Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 5.djvu/49

 William B. Riley (Minn.), Woman's Rights and Political Righteousness.

An inadequate newspaper account of the very able address of Miss Gail Laughlin (N. Y.), on The Industrial Laggard, said:

Miss Laughlin described the nineteenth as the industrial century of which the factory was a notable product and co-operation the spirit. Men were trained to do one thing well and by division of. labor the maximum result was attained with the minimum expenditure of labor and capital. This principal of division of labor has been applied everywhere except in the household, the field which especially concerns women. Household labor is outside the current of industrial progress. It is not even recognized as an industrial problem because it is not a wealth-producing industry. Students of economics will sometime understand that the industries which consume wealth should receive attention as well as those which produce it. Business principles are not applied to the domestic service problem. There are no business hours. The person is hired, not the labor. One woman described the situation: "If you have a girl, you want her, no matter at what time." There is no standard of work and the result is confusion worse confounded. The servant's goings-out and comings-in are watched and she has no hours to herself. Is it any wonder that so many women prefer to go into factory life at less pay but where they can have some hours of their own?

The report of the Committee on Legislation for Civil Rights, Mrs. Laura M. Johns (Kans.), chairman, showed that it had been in correspondence with many State associations which were working for the repeal of bad laws and the enactment of good ones; for raising the age of consent; for child-labor bills; for women physicians in State institutions; for women on school boards and in high educational positions and for many other civil and legal measures. Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby's report on Industrial Problems affecting Women and Children showed much diligent research into the discriminations against women in the business and educational world and gave many flagrant instances. "In