THE PROBLEM OF THE FAMILY 715 



together and to put the home on its own feet and lead it to self- 

 support. The use of the social settlement in our cities tends strongly 

 in the same direction. Indeed, it is almost a first principle of all 

 expert charitable work now to make respect for the home and all 

 possible use of its resources a cardinal principle of all philanthropic 

 effoit. The vigorous attack on the tenement-house problem pro- 

 ceeds on the assumption that the single home is the goal of its efforts 

 and is already doing much to demonstrate the social and moral value 

 of the home. Those who are dealing with the criminal are more and 

 more impressed with the need of a better home life as the greatest 

 single aid to the relief of society from the burdens of crime, and the 

 surest protection against the beginnings of & criminal career. And 

 the students of the evils of intemperance and licentiousness have of 

 late come to see that the home, in its moral training, its cooking, and 

 social activities, is, after all, one of the most important objects of their 

 concern. Some go so far as to say that it is the most important of all. 

 Something has been done to meet the evils of sexual vice. The 

 more noticeable of these efforts are those of the Woman's Christian 

 Temperance Union and the report of the Committee of Fifteen in 

 New York. 



I think a careful study of the conditions in these several directions 

 can hardly fail to convince the thoughtful student that, with all the 

 apparent evils of an excessive individualism, there has been slowly 

 gathering within the last quarter of a century the forces of a strong 

 movement in the direction of a better understanding and a better 

 use of the home. I am speaking, let it be noted, of the excesses of 

 individualism and am not forgetful of its invaluable contributions to 

 social progress. Beneath all is a growing sense of the importance 

 of those social relations that lie back of individual agreements and 

 individual interests. The conviction that life is a unity and that this 

 unity implies w r hat may properly be called an organism is growing. 

 And we are beginning to perceive that what is true of society as a 

 whole may be true of its constitutional and characteristic institutions. 



Such in brief outline is the present condition of the problem of the 

 family under the treatment it has received in the last twenty years 

 or so. From this survey it is not difficult to learn something of the 

 work immediately before us. This work is both practical and scien- 

 tific. Let us look first at the practical phases of it. 



It is obvious that the experimental work of our state legislation 

 should go on. Our political system has the great advantage for a 

 democracy, with all its peculiar disadvantages, of enabling one or 

 more states to make experiments for the benefit of the rest without 

 involving the whole country in their risk. The summary of the 

 legislation on marriage and divorce already given illustrates this. 

 We have the results of these independent experiments and can see io 



