The casual workers are the true servants of humanity, and yet they are the ones that are passed by unnoticed; the ones that rarely if ever are influenced by the church. They constitute a great army of neglected men and women, a challenge to the church, a menace to society, and a danger to our commonwealth; and all because they are neglected and unknown.
CHAPTER X
The World of Industrial Women
Any one who reads history with his eyes open will be impressed with the fact that this world has always been considered a man’s world. At one period woman was denied every right; she was the slave of man. Rome and Greece treated her as a child. Medieval ages found her working in the fields and supporting large families, while her husband and son fought for rights that could never be hers. The familiar figure of a woman and an ox yoked together and driven by a man well represents the spirit of the past. The Hebrew rabbis made many proverbs relating to woman’s condition: “When Jehovah was angry, he made woman.” “Woman is an afterthought of God.” “A man of straw is worth more than a woman of gold.” The statement has been made and repeated times out of number that woman’s sphere is the home. This statement is true, but not unqualifiedly so; in fact, home is no more a woman’s place than it is a man’s. Home is based upon mutual responsibility, consideration, and the willingness to share mutual burdens. There is no sense in the old saw, “Woman should leave her home but three times—when she is christened, when she is married, and when she is buried.” This is on a par with another old proverb: “Woman, the cat, and the chimney should never leave the house.” We have outlived these archaic notions, and to-day, while we recognize as never before that home is woman’s true sphere, we realize that home is the man’s true sphere also.
The home is the foundation-stone of our civilization. It is the strength and safety of society. Rome fell when her homes were destroyed. Public morals are gaged by the morals of the home. In the face of the divorce court, with its incessant grind of business, it is time to raise a voice of protest against the spirit of careless indifference which views the home as a mere boarding-house, and “a place to stay away from.” Who is the chief offender, man or woman? The woman’s club, the woman’s place in politics, woman’s interest in industry and in reform have all been cited as being the potent forces at work destroying the home. As a matter of fact it is the man who is chiefly responsible. The strength, the vigor, and the purity of the American home, which show to-day in the splendid type of soldiers that are being sent across the seas to fight in the battle for democracy, speak well for the work of woman. The average man knows where he lives, the number of the house, and the name of the street on which it stands. He is able to recognize his children usually when he meets them. He pays the bills and takes a general interest in the appearance and up-keep of the establishment; but when it comes to bearing his share of the heavy burdens, he is a poor partner in the concern. The wife and mother is the home-maker. We know how well she has done her part.
Woman and Necessity. Women have chosen their work because of necessity as well as because of opportunity. A mother of two boys was left a widow with no money. Her people were all poor. If she went back home, the added burden would be an injustice to her parents and would work hardship upon her brothers and sisters. She had too much self-respect to take this course. She knew little about business and had no trade, but she found work in a store and by hard study at night and close application became an expert saleswoman. She sent her boys through college. One of them to-day is a successful lawyer and has served as senator in the state legislature. The other is a practising physician in one of the large cities of the Middle West. Both of these men are eminently successful. This woman contributed more than her share to society and was cheerful and happy in her work. In speaking of her one of the partners in the firm where she was employed said, “There is no person connected with this firm who has created such a wholesome atmosphere as she has done.”
A little black-eyed boy was arrested in the north end of Boston and sent to the reform school. He was eleven years old and had become the leader of a gang of boys who had been robbing show-windows. His mother was a Jewess; his father had deserted her and left three children, one just a baby in arms. This woman could find nothing to do that would pay her enough to enable her to provide actual necessities for her children. The baby died and in the distress of the hour the mother appealed to a neighbor. She helped her financially and found a position for her in one of the millinery shops of the city. This woman, in reality a widow, had been able to struggle along but was not very capable. She fought her battle as bravely as she could and was always cheerful, but it was almost too much for her to do the earning that was necessary. Her little boy, without proper guardianship, with no place to play but the streets, got into trouble. It was not only because the mother was at work and thus unable to train her boy, that this new trouble came, but because there is no proper and adequate provision made for women left in her position.
The woman of the family is always the most overburdened member. She has serious responsibilities and the heaviest tasks. When she is left with the care of children, it is inevitable that she should turn to industry for her own and her children’s support. Another group of workers are the young girls who go into work for a few years until they are married. Still another are the young women who feel that there is no reason why women should not have the same chance to make a place for themselves in the world of industry that is accorded to men. We must come to believe in the independence of both men and women and grant to each the right to choose his or her own place and work in life. A newspaper woman in Cincinnati said: “I determined that I had qualifications necessary for success as a writer. I went to school and studied hard with the intention of becoming a reporter. When I received my diploma, I was as proud as any member of the class, but not half as happy on that day as I was a week later when I received my first assignment from the city editor of a paper that had employed me ‘on trial.’ I have succeeded and am happy in my work.” Why should any one attempt to limit this woman in her vocation? She has chosen and chosen well. She is making her contribution and it is just as important as that made by thousands of the best men in similar positions.
In War Time. Since the war began nearly a million and a quarter additional women have been brought into the industries of Great Britain. This is an increase of nearly forty per cent. of the number employed in July, 1914. Moreover, the percentage of the increase is rising. In France we find the same situation. In the United States as the war goes on larger numbers of women are taking places as wage-earners. Women are replacing men in running elevators in all public buildings, working in hotels, as conductors on street-car lines, guards on subway trains, ticket sellers, baggage agents, and crossing tenders in the railroad service. Thousands more are going into the different forms of agricultural work. Besides these new pursuits, women are running the lathes in the shops and factories, while thousands are employed in the making of munitions. Probably it is safe to say that for every man who has gone to the front at the present time there is a woman in America who is doing the man’s work.