New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-04-30
London Women Renounce Styles
For OveraIIs of the War Plant
Wealthy and Poor Girls Now Work Together on sou
Munition Proccsses-Conservative England Is
Puzzled by Wages They Should Receive
BY ARTHUR s. DRAPER

us included a wide range OF occupa-
tions open 20 women. Painting ships.
aeropanes and buildings, shell-turning'
manufacturing grenades. fuses and mo-
tor tires all Of these things are now
done by British women who three years
ago were dressmakers, servants, laun-
dry and textile workers. shop assist
ants. university and art students
omen ard girls of every social grade
of no previous wage earning expert
cnce; wives and widows Of soldiers,
married women who had retired from
industrial life and those who had never
entered it.
Huge munitions plants are mush-
roomed all over the country, often TAR
from the centres of population. Dor
mitories have had TO be erected. rest
huts opened and Entertainment provided
for the women employees, for the mo-
ment work becomes monotonous the
efficiency Of the laborer drops.
Schools for munitions workers have
been opened in all centres. where IN a
few weeks a girl unskilled in any trade
may learn the rudiments and be able
to take her place in front of lathe.
Women are now making the most del
cate kinds of war instruments. as well
as handling the heaviest sorts of tools
with the aid of labor saving devices.
American mechanical ingenuity has
come 10 the aid Of the British women.
In most Of the great plants here there
are the latest American inventions IN
machinery. with the most up-to-date
automatic devices for simplifying work.
In Britain several million women
are working now who had no part in
the industrial life of the nation before
the war. Will all these women be
turned adrift when peace comes? Inose
who are acting as substitutes tor men
who have gone to the front will hardly
object to giving the men their places
when they return. But hundreds OF
thousands Of men will never return,
and hundreds of thousands of women
will never be satisfied to fill the posi-
tons they held in the days before the
war.
Lord Farringdon's committee, which
recently recommended the establish
ment of a British trade bank. said;
at is fair to assume that women Will
IN the future take considerable share
in clerical work. and this fact will en-
able the institution to take fuller ad-
vantage of the qualifications Of ITS
male staff to push its affairs in every
quarter Of the globe"
Conservative England is slow to
solve the new woman problem, but it
is giving it close study. In civil SER
vice il is an accepted principle to give
women less pay than men, but strong
attacks are being made against TINS;
No longer can the authorities defend
their course on the ground that the
nan is the bresdwinner and therefore
is entitled to a salary corresponding
to his responsibilities. Women VINO
now bear that responsibility resent the
stigma on their own sex, apart from
the economic and social side OF the
question. Does a woman novelist or
playwright receive less royalty be-
cause she is woman? they ask
The London shop girl who dresses
extravagantly has practically dlsap-
pcared. The young woman of western
Europe has renowned frills and fur,
bellows. The demand for feathers and
lace. and GAUGES has been over
shadowed by the cry for bullets. shells
and guns and rifles. The fapper now
wears overalls and smocks. She mas