In the history of the development of himian
sympathies, the long indifference of women,
of the feminist movement, and of the so-called
"good" women in the movement and out of it,
to the conditions under which the so-caUed
"bad'' woman, whose "badness" partly consists
in having a child without having a legal refuge,
will be the hardest of all to explain. Of all
woman's inhumanities to woman, this is with-
out doubt the most inhuman.
Although the society does not call itself a
philanthropic organization, much of its work
is necessarily of that character. An important
branch of its work is to provide legal aid for
the women who need such advice. It also helps
the mother to find employment for herself and
a home for the child. At the Mutterschutzhaus
near Berlin, children whose mothers must be
necessarily separated from them are kept until
the age of six, In every way, the society seeks



Digitized



by Google



THE MUTTERSCHUTZ ffiEA 118

to strengthen the bond between the mother and
the chad, which like all other human bonds is
susceptible to shaping, and thus to prevent the
mother from definitely committing herself to a
life of prostitution. It is known that the ma-
ternity wards and hospitals are a source for
recruits to the brothel population of the great
cities. This is vividly brought out in Else
Jerusalem's psychological novel dealing with
brothel life. The author describes the way in
which Madame Goldscheider managed to ar-
ticulate her establishment with the maternity
hospitals.
