The Saint Paul globe., 1899-03-19
WOMAN'S NEW PLACE.
The Great Change Which the Last Decade
Has Witnessed.

Much has been written and said of the dis
tress that hard times have brought to the
lacoring man of this and other countries. We
have heard much less of the suffering among
Wcmen. Yet there is nc doubt that the stress
OF business depression must have borne heaV-
lily upon them. It must have brought many
who have hitherto possessed income to the
necessity of means of livelihood, while
among those already self-supporting it has
restricted employment and intensified compe-
tltlon How is that we have heard no cry of
distress that could be compared to that which
mas gone up from the sex supposed to be bet
ter equipped for the battle of life?
Partly, no doubt, because women workers
are less numerous; partly because they are
not SO loud-voiced: partly because they are
more patient in the face of adversely, and
perhaps because they are cleverer, reader
ana more tactful in meeting such emergen-
cles A suggestion of this kind may be ques-
toned by many members of the other sex,
however true it may be-
Within recent years women have made a
wonderful advance in their grasp of the prac-
tical affairs of life, and though they are not
the orlg1nators, the leaders, the creative
force they are more and more proving their
endowment of adaptabiIty, tact and versa
tility
During the last few years men have been
quite generally evicted from the thousand
and one points at which cash is handled, and
women have been installed in their stead
In retail stores, restaurants and Offices in
general 1t is women who receive the public's
A-NNS' AAiC SiAiCl COLSlucTdllOn III the en-
ployment of women in this particular ca
pacity has been due not wholly to the fact
that they are willing to work for smaller
wages than are paid to men, The rapid null
tlpl1catlon of women cashiers is undoubtedly
due to the belief that women are more trust
worthy than their husbands, brothers and
tathers There may be good ground for so
thinking. Men fall into dishonest habits
from their desire to speculate or from a pre-
disposition to high living. Women are more
OF less free from such temptations, or but
little inclined to them
These considerations have been confirmed
py events Women have been found notably
ialtnfu! and honest in positions of trust It
Is highly creditable to their sex that the re-
corded exceptions to the rule have been 81
exceedingly rare.
Have women civil rights which mon oueb+
to respect?
This is one OF the burning questions of the
age-at least it is as some women see IL.
ana some men are beginning to see from the
Same point of view. No doubt some the more
advanced grow impatient waiting to be
vested with the full rights of man and to see
the term male citizen" changed to "citizen"
IN all statutes relating to the use of the hall
lot But they must remember that lthe-worId.
was not made in a day, and that no erea
reform, social or political was ever estabS
ished in short meier : So, <
NOW that the matter is fairly before tho
people and is receiving respectful attention
1t Is only necessary for the advocates of
WoMens rights tC keep right on agitatine
thelr claims and educating the Young neon1e
to their way of thinking