The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1917-08-22
Every W0,,1Qn,s
Chance to Help
. Nation Is Here
Dependent Wives" Who
Don't Really Need Aid
Called Misfits.
~ MARGUERITE MooERs
MARSHALL.

There is Il condition and not q
theory which supports the government
An It's ever stiffening determination not
10 exempt from the draft the husband
Of an able bodied, childless wife be-
cause she is dependent" on him.
More than ne-tenth OF the married
women of this country are engaged III
Sntnful occupations This statement i,
based on figures recently given out by
che United States census bureau for
1910. and today the proportion OF wag.
earning wives undoubtedly is much
larger For in the decade between 1900
and 1e10 the number of married Won
en- in gainful occupations increased
from $4,000 to 1,S9V.OO0. That is, al
most two and one half times as many
wives either were earning their own
living at the latter date. or may be
/, resumed capable of doing so.
Thus do the records uphold Uncle
Sam III his newest attitude toward
femnism--of which one Of the must
precious tenets is the economic lnde-
pendence OF all women, married or
unmarried. If Il married woman al
ready is engaged in q gainful oc-
cupatiOn"to stick to the census
bureaus phrase-she surely may not
claim dependence upon her husband
for her frocks and her filet mignon,
nor may he convince the local ex-
emption board that il it We're not for
his herois toll his wife would be Il
burden upon the community.
Why Not Others As Well?
Furthermore is it is statistical
fact that more than one tenth OF AM
ertcan wives are possessed of pay
envelopes, why should not some of the
other nine tenths follow this efficien,
example?
IT. IS the young. childless wives OF
the United States who may form, il
they will, the first line OF home de-
Tense. They, and most Of us believe
that to the woman who must give her
self for the care and cherishing of her
little children, the husband and father
should be spared as long as possible.
But ii, In addition to the exemption
asked by fathers OF families, there is
a claim filed by every mar who mere
~ has young wife to support. the re-
suit may be the throwing out of all
claims. War lords have limited as
much. for war lords arc more inter-
csted in raising an army than in Il nice
discrimination between slackers and
men who ought not to fight.
have received letter from young
wife who argues, first. that her hus-
band should be exempted because she
ought not to have to work outside her
home, asserting that it is her duty to
stay in her home with her husband and
have his meals ready on time! Theh
she adds, pitifully, Il am sure Ameri-
ca has enough men without taking the
only thing a childless woman loves"
II a womans love automatically
barred man from going to the front,
there would be no need for physical
examination or other eligibility test.
With such Il restriction in force, l
doubt if single company could DO
drafted in all these United States.
IS OF course the exemption of n mar
ried man with dependents is not based
on a. sentimental consideration at all,
but on the purely practical one of not
adding to the conlmunity's load !
should think that a healthy young
woman, would be rather ashamed to
place herself in the category with
idiots. paralytics, and six-months- Old
infants. who must be supported by all
the rest of us If their natural protect
ors are removed.
Even now the railroads and other
employers are opening new positions to
women. The number of such oppor-
tunities viii! be greatly increased in
the near future. The wife willing to
give her husband to her countrys job
and herself to a job of her own need
not fear to deprive some other woman
VI i living.
T. %.1
erance for the idle lady who gratis on |
her husband for support. as there il |
tolerance for anarchists, pacifists. !
hyphenated Americans and other more !
or less amusing pests. Just now, AM |