Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 9.djvu/290

 276 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

Hewins, Mr. J. M. Robertson, Mr. Benjamin Kidd, Dr. Roberts, Mr. J. A. Hobson, and by Mr. J. Martin White, who announced an offer of 1,000 to London University for the establishment of a preliminary course or courses in sociology, meaning, he said, thereby the study of social development, organization, and ideals in all forms of society from the highest to the lowest, with the view of constructing, not only a rea- soned theory of society, in relation with the highest philosophical thought of the day, but also of enunciating principles of action suitable to the guidance of contemporary life.

On the motion of Mr. Oscar Browning, seconded by Mr. Leonard Hobhouse, and supported by Professor Geddes, a committee was appointed to consider the question of the scope and aims of the proposed society, and to draft a constitution to be sub- mitted to a meeting in the autumn.

Mr. Oscar Browning, in speaking to this resolution, recalled the fact that Sir John Seeley had frequently said to him that in founding the Historical Tripos in Cambridge he had intended that it should develop into a Sociological Tripos, and Mr. Oscar Browning considered that the Historical Tripos had been successful in so far as it had been sociological and had been unsuccessful in so far as it had not been sociological. London Times, July 6, 1903.

Economic Independence of Woman. Two great revolutions are in process of accomplishment : the emancipation of the workman and the emancipation of the woman. As the emancipation of the workmen ought to be accomplished by the laborers themselves, that of woman ought to be accomplished by woman herself. Since it is by labor that men have been able to organize themselves and gain their independence, it is by labor that women must organize themselves and gain their economic and political independence. But it is necessary to distinguish between the organized labor which elevates the laborer and the overdriving and exploitation which brutalizes and annihilates. It is this latter form of slavery that women too often suffer.

Domestic labor is scarcely yet organized and has not been modified throughout the centuries.

The bourgeoise woman retards this emancipation, as she too often does not possess as much economic independence as the working woman. She follows the tradition which permits her to exchange some domestic duties, more or less badly fulfilled, and some sexual functions, for the necessities and luxuries of life. She contents herself with an economic state in which no proud man would allow himself to be held by another.

It is true that a pretty extensive choice of employments is offered to woman, but such employments are for the most part so poorly paid that men do not want them, and as parents are not in the habit of preparing their daughters in the technical and professional instruction given to boys, working women are almost all known as unskilled workers. Woman has some traditional and false ideas upon obligation and domestic devotion. She fritters away her time, and too often renders her home uninhabitable, in futile efforts to be at the same time tailor, laundress, ironer, cook, and mother of the family. These labors are carried on from early morn till night, and the odors of the washing and cooking charge the air and render it unwhole- some. The children are neglected or employed as aids in this unorganized labor at the age when they ought to be receiving an education and learning orderly habits.

The care of children, after the first year, ought to devolve upon the municipality, which should establish creches and some recreation parks under the supervision of specialists. The children would there be free from the contaminations of the street and receive scientific care up to the age of entering school. The woman would then be free to work in the interest of the community during five or six hours of the day.

At present, conscience and initiative are relatively awakened in the woman of every class. The aristocratic woman begins to discover that labor often renders life more interesting. The bourgeoise woman begins to learn that the education of her daughters ought not to consist in a mixture of the arts of pleasure and household work ; that it is better to prepare children to earn economic independence.

It is only the work outside of the home which can be organized and made to elevate the worker. By degrees the woman learns that to earn a little sum weekly