The Minneapolis journal., 1901-02-27

means to render labor on their part unneces-
sary.
This absolute corner" on leisure probably
will not always exist time Is coming when
half the people will not have all the leisure
and the other half none. A more ideal state
of society doubtless will bring some work TO
everybody and not so much work to anybody.
In the meantime, however, the burden of any
social investigation or endeavor in America
must rest with the leisure women. Half
million of these leisure women are united
in the General Federation of Women's Clubs
for constructive social work, and we shall
expect results from this concerted effort and
action.
Far from its being a fact that the problem
OF the worker is alien to the Women's clubs,
| venture to say that the women's clubs Of
America rapidly becoming the rallying
ground for knowledge of and interest in all
phases of questions which concern the woman
who works. This is true not alone because
every club contains such able representatives
of the professional, business and industrial
activities of women, and thus affords meet
ing ground for the leisure woman and the
wage-earning woman; it is true even more
because OF the presence in the clubs Of
preponderating number of professional
or leisure women who are to play the most
important part in influencing the future Of
now the leisure women Of the clubs are sur
veying the field of the working woman and
noting the opportunities and obstacles which
meet her there. Such social effort will in
crease till at every step the leisure woman
blazes out the way for the busy woman
The one class must do this for the other
class because there is every reason why the
woman who works cannot do it for herself
IiimifafiOpS 0f WOmou VNI,o Vu,-T-
In the first place, she has not the time
A woman who does, during six days in the
week, productive labor has but little leisure
in which to survey the field and deduce con-
clusions from the phenomena Of which she
is part.
In the second place the very fact that she
is herself part of the subject matter m he
studied prevents the wage-earner from having
the best viewpoint from which to regard the
subject. From her position in the thick of
the fray the wage-earning woman cannot
discern the general movement of events nor
form any widely applicable deductions as
TO steps in the campaign Yet the wisest
ana Warlest movements must be devised
Tor woman as a wage-earner stands in the
professional. business and industrial world
not only without the recognition of the
political economist, but without full popular
consent to her very existence there. Scarcely
some public quarter to convince woman thai
it will not do for her to become a wage
Garner. Considering that 100000 women
have wormed themselves into lucrative en-
ployment in the United States, it seems hard
ly worth while to debate the question as to
whether they shall or shall not work Prac-
tically, women have settled the matter by
working, but theoretically the American pub
lie has not made up verdict To be sure
al Onn Onlv 70
sons in demanding opportunity for work for
women base the demand upon the fact that
$50 many women have to work" In .he
popular mind necessity is the ground upon
which the right of women to work for wages
has been conceded. The ethical right of
every woman as an individual to some pro-
ductive labor is yet an open question with
us in this country.
At this time we must leap this chasm OF
the degree of right and deal with the facts
as they actually exist-namely, that women
in great numbers are at work-and inquire
into the opportunities and obstacles which
they are encountering, particularly in the
field of business and in Industrial pursuits
We shall note as well the share which leisure
women may have in shaping their opportuni-
ties and removing the obstacles. Every sec
tion of our great and heterogeneous nation
presents such widely varying phases of this
problem that the value of any observations
thereon must depend entirely upon the degree
of the observers local familiarity with the
subject. l shall, therefore, confne myself
in this paper to comments upon conditions in
the section which know best ando in speak
the section which know best, and In speak
business and industrial affairs shall treat of
conditions they exist in the eastern group
Of the southern states. In any case this sub
ject as applied to the south would require
distinct treatment since the work OF women
in this section presents phenomena differing
widely from those Of any other part Of the
country.
Business Opportunities I'm the south.
1t is easy to understand the reason of these
peculiar conditions when we take into con-
sideration the rapidity with which the wage
earning spirit has grown among the women
OF the south, and remember that in an in
credibly- short time from almost no working
women at all this section now finds itself
possessed of them in numbers equaling those
of any other section. Even the field OF
stenography-that most overcrowded Of voca-
tions-has been open to women but few
short years in the south. No exact dates
can be given for a growth, but roughly
speaking. twelve years would cover the period
during which the presence Of women in off,
all the adversity and disadvantages under