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Show H mi imf lyfti r OF WM. Mm r Pi a -il Ilk.il m j-'mias 11-11 .jfHflH WBr ! m Shackled to Labor of I Hardest Kind by War if j Europe's Future II Mothers Will Be If Stronger and It lm Is Predicted by HI Scientists that j :' , Their Ascenden- J J I cy Over Man H as jijt Begun. J t: HE conjecture as to what the ; f j Vyrt futuro will bring, what the ' I jf eventual settlement of the ! r J ' present war will glvo to tho ! ';Jj I I L world la nowhere more un- r r'Jj! certain than In tho field of ; Of. j lab01" th ftPPrt,0nmCnt j fr of the tasks of production. H: And tho particular uncertainty regarding tho I t position of women In Industry and the relation t x of womon to tho labor market Is undoubtedly I j tho greatest and tho gravest phase of tho jj It future's return to normal conditions. The men had gone to tho war. The work - If must bo dono; and the women were the only ft It ni,o. ift tn rio IL Into tho factories, the fields, I1. the ships and the mines the women have gone j f to fill the places made vacant by the armies t i marching to bAttle. The new situation created 'X . an abnormal demand, for workers, and it was j met by abnormal measures. tj t With women engaged In every form of labor j -which men have heretofore done for the world. I I women havo acquired both skill and strength. T I Skilled labor does not alwaye have to be strong ( labor. But women have proved that they can , I - supply strong labor as well as that requiring p. 1 'h dexterous fingers rather than burly muscles. '' Certain it Is that women have acquired new i characteristics. Scientists predict that the ' future will disclose a new generation of women, ' , gifted with hard, supple muscles and blessed I with tho endurance of the male. Indeed, It Is f not the least Improbable of the many half-haz- b'r l i ard, half-deduction visions that men of science ! I are beholding of the new world which will rise pi ; , out of the great European struggle. i' The inexorable law of tho repetition of his- f. ; tory cannot serve as a guide In this case. Never ;J before were the conditions the same; never $ -were the effects of a general war so far reach- ? f' ing; and never were tho years to follow 50 jv' r, much of an Impossible mystery. Because of the V entirely different conditions, absolutely no prec- &o j edent exists upon which to make an affirmation j' p' which cannot be questioned. History may re- I"- i peat Itself, but it can scarcely be charged with - ' ever before having presented so Brent a climax . . to the world. ) "Wars in. Pormer Times. b; I 4 FTFjR Europe was swept by the religious W'j ' J. passions of the Thirty Years War, and t'; Germany was laid In ruins by Its ebb and flow, j 5 the readjustment of peace camo easily and f f surely. Louis XIV b domination of the Contl- jft'j, f ncnt and hlB terrlblo War of the Spanish Suc- , : ' cession were soon blotted out by the passage y' ' ' of a few years, and tho world was ngain nqrmaL f I I Frederick the Great and Napoleon, too, throw Europe Into tho caldron of war, and because t J 1 the ingredients In every caBe were the same the , ' f final result of tho turmoil were identical quick l ' return to the normal, domestic, isolated system 1 of manufacture and commerce. But now It Is different. The intensely dcllcato h and extensive machine of modern commerce has been destroyed- Industry has been upset. World intercourse, which did not beforo exist on oven relatively as Important a plane, has been thrown fr'w " out of gear. Such vastly different conditions that the present conflict has upset certainly are h.. bound to produce differences in result just as L vast. I 'e skill and tho newly acquired strength of p women, who have been engaged In men's work now for more than two years, Is not going to be f easily cast aside. The future must see whether ; women will continue at their tasks in the fac- torles and the mines and become a potent and a very vital factor in the competition of the labor market. It must decido whether the return of the warriors will also bring tho return of the normal manufacturing system, or whether tho men will return to compete with women In production. pro-duction. i; With regard to women in industry, there are, 1 V briefly speaking, three theories of what mlgbi: ! occur after tho war. j t 0no w largely propounded by the lato Pro , J i Harrj' Thurston Peok, one of the leading op ' I pononts of woman suffrage during his llfe- 3 j V t,me- Ho took the view that whenever the l'l I domination of tho male in lines of Industry was ' I i threatened by womon, scenes of disorder would If' arlB0 "which would Bet back the developmcnl. H t r womon to ouch an extent that they coulf; ' . not "cover for centuries. His Idea was tha , S brute force would finally tell; that, If men f found themselves crowded out of work by women, wom-en, they would return to their primitive instincts and would resumo by violence what they con-; con-; 1 Eldered their natural rjght. Proven Themselves Capable. I A S a contraat to ths theory comes tho as- f sertion that women have proven them- ": selves amply capable of holding tho positions, even at heavy labor, that men occupied prior to the present war in Europe. ThlB also savors x of tho element of bruto force, for it practl- r cally says that, if womon are capable of doing j t men's work, they certainly will bo capable of P resisting the forciblo attempts of men to re- 1 W Sin their former pursuits. Both these ideas F embody the survival of tho fittest t f: Tho third theory, which seems the most likely ? T to work Itself out under present conditions of ; I society, is tho theory of adjustment. That : t f tho sexes perform tho tasks for which they are ' . best suited, is tho primal need of socloty. This ' 5, theory holds that, wth tho return of normal jf conditions, a readjustment will succeed and ; r. that rather than a struggle between the scxo3 a sort of adaptation will evolvo and that the result will be tho most desirable. If, at tho closo of tho war, men aro to return to the heavy tasks of tho field and factory, thoy will return there, and tho womon will go back to domestic duties Just as necessary a part in tho groat scheme of production. To tako the Peck theory first, It might bo asked whether tho old Idea of man being able to tako a position by sheer strength is any longer tenablo. In the first placo, tho moral disapproval ol the community at bruto forco and mob violence having any domination in tho conduct of affairs af-fairs is so groat that It wouia seem that this alone precluded the Idea that thin theory could bo correct. There is not a single caso from tho brutal outbreaks of Tammany In Now York to .he hideous attempts of Syndicalists and the llko that has not resulted In tho mob Idea being overthrown. Tho gang Idea still persists, of course. Women Becoming Stronger. BUT thcro Is anothor, and perhaps more potent po-tent aspect of the question of brute force. Tho physical strength of tho male Is no longor such that ho can confidently boast of being ablo to wrest matters from tho female. Formerly, For-merly, when work was divided on a physical basis, tho man possibly wns a nundred per cent 6trongor than the averago woman. That was when outdoor work was the man's and household house-hold duties tho woman's. That women havo successfully replaced men at almost every occupation In the industrial world Is Incontrovertible. Papers from Berlin and other cities of tho Continent tend to show that tho Socialist and Labor parties of practl cally all countries agree that womon should b allowed to enter tho labor market on an equial ground with men. At present. In all the warring nations, women are employed In the ammunition factories. Not ' iK: ""4 If i 'iKg'' TP ''-y ''S? f:-' . J W?-i2L-''- ' -- : - y----' ' :" ! Up era Co only do thoy do work that requires lino touch and alertness, such as handling tno primers and weighing out tho minute loads of powder that constitute certain portions of shells, but they havo also proved their valuo in handling tho really heavy products. The 6-lnch shells, which tho Knglish guns utilize, weigh about 100 pounds apiece, and are being made entirely by women in some of the factories. An English Cartoon. WHEN tho war first started tnero was a cartoon car-toon in ono of tho English papers that has been widely copied, and only recently appcarod under a modified form, thereby showing that it appealed to the English senso of humor. Tb cartoon showed an English housemaid notifying her mistress that oho was about to leave, add- i r - i lng that she had oeen umplojed in an ammunition ammuni-tion factory. To thl3 her mistress replied, drily, that If tho maid dropped as many things as sho had been in the habit of doing about the house, her term of employment was likely to be short. So this brings us to tho third proposition whether the constant changes In civilization aro not simply the adaptation of the soxes to tho work for which they are best suited. History shown that certain nations havo raised Amazon regiments in which women did their part of tho fighting with tho men. Several historians who have tried to analyze this condition have thought that possibly in tho wars which characterized tho early history of every race, somo tribe may have had most of tho men exterminated, thus forcing tho wmon into tho ranks for tho protection of their homos, and their offspring. Several African tribes are . ,v. t ' known io have developed Amazons, and in Greek mythology Theseus, a national horo of Greece, thought It nothing extraordinary to havo made a campaign against the Amazons, and his exploits wero recounted proudly In legend In as much as legendary hlstor? has been borno out pretty well In the caso of Greece, for tho tomb of Clytcmnestra has been found and tho alto of tho ancient City of Troy has been discovered under ruins of other cities, it would seem that thcro Is distinct authenticity In tho Amazon 3tory. But In Greece, as In other countries, coun-tries, when conditions changed and the supply of men that had been lost In tho constant war-faro war-faro was renewed, tho women fell naturally Into one line of work, chlctly hpusehold duties, and the men adopted tho pursuits best fitted to them. -' ' " , Fatal Drain Predicted. M IwhoIhn?,JANUARY f Fison, Mo., for hor Lv t; bCn Prom'-'nt ,n work lng of u-om.'n , S that the continual work-ing work-ing of women- in occupations similar to that o' orTTho race 'T"" on the race, bhc says that men can stand tho beca:nlCrhf a, War b0ttCr tl-n women because man a labor is more dofinlte-whether he m 'nt th lr0nchcs or d'SK'ns itches mode or hfl 7 "?tupa,1 tor that verbal Un " thBy haVe Pro- ?JI pi J 1Iar JbB Pr,0r to that tlmV Tho clerk who has soft hands can harden or rather, he can harden them at tho orders tnaat ZTlnt WlU Btand OVcp him and see who e taken r "tUr.n' BUt for tho v,ho is taken from the regular rounds of her ! t daily labor, the stress of war conditions Is hard. L1 Tho long hours in tho factories are likely to 'i1 Impair women's generic functions and weaken 'tho raco. i 0 . There should be a movement In tho arrln f nations to conserve the workers of all kinds," ;ju she said, "and to prevent the women of Uia y raco from suffering the fatal exhaustion which ,u is bound to ensue when they aro compelled I" v ork at tin- long hours that Is customary for the men. Ovorrttraln on the womon Is not onb' likely to prove a great disaster to tho Individ- j, ual, but it is also likely to prove a great strain 1 y upon tho race. in "Tho work that tho men can do In the fae- pa tories of England In turning out ammunition, or vl tho work that tho womon can do in taklnS fir their places Is absolutely no criterion of whit lh, women ehould do in tho actual affairs of ever)" th dayilifo. Women are giving up their lives at cle present to do their duly just aa surely as th r is mon are sacrificing theirs In tho trenches. And. Jcol morcovor, the women are also minimizing th 'j lrospects of a future race. There should be 8 conservation of workers. This Is absolute!? x t essential for every nation that expects to exist- "Protective measures aro nocessary for U1 ' A t mothers of the raco In a condition auch as thU ! hlg and standards should bo kept higher and high- j tea or with succeeding generations. Over fatlg1 j 8ot and overwork will noutralizo many of our m' I '(.flc ern laws of sanitation. Because women vrorK j '-ttt in the factories of Europe at present is no re" Urj son why they should be worked in similar tn-3" Tht Ion hero. " Hid "Thero Is such a thing as a nation clolhlnf s- It Itself In false security if It believes it can df rjn pend upon Its women to do tho same "Wrl ' 'yl as mon simply because an omcrgoncy arise Women havo their own typo of work and m3 : fc havo tholr3. But I know that no woman i i going to flinch from her duty when she rcall1 ltl that the occasion has arisen. When the woffi8 ,' thus offers herself as a worker In the ammunl -T.i tlon factories it should not be considered th itW this is her normal work. It Bhould bo romt' bored that sho Is doing this kind of labor unJrf f r oxcoptlonal circumstances and that h U d& 'r it because of war.". ; ty . |
