women of the next generation should be. So far all are doubtless
agreed. We therefore find ourselves under the necessity of restating
the question, making it: What ought women to be?

Probably never in the world's history has this question occupied so
large a place in thought as it does to-day. In familiar discussion, in
the press, in the library, on the platform, the "woman question" is an
all-absorbing topic. Even the most cursory review of the literature
of the subject leads to a realization of its importance. It leads also
into the very heart of controversy.

[Illustration: Photograph by Brown Bros.
Suffrage parade in Washington. Women will parade or even fight for
their rights]

It is safe to say that no woman, in our own country at least, escapes
entirely the unrest which this controversy has brought. Even the most
conservative and "old-fashioned" of women know that their daughters
are living in a world already changed from the days of their own young
womanhood; and few indeed fail to see that these changes are but
forerunners of others yet to come. They know little, perhaps, of the
right or wrong of woman's industrial position, but "woman in industry"
is all about them. They perhaps have never heard of Ellen Key's
arraignment of existing marriage and sex relations, but they cannot
fail to see unhappy marriages in their own circle. They may care
little about the suffrage question, but they can hardly avoid hearing
echoes of strife over the subject of "votes for women." And however
much or little women are personally conscious of the significance of
these questions, the questions are nevertheless of vital import to
them all.