Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1911-11-02

Il W Inc uulSulHS W0IhN anu AouSOhOAu
duties :
SO much has been said about child
lren in the cotton and coal mines that
II will not refer to that matter. Car
roll D. Wright says in his Practical
Sociology, it was estimated that in
4 1900 there were 5,S19,912 women en-
4 ployed in gainful occupations in the
i United States; the average wage of
| the working woman was $272.O4 per
annum, and more than one-half of
these women are under 25."
4 The average number of children
employed according to the same au-
4 thority, were in 1900, 1,755,210, out OF
i 1882. 460, who were wage earners. The
average yearly wage of these child
rem, was $15218.
1 CHAPTER III.
4 The laws against child labor are
wholly inadequate and are confessed
ly not enforced; 20 states prohibit
child. labor at night but not in the day
time. In South Carolina childhood
ends at 12; in Alabama at 49,, in Ar
kansas, Texas and Virginia at IA.
Il The one hopeful thing about the sit
uation is not the laws that are being
placed on the statute books, but the
awakening of the women. 1 am not a
believer that the ballot will always
prove eficacious It will be a bene-
lit only where used intelligently. But
the fact is, where women are permit
ted to vote, they are securing re-
forms that they were not able to get
anywhere else, and they are increas-
sng the political power which they
have hitherto held. During the past
year the women of Washington state
nave been given the franchise; it has
been conceded largely through the
efforts of the Socialists. One OF the
first notable political acts recorded in
| that state was the recall of the Mayor
of Seattle, the women taking very
] active part in this work and making
Z for social purity. In Wyoming, Colo
! RADIO. Utah and Idaho, where women
vote. the wife's earnings and property,
not received from her husband are
5 held in her sole control. In the same
) states the interests of husband and
: wife in real estate is made equal, IN
} stead of the wife having one-third or
5 LESS interest in it, as, in other states.
: There is also equality in inheritance
! of both sexes. In these states tne
: wife and minor children are entitled
l RI homestead rights. In Wyoming and
, Utah text books are furnished free In
the public schools and free kinder
v gartens are provided. In all four OF
i the states compulsory education, with
r instruction in physiology and hygiene
! nreyail. No children Under fourteen
J, wears of age are. permitted to work in
b any of these states, and eight hours
Z is made the maximum labor day. for
f women. Colorado, Utah and ldano
f have Juvenile and probation courts lot
: children. and women have women
nhvsiicans or matrons in institutions
nroviding for such cases. This IS a
d good record for the states that alreaqV
S have woman suffrage and such Dlos
1 fair to make equally as good record
J In Kansas, which already permits
/ women to vote on school matters, the
t extension of the franchise to political
affairs, is under consideration
throughout the West the agitation for
e women suffrage does not partake OF
: the nature of the agitation in Eng
Il land; that is, here it is for votes OF
e all women instead Of votes for prop
erty owners only. 1t is more on the
! line of the Socialist agitation and II
$ is growing rapidly. Taken as
3 whole. one may see that legislation
5 I'M to the present has been OF very III
$ tle value to women and children
3 workers because of the law of COM
! petition in industry and the capitals
5 tic control thereof When the ballot
t prevails. however, the good that has
! already been accomplished through II
, gives evidence that much greater good
! will be done within few years. Ultl-
I EmatelyJ it will be the ending OF CAPT
ltalistic control, and this will mean the
complete freedom of women and chill
3 dren from the poverty that has made
slaves of them. Given the ballot, Wo-
: men will prove strong factor in their
: own emancipation.
nATnInTInM nEuIMEn