The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-04-05
Would Abolish
Their Barmdids
Special to The Globe.

Special to The Globe.
GLASGOW, April 4.-The proposal
! to abolish barmaidS in Difference to
American opinion undertaken here by
the municipal authorities does not
seem to be meeting with all the en-
couragement that might be desired.
The arrangement was that no more
licenses should be granted to public
houses continuing to employ women in
this capacity.
For time this scheme was carried
herofcally, but for some unknown
cause the Glasgow magistrates have
recently ceased to push matters in this
direction.
The question has been considered so
important that it has been taken UP
in other large cities and has caused no
end of agitation.
The matter is a serious one, especial
ly to the women employed and has not
only aroused the National Union Of
Women Workers, but has enlisted the
attention of many ladies of social prom
inence throughout the kingdom.
In an interview which L recently had
with one of the women most promi-
nently connected with the matter here.
she said: Though barmaid's life is
neither easy nor pleasant, it is not
more trying than that of SalesWoman
in q small business house or a general
servant in a hard situation Whilst
with regard to the moral question, she
adds that there is no evidence that
barmaidS as a class are specially apt
to be. led astray; indeed, the expert
ence of rescue workers tends rather to
prove that the occupation of general
servant is in this respect more danger
Gus.
Admitting that a barmaid's work is
not an ideal occupation for women
there are dozens of others far worse,
such as the cleaning of offal in the
Deptford slaughter houses, the making
of iron nails and chains in the Mid
lands, matchmaking, leaden glaze work
in pOtterieS, and all the various manu-
features wherein the use of powerful
machinery and the dust-laden air make
the work both dangerous and unpIeas-
ant Even street flower selling, though
, often idealized by sentimentlists, is in
many respects far worse than serving
food and drink in public house. Many
thousands of most respectable women
earn their living in this way, and it
would be a most serious injustice to
them to deprive them of their liveli-
hood. If the DIRECTORS could guar
antee equally remunerative and less
| objectionable work for the women they
might urge their claims with some con-
sistency. But they cannot; and, so far
as we know, they do not even try to
suggest an occupation to take the place
of that from which they would drive
| these women.
occupations are, like those of men,
! overcrowded; and to turn out of their
! present situations the 1882 young wom-
en- now employed in London licensed
| premises, would simply be to force on
| the overstocked labor market 1882
more persons than there are at present
1t is estimated that some $4,000 British
women earn their living in this way,
many of them having easy situations
and being well paid. If these were dis
| missed from a calling which, as Lady
| Frances Balfour truly says, can be con-
Quoted honorably and usefully, the
! probability is that the consequences
would be disastrous, as we'll for many
of the barmaids as for the workers at
! the lowest end of the scale, who, by
| the extra pressure of so, 900 more COM
| petitors in the women's labor market,
would be brought to restitution or
worse. Though essentially a woman's
| question, it is one in which of necessi-
| ty men have much experience; and
unhesitatingly affirm that in well-con
| Quoted inns, taverns and hotels the
life of respectable and self-respect-
| ing barmaid compares very fayorably
! with that of a general servant in
| ataOIf
: and even with that of mattresses in the