Excerpt from The Princeton Review: July, September, November, 1883

But of equal significance is the inquiry in regard to her rela tive value, for to this we are compelled to address ourselves. The powers and abilities Of man measure the wages and demand for labor. How then can women work at the Side of men? In the long-run, is the result Of the work of men Of more intrinsic value to the industrial world? Will it always be? Need we illustrate the importance this inquiry has assumed in reaching final conclusions? We may dogmatize. We may confess the issue here and avoid it there. At last we must be brought to the most relentless Of all the factors in human existence the fact that the moral, material, and intellectual independence and success of the individual depends on its power to measure itself with the fiat. In every branch of human activity, as well as in the simplest forms of physical and political develop ment, to the fittest belongs the crown. Relative forces never fail to seek and find their relative positions; any prejudices or desires we may have to the contrary notwithstanding.

Notice here the danger we are approaching. You must not measure the value of an ounce of gold by putting it into the opposite scale to a ton Of coal. You must find the element of value in an article before you presume to measure its value in exchange. We shall be able to draw a moral from this fact hereafter. My title suggests that we take for our objective point the woman of the twentieth century. What is the future of the present tendencies bearing upon the industrial, educational, and social status of women? IS the existence of the present relations of women to society due to a natural law, and is it founded on healthful and necessary development, or is it not? Is the New Philosophy destined to win in the end, or is it based on false and hurtful hypotheses, and will it probably fail?

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