The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1906-10-27
many women WORKERS
FLOCK TO NEW YORK
A Varied Army Which Com
nrises Over One-half Mil
lion Working Girls.
Farmers, Dentists, Undertake
ers, Bartenderss and Even
Blacksmiths in List.

NEW YORK, October 25.-Speclal:
Uncle Sans census sharps IN their
last report in 1900. credit New YORK
c,tv with more than quarter OF a
million, or to be exact, 367,437 women
wage earners. The number has been
greatly increased since then and has
even gone beyond a half million, con-
servative estimates say. What a vast
body Of women workers these nsures
may be imagined when II
Is remembered that the same author
tiles place the number Of women
workers in the whole United States at
less than 100000.
The New York woman worker. 1ur-
thermore, is engaged In great Var1e-
ty Of pursuits. In her efforts to sup
port herself and others and in bear
ing the general burden Of the COM
munity she is enrolled in almost all
the occupations in which men are en-
gagged. The Government recognizes
about three hundred gainful occupa-
lions, which she may pursue, and In
nearly all of them New York has
representative.
OF agriculturists there are 440,
which, Of course, includes the dairy
maids Of the boroughs Of Richmond
and Queens, as we'll as the women
who till vacant uptown lots, and the
girl who gets up early in the morning
to gather mushrooms in the Bronx
woods. New York has, too, a woman
miner and quarry worker, and since
the time of the census taker has &C
quired two mining engineers OF the
gentler sex and has some studying
the same profession. OF women clergy
men New York has 301, but not all
who are enrolled in this class are at
present occupying pulpits, In fact, less
than a third of the number are preach
ing.
Dentistry had on it's rolls seventy
three women, but this number has In
creased, and the indications are that
the next census will show more than
a hundred women dentists in New
York.. There, are too, several women
veterinary surgeons, but this profess
sion shows no more new adherents
among them than among men. The
trouble has all been charged to the
automobile. But there are a number
Of women chauffeurs that are regis
tered at the different offices in the
city.
OF undertakers New York has 81
women On the list. Several trades are
only sparsely represented, for there
ARE but IS women ,blacksmiths and
only s plasterers, but there are 48 car
penters and 81 masons.
New York has no women policeman
or municipal f1remen or any feminine
representative in the army, navy or
marine corps. The law has selfshly
protected men in these occupations.
But Ala women are recorded as
watchmen. The city has not followed
the example Of Munich, for there are
only 3 women designated as street
railway employees and there are no
female street cleaners, in which the
metropolis differs, from some Of the
western towns. In the roofers and
rafters New York women draw blanks.
Laborious occupations, as under
stood in Europe, with long hours of
toll and poor pay, do not fall to the
lot of the New York working woman.
most Of their help from the foreign
element Of the city population, and the
unsanitary and unhealthy factory are
being wiped out by favorable legisla-
ton. Employers of female labor are
taking more pains to secure better
quarters for their help and are furn-
ishing rest rooms and aid In case of
injury and Sickness
These conditions have not a little to
do, no doubt, with giving the New
York working girls that Characters
tic with which she Is credited, an In
dividuality quite as marked as that
which distinguishes the New York
working men from those of other Cit
les, even in America. A Frenchman
upon his return to Paris recently
wrote that the working girl Of New
York appeared to him to be the bright
est and most alert that he had ever
seen, and that he was struck not only
with the light-heartedness with which
she seemed to bear the burden of life.
"The girl that works for living in
New York, generally speaking, gives
value received for her services and she
has her trobules-don't you forget"
said the pretty typewriter. "she may
not have to carry hay on her head or
tend to a threshing machine as the
German peasant woman does, but
some time when the stock that the
boss is interested in drops from SO to
"a in day, or when Trustem & Co.
that owed the firm a quarter of a mill
lion, fail-well, we have chance for
trials.
"Of course, we can't all go to farm
ing here in New York. The commits
sioners don't want Central Park
ploughed up and we can't all turn
shepherdesses to look after the flock
that feeds on the green. No woman
that I know Of wants to sweep the
street and drive the poor white wings
out. of their Jobs or carry mortar or
drive street car or make an express
wagon Of herself. The Italian women
| carry home bags of kindling wood or
! rags on their heads, but they didn't
| learn that in this country.
II remember Swede girl that car
ried her trunk, on her head, when she
~ tho To1o