El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-04-25
WHY THE WOMEN
HOLD The JOBS
They Are Not Working Just
For Pin Money, But
From Necessity.

Washington. D. c., April 25.-With
Z the shutting down Of one war plant
after another hundreds Of workmen
are returning TO their old JOBS, only TO
find them filled by women. who show
no disposition to give them up.
On the street cars. in machine shops.
print shops. even in the railroad yards.
women are sticking to their work,
while the men who formerly held
these places are unemployed and fos-
tering an overcoming resentment
In the recent Cleveland episode, the
war labor board upheld the attitude Of
the women street car conductors, who
insisted upon keeping their jobs, but
there is widespread opinion in favor
o. the women yielding their places to
the old employees
According TO the United States en-
ploymeut service, women are doing
this whenever IL is a soldier who
manager for a large factory in mid
die western city was visited by seven
soldier applicants Tor jobs one morn
ing- The Jobs referred 10 We're In
machine shop, and, since the war, had
been filled by women The manager
did not like to discharge the women
on short notice, as their work was
satisfactory. neither did he like TO re-
fuse the old employees who had been
drafted Being a man OF tact. he dis
cussed the case with the women The
women Immediately solved the prob
lem by offering to give the jobs back
10 the soldiers
Women Calm About 1t.
The federal employment office Of a /
large eastern city also reports the
case Of one woman who has given up
three Jobs in succession TO soldiers Z
Each time she has appeared at the {
registration desk for new job, she Z
has explained calmly that a soldier
had wanted her old one
While women exhibit this generous /
attitude toward the Uniform, they are /
strongly opposed TO relinQuishing /
their Jobs 10 worHmen who left them 1
during the war TO go elsewhere for I
higher wages The Cleveland case. D
which has often been misstated, is a I
good Illustration.
During the war. the men street car
conductors of Cleveland left the town
in great numbers TO so into ship .
building, steel-ma k1nE and other lines
Of war endeavOr- paying high wages
The street car companies. hard .
pressed for labor 10 run their cars, Z
held a meeting with the representa-
tiVes Of the local street railway en-
to let them put women on at the same .
wage as men, if it became necessary
The company and the union never
agreed as 10 when IL became ueces-
sary, but in the course Of time women
were trained in a school especially es-
-ablshed for the purpose by the COM
1anys a-d placed on the cars The war
over, the union registered a strong
protest against the employment OF
women when there were men return
ing 10 take over the jobs A strike
threatened, and the case was brought
to Washington for the consideration
Of the war labor board The WOmen's
Trade union took up the matter, and,
after thorough consideration Of the
details. in which all sides were heard. /
the war labor board decided that there f
street car company and the union TO
dismiss women once employed on the
cars, ana that the women were there
fore entitled TO keep their Jobs
Do Women Need Jobss
The argument made by the protest
ing male workers in this case was
hat the women didn't need the jobs.
In spite Of all the evidence 10 the
'ountrary. the majority Of men still
.herish the firm and unalterable con-
TictiOn that women do not have to
work. but do so merely TO provide
themselves with candy and orchids L
'Geel" exclaimed one Of the women
street car conductors when she learned
IF this popular falacy which has per-
sisted while thousands OF women have
zone into Industrial work. any
iummT could see no woman would do
his kind Of work unless she had to-"
During the war. many women went
70 work who had never worked be-