West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1915-10-07
MEMS PLACE IN ENGLAND
RAPIDLY TAKEN BY women
Great Change IN Industrial Life
Has Been Brought About by the
War-Means New Stage IN the
Commercial Cooperation of Men
and Women

LONDON. October 2.-"None OF the
wars changes In our social structure
will prove so notable TO the future
historian as the wholesale introduc-
tion of woman labor into trades, oc-
cupations. and professions hitherto
exclusively stated by men," declared
Sir George Croydon Marks, Member OF
Parliament for Northeast Cornwall, I'm
the first OF n series OF lectures on
The New Woman. He added:
THE question which is OF real i'm
portanco today. however. Is whether
that future historian will regard the
phenomenon as coincident with war
conditions and terminating with them,
or whether 1t will mark the beginning
OF social revolution and n new stage
In the industrial and commercial CO.
operation OF men and women.
when the war is over shall wo
still see the milk-woman, the girl tic
ket-collector. tho girl commissionairo
at their work. or will they automati-
cally disappear before the returning
tide OF the civilian armies?
I'VE may well ask ourselves at
this moment. 70. It is question
which must inevitably arise and a
problem for which we cannot be too
well prepared. What is to happen
at the conclusion OF the war 10 those
women OF every social grade and
every shade OF attainment who I'm the
past year have slipped so readily in
to mans occupations?
I'm considering the question broad
ly the analogy OF France may be taxi
en- into consideration. The capacity.
the business ability. and the ready
grasp OF affairs which the women OF
France, more than OF any other ma
ton, have shown themselves to DOS
sess has been traced, perhaps fanci-
fully, to the frequent necessity with
which they have been forced to take
upon themselves the conduce of those
anairs during the absence of their
men on military duties.
1T is quite possible. indeed quite
probable. that the wholesale Introduc-
ton OF women's labor which we are
at present witnessing may be to de-
velop those qualities OF resourcefui-
ness and OF ready efficiency which
characterize and have characterized
French women for many years.
Considered more narrowly. the
problem which will present itself to
the business man as soon as the war
is over is, simply stated, how far Il
VIII be his duty to replace the pa
trlotic woman who is taking the place
of the soldier fighting his country's
battles. by that soldier himself, when
the time to lay down his arms arrives.
AT first sight It may seem no
problem at all. Apart from actual
promises given there remains a
pledge OF honor to reinstate the sol
dier In his position as the wage-earn-
er. No consideration OF economy. no
consideration OF efficiency rapidly ac-
quired by the woman worker can be
allowed for an instant to interfere
with this
Undoubtedly many employers will
feel a wrench in rejecting those wo-
men who, for the past year or more,
have been doing their duties 80 nim-
bly, and effectively, in favor OF the
soldier whose new life will probably
have unified him to some extent for
the Office stool. The erect may be I'm
many instances that employers will
find a way OF retaining the Sc. vices
permanently OF those women in CON
junction with the reinstated men.
I'm the past, the Jealousy which has
been felt OF women's employment I'm
business has been founded entirely on
the wages question. While men work
ed for living wage, women worked
for pocket-money, and were able TO
accept II because they were able to be
dependent primarily on the wage
Garner. II Is obvious that Il is upon
this question OF wages that the whole
problem must ultimately depend. The
business man must realize that cheap
woman's labor is at the best a tenn
porary expedient in wartime from a
national standpoint, and a temporary
expedient I'm peace time from per-
sonal standpoint.
without making any attempts NJ
prophecy II may not be unreasonable
to suggest that while considerable
numbers Of women temporarily en-
ployed at present will be displaced by
the return Of the armies, the effect OF
the existing situation will be to es.
tablish woman's labor on far frmer
footing in those industries where they
can be retained without inju y to their
health, and that the wastage OF hu.
man life will be to a large extent re-
paired by these women who are now
htting themselves for new occupa-
tiOns"
-H-