The weekly clarion., 1879-03-05
FACTS ABOUT WOMEN.

From Forney's Progress.
When Congress recently passed a law
allowing women To practice IN the SUI
+ preme Court, it was not a subject of any
+ special or eager comment \ woman
who is q lawyer sent flowers to the desks
/ Of the members who voted for the bill,
and before they had faded comment was
at an end The country was still safe
and the home was not in peril. 1t was
one Of the questions that had settled
itself and was a forgone conclusion
Women had already studied law some
of them were in practice, and nothing
alarming had followed. These facts
contain ringing logic in them, and when
it was seen that the work of these wo-
men was good, and that they had their
place, the sentiment Of fair play came
to the surface, and it was clear that the
line shutting them off from the higher
courts was not just If, however, the
women had made their application upon
the ground Of future and possible
fitness, it would have failed. In such
matters the test Of qualification is APP
piled, and those who have the power Of
granting ask for something better than
a vague desire for certain position, or
Il personal conviction Of fitness. In17SS,
the - Female Parliament Of London
debated upon the question whether the
extraordinary abilities of the women Of
that period did not demand academical
honors from the universities, right to
vote at elections, and to be returned as
members Of Parliament. There can be
no doubt but that the question was de
cided in the affirmative, but the matter
seems to have ended there. Perhaps if
one of the coterie had proved her fitness
for academical hCnors, she might have
acted as an opening wedge, even If she
did not herself gain all for which she
asked.
The question OF employment for women
is settled in other WAYS, and since CON
vents and sisterhoods are practically
abolished, but a great army Of dowerless
women still exists, it is clear that some
one has to earn the bread they eat, and
it is almost certain that it Will have to
be done by the women themselves. As
few American women are trained to def
mite industrial pursuits, the higher
classes crowd into a few lines Of work
where a certain aptness, little school
knowledge, or a few accomplishments
will tell; while the lower class either
become seamstresses, house-servants or
enter into occupations already over
crowded by as half educated men. The
women have have one advantage over
the men in getting work, as they are
content to receive lower wages. In
England the women who labor-as in
lock and safe making; in files and cut
lerv; in coach building; in tanning, and
in other occupations of like nature
earn, according to the American Catho-
lie Quarterly Review, about fifty per
cent less than men, and the highest rate
on the list Is in pottery, where some
workwomen get 81 81 per week. In
Paris there are LIS, 600 women in trades,
and what a comprehensive term this is,
is proved by the statement that among
them are 40 butchers, Is slaughter
house keepers, 243 wheelwrights, car
riage-makers, laborers, farriers and sad
dlers, and an unnumbered army of saw
yers, masons, skaters, plumbers, GLACIERS
and paper hangers: and these earn, on
an average, twenty-five cents a day. In
Germany, Austria and Switzerland the
paid still. less.
In the United States this state of
affairs can hardly be said to exist except
in principle, for while here, also, wo-
men crowd the lower lines Of work
and receive small and depreciating
rates Of payment, the work Is better
suited to that sex and IS better paid.
Since these are the facts-a large pro-
portion Of women are obliged to work
for themselves and for their families.
and it is not to the interests Of social
order, of the industries, of proper rate
of payment for labor, that they should
be limited by law or custom to a few
occupations so for these reasons, as
we'll as for the sake Of justice to the
women lawyers, this opening of the
door to one Of the highest and best paid
professions is of great Importance, as
giving a promise Of more elbow-room in
the trades and professions below x x
The bill that has now passed both
Houses of Congress provides that anv
woman who shall have been a member
of the the highest court of any State
or Territory, or of the Supreme Court
of the District of Columbia, for the pc
Rod OF three years, and who shall have
maintained a good standing before such
court, and who shall be a person of
good moral character, shall be admitted
to practice before the Supreme Court
of the United States. x
United States Senator Edmunds, of
Vermont, has fallen into disfavor with
the legal ladies for voting against the
above bill, under which Mrs Belyia A.
Lockwood will practice before the SUI
preme Court of the United States. Jus
tce Sharswood, of the Supreme Court
of Pennsylvania, was equally ungallant
in refusing to grant the same privilege
to the Portia who asked to practice be-
fore him. But as both are no longer
young men, they can plead exemption.
Mrs. Lockwood makes the sixth woman
lawyer in the United States. The others
are Mrs. Mira BradWell, editress of the