or by majorities? The essential feature of moral duty lies in each individual determining his or her own, so long as the rights of others are not interfered with. Woman cannot be a free moral agent while arbitrarily restricted in any sphere of moral action. And if the proposition of Burke that "The qualifications for government are virtue and wisdom, actual or presumptive," contains any truth, suffrage is as much the woman's moral duty as the man's. A stock objection of opponents to equal suffrage is that woman has all she can do as mother of the race. Sociology demonstrates this objection to be without scientific basis. The evolution of the state has been from a military to an industrial plane. In warring societies and epochs, where mortality is great, the birth-rate has been correspondingly high, and the maternal function emphasized to the suppression of other capacities in woman. The same law holds in the animal kingdom. Spencer shows that species destined to heavy chance mortality meet the emergency by enormous reproduction. With increased life chances offspring are less numerous. Accordingly in industrial societies the birth-rate decreases, and quality replaces quantity as the criterion of the family. The development of society from the military to the industrial stage has transformed the life of woman no less than of man. Smaller families, the general employment of servants, and the introduction into the household of labor-saving inventions and manufactured products now afford women time for new activities. Some of the sex are devoting their leisure to "pink teas" and other "social functions"; many, however, find in it an opportunity for larger usefulness, to themselves, to their families, and to society. Enlarged contact with the world has forced upon the attention of some of these women social problems which centuries of Christian civilization guided and controlled by man have not solved. These problems in great part affect the family and the home, but women in their present status are powerless to cope with them. They have begun to realize that it is vain to expect virtuous and happy homes in great numbers while pernicious influences are so unrestrictedly at work in the state, counterbalancing more or less the effects of early training; and following their new opportunity they regard it as their duty to help guard the course as well as the source of life's stream. To do this they must extend their labors into the larger domain of the state. It is useless to tell them to go back home and take care of their children. They have come outside for this very purpose. Their children are in state schools; they have an interest in the composition of the school board, in the character of the teachers, in the housing of pupils, and in all that constitutes our public-school system. Their children are necessarily on the streets and in public places; they must then resist and combat every vice which spreads its snare for the innocent. Indeed, to do their full duty as mothers of the race they must extend. their power into the state, to make it as tolerable a place as possible for their children. No apprehension need be felt that woman will then neglect her home duties. This was the agonized fear when she sought an education. In that crisis the great Dr. Johnson declared that woman "was better attending to her toilet than using the pen." The only sphere hitherto freely conceded to woman has been religion with the Book of Job underscored. The theory of the modern state alone furnishes an adequate reason for the enfranchisement of women. The state now assumes many functions once performed by the family and other private agencies, and has greatly enlarged its sphere for the promotion of the general welfare. It educates children, cares for the sick and the defective, enforces sanitary regulations, reforms rather than punishes its criminals, provides factory and tenement inspection, and undertakes many other services for the common good. The state as a police force existing only for the bodily protection of its citizens has become a social organism fostering the mental and moral as well as the physical well-being of its members. In these new functions of the state, women are fitted by nature and experience to coöperate with men. Politics, it is true, are not at present inviting; but general experience has been that with the advent of woman in the shop, the office, the counting-room, the college, and wherever she has gone, the moral atmosphere has improved. Her mere presence at political meetings, to which she is now cordially invited, has raised the tone of campaign addresses. It is hardly probable that a different result would follow her presence at the polls. What does the ballot to-day signify? Is a vote an expression of so much physical power, and does a majority indicate a preponderance of brute force? If this be true "educational campaigns" and appeals to reason are senseless. Time was when voting was done by the clash of the spear upon the shield. The ballot originally was a sub stitute for this demonstration, but now the state does not limit suffrage to warriors, and qualifications of voters are never physical. The ballot represents mere opinion, and law finds its validity in a majority of opinions. The basis of the modern state is intelligence. Why then should the state ignore the intelligence of half its citizens? The economy of human society demands that every factor should be used to the extent of its capacity. Why do women stake so much on the ballot? Because it is at the root of every tax, every public institution, every choice of officials, every law; it frees government from arbitrary element, removes discontent, and affords to all full and equal political power. It is the door to selfrealization. Its possession would make women responsible factors in the state; without it they are non-entities. Certain anti-suffragists protest that woman is morally superior to man, that she should exert an influence on the state, but that man should be the bearer of it. If this influence is desirable, why not introduce it directly into the state rather than filter it through a less moral medium? Women, however, do not claim the ballot on the ground of "moral superiority." The state does not need them more than they need the ballot. Woman's emancipation has not been conceived in rebellion, brought forth on the battle field, made tragic by martyrdom. Woman has not trundled cannon over the land nor talked treason; she has not neglected her home nor family. She has studied and thought and reasoned away all opposition not founded in prejudice. Her purpose is fixed and her faith strong that her cause will prevail. WEALTH-PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION BY THE NATION. BY GEORGE B. WALDRON, A. M. America's remarkable growth in material wealth has challenged the attention of the world. But that growth, with all the advantages it has brought, has at the same time developed conditions which unchecked may eventually work the ruin of the nation. It is probably not true that the poor as a class are growing poorer. Indeed, there are many indications that they are rather sharing in a measure the growing prosperity. But it is unquestionably true that the rich are growing richer; that wealth is more and more concentrating into the hands of the very few. On the one side are the millions whose many necessities and few comforts and luxuries absorb all, or nearly all, their incomes; on the other side are the few thousands who may have necessities, comforts and luxuries in abundance and still have a generous surplus which can be changed into capital yet more largely to swell their incomes. A number of attempts have been made in recent years to measure this congestion of wealth, but little serious effort has been turned toward measuring the causes which lead to this growing intensity of conditions. It is the purpose of this article to blaze a pathway into this field by attempting (1) to measure the annual production of the country, (2) to distribute this production among the families of the nation according to their probable incomes, and (3) to show the final disposition of this product. The results of the first inquiry may be accepted as fairly accurate; there is room for some differences of opinion as to the second and the third; but it is believed that even these are sufficiently accurate to show the real trend of conditions and to shed light on the reasons for the increasing congestion of wealth. We come then to the first inquiry. I. Annual Product of the Nation. How much wealth does the nation produce annually? To be more explicit: What is the money cost during a single year of bringing the material products of the country from the farm, forest, mine or water through the various processes of manufacture, transportation and trade to the point of family or other consumption? It is possible to answer this question with considerable accuracy for the census year 1890. The method adopted is based upon the number of persons actually engaged in productive work during the year. Census returns show that of the 62,622,250 people in the United States in 1890, there were 47,413,559, or 75.72 per cent over ten years of age. Of this possible number of workers 22,735,661, or 47.95 per cent were engaged in "gainful occupations." But not all in "gainful occupations" are direct producers of material wealth. The doctor, the minister and the teacher, for example, are valuable workers in society and indirectly, but not directly, productive of wealth, so such as they must be left out of consideration. A careful analysis of the different occupations shows that in the census year there were 20,115,106 persons employed in occupations directly productive of some form of material wealth. These were further subdivided into groups as follows: On raw materials, 9,725,445 workers; manufacturing, 6,643,879; transportation, 1,557,721; trade, 2,188,061. Great care was taken to make these divisions as accurate as possible. Others might differ somewhat as to the classification of certain occupations. This would vary the estimates of production of different classes, but would not materially affect the total production. The following table shows in detail the method adopted of estimating the total annual production of the nation: PRODUCTION BY THE UNITED STATES DURING THE CENSUS YEARS 1890 AND 1880. factures. Other Total. a4,712,622 c $4,210,393,207 a $2,283,216,529 $1,927,176,678 $894 8484 683,664,978 252,029,022 h 484 j354 $2,966,881,507 $2,179,205,700 $775 $447 1,931,257 935,694,000 6,643,879 $5,146,087,207| Produced per Worker. Wages per Worker. |