Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-30
Should Daughter Go Out to Work?

From the Philadelphia Inquirer.
When a girl has finished her schooling
and arrived at years of comparative ma
turity is it best for her to. remain at home,
making herself useful about the house, or
should she seek some kind of work out
side?
This is a question by which many families
are confronted and by which they are apt
to be somewhat perplexed. OF course, there
are cases which do not admit of doubt.
Where the fathers income is inadequate or
only barely sufficient for the comfortable
support of those who are dependent upon
1t there seldom be much room for hest
tation. AS he has spent large part Of
what he has made in rearing his children
he has probably arrived at middle age
without having been able to set much aside
against his declining days, and where that
is the case 1t is clearly the duty, and 1t
will nearly always be the desire of his sons
and daughters alike, to assume the burden
of their own maintenance, so that during
his remaining period of productivity he may
be able to save as large proportion as
possible of his profits or earnings against
the contingencies of the future. Under
those circumstances the daughter will seek
some remunerative employment as a mat
ter not of inclination but of duty.
But suppose the case where the father is
in q position to keep his family in comfort
and to provide for his own future as we'll,
suppose the daughter is in no necessity
whatever to labor for her bread, but is
entirely free to make her own choice so
far any financial constraint is concerned,
what then would be the wisest thing for
her to do? 1t is difficult to lay down a rule
which shall be of universal application, be-
cause so much depends upon particular
conditions, but 1t may be said without much
danger of going far astray that the girl
who leaves the shelter of the home for the
turmoil of the market place merely for the
purpose of obtaining a little more pocket
little better than would otherwise be prac-
ticable, therein makes a mistake, which,
before all is over, she may expect to have
cause to regret
There are several reasons which might
be given in justification of this opinion
One of them is that the young woman who
does not need to work in competition with
others has no moral right to do SO, because
she inevitably takes the place of some one
else to whom wages are necessity. More
over, as she is free from the obligation of
supplying her own wants she can afford to
accept a less than living rate of pay, and
thus, by becoming a voluntary worker she
does those an injury who are compelled TO
work in order to provide themselves with
the means of subsistence. These are days
in which great stress Is laid upon the rights
of the individual, and 1t will be argued
that the young woman in question is ut
liberty to pursue her own interests, or what
she conceives to be her own interests
without any regard to the welfare of others.
In limited sense this is true; the law al
lows her that privilege.
But none of US living in a state of civil
ization are really free, that is in morals,
equity and religion, to direct our course by
merely selfish considerations. We are
bound to pay some regard to the rights Of
the community, because to the community
we are indebted for most OF the comforts
and conveniences we enjoy. The very basis
of civilization is cooperation, and It's prog
ress depends upon our all working together
for the common good. The principle Of
individualism, that is every one for him
self and the devil take the hindmost, has
been carried too far. It dominated the
nineteenth century. but one need not be
much Of profit to foresee that during
the century now current the contrary prin-
ciple Of collectivfsm win come to the front
and profoundly modify the activities OF ex-
istence.
The conclusion Of the whole matter is
that for the young woman who doesn't
have to work for wages home is the best
place.