Omaha daily bee., 1903-02-06

Owl homework and were busy every wax
ing moment about matters which are now
largely attended to in factories and shops.
Aud Il has no place In our future. y the
signs OF the times mean =aat they seem
TO mean. Our society is founded upon two
ideas-work and equal opportunity 10 all
TO work. II abhors an idier as nature ali
hors a vacuum. And as the old-time oc-
equations OF women are carried on in a
different way she must aud will hnd other
occupations.
Emerson well said; Every man is as
lazy as he dares TO be" He meant every
woman. also. The very powerful impulse
that is acting upon the woman. bred TO
idieness and genteel inertia, is found in the
passion for independence and the passion
for luxury. These two passions impel
women to work that they may be free and
may have the Injuries and comforts which
must be earned. These two passions impel
men to refuse to burden themselves with
the dead weight Of the support Of idle, in
\ competent women.
!. Men Also D~tspIaeinE women.
Thus we have a social organization which
is in process OF revolutionary change. The
women are rapidly going to work at occupa-
tions which have been transferred from
the domestic TO the general sphere. and
at the occupations, new and old. which, Il
was expected a few years ago, would be In
possession OF the men only. The men, on
their part, are not only working as for
merry. but also entering occupations once
followed exclusively by the women. Some
Of the new employments Of women have
already been enumerated. The new en-
pigments OF men in this country include
laundry work, cooking, general homework.
.--E. $500 49,
primary and kindergarten pupils. dress
making. millinery and sewing The list is
far shorter. and, from the old viewpoint
where the equal dignity Of all honorable
labor was derived. seems far less dignihed
than the women's list. The reason for this
is, OF course. that the men had small room
to expand their already multiform activities,
while the women had all the room in the
world.
The underlying principle OF this redis-
tribution Of activities is the common sense
principle that every unit in a society should
do the work at hand for which IT is best
fitted. This principle explains every case.
Where we find a man busting, scrubbing
and sewing and doing laundry work it is
because he could find nothing more re-
munerative to do and could outbid the
women applying for that particular task.
Wherever we find a woman plsstering or
keeping books. or driving a street car, or
managing a store or corporation. II Is for
the same reason. and this modern prin-
ciple wholly ignores sex and looks only at
the work TO be done and the comparative
skill OF the male and female applicants
for It,
1t is not prophecy to say that, as more
and more millions Of women enter the
Industrial fields. these establishments and
redivisions, these absorptions Of some occu-
pations by women and OF other occupations
by men will go on apace. We may not like
1t, but we can no more stop II than we
can stop the physical and mental develop
ment Of woman or the use Of steam and
electricity.
superior Equipment of Women.
Fully to grasp what is even now in sight
as to the future. one must consider the
rapidity with which women are educating
themselves. There Is evidence OF this from
the statistics OF colleges-already one
woman graduate to every three men. But
that is not all. In higher education in any
proper sense must be included the thou
sands Of high schools. There we find the
women ~outnumbering the men four and i've
and six to one. These are most conserva-
tive proportions. This means that in a
I CIVILIZATION HutEb tluCdllou COuuls heavier
and heavier as an Industrial factor the
women are equipping themselves better
than the men. And as our civilization de-
velops along its now clearly defined lines.
as the importance Of coarse labor and
even skilled manual labor declines,
as the higher wages go ever more and
more to those who can minister to what
were once regarded as Injuries and ex-
travagances, will not the women inevitably
assume an ever more important position?
Will not the men be harder and harder put
to 1t to maintain their ground. They may
retain the most Of the few originating and
directing positions. but how can they pre-
vent the women from dividing with them
the positions where the intelligent execu-
tion Of plans and purposes formed by others
is all that is requiredF Does not woman's
intelligent reeeptiveness of ideas peculiarly
ut her to excel in such work?
The great advantage the men have had
thus far in this country has been not their
superior strength or skill or faithfulness
or industry. but that woman has worked
merely as a temporary expedient. She has
tenaciousIy assumed that she would pres
emily quit work and be supported by some
man. This dream has been largely fanei-
full. The oman married. has too often
found that she has not stopped working,
but has undertaken a far more laborious
and ever grudgingly paid occupation. But
her indulgence in this dream has not only
made her wages smaller-who will not pay
more to q worker who expects TO go on
working than a worker who expects pres
entity to quit and is meanwhile giving at
least half the energy to another oecupa-
tion. that Of catching q husband? In
diligence in this dream has also prevented
woman from cultivating additionally
struggle TO rise in an occupation which one
hopes and intends presently TO abandon
for another that is wholly different.
Astonishing Changes I'm the Future.
We have an astounding increase in the
number OF divorces. We have the increas-
ing frequency of families where both the
husband and the wife work. contributing
70 the family income. We have more and
more families where the Woman's earnings
are larger than the mans. We have the ia
miliar restiessness OF woman as she views
her own condition and compares It with
mans. Are not these unmistakable evil
dences Of a coming race Of women who
will have the same ambitions for careers,
for getting on. for Industrial and social in.
dependence that men can have?
To be prepared for astonishing changes
and deyelouments in The relations of men