Hardly the most able men according to the estimate of the time were the ones to leave the fields for a new line of work. What probably happened was that those men physically deformed or otherwise handicapped in the out-of-door work, were relegated to the fireside to assist the women. It was their specialization and concentration that made them excel in their art and bring it to a higher state of perfection than women had. Undoubtedly they were looked down on by men, and their social position was similiar to that of the tailor only a few generations ago. Literature affords us many a merry gibe at the expense of the man who earned his bread with his needle, and only recently has he taken his place in the trades on an equality with others. When machine industry replaced hand industry a revolution was started that has not yet ended. Instead of all social and economic forces molding the home into a more compact unit, they tend to disintegrate the home and to force its dependent members from its industrial shelter. It was at this time that great suffering was endured. The family compact had gained industrial strength by virtue of the combination, but when each individual member of that family was forced to seek a place in an industrial regime, many of them became victims of a new order they were powerless to control. Men, women, and children flocked to the factories for work, and in return for their services received a mere pittance in comparison with the economic advantages of the old economic life. Where there existed poverty, before, now dwelt misery and desolation. Men could not protect their wives and children from killing toil and although their memories carried them back to better days, they now became part of the procession of the hopelessly poor. What happened in the warring communities of primitive times now took place in industrial communities. The old economic groups had been broken up and no readjustment taken place. Hence, each individual was forced to fight his battle and his success depended upon his own efforts. It was the predatory spirit let loose in an economic guise. The combat was more brutal in that the vanquished ones were not slain on the field but left to die in damp cellars. As in history the status of women depended upon the status of their husbands. As a sex they asked for nothing but bread for themselves and their families. Their new economic position in the factory was supposed to be a temporary make-shift only, and their failure to recognize its permanency was perhaps one reason why all their demands were demands for the men--a chance for their husbands to support their families independent of their wives.