Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-10-22

MA" SUNDAY ably. / have this
particular case in mind because It is only
another of the many examples Of the new
and broadening field for the women of
America developed by the war. unique
opportunity and duty have been offered to
them. How they meet it will determine
very largely the future economic and busi-
ness relations of the sexes
We have now gotten the problem OF
women in work down to something besides
the arguments Of suffragst orators The
war has crystallized II still further.
definite call is sounding to the women OF
this country The nation needs them and
the call each month Is growing more and
more distinct.
The other day l saw a huge sign sus-
pended before a large factory, reading
zone Thousand Women Wanted-At once"
A year ago that factory employed only a
dozen women in its force of 1000 workers,
and those were used in clerical duties.
We have ceased to be amused at the
spectacle of elevator girls instead of boys
in our office buildings and in several cities
women street car conductors are being
trained to take the posts made vacant by
the Conscription of the men. In California
women are coming TO take the place of
men more and more on the. great fruit
ranches. 1t was up to them to do the work
of the male laborers or see the fruit spoiled
When | first saw the campaign posters
women laboring side by side with men in
the steel plants, factories, railroads and
harvesting fields, | thought they were ex-
aggerated. But I know now they were
pictures from real life.
A friend of mne just back from London
tells me a thrilling story OF a Zeppelin
raid. In the crash of the destroying bombs
and the shrieks of the wounded and dying
the gong Of an ambulance sounded duly
As 1t stopped In the very center of the most
exposed district, eight women in khaki
sprang 0ut under the leadership of a ninth,
who, in voice of absolute Calmness, di-
rected her subordinates in their minstering
duties. she was Mrs. Kiroy Kenyon. sub
commandant of the women's reserve ambu-
lance corps. In all that inferno of horror
those women worked for hours, and not
one faltered until the break Of the foggy
morning showed that their task was done
and that they could do no more.
They tell me that in every railroad sta
ton in France. between the tiers of stretch
ers, on which lie the manned bodies of the
soldiers from the front, you can see the
form of a woman. readjusting bandages.
smoothing wrinkled pillows and helping the
surgeons in their most gruesome tasks. As
a woman, | am proud Of the splendidly in
spring record Of the women Of France and
England.
But believe that the women of America
can duplicate this record and, IL necessary,
surpass it. We will probably never be
called upon as a nation, to undergo the
same scenes of carnage and devastation
that have swept Europe, but we shall have
to do our part in the task of freeing the
world from the shadow of autocracy, and
we shall probably have to send more and
more of our women across the seas to bear
their part at the front.
But what is even more imperative, the
women of America will have to rally to
the guns at home-the guns of industry,
which otherwise will be drowned by the
laundering call of war. And It is up TO
them just how they will meet the supreme
issue that is growing always and every
where more and more poignant. The great
historic opportunity has been offered to
them. The gates have been flung wide for
them At last the doors of the doll house
have been opened and they have been in
yited to come into the great world outside.
The rest is in their own hands.
Copyright. 1917. by The Bell Syndicate, 1nc)
wednesday-MaLie's Silk Stockings.