Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1901-05-02
WORK FOR WOMEN.
TRAINING IS NECESSARY IN MOST
OCCUPATIONS NOWADAYS.

In social walks of life one is almost
daily confronted with seekers after EN-
ployment Particularly is the fact notice
able by women among women in this
time, when 50 many of the gentler seA
are forced to earn their own living. Oh
the other hand, statements in print, as
we'll as verbal, call attention to the fact
that there are not enough capable people
for the positions re luiring capablllty o1
their respective kinds and that there l.
room at the top" In other words, the
latter assertion points to the fact thai
skilled labor, not to say speclallsm, IL
every department of work Is one OF the
most essential qualifications of success IL
gainful occupations.
Unfortunately women nearing MIDDLE
age or older who find themselves sudden
" cast adrift upon their own resources
have not the training which commands
a place and q price in this sclentlhc pc
riod. The conditions of their early life
in all likelihood did not tend to afford
training along any particular line. Two
generations ago, perhaps, there were
skilled needlewomen and women VINO
could spin yarn and weave fabrics and
knit their own stockings, all Of which
were feminine accomplishments quite as
laudable in their time as a knowledge Of
stenography and double entry book
keeping or the acquisition of degree OF
B. S. or A. NJ, by which one may earn
her bread and butter.
To account for the changes reasons are
a-plenty, while cold facts exist. In the
first place, weaving, spinning and other
domestic occupations have gone into fac
tories. In the second place, a considera-
ton to be viewed carefully in looking at
the industrial conditions today is this:
Parents half a century ago worked hard
for that share of this worlds goods
which they accumulated in America, and
they felt that their children should be
spared as much or all of the drudgery Of
life, and should live in ease and luxury
II possible.
Apropos Of the above, the following,
taken from the current number of The
Queen, is of interest:
Everybody affirms that training is the
password to the good places Of life; no.
body quite believes it, because the state
ment is made 30 often. Yet, neverthe-
less, il Is true. Only each Of us must
rediscover the truth for herself. Re
Gently, with an extremely open mind
and certain materials before me, | set
out to inquire why a particular set of
women had had difficulty in obtaining
work. They were women who during a
certain three months had called at the
central bureau for the employment OF
women intending to have their names
entered upon the register as candidates
for immediate employment. The secre-
tary, who from abundant experience of
women workers knows almost at once
the kind of applicant for whom she is
likely to be able to secure an engage
ment, found herself obliged to decline
the registration fees which these appli-
cants would have paid, though to each
she gave some suggestion or piece of
advice which, II taken, might lead TO
ultimate registration and an engagement.
There were during the three months al
luded to 23S of these unregisterable
women in all.
''The curiosity" says the author,
(which / always feel about the human
story, mingled with the hope of finding
some new variant Of it, led me to inquire
with some eagerness into the causes
which had prevented these particular
applicants for work from attaining the
object Of their desire, or, at least, OF
their ostensible desire. / brought to this
investigation, as / have said, an open
mind, though il I permitted myself any
wish In the matter Ii was that l might
discover some less hackneyed reason
than want Of training for the compara-
tive failures l was about to analyze.
Turning to the records Of these 23S,
found that in several cases there had
been more than one reason why an in
dividual had been judged ineligible for
employment.
"In more than a third of the total
number of cases under consideration
want of training was quite clearly the
real hindrance to employment. That the
work sought by these unframed women
was in many instances extremely indeti'
mite did not help matters, there being al
the present time little demand for vague
service. Forty-two Of the unframed did
not know what they wanted to do OF
to be. The others stated that they
wished to act as secretaries, housekeep'
ers, companions, matrons, nursery gov
ernesses and special teachers, dispenser
or to do needlework, charitable, artistic
or domestic work. In short, all these
with the exception of the would be cham
pions, aspired to do work for which spe-
cially cultivated qualifications are neces
sary, not having developed their abilities
at all in the required directions, for house
keepers, matrons, nursery governesses
| charitable workers, domestic workers
| and the rest are wanted, only they must
| be workers Of specific and well defined
classes. 1t may be pointed out that such
other difficulties as those arising from
| family or financial circumstances or from
indefinite occupations are only really the
training difficulty in another guise, and
/ should be bound to admit that such is
| the case. And those who are inefficient
| relatively to employment selected, though
| they may not be unframed or unedu-
Gated, have obviously not been prepared
in the right way for the occupations
| which they have wished to follow"
There cannot then be much doubt that
want of adequate training is very grave
| hindrance to a large number Of women
| In their search for employment, since
such figures quoted from the records OF
a single employment society could GER
tainly be matched or surpassed by many
other registries and labor bureaus
| Brooklyn Eagle.
| To Wash WoOlenB.
A. IL L.