Nothing among the gloomy signs of the times today sheds a brighter ray of hope than the scientific discoveries in the field of pre-natal influence. It is now an established fact that parents may, to an extent before undreamed of, determine the lives of their children. “It is the right of every child to be well born.” Parents may ignore that right. If they do, the chances are that the child will suffer through life from some physical, mental or moral deformity which might have been prevented. Parents may recognize that right, study the laws of pre-natal influence, and so apply them as to intensify in their offspring every good quaiity they themselves possess, and greatly remedy every defect. If only a majority of our people would do this, the life of the nation would be transformed in a generation.
Dr. Elliot is one of the scientists who have studied these laws of pre-natal influence, and in this book he has done priceless service in so explaining them that all may understand and apply them. One position which he takes deserves special comment. He holds that there should be no chance conception, and as a corollary to this he holds that every married woman should know that there are safe and harmless methods for its prevention. This view will be decried by some, but all who judge conduct by its bearing on the best happiness of mankind, rather than by pre-conceived notions, will heartily commend it.
This is a book of facts and not theories. The author has had no partisan proposition to prove, or measure to advocate, but has simply aimed to collate all facts bearing upon this important subject, and so arrange them that they may tell their own story and teach their own lessons. The book aims to be thoroughly non-partisan, non-sectarian and non-sectional, and directs its appeal to the candid judgment and patriotic feeling of every true lover of the American Republic.
The lax administration of our immigration laws, which has made our European immigration practically unrestricted, has added much to our burdens of crime, pauperism and illiteracy. In this work are found, condensed and’ compared, the latest investigations on these important topics, as well as facts showing their bearings upon industrial, educational, municipal and national problems.
The comparison therein given of the voting power of the native and foreign elements of the several states, together with the analysis of the racial elements by states and cities, has important sociological bearings. This book deals exhaustively with every phase of this important question. In short,it deals with the American problem of the twentieth century. It aims to state that problem soclearly,in terms so simple,that every patriot can read its meaning and appreciate its magnitude.
Dr. Joseph Cook, in his introduction to the work, says: “The present writer has nowhere met with a more judicious and convincing presentation than the following volume contains of our perils from lax immigration laws. This is a book of telling facts and of sound and far-reaching inferences on the increasing mischiefs of unsifted immigration. Mrs. Rena Michaels Atchison, of Chicago, has long been known as an expert in this branch of sociological discussion. Her treatise is timely, incisive, and strategic both inthe exhibition of the great evils it describes and, in the suggestion of remedies.”
In 1890 Hon. Thos. E. Hill, well known as the author of “Hill’s Manual” and other standard educational works, proposed, in a letter to the Farmer’s Voice, a vital and far-reaching reform in the banking system of the United States,—no less a reform than the government ownership and contiol of the whole banking business. Mr. Hill’s system met with instant approval from many of the clearest thinkers of the country, especially the leaders of the People’s Party. It has already been endorsed by local conventions of the party, and is likely to be incorporated into the next national platform.
In response to many requests Mr. Hill has elaborated his system in the book Money Found, over 20,000 copies of which have already been sold. He points out that the terrible business depression which began in 1893 was due mainly to the people’s lack of confidence in the unsound private banks miscalled “national.” He explains how the United States might open its own bank in every important town, pay 3 per cent on long time deposits, lend at 4 per cent to every borrower who has adequate security, do away with usury and revive business, and all this not only without expense but with a net revenue to the government of about $390,000,000.
The latest edition of Money Found contains a glossary of financial terms, together with important statistical tables showing the financial legislation in i the United States, the rates of interest in the several states, the amount of gold, silver and paper money in the principal countries of the world, etc. The appendix alone is worth many times the cost of the book.
The Pullman strike has passed into history. The Pullman problem remains unsolved, and every patriotic American must do his part in solving it. For it is only part of a larger problem, one that is already upon us.
Had the strikers any real grievances, or were they the dupes of ambitious men with private ends to serve? Which ought the people to demand of their legislators, that they restrict the power of organized capital, or that they go further in repressing the movements of organized labor?
The answers to such questions depend rather on facts than on logic, but facts are hard to arrive at, when statements come from the parties vitally interested in the disputed questions. Mr. Carwardine’s little book has therefore a high and permanent value both to the citizen of to-day and the student of the future. For he is neither a capitalist nor, in the restricted sense, a workingman, but an observer, with nothing to prejudice him in favor of either side. This being the case, his testimony in favor of the men and against the Pullman Company is most convincing, and it is no wonder that the allied monopolists have done everything possible in indirect ways to discredit the little book, nor that its sale has been phenomenally rapid among those who are hoping and working for social progress toward a more humane civilization.
Not a single important statement in the book has been successfully challenged, and fair-minded men may read it with the certainty of getting at the facts.
The year 1894 will pass into America’s history as a memorable one. Throughout the nation the irrepressible conflict between human rights and “vested rights” has been growing more intense. Upon the town of Pullman all eyes have been focused, for here the national struggle has been reproduced in miniature,—reproduced in a fashion so concrete that the dullest minds have understood. Rarely has so grand a theme been found ready to the artist’s hand, and never has the artist appeared so promptly.
Mrs. Nico Bech-Meyer is an American by adoption and loyalty, though a Norsewoman by birth. She has acquired a mastery of the English language that most of our native authors might well envy. But she does not often let the reader stop to think of her style,— the movement of her story is too rapid.
Very artistically yet simply she discloses, as her story proceeds, the insufferable oppressions of the Pullman company; she interprets the mental struggle of the more intelligent of the working people; she closes her book with their final decision to begin the strike, and every reader who has followed the story from the beginning will feel that as free men and women they could not have done otherwise.
This book is full of inspiration for those who are tempted to think of the strike as onlya failure: “Never yet have great changes been effected without birthpains. There are walls which must be torn down, and old stuff which must be thrown out. Better to lie down on the street and die than to live a slave’s life and leave it as an inheritance to their children.”
Few employers and few of those in their employ have very definite ideas as to the implied agreements which legally attach to the ordinary verbal contract to work for so many dollars a week, and still fewer have any definite ideas as to how the law might be improved. The anonymous writer of this book gives much valuable information as to the present status of the labor contract, and he advocates certain legal reforms the discussion of which can not fail to do good.
He holds that under present conditions the laborer is usually at a disadvantage in making a labor contract, since his very life depends on his finding work, and that thus the employer often grasps an unduly large share of the product. The remedy which the author proposes is to limit by law the percentage of profit (after all expenses are paid) which capital may receive each year on its actual investment. He would put this limit high enough to compensate for the losses of unprofitable years. All profits above this limit he proposes to divide among those who do the work, either of hand or head, in proportion to their wages. Also he would make some provision against the enforcement of needless and oppressive regulations.
Never in the world’s history were the toiling millions so near as now to a union for political action to secure their rights. Given a plan on which all can unite, and the union can be effected with astonishing rapidity. This book develops many if not all the features of the coming plan foraction, and every thinking man should read it.
This book is, to begin with, a thoroughly well written love story, with an interesting plot and lifelike characters. Whoever begins it will read it through. When he has read it, if he was already a Populist, he will overflow with enthusiasm, while if he was a Republican or a Democrat he will have many things to think over.
The hero of the story is a People’s Party legislator, elected to represent a constituency of farmers and miners. The heroine is the daughter of one of our typical plutocrats, a man who had secured his election to the state senate in the interest of a wealthy corporation, and whose aim was to prevent just the legislation that the hero of the story was bent on securing. The senator conceived the happy idea of using his daughter’s influence with the popular young legislator, and the consequences of his endeavors are worked out by the novelist in a decidedly interesting fashion. For the final outcome, the reader must consult the book itself.
The hero, John Longwood, opens his political career by writing a series of letters on money, land, transportation, etc.; to his local paper. The ideas thus advanced are sound and timely, embodying some of the most important reforms which the country is suffering for to-day.
The book is dedicated to the People’s Party of America. “Never a party with so magnificent an opportunity. Never a party with rank and file so sturdy and noble. Never such a need for brave, wise and incorruptible leaders. If these pages encourage another John Longwood to come forward, it will not have been written in vain.
“It is full of interest.”—Ohio State Journal.
“In this beautiful volume we have a story of love that did not end at the altar.”—The Old Homestead.
“It is essentially a tale of this period, when women’s rights, women’s emancipation, women’s individuality, are in full force.”—Inter Ocean.
“The book is one that will increase the reader’s faith in humanity and respect for the rights and opinions of others.”—Woman’s Standard, Des Moines.
This modern love story, like its subject, does not end with the altar, but continues, quite in sympathy with modern progress, to prove that despite misunderstanding and trouble, marriage is never a failure when it is a union of souls. The heroine is a veritable fin de siècle maiden; she is devoted to her art, at least she thinks she is; not at all sentimental, until her heart is touched, when, quite to her own surprise and the amusement of the reader, she suddenly becomes a very ordinary damsel, none the less lovable for that, either in the eyes of her lover or his sympathetic confidante, who is likewise the reader. The tale is pleasantly told, bright with incident and not too serious with reflection to make it an enjoyable holiday companion.”—Journal of Education, Boston.
Miss Orcutt is perhaps best known as the “Editor of Economist Educational Exercises,” a series of lessons on economic subjects which were published in 1892—in the National Economist, then the official organ of the Farmers’ Alliance. Miss Orcutt is a member of the Illinois Woman’s Press Association, and a contributor to leading periodicals. She wrote “The Danger of the Hour,” a striking article published in the American Journal of Politics.
Miss Lucy A. Orrick, of Canton, Miss., has evoked the favorable criticism of the press and public in her production of “Jetta,” a story of the South and Louisiana, redolent with the perfume of yellow jasmine, wisteria and honeysuckle, and depicting, as the St.. Louis Republic says, “with captivating genuineness,” life on the famous Louisiana plantation. The characters drawn are true to life, and the scenes and incidents pictured are familiar to many Louisianians of the present day. The story is told with the ardor and enthusiasm of a Southern girl imbued with Southern ideas and Southern customs, and in this respect presents to the people of other sections of the country a faithful portrayal of life in the South as seen by one of its daughters.—New Orleans Times-Democrat.
Stories of Southern life are just now much in evidence. Many of them contain the best indication of the birth and growth of a genuine literature, because they are written by Southerners who know whereof they write, and show that they recognize the value of materials that lie close to their hands. They exhibit a sincere effort to depict life and character. This captivating genuineness is noticeable in “Jetta,” a story, of the South, which has just been published by Charles H. Kerr & Co., of Chicago. Under the nom de plume of Semrick one may easily recognize the personality of a bright young woman with a manifest gift of story telling.—St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Throughout one breathes and revels in an atmosphere essentially Southern; the characters are genuine types of Southerners; the negro dialect perfect, and one always feels that there is a promise of something stronger from the same pen in the future.—Canton Times.
Essentially a Southern story, fresh, vivid and interesting in every line of character portrayed.—Memphis Commercial Appeal.
CONDEMNED BY COMSTOCK
BUT COMMENDED BY INTELLIGENT CRITICS EVERYWHERE.
Anthony Comstock condemns “Woman, Church and State”.[1] In a letter written. Feb. 26, 1894, but only recently made public, he says: “In reference to whether this is a proper book to put in a school library for children to read. I unhesitatingly say no, it is not a proper book for children to read. . . . . The incidents of victims of lust told in this book are such that if I found a person putting that book indiscriminately before the children I would institute a criminal proceeding against him for doing it.”
This letter was in answer to an inquiry from a Catholic member of a school board at Fayetteville, N. Y., the author’s home. She had presented the work to the school library, and the member in question, objecting to Mrs. Gage’s straightforward statements of fact in her chapters on “Celibacy,” “Canon Law,” etc., sent the book to Anthony Comstock for his opinion.
Commenting on this letter, the Boston “Investigator” says: “The only question to be asked and answered regarding the work of Mrs. Gage is this: Does she tell the truth? That is the point. If Mrs. Gage has stated what is false, has given to fictions the face and form of facts, let her be corrected; let her be shown up as a falsifier; but, if she has told the truth, if she has bodied forth in her volume the ugly wrongs of church and state against her sex, then they who vilify her name and attempt to throw dishonor upon her work, fear the truth and are afraid to have the dead body of history uncovered. Mrs. Gage is the victim of Christian superstition, of religious prejudice, but this foolish and unjust persecution of one of America’s great women and one of the century’s true reformers, ought to bring her latest and greatest effort before the public, which we feel confident will, after reading it, vindicate not alone her work, but her forcible language, as necessary to fitly reveal the subject under discussion.”
The “Church Union” of New York, a Congregational paper of wide circulation, which numbers eight clergymen among its contributing editors, has given the book two reviews, the first from the pen of its editorin-chief, the second presumably from that of Rev. Charles H. Parkhurst, D. D., the famous reform clergyman of New York. The first says, “We have not space for more than a notice of this highly interesting book. We should like to give it the extensive review it deserves and thus to summon the attention of our readers to some of the very important truths that are presented and which call for thought on the part—of all. But get the book and study its striking contents for yourself.” The second review declares that “its teeming pages contain not a few important and neglected truths which it would be well for churches and state to ponder.”
Moncure D. Conway, of London, England, the biographer of Emerson, wrote, “It has long been my usage to read everything I encountered from your pen. I shall probably have something to say of it in one of my discourses at South Place.”
From a lady Professor in a Pennsylvania College: “The style of your book is clear, the argument conclusive, borne out as it is by authority. It has stirred us all as I wish that the book might stir the entire race of women in every part of the world. One million ought to be distributed and read in our country alone.”
Judge Merrick of the Louisiana Supreme bench declared he had “nothing but unqualified praise for the book.”
A Boston physician wrote, “Allow me to congratulate you. “Woman, Church and State” is the greatest book ever written by a woman and the grandest book ever written in the interests of woman. I mention it to every woman I meet, and all who have read it are pleased, instructed and astonished.”
The “Woman’s Tribune” of Washington. D. C., edited by Mrs. Clara Berwick Colby, commends the book as “especially valuable for study in woman’s clubs.”
A Washington, D. C., lady, a.Christian Scientist, said, “What a wonderful book! I cannot read but a little at a time, for it seems to stir up the old Adam in me, that I thought was buried. Every library in the world ought to have it.”
The “Advance” of Chicago, the leading Congregational weekly of the West, says that the book “shows much research and learning.”
Rev. Dr. Keeling, an Episcopal clergyman of Dakota, says, “It is a most remarkable book and is bound to make a stir among the clergy. I have read it once, shall read it again and mark it, read it a third time and take notes.”
“The Banner of Light, a noted Spiritualistic paper of Boston, says, “If any writer has done the present generation an extremely valuable service. Mrs. Gage’s name heads the list. There is no true man or woman who cannot but feel under obligations to its author.”
Victor K. Lemstrand, a literary gentleman and profound thinker of Stockholm, wrote, “I want to make the work known here in Sweden and perhaps translate parts of it into Swedish.”
A noted lady reformer of the South, a woman of wealth and position, after receiving the book wrote, “I came home and looked your book through; was so chained to it I could not let it go. I am thankful and overjoyed at the book. It will make a stir and emancipate thousands. I thank you in my soul. I cannot see anything you could have omitted. It throws a light on the park pages of life, a strong light, it is true, strong because true, but in a most solemn and dignified manner.”
Column after column could be filled with notices similar in character, from newspapers, magazines and letters, all speaking in the highest manner of the purity of the book, its profound learning, the research shown, and its immense value to the world. It is a history, both of the church and the state, especially in their relations to woman, which touches many points that have been ignored by male historians, and herein lies its greatest value. Intelligent men and women who do not believe in a censorship are invited to send for the book and judge whether its tendency is to corrupt the imagination of girls, or to teach them the dignity of womanhood.
- ↑ Woman, Church and State, a historical account of the status of woman through the Christian ages; with reminiscences of the matriarchate. By Matilda Joslyn Gage, Chicago. Charles H. Kerr & Company, 175 Monroe Street. Cloth, gilt top, 554 pages, $2.00 postpaid.