Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-01-06
SAYS MEN MUST
RAISE W0MEN'S PAY
Editor of American Machinisi.
Predicts Danger in Unequal
Wage Scale.
CLASS FEELING GONE

SInSS EE6ItHS oSV.
Men must fight for equal wages for
woman machinists who have been de-
veloped by the war or there will be
permanent lowering of wages in in
dustry, according to Fred H. Colvin,
editor of the American Machinist.
"It matters not whether the man ma
chinists want women in the shops"
said Mr.. Colvin. They are here and
we must squarely face what their
entrance into fields formerly occupied
by men will mean. The short-sighted
man may be willing enough to work
beside a woman who is doing the same
work as he and receiving a lower
wage: but the far-sighted 1aboring
man cannot but realize that this I'M
derpaying of women may mean that
he viii soon be receiving no wage"
Mr.. Colsin has recently toured Eng
land and Canada, and his observations
of women in mechanical industries are
interesting.
2,1OO Woman Workers.
TN one shop in Toronto, where fuses
were being made, / found that out of
force of 1900 persons 400 were women.
They were employed in three shifts of
GOO persons each. Financially the
women were averaging better than the
men. / attribute this to three reasons:
First, because fascinating was a new
job to the women and they brought
to it all the enthusiasm for novelty.
The feeling that they were doing some
thing they had never done before gave
them a sense of adventure that helped
them to bear the fatigue Of their work.
Second, because the women had never
experienced cut in piese rates and
did not know what many man ma
chinists had learned by bitter expert
ence-that it is not always safe to
make too much money.
Third. because the women did not
regard these jobs as permanent and,
therefore, their only idea was to speed
up and make as much money as pos
sible. whereas the man knew that he
must look forward to a lifetime of
work. and his Judgment told him that
to impair his efficiency by overwork
pier mechanical operations the women
were found to be more efficient than
the men.
Women Paid Less.
TN one factory in this country
found woman learners were paid only
S24 while being taught, whereas the
explained this by saying that they were
protecting the life of the industry by
paying the man more, since he would
be permanent and the woman would
not. The woman machfnist.' say the
company managers, will be a machin-
list for a few years only, whereas the
man Is in industry for life
There Is no labor shortage at pres
ent which demands the presence OF
women 4 the heavier forms of merchan-
develop later If the war should last for
years. but it hasn't come yet. There is
however. great demand for the prop
er distribution of labor. and until this
is remedied the factories and the work.
men will both be handicapped. Many
manufacturers are taking advantage OF
the war to replace men with cheaper
paid women.
The wages In the mechanical INDUS
tries are tempting many women away
from employments in which they have
made a success and where they would
be more useful to their country. There
is as vet no national crisis which JUS
titles the employment of women in the
heavier forms of mechanical labor fol
which they are unified.
Work Too Hard for Women.
Tn some instances they have beer
| employed in handling scrap. which /.
| physically too wearing for women
This is all wrong There are some fobe
which are decidedly not women's job.
and never will be. On the other hand
| there are many positions in thu
mechanical industries where women dc
better than men. The watchmakers
for instance. have employed them fol
years on the finer and more intricat.
work and the delicacy of their touch
has given them pre-emineuce.
1 Sh q
! ing. There Is a big field and a sfutur.
for them in that. But, generally speak.
ing woman is less Interested II
mechanics tina 6. man. and, therefore
the mechanical Industries do not offel
iher as attractive an opening
The activities OF the British woman
in munition making have given som.
women in this country the idea that i
is the one form of war work mos
necessary for them to do. What a mis-
take. In Bridgeport. Conn, / fount
lmany school teachers and nurses max
ling munitions.
"They felt that they wanted TO d.
something Tangible, something tina
they would see was helping directly I,
win the war, and they forgot that Their
are no two classes of women SO essen
tial just now as .he school teacher an,
the nurse. In the nursing. profession tn
opportunities at this moment are great
er than they have ever been. Then, toe
the women We're tempted by the higl
, wages, which in some instances reache,
six and seven dollars a day. This sort o
thing win work u general displacement
in industrial life and the withdrawal o
women from VIVA. is emphatically won
ems work will be a disadvantage.
'aThe war has broken down the elias
4 feeling among wage-earning w0rnel
and the idea that 1t was not 1adyIike' t
/ work in a shop has been dispeIled. 1t /
| 'unla dylike' not 10 do the thing on
should be doing, whatever 1t may be
4 Fine distinctions. by idleness and leis