Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-08-02
aUMEN FLANT TO
| REAP SHARE Of
WAR BENEFITS
International SaIesmanship to Be
Taught in New York BY Wom-
Chamber of Commerce.

Washington D. c., Aug. q
That women are preparing to reap
their share of the proceeds of our
new world democracy, is evil
denced by their recent establish
ment of a Woman's Chamber Of
Commerce, with a national head
quarters in Washington and
branches in most of our large cit
les. They have even opened one in
China, and South America is soon
10 boast of several of them.
Schools Of craftsmanship. with
special courses in Spanish, French
and possibly Chinese, are to be
opened by the New York Woman S
Chamber of Commerce in the fall,
with a view to training a whole
army of women trade experts to be
placed in foreign trade fields.
These classes will be open to any
woman who displays any special
aptitude for business. She need
not be a college graduate. Here
tOfore, many we'll trained and tai
ented women have been excluded
from good positions through the
stipulation that all applicants
must possess university diplomas
The Woman's Chamber of Com
merce thinks this is unfair and is
going to attempt to put an end
to it,
In fact, the Woman's Chamber of
Commerce, If enabled to carry out
it's program. is going TO change a
great many practices now in vogue
with regard TO the employment OF
women. 1t has been waiting pa
/ |ntly for the proper time to stage
its campaign, and it believes that
the time has arrived-that woman S
hour has struck. Political equal
ity is practically assured. Now
the real battle for economic equal
ity has begun But the women are
very indignant if you intimate that
. there is anything belligerent il
Ayhat they are going to do. They
are going to work hand in hand
with the men, amicably and peac-
ably, following admiringly in their
footsteps and united in a common
cause.-The promotion of American
business prosperity. Incidentally,
the organization is especially in
terested in the promotion of its
own sex. 1t stands for the en-
couragement. of humanitarian eff
fort in promoting the best inter
ests of womanhood in the United
States and other countries which
means, among other things, the
entrance of women into all Occupa-
tional pursuits-field, factory. for
um. home, hospital, laboratory,
mining surveying, aviation, school,
store, shop, social center and insti-
tuition. court, club, studio and pull
pit.
Feminist Movement
The Woman's Chamber of COM
merce is the latest and most signi-
ficant manifestation Of the fem |
women have at last clearly grasped |
the fact that business is the con- /
trolling element in the world to- |
day-that the production of goods ,
is an enterprise in which they le-
ultimately figure and in which |
they should therefore be expected /
to be as competent as are men. |
Women can support themselves |
comfortably by producing almost !
anything from ten-penny nails to !
p0vels, and they intend to do IT,, |
at the same time not denying to /
their sisters the right to be sup |
ported by mere men while they (
are bringing splendid healthy chill |
dren into the world. For centur- |
les it has been commonly accepted |
that children were women's chief /
interest in life.
Thus it happens" said the |
young feminist. as she played with /
a heavy paperweight which was
holding down a pile Of bills of lad
ing on her desk, that more and
more women are going into bus
mess, not with the idea of meet
ing a possible future husband, but
to stay in business and make
money in It. It is useless to pre-
tend that this will not change tho I
old order of things, but there is
every reason to believe that the
new order viii be better
The scope OF the Woman's
Cham Der OF Comm cree is extremely
broad. It embraces not only the
economic welfare of women, but
their physical and spiritual wei
fare as well. In some of the cham
hers, reading rooms have already
been established, containing books,
newspapers, bulletins,
leaflets, charts and
maps dealing with current events
and with subjects of special inter
est to women. The organization
has also created a committee to
survey existing educational oppor
tunities for women, and to encour-
sessions, work interval classes, vo-