“From the foregoing explanation you can readily see that we have fathers, but no husbands; mothers, but no wives. No woman gives herself away to a man for any definite length of time; and no man gives himself to any woman for a definite length of time. Consequently, we have no marriages for life, as you have. We believe that both sexes should be completely free of each other at all times. We believe that no one should have any claim on another, whether male or female, further than the mutual solicitation of the parties from time to time desire to elicit. We believe that a woman, in order to live the purest life, must be free; must enjoy the full privilege of soliciting the love of _any_ man, or of _none_, if she so desires. She must be free and independent, socially, industrially and sexually. “We believe that bearing and rearing offspring constitutes a large portion of the productive labor of a well-adjusted society, and that mothers who do that should receive the same compensation for it as is paid for any other labor. Savages put nearly all the productive labor off unto their women, and yet the men, as a rule, think that _they_ are doing nearly all the work which is worth doing. So what you call civilized man for long ages, shifts the burden of bearing and nursing offspring off unto their women as though it were little or no labor. And, in order to accomplish his purpose more effectually, the man first throws the woman in a sphere of industrial and social dependence by his superior physical strength, and then makes a contract with her, which is binding for life, by marrying her, perhaps, when she is young and inexperienced. No amount of after-knowledge, according to your opinion, enables her to retract her former steps on this point. “With us, a woman who is about to become a mother receives the same pay for bearing the offspring as an engineer receives for running an engine; and a mother who nurses her infant receives like pay for that work _alone_. If she desires to do more, she is at liberty; if not, it is well also; she is the judge. Besides this, we believe that it is the duty of every man, young and old, as well as of every woman who is not a mother, to give all the general assistance possible to mothers, in the labor of nursing children. This labor of nursing and tending children is looked upon as belonging to _all_ of us. It has become pleasant, sportive exercise. And even if it were not so, a man who would be unwilling to do his fair share of it, would very likely not leave many descendants, for a woman, when once free, is not likely to co-operate with a shirk.