Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1921-02-21
Monday, February ~, 1921.
To Thoughtful Women: Think {!


feel that it is incumbent on them to
interfere with the established order
Of things and to propose and try to
put into operation schemes that they
claim the world has been waiting to
welcome.
There are three reasons why this
is so: First, there is in the human
conglomerate which we call society
u certain percentage of such people
always present; second. the fluidity
and generally unsettled aspect of the
reconstruction days since the world
war has given these people an unu-
sual opportunity; and third. the re-
cent enfranchisement of the women
Of this country has added to the rich
ness OF that opportunity.
]. Is probably impossible to make
any impression on the first two of
these conditions and therefore what
we have to say is addressed primarily
TO the women. 1t may be summed up
in two words: Go slowly.
It is not the intention to assume
Tor a moment that everything in our
state is all right as it is, nor that the
women have not the duty as well as
the opportunity before them to help
to make the whole State better.
There are certain evils that are al
ways with US, that have been inner
tied down through the centuries, that
IN be successfully combatted only
~ eternal vigilance; things are COM
ing UP all the time that require at
tention to safeguard the life and
property of Our State. In the con-
sideration and treatment of these
matters women now have equal share
With men, but since women cannot
1T present, in the nature of things.
pdssess the same degree of political
experience that their brothers do,
LEY must exercise a greater amount
Of caution so that their record during
these first voting years of theirs may
be the freer from mistakes.
Women are expected to be inter-
tstcd in all welfare legislation and
they are. but it is more difficult than
5ft0 60 lott
low so-called welfare measures will
ceact to the health and happiness of
those whom they affect, once they
arc in operation. The New York
state law prohibiting night work for
them out of needed employment is
noted case in point This law reads
well, seeming to be in the interest of
conserving the health and strength of
women, even though the work they
were doing was not necessarily hard
labor, but actually this law has taken
away the means of livelihood on
which numbers of women depended,
and has forced them to seek other and
often less attractive employment.
There is much agitation for equal
pay for men and women. which is as
it should be. provided they can do
equal work. It works out in practice
in certain branches Of industry, how
ever, that while women can almost
equal men in the same work, there
are certain things they cannot do,
such as lifting and carrying, opera
tons which may need to be done half
a dozen times a day, necessitating
somebody to wait on the woman
worker. She may and very likely
does do better and more careful work
than the man, but physically she can
not equal him and the result is that
women are forced out of the Industry.
A law is pending in a neighboring
state providing for minute and con-
tinuous inspection by nurses Of every
child in the state from the time it is
born until it finishes public school.
This may sound well. but how many
self-respecting mothers will welcome
a law requiring them to let the state
bring up their children?
A bill is pending in our own State
tosreduce the hours of labor for wom-
en- and minors from 81 to 4S. All en-
deavors to reduce the working hours
Of everybody have for years been
hailed a. highly salutary, until we
have found ourselves tending to live
without work at all. Nine hours a
Day may be too long for women to
Wosk in some lines of industry, but
ordinarily It should not prove ardu-
80. Il should bs borne in mind that
- hours - the maximum allowed and
hat very many industries arrange
the hours OF their women employees
20 that they arc well within the limit.
should the legal length Of a woman's
working day be reduced, it is quite
Conceivable that the recognized scales
Of pay for women would be corre-
spondinsly reduced.
These are q few examples OF the
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