The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-06-20
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ATION
BUREA
EUROPEAN WOMEN SEE IT THRU
REDERIC J. IIASKIN, Di
Washington. D. c.

II washington. -. =.
EUROPEAN WOMEN SEE 1T THRU
Washington, June IA unique
employment for women has recently
been discovered by a London firm
! with a large delivery system. 1t has
put women in charge of its horse hos
pital. Between thirty and forty pa
tients are received in the hospital ev-
cry day, and the women do all the
nursing, which in this case includes
cleaning, grooming and FEEDING as
we'll as the administering of medicines
prescribed by the veterinary surgeon.
The nurses are enthusiastic about
| their work. THE animals" the SUI
| perintendent asserts, ARE grateful and
companionable. We do not baby the
| horses, as some think, but somehow
we reform the worst cases OF temper,
| and my assistants can do anything they
| like with even fractions. nervous and
| suffering horses. 1 have no doubt
that women will want to keep on with
| this work after the war"
| But nothing that the European
women are doing should surprise us
| these days. Their versatility is sur
! prising. Women have replaced m IN
! not only in the manufacture of war
material, but in the larger industrial
life. In the metal trades women la
| borers nay be found heating and
| charging furnaces, working hydraulic
presses, discharging trucks and waS-
ons and welding brass. No trade is
| without them. They cut metal pens;
| they make chains and accessories for
bicycles; they mold bricks; they build
military barracks; they manufacture
sugar, and they construct compasses;
and, in Paris, they are making eiec-
trio lamps
These are only few of their war
| activities @ n
American women who are seeking OPP
portunities to help win the war, the
woman's committee Of the Council of
National Defense has undertaken an
elaborate research of the work done
by foreign women-a research that
has developed many interesting facts.
One of the most interesting of these
is the fact that toward the substitu-
ton of women in the places of men.
each belligerent has displayed q diff
| ferent attitude.
France was the first country to
realize that women would have to be
relied upon to keep the country alive
behind the lines while the men were
fighting at the front. The Frenchman
has always had profound respect
for the business acumen OF the
Frenchwoman, so that there was not
so much native prejudice to overcome.
| Women were hustled into Jobs former
~ occupied only by men, quietly and
as matter of course. Apparently the
| Frenchman has forgotten that there
ever were any employment restrictions
on account of sex. The French trans
, portation system is now run almost
entirely by women. Women, clad in
long black coats and waterproof hats,
their boxes slung across their Shout
ders, carry the mail. They make glass;
they farm; they work in the leather
industries. performing all the various
processes from washing the green
z skins to applying the final coat of var
i nish; they operate coke ovens. and
they make shells and lead pencils and
Irvine. PES.
The other day. a tall woman clad
in painters blouse, was found paint
| ing the street lamps of Paris, occa-
work and humming cheerfully all the
: while.
| The professions have also been
thrown open to Frenchwomen. This
was not such an easy victory, however,
since France has never been partic-
, ularly cordial to women trying for
the professions. Madame Curie is one
conspicuous exception, but in France
2 you will often hear that it was NJ.
: Curie and not his wife who discovered
, iradium. But now there are a large
: number of women scientists working
in French laboratories, while the gov
eminent is encouraging women to
= take up the study of chemistry, bac-
U teriology and electricity. Moreover,
for the first time last year woman
spoke from the tribunal of the acad-
e envy of science. She was DR.. Bonkt-
r Henry. and she described a new meth
cd of dressing burns with a mixture
: of gutta percha and paraffin.
Women lawyers are also increasing
g in France. There are now forty-fouI
n women practicing at the Paris bar
I iOne of them recently achieved fame
. by securing reversal of judgment
in the case of certain Ammanitie'
IS condemned to death by military
= Icourt-martial.
Nothing has proved too difficult fol
the Frenchwoman; every employment
l barrier has gone down before her. Re
s Gently it was accepted as a perfectly
= natural occurrence that two younf
+ women. formerly dressmakers, shoult
. take up the strange and hazardou.
Il pursuit of cleaning chimneys. A
n dressmaking they earned three francs
s a day: they are now earning twelve b!
d "doctoring" the chinneys OF Paris.
England's attitude toward the re
- placement of men by women In indus
try has been characteristic. Her recog
N milton of feminine ability has beef
is ,tardy but thoroly just and military
10 Women are now turning the majorit!
S. of the wheels Of war in Great Britain
IS too, but there is more of display o
It buttons, badges and khaki. British
~ women doctors, having made good
- have been commissioned: womel
: farmers, working in units, at once be
come self-appointed Heutenants an
s. captains, and military discipline an
~ uniforms are in evidence everywhere
Since the "Waacs' or Woman
le Army Auxiliary Corps came into bein
Ie last year. the military note has be
"a come even stronger. The 'Waacs
are recruited by the minister OF labol
} but they are organized, paid. dresse
s. and disciplined on army lines, and ar
IS sent here and there. wherever needed
: Every trade from vegetable woman
D. acetyiene welder Is represented in til
" organiza ton. Several units OF tn
l. eve arsn are pow in France workfn