al
right to bring unhappiness to his wife and two children? Having been
caught in the trap, why give him all the blame if he tries to increase his
income by speculation?

The more one studies this question of shelter for the salaried group, the
more is one convinced that it lies at the root of our social discontent
and is a large factor in our moral as well as physical deterioration.

CHAPTER V.

POSSIBILITIES IN SIGHT PROVIDED THE HOUSEWIFE IS PROGRESSIVE.

"We are far from the noon of man:
There is time for the race to grow."--TENNYSON.

"There appears no limit to the invasion of life by the machine."
H.G. WELLS.

The house as a centre of manufacturing industry has passed (for even if
village industries do spring up, the work-rooms will be separate from the
living-rooms); the house as a sign of pecuniary standing is passing: what
next? Why, of course, the house as the promoter of "the effective life."
Rebel as the artistic individual may at this word, it expresses the spirit
of the twentieth century as nothing else can. Social advance must be made
along the line of efficiency, even if it lead to something different and
not at first sight better. The appeal to self-interest is soonest
answered. The man or woman with any ambition will keep clean, will buy
better milk for the baby, will pay more for rent if he or she is convinced
that it will bring in or save money in the end, because money has been the
measure of success in the nineteenth century. But as the full significance
of this "machine-made" age is grasped it will be seen that it has set free
the human laborer, if only he will qualify himself to use the power at
his hand. The house will become the first lesson in the use of mechanical
appliances, in control of the harnessed forces of nature, and of that
spirit of cooperation which alone can bring the benefits of modern science
to the doors of all. One family cannot as a rule put up in a city or in
the suburbs--and half the world lives in cities--its own idea of a house
without undue expenditure; but ten families may combine and secure a
building which fairly suits them all. I say fairly, because all
cooperation means some sacrifice of whim or special liking. The
well-balanced individual will, however, choose the plan yielding on the
whole the greater efficiency, thus following a law of natural selection
which, so far, the human race has ignored--a neglect which has been
carrying him towar