Missouri Housekeepers' Conference Association. 439 



small scales. The point that I wish to make is that the use of real 

 labor-saving devices and the employment of co-operative methods 

 of production may be a sacred duty in a world of many needs. 



But the view must be far in time as well as wide in space if 

 it is to be a factor in progressiveness and adjustability. Women 

 who know the history of the past and who understand the condi- 

 tions of the present see tendencies in society which make them re- 

 alize that the final solution of the industrial problem will be upon 

 a democratic basis. Industrial democracy, like the labor problem, 

 may be simply stated, in spite of the tremendous practical difficul- 

 ties which it suggests. That within the limits of the well-being of 

 society as a whole every individual should have an opportunity to 

 secure training for the work he is best fitted to perform, should 

 have an opportunity to contribute to wealth, and the privilege of 

 disposing of the rewards of his labor according to his own desires, 

 is perfectly self-evident; and since we accept this we must accept 

 also the fact that household labor will not be brought into line with 

 progress toward industrial democracy until the workers receive 

 the full money value of their work and are permitted to decide for 

 themselves what per cent, they will use for food, what for clothes, 

 what for shelter, what for education and what for the higher life, 

 to use Mrs. Richards' classification. 



The wide view and the far view show that the experiments 

 which we most need and those whose results should be brought 

 most clearly to the attention of all women, are those which have 

 for their purpose the reduction of the amount of unproductive labor 

 and the placing of household work where it will be in line with 

 the development of democracy. In making such experiments, 

 women are seriously handicapped in two ways : First, by econo- 

 nomic dependence which frequently prevents them from controlling 

 the wealth which they produce, and, second, by the fact that they 

 have no vote upon municipal affairs. The woman who receives 

 in exchange for her labor only food and shelter and the oppor- 

 tunity to run up a bill at the dry-goods store may, because of her 

 force of character and intellectual strength be a factor in house- 

 hold adjustment to technical development, but she can never be 

 so great a factor as she would be if she could control her income. 

 The woman who is obliged to work for public improvement by the 

 indirect methods of persuasion and argument is at a disadvantage 

 in trying to introduce up-to-date methods into town administration, 

 and into municipal housekeeping. Every move that is made toward 

 securing economic independence of women and their opportunity 



