The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1893-12-23
rhE SuRPLt Us Girl.


THE SuRPLl)S CIR
nsttsr Tor Hsr. Is Work Than & ~
Thrown lnto the River. lssasss
The tendency of m increasing popu-
lation is nearly always TO an over pro-
duction at least TO what IS gen-
lerally considered m overproductio ton
Iof girls, and the result is . problem
which has been the cause Of much vex-
atious and unsatisfactory thinking in.
all ages, says the st. Louis Republic.
The Chinese have . solution which
they look on as final, but in many other
countries there is such objection to the
idea of throwing surplus girl babies
into the river that it can hardly OPP
crate with the, Same success which at
tends it in China.
AS .theyare not thrown into the4river
they grow up aud then they must get a
living in some way. This has occurred
to Lady Emily Dixie, and has moved
her to make an investigation OF their
condition.
The picture she draws in the Fort
nightly Review is q gloomy one: She
concludes that the secret Of Englands
manufacturing supremacy is the cheap
labor of women and girls, and she is
also of the opinion that the results of
setting the women and girls to work to
eke out the earnings of the head of the
family ''are simply suicidal"
1t is no doubt true that the success eft
English manufactures depends largely
on the cheap labor of women and girls,
and we venture to say that it is to
|some extent true of every successful
manufacturing country. 1t is certainly
true of the New England states, which
are notorious for their overproduction
of girls.
1t is not necessary to dwell on the
evils incident to any industrial system
which relies mainly on such labor.
They are apparent. But the assump-
ton that they outweigh the benefits is
rash indeed. -
The increa sing employment OF
women and girls IN production means
that through the advance Of civfliza-
ton, resulting in the invention Of
highly improved machinery, work can
now be done by women that was for
merly far beyond their strength.
When one girl can operate a machine
that will do the work of five fully de-
ve1oped men it is useless to expect that
the five men will be employed in place
| of the one girl and the machine.
1t is also illogical and short-sighted
to look on the improvement in machin-
cry which increases the demand for fe-
male labor as an evil in itself.
The English or the German peasant
girl who works on the farm does much
harder and more brutalizing labor than
the girl Of the factorys Many evils at
tend the employment Of 'girls in oper-
ating machines. No father who can
support his daughters should allow
them to go into factory. The girl is
most fortunate who can afford to grow
up with no other business than that of
| ''housewife.' But as all are not SUI
premely fortunate it is we'll to recog-
nize that what may seem an unmixed
evil may be really minor benefit.
1t is better for girls to work in fac
tories and stores than to be thrown
into the river, as happens to them. in
China, or to be obliged to use the mat
took and spade in the fields, as they
! are in Europe.
We are not doing nearly as we'll as
we might in this matter or in any
other, but still we are doing a great
, deal better than professional pessi,nists
are capable of understanding.