The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-06-30
AMERICAN WOMEN WHO DO MEN'S WORK Men Cannot Do Work of the
 World MARRIED WOMAN'S SHARE Some interesting Figures Set Forth by Report of the Census 6u-
 reau-Army of Bread
 Winners.
MARRIED WOMAN'S SHARE
From Harper,s Weekly.


 Married women, of course, have always done their share of the worlds work. In- deed, it is open to argument whether they have not done more than their fair share of 1t. It is doubtless true that if upon men, as we now know them, were suddenly devolved the burdens of child-bearing and child-rearing, to say nothing of the cares/of the household, families would be considerably smaller than they now are. It is certain that mar ried women, who have discharged the duties of maternity. have never been "supported'' by men in any just sense of the word support" Nay, if all men, married and single, were to labor every hour of the day, they could not do all the work of the world.
 A few worthless women, married or single, there may be, but even they are not so much supported by the men of their families as by the overwork of the "sweated" women at the other end of the social ladder. From creations dawn women have performed their full quota of the worlds work; and usually they have rot been paid for 1t. Unpaid work, however, seldom commands respect. It is the paid female worker who has brought home to the public mind convic- ton of womans worth in the worlds economy.
 The spinning and weaving done by our great-grandmothers and by their great grandmothers in their respective homes were not reckoned as a contribution to nations wealth until the work was transferred to factroies and there organ lzed; to factories, where the women who pursued particular calling were re- munerated according to the commercial value of their products. It Is undoubted- ly the women of the industrial class. the wageearners, rectoned no longer by units. but by hundreds of thoughts, the women whose work has been submitted to a money test, that have been the means of bringing about the altered at titude of public opinion toward wom- ans work In every sphere of life.
 From this point of view singular in terest attaches to the report recently Is, sued by the census bureau, which sets forth some .belated statistics regarding the number of feminine wage-earners found by the census enumerators seven years ago In occupations formerly re- garded as exclusively suited to men, The number of women, indeed, engaged in agriculture and the rougher kinds of labor Is small in the United States, as compared with the number relegated to such toll in parts of continental Europe Nevertheless the statistics now put for ward show that in 1900 there were no ltWer lHdn 4ob,UUU women farmers and farm laborers In this country; indeed there were more of these by 11S,0O0 than there were who pursued the relatively feminine occupation of dressmaking. It will surprise many persons who look up- on the female sex as by comparison phy- sically feeble to learn that there were 1So women engaged in blacksmithing and 50S as "machlnists." Indeed, there were eight employed in boiler-making, than which no occupation imposes a greater strain upon the muscular system. Forty live women were classified in 1900 as To- comotive engineers and fremen; thirty one as brakemen, and ten as baggage mel on railways. Many more were earn ing livelihood as switchmen and flag man. There were even six women ship carpenters and two slateroofers. Indeed, one or more women had invaded all of the S0 occupations once monopolized by male breadwinners-except nine. Among the very few callings as yet exempt from feminine competition were those of Uni ted States soldiers, marines and sailors, members of city fire departments, or of the 'lineman" department of telegraph and telephone companies.
 The data collected in 1900. and now for the first time published, show that of 23'4Sb,000 women over IS years of age more than one-fifth or upward of 4S33,-
 
 1,12,00O were domestic servants The pro- portion of feminine white wage-earners, both or whose parents were born in this country. was less than fifteen per cent The proportion of white women paid workers, one or both of whose parents were native-born, was 37 per cent The native white women workers, both of whose parents were born abroad. repre- sented more than 22 per cent: the white women workers who themselves were foreign-born, more than IT per cent; the negro native-born women, 22 per cent
 As compared with the census of 1SS0 the number of women breadwfnners in 1900 had increased by more than 100 per cent, an increase which of course can be only partially ascrlbed to the expan- sion of population during the two inter- vening decades Obviously, the number of occupations open to women had been augmented signally during the interval There Is no evidence that the rema rIxa bla extension in the number of women wage earners has been attended by any de- crease in the number of marriages. or by any moral deterioration. From the viewpoint of the political economist how ever, It is to be regretted that the census takers of 1900 throw no light upon the proportion of women wage-earners who on the one hand, support not only them selves but others, or those who, on the other hand, are partially indebted to men for their own support. Those who pertain to the latter category obviously subject the memoers of their sex belong Ing in the former, and also their mascu- line competitors, to unfair competition. and are partly responsible for the tend ency to pay women somewhat less than men for performing the same kind of work. We say partly, because there Is no doubt that a chief cause of the differ ence In respect of remuneration Is the fact that in all states of the union, ex- cept four, women do not possess the full franchise, and, therefore, are unable to make good at the ballot-box their claims to equal compensation for equally good work.