New-York tribune., 1908-03-23
WOULD MEAN COMMUNISM
Ultimate Result of Equal Pay for
Men and WOmen.

| MeH ana ~ OHtCH.
| To the Editor of The Tribune.
/ Sir: For years high school teacher for
| seventeen years the wife of a teacher. ask the
| privilege of expressing through your paper the
| reasons of the married woman for opposing the
| women teachers equal pay bill
The question involved in their equal pay bill
is not better pay for women teachers Miss
Strachan in The Brooklyn Eagle of March o.
| 1905 says: The women teachers of this city DO
I not want an increase that does not provide for the
| equalization Of men teachers and women teachers
salaries
The question. then. is, Shall the single woman
/ receive the married mans wage? Single men and
| single women exceptions. the abnormal prod
uet of civilization. If the family, the soul Oh
| civilization. to continue the social unit. the
/ married woman. who in the exercise OF the ma
ternal function is debarred from the labor Market
must with their children, be supported ov the
! husband and father; hence the man. the mas
culine sex is the wage Garner, and the man
wage must be living family wage. Fundamental
law does regard exceptions. Since the ols-
tnction of supporter and supported, then' IS
drawn on sex lines. the single man, the abnormal
product of civilization profits by his and
receives the mans wage.
The single woman the abnormal product of civil
izaton. also is here and is Industrial factor
that must be reckoned with. She is in the labor
market though her married sister is debarred All
honor to this single woman, who, no longer de-
pendent not only supports herself but Is produc-
tive to the state. she supports herself she is
not normally a family supporter as is the man
The accident of dependent relatives may happen to
either married men or single women Government
statistics show that s3 per cent of women teachers
in the whole United States the sole support of
inherited families" which, by the way, do not
increase.
The question now before the Legislature-the
Senate teachers bills, Shall the single woman IN
teaching be given the married mans wage?
Whether or her work is equal to- identical
h., iS -aradh hIy
In education especially the personal influence of
the teacher is a most important factor; the re-
suItant of the masculine personality can in no wise
Identical with the resultant of the feminine per-
sonaIfty The teaching force of this city is IS
cent women, Il per cent men who are engaged for
special purposes.
..T-he Iaborer is worthy of his hire" say equal
payists; what he does with his hire is OF no
moment" Let the married woman prove to the
court that she and the children are not supported
by the husband and father, and 1t appears that
what man does with his hire is the business
of the court
The single woman the industrial woman, then, is
factor of economies and she must have fair play
and Justice The quality of her work compared 10
mans work is not the economic question; the mar
tet value of her work and the effect on the human
race of that market value is the question; shah
there be a mems wage women's wage In the
market?
Let not business men believe that this is ques-
ton that affects few men teachers only. IL Is q
question Of economics. wide. deep, farreaching
Woman has proved conclusively IN this last gen
grafton that she is not mans inferior Man ana
woman stand equal footing, slde py sioe-"o'
unequal. just different.
If it be decreed by law that in teaching man 5
vvag. Is wonan's wage-take notice. business men
women everywhere will see the point and dernaio
consistency. Every saleswoman VIII demand the
saIesn1an's wage Every maid in domestic service
will demand mans wage. Every woman worker
in every industry will contend that mans wage Is
her price The ultimate result of the equal wageE
Communism: The family penalized out or exist
ence: the time necessary for the exercise or the
maternal function nininized the child turned over
n the coD1n1unistc institution for the rearing of
children. the mother hurried back to the labor
market Away with the dreary picture or TINS DEAD
level Of rnonotony, of communism!
or woman be content that she has so asserted
herself that she is now universally admitted
neither inferior nor superior to man-just different
Let her accept for the basis Of womans wage the
law of supply and demand df more men than
women offer themselves teachers the woman
wage would be the higher wage), and not seek to
violate fundamental law by legislative act.
For the logical conclusion is that distinction in
the labor market between mans wage and womans
wage regulated by the law CT supply and demand.
make for the onward march IF the human race;
equal wage for man and woman, forced by legal
enactment would make for great wrong TO woman
kind and hinder the highest development of the
human
Women teachers of New York City. demand and
get salaries that shall be enough for yourselves
but because the enough" for man teacher hap
mems TO be more than your enough" don't say
YOU must and viii have that, too. regardless of the
needs of the children of the resources of the
taxpayer f. ..
Brooklyn March 10. 1908