The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-02-15
Facts of Interest
To Women Readers.
Symposium of Information, Partly Grave,
Partly Cosby and Partly Gay.
THE wOMAN'S PAGE:

fad that spreads with growing rage,
As just the proper caperi
Is that they call the "Woman's Page"
In every 'hustling" paper.
Just why the woman mind IL made
So curious. seems funny;
All sorts of mental marmalade
Mixed up with men and money.
And quite a group of grotesque things,
In tones of pink and yellow,
Are what j find, with sundry fiings
About a girls "best fellow.
The way to make her sleeves like sails
And tint her cheeks and lashes.
And follow fashions devious trails.
Is shown in lucid flashes.
One cannot tell the subtle ways
With which she treats each thesis;
But, follow IL for many days
And you will have paress. Truth.
Dr. Mosher. just appointed professor
Of hygiene at Ann Harbor, is the first
woman upon whom a full professorship
has been bestowed there. although the
Institution was opened to women by the
legislature thirty years ago. In noting
this fact the Chicago Times-Herald
questions whether the University of
Michigan Is not little late in recogniZ-
ing accomplished facts. and adds:
The whole number Of persons over
0years of age engaged in gainful occu-
pations in this country Is 22.735,6tl. The
proportion of sex IL. male S2,IS. female
l1a2 The census divides occupations
into five classes. The proportions In
each Indicate clearly the lines along
which women have been making the
most impressive progress. In agricul-
ture fisheries and mining they are more
than ~ per cent. In professional SER
vice they number one-t third of the whole.
In domestic service they constitute 3S21
per cent, and in manufacturing and
mechanical industries they comprise
fraction more than one-fifth. Figures
are, however. more descriptive than ra-
tios. The number Of women in agricul-
ture fisheries and mining is G79,5 500: in
professional service, 3ll,GS2: in trade
and transportation. a2s,SO9. and in
manufacturing and mechanical indus
tries the total reaches 1,O27, ,525.
i
"Womcn's progress is rendered more
graphic when read comparatively back
ward. In 1870, for example. only one
try: in 1890. % were pursuing that
profession. In 1870 there were no women
classified as chemists assayers or met
allurgists; in 1890 there were 46 in
these occupations. Women do not APP
pear as miners in 1870. but i'm 1890 219
We're found connected with coal mining
and l33 with other mineral production.
There were no women surveyors Or.en-
In, In hn
shows l27 under the heads of civil, me-
chanical. electrical and mining. In
1870 there We're no women practicing
veterinary surgery; in 1890, are found.
70 this extent there is innovation,
while the expansion of woman's sphere
of activity in pursuits which she had
entered twenty years ago is still more
remarkable. In 1870, Az women We're
recorded as artists and teachers of art
i'm 1880 the figure is for this branch of
their industry 10.S10. In 1870 there were
"a women dentists. in 1890, 337 were
found. In 1870 the designers, draughts-
men and inventors. women, numbered
IL; in 1890 the total under this head
was JOG. In 1870 the number of women
lawyers was $: the number in 1890 was
.OS, and the middle Of the decade prob
ably finds it nearly 300. In 1870 the
number OF women who were govern
ment officials, federal, state and local,
was 4l4; for 1890 the total is 4.S75. in
creasing. undoubtedly. every year. In
1870 the number of women engaged in
teaching was S4,047: in 1890 II had risen
to 245O65, and the statistics furnished
recently by the bureau Of education
show that the percentage Of illiteracy
in the United States has fallen prOpor-
tionately as to states accordingly as
the proportion Of women engaged in
teaching has increased. In 1870, 527
women were licensed to practice medi-
cine and surgery; in 1890 the number
was 4,555, and this year. with the annu-
al increment in the decade from the
colleges, the total is fully 5000.
"A curious fact shown by the census
OF 1890 Is that there Is not an occupation
followed today by men in the United
States from which women are alto
gether absent, with two exceptions, SOL
'diers and marines. and from these they
are excluded by federal law, if not by
the law of nature and humanity. There
are women locomotive engineers and
firemen, women fishermen and OYSTER
men,, women Quarrymen, women wood
shoppers, stock raisers, herders, drov-
ers, gardeners, bartenders, BARRIERS, sa-
loonkeepers, real estate agents. commits
sion agents. bankers and brokers. hack
men and teamsters, hostlers, merchants
wholesale and retaiD, sailors, under.
takers, blacksmiths, boot and shoe max
ers. brewers. brick and tile makers,
builders and contractors, butchers,
cabinet makers, carpenters and join
crs. carriage and wagon makers, clock
and watch makers, compositors. coop
ers.. distillers and rectifiers. door, sash
and blind makers, engravers, glass
workers, gold and silver smiths, gun.
smiths, watchsmiths bellhangers, har.
ness and saddle makers. tanners, iron
and steel workers. machinists, masons,
marble and stone cutters, millers, mold
ers. painters, plano and organ makers,
plasterers, plumbers, shipbuilders, pot
ters, printers, timers, wire workers, and
wood workers.
Ii Is surprising, therefore, that even
at st. Louis men should be found to
claim that women sould not be per-
mitted to engage in one form of bread
winning on the score that soliciting in
surance is not 'womanly.' In 1890 the
number of women engaged in that and
closely related occupations was nearly