Married Women Worker

Newman, Pauline H.

Married Women Worker Why Mothers Work Away From Home; The Attitude of the Labor Movement By Pauline H. Newman SHALL married women work? This question Is not new. Tt has been asked for many...

...They were wounded with bayonet stabs —more than ten wounds were found on Somogyl's corpse alone— their eyes were cut o u t a n d t he death shot was then given...
...While they were loudly protesting their Americanism, and telling us how patriotic they were, they have allowed the great plutocrats and trusts tX> reach out and grab control of our country...
...The "national heroes" naturally did not forget to rob the murdered men...
...The censor sent a brushproof to Gerhardus Hotel, Horthy's headquarters, where it was read to a company of officers at table presided over by Horthy...
...The number of married women in industry in this country has increased at a tremendous rate...
...Tt has been asked for many years...
...In the train of the Rumanian army which had overthrown the Hungarian revolution, the marauder bands of the White Admiral Nikolaus von Horthy entered the unfortunate country...
...She is frequently resentful of the married woman wage earner who is a competitor for her sorely needed job...
...In the NeUpest Donau meadows Horthy's officers murdered the two men in a bestial manner...
...Horthy extended his pfe» tecting hand over his associate in murder...
...Bat in Manchester and New Bedford, which are textile centers, the families were poor and there was a. large percentage of foreign horn anions...
...There is no immediate solatia to the problem...
...This murder, which was committed during the peace negotiations, was exceedingly unpleasant for the political leaders of the counter-revolution...
...It's their A m e r i c a not ours.'* The figures already quoted abo* that that is the truth...
...Horthy then took out of his drawer a newspaper article which described the cruelties of the officers, and said 'those who write such articles will s w i m . '" For some months Somogyi was able to live in Budapest unmolested, if not unwatched...
...a a • Since then ten years have nasssJ by...
...The vehicle suffered a mishap on the Neupesterstrasse...
...ment—a movement which hat always pleaded the right for tars to labor and the equality of Ban and women in our economic lift, I « m ready to subscribe to this attitude...
...And yet, in many cases it is the substandard wage of the husband and father which drives married women into wage earning...
...Speaker, you have been MaMlSJ for half an hour aad you hate not told us yet what's the trouble with our America," "That's easy to do, buddy...
...An attempt was made to advise Horthy to moderation...
...obtained g o o d posts as hush-mosey...
...First Lieuteant Sefcsik with the military investigation of tbe sf fair—a man who a few days prevously had murdered the SocialDemocratic P a r t y Secretary Nikoiaus Cservenka...
...There is the point of view of the unmarried woman, no longer young, whose sole support is what she earns...
...In 1913, at the time of the invesi ligations made by the industrial relations commission in Washington, it was testified that 2 per cent of the people then owned 60 per cent of natural resources and capital equipment of tbe country...
...Some 8,000 people wound up the celebration b y singing the hymn of America (and glorious it is, t o o ) , My Country, "Tis o f Thee...
...But, complicating thfc aft tion is that of the trained w 3 who, though married, finds m*Mu insufficiently occupied w t a9 home duties or desires to cosAssI her wage earning for th* safe faction the work brings as ym as for the monetary returns...
...But the problem is more complicated...
...It is intertsuaj to read that at a recent maeatag' of the International Commlttes ef Trade Union Women, the dlsestsion o f married women in industry led to the passing of a resolatka opposing any and all measuree which would tend to prohibit mas ried women from entering lndssW ry...
...Nine out of every hundred married women had become wage earners...
...Horthy was at length able to caxry out his deeds of heroism —murder and arrest—in the Transdanube district Finally on November 16th the Imperial Admired was also able to "conquer" Budapest, that is, to march into the capital of Hungary with his bands as the Rumanians left BudapestEdmund Benlczky w h o was Horthy's Minister of the Interior in the first period of the Hungarian Counter-revolution, who held this office when Somogyi and his friend the young proletarian poet Bess Bacso were murdered, and who conducted the police investigation when giving evidence, made the following statement on the history of the murder of Somogyi: "The reports on the cruel deeds of the officers found a very unfavorable echo in the foreign press...
...When the deputation, asked him whether there would be a pogrom on the entry of the army to Budapest, Horthy answered that there would be no pogroms but some people would 'swim.' (In the Hungarian criminal language to 'swim' means t o swim in the Donau as a corpse...
...But in other localities where conditions are somewhat different— either the family incomes are higher or the women employed in different industries—this relationship seems to be much less marked...
...The fellow next to me grinned at the expression, and then, as tbe truth of i t struck home, f o r Lawrence is a textile center where the pay is notoriously low, h e scowled...
...This is the crux of the whole matter, but unfortunately we really have not enough facts t o give the correct answers...
...It is not merel y a question of married women's right to work,—her right to live her own life after she has been married...
...What, on the other hand, of the work of the married women whose family income is above the minimum, but who work in order that their earnings may give added advantages of education and training t o their growing children ? And what again of the young married woman who has no f a m i l y ? Shall her skill and training be wasted and she herself become largely parasitic in her mode of living, rather than continue at wuthf | What ws seem to be «sjk*fl ed with is a problem whictidB end of tbe scale grows laxgatyS Of economic conditions—rba jj derpaid, uncertainly employee , 3 breadwinner needing the age* ance which the earnings e# j wife and mother alone can > S under present conditions, tt a family is not to become dstaeS ent...
...Turning to the census we find that in 1920 we had nearly two million married women gainfully employed...
...The mar derer and robber Soltesz wss fir en a position In the Hungsrisi War Ministry, the others were st conxmodated in civil State offlce —and Horthy, the Instigator, ss been for ten years the bead of tb State of Hungary...
...Tbe views on this subject are so divergent that to expect a unanimous and satisfactory answer is t o expect the almost impossible...
...I t has already been said that the gainful occupation o f married w o men is a subject likely t o lead to argument...
...Probably most people have an opinion o ntbe matter— consider it right o r wrong, and are prepared to defend their positions...
...Gold watch, wallet and purse were taken f r om the corpses by the officers...
...In it were found tat blood stained trousers of the Birderer Megay...
...These figures tell an alarming story...
...Common sense will tell us that under exactly similar conditions babies fare better when their mothers are at noma But when the question is complicated with that of the decrease of poverty incident t o the employment of mothers it Is difficult t o see a straight path of action, for there has been established a very definite relationship between infant mortality and the size of the family income...
...But one—Bela Somogyi, the editor of the Social-Democratic "Nepszava" —continued in spite of the frightful terror the most courageous and self-sacrificing fight in the count ry itself against the White Horror...
...They entered a motor car, which did not drive to the town command in the inner city, but to the Donau meadows...
...I n other words, the concentration of the ownership o f wealth, bad as it was in 1913, bad grown nearly twice as bad 10 years later, during a period In which both Democrats and Republicans had held office...
...A uniform answer which would satisfy those concerned has not yet been found...
...Drowned in blood and filth the last liberal aspirations in the country became extinct...
...j )S fundamental to a considemtla» «j the whole situation must be ajjja alisation of the changed theora||eg outlook on the whole position ff women—the belief which today*,] gained acceptance in large sat—| fluentlal sections of our society •> the right of any woman, rnarrtsj or unmarried, to determine he own way of life—including bsj occupation...
...It wss proved that the culprits...
...On the occasion of Horthy' jubilee the working class in Bus g a r y aad the emigrants sbree remember tbe noble martyrs of ft ciallsm, aad derive from their be roic death new enthusiasm * tbe decisive fight against the com ter-revolution and for Socialists, Socialism and Americanism-IV My Country, 'Tis Of Thee By Alfred Baker Lewis WAS scheduled to speak one fourth of July night at Lawrence., Mass., a great textile center, and I went down that, afternoon to the Lawrence common where there was a great patriotic celebration...
...To seek such measures wots} be a contradiction of the alas and principles of the labor moe...
...First Lieutenant Soltesz, Captain K o v a r c z and Lieutenant Megay—all members of the Ostenburg detachment—had driven away Somogyi with ear Ma m 36 of the Army High Command...
...It belongs to the landlords and capitalists, the Wall Street gang aad the money trust, tea* oil barons, and the coal kings sad railroad owners...
...The Children's Bureau, through its infant mortali ty studies, has in some localities brought out what seems to be a fairly definite relationship between infant mortality and the employment of mothers outside the home...
...Nevertheless, in another teas* the useful workers do own Aa*** lea, even though they do not ss*1 pnesiasluu and control of it V* crook steals your watch, yon sta own It although you haven't IJ I t We, the workers, have America what it is, but the Ml trial aad faUaflatdal crooks have 9M en it away from us...
...The police succeeded within a f ew hours in finding out the culprits snd the facts of the case...
...The car was seized on the same day...
...In prosperous times this question is apt to remain in the background...
...In this country, even more so in Europe, the subject of married women in industry is agitating the minds of the leading men and women in the" labor movement...
...Horthy was very indignant at this demand and defended the shameful deeds of his officers...
...I'd be willing to bet $10 any time that of all that crowd singing My Country T i s of Thee, not one out of ten of them owns enough of his country to bury a cockroach in...
...His Highness, the CommaivJer-in-Chief, brought the meal to an end with the words, "There has been enough talk, n ow at last we must act...
...The Attitude of the Labor Movement By Pauline H. Newman SHALL married women work...
...In Akron, Ohio, where rubber is the chief in dust ry, which pays higher wages, tbe family Incomes were higher and living conditions better, aad the death rate for the babies of mothers who went to work during the first year of the baby's life was only 88.2 while the death rate for the other babies whose mothers stayed at home and were not gainfully employed was 77.2, a very much smaller difference than in the communties where the families were poorer...
...Beniczky's police had found est the murderers—but nobody was arrested...
...But another anniversary should be recalled which belongs to Horthy's anniversary, as at one time the gallows belonged to his victory and today corruption belongs t o the stabilized rule o f the Hungarian counts...
...The picture they present constitutes a serious threat to the stability and effectiveness of our political democracy...
...Tet If all the complex aspects of the problem are taken into consideration the impossibili t y o f a n off-hand solution becomes quickly apparent...
...I turned to the man next to me and said, "It certainly seems a shame to me...
...Ttrejt, would add to 0BT powers, as a n organization, and aV imlnate unnecessary competitiss with respect to wages and hour...
...A member of the company made the remark: "It is really high time to throw this rascal Somogyi into the Donau...
...And the result...
...And action was taken...
...At 8 o'clock on the evening of February 17th, Somogyi and Bacso were stopped by the officers of the Ostenburg White Detachment and called upon to follow them to the town command...
...At the beginning of February the "Nepszava" submitted to the censor an article which was forbidden...
...Celebrating Murder Horthy's Jubilee Recalls His Instigation of the Death of a Socialist Editor jrTJNGARY.—The official Hun- JLJL gary, the White Guard Hungary, has just celebrated the tenth anniversary of the regency of Nikolaus Horthy...
...A report issued in 1926 on National Wealth and Income by the federal trade commission, based on investigations In 1923, showed that 1 per cent of the people owned 59 per cent of our industrial wealth...
...Hungary was faced by the peace negotiations...
...Family life, the care of children, the constantly rising standard of living with its greater demands upon the earning power of either man or woman for comfort and luxuries, the replacement of men by machines, the lack of sufficient jobs, the economic status of both the married and unmarried women—all this and more enter into the consideration of this solitary question...
...In Manchester, N ^ H , the mortality among the babies of mothers who went out to work during the first year of the baby's life was 227.5 per 1,000, i-swnparod to 133.9 for babies of mothers who remained at home aad were not gainfully nn|ilHTirl In New Bedford, Mass., the rate was 167.8 for the babies of mothers working away from home and 108.8 for the other babies...
...70,000 workers and peasants were imprisoned, 5,000 were murdered, many tens of thousands had to fly over the frontiers in order to save their bare lives...
...Somogyl's gdl watch was found in the posseseioe of First Lieutenant Soltesz...
...The trouble with our America is that It isn't ours...
...Even more striking is the data reported in a survey made by the Bureau of W o men in Industry on women's work in the city of Bingham ton, N. Y., "in 1926...
...Which is the better off, the extremely poor family where the mother stays at home or the family with the better income where the mother works o u t ? In which family is there the least delinquency among children, the higher educational standard...
...Dozens of simple men, ail occupied modest posts under tat revolution are In prison today Thousands must still suffer wss...
...The Socialist Party ia the catj one that wants to have America with its great Industries and ft** ural resources...
...It u * country all right snd we intiatdj use all peaceful and l e«^*g ccstxroi of l t T * * * 1 9 < m...
...I told him...
...Its banks, railroad*, mines, nulls and factories, own* aad controlled by the people • America, Not till we have Soda* ism will the producers in AmerkS be able to sing My Country, t> of Thee, and sing the truth...
...The Army High Command teat the confiscated car away from the police, called in the documents of the Investigation, and entrusts...
...I would add, however, that since the married women ia n> dustry are here to stay, we should concentrate our efforts to enlist them as members of our respective unions...
...The article aroused general Indignation...
...The fellow must swim," declared Horthy, at that time the "Commander-in-Chief of the National A r m y . " But the carrying out of the deed had to be postponed because Budapest was still occupied by the Rumaniang at that time...
...A deputation of the leaders of the counter-ervolution, consistingvof Count Julius Andrassy, formerly Foreign Minister under the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, George Pallavicinl, Andrassy's soninlaw, Josef Karolyi and Stefan Bethlen, at present Prime Minister in Hungary, went to Horthy and asked him t o put an end to the extravagance of the officers...
...the families studied...
...The bodies were then thrown Into the Donau...
...If this were all, the answer would be simple—at least f o r the intelligent and progressiveminded women...
...Prime Minister Huszar promised in Parliament to set on foot a strict investigation and to make an example of the culprits...
...He could not eai ilia them because he himself wss taf Instigator of the murder...
...At the other end of the scale, 5 per cent o f the wealth was divided among 90 per cent of . t he people...
...The murderers were richly repeal by the counter-revolution...
...Let me quote f r om a recent report of the Federal Women's Bureau: "Which does the more harm, the employment of married women or poverty...
...For this the valiant SocialDemocrat was condemned t o death by the officer bands in Siofok— the headquarters of Horthy...
...But when confronted with the problem of unemployment— as we now are, it is but natural to have it come to the fore again...
...At that time, almost half (48%) of all the women studied were married...
...der the Democrats and Repubbc ana, our national anthem has seal made a lie...
...sa fugitives in all the countries S the world—but t b e 1 murderers a Somogyi were without excepti* amnestied by Horthy...
...By g o l l y , " he said, " y o u wouldn't pose *' The- truth is that our glorious national anthem has been made a lie b y the way the Democrats and Republicans rim the government...
...What we must decide f o r the future is h o w we are going t o get the necessary increases in the family income to keep down the infant mortality and to keep up other family standards...
...Yet neither Democrats nor Republicans, even those who are Indorsed by organized labor, tell us anything about it I was speaking once on the street corner when a man with an American Legion button interrupted me and said, "Look here, Mr...

Vol. 10 • April 1930 • No. 11


 
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