Evening star., 1914-10-01
Women Become Bank Clerks,
Filling Places of Men
Gone to the Front.
SPORTSMEN ENLISTING
IN SEPARATE BATTALION
Irish and Scotch Regiments, at War
Back Home, Are Brigaded To-
gether in France.


days. and it is quite surprising to see
what a change has come over the hab-
| its and manners of the people. Ameri-
cans have frequently complained Of the
leisurely methods of Londoners in the
, middle Of the sidewalks of friends stop
ping to chat and the utter impossibility
Of busy man making headway along
| the principal thoroughfares unless he
| continually charges into the gutter.
Now all is motion, drums and flies are
heard everywhere, men in khaki are
marching, and the public. catching up
the spirit Of the times, moves in livelier
style. Old and young with military
bearing swing along, delighted If they
can be mistaken by the uninitiated. to
belong to something; crossing sweep
ers stand at attention" and newsboys
greet intending purchasers by whip
ping papers from the bundle under
their arms as though they were draw
ing a sword.
Many people here are surprised at the
apparent anomaly of the lights out"
order. While, for instance, outlying
thoroushfares are plunged in gloom,
and even the trans run with drawn
blinds. some places. such as the Earl's
Court exhibition, continue to be blaze
OF light. Further, it is rightly argued
that there Is still plenty of light left
in the aggregate to make London a
very distinctive mark for hostile air
ships.
But the real reason of the half-light
system is not a belief that in the par
tial gloom Zeppelins would miss US al
together or take us for some struggling
village! 1t is that British operators
for defense against aerial attack may
continue as discreetly and quietly as
possible, and that the public may be
induced to leave the streets at an ear
lier hour than usual hence the clos
ing of the public houses at II instead
OF 1880.
Earlier-to-Bed London.
And, indeed, an. earlier-to-bedL London
has been created. Very few people
have seen the British dirigibles patrol
ling the air at night and the search
lights at work. London goes quietly to
bed, and doesn't worry, which is what
the authorities wanted to happen.
A small party had a deeply interest
ing experience last night. BY special
favor they Were allowed to mount the
dome of st. PauPs Cathedral and see
the effect Of the order for diminish
ing the city lights. Readers of Zola's
books will recall a passage describing
the sensation produced by vision Of
Paris by night from the heights which
are now crowned by the Church Of the
Sacred Heart. 1t was some such SEN
sation which moved the visitors to
the dome. But the London lying at
our feet was not the city some Of them
had watched from the same platform
before. There were great patches of
darkness which used to be brilliant
No line of golden globes picked out
the Thames embankment. 1t was with
difficulty that the course of the river
itself could be traced. All the clocks,
including Big Ben. had also disappear
ed. In word, the effect of the order
seems to be complete change in the
aspect Of the metropolis, and as this is
what was aimed at. it is to be pre-
sumed that the authorities will be
pleased. The experience was even more
novel. for shortly after the party
mounted into the dome searchlights
1t like the crown of some fairy citadel
Women as Iank Clerks.
A remarkable feature in the shifting
Of labor, caused by the war, is the fact
that several banks have appointed
highly trained business women as
clerks. There is. Of course.a shortage of
clerks. and out t-of-work stock brokers'
clerks. and even stock brokers, are go
ing into banks. On the whole. things
do not seem to be quite SO bad in the
city as was supposed. The assistance
committee at the Mansion House, which
has been inquiring into the effect of
the war on the business houses, has
found that in 204 banking and COM
mercial firms. employing 11,444 per-
sons. 9,722 were in full work, 172 work.
1,131 employees had joined the army
or the navy, and So are out of work
The stock exchange clerks were said
to have been very badly hit, but only
hnv 1in1 for iafn
from the provident fund. Salaries have
been reduced fairly generally, but not
many clerks have been dismissed. The
difficulty comes from the rush to
list. AS to the dislocation of industries,
1 hear that the London distress COM
mittee is doing useful service in help
ing manufacturers to get over tenn
porary difficulties. The furniture fac
bad way just at present, partly owing
to the difficulty Of getting raw mate
rials. and partly. owing. to the tenn
porary collapse Of the hire system.
with the manufacturers, and Is using
its organization as a kind of informa-
ton bureau to see whether such ma
terial as plate-giass' e-as; which formerly
duced in England. The authorities are
also trying to arrange for the more
equal distribution of work, so as to
prevent glut and overtime in one
For instance, some of the shirt fac
tories in London are almost at stand
still, while in other parts of the king
dom they have a great pressure of
work with army contracts.
Caring for Helpless.
London is certainly doing it's best for
the Belgian refugees, and even with
the poorer Belgian peasants, who are
the most difficult to find homes for