The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-05-25
NV OMEN AN lNDU sTR'Yl..

m a gaines. have renewed the popular
interest in the invasion of the ren1ai ez
sex of fmany fields Of labor tha t&were5
once held as the possession or acei1..
One writer is a pessimist and the IN
er is an optimist. The pessinis. Is
Mrs Flora Mcdonald ThcnlDsony who
con Guides her argument with the bod
assertion that the woman in industry
is a frghtful failure Mrs. Thompson
contends that the woman WORKER is
under one aspect an object or CHARITY
under another an economic pGrEcTt,
under another 4 social menace She
declares that in every mercantile es:-
tablfshment where women are employ
ed one or more will be found stretch
ed out on q couch, sick and worn ciit,
thus dem onstrating that as a class
women workers not only increase f;7e
cost Of production, but diminish it's eff
fciency She has lot more to say
about the proper sphere of women be
ing, tie home and the rearing Of chill
dren, and she urges that a strong point
in her favor is that they tend to re-
duce wages in every branch OF bus!
ness they enter into.
'<Now," says Mrs. Thompson, in the
design of nature. which neither Hni-
versity course nor political en1anc'l2a-
tion~can overthrow, the destiny OF
woman is wifehood, maternity Ap-
stract these offices from any calcula-
ton concerning the sex and we have
the end OF the world. 1t is automatic
that the first thing Indispensable to
x,f ie. hp
tinuance of the human species This
unavoidable. Office in life determines
woman's economic Office.
I will turn now to what Miss Jane
Addams writes on the subject ps the
hunlanizns effect of industrial stcdE
She crosses Mrs. Thompson's path only
at the point where the latter lnVelShs
at the manual training of women on
the ground that it condEces to ec3-
nonic confusion because it takes; them
away from domestic life and lessons
the number of children born into the
world.
Miss Adams devoteS the greater
part of her article to showing that the
school children educated under the
present manual training system VIII
have very different attitude toward
labor and toward those who work with
their hands from the attitude which
most OF us who We're educated uEder
the old regime uucorsc1ouSly h0id
She speaks of the good results CT the
meeting of the boys and girls in the
Hull house class rooms, and the difEu-
sion of a spirit of comprehensive that
~, ipa n
men and women who gain their liE-
ing at entirely manual work
Now, if Mrs. Thompson is right All
this education of the hands is verse
than wasted, SO far as the girls are
concerned. They, she contends. SHOULD
not be taught to make the BEST use
of their hands, for the reason mat
when men come along who want 70
marry them they are such skilled ne
chanicians or artisans that they arc lS-
norant Of the science Of keeping house
or rearing children. The mere state
rnent OF such a proposition exhibits
it's absurdity. Miss Adams, touch
ing on the abolition of the dividing
line that separates. say the mechanic
from the clerk, remarks: InaL mar
row standard OF judgment is response
BILE for much loneliness, bitterness; Oh
spirit and strained affection, and digs
ever that gulf between father and SOUS
which might be avoided did we b1t
realize the hun1anizins power, the heal
ing which lies in genuine industrial.
education in the modern school
Mrs. Thompson's theory might WcrH
out all right in q world in which every
..i1i child is born With 4 guarantee That
when she grew to marriaScab!e age
she would find an Industrious and
Steady husband TO provide and :.ain
tain the home and earn money enough
to make her and the children conl1crta-
bic. But unfortunately there is an eN-
cess OF women over men IN ali the
great centnrs of population. and the
surplus women are forced to seek
some means OF livelihood. But II is
rarely that the female refuses az OiteG
of marriage from a man who can es-
tablish the home. and thus by natural
process the ranks Of women workers
are drained while the growing girls
are filling the vacuum that is created.
do not believe that there are 50
many physical degenerates among
1,f.s