The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-03-25
Women Workers in Germany
Increase 2 Million.
Present Many Unique Problems
for Government.
LABOR IN MUNITIONS PLANTS
Guard Their Environment by
Living Conditions.
Overcome Public PrOte S t
Against Feminine TOilers.

London, March 25-Hardly less re-
markable than the swift transforma-
ton of England into a powerful mill
tary nation has been the silent up
heaval that has placed the civil work
and the industries of the workshops in
the hands of women. 1t has been esti-
mated from official figures that there
were fully 100000 more women in
active employment on March l. 1916,
than on the corresponding day twelve
months earlier. Moreover. the num-
Der is increasing week by week
Every class of women, including
those previously regarded as leisured
and well-to-do, are adding to the total
The call is reaching the remotest ham
lets as well as the quiet market towns.
and the women and girls are respond
ing The women are modifying in
great army ready to serve wherever
they are most needed-even to the
hard labor of the tilling of the soil
Readjust Social Conditions.
Such changes in the national, COM
mercial and Industrial spheres are nat
urally creating considerable readjust-
ment of social conditions with the re-
suit that the Young Womens Chris
tan association, Women's Unions, suf-
fra gist organizations and scores of
women's clubs are confronted with
many new problems in helping to care
for thousands of women suddenly
The initial difficulty to be dealt with
has been that of housing the workers
in the munitiOn factories All sorts of
factories have been requisitioned in
the provincial towns up and down the
country. calling for large drafts of
workers from outside. Lodgings have
been hard to find. and, of course, fol-
lowing all laws of supply and demand,
have been costly, even if they could be
found at all. Railway communications
with places at any distance have been
unsatisfactory. especially for those on
the night shifts. Only in the larger
centers of population has the service
of tram cars or omnibuses been of any
help to those living at a distance.
Move to Villages.
Thousands upon thousands of young
women and girls were suddenly
shifted from their familiar surround
ings in the larger cities to the new life
in the country where many of the
huge munition factories have been
erected. The manufacture of high ex-
pIosives is not permitted in the vicin-
ity of homes. Therefore. canteens had
to be esta blished close to such works
so that the women would not have to
go long distances for their meals and
relieve them of much fatigue and
strain.
Perhaps the ideal conditions have
been reached by one famous firm en-
A colony for the workers was erected
in a long series of wooden huts each
containing some twenty-eight two
bedded rooms. In the center of all is
a dining hall with a perfectly equip
ped Kitchen. recreation room. and a
small model hospital. AS soon as these
plans had been approved the firm had
one of the women's organizations take
UP the responsibilities for them in be-
half of the girls employed.
Public Opinion Stirred.
Public imagination is more stirred at
the idea of womenS labor in shell,
fuse and explosive making than it is
over the vast army engaged in the
more humdrum round of business
routine. But the fact is that the
woman who is forced to work in the
offices of the government. municial-
tiles, banks, factories and stores in
much worse off than her sister in the
munitions works. She receives less
pay and very little attention is paid to
her welfare. But she is sustaining the
fabric of the state to no less extent.