Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-06-24

married women. 1t asks each of these to tell
whether she is living with her husband, if not.
whether she is legally separated from him;
whether the husband is dependent upon her for
support; and whether any members of her i'm
mediate family are employed by the govern
ment, and if so, how much each earns.
Following the issuance of these question
naires, Miss Hill states, a large number of mar
RED women have been dropped from the rolls
of the departments, without regard to their
efficiency. In many cases, she says, married
women of long experience and established value,
have been dropped for no other discoverable
reason than that they are married. AT the
same time, she says. the Civil Service is holding
examinations for employees of similar grade and
kind.
The object of the various departments in
dropping married women from their rolls is
plain. They are compelled to drop some en-
ployes and are eager to drop those who will
suffer least hardship as a result. obviously the
married woman who las an employed husband
is less apt to suffer from the loss of her job
than the single woman entirely dependent upon
her own resources.
Good Intentions.
The women recognize this motive and It's
practical justification. They realize that the
bureau chiefs are not trying to strike a blow
at marriage. But they claim that In effect it is
a blow at marriage, and also at the right of
woman to work and be independent.
1t is this latter phase of the question which
chiefly interests the women politicians. AS lar
as the effect on marriage is concerned they SIM
ply point out that the same conservatives, VINO
contend that woman's place is in the home, are
often Keeping her out OF it, when. by measures
like this one, they destroy her earning capacity.
For the modern American woman generally
works because she must. She may also work
because she wants to do SO, but it is necessity
lar more than choice that has brought women
into the working world. In American cities the
number of men who can support a wife ana
children in a really adequate way has been on
the decline for a long time, as both prices and
standards of living have risen, while salaries
and wages have climbed slowly after them. The
departments at Washington like the Offices OF
other American cities, are filled with unmarried
girls between the ages of twenty and thirty.
The feminists will tell you that these girls are
working because they love their independence,
and that they would want to continue to work
and be self-supporting even though they
married. Unprejudiced observers, on the otner
hand, have estimated that an offer OF marriage
and support from an attractive man with an
assured income Of ten thousand a year would
be rejected by only about one-tenth OF one per
cent. of these bachelor girls.
Most of them are working because tney nave
to, and most of them have not married because
the good chance has not come along. NO aoupt
MANY of them do appreciate their independence
and they probably appreciate it more after they
have made some progress in their work ana
have become accustomed to the blessings OF
freedom. But they are workers above all from
necessity. Not only ten thousand dollar men
b1. even five thousand dollar men are lament
ably scarce. They are quickly captured by tne
more attractive girls. and usually by girls with
social setting and enough money TO dress III
style, rather than by stenographers living on
SIS a week. What the stenographer actually
finds available in the way of a spouse Is US
ually a clerk in the same ONCE, making any
where frontwenty-tive hundred to four thou-
sand q wear. Sne Htlotll may pS "NAh 49,
much as two thousand. If she is past the hap
per stage of indiscreet enthusiasm, she VIII
think a long time before giving up her indeo
pendent income to share one less than twice
as large. Yet that is often what the man wants
her to do. He does not want his vile TO hopd
a job.
But there are more and more cases in when
the man abandons this point oil view lor the
more sensible one. They marry and on tnel
incomes are able to establish an at
tractive home and save money for the de-
ferred enterprise of having. children. Inc re-
sultant home and family is just as much iouhu-
ed on the woman's earnings as on the mau >.
There is, in such u case-and there are ~"
MANY such 'cases-no more justification Tor dis,
the woman because she has a husband
than there would be for discharging the man
because he has a wife. ..
The whole argument was vigorously thlasn
ed out "a few years ago when there was wlde-
spread effort to deprive married teachers OIL
their jobs. The conclusion in both cases seems
70 be unmistakable. Leaving out all femihlst
theory. women in this country more ana more
have to have gainful employment IN order TO
live. Often they have to work in order TO marry
and have children. You may deplore TINS IL
YOU please, as a condition which threatens tne
home and our ideal of womanhood ana az ina
Or Won may rejoice over it as the beginning Oh
a new era of independence and usefulness loI
women. But you cannot blink the Iact. Anu
as long as women have to work common Jus
tice demands that they must not De uisclihii-
mated against because OF their sex. s
That is why the women have taken up cudgels
against these department missionaries. me
dTst great object of the National Woman's
party. and of all the other political orSanlza-
lions of women. is to get Tor women Wno nato
to work a fair deal. To this end they lntend 10
push another amendment to the federal cohs.l.
tuition which is to provide that woman shail no'
be Disseminated against because OF sex OF ma :
rage. Laws of similar intent are TO DE intro
duced into the state legislatures. 49,.
The feminists seem to differ greatly as to JUST
what mart woman should play in life. Some
of them seem to think that she should pc pti-
marily wife and mother and others tnat sne
should have the whole world of work open TO
her. But on one point they seem to agree anu
are hard to refute: That woman VINO has -
work for her living, and perhaps 1or the nv
inps Of her children, should not be deprived OIL
her lob or paid a lower salary because OIL her
sex.