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Show I Is Against Soldiers Getting Back Jobs I By RUTH RAPHAEL, m yffl-ISS ROSE YOUNG, director of the Leslie Woman Suffrage Bureau in New York city, laid down hr morning paper after reading that the National Association of Manufacturers have announced an "open door" to every coldler and sailor who seeks to return to his former Job. "You see," she commented, "they always al-ways think In terms of men. That announcement an-nouncement Is a pood Illustration j: the way employers look at the case. Certainly, Cer-tainly, tho question Is not so simple as that! Certainly they havo not done their full duty to aoclcty when they take care of only one sex!" "Then you criticise the. attlludo of tho employer who reinstates the returning soldier?" sol-dier?" I asked. "Yes, I ctitlelro that attitude which la characteristic of statesmen, business men and men generally." "But how about our gratitudo to the returning re-turning soldier?" "Our gratitude to the soldiers Is balanced bal-anced by cur gratitude to the women who took up their burdens at home." Survival of the Fittest. "Do you suggest that tho men be left to shift for themselves?" "f suggest that tho whole question be sifted down to the survival of the fittest. Tho employer s.iould dccldo wholly from tho angle of fitness. It shouldn't be because be-cause a man's a man, or a woman's a woman, but because ho or she can best fill tho place. "This second displacement of labor i3 the biggest problem we have before us. -s tho men come back from tho front, thoy're going to want their Jobs back. What is to become of tho women who are In those Jobs? Are they to bo told to go home, or are we to have the question of the jobs settled by the survival of the fittest'" "Wouldn't wc have a desperate struggle between the sexes If employers adopted tho survival of the fittest plan?" "It may look now as If we are going to have a conflict between men and women, but I believe the demands of reconstruction reconstruc-tion are going to be so excessive asto engage the best talent of both sexes. It isn't as if there's going to be a scarcity of places. We have the whole world to icmakc. Nobody Is going to bo shoved off entirely." "We're going to get many , scare?, which will turn out to oc bogles. We're always trying to settle something In our minds that settles Itself. ' "Wc are trying to strike a balance between be-tween the sexes In Industry by the prln- clple of equal pay for caual work." Miss Young continued. "In the past, for some unfathomable reason, the men workers saw a menace to themselves In that proposition It is. In fact, their main protection, and they should demand it with and for the women. "The men must be protected In Industry by that principle. It's nonsense to talk about Its protecting the women. Union after union Is now demanding II as they have enmo to see the error of Iholr earlier conception." "And what part shall the consumer play In reconstruction?" I asked. "Shall the woman who used to spend freely start circulating cir-culating monoy as enthusiastically as she did before the war?" "Tears ago," Miss Young answered, "I remember reading about the girl who was criticized for spending J50.000 a year on clothes, and who defended her extravagance extrava-gance by saying that It was hotter to put her money Into circulation than let it He Idle In the bank. Xccd of RrnnomT. "Now. aa a matter of fact, that ?50.000 might have gone into some ablo social distribution. dis-tribution. Economy Is no longer a vague obligation. "It Is something we Just have to practice, prac-tice, for this Is not a time to waste product." "'Nevertheless. Isn't It natural," I asked, "that there should be a tremendous reaction re-action toward luxuries?" "That will depend upon to what extent the individual curb3 herself. There Is a temptation. In our present lift of spirit, to spend money in celebration without getting value received for the world at large. "If wo relax now there will be an Increase In-crease of poverty all over the world. Distress which should be relieved, will not be relieved, and there will be a pinching and cramping here and there. "Another result of extravagance would be a demoralization of the tremendous force that has developed for the individual and community out of tho war We have been holding ourselves for the highest kind of communal endeavor. We don't want the strength of that concentration to be dissipated Wc want it made still more effective for good." ' In other words, look out for that "oh.j gee? the war's over. 1 believe I'll got out and celebrate" feeling. |
