The Omaha Sunday Bee Magazine Page
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WHAT is going to be done about the excess of Eng
lish women after the war I
Already before the war the excess amounted to
iom 2,000,000, and was increasing steadily. We have
already 130,000 men dead from the flower of the nation
and about 130,000 permanently disabled, and I fear be
fore all ia orer that we mnst face the Jobs of nearly a
million and half of British breadwinnera and potential
fathers.
What ia going to be the result after the wart
There are two principal effect that have to be con,
sidered. The future generation and work. It is almost
impossible to consider these questions separately, for in
these daya they are absolutely interdependent, and yet
all condition! will hare changed so much after the war
that we must examine the new factors in each question
before coming to the joint future.
What is" going to happen!
Some three million men are going to return, after
months of open-air life, in a condition of physical fitness
which they did not know was possible; with an outlook
broadened to an incredible extent, with minds that have
been toned and tuned by constantly facing death,
Is the clerk going back to toil with bent shoulders on
an office stool for a pittance, after, perhaps, leading a
platoon or a company in the field t Is the sergeant going
back to be an agricultural laborer! the lieutenant or
company sergeant-major a domestic servant! or the vic
torious soldier to the factory or mine! -
Some trades and professions, of course, they will go
back to, but the conditions of all forms of work will
have to be materially changed, although there are going
to be thousands who will seek a different form of em
ployment with more responsibility and more freedom.
And women in the meanwhile are working, They
hav found that there is practically no form of wage
earning that they cannot do, and do satisfactorily, Will
those who have just made this discovery go willingly to
rearing children in cramped and cheerless quarters!
Some rnny, but most will not.
Yet the wastage of lives must and will be replaced,
and the enormous increase of our trade. after the war
must be seen to. Women will undoubtedly, in enormously
increasing numbers, continue to be wage-earners; men
and women must earn higher wages, have a higher
standard of living and enjoyment, and yet child bearing
must increase and infant mortality must decrease,
How is it to be done! How are women to renr chil
dren, feed children, husband and themselves, and yet
keep their jobs 1n factory and office.
The answer seems to be 'of necessity one word co
operation. The co-operative dining room, the coopera
tive nursery. Think what a difference to the bulk of the
population just these two thing would make. The clean,
wholesome food in light, clean, bright rooms, prepared
by trained cooks, instead of badly cooked, b11y served
sersp1 'n dingy kitchen. And then the saving of t
j.fi, in the buying of large quantities instead of in
l!'H,r,'' In the fuel, in the preparation ao 1 in the pro-die-five
fore f the workers properly fed instead of
item-1 or stodged.
TliMi the rhiMren, what It tl wan, to the rule of
li f,.iit mortality t' have tlie bstiien hygif ni'a!ly looked
;t nn j ft 1 is in. !''tiUli( i I )lit t- n i luirriiom
pi, ii in il,t roniitiy, v lie it I'HiH to think lint nure
-.;t.r ili every yr lhasi the Intel of our eitM in the
e t tt;tt-
Add ! t!ie en-ierlU l.tun ln s, add u have
bnikrlt lln I ' f dinr!te Work. SO I if, M U nr i
vtim mi t. '( ' h' proper .Ittri'.'i'C' '( tt'wns ftr
v ir'k r.tf i'. l not t!'i itirty, pliitmiv trnenieiit rf f,,f,
iiT t ,t 1 1 fht, r!in, tsutt fid ltti, vilh 1A
(-r t I l .'- fmnv erntrsl furnsce, an, I eioetne
vi Ki-'d mi l.i ei erative p!n, eoul I .! b ru
l a tri. t i i t mudi-rn and dtunestie druJjfry
onl. be frantically d"e awav vith.
Yen bate the f.mn lati-ut tere f clean, sh?tlesnm,
useful lives, and a possibility of a decent balancing of
work, sleep and recreation, which lead to health and con
sequent efficiency. It will seem to old-fashioned people
a crime to suggest that surroundings and comfort should
be, weighed, should be allowed to weigh, against the
bearing of children ; but it is so, and everybody who does
not wilfully shut their eyes must know it.
In every rank of life, practically, children are lim
ited to the amount that allows of the most comfort to
the parents, from the fishermen and factory bands, to
whom children are an asset and a necessary provision for
the future, and who, therefore, eliminate the possibility
' pf a childless marriage beforehand, at one end of the
scale, to the other end of the scale where they have no
children at all because it is too much trouble.
There is a great and increasing body of people who
either avoid marriage altogether or limit their Jamilies
with en absolute view to attainment or maintainmcnt of
' some luxnry or comfort, and the worst of it is that the
class that have most children are those least ablo to
provide for the children on arrival with healthful, happy
and comfortabl eurroundings under the old conditions.
Now, as we all knew,
men and women are an
' asset of the highest
value to a nation, and
after the devastating
war everything will
have to be done to make
up the wastage.
But what is it going
to be! I have heard
polygamy very serious
ly discussed as a prob
ability, but I don't sup
pose wo shall really
come to that in the near
future.
I suppose, also thero
will be no softening of
the savage illegitimacy
laws, although, un
doubtedly, when women
have the vote, as they
surely will, some of tl'o
flagrant unfainieNi to
women of those laws
will be mnde more
equal of incidence ; hut
at least without any
moral revolution we
could offer to the
fathers and mothers the
maximum of facilities
and inducements.
The kfisont of ths
piut show that nature
does her brut to restore
the balance when war
bus decimated the man
lioii.l of emmtry, and
llmuyh, 1 brlieve, fof
j'ht nlii.,ic.'il r'SMtit
tUt v ill i...t be an ob
t Hi ii ftT t! i war,
tii.l, I. u aur tu take
!i e,
i to counteract tea
Hi'f of women nuk
the ist! g -tii-ratitin al
1 v-tf" as A-U.
fjrr-rrrr? .... ; , , , j
ip 'pn v,.4, ......
'ax1'1; " J ' ' ' - v. vr:T:r
Frenchwomen Loading Coal on a
Train in the Absence of Men.
Will They Do This Work (
After the War?
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V
1
Does Yellow
Make You Feel
Like Laughing?
AT a Chrorao-therapy CongreHi, re
cently held In Toklo, Bnnounce
meot was made ot the result of a
wrl!i of experiments made on persons
afflicted with mpntal and nervous dis
eases, and on persons in the bypnotlq
stato. It was found that by far the
largest number of people responded to
yellow and red llKhts, and the classifica
tion was ko HHtontublnKly exact as almoat
to afford a new dlaguoHls for disease.
Of ttie persona who were abova the
normal pfliialUveaess to llsht rays. It vu
found that mors than 70 per cent were
easily excited to taiiKhter under a bril
liant yellow llsht; that tinder a violet
llKlit 73 per iit were found easily re
apouatve to syrnjiathy and many wept;
and that 93 nt-r tent were conseloua of
tiodlly stimulation uuder a arsrlet Klow.
A certain iinall proportion, les than I
per rht, were mad scornful and Irri
tate! by the rruiiiton light, but these
could not be stirred to sympathy bj eny
pinna of color.
'i lia tolor ii f brown conveyed to most
'!
ft"
r
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I l . I . l J. O ' - - - ,,, f n ,
? I ' l ( . 1 1 t . a r , j. , il," t Z
Nit Wk the tuk ,.
Mi(Vt.r Villi C null I
VwU Aanlhar AtiU t
It t lttiiii Sinn,
In 1 1 ib women Now Wotking at Hre-I ijhlers, Tbef fa peel
t Coittinue Ibis Hard Outy After the War, end it th
Kit Kt. Mitt Hetty Wilton, an t'.nUKwoman 5ri
t Sergeant in ((erne Defence Cavetry Cerpt.
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rr-'''..'"'U;':, j
-mm I -. ,-
U s ""-'""V t'f'the ptlti)l (lie lO'ime pf fete, nod
tlU blue rallied the ff t of nrvoua-
,.' iiis and pfrpletlty, 'lh areena oper
ated In very curious manner, the lUhl
ippU gre u tn'liiit rt'iiful, the tlvld (reeui
tnualuf Irritation tad a sense of sunny
sum. A powerful atisutulely eblte Htd'
Imreaied enersy, and a rosepltik
lave the fi-i'llnf of ludultitee.
hn, huwett'f. the tiueatliin pf fane
Utlnf fffiinta Into color was tried, the
mull d 1 tint telly tittSt, 41 per cent
tuied that when ili were merry thef
I'liiu.ri't if jvlUie, end t) fer irnl d
iiii'l thai a he paint iuisvfvJ t
Iheiu llm culor at fJ. K fclhly nervous
I'l'fuio, tlii-rif ifp, r(!i US. If in uleit
iiii'H, li eel ti furl Huif C'Hileittr4 tt
r Utt.pe etta urenie Uele. 'the t
to Ju'it of i hi I i'i I,.,,, c hi t it i e
In Min 'i i'i.l t;tau t.'ii t! in iute l'i,t,t ot
it trti itir,
In t hHll,i Irtin. I' !:M (i;,r
tlO'l HMt t'.!- ' ..if. tlfl tUH
.i;l ritu'tiuiin tuvt It be wvil
hanlri .( lute. (be ( tfi
J u a -im In t.'ir.'V I" I ; , h he
eUlriiB i f a c-iii..io. i-i ii'aa e r
'I the pietit.il uhlun tikht thai
ud fur tr. e etfi'ilni!-! It ha
keee .! fur Stone lime Ul certele
j ra pf mtna, i u'!a .n t, fiif Vl
; ample, are trf t- ', t ! In eri., tertale
, Inma .f tUi U .. In i ue vame el
Hint asd rt. lor In "Hel diae la f
'Id as el ro'eratetlttly little keeee.
tr''lt. il,