The evening world. Newspaper, November 7, 1918, Page 16

E ! i i ‘ THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7 1918 *What Will Be Women’s ~ Part in Reconstructing World After the War? al Miss Helen Fraser, a Leader of Women’s War Ser- vice in England, Discussing This Subject Says There Will Be “a Job for Every Woman That Wants It—and for Every Man,” and Tells What ty Some of These Jobs May Be. War Work,” the directly replacing By Marguerite Mooers Marshall ~ — Copenghit, 118, by ‘The Prem Publishing Oo, (The New York Brening Worl.) HAT will women do tn reconstructing the world after the war? ‘What will the world do for women? I do not know of any one better qualified to discuss these ques- tions than Miss Helen Fraser, an official of the British ‘Treasury and a leader of Women's war service in Eng- land. It was Mise Fraser who compiled “Women and | first authentic manual of the part ‘women have been playing in the world struggle. It was Miss Fraser who told American women last winter how in Great Britain one million and a quarter women wero men in industry—among them one million women making munitions, 258,300 women on the land, 83,000 women in Government departments. After an inspection of what women are doing behind the ‘trenches in France, she has just returned to New York for a second visit. “When the men come home from ‘the trenches,” I said to Miss Fraser ‘yesterday, “what is going to happen " to the women? Are,they all going to he thrown out of their jobs? That Weurely would not be fair to them, would be a most ungenerous reward »o@f their patrinotic service. On the other hand, if the women keep on ‘working in their new positions, what ie to become of the returning soldiers? :Must they emigrate to the colonies? In some degree, this identical problem sewill confront America. How are you gelling to solve it?” -, “That is the question which men and women leaders in England are S working over, even now, with all their intelligence, foresight and tact,” she replied earnestly, “And I can tell you of geome of our plans. + “The best thought on the subject “may be summed up in one sentence— » {& Job for every woman that wants dit—and for every man!’ “Dofinitely, there is no plan, no de- Qigtre, to say to the women of Great “Britain after the war, ‘You've been very good to help us out—now run vatong home!’ Public sentimen# would ,,be overwhelmingly agamst such an “attitude on the pars sf employers or the state. There ly ae keen a ease ‘Thet what the women have done for the ‘eountry. Then the granting of the , Suffrage bas made a tremendous »@hange in the position of woman, and vim the way in which politicians will treat her. “The first steps toward the settle- ment of the labor question for men “and women after the war are being (taken by « very important group, Seomprising both men and women, and Mealled the Resettlement Committee. “For one thing, the committee is tak-| ing-a careful census of the women) eho want to stay in industry after the coming of peace, Not all women wil remain. 1 myself know many "young married women who are work- qtmg simply to help the country, and who will be glad to go back home and| ‘ Pke care of their children when the Svaen come back. “On the other hand, there are the *enmarried girls and the large number “ot widows who must work. Even bo-| fore the war we had over @ million ‘surplus women,’ as they were called, | ene now there are going to be many “jmore who will be without male sup-! port, since we have lost so many men, | © “Already it has been estimated that “at least half a million of the women! who haye'taken “up work during the swar will want to keep)thelr jobs, Even when. it is not an @bsdlute necessity that they be self-supporting many! «Women who have tasted independence ! and the joy of handling money which! (Mthey have earned themselves will re-| fuse to go back to their old dependent eaatatus. ay not _be possible for these Watch Your Step, 66 ATCH YOUR STBP" signs} should confront us every- where, for casualty fig- “Gres show a surprisingly large num- ber of accidents from the simple ex- ergise of walking. Deaths by fire shock the imagination, but twelve times as many persons die from falls on sidewalks, floors and stairways a8 meet their end in burning bulld- ings. Concrete, wired glass, metal doors and windows are used {n mod- ern structures to render them fire- proof, but not enough attention has| been given to make walking safe, w, Use the handrail in going up or down stairs. The steps may have sworn smooth, or oll, mud or soap May have been dropped on them. The «fae things, together with ico in| winter, may be encountered on the sidewalk. A freshly-olled hardwood floor is a pleasure to the eye, but| wetfers a treacherous footing, These | S@angers may be avoided by proper) Jeleansing; a gritty soap, for instance, a be used in cleaning tile floors. Biventually attention will be focused this subject, buildings will be in- ted, and standard materia! ‘ afraid,” admitted Miss Fraser. “That women to keep on doing the same work which they now perform. In the transportation companies, for ex- ample, and in other industries the em- ployers solemnly promised the men who went away to fight that when they came back their old jobs would be waiting for them. Many men will never come back. But to those who return the promises will be kept. 1 do not think the women themselves would have it otherwise, “For the dispossessed ones we shall try to find other jobs. One point which we always make with the per- sons who are pessimistic about the situation is that there will be a tre- mendous number of new jobs for men and women with the coming of peace. It is diMcult for persons outside of England to realize how completely our Dorma] industries have been sus- pended. We need so much! For in- stance, building practically has been stopped and we are terribly cramped for housing, Then we want to pull down @ lot of our slums and rebuild them decently, “The Resettlement Committee ts Planning for the construction of from 850,000 to 500,000 houses after the war. Think of the work that will mean, not merely for the builders and carpen- tera, but for decorators, furniture makers, those who make dish ing apparatus—all that goes into homes, “Then our railroads need more en- gines and cars. There will be an im- mense amount of civilian clothing to be fashioned. Already 400,000 add tional acres of land have been pat under cultivation, and the sales fra. the big estates still go on. We eye planning easy terms for returning apl- diers who want to settle on this land, and we desire to make it possible for the women, who have done so splen- didly in agriculture, to take up similar | allotments. “The factories which have been making munitions will go on a peace basis—many will return to the con- struction of the goods in which they dealt before the war. A girl munition maker who bas learned to run one machine can learn easily enough to run another." “What about the psychology of the situation?” I asked, “Is there no hostility toward the new army of working women on the part of the workingmen?” “A certain portion of thé labor ele- ment is not exactly hostile, but it is} is because of a false conception of economics, As I told a man of this type the other day, ‘You feel toward the introduction of women into in- dustry exactly as men used to feel toward the introduction of machines, You think there are only just so many jobs, and that there will not bo! enough to go around. You forget that! the woman who earns money also| spends it, and that in order to spend it there must be more Production of the things she wants in exchange for her pay—therefore more work and more pay for everybody,’ “There will be, hero and there, certain amount of strain, of friction, the leader of women war workers conceded tn conclusion. “I think we shall be disturbed more than other | countries because of the which has existed for years between | the sexes in England. But all proph- ecles of a sex war or a sx boycott or @ sex strike are absurd exaggera- tions, We have softened toward each other in these years of suffering, ‘The| granting of the suffrage to women— which I have heard a leading Eng- | lish statesman call the greatest event | since the founding of Christianity— | shows how the attitude toward women has changed. In the recent strike of the women on the buses for war bonuses equal to those paid men public sentiment was entirely with a “S which will not wear smooth, made a eempuleory for tread surfaces, but| there will that time the pedestrian should | things out, Femember that accidents from slip-|too much ‘pie stand high on cusualty records, | other.” the women and they won. Friction be, but we shall We all have been hurt} tensity | 9 work | of \Y \\ \ Sx Counress LAszto SZECchENY (GlabYS VANDERBILT) i £ Bat. gradiey,, k | Countess K VON. FRANCKEN-SIERFTORPEE CMARY KNOWLTON) HUSBANDS ARE OF THE GERMAN Rich American Wives of Titled Enemy Subjects FOUR OF THE HEIRESSES WHOSE AMERICAN FORTUNES HAVE BEEN SEIZED BECAUSE THEIR OR AUSTRIAN ‘“NOBILITY.” BETTER LeT ME ‘TAKE CARE OF IT FoR You! COUNTESS SON oW Stray Say CHARRIOTT DAW) Plant Punctured Kaiser’s Bubble of German “ . CLARA HAZEL BUSCH. “NON CONTARD Kultur” Dead Millionaire Was a Typical American Who Did Many Things Well. and Nature in Making Hens Lay. He Beat 7 pride in German “Kultur.” guinary conflict in history, one of his as invincible, But Morton F, Plant Wilhelm Hohenzollern on the first s¢ eailors shattered his dreams on the se When plans were made for the great international yacht race at Cowes, England, the Kaiser gathered about him the most renowned de- signers not only of the German Em- pire but other countries as well Finally, when the keel of the.defender of Kultur's title to speed on the waves was laid, so confident were its builders of success that they named the craft Meteor ILI. ‘The Meteor III, did not live up to its name, for the Ingomar, owned by Commodore Plant, not only defeated this product of Teutonic Kultur but carried the Stars and Stripes and the pennant of the Larchmont Yacht Club home ahead of five crack yachts repre- senting the best brains and skill of de- signers from all parts of the world, Commodore Plant, who died of pneu- monia at his home, 1061 Fifth Avenue, on Monday night, in his sixty-elghth year, lived long enough to witness the beginning of the end of the greatest of all Hohenzollern dreams. Commodore Plant was the type of ican the Kaiser secretly, ad- and envied, for he saw embodied in the big financier # human force that had made the United States superior to Germany In any undertaking it seriously considered. The Commoilore was in Europe in 1908 when David Jayne Hill was made Ambassador to Germany, He was invited to the “audience” given by Emperor Wilhelm on that occasion and, according to press despatches received here at the time, “he made a great impression on the Kaiser and was singled out for es- pecial favor.” In 1910 Commodore Plant was feted at a garden panty by the King and Queen of Italy, who later took tea on the yacht Yolanda. life of one whose passing removes one | the most picturesque types of the American business man, He never to begin hurting each t referred to the lavish hospitality ex- Yet theso were but tnetdents in the |} the Kaiser at Yachting, O the late Commodore Morton Freeman Plant belongs the distinction of having been one of the first Americans to lower the Kaiser's Before Emperor Wilhelm conceived the idea of world domination by plunging the powers into the most san- favorite pastimes was racing yachts. With his customary egotism he regarded the German-built epeed boat as invincible, just as he regarded the Germany Army and the German Navy | , American sportsman, disillustoned core, just as American soldiers aud cond, AM othe. , Facme MORTON FREEMAN! PLANT. evidently didn’t attach much signifi- cance to the events, Friends of the late Commodore referred to him as an old-fashioned American with a brain that worked with the rapidity of a machine gun, with a body that could stand the wear and tear of a machine of chilled steel and a faculty for Philanthropy that was as broad ag it was intelligent, In the good old copybooks there 1s a top of the page maxim that tells of doing one thing at a time and doing it Freeman Plant did ngs—all very, very big—and any of them at the same time. Yet there is no record of his having fallen down on any of them, When he thirteen he learned how to run a boat, Even at that tended him by Old World royalty and age be had heard something about . yacht races, and he yowed that when he grew up he.would build yachts that Would look trimmer and prettier and move faster than had ever been con- structed before, Did he make good? The Ingomar, a steel schooner, in one season entered twenty-two races and came off with nineteen prizes, The Venetra and Yolanda, both steam yachts, were models of their kind, The Elena, a schooner, brought Commodore Plant! one of his greatest triumphs, She defeated Alexander 8. Coch- ran's Westward in 1911 after that boat had beaten the best yachts in Sngiish and German waters, He re- peated his victories in 1913 with the same yacht by winning the Astor Cup and later won both the Astor and the Clark Cups. Besides being a yacht builder, Com- modore Plant was a globe trotter, a scientific farmer, an all-round cap- italist, an owner of several newspa- pers, @ baseball fan who supported a team, the New London Club, just be- é he wanted to see it play, an , and a philanthropist, The country home of Commodore Plant is known as Branford Hou: It is the centre of a magnificent tate at Eastern Point Colony, op- posite New London, Conn, When the Commodore decided to turn his at- tention to farming one of his objects was to prove to many sceptical Cun- necticut tillers of the soil that the land many of them were deserting was merely suffering from malnutri- tion, The Plant farm was used to demonstrate the truth of this, It not only demonstrated that the soll of Connecticut had its good points, but turned out to be the most scientific. ally worked farm in the United States, Long hauls across the land were made by trolley and cows were milked by machinery, thus reducing the danger of infection by bacteria to a minimum. But the most interesting develop- ment of the Plant idea of doing things scientifically occurred in the poultry department, Here, by means of elec- tric lights of two different degrees of brilliancy, slacker hens were com- ed to do a full day's work both. summer and winter, The hens were urged to greater ef- fort by the artificial lighting of the poultry houses at 4 o'clock winter af- noans. This light was reduced at 9.15, by which time, some genius fig- ured, any self-respecting hen would haye Mone Its duty. The statistics following the experiment sho: it was successful beyond all anticipa- tion, Commodore Plant's death will be keenly felt in the neighborhood of Groton, Conn,, near the site of his country estate, He was affectionately dubbed the Santa Claug of that region because of his numerous benefactions, Having first seen the light of day in New Haven, the aged man had a soft spot in his heart for Connecticut. He contributed $1,125,000 to help found the Thames College for Women. Ho made this donation on condition that Gov. Baldwin would raise an equal amount, The subscription was 60 popular that motormen, shop girls and eyen children, who emptid penny banks to help, shared in the donations, (How Will U. ance of Allies’ Peace THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1918 S. Heiresses Who Married Teuton Titles Now Get Spending Their Own Fortunes in America, Totalling $21,667,- 500, Seized by Alien Property Custodian, Bound Up in Official Red Tape, and Private Communi- cation Between U. S. ahd Germany Closed, It Will Be a Hard Winter for Twenty-nine Former American Girls if Germany Postpones Accept- Money? Terms. Here are a dozen of the more prominent women in the Ust of American hetresses who married German or Austrian subjects, and the Ame?ican fortune of each seized by the Alien Property Custodian for the duration of the war: / Countess Seechenys (Austria.Hungary), formerly Gladys Vander. Ddilt of New York, $4,000,000, Baroness von Truchsess (Germany), formerly Clara Erhart of New York, $1,100,000, Bardness von Rothkirch (Germany), formerly Olivia Louise Brown of New York, $1,000,000, Baroness Zedlitz (Germany), formerly Cornelia Oarnochan Roose velt of New York, $1,200,000, Countess Marguerite de Stuers Obendorff (Germany), grandniece of the late Henry Astor, $69,000 and interest in New York City prop erty. Countess von Francken (Prussia), formerly Mary Knowlton of New York, $1,200,000. $150,000. $1,460,000, Clara von Contard (Germany), $900,000. Montana, $1,000,000. in each hand and possessor of about write to the American War Trade Board and eay: “Gentlemen, could I please borrow a piece of change from my own fortune to make this pur- chase? and if so, will you please for- ward it to me in care of No. 23 Hapsterghstrasse, Vienna, Austria, at your earliest conventence?” Just imagine it! ‘Then the War Trade Board would have to talk the matter over with A. Mitchell Palmer, Alien Property Cus- todian, who yesterday took over a total of $21,000,000 in fortunes of American girls married to Teutonic noblemen, and Mr. Palmer would have to confer with the State Depart- ment and a few other high officials, and before Countess Szecheny! re- ceives her check there might be a ¢ew international notes passed via the Swedish Minister, and possibly the Colonel might be moved to unleash a statement from the crest of Saga- more Hill. All of which might cause the Coun- teas to make a more fevered remark about war in general and this one in particular than did the late Gen. Sherman. There is little kelihood, according to Francis P. Garvan, chief of the local office of the Alien Property Custodian, that any one of the twenty-nine wives of Austro-German Katie von Kracker (Germany), formerly Katie Eas of Now York, Baroness von Alten (Austria-Hungary) and Sarah EF. von Campa, formerly Augusta L. and Sarah E. De Haven (Germany) of Chicago,’ formerly Clara Busch of St. Lous, Countess Sigray (Austria-Hungary), formerly Harriot Daly of Countess Cornet, formerly Gladys McMillan of Detroit, $959,725. married to a German or Austrian title, wants to Invest a few of her own American dollars in a new gown, a spare tire for the car, a snappy pair of silk stockings or even a half dozen Vienna rolls she will find herself up against an international financial tangle that would probably discourage her {nto abandoning the purchase until after the war. Just imagine Gladys Vanderbilt, born with the proverbial golden spoon Ir the Countess Gladys Vanderbilt Szechenyi, or any other American heir $4,000,000 in American securities and the income from a $5,000,000 trust fund created by her father’s will, being forced when she wants to buy an-odd trinket or thingembob to have to Counts and Barons could succeed tn obtaining any part of their fortunes which have been seized in this coun- try by the Alien Property Custodian, “I suppose,” said Mr, Garvan to- day, “that if any one of the Ameri can girls who have married German or Austrian titles and who are at present in enemy countries should prove to be in actual want we might possibly arrange to get financial as sistance to them. “It would be a very involved mat~ ter, however, and there is doubt im my mind whether the thing could be accomplished under any circum- stances. If any one of these women wanted to draw on their respective fortunes, which have been taken over « by the Allen Property Custodian, they would have to apply for a special per- mit or license from the War Trade Board. “There being no communication be- tween this country and the Central Powers except through neutral diplo~ matic channels it is doubtful whether we could reach any private person or whether they could reach us. “The American fortunes of these German and Austrian subjects have been taken over for the duration of the’ war and there is no case on record where they have been drawn upon, I don’t think there will be.” Sang Despite Shell Fire and Hardships. Mme. Cobina Johnson, First “¥” Entertainer in France, Earned U. £. Soldiers’ Nick’ OME hundreds of American sol- diers were gathered in the little plaza of a small French village within earshot, and distinctly within gunshot, of the Woevre front. On a littfe improvised platform stood a young woman and an American of- ficer, “Mme, Cobina Johnson,” announced a young Lieutenant, “has been good enough to come over here from the States to sing to us. She will sing one or two operatic selections and some topical songs that perhaps we all know better, If during Mme. Johnson's little concert there are bombs dropped from enemy planes the performance will not be inter- rupted. Madame is as used to bombs as any of us are.” Faint specks hovering on the East- ern horizon told of the proximity of enemy aircraft. Mme. Johnson, formerly the wife of Owen Johnson, the author, sang until her golden voice made her soldier audience forget the sounds of war that rumbled in a dull cadence from the nearby artillery lines, The conditions under which Mme. Johnson sang that afternoon were not new to her, It was only one of many similar performances that had won her the title of the “Girl With Grit FADAME COBINAJOHNSON down the American lines in France, and a Golden Voice” among the boys of the American expeditionary forces. For more than a year Mme. John- Son Las been singing ber way up and 4 and there is hardly a doughboy in Pershing’s ranks to whom her voice is not familiar, She was the first of name, “The Girl With Grit and a Golden Voice.” her sex to go to France as an enter- tainer, M. C. A. The boys in khaki say that Mme. Johnson is a good soldier, She has lived under shell fire for days at a time, and the ominous hum of the Boche projectile has lost its thrill for her, She has tramped the muddy roads of Flanders and climbed the winding trails of the Vosges, She has sung in shot-riddled barns and slept in friendly haymows, For months Mme, Johnson made her headquarters at Alx-les-Bains, one of the principal rest camps for our fighters. There she sang daily to wearied troopers who had just re- turned from the front lines, When Mme. Johnson dropped tnto Paris the other day for a little much needed rest on her own account, she was asked what impressed her moet while with the American armies, “I've seen them do @ thousand things that impressed me," she re- plied. “They are the finest, sweetest boys in the world, and no sacrifice that any one can make for them is too great. I think the thing that im- pressed me most was the attitude of the average American soldier toward the French children in the devas- tated areas of France, “The French kiddie wilt tell you that the American trooper is the kindest and most sympathetic soldier In the world. In the hearts of the refugee youngsters he bas won @ place of unalterable affection.” » being sent over by the ¥.' .