Milford chronicle., 1955-08-19
EOUALITY FOR WOMEN

EQUALITY FOR WOMEN
American women are still fighting for
equal rights under the law. Though granted
suffrage 35 years ago, many still seek Con-
stitutiona amendment granting them legal
equality with American men, Support ap-
pears to be increasing.
Though an impressive number of senators
and representatives support the Equal Rights
| Amendment, the current Congress, like all its
predecessors, adjourned without taking ac-
tion on it. However, the women, some 40
groups of them, remain undaunted and plan
to continue bringing it up before Congress.
Certainly it is fiction to pretend that
women now enjoy equal rights with men IN
| this country. In some states, for instance, a
father is the preferred guardian OF child
and the child's earnings. The contract power
of married women is restricted in number
of states. Certain labor laws patiently work
to the disadvantage of women.
| Opponents of the constitutional amend
ment argue that improvements IN the status
of women should come through the Initiative
of the states. They also argue that passage
of the amendment would require wholesale
revision of state legislation, Neither of these
arguments deny that at present women do
not have full equality with men. They are
merely excuses for denying or delaying that
equality
Women in this country deserve equality
with men. Certainly they have earned It.
They have proved themselves able and re-
sponsible citizens. They have made impor-
tant contributions to the economy; during
the war they maintained this nations ca
pacity for production.
They may not enjoy it once they get it.
But if they want it, legal equality should be
theirs.
MATCHMAKING REVIVAL
The American watch industry has been
hit hard by competition from abroad, but
instead of standing idly by while their busi-
nesses go to pieces, watch-makers have be-
gun to move into new fields
The industry today is making profits by
manufacturing clock radios, electric razors,
electronic instruments, cameras, special al
loys and lubricants. 1t is also producing
watches, some of the best in the world and at
lower prices than ever before thought poss-
ible.
Ability to adapt to competition is a real
boon to this country's watch-makers who
must spend 10 to Is years learning their
trade. They met the threat of unemployment
by taking Enthusiastically American at
titude. They decided to resist the situation
and fight back. The result is mounting pro-
fits
Another result is the best watches in the
world. Tests are now being conducted on
new electronic watch and developments are
being planned that could revolutionize the
watch industry in the next ten years.
AS long as industries in this country are
willing to follow the traditional American
practice of constantly improving their pro-
duets and finding new ways for using their
knOw-how, they need no artificial protection.
With their Unsuitable demand for perfection,
watch-makers are successfully meeting for
elgn competition by producing the best time
pieces in history.
TO THE CREDIT OF THE SENATE
The Senate was urged to extend the pro-
visions of the minimum wage law to certain
enterprises, including retailing, which have
been exempt ever since the law was first
passed in 1888. 1t is to the credit of the
Senate that it did not do so, and that the
exemptions are retained in the bill it passed
this session.
Retailing is purely local enterprise =
every store, even though it be member of
national chain store system, must COM
pete locally, and it will succeed or fail as it
meets varying local desires and needs Re-
failing also has employment opportunities
for numbers of unSkilled people whose serv-,
ices are of relatively small value but, who
can gain experience that will qualify them
for better-paying jobs in the future. If the
cost of this marginal labor was artificially
forced up by law, retailers would have no
choice save to pare employment to the ut
most. The people harmed would be those the
minimum wage is supposed to help.
6Z0N[
EAST is EAST
What pleases one people may shock an
other. This obvious statement received a new
| illustration when an American book, signif-
can't enough to have been issued by national
subscription book society, was banned by a
state in India. This is "The Ramayana' by
Aubrey Menon, satirical retelling of one
Of the great epic poems of the Hindus. They
regard the Ramayana an account of the
adventures of many characters whom they
view as sacred. Menon's mocking narrative
has accordingly been excluded by Delhi
State as blasphemous.
Years ago both Americans and English
men were astonished to learn that the gay
Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, "The Mika-
do," struck the Japanese as a sacrilegious
portrayal of divine ruler.
| The moral iS that when circul atino hooks