Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-16
Club News

I'M HE EcOnOIIllc q independence OA
Women received the consideration
"A of the Business Womans club
! last night at the regular meeting in
| the Y. w. c. A. building, Mrs. Mary
! Kennedy reading a carefully prepared
/ paper on the question, and Mrs.
Charles Farwell Edison, who was the
| guest of the evening, presented the
cause of ''Votes for Women" An in
formal discussion was participated In
by members as a close of the program
| Mrs. Florence Collins Porter, the pres
ident, presided.
Briefly, Mrs. Kennedy said:
1--WE hug a delusion when we imagine
| that women have economic indepen-
dence. 1 find only one class which
possesses 1.-THE maids and cooks in
| our kitchens. They are the only
women who set their price, do pretty
much as they please and select their
own environment
"Can that woman be Independent
| who does not get equal pay with men
| for equal work, or have one word 10
say about the making of the laws that
govern her and her labor or the en-
forcement of those laws? Why does
woman go outside the home to work?
Because she had been a working Wo-
man before the power loom was intro
duced and supplanted the hand loom.
1t is only the location of her work
that is changed-it has gone to the
mill.
1.-The most Objectionable feature in
industry is woman's irresponsible
cheapness. She does not stay long
enough to establish wage for her
self, but she does stay long enough
to establish q family wage system.
statistics show that the average period
of employment for factory women in
Chicago is seven years. The average
girl expects to get married and quit
work. and because of this the indlVld-
ual wage has no importance compara-
lively, but the family wage is every
thing After the woman marrles, II
she ceases to contribute to the family
wage she and her husband and babies
have to live on one wage Garner, and
the time seems long until little Maggie
and Charlie can contribute their first
SO a week. The result is that the
pressure upon women to work after
marriage becomes exceedingly strong,
and right here is the beginning of child
labor.
"Women are not gaining over men
in factories, but they are gaining over
whelmingly in the commercial world, in
stores and in office work. The spirit
of progressive intelligence is typified
in the college diploma-the woman
with the college diploma is reaching
out for the pay slip and is now con-
Sidering occupations which are less
professional and more frankly COM
mercial.
THE great combined movement of
commercial and intellectual women is
sure to bring serious questions for con-
sideration, two of which will be work
after marriage and votes for women.
No disfranchised class of persons can
ever. as a class, win to position of
hai, 1cin
from official councils of state, their OBJ
vious failure. constantly before the
public mind, to participate in the func-
tions of government; their perpetual
absence from among the rulers, stamp
them indelibly for interiors.
women of the working class resent
their deprivation of the suffrage be-
cause it handicaps them in their fight
for industrial legislation in the matter
of hours and working conditions. Six
million women workers are in industry
to stay and there must be a way to
keep their. moral and physical health
| intact, so that industry must be ac-
| commodated to their requirements. The
| lack of direct political influence con-
stitutes a powerful reason why wom-
ems wages have been kept at min
Iimum.
1.-THE commercial and professional
woman resents the lack of the use of
the ballot, not only because of legis-
lation needed, but because it is an
impediment to personal success, and
nothing will divert her from political
agitation and demanding the right to
help secure legislation which will hu-
manize industry, not only for her own
sake but for the benefit of the whole
human race.
eve come to the vital question, will
women continue to work outside the
home after marriage? The census of
1900 found 100000 widows earning their
living, and more than 100000 married
women, and divorced women to the
number of $4,000. That year there We're
in the United States approximately
16, 100000 women % years and older,
and of these one of every eleven had
passed her wedding day and was,
nevertheless. a bread-winner.
I'VE readily see that the question OF
wages is not the only question in
volved in these conditions-there is the
home and the children. The principle
has been established that the work OIL
women outside the home must be reGu-
lated by law The next principle to be
established is that the home itself must
be socially developed and expanded
But great advance along social lines
comes slowly. Human progress viii
flow on smooth and evenly when Dotn
men and women stand equal in eco
| nomic relations"
Mrs. Charles Farwell Edison ad-
dressed the Highland Park Ebell yes
| terday morning, taking as her top!c,
| Votes for Women"
| Mrs. Edson's argument for suffrage
was based on an array of statistics
proving the need of equal suffrage in
dustrially. economically and socially.
| Woman, she said, stayed in the home
until she was pushed out by economi-
cal and industrial conditions brought
about solely under mans regime, and
not until she is organized and enfran-
chised can she hope to cope with the
resultant situation.
Mrs Edison paid especial attention
! to woman's need of the ballot that
wrong social conditions may be cor
rected-conditions from which women
and children are the chief sufferers.
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