The Ordway new era., 1906-07-27


BY MARGARET L. sASGsTER.
Women are TO be taken into account
as important factors In the labor mar
kets OF the world. Wherever there is
nm important commercial industry. let
It's nature be what it may. women are
employed In Its production, its buying
and It's selling. Women bind shoes.
stitch gloves. make oorsets. stand be-
side the loom day after day. In
cotton mills, woolen mills. silk mills
and paper mills: women make ar
tlhcial flowers and feathers. paper
boxes and safety pins. Women are
employed in tobacco factories. candy
factories. soap and perfume factories,
and. in reality, very few things that we
eat, drink or wear have not passed un-
der the shaping hand or the finishing
touch OF n woman.
The labors OF wage-earning women
are confined to no locality. Thousands
of women work in shops and factories
In Bombay and Calcutta. just as they
do in New England and the south and
the mi6dle west Everywhere around
the globe women work hard and long.
support families and take their share
In the worlds work. Although there
are labor unions OF women. they ap-
pear to get on as n rule with fewer
strikes and less friction than their
brother-workmen
In some localities at morning and
evening. the streets are filed with
long professions OF women. young and
old. soing TO and from their places of
daily toll. In the great department
stores saleswomen outnumber sales
men. They are equally as gifted in
selling goods as their fellow clerks of
the other sex. Notwithstanding the dis
abilities OF the feminine organization.
they lose little time and make no fuss
about the hardships Incidental TO
standing behind u counter.
Women set type. read proof. 20
about as reporters to gather news. and
sell newspapers on the street. In
a very few cases. women occupy i'm
portant editorial positions. and in a
great number of cases they fulfil every
possible requirement as sub-editors
or managers of fashion departments.
Women are prison inspectors and ma
nurse is familiar figure. An army of
stenographers and typewriters finds it's
way into the great thoroughfares and
brightens business Offices by its cheer
ful presence every day. II may al
most be said that womans opportunity
to earn money is limited only by her
ambition. her skill. her industry and
her needs.
Young girls. 1t would seem. might
find an appropriate avenue for wage
earning in domestic service. but this
field of labor is still left TO our foreign
population AT one time the Irish mo-
nopolized 1t. and they were followed by
Germans. Danes, Norwegians and
Swedes. AT the moment the competi-
ton has veered from these toward The
increasing number of coIored women
who accept the kitchen as their sphere.
and the constantly augmented imm!-
grafton from Russia and Poland.
Women of Slayonic origin. for the
most part ignorant and totally un-
trained. are becoming recognizable
feature in the labor market as 1t af-
fects cur homes.
1t used to be said that women crowd
ed men out of the ranks. This need
not much be feared. There still re-
mains plenty OF work that women are
not likely to undertake in very large
numbers. The great railway system
throughout the country employs men
as engineers. firemen, brakemen, por-
tiers and conductors; the motormen on
the electric cars and the more or less
civil conductors and guards are men.
Although house decoration enlists many
women, particularly in lines where
brains are required. yet the actual
building. the work that taxes muscles
and back, legs and arms, Is done by
men.
Occasionally woman financier Gre
ates a ripple Of astonishment by her
audacity, pluck and success. But the
great hnanciers of the modern world.
the great railway kings, and the man
ayers generally of big affairs, are men.
Broadly speaking. women bring to the
labor market patience. dexterity, quick
ness ard perseverance,: they have an
eye for details. and they are learning
how to obey orders. But they are
rather privates in the ranks than lead
@s1 snd commanders.
Naturally, the absorption of scores
'ck women in fields Of employment out
e1ds tho home, tends In some places
~ Igsstn interest in home life. sinsu-
4 lns1y. howsvsf, n towns where women
1fp lh<Eely employsd In mills and FAC
tnere = ! larBs prUportton Of
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