Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-05-17

ties and powers of the present bureaus,
commissions and departments so far as
they relate to woman labor and it's con-
dtions. are found in the bureau of labor
statistics, in the census bureau, in the
Department of Agriculture and in the
children's bureau.
Basis Of Children's Ills.
Intelligent inquiry into the causes of
the ills affecting children must finally
penetrate the industrial situation Of
mothers-mothers employed in industry
and OF mothers at work in the home.
Many OF those ills admit of no remedy
save as the industrial situation of the
mother is improved. An essential COM
plement of the childrens bureau is, there
fore. bureau Of woman labor
why should farmers monopolize the
attention of the government" asks the
writer. after calling attention to the
TACT that in the Department of Agricul-
ture. the subject of household economics
are published as farmers bulletins when
the mechanic the clerk. the shopkeeper,
the whole people are affacted by house
hold economics.
II men in every walk Of life have their
money interests subject to household
economics, 1t Is the women Of the coun-
try who apply household economics to
family affairs and the labor of women
working for the family in the home is
the medium through which the applica-
ton is made. To be efficient all activi
ties In government pertaining to house
hold economics should be centered in
bureau Of woman labor and ODE prac-
teal those activities should be directed
by woman with strict regard for home
conditions and for family needs
Census Bureau Limited.
THE census bureau enumeratins the
people Of the United States analyses
population with respect to sex and oc-
cupation. Thus 1t shows that only women
who are employed In gainful pursuits are
at work; the 10000, 600 women Of the
country employed in home-making are
recorded by the census taker as having
no occupation bureau OF woman
labor is necessary to reclaim the home
makers of the country from the status
OF the economic submerged: the census
taker should receive instructions as to
the value Of woman's work from a bu-
reau OF woman labor equipped with in
formation to show that home making is
gainful pursuit.
The bureau of labor statistics has in
vestigated cost Of living considered as
an element or the cost Of production; it
has investigated family budgets in the
study or the increase in prices and cost
OF living. In no instance has it done
more than estimate cost and prices with
respect to the raw materials consumed
in living; 1t has ignored the medium
through which those materials are con-
verified into the elements Of life-women
working for the family in the home. 1t
has counted no cost in connection with
the unpaid labor of wives bureau
OF woman labor is necessary to a COM
plete statement of the problem Of the
cost of living. to develop notions of val
ue with respect to the unpaid labor OF
! wives. with respect to the exercise of the
are inseparable from every system of
economics. bureau of woman labor
would have for one OF its chief functions
to develop exact notions of value with
| respect to the unpaid labor OF wives and
| TO the exercise of the office Of maternity"
Industrial Situation Ignored.
Mrs. Thompson states that the bureau
Of labor statistics has investigated the
conditions of woman's work in the United
States. but only with regard to woman
wage-earners. and that 1t has utterly
ignored the Industrial situation OF home
makers.
Nevertheless. home making is the ex-
elusive occupation of six women in the
United States to every one engaged In
wage-earnnigs. Approximately 10000, OOO
women are occupied exclusively in the
home. and only something like one in
twenty has any help in doing all the
work for the family. in addition to bear
ing and rearing children; a large major
| lily of women engaged in earning
do all or part of the work in their homes
before and after their days work for
| wages Is done. and the 6,UOO,OOO wage
| earners about whom alone the bureau Of
STATISTICS Is concerned are permanent In
Il M ind vyidt ,,,<
| class; as individuals, through marriage,
| they are constantly passing out Of in
| dustry into the home; home making,
| therefore, besides being the actual exclu-
| American women. is the key to the solu-
| ton of most OF the problems of the wom-
| an wage-earner, for in the home Is the
/ alternative situation from which, and
i back to which, the pendulum of woman
| in industry swings.
! Correction Of Statistics.
| "A necessary task logically indicated for
| a bureau of woman labor to perform is
to correct the Investigations which the
| bureau of labor statistics has made of
| woman's work, SO that ills associated
| with the employment of woman in in
dustry may be determined scientifically
| and efficiently with respect to the whole
matter of the employment OF women-that
| is to say, q bureau of woman labor is
necessary TO define the economic status
and the conditions of womans work in
the home for the better understanding of
the position Of women in industry
Mrs. Thompson concludes her letter
with the following statement:
There is a sad. silent army of women
/ toiing in American homes whose very
lives are sacrificed to the Industrial in
| CAPABILITIES of their situation These are
women OF the social submerged, who. un-
der the tyranny of double obscurity, are
economically submerged. too-wives work
ing at home. not from choice not i'm any
sort of hope for themselves individually,
but in blind. dumb obedience to a certain
law of the species. which keeps women
Of the wage-earning class at breeding