The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-02-14

"The question of the industrial equality
of woman IN this country is very modern.
It is less than q century since the sud-
| den expansion Of our manufacturing and
commercial interests through the agency
Of steam and machinery, and their abb
sorption OF the domestic industries such
as spinning and weaving and the manu-
facture OF household necessities threw
women who were not provided for in the
| home upon the general labor market for
| support. 1t was a step in advance since
it at once opened the way for the higher
education of women and their more gen.
eral participation in the affairs of the
world, thus increasing their intelligence
and adaptability, but it bore hardly upon
| the laboring woman who was compelled.
| in life and death struggle, to knock at
| the gates of al Trades and professions,
and to force her way into them against
determined pposition from tradition and
prejudice This led to much unjust bit
| terness against men, but it also tended to
develop force of character and general
| comprehension of the world and its af-
fairs on the part of woman.
But al this time her wages were less
than those of men, for many reasons. To
gain a position in the industrial world at
all it was necessary to underbid men. She
was also at first Ill prepared by previous
training to meet the demands of general
labor The peculiarities of her physique
told against her and also the fact that
in the natural course Of events she was
more likely to marry. just. perhaps, when
Hoo +11or- oh in
of he work and experience, more useful
to her employer. And while marriage
makes a man more useful as laborer,
it sa great drawback If not total ex-
tingUisher to woman's value in the same
field. Al these were obvious facts, but
the fundamental and most important one
Of all has had less attention because the
world has not yet learned to appreciate
fully the real practical value to the state
Of the work of woman as woman; that
is. as wife. mother, home-maker.
1T was inevitable that the inroad of
women upon the labor market should
tend to lower the wages of men, and in
proportion as women grew intelligent and
adept, to displace them altogether, thus
rendering them unable to support fami
lies Of their own. and at the same time
increasing the number of their women
competitors. Society has instinctively
felt that this was a dangerous drift Of
the social economy, while as yet few
writers have had the conviction, or the
courage TO speak out and say how dan
gerous how fatal both to morals and
statecraft it really is.
Woman is at best but a provisional
= oT- 3
the four million women in the United
States who are wage earners, fully one
half live at home, and their earnings go
to swell the family income. These have
their proper legal representative through
the family. The average length Of wo-
mems service in occupations outside the
home is about five years Women on the
average work only from about Is to 25
years, although Of course there are many
whose terms of service are much longer, !
but the fact remains that the body of
women workers is constantly changing |
It is for the good of the state that this |
should be SO, and whatever tends to pro |
long the period of women's labor at oc-
equations in which she is the competitor |
of man, and especially at purely me-
chanical and materialistic occupations |
lessons her preparation for marriage, les
sens therefore her chances for a happy /
marriage, and directly decreases the |
number and value of those homes from |
which flow the purest streams of morals 4
and refreshment the highest ideal of .
civic courage and worth
Nor is it true that women so out num-
Der men that there is no possibility of all |
women marrying. During the years i'm /
mediately following our civil war. there (
was Slight preDcnderance of females,
but time has already remedied this con-
dition of things. Government reports /
show thar there is in nearly every state
of the union a considerable excess of
bachelors over spinsters, the aggregate
excess being more than two millions
Now the republic cannot afford to put
a premium upon celibacy although this
is precisely what the socialistic state pro-
poses to do. What is needed therefore is
not more employment for women outside
the home and greater inducements for her
to continue to be the competitor Of man,
but more homes to organize this excess
of celebacy and make it productive TO the
state, not only in the way of citizens. but
of those moral and spiritual influences
which flow from the home and sustain
the character and progress Of civiliza-
ton
But every effort to make of woman an
Independent laborer. to Echieve for her
that industrial equality which the advo-
Gates of socialism and woman suffrage
alike claim, is an effort in the opposite
direction from marriage and home-mak-
ing, because the contract Of marriage.
written and unwrltten, is that civil and
industrial labor shall devolve upon the
man as a consideration for the labors Of .
home-making and maternity. The in
stances in which these stipulations fail
to be carried out in married life are ex-
ceptiOns and must be so considered.
There is no such thins as personal indie
pen5ence in marriage Il Is the spirit OF
mutual dependence. mutual helDfuIness.
mutual forbearance, which governs the /.
true home and is the fountain of its
ben2acence.
THE demand upon the part Of women
for industrial and political equality with
men throws the labor unions into a sad
dilemma. The laboring men Of America /
are sound To the core. Their patriotism is
proved ythe readiness with which they
fill up our volunteer regiments when the
honor Of the country is at stake. Their
respect for womankind Is shown by tbs
frequent protests against long hours and
severe labor for thei- women co-abo-ers.
Their strong determination 70 better their
conditions in life and increase the com