Part 2 / Book 1 — CHAPTER III.

THE RELATION OF THE SEXES AND OF THE FAMILY.

A. Marriage.

As between the two commonplaces, “There have always been poor people”, and “The present institution of marriage springs from human nature itself and is as old as society”, it is hard to say which is repeated oftenest, but it is quite certain that one is no more exact than the other. Sociology has proved that marriage, as it exists at present, is the result of a long process of evolution, and every serious observer must be convinced that its present form will be no more constant than those which preceded it, and that the ideas concerning it have undergone important modifications.

The most primitive of the peoples who have been observed in detail have been named “lower hunters”; they include the Australian aborigines, the Veddhas, the Botocudos, etc. Among these peoples the men hunt while the women gather fruit and roots. They are forced to wander in small groups in order to provide for their needs, as otherwise the game and fruit would soon fail. Their limited control over nature is a frequent cause of famine and distress generally, and thus prevents any considerable increase in the population.

The hordes being composed of but few persons, this exclusion would force the men more and more to seek wives from outside the horde, thus little by little becoming a group of consanguineous persons with whom union is forbidden. If a man has procured a woman by capture he becomes her absolute owner, can maltreat her, abandon her, do what he likes in short. The power of the man over his wife is less great if he has acquired her by purchase or exchange, since her family then exercises a certain control.

The relation of the sexes is sufficiently explained by the mode of production. When these savages are on the march the woman carries the little that they possess, erects the tent, and searches for fruit; the man on the other hand by his natural qualities is fitted for hunting and for the defense of the hunting ground. Hunting being the principal resource, and in this period bodily strength being of the highest importance, it is natural that the man should rule.

The so-called “higher hunters”, among whom we must reckon the North American Indians of the northwest coast and some peoples of northern Asia, have reached a higher stage of social evolution. The difference between these and the preceding class is only quantitative, and results from the circumstance that they have been able to settle themselves in countries that are rich in game and fish. This permits them to be more sedentary, to live in larger groups, and to attain a higher development.

As with the lower hunters there is among them a division of labor between men and women: The man hunts, fishes, and constructs the tools that he has need of; the woman gathers roots and herbs, prepares the food, and gives herself up to the duties of the household. Some of these peoples are capable of producing more than they need, a fact which occasions commerce of some importance, and produces at times a great inequality of fortune.

At this stage of development the woman is of great use, which brings it about that the father does not give his daughter but sells her. Since the man, then, has bought his wife she has become his property, and he can do with her as he wishes; her infidelity is punished with death. If the husband has received gifts of value from his father-in-law, he is a little limited in his power, since, if he wishes to repudiate his wife, he is obliged to return the gifts. However repudiation is rare, since the woman is very useful to the man and he has ordinarily paid very dear for her. This is also why polygyny, though permitted almost everywhere, is rare. Only the very rich can permit themselves the luxury of more than one wife.

The position of the wife is rather better when, instead of following her husband, he comes to live at her father’s house. This happens sometimes when the man cannot pay the whole purchase price, sometimes when the father-in-law is much richer than he. In this latter case the son-in-law prefers to profit by the wealth and power of his wife’s father, who, for his part, asks nothing better than to keep his daughter at home, since, in this manner, instead of losing a worker from the household he gains one by the coming of the husband.

We come now to the “pastoral peoples”, living principally in Asia and Africa. Just as hunting is not the sole resource of the preceding groups, so the raising of cattle is not the exclusive occupation of this group, but simply the principal one; hence their name. The raising of cattle is naturally the work of the men, seeing that it proceeds genetically from hunting, while the women in this class, as in the preceding, gather fruits and herbs and attend to the work of the household. Although the land is held in common, there are great diversities of wealth, since cattle, the principal form of possession, are individual property, and since war and pillage are also frequent sources of wealth.

Polygyny is permitted, and nomads take as many wives as they can pay for and support. Only the rich, however, can afford to purchase more than one wife, for the fathers demand a good price. Once purchased the woman becomes the absolute property of the man, who can exploit her in any manner, or abandon her, and when he comes to die can leave her to his heirs with the rest of his possessions. Adultery on the part of the woman is severely punished, while the man is free. Often under polygyny only one of the women is considered the legitimate wife and her children have the sole right to inherit, while the other women are considered only as concubines. The position of the legitimate wife towards her husband does not prevent her being as much of a slave as the other women. Nowhere else has the woman as humble a place as among these pastoral peoples, and nowhere else is the rôle of the man as important as here.

The cultivation of the soil developed in connection with the gathering of fruit and roots, so that it originally formed part of woman’s sphere of labor; hence the economic importance of women increased, and a father became less and less disposed to give his daughter in marriage for a small equivalent. The future husband is obliged to acquire his wife at a considerable price, perhaps may have to win her by serving his father-in-law temporarily. Thus, although polygyny is permitted it is only the rich and the chiefs who can procure more than one wife.

As the preceding considerations show it is not the family which, at this stage of development, takes the first place. During the periods which I have examined before this the clan (in Latin “gens”, in German “Sippe”), a group of persons descended from a common ancestor, is of importance only inasmuch as members of the clan are forbidden to marry among themselves. Among the lower agriculturists, however, the clan is developed into a consanguineous group living in a community, and in most cases the clan is maternal—that is, descent and the right of succession are reckoned in the maternal line.

But this was not all. Through the great modifications in the mode of production of which I have already spoken, the importance of the clan diminished more and more, and at length disappeared entirely. As long as there was equality among the members of the clan, as long as the social relationships were little complicated, the clan and the organizations that sprang from it (mere combinations of clans) sufficed for the purposes of social organization. But such an organization, being purely democratic in its nature, was no longer adapted to a society in which there were rich and poor, freemen and slaves, in which, therefore, there was a large group of persons oppressed and a small group of oppressors.

On the one hand, then, the clan loses itself in the state; on the other hand the family, which played but a secondary part while the clan system was at its height, became of greater importance. The clan is divided into “great families” (“Grossfamilien”), i.e. husband, wife, and their unmarried children as well as their male descendants, with their wives and children; and the father is the master of all these persons and all their property. However it is only little by little, and in proportion as we get away from the clan, that the authority of the father becomes unlimited. This form of the family has continued even down to our own day in China and Japan, and was general during the early days of ancient Rome.

In China the woman, whose work is entirely limited to household occupations, has a position which, according to all accounts, is only that of a subordinate. Her whole life is under the direction of her husband; she can never obtain a divorce, while her husband can dissolve the marriage without cause; if he takes her in the act of adultery he has the right to kill her, while he himself may keep concubines. In Japan the position of woman is much the same, and in ancient Rome also, though in the course of time the situation of the Roman woman was improved.

As the method of production became more elaborate and the social life was modified as a consequence, the “great family” disappeared, to be replaced by the modern family, consisting of the husband and wife with their unmarried children. Through the increasing extension of the division of labor the sons could more easily provide for their own needs and withdraw themselves in this way from the paternal authority, and the increasing power of the state favored this tendency by limiting the authority of the father.

The best sources for the study of the first phases of monogamous marriage are furnished by ancient Greece. There absolute submission of the woman to the man still prevailed. After the decease of the husband the woman was under the guardianship of his son. The man could repudiate his wife or give her to another. While he had full liberty to have intercourse with other women, the woman who committed adultery was severely punished. The occupations of the woman were confined to spinning, weaving, and housekeeping; her life was concentrated within the house, though even there her authority was very limited, while outside it had no force whatever.

Since that time monogamy has persisted to our own day. However important the modifications which the method of production has undergone since the rise of monogamy, the fact remains that a certain part of the work necessary to existence belongs still to the work of housekeeping, which, as at other times, is performed by the women. The more important labors, those which give the greater social power to him who executes them, fall upon the man, and from this fact his preponderance still persists.

Though the position of the married woman may be somewhat improved when compared with that at the beginning of civilization, nevertheless a study of existing civil codes (especially of the French civil code and of those for which it has served as a model) shows that the married woman is in general still in a state of great dependence. The woman must obey her husband and follow him wherever he wishes; except where otherwise stipulated in the marriage contract the husband has the management of his wife’s fortune and the income from it belongs to him; it is the man who exercises parental authority; the woman cannot appear in a lawsuit without the assistance of her husband; etc.

The difference between the position of the married woman of today and that of former times consists principally in that the consent of both parties is necessary to conclude the marriage, that the husband can no longer repudiate his wife, but can only dissolve the union for important reasons (adultery, cruelty, etc.), and that the woman also, for the same reasons, can obtain separation or divorce.

This raises the question as to why a marriage should not be dissolved as soon as for any reason the union becomes intolerable to either party. The answer must be as follows. From the dominant position of the man in the economic life it is clear that the woman would not be able to loose the bonds of marriage at her pleasure, except in the case provided by law, inasmuch as the man could not permit so grave an assault upon his authority. From this point of view monogamy and the ancient forms of marriage are alike, for the woman has never been able to secure a divorce at her own pleasure except among the lower agriculturists, where, on account of her importance in the economic life she enjoyed the same rights as the man. The present organization of society prevents the man, for his part, from getting a divorce except in certain cases provided by law, for if it were possible for the husband to break the marriage at will, society today would not have the necessary solidity and stability; marriage would be a very hazardous enterprise for the woman, since, from the nature of her occupation, she is generally not in a position to provide for her own needs by herself; and the support and education of the children by their parents would also be less assured. But even this is not all. As we have seen, monogamy was created as soon as private property became general. Reciprocally monogamy is one of the causes which support and increase the spirit of property in men. It is in the narrow circle of the family, away from the contact with society, that a keen desire to possess is developed among children.

The deepest roots of marriage as it exists today are found in our present state of society, based as it is on private property; and, in its turn, marriage is a support for that society. Here is also the reason for the disapprobation of free unions felt by the majority, even if the motives of these unions are the most noble. And this also is why the more conservative a man is as to the institution of private property, the more he holds to the existing form of marriage, a fact otherwise inexplicable.

By what has gone before it has been indicated how important a change has taken place and is still taking place in the economic position of women. This change is in the last analysis the reason why women have revolted more and more against the inferior position in which the law places them, and why their opposition has already taken the form of deeds. This is the reason also why the legal position of woman is best in general in those countries where she has freed herself most by her independent work, as, for example, in the United States.

It is plain, then, from this how little the legal form shows the reality. In order that the marriage may be contracted, the consent of the two parties is necessary, no matter how that consent is obtained. It is very often the parents who have made the choice, being guided by calculation alone. Such is the reality, and the formal free consent is only the appearance.

Weighty causes, sprung from social conditions, then, often bring it about that the married life is one of hate and discord. Aside from the reasons cited there is yet another which does not proceed from social conditions. Even when the marriage has been brought about through mutual inclination, there is no guarantee that this inclination will last. Not only may the parties be deceived as to each other’s character and temperament, but their feelings may change, and the marriage bond become insupportable.

The law permits divorce only in certain fixed cases; and since divorce brings with it serious economic disadvantages for the woman, and sometimes for the man as well, it is not often resorted to. The fear of losing the good opinion of one’s friends may also prevent divorce. And this fear of blame where a divorce is desired proves once more how little real love has to do with the origin of monogamy.

If it is difficult, then, if not impossible, to break a marriage, the consequence is bound to be adultery, especially on the side of the man, since his manner of life gives him easy opportunity for it, and he does not fear the consequences as a woman does. The difference between monogamy and the more ancient forms of marriage is not great. Before the law monogamy alone is recognized and polygamy prohibited; but in reality polygamy always exists.

While it is not true that the marriages of the proletariat are always marriages of inclination, as has been asserted (for material interests play some part here also), yet they are oftenest of this kind. One of the causes, then, which often make marriages among the bourgeoisie unhappy does not exist here. On the other hand there are other causes which can bring about the same result. In the first place, this inclination is in many cases of a sexual nature only, without there being any sympathy of character. If this inclination dies out, therefore,—a thing which happens very often, since marriages in the proletariat are made at an early age, and the women soon grow old because of their hard life—there is no longer any basis for a happy marriage. There is a lack of that intellectual development which may render the difficulties of married life supportable. In consequence of this lack the slightest differences may result in great altercations, and the causes of unhappiness are sought in the person and not in the circumstances of which the person is but the victim. Then in the next place there are the heavy cares of the struggle for existence. If a laborer’s family have already enough difficulty in making both ends meet, in the case of sickness or forced unemployment their misery is extreme, and it is often this misery which causes disputes and even blows. Further, the labor of women, the bad housing conditions, and alcoholism all tend to the same result. And because of hard work and many cares the wife of the workman soon grows old. In the proletarian class, therefore, marriages are threatened by many causes.

We come, then, to the end of our exposition. It seems to me that it has been shown that the different forms of marriage are in the last instance determined by the respective modes of production. Hence the origin of monogamy, the most recent form of marriage, is not to be found in the innate desire of the man and the woman to be united for the whole of their lives, a desire which the law is supposed to sanction. Quite on the contrary men are not all monogamous, and still less monogamous during the whole of their life; a circumstance because of which the present economic conditions have produced the legal marriage, obliging two persons to remain together; if it were otherwise the law would not concern itself with the relations between man and woman.

Finally, it is to be noted that the present economic and social life has bound up the sexual life with the economic life, by making marriage possible only for those who have the necessary means at their disposal, and consequently has caused the compulsory celibacy of millions of men and women.

B. The Family.

In the preceding pages we have fixed the attention principally upon the relation between the man and the woman, and it now remains to treat of the position of the children born of their union.

It is a biological fact that the mother is designed by nature to have the care of the child during its first years, and consequently this care persists through all phases of the social development. It is, then, superfluous to speak of it in a sociological treatise.

There are two points with regard to which the state quite generally has an influence over the lot of the child. First, it prohibits or limits his paid labor; and second, it obliges parents to send their children to school.

We have already spoken of this prohibition, which is made necessary from the fact that the physical condition of the working classes is becoming worse, and because the labor movement exercises a pressure upon the state. Compulsory education has its origin, on one side, in the fact that, in some occupations, capitalism cannot make use of workmen who are altogether ignorant; on the other side, in the fact that without compulsory education the youth of the working class would be even more brutalized than at present. The opposition to compulsory education on the part of whatever is conservative is another clear indication of what an intimate connection there is between the individual family and the present economic system. The economic position of the man as breadwinner for his wife and children is the cause of his desire to be limited in his power as little as possible.

Up to this point we have been treating of conditions past and present only in so far as they are regulated by law (the formal side); we must now go on to treat conditions from the material side. Here we must consider three subjects: physical education, intellectual education, and moral education. In treating of criminality, however, we have naturally little to do with the first two, while the third is of the highest importance for us.

A second condition without which successful education is impossible is that educators shall have the innate qualities necessary for their task. We should doubt, and not without reason, the common sense of anyone who dared to assert that every person was capable of becoming a good sculptor or even carpenter. Just so no one could say that everyone possesses the qualities necessary for an art as difficult as that of education.

To be a good educator it is necessary to be very fond of children, to have much patience and zeal, to know how to put one’s self on a plane with the child, to have a clear and practical intellect, especially when the teacher has a great affection for the child, since without intelligence the excess of affection will only be harmful. There are parents who possess these qualities in a very high degree, and it is only to be regretted that they teach only their own children, and not those also of parents in whom the teaching faculty is entirely lacking. Next comes the group of those who have a modicum of the requisite qualities, and finally a smaller group who have little or no aptitude for the task. The least fit to give a good education, however, are psychopathic individuals, because of their changeable disposition, their quick fits of temper, etc.

Just as educators differ greatly in their innate fitness for teaching, so different children need to be guided in different ways. If there are children who require little care in order that they may presently be able to adapt themselves to the requirements of society, others, who form the great majority, require more; while there remains a second minority who, if they are to be made fairly useful men and women, must have constant and minute attention. Among these last are to be classed the victims of heredity. If they have parents without great teaching ability, as is often the case with these psychopathic individuals, the results are even worse.

Aside from innate fitness it is necessary that an educator should have received the necessary education. The teacher without notions of psychology, of pedagogy, etc., often deceives himself, even if he has all the necessary innate qualities, and consequently warps the character of his pupils.

Finally, there remains the condition that the teacher should have the time necessary to perform his task, for without this the most capable cannot attain good results. Having now laid down the general conditions, let us go on to examine in a few words education as it is actually practiced in the different classes.

No one known to me has better characterized the existing educational system than Owen. “As society is now constituted,” he says, “no children can by possibility be really well educated. The fundamental errors upon which it has been based, filling the early mind with error and hypocrisy and all manner of conflicting ideas, opposed to facts and to nature, render it impracticable for any child to be rationally trained or treated by society. And the more education of this kind is given to children, the more they are estranged from a knowledge of themselves, or of human nature generally, and the less competent will they be to understand what society has been made to be, and yet less what it ought to be, and how it may be made what it is desirable that it should be, for the happiness and well-being of all.

“Mothers and fathers thus taught, are incompetent to teach and educate their children in the spirit, manner, and conduct, which should, for the benefit of all, be given to all children. Their affections also, especially the strong natural animal affections of the mother, are, in almost all cases too strong for the very limited powers of judging accurately respecting their own children and those of other parents, which females now acquire from their present mal-education.

“The individual family arrangements confining the child to the limited number of ideas among them—to their early deep impressions in favor of family interests and supposed rights—to the narrow and partial experience of a family and its usual small connections, are equally destructive of a good sound practical education or well-training of children.

“The individual system of society which has so long prevailed in all nations, and amongst all peoples, is also a strong barrier to the proper education of beings intended to be made rational. The individual system of society is injurious to man now, under every point of view in which it can be considered; but especially in the education of children of all classes. It confines all their strongest feelings to self first, then to family, afterwards to kindred, and then to small neighborhoods and districts, regularly and systematically training each child to become at maturity a merely localized, ignorantly selfish animal, filled with family and geographical prejudices.

“As long as this individual system shall be continued, it will be vain to expect that any child can be well educated, or properly trained to become a rational being—a man with the full physical and mental powers of humanity, intelligent, moral, and virtuous. The isolated character formed by the individual system will, as long as children shall be educated under it, and in accordance with all its innumerable errors in practice and principle, render it impossible for any child to be so educated and placed in society as not to become, more or less, a cause of anxiety to its parents. Every child under this system comes into society, at its birth, opposed by the capital and experience of society; and as it advances in its progress, and has to take part in the jostle, bustle and business of life, it has to contend for itself, often, not only against these general powers of society, but on the death of parents, or sometimes even before, with brothers and sisters, for individual property or other advantages.

Secondly, let us take up education in the petty bourgeoisie. Upon this point we can be very brief. A part of this class joins on to the proletariat from the conditions of its life, and another part to the bourgeoisie. It is unnecessary, therefore, to speak of it at length. It is only the core of the petty bourgeoisie who, having kept the traditions of their class, show any differences in this regard. Here there is no danger of the demoralizing influence of the luxurious surroundings of the rich, and the surveillance of the father is greater, and thus the education more severe; but the limited conception of life, and the continual efforts of the parents, eager to procure advantages for their families, develop egotism among their children in a high degree.

With regard to the proletariat it has already been shown that the material advantages necessary for a sufficient education are lacking in the case of this class. Housing conditions are here of the greatest importance. Generally there is not room enough for the children at home, so that they spend the greater part of the day in the street. Then again the housing conditions are responsible for the fact that the children often are thrown with persons whose influence is harmful to them (prostitutes, etc.). And finally the small apartments bring it about that the children are too early instructed in sexual matters, and this in a bad way (through sleeping in the same small room with their parents, or in the same bed with children of the opposite sex, etc.).

Then children need to grow up in an environment not poisoned by cares, one in which poverty does not harden the heart, and extinguish all gayety, and where the knowledge necessary for education is not wanting. Further, in this class the father has generally no opportunity to busy himself with the education of his children in consequence of the long duration of his hours of labor outside of the home. A great many working men have to leave home in the morning to go to work long before their children are awake, to return only after the little ones have already been put to bed; and the situation is much the same where the laborer works at night, and consequently sleeps during the day.

Finally, when, through death or otherwise, the parents are no longer in a position to support and raise their children, they are left to their fate, unless there are charitable persons or benevolent institutions that wish to take charge of them. For the state, for reasons shown above, does not lay upon itself the duty of caring for such children.

It remains now to speak of the lower proletariat, among whom prostitutes and criminals are included. The education of these persons is not only much neglected, as is often the case with the children of the proletariat, of whom it may be said that they receive a negative education—but these receive in addition a positive education in evil. It might be possible to dispute the advantages of a good education, but it is indisputable that children brought up by immoral people, or even incited to evil (prostitution or crime) run the greatest risk, unless exceptional circumstances present themselves, of becoming persons hurtful to society.

It is difficult to form an idea of the great number of children who, in our present society, are neglected or abandoned. The following passage may help form some conception of it: “If the reader will imagine a procession of 109,000 children marching past him, and notice attentively child after child as it goes by, he will get some idea of the extent of the suffering of children with which the ‘National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in England’ has actually had to do during the first ten years of its existence.

“The first 25,437 are sufferers from injuries inflicted upon them with boots, crockery, pans, shovels, straps, ropes, pokers, fire, boiling water, in short with every imaginable instrument that came to the hand of the brutal and vindictive parents—covered with wounds and bruises, burned, scalded, and covered with plasters and bandages.

“Then come 62,887 sufferers from neglect and starvation—covered with dirt, eruptions, and sores, trembling, in rags, half-naked, pale, weak, faint, feeble, pining, starving, dying—many of them borne in the arms of the nurses of the hospitals.

“Then come 712 funeral processions, where the maltreatment ended fatally.

“Then come 12,663 little beings, their sufferings displayed to turn the lazy and cruel benevolence of the street to those who are answerable for their pallor, leanness, and coughs—most of these, too, are still in arms, but in the arms of vile drunkards and vagabonds.

“Then come 4460 pitiable girls, victims of the lust of human monsters.

The society spoken of above is a private institution. The extent of its labors is very limited, which is why it has not taken cognizance of a great number of the children who have been thus treated. At the time when the report containing the above figures had just appeared, it had only been in operation ten years—during the last five more effectively, as a part of the first five was taken up with the organization of its service. Finally the field of its labors includes only the United Kingdom, while capitalism reigns over a great part of the world and has everywhere the same consequences. In consideration of these facts we can form an idea of the great destitution in which a multitude of children are found, and what sort of persons children so treated are likely to grow up to be.

By prostitution must be understood the social fact that there are women who sell their bodies for the exercise of sexual acts, and make a profession of it. The putting of one’s body at the disposal of another for the purpose of sexual intercourse constitutes then at times the sale of merchandise. To find the cause of prostitution in our present society it is necessary to begin by asking: “What are the causes for the demand for this merchandise?” These causes may be reduced to the following:

a. The difficulty or impossibility of marrying found by many men. We have already seen that in our present society there is a continually increasing number of the petty bourgeois and of those who practice the liberal professions who, in consequence of the insufficiency of their incomes, cannot marry, or only at a rather advanced age. As we have seen, also, this is not in general the case with the proletariat. They reach the maximum of their wages while still quite young, and are less exacting as regards their material needs. All this brings it about that they marry sooner and so have less recourse to prostitution. (Soldiers and seamen, who are often forced to remain unmarried, form an exception.)

c. Often the marriage is not contracted from inclination, but for financial reasons, which brings it about that the men often indemnify themselves with prostitutes. But this is applicable also to those cases where the marriage has not been made for the reasons named, but in which, for any cause, an antipathy has sprung up between the couple, without the dissolution of the marriage, either because of the difficulty of securing a divorce, or from motives of expediency. Since monogamy does not proceed from an innate inclination, prostitution is a necessary correlative of marriage.

d. The keeping of extravagant mistresses is a pastime for those who have been demoralized by a life of luxury and ease, and at the same time is a means by which these people can get rid of their incomes.

e. Finally, prostitution is a means whereby rich perverts satisfy their inclinations.

Before leaving the causes of the demand for prostitutes there is one further matter to consider. Those who have recourse to prostitutes must necessarily have a low opinion of woman, whom they consider only as an object existing for pleasure, and thus bound to be ready, as soon as a man wishes, to furnish him what he desires, for money, and not because of affection. This vile fashion of regarding women has been universal for centuries, and is still pretty general. It is to be explained from the long-continued inferior social position of women. We have seen that this position has been improved little by little, and that the result of this improvement has been an increase in the number of men who have a higher opinion of woman, and who wish to have sexual relations with a woman only when there is a mutual affection between them. These persons form even today only a small minority, however.

It is now necessary to inquire why there is a sufficient supply to meet this demand. Before beginning, however, one remark must be made. The point of departure of the etiology of prostitution must be the incontestable fact that modesty is not an innate but an acquired quality. The problem is chiefly, then, what are the causes why the feeling of modesty is not sufficiently developed among certain women. The following are the principal causes:

London, 1836–1854.

Prostitutes Sentenced in Cases of Summary Jurisdiction.

Age. To the 10,000.

From 10 to 15 years 27

From,, 15 to,, 20 years,, 2,463

From,, 20 to,, 25 years,, 3,623

25 and over 3,887

Edinburgh, 1835–1842.

Prostitutes Admitted to “Lock Hospital.”

Age. To the 1,000.

Below 15 42

From 15 to 20 662

From,, 20 to,, 25 199

25 and over 97

England, 1881–1882.

Received into an “Asylum for Girls and Women.”

Age. Number. Percentage.

12 to 14 8 55

14 to,, 16 6

16 to,, 18 28

18 to,, 20 34

20 to,, 23 9 45

23 to,, 25 25

25 to,, 39 27

137 100

Paris, 1831.

Registered Prostitutes.

Age. Number. Percentage.

12 years 1 23.6

13 years,, 3

14 years,, 8

15 years,, 17

16 years,, 44

17 years,, 55

18 years,, 101

19 years,, 115

20 years,, 216

21 years,, 204

22 years,, 249 76.4

23 years,, 240

24 years,, 207

25 years,, 193

26 and over 1,582

3,235 100.0

Paris, 1855–1869.

Registered Prostitutes.

Age. Number. Percentage.

Below 18 years 513 8

From 18 to 21 1,704 26.6

Over 21 4,190 65.4

6,407 100.0

Lyons.

Years. Older Girls. Younger Girls. Total.

1877 520 (65.5%) 274 (34.0%) 794

1887 144 (68.2%) 67 (31.8%) 211

664 (66.07%) 341 (33.73%) 1,005

Italy.

Registered Prostitutes.

1875 From 16 to 20 2,455 26.98

From,, 21 to,, 30 4,766 52.50

31 and over 1,867 20.52

9,088 100.00

1881 From 17 to 20 2,953 31.90

From,, 21 to,, 30 5,456 58.92

31 and over 850 9.18

9,259 100.00

1885 Under 20 3,228 27.76

From 20 to 30 4,589 54.70

31 and over 1,471 17.54

8,388 100.00

Russia, 1889.

Out of a Total of 17,603 Prostitutes.

Age. Percentage.

15 and under 0.3 69.9

From 15 to 16 1.3

From,, 16 to,, 17 3.5

From,, 17 to,, 18 6.9

From,, 18 to,, 19 8.8

From,, 19 to,, 20 10.8

From,, 20 to,, 25 38.3

25 and over 30.1 30.1

100.0 100.0

Vienna.

Prostitutes Not Registered.

Age. Number to the 1,000.

13 4

14 19

16 94

17 97

18 111

19 119

20 83

527

Breslau.

16 years old or under 30 54%

Between 17 and 18 years 44

Between,, 19 and,, 20 years,, 28

Between,, 21 and,, 50 years,, 88 46%

190 100%

Paris.

Age at the Time of Registration. Number. Percentage.

10 2 50.4

11 3

12 3

13 6

14 20

15 51

16 111

17 149

18 279

19 322

20 389

21 303

Over 21 years 1,610 49.6

3,248 100.0

Russia.

Age at the Time of Registration. Percentage.

11 or younger 1.2 80.5

13 to 15 9.0

15 to,, 16 12.9

16 to,, 18 30.8

18 to,, 21 26.6

21 and over 19.5 19.5

100.0 100.0

England.

Age at which Prostitutes Were Seduced. Number.

11 3 58%

12 5

13 16

14 79

15 189

16 184

17 247

18 221

19 297

20 280

21 256

22 and over 1,299 42%

3,076 100%

France.

Age. Number.

5 1

9 2

10 2

11 2

12 5

13 11

14 31

15 86

16 87

17 115

18 93

19 50

20 37

21 27

549

90% of a total of 607.

Berlin, 1871–1878.

Profession of the Parents of Prostitutes. Numbers. Percentage.

Artisans 1,015 48

Factory hands 467 22

Lower officials 305 14

Commerce and transportation 222 11

Agriculture, etc. 87 4

Soldiers 26 1

2,122 100

Breslau.

Manufacture and trades 72 42

Unskilled workmen 32 19

Lower officials 24 14

Commerce 13 8

Transportation 12 7

Lodginghouse-keepers 6 3 .5

Agriculture 8 5

Traveling musicians 2 1

Higher officials 1 0 .5

170 100 .0

Russia.

Classes from Which Prostitutes Are Recruited. Percentage.

Peasants 47.5

Bourgeois 36.3

Wives and daughters of soldiers 7.2

Other classes 4.7

Foreign subjects 1.5

Nobles and daughters of employes 1.8

Merchants and considerable citizens .5

Daughters of members of the clergy .5

100.0

As the table given above shows, the Russian prostitutes are recruited in greater numbers from the bourgeoisie than in the other countries of Europe. The Russian bourgeoisie, however, cannot be compared with that of other countries. It is more like the petty bourgeoisie, as the following quotation given by Dr. Fiaux proves: “The committee considers that the great mass of the women registered belong to the lower classes.” The fact that, of 100 prostitutes, 83 come from poor families, 16 from well-to-do families, and one from a rich family, proves the same thing.

Edinburgh.

There were found among the prostitutes:

2 mothers with 4 daughters each, or 8 in all,

5 mothers,, with,, 3 daughters,, each,,, or,, 15 in,, all,,

10 mothers,, with,, 2 daughters,, each,,, or,, 20 in,, all,,

24 mothers,, with,, 1 daughter each,,, or,, 24 in,, all,,

41 mothers with 67 daughters in all

In the second place it is necessary to speak of the abandonment of the children of the poor classes. No scientist of consequence admits that the moral ideas are innate, but simply that the new-born infant is more or less fitted to appropriate such ideas. It follows that one cannot expect much from a child whose moral education has been neglected in youth, however great natural capacity he may have been endowed with. From this it follows that where there is lack of education and care because of the death of the mother, or the alcoholism of the father, or because the father and mother are both at work away from home a great part of the day, or where the morality of the parents themselves is not great, the children run great risk of being lost. The following figures support this assertion:

692 (29%) were orphans;

456 (19%) had lost their mother;

811 (35%) had,, lost,, their,, father.

Finally I will cite once more the opinion of Parent-Duchatelet, which is of great value, since this author is the most able sociologist who has treated of this subject. He says: “The misconduct of parents, and the bad examples of every kind which they give to their children, must be considered with regard to many girls, and especially those of Paris, as one of the causes determining their mode of life. The dossiers of each girl constantly make mention of disorder in the household, of fathers who are widowers living with concubines, of lovers of mothers widowed or married, of fathers and mothers separated, etc. What surveillance can such parents exercise over their children, and if they judge it proper to give a reprimand, or give good advice, what authority could such observations have in their mouths?

In the third place, we must name as a cause of the demoralization in youth bad housing conditions. One of the most pronounced characteristics of the child is his propensity to imitate. Hence it follows that the fact that a whole family must live and sleep in one or two rooms has the most harmful consequences for the sexual morality of the children. Sexual life has no longer any secrets for the child of the poor classes at an age at which this life is still a thing unknown to the children of the well-to-do classes.

Berlin, 1855.

Factory-workers Industrial workers 73 61%

Seamstresses, laundry-workers 16

Day-laborers 23

Workers at home 32

Domestics 22 9%,,

Without declared profession 70 30%,,

236 100%,,

1873.

Factory workers Industrial workers 355 64.3%

Workers at home and saleswomen 936

Caretakers of stores 139

Domestics 794 35.7%,,

2,224 100.0%,,

1898.

Workwomen, seamstresses, and saleswomen 66 43.4%

Domestics 78 51.3%,,

With their parents 7 5.3%,,

Nurses of children 1

100.0%,,

England.

Domestics 1,589 60.7%

Seamstresses, dressmakers, and other industrial professions 967 36.9%,,

Barmaids 64 2.4%,,

2,620 100.0%,,

Dr. Baumgarten gives the following table of percentages for 1,721 prostitutes:

Vienna.

Servants 58.00

Working by the day 16.00

Cashiers 14.00

Factory workers 5.50

Office employees 0.38

Children’s nurses 0.36

Singers 0.28

Hairdressers and models 5.48

100.00

Russia.

Servants 45.0%

Seamstresses 8.4%,,

Factory workers 3.7%,,

Laundresses 1.4%,,

Governesses and nurses 1.3%,,

Merchants, bakers, and others 1.3%,,

Cigar-sellers 0.7%,,

Singers, circus-performers, and other artists 0.3%,,

Practicing different trades and professions 2.7%,,

Kept mistresses 2.0%,,

Without fixed profession 6.4%,,

Living upon the labor of their husbands 1.7%,,

Living in their family, or with their parents more or less remote 22.3%,,

These statistics show that a quite considerable number of the prostitutes have been workwomen in factories. (In Russia manufacturing is very little developed—hence the low figures there.) We may accept it as indisputable that this labor has in general very disadvantageous consequences for the morality of the workwomen.

Paris.

Having come from the provinces to conceal themselves in Paris and to find resources there 280

Brought to Paris and abandoned by soldiers, traveling salesmen, students, and other persons 404

Domestics seduced by their masters and dismissed by them 289

Simple concubines during a longer or shorter period who have lost their lovers, and do not know what else to do 1,425

Total 2,398

46% of a total of 5,183.

England.

Concubines abandoned by their lovers 360

Girls seduced under promise of marriage 806

1,166

37.9% of a total of 3,076.

Italy.

Seduction by a lover 1,653

Seduction,, by,, employer 927

2,580

24.7% of a total of 10,422.

However this cause of prostitution only makes itself felt when the woman to whom it applies is also deprived of all pecuniary means. And so we come to the third category in the etiology of prostitution.

Paris.

Excess of poverty, absolute destitution 1,441

Loss of father and mother; expulsion from home; complete desertion 1,255

To support aged and infirm parents 37

Eldest of the family having neither father nor mother, to support brothers and sisters, and sometimes nieces and nephews 29

Widows and deserted wives, to raise a large family 23

2,785

53% of a total of 5,183.

England.

To provide for the needs of her mother 11

To,, provide,, for,, the,, needs,, of,, her,, idle husbands 35

As a consequence of poverty or lack of work 164

210

6.8% of a total of 3,076.

(We must take into consideration the fact that in the case of many of the 37.9% who are put down in this same set of tables as seduced, poverty was a contributory cause.)

Italy.

Deserted by husband, parents, or other members of the family 794

Death of husband, parents, or other persons contributing to their support, or other cause of poverty 2,139

To provide for the wants of children, parents, or other sick or needy members of the family 393

3,326

31.9% of a total of 10,422.

As we have seen in the first part of this work, it has been proved at various times that crime against property increases or diminishes according as the economic situation is favorable or unfavorable. If poverty is one of the causes of prostitution it must follow that the number of prostitutes will vary at the same times as the general condition. Statistics prove that this is what does actually happen. However, we need only take into consideration the figures for registered prostitutes; if we had at our disposal the figures for clandestine prostitution they would naturally show still greater modifications.

Leaving aside the abnormal years, 1870 and 1871, we perceive that the prosperous years 1872 and 1873 give very low figures. After this period times become worse and worse, while the number of prostitutes sustains a considerable increase. From the year 1882 economic conditions began to improve, and the figures for prostitution correspondingly fell, to rise again very noticeably during the unfavorable years 1889 to 1892.

However it is not only forced unemployment leading to great poverty that is one of the causes of prostitution; we must also consider as such the fact that the wages paid to women are often so small that it is impossible for them to pay even their necessary expenses, and are thus obliged to find some supplementary source of income.

Not only does poverty, taken in the sense of the lack of the actual necessaries of life, act as a cause of prostitution, but also that relative poverty which prevents women from enjoying luxuries which seem necessities, like jewelry and fine clothes. With these same women laziness also plays a part.

The same is true of idleness. If each person who is capable of it would do a certain amount of work, any normal individual would be ashamed to pass the day doing nothing. But the fact that there are women who are esteemed though they remain idle, awakens in other women, who are obliged to work long and hard, the desire to do nothing also. As prostitution opens to them the means of remaining unoccupied, they have recourse to it to satisfy their desire.

All those who rank the causes last cited among individual factors base their opinion upon the thesis, equally strange and false, that there are two kinds of persons: those who by birth are destined to command and to enjoy, and those who are destined only to obey, to work, and not to enjoy at all. Looked at from this point of view the person who rejects these conditions constitutes an individual anomaly.

Perhaps it will be objected that without admitting the existence of individual causes it will be impossible to explain why, though a great number of women live under the conditions named, only a small fraction prostitute themselves. Those who reason in this way commit the error already spoken of, of thinking circumstances the same when they really differ. There are no two persons who live under exactly the same conditions, how much less thousands. To give one example only: all the women who earn only the strict necessities of life have not been raised in the same environment. Those who have grown up in favorable surroundings have perhaps so great an aversion to prostitution that they prefer a life of poverty to one of abundance procured by prostitution. It is possible that these women would prefer suicide to selling themselves, if they came to a state of complete destitution. Secondly it is necessary that a woman should not be too ugly, or the possibility of her earning her living by prostitution is excluded. No one would claim, however, that feminine beauty is one of the causes of prostitution; placed in another environment a woman would not prostitute herself simply because of her beauty.

Although the reasons already given refute in great measure the supposed objection, it must be confessed that the question is not thus entirely answered. Just as all the beings of a certain species differ among themselves, so these women differ naturally as to their innate qualities. The one will have more decided and more numerous wants than the other, she will be less laborious, more frivolous, etc. (qualities which in themselves have nothing to do with prostitution), and, other things being equal, she will be more exposed to the temptation to become a prostitute. All this is perfectly true, but it has nothing to do with the etiology of a social phenomenon like prostitution. For we are here in the presence of two distinct problems; why, of two persons placed in the same situation (supposing that to be possible), the one is more in danger of becoming a prostitute than the other; and, second, what are the causes of the social phenomenon which is called prostitution? The answer to the first question must be that in part at least it is because people differ as to the intensity of their characteristics and of their appetites. The answer to the second is the social conditions.

When two persons of different height are fording a river, and the shorter steps into a hole and is drowned, should we have the right to say that the difference between the height of persons is one of the reasons why people are drowned? I think not. The only reason why there are people who are drowned is that a man cannot live in water—which in no way excludes the fact that a short person runs more danger of drowning than a tall one.

Now as to prostitution—the atmosphere in which certain women live is the cause of their fall, which does not prevent its being true that some of them run more risk than others. The truth of this assertion may be proved by an observation of the facts. Among women who are not prostitutes also there are more who are lazy, frivolous, etc. than those who are not. And though the former have not prostituted themselves, if they had lived in bad surroundings and in poverty they would have run more risk than the latter. If all women were exactly equal prostitution would be as general as it is now; only in this case it would be in every case the environment which would decide what woman became a prostitute, whereas in reality there are, alongside of the environment, individual differences which determine which ones run more risk than the others.

Those who believe that there are here individual causes at work always take the point of view that society is not an organism but a collection of individuals, and that consequently an examination of the individual will suffice to explain social phenomena. It is by the study of prostitution, for example, as a social phenomenon that we bring out the fact that individual differences do not play any part in the etiology of prostitution.

London (1837–1854).

Prostitutes Arrested.

Not able to read or write 34.98%

Able to read only or to read and write imperfectly 61.29%

Able to read and write well 3.51%

Having a higher education .22%

100.00%

Manchester (1840–1855).

Unable to read or write 51.61%

Able to read only, or to read and write imperfectly 47.60%

Able to read and write well .78%

Having a higher education .01% (?)

100.00%

England.

Unable to read and write 1,213 40%

Able to read only 464 15%

Able to read and write imperfectly 1,016 33%

Able to read and write well 371 12%

3,064 100%

Paris.

Unable to sign their name 2,503 56%

Able to sign, but badly 1,868 42%

Able to sign well 110 2%

4,481 100%

Paris (1878–1887).

Unregistered Prostitutes.

Able to read and write 4,297 68.12%

Able to read and sign their name 988 15.66%

Able to read but not to write or sign 11 0.18%

Unable to read or write 1,012 16.04%

6,308 100.00%

From an examination of the statistics given it is evident that the number of illiterates is very large, however they may be decreasing in number now that primary education for the children of the poorer classes is becoming more and more general. Knowing how to read and write, however, proves very little as to the culture of the individual. The statistics only show the number of prostitutes who are totally illiterate, and we must certainly count many of the others as well among the ignorant.

It is clear that ignorance alone does not lead to prostitution. But it is clear that many prostitutes would not have become such, or would not have lent an ear to the flattering offers of good positions, etc., if they had known what an abominable life awaited them.

Among the secondary causes of prostitution must certainly also be classed:

We have now arrived at the end of our observations upon prostitution. In our opinion it has been shown that it is partly the inevitable complement of the existing legal monogamy, and partly the result of the bad conditions under which many young girls grow up, the consequence of the physical and mental misery in which the women of the proletariat live, and the consequence also of the inferior position of woman in our present society. When we make exception of a few cases where a certain degeneracy enters in beside the effect of the unfavorable environment, the prostitution of today is, then, the consequence of existing social conditions, which, in their turn, spring from the economic system of our time.

If alcohol is used regularly, then, to drive away disagreeable sensations, the consumption must necessarily increase if the individual wishes to attain the same psychical condition, for use continually weakens the effect.

Here, as in the case of the etiology of other social phenomena, we must treat the different causes of alcoholism separately, although it often happens that a number combine to make a man alcoholic. We shall begin with the causes which lead to alcoholism among the proletariat, for it is in this class that the abuse of alcohol is most widespread and produces the greatest ravages, first because the quality of the drinks consumed is very bad, and secondly, because alcohol has more harmful effects upon a badly nourished system.

c. Bad and insufficient nourishment. There are many workers not sufficiently nourished for the support of the body. For the purpose of removing the feeling of discomfort arising from this they make great use of alcoholic drinks. In these cases the nourishment is insufficient both objectively (considered from a physiological point of view) and subjectively (it does not satisfy the individual). Besides these there are those who are able to procure a sufficient quality of food but lack the means to vary the dishes and to replace foods that are bulky and difficult to digest (potatoes, bread, cereals, etc.) by others less bulky but more nutritious (especially meat). The persons who rely upon persuasion in combating alcoholism, fix the attention upon the enormous sums expended for spirituous drinks, and then figure how much bread, how many beds, and other useful things could have been bought with this money. All this is well and good, only in reasoning in this way they make the capital error of representing a workman as a sort of machine who says to himself: “I do not earn enough for the support of my family—let us not buy alcohol, then, for it is harmful but rather eat more potatoes. It is true that the discomfort will persist, but … I shall at least be nourished as well as possible.” However, since the working-man is, no more than other men, a being who is content to reason, but who feels, the calculations of these Utopists fall to the ground.

In the cantons of Geneva, Vaud, and Neufchâtel the condition of the people with regard to food is the best; a small consumption of potatoes and a large consumption of meat. Little brandy is drunk there, the use of alcohol being mainly limited to a large consumption of wine. The workmen in the canton of Neufchâtel, except those employed in watch-making, live in poor circumstances, eat many potatoes and also drink much brandy.

In the cantons of Berne and Lucerne the living conditions of the working class, and especially their food, are very bad; they consume much grain and little meat, and in these districts they drink an extraordinary quantity of brandy. In Aargau there is a great difference between the condition of the industrial proletariat and that of the proletariat engaged in agriculture. The food of the former is insufficient, potatoes forming the main resource; furthermore the working day is very long, and the consumption of brandy is correspondingly great. The food of the agricultural laborers, on the other hand, is much better (a greater consumption of meat and of milk) and the consumption of brandy is much less than among the factory hands. In the canton of Zürich the conditions are much the same as those in Aargau.

From another point of view, however, ignorance, the lack of culture, emptiness of life, are very important causes if not the most important causes of alcoholism. The desire for pleasure is innate in every man, including the working-man, whose life is a hard one in every way. But for him there are almost insurmountable difficulties in enjoying all that is truly beautiful, all that nature, art, and science can offer to man. This is due first, and principally, to material difficulties. In our present society one can enjoy these things only with plenty of money. The wages of the working-man are not enough for this. Often he is too tired when the day is over to take up anything which requires effort, and his abode is too small and too badly arranged for reading or any other form of distraction. However, the principal reason why the proletarian enjoys the products of civilization but little is that his intelligence is not prepared for it. His capacities have not been cultivated in this direction, for capitalism has developed in a great number of people only the capacity for manual work to the detriment of everything else. Dr. Augagneur, in his article already cited, has expressed it as follows: “The true cause of alcoholism is entirely of the intellectual and moral order; it is the insufficiency of cerebral activity, the intellectual indigence and distress, the mental unemployment.

“Every individual who, after the business of his calling is completed, is incapable of busying himself with something else, is a fruitful soil for alcoholism. How many, aside from their technical efficiency, are unfitted to think, to comprehend, to explain anything whatever. When the workman, after ten or twelve hours of mechanical work, leaves the factory, he is confused, does not know how to kill the time that must elapse before he goes to bed; he drinks.…

“Sundays and holidays ordinary labor is suppressed, the laborer wanders about the streets, objectless, adrift, embarrassed by his liberty, and runs fatally aground upon the dram-shop. The days of rest are days of drunkenness.

As for the causes of alcoholism in the lower proletariat they are the same as for the proletariat (if we except the two first named), only they are much more intense. A very insufficient diet, frightful housing conditions, the demoralization consequent upon inaction, ignorance, and the absolute lack of any intellectual life have made of the man a brute who can forget his misery only by drinking.

The etiology of the abuse of alcohol in the well-to-do class is principally as follows:

a. A part of the well-to-do class, those who live exclusively upon the income from their invested capital, consider one of their occupations to be the spending of a part of the surplus-value that they receive. Among the means they make use of for this end is alcohol, which has also the faculty of dissipating the ennui resulting from the emptiness of their existence.

b. Another part of the bourgeoisie is composed of those who pass their lives in the fierce combat of competition, who are bent under the burden of material cares, and whose mind is occupied with a single idea, that of getting money. This is why in these surroundings also they frequently have recourse to alcohol to dissipate their vexations, especially when things go badly.

Having treated of alcoholism among the idle portion of the bourgeoisie, Kautsky says in the study quoted above: “Not all, of course, and perhaps not even the majority, of the moneyed class are idlers. Many work as long and hard as any working-man, even if the work they do is often superfluous. But it is always one-sided nervous work. Muscular exercise among the property-holding class has been constantly pushed ever further into the background since the sixteenth century, and the demands upon the nervous system have correspondingly increased. Besides the continual struggle with the working-class, from whom the surplus-value is taken, there is going on an equally uninterrupted battle of the spoilers among themselves for a share of this surplus-value. All these battles are carried on today by nervous, not muscular, energy, and the contests become constantly more bitter, the crises more tremendous, the battlefields more colossal, the forces involved more incalculable.

Finally, we must notice some causes of alcoholism which influence the whole population.

Out of 81,187 children from 6 to 14 years of age going to school in Vienna, there were:

49.5% who already drank beer and 32.1% who drank beer regularly

82.1% who,, already,, drank,, wine and,, 11.2% who,, drank,, wine regularly,,

94.2% who,, already,, drank,, brandy and,, 4.1% who,, drank,, brandy regularly,,

But imitation is also important among those who have attained their full development. In the course of time certain circles have taken up the habit of drinking, and any one who frequents these circles must do the same under penalty of being looked down upon. However, I think that the importance that abstainers give to imitation is exaggerated. The number of those who are guilty of the abuse of alcohol from force of example and nothing else is certainly not very great. The other factors which have been at work at the same time to bring about this result are not so obvious. Finally we must not forget that imitation is not an independent factor; what does not exist cannot be imitated, and consequently there must be other causes primarily responsible.

I believe that the influence of race upon alcoholism is enormously exaggerated, which does not, however, imply that I deny its influence. The slight expansion of the use of alcohol among the Mongolians (among whom, it is to be added, this is replaced by other narcotics, principally by opium) is to be explained in part perhaps, by race.

The consequences of the fact that the production of alcohol is capitalistic have a great social importance. To instance only some of these:

Second. The constantly decreasing price of alcohol. As we have seen above there is a tendency in the present economic system to lower the price of commodities, since each producer tries to increase his profits, if only temporarily, by seeking to improve the processes of production. This is applicable to alcohol also.

The exposition which I have just given of the etiology of alcoholism points out the principal causes of it, and proves that they are to be found in the last instance almost wholly in the present constitution of society. It is possible that some one will interpose the objection that this cannot be the case, that there must be, besides pathological causes, individual causes, since it happens that among persons living in the same environment some become alcoholics and others do not.

This last fact is incontestable, but it is partly to be explained by the fact that, while there are persons who live in environments that are very similar, there are no two individuals whose surroundings are exactly the same. Take, for example, two workmen. The one may have passed his youth in circles where they drink little or no alcohol, and where it is pointed out to him that abstinence is very salutary, while the other sees only examples of intemperance. It may be that here is the explanation of the fact that the first has remained temperate, while the second has not, although the two live in surroundings almost alike.

But suppose that the environment is and has always been exactly the same for a group of persons, we shall see then that the tendency toward alcoholism is not the same for each individual. No one will be able to dispute the fact, however, that it is the environment that is the cause of the abuse of alcohol. Individual differences bring it about that one man is more drawn to the use of alcohol than another, but circumstances explain why the first has become alcoholic. These differences can never explain why, at a certain period, the abuse of alcohol has, or has not, become an almost universal phenomenon.

The proofs are plain. In examining, for example, a period like that in which capitalism took its rise in England, as it is described by Engels in his “Condition of the Working Class”, a period, that is to say, in which the working class found itself in very disadvantageous material and moral conditions, we see that the workers, with rare exceptions, were consumers of alcohol, and largely abused it. Since that time conditions have improved. The moral and material plane having been raised, those whose tendency toward alcohol was less strong and who had more marked innate moral qualities, ceased misusing alcohol. As conditions improve still further those who are weaker follow little by little the same road to temperance. This process may be observed going on among unorganized workmen, with whom the tendency to drink is generally great. As soon as they begin to organize, and in measure as their organization is developed, we see that first the most intelligent, etc., among them become temperate, and that little by little these are followed by the others.

It is a biological fact that men always and everywhere present qualitative differences. But this constant factor does not give an explanation of the changes which society undergoes, and is not, therefore, of great importance to sociology, which, while taking it into account, has for its task the explanation of the changes in question. And it is just those changes in the use of alcoholic beverages which have taken place during the course of the centuries, which show that the social environment is the principal cause of alcoholism.

The discovery in the middle of the sixteenth century of the distillation of spirits from grain brought about a considerable cheapening in the price of strong drink, which thus came within the reach of the poor. (Arab physicians had long before discovered how to extract brandy from wine, but this in the beginning was only used medicinally.) The great poverty occasioned by the Thirty Years’ War increased the use of liquor enormously, and the birth of the industrial proletariat contributed equally to the same result. Mention is made for the first time of the regular use of liquor to increase the amount of work done, in 1550 among the Hungarian miners, the first category of workmen who lived under conditions almost identical with those of the modern industrial proletariat. With the continually increasing development of capitalism King Alcohol began his triumphal march, which has continued without any great obstacle to the present day. Alcoholism has its deeper causes in the material intellectual and moral poverty created by the economic system now in force. It is with reason that Professor Gruber has said: “We cannot shut our eyes to the truth that alcohol is not without basis in our present order of society. Without it life would long ago have become unendurable for the suffering part of the population.”