Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 128, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 May 1915 — WOMEN WORK OUT THE WAR PROBLEM [ARTICLE]

WOMEN WORK OUT THE WAR PROBLEM

“Mobilize the Kitchen,” Slogan of Crown Princess, Is Now Their Watchword. WAR BRINGS ITS SACRIFICES Women, Guided by an Efficient Government, Are Doing Men’s Work and Doing It Most Satisfactorily—Trades Unions Have No Quarrel.

Berlin.—“ Mobilize the kitchen,” the slogan of the Crown Princess Cecilie of Germany, has become the watchword of the women of the fatherland, laying upon patriotism's altar the aspirations which have moved thousands among them, in days of peace, to seek distinction in the professions, moved thousands of others to seek relief from household drudgery in the factories and stores.

“Mobilize the kitchen,” has become a policy of state in the government, prompting it to establish free classes during the past ten months for instruction in cooking, nursing and sewing, prompting it also to restrict the women to domesticity or its allied vocations by other plans which close to them the work usually done by men. “Mobilize the kitchen” has straightened out many of the kinks in the life of the German people which during an extended war might produce weakness in their greatest fortress of strength—their national unity. It has produced instead a smoothly running existence along boldly marked, simple lines. The kaiserin’s famous message to her countrywomen, “Kueche, Kinder, Kirche” (kitchen, children, church), had long become old-fashioned and well-nigh unheeded when the galvanizing shock of war struck the nation, dealing its hardest blow upon the women. The fashionable, the frivolous and intellectually egoistic, the, rich and the poor, the good and the bad, became as in the twinkling of an eye—just women. The government s policy in those early days was evidently to draft the feminine contingent into the work of men, soldiers being then the only consideration. Women with university degrees who knew as much as the college professors, others with long records In office, thought that their day had dawned.

The crown princess, with that extraordinary foresight which in a crisis involving the welfare of human beings is pre-eminently the woman’s gift, shot out the word of command: “Mobilize the kitchen.” Women Doing Women’s Work. The women who in the early days of last summer were thronging the streets of Berlin, getting ready to run the street cars, manage the telegraph offices, fill the chairs in the universities, edit the newspapers, manage the stores —they are today, many of them, attending lectures by professors of chemistry which teach them the food values of every article of diet and how they can economize in their household bills; they are learning the rudiments of nursing. The in other days unfashionable “Hausfrau” has become the pride of the government and the envy of her sisters, formerly superciliously condescending.

The'authorities are in constant consultation with the Hausfrau, asking for her advice and assistance in running free kitchens for the poor, opening refreshment booths at the stations along which trains pass to convey the soldiers to and fro, inviting her to direct sewing classes which mend the army uniforms, or to get together little clubs among her friends to care for needy musicians and artists. The meetings take place in the large hall donated by the reichstag for these clubs, but the musicales and exhibitions are given in the homes. The sacrifices of war eliminate the “kaffeeklatsch,” that substitute for afternoon tea, so dear to the heart of German womankind when gathered together. At the musicales and enter-

tainments refreshments are served only to the performers. From an hour after lunch until an hour before dinner the ladies sit and sew or knit, having paid the small sum for entrance to the club which coyers the fee of the musician who sings or plays for them. In the evening these same women will be found with their families gathered around them, all hands engaged in packing the of friendship), which are sent to the soldiers at the front. Small packages the government transmits free of charge, those weighing a pound for two cents. The soldiers get them regularly on Saturday night, these “Liebesgaben.” It is as if Christmas came every week, with the German passion for giving presents scorning the small confines of personal acquaintance. Trainloads of “Liebesgaben” pass every few days through the country to the seat of war. No man is overlooked. If he has no relatives or friends, their place is taken by kindly strangers, the women who have yielded to the primitive rules of life and who stand guard in the homes of the fatherland while the men fight upon the battlefield.

Trades Unions Have No Quarrel. The trades unions of Germany do not have to adopt the angry resolutions of those in Great Britain, that the war which their soldier members are fighting is becoming the greatest menace to their work at home, with the women usurping their places, employed at reduced rates. The German soldiers have no such grievance, thanks to Crown Princess Cecelie’s advice, “Mobilize the kitchen.”

The crown princess, as Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, received the offer of the heart and hand of the crown prince while the two were taking tea together. In entering Berlin in royal procession to meet her future husband, she was escorted from thd station through the Brandenburg gate by the Berlin guild of butchers, exercising an ancient privilege but one in keeping with the little bride’s reputed domesticity. She was eighteen, tall and slender, with fair brown hair and soft, dark eyes as gentle as a gazelle’s.* She had been born in the sleepy old town of Schwerin, but has lived most of the years of her girlhood upon the Riviera with her mother, a member of the Russian Imperial family, Grand Duchess Anastasia, whose escapades have furnished food for gossip at the courts of Europe during two decades. The bride was, outwardly, modest, charming, unaffected.. She acknowledged a very recent interest in dolls.

The marriage was acceptable to the council of state because it brought the Hohenzollerns into new bonds with the royal houses of Russia, and also with Denmark. The crown princess’ sister is now the queen of Denmark. Her brother having married the duke of Cumberland’s daughter, Duchess Cecilie was also a tie between the Hohenzollerns and the exiled Cumberlands of Hanover, beginning to heal the wound which the young duchess of Brunswick has completely cured. The crown princess, gay, vivacious, fond of pretty clothes and a good time, has overcome the prejudices created by her mother’s conduct. Today, with four sturdy little boys providing direct succession to the throne, and a tiny baby girl to appeal to the people’s hearts, she is the most popular member of the imperial family.