Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-07-27
Too Many Women.

ne Bsstoa Advertiser has singular
statistical article, showing that Massachu-
sets has ordinarily had more than her
share of womea, and that now, through
the withdrawal Of men into the army, there
must be in that State one hundred thous-
and more women than men. This re-
markable surplus is regarded as unfavor-
able to the morals of the community, as
well as unfortunate for those sections of
the country where the men are in such
majority as to suffer from the lack of wives,
cooks and seanlstresses. The Advertiser
says
To speak directly of the first and chief
cause of these difficulties Is to repeat the
figures presented in the census. Atthis
moment there are in Massachusetts nearly
one hundred thousand more women than
there are men. In 1860 the excess of the
number of women of all ages, above that
Of men, was $780, Since that time the
war and the steady surplus of the emigra-
ton of males must have taken from US
sixty or seventy thousand more men the G
also it must be observed, of the marrlag-
able ages-leaving a surplus here of one
hundred thousand women. Between the
ages OILS and As, the population of women
in Massachusetts is about $4,000. The
population Of men of the same age does
not probably exceed 242O0O, atthe present
time. ~
This entire disproportion, greater than
we remember to have observed in the sta
tistics of any other country, may be as
cribed, to a considerable extent, to the war.
But we should mistake greatly if We con-
| slder the war as its only cause. Before the
war existed, in 1860, the excess of women
of all ages was, as We have said, 36, 6,970.-
Counting: only the population between the
ages of Is and so, the excess Of women
within those limits was twenty-seven
thousand surplus much too large to be
overlooked on a careful study Of the crime
of the community. The causes are evil
dent. Young men emigrate freely and
largely They emigrate in much greater
proportion than women do. The emigra-
| ton from Massachusetts is much larger
than the immigration into it. The conse-
quence is that a large proportion of un-
married women are left by the tide of em-
igration within our borders.
| We conceive that the correction of this
is to be found in the encouragement by all
proper means, of the emigration of women
from Massachusetts into the regions where
they are needed, and of the systematic en-
igration of men from Europe into our
State Merely selfish considerations Of u
temporary lack in the supply of workwo-
men ought not to stand moment in the
way of the rectifying a gross disproportion,
which, of necessity, seriously endangers
the morals of the community, and the very
foundations of civil society.
It must be remembered that the West
ern States, particularly those of the Pacific,
are suffering under the counter-difficulty
The census of Oregon shows surplus of
10000 men to match our surplus Of women
Trustworthy letters before US, as we write
state that the labor of laboring women in
Oregon is paid dollar day in gold, with
board besides; The grazing districts of
that State are not itly developed for want
of women TO make butter; the schools are
not fitly taught for want of women to
teach; the men are compelled to do house
work for want of women to wash and to
sew.
Granting, for ultra delicacy's sake, that
the people of Oregon must not say that
they want wives for their men, and mat
rons for their future, they must say they
need women for every purpose. Their
best men make themost impressive appe-
ais, therefore, for;;an organized immigration
of women. We understand some steps
have been taken in New England looking
toward such an organization. Quite indie
pendent of it, we do not hesitate to say,
that any woman who has here living to
earn, and is willing to earn it, will do wise
ly by investing two hundred dollars in a
passage to Portland in Oregon.