y
these segregated industries have blinded us to their effects on human
life, and we have all been bribed to silence concerning everything which
could discourage enterprise or frighten capital. Like most bribes,
however, these have largely stopped in the pockets of the exploiters of
public opinion.

In the opening years of this new century, public consciousness has had a
wonderful awakening.[37] The popular mind, quickened by universal
education, and freed from a burden of fixed beliefs, is turning
restlessly to inquire about everything that affects human life. Work
could not escape this inquisition, and so we are asking not only for a
fairer division of the profits of work, but we are also inquiring what
occupations are unfit for women, with their special limitations and
obligations. When the work is reasonable, how long should a woman work
daily? Should she work at night and overtime? Should she work with
dangerous machinery? Should she handle substances that endanger health?
Should she be required to stand through hours of continuous work? Should
she work in bad air, due to dust, moisture, or excessive heat or cold?
Should she have a decent retiring-room? Some daring inquirers are even
asking whether industrial efficiency, gained through specialization and
keying up, may not be purchased at too high a price of mental monotony
and nervous strain. Most people are content to learn that the effects
are not immediately destructive to the girls and women involved; but
some day we shall demand that the barons of industry shall not be
allowed to squander the heritage of the unborn generations.

[37] C. HANFORD HENDERSON, _Pay-Day_, Boston: Houghton, Mifflin Co.,
1911.

Women have themselves done much to quicken this public consciousness.
Enrolled in labor unions, they have shown power to stand together and
make sacrifice, as in the shirt-waist makers' strike in New York in
1908, which commanded the admiration of all fair-minded observers. The
more fortunately placed women have aided these movements toward
self-betterment; and, through such organizations as the National
Consumers' League, they have compelled manufacturers and shopkeepers to
observe more reasonable hours, pay better wages, and furnish decent
material conditions for their employees.[38]

[38] See the recent volume, based on investigations made by the National
Consumers' League, _Making Both Ends Meet_, by SUE AINSLIE CLARK and
EDITH WYATT, The Macmillan Co