tle, shoot, run, strike,
retreat, advance, resist, defend themselves,
They are ultimate in their own right--they are
calm, clear, well-possessed of themselves.

When Whitman made this magnificent prophecy for American womanhood the
Civil War had not been fought and its economic consequences were
unguessed at. The factory system, which had come into England in the
last century, bringing with it the most unspeakable exploitation of
women and children, had hardly gained a foothold in this country. In
1840, of the seven employments open to women (teaching, needlework,
keeping boarders, working in cotton mills, in bookbinderies, typesetting
and household service) only one was representative of the new industrial
condition which today affects so profoundly the feminine physique. And
to the daughters of a nation that was still imbued with the pioneer
spirit, work in cotton mills appealed so little that they undertook it
only for unusually high pay. Anyone of that period seeing the
red-cheeked, robust, intelligent, happy girl operatives of Lowell might
have dismissed his fears of the factory as a sinister influence in the
development of American womanhood and gone on to dream, with Walt
Whitman, of a race of "fierce, athletic girls."

But two things happened. With the growing flood of immigration, the
factories were abandoned more and more to the "foreigners," the
native-born citizens losing their pride in the excellence of working
conditions and the character of the operatives. And all the while the
factory was becoming more and more an integral part of our civilization,
demanding larger and larger multitudes of girls and women to attend its
machinery. So that, with the enormous development of industry since the
Civil War, the factory has become the chief field of feminine endeavor
in America. In spite of the great opening up of all sorts of work to
women, in spite of the store, the office, the studio, the professions,
still the factory remains most important in any consideration of the
health and strength of women.

If the greatest part of our womankind spends its life in factories, and
if it further appears that this is no temporary situation, but
(practically speaking) a permanent one, then it becomes necessary to
inquire how far the factory is hindering the creation of that ideal
womanhood which Walt Whitman predicted for us.

As opposed to the old-fashioned method of manufacture in the home (or
the sw