There is one other already urgent matter of soci^
organisation which covers a vast field, and yet has not
conveniently come under any of the previous heads
of structure of industry or the distribution of wealth
or the promotion of the public health. In truth,
it could be discussed under all these heads, but it
will be clearer to give it a place by itself. One refers
to the position of the Mother. Stated in cold
economic terms, detached from all the true and false
glamour that clusters round her, the Mother is, as
such, a worker engaged in the industry of producing
that most valuable of social wealth, children. The
problem which arises is that under present condi-
tions she is not paid that independent wage, secured
by a contract, which is the legal distinction between
the position of the free worker and the slave. The
Mother, in all normal cases, has merely her main-
tenance according to the standard of her husband's
poation. and in some cases an indeterminate sum,

295



THE GREAT STATE

over and above, at her own disposal beyond house-
keeping. This analogy with the position of a
slave does not necessarily involve the statement
that the mother is treated with cruelty or incon-
sideration, in the ordinary sense of the words. But
it does involve the statement that she is not an in-
dependent unit in the social system. The same
might be said, in a sense, of every worker in a
factory or government office or a shop. But there
is this radical distinction: however badly the
ordinary worker be paid, she gets a definite wage for
more or less definite hours of service; and this is
the basis of an independent life, however insuffi-
cient. Whereas the position of the mother is in-
definite, and decided by sentiment, not contract.
