Evening star., 1923-12-16
WOMEN'S WAR IS OPENED
WITH VERBAL BARRACKS
Fight For and Against Equal Rights
Amendment Is ON With Venge-
ance in Congress.

the President agreed wholly with
them.
From this the attitude of the Presi-
dent may be considered doubtful, to
say the least. But it proves him
diplomat of the first water.
Resolution Introduced.
Senator Curtis and Representative
Anthony, both of Kansas, last week
introduced the equal rights amend
ment resolution in Congress. It pro-
vides: Men and women shall have
equal rights throughout the United
States and every place subject to its
Jurisdiction" There is also the usual
enforcement clause.
Now, the women engaged in this
controversy are agreed, so far as
equal rights are concerned. But the
National Woman's Party wants equal
rights brought about by a constitu-
tional amendment, at one clean sweep,
SO to speak. The opposition does not
want congressional amendment OF
this sort. The opposition prefers TO
gain it's victories one at a time by
the enactment Of legislation which
would accomplish, they say, all the
good things to come from equal
rights" with none of the effects which
they consider injurious.
Advantages Wiped on Slate.
Under a constitutional amendment
eight-hour- day laws for working
women, minimum wage laws for
lection of women in industry would
be wiped off the slate. On this point
both sides are agreed. But the points
of view are widely divergent The
National Woman's Party says: well
and good. Let them be done away
with. Discrimination in favor Of
women in industry reacts against the
women in industry. The employer
who faces a penalty if he employs a
woman worker over eight hours q
day, but faces no penalty if he works
men ten hours a day. is going to dis
charge his women and replace them
with men. Thus the woman, who has
won an equal place with the man IN
industry, is legislated out Of a job-a
job which she needs to support the
good -for-nothing husband and dirty
faced children at home Take this
law Off the statute books and replace
1t, II possible, by law which gives
an eight-hour day for men and
women. But take away this discrimi-
nation against women in industry.
Then speaks the National League
of Woman Voters. or the American
Federation of Labor:
There's not a woman in the whole
National Womans Party who has
ever done a lick of real work in
her life. Their main trouble is they
don't know what they are talking
about. Legal equality and economic
equality are two entirely different
things. Women have been able to
gain their equality in the labor world
by legislation, which gives them the
rights they could not win through
organization. Women's unions today
would be unable TO compete with
unorganized woman labor without
the laws which grant them their
eight or nine hour day. What men
have been able TO gain through or
ganization women have been forced
to gain through legislation. Give
these women legal equality through
a constitutional amendment and you
lose for them the economic equality
they have gained through special
Legislation"
Wants Something Permanent.
The National woman's Party is
weary of seeing advantages for wom-
en- come and go on the statute books
of the states. 1t wants something
permanent. while the opponents are
we'll content to gain a point here and
there, as they have in the past, with
out the danger of having everything
.I-.i D. \