Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-01-01
WAR WIDENS WOMAN'S ORBIT
IN THE SPHERE OF LABOR
Invading Successfully Many Paths of Activity
Hitherto Regarded as Closed to Her Sex,
She Has Rendered Obsolete the Servant
By M'LISS
THE United States has been at

TNIIE United States has been at wal
l. for something over seven months
In an unbelievably short period aftoi
the declaration of hostilities the reality
of war came home to us. 1t came to US
with n bang when the streets began &c
Oil with khaki. and the bang was empha'
sized when the call came for women
hundreds of thousands of them, to I'll
the labor displacement made by the mer
leaving for the front and for the training
camps.
Women. who in the past had been as.
signed to the rather negligible role OF
! weeping and waiting, became vital fac
| tors In tho actual prosecution of the
war.
There has been much talk In copse-
uuence of what this war Is going te do
| for women. Much OF this is speculative
but n subject that can be handled with
some definiteness in view of the last
seven months is what tho women have
! done for the war.
Tho Federal Labor Bureau Mt 1SS
South Third street has made II six
months' survey of labor conditions In
and around Philadelphia. paying partic.
| ular attention to war emergency WORK
| and woman's part In II.
Big outstanding facts of that survey
are:
At least 100 per cent more women arc
employed now than were at the outset
of the war.
Many feds hitherto not regarded as
woman's havo been opened TO female
labor, but tho greatest demand for
women is still In those industries that
always have employed them.
Jobs there are for all, but the advance
In wages has been but slight.
rr-t.~ 80 Ill e. Ic
done in tho homo has been reduced TO
q minimum.
The servant, except the specialist who
goes into tho homo of the very rich, is
almost an extinct species.
The foreign woman is preferred over
the native-born American for heavy
physical work.
Women who want TO do everything
under the sun have applied to the Fed
eral Bureau. according to the agent in
charge OF the women's division, and the
cases in which they have been sent away
arc few. Even the art student who de-
sired TO Join camounage corps had h-i
activities turned into the proper channel.
In spite of the fact that factories
are running full speed the Help
wanted" signs have not been taken in.
Hosiery. underwear, uniforms, bedsack-
of tho articles that women who can sew
and operate sewing and weaving ma
chinery arc making and are wanted for.
Skilled workers draw from SIS to S25
weekly. A few women havo been known
to speed up to the $40 mark. Learners
are paid. usually not less than Sc
week. sometimes more.
The demand for women Office workers
has shot far ahead of tho supply and
many firms which never before had
petticoats in their office personnel have
broken their established rule. Tho fe-
male ticket seller and bank employe arc
already familiar to us.
But the firms which have engaged
women for heavy physical work are
the exceptions. There are few women
running elevators, a very few In the
machine shops, and the Pittsburgh diyi-
sion OF the Pennsylvania Railroad has
gang Of women sweeping tracks. IN
the main. however. the great demand
Tor women has been on jobs that arc
not physically taxing.
According 70 tho experience OF the
Federal Labor Bureau. the PENNSYLVANIA
farmer, although his need Is great. does
not take to the idea of employing female
laborers on his farm. Female berry
pickers arc Of course acceptable in
season, but tho agrlculturist of this
state has thus far shown no faith in
woman's ability to provo herself in the
eAhaustlng all.round work of a rush
season. This prejudice. perhaps we'll