Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1910-04-07
WOMEN IN STREET CARS.

1t is said OF Spokane, and it is
I probably true of other cities, that
the question of how many women
I stand in street cars while men sit Is
/ dependent upon the district that the
! lines go to. Women have noted that
| on the lines that reach various resi- e
dence districts, men are generous
| in parting with their seats, and that
/ there are other lines in which the
| lords of creation remain glued to
/ their seats regardless of the number
of standing women.
The incident is a study in psy-
chology, and raises the old, old issue
OF the sexes with respect to street
car transit.
1t is a good thing for the social
structure If women are accorded
that mark of special selection e1em-
plified when the man yields his car
seat to her. 1t is almost a sure sign
that there is a man who was always
devoted to the mother, who chez
ished the sisters in the household
and who exalts the wife, If he has
one, not only for affection, but for
the sake of her sex.
1t is not her right for the woman
to have the seat, but it is a mark of
whOlesOmeness in the man to give
It. His act reflects a far higher So
Cial standard than does that of the
other man who sits undisturbed,
though a dozen tired women cling
wearily to straps that it is almost
impossible for them to reach.
Sometimes women themselves are
responsible for the fact that they are
not given seats. There are women
who hold that men should remain
seated no matter how many of the
gentler sex are standing. There are
others who accept a seat as a hea- |
right, and who seat |
themselves imperiously without the |
slightest expression of appreciation. |
Many a tired woman has been |
forced to stand because another of |
her sex had thus ignored one of the |
best canons Of good breeding. a
smile and a simple word of thanks
is the due of any man who has for
feited his comfortable seat, and tn
absence of it is the explanation of
why many a woman has to stand.
But there are men who resent the
wider entrance of women into posi-
tons formerly occupied entirely by
men. They hold that if women COM
pete with men in the workaday
world, they should take their chances
with men at the car straps This
however, is a false philosophy. Few
women are breadwiDners FROM
choice. The great struggle for sur
yival that drives US all into the
bread-winning activities, fully eX
plains their presence in business and
life, and no man should
larbor it against them.
The thousands of shop girls who
are released at o'clock after a day
IN which their duties keep them Oh
heir feet, ought not to be the vic
inns of an unmerciful grudge. No
woman more deserves a seat, and
he man who reflects credit upon
himself is the one who yields his
place 10 her.
The world needs the womanly wU
nan, and to keep her womanly she
should be the mark of especial re-
;pect, and her dignity and gentle
ness should be such that she shall
leserve it.
When we insist that woman is
lOwn to the level of man, and that
she should stand the same as men
IN the street cars, we are taking
away that which is most mellOwing
and softening to the brutal tendency
If the sterner sex.
Life would be empty, and the So
,ial structure corroded, gangreneE
and degenerated but for the leader
ship OF gentle woman. If We give
hem the car seats, we pay a tribute
10 womanhOod and perpetuate the
genuine social uplift.
It is the rational course to pursue
lntil that coming day ir the future
Nnen The car seat problem will be
solved by having cars enough for all
to be comfortably seated.
Woman has the right to demand
respect and she should exercise that
light, but in so doing she should not
forget that the vast majority of men
expect some little show of respect
Iv,1,