in navigation. The English\nsteamship \u201cLusitania,\u201d which is equipped with steam-turbines, during\nAugust, 1909, made the journey from Ireland to New York in 4 days\n11 hours and 42 minutes,[224] with an average speed of 25.85 knots\nan hour. The steamship \u201cAmerica,\u201d constructed in 1863, the fastest\nvessel at the time, made 12.5 knots an hour.[225] The day is not\ndistant when the problem of electric propellers for large vessels\nwill be satisfactorily solved. They are already in use with smaller\nvessels. Simplicity, safety, good self-regulation, and absence of\nshaking make the steam-turbine the ideal power for the creation of\nelectric energy on board. Electricity will eventually be generally\napplied to both railway and steamship service.\n\nBy electricity the technics of moving loads has also been\nrevolutionized. \u201cSteam-power, having made it possible to construct\nlifting-engines with natural force, electric transmission of power\nled to a complete revolution in the construction of lifting-machines\nby giving these machines freedom of motion and constant readiness\nfor use.\u201d Electric power has, among other things, led to a complete\ntransformation in the construction of the cranes. \u201cWith its massive\ncurved beak of rolled iron, resting upon a heavy foundation of\nstone-masonry, with slow motions and the hissing noise of the\npuffed-out steam, the steam-crane conveys the impression of resembling\na gigantic, prehistoric monster. When it has grasped a load it\nexhibits a tremendous power for lifting, but it needs the assistance\nof human beings, who, by means of chains, fasten the weights to its\nhook. Owing to its clumsiness and slow motions it is serviceable\nonly for the lifting of very heavy loads, but not where quick action\nis needed. Even externally the modern electric crane presents an\nentirely different aspect. We behold graceful steel trellis-work\nstretched above the hall, and from this is stretched out a slender\npair of tongs, which is movable in all directions. The whole mechanism\nis controlled by a single man. By means of a gentle pressure on the\nlevers, he directs the electric currents and drives the slender steel\nlimbs of the crane to rapid action. Unaided, they grasp the glowing\nsteel and whirl it through the air, while no other noise is heard\nbut the low buzzing of the electro-motors.\u201d[226] Without the aid of\nthese machines the steadily increasing transportation of masses of\ngoods would not be possible. By a comparison of the wharf-crane at\nPola and that at Kiel, the development, in regard to the increase of\nlifting-power from the middle to the end of the nineteenth century,\nmay be judged. The lifting-power of the former was 60 tons, that\nof the latter, 200 tons. The manufacture of Bessemer steel only is\npossible when rapidly working lifting-machines are at hand, for\notherwise the tremendous quantities of liquid steel that are produced\nin a short time could not be transported in the casting-moulds. In\nthe iron-works of Krupp, in Essen alone, 608 cranes are in action,\nhaving an aggregate lifting-power of 6513 tons, equal to a freight\ntrain of 650 cars. The low cost of freight, which is a condition of\npresent-day international commerce, would not be possible, could not\nthe capital invested in vessels be put to such intense use by the\nrapid process of unloading. The equipping of a vessel with electric\ncranes led to a reduction in the annual cost of traffic from 23,000\nto 13,000 marks, almost by one-half. And this comparison takes into\nconsideration only the progress of a single decade.\n\nThe technics of navigation and transportation present new achievements\nalmost daily along all lines. The problem of aerial navigation,\nwhich seemed insoluble but two decades ago, is practically solved.\nAt present the dirigible balloons and flying machines do not serve\nthe easier and cheaper transportation of the masses, but only sport\nand military purposes. But later on they will enhance the productive\nforces of society. Great progress has also been made by wireless\ntelegraphy; its industrial value grows each day. In a few years,\naccordingly, traffic will be placed on a new basis.\n\nMining, too, is in a state of transformation at present that still\nseemed inconceivable ten years ago. Electricity has been introduced\nand has revolutionized the machines, the pumps, and the winding-engines.\n\nMarvelous are the prospects revealed by the former French minister\nof public instruction, Professor Berthelot (died March 18, 1907),\nin an address on the future significance of chemistry, delivered\nat a banquet of the syndicate of manufacturers of chemicals. In\nthis address, Mr. Berthelot depicted the possible achievements of\nchemistry in the year 2000, and, though his description contains\nsome humorous exaggerations, it also contains much that is true,\nof which the following is a brief synopsis. Mr. Berthelot gave a\nresum\u00e9 of what chemistry had accomplished in a few decades and\nenumerated, among other things: The manufacture of sulphuric acid,\nof soda, bleaching and dyeing, beet-sugar, therapeutic alcaloids,\ngas, gilding and silvering, etc. Then came electro-chemistry, which\ncompletely transformed metallurgy, the chemistry of explosives, which\nprovided mining and warfare with new engines, and the marvels of\norganic chemistry in the manufacture of colors, perfumes, therapeutic\nand antiseptic remedies, etc. But all this, said the lecturer, was\nonly a beginning. Far greater problems would soon be solved. In the\nyear 2000, agriculture and peasants would have ceased to exist, as\nchemistry would have made cultivation of the soil superfluous. There\nwould be no coal-mines and, accordingly, no miners\u2019 strikes. Fuel\nwould be replaced by chemical and physical processes. Tariff and\nwarfare would be abolished; aerial navigation, employing chemicals\nas a means of locomotion would have done away with these antiquated\ninstitutions. The problem of industry consists in finding sources\nof power that are inexhaustible and can be renewed with the least\npossible amount of labor. Until now we have generated steam by\nthe chemical energy of burned coal. But the coal is difficult to\nobtain, and the supply is diminishing daily. It becomes necessary\nto utilize the heat of the sun and the heat inside the earth. There\nis good reason to hope that both these sources will find unlimited\napplication. Thereby the source of all heat and of all industry\nwould be made accessible. If water-power were also applied, all\nimaginable machines might be run on the earth. This source of power\nwould barely diminish in centuries. By means of the warmth of the\nearth many chemical problems might be solved, among others the\nchemical production of food. Theoretically this problem is already\nsolved. The synthesis of fats and oils is long since known, sugar\nand the hydrates of carbon are known also, and the synthesis of\nthe nitrogen-compounds will soon become known. The problem of food\nis a purely chemical one. As soon as the necessary cheap power\ncould be obtained, by means of carbon from carbonic acid, oxygen\nand hydrogen from water, and nitrogen from the atmosphere, food of\nall kinds would be produced. What had heretofore been done by the\n~plants~ would henceforth be done by ~industry~, and the products of\nindustry would be more perfect than those of nature. The time would\ncome when every one would carry a box of chemicals in his pocket\nfrom which he would satisfy his need of nourishment in albumen, fat\nand hydrates of carbon, regardless of time and seasons, of rain and\ndrought, of frost, hail and destructive insects. This would lead to\na transformation that was as yet beyond our conception. Orchards,\nvineyards and pastures would disappear. Man would become more gentle\nand humane, because he would no longer live upon the murder and\ndestruction of living beings. Then the difference between fertile\nand unfertile regions would also disappear, and perhaps the ~deserts\nwould become the favorite resorts~ of man, since they are healthier\nthan the damp and marshy plains where agriculture is carried on at\npresent. Then art and all the beauties of human life would attain their\nfullest development. The earth would no longer be disfigured by the\ngeometrical figures drawn on its surface by agriculture, but would\nbecome a garden in which grass, flowers, shrubs and forests might be\ngrown at will; all humanity would dwell in plenty, in a golden age.\nBut man would not fall a victim to laziness and corruption. Work is\nneedful to happiness, and man would work as ever, since he worked\nfor his ~own~ welfare, for the development of his mental, moral and\n\u00e6sthetic possibilities.\n\nThe reader may accept as true from this address of Berthelot whatever\nhe chooses. The fact remains that future development will lead to\na tremendous improvement in the quantity, quality and variety of\nproducts, and that the comforts of life of coming generations will\nincrease to a degree that we can barely conceive to-day.\n\nProfessor Elihu Thomson agrees with Werner Siemens, who declared\nat the convention of scientists in Berlin, in 1887, that it would\nbecome possible by means of electricity to ~transform the elements\ndirectly into food~. Werner Siemens held the opinion that it might\nbe possible, at a remote time, to produce artificially a hydrate of\ncarbon, as grape-sugar or starch, whereby the possibility would be\ngiven \u201cto make bread of stones.\u201d The chemist, Dr. H. Meyer, declared\nthat it would be possible to make ligneous fibre a source of human\nnourishment. In the meantime (1890), Emil Fisher has actually produced\ngrape-sugar artificially, and has thereby made a discovery that\nWerner Siemens considered possible only \u201cat a remote time.\u201d Since\nthen chemistry has made still further progress. Indigo, vanilla and\ncamphor have been artificially produced. In 1906, W. Loeb succeeded\nin achieving the assimilation of carbonic acid, outside of the plant\nup to the production of sugar by means of electric tension. In 1907\nEmil Fisher obtained one of the most complicated synthetic bodies\nthat is closely related to natural protein. In 1908 Willstatter and\nBenz produced pure chlorophyl and proved it to be a compound of\nmagnesium. Thereby the main problem of organic chemistry--to obtain\nalbumen--may find its solution in a future not too far distant.\n\n[217] \u201cThe Energy of Labor and Appliance of the Electric Current\u201d\nby Fr. Kohlrausch. Leipsic, 1900.\n\n[218] As early as 1864, Augustin Mouchot made an attempt to make the\nheat of the sun serve industrial purposes directly and constructed\na sun-machine that was improved by Pifr\u00e9. The largest sun-machine\n(heliomotor) is in California and serves as an apparatus for pumping.\nThe water in the well is pumped up at the rate of 11,000 litres a\nminute.\n\n[219] T. Koehn--Some Large European Water-Power Plants and Their\nEconomic Significance.\n\n[220] Supply and Distribution of Cotton. Washington, 1908.\n\n[221] In 1908, the Prussian department of public works decided to\ntransform the steam-railways Leipsic-Bitterfeld, Magdeburg and\nLeipsic, Halle into electric railways.\n\n[222] While the old steam-engine turns the driving-wheels in a\nround-about way (by the transmission of the motion of the piston\nrods), the steam-turbine produces a direct rotary motion, like the\nwind turns the wind-mill.\n\n[223] C. Matchoss--The Evolution of the Steam-Engine.\n\n[224] During September, 1910, the Mauretania broke this record by\nhour and one minute.--Tr.\n\n[225] During the fifties of the last century, the sailing vessels\ntook about six weeks to reach New York. The steamers crossed in two\nweeks. During the nineties, the voyage was made in a week, and now it\nis made in 5\u00bd days. As a result of this progress, the two continents\nare brought nearer to each other now than Berlin and Vienna were a\ncentury ago.\n\n[226] O. Kammerer--The Technics of Moving Loads, Formerly and at\nthe Present Time. Berlin, 1907.\n\n\n5.--Removal of the Contrast between Mental and Manual Work.\n\nA need, deeply rooted in human nature, is the desire for freedom of\nchoice and for the opportunity of a variation of occupations. Just\nas the best food becomes disgusting if the same thing is constantly\nplaced before us, so an occupation repeated daily in treadmill\nfashion weakens and dulls. Man performs his task mechanically and\ndoes what he must do, but without enthusiasm or joy. A number of\ntalents and abilities are innate in every human being that need but\nto be awakened in order to find expression and produce favorable\nresults. Only thereby man becomes a perfect human being. Socialistic\nsociety will offer ample opportunity for the satisfaction of this\ndesire for variation. The immense increase in productive forces,\ncombined with a simplified process of work, will not only make it\npossible to limit the hours of work considerably, it will also make\nit easy ~to master a number of varied accomplishments~.\n\nThe old system of apprenticeship has already been abandoned. It\nstill exists, and is possible only among undeveloped and antiquated\nforms of production, as represented by small manufactures. But as\nthese will completely disappear in the new society, all forms and\ninstitutions peculiar to them will disappear also. New ones will take\ntheir place. Even at present it can be seen in any factory how few\nworkingmen have learned and practice a definite trade. The workingmen\nemployed in some line of production or other may have learned the most\nvaried trades. Usually a short time is sufficient for them to gain\nexperience in one detail of the process of production, and to this one\ndetail they are tied down then, according to the prevailing system\nof exploitation, for long hours, without the slightest variation,\nand without any regard for their personal tastes and inclinations.\nAt the machine they become machines.[227] This state of affairs,\ntoo, will be removed by the new social order. There will be ample\ntime to practice manual skill and to develop the mechanical arts.\nLarge, splendidly equipped polytechnical schools will make it easy\nfor both young and old to learn an occupation. Chemical and physical\nlaboratories, in keeping with the standards of these sciences, will\nbe erected, and capable teachers will be on hand. Only then will\npeople fully recognize what a wealth of talent and ability has\nbeen suppressed or wrongly developed by the capitalistic system of\nproduction.[228]\n\nNot only will it be possible to satisfy the desire for variation, it\nmust be regarded as ~the purpose of society~ to satisfy this desire,\nsince ~the harmonious development of man depends upon it~.\n\nThe professional types that we meet with in present-day society--be\nthese types the product of a definite, one-sided occupation or of\nlaziness--will gradually disappear. There are exceedingly few persons\nto-day who possess the possibility of a variety of occupations. Rarely\none finds persons so favored by special circumstances, that they can\nescape the monotony of their daily task and can, after the performance\nof physical work, recuperate by mental work. On the other hand, we\nsometimes find mental workers who devote part of their time to some\nmanual work, gardening and the like. The beneficial effects of an\noccupation founded on a variation of mental and physical work are\nobvious. Such occupation is ~the only one adapted to natural needs~.\nIt is taken for granted, of course, that every occupation must be\npracticed with moderation and according to individual strength.\n\nIn his book on \u201cThe Significance of Science and Art,\u201d Count Leo\nTolstoi condemns the hypercritical and unnatural character that\nart and science have assumed as a result of our unnatural social\nconditions. He roundly condemns the fact that present-day society\nholds physical labor in contempt and advises a return to natural\nconditions. He asserts that every human being who wishes to live\nnaturally and to enjoy life should spend his day--firstly, at physical\nwork in agriculture; secondly, at some manual trade; thirdly,\nat some mental occupation, and fourthly, in intellectual social\nintercourse. No human being should perform more than eight hours of\nphysical work. Tolstoi himself lived up to this ideal and claimed\nthat he has only become truly human since he adopted this mode of\nlife. But Tolstoi overlooks that what is possible for him, the man of\nindependent means, is not possible for the vast majority of people\nunder present-day conditions. A man or woman who must work ten or\ntwelve hours daily, and sometimes longer, to make a bare living,\nand who has grown up in ignorance, cannot adopt Tolstoi\u2019s mode of\nlife. Neither can all those adopt it who are in the midst of the\nstruggle for existence and must conform with its requirements; and\nof the few who might live in this manner, many would not wish to. It\nis one of the illusions in which Tolstoi indulges, to believe that\nexhortations and examples might transform societies. The experience\nmade by Tolstoi, in regard to his mode of life, proves it to be a\nrational one. But to make this mode of life general, different social\nconditions, a new society, will be needed.\n\n~The coming society will establish such conditions. It will produce\ncountless scientists and artists, but all of these will devote a\npart of the day to physical labor, and the remainder of the day they\nwill devote to their studies, their arts and to social intercourse,\naccording to their tastes and wishes.~[229]\n\nThe present contrast between mental and manual work, a contrast that\nis intensified by the ruling classes, who are anxious to secure their\nmental superiority also, will, accordingly, have to be removed.\n\n[227] \u201cThe great mass of workingmen in England, as in most of the other\ncountries, have so little free choice in regard to their occupation\nand place of residence, they depend so absolutely upon fixed rules\nand the will of others, as could be possible under any system with\nthe exception of real slavery.\u201d John Stuart Mill--Political Economy.\n\n[228] A French workingman, who has returned home from San Francisco,\nwrites: \u201cI would have never believed that I would be able to\npractice all the trades that I have practiced in California. I had\nbeen firmly convinced that I was good for nothing except printing.\nBut in the midst of these adventurers who change their trade more\nreadily than their shirt, I did as the others. Since mining was not\nsufficiently remunerative, I left and moved into the city. Here I\nsuccessively became typographer, slater, plumber, etc. As a result\nof this experience of being fit for all tasks, I feel less of a\nmollusc and more of a human being.\u201d Karl Marx--Capital. Vol. I.\n\n[229] What people may achieve under favorable conditions of development\nis shown, for example, by the life of _Leonardo da Vinci_. He was a\nsplendid artist, a famous sculpturer, an able architect and engineer,\na military engineer, a musician and an extemporizer. _Benvenuto\nCellini_ was a famous goldsmith, an excellent modeller, a recognized\nmilitary engineer, a good soldier and a capable musician. _Abraham\nLincoln_ was a wood-cutter, a farmer, a boatsman, a clerk and a\nlawyer, before he became president of the United States. It may be\nsaid without exaggeration that most people are engaged in occupations\nthat are _not_ suited to their abilities because their career has\nbeen shaped, not by choice, but by the force of circumstances. Many\na poor professor might make a very competent shoemaker, and many a\ngood shoemaker might become a good professor also.\n\n\n6.--Increase of Consumption.\n\nThe above enumerated facts prove that panics, crises, and unemployment\nwill be impossible in future society. Crises arise because capitalistic\nproduction, incited by the desire for profit, and without any reliable\nmeans of estimating the true demand, leads to over-production and to\nover-stocking of the market. Under capitalism the products assume\nthe character of goods that their owners indeavor to exchange, and\nthe consumption of goods depends upon the consumer\u2019s ~purchasing\nability~. But this purchasing ability is very limited among a vast\nmajority of the population who are not paid the full value of their\nlabor and whose services are not wanted if their employers cannot\nsqueeze profits out of them. ~Purchasing ability and the ability to\nconsume are two entirely different matters in bourgeois society.~ Many\nmillions are in need of new clothes, shoes, furniture, linens and\narticles of food, but they have no money, and so their needs, their\nability to consume, remains unsatisfied. The market is over-stocked,\nbut the masses are hungry; they wish to work, but cannot find anyone\nwilling to purchase their labor-power, because the employers can\nderive no profits from employing them. Perish, become a vagabond, a\ncriminal, I, the capitalist, cannot help it, because I cannot use\ngoods that I cannot sell at a profit. In his position the capitalist\nis entirely justified in taking this attitude.\n\nIn the new society this contradiction will be removed. The new\nsociety will not produce \u201cgoods\u201d to be \u201cbought\u201d and \u201csold,\u201d ~it will\nproduce commodities for consumption, not for any other purpose~. The\nability to consume will not be limited by the purchasing ability of\neach individual, but by ~the common ability to produce~. If there is\nsufficient labor-power and sufficient means of production, ~every~\nwant can be satisfied. The social ability to consume knows no bounds\nexcept ~the satisfaction of the consumers~.\n\nIf there will be no \u201cgoods\u201d in the new society there will ultimately\nbe no money, either. Money appears to be the counterpart of goods,\nbut is goods itself. Yet, at the same time, money is the social\nequivalent, the standard of value for all other goods. But the new\nsociety will not produce goods, it will produce commodities whose\nmanufacture will require a certain measure of social working-time.\nThe average time required to produce a given commodity is the only\nstandard by which it will be measured for social consumption. Ten\nminutes of social working-time at one commodity equal ten minutes\nof social working-time at another commodity, no more and no less.\nSociety will not wish to \u201cearn,\u201d it will merely wish to bring about\nthe exchange of commodities of the same quality and of the same value\namong its members, and eventually it will not even be necessary to\ndetermine the value. Society will simply produce what it needs. If\nit should become evident, for instance, that three hours of work\ndaily are necessary to produce all the required products, three hours\nwill be the fixed time.[230] If the means of production should be\nimproved to such extent that the supply can be furnished by two hours\nof work, it will be two hours. If, on the other hand, the demands\nshould grow and the increased productivity of the process of work\nwould not suffice to satisfy these demands, the working-time would\nbe lengthened.\n\nIt can easily be calculated how much social labor will be necessary\nfor the manufacture of each product.[231] Thereby the relation of\nthis portion of work to the entire working-time can be calculated.\n\nAny kind of certificate, a printed piece of paper, gold or tin, enables\nthe holder to exchange same for various kinds of commodities.[232]\nIf he finds that his wants are less than what he receives for his\nservices, he can work less, accordingly. If he wishes to give away\nwhat he does not use, nobody will prevent him from so doing. If he\n~voluntarily~ chooses to work for another, so that the other one may\nidle, or if he wishes to divide his share of the social products,\nno one will restrain him. But no one can compel him to work for\nanother person\u2019s advantage, no one can deprive him of a part of the\nshare he is entitled to for his services. Everyone will be able to\nsatisfy all desires and requirements possible of fulfillment, but not\nat the expense of others. He receives from society the equivalent\nof what he produces, no more and no less, and remains free from\nexploitation.\n\n[230] It must be noted again and again that production will be\norganized according to the highest scale of technical development\nand that _all_ will be engaged in it, so that, under favorable\ncircumstances, a working-day of three hours may still prove too long.\nOwen, who was a large manufacturer and was therefore competent to\njudge, estimated--in the early part of the nineteenth century--that\na working-day of two hours would be sufficient.\n\n[231] \u201cThe amount of social labor represented by a given product\nneed not be determined in a round-about way; daily experience will\nshow directly how much on an average will be required. Society\nwill be able to calculate how many hours of work are represented\nby a steam-engine, a hectolitre of wheat of the last harvest, or a\nhundred square yards of cloth of a certain quality. Society will\naccordingly not think of expressing the quantities of work contained\nin the products--that will then be directly known--in the relative,\nfluctuating, uncertain manner of a third product, inevitable at\npresent, instead of expressing them by their natural, adequate,\nabsolute measure-time. It will be necessary to arrange the plan of\nproduction in accordance with the means of production, including\nlabor-power. The usefulness of the various commodities, balanced\nwith one another and with the amount of work necessary for their\nproduction will ultimately determine the plan. Everything will be\nadjusted in a very simple way without the intercession of the famous\n\u2018value\u2019.\u201d Fr. Engels--Mr. Eugen Duehring\u2019s Transformation of Science.\n\n[232] Mr. Eugen Richter in his \u201cFalse Doctrines\u201d is so amazed by the\nfact that in socialistic society the use of money will be dropped (it\nwill not be abolished outright but will simply become superfluous\nbecause the products of labor will no longer have the character of\ngoods), that he devotes a special chapter to this incident. The thing\nthat especially puzzles him is that it will be immaterial whether\nthe working certificate will be a printed piece of paper, gold or\ntin. He says: \u201cWith gold the demon of the present world order would\nenter the socialistic state again\u201d (Mr. Richter obstinately overlooks\nthat eventually there will be only a socialistic society, not a\nsocialistic \u201cstate,\u201d for a great deal of his argumentation would\nthen loose ground), \u201cfor gold has independent value as a metal and\ncan easily be hoarded, and so the possession of pieces of gold would\nmake it possible to accumulate values to escape the duty to work\nand even to loan out money on interest.\u201d--One must consider one\u2019s\nreaders very stupid to place such bosh before them. Mr. Richter who\ncannot free himself from the conception of capital, cannot see that\nwhere there is no capital, no goods, there can be no money, and that\nwhere there is neither capital nor money there can be no interest.\nWe should like to know how a member of socialistic society could\n\u201choard\u201d his golden working certificate or could even loan it on\ninterest, when all the others also own what the one offers and--_on\nwhich he lives_.\n\n\n7.--Equal Duty to Work for All.\n\n\u201cBut how will you discriminate between thrifty and lazy, intelligent\nand stupid persons?\u201d That is one of the questions most frequently\nasked by our opponents, and the answer we give them puzzles them\ngreatly. But these wise questioners never stop to think that, among\nour hierarchy of officials, the distinction between thrifty and lazy,\nintelligent and stupid persons is not made, but that the length of\nservice usually determines the salary and promotion. Teachers and\nprofessors--many of whom are the most na\u00efve questioners--have their\nsalaries determined by the position they fill, not by the value of\ntheir services. In many cases officials, military men and scientists,\nare not promoted according to their abilities, but according to\nrank, relationship, friendship, and the favor of women. That wealth\nis not measured either by intelligence and thrift, may be seen by\nthe three-class-electoral-system of Prussia. We find saloon-keepers,\nbakers and butchers, many of whom are not able to speak grammatically,\nenrolled in the first class, while men of intelligence and science,\nthe highest officials of the state and the nation, are enrolled\nin the second or third class. There will be no difference between\nthrifty and lazy, intelligent and stupid persons, because that which\nwe understand by these terms will have disappeared. Society, for\ninstance, calls some people \u201clazy\u201d because they have been thrown out\nof employment, have been driven to a life of vagabondage, and have\nfinally become real vagabonds. We also apply this term to people who\nare the victims of a bad education. But whoever should venture to call\nlazy the man of means who spends his time in idleness and debauchery\nwould commit an insult, for the rich idler is a \u201crespectable\u201d man.\n\nNow what aspect will matters assume in the new society? All will\ndevelop under similar conditions of life, and everyone will perform\nthe task assigned to him by ability and inclination. Therefore\nthe differences in achievements will be slight.[233] The social\natmosphere that will incite each to excel the others will help\nto level the distinctions. If a person should realize that he is\nunable to accomplish in one line of work what others accomplish,\nhe will choose some other line better suited to his strength and\nhis abilities. Everyone who has worked together with a great many\npersons knows that people who were inefficient at one task have proved\nvery efficient when given another. By what right can anyone ask for\nprivileges? If some person is so incapacitated by nature that it\nis quite impossible for him to accomplish what others accomplish,\n~society cannot punish him for the shortcomings of nature~. On the\nother hand, if some one has been endowed by nature with abilities\nthat elevate him above the others, ~society need not reward him\nfor that which is not his personal merit~. It must, furthermore,\nbe remembered that in Socialistic society all will have the same\nopportunities for education, so that all can develop their knowledge\nand ability in accordance with their talents and inclinations. As\na result, knowledge and ability will be far more developed than in\nbourgeois society. It will be ~more evenly distributed~ and yet\n~more varied~.\n\nWhen Goethe, during a journey along the Rhine, studied the Cathedral\nof Cologne, he discovered, by perusal of the architectural deeds that\nthe architects of old had paid all their workingmen alike by time;\nthey did so because they desired good workmanship conscientiously\ncarried out. To bourgeois society this seems an anomaly. Bourgeois\nsociety has introduced the piece-work system, by means of which\nthe workingmen compel one another to overwork and make it all the\neasier for the employer to under-pay and to resort to a frequent\nreduction in wages. What is true of material productivity is equally\ntrue of the mental. Man is the product of time and circumstances.\nIf Goethe had been born in the fourth instead of in the eighteenth\ncentury, under equally favorable circumstances, instead of becoming\na great poet and scientist he would probably have become a great\n~father of the Church~ who might have outshone St. Augustine.\nAgain, if Goethe had not come into the world as the son of a rich\npatrician of Frankfort, but as the son of a poor shoemaker, he would\nhardly have become minister to the Grand-duke of Weimar, but would\nhave lived and died a respectable master-shoemaker. Goethe himself\nrecognized of what great advantage it was to him to have been born\nin a materially and socially favorable position which helped him\nto attain his development; he thus expresses himself in \u201cWilhelm\nMeister.\u201d If Napoleon I. had been born ten years later he would\nnever have become Emperor of France. Without the war of 1870 to\n1871, Gambetta would never have become what he has been. If a gifted\nchild of intelligent parents should be placed among savages it would\nbecome a savage. ~Men are what society has made them.~ Ideas are\nnot the product of higher inspiration sprung from the brains of a\nsingle individual, but they are a product, created in the brains of\nthe individual by the social life and activity amidst which he lives\nand by the spirit of his age. Aristotle could not have the ideas\nof Darwin, and Darwin had to reason differently from Aristotle. We\nall reason as the spirit of our age--that is, our environment and\nits phenomena--compels us to reason. That explains what has been\nfrequently observed, that different people sometimes follow the same\nline of reasoning ~simultaneously~; that the same inventions and\ndiscoveries are made at the same time at places situated far apart.\nThat also explains that an idea expressed fifty years ago may have\nfound the world indifferent, but the same idea expressed fifty years\nlater, may agitate the whole world. In 1415 Emperor Sigismund could\ndare to break the promise given Huss and to have him burned at the\nstake in Constance. In 1521, Charles V., although a far greater\nfanatic, had to permit Luther to go in peace from the diet at Worms.\nIdeas are the product of social co-operation, of social life. What is\ntrue in regard to society in general, is especially true in regard\nto the various social classes that compose society at any given\nepoch of history. Because every class has its peculiar interests, it\nalso has its peculiar ideas and views. These conflicting ideas and\ninterests have led to the class struggles that filled the annals of\nhistory and have attained their culmination in the class extremes\nand class struggles of the present day. The feelings, thoughts and\nactions of a person are, therefore, determined not only by the ~age~\nin which he lives, but also by the ~class~ to which he belongs.\nWithout modern society no modern ideas could exist. This is clear to\neveryone. In the new society--let it be remembered--the means that\neach individual will employ for his education and development will\nbe ~the property of society~. Society cannot feel obliged to reward\nparticularly what it alone has made possible, its own product.\n\nSo much in regard to the qualification of physical and mental labor.\nFrom this the further conclusion may be drawn, that no distinction\nwill be made between higher and lower grades of work; as, for\ninstance, at present mechanics consider themselves superior to\nday-laborers who perform work on the roads, etc. Society will have\nonly such work performed as is socially useful, and so every kind\nof work will be of equal social value. Should it not be possible\nto perform some kinds of dirty and disagreeable work by means of\nmechanical or chemical devices--which will undoubtedly be the case,\nto judge by the present rate of progress--and should there be no\nvolunteers, it will be the duty of each worker to perform his share\nof such work when his turn comes. No false pride and no irrational\ndisdain of useful labor will be recognized. These exist only in our\nstate of drones, where idleness is considered enviable, and where\nthose workers are the most despised whose tasks are the hardest\nand most unpleasant ones, and often the most needful to society.\nTo-day the most disagreeable tasks are the ones most poorly paid.\nThe reason for this is that we have a great many workers who have\nbeen maintained at a low level of civilization, whom the constant\nrevolution in the process of production has cast out into the\nstreet, as a reserve force, and who, in order to live, must perform\nthe lowest kinds of work, at wages that even make the introduction\nof machinery for such work \u201cunprofitable.\u201d The crushing of stone,\nfor instance, is notoriously one of the most disagreeable and most\npoorly paid employments. It would be a simple matter to have this\ncrushing of stones done by machinery, as is generally being done\nin the United States. But in Germany there is such an abundance of\ncheap labor, that the introduction of the stone-crusher would not\n\u201cpay.\u201d[234] Street-cleaning, the cleaning of sewers, collecting ashes\nand garbage, work in shafts and caissons, etc., might, even at the\npresent time, with the aid of proper machinery, be performed in such\na manner that most of the unpleasantness connected with them for the\nlaborers, would disappear. But, as a matter of fact, a workingman who\ncleans sewers, to guard human beings against the dangers of germs\nof disease, is a very useful member of society, while a professor\nwho teaches falsified history in the interest of the ruling classes,\nor a theologian who seeks to mystify the minds by the teaching of\nsupernatural doctrines, are very harmful individuals.\n\nA great many of our present-day scientists and scholars represent a\nguild that is employed and paid to defend and vindicate the dominance\nof the ruling classes, by means of the authority of science, to let\nthis dominance appear just and necessary, and to maintain existing\nprejudices. In truth, this guild, to a great extent, poisons the\nminds, and performs work hostile to the advancement of civilization,\nin the interest of the bourgeoisie and its clients.[235] A social\ncondition that will henceforth make the existence of such elements\nof society impossible, will perform a liberating deed.\n\nOn the other hand, true science is often connected with very\ndisagreeable and revolting work. For instance, when a physician\ndissects a corpse in a state of decomposition, or operates upon a\npurulent part of the body, or when a chemist examines f\u00e6ces. These\ntasks are often more revolting than the most disagreeable work\nperformed by unskilled laborers. Yet no one will admit that this is\nso. The difference is that the performance of the one work requires\nprofound study, while the other work can be performed by anyone\nwithout previous preparation. This accounts for the great difference\nin their estimation. But in future society, where, by means of equal\nopportunities of education for all, the distinctions of educated\nand uneducated will disappear, the distinction between skilled and\nunskilled labor will disappear also. This is all the more so because\nthe possibilities of technical development are unlimited, and\nmuch that is manual work to-day will be performed by machines and\nmechanical processes. We need but consider the present development\nof our mechanical arts; for instance, engraving, wood-cutting, etc.\nAs the most disagreeable tests often are the most useful ones, so\nour conceptions, in regard to pleasant and unpleasant work, like\nmany other conceptions in the bourgeois world, are superficial and\nfounded entirely on outward appearances.\n\n[233] \u201cAll normal well developed human beings are born _with\napproximately the same degree of intelligence, but education, laws\nand circumstances make them differ from one another_. Individual\ninterest, properly understood, is identical with the common or\npublic interest.\u201d Helvetius--Man and His Education. In regard to\nthe _great_ majority of men, Helvetius is right; what does differ\nare the talents for various occupations.\n\n[234] \u201cIf one had to choose between Communism with all its chances\nand the present social order with all its suffering and injustice; if\nit were a necessary result of private property that the products of\nlabor should be divided as we see them to-day, almost in a reverse\nratio to the work performed--_that the largest shares fall to those\nwho have never worked at all, the next largest to those whose work is\nalmost nominal, and so on along the line, the remuneration becoming\nsmaller as the work becomes more difficult and disagreeable, until\nat last the most wearing and exhausting labor cannot even be certain\nof earning the most needful means of existence; if, we say, the\nalternative would be: this or Communism, all scruples in regard\nto Communism, both great and small, would be like chaff in the\nscales_.\u201d--John Stuart Mill--Political Economy. Mill has honestly\ntried to \u201creform\u201d bourgeois society and to \u201cmake it listen to reason;\u201d\nof course, in vain; and thus like every rational human being capable\nof recognizing the true nature of conditions, he finally became a\nSocialist. He did not dare to confess to this during his life-time,\nbut caused his autobiography, containing his socialistic confession\nof faith, to be published after his death. His position was similar\nto Darwin\u2019s, who did not wish to be regarded as an atheist during\nhis life-time. Bourgeois society drives thousands to such hypocrisy.\nThe bourgeoisie feigns loyalty, piety and submission to authority,\nbecause their rule depends upon the recognition of these virtues by\nthe masses, but inwardly they jeer at them.\n\n[235] \u201cLearning often serves ignorance as much as progress.\u201d\nBuckle--\u201cHistory of English Civilization.\u201d\n\n\n8.--Abolition of Trade.--Transformation of Traffic.\n\nAs soon as the new society will have placed production on the basis\nsketched above, it will--as we have already noted--cease to produce\n\u201cgoods,\u201d and will only produce commodities to supply the social\ndemand. As a result of this, trade will also cease to exist, as trade\nis needful and possible only in an organization of society founded on\nthe production of goods. By the abolition of trade a great army of\npersons of both sexes will be mobilized for productive activity. This\ngreat army becomes one of producers; it brings forth commodities and\nenables society to increase its demands, or makes possible a still\nfurther reduction of the hours of work. To-day these persons live\nmore or less like parasites on the products of the toil of others.\nStill they often work very hard and are burdened with cares, without\nearning enough to supply their wants. In the new society commercial\nmen, agents, jobbers, etc., will be superfluous. In place of the\ndozens, hundreds and thousands of stores of all kinds that we find\nin every municipality to-day, according to its size, there will be\nlarge municipal store-houses, elegant bazaars, entire exhibitions,\nthat will require a comparatively small number of persons for their\nadministration. The entire bustle of trade will be transformed into\na centralized, purely administrative activity. The discharge of its\nduties will be simple and will become still more simplified by the\ncentralization of all social institutions. Traffic will experience\na similar transformation.\n\nTelegraph and telephone lines, railroads, mail service, river and\nocean vessels, street-cars, automobile cars and trucks, air-ships\nand flying machines, and whatever all the institutions and vehicles\nserving traffic and communication may be called, will have become\n~social~ property. In Germany many of these institutions, like the\nmail, the telegraph, the telephone system, and most railroads, have\nalready been made state institutions; their transformation into\npublic property is a mere matter of form. Here private interests\ncan no longer be injured. If the state continues to operate in\nthe present direction, so much the better. But these state-owned\ninstitutions are ~not~ socialistic institutions, as is erroneously\nassumed. These institutions are exploited by the state, according to\nthe same capitalistic principles as if they were privately owned.\nNeither the officials nor the workingmen are particularly benefited\nby them. The state does not treat them differently from a private\nemployer. When, for instance, in the bureaus of the national navy and\nthe railroad administration orders are issued not to employ workingmen\nwho are over forty years of age, that is a measure which proves the\nclass character of the state as a state of exploiters, and is bound\nto rouse the indignation of the workers. Such and similar measures\nresorted to by the state in its capacity of employer, are much worse\nthan when resorted to by private employers. The latter is always a\nsmall employer compared to the state, and the employment that he\nrefuses may be granted by another. But the state, monopolizing certain\nbranches of employment, may, by such maxims, with one blow drive\nthousands into poverty. These are not socialistic but capitalistic\nactions, and Socialists have every reason to protest against the\nassumption that the present state-owned institutions are socialistic\nin character and may be regarded as a realization of socialistic\naims.\n\nAs large, centralized institutions will replace the millions of\nprivate dealers, and agents of all kinds, so the entire system of\ntransportation will also assume a different aspect. The millions\nof small shipments that are sent out daily to an equal number of\nowners, and entail a great waste of work, time and material, will be\nabsorbed by shipments on a large scale, sent out to the municipal\nstore-houses and the large centers of manufacture. Here, too, work\nwill become greatly simplified. As it is much simpler to ship raw\nmaterial to a factory employing 1000 workingmen than to ship it to\nhundreds of scattered small factories, so the centers of production\nand distribution for entire municipalities, or for parts of same,\nwill mean a considerable saving. This will be to the advantage of\nsociety, but also to the advantage of each individual, for public\ninterest and personal interest will then be identical. The aspect\nof our places of production, of our means of transportation, and\nespecially also of our residences, will thereby become entirely\nchanged. They will obtain a much more cheerful aspect. We will be\nfreed, to a great extent, from the nerve-racking noise, speed and\nconfusion of our large cities, with their thousands of vehicles of\nall kinds. The building of streets, street-cleaning, the manner\nof living, the intercourse of people with one another--all will\nexperience a great transformation. It will then be possible to\ncarry out hygienic measures easily, which to-day can be carried out\nonly at a great expense and insufficiently, and often only in the\nresidential quarters of the wealthy classes.\n\nUnder such conditions traffic and transportation must attain their\nhighest development. Perhaps aerial navigation will be the favorite\nmeans of transportation then. The means of transportation are the\nveins that conduct the exchange of products--the circulation--through\nthe entire body social, and are therefore particularly adapted to\nthe dissemination of an ~equal standard~ of comfort and culture. To\nprovide for the extension and ramification of the most perfect means\nof transportation to the remotest portions of the provinces will\nbecome a ~necessity to the public welfare~. Here the new society\nwill set tasks for itself that by far exceed those of present-day\nsociety. This highly perfected system of communication will also\ndecentralize the masses of humanity that at present congest our large\ncities and centers of industry, and will scatter them broadcast over\nthe land. This will not only be of the greatest benefit to public\nhealth, it will also have a decisive influence on the material and\nintellectual progress of civilization.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII.\n\nSocialism and Agriculture.\n\n\n1.--Abolition of the Private Ownership of Land.\n\nLand, being the prime raw material for all human labor and the basis\nof human existence, must be made the property of society, together\nwith the means of production and distribution. At an advanced stage\nof development society will again take possession of what it owned\nin primeval days. At a certain stage of development all human races\nhad common ownership of land. Common property is the foundation of\nevery primitive social organization; it is essential to its existence.\nOnly by the rise and development of private property and the forms\nof rulership connected with it, has common property been abolished\nand usurped as private property, as we have seen, not without severe\nstruggles. The robbery of the land and its transformation into private\nproperty formed the first cause of oppression. This oppression has\npassed through all stages, from slavery to \u201cfree\u201d wage-labor of the\ntwentieth century, until, after a development of thousands of years,\nthe oppressed again convert the soil into common property.\n\nThe great importance of the soil to human existence was the reason\nwhy the ownership of the soil constituted the chief cause of conflict\nin all social struggles of the world--in India, China, Egypt, Greece,\nRome, the Christian middle ages, the realms of the Aztecs and Incas,\nand in the social struggles of modern times. Even at the present day\nmen like Adolf Samter, Adolf Wagner, Dr. Schaeffle, Henry George,\nand others, who do not believe in other forms of common property,\nfavor the common ownership of land.[236]\n\nThe welfare of a population depends primarily upon the cultivation\nof the soil. To develop this cultivation to the highest degree\nis eminently to the interest of all. That this highest degree of\ndevelopment cannot be attained under the rule of private property,\nhas been shown. To obtain the greatest possible advantage from the\nsoil, not its cultivation alone must be taken into consideration.\nOther factors must be considered to which neither the largest private\nowner nor the most powerful association is equal, factors that may\nexceed even the jurisdiction of the state and require international\nconsideration.\n\n[236] During the centuries when common ownership of land still\npredominated, but the robbery of land assumed ever greater portions,\nfathers of the church, popes and bishops have also preached communistic\ndoctrines. Of course, the syllabus and the encyclical letters of\nthe nineteenth century no longer contain references of this sort,\nand the popes too have become subservient to bourgeois society and\nrise to defend it against the Socialists. Bishop Clemens I (died\n102 A. D.) said: \u201cThe use of all worldly things should be common\nto all. It is wrong to say: This is mine, this belongs to me, and\nthat to someone else. It is this which has caused dissention among\nmen.\u201d Bishop Ambrosius of Milan, who lived around 374, exclaimed:\n\u201cNature gives all blessings to all men in common; for God has created\nall things for the common enjoyment of all, that _the earth should\nbe common property_. Nature accordingly has created the right of\ncommon ownership, and only unfair usurpation creates the right of\nprivate property.\u201d In his Book of Homilies directed against the\nwickedness and depravity of the people of Constantinople, St. John\nChrysostomus (died 408) wrote: \u201c_Let no one call anything his own._\nFrom God have we received everything for common enjoyment, and _mine\nand thine are words of falsehood_!\u201d St. Augustin (died 430) said:\n\u201cBecause we have private property, we also have law suits, hostility,\ndissention, wars, rebellion, sin, injustice, murder. Whence come all\nthese scourges? Only from property. So, my brethren, let us refrain\nfrom owning things, or let us, at least, refrain from loving what\nwe own.\u201d Pope Gregory the Great (about 600) exclaimed: \u201cLet them\nknow that the earth whence they come and of which they are made _is\ncommon to all men_, and that the fruits which the earth brings forth\nshould therefore _belong to all without distinction_.\u201d Bossuet, the\nfamous bishop of Meaux (died 1704), says in his \u201cPolitics of the\nHoly Scripture:\u201d \u201cWithout the governments the earth and its products\nwould belong to all men in common, just as air and light. According\nto the prime right of nature, no one may lay claim to anything. All\nthings belong to all. From bourgeois government property derives its\norigin.\u201d The last sentence might be more clearly expressed in the\nfollowing manner: because common property became private property,\nwe have obtained bourgeois governments that must protect it. One of\nthe moderns, Zachariae, says in his \u201cForty Books on the States:\u201d\n\u201cAll sufferings of civilized nations _may be traced to the private\nownership of land_.\u201d All the men quoted above have more or less\ncorrectly recognized the nature of private property. As St. Augustin\nsays: Since its existence it has brought into the world law suits,\nhostility, dissention, war, rebellion, sin, injustice, murder,--evils\nthat will disappear again by its abolition.\n\n\n2.--The Amelioration of Land.\n\nSociety must consider the land in its totality, its topographical\ncondition, its mountains, plains, forests, lakes, rivers, ponds,\nheathers, swamps and moors. Besides the geographical location,\nwhich is unalterable, this topographical condition exerts a certain\ninfluence upon the climate and the nature of the soil. This is a vast\nfield of activity, where much experience is still to be gained and\nmuch experimentation still to be performed. Until now the state has\naccomplished but little along these lines. Only moderate means have\nbeen applied to such tasks of civilization, and even if the state\ndesired to adopt effective measures, the large landed proprietors,\nwho have a decisive voice in legislation, would prevent the carrying\nout of such measures. Without interference with private property\nnothing effectual could be done. But since the state is founded on\nthe \u201csanctity\u201d of private property, and since the large owners of\nprivate property are its chief supporters, it is prevented from\nproceeding in the manner that has been designated. It would be\nnecessary to undertake the amelioration of land on a grand scale,\nto plant forests here and cut down forests there, to irrigate and\nto drain; to mix different kinds of soil, to break ground and to\nplant, in order to attain the highest degree of fertility.\n\nA highly important factor in the amelioration of the land would be\nan extensive system of rivers and canals, to be conducted according\nto scientific principles. The question of cheap transportation\nby water, so important to present-day society, would be of minor\nimportance to the new society. Nevertheless transportation by water\nwill be regarded as a very convenient means of transportation,\nrequiring the least expenditure in strength and material. But of the\ngreatest importance an extensive system of rivers and canals will\nbe for purposes of irrigation and drainage, for the transportation\nof manure and other materials for the amelioration of the land, and\nfor the distribution of the crops.\n\nIt has been determined by experience that countries where water is\nscarce, suffer much more from cold winters and hot summers than\ncountries having an abundant water supply. For this reason maritime\ncountries rarely suffer from extremes of temperature. Such extremes\nof temperature are neither advantageous nor agreeable to plants or\nhuman beings. An extensive system of canals, combined with measures\nfor the preservation of forests, would have a beneficial influence.\nSuch systems of canals and large basins, to collect and preserve\nmasses of water, would prove especially beneficial, when the melting\nice and snow, in spring, or heavy rain-falls cause rivers and streams\nto rise and to overflow their banks. The construction of similar\ncanals and basins would be required for the mountain torrents. Floods,\nwith their ravaging effects, would then become impossible. Extensive\nsurfaces of water and the increased evaporation would probably also\ncause rain to fall more regularly. These improvements would also\nmake it possible to establish pumps and lifting apparatus for an\nextensive irrigation of the land whenever necessary.\n\nWide stretches of arid land might be made fertile by artificial\nirrigation. Where at present the grazing sheep barely find sufficient\nnourishment and where, at best, only emaciated looking trees stretch\ntheir lean branches skyward, an abundance of crops might be raised\nand a dense population might obtain nourishment and enjoyment. It is,\nfor instance, only a question of the amount of labor employed, to\ntransform the stretches of sandy soil of the March, humorously called\n\u201cthe sand-box of the German Empire,\u201d into an Eden of fertility. This\nwas pointed out by one of the lecturers at the German agricultural\nexhibition, in Berlin, during the spring of 1894.[237] But the\nlandowners of the March do not have sufficient means to undertake\nthe building of canals, irrigation, amelioration of the land, etc.,\nand so, just beyond the walls of the national capital wide stretches\nof land remain in a condition that will seem incredible to coming\ngenerations. On the other hand, by means of canalization, wide\nstretches of swamps, moor-land and marshes might be drained and won\nfor cultivation; thus, in northern and southern parts of Germany,\nthe canals might further be used for the breeding of fish, and small\ncommunities that are not located near rivers might use them to\nerect bathing establishments.[238]\n\nA few examples will suffice to show the influence of irrigation.\nIn the vicinity of Weissenfels, 7\u00bd hectares of irrigated meadows\nyielded 480 cwt. of hay, while 5 hectares, located beside these,\nthat were not irrigated, yielded only 32 cwt. The former produced\nmore than ten times as much as the latter. Near Riesa, in Saxony,\n65 acres of irrigated meadows increased the net proceeds from 5,850\nto 11,100 marks. By an investment of 124,000 marks for irrigation\nof the arid lands at the right bank of the Lippe, an annual gain of\napproximately 400,000 marks was obtained. The amelioration of the\nland undertaken in Lower Austria cost about one million crowns and\nincreased the value of the produce by about six million crowns. The\nexpensive improvements paid. Other parts of Germany, besides the\nMarch have an exceedingly sandy soil, and here the harvests are only\nfairly satisfactory, after a rainy summer. If these vicinities could\nbe furrowed with canals, properly irrigated and ameliorated, they\nwould shortly bring forth five and ten times their present amount.\nExamples are at hand in Spain, showing that well-irrigated soil brought\nforth 37 times as much as soil that had not been irrigated. So water\nis all that is needed to bring forth fresh masses of nourishment\nfrom the soil.\n\nHardly a year passes in which not one or the other of the German\nstates and provinces is ravaged by floods. Large tracts of the most\nfertile land are carried away by the force of the water; others are\nlittered with stones, sand and rubbish, and are made unfertile for\nyears to come. Entire orchards that have required decades to be\ngrown are uprooted. Houses, bridges, streets and dams are washed\naway, railroads are ruined and human lives are sacrificed, flocks\nperish and crops are destroyed. Wide stretches of land that are\nexposed to frequent ravages from floods are not cultivated at all,\nor only slightly, since their owners do not wish to suffer constant\nloss. Devastation of the forests, especially on the mountains, and\nparticularly by private owners, increases the danger from floods.\nThe mad devastation of the forests, prompted by a desire for profit,\nhas led to a diminution of the fertility of the soil in the German\nprovinces of Russia and Pomerania, in Corinthia and Styria, as also\nin Italy, France, Spain, Russia, and other countries.\n\nFrequent floods are the result of the devastation of forests on the\nmountains. The inundations of the Rhine, the Oder, and the Vistula\nare ascribed mainly to the devastation of forests in Switzerland,\nGalicia, and Poland. The same causes lead to the frequent inundations\nin Italy, especially of the River Po. As a result of the same causes,\nMadeira, large portions of Spain, the most fertile provinces of\nRussia, and stretches of land in Asia Minor, which were at one time\nfertile and blooming, have lost much of their fertility.[239]\n\nAt last even bourgeois society has begun to recognize that, in this\nrespect, it will no longer do to maintain the policy of \u201claissez\nfaire,\u201d and that, by sensible measures, applied on a large scale,\nthe destructive forces can be transformed into constructive ones.\nSo the construction of large dams was undertaken to collect immense\nquantities of water and to utilize the water-power to supply electric\npower to industry and agriculture. The Bavarian state especially has\nundertaken to dam the mountain streams on a grand scale to obtain\npower for the running of electric railways and other industrial\nundertakings. Agrarian old Bavaria is thereby rapidly becoming a\nmodern industrial state.\n\n[237] An official report on the world\u2019s-fair in Chicago contained the\nfollowing: \u201cThe utilization of water to raise fruit and vegetables\nbecomes increasingly desirable. Water companies established for this\npurpose might transform deserts into edens.\u201d\n\n[238] \u201cIn a highly cultivated part of the Austrian monarchy--in\nBohemia--656,000 hectares of farm land are in want of drainage.\n174,000 hectares of meadows are either too moist or too dry. Of\ncourse, matters are much worse in those vicinities that are less\ndeveloped agriculturally, as especially in Galicia.\u201d Dr. Eugene\nv. Philippovitch--Political Economy.\n\n[239] According to Schwoppach, the forest is of immeasurable value by\npreventing of washing away the soil on the mountains and preventing\nthe soil from becoming sandy in the plains. The devastation of forests\nin Russia is a chief cause why the cultivated land is becoming\nincreasingly sandy.\n\n\n3.--Changed Methods of Farming.\n\nIt is self-understood that these great tasks cannot be accomplished\nat once; but the new society will devote all its strength to these\nand similar undertakings, since it will be the avowed purpose of\nthis new society to perform tasks in ~the interest of civilization~\nand to permit ~nothing to interfere with their performance~. In the\ncourse of time it will accomplish works the very thought of which\nwould make present-day society dizzy.\n\nMeasures and institutions like the ones described above will make\nagriculture much more favorable. Still other points are to be\nconsidered in connection with the improved methods of farming. At\npresent many square miles of land are planned with potatoes to be\nused mainly for the distilling of whiskey, which is consumed almost\nexclusively by the poor and needy portion of the population. Whiskey\nis the only stimulant they can obtain, the only banisher of care. But\namong the truly civilized people of the new society the consumption\nof whiskey will disappear; the soil and the labor power will be\nemployed to raise wholesome food. We have already pointed to the\ncultivation of sugar-beets and the manufacture of sugar for export.\nIn Germany more than 400,000 hectares of land, best suited to the\nraising of wheat, are devoted to the cultivation of sugar-beets, to\nsupply England, Switzerland, the United States, etc., with sugar. Our\nstanding army, the scattered methods of production and distribution,\nthe scattered methods of farming, etc., make it necessary to breed\nmillions of horses, and large areas of land are required to pasture\nthem. The thoroughly transformed social and political conditions will\nenable the new society to utilize most of this land for agricultural\npurposes. Recently areas of many square kilometers have been withdrawn\nfrom agriculture, entire villages have been wiped out, because the\nnew long-range firearms and the new methods of combat necessitate\ndrilling-grounds on which whole troops may man\u0153uvre. Such use will\nnever be made of the land in the future.\n\nThe great realm of agriculture, forestry and irrigation has already\nbeen made the subject of discussion, and a considerable literature\nexists on the subject. No particular field has remained unconsidered.\nForestry, irrigation and drainage, the raising of grain, the\ncultivation of vegetables, fruit, berries, flowers and ornamental\nplants, the raising of fodder for domestic animals, cattle-breeding,\nraising of poultry, fish and bees, the preparation of dung and manure,\nthe use of waste materials in farming and in industry, chemical\nexaminations of the soil, and its preparation for one or another kind\nof crop, the nature of seeds, rotation of crops, farm implements\nand machinery, proper construction of farm-buildings, conditions of\nclimate, etc.--all these things have been made subjects of scientific\ndiscussion and investigation. Almost daily new discoveries and\nexperiences lead to improvements along one line or another. Since\nthe researches of Thaer and J. v. Liebig agriculture has become a\nscience. Indeed it has become one of the first and foremost sciences\nand has attained a degree of importance that few realms of productive\nactivity can equal. But if we compare this tremendous progress along\nall lines with the true status of agriculture, it must be admitted\nthat, so far, only a small fraction of the private owners have been\nable to make use of this progress, and all only pursue their private\ninterest, regardless of the public welfare. The great majority of our\nfarmers, we may say about 99 per cent. of them, are quite unable to\nmake use of the progress and the advantages offered by science and\nby technical improvements, because they lack the necessary means,\nor knowledge, or both. Here the new society will find a field that\nhas been well prepared, both theoretically and practically, and that\nit will only need to organize to attain the grandest results.\n\n\n4.--Agriculture on a Large and Small Scale.--Electric Appliances.\n\nWhile even among Socialists some persons still hold the opinion,\nthat small farmers are able to compete with the large agricultural\nenterprises by means of their own thrift and that of their families,\nexperts have come to hold a different opinion. By over-exertion\nthe peasant may achieve his utmost, but from the standpoint of a\ncivilized human being his position is a deplorable one. No matter\nhow much he may achieve, the modern technical development and the\nscience of agriculture can achieve more. But, above all, only by\nthe appliance of science and technique does the peasant attain the\nfull development of a civilized human being, while to-day he is the\nslave of his property and the helot of his creditor.\n\nThe advantages of farming on a large scale are immense. To begin\nwith, the area that can be utilized is considerably enlarged,\nbecause the numerous paths and roads and ridges necessitated by the\ndisjointed properties, disappear. Fifty persons, working on a large\nfarm--regardless of the more rational implements used by them--can\naccomplish much more than 50 persons working on scattered farms.\nOnly farming on a large scale makes it possible to combine and\ndirect the forces so as to obtain the best results. To this must\nbe added the immense advantage derived from the application of all\nkinds of machinery, the use of the produce for industrial purposes,\nthe more rational methods of cattle and poultry breeding, etc.\nElectric appliances especially furnish advantages to agriculture\nthat overshadow every other method of cultivation. P. Mack[240] has\nascertained that the introduction of machinery led to a saving of\nover 5000 days\u2019 labor by horses, and that a single investment of\n40,000 marks\u2019 capital led to a cheapening of the product of over\n12,000 marks or 48 marks per hectare. This computation did not even\ntake into consideration the increase in produce from the introduction\nof deep ploughing, or the more exact cultivation by machinery.[241]\n\nDeep ploughing led to an increase of from 20 to 40 per cent. in the\ncultivation of grain, and up to 50 per cent. in the cultivation of\npotatoes, turnips, and the like. Taking an average of only 20 per\ncent., Mack showed that, on the farm under consideration, this meant\na gain of 55.45 marks per hectare; together with the saving referred\nto above, this made a gain of 103.45 marks per hectare. Mack pointed\nout that it was necessary to establish a sufficient number of power\nplants, whereby not only all the machinery employed could be set in\nmotion, but heat and light could also be supplied. By means of the\nelectric plants, the dwellings, streets, stables, barns, store-houses\nand factories can be lighted, and if it should become necessary,\ncrops can be reaped at night. Mack calculated that, by the general\nintroduction of electricity, two-thirds of the animals employed for\ndrawing and carrying loads (1,741,300 heads) might be dispensed with,\nwhich would imply an annual net profit of 1,002,989,000 marks.\n\nThe application of electricity makes agriculture more and more a\npurely technical, industrial process. The following compilation shows\nthe manifold applicability of electricity in agriculture:[242] The\nfollowing can be run by electric motors: 1. Machines that heighten\nthe gross proceeds: A. for tilling: seed-assorter and electric\nploughs. B. for the harvest: mowing-machines with binders; machines\nfor reaping potatoes; irrigation-works. 2. Machines for reducing\nthe cost of production: A. lifting machines, unloading machines\nin barns, grain elevators, pumps for liquid manure. B. means\nof transportation: groves, straps and bellows, field-railways,\nspindles and cranes. C. for utilization: straw-presses, corn-mills,\nchaff-cutters. 3. Machines of agricultural industry: A. distillery\nmachines and machines for the manufacture of starch; water-pumps for\nvarious purposes. B. dairy implements: refrigerators, centrifuges,\nchurners, kneaders, presses, etc. C. saw-mills, circular-saws and\nsaw-frames. D. drills, turning-lathes, machines for wheel-making.\n4. Food-chopping machines, for cattle-breeding: chaff-cutters,\nturnip-choppers, meal, potato and oat-grinders, etc.; squeezers,\nwater-pumps. Investigations have shown that about 15 per cent. of\nall farm-labor can be performed in this economical way, by the aid\nof electric motors.\n\nThe amount of manual labor power required for the threshing and\npreparation of 1000 kilograms of grain was ascertained:\n\n Number of\n hours required.\n\n 1. When all the work was done by hand 104\n 2. When small thrashing-machines and riddling\n machines were employed 41.4\n 3. When an electric thrashing-machine of\n 20 horse power was employed 26.4\n 4. When a giant electric thrashing-machine\n with winnowing and riddling machine,\n elevators, etc. was employed 10.5\n\nThere is nothing to prevent the general introduction of electric\nploughs. Like the electric railway, the electric plough has already\nattained a high degree of development. The heavy and expensive\nsteam-plough can be rationally employed only on large areas and for\ndeep ploughing. It is especially serviceable for heightening the crops\nof potatoes, etc. But the electric plough can be used equally well\nfor deep and shallow ploughing. It makes it possible to cultivate\nthe soil on steep inclines, where it is difficult to plough with\nhorses, or oxen even. It is a great labor-saving device, as may be\nseen from the following comparison of expenses for ploughing, when\nhorses, oxen, a steam-plough and an electric plough were used:\n\n ================================+=================================\n | Cost per acre for ploughing\n | number of inches of medium depth\n +---------------------------------\n | 4 6 8 11 14\n --------------------------------+---------------------------------\n Horses | 2.50 3.00 4.20 7.70 13.30\n Oxen | 3.65 4.65 5.80 7.90 10.20\n Steam-plough, rented, from | 6.00 6.70 7.60 9.15 10.70\n \u201c \u201c \u201c to | 7.50 8.40 9.35 11.00 12.55\n \u201c \u201c owned, from | 4.50 5.00 5.85 7.30 8.85\n \u201c \u201c \u201c to | 6.00 6.70 7.60 9.15 10.70\n Electric-plough, horse power 40 | 2.70 3.55 4.60 6.25 7.95\n \u201c \u201c \u201c \u201c 60 | 2.65 3.40 4.30 5.70 7.10\n \u201c \u201c \u201c \u201c 80 | 2.50 3.15 3.90 5.20 6.50\n --------------------------------+---------------------------------\n\nThe simple supply and distribution of electric energy, the ease\nand simplicity with which electric machines can be run and kept in\norder, make their advantages to agriculture paramount, especially as\na thin wire suffices to supply the power to extensive areas. As the\nemployment of electric machines would necessitate a network of electric\nwires across the country, electric motor-power in agriculture could\neasily be combined with electro-cultivation, the direct influence\nof electricity on the growth of plants.\n\nDuring recent years plant physiologists, as also practical\nagriculturists, were eagerly engaged in studying the influence of\nelectricity on the growth and fructification of plants, especially\nthe various kinds of grain. The task was accomplished by the late\nProfessor R. S. Lemstroem (died 1906). He spread a net of wire across\na large area of cultivated ground which, by means of a battery, he\ncharged with positive electricity, while the negative pole remained\non the ground, and subjected a field, or part of one, to an electric\ncurrent during its entire period of vegetation, while an adjacent\nfield, which was under observation also, remained uninfluenced. The\nexperiments were tried upon various areas of different size, and,\nwherever carried out properly, they all showed the same favorable\nresults. Firstly, the crop increased from 30 to over 100 per\ncent.; secondly, it ripened in a shorter time, and thirdly, the\nquality was considerably improved. There were still a few practical\nshort-comings connected with this method, which Newman, an English\nagriculturist, succeeded in removing. He succeeded in interesting\na famous English physicist, Oliver Lodge, in Lemstroem\u2019s method.\nAccording to recent reports from Lodge these experiments have been\nsuccessively tried from 1906 to 1908; the area under observation has\nbeen extended to ten hectares, and it was satisfactorily proven that\nthe charged wire net may be spread as high as five meters above the\nground, without lessening the favorable influence of the electric\ncurrent on the harvest. This altitude makes it possible to drive\nloaded wagons beneath the wire net and to perform all agricultural\ntasks without interference, while Lemstroem\u2019s net was not to be\nmore than 40 centimeters above the plants to be influenced by the\nelectric current.[243] Several millers instituted comparative baking\nexperiments, and the electrified wheat was found to make better flour\nthan that which had not been electrified. So the new method is ripe\nfor being successfully introduced into agriculture and horticulture.\n\nFowler\u2019s steam-plough, with two compound locomotives, requires an\narea of 5000 hectares for its satisfactory application, which is\nlarger than the cultivated area of most peasant communities. It has\nbeen calculated that, if the soil under cultivation in 1895 had been\ncultivated with the application of all available machinery and all\nother modern advantages, a saving of 1600 million marks would have\nbeen realized. According to Ruhland[244] the successful combating\nof the diseases of grain alone would make the import of grain into\nGermany superfluous. In his book on \u201cOur Meadows and Produce of the\nFields,\u201d Dr. Sonnenberg informs us, that Bavarian agriculture suffers\na loss of 30 per cent. annually, owing to the spread of weeds in the\nfields. On two areas of 4 square meters each, one of which was full\nof weeds, while the other had been kept clear of weeds, Nowatzki\nattained the following results:\n\n Stalks. Grains. Crop of straw.\n\n On the area with weeds 216 180 239 grammes\n On the area free from weeds 423 528 1077 grammes\n\nDr. v. Ruemker, Professor at the Agricultural Institute of the\nUniversity of Breslau, declares that a careful economy of the\nnourishment of the soil is almost entirely wanting in Germany. The\ncultivation of the soil and the sowing are done in such a thoughtless\nmanner, according to old, acquired habits, and by means of such\ninsufficient and imperfect tools, that the returns of all the labor\nmust remain poor and unsatisfactory. He claims that the German\nfarmers do not even perform the easy task of rationally assorting\ntheir seed. Professor v. Ruemker showed by the following table how\nthe harvest can be increased per hectare by assorting the seed:\n\n Not assorted Assorted Number of\n Wheat furnished kilograms kilograms kilogr\u2019s more\n per hectare per hectare from ass\u2019d seeds\n\n Entire crop 8,000 10,800 +2,800\n Grain 1,668 2,885 +1,217\n Straw and chaff 6,332 7,915 +1,583\n Weight in hectoliters\n of crop 77.2 78.7 + 1.5\n\nSo, according to this table, 1200 kilograms more of corn might be\nobtained per hectare by properly assorting the seed, which, valued\nat 15 marks per cwt., represents a gain of 180 marks. Estimating the\ncost of assorting 4.40 marks per hectare at the most, there still\nremains a clear cash profit of 175.60 marks per hectare for the grain\nalone, not counting the additional gain in straw and chaff. By a\nnumber of experimental cultivations, Ruemker furthermore ascertained\nthat by selecting that kind of grain best suited to each particular\nvicinity, the harvests might be increased and the gross receipts\nimproved, on an average, as follows:\n\n Rye by 300\u2013 700 kilogr\u2019s of grain or by 42\u2013 98 marks per hectare\n Wheat \u201c 300\u2013 800 \u201c \u201c \u201c \u201c \u201c 45\u2013120 \u201c \u201c \u201c\n Barley \u201c 200\u2013 700 \u201c \u201c \u201c \u201c \u201c 34\u2013119 \u201c \u201c \u201c\n Oats \u201c 200\u20131200 \u201c \u201c \u201c \u201c \u201c 26\u2013156 \u201c \u201c \u201c\n\nThe gain obtained from assorting the seed and from a proper selection\nof the kind of wheat taken together, would, in the raising of wheat\nalone, increase the harvest by ~1500 to 2000 kilograms of grain, or\nby 220 to 295 marks per hectare~.\n\nIn a paper on \u201cThe Future of German Agriculture,\u201d it has been shown\nhow tremendously all agricultural products could be increased by\nsufficient and appropriate fertilization, by supplying mineral manure,\nas hypophosphate, phosphoric acid, etc. The German harvest of wheat\nmight be increased on an average of 36 cwts. per hectare, and the\nharvest of rye by 24 cwts. per hectare. Moreover, a considerable\nportion of the land used for the cultivation of rye at present,\nmight, by proper manuring, be used for the cultivation of wheat, so\nthat the average harvest of grain for bread--two-fifths of wheat,\nthree-fifths of rye--might amount to 28.8 cwts. per hectare. After\nthe deduction of seed and of grain of inferior quality, there\nwould still remain 26 cwts. per hectare to feed the nation. The\n7.9 million hectares that are planted with wheat and rye at present\nmight be increased by an additional 1.5 million hectares of pasture,\nfallow-ground, heaths and moor-land, so that, with an average crop of\n26 cwts. per hectare and a cultivated area of 9.4 million hectares,\na production of 251.92 million cwts. of grain for bread might be\nobtained. With an annual consumption of 175 kilograms for every\nperson, ~enough grain for bread could be raised to supply the needs\nof 144 million persons~. At the time of the census of 1900, Germany\nhad a population of approximately 56,345,000 inhabitants, and even\nat that time science and technics were sufficiently far advanced\nthat the German soil might have supplied a population two and a half\ntimes as large with bread. Under the present agricultural system,\nwith the scattered private ownership of land, Germany is obliged to\nimport annually about one-ninth of its requisite supply of wheat and\nrye. If, under the present agricultural system, similar quantities\nwere to be raised, it would mean so great an increase in the cost\nof articles of food, that a majority of the people could not afford\nto buy them, and that would not answer the purpose. These results\ncan be obtained only by communistic methods, when carried out on\nthe largest scale; but of course the authors quoted above do not\nthink of that possibility. According to calculations made by them,\nby means of an intensified cultivation of the soil, the products of\nGerman agriculture might be increased as follows:\n\n Rye and wheat by 145.1 million cwts.\n Potatoes \u201c 444.0 \u201c \u201c\n Oats, barley, peas and beans \u201c 78.7 \u201c \u201c\n Hay \u201c 146.2 \u201c \u201c\n Fodder \u201c 110.0 \u201c \u201c\n Turnips (for cattle) \u201c 226.0 \u201c \u201c\n\nIf we furthermore take into consideration the suggestions by Mack,\nquoted above, showing that a very great number of animals for drawing\nand carrying loads might be dispensed with by the introduction of\nelectric power, we find that the breeding of cattle for nourishment\nmight be considerably increased, or that much of the land used for\npasture might be planted with food for man.\n\nAnother field of agricultural activity that might be developed to a\nfar greater extent, is poultry breeding. The value of eggs imported\nby Germany annually amounts to 149.7 million marks (1907), and\nthat of live poultry to over 40 million marks. The institutions\nfor raising and breeding poultry are still sadly undeveloped. The\nconcentrated methods of agriculture on a large scale will lead\nto the concentration of farming establishments, such as stables,\nstore-houses, ice-houses, fodder and feeding; much time, labor and\nmaterial will be saved, and practical advantages will be obtained\nthat are inaccessible to small and medium-sized establishments, and\nare but rarely enjoyed by large ones. How insufficient, for instance,\nare the hygienic institutions in most stables, how inadequate are the\nprovisions made for the feeding and care of the cattle and poultry!\nThat cleanliness, air and light are as necessary to animals as to\nhuman beings and have a favorable influence on their condition, is\na fact known but little among peasants of the twentieth century. It\nis self-understood that, by a general dissemination and application\nof this knowledge, milk, butter, cheese, eggs, honey, meat, etc.,\nwill be obtained under far more sanitary and favorable conditions\nthan at present. By a skillful combination and application of human\nlabor power and machinery, not only the cultivation of the fields,\nbut also the reaping of the harvest will be done by ways and means\nunknown to us to-day. The erection of great halls for shelter will\nmake it possible to gather in the crops during any kind of weather,\nand, by bringing them in quickly, the enormous losses will be avoided\nthat are so frequent now. According to v. d. Goltz, during one single\nunfavorable harvest-time, 8 to 9 million marks are lost on crops in\nMecklenburg, and in the government district of Koenigsberg, from 12\nto 15 million marks.\n\n[240] P. Mack Althof-Ragnit Cavalry-Captain and Owner of Manorial\nEstate--The Development of Agriculture by Cheapening of the Cost of\nProduction. An Investigation of the Service rendered Agriculture by\nMachines and Electricity. Koenigsberg, 1900.\n\n[241] The packing into subterranean pits (Campbell) has become a\nvery significant factor in recent years. In some regions of North\nAmerica where rain is scarce, marvelous results have been obtained\nby this method.\n\n[242] Kurt Krohne--The Expanded Application of Electricity in\nAgriculture. Journal of Electrotechnics, 1908.\n\n[243] M. Breslauer--The Influence of Electricity on the growth of\nplants. Journal of Electrotechnics, 1908. A small plant for purposes\nof demonstration is being erected near Berlin under the direction\nof Breslauer.\n\n[244] Dr. G. Ruhland--Fundamental Principles of Actual Agrarian\nPolitics. Tuebingen, 1893.\n\n\n5.--Vine-Culture of the Future.\n\nThe cultivation of fruit and berries and horticulture will also\nattain a degree of development in the future that hitherto seemed\nalmost impossible. To what extent the cultivation of fruit is still\nneglected in Germany, although the German climate is particularly\nfavorable to the cultivation of orchards, especially apple-orchards,\nmay be seen from the fact that more than 40 million marks\u2019 worth of\nfresh fruit and more than 20 million marks\u2019 worth of dried fruit are\nimported annually. One look at the poor condition of our fruit-trees\nin the greater part of Germany, even in countries like Wurtemberg,\nwhich are famed for their orchards, makes this easily understood.\nHere a wide field presents itself to agricultural and horticultural\nactivity. The cultivation of berries is just begun and presents a\nno more favorable aspect.\n\nBy applying artificial heat and moisture in large, sheltered halls,\nit becomes possible to raise vegetables, fruit and berries in large\nquantities during any season of the year. The florists\u2019 show-windows\nin our large cities present as gorgeous an array of flowers in\nmid-winter as they do in summer. Wonderful progress in the line\nof artificial cultivation of fruit, is marked by the artificial\n\u201cvineyard\u201d of Garden-Director Haupt, in Brieg in Silesia, which has\nsince been imitated elsewhere, and already had been tried in other\ncountries; for instance, in England. Its equipment and the results\nachieved were so enticingly described in the \u201cVossishe Gazette,\u201d of\nSeptember 27, 1890, that an extract of this description follows:\n\n\u201cThe glass-house is situated upon an approximately square field of\n500 square meters. It is from 4.5 to 5 meters high, and its walls\nface exactly north, south, east and west. It contains twelve rows of\ndouble fruit-walls, running from south to north, 1.8 meters apart,\nwhich at the same time serve as supports to the flat roof. In a bed\n1.25 meters deep, resting on a bank of earth 25 centimeters strong,\nwhich contains a net of pipes for drainage and ventilation of the\nsoil, a bed, whose heavy ground has been made loose and fertile by\nthe introduction of chalk, rubbish, sand, manure, bone-dust and\npotash, Mr. Haupt planted 360 grapevines of the kinds that yield\nthe best grape-juice in the Rhine Province: White and red Riessling\nand Traminer, white and blue Moscatelle and Burgundy.\n\n\u201cThe ventilation of the place is effected by several apertures in\nthe side walls and by slats 20 meters long attached to the roof,\nwhich can be opened and closed by a lever, and afford protection from\nthe storm in any position. Twenty-six showers serve to water the\nvines. They are attached to rubber pipes 1.25 meters long that are\nsuspended from a tank above. But Mr. Haupt has introduced still another\ntruly ingenious contrivance for quickly and thoroughly watering his\n\u2018wine-hall\u2019 and his \u2018vineyards\u2019: ~an artificial generator of rain~.\nUnder the roof four long copper tubes are attached that contain\nfine perforations half a meter apart. Through these perforations\nfine streams of water are driven upward, strike small round sieves\nmade of gauze, and, by being filtered through them, are scattered\nin fountains of a fine spray. It takes several hours to water the\nplace thoroughly by means of the rubber tubes; but one need open only\none faucet, and throughout the building a gentle, refreshing rain\nfalls down evenly upon the vines, the ground and the granite walks.\nWithout any artificial heating, only by the neutral qualities of the\nglass-house, the temperature can be raised from 8 to 10 degrees R.\nabove the outside air. In order to protect the vines from their most\ndangerous and destructive enemy, the vine-louse, in case one should\nappear, it will suffice to close all the drain-pipes and open all the\nfaucets. Thereby an inundation of the vines will be caused which, as\nis well known, this enemy cannot resist. The glass walls and roof\nprotect the vineyard from storm, cold, frost and superfluous rain.\nA fine wire netting, spread over roof and walls, affords protection\nfrom hail. The artificial rain contrivance is a safeguard against\ndrought. The wine-grower in such a vineyard makes his own weather and\ncan mock the dangers of all the incalculable whims and treacheries\nof indifferent or cruel nature that threaten with ruin the fruit of\nthe wine-grower\u2019s toil and care.\u201d\n\nMr. Haupt\u2019s expectations were fully realized. The vines thrived\nsplendidly in the even temperature. The grapes ripened to their\nfullest perfection, and in the fall of 1885 yielded a juice that\nwas not inferior in richness and sweetness to any obtained along the\nRhine. The grapes thrived equally well in the following year, and\nin that most unfavorable year, 1887. When the vines have attained\ntheir full height of five meters and bear an abundance of grapes to\ntheir very top, in this establishment about 20 hectoliters of wine\ncan be produced annually, and the cost of wine per bottle to the\nproducer will not exceed 40 \u201cpfennige\u201d (10 cents).\n\nThere is no reason why this new and most favorable system of\nvine-culture should not be introduced on a large scale. Glass-houses\nlike this one, covering one-fifth of an acre, can without doubt\nalso be erected on areas of one acre, or more, equipped with the\nsame contrivances for ventilation, drainage and artificial rain.\nHere the vegetation will set in some weeks earlier than in the open\nair, and during the time of bloom the young vines will be protected\nfrom May-frosts, rain and cold; while the grapes ripen they will be\nprotected from drought, from pilfering birds and thieves and excessive\nmoisture; during the entire year they will be protected from the\nvine-louse, and the berries will remain safely on the vine until\nNovember or December. In an address delivered before the Society for\nthe Advancement of Horticulture, in 1888, from which I have taken\nseveral technical terms in this description of Haupt\u2019s \u201cvineyard,\u201d\nthe inventor and founder of same closed with the following alluring\nperspective of the future: \u201cSince this vine-culture can be carried\non throughout Germany, also on otherwise barren, sandy or stony soil\n(as, for instance, in the March), after it has been made arable and\nwatered, it becomes evident that vine-culture under glass becomes\na matter of national interest. I would like to call this method\nthe vine-culture of the future.\u201d The author then described how the\nwine obtained form the grapes had met with the highest approval of\nexperts, and added: \u201cThe vineyard also left sufficient room for\nthe cultivation of other plants. Thus Mr. Haupt, between every two\nvines raises one rose-bush, which presents a wealth of bloom during\nApril and May. On the eastern and western walls he also raises\npeaches, and during April their luxuriant blossoms must impart to\nthis glass palace a fairy-like appearance.\u201d Recently Belgium has\nbestowed special attention upon this method of fruit-culture. But\nin Germany also it is being extensively applied, for instance,\nin raising pineapples. Nothing will prevent the establishment of\nsimilar hot-house plantations for various kinds of plants, so that,\nwith many products of the soil, we may enjoy the luxury of a double\nor threefold harvest. At present these undertakings are primarily\na question of profit, and their products are enjoyed only by the\nfavored few. But in Socialistic society the only question will be\nwhether sufficient labor-power is obtainable. This being the case\nthe task will be accomplished to the common advantage of all.\n\n\n6.--Measures to Prevent Exhaustion of the Soil.\n\nSo we see that, even under present-day conditions, a thorough\ntransformation in the methods of procuring food is taking place.\n~But the utilization of all these discoveries is extremely slow,\nbecause powerful classes--the agrarians and their social and political\nsupporters--are profoundly interested in suppressing them.~ Although\nin spring weekly prayers are offered up in all churches for a good\ncrop, individual members of the congregations may feel like that\npious man who implored his patron saint: \u201cSt. Florian, protect my\nhouse, set others on fire!\u201d For if the crops turn out well in all\ncountries the prices are lowered, and this possibility is dreaded\nby agrarians. What is advantageous to others is harmful to him, and\ntherefore he is a silent opponent of every discovery or invention\nthat benefits others besides himself. Our society dwells in constant\ndiscord with itself.\n\nIn order to maintain the soil in a fertile condition and to improve\nit, sufficient manure is essential. To obtain same will be an\nimportant task for the new society also.[245] Manure is to the\nfields what food is to man, and just as not every kind of food is\nequally nourishing to man, so not every kind of manure is of equal\nvalue to the soil. The ground must be given exactly the same chemical\nsubstances that have been withdrawn from it by the reaping of a crop,\nand such chemical substances, as are required for the cultivation\nof a certain kind of plant, must be introduced in large quantities.\nTherefore the study of chemistry and its practical application will\ndevelop to an extent unknown to-day.\n\nNow animal and human excrements contain the very chemical substances\nthat are suited to the cultivation of human food. Therefore it is\nimportant to obtain and properly distribute them. Little is done in\nthis respect at present. Especially the cities and industrial centers,\nwhich receive large quantities of food, return very little of the\nvaluable offal to the soil. As a result the farms that are situated\nfar from the cities and industrial centers and that annually ship\nthe greater part of their products into these, suffer from want of\nmanure. Often the offal obtainable on the farms does not suffice,\nbecause the human beings and animals from which it is obtained have\nconsumed only a small portion of the crops. So an exhaustion of the\nsoil would be sure to take place, unless the want of natural manure\nwere made up for by artificial manure. All countries that export\nagricultural products and receive no manure in return, will sooner\nor later be ruined by the impoverishment of their soil. This is\nthe case with Hungary, Russia, the Danubian principalities, etc.\n\nIn the middle of the last century, Liebig solved his theory of the\nreproduction of substance for arable soil, which led to the use of\nconcentrated manure. Schultze-Lupitz proved that certain plants,\nalthough not given manure containing nitrogen, still added nitrogen\nto the soil, a phenomenon that was explained later by Hellriegel. He\nshowed that the millions of bacilli, acting on certain leguminous\nplants, obtain the nitrogen for the nourishment of the plant directly\nfrom the air.[246] Chemistry constitutes one phase of modern,\nscientific agriculture, and bacteriology constitutes the other. In\nits deposits of potash, Thomas-slag, hypophosphate and phosphoric\nacid, Germany possesses a number of inexhaustible sources of mineral\nmanure. A proper application of these, combined with an appropriate\ntilling of the soil, makes possible a production of enormous quantities\nof food.\n\nAn idea of the importance of the various kinds of artificial manure\nmay be gained from the following figures: During 1906 Germany consumed\nabout 300 million marks\u2019 worth of artificial manure. Among these\nwere sulphate of ammonia for 58.3 millions; nitrate of soda for 120,\nand the rest was expended for Thomas-slag, hypophosphate, potash,\nguano, etc. The most important of these fertilizers are the ones\ncontaining nitrogen. The great importance of this substance may be\nseen from the following: Investigations made by Wagner showed that\ncrops of oats from a field in Hessia diminished by 17 per cent. when\nthere was a dearth of phosphoric acid; by 19 per cent. when there\nwas a dearth of potash, and by 89 per cent. when there was a dearth\nof nitrogen. The net profits for one year per hectare were: When the\nfertilizer contained all the needful ingredients, 96 marks; when\nthe potash was omitted, 62 marks; when phosphoric acid was omitted,\n48 marks; when nitrogen was omitted, 5 marks. It has been calculated\nthat if Germany would double its nitrogen-manure, it could produce\nnot only sufficient grain and potatoes to supply the demands of its\nown population, but could also export considerable quantities. And\nthe chief sources of this valuable manure, the deposits of nitrate\nsoda in Chili, like the deposits of guano, are rapidly being used\nup, while the demand for nitrogen preparations constantly increases\nin Germany, France, England, and, during the last ten years, in the\nUnited States of America also. As early as 1899 the English chemist,\nWilliam Crookes, propounded this question and designated it as one\nof greater importance than the possibility of proximate exhaustion\nof the British coal mines. He therefore regarded it to be one of the\nmost important tasks of chemistry to manufacture nitrogen fertilizers\nfrom the tremendous nitrogen reservoir of the atmosphere. It must be\nremembered that the quantity of air covering one square centimeter\nof ground, weighs approximately 1 kilogram, and that four-fifths\nof it are nitrogen. From this may be calculated that the nitrogen\ncontained in the atmosphere of the earth, amounts, in round figures,\nto 4000 million tons. The present annual consumption of nitrate of\nsoda is, in round figures, 300,000 tons. So even if the nitrogen\nin the atmosphere were not replaced, it would suffice to supply\nthe demand of the entire earth during 14,000 million years. This\nproblem has been practically solved. In 1899, A. Frank and N. Caro\nproduced cyanide of potassium that contains from 14 to 22 per cent.\nof nitrogen. The new fertilizer has been introduced upon the market\nunder the name of calcareous nitrogen. But Frank\u2019s and Caro\u2019s method\nis not the only one. In 1903 the Norwegians, C. Birkeland and\nS. Eyde, succeeded in transforming the atmospheric nitrogen into\nnitric acid by combustion, by means of electricity. This second\nmethod furnishes a product that is equal to Chili nitrate of soda in\nevery respect and even superior to it for certain kinds of soil. In\n1905 Otto Schoenherr succeeded in finding a method still superior to\nthat of Birkeland and Eyde. For, besides the electric power, only\nthe cheapest materials are required, i. e., water and limestone. So\nagriculture has been given a new fertilizer that can be obtained by\na purely technical industrial process, and has an unlimited supply\nat its disposal.[247]\n\nAccording to A. Mueller, a healthy adult secretes annually on an\naverage of 48.5 kilograms of solid and 43.8 kilograms of liquid\nmatter. Estimated by the present prices of manure, these materials\nrepresent a value of about 5.15 marks. The great difficulty in\nfully utilizing this material lies in the establishment of large\nand appropriate contrivances for collecting same and in the high\ncost of transportation. A great portion of the excrements from the\ncities is conducted into our rivers and streams and pollutes them.\nIn the same way, the offal and refuse from kitchens and industrial\nestablishments that might also be used for manure, are usually\ncarelessly wasted.\n\nThe new society will find ways and means to prevent this waste.\nIt will solve the problem more easily, because the large cities\nwill gradually cease to exist owing to the decentralization of the\npopulation.\n\n[245] There is a recipe for the fertility of fields and the eternal\nduration of their crops; if properly applied it will prove more\nremunerative than any that has ever been resorted to by agriculture.\nIt is the following: Every farmer who takes a bag of grain or a\nhundred-weight of rape, carrots, potatoes, etc. to market shall, like\nthe Chinese coolie, bring back with him as much, if possible more,\nof the ingredients of his products of the soil and shall give them\nback to the field from which he has taken them. He shall not despise\na potatoe peal or a blade of straw, but shall remember that one of\nhis potatoes needs the peal and one of his ears of corn the blade.\nHis expense for this import is slight and the investment is sure;\nno savings bank is safer, and no capital will bring a higher rate\nof interest. The surface of his field will bring forth the double\namount in ten years. He will produce more corn, more meat and more\ncheese without spending more time or performing more labor, and he\nwill not be in constant anxiety seeking new and unknown means to\nkeep his field fertile by other methods. Old bones, soot and ashes,\nthe blood of animals and all kinds of offal should be collected in\nestablishments erected for this purpose and prepared for shipment.\nThe administrative and police officials in the cities should see to\nit that by an appropriate arrangement of drains and cess-pools this\nwaste of material is avoided. Liebig--\u201cChemical Letters,\u201d Leipsic\nand Heidelberg, 1865.\n\n[246] German Agriculture at the Close of the Century. Address\ndelivered by Dr. Max Delbrueck at the Royal Academy of Agriculture,\non January 12, 1900.\n\n[247] According to Prof. Bernthsen on sulphuric acid of the\natmosphere. Lecture delivered at the seventh international congress\nin London.--Journal of Applied Chemistry, 1909.\n\n\n7.--Removal of the Contrast between City and Country.\n\nNo one can adjudge our modern large cities a healthy product. The\nprevailing economic and industrial system constantly attracts great\nmasses of the population to the cities.[248] They are the chief seats\nof industry and commerce, and there all the highways of traffic\nconverge. There the owners of great fortunes reside, and there the\ncivil, judicial and military authorities are located. In the cities\nare found the great institutions of learning, the academies of\nart, the places of enjoyment and recreation, exhibitions, museums,\ntheatres, concert-halls, etc. Thousands are attracted by their\noccupations, thousands by pleasure, and thousands of others by the\nhope of greater gain and a more pleasant life.\n\nBut this formation of great cities, figuratively speaking, reminds\none of a man whose girth is constantly increasing while his legs are\nconstantly growing leaner, until they can no longer carry the load.\nIn the immediate vicinity of these cities all the villages assume\nan urban character also, and here the proletarians flock together.\nThese usually poor municipalities must tax their members to the\nutmost and still are unable to meet all demands. When they have\nfinally extended close to the large city they are swallowed up by\nit, as a planet that has come too close to the sun. But thereby the\nconditions of life are not improved. On the contrary, they become\nmore unfavorable by the crowding of masses in congested dwellings.\nThese gatherings of masses are necessary in present-day development\nand, to a certain degree, form the centers of revolution; but in\nthe new society they will have accomplished their purpose. Their\ngradual dissolution will be inevitable, for then the contrary will\ntake place. ~The population will migrate from the large cities to the\ncountry, will form new communities adapted to the changed conditions,\nand will combine industrial and agricultural activity.~\n\nAs soon as the urban population, as a result of the development\nof the means of transportation, methods of production, etc., is\nenabled to transfer to the country all its accustomed requirements\nof culture, its institutions of learning, museums, theaters,\nconcert-halls, libraries, social centers, etc., the migration will\nbegin. Life will offer all the advantages of the former large city\n~without its disadvantages~. The dwellings will be far more sanitary\nand pleasant. The rural population will participate in industry,\nand the industrial population will participate in agriculture and\nhorticulture, a variety of occupations that only a few persons can\nenjoy at present, and only by excessively long and hard labor.\n\nAs on all other fields, the bourgeois world is paving the way for\nthis development, as each year a greater number of industrial\nestablishments are transferred to the country. The unfavorable\nconditions prevailing in the large cities, high rents and high\nwages, compel many manufacturers to transfer their establishments\nto rural districts. On the other hand, the large landowners are\nbecoming industrialists (manufacturers of sugar, distillers, brewers,\nmanufacturers of cement, earthenware, bricks, woodwork, paper, etc.)\nEven to-day tens of thousands of persons who work in the large\ncities have their homes in the suburbs, because the improved means\nof transportation enable them to live in this manner.\n\n~By the decentralization of the population the present contrast\nbetween urban and rural population will be removed.~ The peasant,\nthis modern helot, who, until now, in his isolation in the country,\nhas been excluded from all modern cultural development, will then\nbecome a civilized being[249] in the fullest sense of the word. The\nwish once expressed by Prince Bismarck, that he might see the large\ncities destroyed, will be fulfilled, but in a different sense than\nhe anticipated.[250]\n\n[248] According to the census of June 12, 1907, Germany had 24 large\ncities with more than 100,000 inhabitants each. In 1816, there were\nonly two cities in Germany having more than 100,000 inhabitants.\nIn 1871, there were only 8 of them. The population of Berlin was,\napproximately, 826,000 in 1871; 1,880,000 in 1900; 2,040,148 in 1905.\nSo its population had increased by 147 per cent. in 34 years. \u201cGreater\nBerlin\u201d had 875,328 inhabitants in 1871, and 2,469,009 inhabitants in\n1900. In 1907, 42 large cities had 11,790,000 inhabitants, and their\nproportion to the entire population now amounts to, approximately,\n19 per cent. A number of these large cities found it necessary to\nadmit into their municipalities a number of the suburban factory\ntowns that, according to their population, were cities in themselves,\nand so they grew in leaps and bounds. During the period from 1895\nto 1905, Leipsic increased from 170,000 to 503,672 inhabitants;\nCologne from 161,000 to 428,722; Magdeburg from 114,000 to 240,633;\nMunich from 270,000 to 538,983; Breslau from 299,000 to 470,904;\nFrankfort on the Main from 154,000 to 334,978; Hannover from 140,000\nto 250,024; Duesseldorf from 115,000 to 253,274; Nuremberg from\n115,000 to 294,426; Chemnitz from 111,000 to 294,927; Essen from\n65,074 to 239,692, etc.\n\n[249] Professor Adolf Wagner says in his \u201cText-book of Political\nEconomy by Rau\u201d that has been previously quoted: \u201cThe small farms\nconstitute an economic basis that cannot be replaced by any other\ninstitution for a very important part of the population, an\nindependent, self-sustaining peasantry and its peculiar socio-political\nposition and function.\u201d If the author would not idealize the small\nfarmer \u201c\u00e0 tout prix\u201d to please his conservative friends, he would\nhave to recognize the small farmer as the poorest of beings. Under\nexisting conditions the small farmer is almost inaccessible to a\nhigher culture. He works hard from dawn till darkness and lives like\na dog. Meat, butter, eggs, milk that he produces are not consumed\nby him; he produces for others. Under existing conditions he cannot\nattain a higher status of life and so becomes an element detrimental\nto the progress of civilization. He who likes retrogression because\nit serves his own ends, may desire the continued existence of this\nsocial stratum, but human progress demands that it should cease to\nexist.\n\n[250] In the Union Parliament at Erfurt, in 1850, Prince Bismarck raged\nagainst the large cities because they were \u201chot-beds of revolution\u201d\nand should therefore be demolished. He was right. In the modern\nproletariat bourgeois society produces its own \u201cgrave-diggers.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIII.\n\nAbolition of the State.\n\n\nWhen we review what has been set forth so far, we find that, with\nthe abolition of the private ownership of the means of production,\nand their transformation into social property, those evils gradually\ndisappear that bourgeois society presents on all sides, and which are\nbecoming more and more unbearable. Class rule will cease. Society\nwill apply all its activities according to its own plans, and will\nguide and control itself. By abolition of the wage system, the\nexploitation of man by man, deception and fraud, adulteration of food,\nspeculation, etc., will be eradicated. The halls of the Temples of\nMammon will be empty, for stocks, bonds, promissory notes, mortgages,\netc., will have become waste-paper. The words of Schiller: \u201cAll old\nscores shall be erased and the world shall make its peace,\u201d will\nbe realized, and the scriptural saying: \u201cIn the sweat of thy brow\nshalt thou eat thy bread,\u201d will then prevail with the heroes of the\nstock-exchange and the drones of capitalism, also. The employers\nand capitalists will be relieved forever of that worry about their\nproperty which, so they pathetically assure us, is often even harder\nto bear than the workingman\u2019s lot of uncertainty and privation. The\nexcitements of speculation, that give so many of our stock-jobbers\nheart-diseases and apoplexy, and cause them to be the victims of\nnervous prostration, will be spared them in the future. ~Freedom\nfrom care~ will be their lot and that of their descendants, and they\nwill not deplore this lot.\n\nWith the abolition of private property and class antagonism, the\nstate, too, will gradually pass out of existence. \u201cAs the capitalistic\nmethod of production converts ever greater numbers of the population\ninto proletarians, it creates the power that, under penalty of its\nown destruction, is destined to bring about the transformation. Since\nits tendencies are to convert into state property the socialized\nmeans of production, it blazes the trail for the achievement of this\ntransformation....\n\n\u201cThe state was the official representative of society as a whole, its\nunification in a visible body; but it was this only ~in so far as\nit was the state of that particular class~ which itself represented\nsociety as a whole at its time; in antiquity, the slave-owning\ncitizen; in medi\u00e6val days, the feudal nobility; in our own day,\nthe bourgeoisie. By finally becoming the actual representative of\nsociety as a whole, ~it renders itself superfluous~. As soon as there\nwill be no social class that needs to be repressed, as soon as the\nconflicts and excesses will be removed that are rooted in the present\nanarchistic methods of production and the individual struggle for\nexistence, there will be nothing to necessitate a special power of\nrepression, a state. The first act wherein the state will appear as\nthe true representative of the whole body social--the act of taking\npossession of the means of production in behalf of society--will at\nthe same time be its last independent act as state. State interference\nwith social relations will become superfluous in one domain after\nanother and will finally fall into disuse. Instead of a government of\npersons, there will be an administration of things and a direction\nof the processes of production. The state will not be \u2018abolished,\u2019\nit will die out.\u201d[251]\n\nTogether with the state will vanish its representatives: ministers,\nparliaments, standing armies, police, courts, lawyers and district\nattorneys, prison officials, collectors of taxes and duty; in short,\nthe entire political apparatus. Armories and other military buildings,\npalaces of justice and administration, prisons, etc., will then serve\nbetter purposes. Tens of thousands of laws, decrees and regulations\nwill become just so much waste-paper; their only value will be an\nhistorical one. The great and yet so petty parliamentary struggles,\nduring which the men of the tongue imagine that by their orations\nthey rule and guide the world, will disappear. They will make room\nfor colleges of administration and administrative delegations, whose\npurpose will be to consider and determine the best means and methods\nof production and distribution, to decide how large a quantity of\nsupplies is required, to introduce and utilize new appliances and\nimprovements in art, science, education, traffic, etc., to organize\nand direct industry and agriculture. All these are practical, visible,\ntangible objects that will be objectively viewed by all, because no\none will have any personal interests hostile to the interests of\nsociety. It will be to the common interest of all to have everything\nprovided for and arranged in the most effective and advantageous\nmanner.\n\nThe hundreds of thousands of former representatives of the state will\nenter various professions, and by their intelligence and strength\nwill help to increase the wealth and comforts of society. Neither\npolitical nor common crimes will be known in the future. Thieves will\nhave disappeared, because private property will have disappeared, and\nin the new society everyone will be able to satisfy his wants easily\nand conveniently by work. Nor will there be tramps and vagabonds, for\nthey are the product of a society founded on private property, and,\nwith the abolition of this institution, they will cease to exist.\nMurder? Why? No one can enrich himself at the expense of others,\nand even the murder for hatred or revenge is directly or indirectly\nconnected with the social system. Perjury, false testimony, fraud,\ntheft of inheritance, fraudulent failures? There will be no private\nproperty against which these crimes could be committed. Arson? Who\nshould find pleasure or satisfaction in committing arson when society\nhas removed all cause for hatred? Counterfeiting? Money will be but\na chimera, it would be \u201cloves labor lost.\u201d Blasphemy? Nonsense! It\nwill be left to good and almighty God himself to punish whoever has\noffended him, provided that the existence of God is still a matter\nof controversy.\n\nThus all the fundamental principles of the present \u201corder\u201d become a\nmyth. In later days parents will tell their children about them like\nabout legends of days gone by; and, when told of the persecutions to\nwhich men of the new ideas were subjected, they will be impressed\nby these accounts just as we are impressed by the accounts of the\nburnings of heretics and witches. All the names of those \u201cgreat\u201d men\nwho distinguished themselves by their persecutions of the new ideas\nand were applauded for it by their narrow-minded contemporaries, will\nbe forgotten. At best they will only attract the attention of the\nhistorians engaged in the research of old documents. Unfortunately\nwe are not yet living in that happy age when humanity may breathe\n~freely~.\n\n[251] Fr. Engels--Mr. Eugen Duehring\u2019s Transformation of Science.\nStuttgart, 1894.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIV.\n\nThe Future of Religion.\n\n\nAs with the state, so it will be with religion. It will not be\n\u201cabolished,\u201d God will not be \u201cdethroned,\u201d people will not be \u201crobbed\nof their faith,\u201d as all the foolish arguments are worded that are\ndirected against atheistic Socialists. Such follies Socialists leave\nto bourgeois idealists who attempted such measures during the French\nRevolution and, of course, failed utterly. Without any forcible\nattack or expression of opinions, of whatever nature they may be, the\nreligious organizations will gradually disappear and the churches\nwith them.\n\nReligion is the transcendental reflection of the social condition of\nevery age. In the measure in which human development progresses and\nsociety is transformed, religion is transformed likewise. \u201cReligion,\u201d\nsays Marx, \u201cis the striving of the people for an imaginary happiness;\nit springs from a state of society that ~requires an illusion~,[252]\nbut disappears when the recognition of true happiness and the\npossibility of its realization penetrates the masses.\u201d It is to the\ninterest of the ruling classes to prevent this recognition, and so\nthey seek to uphold religion as a means for preserving their rule.\nThis is clearly expressed in the well-known saying: \u201cReligion must\nbe preserved for the people.\u201d This business of preserving religion\nfor the people becomes an important official function in a society\nfounded on class-rule. A caste is formed that assumes this function\nand concentrates all its ingenuity upon maintaining and expanding\nthe structure, for this means the maintenance and expansion of their\nown power and authority. At the lowest stages of civilization, among\nprimitive social conditions, religion is mere fetichism. With a higher\ndevelopment religion becomes polytheism, and at a still higher stage,\nit becomes monotheism. It is not the gods who have created man,\nbut man who has created the gods, or God. \u201cIn the image of himself\n(man) he created him (God)\u201d; not vice-versa. Even now monotheism has\ndissolved itself into an all-comprising, all-penetrating pantheism\nthat is constantly becoming more volatile. Science has reduced the\ndoctrine of creation of the earth in six days to a myth. Astronomy,\nmathematics and physics make heaven a phantom. They make of the\nstars in heaven on which angels are enthroned, suns and planets that\npreclude angelic existence.\n\nThe ruling class, seeing its existence threatened, clings to religion,\nthe support of all authority, as every ruling class has done.[253] The\nbourgeoisie itself does not believe, and by its entire development\nand by modern science that sprang from its lap, it has destroyed the\nfaith in religion and in all authority. Their belief is hypocrisy,\nbut the Church accepts the support of this false friend, because it\nis sorely in need of aid itself. \u201cReligion must be preserved for\nthe people.\u201d\n\nFor the new society no considerations will exist. Uninterrupted human\nprogress and unadulterated science will be its device. If some one\nshould have religious needs, he may satisfy them with those who share\nhis belief. Society will pay no attention to them. Even the priest\nmust work to live, and as he will improve his mind by work, the\ntime will come when even he will recognize that ~it is our highest\ndestiny to be human~.\n\nEthics and morality exist even without religion. Only fools or\nhypocrites would assert the contrary. Ethics and morality are the\nexpression of conceptions that regulate the actions and mutual\nrelations of men, while religion comprises the relations of men to\nsupernatural beings. But, like religion, our moral conceptions, too,\narise from prevailing social conditions.[254] The cannibal considers\nit moral to eat human flesh. Greeks and Romans regarded slavery as\na moral institution. Serfdom seemed moral to the feudal lords of\nthe middle ages, and the modern capitalist deems wage-slavery, the\nexploitation of women and the demoralization of children by industrial\nlabor, a highly moral condition.[255] These four stages of social\nevolution present four different conceptions of morality, but in\nnone of them does the highest moral conception prevail. The highest\nmoral condition is one in which all human beings will be ~free~ and\n~equal~; it is one in which the principle, \u201cdo unto others as you\nwould have others do unto you,\u201d will dominate all human relations.\nIn the middle ages a man\u2019s pedigree was the decisive factor; at the\npresent time his social status is determined by his wealth; in the\nfuture every human being will be valued for his own true worth, and\nthe future lies with Socialism.\n\n[252] Karl Marx--\u201cCritic of the Philosophy of Law by Hegel.\u201d\n\n[253] The following utterance by Aristotle shows the opinion of\nthe ancients on this subject: \u201cThe tyrant (in ancient Greece every\nautocrat was called a tyrant) must _appear_ to take religion very\nseriously. For if the subjects believe their ruler to be pious and\nGod-fearing they do not expect unlawful treatment at his hands;\non the other hand they will not readily turn against him for they\nbelieve that he has the support of the gods.\u201d Aristotle--\u201cPolitics.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Prince must possess noble human qualities or, at least, _must\nseem to possess them_.... _He must especially appear very pious,\nextremely religious_.... Though some will penetrate his guise,\nthey will maintain silence on the subject; for the majesty of the\nstate protects the Prince and by means of this protection he may\nbetray the opposite qualities _if his advantage should require it_.\nBecause he appeared pious whenever his piety _did not interfere with\nhis interests_, the majority of his subjects will consider him an\nhonorable man, even when he acts contrary to the maxims of faith and\nreligion. Therefore the Prince shall carefully cultivate worship and\nchurch affairs.\u201d Macchiavelli in his famous book, \u201cThe Prince.\u201d\n\n[254] See K. Kautsky--Ethics and the Materialistic Interpretation\nof History. Stuttgart, 1905.\n\n[255] Whenever a bourgeois is in want of arguments to justify what\nis injustfiable, it is a thousand to one that he will make his\nappeal to \u201cmorality.\u201d In the spring of 1894, at a meeting of the\nEvangelical Synod, a \u201cliberal\u201d member of the Berlin Court of Justice\neven declared it to be \u201cmoral\u201d that only taxpayers should have a\nvote at church meetings.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXV.\n\nThe Socialist System of Education.\n\n\nThe late member of the German diet, Dr. Lasker, delivered a lecture in\nBerlin, during the seventies, in which he arrived at the conclusion\nthat it is possible for all members of society to have an equal\nstandard of education. But Dr. Lasker was an anti-Socialist, a rigid\nupholder of private property and capitalism, and the question of\neducation under present-day conditions is pre-eminently a question\nof money. Therefore an equal standard of education for all is\n~impossible~ at present. Some may attain a higher education even\nunder unfavorable circumstances, by overcoming many difficulties and\nby applying an amount of energy that few possess. But the masses\ncan never attain it so long as they must live in a state of social\ndependence and oppression.[256]\n\nIn the new society the conditions of existence will be the same\nfor all. The requirements and inclinations will differ and will\nalways continue to differ, since these differences are rooted in the\nnature of man. But each individual will be able to develop under\nconditions equally favorable to all. The uniform equality, imputed\nto Socialism, is like so many other imputations, sheer nonsense. It\nwould be useless, indeed, if Socialism should strive for uniform\nequality, for it would then come into conflict with human nature\nitself and could not hope to see society develop in accordance with\nits principles.[257] Indeed, if Socialism should succeed in forcing\nsociety into unnatural conditions, these new conditions would soon\nmake themselves felt as shackles that would be torn asunder, and\nSocialism would be doomed. Society develops by innate laws and acts\naccordingly.[258]\n\nA proper education of the young must be one of the chief tasks of the\nnew society. Every child that is born will be a welcome addition\nto society. In the child society beholds the possibility of its own\ncontinuity, its own further development. Therefore it will also\nrecognize the duty of amply providing for the new being. The first\nobject of its care must, accordingly, be the child-bearing woman,\nthe mother. Comfortable homes, pleasant environment, institutions\nof all kinds suited to this stage of motherhood, considerate care\nfor her and for the child--these are the first requirements. It is\nself-understood that women will be enabled to nurse their children\nas long as necessary and desirable. Moleschott, Sonderegger, all\nhygienists and physicians are agreed that no other nourishment can\nfully substitute the mother\u2019s milk. Those who, like Eugen Richter,\ngrow indignant at the suggestion that young mothers shall give\nbirth to their children in a lying-in-hospital, where they will be\nsurrounded by every care and comfort that only wealthy persons can\nafford to-day, and that even they cannot obtain as perfectly as it\ncan be provided in institutions especially equipped for the purpose,\nshould remember that at present at least four-fifths of all children\nwho come into the world are born under the most primitive conditions\nthat mock civilization. Of the remaining one-fifth of our mothers\nagain only a small minority are able to enjoy the care and the\ncomforts that should be bestowed upon every woman in this condition.\nEven to-day some cities have ~splendid provisions for child-bearing\nwomen, and many women gladly make use of these institutions when\nthey feel their time approaching. But these institutions are so\nexpensive that only few women are able to make use of them~; others,\nof course, are prevented by prejudice. ~Here again we have an example\nhow the bourgeois world everywhere contains the germs for future\ntransformation.~\n\nMotherhood among women of wealth and fashion becomes rather peculiar\nby the fact that these mothers transfer their maternal duties as\nsoon as possible to a ~proletarian wet-nurse~. It is well known that\nthe Lausitz (Spreewald) is the region that supplies the bourgeois\nwomen of Berlin, who do not or cannot nurse their infants, with\nnurses. \u201cThe breeding of nurses\u201d is carried on as a trade, since\ncountry girls do not hesitate to become pregnant, because they\nfind it profitable, after the birth of their babies, to hire out as\nnurses to rich families in Berlin. It is not an unusual occurrence\nthat girls have three or four illegitimate children in order to hire\nout as nurses, and if they earn enough money by this trade they\nare regarded as desirable wives by the young men of the Spreewald.\nRegarded from the view-point of bourgeois morality, such actions are\ndespicable; but regarded from the view-point of the family interests\nof the bourgeoisie, they become praiseworthy and desirable.\n\nAs soon as the child will have outgrown infancy it will join companions\nof its age in common play under common care and direction. Everything\nneedful or desirable for the child\u2019s physical and mental development\nwill be supplied. Every observer of children knows ~that they can\nbe most easily educated in the company of other children~. This\nquality can be successfully applied to the system of education.[259]\nThe play-halls and the kindergarten will be succeeded by a playful\nintroduction into the rudiments of knowledge and the various industrial\ntasks. They will be succeeded by appropriate mental and physical\nwork, combined with gymnastic exercises and unrestricted motion\non the playground and in the gymnasium, the skating-rink and the\nswimming-pool. There will be exercises, drills and wrestling-matches\nfor both sexes, for the aim will be to bring up a healthy, hardy race\nthat will be normal both physically and mentally. Step by step the\nchildren will be initiated into the various practical activities,\nhorticulture, agriculture, manufacture, the technics of the process\nof production. Mental education in the various realms of knowledge\nwill not be neglected.\n\nThe system of education will be purified and improved, just like\nthe system of production. Many antiquated, superfluous methods and\nsubjects, which only serve to hamper the child\u2019s mental and physical\ndevelopment, will be dropped. The knowledge of natural things, adapted\nto the child\u2019s understanding, will incite a far greater desire for\nstudy than a system of education where one subject conflicts with and\ncontradicts another; for instance, when, on the one hand, children\nreceive religious instruction as taught by the Bible, and, on the\nother, are taught science and natural history. The equipment of the\nschools and the methods and means of education will be in keeping with\nthe advanced stage of civilization of the new society. All the books\nand objects required for education and study, food and clothing, will\nbe furnished by society; no pupil will be at a disadvantage with the\nothers.[260] This is another chapter that causes indignation among\nour bourgeois \u201cmen of order.\u201d[261] They claim that Socialists seek\nto turn the school into barracks, and to deprive the parents of all\ninfluence over their children. Socialists do not aim at anything of\nthe sort. In future society, parents will have far more time at their\ndisposal than the great majority of parents have to-day. We need but\npoint to the fact that at present many workingmen are employed ten\nhours daily, and even longer, and that many employees in the postal\nand railroad service, prison and police officials, etc., as well\nas mechanics, small farmers, merchants, military men, physicians,\netc., must devote an equal length of time to their occupations. In\nfuture parents will be able to devote themselves to their children\nin a measure that is quite impossible to-day. Moreover, the parents\nwill control the educational system and will determine the measures\nand methods that are to be adopted and introduced. For then society\nwill be thoroughly democratic. There will be boards of education\nconsisting of parents--men and women--and of the educators. Does\nanyone presume that these will act contrary to their sentiments and\ninterests? That is done in present-day society, where the state\ncarries out its ideas of education contrary to the wishes of most\nparents.\n\nOur opponents pretend that it is one of the most agreeable things\nto parents to have their children about them all day and to be\nconstantly occupied with their education. As a matter of fact, this\nis not so. Every parent knows that the education of a child is no\neasy task. Several children facilitate education, but they cause so\nmuch work and worry, especially to the mother, that she is thankful\nwhen they are old enough to attend school, and she is relieved of\ntheir care for a part of the day. Moreover, most parents can educate\ntheir children but insufficiently, because they have no time. The\nfathers are engaged in their trades or professions and the mothers in\ntheir household tasks, and sometimes the mothers are breadwinners,\nalso. But even those parents who have sufficient time usually lack\nthe ~ability~. How many parents are able to follow up the mental\ndevelopment of their children at school and to assist them? Mighty\nfew. The mother, who, in most cases, might be best enabled to render\nsuch assistance, rarely has the ability, because she has not been\nproperly trained herself. Moreover, the methods and subjects are\nchanged so often that they are foreign to most parents. For most\nchildren the facilities at home are so insufficient that they have\nno proper order, comfort or peace for doing their home-work, nor\nare they helped by anyone. Often the home is small and overcrowded;\nthe entire family are huddled together in a few small rooms, the\nfurniture is scanty, and the child wishing to study lacks every\ncomfort and convenience. Not infrequently light, air and heat are\nwanting. The books and school supplies are either wanting entirely\nor are of the poorest quality. Frequently also the little ones\nare tortured by hunger, which destroys all inclination for study.\nHundreds of thousands of children are put to work at all kinds of\ndomestic and industrial occupations that rob their childhood of its\njoy and incapacitate them for mental work. Sometimes children must\ncontend with the opposition of narrow-minded parents, who object to\nit that the children devote time to their studies or to play. In\nshort, there are so many obstacles that it is to be wondered at that\nthe young are so well educated. This is a proof of the health of\nhuman nature and of its innate desire for progress and perfection.\n\nBourgeois society itself recognizes a number of these evils and\nfacilitates the education of the young by introducing free public\ninstruction and, here and there, by also furnishing the school\nsupplies. As late as the middle of the eighties the then Minister\nof Education of Saxony, designated both these institutions as\n\u201c~Socialistic demands~.\u201d In France, where public education had long\nbeen neglected and then progressed all the more rapidly, progress\nhas advanced still further; at least, this is the case in Paris.\nHere ~the public-school meal, at the expense of the municipality,\nhas been introduced~. Poor children are given the meals free of\ncharge, and the children of parents who are in better circumstances\nmust pay a nominal sum into the municipal treasury. Here we behold\na communistic institution that has proved entirely satisfactory to\nparents and children.\n\nThe insufficiency of our present educational system--it often fails to\naccomplish the moderate aims it has set for itself--becomes evident\nfrom the fact that ~thousands upon thousands of children are unable\nto get along at school on account of insufficient nourishment~.\n\n~Every winter there are thousands of children in our cities who\ncome to school without breakfast. Hundreds of thousands of others\nare chronically underfed.~ To all these children public feeding and\nclothing would be a blessing. In a community that will, by proper\ncare and nourishment, teach them what it means to be human, they\nwill not become acquainted with a house of \u201ccorrection.\u201d Bourgeois\nsociety cannot deny the existence of this misery, and so compassionate\nsouls unite to found free-lunch establishments and soup-kitchens,\nto perform, as a ~charity~, what ought to be performed by society\nas a ~duty~. Recently a few municipalities have undertaken to feed\npoor children at public expense. But all this is insufficient and\nmust be accepted as a charitable gift, while it should be demanded\nas a right.[262]\n\nIt is well that the amount of home-work is being reduced in our\nschools, since the insufficiency of home facilities has been\nrecognized. The child of wealthy parents is at an advantage over\nhis poorer schoolmate, not only because he is privileged by outward\ncircumstances, but also because he is helped at home by a governess\nor a tutor. On the other hand, laziness and carelessness are fostered\nin the child of wealthy parents, because their wealth makes study\nappear superfluous to him, and because demoralizing examples are\nfrequently placed before him and he is approached by many temptations.\nHe who learns daily and hourly that rank, position and wealth count\nfor everything, acquires a peculiar conception of human duties and\nof the institutions of state and society.\n\nWhen we examine this question more closely we find that bourgeois\nsociety has no reason to become indignant over the communistic\nmethods of education aimed at by Socialists, for it has itself\nintroduced such methods for privileged classes, but ~in a distorted\nmanner~. We need but point to the cadet schools, the seminaries and\ncolleges for the clergy. Here thousands of children, some of them\nbelonging to the upper classes, are trained in the most ~absurd~\nand ~one-sided~ way and in ~strict monastic seclusion~ for certain\noccupations. Many members of the better classes, like physicians,\nclergymen, officials, manufacturers, large farmers, etc., who live\nin small towns where there are no higher institutions of learning,\nsend their children to boarding-schools in large cities, and do not\nsee them during the entire year, except at vacation time. It is a\ncontradiction, then, when our opponents decry a communistic system\nof education and estrangement between parents and children, and at\nthe same time introduce a similar system of education, only ~in a\nwrong, insufficient and distorted manner, for their own children~.\nOnly too frequently are the children of the rich not educated by\ntheir parents at all, but by nurses, governesses and tutors. A\nspecial chapter might be written on this subject that would not cast\na favorable light on the family relations of these classes. Here,\ntoo, hypocrisy prevails and conditions are anything but ideal, both\nfor the educated and the educators.\n\nIn accordance with the entirely altered system of education that aims\nat the physical and mental development and culture of the young,\nthe teaching force must be increased. The training of the rising\ngeneration should be provided for in the same way as the training of\nthe soldiers is provided for in the German army. Here one officer\nhas charge of from 8 to 10 men. If in future a similar number of\npupils will be placed under the guidance of one teacher, the desired\naims will be attained. Introduction into mechanical activities\nin the splendidly equipped workshops, and into horticultural and\nagricultural activities, will also constitute an important factor in\nthe future education of the young. Everything will be taught with a\nproper variation of occupations and without over-exertion, in order\nto educate harmoniously developed human beings.\n\nEducation must be the same for both sexes and must be given in\ncommon to both. Separation of the sexes is justifiable only in\ncases where the differences of sex make it absolutely necessary.\nIn this manner of education the United States is far advanced over\nEurope. Here education has been introduced from the primary school\nto the university. Not only is education furnished free, but the\nschool supplies also, inclusive of the tools for manual training,\nlessons in cooking, and articles used by the pupils in the study of\nchemistry and physics. Many schools are equipped with gymnasiums,\nswimming-pools and playgrounds. In the higher schools the girls are\ntrained in gymnastics, swimming, rowing, running, etc., as well as\nthe young men.[263]...\n\nThe Socialistic system of education will attain still higher results.\nProperly regulated and ordered and placed under able control, it will\ncontinue until the age at which society declares its young men and\nwomen to be of age. Then the members of both sexes will be fully\nprepared to perform all duties and to enjoy all rights. Then society\nwill be certain of having educated capable, fully developed members,\nhuman beings to whom nothing human is foreign, who are as familiar\nwith their own nature as they are with the nature and condition of\nsociety, into which they forthwith enter, enjoying full equality.\nSo the excesses of our modern youth that are daily increasing, and\nthat are a natural product of our disintegrating social conditions,\nwill disappear. Unruliness, lack of self-control, immorality and\nbrutal sensuality, which characterize the modern young men at our\nhigher institutions of learning, our colleges and universities, and\nthat are the result of domestic demoralization and unrest and of\nthe baneful influences of social life, will not mark the young men\nof the future. The evil influences of the factory system and the\ncongested dwellings, that cause young people to be self-assertive and\nunbridled at an age when human beings are in the greatest need of\neducation and of being trained to exercise self-control, will also\ndisappear. Future society will avoid all these evils without being\nobliged to resort to compulsory measures. The social institutions\nand the resulting intellectual atmosphere that will dominate society\nwill simply make the existence of such evils impossible. In society,\nas in nature, diseases and the destruction of organisms take place\nonly where a process of decay has set in.\n\nNone will deny that our present system of education is afflicted\nwith great and serious defects, and, as a matter of fact, these\ndefects are more marked with the higher schools and institutions of\nlearning than with the lower ones. A village school is a model of\nmoral healthfulness compared with a college; a sewing school for poor\ngirls, a model of morality compared with a number of fashionable\nboarding schools. It is not hard to find the reason for this. Among\nthe upper classes of society every striving after higher aims has\nbeen smothered; ~they are devoid of ideals. Owing to the lack of\nideals and loftier aspirations, the unbounded love of enjoyment and\nthe inclination to excesses are disseminated, with their resulting\nphysical and moral deterioration.~ How can young persons, growing up\nin such an atmosphere, be different? A purely material enjoyment\nof life, carried to extremes, is all they see and know. Why should\nthey strive after higher aims when the wealth of their parents\nmakes every endeavor appear superfluous? The maximum education of\nthe great majority of sons of the German bourgeoisie, consists in\ntheir passing the examination for one year\u2019s voluntary service in\nthe army. When they have attained this aim, they believe that they\nhave absorbed all knowledge worth knowing and regard themselves as\ndemi-gods. If they have obtained a reserve-officer\u2019s certificate,\ntheir conceit and arrogance knows no bounds. The influence exercised\nby this generation, most of whose members are weak in character and\nknowledge, but strong in servility, characterize the present period\nas the \u201cage of reserve officers.\u201d Its peculiarities are: Ignorance,\nlack of character, and a servile disposition. Men fawn on their\nsuperiors, and are arrogant and brutal to their inferiors. Most of\nthe daughters of the upper classes are trained to be society ladies,\nwalking fashion plates and silly dolls. They rush from one enjoyment\nto another, until they grow weary with the boredom of their empty\nlives, and fall victims to many real and imaginary diseases. When\nthey grow old they become religious fanatics, spiritualists and\nfaith healers, who turn up their eyes at the wickedness of the world\nand preach asceticism. In regard to the lower classes, efforts are\nbeing made to further diminish their standard of education. The\nfear prevails that the proletarian might become too wise, that he\nmight tire of his subjection and rebel against his earthly gods. The\nmore ignorant the masses are, the more easily can they be governed\nand controlled. Large landowners from the East-Elbe province have\nrepeatedly declared in their meetings: \u201cThe most stupid workingman\nis the one most welcome to us.\u201d An entire program is contained in\nthis one sentence.\n\nSo present-day society is as helpless and aimless in regard to the\nquestion of education as it is in regard to all other questions.\nWhat methods, then, does it resort to? It calls for punishment and\npreaches religion; that is, it preaches submissiveness and contentment\nto those who are far too submissive and contented already; it\nteaches abstinence, where poverty compels people to abstain from\nthe very necessities of life. They who brutally rebel against this\nstate of affairs are placed in so-called \u201creformatories\u201d that are\ngenerally controlled by religious influences. That is the limit of the\npedagogical wisdom of our society. The vicious methods of education\napplied to neglected and demoralized proletarian children become\nmanifest by the frequent cases of abuse and ill-treatment committed\nby the directors, overseers, etc., in these \u201chomes\u201d(!) Here it has\nbeen shown time and again how religious fanatics of the deepest dye\nhave, with a perverted pleasure, ill-treated poor, helpless children\nwith unspeakable brutality; and how many of these horrors may never\nbecome known!\n\n[256] \u201cA certain degree of culture and well-being is a necessary\nexternal condition for the development of the philosophic spirit....\nWe, therefore, find that only such nations begin to philosophize\nwho had attained a considerable degree of well-being and culture.\u201d\nTenneman, quoted by Buckle.--\u201cMaterial and intellectual interests\ngo hand in hand. One cannot exist without the other. There is a\nconnection between them as between body and mind. To separate them\nmeans destruction.\u201d v. Thuenen, \u201cThe Isolated State.\u201d--\u201cThe best\nlife, both for the individual in particular and for the state in\ngeneral, is one in which virtue is sufficiently endowed with external\npossessions, that participation in good and virtuous deeds becomes\npossible,\u201d Aristotle, \u201cPolitics.\u201d\n\n[257] Mr. Eugen Richter, in his \u201cFalse Doctrines,\u201d reiterates the\nworn-out phrase: the Socialists wish a coercive state. That there\nwill eventually be no state ought to be clear to the readers of our\nbook. He assumes that society would introduce a state or a social\norder that would be _averse to its own interests_. But no new social\norder or state differing fundamentally from the preceding one could\nbe _arbitrarily created_. That would be in opposition to all the\nlaws according to which state and society develop. Mr. Eugen Richter\nand those who share his views may find consolation in this: if\nSocialism really pursues the foolish aims that they impute to it, it\nwill die off without any effort on their part.--Equally untenable\nis Richter\u2019s remark that for a social condition like the one aimed\nat by Socialists, men must be angels. To begin with, there are no\nangels, and we do not need any. Man is influenced by circumstances,\nbut circumstances are also influenced by man, and the latter will\nbe the case more and more, as men become better acquainted with\nthe nature of society, _which they constitute_, and apply their\nexperiences _consciously to their social organization_. We do not\nneed different human beings, but we do need _more intelligent and\nrational human beings than the majority are to-day_, and to make\nthem more intelligent and rational, we agitate and publish books\nlike this one.\n\n[258] When we consider the boundless stupidity of our opponents, it\nseems marvelous that no one has as yet asserted that under Socialism\nall would be given the same quantity of food and underwear and\nclothing of the same size to crown the system of \u201cuniform equality.\u201d\n\n[259] Fourier has accomplished this brilliantly, even though in\ncarrying out his ideas, he approached the utopia. Bebel, Chas. Fourier,\nHis Life and His Theories, 3d ed. Stuttgart, 1907.\n\n[260] Condorcet postulates in his educational plan: \u201cEducation must be\ngeneral, free of charge, equal to all, physical, mental, industrial\nand political, and must aim at true equality.\u201d Likewise Rousseau\nin his \u201cPolitical Economy:\u201d \u201cEspecially must education be public,\nequal and common, to educate human beings and citizens.\u201d Aristotle\nalso demands: \u201cSince the state has but one object, it must give all\nits members one and the same education, and the care for them must\nbe a public, not a private, matter.\u201d\n\n[261] Thus Eugen Richter in his \u201cFalse Doctrines.\u201d\n\n[262] \u201cAt present 20 districts of Paris have established\nschool-kitchens, where the children are given a noon-day meal\nconsisting of meat and vegetables. Only this meal is obligatory,\nbut in several districts the children can obtain breakfast and\nafternoon-tea also.\u201d Helene Simon--School and Bread. Hamburg, 1907.\nIt is due to the initiative of the Labor Party that a bill providing\nfor the feeding of school children in England was turned over to a\ncommittee in 1906.\n\n[263] Professor Dr. Emil Hausknecht--\u201cThe American Educational\nSystem.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVI.\n\nLiterature and Art in Socialistic Society.\n\n\nWhen, in the new society, the young generation has come of age, the\nfurther education will be every person\u2019s own concern. Every one will\ndo whatever his inclinations and talents prompt him to do. Some will\ndevote themselves to one or another branch of the natural sciences\nthat will be more and more fully developed: Anthropology, zoology,\nbotany, mineralogy, geology, physics, chemistry, the prehistoric\nsciences, etc. Others will take up history, etymology, or the history\nof art. Some will become musicians, others artists, sculptors,\nactors. In the future there will be neither \u201ccorporate\u201d artists and\nscientists nor corporate mechanics. Thousands of brilliant talents\nthat have so far been suppressed will develop and will prove their\nknowledge and ability wherever an opportunity presents itself. There\nwill no longer be ~professional~ musicians, artists, actors and\nscientists, but these will be all the more inspired by enthusiasm,\ntalent and genius. Their achievements are likely to excel present-day\nachievements on these fields as vastly as the industrial, technical,\nand agricultural achievements of future society will excel those of\nmodern society. An era of art and science will arise such as the\nworld has never known, and the achievements that will have created\nit will be correspondingly great.\n\nThe coming renaissance of art that will result from the introduction\nof conditions more worthy of human beings, has been foreseen by\nno less a man than Richard Wagner, who expressed himself on this\nsubject as early as 1850, in his book on \u201cArt and Revolution.\u201d This\nbook is especially noteworthy because it was published right after\na revolution that had been beaten down and in which Wagner himself\nparticipated. In this book, Wagner predicts what the future will\nbring. He directly turns to the working class, who must help the\nartists to establish true art. Among other things, he says: \u201cWhen,\nfor ~the free human beings of the future~, it will no longer be\n~the purpose of life~ to obtain the means of subsistence, but, as a\nresult of a new belief, or rather, ~knowledge~, they will be ~certain\nof obtaining the means of subsistence in return for an appropriate\nnatural activity, when, in short, industry will no longer be our\nmistress, but our servant, the true purpose of life will become the\nenjoyment of life, and by education we will endeavor to make our\nchildren capable of its real enjoyment. An education founded on the\nexercise of strength and the care of physical beauty, will, owing to\nthe love for the child and the joy at the development of its beauty,\nbecome a purely artistic one, and every human being will, in some\nway, be a true artist. The diversity of natural inclinations will\ndevelop the most manifold tendencies in an unthought of wealth.~\u201d\nThis is a thoroughly Socialistic conception and coincides with our\ndescription.\n\nIn the future, social life will become ever more public. Its trend of\ndevelopment can be best judged by the completely altered position of\nwoman. Domestic life will be limited to what is absolutely essential,\nwhile the desire for sociability will be given the widest field. Large\nmeeting halls for lectures and the discussion of public affairs--that\nwill in future be decided upon by the people at large--dining-halls,\nreading-rooms, libraries, playgrounds, concerts, theaters, museums,\ngymnasiums, public baths, parks and promenades, institutions of\neducation and learning, laboratories, etc., all splendidly equipped,\nwill afford ample opportunity for entertainment and sociability,\nand will enable science and art to attain the highest degree of\ndevelopment. In the same way the institutions for the care of the\nsick, the infirm and the aged will meet the highest demands.\n\nHow petty will our present age seem in comparison! This fawning for\nfavors and good-will from above, this servile disposition, this\nenvious struggle against one another for the best place, carried\non by the lowest and most spiteful means, and, at the same time,\nsuppression of one\u2019s true convictions, concealing of good qualities\nthat might displease those whose favor it sought, emasculation of\ncharacter, the feigning of opinions and feelings that one does\nnot possess--all these qualities that may be termed cowardice and\nhypocrisy, are daily becoming more pronounced. Qualities that are\ntruly ennobling, self-confidence, independence and incorruptibility\nof one\u2019s opinions, are usually turned into faults and short-comings\nunder present-day conditions. Persons who cannot suppress these good\nqualities are often ruined by them. Many are so accustomed to their\ndegradation that they do not even perceive it. The dog regards it as\na matter of course that he has a master who is sometimes ill-tempered\nand whips him.\n\nThe altered conditions of social life will also thoroughly\nrevolutionize our literature. The theological literature, which\nfurnishes the largest number of works in the annual catalogues of\nliterary productions, will be eliminated, together with the judicial\nliterature. For the one there will be no more interest, and for the\nother no need. The products that have reference to the struggles over\ninstitutions of the state, will also be eliminated, because these\ninstitutions will no longer exist. They will assume the character\nof historical studies. The numerous literary products of a highly\nsuperficial nature, which are just a proof of bad taste and sometimes\nare made possible only by a sacrifice of the author\u2019s pride, will\nbe dropped. Even from the present point of view, we may say that\nfour-fifths of all literary products might disappear from the market\n~without a loss to one single interest of civilization~, so great\nis the mass of superficial or harmful products and obvious trash on\nthe field of literature.\n\nFiction and the press will be affected in an equal measure. There is\nnothing more superficial and insipid than the greater part of our\njournalistic literature. If our standard of civilization were to be\nestimated by the contents of our newspapers, it would be deemed a\nlow one, indeed. People and conditions are judged by the opinions\nof past centuries that have long since been proven untenable by\nscience. A great many of our journalists are persons who, as Bismarck\ncorrectly said, have missed their vocation, but whose standard of\neducation and salary are in keeping with the bourgeois interest in\ntheir trade. Moreover, the newspapers, as well as a majority of the\nmagazines, have a very unworthy mission in their advertising sections,\nand their reports of the money-market serve the same interests on a\ndifferent field. The material interest of the publishers determines\nthe contents. Modern fiction is, on an average, not much better\nthan journalistic literature. It cultivates the excesses of sexual\nrelations. It either renders homage to superficial enlightenment,\nor to antiquated prejudice and superstition. The purpose is to let\nthe bourgeois world appear as the best of worlds, regardless of the\nnumerous short-comings that are, to some extent, admitted.\n\nOn this wide and important realm future society will have to clear\nup thoroughly. Science, truth, beauty and the conflict of opinions\nas to what is best, will alone control it. Every person of talent\nand ability will be enabled to participate. The writer will no\nlonger depend upon the favor of the publisher, financial interest or\nprejudice; he will depend upon the judgment of impartial experts whom\nhe will help to select and against whose decisions he may appeal to\nthe community--all of which is impossible to-day with a publisher or\nthe editor of a newspaper, who only take their private interest into\nconsideration. The na\u00efve conception, that a difference of opinions\nwould be suppressed in a Socialistic community, can be maintained\nonly by those who consider the bourgeois world a perfect state of\nsociety, and, out of hostility to Socialism, seek to slander and\nbelittle it. A society founded upon perfect, democratic equality,\nwill bear no oppression. ~Only perfect freedom of thought makes\nuninterrupted progress possible, which is the principle of life for\nsociety.~ It is a gross misrepresentation to depict bourgeois society\nas a defender of real freedom of thought. Parties that represent the\ninterests of the ruling classes will only publish that in the press\nwhich is not adverse to class interests, and woe to him who would\ndo otherwise! His social ruin is certain, as every one knows who\nis acquainted with conditions. The writers know how the publishers\ntreat literary works that do not suit them. Finally, the press and\ncriminal laws betray what spirit dominates the ruling classes. True\nfreedom of thought appears to them as the most dangerous of all\nevils.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVII.\n\nFree Development of Individuality.\n\n\n1.--Freedom from Care.\n\nMan should be given an opportunity for perfect development. That\nis the purpose of human association. So he must not remain tied\ndown to the spot where he has been placed by the chance of birth.\nOne should become acquainted with the world and people not only\nthrough books and newspapers, but also by personal observation and\npractical experience. So future society must enable all to do what\nmany are able to do even in present-day society, though at present\nthe force of want usually forms the motive. ~The desire for change\nin all human relations is deeply rooted in human nature.~ This is\ndue to the impulse of seeking perfection that is innate in every\nliving being. The plant that is placed in a dark room extends and\nstretches, as if conscious of the ray of light that penetrates some\ncrevice. It is the same with man. An instinct, that is innate in\nman, must find rational satisfaction. The desire for change will\nnot be opposed by the conditions prevailing in the new society; the\nsatisfaction of this desire will, on the contrary, become possible\nto all. The highly developed system of communication will make it\neasy, and the international relations will demand it. In the future\nfar more persons will travel through the world, for the most varied\npurposes, than heretofore.\n\nSociety will require an ample supply of all the necessities of life\nto meet all demands. Society will therefore regulate its hours of\nwork according to the needs. It will lengthen or shorten them, as\nthe demands or the season of the year make this appear desirable.\nDuring one season it will devote more time to agriculture, and\nduring another it will devote more time to industry and to artistic\ncrafts. It will direct the labor forces as the needs may let it\nappear desirable. By combining various labor forces with the most\nperfect technical appliances, it will be able to carry out large\nundertakings playfully, that seem practically impossible to-day.\n\nAs society provides for the young, so also will it provide for the\nold, the sick and invalid. If any one has, by some misfortune,\nbecome incapacitated for work, society will provide for him. This\nwill not be an act of charity, but a simple performance of duty.\nThe assistance will not be a morsel graciously given, but support\nand care provided with every possible consideration, bestowed as\na matter of course upon him who performed his duty toward society\nas long as he was able to do so. The evening of life will be made\nbeautiful by all that society has to offer. For every one will\nhope himself to receive some day what he bestows upon other aged\npersons. No old person will be harassed by the thought that others\nare awaiting their death to inherit their possessions. They are also\nfreed from the terror of being cast aside like a squeezed lemon when\nthey have become old and helpless. They must neither depend on the\nkindness and support of their children, nor on public charity.[264]\nHow unfortunate is the position of most parents who in old age must\ndepend upon the support of their children, is a well-known fact.\nAnd how demoralizing to children and to relatives is the hope of\ninheriting! What degrading passions are aroused and how many crimes\nare caused thereby--murder, suppression, legacy-hunting, perjury\nand blackmailing!\n\nThe moral and physical condition of society, the nature of its\nwork, homes, food, dress, its social life, all will tend to prevent\naccidents, sickness and debility. Dying a natural death, the normal\ndecline of the vigor of life, will become the rule more and more. The\nconviction that heaven is upon earth and that death means the end,\nwill cause people to lead a rational life. He who enjoys longest,\nenjoys most. The clergy themselves, who prepare people for \u201cthe\nhereafter,\u201d know how to value a long life. Their care-free existence\nenables them to attain the highest average age.\n\n[264] \u201cThe person who has worked hard and honestly until old age,\nshould not depend upon the benevolence of his children or that of\nbourgeois society. An independent, easy and care-free old age is the\nnatural reward for continuous exertions during the days of health\nand strength.\u201d v. Thuenen--The Isolated State. But how are the aged\ntreated in bourgeois society? Millions look forward with dread to\nthe time when they will be cast out into the street because they\nhave grown old; and our industrial system makes people age before\ntheir time. The much boasted old age and invalid pension in the\nGerman Empire is only a very scanty substitute; even its most ardent\nsupporters admit that. The assistance rendered is still much more\ninsufficient than the pensions allowed by the municipalities to the\nmajority of their pensioned officials.\n\n\n2.--Changes in the Methods of Nutrition.\n\nFood and drink are prime necessities of life. People who believe in\nthe so-called \u201cnatural manner of living\u201d frequently ask why Socialists\nremain indifferent to vegetarianism. Everyone lives as best he may.\nVegetarianism, that is, the doctrine of an exclusive vegetable diet,\nfound its chief supporters among the persons who are so comfortably\nsituated that they are able to choose between a vegetable and an\nanimal diet. But the great majority of persons have no choice. They\nmust live according to their means, and the scantiness of their\nmeans compels them to live on a vegetable diet almost exclusively\nand often on one of the poorest quality. For the German laboring\npopulation in Silesia, Saxony, Thuringia, etc., the potato is the\nprincipal article of food; even bread comes only second. Meat only\nrarely appears on their tables, and then it is meat of the poorest\nquality. The greater part of the rural population, although they\nraise cattle, also rarely eat meat; for they must sell the cattle,\nand, with the money obtained, must satisfy other needs. To these\nnumerous people who are obliged to live as vegetarians, a solid\nbeefsteak or a good leg of mutton would mean a decided improvement\nin their nourishment.[265] If vegetarianism opposes the ~overeating~\nof an animal diet, it is right. If it combats the partaking of meat\nas harmful and detrimental, mainly for sentimental reasons, it is\nwrong; when it is claimed, for instance, that natural feelings forbid\nto kill an animal and to partake of a \u201ccorpse.\u201d The desire to live\nin peace compels us to wage war upon and destroy a great many living\ncreatures, such as vermin, and, in order not to be devoured ourselves,\nwe must kill and exterminate wild beasts. If we could allow \u201cthe\ngood friends of man,\u201d the domestic animals, to live undisturbed,\nthese \u201cgood friends\u201d would multiply to such a degree that they would\n\u201ceat\u201d us by robbing us of nourishment. The assertion that vegetable\ndiet creates a gentle disposition is false, too. Even in the gentle,\nvegetarian Hindoos the \u201cbeast\u201d was aroused, when the severity of the\nEnglish drove them to rebellion. The nutritive value of an article\nof food cannot be estimated only by the amount of albumen that it\ncontains. It must be taken into consideration how large a quantity\nof the albumen consumed remains undigested. Considered from this\nview-point, we find, for instance, meat and rice, or potatoes, as\n2.5 to 20 or 22. In other words, of 100 grammes of albumen consumed\nwith meat, 2.5 grammes will pass out of the system undigested. Of\n100 grammes consumed with rice or potatoes, respectively, 20 and\n22 grammes will pass out. The famous Russian physiologist, Pawlow,\nand his scholars have shown that, with the digestion of bread, there\nis much more ferment than with the digestion of meat. Pawlow has\nfurthermore shown that the gastric juices produced by the pancreas\nglands are of two kinds. They are produced through stimulation of\nthe mucous membrane by the food itself, and are also produced as\n\u201cappetite juices\u201d by stimulation of the senses. The quantity of\nour appetite juice depends upon our psychic condition for the time\nbeing; for instance, on hunger, grief, annoyance, joy, etc., and it\nalso depends upon the nature of the food. But the importance of the\nappetite juice differs with different articles of food. Some foods,\nas, for instance, bread, boiled albumen, as contained in eggs, or\npure starch, cannot be digested at all, unless the digestion is\nintroduced by the appetite juice, as has been directly proved by\nexperiments. They can only be digested when they are eaten with\nan appetite, or together with other food. But meat, as Pawlow has\nshown, can be partly digested without appetite juice, although, with\nthe aid of appetite juice, meat is digested much more rapidly (five\ntimes as fast). \u201c~We must therefore take factors into consideration\nthat depend upon the psychology of man. Here a connection has been\nestablished between facts of the physiology of nutrition and social\nconditions. The modern residents of large cities, especially the\nmasses of the working class, live under social conditions that are\nbound to destroy their normal appetite. Work in the squalid factory,\nthe constant worry over their daily bread, absence of mental repose\nand pleasant impressions, complete physical exhaustion, all these\nare factors that are destructive of appetite.~ In this psychological\ncondition we are unable to furnish the appetite juice required for\nthe digestion of vegetable food. But in meat we possess an article of\nfood that--if we may thus express it--provides for its own digestion.\nA considerable quantity of meat can be digested without appetite;\nit also acts as a stimulant and a creator of appetite. So meat aids\nthe digestion of vegetables consumed at the same time, and thereby\ninsures a better assimilation of the consumed matter. This appears\nto be the great advantage of an animal diet to modern man.\u201d[266]\n\nSonderegger hits the nail on the head when he says: \u201cThere is no\norder of rank among articles of food, but there is an immutable law\nregarding the combination of their nutritive qualities.\u201d It is true\nthat no one can live on an animal diet exclusively, while one can\nlive on a vegetable diet, provided that the diet can be properly\nselected. On the other hand, no one would care to content himself\nwith one specific kind of vegetable food, no matter how nutritive it\nmight be. Thus, beans, peas, lentils, in one word, the leguminos\u00e6,\nare the most nutritive of all articles of food. But to live on them\nexclusively--which is said to be possible--would be a torture. Karl\nMarx mentions, in his first volume of \u201cCapital,\u201d that the mine-owners\nin Chili compel their workingmen to eat beans all the year round,\nbecause this nourishment gives them an unusual amount of strength\nand enables them to carry loads as no other nourishment will. The\nworkingmen refuse the beans, notwithstanding their nutritive value,\nbut are compelled to content themselves with this diet. Under no\ncircumstances does the happiness and welfare of man depend upon a\ndefinite kind of food, as the fanatics among vegetarians claim.\nClimate, social conditions, custom and personal taste are the\ndetermining factors.[267]\n\nIn the measure in which civilization advances, exclusive meat diet,\nas is met with among hunting and pastoral tribes, is partly replaced\nby vegetable diet. The variety of cultivated plants is a proof of\nhigher civilization. On a given area, moreover, much more nourishment\ncan be obtained by the cultivation of plants than by the breeding\nof cattle. This development gradually causes the vegetable diet to\npredominate. The supply of meat from distant countries, especially\nSouth America and Australia, will be exhausted in a few decades.\nOn the other hand, animals are raised not only for their flesh,\nbut also for wool, hair, bristles, hides, milk, eggs, etc. Many\nindustries and a number of human needs depend upon it. Much offal\nin industry and housekeeping could not be more usefully employed\nthan by cattle raising. In the future the ocean, too, will have to\nyield to man its wealth of animal food in a larger measure. Then\nit will not occur that loads of fish will be used as manure, owing\nto the high cost of transportation, or canning, that prevent their\nsale, as is frequently the case at present. It is quite probable\nthat the abolition of the extremes between city and country, when\nwork in closed shops will be combined with work in the open fields,\nwill again lead to a preponderance of the vegetable diet. Of course\nthe absence of stimulants in a vegetable diet can be equalized by a\nproper and rational preparation of the food with the aid of spice.\nBut that future society should live on vegetables exclusively is\nneither probable nor necessary.\n\n[265] That this is the fact has been proven by experiments in\nnutrition, recently reported by two Italian scientists. The metabolic\nassimilation of a population that has long since lived on a vegetable\ndiet exclusively, was examined. Such an agricultural population,\nliving in wretched economic conditions, is met with in southern\nItaly in the Abruzzi. Their nourishment consists of corn, vegetables\nand olive oil. They do not partake of milk, cheese or eggs. Meat\nis brought to their tables only three or four times a year. By way\nof experiment meat was added to their diet. During 15 days every\nperson was given 100 grammes of meat and during the following 15 days\n200 grammes. It was found that the process of assimilation became\nmuch more favorable. The formerly great loss of nutritious matter\nwas considerably diminished. Not only was the newly added animal\nalbumen perfectly assimilated, but also the vegetable food that was\nconsumed together with the meat had been assimilated far better.\nThis was all the more remarkable because this particular kind of\nvegetable diet, which consisted almost exclusively of corn, was hard\nto digest, as it contains much cellular tissue. Dr. A. Lipschuetz,\nM. D.--\u201cA Reform in our Nutrition?\u201d\n\n[266] A. Lipschuetz.\n\n[267] \u201cThe popular nutrition is almost exclusively a vegetable diet\nwith a slight addition of animal substances. Peasants eat generally\nvery little meat. No one will deny that one can live in this manner.\nAs a matter of fact, an exclusive vegetable diet, which can also be\ngiven greater diversity by proper selection, is quite compatible with\ngood health. But far different needs are becoming manifest in every\ncontinent. The popular simple manner of nutrition is being forsaken\nfor more tasty foods and combinations, and for this meat is essential,\nbecause it can be employed in many different ways. Everywhere we\nperceive this tendency. Like the old, simple customs and national\ncustoms disappear, so also are the old forms of nutrition being set\naside. This transformation can be observed in all countries. Even\nin Japan where a peculiar national diet prevailed until recently,\nEuropean fare has displaced the old regime. In the Japanese navy\nthe new diet was introduced because it proved to be more beneficial\nto the men in service. The endeavor to establish this concentrated,\nrich and tasty fare is a general one.\u201d M. Rubner--The Question of\nPublic Nutrition.\n\n\n3.--The Communistic Kitchen.\n\nIn the matter of nutrition ~quality~ is far more important than\nquantity. Much food is not beneficial if the food is not good.\nBut quality may be greatly improved by the manner in which food\nis prepared. ~The preparation of food should be conducted as\nscientifically as any other human activity~, in order to be as\nadvantageous as possible. ~This requires knowledge and proper\nequipment.~ That our women who are chiefly engaged in the preparation\nof food do not possess this knowledge and cannot possess it, requires\nno further proof. The equipment of the large kitchen has already\nattained a degree of perfection that the best equipped domestic kitchen\ncannot come up to. The kitchen equipped with electricity for lighting\nand heating is the ideal one. No more smoke, heat, or disagreeable\nodors! The kitchen resembles a workshop furnished with all kinds of\ntechnical and mechanical appliances that quickly perform the hardest\nand most disagreeable tasks. Here we see potato and fruit-paring\nmachines, apparatus for removing kernels, meat-choppers, mills for\ngrinding coffee and spice, ice-choppers, corkscrews, bread-cutters,\nand a hundred other machines and appliances, all run by electricity,\nthat enable a comparatively small number of persons, without excessive\nlabor, to prepare a meal for hundreds of guests. The same is true\nof the equipments for house-cleaning and for washing the dishes.\n\nTo millions of women the private kitchen is an institution that is\nextravagant in its methods, entailing endless drudgery and waste of\ntime, robbing them of their health and good spirits, and an object\nof daily worry, especially when the means are scanty, as is the\ncase with most families. The abolition of the private kitchen will\ncome as a liberation to countless women. The private kitchen is as\nantiquated an institution as the workshop of the small mechanic. Both\nrepresent a useless and needless waste of time labor and material.\n\nThe nutritive value of food is heightened by its easier assimilation;\nthis is a decisive factor.[268] Only the new society will be able to\nprovide a rational nutrition for all. Cato sets forth with especial\npraise that in ancient Rome, up to the sixteenth century of the city\n(200 B. C.), there were men versed in the art of healing, but that\nthey found little occasion to practice their art. The Romans led such\nsimple and temperate lives that sickness was rare among them, and\nmost people died from old age. Only when extravagance and idleness,\nin short, a dissolute life, set in, on the one hand, and poverty and\nexcessive work on the other, matters were completely changed. In the\nfuture, extravagance, idleness and dissoluteness will be impossible,\nbut misery, want and privation will be impossible likewise. There\nis an abundance for all. Heinrich Heine has sung ere now:\n\n Sufficient grain is grown on earth\n With bread all beings to provide,\n Roses and myrtles, beauty, mirth,\n And sugar-peas are there beside.\n\n Yes, sugar-peas for every one!\n When want no longer harrows,\n Then heaven gladly shall we leave\n To angels and to sparrows.[269]\n\n\u201cHe who eats little lives well\u201d (that is, long), said the Italian\nCornaro, in the sixteenth century, as quoted by Niemeyer. Finally,\nchemistry, too, will be active in the future to produce new and\nimproved articles of food. To-day this science is frequently abused to\nadulterate food; but it is clear that a chemically prepared article\nof food that has all the qualities of a natural product, serves the\nsame purpose. The manner in which food is obtained is a matter of\nsecondary importance, provided that it answers all requirements.\n\n[268] The power of assimilation of food by each individual is the\nstandard. Niemeyer: Hygiene.\n\n[269] Heinrich Heine: Germany. A Winter\u2019s Tale.\n\n\n4.--Transformation of Domestic Life.\n\nAs the kitchen, so our entire domestic life will be revolutionized,\nand countless tasks that must be performed to-day will become\nsuperfluous. As the central kitchen will do away with the private\nkitchen, so central heating and electric lighting plants will do\naway with all the trouble connected with stoves and lamps. Warm and\ncold water supply will enable all to enjoy daily baths. Central\nlaundries and drying-rooms will assume the washing and drying of\nclothes; central cleaning establishments, the cleaning of carpets\nand clothes. In Chicago carpet-cleaning machines were exhibited\nthat cleaned carpets in an incredibly short time, calling forth the\nwonder and admiration of the ladies who visited the exposition. The\nelectric door opens at a slight pressure of the finger and shuts off\nitself. Electric contrivances carry letters and newspapers to every\nfloor of the houses, and electric elevators save one the trouble of\nclimbing stairs. The interior furnishing of the houses, the coverings\nof walls, floors, furniture, etc., will be so arranged as to make\nhouse-cleaning easy and to avoid the gathering of dust and germs.\nGarbage and all kinds of offal will be carried out of the houses by\nwaste-pipes like the water that has been used. In the United States,\nand in some European cities, for instance, in Zurich, Berlin and\nits suburbs, London, Vienna, Munich, we already find wonderfully\nequipped houses, in which well-to-do families--others could not\nmeet the expense--reside and enjoy a great many of the advantages\ndescribed above.[270]\n\nHere again we have an illustration of how bourgeois society paves\nthe way for the revolutionizing of domestic life, though only for\nits chosen few. But when domestic life will be generally transformed\nin the manner we have pointed out, then the domestic servant, this\n\u201cslave to all whims of the mistress,\u201d will disappear. But the \u201clady of\nthe house\u201d will disappear also. \u201cWithout servants, no civilization,\u201d\nMr. v. Treitschke exclaims, horror-stricken, with an amusing pathos.\nHe can picture society without servants as little as Aristotle could\npicture it without slaves. It comes as a surprise to us, though, that\nMr. v. Treitschke regards our servants as the \u201cstandard-bearers of\nour civilization.\u201d Treitschke, like Eugen Richter, is also worried\nover the shining of shoes and the cleaning of clothes, which people\ncannot possibly attend to themselves. As a matter of fact, nine-tenths\nof the people do polish their own shoes and clean their own clothes\nto-day, or women do it for their husbands, or daughters or sons do\nit for the family, and we could answer that what has been done so\nfar by the nine-tenths might as well be done by the remaining tenth,\nalso. There might be still another way. Why should not, in future,\nyoung persons, regardless of sex, be called upon to perform such\nand similar necessary tasks? Work is no disgrace, not even when it\nconsists of shining shoes. That has been experienced by many an\nofficer of noble birth who had to make his escape to the United States\non account of debts, and there became a porter or a boot-black. In\none of his pamphlets, Mr. Eugen Richter even has the shoe-polishing\nproblem cause the downfall of the \u201cSocialist chancellor\u201d and the\ndisruption of the \u201cSocialist state.\u201d For the \u201cSocialist chancellor\u201d\nrefuses to polish his own shoes, and that is his great misfortune. Our\nopponents have enjoyed this description hugely and have thereby only\nproved that their demands on a criticism of Socialism are exceedingly\nmodest. Mr. Eugen Richter lived to experience the great grief that\na member of his own party, in Nuremberg, invented ~a shoe-polishing\nmachine~, shortly after the publication of his pamphlet, and that, at\nthe World\u2019s Fair, at Chicago, an ~electric shoe-polishing machine~\nwas exhibited that performed the task to perfection. So Richter\u2019s\nand Treitschke\u2019s main argument against Socialistic society has been\nshattered by an invention made within bourgeois society itself.\n\nThe revolutionary transformation that is changing all human relations\ncompletely, especially the position of women, is being consummated\nunder our very eyes. It is only a question of time when society\nwill take up this transformation on a large scale, will hasten and\ngeneralize the process, and will thereby enable all to participate\nin its countless and multiform advantages.\n\n[270] Among 2521 dwellings erected in Wilmersdorf during 1908, the\nfollowing number were equipped with:\n\n Central heating 1001 or 39.71 per cent.\n Hot water supply 1373 \u201c 54.46 \u201c \u201c\n Electric light 1288 \u201c 51.09 \u201c \u201c\n Baths 2063 \u201c 81.83 \u201c \u201c\n Elevators 699 \u201c 27.73 \u201c \u201c\n Vacuum cleaners 304 \u201c 12.06 \u201c \u201c\n\nAll of them were supplied with gas.\n\nIn and near Berlin there also are a number of houses furnished with\na central kitchen. In this common kitchen the food for all the\nresidents of the house is prepared. Thus bourgeois society contains\nall the germs of future transformation. \u201cThe garden city of the\nfuture will not only contain the town hall, the central gas, electric\nlighting and heating plant, the schools and libraries, but a central\nkitchen also. It is not impossible that the underground passages,\ncontaining the electric cables and heating-pipes, will be expanded,\nand that through them small automatic wagons will carry the food\ndirectly into the residences upon an order by telephone, similar to\nthe underground, electric mail-carriers that have been planned, for\ntransporting the mail from one post-office to another in the large\ncities. That is much simpler and can be attained much more easily\nthan the solution of the problem of aerial navigation that still\nseemed utterly utopian a short while ago.\u201d E. Lilienthal--The Reform\nof Domestic Work, \u201cDocuments of Progress,\u201d 1909.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVIII.\n\nWoman in the Future.\n\n\nThis chapter may be brief. It merely contains the conclusions that\nmay be drawn in regard to the position of woman in future society,\nfrom all that has been said so far; conclusions that every reader\ncan easily draw for himself.\n\nIn the new society woman will be entirely independent, both socially\nand economically. She will not be subjected to even a trace of\ndomination and exploitation, but will be free and man\u2019s equal, and\nmistress of her own lot. Her education will be the same as man\u2019s,\nwith the exception of those deviations that are necessitated by\nthe differences of sex and sexual functions. Living under normal\nconditions of life, she may fully develop and employ her physical and\nmental faculties. She chooses an occupation suited to her wishes,\ninclinations and abilities, and works under the same conditions as\nman. Engaged as a practical working woman in some field of industrial\nactivity, she may, during a second part of the day, be educator,\nteacher or nurse, during a third she may practice a science or an art,\nand during a fourth she may perform some administrative function. She\nstudies, works, enjoys pleasures and recreation with other women or\nwith men, as she may choose or as occasions may present themselves.\n\nIn the choice of love she is as free and unhampered as man. She\nwoos or is wooed, and enters into a union prompted by no other\nconsiderations but her own feelings. This union is a private agreement,\nwithout the interference of a functionary, just as marriage has been\na private agreement until far into the middle ages. Here Socialism\nwill create nothing new, it will merely reinstate, on a higher level\nof civilization and under a different social form, ~what generally\nprevailed before private property dominated society~.\n\nMan shall dispose of his own person, provided that the gratification\nof his impulses is not harmful or detrimental to others. The\nsatisfaction of the sexual impulse is as much the private concern of\neach individual, as the satisfaction of any other natural impulse.\nNo one is accountable to any one else, and no third person has a\nright to interfere. What I eat and drink, how I sleep and dress is\nmy private affair, and my private affair also is my intercourse with\na person of the opposite sex. Intelligence and culture, personal\nindependence,--qualities that will become natural, owing to the\neducation and conditions prevailing in the new society,--will prevent\npersons from committing actions that will prove detrimental to\nthemselves. Men and women of future society will possess far more\nself-control and a better knowledge of their own natures, than men\nand women of to-day. The one fact alone, that the foolish prudery\nand secrecy connected with sexual matters will disappear, will make\nthe relation of the sexes a far more natural and healthful one. If\nbetween a man and woman who have entered into a union, incompatibility,\ndisappointment or revulsion should appear, morality commands a\ndissolution of the union which has become unnatural, and therefore\nimmoral. As all those circumstances will have vanished that have\nso far compelled a great many women either to chose celibacy or\nprostitution, men can no longer dominate over women. On the other\nhand, the completely changed social conditions will have removed\nthe many hindrances and harmful influences that affect married life\nto-day and frequently prevent its full development or make it quite\nimpossible.\n\nThe impediments, contradictions and unnatural features in the present\nposition of woman are being recognized by ever wider circles, and\nfind expression in our modern literature on social questions, as\nwell as in modern fiction; only the form in which it is expressed\nsometimes fails to answer the purpose. That present day marriage\nis not suited to its purpose, is no longer denied by any thinking\nperson. So it is not surprising that even such persons favor a free\nchoice of love and a free dissolution of the marriage relation, who\nare not inclined to draw the resulting conclusions that point to a\nchange of the entire social system. They believe that freedom in\nsexual intercourse is justifiable among members of the privileged\nclasses only. In a controversy,[271] in which she opposes the\nemancipation of women as set forth by the writer, Fanny Lewald,\nMatilde Reichhardt-Stromberg says the following:\n\n\u201cIf you (F. L.), demand complete equality for women in social and\npolitical life, ~George Sand~ must also be justified in her struggles\nfor emancipation, that strove for nothing else but to possess what\nhas long since been man\u2019s undisputed possession. ~For no good reason\nis to be found why only woman\u2019s head, and not also her heart, shall\nparticipate in this equality, why she shall not give and take as\nfreely as man.~ On the contrary: if nature gives woman the right,\nand thereby also the duty,--for we shall not bury a talent bestowed\nupon us,--to exert her brain to the utmost in competition with the\nintellectual Titans of the opposite sex, it must also give her the\nright ~to preserve her equilibrium, just as they do, by quickening\nthe circulation of her heart in whatever manner she may see fit~.\nWe all read without being shocked in the least how, for instance,\n~Goethe~,--to choose the greatest as an example,--again and again\nwasted the warmth of his heart and the enthusiasm of his great soul\nupon some other woman. Intelligent people consider this perfectly\nnatural, and only narrow-minded moralists condemn it. Why, then, deride\nthe \u201cgreat souls\u201d among women? Let us assume that the entire female\nsex consisted of great souls like George Sand; let us assume that\nevery woman were a Lucretia Florini, whose children are all children\nof love, but who brings up these children with true motherly love and\ndevotion, as well as in a rational and intelligent manner. How would\nthe world fare? ~There is no doubt that the world could continue\nto exist and develop as to-day, and might even fare exceptionally\nwell.~\u201d\n\nBut why should only \u201cgreat souls\u201d lay claim to this right, and not\nalso the others who are no great souls? If a Goethe and a George\nSand,--to select only these two from among the many who have done\nand are doing likewise,--could follow the inclinations of their\nhearts, if on Goethe\u2019s love affairs, especially, entire libraries\nare published that are devoured in a sort of reverend ecstacy by his\nadmirers, why should we condemn in others what becomes an object of\nadmiration in the case of a Goethe, or a George Sand?\n\nOf course, it is impossible to assert the free choice of love in\nbourgeois society, as we have shown by our entire line of argument,\nbut if the community were placed under similar social conditions\nas are enjoyed to-day only by the few who are materially and\nintellectually favored, all would have the possibility of a similar\nfreedom. In \u201cJacques,\u201d George Sand depicts a husband who judges\nthe illicit relation of his wife with another man in the following\nmanner: \u201cno human being can command love, and none is guilty, if he\nfeels or goes without it. What degrades the woman is the lie; what\nconstitutes the adultery is not the hour she grants to her lover,\nbut the night that she thereupon spends with her husband.\u201d As a\nresult of this conception, Jacques feels it to be his duty to make\nway for his rival (Borel), and philosophizes accordingly: \u201cBorel,\nin my place, would have calmly beaten his wife, and would not have\nblushed to receive her into his arms afterwards, degraded by his\nblows and his kisses. There are men who would not hesitate, according\nto oriental custom, to kill their faithless wife, because they\nregard her as their lawful property. Others fight a duel with their\nrival, kill or remove him, and then beg the woman, whom they claim\nto love, for kisses or caresses, while she either withdraws full of\nhorror or yields in despair. These, in cases of conjugal love, are\nthe most common ways of acting, and it seems to me that the love of\nhogs is less vile and debasing, than the love of such men.\u201d To these\nsentences, Brandes observes:[272] \u201cThese truths, that are elemental\nones to ~educated~ persons to-day, were atrocious sophisms fifty\nyears ago.\u201d But the propertied and cultured classes do not venture\neven to-day, openly to avow the principles of George Sand, altho\nthey actually live in accordance with them. They are hypocrites in\nmarriage, as they are hypocrites in morals and religion.\n\nWhat was done by Goethe and George Sand, is being done by thousands\nof others to-day, who cannot bear comparison with Goethe or Sand,\nwithout suffering a loss of social esteem. Everything can be done\nif people hold a respected position. Nevertheless the liberties\nof a Goethe and a George Sand are immoral from the standpoint of\nbourgeois morality, for they are in opposition to the moral laws\nlaid down by society, and are in contradiction to the nature of\nour social system. Compulsory marriage is the normal marriage to\nbourgeois society. It is the only \u201cmoral\u201d union of the sexes; any\nother sexual union is \u201cimmoral.\u201d Bourgeois marriage is,--this we\nhave irrefutably proved,--the result of bourgeois relations. Closely\nconnected with private property and the right of inheritance, it\nis contracted to obtain \u201clegitimate\u201d children. Under the pressure\nof social conditions it is forced also upon those who have nothing\nto bequeath. It becomes a social law, the violation of which is\npunished by the state, by imprisonment of the men or women who have\ncommitted adultery and have become divorced.\n\nBut in Socialistic society there will be nothing to bequeath, unless\nhouse furnishings and personal belongings should be regarded as\nhereditary portions; so the modern form of marriage becomes untenable\nfrom this point of view also. This also settles the question of\ninheritance, which Socialism will not need to abolish. Where there\nis no private property, there can be no right of inheritance. So\nwoman will be ~free~, and the children she may have will not impair\nher freedom, they will only increase her pleasure in life. Nurses,\nteachers, women friends, the rising female generation, all these\nwill stand by her when she is in need of assistance.\n\nIt is possible that there will be some men, even in the future, who\nwill say, like A. Humboldt: \u201cI am not built to become the father\nof a family. Moreover, I consider marriage a sin, the begetting of\nchildren a crime.\u201d What does it matter? The force of the natural\nimpulse will establish the equilibrium with others. We are not alarmed\neither by Humboldt\u2019s hostility to marriage, or by the philosophic\npessimism of Schopenhauer, Mainlander or v. Hartmann, who hold out\nto man the prospect of self-destruction in the \u201cideal state.\u201d We\nare fully agreed with Dr. Ratzel, who writes on this subject:\n\n~Man should no longer regard himself an exception to natural laws.\nHe should finally strive to recognize the laws underlying his own\nthoughts and actions, and should endeavor to live in accordance with\nthese laws. He will eventually learn to arrange his life with his\nfellow-beings, that is, the family and the state, not according to\nthe precepts laid down in centuries gone by, but according to the\nrational principles derived from an understanding of nature. Politics,\nmorals, laws, that are at present drawn from various sources, will\nbe shaped according to natural laws. An existence worthy of human\nbeings, that mankind has been dreaming of for thousands of years,\nwill become a reality at last.~[273]\n\nThis time is rapidly approaching. For thousands of years human\nsociety has passed thru all phases of development, only to return to\nits starting point: communistic property and complete liberty and\nfraternity; but no longer only for the members of the gens, ~but for\nall human beings~. That is what the great progress consists of. What\nbourgeois society has striven for in vain, in what it failed and was\nbound to fail,--to establish liberty, equality and fraternity for\nall,--will be realized by Socialism. Bourgeois society could merely\nadvance the theory, but here, as in many other things, practice was\ncontrary to the theories. Socialism will unite theory and practice.\n\nBut as mankind returns to the starting point of its development,\nit will do so on an infinitely higher level of civilization. If\nprimitive society had common ownership in the gens and the clan,\nit was but in a coarse form and an undeveloped stage. The course\nof development that man has since undergone, has reduced common\nproperty to small and insignificant remnants, has shattered the gens\nand has finally atomized society; but in its various phases it has\nalso greatly heightened the productive forces of society and the\nextensiveness of its demands; it has transformed the gentes and the\ntribes into nations, and has thereby again created a condition that\nis in glaring contradiction to the requirements of society. It is the\ntask of the future to remove this contradiction by re-establishing\nthe common ownership of property and the means of production on the\nbroadest basis.\n\nSociety takes back what it has at one time possessed and has itself\ncreated, but it enables all to live in accordance with the newly\ncreated conditions of life on ~the highest level of civilization~. In\nother words, ~it grants to all what under more primitive conditions\nhas been the privilege of single individuals or classes~. Now ~woman~,\ntoo, is restored to the active position maintained by her in primitive\nsociety; only she no longer is mistress, but man\u2019s equal.\n\n\u201cThe end of the development of the state resembles the beginnings\nof human existence. Primitive equality is reinstated. The maternal\nmaterial existence opens and closes the cycle of human affairs.\u201d\nThus Backofen, in his book on The Matriarchate; and Morgan says:\n\u201cSince the advent of civilization, the increase of wealth has been\nso enormous, its forms so varied, its application so extensive, ~and\nits administration so skillful in the interest of the owners, that\nthis wealth has become an invincible power against the people~.\nThe human mind is helpless and bewildered in the face of its own\ncreation. And yet the time will come, when human intelligence will\nbe sufficiently strong to master wealth, when it will determine both\nthe relation of the state to the property that it protects, and the\nlimit of the rights of individual owners. The ~interests of society\nare absolutely paramount to individual interests, and both must be\nplaced into a just and harmonious relation~. Pursuit of wealth is\nnot the ultimate aim of man, if progress is to remain the law of\nthe future as it has been the law of the past. The time that has\nelapsed since the advent of civilization is only a small fraction of\nthe past existence of humanity; it is only a small fraction of its\ncoming existence. ~We are threatened by the dissolution of society as\nthe termination of a historic career, whose sole aim is wealth; for\na career of this sort contains the elements of its own destruction.\nDemocracy in administration, fraternity in social relations, general\neducation,--these will initiate the next, higher stage of society,\ntoward which experience, reason and science are constantly leading\nus. It will be a resurrection, only in a higher form, of the liberty,\nequality and fraternity of the old gens.~\u201d[274]\n\nSo men, proceeding from the most varied standpoints, arrive at the\nsame conclusions, as a result of their scientific investigations.\nThe complete emancipation of woman, and her establishment of equal\nrights with man is one of the aims of our cultured development, whose\nrealization no power on earth can prevent. But it can be accomplished\nonly by means of a transformation that will abolish the rule of man\nover man, including the rule of the capitalist over the laborer.\nThen only can humanity attain its fullest development. The \u201cgolden\nage\u201d of which men have been dreaming, and for which they have been\nyearning for thousands of years, will come at last. ~Class rule will\nforever be at an end, and with it the rule of man over woman.~\n\n[271] \u201cRights of Women and Duties of Women.\u201d A Reply to Fanny Lewald\u2019s\nEpistles: \u201cFor and against Women.\u201d\n\n[272] George Brandes: The literature of the Nineteenth Century.\nLeipsic, 1883.\n\n[273] Quoted by Ernst Haeckel in his \u201cNatural Story of Creation.\u201d\n\n[274] Morgan: Ancient History.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIX.\n\nInternationality.\n\n\nBut an existence worthy of human beings cannot be the manner of living\nof a single privileged nation, for, being isolated from all other\nnations, it could neither establish nor maintain this condition.\nOur entire development is the product of the combined action of\nnational and international forces and relations. Altho the national\nideal still dominates the minds to a great extent and is used as a\nmeans for maintaining political and social rulership,--for this is\npossible only within national bounds,--we are already deeply imbued\nwith internationalism.\n\nTreaties of commerce, tariff and navigation, the world postal\nunion, international expositions, congresses on international law\nand international measurements of degrees, other international\nscientific congresses and associations, international expeditions of\nexploration, commerce and trade, and especially the international\nconventions of workingmen, who are the heralds of the new era, and to\nwhose influence it is due that, during the spring of 1890, upon an\ninvitation from the German Empire, the first international conference\non workingmen\u2019s protective legislation was held in Berlin,--all this\nproves the international character that the relations of civilized\nnations have assumed, notwithstanding their national seclusion. Beside\nspeaking of national economy, we speak of ~international economy~,\nand consider the latter more important, because the welfare of the\ndifferent nations depends upon it to a great extent. A great many of\nour domestic products are exchanged for foreign products, that we\ncan no longer dispense with. As one branch of industry suffers when\nanother flags, so the entire national production of a given country\nis very materially injured by a crisis in another country. The\nrelations of the different countries to one another are constantly\nbecoming more cordial, regardless of the passing disturbances, like\nwars and the instigations of national hatred, because these relations\nare dominated by material interests, the strongest of all. Every new\nhighway, every improvement in the means of transportation, every\ninvention or improvement in the process of production which leads\nto a cheapening of commodities, strengthens these relations. The\nease with which personal relations are established between widely\nseparated countries and nations, is a new, important link in the\nchain of connections. Emigration and colonization are other powerful\nlevers. Nations learn from one another and strive to excel each\nother. Beside the exchange of all kinds of material products, an\nexchange of intellectual products takes place, both in their original\nforms of expression and in translations. To millions of people it\nbecomes a necessity to learn foreign languages, and beside material\nadvantages, nothing is more likely to remove prejudice and to arouse\nsympathy, than an acquaintance with the language and intellectual\nproducts of a foreign nation.\n\nThe effect of this process of approach on an international scale is\n~an increasing resemblance in the social conditions of the various\nnations~. With the most advanced civilized nations, that may therefore\nbe regarded as the standard, this resemblance is so great, that\nwhoever knows the economic structure of one nation, practically\nknows it of all. It is as in nature, where animals belonging to the\nsame species have skeletons that are identical in organization and\nstructure, and if a scientist is given some parts of such skeleton\nhe can theoretically reconstruct the entire animal.\n\nA further conclusion is that, wherever similar social conditions\nexist, the results springing from them must be similar. Accumulation\nof great wealth points to the opposite extreme of wage-slavery,\noppression of the masses by the system of production, rule of the\nmasses by the propertied minority, and all the resulting evils.\n\nAs a matter of fact, we see that the class antagonism and class\nstruggle, which is raging in Germany, is stirring all of Europe, the\nUnited States of America and Australia. In Europe we meet with a\nspirit of unrest and dissatisfaction from Russia to Portugal, from\nthe Balkans, Hungary and Italy to England and Ireland. Everywhere\nwe perceive the same symptoms of social fermentation, general\ndissatisfaction and decomposition. Altho these movements differ\noutwardly, according to the degree of development and the character of\nthe population, they all are identical in character. Profound social\nantagonism is the underlying cause. With each year this antagonism\nis growing more pronounced, the fermentation and dissatisfaction\npervades the body social more and more, until perhaps some slight\nprovocation will cause an outbreak that will spread with the rapidity\nof lightning over the entire civilized world, and will everywhere\narouse men to side with one or the other party in the great conflict.\nIt will be the struggle of the new world against the old. Masses will\nenter the arena, and the struggle will be conducted with an amount\nof intelligence such as the world has never seen in any previous\nstruggle, such as it will never see again; ~for it will be the last\nsocial struggle~. Standing at the beginning of the twentieth century,\nwe can see this struggle approaching its last stages in which the\nnew ideas will be victorious.\n\nThe new society will construct itself upon an international basis.\nThe nations will fraternize, they will join hands, and will endeavor\nto extend the new conditions to all nations of the world.[275] One\nnation will no longer approach another as an enemy, to exploit and to\noppress it, or as the upholder of a foreign religion that it seeks\nto force upon it, but as a friend, endeavoring to make civilized\nbeings of all men. The tasks of colonization and civilization of\nthe new society will differ as radically from those of the present\nin their very nature, and in the means employed by them, as the two\nsocial orders differ from one another. Neither powder and lead nor\n\u201cfire-water\u201d and the Bible will employed. The mission of civilization\nwill be undertaken by peaceable means, that will make the civilizers\nappear to barbarians and savages not as enemies, but as ~benefactors~.\nReasonable voyagers and explorers have long since experienced how\nsuccessful these methods are.\n\nWhen the civilized nations are united in a mighty federation, then\nthe time will have come when the trumpets of war shall be silenced\nforever. Eternal peace will then no longer be a dream, as uniformed\ngentlemen would have the world believe. This time will arrive as\nsoon as the nations will have recognized their true interests. These\ninterests are not advanced by quarrels and conflicts, by warlike\npreparations that destroy countries and nations, but by peaceable\nagreements and common works of civilization. Moreover, the ruling\nclasses and their governments see to it,--as has been previously set\nforth,--that armaments and wars come to an end by means of their own\nenormity. So the last weapons, like so many that have preceded them,\nwill be gathered into old curiosity collections to prove to coming\ngenerations how men, for thousands of years, often lacerated one\nanother like wild beasts of the jungle--until man finally triumphed\nover the wild beast within him.\n\nThat national characteristics and differences lead to wars,--these\ncharacteristics and differences being artificially stimulated by\nthe ruling classes, so that a great war may, in case of necessity,\ncounteract dangerous tendencies in the interior,--is confirmed by an\nutterance of the late General Fieldmarshal ~Moltke~. In the first\nvolume of his posthumous work that deals with the German-French\nWar of 1870\u201371, he says, among other things, in the introductory\nremarks: \u201c~So long as nations lead a separate existence, there will\nbe differences that can only be settled by force of arms. But it is\nto be hoped that the wars may become rare as they have become more\nterrible.~\u201d\n\nThis national separation, that is, this hostile exclusion of one\nnation from another, is passing away in spite of all endeavors to\nmaintain it, and so coming generations will find it an easy matter\nto carry out tasks, that gifted minds have long since planned and\nhave attempted to accomplish, but unsuccessfully. Condorcet already\nconceived the idea of introducing a universal language. The late\nex-president of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant, said in an\naddress: \u201cSince commerce, education, and the quick transportation\nof thoughts and objects by telegraph and steam have transformed\neverything, I believe that God is preparing the world to become\n~one~ nation, to speak ~one~ language, and to attain a degree of\nperfection ~in which armies and navies will be superfluous~.\u201d With a\nfull-blooded Yankee, God must, of course, be the adjuster, instead of\nrecognizing that matters are being adjusted in consequence of historic\nevolution. That is not to be wondered at. Ignorance or hypocrisy in\nreligious matters are nowhere greater than in the United States. The\nless the power of the state guides the masses by its organization,\nthe more must it be done by religion, by the church. Therefore the\nbourgeoisie appears most pious wherever the power of the state is\nweakest. Beside the U. S., this is the case in England, Belgium and\nSwitzerland. Even the revolutionary Robespierre, who played with\nthe heads of aristocrats and priests as with bowling balls, was, as\nis well known, exceedingly religious. Therefore he had the \u201csupreme\nbeing\u201d solemnly reinstated after its recent dethronement by the\nconvention,--an action of equally bad taste. Since before the great\nrevolution the frivolous and dissolute aristocrats bragged about\ntheir atheism, Robespierre regarded it as being aristocratic, and\nthus denounced it before the convention in his speech on the \u201csupreme\nbeing:\u201d \u201cAtheism is aristocratic. The idea of a supreme being that\nwatches over the innocent oppressed and punishes triumphant crime,\nhas sprung from the midst of the people. If there were no God it\nwould be necessary to invent one.\u201d Virtuous Robespierre divined that\nhis virtuous bourgeois republic could not remove social extremes.\nTherefore he preached belief in a supreme being, avenging wrong and\nequalizing what men could not yet equalize; therefore this belief\nwas a necessity to the first republic.\n\nTimes change. One progress leads to another. Mankind will set ever\nnew tasks for itself, and will lead them to a degree of development\nin which national or religious hatred and wars will no longer be\nknown.\n\n[275] \u201cAt present national interests and human interests are hostile\nto each other. On a higher level of civilization both interests will\nbecome identical.\u201d--v. Thuenen.--The Isolated State.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXX.\n\nThe Question of Population and Socialism.\n\n\n1.--Fear of Over-Population.\n\nThere are people who regard the question of population as one of\nthe most important and urgent of all, because, they claim that we\nare threatened with over-population, indeed, that it is already\nat hand. Therefore this question must be specially treated from\nan international standpoint, for nourishment and distribution of\nthe population have become more and more a matter of international\nconcern. There has been much discussion on the law governing the growth\nof population since Malthus. In his famous and notorious book, an\n\u201cEssay on the Principle of Population,\u201d that Karl Marx has described\nas a \u201cschool-boyish, superficial plagiarism on Sir James Stewart,\nTownsend, Franklin Wallace, etc., declaimed in a priest-like manner\nand not containing a single original thought,\u201d--Malthus propounds\nthe theory that mankind has the tendency to increase at the ratio\nof geometrical progression (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc.), while food\nincreases only at the ratio of arithmetical progression (1, 2, 3,\n4, 5, etc.). The consequence, he asserts, is that a disproportion\narises between the number of human beings and the food supply which\nmust lead to wholesale starvation, and that, therefore, it becomes\nnecessary to impose abstinence upon one\u2019s self in the procreation\nof children. He, who has not sufficient means to support a family\nshould not marry, as there would not be sufficient room at \u201cnature\u2019s\ntable\u201d for his descendants.\n\nThe fear of over-population is a very old one. As we have shown in\nthis book, it existed among the Greeks and Romans and was met with\nagain at the close of the middle ages. Plato and Aristotle, the Romans,\nthe small bourgeois of the middle ages, they all were dominated by\nthis fear. It also occupied Voltaire, who wrote a treatise on this\nsubject at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Other writers\nfollowed him, until Malthus finally gave this fear the most poignant\nexpression.\n\nThe fear of over-population is always met with at periods when existing\nsocial conditions are in a state of decay. The general dissatisfaction\nthat prevails at such times is ascribed to the superabundance of\nhuman beings and the lack of food, instead of being ascribed to the\nmanner in which food is obtained and distributed.\n\nEvery exploitation of man by man is founded on class rule. The first,\nand principal means of establishing class rule is to take possession\nof the soil. Common property at first, it gradually becomes private\nproperty. The masses become propertyless and are obliged to earn\ntheir share of food by serving the propertied class. Under such\ncircumstances, every addition to the family, or new competitor, becomes\na burden. The specter of over-population appears, and spreads terror\nin the same measure in which the soil becomes monopolized and loses\nits productivity, either because it is not sufficiently cultivated,\nor because the best ground is turned into pastures, or because it\nhas been reserved for the pleasures of the hunt of its masters,\nand thus withdrawn from cultivation for human food. Rome and Italy\nsuffered from the greatest lack of food at the time when the land was\nowned by about three thousand latifundia proprietors. Hence the cry\nof fear: the latifundia are destroying Rome! The Italian soil was\nconverted into immense hunting grounds or parks for the pleasure of\nits noble owners. Sometimes it was also left uncultivated, because\nits cultivation by slaves was more expensive than to import grain\nfrom Sicily and Africa; this state of affairs favored the usury in\ngrain, in which the rich nobility of Rome likewise participated. The\nnobility profited more by the usury in grain than by cultivating\ngrain in their own country.\n\nUnder such conditions the Roman bourgeois, or the pauperized nobleman,\npreferred to refrain from marriage and the procreation of children.\nThe premiums placed on marriage and the birth of children, to prevent\na diminution of the ruling classes, remained ineffectual.\n\nA similar phenomenon occurred at the close of the middle ages,\nafter the nobility and the clergy had, for centuries, by force and\nby stealth, robbed many peasants of their property and usurped the\ncommon land. When the peasants revolted as a result of all the abuses\nthey had suffered, but were beaten down, the robbery of the nobility\nwas continued on a still larger scale, and the reformed princes also\npracticed it on the property of the church. At that time the number\nof thieves, beggars and vagabonds increased as never before. Their\nnumber was greatest after the reformation. The expropriated rural\npopulation poured into the cities; but here, too, the conditions of\nlife had been growing steadily worse, owing to causes that have been\nset forth in previous chapters, and so \u201cover-population\u201d prevailed\neverywhere.\n\nThe appearance of Malthus coincides with that period of English\nindustry when, as a result of the new inventions by Hargreaves,\nArkwright and Watt, tremendous mechanical and technical changes\ntook place. These changes especially affected the cotton and\nlinen industries, and deprived tens of thousands of workingmen of\nemployment, who were engaged in these domestic industries. The\nconcentration of property in land, and the development of industry\non a large scale, assumed great dimensions in England at that time.\nWith the rapid increase of wealth on the one hand, there was growing\nmisery of the masses on the other. During such a time the ruling\nclasses, who have good cause to consider the world, as it is, the\nbest of worlds, had to seek a plausible explanation, relieving\nthem of all responsibility, for so contradictory a phenomenon as\nthe pauperization of the masses in the midst of increasing wealth\nand nourishing industry. Nothing was more convenient than to blame\nthe too rapid increase of the workingmen by their having too many\nchildren for this state of affairs, instead of blaming the fact\nthat they were being made superfluous by the process of production,\nand the further fact that the soil was becoming accumulated in the\nhands of the landlords. Under such conditions the \u201cschool-boyish,\nsuperficial plagiarism declaimed in a priest-like manner\u201d which\nMalthus published, contained an explanation of existing evils that\nexpressed the innermost thoughts and wishes of the ruling classes,\nand justified them before the world. That explains why it met with\nso much success on the one hand, and with such bitter opposition on\nthe other. For the English bourgeoisie Malthus ~had spoken the right\nword at the right time, and so--altho his book did \u201cnot contain a\nsingle original thought,\u201d he became a great and famous man, and his\nname came to stand for the entire doctrine~![276]\n\n[276] That Darwin and others also become followers of Malthus only\nproves that a lack of economic studies leads to the most biased\nviews in the realm of science.\n\n\n2.--Production of Over-Population.\n\nThe conditions that caused Malthus to utter his cry of warning and to\nset forth his brutal doctrines,--they were addressed to the working\nclass, which meant adding insult to injury,--have since expanded\nwith every decade. They have expanded, not only in the native land\nof Malthus, Great Britain, but in all countries of the world that\nhave a capitalistic method of production, which implies robbery of\nthe soil and subjugation of the masses by means of the machine and\nthe factory. This system,--as has been shown,--consists in the\nseparation of the worker from his means of production, be it the land\nor tools, and their transfer into the hands of the capitalists. This\nsystem constantly creates new branches of industry, developes and\nconcentrates them, but it also constantly turns out into the street\nnew masses of the population and makes them \u201csuperfluous.\u201d In many\ncases it also promotes, as in ancient Rome, the latifundia ownership\nwith all its results. Ireland is the classic land of Europe that\nhas been afflicted worst of all by the English system of robbery.\nAs early as 1874 it already had an area of meadow and pasture land\nof 12,378,244 acres, but only 3,373,508 acres of cultivated fields,\nand every year the population decreases, and hand in hand with this\ndecrease proceeds the further conversion of cultivated land into\nmeadows and pastures for sheep and cattle and into hunting grounds\nfor the landlords.[277] (In 1908 there were 14,805,046 acres of\nmeadow and pasture land and only 2,238,906 acres of cultivated land.)\nMoreover, the agricultural land of Ireland is, to a great extent,\nrented by small tenants, who are unable to improve upon the cultivation\nof the soil. So Ireland presents the aspect of a country that is\nretrogressing from an agricultural to a pastoral country. At the\nsame time the population that numbered 8 millions at the beginning\nof the nineteenth century, has declined to 4.3 millions, and a few\nmillion still are \u201csuperfluous.\u201d This clearly explains the rebellion\nof the Irish against England. Scotland presents a similar picture in\nregard to the ownership and cultivation of its land.[278] The same\nthing is re-enacted in Hungary, which entered upon modern lines of\ndevelopment only a few decades ago. Few European countries possess\nsuch a wealth of fertile soil as Hungary, and yet it is burdened\nwith debts and the population is pauperized and is at the mercy of\nusurers. Despair drives the people to wholesale emigration. The land\nis concentrated in the hands of modern magnates of capital, who apply\ntheir rapacious system to the forests and the fields. It is likely\nthat in a time not far distant, Hungary will cease to be a grain\nexporting country. Italy presents a similar picture. In Italy, as\nin Germany, political unity of the nation has favored capitalistic\ndevelopment, but the industrious peasants of Piedmont and Lombardy,\nof Tuscany, Romagna and Sicily, are constantly growing poorer and are\nbeing utterly ruined. Already swamps and marshes begin to reappear,\nwhere, up to a few decades ago, were the well cultivated fields\nand gardens of small peasants. Before the very gates of Rome, in\nthe district known as the Campagna, are hundreds of thousands of\nhectares of land that are left uncultivated, in a vicinity that was\none of the most flourishing of ancient Rome. Everywhere are swamps\nexhaling their poisonous miasms. If the necessary means were employed\nto drain the swamps and to introduce a proper system of irrigation,\nthe population of Rome would obtain a rich source of nourishment and\nenjoyment. But Italy suffers from the ambition to become a great\npower; so it ruins the population by bad administration, military\nand naval armament and colonization, and has no means left for true\ntasks of civilization, such as the cultivation of the Campagna. In\nsouthern Italy and Sicily conditions are similar as in the Campagna.\nSicily, at one time the granary of Rome, is ever growing poorer.\nIn all Europe there is no poorer, more exploited and worse treated\npopulation. The sons of the most beautiful country of Europe, flood\nhalf of Europe and America, and because their needs are few they serve\nto lower wages. They emigrate in masses, because they do not wish to\nstarve on their native soil, which they no longer own. Malaria, that\nawful fever, has spread to such an extent thruout Italy, that in 1882\nthe government became alarmed and instituted an investigation. This\ninvestigation revealed that of the 96 provinces of the country, 32\nwere already severely afflicted, 32 others were infected and only\n5 remained free from the disease. Formerly known in the country\nonly, the disease was carried into the cities, where the congested\nproletarian population, increased by the rural proletariat, formed\nthe central seat of the infection.\n\n[277] In his pathetic poem, \u201cIreland,\u201d Ferdinand Freiligrath sings:\n\n The lord provides that stag and ox\n For him the peasant\u2019s toil may feed,\n Instead of draining pools and bogs--\n Ireland\u2019s swamps, well known indeed!\n Unused he leaves and useless quite\n The soil that wealth of crops might bear,\n There but the wild duck wings its flight\n And guinea-hens are nesting there.\n Aye, by the curse of God, a marsh\n And wilderness, four million acres wide!\n\n[278] \u201cTwo million acres, comprising the most fertile parts of\nScotland, entirely laid waste! The natural grass of Glen Tilt was\namong the most nourishing of the County of Perth. The Deer Forest\nof Ben Aulder was the best grazing ground in the wide district of\nBadenoch; a portion of the Black Mountain Forest was the best pasture\nfor black-faced sheep. An idea may be gained of the extent of the\nland laid waste for the pleasure of the chase, from the fact that it\nis larger than the entire County of Perth. The great loss entailed\nby this forcible destruction of the sources of production may be\nascertained by calling to mind that the soil of the Deer Forest of\nBen Aulder could pasture 15,000 sheep, and that, moreover, this\ndeer forest is _but one thirtieth of the entire hunting ground of\nScotland_. All this hunting ground is entirely unproductive. It might\nas well have been caused to sink into the North-Sea.\u201d The London\n\u201cEconomist,\u201d July 2, 1866. Quoted by Karl Marx in \u201cCapital.\u201d\n\n\n3.--Poverty and Fecundity.\n\nNo matter from what side we view the capitalistic system of production,\nwe arrive at the conclusion that the poverty and misery of the masses\nis not due to a lack of food, but to an unequal distribution of\nsame, and to wrong methods, that create an abundance for some and\ncompel others to live in want. The assertions of Malthus have sense\nonly from the standpoint of capitalistic production. On the other\nhand, the capitalistic method of production urges the production of\nchildren. Cheap \u201chands,\u201d in the shape of children, are needed for\nits factories and work-shops. Among proletarians the procreation\nof children becomes a sort of calculation, as they earn their own\nliving. The proletarian employed in domestic industry is even obliged\nto have many children, for they help him to be able to compete. This\nis assuredly an abominable system; it increases the pauperization of\nthe workingman and his dependence upon the employer. The proletarian\nis compelled to work for lower and lower wages, and every labor law\ndestined to protect workingmen, that does not include the persons\nengaged in domestic industry, only causes the employer to widen the\ncircle of those so employed, for wherever this form of production\nis possible, it offers particular advantages to the capitalist.\n\nBut the capitalistic system does not lead only to an over-production\nof goods and of workers, but also to an over-production of intellect.\nIntellectuals, too, find it increasingly difficult to obtain\nemployment, as the supply constantly surpasses the demand. There is\nonly one thing in this capitalistic world that is never superfluous,\nand that is capital and its owner, the capitalist.\n\nIf the bourgeois economists are followers of Malthus, they are what\nthey must be in accordance with their bourgeois interests. Only\nthey should refrain from transferring their bourgeois prejudices\nto Socialistic society. John Stuart Mill says: \u201cCommunism is\nthat very state of affairs of which one may expect, that it will\nvehemently oppose this sort of selfish immoderation. Every increase\nof the population that would diminish the comfortable status of the\npopulation or increase its toils, would cause direct and unmistakable\ninconvenience to each individual member of the association, and\nthis inconvenience could no longer be ascribed to the rapacity of\nthe employers or the unfair privileges of the rich. Under such\ncircumstances, public opinion could not fail to make known its\ndisproval, and if this would not suffice, punishments of one kind or\nanother would be resorted to, in order to suppress this and similar\nimmoderations. The danger of over-population, then, is not advanced\nby the communistic theory; this theory, on the contrary, tends to\ncounteract this danger in a marked degree.\u201d Professor Adolf Wagner\nsays, in Rau\u2019s \u201cText-book of Political Economy:\u201d \u201cLeast of all could\na Socialistic community grant absolute freedom of marriage or freedom\nin the procreation of children.\u201d The authors both proceed from the\nopinion that the tendency toward over-population is common to all\nsocial systems, but they both grant that Socialism will be better\nable to maintain an equilibrium between population and nourishment\nthan any other form of society. The latter is true, but the former\nis not.\n\nThere were, indeed, some Socialists who were infected by the ideas of\nMalthus, and feared that over-population was \u201can imminent danger.\u201d But\nthese Socialistic Malthusians have disappeared. A better understanding\nof the nature of bourgeois society has changed their opinion on this\nsubject. The complaints of our agrarians also teach us that we have\ntoo much food--viewed from the standpoint of the world market--and\nthat the resulting lowering of prices make the production of food\nunprofitable.\n\nOur Malthusians imagine,--and the chorus of bourgeois leaders\nthoughtlessly echo their fears,--that a Socialistic society upholding\nfreedom of choice in love and maintaining an existence worthy of human\nbeings for all its members, would foster rabbit-like propensities.\nThey imagine that people, under such conditions, would indulge in an\nunbridled satisfaction of their lusts and in unlimited procreation of\nchildren. Rather the contrary is likely to be true. So far not the\nwell-to-do classes have had the greatest number of children, but,\non the contrary, the poorest classes. Indeed, we may say without\nexaggeration: ~the poorer the position of a proletarian stratum is,\nthe more numerous is its blessing of children~; occasional exceptions\nare, of course, conceded. This opinion is confirmed by Virchow, who\nwrote, in the middle of the last century; \u201cas the English laborer\nin his deepest degradation, in the utmost emptiness of mind, knows\nonly two sources of enjoyment, intoxication and cohabitation, so the\npopulation of Upper Silesia, until recent years, had concentrated\nall its desires and endeavors upon these two things. The enjoyment\nof liquor and the satisfaction of the sexual impulse had become the\nsupreme factors of its existence, and so it can be easily explained\nthat the population increased as rapidly in numbers, as it deteriorated\nphysically and morally.\u201d\n\nKarl Marx expresses himself similarly in \u201cCapital.\u201d He says: \u201cNot\nonly the number of births and deaths, but the absolute size of the\nfamilies also is in reverse ratio to the height of the wages, that\nis, to the means of subsistence at the disposal of the various\ncategories of laborers. ~This law of capitalistic society would sound\nabsurd among savages or even among civilized colonists.~ It reminds\none of the enormous reproduction of species of animals that are\nindividually weak and much hunted.\u201d Marx furthermore quotes Laing,\nwho says: \u201cIf the whole world lived in comfortable circumstances,\nthe world would soon be depopulated.\u201d So Laing holds the opposite\nview from Malthus. He maintains that an improved standard of living\ndoes not increase the number of births, but diminishes them. Herbert\nSpencer expresses a similar opinion thus: \u201calways and everywhere\nperfection of the species and its procreative ability are opposed\nto one another. From this follows that the further development of\nman will probably lead to a decrease in procreation.\u201d We see, then,\nthat men, maintaining different standpoints on other subjects, are\nfully agreed on this one, and we fully concur with their conception.\n\n\n4.--Lack of Human Beings and Abundance of Food.\n\nThe whole question of population might be disposed of by saying,\nthat for a long time to come this fear of over-population is absurd,\nfor we are confronted with an abundance of food that increases each\nyear, so that we would be more justified in worrying over how to\napply this wealth, than in worrying over whether it will suffice.\nThe producers of food would even welcome a more rapid increase of\nconsumers. But our Malthusians are indefatigable in raising objections,\nand so we must meet these objections, lest they assert that they\ncannot be answered. They claim that the danger of over-production\nin a not distant future lies in the \u201cdecrease of the productivity\nof the soil.\u201d Our cultivated soil, they claim, is becoming \u201cweary\nof yields,\u201d an increase in crops could no longer be expected, and\nsince fresh soil that still might be cultivated is becoming rarer,\nthe danger of a scarcity of food, if the population continues to\nincrease, is imminent. In the chapters on agriculture we have, so\nwe believe, already proved irrefutably of what enormous progress\nmankind is still capable in the matter of obtaining new masses of\nnourishment, judging even by the present state of agricultural science.\nNevertheless we will add some further illustrations. A very capable\nlarge land-owner and an economist of recognized worth, who, therefore,\nfar surpassed Malthus in both respects, as early as 1850, at a time\nwhen agricultural chemistry was in its beginnings,--expressed the\nfollowing: \u201cThe productivity of raw products, ~especially of food~,\nwill in future not lag behind the productivity in manufacture and\ntransportation. In our days agricultural chemistry is just beginning\nto open up vistas to agriculture that may lead to some errors, but\nthat will ultimately place the production of food into the power\nof society, just as society has the power to-day of furnishing any\ndesired quantity of cloth, provided that there is a sufficient supply\nof work.\u201d[279]\n\nJustus v. Liebig, the founder of agricultural chemistry, holds the\nopinion that \u201cif there is sufficient human labor power and sufficient\nmanure, the soil is inexhaustible and continually yields the richest\ncrops.\u201d\n\nThe \u201claw of decrease of the productivity of the soil\u201d is a notion\nof Malthus that could be accepted at a time when agriculture was\nvery undeveloped, but it has long since been refuted by science and\nexperience. ~The yield of a field is in direct ratio to the amount\nof human labor power (including science and technic) expended on\nit, and to the amount of proper fertilizers applied to it.~ If the\nsmall peasantry of France have been able to more than quadruple the\nyields of their soil during the last 90 years, while the population\nhas not even doubled, what results may be expected from a Socialistic\nsociety! Our Malthusians overlook, furthermore, that under present day\nconditions not only our own soil must be taken into consideration,\nbut the soil of the entire earth, including countries whose fertility\nis twenty and thirty times as great as that of our fields of the same\nsize. The earth is largely occupied by man, but with the exception of\na very small fraction, it is nowhere cultivated and utilized as it\nmight be. Not only Great Britain could produce far more food than it\nis producing at present, but also France, Germany and Austria, and\nthe other European countries might do so to a still greater extent.\nIn little Wurtemberg alone, with its 879,970 hectares of grain soil,\nby application of the steam plough, the average crop might be\nincreased from 6,140,000 cwts. to 9,000,000 cwt. European Russia,\nmeasured by the present standard of the population of Germany, might\nfeed a population of 475 million instead of its present 100 million.\nAt present European Russia has about 19.4 inhabitants to the square\nkilometer; Saxony has over 300. The objection that Russia has vast\nstretches of land that cannot be rendered more fertile owing to their\nclimate, is true. But it is equally true that other stretches of\nland in the southern part of Russia have a climate and a fertility\nthat Germany cannot come up to. Moreover, the greater density of the\npopulation, and the increased cultivation of the soil, will cause\nchanges in the climate that cannot be estimated to-day. Wherever\nmen aggregate in masses climatic changes result. We do not pay\nsufficient attention to these phenomena. Moreover, we cannot observe\nthem to their full extent, because we have no occasion to do so and\nbecause, as matters are at present, it is impossible to undertake\nexperiments on a large scale. Thus Sweden and Norway, who are both\nsparsely populated, with their immense forests and inexhaustible\nwealth of metals, their numerous streams and their sea-coasts, might\nbecome a rich source of nourishment to a dense population. Under\nexisting conditions it is impossible to obtain the proper means and\nappliances to disclose the wealth of these countries, and so even\na part of the sparse population emigrates.\n\nWhat has been said of the north, applies to a still greater extent to\nthe south of Europe, to Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, the Danubian\nProvinces, Hungary, Turkey, etc. A delightful climate, a soil so\nrich and fertile as it can hardly be found in the best regions of\nthe United States, will some day provide an ~abundance~ of food for\nunnumbered masses of the population. The rotten social and political\nconditions of these countries cause hundreds of thousands of persons to\nleave Europe and cross the ocean instead of remaining in their native\nlands or settling down in much nearer and more conveniently located\nplaces. As soon as rational social and political institutions have\nbeen established, fresh millions of people will be needed to place\nthose wide and fertile countries on a higher level of civilization.\n\nIn order to achieve higher objects of civilization in Europe, we\nhave, for a long time to come, not a superabundance of human beings,\nbut rather a dearth of same, and under such circumstances it is\nabsurd to entertain any fears in regard to over-population.[280] At\nthe same time we must always keep in mind that the utilization of\nexisting sources of nourishment by the application of science and\nlabor is practically unlimited, and that every day brings us new\ndiscoveries and inventions whereby the sources of nourishment are\nincreased.\n\nIf we turn from Europe to other parts of the earth, we find that\n~the lack of human beings and the abundance of food is still more\npronounced~. The richest and most fertile lands of the earth still\nlie entirely, or almost entirely, unused, because their cultivation\nand utilization cannot be undertaken by a few thousand persons; ~here\ncolonies of many millions would be needed only partly to master the\nover-abundant nature~. Such countries are, among others, Central and\nSouth America, an area of hundreds of thousands of square miles.\nIn Argentine Republic, for instance, only about 5 million hectares\nwere cultivated in 1892, but the country has 96 million hectares of\nfertile soil at its disposal. That soil of South America that is fit\nfor the cultivation of wheat, but still lies fallow, is estimated\nat 200 million hectares at least, while the United States, Austria,\nHungary, Great Britain and Ireland, Germany and France altogether\nhave cultivated only about 105 million hectares for the raising of\ngrain. About 40 years ago, Carey asserted that the valley of the\nOrinoco alone, having a length of 360 miles, might produce sufficient\nnourishment ~to feed the entire human race~. If we accept but half\nof this statement, an abundance still remains. At any rate, both\nAmericas alone, could feed many times the number of persons living\non the earth at present. The nutritive value of a territory planted\nwith banana trees yield 12 to 20 times its seed; rice, in its\nnative soil, yields 80 to 100 times and corn 250 to 300 times its\nseed. In some regions, for instance in the Philippine Islands, the\nproductivity of rice is estimated at 400 times its seed. With all\nthese articles of food it is, moreover, a matter of importance, to\nmake them as nourishing as possible by the manner in which they are\nprepared. In matters of nutrition chemistry has an inexhaustible\nfield for development.\n\nCentral America and South America, especially Brazil, abound with\na luxuriance and fertility that cause the marvel and admiration\nof travellers. These countries also possess a boundless wealth of\nores and metals. Brazil itself is almost as large as all of Europe,\nhaving 8,524,000 square miles, with about 22 million inhabitants,\nas against Europe\u2019s 9,887,010 square miles, with about 430 million\ninhabitants. But to the world these countries are barely disclosed,\nbecause their population is indolent, too few in numbers and on\ntoo low a level of civilization to master the grandeur of nature.\nThe discoveries of recent decades have enlightened us in regard to\nmatters in Africa. Altho a great portion of Central Africa will never\nbe available for European agriculture, there are other territories\nof a wide range that can be utilized to a marked degree as soon\nas rational principles of colonization are applied. In Asia, too,\nthere are wide stretches of fertile land that could provide food for\ncountless numbers. The past has shown us how, in regions that are\nunfertile and almost desert at present, the climate can produce a\nwealth of nourishment if man will but provide the soil with water.\nThe destruction of grand water-works and contrivances for irrigation\nin Asia Minor, along the Tigris, Euphrates, etc., by cruel wars of\nconquest and by insane oppression of the people, have transformed\nthousands of square miles of fertile land into a desert.[281] The\nsame is true of northern Asia, Mexico and Peru. Give us millions of\ncivilized human beings and inexhaustible sources of nourishment will\nbe disclosed. The date palm thrives in Asia and Africa in marvelous\nabundance, and requires so little room that 200 of these trees can\nbe grown on one acre of land. In Egypt the durria bears fruit three\nthousand fold, and yet this country is poor. It is poor, not owing\nto an excessive population, but owing to a system of robbery that\ncauses the desert to widen and expand with each decade. What marvelous\nresults European agriculture and horticulture might obtain in these\ncountries is incalculable.\n\nThe United States, measured by the standard of their present\nagricultural production, could easily maintain a population 15 or 20\ntimes as large as the present one; that is, 1250 to 1700 million,\ninstead of 90 million. At the same rate, Canada could provide food\nfor several hundred millions, instead of for its six millions. Then\nthere is Australia, the numerous and to some extent exceedingly\nfertile islands of the Pacific and Indian Ocean, etc. In the name of\ncivilization man should be exhorted to ~multiply~, not to decrease.\n\nEverywhere it is the social institutions--the existing ~methods of\nproduction and distribution~ of the products--that cause misery and\nwant, ~not a too great number~ of people. A number of rich crops\n~in succession~ lower the prices of food to such an extent, that\nmany a farmer is ruined thereby. The lot of the producers grows\nworse instead of being improved. At the present time a great many\nfarmers ~regard a good harvest as a misfortune~, because it lowers\nthe prices. And such conditions are supposed to be rational? To keep\nout the rich crops of other countries, high duties are imposed on\ngrain, to make the importation of grain more difficult and to raise\nthe price of the domestic product. ~There is not a lack of food, but\na superabundance of food, just as there is a superabundance of the\nproducts of industry.~ Just as millions of persons are in need of all\nkinds of industrial products, but cannot satisfy their needs under\nthe existing conditions of property and production, so millions are\nin need of the most essential articles of food, because they cannot\npay for them, altho there is food in abundance. The madness of such\nconditions is obvious. When the crops are good, our speculators in\ngrain often intentionally allow a part of it to go to waste and ruin,\nbecause they know that the price increases at the same rate at which\nthe supply diminishes. And with all this, we should be in fear of\nover-population? In Russia, southern Europe and elsewhere, hundreds\nof thousands of hundredweights of grain are destroyed, because there\nis a lack of appropriate store-houses and means of transportation.\nMany million hundred-weights of food are wasted annually, because the\nprovisions for gathering in the crops are imperfect and insufficient,\nor because there is a lack of hands at the decisive time. Many a\ngranary, many a replenished barn, indeed, entire farms are burned\ndown, because the insurance premiums heighten the profits. Food is\ndestroyed for the same reasons that cause people to sink ships with\ntheir entire crews.[282] Our military drills cause the destruction\nof large crops each year. The cost of a single manoeuvre, lasting\na few days only, amounts to hundreds of thousands of marks, altho\nthe estimates are very moderate, and there are a number of such\nmanoeuvres annually. For the same purpose entire villages have been\nrazed and large areas are withdrawn from agriculture.\n\nWe must not forget that to all the sources we have enumerated, the\nocean must be added, whose surface is to the area of the earth as\n18 to 7. The surface of the water is, accordingly, two and a half\ntimes as large as that of the land, and is still awaiting a rational\nutilization of its enormous wealth of food. The future, then, opens\nup a vista very different from the sombre picture drawn for us by\nour Malthusians.\n\nWho can say when our chemical, physical and physiological knowledge\nwill have reached their limit? Who could venture to predict what\ngigantic undertakings future mankind will carry out to bring about\nmarked changes in the climates of various countries and the utilization\nof their soil?\n\nEven to-day, under the capitalistic system of society, we see\nundertakings executed that would have appeared impossible and insane\na century ago. Broad isthmuses are cut thru and oceans connected;\ntunnels, many miles long, connect countries that are separated by\nthe highest mountains; others are dug under the bottom of the sea to\nshorten distances, and to avoid disturbances and dangers that occur\nwhere countries are separated by the sea. Where, then, might one\nsay: \u201cthus far and no further?\u201d Not only must the \u201claw of decrease\nof the productivity of the soil\u201d be answered in the negative, it\nmust be reasserted that there is an abundance of cultivatable soil,\nthat will require millions of human beings for its cultivation.\n\nIf all these tasks of civilization were to be undertaken at the same\ntime, we would not have too many people, but too few. Humanity must\nstill multiply considerably to do justice to all the tasks that are\nawaiting it. The soil is far from being cultivated as it might be,\nand ~almost three-quarters of the surface of the earth are still\nuncultivated, because there are not enough people to undertake its\ncultivation~. The relative excess of population that to-day is\ncontinually produced by the capitalistic system to the detriment of\nthe working class and of society, ~will prove a blessing on a higher\nlevel of civilization~. A numerous population is not a hindrance\nto progress. It is, on the contrary, a means to advance progress,\njust like the present over-production of commodities and food, the\ndisruption of marriage by the employment of women, children in industry\nand the expropriation of the middle class by the large capitalists,\nare the preliminary conditions of a higher stage of civilization.\n\n[279] Rodbertus: \u201cAn Elucidation of the Social Question.\u201d\n\n[280] This is especially true of Germany also. Notwithstanding the\nsteady increase of the population, emigration has steadily decreased.\nIn 1891, 120,089 persons emigrated; in 1907, only 31,696. On the\nother hand, immigration has increased, because there was a scarcity\nof labor power in several branches of industry. In 1900, 757,151\npersons immigrated, in 1905, 1,007,149.\n\n[281] Kaerger estimates the harvests in Anatolia, even when the crops\nare poor, at 26.40 to 30 cwt. The average is 26.40 to 39 cwt.; on well\nfertilized and irrigated soil, 66 cwt. (International Agricultural\nCompetition, a Capitalistic Problem, by Professor Dr. Gustave Ruhland.\nBerlin, 1901.)\n\n[282] Even at the time of St. Basil (died 379), similar conditions\nmust have existed, for he calls out to the rich: \u201cwretches, what\nreply will you make to the divine Judge? You cover the nakedness\nof your walls with tapestry, but you do not cover with clothes the\nnakedness of man. You deck your horses with costly, soft blankets,\nbut you despise your brother who is clad in rags. You suffer your\ngrain in the barns and granaries to rot and to be eaten by rats,\nand do not even cast a glance at those who have no bread.\u201d\n\nMoralizing has never yet availed with the ruling classes and never\nwill. Let the social institutions be changed so that no one can act\nunfairly toward his fellowmen, and the world will be well off.\n\n\n5.--Social Conditions and Reproductive Ability.\n\nThe other side of the question is: do people multiply indefinitely,\nand do they wish to? In order to prove the enormous reproductive\nability of man, the Malthusians like to point to the abnormal cases\nof some families or peoples. But these examples do not prove anything.\nThere are other cases where, regardless of favorable conditions of\nexistence, complete sterility sets in, or the reproductive ability\nis very slight. It is surprising how quickly wealthy families often\ndie out. Altho the conditions for an increase of the population are\nmore favorable in the United States than in any other country, and\nhundreds of thousands of persons in the prime of life emigrate into\nthe United States every year, the population doubles only once in\nthirty years. The claim that populations double once in twelve or\ntwenty years is not born out by the facts anywhere.\n\nAs has already been indicated by the quotations from Virchow and\nMarx, the population multiplies most rapidly where it is ~poorest~,\nbecause, as Virchow correctly says, beside drink, sexual intercourse\nforms their only enjoyment. When Gregory VII forced celibacy upon\nthe clergy, the clergy of lower rank of the Diocese of Mayence,--as\npreviously mentioned,--complained that they did not have all kinds of\nenjoyments like the prelates, but that their ~only~ joy was woman.\nLack of a variety of occupations may also account for it that the\nmarriages of the rural clergy are usually so richly blessed with\nchildren. It cannot be disputed, furthermore, that the poorest\ndistricts in Germany, the Silesian Eulengebirge, the Lausitz, the\nErzgebirge and Fichtelgebirge, the Forest of Thuringia, the Harz,\netc.--districts in which the potato constitutes the chief article\nof food, are at the same time the most densely populated. It is\nfurthermore certain that the sexual impulse is particularly strongly\ndeveloped with persons afflicted with consumption, and such persons\noften beget children in a stage of physical decline in which this\nseems almost impossible.\n\nIt is a law of nature, as expressed in the utterances of Herbert\nSpencer and Laing, which we have quoted, to supply in quantity what\nis lacking in quality. The most highly developed and strongest\nanimals, lion, elephant, camel, etc., our domestic animals, as\nhorse, donkey, cow bring forth but few young, while animals of a\nlower order multiply in inverse ratio, as all kinds of insects, most\nfish, etc., and also the smaller mammals, like rabbits, rats, mice,\netc. Darwin has shown that certain species of animals, for instance\nthe elephant, lose their fecundity when they are captured and tamed\nby man. All this proves that ~altered conditions of existence and\nthe resulting changed mode of life have a decisive influence on\nreproductive ability~.\n\nStrange to say, the Darwinians share the fear of over-population, and\nour modern Malthusians lean on their authority. The Darwinians seem\nto be unfortunate as soon as they seek to apply their theories to\nman, because they employ roughly empirical methods and do not take\ninto consideration that man, altho the most highly developed animal,\nis distinguished from animals by the fact that he has learned to\nunderstand the laws of nature, and may consciously and intelligently\napply these laws.\n\nThe theory of the struggle for existence, the doctrine that the\ngerms of new life exist in a far greater measure than could be\nmaintained by the existing means of subsistence, would be equally\napplicable to man, if human beings, instead of exerting their brain\nand employing technics for the conscious utilization of land and\nwater, would graze like cattle or would yield, like monkeys, to an\nunbridled satisfaction of their sexual desires, thereby reverting\nto monkeys. Incidentally, be it noted, that beside human beings,\nmonkeys are the only creatures with whom the sexual impulse is not\nlimited to certain periods. This alone furnishes a striking proof of\nthe close relationship between the two. But, altho closely related,\nthey are not identical. They cannot be placed upon the same level\nor measured by the same standards.\n\nIt is true that so far, owing to the conditions of property and\nproduction, the struggle for existence has prevailed, and still\nprevails, for individual human beings, and that many were unable to\nobtain the needful means of subsistence. But this was so, not because\nthe means were wanting, but because social conditions withheld the\nmeans from them in the midst of plenty. It is a mistake to assume\nthat because conditions have been such until now, they must always\nand unalterably remain so. This is the point where Darwinians make\na great mistake. They study biology and anthropology, but they fail\nto study sociology, and thoughtlessly become the followers of\nbourgeois ideologists. Thus they arrive at false conclusions.\n\nThe sexual impulse is perennial in man. It is his strongest impulse,\nand must be satisfied if his health is not to suffer. As a rule this\nimpulse is strongest with healthy, normally developed human beings,\njust like a hearty appetite and good digestion are proofs of a healthy\nstomach and are essential to a healthy body. But satisfaction of\nthe sexual impulse and the procreation of children are not one and\nthe same thing. Many are the theories that have been propounded in\nregard to the fecundity of man. On the whole, we are still groping\nin the dark concerning these important questions, mainly because,\nfor centuries, a foolish reticence has prevailed that prevented an\ninvestigation of the laws of the origin and development of man and\na study of human procreation and evolution. Only gradually will our\nconception change on this subject, and it is highly important that\nthey should. Some claim that higher mental development and strenuous\nintellectual activity, in fact all increased nervous activity, has a\nrepressing effect on the sexual impulse and diminishes the productive\nability. By others this is denied. People point to the fact that\nthe well-to-do classes generally have fewer children, and that this\ncannot be ascribed to preventive measures only. It is certain that a\nstrenuous mental activity has a repressing influence on the sexual\nimpulse, but it cannot be claimed that such activity is carried on\nby a majority of our propertied class. Excessive physical exertion\nalso has a repressing effect, but any kind of excessive exertion is\nharmful and therefore not to be desired.\n\nOthers assert that the mode of life, especially the nourishment,\nbeside certain physical conditions on the part of the woman, have\na decisive influence on procreation and conception. The food, they\nclaim, also influences procreation among animals more than any other\nfactor. Here, indeed, the determining factor may be found. The\ninfluence of the nature of food on the organisms of certain animals,\nhas been revealed in a surprising manner among bees. By feeding\nthe larvae on special food, they can produce a queen at will. The\nbees accordingly are further advanced in their recognition of the\ndevelopment of sex than man. Probably they have not been preached\nto for thousands of years that it is \u201cindecent\u201d and \u201cimmoral\u201d to\nconcern one\u2019s self with sexual matters.\n\nIt is also known that plants grown in rich and well manured soil\nthrive luxuriantly, but do not yield seed. It is hardly to be doubted\nthat, with human beings, also the nature of food influences the\ncomposition of the male sperm and the fecundity of the female egg,\nand so it may be that the reproductive power of a population depends\nlargely upon its food. There are other factors besides, whose nature\nis but slightly known.\n\nIn the future one factor will be decisive in regard to the question\nof population: the higher, freer position of woman. As a rule,\nintelligent and energetic women are not inclined to regard a number\nof children as a \u201cGodsend,\u201d and to spend the best years of their\nlives in a condition of pregnancy, or with babes at their breasts.\nEven at present, most women have an aversion against a too numerous\nprogeny, and this aversion is likely to increase rather than decrease,\nregardless of the care that a Socialistic society will bestow upon\npregnant women and mothers. This is the main reason why, in our\nopinion, the increase of population is likely to progress more slowly\nin Socialistic society than it does in bourgeois society.\n\nOur Malthusians assuredly have no cause to rack their brains in\nregard to the increase of population in the future. Until now,\nnations have been ruined by a diminution of their numbers, but never\nyet by an excess. In a society, living according to natural laws,\nthe number of the population will ultimately be regulated without\nharmful abstinence, or unnatural preventive measures. Karl Marx\nwill be vindicated on this subject also. His conception, that every\neconomic period of development has its special law of population,\nwill prove true under the rule of Socialism.\n\nIn a book on \u201cThe Artificial Limitation of Progeny,\u201d H. Ferdy sets\nforth the following opinion: \u201cThe strong opposition of Socialists\nto Malthusianism is a piece of roguery. The rapid increase of the\npopulation favors pauperization of the masses and fosters discontent.\nIf the over-population could be checked, the spread of Socialism\nwould come to an end, and the Socialist state with all its splendor\nwould be buried forever.\u201d Here we behold Malthusianism as a new\nweapon for combatting Socialism.[283]\n\nDr. Adolf Wagner is one of those who are in fear of over-population,\nand, therefore, favor restriction of the freedom of marriage and\nfreedom of settlement, especially in the case of workingmen. He bewails\nthe fact that workingmen marry too young, as compared with the middle\nclasses. He and others holding the same views, overlook that the male\nmembers of the middle class do not attain a position until later\nin life, that enables them to support a family according to their\nstandard of life. But they seek recompense for this renunciation with\nprostitution. If marriage is made more difficult for the workingmen\nalso, they will be driven upon the same devious path. But, then,\ndo not let us complain of the results, and cry out at the \u201cdecline\nof ethics and morality.\u201d Neither let us grow indignant, then, if\nmen and women,--since the natural impulses reside, in women as in\nmen,--if men and women satisfy their natural impulse in illegitimate\nrelations, and if hosts of illegitimate children populate town and\ncountry. But the views of Wagner, and those who agree with him, are\nalso averse to the interests of the bourgeoisie and to the interests\nof our economic development that requires a large supply of \u201chands\u201d\nin order to possess forces that enable competition on the world\nmarket. By petty, shortsighted suggestions, born of retrogressive\nand philistine minds, the evils of the age cannot be cured. At the\ndawn of the twentieth century there is no class and no power of\nthe state that is strong enough to retard the natural evolution of\nsociety. Every attempt is bound to fail. The current of evolution\nis so strong that it overcomes every obstacle. Not backward, but\n\u201cforward,\u201d is the word, and he who believes in retarding progress\nfools himself.\n\n~In Socialistic society, when mankind will be placed upon a natural\nbasis, and will be truly free, man will consciously guide his own\ndevelopment. In all preceding epochs, man acted in regard to production\nand distribution, and in regard to the increase of population,\nwithout any knowledge of their underlying laws; he, therefore,\nacted unconsciously. In the new society man will act consciously\nand methodically, knowing the laws of his own development.~\n\n~Socialism is science applied to all realms of human activity.~\n\n[283] The immense ignorance of the Socialist-killer, Ferdy, is most\nclearly seen from the following sentences, perpetrated on page 40\nof his book: \u201cThe Socialists will go further in their demands than\nthe Neo-Malthusians. They will demand that the minimum wage be so\nfixed that every workingman can beget the largest possible number\nof children according to the social supply of food. As soon as\nSocialism has drawn its ultimate conclusions and private property has\nbeen abolished, even the most stupid would soon begin to question:\nwhy should I work longer and harder because my neighbor chooses to\nthrust a dozen new members into society?\u201d\n\nIt would be well to know the A B C of Socialism before venturing to\nwrite about it and such utter nonsense as that!\n\n\n\n\n\n\nConclusion.\n\n\nWe have shown, in the course of our argumentation, that the realization\nof Socialism does not imply arbitrary destruction and construction,\nbut a process of historical evolution. All factors active in the\nprocess of destruction, on the one hand, and in the process of\nconstruction on the other, act as they are bound to act. Neither\n\u201cbrilliant statesmen\u201d nor \u201cdemagogues who incite the people,\u201d can\ndirect matters at their will. They believe that they are pushing,\nand are being pushed, themselves. But the day of fulfilment is not\ndistant.\n\nIn the course of these expositions, we have frequently referred\nto an over-production of goods that leads to crises, a phenomenon\npeculiar to bourgeois society, that was not met with at any previous\nstage of development.\n\nBut bourgeois society does not only create an over-production of goods\nand workers, but also an over-production of intelligence. Germany is\nthe classic land where this over-production of intelligence takes\nplace on a large scale, intelligence that the bourgeois world no\nlonger knows how to employ. A condition that has for centuries been\nregarded as a misfortune to German development, has been instrumental\nin producing this phenomenon. It was the great number of small\nstates that impeded the development of capitalism on a large scale.\nThe large number of small states decentralized the intellectual life\nof the nation by creating many small centers of intellectual life,\nthat exercised their influence upon the whole country. In comparison\nwith a single central government the numerous states required a very\nlarge official apparatus, for whose members a higher education was\nneedful. So a larger number of high schools and universities sprang\nup than in any other European country. The ambition and jealousy of\nthe various governments played an important part in this development.\nIt was the same when some of the governments began to introduce\nobligatory public education. In these instances the desire not to\nbe excelled by the neighboring state has had a good effect. The\ndemand for intelligence rose when increasing education, hand in hand\nwith the material advance of the bourgeoisie, awoke a desire for\npolitical action, for popular representation and self-government. The\ngovernmental bodies were small and represented only small countries\nand districts, but they caused the sons of the upper classes to\ncovet seats in them and to adapt their education accordingly.\n\nAs it was with science, so with art. No other country of Europe has,\nin proportion to its size, so large a number of artists, so many\nart-schools and technical schools, so many museums and art collections,\nas Germany. Other countries may have a greater accumulation of art in\ntheir capitals, but no other country possesses such a distribution\nof art thruout its entire realm. Only Italy can vie with it.\n\nThis entire development led to a deepening of the German intellect.\nThe absence of great political struggles gave people time and leisure,\nas it were, to lead a contemplative life. While other nations\nwrestled for the control of the world market, divided the earth\namong themselves, and carried on great internal political struggles,\nthe Germans quietly remained at home, dreaming and philosophizing.\nBut this dreaming and philosophizing, favored by a climate that\nnecessitated hard work and a domestic life, gave the Germans that\nkeen, observing intellect that distinguished them after they had\nawakened. While the English bourgeoisie had won a determining\ninfluence over the state as early as the middle of the seventeenth\ncentury, and the French bourgeoisie had come into power at the close\nof the eighteenth century, it was not until 1848 that the German\nbourgeoisie succeeded in winning a very modest influence over the\npowers of the state. But the year 1848 was the year of birth of the\nGerman bourgeoisie as a self-conscious class, that entered the arena\nas an independent, political party, represented by \u201cliberalism.\u201d Here,\ntoo, the peculiar nature of German development manifested itself. The\nleading men were not manufacturers, merchants, men of commerce and\nfinance, but chiefly professors, writers, jurists and doctors of all\nacademic faculties. They were the German ideologists, and their work\nwas shaped accordingly. After 1848 the bourgeoisie was, for the time\nbeing, silenced politically; but they employed the time of political\ngraveyard tranquility during the fifties to promote their task all\nthe more thoroly. The outbreak of the Austro-Italian war, and the\nbeginning of the Regency in Prussia, caused the bourgeoisie again\nto reach out after political power. The movement for national unity\n(\u201cNationalverein\u201d) began. The bourgeoisie was too far developed to\ntolerate any longer the numerous political barriers, that were also\neconomic barriers, between the various states. They threatened to\nbecome revolutionary. Bismarck grasped the situation, and made use\nof it in his way to reconcile the interests of the bourgeoisie with\nthe interests of the Prussian monarchy, toward which the bourgeoisie\nhad never been hostile, as it feared the revolution and the masses.\nFinally the barriers fell that had prevented its material development.\nAided by Germany\u2019s wealth in coal and minerals, and by the presence of\nan intelligent, but easily contented working class, the bourgeoisie,\nwithin a few years, attained such a gigantic development, as has not\nbeen attained by the bourgeoisie of any other country in an equally\nshort time, with the exception of the United States. Thus Germany\nquickly came to hold the second place in Europe as an industrial\nand commercial state, and she is anxious to obtain the first.\n\nBut this rapid material development has its dark side also. The\nsystem of seclusion that had existed among all German states, until\nnational unity was established, had insured the existence of a very\nnumerous class of small mechanics and farmers. When all protective\nbarriers were suddenly torn down, this class was confronted by the\nunbridled development of the capitalistic process of production.\nAs a result their position became a desperate one. The period of\nprosperity at the beginning of the seventies made the danger appear\nless great at first, but it became all the more noticeable when the\ncrisis set in. The bourgeoisie had utilized the period of prosperity\nfor its fullest development, and by excessive production created a\nten-fold pressure. From now on the chasm between the propertied and\nthe non-propertied classes was rapidly and tremendously widened. This\nprocess of absorption and decomposition, that is accomplished more\nand more rapidly, favored by the increase of material power on the\none hand, and by a decline of the power of resistance on the other,\nis intensifying the distress of entire strata of the population.\nThey find their position becoming more and more precarious and their\nruin certain.\n\nIn this desperate struggle many seek salvation in a change of their\nprofession. The old people cannot accomplish this change any more,\nand only in rare cases are they able to leave a fortune to their\nchildren, so they make desperate efforts and employ their last means\nto obtain for their sons and daughters positions with a fixed income,\nthat require no capital. These are the civil service positions in\nthe empire, states and municipalities, teaching, positions connected\nwith the postal and railway service, the higher positions in the\nservice of the bourgeoisie in offices, stores and factories as clerks,\nmanagers, chemists, technicists, engineers, constructors, etc.,\nand also the so-called liberal professions: jurists, physicians,\ntheologians, writers, artists, architects, teachers, etc.\n\nThousands upon thousands who would formerly have taken up a trade,\nnow seek professional positions, because there is no longer any\npossibility of maintaining an independent and decent livelihood by\npracticing a trade. All strive for learning and a higher education.\nHigh schools, colleges and polytechnical institutes spring up like\nmushrooms, and the existing ones are overcrowded. In the same\nmeasure the number of students at the universities increases, and\nthe number of scholars in physical and chemical laboratories, in art\nschools, in trade and commercial schools, in the higher institutions\nof learning for women, etc. All departments, without exception,\nare over-crowded, and the stream is still rising. New demands are\nconstantly being made for the establishment of colleges and higher\ninstitutions of learning, to accommodate the large number of pupils\nand students. Officials and private persons issue warnings upon\nwarnings, now against the study of one subject and then against the\nstudy of another. Even theology, (that formerly threatened to dry\nout on account of a lack of candidates) now receives its share of\nblessings from the abundance and finds its positions filled again.\n\u201cI will preach belief in ten thousand gods and devils, if required,\nonly give me a position that will support me,\u201d is the general cry.\nSometimes the respective ministers even refuse to give their consent\nto the establishment of new educational institutions, \u201cbecause the\nones in existence amply supply the demand for candidates in all\ndepartments.\u201d\n\nThis state of affairs is rendered more severe by the fact that\nthe competitive and destructive struggle of the bourgeoisie among\nthemselves, compels many of their sons to seek public positions.\nMoreover, the steadily growing standing army, with its mass of\nofficers, whose promotion is exceedingly slow during a long period\nof peace, causes many of them to be pensioned during the best years\nof their lives, and these, aided by the state, seek employment in\nall kinds of official positions. The great number of candidates for\ncivil service positions, from lower grades of the army, rob other\nstrata of their living. To this must, furthermore, be added that\nthe swarm of imperial state and municipal officials of all degrees,\neducate, and must educate, their children mainly for professions,\nlike the ones enumerated above. The social position, education and\nrequirements of these classes make it necessary to withhold their\nchildren from the so-called lower occupations, but these, as a matter\nof fact, are over-crowded also. The system of one-year voluntary\nservice in the army, that, upon the attainment of a certain degree\nof education and a certain material sacrifice, permits young men\nto complete their military service in one year instead of in two\nor three, also increases the number of candidates for offices and\npositions. There are, especially, many sons of wealthy peasants who\ndo not care to return to their native villages and the professions\nof their fathers.\n\nAs a result of all these circumstances, the proletariat of scholars\nand artists and of the so-called liberal professions, is more numerous\nin Germany than in any other country. This proletariat is constantly\nincreasing, and is bearing the fermentation and dissatisfaction with\nexisting conditions into the highest strata of society. This youth\nis aroused and incited to a criticism of the existing order, and\nhelps to hasten the general decomposition. So these conditions have\nbrought about that the German Social Democracy took the leadership\nin the gigantic struggle of the future. German Socialists were the\nones to discover the laws underlying modern social development, and\nto demonstrate scientifically that Socialism will be the coming form\nof society. Karl Marx and Frederick Engels took the lead. They were\nfollowed by Ferdinand Lassalle, whose agitation fired the masses.\nGerman Socialists have also been the pioneers of Socialistic thought\namong the workingmen of other countries.\n\nHalf a century ago, Buckle wrote, as a result of his studies of\nGerman education and culture, that Germany possessed a number of the\ngreatest scholars, but that in no other country, the gulf between\nthe class of scholars and the mass of the people were equally great.\nThis was true of Germany, as long as science was limited to that\ncircle of scholars who stood aloof from that practical life. But,\nsince Germany has been revolutionized economically, science has been\npressed into the service of practical life. Science itself became\npractical. People began to recognize that science attained its full\nvalue only when it helped to promote the comforts of life. The\ndevelopment of capitalistic production on a large scale forced this\nrecognition upon us. As a result, all branches of knowledge have been\ndemocratized in Germany during the last decade. The great number\nof young men trained for the practice of learned professions, have\nhelped to carry science among the people, and the general education,\nthat has attained a higher degree in Germany, than in most other\ncountries, has disseminated many products of the intellect among the\nmasses. But the Socialist movement, especially, with its literature,\nits newspapers, its societies and meetings, its parliamentary\nrepresentation and its constantly practiced criticism on all fields\nof public life, has considerably raised the intellectual level of\nthe masses.\n\nThe exceptional laws enacted against the Social Democrats (from 1878\nto 1890) have in no wise changed this. They merely hemmed in the\nmovement to some extent, and slackened its pace. But they also helped\nto make the movement more profound, and to arouse much bitterness\nagainst the ruling classes and the powers of the state. The final\nrepeal of the exceptional laws was only due to the development of\nthe Social Democratic Party, under these laws, and to the economic\ndevelopment of the nation. Thus the movement is progressing, as it\nmust progress, under the given circumstances.\n\nAs the Socialist movement has progressed in Germany, it has also\nprogressed, beyond all expectations, in other states of the civilized\nworld. The international congresses of labor, whose attendance is\nconstantly increasing, furnish an eloquent proof of this progress.\n\nSo the great war of the minds has begun in all civilized countries\nof the world, and is being waged with the greatest ardor. Beside the\nsocial sciences, the wide realm of the natural sciences, hygiene,\nhistory and philosophy, furnish the weapons for this war. The\nfoundations of existing conditions are attached on ~all~ sides, and the\nstrongest blows are directed against the pillars of the old r\u00e9gime.\nRevolutionary thoughts penetrate the most conservative circles, and\ncreate confusion in the camp of our enemies. Artisans and scholars,\nfarmers and artists, merchants and officers, even manufacturers and\nbankers, in short, men of all positions, join the workingmen, who\nform the bulk of that great army that is striving for victory, and\nis bound to win it. All mutually support and supplement each other.\n\nWoman, too, and especially the proletarian woman, has been called\nupon, not to lag behind in this struggle that is being fought\nfor her liberation and redemption also. It is up to her to prove\nthat she has recognized her true position in the movement, and in\nthe struggle of the present for a better future, and that she is\ndetermined to participate. It is the duty of the men to help her to\ncast aside all prejudices and to take part in the great struggle.\nLet no one underestimate his strength, and think that his help is\nof no consequence. In the struggle for the progress of mankind, no\npower, not even the weakest, can be spared. The steady fall of drops\nwill finally hollow the hardest stone. Many drops make a brook,\nthe brooks make a river, and the rivers make a stream. Finally, no\nobstacle is strong enough to hem the stream\u2019s majestic course. It\nis the same with the development of man. If all who feel called\nupon devote their whole strength to this struggle, the ultimate\nvictory will be certain. This victory will be all the greater, the\nmore eagerly and unselfishly each one pursues the mapped out path.\nDoubts, whether the individual for all his sacrifices, toils and\nefforts, may still live to see the dawn of a new, more beautiful\nperiod of civilization, must not effect us, nor must they prevent us\nfrom pursuing the chosen path. We can neither determine the length,\nnor the nature of the phases of development, that this struggle for\nthe highest aims must still pass thru; we can do this as little as\nwe have any certainty in regard to the duration of our lives. But\nas we are dominated by the joy of living, so may we also cherish\nthe hope that we may live to see this victory. We are living in an\nage that rushes forward \u201cwith seven league boots,\u201d and that makes\nall enemies of a ~new, higher~ order of society tremble.\n\nEvery day furnishes new proof of the rapid growth, and the tremendous\nspread of Socialist thought. Everywhere there is motion and progress.\nThe dawn of a better day is drawing nigh. So let us struggle and\nstrive onward, regardless of \u201cwhere\u201d and \u201cwhen\u201d the boundary-posts\nof a new and better age for mankind will be raised. If we should\nfall in the course of this great struggle for liberation, others\nwill take our place. We will fall with the consciousness of having\ndone our duty as human beings, ~and with the conviction that the\ngoal will be attained, no matter how the powers hostile to humanity\nmay oppose and resist the triumphal march of progress~.\n\n\u201c~The future belongs to Socialism, that is, primarily, to the worker\nand to woman.~\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Transcriber\u2019s Notes:\n\nThe texts of pages 365 and 366 (part of Chapter XX, Section 1) are\nout of order in the original. The texts of these pages are in the\ncorrect order in this e-text.\n\nThe list of Contents has been moved from the end of the book. Headings\nand page numbers have been matched to those in the main text.\n\nThe styling of headings has been made consistent. Missing section\nnumbers in section headings have been supplied.\n\nTo fit the width restriction for this text version, some tables have\nbeen reformatted and/or split.\n\nErrors in punctuation have been corrected.\n\nNo changes to the numerical figures and words in the text, including\nthose with inconsistent hyphenation and variant spellings, have been\nmade except those listed below. Changes involving footnote markers\nand table column headings have been made based on the 62nd German\nedition (published 1973).\n\n Page 25, \u201cgoddesses\u201d changed from \u201cgodesses\u201d (goddesses Astarte,\n Demeter); \u201cIsis\u201d from \u201cIris\u201d (Latona, Isis, Frigga).\n Page 26, \u201cAndombies\u201d changed from \u201cAudombies\u201d (Andombies on the\n Congo).\n Page 28, \u201cantiquity\u201d changed from \u201canitquity\u201d (states of antiquity);\n \u201cnecessitated\u201d from \u201cncessitated\u201d (necessitated special knowledge).\n Page 34, \u201cThesmophoria\u201d changed from \u201cThermophoria\u201d (celebration\n of the Thesmophoria).\n Page 36, \u201cEumenides\u201d changed from \u201cEuminedes\u201d (the Eumenides reply).\n Page 40, marker for footnote [13] was inserted (by Aristophanes,[13]).\n Page 43, \u201cAthens\u2019\u201d changed from \u201cAthen\u2019s\u201d (Athens\u2019 greatest rival);\n \u201cacross\u201d from \u201cacros\u201d (across the Taygetus).\n Page 44, \u201cIsis\u201d changed from \u201cIris\u201d (Egyptian festivals of Isis).\n Page 48, \u201cfurthermore\u201d changed from \u201cfurthemore\u201d (can furthermore\n be gathered); \u201cAraucanians\u201d from \u201cAraunanians\u201d (among the\n Araucanians).\n Page 49, \u201cTarnowsky\u201d changed from \u201cTarnowsgy\u201d (Tarnowsky was told).\n Page 52, \u201cNabataeans\u201d changed from \u201cNabastaeans\u201d (Nabataeans,\n an Arabian tribe); \u201cRechabites\u201d from \u201cRachebites\u201d (Among the\n Rechabites).\n Page 53, \u201ctrampled\u201d changed from \u201ctrampeled\u201d (and trampled upon).\n Page 54, \u201cadulteriis\u201d changed from \u201cadultriis\u201d (lex Julia de\n adulteriis).\n Page 59, \u201cneighbor\u2019s\u201d changed from \u201cneighbors\u201d (that is his\n neighbor\u2019s).\n Pages 73\u201374, \u201cpraiseworthy\u201d changed from \u201cpraisworthy\u201d (this\n praiseworthy town).\n Page 74, \u201cmaintenance\u201d changed from \u201cmaintainance\u201d (maintenance\n of brothels).\n Page 93, \u201charassing\u201d changed from \u201charrassing\u201d (harassing and\n persecution); \u201cintellectual\u201d from \u201cintellectuel\u201d (their intellectual\n horizon).\n Page 97, \u201cdevelop\u201d changed from \u201cdevlop\u201d (to develop normally).\n Page 98, \u201cknowledge\u201d changed from \u201ckonwledge\u201d (we decry knowledge).\n Page 104, \u201cMill\u201d changed from \u201cMills\u201d (John Stuart Mill says in\n regard).\n Page 105, \u201cAtheneum\u201d changed from \u201cAntheneum\u201d (fragments of\n \u2018Atheneum\u2019).\n Page 111, \u201cMill\u201d changed from \u201cMills\u201d (John Stuart Mill says: \u201cMen).\n Page 116, \u201ctwenty\u201d changed from \u201ctweny\u201d (be twenty and).\n Page 127, \u201cstrata\u201d changed from \u201cstarta\u201d (and other strata).\n Page 134, \u201c471,519\u201d changed from \u201c471-519\u201d (and 471,519 in 1899).\n Page 136, \u201cillegitimate\u201d changed from \u201cilligitimate\u201d (their\n illegitimate relations); \u201cthirtieth\u201d from \u201cthirthieth\u201d (attained\n the thirtieth year); \u201cConstantinople\u201d from \u201cContanstinople\u201d (In\n 1872 at Constantinople).\n Page 137, \u201c2236\u201d changed from \u201c22236\u201d (from 1902 to 1906, 2236).\n Page 138, \u201cinterdite\u201d changed from \u201centerdite\u201d (paternit\u00e9 est\n interdite); \u201ccon\u00e7u pendant\u201d from \u201cconcupendant\u201d (L\u2019enfant con\u00e7u\n pendant).\n Page 139, \u201cretrogressive\u201d changed from \u201cretogressive\u201d (a\n retrogressive one).\n Page 140, \u201cabortions\u201d changed from \u201cobortions\u201d (of criminal\n abortions).\n Page 148, \u201ccharacteristics\u201d changed from \u201ccharactecistics\u201d (that\n these characteristics).\n Page 150, \u201cequally\u201d changed from \u201cequaly\u201d (are equally ignorant).\n Page 153, \u201cphysician\u201d changed from \u201cphysican\u201d (the physician must).\n Page 154, \u201ccharacteristics\u201d changed from \u201ccharecteristics\u201d\n (differences and characteristics).\n Page 155, \u201cthan\u201d changed from \u201cthat\u201d (more women than men).\n Page 157, table, supplied missing first comma in \u201c174,914,119\u201d.\n Page 165, \u201crevolution\u201d changed from \u201crevolntion\u201d (a complete\n revolution).\n Page 169, \u201clowered\u201d changed from \u201clowerred\u201d (has been somewhat\n lowered); \u201cpensioners\u201d from \u201cpensioneers\u201d (pensioners with their\n families).\n Page 171, second table, \u201c925\u201d changed from \u201c225\u201d; \u201c1008\u201d from \u201c008\u201d.\n Page 174, \u201cstrongly\u201d changed from \u201cstongly\u201d (particularly strongly at).\n Page 175, \u201cinnate\u201d changed from \u201cinate\u201d (an innate vice).\n Page 176, the sentence \u201c~But they do not draw ... conditions.~\u201d\n is bold only up to \u201cdifferent\u201d in the original.\n Page 182, \u201cassociates\u201d changed from \u201casociates\u201d (everyone who\n associates).\n Page 188, \u201cafflicted\u201d changed from \u201cafflcted\u201d (afflicted with this\n disease); \u201csecrets\u201d from \u201csecets\u201d (reveal their secrets).\n Page 189, \u201ctournament\u201d changed from \u201ctournamentt\u201d (eel-catching\n tournament).\n Page 192, \u201cBuenos\u201d changed from \u201cBuneos\u201d (and Buenos Ayres); inserted\n \u201cto\u201d in \u201cpaid to the agents\u201d.\n Page 201, \u201cd\u00e9sign\u00e9s\u201d changed from \u201cdesign\u00e9s\u201d (ils seront d\u00e9sign\u00e9s);\n \u201cAucune\u201d from \u201cAucunne\u201d (Aucune autre qualification).\n Page 203, \u201cBertillon\u201d changed from \u201cBertillion\u201d (Bertillon claims,\n that).\n Page 205, \u201cappalling\u201d changed from \u201capalling\u201d (reveal appalling\n facts).\n Page 206, \u201cincreased\u201d changed from \u201cin creased\u201d (have increased by).\n Page 207, \u201cabout\u201d changed from \u201cabo t\u201d (about one-fifth);\n \u201cgonorrhoea\u201d from \u201cgonorrheoa\u201d (about one-fifth, become diseased\n with gonorrhoea); \u201cunmarried\u201d from \u201cunmaried\u201d (of unmarried\n life).\n Page 208, \u201cRussia\u201d changed from \u201cRusia\u201d (Russia, 40.5); changed\n periods in \u201c121.55\u201d and \u201c121.94\u201d from commas (in 1905 121.55\n cases and in 1906 121.94 cases).\n Page 211, table, supplied missing period in \u201c61.1\u201d.\n Page 212, table key, footnote marker [126] inserted after row\n heading \u201cUnited States of America\u201d.\n Page 213, footnote marker [128] inserted after \u201cto the entire\n population.\u201d\n Page 213, table column heading, \u201cpersons\u201d changed from \u201cperson\u201d\n (Of 100 persons gainfully employed).\n Page 215, first table, \u201c\u2212\u201d sign before \u201c162,049\u201d changed from \u201c+\u201d\n sign; supplied unclear fifth digit \u201c9\u201d in \u201c180,690\u201d; supplied\n missing third digit \u201c9\u201d in \u201c179,153\u201d.\n Page 215, second table key, row heading \u201cIndependent\u201d changed from\n \u201cIndepent\u201d.\n Page 215, third table, supplied respective second, third, and fifth\n column headings \u201c1907\u201d, \u201c1895\u201d, and \u201c%\u201d; changed period in \u201c21.77\u201d\n from comma.\n Page 217, first table, supplied heading \u201c1901\u201d for third column;\n \u201cmanufacture\u201d changed from \u201cmanufacfacture\u201d (manufacture of\n machinery).\n Page 218, \u201cgood\u201d changed from \u201cgoed\u201d (a good wage).\n Page 219, table, data \u201c2.0\u201d changed from \u201c0.6\u201d.\n Page 224, \u201c$6\u201d changed from \u201c$4\u201d ($3.75 to $6).\n Page 225, second table, fifth row, supplied missing period in\n \u201c$2.50\u201d.\n Page 229, \u201cpreceded\u201d changed from \u201cpreceeded\u201d (preceded by an\n operation); \u201cparaffine\u201d from \u201cperaffine\u201d (quinine, soda, paraffine).\n Page 230, \u201cdegeneration\u201d changed from \u201cdeegneration\u201d (increase\n of immorality, degeneration); \u201cmortality\u201d from \u201cmorality\u201d (and\n infant mortality).\n Page 232, \u201cobject\u201d changed from \u201cobejct\u201d (object of hatred).\n Page 242, \u201cnarrow-chested\u201d changed from \u201cnarow-chested\u201d (small,\n narrow-chested).\n Page 247, \u201cnarrower\u201d changed from \u201cnarower\u201d (narrower vascular\n system); \u201cpossesses\u201d from \u201cpossessses\u201d (that he possesses).\n Page 248, \u201cwould\u201d changed from \u201cwonld\u201d (would not differ).\n Page 249, \u201cGauss\u201d changed from \u201cGanss\u201d (famous mathematician Gauss).\n Page 250, \u201cindependent\u201d changed from \u201cdependent\u201d (independent of\n one another).\n Page 252, \u201cotherwise\u201d changed from \u201cothrwise\u201d (what otherwise\n remains).\n Page 258, \u201cmake\u201d changed from \u201cmaks\u201d (so they make desperate\n efforts).\n Page 261, \u201cAbyssinia\u201d changed from \u201cAbysinnia\u201d (India, Abyssinia,\n Persia).\n Page 262, \u201cdentistry\u201d changed from \u201cdentristry\u201d (medicine and\n dentistry); \u201cenumerated\u201d from \u201cennumerated\u201d (were already\n enumerated); \u201cthe\u201d from \u201cthey\u201d (that the girls\u2019 colleges).\n Page 266, \u201csuccessor\u201d changed from \u201csuccesser\u201d (appointed his\n successor).\n Page 273, \u201cadmitted\u201d changed from \u201cadmited\u201d (unmarried women were\n admitted).\n Page 279, \u201cpatriarchal\u201d changed from \u201cpatriarchial\u201d (the patriarchal\n superiority).\n Page 281, \u201cUrsins\u201d changed from \u201cUrsin\u201d (Princess of Ursins).\n Page 289, \u201corganized\u201d changed from \u201corgainzed\u201d (the territory was\n organized).\n Page 293, \u201cadministration\u201d changed from \u201cadminstration\u201d (in the\n administration of schools).\n Page 296, \u201csame\u201d changed from \u201casme\u201d (and be elected to same);\n \u201cBritish\u201d from \u201cBirtish\u201d (the British colony).\n Page 297, \u201cpermitted\u201d changed from \u201cpermittel\u201d (permitted to\n exercise).\n Page 299, \u201cpossessions\u201d changed from \u201cpossesions\u201d (and no\n possessions); \u201cfavor\u201d from \u201cfaver\u201d (compels them to favor).\n Page 305, \u201creorganization\u201d changed from \u201creorgainzation\u201d (A thorough\n reorganization).\n Page 309, \u201csubsistence\u201d changed from \u201csubsistance\u201d (of its means\n of subsistence).\n Page 313, \u201c$\u201d inserted before \u201c1,215,000,000\u201d; \u201cmillion\u201d changed\n from \u201cmilion\u201d (16 to 20 million men); in \u201c~uncontrollable~ and\n ~indirigible~\u201d, \u201cuncon\u201d not bold in the original.\n Page 316, \u201ccommitted\u201d changed from \u201ccommited\u201d (worst crimes are\n committed).\n Page 317, \u201cpenalties\u201d changed from \u201cpenalities\u201d (with severe\n penalties).\n Page 321, first table, supplied missing \u201c9\u201d in column heading\n \u201c1895\u201d; supplied missing second to the last \u201c1\u201d in \u201c2,338,511\u201d;\n supplied missing period in \u201c121.46\u201d; supplied missing comma in\n \u201c432,491\u201d; supplied missing second \u201c7\u201d in \u201c477,695\u201d.\n Page 321, second table, supplied missing second \u201c6\u201d in \u201c26,386,537\u201d.\n Page 325, \u201cnumber\u201d changed from \u201cuumber\u201d (we find that their\n number).\n Page 327, \u201cWurtemberg\u201d changed from \u201cWurtemburg\u201d (excluding Bavaria,\n Wurtemberg).\n Page 327, second table, supplied third column heading \u201cCommercial\u201d.\n This heading reads \u201cDarunter gewerbliche\u201d in the German 62nd\n edition.\n Page 336, inserted \u201cper cent.\u201d in \u201c84.3 per cent. of all taxpayers\u201d.\n Pages 336\u2013337, syllable \u201cin\u201d in \u201c~income of more than ... taxpayers~\u201d\n is not bold in the original.\n Page 338, \u201cinsidiously\u201d changed from \u201cinsiduously\u201d (and insidiously\n disparaging).\n Page 346, \u201cwherever\u201d changed from \u201cwhereever\u201d (But wherever the\n control).\n Page 348, \u201caffect\u201d changed from \u201ceffect\u201d (affect the peasant as well).\n Page 349, \u201caffected\u201d changed from \u201ceffected\u201d (has affected the rural\n districts).\n Page 354, \u201cother\u201d changed from \u201cohter\u201d (in other districts).\n Page 357, \u201cWindischgraetz\u201d changed from \u201cWindischgraatz\u201d (Alfred\n Windischgraetz).\n Page 359, \u201chumidity\u201d changed from \u201chumiditty\u201d (decrease in humidity).\n Page 360, \u201cSamara\u201d changed from \u201cSsamara\u201d (district of Samara);\n \u201cBuguruslan\u201d from \u201cBuguruslaw\u201d (district of Buguruslan);\n \u201cNovousensk\u201d from \u201cNovausensk\u201d (Nikolajewsk and Novousensk);\n \u201cWith\u201d from \u201cWtih\u201d (With the cutting down).\n Page 362, \u201cmeteorological\u201d changed from \u201cmeterological\u201d\n (meteorological and political); \u201cd\u00e9luge\u201d from \u201cdeluge\u201d (Apr\u00e8s\n nous le d\u00e9luge!).\n Page 366, \u201corganization\u201d changed from \u201corgainzation\u201d (an organization\n is required).\n Page 367, \u201cc\u2019est\u201d changed from \u201cc\u00e8st\u201d (L\u2019\u00e9tat c\u2019est moi);\n \u201creipublicae\u201d from \u201creipublica\u201d (~Salus reipublicae suprema lex\n esto~).\n Page 373, \u201cpossesses\u201d changed from \u201cposseses\u201d (commerce also\n possesses).\n Page 374, \u201cstatistically\u201d changed from \u201cstatistictlly\u201d (been\n statistically determined).\n Page 375, \u201cendeavour\u201d changed from \u201cendeavours\u201d (people will\n endeavour).\n Page 379, \u201cHertzka\u201d changed from \u201cHertza\u201d (Hertzka also takes).\n Page 382, \u201cand\u201d changed from \u201cnad\u201d (institutions and appliances).\n Page 386, exchanged positions of footnote markers [219] and [220].\n Page 392, \u201cartificially\u201d changed from \u201cartifically\u201d (produced\n grape-sugar artificially).\n Page 396, \u201cand\u201d changed from \u201cnad\u201d (crises, and unemployment).\n Page 397, \u201csuffice\u201d changed from \u201csufficice\u201d (would not suffice\n to satisfy).\n Page 399, \u201cquestions\u201d changed from \u201cquetsions\u201d (one of the questions).\n Page 405, \u201cbazaars\u201d changed from \u201cbazzars\u201d (elegant bazaars).\n Page 406, supplied missing \u201cc\u201d in \u201cmunicipalities\u201d (for entire\n municipalities).\n Page 412, \u201c124,000\u201d changed from \u201c124.000\u201d (investment of\n 124,000 marks).\n Page 413, \u201cPomerania\u201d changed from \u201cPommerania\u201d (of Russia and\n Pomerania).\n Page 417, \u201coat-grinders\u201d changed from \u201coat-ginders\u201d (oat-grinders,\n etc.).\n Page 419, \u201csucceeded\u201d changed from \u201csucceded\u201d (succeeded in\n removing).\n Page 420, \u201cthan\u201d changed from \u201cthat\u201d (make better flour than that).\n Page 423, inserted \u201cwill\u201d in \u201cmaterial will be saved\u201d.\n Page 425, \u201cgenerator\u201d changed from \u201cgenerater\u201d (an artificial\n generator); \u201cdrought\u201d from \u201cdraught\u201d (safeguard against drought).\n Page 437, \u201cprogresses\u201d changed from \u201cpregresses\u201d (human development\n progresses).\n Page 452, \u201cour children capable of its real enjoyment. An edu\u201d in\n \u201c~certain of obtaining ... wealth.~\u201d is not bold in the original.\n Page 453, \u201csuppression\u201d changed from \u201csuppresison\u201d (suppression\n of one\u2019s); deleted duplicated \u201cthe\u201d in \u201cfrom the present point\n of view\u201d.\n Page 454, \u201cdifference\u201d changed from \u201cdlfference\u201d (difference of\n opinions).\n Page 459, \u201cPawlow\u201d changed from \u201cPavlow\u201d (Russian physiologist,\n Pawlow).\n Page 461, \u201cmeasure\u201d changed from \u201cmeasue\u201d (measure in which\n civilization).\n Page 465, \u201canswer\u201d changed from \u201cansewr\u201d (we could answer);\n \u201cnecessary\u201d from \u201cnecsssary\u201d (similar necessary tasks).\n Page 470, \u201cmarriage\u201d changed from \u201cmarirage\u201d (hypocrites in\n marriage); \u201cirrefutably\u201d from \u201cirrefutibly\u201d (we have irrefutably\n proved).\n Page 471, \u201cSchopenhauer\u201d changed from \u201cSchoppenhauer\u201d (pessimism\n of Schopenhauer).\n Page 479, \u201cprincipal\u201d changed from \u201cprinciple\u201d (first, and principal\n means).\n Page 480, \u201caffected\u201d changed from \u201ceffected\u201d (These changes\n especially affected).\n Page 481, \u201cbourgeoisie\u201d changed from \u201cbourgoisie\u201d (For the English\n bourgeoisie).\n Page 496, \u201creproductive\u201d changed from \u201creproductiive\u201d (on\n reproductive ability).\n Page 504, \u201ccommercial\u201d changed from \u201ccommerical\u201d (and commercial\n schools).\n Footnote [28], \u201cYves\u201d changed from \u201cYoes\u201d (Yves Guyot).\n Footnote [52], \u201cMayer\u201d changed from \u201cMeyr\u201d (George v. Mayer).\n Footnote [69], \u201cd\u00e9truit\u201d changed from \u201cdetruit\u201d (empire est d\u00e9truit).\n Footnote [70], table, supplied respective second and third column\n headings \u201cWomen\u201d and \u201cMen\u201d.\n Footnote [83], \u201cHygiene\u201d changed from \u201cHygienne\u201d (Text Book of\n Hygiene).\n Footnote [84], \u201cTh.\u201d changed from \u201cH.\u201d (Th. Bade).\n Footnote [89], \u201cSeverus\u201d changed from \u201cSeverns\u201d (Dr. H. Severus).\n Footnote [99], \u201cinstitutions\u201d changed from \u201cinstitutioons\u201d (benefit\n fund institutions).\n Footnote [162], \u201cstrength\u201d changed from \u201cstrenght\u201d (size and\n strength).\n Footnote [182], \u201csubtlety\u201d changed from \u201csublety\u201d (With that\n subtlety).\n Footnote [188], \u201cmobili\u00e8res\u201d changed from \u201cmobili\u00e8rs\u201d (des valeurs\n mobili\u00e8res).\n Footnote [189], \u201cAristotle\u201d changed from \u201cAristotel\u201d (Aristotle\n says).\n Footnote [206], \u201cRau\u2019s\u201d changed from \u201cRaus\u2019s\u201d (first adaption of\n Rau\u2019s).\n Footnote [234], \u201cMill\u201d changed from \u201cMills\u201d (Mill has honestly\n tried).\n Footnote [236], \u201cthat\u201d changed from \u201ctht\u201d (that will disappear).\n Footnote [246], \u201cDelbrueck\u201d changed from \u201cDelbruek\u201d (Dr. Max\n Delbrueck).\n Footnote [247], \u201cBernthsen\u201d changed from \u201cBenthsen\u201d (According to\n Prof. Bernthsen).\n Footnote [252], \u201cPhilosophy\u201d changed from \u201cPhilisophy\u201d (Philosophy\n of Law).\n Footnote [257], \u201csociety\u201d changed from \u201csocity\u201d (society would\n introduce); \u201carbitrarily\u201d from \u201carbitrarely\u201d (_arbitrarily\n created_).\n Footnote [259], \u201c1907\u201d changed from \u201c1097\u201d (Stuttgart, 1907).\n Footnote [264], \u201csociety\u201d changed from \u201csocitey\u201d (treated in\n bourgeois society?).\n\nSome portions of the text that appear to be typographical errors\nare printed as such in the original book. A list of these possible\nmisprints follows:\n\n Page 37, \u201cgynacontis\u201d apparent typo for \u201cgynaiconitis\u201d or\n \u201cgynaikonitis\u201d.\n Page 216, the sentence\n\n It is especially noteworthy that during 1881, the year of a\n crisis, the number of men emparent one, since most of the\n wives and daughters of number of women employed increased\n by 80,638.\n\n is apparent typo for\n\n It is especially noteworthy that during 1881, the year of a\n crisis, the number of men employed decreased compared to 1871\n by 486,540 persons and the number of women employed increased\n by 80,638.\n\n In the German 62nd edition, the corresponding sentence reads\n \u201cBesonders bemerkenswert ist in der Tabelle, da\u00df, obgleich im\n Jahre 1881, das ein Krisenjahr war, die Zahl der besch\u00e4ftigten\n m\u00e4nnlichen Personen im Vergleich zu 1871 um 486.540 K\u00f6pfe abnahm,\n die Zahl der weiblichen um 80.638 zunahm.\u201d\n Page 323, table, the following data are apparent typos:\n \u201c7,474,046\u201d for \u201c5,474,046\u201d\n \u201c4,338,123\u201d for \u201c4,438,123\u201d\n \u201c5,390,288\u201d for \u201c5,490,288\u201d\n \u201c9,071,097\u201d for \u201c9,039,097\u201d\n \u201c12,816,552\u201d for \u201c12,784,552\u201d\n \u201c13,694,160\u201d for \u201c11,413,892\u201d\n \u201c4,161,961\u201d for \u201c6,422,229\u201d\n \u201c17,856,121\u201d for \u201c17,836,121\u201d\n Page 387, apparently missing \u201can hour\u201d or \u201cper hour\u201d after \u201cspeed of\n 201 kilometers\u201d, \u201c208 kilometers\u201d, and \u201cspeed of 200 kilometers\u201d.]","title":"Woman and Socialism","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":183075}