The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1873-11-14
WOMAN IN AMERICA.
A Letter from Emily Faithful TO the Ecdi-
tor OF the London TImeg.


tor OF the London Times.
Judging from the remarks made on
this subject at the Bradford and Nor
wich congresses, the idea is tOlerably
prevalent that women In the United
States can adopt with ease any profess
sion for which they are qualified. I
confess that about year ago I started
for the United States, on my inquiry
into the condition of the women and
children, fully imbued with some such
notion. Eight months tour through
America and conversations with the
presidents of Harvard, Cornell, and
Michigan universities, Professor Agas-
siz, Henry Ward Beecher, Gen. Oliver
Cchief of the Massachusetts labor bu-
reau), Senator Sumner, DR.. Bellows,
Mrs. Stanton, Lucretia Mott, ETC., fair
Iy dispelIed it. It is quite true that
female doctors with more or less of
recognized degree) abound in America;
in nearly every city I found more than
one in excellent practice and repute; in
one denomination the clergywoman has
received due ordination, though she is
still somewhat of rGrG GVis. Four or
five ladies have secured footing in the
legal profession, and there is scarcely a
newspaper staff in the United States
which does not include one or more as
bona tide reporters, interviewers or crit
ic. Thousands, of course, find occupa-
ton In teaching and the usual indus
trial occupations, hundreds as watch
makers, printers, and telegraph clerks !;
others have obtained postmasterships,
so eagerly sought after in the United
States, and some have entered the gov
eminent offices at Washington. But
English women must not hastily arrive
things their Atlantic sisters are free
from all the distractions of which they
complain. It is true that there is no
class in America answering to our I'M
men there as well as here are complain
ing of unequal pay; Sin fact, " says my
friend Grace Greenwood-the talented
Washington contributor of the New
York Times-''we live by sufferance. -
Take the treasury clerks for example
(they were admitted by Salmon P. Chase
and Edwin M. Stanton, thanks to the
exigencies of the civil war;. I was told
of Miss M. c., who does the work of a
/ 81, 800 clerk for a salary of 5000. Mrs.
L., performing duties for which man
would receive 81, 800, being a woman,
gratefully accepts half. In the internal
revenue there is a lady, who for nine
years has held a responsible position,
and is. by the admission of more than
one commissioner, the abIest clerk in
the department, yet she receives the al,
most traditional female government pay
of 5000, and has to see boys she has
herself instructed in the simplest duties
placed over her head. In the govern
ment printing Office $50 women are re-
ceiving from 81 per day to 5000 per
year. In New York, at the Western
Union Telegraph Company, the female
superintendent, although her ability is
indisputable, receives a considerably
lower salary than would be offered to q
man under the same circumstances.
A warm discussion has been carried
on during the last few months about
the inequality in the salaries paid tc
male and female teachers, which is fell
as a great injustice by American women
In short, I do not fear to say that ]
found the demand on the other side Of
the Atlantic-for equal education, equ
al wages, equal opportunities, in a word
an equal chance in life-very much
like our own. And as for female suffer
age, I assure your readers that in Bos
ton, Philadelphia, and New York I was
surrounded by people who regarded i
with an aversion which would be CRATE
full to the hearts of Mr.. Bouverie, Mr.
Beresford Hope, and the bitterest Eng
lish opponent of that measure. In shOr
there seems to be yet an opportunity
for an honorable rivalship, in seeing
which country shall first rate woman
work at its true value.