The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-05-11
With the Men of to the War, Many
Positions Are Being Held by
the Women Of
England.
AID THE RECRUITING
Even In the Clubs, Women Have
Taken the Places Which Were
Formerly Held by the
Men.

Staff Correspondent
LONDON, May /. (by mail to New
| York; BRITAIN, like France, is now
mobilizing women to take the places
of men who have gone to war.
Thousands are answering the gov
ernment's recent appeal and are STEP
ping into the harness in scores OF
trades and occupations. They have
flocked to the ammunition factories.
army equipment works and Industrial
establishments in all parts of Eng
land. When the British board or
trade, England's commerce and Ia
Dor" department, issued the appeal,
urging all women to enter themselves
on the register Of women for War
at the four hundred labor exchanges
Throughout the country. the effect
was practically instantaneous.
| Dignified buffers and footmen who
served in brass and braid during
! PEACE times. are now in khaki. Wnie
hundreds of trim parlor maids are
performing the man-tasas with equal
skill The Londoner expresses no
surprise nowadays when his launder-
1 ed linen is delivered in a motor-van
driven by a smart business-like girl
! The laundryman has gone to war with
.
ing rifle in place of a clothes basket
and In the meantime the average type
of women who was his best girl on
Sunday is driving his van-and max
/ ing good on the job
But the "chaufeuses" are not coli
] fnine their activity to laundry vans.
The National Motor Cab company
boasts that every one Of its large
fleet Of motor vans is driven by a girl.
The regular chauffeurs are now fight
ing for their king and country. for the
/ traditional shilling day. while the
girls are gathering five shillings on
the work they left behind. Women
are driving autos and vans for halt
dozen other large London establish
ments whose heads are authority for
the statement that their services are
quite equal to those Of their predeces-
sors.
Several provincial cities have al
ireadv passed into the unprecedented
era OF women bus and tram conduc-
tors. London's great system or I'M
derground railways, bus lines and
| tram lines are still manned by men.
hut the constant call Of the war office
for more recruits is bringing nearer
! this era in London, s it dawned at
! the beginning of the war in Paris.
! Women have now invaded exclusive
mems clubs where previously they
! feared to tread. Men servants ana
walters have discarded their livery FOR
khaki. and the women have stepped
| into their shoes. The Athenaeum. one
of IJondon.s most dignified and stately
clubs, where women servants were
previously unknown, is today served
ibv attractive housemaids. Erudlte
bishops and learned professors who
inhabit the club. declare the 1nnoVa-
ton is "iolly we'll fine" A member
of the club said:
Nineteen Of our servants were or
military age. Seventeen joined the
army. The other two were rejected
because of physical unfitness. 1t Is
difficult to get men servants nova
days-so there was only one solution
tof the problem
Other exclusive clubs and some less
exclusive. have followed this lead. AL
so hundreds Of women have taken
the place Of men clerks In railway
Offices. retail stores, book stalls. and
in scores Of other positions.
But the greatest majority of British
women have gone into the armament
factories. Lord Kitchener in the
house of lords, recently issued call
for speeding up" the work in British
industrial plants to satisfy the urgent
need for more army supplies. Hun
dreds of factories responded to the
call and slipped their gears into high
speed. This created extra places for
workers. Men were scarce in the fac
tory districts. They have gone to war.
Then came the governments appeal
to the women Of the .land to exercise
the "full working power of Britain
while the "full fighting power" was in
the field. Their patriotic response
has been most pleasing to the govern
ment. 1t has in many cases elimin-
ated the excuse for failure to enlist.
and the men thus released are now
enlisting by the thousands.
The Labor Gazette reports an i'm
provement in practically all trades
where female labor is at all feasible.
In the cotton industry, which was one
of the most seriously affected by the
war. almost norman conditions now
exist. Other trades, notably the mil
lipery and dress making trades are
not affected by the call for recruits
for the military cloth and equipment
shops. They are busy supplying fash
ionable "militaryi frocks and "subma-
rine'. hats for the female army, TAX
ing the place of the male army In the
training camps or at the front. Many
women Of high rank compose con-
tingent of the female army engaged
In mobiliZing the women of Britain in
to the war service at home.
The Board of Trade at the begin
y,;ro of tho camDaiqn solicited the aid
of every woman's society in the land.
suffrage and otherwise, in obtaining
female recruits and practically all OF
LaEt