The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-09-02

1Cd mas OuS ASdIu SO lAA0SA OA SAAS 1 woman in business and the woman of affairs.
 Possibly, when all the stories of the war have been written, when history has taken the peace conference as basis for settling the colossal argu- ments that have arisen during this struggle between the belligerents' there will come serene time when the historian of human nature can pay attention to something else besides nA- tionalism, socialism, autocracy and the last argument of kings.
 Today the merest tyro in the study of the worlds affairs feels conscious that tremendous movements far be- yond our ken are taking place We know that the gigantic battle is but symptom of world unrest that It is only the scabbard of the sword, the mantle of mans intentions.
 The woman who is wise today IS reading the newspaper stories of pres ent affairs alongside the histories ol other battles and other centuries. The librarians say that never before have women and men asked for so many books on history. They seem to ap- preciate the fact that nothing is new and that all mans actions are based on his fight for freedom.
 These readers of history easily know that the present struggle is but an other evidence of human forces burst ing from their swaddling clothes. It Is another echo of the cry that has been made through the centuries but was | l,,on intu tsrns of the people, by the people and for the people"
 And in all this turmoil, those who 1 hold this electric torch before their 1 eyes, feeling sure of the final victory, 1 passionately believing that 1t is but the bursting of democracy into full ... bloom will see less of the present E ruggle in their vision and more of be future
 And in that future there will be
 hace for the woman in business and rn,f9e woman of affairs, for we are tax
 g part in all this battle through new + methods than our ancestors. The sist omen in America are not going Into 5,are death battalions as the women of
 ussia are doing to encourage theil
 
 so aeir windows with belt buckles of tre- mendous size. as did the women Tn the battles of the early centuries.
 They are giving time, money, intel ligence, organization and influence to the task of making this world as good a place to live in as it can be when half the world is a battle-ground.
 The historian, who. having finished with the political reasons for the pres ent war, looks with interest upon the advancement of women into public life at this epoch will find material worthy of brilliant pen.
 No one has yet written Of that feeble start made only two decades ago among the women who wished earn their own living in this country. From that lighting of the candle, the histor ian can trace the path until it comes to the present day and passes on into the brilliant light of fulfillment.
 Tn this invasion of women into civic and business affairs, there is wrapped up a nations growth and whole cen tury of psychological and moral de- velopment.
 TWO decades ago one did not speak of a woman who was in business With any degree of pride. The family made excuses for her. Men wondered what the sex was coming to and vowed that such women could never be wives and 7 mothers. The professions opened their doors to women half way, and few were paid the prices paid to men.
 Contrast that beginning with the sit ga 0f women in the department shops, in all the superior offices of the country, as ',eads of magazines, richly paid report IS on papers. dressmakers rolling fn S~11-tunes lawyers handling difficult
 E.,es.
 Then the war broke and the tidal /A i've that washed up on the shores of Y Gciety carried women to higher pin- .saacles than they had ever hoped to reach in the affairs of a nation. None exwere so rich. none so poor none so ofconspicuous, none so obscure but found ,,,,a way in which to serve the country. Il Society Is secondary Clothes are ovsecondary. The professions. such as tho stage. art and singing. are suh- merged for time. Onf women are not forming battaiions of death; they're forming battalions of life. They are aroused to the uttermost depths of their age-old institutes to preserve and to help.
 Woman has saved while man has kvlain all throughout the history of life Fon this planet. She Is doing 1t now, Y but there is a gulf of difference fixed N between the way she did 1t in the civil war. and the way she's doing it in this s war. and on that very difference rests N the foundation for the historians great story of womans advancement be- tween the two great wars on this con Y tinent.
 She is not morbid and therefore she viii not abjure or eliminate the neces- sities of life and the pleasures of liv- Ing. She will still dress well and she viii spend her leisure time enjoying herself. for that is the Anglo Saxon i, nanner and it will prevail until the o 3Ace is extinct.
 Why not look that fact well in the face instead of talking about eliminat- fnw everything that makes life pleas .n1S End endurable and reducing 1t to bare skeleton that makes 1t unen-