So long as there shall exist, by reason of law and custom, a social condemnation which, in the midst of civilization, artificially creates a hell on earth, and complicates with human fatality a destiny that is divine;
so long as the three problems of the century-the degradation of man by the exploitation of his labor, the ruin of woman by starvation, and the atrophy of childhood by physical and spiritual night-are not solved;
so long as, in certain regions, social asphyxia shall be possible; in other words, and from as till broader point of view, so long as ignorance and misery remain on earth, there should be a need for books such as this.
Hauteville House, 1862