Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 40, Number 233, 11 September 1915 — Page 14

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THE RICHMOND PALLADIUM AND SUN-TELEGRAU. SATURDAY, SEPT. 11, 1915 S SAT What a One Day Strike of Women Throughout the U. S. Would Mean!

PALLADIUM'

URDAY

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The Catastrophic Disorganization of Modern Life and Business That1 Would Follow Twenty-four Hours "at Home, Where Anti-Suffragists Say They Ought to Be" of Our 8,075,722 Working Women.

By George Creel, executive Meed of the Men's League for Women Suffrage WOMAN'S place nay be the home, nevertheless It Is a grim tact that 8,075.731 women era working tor wages la the . United SUtes today, driven out of the home by the hitter necessities or existence. They are to be found in all the dark holes tf industry, and most of the dismal drudgeries , of toe world rest upon their weary backs. Of 6e 42S actiTltles described In the census report tu? "weaker sex" Is laboring In ail but five or tee.' Were these eight million women to be "taught their place." and driven back into the bme, the machinery of modern life would be wrecked as absolutely as though some monster licet of Zeppelins had dropped bombs across :ue length and breadth of the land. la the face of these facts and figures men have persisted In meeting the demand for equal suffrage with the smug bromide that "woman's place is the home." They have been supported la this' attitude by thousands of sleek, wellie! women who. having homes themselves, are utterly without sympathy for eight million drudging sisters. ... - . This ancient chestnut has been cracked at asi. The. Empire State Campaign Committee, In charge of the equal suffrage fight in New York, agreed to surrender to the venerable argument of the antl-suffraglsts. For a day. a: least, woman's place was to be the home. - October 6 Is the date agreed upon tentatively. On that day every woman worker was to be asked to stay in her home. Ignoring the clock nod the factory whistle. For twenty-four hour she was to remain in her "place" as determined by those men and women who do not think that females need the vote. The mere proposal bad all tbe force of a lightning flash. It- stabbed through minds where light had never been known to enter. And at last, for a time at least, the matter has been set aside at the plea of many of those awakened by the threat to its possibilities. Let us consider then what a one-day strike of women throughout the United States would mean. Paralysing the Telephone and Telegraph Lines Telephone and telegraph systems would become inert stretches of wire, permitting death and fire and flood to work without warning; the I sick in hospitals would call in vain for their nurses; dairies would close their doors, and babies would die from lack of milk; filth would collect on the floors of office buildings, and every school In the land would have to send its pupils. home; stores could not carry on their business, and thousands of mills and factories and great Industrial factories would be compelled to suspend operations. . War itself could work no more tragic upheaval, for aside from the probable loss of life the one-day strike of women would disrupt industry and entail the loss of millions of dollars. The telephone system of the United States Is most entirely dependent upon the work of women. In this trying, nerve-racking occupation there are 88,262 women and only 9.631 men. It is an industry marked by its poor l ay and long hours, and equal suffrage holds out a promise of relief. Is there any limit to the uproar that would ensue did these 88,262 women decide to quit being "unwomanly," take off their transmitters and go back to the luxurious homes that undoubtedly await them? There are 8,219 women telegraph operators at work, and 1.409 women managers of telephono and telegraph companies. Not quite as Science's By Prof. Henry L. Weston WHY do we dream and what is the meaning of our dreams? These questions are as interesting to-day as when Joseph dreamed of his future greatness; but though there is a mass of literature on the subject we have never yet had a convincing answer to them. Dr. A. A.' Brill, chief of the clinic ot psychiatry In Columbia University Medical School, has published a very interesting work. "Psychanalysls; Its Theories and Practical Application" - (W. B. Saunders & Co.). In this he describes the application of the theories ot the famous Professor Sigmund Freud, of Vienna, to various cases of mental and nervous disease. Professor Freud's theories are of greatest popular interest where they deal with the nature and significance ot dreams. The basic theory of Freud is that a dream always represents the fulfilment of a wish, although this may be strangely symbolized. The dream helps the doctor to diagnose symptoms and is an aid to treatment The dream represents some desire . the patient has expressed in waking hours. Hence Us interpretation may guide the doctor to soma mental condition which the patient ordinarily conceals. Dreams often come true, for reasons which will be explained. Dreams are divided into three classes: 1. Those which represent an unrepressed wish as fulfilled, as seen in the so-called convenience dream and in children's dreams. For example, we often dream ot enjoying cold, fresh water after a supper of sardines, olives or other salt food. The thirst incites the dream, which tries to appease the sleeper so as to avoid disturbance of sleep. A boy of five dreams ot finding pennies and nickels and on awakening expresses his disappointment by crying for his money. 2. Those which represent the realization ot a repressed wish in an entirely concealed form. 3. Those which represent the realization of a repressed wish in a form insufficiently or only partially concealed. The last group of dreams is generally accompanied by fear, which interrupts the dream and takes tbe place of the distortion found in the second group Dreams accompanied by fear are of a sex nature. The following case is a very striking example of the Ingenuity displayed by Dr. Brill in Interpreting a patient's dream and in applying the interpretation to the treatment of her servous condition: "Miss G.. twenty-eight years old. American, came to me in January, 1908, because she had. been 'very nervous' for about three months. Her family history showed that her father died neohrltls and had a 'stroke' (left Hemi

high s, percentage as in the esse of the telephones, yet. a sufficient number to throw the business, out of kilter if they-left their' keys. The greatest distress would be known In the hospitals of the country, for nursing Is a difficult and exacting profession that has been turned over to women. -There are 76,508 women acting as trained nurses, to-day. and only 6,819 men.- For these brave, competent souls to stay in the home, imitating 'the idleness of the portly ladles who tell them that it Is the "proper place" for females, would mean death and de-' spair tor thousands. - , Tbe toll of human suffering that would be taken by a one-day strike does not stop -with tbe nurses. The census report for 1910 gives 117,117 as the number of midwlves and assistants in the United States. . It Is true that they operate largely "among tbe poor, and that suffering is a -commonplace of poverty, but not all the years of habit have been able to free the mothers of the tenements from : the pains and perils of childbirth. To know that the midwlves were . staying in . the home, where rromen ought to stay, would, not 4 prove, any large amount of compensation fpr - hours of agonyor the loss of a' babe. In the ranks of physicians' and surgeons there are 9,015 women.; uTbeyr have their daily, rounds the same as male doctors; each with -a clientele dependent upon her for recovery from illness. If all of them refused to leave their homes, even for a day, .'can It be denied that a vast amount of wretchedness would follow? . Agriculture has long been looked upon as man's work. This is a mistake. There are almost two million women working for wages on the farms . of the United States, knowing the sweat and exhaustion of long days under a burning sun. They are to be seen with bent backs in the" cotton fields, creeping through the briars and mud of cranberry bogs, and milking cows in those cold, hours before sunrise. Here again the health and lives of babies comes Into the picture. A one-day strike of women workers would smash the dairy industry upon which thousands of little ones are dependent for life Itself. Thousands of cows would go unmilked, and many a wagon would have to suit upon its rounds with cans halt filled. Daily food is not an absolute essential to those who make a business of gorging. A oneday's fast might prove a positive boon to many of tbe comfortable ladies who insist that woman's place is the home. Thousands of families, however, are always so close to the edge of starvation that a day without food would be dangerous indeed. Yet this is what would happen if the equal suffrage plan is carried out In the bakeries of tbe United States, baking bread for the millions, are over 11,000 women, and to take them away from their Jobs would mean that thousands of homes would lack the dally loaf. Slaughter houses, upon which many butcher shops depend, would also know a large amount of Interference. It will doubtless come as a shock to many people to learn that the "American queen" is employed in this bloody, revolting business, but it Is the fact nevertheless. Four' thousand women earn wages in the slaughter- houses of -the United States, compelled to watch the braining or throat cutting of live stock day after day. According to the statistics, 2,530,846 women are engaged in domestic and personal service, which means that a great class is called upon to do the work of those more fortunate sisters who have indulgent husbands. For these women to stay in the home would mean that practically every popular-price restaurant would have to close its doors by reason of the absence of cooks and waitresses. The range in many a kitchen would stand cold and empty, the beds in houses, and hotels would go unmade, and dirty clothes would pile

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plegia) a few months before he died. She had been well until three months before. Since then she had suffered from insomnia, irritability, loss of appetite, . constipation, headache, uncalled for worry, crying spells and anxious expectation. Her mother stated that she had entirely changed; that she expressed - pessi- ' mistic ideas, often repeating that she would like to die. Examination showed all the symptoms enumerated. "The patient was pretty," she showed no stigmata and was -above the average in intelligence. While reciting her story she showed the typical 'belle indifference' often found m hysteria. She smiled when I asked her why she felt so depressed and could give no reason for it. . , "I saw her a number of times., but made no. progress in the treatment. To my question she always answered I feel about the same.' I then thought "of psychanalysls, and with that, in . view I asked her to write out her dreams and bring them to me. She was pure that she never dreamed except when her stomach was out of order, but promised to comply with my request if ever she should, and one day brought me the following dream: " I dreameu mat I was in a lonely country place and was anxious to reach home in Licohpw or Liconor Bay, but could not get there. Every time I made a move there was a wall in the way. It looked like a street full of walls. My legs were as heavy as lead. 1 could only walk very slowly, as if I were weak or very old. '.Then there was a flock of chickens, but that seemed to be in a crowded city street, and they the chickens ran after me. and the biggest of all said something like "Come with me into the dark-"'" When Dr. Brill asked the dreamer what the most vivid -part of the dream was she ' answered that it was the second part relating to the chickens. When asked to repeat- the. thoughts evoked by concentrating- her mind on the word "chickens" she gave the following: "I could only see the biggest chicken, all the others seemed blurred; it was unusually big and had a very long neck and it spoke to me the street recalls where I used to go to school I graduated from public school when I was thirteen the block was always crowded with children from school." - - - ' She then' began to blush and laugh . and. when asked to explain her actions,-said: "It recalls the happy school days when I was young and had no worries I even had a beau, a pupil from the male department; There was a male and "a female department In- the same school and most of my girl friends had beaux we used to meet after school hours and walk home together. My beau's name was F. He was lanky and thin and the girls used to tease me about, him. Whenever, they saw him coming they said. 'Belle,, here comes your chicken that was his nickname among the boys." On being- asked if she now understood who the chicken In the dream was she laughingly

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... Mrs. Norman de R. Whitehouse. Well Known Suffragist Leader Who Waa One of the Foremost Advocates of the Women's Strike. up on closet floors, for cooks, chambermaids and laundresses would be missing. In the State of New York alone there are 32,465 washerwomen, 25,215 cooks, 5,476 chambermaids and 16,000 waitresses. Since' woman's place is the home, men will have to take over these jobs. In this scientific day of germs the task of the scrubbers and cleaners is one first importance in the matter of community health. A glance over the census report discovers that this dreary army of crawlers is made up of 26,839 women and 7,195 men. All through these years in which plump, comfortable wives have been saying that "woman's place is the home," almost twenty-seven thousand have been creeping across the floors of office buildings cleaning up tbe dirt of a man's, day. - . .... .,. . Send them back into the home, and the floors of every business house and office building will pile high with filth from which-disease may be blown. - .. .. - - These, perhaps, mark the -eod'ot-those -oc cupations in which the one-day. strike of jwomen would work instant disaster and untold hardship. There are scores of other industries, however, that would be plunged into confusion by the withdrawal of women. The Effect of the Strike On Schools and Trades Eighty per cent of tbe teachers in the public schools of the United States are women. Men may bold that woman has not sufficient intelligence to assume the duties of citizensaid: "You don't mean to say that the chicken with the long neck was Mr. F.?" When asked If she still kept up her acquaintance with Mr. F. she stated that she had not seen him for the last few months, but prior to that she saw him quite 'often. On further analysis it was found that this early school day love was still kept up. He bad proposed to her no less than three times, but she had never given him any definite answer. She only "liked" him, and her family opposed him on account of his financial position. The last time she met him was at a military- ball. , He was an "officer of a military organization and "he looked quite handsome in his smart uniform." He danced with her. and "was very kind," but he did not propose. She frankly admitted that she looked for a fourth proposal at this ball and that she Was quite ready to accept him. She had heard only recently that he was paying attention to another young lady, a thing which caused her considerable annoyance. To put it in her own words: "I can only blame myself and 1 will have to forget it." "We see," says Dr. Brill, "that the most Impossible and ludicrous part of the dream that is, 'the talking of the chicken' Is now ' quite plain. The 'chicken' is simply the nickname of Mr. F.. who is the hero of the dream. There were other chickens, but they were blurred that is, there were -other young suitors, but they were relegated to the background. "The chicken said, 'Come with me into the dark.' The word 'dark evoked the following associations: , Indistinct, obscure, mystery, marriage. She recalled that after her father's death her mother once spoke sympathetically of Mr. F., saying .'money is not all,' and philosophized oq marriage in the following remarks: 'You will never know a man until you have eaten a peck of salt with him,' and ''marriage is a mystery.' - These words made a deep Impression on her. and the last Biblical quotation frequently recurred to her. We then see that in her mind the word 'dark' was used synonymously with mystery and marriage, and hence we can understand its meaning in the chicken's speech. Briefly stated, it was the fourth proposal of Mr. F. "The first part of the dream reads. I was. In a lonely country place.' etc. She stated that she recalled the beautiful country - around H. Bay, where she had been the preceding Summer. She could not quite understand what Liconow or Liconor Bay meant, and gave the following associations: Liconow Lucknow meaning a painting representing the famous battle of Lucknow. which she had. recently 1 seen. The soldiers recalled the military organization at whose - ball she had met Mr. F. Tbe word 'Liconor suggested by sound association Lucarno and Lugano, two places which she had visited while abroad two years before. H. Bay often recalled the beautiful Italian lakes, Lucarno and Lugano, whither she hoped to go on her honeymoon. "Finally, Liconor Bay resolved Itself Into

- ship, yet they put the education of the citizens of the future entirely In the hands of women. As an average thing, the 20 per cent of men teachers get higher wages than the 80 per cent of women teachers, although the work is the same.. Send women back Into the home and there Is not a public school in the land that .would not have to close its doors. In "manufacture and mechanical Industries." there are 1,820,980 women. Mothers, and young girls with the hope of motherhood, fill the mills and factories of the country, pouring health and ' strength Into the steel hoppers of the undustrial machine. They work nine. ten. and even twelve hours amid the roar of machinery, their backs bended, eyes strained and lungs never free from dust and dirt and lint. Two-thirds of the workers in the cotton, silk and woolen industries are women. One-third of the workera In the hat. suit and overall Industries are women. .. One-half of the textile workers ere women. One-fifth of the tailors are women. - One-third of the toilers in the shoe factories are women. t Almost one-halt of the electrical supplies that minister to the convenience of the world are made by women. ' One-half of the workers In the printing and publishing trades are women. . Even a one-day

sinae. wouia cripple the metropolitan, dailies, for there are 14,051 women linotypers and compositors in the United States.' In the chemical Industries, over 44 per cent of the work is done by women. There is-no greater mockery than to learn . that even while Senators and Congressmen were denying the vote to women on the ground that it - would degrade- American , womanhood, thousands of American queens were working amid the filth of fertilising plants. It is the grim contrast between bitter fact and airy fancy that makes the chivalry buncombe of the anti-suffragist so very nauseating . and unbearable. To enter a voting booth would defile women, yet it is all right for them to enter the unclean, disgusting drudgeries of the world. .. ...... - Just as. women ere to be found In slaughter bouses, fertilizing plants and .cranberry bogs, so are they to be seen in the steel and Iron industries, sweating and straining side by side with men. Miss Ida Tarbell, testifying before the Commission on Industrial Relations, admitted that she had seen women stripped to the waist In front of the blast furnaces of Pennsylvania. Soldiering may be peculiarly a man's work, but 3,000 women are aiding In the manufacture of - fire arms and ammunition. There are no women in the list of locomotive engineers, but 7,000 of them drudge as "laborers" in the employ of the steam and street railroads of the country. Along the Atlantic seaboard and tn the Quit Coast States, the women and children of the ... canning industry are boused at a farmer would not house his . cattle. Dilapidated carriage sheds, old chicken houses and battered out- - buildings are the sites tn which families huddle. . even toilet facilities not being provided In tbe ' majority of cases. A journey through the cotton mills is as a page torn from Dickens or Hugo. The ten or twelve hour day makes a woman old at forty, and to watch the rickety girls at work Is to despair for the children of to-morrow. - If "woman's place is the home," then let the stores of the United States prepare to go out of business, for the majority of clerks are women. Think of the empty counters in the department stores If all the girls quit their jobs? There are 263,315 women stenographers and typewriters at work. Put them back In the home, and there isn't an office In the country Reading Our LIK-ONOR BAY, which, by sound association, can be readily recognized as 'like, honor and obey.' If 'like' is substituted for 'love' it gives the familiar formula well known to all maidens seriously contemplating matrimony. The dreamer used 'like,' because, as aforesaid, she thought she only 'liked.' Such condensations of words and ideas are not at all rare in dreams. "If we now rewrite the first sentence It will read as follows: 'I was in a lonely country place and was anxious to reach my home in "LIKE (love) HONOR, and OBEY;" that Is. T was lonely and anxious to get married.' " . All the other parts of the dream were interpreted in the light of her repressed desire to marry Mr. F, "A street full of walls" means "Wall street." "Wall street" symbolizes money, and she had been told that Mr. F. did not have money enough to marry. Finally, in the words "Come into the dark." we find the wish realization, as this means that Mr. F. proposed for the fourth time. The insight and psychological education which Miss G. obtained during Dr. Brill's analysis of her dream enabled her to overcome her false pride and prudishness and as a result she Is now happily married to Mr. F. A young "Englishman came for treatment luffering from a neurosis, which took the form of constantly worrying about socialism, although he was not a Socialist. He wrote out the following as one of his dreams: "Bernard Shaw, the writer, was the guest at some affair and I was there, too. There was another man there, who, when he removed his peculiar wig, I noticed was the humorous writer, O." The determinants In this dream were that the patient had read a few days before that the Governor of Jamaica was a Socialist and that he had shocked the English aristocracy by inviting Bernard Shaw to one of his gatherings. The day before the dream he had read a reference to Brleux's play, "Damaged Goods." for which Shaw wrote a preface. He further had recently read Shaw's play, "Man and Superman," in which the hero speaks of an unmarried woman who is about to become a mother as performing the noblest function of womanhood. This woman's name is Violet, and the patient's- wife's name is Viola. "Mr.. O." proved to be a writer whose vlewi are liberal on sex matters. The doctor found by Inquiry that the patient was very .jealous about his wife's friendships and fearful about the conduct to which socialistic views might lead- her. His dream therefore represented something which he wished not to happen. When the meaning of his obsession was ex-' plained to bim he disappeared. - - - In dreams people symbolize the things thev nave thought of by objects that bear only a vague resemblance to them. When the dream deals with apparently meaningless objects the doctor must interpret them. This habit of symbolism Is ccsjmon.wlth chlld"-

that would not have to be reorganlzec from the ground up. What Good Would Come firoin a Women Strike. Nothing. In fact, is so dramatically u g this declaration of the Empire State Campaign committee: If woman's place wre the home, and only in the home, religion a.-t philanthropy, education and aesthetics wo4 shrivel into Insignificance. The daily comrorts of an advanced civilisation would stop and barbarism return. Every enterprise would be cnppled. and the wheels of Industry couM not There Is no way of telling whether ultimate, ly the one-day strike will be carried through et not. Probably not. Women, by training and bp not. the proposition stands out as a ttig Idea. In the face of developed facta and figures, no "antT will ever again have the effiontery to utter the ancient lie that -woman's place is the home." The point has been made that aa economic and-Industrial revolution has thrown 8.071,7X2 women out of the home, compelling them to work to save themselves and their children from starvation. They know the same ton aa men. the same exhaustions, the same oppreslons. the same dangers, and yet they are denied the ballot that ts pat tn the heads nt every man for his protection. No fair, intelligent man can have foQoweS the progress of the one-day strike debate without experiencing a contempt tor the hypocrisies of the opposition. , Behold the dialogue: ANTI-SUTFRAGIST Woman's place Is the home. EQUAL SrrPTRAOI ST But 1075.772 of us have been driven OUT ot the noma Into the world ot work. We want the rote to end excessive hours ot labor, to protect ourselves from disease and fire, to ward off the cruelties ot exploitation, and to aid tn the establishment of a new and better order In which the mrrthvt will rank higher than the beast of burden. ANTI-SUFFRAGIST Posh! Woman's alao Is the home. EQUAL. SUFFRAGIST Very welL For one dsy. then, we will go back Into the home. ANTI-SUFFRAGIST Doul you dare! Why. the very Idea! Ifs lawless, sad weH have every single one of yon arrested aad seat te The right of men te strike Is not Questioned. The law protects them In such revolts as long as actual crime Is not committed. Think back over the long list ot industrial disturbances that have disrupted Industry. Coal production stopped, street oar transportation Ued up. ralV road systems broken down, aad the important business ot teaming killed as dead aa the tra ditional doornail. But If women dare to quit work for a slngls day they are to be arrested as dangerous criminals aad treasonable conspirators! Yet the ballot for which the working women ot the United States are flghtinK. u a much mere tremendous thing than has been behind any strike of men in recent years, it nt citizenship for women as well as men. with all the character building values that He la eitlsea ship. It means direct relief from the evils of exploitation and oppression. The records show that among the first uses to which women have put the ballot In the equal suffrage States are eight-hour laws, minimum wage laws, laws against child labor, mothers' pension lawa, workmen's compensation laws, factory Insoeot tion, sanitation lawa. and the creation of wet. fare boards empowered to investigate the dark holes ot Industry. w

Dreams tive races. The child calls a stick a harm. cause he can ride on both. The following dream symbolises a popular saying: Miss S. dreamed that she asaWd very tall building, from which smoke canieout. Then some flames burst forth. I could fel thl awful heat." This is the deetoV?TSa her dream: as "Miss S. Is not very fortunate 1 nlove. She M,WelI,,,UC!ted' totelut and good looking, but a little too reserved to suit the averse young man. She had many admirers, but for some reason or other the eligible man either failed to appear or made little progress toward m,a,Vimon. The daT heto tb? dresmrte visited a friend, who Jokingly teased her about T one of her admirers. wns "She heard that he was a 'steady caller she put it, and wanted to taowentte" e" gagement would be announced, and so L Miss S. was embarrassed, and protested that theTe was no truth In the rumor; that It was nth,5..b:?LWv,e ,slP- SecreUy. howeTe? she cherished the thought that T. might marry her. The conversation ended with the stgnlll. "nt. from her end: mere Sere's smoke there must be Are. . "7!he dream fulfils her wish. The very tan building is herself-.be Is Very tS Sh7sees " ,"e. then the flames, andean feelhe awful heat. The saying. -Where there Is nok! ttere is fire.' 1. .imply visualised by th! d?e,avm,nd "J"11 the chief actor ?n 2ream lbe. 11 UU biding. A build! hef tLhty ,se11 known' old sVnt bol for the body. We often speak of the body as the house we live in. Fire and beat we symbols of love. The dream thus shows that It is not mere gossip, but that there i not only smoke, but fire.- " ..5r iBrii a,T number of such dreams snd sll showed thst the wish always preceded the event In question. He cites a cssettat hows how a kind of dream tbst hss aroused much superstitious wonder can be explained on reasonable grounds. One ot his patients df?md tbat her brother, who lived another city, was dead, and after relating- her dream to her husband received word that her brother had really died. The analysis showed that her brother suffered from chronic tuber, culosls. whle hthe doctors declared fatal months before. She was fully aware of the ' gravity ot the malady and often thousht fc would be better off deed than alive. As a child she often wished him dead, a thing quite common among children, to i wVua ' the Idea of death means simply that a bmaZ goes away. The conscious wish, "he wfflsZ better offffffff deed ehan alive. becaBta taZ dream Inciter, because It succeeded bTZr,l tag a similar Infantile wish. 'tm -The conscious wish becomes a dream ta. -. , - ' iivao, onar vmb m " - " v"" suBusr uncoi v Th s represented tnsV