Overcrowding of population in the cities and an unduly wide scattering of population in newly settled communities are both unfavorable conditions. In the overcrowded tenement houses it is impossible to furnish a healthful environ ment for children ; it is difficult to satisfy the ordinary bodily demands for breathing-space and light ; and it is unreasonable to expect other than unfavorable effects from the strain imposed by constant living in the very midst of a densely packed throng. Good work and, still more, proper enjoyment of the results of work, require hours of relaxation and quiet. These are ob tained by the isolated pioneer, but at the ex pense of that social contact which is likewise essential to human progress. Farm life in America has this drawback in a peculiar degree, because each family, as a rule, lives on its own farm instead of in villages as in European countries. An American farmer travelling by rail through the most populous provinces of Germany will be surprised at the comparatively deserted appearance of the country. He does not see farmhouses scattered here and there, as at home, with a grove of trees about each. The houses are grouped in an almost continuous line of villages along a well-built road, and the trees are in forests planted and guarded by the State. The disadvantages of the American system become more apparent as communities emerge from the pioneer stage and begin to attach more importance to social intercourse. Many re formers are beginning to see the importance of adding to the interest, variety, and attractiveness of American farm life. Anything which will accomplish this will relieve the difficulties both of oversparseness and of overcrowding.
One of the surest indications of satisfactory progress is the absence of too heavy physical labor by women and children. The invention of machinery, while it is in itself a blessing, has sometimes proved almost a curse by increasing the opportunities for child labor. This is one of the subjects upon which there are few advo cates of a laissez-faire policy. All are agreed that parents ought not to be permitted to sacri fice the mental and physical development of their children by putting them at heavy or long continued work as soon as it would be possible for them to earn Aside from the bad effect upon physical growth it is short-sighted and wasteful from the social standpoint. This is the time for education, and the education should be as nearly as• possible to the whole mind and body. The experiences of the race should be passed on unbrokenly, and up to a certain point these experiences can be imparted to all the children of men. Laws prohibiting child labor and requiring attendance at school, or other suitable provision for youthful training, are therefore in the interests of progress.
Woman labor on the farm or in the factory 1 In the large stamping works and canning factories in a city like Chicago, not a day passes but some child is made a help less cripple. These accidents occur after three o'clock in the
afternoon. The child that has begun his work in the morning with a reasonable degree of vigor, after working under constant pressure for several hours, at about three o'clock becomes so wearied, beyond the point of recovery, that he can no longer direct the tired fingers and aching arms with any degree of ac curacy. Ile thus becomes the prey'of the great cutting knives, or of the jaws of the tin-stamping machine. Proper factory legislation would prevent young children from working so many hours as to become wearied to the point of danger.— Professor William 0. Krohn before the National Conference of Charities and Correction, 1897.
may prove socially disadvantageous, but it cannot well be forbidden or closely regulated. Any at tempt to do that would bring greater injury than relief. The opening of new occupations, rather than the closing of old ones, is the true path to progress. The necessity of breaking up or neglecting the home in order that women may earn wages in the heavier manual occupa tions is nevertheless always to be deplored. Social progress is not accelerated, but retarded, by any such interference with normal family life.
An improper diet must be given a prominent place among the obstacles to social progress. Food that is not nutritious, that is improperly cooked, that does not contain the food elements in a well-balanced proportion, that is not suited to the climate, or that is unduly expensive, is far more common than that which combines the qualities of a good diet. We need not go so far as to ascribe the poverty of Ireland to the potato, or that of India to rice, for diet is but one element of the standard of living ; and many causes may unite to bring a people to a condi tion in which a cheap article of diet will alone prevent famine. But changes in diet come very near the beginning of progress, marking the line between primitive and progressive com munities. And in the most advanced stages, a nation finds one of its chief sources of strength or weakness in the character of its diet. If it is inexpensive, varied, and nutritious ; if its various items contain the food elements in the proportions in which the body can use them ; and if, finally, it is of a character that makes the best use of the available natural resources, — then it is an economical diet and a source of social prosperity. The obstacle to social prog ress which is here emphasized is not so much the absence of the materials for a proper diet, as the absence of skill in cooking and in buying provisions that prevents poorer families, and also the families of larger means who rely upon ignorant cooks, from getting what they might from the food within reach.