New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-04-19
WOMEN BAFFLED BY
THE TEACHER PROBLEM
Civic Service Workers Agree
Only That Miss Strachan
Could Have Married.
HER VIEWS C0MBATED
Mrs. Edgell Defended and AS
sertion That Wifehood Les
sens School Efficiency
Is Holly Denied.

That married woman teacher problem
took several steps onward into the jungle
of befuzzlement yesterday.
The Committee on the Civic Service of
Women-the one formed by Mrs. Her
man Fremery, nee Henrietta Rodmai-
met al the home of Mrs. James Lees
I.aidlaw. No. East Goth street. There
were speeches by DR.. Ira Vile, OF the
Board of Education: Miss Grace Suachah'
Mrs. Jessica Finch Cosgrove. Mrs. bea-
trics Forbes Robertson Hale, Hutchlns
Hapgood and a dozen others.
There was a free-for-all discussion III
which everybody talked at once. and
everybody went away more firmly con
WINGED than ever that Mrs. Katherine
EdgeH ought fought not TO nave beeh
granted that leave of absence she asked
for. and that marriage Injuries (enricnes
and improves) the work of woman
teacher.
The one uncontradicted statement of the
whole afternoon was the one made ny
Miss Strachan, that she might have been
married if she had wanted 10.
Prefers Unmarried Woman Teachers.
'Nlv sense of duty to my employer, the
civ of New York. would not let me-
she explained. a woman Is not so soou
g teacher when she is married IL Is
simply question of divided duty. II IS
is not so intensely given to her WORK She
is not so ambitious to get on; she is not
so good teacher
Undeterred by the indignant denla!s
that went popping off all over the rooil'
and calmly ignoring Mrs. Laldlaw
piercing demand, do you think wom-
ans mentally inferior because she's mar
ried?" Miss Strachan continued making
herself unpopular
81 would have voted against giving
Mrs. Edgell leave Of absence had Deeh
on the Board of Education. If Mrs. Edg-
on wanted children. why should she nave
them at the expense Of the city's payroll!
That payroll comes out of the taxes
and the taxes are paid by the people
the poor Of the East Side help pay theh.
why should they support Mrs Edgeil ana
her child?'
"She expressly said without pay When
she asked for leave" shreked the Edgei-
ntes in chorus.
Getting Pay Anyhow
We'll" said Miss Strachan, classes are
neglected in the hands of substitutes ana
that comes out Of the city. Anyhow
Mrs. Edgen is getting pay for her Satur-
days and Sundays
she isn't! She isntr chorused the
Edgellites.
"She ought to-she's entitled to IT, said
Miss Strachan But the point in this
matter is that pupils don't do so well IN
der substitutes. and the Board OF Educa-
ton has got to think of the seven thou
sand children in the schools.
Il am thinking. too. of the home. the
home is the most important thing in the
government. and you can't have the best
home with the wife and mother away at
work.
You can't have any right sort Of a
home if the wife doesn't work. in a good
many cases" cried Mrs Forbes Robert
son Hall THE husband simply dOesn' t
earn enough. 1 object to the decision
in Mrs. Edgens case l object to the
dltltuQc Oh the DOdlu VI i-NANdliOAA NhH' "a
married teachers. because it doesn't
knock at teachers alone; 1t knocks at all
wage-earning women.
She Might Have Waited.
II married a young lawyer onl ytwo
years out of Harvard Law School ] sup
pose we might have waited but we mar
ried as soon as we fell in love. care
too much for my baby to want her TO
sleep in a room opening on a shaft. in d
Harlem fat with a ktchenette. yet that
IS all that is possible in most instances
when young couple marry. We did.
as soon as they fall in love-unless the
wife works
why should I not work and help TO
buy my child the comforts 1 want for
her? The state has no right TO say to a
woman: Thou shalt not work unless the
state gives her the equivalent of her work
In money.
Moreover, I am stronger, better able
and better equipped TO do my outside
work than before I became a wife and
mother And j think it is SO with most
women"