Wichita eagle., 1886-09-18
aai1S - eagle
FEMALE LABOR.
LARGE ,.uMsER OF WOMEN EARNING
AN INDEPENDENT LIVING.

AN INDEPENDENT LIVING.
Students IRON tho Colleges and High
Schools-No European Women Slavery
Wanted in This CoJ.ntry-THat Women
Should DO.
The r,.,nl,cr OF vomen who are earning al
independent living il this country IS lilcreas
ing, year by year. During the last genera
ton tie increase has been q most surprising
one, and from present appearances Tho nun.
ber of such women is to be largely incrcase.i
in the near future. The colleges and high
schools of tho country are sending out an
nuaIly thousands of young women who Gre
no. only weli-educated, but sclf-rcliant, ard
who. as q class, are entirely unwilling TO re-
turn to their homes, even when they have
GOOD ones, and take up q life of seIni-idleness
and dependence. OF course, q very largo
number are forced By circumstances to enter
upon SONG occupation for self support What
the final result OF this pressure OF female
labor upon the market is to bc it Is hard 70
foreten There are those who fear that we
shall soon become like some Of tho countries
of Europe who're the women do tho greater
part of the work and tho men are cornpar-
atively idle; or like Indian tribes, where tbs
squaws do all tho menial labor. If the ten
dency is in that direction it is certainly &c
plorab!e one and should in some way he ar
rested
MERE BEASTS or BURDEN.
Ono does not desire to see American women
like the women Of northern Europe-mere
beasts of burden. For instance, in Stock
holm woman is almost exclusively employed
as hod carrier and bricklayer's assistant She
carries brick, mixes mortar and does all the
hardest work about building. She is paid
for days work, which is fully twelve hours,
the sum of ono kroner equivalent to one and
three pence) The women do all tho street
cleaning, haul the rubbish in hand carts over
tho cobblestones and out upon the hills, un-
load the boats at the quays, do the gardening
and run ferries They take the places of
horses and dogs in much of the carrying busi-
ness, bringing in the large and heavy milk
cans from the dairieS and GistI ibutinG tho
milk. In many other portions Of Europe it
is scarcely better. You can sec women in
highly civilized Ecgiand employed day by
day in the coalpit, ct the forge and in brick
yards
In France she fills furnaces and tends great
coke ovens, and does the greater part OF The
market gardening, besides tending a large
part of the shops II Germany she is often
hitched with 9 dog to draw q heavy cart, end
this Is also Gono in other European countries.
IN Germany she does moro agricultural la5oi
than in almost any other land; b,. this is rot
quite so hard aHd debasing as work in mines
and coalpits, although sufficiently destructive
of al the finer qualities OF wonanhocd. IN
Belgium yCuTg women and even little girls
work continuously in coairits, and there arc
bent and crippled old women about these pits
who have worked il them silce carly child
hood. In Holland they vorl, on tho canals
with rope over the shoulder, and do n large
part OF the work u.,ol tho diSe3 which hold
the sea at bay. la al tho other laboTious oc-
cupations they also tas, \ large part, and
their coarse and sunburllod faces retain hard
ly trace OF wcrlanly softnss, nor their
broad sid muscular forms q trace of wonlanly
hghtnsS Or grace.
IL EUH0PHAy COUNTRIES.
In soma Of these countries the yourg inen
are al in the army; in others thsy are almost
idle, doing only the lightest part of the work
and congresatin. in vast numbers in beer
gardens and pari3, Or fishing in tho little
streams hero and there They belong to a
band, to fire company, or a club, and only
pretend 70 earn enough money to pay fo.
their pastimss while wives, or daughters, o.
mothors do the real work which supports tlo
family. Where vast standing armies arc
kept the evi! is the greatest, but everywhere
in Europe upoa woman falls large share Of
the hard labor which wc in America are ac-
sustomsd to 80 ps-formed by men.
But already ths European custom is gain
ing foothold in America. The great influx
Il foreigners has brought with it other ideas
than ours German and Norwegian women
nay already be seen in great numbers in tho
harvest fields Of the west and driving loaded
teams upon western roads. We have not yet,
IS far as l know, hitched them up with dogs;
but SO rapidly arc we passing under the sway
Of foreigners that we may yet live to ses that
odifying sight. l think tho American people
owe it to themselves to resist this tendency to
the utmost. Every true citizen should frown
upon the man who puts his wife or daughters
to such work es this in this country, because
it is both needless and hurtful. There is no
excuse in our favored land for putting .
woman to work in the fields, OF at mans hard
work anywhere. Let the men still carry the
hods, and dig the canals, and SOW, and reap
as they did in the better days of the republic
In their eagerneSs to have all avenues of re-
munerativc labor thrown open to them tney
have perhaps rather overdid their work, and
may have nore thrust upon thcm than they
desired Their right to do certain things they
have certainly established, and l should be
the last one to question such right. Now,
they Should also establish their right not %
do certain things Wives and daughters of
foreign farmers and laborers should have a
declaration OF Independence of their own, and
rise in open rebellion against fed labor OF
other mans work demanded of them -Fattie
Tyng Gri3wolJ ia Chicago Tribune