The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-05-26
WOMEN AND THEIR WORK
WHAT THE YOUNG WOMEN;S
 CHRISTIAN
Association is Doing for Shop Girls
 and others in Cleveland.

In a vague way every one knows that the number of women who work in manufacturing establishments and oth- CT business places is great and grow ing. The shop girl is a familiar figure
 on street cars, in down town lunch rooms, and in factories. The women
 who earn their living as clerks are a
 multitude in great cities. Offices of large business concerns give work to many industrious and intelligent Wo-
 men.
 It takes big figures, however, to meas
 ure the army of women who are em- ployed in places where only men and boys were commonly seen a generation ago. The more completely statistics cover this subject the more impressive the results are.
 A census bulletin lately issued shows that in 1900 manufactures alone em- ployed more than 5000 women in Cleve- land. They worked in over 800 mills, factories and shops. Upwards of 100 different industries returned women among their wage-earners. They made awnings, tents and sails. They prepar- ed yeast and baking powder. Women were working in bicycle factories. They helped make boots and shoes and bind books. Women bottled liquors and made boxes They worked in bakeries and clothing factories. There were more women than men employed in making candy, flavoring extracts, and special food preparations. They out numbered men in cleaning and dyeing, in making furs and furnishing goods, hosiery, knit goods, hats and caps and millinery. They constituted the ma jority of the workers who made umbrel- las, and of those employed in shoGdy mills
 These are only a few of the multi tude of industries which depend, in large part, on the labor of women in Cleveland. Without the help of the fe- male sex the manufacturing interests of this city would be far less prosperous.
 But factories, mills and shops are not nearly the only places where the women who work for wages or salaries, in like manner with men and under similar conditions, are employed in great num- bers. The clerks are large body of patient toilers. The women who are office workers constitute another big di- vision of the industrial army. The whole business district has many wo- men among its constant workers, in a multitude of occupations.
 The census statistics have not yet been published fully enough to deter mine the total number of women work ing in Cleveland outside of homes It must be 10000 or more, by this time, for there has been a large increase In the busy and prosperous two years since the census was taken. Certainly the women who work in business places are so large and important part of the population of the city that their welfare is a matter of the highest i'm portance It affects the condition and of the whole community.
 Such solid facts will help public spirited citizens to appreciate the im- portance of the work which the Young Women's Christian Association is do- ing It's special aim is to make lives of usefulness. progress and good sense easier for girls who have to fight the battle of self-support in factories, shops, mills, stores and offices, often without proper home advantage in the way of social opportunities and training In domestic affairs,
 One of the chief objects is to give working girls chance to fit themselves sor the duties of woman's special sphere. Most of these young wage