THE VITALITY OF THE RACE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 516, 25 May 1909, Page 8

THE VITALITY OF THE RACE.

A REJOINDER. (Bγ Agnes Bennett.) The sincere gratitude of the men and women of New Zealand is due to Dr. Batchelor for his fearless statement of somo of the agencies in the deterioration of tho race which he brought forward at tho meeting of .the Society for tho Promotion -of Health' of Women and Children. Few have had the moral courage to face the seriousness of the factors to which ho gives second place as a deteriorating agency. To thousands the magnitude of this evil which is sapping the vitality of our race must come as a shock; no thinking person can read the lecture without giving it the gravest consideration. " There is not a doctor but knows, not one, but many cases where from this cauee alono homes have never been blessed with children, and would-be mothers have been , reduced to invalidism./ Why, then, in tho face of such facts does Dr. Batchelor. givo priority of position and space to a factor that is not only far from proved,-bnt very doubtful—i.e., that to the widening of women's sphere must be attributed the chief impossibility in this much-talked-of deterioration of our race. Nations have recognised and unsuccessfully attempted to stem tho. tido of this devastating scourge of preventiblo disease for generations. Why then attribute as chief factor in this deterioration a cause that is , so' open to controversy? Snch a stand is not worthy the rest of the doctor's able speech. It is upon this doubtful cause that I cannot endorse-his views.

Woman's Sphere. ■' ■ . He says, in relation to women entering upon work outside the home, "young women entering upon o course Nature never intended them for." Who will arrogate to themselves the right to say what Nature did intend women, or men, for? A century ago it wonld certainly have been said that Nature never meant' that the bones of a living man should be made visible to the eye of another. Civilisation and intellectual development have taken men into wider spheres. Man may develop every latent faculty in his brain and be commended for giving his energy te nerve-straining, commercial ■ pursuits, and to difficult and exhausting scientific research with resulting enfeoblement of physiological functions.' Is woman to, stifle the inborn yearnings of her' intellect that she may be'/io more than a healthy animal to minister to and apparently compensate for the impaired vitality pi the man? , ' Can true-progress possibly consist of-a man of hjghly-cultured intellect pacing side by side with, a woman who is no more than an intelligent vegetable? Jt is impossible for a.woman who aoes_ not understand something of the complexities of life to train her boys and girls in' the self-re- ( straint and judgment that are necessary to meet those complexities'. Dr. Batchelor suggests that boys and girls shall work together till they are 13 or 14 years of age; probably—hei says—the girl will have shown greater intellectual ability up to that age. Is it possible -to then cut off the girl from intellectual pursuits; • and set her .entirely within the limits of housewifely attainments ?- Such' a course is only on a par with'the cruelty of lifting a curtain, and displaying a forbidden feast:te'a starving man. If a woman is to be kept strictly ,within this sphero; sho, must not bo allowed to dip into intellectual pursuits—school must bo prohibited from her earliest years. ." :

Real Raco Progress. '< Are, thon, the mothers of our race to be cowrlike individuals, who—as far; as is ■ possible, for one unassisted parent—shall merely endow their children with healthy bodies and bo totally unable to..train.their-minds? The whole of-animal life shows that as tho scale ascends, tho young depend more, and for a longor period ; after ' birth^:. upon tho parent.' : In the -human family this period extends to years, iand' as civilisation progresses and tho preparation for life becomes more complex, , the term of,;dependence becomes longer. Iβ the house-making parent then to bo kept to tho.low intolleotual level and yet be expected to train her childrenfor these ever-increasing complexities? Real race progress cannot -bo accomplished with half the race acting as a drag upon:the other half. History clearly. shows . that wherever races been _at the highest levels of power and civilisation, women have held a high and intellectual place in the social community. In that most striking of all i periods of wealth, prosperity, and' learning—the Renaissance—the women, of Italy not only .were skilled in household management, but. were wellyorsed in literature, mathematics,. and foreign . languages; they were the judges arid patrons of art, and controlled the education and training "of their ohildron. Let any doubter of my word read the life and letters of Isabella D'Este and others of. the period. ' . . ' Not a New Movement. : It is a mistake to think.that women are more to-the fore now inthe.initelleotual and social r world than they have ever been before. .The medical profession in the Middle Ages was alAost entirely in the hands ;of women'.; Nuns and sisterhoods established hospitals and treated the, fationts'.therein long years.beforo it was over thought of appointing men as their medical officers.. Obstetrics up to'the middle of the eighteenth century were entirely in the hands of women. ■ 'Victoria was the first Queen of England who was'assisted obstetrically by a man. With the entry of men into this sphere came the entry of the artificial 'methods to which Dr. Batchelor refers, which are now used te an extent; that is by no means, always justifiable. If this.is to. bo taken as evidence of the deterioration of women's; physique, I should; like, to point out that' the deterioration set in long'before women began to widen their sphere of labour. A century: ago women certainly were more satisfied -with-the home .sphere; but different' was thaisphere to the present day!; Then it.gave scope for intelligence arid action, for it comprised the preserve and pioklo faotery, the linen andwool mill, the beer and'butter and bread factory. Thisis an. age of machinery and specialisation, and the latter has ■ deprived women, of- many industries that 'were formeirry her sphere. Is she to be blamed for.seeking other outlets for her energy?

What Women Have Done. . 'Granted that a woman is differently constituted to man—and who would deny, such ? —has not woman the nicer sensibilities and more moral courage ? How long did men slur over tho terrible state of the commissariat department in the Crimean war? It tookj Florenco Nighting'alo to courageously state the truth'. The world needs' the incorporation of, such standards of truth and oonrageV; in its commercial - and social relationships. This moralcourage and power of facing facts haro always been ; intelbgent woman's most useful attributes. It is with their aid that Elizabeth Fry, Hannah More, Agnes Weston, Florence Nightingale, and Louisa Twining have brought about some of .the greatest-re-forms of the century. Every umt added to commercial or professional lire —be they man or woman—adds to or detracts from the sum total of its commercial' morality.' The addition of those of a higher moral standard must improve the whole. It is only by the inculcation of higlier moral standards upon the whole community that we shall ever abate the social evil that Dri Batcholor has so poignantly put before us. No legislation, no artificial methods will ever bring.about improvement—they have been tried and abandoned more tlian once. To legalise and control snch an ovil would make, many of our young people accept it as right and justifiable without applying to it the test of their ovm reasoning powers. The reform lies in tho individual, and upon tho individual a higher moral standard must be imwsod. Give woman a chance to express herself and to make herself, her own natural moral self, felt m tho life of tho community, and this improvement must per so tend to come about. Hoi point of view must bo taken into account in this too-much man-governed community. . In both professional and commercial life her feelings havo been too long loft out of account. "Why should she, , a reasoning being, be entirely controlled by man-made, laws, ead judged* wbm occasion erisea, ij; jxw.

who, constitutionally different, as all allow, cannot in tie nature of things fully understand her motii?esp . Advantages ef Women Employees. There is certainly no doubt that women do feel responsibility more than men —they are more conscientious, and for this reason a responsible work involving others is a strain upon them nervously. But is not this conscientiousness the very fabric of our civilisation which is founded upon out trust in one another? Civilised communities would,not be possible if man did not believe that another was competent and trustworthy in what he undertook, be that undertaking tho baking of his bread or tho investment of public or private trust moneys. Huxley says that commerce is tho greatest civilising agency the workl has known. "It taaght men," he says,/ "to be truthful, punctual, and precise in their engagements, and men who were truthful, punctual, and precise in the execution or their engagements had put their feet upon the first rung of the ladder which led' to moral and intellectual elevation." . Truthfulness, punctuality and precision are the very qualities that our commercial and professional life is crying out for to-day, and they are at the present moment qualities more inherent in women than in men, as any employer of male and female clerks ,will readily admit. They aro not intellectual qualities, they belong more to tho moral side of our natures. Intellectually, woman has never claimed superiority to man, but it cannot be denied that individual women have equalled and outstripped men and added very materially,-and beneficially to tho store of the world's knowledge. That women in the medical profession only reach mediocrity is a statement as unfair as it is untrue. One day spent at the "New Hospital" in London (entirely officered and managed by women) would completely disillusionise Dr. Batcbelor if ho would go to it with an open mind.

Domestic Sorvico and Its Drawbacks. Dr. Batchelor ignores the fact that there, are many more women than men m every country, and that there will always be women who must earn their own livelihood., At the present moment domestic labour is the most anattractive moans of livelihood that can present itself. It is the, only labour not controlled by statute, and is tho sphere whero not only individuality, initiative,' and ambicion have often to bo in constant fend entire subjection'! to the will of one who is morally and intellectually an inferior, but where any lifo outside of tho work is of ten .impossible. Give domestic work a better status, and thero are many women who would find it congenial and health-giving. At tho present moment it is neither, as'is well-known to both mistress and doctor! It; is this want pf status of domestic work that drives many girls of, not'very pronounced testes into clerking and typewriting, a work at which thoy are' naturally'apt, and which no man ought to grudge them. The man who finds, satisfaction in making this his life work is an inferior intellectually, and it would be much better, for the race if hewero driven to theland and compelled to develop tho physical side. It is legitimately the domain of tho physically less strong woman who will probably at somo time enter another sphere of labour. She is brought into contact with men in a natural way, and thus often wins for herself tho domestic Sphere that force, of circumstances renders, unattainable for the housekeeping girl. The independence engendered by feeling ,ehe can support herself makes tho woman nrore able to bo particular whom she marries, and in the face of Dr. Batchelor's facts surely this is desirable. A few years at such work does not unfit a woman physiologically or mentally for home life. ' . '■ .; .

Tlie Crux of the Question. ; ■ • The true crux of'the wholo question is tho trained mind. Tho best training for any walk in life is that which teaches : a boy or girl sound reason and good judgment and "empire over self." liong, indeed, have educators been trying to engraft this upon a world which is still at tho shrine of examinations and acquirement of facts. If household management can ever, bo so summarised as to draw, out and cultivate these faculties of reason and judgmentj' then by all means, train,.girls', minds with the aid of them. I cannot conceive that : any educator can ever believe that they could hayo-the same "training" value as'mathematics which teach us , reasou and application, or literature and history, which, as Bacon says,: "not only, maketh things past present, but onableth one to make a rational conjecture of things to come —it pnviUgeth with , ' the : exr>erienco of age, without oither tho infirmities or kconveniences thereof." Woman is, by nature, adaptable; the acquirement of. the facts of household management is an easy mattar if she has a ready ■ intelligenbe to comprehend them, and a trained and methodical mind to put them into practice. Facilities for the acquirement of these facts should always exist, arirl all the intellect . woman can muster should be brought to, bear upon tho subject of.the training and roaring of children. '. At present there seems little chance'of this in New Zealand. Tho spread of the free kindergarten movement will soon, 1 hope, ,opon up opportunities for many girls to come into personal contact with children, and loam tho charm of tho child's mind, as well as how to sympathiso with and control it. . Only with this understanding can sho become an intelligent trainer of her own children. No girl could put in the time'between school and marriage to better advantage, than by undergoing'the training of a kindergartener. Would that this could be substituted for the undue waste of time, energy and heatlh in the pursuit of pleasure among the well-to-do when discontent and ."nerves" aro so often the result of warpei faculties and aimless -existences. \ ■ ■ . ■■ - '■.■'■ Civilisation v. Instinct, ■ Civilisation has, to a great extent, ousted instinct—we can trust to instinct no longer —scieno-3 arid reason must supply'its place. Ewevor much we may regret tho loss of it. we must face the fact that it has'largely gone from us. Even; such acts, as the suckJitig of a child cannot now be left tn ir.stinct art of doing it. must be studied, and its importance'and physiology definitely understood: . Intellect .must come in.to compensate for the loss of, instinct. Well may we envy some of the possessions of primitii-e man. The world : has not yet adjusted itjelf to the saved labour conditions that havo come: about through the invention of. machinery, time has. been thrown upon our hands, which, ia tho present state 'of evolution, we are not quite fit to uso boa'»hcially. Woman has been'most affected on account of the great change in the homo sphere. She no longer is the maker of linen, the weaver cloth, and the manufacturer of bread and beer. Since the necessities of life now make so much less demand upon the woman, her energies must be turned w. other directions; she ought to be able to raise the moral and intellectual standard of her home. By living in such an atmosphere, children absorb it with no drain upon their mental powers. It is only by, this saving of. their energies for the future that the prosent generation will be enabled te go a step further in race progress and civilisation.

Some channels there must be for women's facnltlos. It ia perfectly hopeless to expect her not to change with the times. Women are borne on a wave over which they have no control; it has originated in unseen forces deep down in the world's metabolism; it has gathered strength till it. has involved and encircled every nation. As well might we .try to stem it, as might a child try to stem the current of a deeply-flowing nver with the outstretched palm of his hand. ■,