Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-10-15

idle woman nowadays Is looked upon
as a Stacker quite as much as the man
who won't fight, and while woman Is
doing her bit for her country she Is
doing far, far more for herself.
She is achieving independence IN
the only way in which II can be won,
for the only really free people are
those who are economically free and
who possess their own pocket books.
Political freedom means nothing with
out financial freedom. The man who
is dependent on another man for the
food he eats and the clothes he wears
belongs to the man who supplies his
needs lust as much as If he were his
slave.
The woman who has no money Of
her own and who has no trade or pro-
fession by which she can earn
penny is the chattel of the man who
supplies her needs. Ii Is only the
woman who can stand alone on her
feet and make her own living who Is
free woman. IT,. H..
All OF the injustices unusr which
women have suffered have been based
on the fact that they were economi-
calIy dependent on men. Money votes.
Money talks in law, in the courts OF
justice. in the family circle, for 1t is
eternaiIy true that the hand that
holds the purse rules the world.
War has given women chance that
they ner@- had before to achieve
financial Independence. 1t is up to
them TO decide what use they will
make of this golden opportunity and
whether after the war is over they
wifi sink back again into their old
role OF domestic mendicant, or i'll paid
odd job doors, or not.
Every variety of employer is expert:
menting with female labor in new
fields. They are trying girls out as
clerks in banks, as track walkers on
railroads. as runners on the elevators
In apartment houses and office build
ings. as machinists in factories, and
whether or not these girls hold their
places after the war and make these
avenues of occupation the road to
financial independence for women
forever after depends on how they do
their work. I
These women are fighting for, the
democracy of their sex just as much
as the men in trenches are fighting
for the democracy of the world, and
IL they fail to realize this and turn
towards and cutters, they are just as
much traitors as any man is who de.
serts because he is faint hearted, and
doesn't like the CRIME and sweat and
strain of battle. .
The chief trouble with the recruits
in this new industrial army OF women
Is that they do not like discipline.
Domestic life, which is mostly run on
a hit-or-miss platform, has not taught
them either accuracy or promptness,
and it is hard to make them accept
the rigid routine of business and un-
derstand that accounts must absolute-
IL balance instead of near balance,
and that machine work that is almost
right is altogether wrong.
One man who is employing lot OF
girls for the first time said to me:
81 find the girls quick to learn and
their work is quite as satisfactory as
that of men, but the trouble is you
have to handle them with kid gloves.
If YOU dare to criticize a girls work,
o. speak to her about any fault, no
matter how kindly you do it, she
takes it as an insult and puts on her
hat and leaves. 4
s IF women expect to keep their jobs,
when the war is over and the men
come back, they will have to put the
soft pedal on their personality. In
business no one thinks about the in.
dividual, or cares about him, or her.
Its just the work, and there's no place
in work for emotions, nor is there any
time for diplomatic handling of any
body's little feelings. II the girls will
learn to cut out getting hurt and
angry when they are criticized, and
take the criticism in the helpful spirit
in which it is meant, they will be able
to hold their jobs. Not otherwise.
| asked the starter in big office
building in which girls are being tried
out as elevator runners how he liked
them. Look at that girl make that
landing there. Didn't she do it like
a birds And they are pretty to look
at, and more polite than the boys are,
but the difficulty is they haven't
found out yet that when you under
take to do thing you've got to be On