The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1890-12-26
Wnnen'B Dnrln.
women's wages.
SAY FRANCISCO. DEC.

DAN KANClSCOs DEC- ~.
One OF the black chapters OF outrage
and wrong In the history OF civilization
is that pertaining TO the proper field for
women's work. The opposition which has
been made to the efforts OF omen to
work their way into institutions OF learn
ing, and into the various trades and pro-
LESSONS, Is answerable for the downfall
OF many a woman who has turned, in
despair, from virtue TO vice for the
means TO appease her hung r and clothe
her nakedness- The means of education,
until recent years, have been kept beyond
woman's reach. She might not enter a
college nor an academy, she might only
study the more common branches In the
common schools She could not fit her.
self for any profession nor enter upon
it even II she wee fitted. Gradually the
places OF learning have been forced. for
very shame, to open their doors to the
sex, though thers are many colleges and
higher schools yet where woman may
not enter.
But when fitted for u profession there
has been most ungenerous opposition
from persons of both sexes to her prac-
ticing any profession. In the trades the
same selfish neanness is manifested.
No person working at any Of the indoor
manual trades in which females are en-
ployed can long remain ignorant of the
extent to which the prejudice against
employing girls prevails. And when en-
ployed they seldom get the same pay
that man gets for the same work There
are printing offices which pay regular,
stated price for composition-40 cents per
thousand ems TO men and 80 cents TO
girls; the same practice prevails in other
trades. It is no defense of this crying
and cruel wrong TO say that girls have
less expense than men, that some of the
latter have families to support. The en-
ployer is not a benevolent institution To
furnish means of support to his employees
according to their need, and he does not
act in that character. He simply hires
his help at the lowest price for which he
can get satisfactory work, and takes ad-
vantage OF the girls necessity to compe'
her to work cheaper tnan the man.
In every field that has been opened e
women seeking employment this unjust
discrimination prevails, and it Is answer
able for much of the crime and vice tC
which so many are driven who were once
sweet, pure little girls. This distinction
In wages between the sexes Is relic oi
the ages when women were deemed
property TO be bought and sold. What
Is the logical Interpretation OF the SYSTEM
1t Is this: The workman who opposes
giving women an equal chance with hin
TO earn living virtually says to tht
woman, 81 want to keep you in need o
money. You must not receive generou:
wages. l must receive enough for m.
work to pay my own expenses and hays
some left over with which to tempt yot
in your penury to step aside from tn,
path OF virtue. That is what it amount:
TO in actual, everyday practice, and hun
drsds OF poor girls, willing and anxfou:
to work and honorably earn their way il
the world, are crowded out of employ
ment by the selfish prejudices of work
men or compelled to work for inadequat,
pay, until, driven to despair, they yielC
70 the temptation placed before them by
better-paid workmen and take the frs
and irretraeable step toward the mos
terrible hell known &c mortals.
Woman's proper sphere, If all men wer,
in theirs, would be, in the majority o
instances, the circle of home; but sh1
has tight wherever there Is work to b
done that she is capable OF doing, an,
she is entitled, in simple justice, to fai
pay for good work. Until she receive
it-until the discrimination between tn
sexes in wages for the same work
abolished-the employers and the work
men who crowd women out of work a.
;
with the direct actors in the hideou
wrong of leading girls into the hell o
immortality whose doors stand open q
receive them. MATTE NORRIS.