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The workingman, whose strength and
muscles are so admired by the pale, puny off-springs of the rich, yet
whose labour barely brings him enough to keep the wolf of starvation
from the door, marries only to have a wife and house-keeper, who must
slave from morning till night, who must make every effort to keep
down expenses. Her nerves are so tired by the continual effort to
make the pitiful wages of her husband support both of them that she
grows irritable and no longer is successful in concealing her want of
affection for her lord and master, who, alas! soon comes to the
conclusion that his hopes and plans have gone astray, and so
practically begins to think that marriage is a failure.
THE CHAIN GROWS HEAVIER AND HEAVIER
As the expenses grow larger instead
of smaller, the wife, who has lost all of the little strength she had
at marriage, likewise feels herself betrayed, and the constant
fretting and dread of starvation consumes her beauty in a short time
after marriage. She grows despondent, neglects her household duties,
and as there are no ties of love and sympathy between herself and her
husband to give them strength to face the misery and poverty of their
lives, instead of clinging to each other, they become more and more
estranged, more and more impatient with each other's faults.
The man cannot, like the
millionaire, go to his club, but he goes to a saloon and tries to
drown his misery in a glass of beer or whiskey. The unfortunate
partner of his misery, who is too honest to seek forgetfulness in the
arms of a lover, and who is too poor to allow herself any legitimate
recreation or amusement, remains amid the squalid, half-kept
surroundings she calls home, and bitterly bemoans the folly that made
her a poor man's wife.
Yet there is no way for them to
part from each other.
BUT THEY MUST WEAR IT
However galling the chain which has
been put around their necks by the law and Church may be, it may not
be broken unless those two persons decide to permit it to be severed.
Should the law be merciful enough
to grant them liberty, every detail of their private life must be
dragged to light. The woman is condemned by public opinion and her
whole life is ruined. The fear of this disgrace often causes her to
break down under the heavy weight of married life without daring to
enter a single protest against the outrageous system that has crushed
her and so many of her sisters.
The rich endure it to avoid scandal
--- the poor for the sake of their children and the fear of public
opinion. Their lives are one long continuation of hypocrisy and
deceit.
The woman who sells her favours is
at liberty to leave the man who purchases them at any time, "while
the respectable wife" cannot free herself from a union which is
galling to her.
All unnatural unions which are not
hallowed by love are prostitution, whether sanctioned by the Church
and society or not. Such unions cannot have other than a degrading
influence both upon the morals and health of society.
THE SYSTEM IS TO BLAME
The system which forces women to
sell their womanhood and independence to the highest bidder is a
branch of the same evil system which gives to a few the right to live
on the wealth produced by their fellow-men, 99 percent of whom must
toil and slave early and late for barely enough to keep soul and body
together, while the fruits of their labour are absorbed by a few idle
vampires who are surrounded by every luxury wealth can purchase.
Look for a moment at two pictures
of this nineteenth century social system.
Look at the homes of the wealthy,
those magnificent palaces whose costly furnishings would put
thousands of needy men and women in comfortable circumstances. Look
at the dinner parties of these sons and daughters of wealth, a single
course of which would feed hundreds of starving ones to whom a full
meal of bread washed down by water is a luxury. Look upon these
votaries of fashion as they spend their days devising new means of
selfish enjoyment --- theatres, balls, concerts, yachting, rushing
from one part of the globe to another in their mad search for gaiety
and pleasure. And then turn a moment and look at those who produce
the wealth that pays for these excessive, unnatural enjoyments.
THE OTHER PICTURE
Look at them herded together in
dark, damp cellars, where they never get a breath of fresh air,
clothed in rags, carrying their loads of misery from the cradle to
the grave, their children running around the streets, naked, starved,
without anyone to give them a loving word or tender care, growing up
in ignorance and superstition, cursing the day of their birth.
Look at these two startling
contrasts, you moralists and philanthropists, and tell me who is to
be blamed for it! Those who are driven to prostitution, whether legal
or otherwise, or those who drive their victims to such
demoralisation?
The cause lies not in prostitution,
but in society itself; in the system of inequality of private
property and in the State and Church. In the system of legalized
theft, murder and violation of the innocent women and helpless
children.
THE CURE FOR THE EVIL
Not until this monster is destroyed
will we get rid of the disease which exists in the Senate and all
public offices; in the houses of the rich as well as in the miserable
barracks of the poor. Mankind must become conscious of their strength
and capabilities, they must be free to commence a new life, a better
and nobler life.
Prostitution will never be
suppressed by the means employed by the Rev. Dr. Parkhurst and other
reformers. It will exist as long as the system exists which breeds
it.
When all these reformers unite
their efforts with those who are striving to abolish the system which
begets crime of every description and erect one which is based upon
perfect equity --- a system which guarantees every member, man, woman
or child, the full fruits of their labour and a perfectly equal right
to enjoy the gifts of nature and to attain the highest knowledge ---
woman will be self-supporting and independent. Her health no longer
crushed by endless toil and slavery no longer will she be the victim
of man, while man will no longer be possessed of unhealthy, unnatural
passions and vices.
AN ANARCHIST'S DREAM
Each will enter the marriage state
with physical strength and moral confidence in each other. Each will
love and esteem the other, and will help in working not only for
their own welfare, but, being happy themselves, they will desire also
the universal happiness of humanity. The offspring of such unions
will be strong and healthy in mind and body and will honour and
respect their parents, not because it is their duty to do so, but
because the parents deserve it. They will be instructed and cared for
by the whole community and will be free to follow their own
inclinations, and there will be no necessity to teach them
sychophancy and the base art of preying upon their fellow-beings.
Their aim in life will be, not to obtain power over their brothers,
but to win the respect and esteem of every member of the community.
ANARCHIST DIVORCE
Should the union of a man and woman
prove unsatisfactory and distasteful to them they will in a quiet,
friendly manner, separate and not debase the several relations of
marriage by continuing an uncongenial union.
If, instead of persecuting the
victims, the reformers of the day will unite their efforts to
eradicate the cause, prostitution will no longer disgrace humanity.
To suppress one class and protect
another is worse than folly. It is criminal. Do not turn away your
heads, you moral man and woman.
Do not allow your prejudice to
influence you: look at the question from an unbiased standpoint.
Instead of exerting your strength
uselessly, join hands and assist to abolish the corrupt, diseased
system.
If married life has not robbed you
of honour and self-respect, if you have love for those you call your
children, you must, for your own sake as well as theirs, seek
emancipation and establish liberty. Then, and not until then, will
the evils of matrimony cease.
THE END
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