The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1917-01-25

BERLIN, -Woman-power is just
about as important as man-power IN
the conduct of modern warfare. Ma
lions of men have modified again and
again for the business of conquest or de-
Tense; but it has neglected the grand
national mobilization of women. With
the English, German, French and
Austrian examples before them, ma
tons in the future will reckon their
war-strength in units of women, as
we'll as in units of men.
Everywhere in Central Europe one
sees the importance of woman's war
service. Much of Germany's unex-
pected power of endurance is owing to
her women They have taken the mems
places efficiently as fast as these places
have become vacant. The pillow aban-
doned by the warrior husband has been
guided by the wife; the powerful ma
chine once controlled by the soldier
brother, under the management of his
sister is still speeding its production;
the tools dropped by the son, the artisan,
are still being dexteriously piled by the
sturdy daughter in the old handicraft.
In the very beginning of the war
German club women modified volun-
tariy into a we'll ordered, manageable
army, 600. 900 strong. This army took
upon itself the burden of war relief
work. II founded hospita 8; it qaipped
Red Cross units ana furnished trained
nurses; it organized and supplied nurs-
ing and refreshment stations along all
the railway lines used by the troops;
1t caused all the poor of the Empire to
be card-indexed, and undertook the
clothing and the feeding of these poor.
The problems of labor displacement, of
food shortage and of the destruction of
peace-time incomes were dealt with by
this army in such way as to add the
brightest lustre to woman's fame.
When the war drums rolled their call
through the streets and highways of all
Europe, the narrow, sheltered, &C
customed world Of the women fell
crumbling about their ears. Almost
everything that entered into their home
and social lives was changed. Their
world became topsY-turvey world, a
world of insecurity. surcharged with
fear, and the shock OF reports from the
battle front Of fallen husbands, broth
ers, sons.
Work was the nepenthe that saved
the situation. The grim, tense strug-
gle back home to keep all things going
as they were IN peaceful days kept the
women strong, prevented many pite-
GUS breakdown. The club women un-
dertook definite tasks with all their
energy. Society women did whatever
came to hand, or to mind, to add their
services. The women folk Of the mob
ilized wage earners, with necessity the
impulse, took up the work the men had
left.
Society turned its fashionable clubs
into hospitals. In these rooms, where
all had been laughter and dancing be-
fore the war, the former carefree,
courted girls Of the Younger sets learn
ed the work of nursing. Upon these girls
the war has left indelible marks. The
gay little butterflies of ballroom and
theatre have lost their youth, have be-
come grave and repressed
Equally startling has been the change
produced in the lives of the women of
the less well-to-do classes. In Berlin
the subway system is being extended up
the Friedrichstrasse, and along the
course of this work, women, clad in
canvass jackets and trousers wheel
endless heavy loads of construction
materials and load and unload dirt
trains. With brawny arms bare to the
elbows, and tangled hair done in knots,
and with their children playing in the
street nearby, one now often sees
women eking out their pensions by
digging bitches for the laying of gas,
water and sewer mains. And, one can
notice but little difference IN efficiency
between man and woman IN this rugged
labor.
In many of the smaller railway
stations especially is this the case
in Saxony in heavy blouses
and trousers have taken the places of
the male baggage-smashers, the
Gepacktrager, and they hustle your
trunks with Amazonian power. They