The Dickinson press., 1889-11-16
WIVES WHO WORK OUT.
MARRIED WOMEN TAKING THE PLACES
IN SHOP AND OFFICE.

IN SHOP AND OFFICE.
Half tho Typewriters. salcsladies and CASH
iers Wear Wedding Rines-An Interest
ing Wage Problem Hhicl, Labor Scien-
lists May BE Called Upon to Solve.
DO you ride down town in the street
cars in the morning?" asked an observant
merchant of Times man yesterday.
well, if you do and you have reached
that ago of mature infancy where you
begin to takc notice of things, you can't
help having been struck by the fact that
many of the women who happen to be
your fellow passengers wear wedding
rings.
"Of course. very few women como
down town before 0 o'clock in the morn.
ing on shopping expeditions, and you
won't be far wrong in your guess if you
put down those who como cityward at
an earlier hour as " 'rkingwomen. They
are such, too. The reason called your
especial attention to the wedding ring
feature of this particular class of women
is that the ornament indicates that the
is married; so that the prevalence
OF wedding rings on the hands of tho
lady patrons of the early morning street
cars shows that a great many married
women work for living; that is outside
the homo that is popularity supposed to
be the solo proper province of tho mar
ricd woman.
AN EMPLOYERS OPINION.
IF you go into tho great stores and
shops and offices where women are em-
ployed you will be surprised at the num-
Der of wives and mothers you will find
there working at various vocations. In
fact, they are to quito an extent COM
petinS with tho unmarried female work.
ers in the struggle for employment. 1t
seems sad and strange that such should
be tho case, but it is a fact that the num-
Der of deserted or neglected wives in this
city is painfully large, and it is incrcas-
ing.
"'rhus Il new danger to tho man who
can not do some special work has arisen
Not onl y has he to compete with his own
and other fellows sisters in an endeavor
to obtain work as clerk, bookkeepcr or
salesman, but other mems wives now
crowd in and swell tho ranks of those
who can do only simple work and who
must have work at any price. The re-
suit is tho lowering of wages of this
class of work people,"
A visit TO some of tho places whcro
many women arc employed confirmed
the statements of the observing mcr-
chant. Tho manager of a big State street
dry goods store said:
eyes, we have Il good many married
women here, and we have applications
for places from many more. Indeed, it
seems that there are moro wives than
maidcns now looking for work.
"And such women arc always moro
persistent in their efforts to get work
than their unmarried sisters Usually
they do not start out to find work in this
way until driven to it by necessity, and
then they arc prepared to do anything
and take tho smallest wages. Most of
the women who apply hero arc ladies
whose husbands have either left them or
provide SO meagcrly for their support
that they arc compelled to do something
to support themselves. am astonislled
at tho number Of pcrfidious husbands
who are or bavo been in this town. But
one thing l can say, very few of them
are Aative Chicagoans or even Chi
cagoans by virtue of long residence here.
They arc usually young men who have
come here with their wives and small
families from other cities or country
towns, and finding tho burden Of caring
for a family in big city rather heavy
cowardly fly and leave tho poor woman
to do tho best she cam"
YOUNG HUSBANDS DON'T LIKE 1T.
| But deserted wives are not tho only
married women who work down town.
Hundreds of women, both young and
old, think they can aid the common cx-
chcqucr better by outside work than by
housekeeping, and SO they find employ
ment in some kind Of business and they
and their husbands "board."
Most of this class of out working wives
are young women who before their mar
riase were engaged in occupations of
this kind. School teachers, clerks, Ste
nographcrs, typcwritcrs and salcswomcn,
who have never done any domestic work,
find themselves untitled for it and unable
to do it. Besides, it is disagrecablo to
them. They marry and are anxious to
help their husbands. They had good
positions and pay before marriage, and
naturally they go back to tho kind of
work they know best and at which they
can mako the most money.
Tho young husband generally objects.
He had q vague, indefinite idea when he
was rowing blade himself that pretty
typewriter girls and SO on were very
much inclined to firt, and ho had rather
haZy notions about them till ho met his
charmer. OF course sho was different
from all the others, but just the same he
doesn't like tho idea Of his wife being
thought about and talked about by other
men as he used to think and talk about
tho typcwritcrs and shop girls. Some
times his objections are lasting and
strong enough to keep his wife at home,
but very often he not unwillingly gives
in, especially il no family has come to
tie the wife to her home.
Meanwhile the number of married
women who hold places in Offices or
shops is large and the list of applicants
is increasing daily. Ono can hear ''AIrs. +"
almost as often as Miss" now when an
employer addresses his clerk or amanu-
ensis.
Whether it is an evil or blessing is
a question for the political and social
economists to consider, but the fact re-
mains that the advent of the married
woman in the field of labor is not tend
ing to increase wages nor render employ
ment easy of obtaining. The young
women had about banished the young
men from many lines of Office and cleri-
cal work, and the married woman is
hurting both of the other classes. She
can afford TO work for less pay because
she has her husband to support her, and
she often lowers the pay of most OF the
workpeoplc in an office 10y Offering to
work for lower wages than is already
being paid.-ChicasoT Times.
The Joys of the Autumn.