The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-07-26
Women fire Making Bicycles.
Lady Cook, Nee Tennessee Clafin, Discovers This
Important Fact.
Important Fact.

Special TO the Globe
LONDON, July 24-Lady Cook, nee
Tennessee Clafin, sister of Victoria
Woodruff now the widow Of the Late
John Biddulph, widely known in the
United States, has just announced the
interesting discovery by her that Wom-
en- are making bicycles and supplanting
men.
Your correspondent visited Lady
Cook and succeeded in inducing her to
prepare a signed statement for publ
cation in America, setting forth the
details Of her Investigations and the
results thereof This is the statement:
From my own personal observations
I have learned that women are sup
planting men. The manufacture Of BIZ
cycles has grown so tremendously that
there has been an unusually large de-
mand for labor. The deft delicate fin
gers of the girls and women are pc
culiarly adapted to certain portions Of
the task of manufacturing bicycles,
and the manufacturers themselves
have been very quick to gee the adj
vantage that lay in the employment of
feminine help. Again, women work
much cheaper than do men. How often
has this been the burden of the song
of the employer whose assistants have
been chosen from the ranks Of the
women rather than from those of the
men.
Now the men are suffering from eX-
actly what they declared was a profit
to them-the low wages Of women.
During the time when women were not
In 70 Of no
cations Of men, the demand for them
far exceeded the supply. Now the sup
ply exceeds the demand, and the nat
ural result is that the woman gains
precedence by reason Of the cheapness
of her services. This discovery which
I have made regarding the making of
bicycles is merely another evidence of
the fact that woman is no longer mans
competitor in labor, but his superior.
II found in the course of my studies
of human nature and manufactures
that what is known as light manufac-
turing was largely carried on by the
women. To certain extent the MAX
ing Of bicycles comes under this head,
ard everything that they can do women
are doing. 1t is a fact that much Of
the cycle work is very dirty and gives
the hands of the women who carry 1t
on that grimy appearance which is so
distasteful to every self-respecting fe-
male Oil and rust leave their mark
on the hands of women as we'll as
those of men, and so the femenine who
tries to solve the problem of existence
through light manufacturing cannot es-
cape the trials
1T is my observation, however, re-
CARELESS of what I have said concern
ing the difference between the wages
Of women and men, that the position
Of women cycle workers compares
favorably with that of any other class
OF women workers in health, in morals,
and in wages. 1t is different in Eng
land than in the United States when
the question Of employing women is
concerned. In the former country I
always noticed that the women and the
men worked side by side, that there
was no effort made to separate them
in any way, that so far as the working
hours are concerned there was no diff
ference. In the manufacture of bicycles,
1t is necessary to employ both men
and women, but though they are all
at the same factory, they are distinct
ly separated.
''They never are employed at the
same class of work, and the hours
at which they arrive and leave are en-
tirely different. l found it to be gen
orally the case that there was no
necessity for the women working in a
bicycle manufactdry to see the men at
all unless they chose to- The employ
efs take great care that this should
be the case, and they claim that no
woman who works for them need stand
in fear of annoyance so far as the men
in their employ are concerned. The
wages the women earn in the bicycle
| manufactures are found to be fairly
good, from comparative standpoint.
1t must be understood by persons who
read this who are not familiar with
the approximate ratio Of wages in Eng
| land, that the basis Is much lower in
England than in America The wage
Garner gets very much less here than
in the United States.
For instance, machinists earn from
S1.75 to $3.50 week, working nine
hours day. A ball grinder gets $3.50
a week. The ball turner gets from $3.50
| to So a week. The screw maker receives
from $1.75 to $3.50 a week The weekly
! wage of the screw turner's varies from
| $3.50 to SO weekly, while the scourers
and nickel platers get from S1.90, to
1925 a week. All these are women,
and the work they perform, If 1t were
done by men, would cost at least fifty
per cent more. The object of the man,
ufacturers Is, therefore, very clear, and
really I do not see how a man can be