The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-03-21
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WOMEN AS WAGE-WORKERS.


WOMEN AS WAGE-WORKERS.
The ST. Louis newspapers have called the
attention of their readers to the fact that
lady who is known as the "mother Of the pub
lie schools, owing to her having been teach
er in that city for fifty years, is i'll and in
want. Teachers who still enjoy the compare
tive prosperity of being able to earn and to
draw their salaries will look upon this an
nouncement and the accompanying appeal for
call mingled emotions. The circumstance
that woman who has spent fifty years of her
life in teaching still survives, even in Grip
pied condition, must of itself occasion sur
prise but this aside, the reflection that half
a centurys practice of a laborious profession
does not insure one against the need of char
ity in old age can hardly be cheerful one to
those engaged in the same calling. 1t will be
said, of course by those economists who have
figures to prove that every man and woman
may secure competence by the SIM
pie process of 'laying by" a
part of their income however small,
that it was the duty of the teacher in ques-
ton, and others like her, to have made pro-
vision for the inevitable rainy day. This
view of the matter may be the correct one,
but, as mon in receipt of large incomes have
found, the theory is frequently somewhat diff
fcult to put into practice. Women who are
bread-winners find it particularly so, laboring,
as they do, under several disadvantages which
their brothers do not encounter. The first of
these, of course, is that of receiving less pay
than men for doing the same work equally
well; but there are others not usually consid-
cred by those who moralze over the labor
problems of the day. A belief prevails
among people in general that woman who is
in receipt of even the most modest salary
cannot possibly spend it all in providing
for her own individual wants, but must, in
order to dispose of such sum, bestow a con-
siderable portion upon her nearest Of kin, or,
in default of these. upon orphan asylums or
foreign missions. A woman who deliberately
boards up her earnings for the pur-
pose of investing them for profit for
her own benefit, is privately regarded
rs an unnatural creature, something of a
.aonster. With curious inconsistency, how
.ger, the rate of women's wages is fixed upon
the theory that she has only herself to provide
who works for livelihood and has no one de-
pendent upon her exertions is the rare excep-
ton 1t is not the idea that woman's abili-
ties are inferior which leads school trustees to
pay her onehalf the sum given to a man for
precisely similar services, SO much as the tacit
assumption that the man has, or will have. a
family to support and that his compensation
must be sufficient to enable him to do this.
The same idea holds in other occupations than
that Of teaching. The business man who en-
ploys girl for $40 week to do the work for
which he would pay young man fifteen or
twenty, excuses the injustice to himself on
the ground that she has fewer wants to sup
ply This erroneous idea crops up in
another form so far, at least as
teachers are concerned. 1t can hardly
be pleasing reflection to the young women
engaged in the practice of their chosen calling
that, should fate compel them to spend life
time IN the school-room, the experience and
wisdom gained after the first few years serve
no good purpose, so far as the rewards aud
emoluments CO. At the end of five, or, at
most, ten, years of service, the teacher may
be considered TO have reached the greatest
height of prosperity in the matter of salary
which she can expect to attain. In other
professions it is different The services of
the elderly, and even aged, doctor and lawyer
are in greater demand than those of the youth
full and Impractical, and for this experience
and accumulated wisdom patients and clients
are expected and are willing to pay. Such
possessions are in these instances considered
valuable.
it il true that the position Of woman as a
wageearner has greatly changed for the bet
Ter within the past few years, but there is
still vast room for Improvement. There is no
lack of pretty sentiment ahoat concerning the
nobility of labor when engaged in by the
female sex; people who were once opposed to