The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1917-02-22
British Government Appreciates
Efforts Put Forth by
Center Sex.
ARE NO LONGER DOMEsTICs
Scarcely a Trade But What Has Its
Female Employees - They Are
Even Replacing Men in Build
ing, Mining and ouarrying.

| the Industrial and commercial sltua-
| ton caused by the formation of an
| army of almost five million men can
not be underestimated, and the gov
eminent was not long in realizing the
vital importance of maintaining the
output of articles required for the war
and export trade. The wonderful eff
forts accomplished by the women of
Great Britain in taking the places OF
men who have Joined the colors are.
known In q general way TO the Ameri-
can public, but it is impossible, with
out living in England, to form an ac-.
curate impression of the extent to
which the women have answered the
call &,
Special efforts are now being made
by the British government to give 10
the world more adequate knowledge
of the success attained by women in
nearly all branches of mems work.
According to official statistics which
have just been issued by the war Office
$4,000 women and girls have stepped
forward TO take the places of men In
various occupations. This figure does
not include domestic service or EN-
ployment in the millinery or dress
making trade nor does 1t comprise the
women who have taken so active a
part In Red Cross work since the be-
ginning of the war. The latter alone
include more than $1,000.
Women Munition Workers.
A very large proportion of the total
mentioned is, of course, due to the adj
vent Of the woman inunition worker,
and while IL is quite true that many
of these women are not strictly speak
ing, taking the places of men, it is
nevertheless an undeniable fact that
they are doing what before the war
was regarded as strictly mems work.
Munition work. however, is only part
of women's industrial activity.
A high authority of the British gov
crnment, to whom the Sun is indebted
for these facts, is authority for the
statement that there are very few in
duStries or occupations in which the
number of women has not increased.
There are few in which some direct
substitution of female for male labor
has not taken place. The chief In
stances Of decline in numbers Of WON.
en- employed are domestic service and
employment in small dressmakng
wOrkrOoms.
Other important industries which
show a numerical decline are laundry
work, dressmaking, confectionery,
printing and hOokbinding, linen, lace
and silk, but in all these groups some
women are directly replacing men, and
in many individual firms in these and
other groups a decline in the number
of women simply means that some Of
the women have left to go to mems
work and have not been replaced.
In Every Trade.
Women are directly replacing men
(only In comparatively small numbers)
even in building, mining and quarry.
ing They are replacing them in con-
siderable number in most of the metal
Industries, though not on the main
processes in iron and steel works. In
the cotton trade no less than $4,000
lciIlalltS StiS lCluilCu ao NiiCNIiS
placing males, though In other textile
industries Except hosiery progress
has been less marked.
In the food trades there have been
very interesting cases of substitution.
In grain milling the number of women
and girls employed has risen since
July, 1914, from 1000 to 5000; in
sugar refining, from 1000 to 1000. and
in brewing, from 5000 to $4,000; the
increase in these trades is almost en-
tirely due to the direct replacement of
men by women.
Women are also doing mems work to
an appreciable degree in tanning and
leather working, sawmilling and wood
working, glass, china, earthenware and
rubber.
One of the most striking new devel.
opments is the Introduction of women
clerks into banks and financial houses.
In agriculture the process of substl-
tuition made slow progress during the
first IS months Of the war, but an ac-
CELEBRATION is now noticeable. Besides
the regular women workers there is q
large increase In the number of fruit
pickers, harvesters and other casuals.
Railway employment furnishes a
particularly interesting series of ex-
periments in woman labor. Before the
war the British railway companies on
~ employed about 1000 women
clerks, cleaners, attendants, etc. APP
proximateiy $4,000 are now employed.
The kind and amount of substitution
carried out varies from one railway
company to another. One has In
creased the number ~of Its women
clerks from 10 to 1.526, and employs
also Is women ticket collectors, lS6,
carriage cleaners, 55 engine cleaners
and Asa porters. Another, with nei-
Their women ticket collectors nor port
ers. has $50 women carriage cleaners,
475 engine cleaners, 22G laborers In
the workshops and 81 other women la
borers. Yet another, with no women
engine cleaners or laborers, has 142
ticket collectors.