Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1899-09-15
Labor and the Ballot.

IL III inc CllllIoN IiltUt Vi men as house
servants and in the kitchen. lat Il
slight advance" as the announcement
reads, lover the wages paid to wo.
men" This unreasonable and unjust
condition seems invariably to attach
to all adjustments OF the wage Of labor
No fault can be found with men il
they voluntarily perform the services
usually accorded to women, but that
they should demand or receive better
pay, Is an anomaly that must be ca.
pable of some explanation. When the
the matter is considered from the plane
OF simple justice, no line can be drawn
between the avocatiops pursued 10y
either sex, provided each is equally
we'll equipped for the service to be per.
formed. 1t has been found that there
are quite number OF avenues OF labor
primarily filled by men, in which ex.
periencc of late years has demonstrated
that women possess an equal, if not to
say Il special, aptitude, and there are
doubtless some indoor vocations, hith.
erto exclusively accorded to women
for which men possess an equal fitness
1t would seem that common sense
should be the sole arbiter in such mat.
tiers, but we all know how hard the
casing is that Custom draws around
her like coat-of-mail. Common jus.
tice directs that man and woman
should stand upon perfect equality
so far at least as it relates to the
means employed for obtaining the ne
cessaries OF life. 1t is fierce struggle
at best, and no hand should be pu,
forth to restrain any human being
from enjoying the results of his OWL
labor.
A few years ago, while the writer
was on -yisiA 80 es'o zzS]e~ England
States, his observation was directed to.
wards the wide difference between the
wage-rate OF men and women depend.
ent upon their own labor for their
daily bread in the larger cities. While
skilled male labor was receiving from
three to five dollars per day, women,
many OF whom had served apprentice
ships requiring equal application, in
telllgence and industry, for mastering
its details, received about one-fourth
OF these rates, with longer hours, and
certainly an expenditure of equal ply
steal and mental strain while engaged
at their respective labors. Men, it
was observed, were frequently on
"strikes" for shorter hours or larger
pay. They had behind them organi-
cation and money to compel respect
for their assumed rights. There was,
however, no organization nor capital
to better the condition of woman.
She had no time, nor money laid by,
to step down from the treadmill OF
ceaseless, never-ending toll, in an en-
deavor to enforce recognition for ad-
equate pay or Limitation of hours
that might etop the sapping of her
life'blood in the bare endeavor to keep
soul and Oody together. Amid these
scenes, the mind could not but note
the Inconsistency of the American
people in inaugurating a crusade to
free the African slave, while a more
AFFECT form OF serfdom prevailed in
the sweat-shops of all the larger cities,
for which the tie of kindred, If not
simple justice, should have appealed
to the boosted chivalry of our race for
relief. Even childhood was sacrificed
in struggle for the bare means of ex-
istence, and, too, without exciting a
murmur of protest, or a single act of
organized effort to amclioriate condi-
tions known to exist wherever the
grinding heel of monopoly controlled
the price of defenseless labor.
1t was undoubtedly such conditions
which led young women to invade the
so-called sphere Of man, the fields of
labor usurped by him; but it has al
most invariably been at less pay. And
this leads up to the inquiry, Why is
not equal competence, and equal zeal,
united with equal probity of character,
entitled to equal pay for like service?
The departments at Washington lately
attempted to give reasons why nearly
if not all the women employed for
many years in clerical capacities had
been summarily supplanted by men.
but the frivolous nature of their ex-
plantations only brought more promi-
nently in view the great difference be.
tween citizens possessing political
rights and those who are classified
with insane people, idiots and felons.
Machine" methods were evidently at
the bottom OF the whole matter.
Clerks were wanted who could have q
voice in the primaries and vote at
elections, to be sent home when occa.
sion was presented for serving the
party in power.
People living in this State where
women were deprived of the ballot,
after several years of enfranchisement,
every moment of which experience
demonstrate its intelligent and wise
use, need not be told how the respect
entertained by politicians for women
fell in one day from fever heat to zero
in response to the fall of the judicial
AK.
Those who see in the so-called inya-
sion of household and kitchen duty bv
men no menace to women are of those