New-York tribune., 1918-12-07
New Statutes
For " omen i'm
Industry Urged
rer,inine Workers Future
Is Discussed at Meeting
Of Political Scientists
Equality in Pay Is Urged
Delegates 10 Conference Are
Told That Pre.War Wages
Will Suffice No Longer

Woman as an Industrial Problem
might have covered the addresses ut
the opening session of the annual con-
ference of the Academy of Political
Science yesterday afternoon in the
Horace Mann Auditorium, Columbia
University.
The afternoon session WAS devoted
entirely TO the discussion of woman's
place in the industrial reconstruction
plans. Speakers urged that adequate
legislation be brought about to stand
srdize women's wages. work an dthe
conditions under which they labor
Samuel McCune Lindsay, president
Of the board of trustees of the acade-
NY, opened the conference with short
sddresS. urging al to turn their en-
ergies rs Loyalty to the making OF
peace as they had done toward making
wal.
Miss Mary E. Dreier, prominenl suf-
trsge and economic worker. presided
Foresees New Industrialism
The war Miss Dreier said, "has
given rise 10 3 desire to change the in
dustria situation in this country. Our
men, coming back from the front,
where they have been fighting for
ideals OF right, Will naturally desire to
see that those ideals are carried out
in the industrial life to which they re
turn, and the result will be more
decent industrialsm.
'lt is ridiculous, she said, to expect
women, who have been receiving from
$50 to $40 week, to so back to 81 and
sS-less than a living wage.
1T is q very real disaster, if women
can hold their positions only by under
cutting the wages paid men, and 1t
is only natural that an employer will
take the worker who will do the job
for the less money.
Miss Mary Van Kleeck, of the United
States Labor Department, believes the
solution of the present difficulties re-
Sarding the position Of women in in
dustry depend on legislation for equal
wages for equal work, and upon the
proper training of women for Jobs.
Attitude Changed by War
"The attitude toward the work a
woman can do has suffered radical
change since the coming of war" she
said. This change, il it means an
opening of new opportunities for her
and an increased self-conidence on her
part, is an asset. If it means the en-
ployment of women without proper in
dustrial standards, it is menace.
The employment of women in
mechanical jobs" she said, "hsa
proved q great success; but she must
be trained to point where she can
rise from the mere operation Of
machine There have been repeated in
stnceas, in war tasks, where the out
/. ~
hat OF men.
There are great possibilities for
economic and industrial good, if we
free the energies and powers Of
women; but it must be done through
state labor contracts. Only through
! this channel can We establish proper
industrial standards. Moreover. it is
an absolute necessity that we establish
agencies of readjustment and negotia-
ton
Railroads for Equal Pay
THE railroads haev come out
squarely for equal pay for equal work, -
according to Pauline Goldmark. man
ager of the Women's Service Section
Of the United States Railroad Admins
tration. 'At first women began 10
take jobs at 1S and % cents an hour
when no adult laborer had received
4coo LAdu oU Or oZ CclitS' MS WAS x
menace, and officials recognized it.
Finally, it was decreed that men and
woraen doing the same class of work
should receive equal pay.
Women have come 10 realize that
they must make good if they are to
hold their jobs in competition with
4 men, and they have buckled down to
the serious business of work One
woman told me that she began at SIS
week, and then decided to work on
pecework, at As cents an hour IN a
short time she was averaging S35 a
week"
Mile. Marguerite Bourat. factory in
spector for the French government, dis
clssed the position of women in indus
"y In France during the war.
Frances Problem Difficult
Frances problem,' she said, will
| De difficult one to solve Two and
eonie-half million men have been either
| hlled or disabled and it is probable
mat great number of the women
.ssmployed in mems jobs will continue