The Penn's Grove record., 1903-03-06
WOMEN'S WAGES.
SOME REASONS WHY WoMEN's PAY
10 SMALLER THAN MEMS. :

SOME REASONS Why WOMEN's PAN
10 SMALLER THAN MEMS.
An Unknown College Girl wins i HUM
dred Dollar Prize offered by the College
Equal Suffrage Lsasue for the Best Essay
ON = Public Question.
More and more. Gil sorts OF socts-
ties : adopting the method Of OFFER
ing prizes Tor the best essays on their
fayorite subjects. in order to induce
the public to study them. The Col
lege Equal Suffrage League, an or
g~andzattQn Of young college women
that aims to arouse interest in the
ballot for women. lately offered q prize
OF a hundred dollars for the best essay
on this question written by q woman
studying at any college in Maa6achu-
sets. Bright students from Radcliffe
and Wellesley competed, but, to the
general surprise. the prize ri won
by q girl from Aroostook county,
Maine. q student at the Massachusetts
institute OF Technology. Miss Ava
M. Stoddard. in her successful essay.
advances q somewhat novel argument
Tor equal rights. She says In part:
There is a large class Of our wo-
men who go out into the world to
earn their own living, and this class
is exciting much discussion and con-
lecture for the future. We are told
that they are throwing the conditions
OF the labor world out Of equilibrium,
that they are reversing the gains made
Tor the laboring men by the or9aniza-
lions Of labor, because they are paid
lower wages than men, and COMPETE
ton thus forces all wages down.
Workingmen who do not consider
causes at all deeply say, in substanceu
Crowd women out OF the industrial
world altogether; legislate against
them, and force them to co. The po-
litical economist tells us that the
wages Of women form a separate d.
vision from the great body Of wages;l
that they do not respond to the laws
Of supply and demand that regulate
the wages of men, but stand apart.
a menace to the free working OF
those laws. This difficulty might we'll
engage the attention Of those who
fear that we shall break up Dur homes
by giving the ballot to. women. The
wages of our industrial classes have
so direct q bearing on our homes,
that VIZ may have no homes to break
up, If we make wages so low that the
Worhng-man cannot well support one
THE question naturally arises,
Why do not the wages Of women fiuc-
tuate as do those Of the men, accord
ing to the laws Of the economic
world? In many Of the professions
and occupations women work beside
men. doing exactly the same work,
and even, in some instances-for ok
ample. on work Of a delicate nature
are preferred, VI are told, by employ
ers, because they are more conscien-
tious and painstaking. Yet the wages
Of women remain fixed at a level low
er than those Of men, and work
against the economic laws tending to
keep wages normal, by continually
drawing them down toward their own
level.
1--WE find the only notable differ-
ence between the positions Of men and
women in the industrial world q differ
ence in political position. Employers
recognize in the men in their employ
voters who can, by their persistent
and united action, secure what is just
to their interestsj and because these
men have power vested in the ballot,
their employers show more respect for
their interests. With the working
woman 1t is different. Her only
chance to secure just legislation In
defense Of her interests is to trust
that those who hold the ballot Will
consider her rights with theirs when
casting their votes, or to rely on that
indirect influence or legislation which
we are told Is SO much more powerful
than the ballot could be In her hands.
The chances are that her opportuni-
ties for exerting this influence are
not SO good as those Of some Of her
sisters who are not obliged to earn
their own living. She can therefore
only hope that these will understand
UAOI A00Oo II uS0 tuS1T 1u4QeuCo LIE
her behalf. Is It to be wondered at
that the employer does not show for a
class whose influence on the govern
ment Is, II it exists at all, only an
indirect one, the same consideration
that he gives a class whose influence
on the government-and hence on the
laws which deal with his interests as
well as their owns q difect and
powerful one7 The intelligent work.
ing-man, then, must recognize that
the interest of the working-woman IL
allied with his own; that she cannot
be oppressed without his feeling the
results Of that oppression. Instead Of
saying, 'Legislate against her, he Will
say: 'Legislate for her, give her equal
rights with US, and the ballot as q
defence for those rights, and her press
ence in the Industrial world will no
longer menace our prosperity Give
woman the ballot; and the condition
20 long heralded by the CRY, Equal pay
Tor equal work. will be realized"