Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-10-06

One of the increasingly important
matters that are coming up for tho
consideration of the
Woran ~ government officials IL
tho replacement Of Ia
War Work. Dor in the essential in
dustries. There is only one answer TO
the problem, and that is-women. UP
to this time, while women are replacing
men in many industries, they have mot
generally replaced the men as has been
! done in the countries of our allies
Experts of our department OF labor
have recently made a study OF the
situation in France.
There is no question that women
have played an important part In the
Industrial life of France since the out
break of the war. AS the men were mobi-
liked. the women took their places,
| carried on without interruption. as
far as war conditions permitted, the
ordinary industries. helped to meet
the tremendous demand for munitions,
filled the vacant clerical places. did
their utmost in agriculture, helped
the depleted postal, express and rail-
way. services, and in general showed
themselves able and more than will
ing to make their part in field OF
activity far wider, than had ever
been opened to them before. But
whereas in England the employment
of women in new occupations was
! matter for cautious consideration and
much discussion, in France 1t was
taken as a matter Of course. Dis
cussfons' and reports concerning their
new activities are conspicuous by
their rarity, and even today our ex-
perts have found out, nearly four
years after the change in their con-
dition began, it is impossible to learn,
except from the establishments under
/ the control of the factory inspectors.
how far the number of women en-
ployed has increased, or to secure de-
tails as to the new occupations they
have taken up, and how they have
Jared therein.
During the course Of their investi-
cation our officials found that the
French have not, as the British have,
established training courses and FAC
tories in which women are prepared
to take up skilled work. At the
outset they were trained, as far as
any training was needed for what
| they did, by the men with whom they
teach woman, who would then take
his place and teach another woman,
and thereafter be promoted and re-
| placed as a teacher by her pupil.
Later. when it was desired to put
| women to work demanding a little
more skill, the same method was
adopted as in England at the begin
! ming OF the war-a group of women
were put on machine work, a man
being told off to supervise. to keep
the machines in order. to adjust and
repair tools. and generally to do what
the women were not capable of do
| ing themselves.
Officially France has not, up to q re-
cent period, displayed much interest
In the question of how the women en-
gagged in these new occupations may
fare at the close of the war. There
has been some discussion of the mat
ter by various writer's on economic
and social problems, in which some
anxiety appears as to the effect of
their competition in lowering wagee
the effect on the race of their eco
nomic emancipation. The government,
however, does not seem to share this
| fear. for it has lately called on the
committee on women's work to in
vestigate and report on the best way
OF utilizing industrially the women
who will be set free as the demand
for munitions declines. The commit
tee. after taking counsel with trade
unionists, woman leaders, social
workers and large employers, decided
| that the first step was to make a sur
vey OF the women at present employed
and of the demand likely to exist for
their services at the close of the war
They have accordingly sent out a
QUESTIONABLE, asking each to return
| full details as to the number of WON
en- at present employed. with their in
! dustrfal history, and also to give an
outline Of. what plans the employer
has for his own business after the
war, stating how many women he
will wish to employ. The committee
also asked for the opinions of those
questioned as to the best steps to bl
| taken in order that the valuable col.
laboration which women have given
to munition work may be continued
| to the advantage of peace industries
X X
1 Federal and state officials are CO.
operating in a nationwide campaign
for maintaining the
Making Sound schools at their full
Men. tion.s Inc e.n na
needs. including particularly those OF
the Army and Navy, point out officials
of the bureau of education, have called
attention as nothing else could to the
significance of good schools, and fed.
eral officials are striving as never be-
fore to see that boys and girls Of
every age go to school this fall and that
schools of every grade shall be carried
on at the maximum efficiency to meet
| the wars demands.
l -
! the war has been the realization on the
part of military men Of the i'm
portance of schooling for every sol
| der. The large numbers of illiterates
| in the draft, the numbers of mer
without sufficient schooling to learI
training in the Army camps, and the
immense number of reflections due tt
remediable physical defects, evidencing
| the failure of the nation to provide
| through it's schools that basis Of gen.
eral physical education essential tc
military preparedness-these are some
of the things that have made the Wal
and Navy departments of the United
States the most ardent advocates Of
good schools in every community.
The most important activity Of the
! War Department in connection with
! the present educational campaign
centers in the work of the commit
| tee on education and special training
/ For a number of months this com
mittee has been quietly utilizing ex.
| listing educational institutions ia
| train enlisted men for specialized
| Army vocations. Not only is it turn
! ing out an average of $4,000 trained
men every two months to meet needs
of the Army, but it is stimulating
an interest in higher educational op-
| portunities on the part Of thousands
of enlisted men who might never
otherwise have seen the inside of a
F.! college. Not the least of the phe-
| nomena of the war is the develop
ment that has come in the activities
| BEATING DO