The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1917-07-28
POSITION OF THE
union WOMEN
Determined to Safeguard What
They Have Already Won.
WANT A VOICE IN PEACE

WAN n vUIUk Nv LhUI
Resolutions at Recent Congress Urge
Holding of international Congress.
Oppose Opening Gates to Asiatics.
Go on Record as Opposed to Lower
inu Labor Standards.
At a time when as never before the
strength and skill Of working women
are impressing the world, the sixth BIZ
ennial convention of the National Wo-
mems Trade Union League Of America
was recently held at Kansas City. The
significance of such gathering ''in a
supreme hour In the life of the ma
ton" was brought out by the presi-
dent, Mrs. Raymond Robins of Chi
cago, in her opening address. This is
womans age" said Mrs. Robins.
At last, after centuries Of disabilities and
determinations, women are coming into
the labor and festival of life on equal
terms with men. At last the unfair bur.
dens are being lifted from the backs of the
mothers Of the race In the awful light
ming made as death strikes sharp on life
for millions of sons the value and rights
of daughters are being discovered by the
lords and masters of the earth. Womans
labor in the fields feeds the soldiers on the
firing line. Woman's labor In factories
and mills feeds the cannon in the trenches.
Woman's labor in shops and stores feeds
xt.- 40 In
America and even England should have
an enfranchised womanhood when this
war Is over.
But 1t is In the Industrial and economic
field that the world war will mark the
most farreaching transformation In the
condition of women. From casual to per-
manent, from unskilled and unimportant
to trained and essential factors In the eco
homie lifes of the world, TINS will be the
effect of the war In the condition of the
working women of the western nations.
What a supreme opportunity and re-
sponsibility! What call for service and
conservation to the members of the Wo-
mems Trade Union league.
The delegates to the convention were
we'll aware of their increased impor-
lance, and they were determined to
safeguard and to hold ON to this hard
won position.
One resolution adopted requested the
American Federation of Labor to in
clude trade union women In Its delega-
ton to the international labor congress
at the time of peace negotiations and
to urge working women to hold SINH
lar international congress, because the
warning nations now bear witness to
the unselfish and efficient service rem
dered by working women, because the
interests OF working women as work
ers and mothers are identical the world
over and because the voices Of the mil
lions of toiling women In formulating
terms of peace are of the utmost i'm
portance to future civilization.
Another resolution declared that
whereas no cause Of liberty in foreign
lands Is worth the sacrifice of freedom
at home the Womens National Trade
Union league demands that there be no
abolition of the constitutional rights Of
free speech, free press and free assem-
blage; that no labor standards be abro-
gated during the war, but be improved
If possible; that wherever men are con-
scripted wealth be conscripted; that an
international congress of working wo-
men at the time of the making of peace
terms call upon the nations to estab-
lish international standards safeguard
ing the rights and health of working
women; finally that organized workers
keep at their task Of organizing indus
try as an only means of establishing
democracy which shall eventually bring
permanent peace.
A third resolution, intended to protect
women in their wider opportunity, con-
demned the underwriting of American
standards ON the Pacific coast by coolie
laborers. 1t urged that no changes be
made In immigration laws which would
affect the importation of Asiatics; that
no vacancies created by the call to the
colors be filed by Japanese or Chinese
workers; that all women filing vacan-
cies resulting from enlistment receive
the same compensation for the same
degree of efficiency as that received by
their predecessors.-Sur