The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-02-23

New York. February 2.-lspeeiai1- With "eauai pay for equal work as a rallying cry, a movement started two years ago by dozen teachers in the New York public schools, today has back of it an organization of 12.50O active wo- men members in the teaching corps and has the support and encouragement of more than seventy womens clubs in the metropolis, with over s5.OOo mem ibers and more than 5000 other women workers Laughed at at first as a freak ash movement to be olsssed with the then ieneered at suffrage agitation, these wo- men, under leadership developed in their own ranks, began by twice storming the Legislature of New York, and today they kllave succeeded in making the equal pay EEor equal work an economic question of Lserous local importance. Whatever may nDe the immediate outcome of the cam gpaign. even its opponents admit that shese women have supplied the needed is eue to enable all women to coalesce-a 'condition not supplied heretofore by the great women questions which were not Unanimously accepted by the entire sex.
 This fight for equal pay in the public schools on the part of the women while lat has for object the increasing of wo- lmens salaries, seems to be, at heart, a flight for a principle. Time and again These women have refused to accept com promises. made by the men teachers, (which would increase the pay of women Isomewhat, but not bring them up to the EBtandard received for the men For the Pwomen believe that if they but hold out land continue to wage their battle they ts.riaI ,sa.o 1Ix- nf aaf las the laws of the city are concerned. an unjust system of payment for service (which is based on economic theory ante datng the thrush of women into eompet- atlve industry heretofore mOnopoliZed by .amen. In New York the typewriter prob ably was one of the greatest agencies for drawing women into commercial fields, Eand in large numbers she has graduated From the keys to positions of trust invol- wing judgment. fidelity. secrecy and ac- icuracv. There is. according to reliable heport. one woman in New York who is Gpaid, as confidential secretary to great lmagnate, the salary of fifteen thousand .dollars 8 year-partly in recognition of liner ability and partly because, during sher long period of service not market tip has escaped through her to the big mans Wall street competitors.
 In the public schools, where the sala- 'ries are fixed by law so that the woman receives initial salary of $500, where E1he man with no more training or pre- 1iminary experience is paid 800, the wo- snnen complain, there is no opportunity as there is in the open market to get paid flor work done, although the work ao- tually done is what the state pays for rather than the sex of the teacher. The object of empio. ing a teacher, they say, is solely to educate the child for intelli- gent citizenship The men have retorted that there is some peculiar quality in- herent in masculinity which is necessary to this object. The women reply that, even if this is so, they have made no suggestion either that no men be em- ployed or that they be paid less sala- ries, and point out that the purchasing power of mans salary is not lessened because some one else, even d woman, happens to be paid the same amount for the same kind of work. The women teachers, However, some of,swhom have shown themselves to be clever statisti- clans have come out with official fig
 ures which show that as far as teach ing the young idea how to shoot, they are not only the equals of the men, but as a class have actually been doing more effective teaching The last reports of the official tests for graduation conduct ed by the central educational authorities
 the board of education and the depart ment of superintendents, show that the womens stronghold, Brooklyn borough, in which there is a larger number of women teachers and principals in propor- tion to men than in any other borough, 90 per cent of the pupils in the graduAt- ing classes succeeded in passing the ex- nations. In the Bronx, where there Is the largest number of men teachers and principals in proportion to women in structors. only 79 per cent of these pupils were found to be prepared for diplomas. This led one witty woman to paraphrase the slogan into unequal pay for unequal work
 The discussion of the equal pay propo- sition, which passed the New York legis- lature, was vetoed by the mayor of New York repassed by the legislature. and Finally vetoed by Governor Hughes. brought out wealth of hitherto hidden Information about the economic condi- ton of women workers in New York
 For one thing, it was pointed out that
 municipal scrubwoman were paid more than graduates of high and normal schools while the white wing who sweeps New York's streets was paid higher wage for his unskilled labor than womer college graduates with years of teaching experience and intrusted with the duty oi training 50 children's minds and seeing tc their morals and their ability to become self-supportng. Some there were who