The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-07-06
WOMEN AND THE WAR
rHE TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
IMPORTATION BUREAU
By Frederic j. Hasiin. Director
Washington. ID. C.
III.-The Women Prepare.

conference in Kansas City. 1t was
the occasion of the biennial meeting
of the organization, but il was also
distinctly a war conference. Discus
sion was confined to the probable
effects of the war on women in in
dustry, for this was a conference of
workers. Some important European
reports were read, and the women
came to the following conclusions:
First-"That no cause .: liberty in
foreign lands is worth the sacrifice
of freedom at homer This resolu-
ton was read with EN- hattie enuncia-
ton, and then reread. The speaker
went on to assert that by freedom
was meant that paragraph in the
constitution specifying the rights of
free speech, free press and free as
semblage.
Second-"That no labor standards
be abrogated during the war, but i'm
proved if possible" This is a direct
challenge to those manufacturers
who have recently been suggesting
that the government declare a mora
torium on certain labor laws while
the war lasts. The fact that Europe
weakened it's efficiency by doing just
that very thing at the beginning of
the war and later had to restore all
it's pre-war standards, does not seem
to have made the requisite impression
on some American business men.
The women also demanded that
wealth should be conscripted; that
women replacing men in industry
should receive the same compensa-
ton for the same degree of eff
cheney" and that when the time came
for making peace terms a congress
of women should be admitted to the
assembly for the purpose of calling
upon all nations to establish interna-
tional standards safeguarding the
rights and health of working women.
This meeting is typical of many
such held among working women dur
ing the past two months. Always the
same discussion ensueS and the same
resolutions are presented In many
respects they resemble the so-called
war conferences of the working men.
The women are calmly preparing to
fill the mems places. 1t must not be
inferred that the working woman en-
joys the prospect of war; but neither
may it be said that she is blind to
opportunity.
While the war undoubtedly spells
opportunity for American working
women, it is an opportunity fraught
with dangers Unfortunately in the
United States we have a few business
men who, like some in Europe, see
in the employment of women an easy
means of profit. IF our men leave"
said one manufacturer not long ago,
I'VE can install machinery for a great
deaf of the work and employ women
as unski11ed mechanics at a lower
wage" This is what labor has been
fearing For years it has been a
ceaseless fight between the mechanic
and machinery, and in most cases ma
chinery has won out, eXacting the IN
demnity of a lower wage.
There is one strong check to wide
spread lowering of wages. Such ac-
ton also lowers the standard of living
and reduces the national buying pow
er, thus upsetting the balance of
things. This result is not apparent on
a small scale, but it is very apparent
indeed on a national scale. The work
ing man is not only a producer, but
also a consumer. If his wages as a
producer are cut, his purchasing pow
er as a consumer is limited and the
manufacturing class, which profits by
lower wages, loses by the decreased
purchasing power of labor.
This the women have pointed out to
the manufacturers by. every means
possible, but they admit that there is
almost certain to be an attempt to cut
wages.
The other dangers that face women
who take the place of men in indus
try are largely physical. Much of the
factory work done by men requires
great physical strength. In munition
factories, for instance, the handling
of big shells and heavy pieces of metal
would appear to be beyond the
strength of the average woman. Such
! work, however, is being done with the
greatest efficiency in Europe, and in
Germany the women are said to be
even stocking and working before the
giant blast furnaces. But it is signifi-
cant that a large percentage of relief
work is concerned with such employees.
| The physical endurance of women is
not matter that can be accurately
| gagged and determined. When the
/ so-called fraiI sex first entered the
business world, there was a great hull
labaloo concerning its physical unfit
ness, but the sex survived with dis
concerning success. But no individ
| ual, either man or woman, can work
for long hours at one occupation, do
night work and overtime, eat poor
! food and remain physically fit. Nor
| can he possibly be efficient. France
and England have found that a labor
er does less work in ten hours than
in eight.
So far as the unmarried woman is
| concerned, the drawbacks to indus
| trial opportunity are limited. Many
such must support families in the
place of a father or brother, but US
| ually there is a mother to look after
the smaller children and the home.
! Some manufacturers dislike to employ
any but unmarried women. Shortly
| after the United States declared war
one cotton mill owner in the South
made a tour of all the towns and
rural districts of his section and offer
] ed employment to as many unmarried
women as he could find who were de-
pendent upon their married sisters
! The position of such women, of whom
! there is a large number thruout the
| South, is often unpleasant. They are
| expected to do the work of a servant
| in the household with pay. The
married sister usually considers it a
| favor to have her sister there at all.
! The cotton mill owner recruited a
whole army of unmarried sisters
| therefore, and then he built a hotel
The hotel had conveniences and ia
l-ciIities that most of the women had