Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-07-08

ent In the party councils, were not rs gen.
few Of them would lead the casual reader
TO expect s'f r4.a tAN.. VIZ ..#ftE .
| :. 4 do not think the fact that the American
Federation Of Labor in its national conven
tion made no move to admit women on
par with men In its councils was a surprise
70 most of the women who are lin the
know In that direction. 81
THE position of women in business or in
i politics or in the Church Is somewhat
| that OF the venturesome young miss of the
nursery rhyme:
Mother. may go out to swim?"
Yes, my darling daughter.
Hang your clothes on a hickory limb,
But don't 60 near the wnter!'
If men should suddenly wait on women by
committees and demand or ask in siren tones
| to be allowed to take over the control Of the
| housekeeping. the Dorcas societies. the Chit
Chat and Browning Club mornings; II they
should appear with bright faces and note
books and begin to measure the linen in the
house and hold conferences as to how much
| soap was wasted in the laundry; II they
| changed their days ritual of labor and IT,
| instead of going downtown" promptly after
breakfast, they fingered lovingly, or at least
alertly to share the pros and cons Of the
days marketing; II. at great sacrifice Of
| their powers Of earning money they placed
themselves at the service Of their women
Kind for lnncheons and afternoon bridge,
| and, instead of monopolizing the LEDGER
at breakfast, they took their wives tickets
| for the Class In Current Events at the Broad
| Street Theatre. and II they did this, not by
| twos and thrccs or in sporadic instances here
and there, but by the thousands and tens Of
| thousands with the onrush and fearful agility
| of an army of grasshoppers. then, indeed,
there would be blood on the MOON" 1
cannot think the female way of meeting the
onslaught would not be as stolidly negative
ne I'm alA has kAA. 2.
true. the courage which bears. but they also
| have the instinct of some wild animals and
| all birds; they strike work when their nests
are tampered with, they even desert their
| young II an alien hand has touched their
| eggs. And pleasant and salutary as it would
| be to some women to have some men under
| take some of their life jobs, wholesale
move in that direction would disgruntle the
| whole female sex to degree that might
| paralyze the wheels of daily living.
T THINK the ratio Of women in politics
L or women In business or women in pull
| pits ought to be about the ratio Of men in
cooking or butlering or sewing or nursing or
| teaching or designing or stewardship or
| chicken raising or butter making or decorat-
| ing or dancing or stenography. Only experts
| of a male sort are welcomed as competitors
| in those arts and crafts and occupations
that women show the greatest natural apti-
tude for. And man has to be so good that
he Is better than most women in order to
| succeed IN those pursuits. And as always
happens in the long run with real ability,
| there Is always room at the top for a genius
in any occupation; so the best cooks are
| men cooks and the best dressmakers and
| designers and dancers and teachers, probably
| because with their very unusual talent-un-
| usual in men. that is-they have an addi-
tional physical power Of endurance in work.
| IF IN the same ratio as men experts the
| J. women experts who really had II In them
to make great business administrators or
| compelling preachers or dominant political
| leaders or cool headed practical political
workers could be discovered and could be
utilized, no doubt politics and the pulpit and
the stock exchange would benefit greatly by
the new blood. And II women as a whole
| whose life occupations lay where their nat
ural talents gave them the real "strangie-
hold" viz, In adding to the comfort and
| welfare of the individuals in their charge
| could swap experiences with their men folks
to the degree of really being intelligent as
well as sympathetic about the business these
| men folk take to naturally, the improvement
of the political status of women would grad
| ually adjust itself.
THE Republican convention was not 30
l. illogical as some of the interviewed
carpers might have made it appear. In
admitting two women Immediately into the
ranks Of It's official family 1t accepted the
theory that some women were ready for
oficialdom and that sex did not disquaify
women. In defining their powers as officials
it gave women very large theoretical lceway
and left 1t up to them to make good. In
voting for the changes that would make 1t
possible to have women members In the rank
and file of the committee, after specified
date, It left the way open in the future for
the women to make good In that direction
| II they could.
The choice of the two women who, in a
sense, were to symbolic the future partici-
patton of their sex in party politics was n
perfectly logical choice. They took two
women who had made good the one, Mrs
Thomas Robins as sort of party whip
who had shown an ability to focus on a
specific job; the other. Mrs. Warburton
who had shown an ability to administer al an
organization very varied In character and
with many difficult points of contact.
These two women had never been pro-
gressive on the reform side of politics to any
marked degree. although they supported the
fight for suffrage, not as leaders, but as
encouragers. They had not been markedly
philanthropic or in the van of civic move
ments before the war, their first school Of
true of Mrs. Misunderstanding been in
making wartime welfare funds popular by
splendidly organized baznars This was also
the school Of practice a generation before
their time for such women as Mrs. Gillespie.
ITO MAKE a great bazaar q business suc
i cess takes somewhat the same qualities
that are needed to make a great spectacular
civic parade a success. But between the
bazaars and the parade of women war work :
ers there was an interval of perhaps two
years, when, acting as head of the Emer-
gency Aid, Mrs. Wnrburton was learning
many arts Of leadership, notably the art Of
meeting and of dealing with a great variety
Of human beings, from Governors to BOY
Scouts and from ward politicians to Secrc-
tarcs Of State.
She lcarned-and by some hard lessons I
dare say--the necessity Of carrying a group
of persons with her without friction before
any group influence could be turned 10 Of
fective work She must have got much
valuable data on the subject of promises
made on the spur Of the moment to ind
viduals. or on appointments made without
due consideration, on first impressions
that had to be amended carefully, on what
| nEn Nrlf ana ii nat