The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1871-10-06
WOMEN IN TRADES.


two articles concerning the employ
ment Of women in mechanical voca-
tions, which 1 desire to briefly review.
One was a mere item announcing that
''wOmen's printing office" had been
established by Mrs. Holmes in Wash
ington; the other letter from Mr.. Til
to the Labor Congress at st. Louis.
That you may be prepared to make
due allowance for whatever preiudices |
may hold, l will put you in possession
of knowledge Of my position and views
at once. I am a printer-a workman,
not an emplOyer-and an advocate of
the woman cause, having had the hon
or of voting for the measure the first
time 1t was presented to the people, i'm
Kansas.
The principal objection to women in
trades-one many times reiterated, and
IN which employers should unite with
workmen-is that they cannot be in
dueed to learn them with that thor
oughness which is expected Of men.
L regret TO see that Mrs. Holmes is
taking steps TO foster this very fault.
The item before me states that she ''de-
signs imparting instruction in ty,1c-
setting" not printing; and further, that
an evening class is shortly TO be
commenced" as though the trade were
one that could bepicked up in a few easy
lessons, requiring Il course of weeks, or
ut most months, of instruction. While
1t Is a fact that the art of putting in
type printed copy technically called
reprnt) can be acquired by any intelli-
gent person in a very short time, there
are various particulars required to make
even a fair compOsitor which can ONLY
be obtained by years of training. Among |
these are the art of punctuation, facility |
in deciphering intricate and illegible 4
manuscript, the ability TO discover a
writer's meaning from hastily written
manuscript in which words are mis-
spelled and frequently omitted, and to
put I'm order communications from illit-
crate persons, which in newspaper offices
are often put in the hands of the COM
positors just as they are received.
Again, Mrs. Holmes proposes to make
mere type-setters at best, while the {
country is flooded. with this class Of
mechanics, and the demand for printers
thorough workmen-is constantly in
creasing. We fear that her expert
ment-evidently undertaken on an &c
parfc view Of the case-win only result
in putting into the possession of a few
women the means of earning a meager
subsistence until they shall be asked in
marriage, and infiicting on the trade a
new race of incompetents.
Mr. TiltOn, Notwithstanding he says,
'in my own business, which is print
ing" was never actually a mechanic,
and cannot, therefore, bring himself to
view things in the same light that a
workman-his emplOyee-dOes. The /
opposition of the trades unions to the |
employment of women in the several |
vocatiOns which they represent arises
from two reasons-one already given, |
and the other that they can and will
work for smaller compensation than |
men, and persistently refuse to unite in
efforts to better themselves. That is to
say, they do not get equal compensation
with men, either because their services
are not worth it, or because they do not
use the means men avail themselves of
to secure it.
In asserting that the working men OPP
l..
willfully ignored several facts of which
his position rs journalist should have
given him knowledge. One, the Wom-
ans Typographical Union of his own
city, supported by the whole strength of
of the organized men printers; another
the demand of women in Troy, New
York, for more adequate wages, in June.
1863, which was supported by the organ
ganized trades throughout large dis
trict. To these / will adj, from my own
knowledge, that repeated efforts have
been made in st. Louis to induce the
women TO unite in demanding equal
compensation with the men; met i'm ev-
cry instance by Indifference on their
part, notwithstanding the cordial sup
port of the men was pledged to the ef-
fort. In Springfield, Illinois, some years
ago, when the men learned that a wom-
an working at the printing business was
acting with them in an effort to redress
certain grievances, they Immediately
made her a member of their Union, and
a full participant in all its privileges.
The main fault of Inadequate cOmpen-
sation is Enthusiastically with the women
themselves. The general spirit among
them is that of two who came under
my notice several years ago. On being
asked to join the organization in which
the men We're united, they responded that
they ieit under such obligations to
their employer for teaching them the
trade, that they could not think of tax
ing any step which might place tben, :,
antagonism to him." Every inteIIioont
man realizes that his employer engsges
him because his labor affords a ,e.as.
and will retain him only so long as !,
does so. There is no favor conferrad -
obligation incurred.
In his concluding paragraph NJ- ~,
ton says TO those who wish to pet ,ho
women out of trade: "Seize tbo a..
golden chance of marrying her out al
it,' and pledges his word that the sun.
positiously obnoxious sex will avail