Page:The Feminist Movement - Snowden - 1912.djvu/224

 one set of workers without damaging in some measure another set, one would like to do it. It does not seem to be possible. Trade, industry, commerce, finance are so intricately intertwined, so delicately balanced, that a movement in one quarter sets up a corresponding movement in the whole fabric, and hundreds, sometimes thousands, are affected who never dreamt of being brought within the sphere of its influence. The guiding rule here as in all things should be the greatest good of the greatest number, the true interests of society as a whole; and measured by this standard, all but the most anarchistic spirits, those who object to regulation in any and every form, must protest against the slackening of certain regulations of women's labour.

Every woman is a potential mother. This means more than the potential fatherhood of every man, for the woman's body may be requisitioned for a special work. This fact is the justification for the regulation of women's work more than men's, the sufficient reason for establishing a minimum of conditions which no employer shall be permitted to violate. It is good, on the whole, that women should not work in factories at night. It is good that the number of hours young persons of eighteen shall work per week should be limited. It is good that a woman shall not be permitted to return to work too soon after