Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/329

 THE NECESSARY SEQUEL OF CHILD-LABOR LAWS 313

number of persons gainfully employed, and in the three states excepted Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana the proportion remained practically sta- tionary.

To illustrate the increase in the percentage of working-women over working-men in particular industries, the figures given for manufacture and trade are of striking interest: In 1880 the per- centage of working-men in manufacture was 83.8; by 1900 this figure had sunk to 81.5. The percentage of working-women in manufacture, on the contrary, rose from 16.7 in 1880 to 18.5 in 1900.

In trade and transportation a division of industry including the employment of women as "stenographers, typewriters, tele- graph and telephone operators, bookkeepers, clerks, and sales- women " the percentage of women rose from 3.4 in 1880 to the surprising figure of 10.5 in 1900; while the percentage of men sank from 96.6 to 89.5 in the same twenty years.

Thus the rapid increase in the number of working-women, and the rate at which they are gaining upon men, comparatively, in the industries that call for the labor of women, warrant a care- ful study of the results of such employment, and of the status of the working-woman before the law, in the various states, as a means of obtaining more adequate protection.

The enormous proportion of young girls among "working- women " will be dealt with below.

Legislation for working-men has been most advanced in the western mining states. The eight-hour day is no longer an ideal, but has been obtained as a legal maximum for all laborers in mines in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming. Eighteen states, both east and west, restrict to an eight-hour day all work contracted for by the state.

If it is recognized as desirable that men should not be obliged to work more than eight hours in a day in certain industries, the work of women should, without question, be limited to that maxi- mum. If a working-day of ten, twelve, or fourteen hours reduces a man to the level of a mere machine, it leaves a woman in a more unhappy plight in imminent danger of physical breakdown.

The new strain in industry. From the point of view of