Husbands’ policy is: Where the treasury is, there will the wives’ hearts be also.
The welfare of the women who give their time—twenty-four hours of the day, and for twenty-five or thirty years of their lives, their prime—for the development of citizens has been left to chance.
The state has made no provision whereby potential citizens shall be assured of the proper care.
The mother’s time has been considered of no value, that is, her service is not paid for in money.
If, in her youth, a woman married a man who was able to make money, she might be assured of food, clothing and shelter for her children unless or until Fortune frowned and the property was lost.
Any woman, whose husband dies, gives her time to the care of her children, no matter how poorly equipped she may be to earn a living for them in the world. She tries to do her own work, and besides that, what her husband did—maintain the family.
The state has made no provision for the care of potential citizens whose father has died, thereby cutting off the income which was once theirs.
We say that the purpose of the home is to develop children, that the home is established for children.
The purpose of the school is to supplement the teaching of the home, and this is to be re-enforced by the influence of the church. The office of the state is to wisely protect the home and safeguard the interests of its citizens. The government is the mentor of the citizens.
The theory is admitted that the business world is organized and operated for the one purpose of maintaining the home and its adjuncts—school, church and government. But the fact is, that, except for the taxes which great business institutions pay, there are very few children taken care of directly by big businesses.